The Kingdom of Heaven is Near

Q: What does the Bible say about the kingdom of heaven?

The Bible teaches that the kingdom of heaven is where Jesus reigns and that it is spiritually present among His people. The kingdom of heaven, as outlined in Scripture, is fundamentally a reign of the Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of His people. This kingdom is not of this world, meaning it operates on spiritual principles rather than earthly ones. According to passages like Matthew 4:17, Jesus proclaimed, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,' indicating the immediacy and accessibility of God's rule through Christ. Furthermore, our Lord emphasized that the kingdom is internal; as seen in Luke 17:20-21, it is described as being within or among us, reflecting a relational dynamic between Christ and His followers.

Q: How do we know the kingdom of heaven is true?

The truth of the kingdom of heaven is confirmed by Jesus' life, His teachings, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in believers. The truth of the kingdom of heaven is validated through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus states, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,' which affirms His sovereign reign and ensures the reality of His kingdom. Moreover, the transformative experiences and testimonies of believers, who are spiritually reborn and granted a desire for God, echo the principles of this kingdom. The presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering believers to live Christ-centered lives, serves as further evidence of the kingdom's truth. Through faith and the proclamation of the Gospel, the kingdom continues to grow and manifest in the lives of those who respond to God's call.

Q: Why is repentance important for Christians?

Repentance is essential for Christians as it signifies a turning away from sin and a return to God, aligning one's life with His will. Repentance holds a pivotal role in the lives of Christians as it embodies the acknowledgment of sin and the need for redemption. In the sermon, it is highlighted that true repentance involves a 'change of mind' and 'godly sorrow' over one’s sin, leading to a turning towards Christ (Matthew 4:17). This act of turning is not only an emotional response but also a spiritual reorientation, demonstrating a desire to submit to Christ as King. Romans 2:4 reminds us that it is 'the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.' Thus, repentance is both a necessary response to God's grace and a continual aspect of the Christian life, as believers strive to reflect the character of Christ and uphold His kingdom values.

Q: How does one enter the kingdom of heaven?

To enter the kingdom of heaven, one must be born again through the Spirit and have faith in Jesus Christ. Entry into the kingdom of heaven requires a spiritual rebirth as outlined in John 3:3-5, where Jesus explains to Nicodemus that 'except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' This birth is made possible through the work of the Holy Spirit, who helps individuals understand their need for salvation and enables them to place their faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 further emphasizes that it is by grace through faith, and not of works, that one is saved. Thus, the pathway into the kingdom is not through human effort but through divine enablement—a transformative work of God in the heart of the believer.

Thank you, Hannah and Gabe. Now
go to Matthew chapter 4 with me. The Gospel of Matthew chapter
4. If you don't know what the kingdom
of heaven is, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of His dear
Son, the first line of that hymn told us. The church. The church of our blessed Redeemer. So there you have it. kingdom
of heaven. Verse 17 is our text. And from that time, Jesus began
to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. From then on, it says, from that
time, he began to preach. Our Lord was a preacher. Preach means to declare, means
to pronounce or set forth God's Word, the truth, the gospel.
Preaching. He pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, or that is, what the world calls foolishness.
But, he said, the foolishness of God, or that is what the world
calls foolishness, is stronger, is wiser than men. And to those
who are being saved, preaching that God uses is the power of
God and the wisdom of God. They've experienced it. Preaching.
It's often called prophesying, too, in the Scripture, prophesying.
He tells us not to despise prophesying. The reason being is that there
will come a day, he said, when men will not want to listen to
preaching. And we're in that day today.
And what is going on in religion mostly is anything and everything
but preaching. But preaching is what the Lord
uses. The prophets preached, didn't
they? They declared God's Word. God's
Son. came into this world, and he
said, I must go into other towns and preach, for thereunto am
I sent. I'm sent to be a preacher, one
to declare God's Word. The apostles, the evangelists,
pastors, teachers, elders, that's teachers, are preachers. Thank
God for preaching and preachers. Thank God. Preaching itself,
the gift, is a gift. The ability to preach is a gift.
When our Lord ascended up on high, He gave gifts unto men.
He gave the gift to preach to men. And He gave preachers and
preaching the gospel to men. It's a gift. It's a wonderful
thing. I love to hear preaching. I love to hear preaching of the
gospel. It does my soul good. Did it do you good to hear those
men come I hope it does you good every time someone stands up
here, even if it's me. But when I heard those men come
and preach it, it did my soul good. And I heard a man... We've been going through this
book. I heard men preach on virtually every passage we've looked at
together. I've heard them preach on CD or sermon audio. And I've been greatly blessed,
greatly. I heard two messages today and
read two more. I love it. This morning I was
feeling particularly down and depressed and started studying
God's Word and reading, as I said, some messages some of the old
preachers preached and then went home. And the time leading up
to right now for me is just I'm just a void. I'm like a woman waiting to give
birth or something. And so I listened to a couple
of messages, one by Brother Clay Curtis, one by Brother Alan Jellett,
and it did my soul good. It just did me good. And thank the Lord for preaching. He came and He preached. If men
despise preaching, So be it. We're in good company, aren't
we, Jay? The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. What must his
preaching have been like? No man spoke like this man. My,
my. Well, here's his message. In
verse 17, it says, From that time he began to preach and to
say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent,
like John. Same message of John, isn't it?
We already looked at that. Well, I guess we'll look at it
again, won't we? Repent. Repent means godly sorrow over
sin. Godly sorrow over what we are. Paul said it, O wretched man
that I am. What we are is what makes us
do what we do. Godly sorrow over what we are,
over what we are not. But we ought to be, and are not.
Godly sorrow over what we have done and what we have not done. Godless sorrow, as one old writer
said, over self-righteousness. How could a sinner saved by grace
ever be lifted up with self-righteousness and pride? Oh, repent. Repent. Repentance also means
to turn. Turn from something. When you
repent, you turn around. You head in a direction. And
you realize you go in the wrong direction and you turn, what
you've done is you've repented. When the Lord was going to destroy
a place, it says it repented Him. That is, He turned from
it. God is not a man that He should repent like we do, but
that's what the word means. He turned from it. Repent means
to change. It means a change of mind. It
means a change of heart. It means a change of direction.
And our Lord preached, repent. Repent. Turn from self. Turn from self-love. Turn to
your Lord. Turn from the world. Save yourself
from this untoward, that is, this generation that's turned
away from God and the things of God. Save yourself. Turn. Turn from it. A change of mind. Repentance is a change of mind.
We need to change our minds or have our minds changed about
what we think about God. Unless God changes our mind about
what we think of Him, we won't know the true and living God.
He said in Psalm 50, Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a
one as Thyself. And this is what can be said
of most people. They think this and they think
that about God. Well, God must change our minds
about Him. Change. Change of heart. To have
the heart set on things above, not on things on the earth. A
heart that loves God and hates sin. A heart that loves Christ
and hates self. It's a change of masters. It's
a change of masters. You can't serve two masters.
You can't serve with two masters. It's being taken from captivity
to the God of this world and being put in the blessed captivity,
willing bondage, or a bond slave, that is, of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is to be changed. Unless
He changes us, unless He turns us, we will not be turned. That's
what it says throughout the Scripture. Turn us, O Lord, and we'll be
turned. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repent. Only God in His goodness can
make a person turn, can change a heart, can make a person feel
truly sorry, brokenhearted over their sin. And now he says this
in verse 17, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom
of heaven is near. Two things that this means. The
kingdom of heaven is near. It's close by. And the kingdom
of heaven is soon. That is, the final consummation
of this kingdom is very soon. So this is an urgent message.
This is why the Lord preached it. This is why John preached
it. Paul preached it. Why he told his disciples to
preach it. Go with me to Matthew 9. Matthew
9. Look over here. The kingdom of
heaven is at hand. The time is short. Kingdoms of
this world are passing. Kingdoms of this world are passing.
Kingdoms have come and kingdoms have go, and the one that we
are a part of right now is soon to be over. Passing. We must be a member of this kingdom,
because this kingdom lasts forever. It's eternal. Verse 35, Matthew 9, verses 35,
Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their
synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Down in chapter 10, He called
out His twelve disciples. Matthew 10, verse 7, He said,
Go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Go preach. What shall we preach? Preach
the kingdom of heaven. The gospel of the kingdom. Now,
back in our text, it says, as soon as he began to preach, from
that time, he began to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. I looked it up. In the gospel
of Matthew alone, the Lord mentioned the kingdom 55 times. So from that time forward until
the end, and just let me read this to you, you don't have to
turn to all of these, I'll save you the time, but in the book
of Acts, from that time, from the beginning until the end,
until the very time that he was taken up, listen to this, it
says the disciples were assembled together and It says, the Lord
was with them forty days, speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God. Paul, who was his preacher to
the Gentiles, went everywhere preaching, and in every one of
his messages, listen to this, it says things like this. It
says that he, let me find it. It says he began to preach, and
he preached things concerning the kingdom of God. And we read
it together in the study. When he was in Rome and in prison,
next to the last verse says he preached the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. Alright,
what is it? What's this talking about? The
Kingdom of God. Repent, for the Kingdom of God
is at hand. What is it? What is it? If God has given you repentance,
if God has given you this godly sorrow, if God has given you
a change of heart, a new heart, if God has given you a new mind,
a new heart, if God has given you this blessed gift of repentance,
here it is, the Gospel of the King. Good news. It's the gospel
of the kingdom. It means good news, the king
is reigning. First of all, what is this gospel
of the kingdom? What is the kingdom of heaven?
It means beginning, first of all, the king reigns. The son of David is right now
on his throne. The son of David is right now
on his throne, reigning and ruling. Good news. Our King is seated
on His throne. Quit worrying. That's good news. Glad tidings. Glad tidings of
great joy. Here it is. Thy God reigneth. The world is all torn up. You
remember in Isaiah where it says they look to the earth and all
this vexation and dimness and darkness and they're looking
for answers. It's all darkness. Good news. Our King reigns. Jesus Christ reigns and rules
over the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.
He doeth according to his will, and the armies of heaven and
the inhabitants of the earth. Good news. We've got good news
for you who have been given this repentance and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's seated on the throne, reigning
and ruling. This was prophesied. The king
coming, as prophesied in Isaiah 9, says that of his government
there will be no end. A child is born, unto us a son
is given. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And of his government, of his reign, there will be no
end. He's coming, the king. Isaiah
32 says a king shall reign in righteousness. And then a star
led those wise men, remember? Wise men to Bethlehem said, here
he is. He's born here in Bethlehem. King. King. And then 30 years later, he showed
up in Nazareth and he stood up one day and read Isaiah 61. And after he closed the book,
he said, good news, I'm here. I've got good news for you. The
king has arrived. That's what this gospel of the
kingdom is. This was at a time when our Lord
appeared. It was at a time when the Jews were under terrible
oppression and bondage and fear under rule of an evil king, Caesar,
such as never been before, none worse anyway, and an evil kingdom,
the Roman Empire. And Christ stood up and said,
good news, your king has come to deliver you from bondage.
on fear. The King is here. Well, you know, that's good news
to us, isn't it, under the reign of Manasseh, like we are? You know who Manasseh was? A few years back, we were under
Ahab and Jezebel. Now we're under Manasseh. Manasseh
did more evil in his day than any man before him, such as the
one we're under right now. That's a fact. That's a fact. We're in a mess, aren't we? We're in a present evil world. It doesn't look like our God
is reigning, does it? Good news, He is. He is. Oh my, He always has for that
matter. You know that? He always has.
I love Psalm 2. Our Lord said this long ago.
He says, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. He said,
I will declare the decree and let the heathen rage and the
people imagine the vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves
together and rulers together against the Lord, but my king
is where he is from. This is such good news. This
is the good news. Our God reigns. Good news to
us. Need not worry. You know, we
worry for the welfare of our children. Don't we? Our grandchildren
worry for the future. What's going to happen to them?
Good news. Christ reigns. Believe it. Rest there. Rejoice. That's what it means to rejoice
in the Lord. Paul said, Paul was in prison
when he wrote that. He says rejoice. And again I
say, rejoice in the Lord. What about Him? He reigns. He reigns. Everywhere. He reigns everywhere. Over the principalities and powers. Rulers of the darkness of this
world. He's the head. He's the King of Kings. and Lord
of lords. And every king, no matter who
he was, who he is, the king's heart is in the hands of the
Lord. Like the rivers of water, he turneth it with us wherever
he will. Good news. The king reigns. The gospel of the kingdom. Now,
if you're not a willing subject, if you're not in subjection to
him, if you're not He said in Psalm 2, kiss the son lest he
be angry. If we're not in subjection to
him, that's not good news to him. Bow. Repent. The kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Where is it? What is it? Look
at John 18. Go over to John 18. This kingdom
of heaven, kingdom of God. It's called the kingdom of his
dear son. is the sphere, the realm or domain where he reigns. John 18. Now, there have been
earthly kingdoms of men. Really, God has reigned over
them all. Remember in Daniel, he said,
the kingdoms of men, God giveth it to whomsoever he will. He
setteth up over it whosoever he will. In Romans 13, here's
good news, there's no power but of God. The powers that be are
ordained of God. There's never been a kingdom
that God didn't put in power. There's never been
a king or a ruler or a president that God did not put in power.
Sure, we vote for them. The lot is cast in the lap, but
the whole disposing barrels of the Lord. Hope. Am I going to
vote? Yes. The lesser of two evils. But I know who's going to be
elected. Just like God knows who's His
elector. Foundations stand assured that
the Lord knoweth them that are His, and known unto God are all
His works from the beginning of the world. But John 18, look
at this. John 18, verse 33, over there. The Lord is standing before Pilate,
and Pilate said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? He answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?
Thine own nation and chief priests 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 Jew. But now is my kingdom not from hence. My kingdom is
not of this world. What is this kingdom? Where is
this kingdom? Well, it's not of this world. It's not of this
world. Look at Luke 17. Go over there.
Luke 17. Another place someone demanded
of him about the kingdom of God, to show them the kingdom of God.
Look at it. Verse 20. Luke 17. Verse 20, when he was demanded
of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered
them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,
that is, outward show. You won't be able to see it.
It's not a thing to be seen. Neither shall they say, look,
there, here, there, no. Behold, the kingdom of God is
within you or among you. So our Lord said to Pilate and
said to these Pharisees, He said, My kingdom is not of this world.
Do you realize how many wars have been fought in the name
of God by various religions? How many wars have been fought
in the name of God, crusades and so forth, in the name of
Christ even, in the name of religion, thinking that His kingdom would
be set up on this earth. And people to this day still
think. And the apostles there in Acts chapter 1 said, Lord,
will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he
said, my kingdom is not of this world. And a whole world is thinking
about, sometimes, a battle called Armageddon. They're going to
look for a gathering over there in that valley of Megiddo, thinking
that the Lord is going to actually come down here and fight some
kind of battle. when they're utterly ignorant
of the fact that he's already fought that battle. And he said, my kingdom is not
of this world. If it were, we would fight. But
it's not. And he said, the kingdom won't,
it doesn't come with observation. Look, they're building a temple.
So what? Our Lord said it won't look.
No, no. Look over here. This is happening. That's happening.
It doesn't come with observation. It's not something you can see.
It's not of this world. It's not a material earthly kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom and
it's within. It's the reign and the rule.
Here it is. What is it? It's the reign and the rule of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of His people. It's the
church. The kingdom of God, the kingdom
of heaven is the church that our blessed Redeemers have. It's
not of this world. It's a spiritual kingdom. And
he said it's within you. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Christ in you, Colossians 1 27
says. His kingdom, like a temple. And
the Revelation says there's no temple there. There's no temple
there. And I've got news for you. In
Revelation 21 where it talks about the city coming down, and
I used to be ignorant of it, the city of New Jerusalem coming
down, that's not a city at all. Because it says she's prepared
like a bride for her husband. It's people. What do they have
to do with a city? We don't need a city. The temple,
he said, is the people of God, and the kingdom is the people
of God. It's his church, and the Lord reigns and rules in
the midst of his people, in his church. That's where he reigns
and rules. John Bunyan wrote a book that
I think, and many others think, is even better than Pilgrim's
Progress, but it's called The Holy War. And in that book, the
devil, whom he called Diabolus, took the town of Mansoul. Mansoul. He took it captive. They willingly
opened the ear gate and the eye gate, like Eve, to the devil. And he came in, and where he
went was to the castle in the middle of town. There was a castle
in the middle of town, the town of Mansoul. And he went there
and he sat on the throne. of the castle in the middle of
the town of Mansoul. And that's where he reigned and
ruled in the hearts of his people, holding his captivity, the people
of this world. Alright? A cry went out to El
Shaddai, help us, save us, save us. Remember they said, remember
my Mr. Wet Eyes? Help us. Come save us. So he did. He sent
Emmanuel, his blessed son, to do this job. And remember, he
had to break down the ear. They wouldn't open the ear to
him. He had to break it down. He had to break down the eye
gate. And what did he do? He went straight into the town
and marched right up to that castle and bound that fellow
in chains. and led him down that street
captive for all to see. He's in chains. And then he,
Emmanuel, went back to that castle and sat on that throne reigning
and ruling in the hearts of his people. It's a spiritual kingdom. It's an unseen kingdom. It's
a particular people. It's not a particular place.
It's a particular people. Where do they come from? Every
tribe, kindred, nation and tongue under heaven. The Exodus, I just
read some of that, when they came out of Egypt, it says there's
a great mixed multitude. And at Pentecost, I read that,
it says there was a people out of every nation under heaven
at Pentecost. What were they hearing? They
heard Christ enthroned. They heard the message of a reigning,
ruling Christ, and they bowed to Him, and they repented of
their sin, and they confessed Christ, and they were baptized,
all of them. And they're now in the kingdom. That brings me
to my next point. How does one get in this kingdom?
How does one get into the church of Christ? How does one get into
this kingdom? John 3. Go over to John chapter
3. John chapter 3. Go over there
with me. This is our Lord speaking to a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee,
a religious leader who didn't have a clue about the kingdom.
Thought he did, but he didn't. I've already told you that these
people were chosen by God, given to Christ, who lived for them
and died for them and paid for their sins. It's a holy kingdom. But in John 3, he speaks to this
Pharisee in verse 3, and he said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, or that is, born from above, born
of God. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. He can't even see the kingdom
of God. It's a spiritual kingdom. The
natural man will not have this man reign over him. The natural
man receiveth not the things of God. They're foolishness to
him. The natural man only wants what he can see and what he can
feel and what makes him feel good and what is flesh. But God
has to give a new man, has to give a new creature, a spiritual
being. He has to give ears to hear the
gospel of the kingdom, eyes to see things that are unseen. Our Lord said this one time.
He said, this is the Father's will that everyone that seeth
the Son, and believeth on him." Well, have you ever seen the
Son? Anybody in here ever seen the Son with your physical eye?
Why, no. Oh, hold on now. He said, "...he
that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, shall have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Wait a minute
now. John, have you seen the Son? With the eye of faith? Every single one of God's people
He's given them eyes to see Christ in His glory. Eyes to see their
need of Christ. Eyes to see Christ as the way,
the truth, and the life. Eyes to see that He's their one
mediator, their one substitute, their covenant head, their all
and in all. Eyes to see Christ. Every one
of them. Ears to hear His voice. He said,
My sheep, hear My voice. Well, has anyone heard the actual
voice of the Son of God? Anybody? No, but he said, my sheep hear
my voice. They'll all hear my voice. What
is it? It's the gospel of the kingdom.
It's the gospel. And so he gives a heart, a desire
to want in this kingdom. And they cry out, Lord, make
me a member of thy kingdom. Make me a subject of thy kingdom.
Let me in thy kingdom. Kingdom of heaven suffered violence,
and the violence, take it by force. I want in. What Brother
Mike preached about, didn't he? I want in. Let me in this kingdom. I see your kingdom. I see my
need of Christ the King. I see that He reigns and rules.
I need His blood. I need His righteousness. I need
His salvation. I want to be in this kingdom.
I see His beauty. One thing have I desired, and
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord
and inquire in His temple. Let me in. Anybody that says that's because
they've been born again. They've been given a heart to
receive this kingdom and to desire it. My, my. I want in this kingdom,
don't you? Anybody? Let me in your kingdom. Lord, thy kingdom come. What
did the thief on the cross say? What did he realize? What was
his dying realization? What brought him to life? What
brought him out of darkness to life? Death to life? What made
him quit cursing the king and all of a sudden worshiping the
king? He said, Lord, you're coming into your kingdom. See this? You're coming into your kingdom.
You're the king. You know when that battle of Armageddon was
fought? Right there on Calvary's cross. That's when all the forces
of evil were against the Lamb, and they made war against the
Lamb, and what happened? Who won? The Lamb. There's no more war. No more battle. Say it. Comfort
my people. Tell them. The warfare is accomplished
by Christ on Calvary's tree. Satan's in a chain. So are his angels. You can look
all you want for some kind of battle to take shape. There's
going to be wars and rumors of wars, all right, but the Lord
didn't even mention it. In Matthew 24, when He talked
all about His coming in the last days, He didn't mention any war. Well, how do you get in this
kingdom? Look at verse 5. The Lord said,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. Born of water. Born of the Spirit. Born of water. What's water?
Ephesians 5 talks about the washing of water by His Word, whom He
begat by the Word of truth. Begotten by the Word of truth,
the gospel of our salvation. The Word, the gospel. And His
Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, must take that word,
that gospel, and plant it in our hearts and give new birth
and make us a willing, desirous, desirous subject of the King. There was a time when I saw no
beauty whatsoever in Christ that I should desire. Now, what about
you? That wasn't my doing. It was
someone else's. It's the work of the Lord. You
know, years ago it used to be this way anyway. You'd go into
a foreign country. Three things were required in
order to enter a foreign country. And if you're a natural-born
citizen, you're free to come and go, right? Jews or Israel,
you know, was a kingdom and people could enter but only by adoption, or strangers could
come in only by permission. But anyway, and I remember this
well going into Mexico years ago, right along with four passports. But there were three things you
needed in order to enter that country, and we used to have
to take them with us. Number one, you had to have a
birth certificate. In order to enter that country,
you had to have a birth certificate. You had to prove you'd been born.
A birth certificate. Our Lord said, except you be
born again. Can't enter the kingdom. Can't
come in. Birth certificate. Second thing
that you needed in order to get into a foreign country was a
clean criminal record. If you have a criminal record
against you, they're not going to let you in. The United States
won't let you in if you've got a criminal record on you. You've
got to have a clean... In other words, anything against
you, you can't have anything against you. No crimes against
you. Are you with me? And then the
third thing, the country you're entering has to give you permission. A visa. Do you want in? It's
up to them. You can't demand to come in a
foreign country. You're a stranger. You can't demand to come in.
They've got to say, and boy, that used to be a trying time,
didn't it? Remember? Standing there waiting on that
fellow and he'd look at you. What? You're in. The same things
are needed to get into God's kingdom. You must be born again. What's our certificate? What's
your certificate? Let me ask you. If they were
to ask you for a certificate of birth, what would it be? Prove
it. Can you? You better be able to say something
from this Word, what God's Word says. Bunyan's pilgrim had this
robe in his pocket. that was going to give him right
to come into the celestial city. He carried this robe around with
him the whole time. It was his certificate of birth,
and it was the Word of God. It was the Word of God. And a
clean record. If you've got anything against
you, you can't come into God's holy kingdom. Nothing in there
will be nothing in there to defile us. If you've got any sin, On
your record, you can't come in. You got it? How do you know? Prove it. We answer Him. You see, when the Lord tempted
Satan, we answer the same way. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. And then lastly, permission.
You have to be granted permission to enter in that country. Well, listen to this. In 1 Thessalonians
2, it says, it says, God hath called you by our gospel. Thanks be unto God who called
us by the gospel. Stan, come in. He said, come
unto me. Come on. Come on. He that laboreth
in heavy labor. Come on. Permission. Permission. Permission granted.
Today is an acceptable year of the Lord. You want in? Come on. The door of the ark is open.
You want in? The door is open. Come on. Nothing is hindering you. Come
on. Well, the last thing. Let's look at this. When is it?
He says there in our text, look at it one more time, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. That is, it's near. It's near. It's right in front of you, he
said. Say not in thine heart, he said this to Roma, say not
in thine heart, let's go up or who shall come down to us? The
word is nigh you, even in your mouth. The kingdom of heaven
is right in front of you. You're listening to it. The Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand. It's right in front of you. The
Kingdom of Heaven is near. It's very soon. Our Lord in Matthew
24 said, when the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached all over
the world, then it's over. Now, there's never been a day
when the Gospel is preached like it is now in every tribe, kindred,
nation. Never. This is it. He's at the
door. It's near. It's at hand. And
our Lord's last parable, amazingly, in Matthew 13, all of those parables,
there were seven of them, seven parables all spoke of the kingdom. And the very last one was about
a net. The gospel net. And it enclosed
all sorts of... when He brought them all in. Look at this and I'll close.
Revelation 21. Here's some blessed privileges
to be in this kingdom. Revelation 21. Would you stay
with me? Because here's a great lesson. Revelation 21. Wonderful privileges,
joys, happiness, the state of everyone in this kingdom. Here's
a description of the kingdom of God. The happy subjects in
that kingdom. The Scripture says, Happy is
he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Oh, he says, happy
is he, is a people that is in such a case, whose God is the
Lord. Here in Revelation 21, it says in verse 2, it says,
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men. He will dwell with them. They
shall be His people. And God Himself shall be with
them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away. He said over in
another place, no more hunger, no more thirst. The sun shall
not smite them by day, nor the moon by night, we sing. Look at verse 23 here of the
same text. Verse 23. The city had no need
of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory
of God did lighten it. What a glorious place! And the
Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are
saved shall walk in the light of it. We're going to come and
sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and Solomon. And they'll bring their glory
and their honor into it. In verse 27, there shall in no
wise enter anything that defileth or anything that worketh abomination. This world and everything in
it is abomination, isn't it? It's a defiled place. It's a
corrupt place. But in this new kingdom, nothing
shall defile it. Nothing. Riches, wisdom, strength,
honor, glory, blessing. Queen Sheba came to Solomon to
hear him and listen to what she said. After she had seen the
meat of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance
of his ministry and their apparel, his cupbearers, And Solomon ascended
up to his throne. She said, It was true what I
heard in my own land of thy acts and thy wisdom. How be it? I
believe not, until I came and mine eyes had seen it. Behold,
the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded
the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men. Happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and
hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel.
Because the Lord loved Israel forever, He made you king." And
that's what we're all going to say when we behold the King on
His throne. Happy. Happy. And you won't have
to listen to any more poor sermons like this one. Okay, stand with
me. Like Virgie said, you don't have
to hear any more bad preaching. It's a very long battle I think.
It's one of the few things that I think is one of the few things
that I think is one of the few things that I think is one of the few things that I think
is one of the few things that I think is one of the few things that I think
is one of the few things that I think is one of the few things that I think is
one of the few things that I think is one of the few things that I think
is one of the few things that I think is one of the few things
that I think is one of the few things that I think is one of the few things
that I think is one of the few things that I think is one of
the few things that I think is one of the few things that I think is one
of the few things that I think is one of the few things that
I think is one of the few things that I think is one of the few
things that I think is one of the few things that I think is one of the few things
that I think is one of the few things that I'm going to talk a little bit
about what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to talk a little bit
about what I'm going to be doing. You can tell that from that picture. you.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Near

What does the Bible say about the kingdom of heaven?

How do we know the kingdom of heaven is true?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How does one enter the kingdom of heaven?

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The Kingdom of Heaven is Near

What does the Bible say about the kingdom of heaven?

How do we know the kingdom of heaven is true?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How does one enter the kingdom of heaven?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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