Let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you to words that we have in that second portion
that we read Romans 14 and verse 17 Romans 14 verse 17 The kingdom
of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost For the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."
We are of course instructed by the Lord Jesus Christ in that
pattern prayer to pray concerning the kingdom of God. One of the
petitions that we have there in Matthew 6 is thy kingdom come
thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven
and as we pray thus to the Lord God concerning his kingdom so
in that doxology that the Lord also instructs us in at the end
of the prayer we're to say thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever and ever. We remind ourselves that God
is sovereign and that nothing is impossible with Him, that
He is able to not only hear us in our petitions but He will
answer our prayers. But what is this Kingdom that
we are to make the subject matter of our praying by Kingdom come? What is this Kingdom? Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ, of course, tells us himself, doesn't he?
When he is challenged before Pontius Pilate in that mockery
of a trial that he had to endure, he tells the Roman governor,
my kingdom is not of this world. That is a kingdom we pray over
and we pray for. It's a kingdom not of this world.
My kingdom is not of this world, says the Saviour. If my kingdom
was of this world, then would my disciples find? No, it is not a worldly kingdom. It is indeed a spiritual kingdom. It is the reign of grace, such
that is evidenced when the life of God comes into the soul of
a sinner. And so, this morning I want us
to consider the nature of this kingdom, God's spiritual, inward
kingdom. A kingdom that is not of this
world, a kingdom that is in the heart of man. A kingdom that
is spiritual in its very nature. But first of all, to deal with
a negative, as it were, to say just what this kingdom is not. It's not, in any sense, an external
kingdom. It's not a kingdom that's associated
with natural things, the things of the world. And are we not
reminded of that in the words of the text, here in Romans 14,
17? for the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink." Of course, that expression is used when we take
account of the context. We read through this particular
chapter, and you see what Paul is addressing here. He's addressing
a very practical matter. The epistles of Paul are quite
remarkable. because often we find the most
profound of doctrines but he also addresses himself to everyday
issues the practicalities of living the life of a Christian
and that's what he is doing here he speaks of what he would call
the weak brother here in the opening verses of the chapter
Him that is weak in the faith, he says. Some might be weak,
others might be stronger in the faith. But him that is weak in
the faith, he says, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may
eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not. And let not him which eateth
not judge him that eateth. For God hath received him. is dealing then with the matter
of food, and what some believers feel they ought not to be eating,
and others yet feel quite free. It's not only in this epistle
that he deals with this matter. We see it also when he writes
to the church at Corinth, there in the 8th chapter of the 1st
epistle to the Corinthians. Look at the language that he
uses. He's speaking of meat that may have been offered to idols. In the opening words of that
chapter he says, "...ne'er was touching things offered unto
idols." And then again at verse 4, "...as concerning therefore
the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto
idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that
there is none other God but One." So there's no way in which really
the idol can taint that meat, that food that may have first
of all been offered to him. He goes on to say later in that
same chapter at verse 8, But meat commendeth us not to God,
for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat
not are we the worse. But take heed, lest by any means
this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that
are weak." Some might feel very uncomfortable if they're in a
situation where they're expected to eat food that has first been
offered up to idols. They might feel that somewhere
or other that meat has become tainted. And those who have liberty
and recognize the idol is really nothing, they are to take account
of those who are more tender in their conscience with regards
to these things. And as I say, it's that that
he is dealing with here in this 14th chapter of the Roman Epistle
also. It says, doesn't it here at verse
14, I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there
is nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth anything
to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him
with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Take account of whether
or not what you're doing is going to be offensive and a stumbling
block to your fellow believer. Verse 24, Meet, destroy not the
work of God. All things indeed are pure, but
it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither
to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother
stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. So he's dealing
with what he terms a weaker brother over this matter of food and
meat that may have been offered to an idol. But he also speaks
of those who might observe days, whereas others don't observe
the days. Verse 5 he says, "...one man
esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike,
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth
the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not
the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it. Or be tolerant
then, one of another. Respect one another. And there's
actually a hymn in the book, isn't there, that deals with
with days, holy days. I quote one of the verses from
that particular hymn. Let not the observer therefore
entertain against his brother any secret grudge, nor let the
non-observer call him vain, but seek his freedom and forbear
to judge. Always to forbear judging one
another in these matters. That's what he is saying, whether
it be food or whether it be the observing of days. He's dealing
then here in the context of the verse that we're considering
this morning with this whole matter of how we need to guard
against causing a brother to be offended or to stumble in
any way. But what says the word of God?
What says the law of God with regards to these things? There
is of course a difference between what we have under the gospel
and what we have under the law. Under the law there certainly
were dietary requirements made of the children of Israel and
you can read of those arrangements and what was required of them
in the 11th chapter of the book of Leviticus. But what does Paul
say with regards to the difference between the Old Testament law
and what we have under the Gospel? Well, he addresses these things
in the epistle to the Hebrews. There in Hebrews chapter 9 and
verse 1 he says, Verily the first covenant had also ordinances
of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. He's speaking of the
Old Testament, when he uses the expression of a worldly sanctuary,
it means a sanctuary of this world. They had the tabernacle,
didn't they? It was a holy place. And then,
in the days of Solomon, there was the temple. A permanent structure, but it
was a holy place. But we don't have holy places
like that in the Day of Grace. We don't have a worldly sanctuary.
And he goes on to say here, you see, with regards to what we
had in the Old Testament, verse 9, which was a figure for the
time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. which stood only in meats, and
drinks, and diverse washings, and carnal or fleshly ordinances
imposed on them until the time of Reformation. There were a
whole series of rituals, ceremonies that they had to observe under
the law, various washings, and so forth. But he speaks also
of meats and drinks, Well now, when we come to the words of
our text, he says quite clearly that the Kingdom of God, the
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is not of this world, the
Kingdom of God is not meat and drink. We're not under that regime
anymore. He says there in Hebrews 13 and
verse 9, it is a good thing that the heart be established with
grace. not with meats which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein." We're not
too busy ourselves about these external matters. That was how
it was under the law. But it's different in the day
of grace. We don't just observe the letter
of the Word of God. Again, look at what Paul says
when he writes to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 4 and verse
20, the kingdom of God, he says, is not in words but in power. We're not to become legal and
make rules and regulations with regards to the observance of
days or with regards to the partaking of certain foods. There is a
blessed liberty under the Gospel. And we read those words in the
17th chapter of Luke's Gospel. the words of the Lord Jesus.
He was demanded of the Pharisees, remember, when the kingdom of
God should come. And how did the Lord answer them?
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall
they say, Lo here, or Lo there, but the kingdom of God, He says,
is within you. All the Jews When they were expected,
looking for the coming of Messiah, they were thinking of that kingdom
that he would establish in terms of the kingdoms of this world.
They expected some sort of external kingdom, something to rival the
great empire of Rome, and other empires that they'd known throughout
their history. But what does the Lord say? His
kingdom does not come with observation. It's interesting, there in Luke
17, 20, the margin says, for observation, outward show. The
Lord's kingdom doesn't come with an outward show, there's not
pomp and ceremony. There's nothing of this world
about it, it's a spiritual kingdom. Even the disciples of course,
as Jews, they were tainted with that very same spirit. They expected
some sort of kingdom, some outward kingdom to be established by
the Lord Jesus. Even after he had been crucified
and risen again and showed himself to them by all those proofs over
40 days before his ascension, There in the opening chapter
of the Acts, the Lord about to ascend from them. But what do
we read in verse 6 of that first chapter? When they, therefore,
were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said
unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons
which the Father hath put in his own power." Well, they were,
even the disciples, they were looking for some sort of kingdom
of this world. It was not to be so. God's kingdom, the kingdom of
our Lord Jesus Christ, it is a spiritual kingdom. We have to remember that. It's not just outward things. It's not the observance of various
rituals. The form of words, though e'er
so sound, can never save a soul. The Holy Ghost must give the
wound and make the wounded whole. It's what God does in the souls
of men. It's what God affects there of his grace when he comes
and brings that sinner under the conviction of his sin and
works salvation in his soul. Not just a matter then of outward
forms. And even in the Old Testament
when the psalmist speaks of that kingdom he makes mention of a
spiritual kingdom. Look at the language that we
have. in the 145th Psalm. And there at verse 11, They shall
speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power to make
known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious
majesty of his kingdom. Oh, when that kingdom comes into
the soul of the man! When God comes and subdues all
that sin that is within the man! and brings him to that point
of submission to the sovereignty of God, brings him to the end
of himself, the recognition of what he is, makes him feel not
only his creatureliness, but his sinfulness, and establishes
in that poor man's heart that blessed reign of Christ. That's
the kingdom of God. Behold, says Christ, the kingdom
of God is within you. The Kingdom of God is within
a man. The Kingdom is not in word only. It's not just ascending to the
truth with our intellect, with our minds. It's not just having
a form. No, the Kingdom of God is not
in word, it's in power. It's in the Holy Ghost, it's
in much assurance. And so, what do we read in the
words of the text? The Kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, not external things, but the Kingdom of God is righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Not outward, but inward,
not natural, but spiritual. It's not law, but it's grace
that's what the kingdom of God is and so observe what he says
here in the second part of our verse this morning and observe the order it is first
of all righteousness the kingdom of God is righteousness what
is this righteousness? it's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ Oh, we have that great verse. I love that
verse back in Isaiah 45 and verse 8. Remarkable verse. Drop down your heavens from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it."
God is the creator of all things, of course He is. He made the
heavens and the earth, and He made all things out of nothing.
He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast.
But what a creation is this? I the Lord have created it. The heavens dropping down righteousness,
the earth opening, and bringing forth salvation and righteousness,
springing up together. It speaks of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, when the fullness of the time was come. God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of son. Oh, that's the greatest of all
the works of God, the blessed work of redemption and salvation. But in particular here we have
mention of the righteousness. Oh, the Lord is well pleased
for His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. Isn't that what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done? He was made of a woman, He was
made under the Lord, He was subject to the law. We're familiar with
these things, we've mentioned them so many times. He who was
really the author of the law, he was God himself, and isn't
Christ the eternal Son of God? He is there, pronouncing those
10 words. And yet, in the fullness of the
time, that Holy Lord of God is going to be honored and magnified
in every one of its precincts. When God pours down righteousness,
it's the accomplishments of Christ in that holy and obedient life
that he lived. He's obedient. He's obedient
in every part of his life. He accomplishes a righteousness.
This is a name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now this is the righteousness
that's being spoken of here in the text. And then he is that
one who is obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He doesn't just honor the law and magnify the law in the deeds
that he performs throughout his life, but also in the death that
he dies. Because he honors it there in
terms of all its dreadful penalties. as He bears that punishment that
was a just desert of those whom the Father had given to Him in
the eternal covenant. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Oh, that precious doctrine of
justification by faith. simply looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ resting in all his work, all his accomplishments. This
is what the Kingdom of God is, it centers in the person and
the work of Jesus Christ. But besides that, that active
obedience of his life, that righteousness that was wrought, that righteousness
that he imputed, reckoned to the account of the sinner there
is also, of course, what we might term the passive obedience that
we see in all his sufferings upon the cross and what does
he accomplish by those sufferings? He brings peace He brings peace. This is what Paul says when he
addresses himself to the church at Colossae, there in the first
chapter of Colossians, at verse 20. We read of Christ having
made peace, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, And you, speaking
to these believers of Colossae, you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. All this peace
that comes by the blood of Christ that sinner who was in a state
of enmity with God, alienated from God but now brought nigh
at peace with God by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so what do we read here in the text? God's kingdom is not only
righteousness, it is also peace. And how does that peace come
into the soul of the sinner? It comes by the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. All of these things you see are
in the Holy Ghost, righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. Or there's that blessed application
of the work of the Lord Jesus. It's not enough for us to see
it before us on the page of our Bibles, to see it Here in Holy
Scripture we want to know what it is to experience these things
in the very depths of our soul, in our consciences. Notice the order here, the order
of the words. Christ's righteousness, that
work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished here upon the earth
must be brought to us by the Holy Spirit if we go into no
peace, peace with God, acceptance in the Beloved. Our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, no more the conscience accusing us, but
now a conscience that is void of offense before God and man. All this peace, it comes, doesn't
it, by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. For as we're justified in
the Lord Jesus Christ, as we know that gift of justifying
faith, Paul says there in Romans 5, we have peace. peace with
God, reconciliation, no more at a distance from God, but made
nigh by the blood of Christ. And this is the great message
that was continually preached by these apostles. This is the
gospel that we find Paul proclaiming there in the 13th chapter of
the Acts of the Apostles. As we've said before, we do have
these records in the Acts of the sermons and the subject matter
of the ministry of these men. We have Peter's great sermon
on the day of Pentecost recorded in some detail there in the second
chapter. But later, in chapter 13 of Acts,
we also read of Paul's preaching when he was in Antioch. And what
does he say? Verse 38, Be it known unto you that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things that they could not be justified from
by the deeds of the law. Oh, there is justification, there
is righteousness, and all of this is found only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the kingdom, the kingdom
of God, righteousness, and peace, and joy, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. That's a tremendous statement,
isn't it, that we have back in the book of Nehemiah, There,
in Nehemiah chapter 8 and the end of verse 10, the joy of the
Lord is thy strength. Oh friends, what do we know of
the joy of the Lord? The joy of the Lord is thy strength. Are we those who are rejoicing
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't that one of the names of
God? I think we mentioned it last
Lord's Day when we were considering those words in Exodus 15. You remember the first part of
that chapter we have the song of Moses at the Red Sea when
God brought the children of Israel safely through the midst of the
sea and destroyed all the pursuing armies of Pharaoh. And then Moses
sang that great song. Well, we were not considering
the song, but we were looking at what happened subsequent to
that great deliverance when Moses leads them forth into the wilderness
and Three days into the wilderness they come to the waters of Mara. Oh, they're desperate for water.
They've not found water for three days. And they came to Mara and
the water was bitter. And we consider now the Lord
God made the bitter water sweet. But I also referred to the song
And what he said there concerning the Lord as the strength of his
people, the Lord is my strength and song and he has become my
salvation. Or isn't this one of God's name,
my strength? He's my strength. And that's
the source of the believers joy. He's all weakness in himself, but his strength is in the Lord.
Can we not rejoice in all that the Lord is and the wonder of
that salvation, the might that he demonstrates as his decree
is executed, as his kingdom comes? It's a mighty kingdom. It's greater
than all the kingdoms of this world. Here is the source of
our rejoicing. Rejoice in the Lord, says Paul.
Always. And again I say, rejoice. We should be a joyful people. We shouldn't walk around with
long faces. We have much to make our hearts
glad. So much to rejoice in the wonder
of this great salvation. and that ever this kingdom should
come into our hearts, and that we should feel anything of that
power of God, that great power that comes in salvation, the
same power that was there in the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, brought into our very souls in order that we might
come to believe these great truths of the everlasting gospel. All God's kingdom then is not
an external affair at all, it's an inward kingdom. It's a spiritual
work, it's the reign of grace in the soul of the sinner, it's
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. But how can
we know it? How can we come into the experience
of it? It's very simple, really. We
have to come to God as little children. All the simplicity of the child
is involved. Nothing very profound in that. Remember the words of the Lord
Himself, there in Matthew 18.3. Verily He says, truly, amen. This is a statement we've got
to take account of. verily I say unto you except
ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not see the kingdom
of God all we have to become as little children in order that
we might know what it is to be subjects of this blessed kingdom
to know this reign of grace established in our souls the simplicity of
it really. Childlike, childlike faith. That's
what's involved. Oh God grant that we might be
those who know that blessed faith. We don't complicate matters. We seek to
see the straightforwardness, the simplicity of what the Lord
does when he brings that blessed kingdom into the soul of the
sinner, and make salvation such a reality, righteousness, peace,
and joy, and all in the Holy Ghost, nothing of ourselves,
but the blessed work of God as He comes. Might the Lord be pleased
then to come and impress His truths upon our soul today, and
feed us, by His Spirit here in His words, and grant that we
might be those who are brought to be the subjects of the kingdom
of God, and to know that great reign of grace. May the Lord
bless His text to us this morning, for the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. Amen. Let us conclude as we worship
God in the singing of the hymn number 31 to the tune Gurontius
150 title or the scripture standing at the head of the hymn the kingdom
of God is in power oh God grant that we might know something
of that power the form of words oh air so sound can never save
a soul The Holy Ghost must give the wounds and make the wounded
whole. Number 31, June 150.