And in this series of Bibles,
we start on the person and work
of the Holy Spirit, God willing, next week. These things are so
essential for us to know and learn, and we know some of these
things, and it's good to look at them again. That's why the
Apostle said, If any man bring any other doctrine other than
the doctrine of Christ, bid him not Godspeed, for if thou bid
him Godspeed, Ask him not empty house, nor neither bid him Godspeed.
For if thou bid him Godspeed, you are a partaker of him and
his evil deeds. And that's why Paul said, if
a man preaches any other gospel. And so we need to learn these
things over and over and over again. But here, I want to talk
about seven things, seven things of the kingdom of Christ, seven
things in the kingdom of God, that Christ is king. And that
relates to us. And men have for centuries been
looking for the kingdom of God to come. In Paul's day, there
were those who sat down and quit working. The Thessalonians did,
because they said, he's coming, there ain't no sense in us doing
anything. He said he was coming right back. And Paul says, no,
there's going to be some signs. There's going to be some things
happening. He said, you know, there'd be a departure from the
faith. There'd be so many things that would happen before he'd
come again. I didn't want you to be troubled
by these things. But they've been looking for
centuries for the kingdom of God to come, and the Jews, even
the apostles, were particularly interested in it. They asked
the Lord Jesus before He ascended back to glory. They said, Lord,
will Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? They were
very interested in the kingdom. And the fundamentalists and the
premillennialists, they have a great interest, as the Jehovah's
Witnesses do. And they all think about a kingdom
that's to come, that it's going to be a thousand-year reign on
this earth. And I know that whenever you can get fundamentalists,
premillennialists, and Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Jews all believe
the same thing about the kingdom of God to come, then you know
good and well they got to be wrong. When the Jehovah's Witnesses
don't believe in Jesus Christ as God, Jews don't believe that
Jesus Christ is the Messiah. And the fundamentalists will
fight you over the King James Version of the Bible. And they
all have the same views when it comes to the Kingdom of God
and Christ's coming. They have what they call a postponement
theory. And it's this, this dispensationists
do, that Christ came, that God came, and He offered the Kingdom
of God, offered the Kingdom, and Christ is the King, to Israel,
and they rejected Him. So He says, well, Since they've
done that, I guess I'll just have to turn to the Gentiles
then. And that's why they divide the
Word of God up to the Church of God, to the Jews, and to the
Gentiles, and they make each particular verses apply to different
people, and that's why it's called dispensationalism. I call it
heresy. But, beloved, and I know they're
wrong, and they talk so much about the kingdom, but they talk
very, very little about the king. Very little about him. And one
of the most deceiving and unscriptural expectations, and I mentioned
this last week, is that people have expectations that people
have is to be in a kingdom without a king. And that's another thing
that premillennialists have done, and fundamentalists have done,
is that they've had this theory, and they preach and teach this,
that when Christ comes again, when he sets up his thousand-year
reign on the earth, what's going to happen is, is that first thing
he's going to do is he's going to sneak in here and slip his
church out, like a thief in the night. Sneak them out of here.
Everybody else is going to be left behind. All the Jews are
going to be left behind, and all the Baptists that didn't
live good, didn't live right, didn't let Christ be Lord of
their life, they're going to have to stay here and endure
seven years' tribulation. And in that seven years' tribulation,
he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. They
say that's what that endureth to the end means. And so they
got to, that's a Baptist purgatory. You've got to accept it don't
last forever, it just lasts for seven years. But had the Holy
Spirit's going to leave, so how are the world's men going to
be converted? And that's why they mean that you know you have
to endure. Those who will endure and endure
that tribulation to the very end and won't deny Christ without
the Spirit of God now, they'll be saved in the Millennial Kingdom. And I don't believe any of that
stuff, but that's what they think about. It's all the views that
they have about, and that's why I say it's the most scriptural,
most deceiving unscriptural expectations that people have to be in a kingdom
without a king. But beloved, I know, and you
know, that everything in this world, in this world, in the
world to come, belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father
loved the Son and hath given all things into His hands. And
He is the King of kings, and there are several things that
I want to talk about about Christ being king in the kingdom of
God that Christ is. And the first one is here in
verse 13 of Colossians chapter 1. This kingdom that God gave
to His Son, and that's what's called here. He says, we give
thanks, in verse 12, give thanks unto the Father which hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom," and if you look in the margin,
"...of the Son of His love, or the severe Son of His love."
And that's the kingdom that God's put us in. That's the kingdom,
and He put us in this kingdom. We didn't put ourselves in this
kingdom. God translated us from the power of darkness, from the
kingdom of darkness, from darkness that dwelt in us, the darkness
of religion, the darkness of tradition, and translated us
into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Now, I want you to
see something in Revelation 11.15. Revelation 11.15. I almost used
this for my text tonight. But look here in Revelation 11.15,
talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. Talking about king and
his kingdom. And all the kingdoms belong to
Him. It said here in Revelation 11, 15, And the seventh angel
sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Oh, is there
a kingdom on this earth that's not His? And the chief glory The chief
glory of God's kingdom is His King, and God established this
kingdom upon the kingship, upon our Lord Jesus Christ, established
it upon Christ's honor and Christ's exaltation. That's why our Lord
Jesus says, Thou hast given Him, talking about Himself, power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. Thou hast given him a name which
is above every name, that every knee should bow, every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What for? To the glory
of God the Father. And he must reign until the last
enemy is destroyed. Now he's no paper king. He's
no figurehead. He's no pretender after the throne. He's not waiting to ascend to
a throne. He sits on his throne now and
borrows no leave to be. He sits at the right hand of
God, the majesty on high, the position of power, the position
of authority, the position of honor. People say, well, he's
my right-hand man. That means, beloved, he's the
one that I absolutely look to for everything. And God sent
His Son high and holy and lifted him up and said, here are the
kingdoms of this world. They're yours. Do with them as
you please. And I'll tell you what, it'd be a miserable world
to live in if we didn't believe that. With this situation, the
way it is right now. And I'll tell you something,
he's always been king. So it's the kingdom. He put us in the
kingdom. And as the chief glory of this
kingdom is the king himself. Let me tell you something else
about Christ as his kingdom. It's a united kingdom. Back over
here in Colossians 1, just a moment. It's a united kingdom. Where's
the united at? You know, that's what they call,
Britain, they call it the united kingdom. Well, this is the only
united kingdom in heaven and earth and hell and every place.
This is the only united kingdom there is, those between Christ. That's right. Look here in verse
18. It said, He is the head of the
body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence."
He's the head of the body. Back over to Ephesians 1, just
a moment. Look in verse 10 of Ephesians
1. You see, in our Lord's kingdom, and it says here, that in the
dispensation of the fullness of time, When everything's through,
when God's fulfilled the good pleasure of His mystery and of
His will in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, He might gather together one in all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven, which are on earth. Where are they
going to be gathered at? Even in Him. In Him. In Him. And over down in verse 22 here,
Ephesians said, "...and put all things under His feet." gave
him to be the head over all to the church, which is his body. Now, beloved, his kingdom is
a united kingdom. His kingdom's not defined by
geographical boundaries. America's defined by geographical
boundaries. The United Kingdom of Britain's
bound by geographical boundaries, but not Christ's kingdom. No,
no. And I tell you what, his boundaries
reaches from pole to pole, from every direction, from one time
beginning to the time ending, all of his kingdom is. All of
his subjects are united in him. He has no rebels in his kingdom.
All of his subjects are united in him, and it's a spiritual
union that we have. It's not a fleshly union. It's
not a union based on anything other than our union in relationship
to Christ. And I tell you, beloved, that's
why it says there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God,
one Father of all, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only
is it united, beloved, but it's an innumerable kingdom of men.
This united kingdom, it's an innumerable company of men. You
know, the Scriptures tell us that there's a multitude that
no man can number, and that's how many peoples in this kingdom.
You know, we think it's just us once in a while. We're the
only ones left. That's what they thought, you
know. That's why Elijah said, I'm the only one left. God said,
Elijah, I've got 7,000 of you. I'm in a cave. Ain't everybody
need a bell yet. And so you see, but listen, God
is the only one. Of His kingdom, there shall be
an increase. And David, when he numbered Israel,
2 Samuel 24, when he numbered Israel, Joab told him, said, don't do
this. These are God's people. God knows His people. You don't
know them, and David, don't count them. Don't count His people.
Don't count them and act like you're king over a great, great,
long... He said, they're God's people. Oh, and David, don't
count them. Well, David said, I don't want
them all counted. God gave him three flags to choose from. David
sinned and numbered his kingdom. Well, our Lord's kingdom can't
be numbered. The only one that can knock rope
is Him. You know, He knows where they're
at. There's lots of people in the church that's not in the
kingdom. There's a lot of people have the name, but they're not
in the kingdom. And that's why, you know, it says when they come
to the marriage supper, and they said, there's a fellow showed
up there, and he said, how come this guy in here not having a
wedding garment? He was shocked that they didn't
know that he had it. He thought he's already fixed
up. He thought he's invited. No, no, no, no. You've got no
right to be in here. And that's what he's talking
about. But, oh, this kingdom, this united kingdom has an innumerable
multitude of men in it. And not only that, beloved, but
it's a righteous kingdom. I love this about it. There's
not a soul in which Christ is king over in His kingdom. Every
single soul in it is a righteous subject. He says, Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. And watch this, Thy scepter.
Thy scepter is the scepter of righteousness. And, O beloved,
when our Lord, when our Lord, when He brings His kingdom to
bear in me, in you, or anybody else, there'll be no defilement
in it. Now, listen to me. I'm telling
you the truth here now. There will be no defilement in
this kingdom. There's no sin in this kingdom.
None whatsoever in this kingdom. Ain't that right? Now, you know,
God said when he looked for Jacob, he said, there's no sin found
in him. He looked for Judah, and there's no sin found in him.
And I said, what does he mean? He means, beloved, that he gives
us in Christ and in this kingdom, this king has a righteous kingdom,
and every subject in this. And that's why the new heaven
and new earth, we're in dwelleth righteousness. How come that
is? This new kingdom right now that
we live in, every soul in it is righteous from the top of
his head to the sole of his foot, in his heart, in his soul, in
his mind, in his will, as if he obeyed his king perfectly. Because I tell you, this kingdom
was established by a righteous God upon the righteousness of
His dear, blessed, holy Son. And I love this righteous kingdom.
People talk all the time about, well, you need to quit this sin,
you need to quit that sin. There's lots of things I'd like
to quit doing. There's lots of things I'd love to start doing.
But, beloved, I'm not saved because I stop and start doing things.
I'm not saved because I've got the best intentions. I'm not
saved because my faith is strong or my faith is weak. I'm saved
because Christ is in me. God established this kingdom
upon His Son, and His Son is a righteous Son, and God's kingdom
is established upon His righteousness. And, beloved, He's thee holy
as I am holy, and the only way we can be holy is to be in God
in Christ, His blessed Son, who is holy. That's the only way
it can be. And let me tell you something
else about that. Not only is it the kingdom of the Son of His
love, put in it, translated in it, it's united. It's innumerable. It's righteous. But let me tell
you something else in John 18. Let me show you this right here.
John 18. It's not of this world. It's
another one of these things I love about Christ being King. It's
not of this world. We looked at this last week,
but it won't hurt us to look at it again. In verse 33, John 18, it says this, into the judgment hall again
and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself to others? Tell it be of me. Potter answered
him, Am I a Jew? I don't care who you are. If
you're king over them, that's fine with us. I don't care. Thine
own nation and thy chief priests have delivered thee unto me.
What hast thou to say? Now watch this. Our Lord answered,
My kingdom is not of this world. And down there in verse 37, Pilate
said, Then art thou a king? Then Jesus says, Thou sayest
that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world. So when it says it's not of this
world, that means it's not of the flesh. If it was of this
world, he said, my subjects would fight. And I tell you, beloved,
this kingdom, because it's not of this world, it's founded on
godly spiritual principles. When Simon Peter took that sword
in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he cut off Malchus's ear,
our Lord said, put up your sword. If you live by the sword, you'll
die by the sword. And he fixed that man's ear. And you see,
the kingdom of God, it's founded on godly spiritual principles.
And it's spread. Not by might, neither power,
but by the Spirit of God, by the gospel. Now, I said the other
night, we was back there talking, what if the government was to
turn against us? What if we had to start suffering like people
did in the scriptures, like Paul did? Held in jail here in Youngton,
Peter and James and John, and James taken out and beheaded.
What if we had to suffer things like that? What if the government
stood up against us and started trying to put the church out
of business? How would we fight back? We couldn't take up swords. We couldn't take up guns. That's
not the way the children of God have ever acted. That's not the
way our Master acted. We could not fight back. The
only weapons we have is the Word of God, faith, prayer, the scriptures,
the promises of God. That's the weapons by which God
has established His kingdom. That, when Paul was in prison,
and he was preaching, he says, I'm bound. Physically, I'm bound. I can't go anywhere, can't do
anything. I'm held here a prisoner. But he says the Word of God's
not bound. And I tell you what, he was writing them letters,
and he was preaching from that prison. When John Bunyan spent
12 years in that dungeon there in Bedford, he wrote, filled
with progress, the second best-selling book in the world besides the
Bible. So God uses His Word and uses His people whenever Persecutions,
we have to use the word. And that's why this kingdom,
he said, if this kingdom were the world, don't you think that
my subjects would fight? They'd be standing here fighting
right now. But he says, my kingdom's not
of this world. And oh, it's not spread by might or power, but
by the gospel. And it's not sensual. It don't
have nothing to do with the sensuals. It has nothing to do with this
flesh. It has nothing to do with what goes in your mouth. It's
not what you eat. It's not what you drink. The
kingdom of God is righteousness, and joy, and peace in the Holy
Ghost. It has nothing to do with the
flesh. I remember Funt Fish P. Williams
saying years and years ago some of the things that they would
say while they was preaching. He says, Boyle said, when that
millennial comes, he says, they'll be raising watermelons big as
Volkswagen's. He says, you know, little children
will be playing with snakes on the And we'll wear, we'll take a
rattlesnake and make a necktie out of it. That's how good it's
going to be in the kingdom of God. Fish in the river of life. Fish, you know, and it's just
ridiculous stuff like that. Ridiculous stuff like that. That's
sensual, that's carnal, that's fleshly. And that don't have nothing to
do with Christ saving a man from sin. Does it? And that's why,
beloved, people in this kingdom, it's not a central, it's not
a carnal kingdom. It has nothing to do with census.
It has nothing to do with anything carnal. It's a spiritual principle
thing. Look over with me here in 1 Timothy
chapter 4. This is one of the things that
men do in the last days. 1 Timothy chapter 4. This is
one of the things that men... You see, people in this kingdom,
that's not of this world, They hunger and thirst after righteousness.
They're not looking for watermelons. They're not looking for their
children to play on the hole of an ash. They're not looking,
you know, and they say, oh, that's when the lion and the lamb will
lay down together. Well, listen, the lion and the
lamb lay down together right now across the line of the tribe
of Judah, and we're His sheep, and we lay right down at His
feet. Isn't that right? And the lion bleats for joy.
Huh? And all my roses bloom right
in the desert, right out of the dry, hid desert of our souls.
Christ caused the gospel to bloom in our souls and bring forth
fruit to His glory. And oh, here in 1 Timothy 4,
this is what men will do in the last days. Now, the Spirit speaks
expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, and that faith means what we actually believe. Giving
heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils. Speaking lies and
hypocrisy. Telling you everything that you're
supposed to do, but you're lying about it. Having their conscience
seared with a hard iron. Forbidding to marry. Commanding
to abstain from meat. You can't eat that meat. You
can't eat that meat over there. Which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which, watch this, which
believe and know the truth. I mean, there ain't nothing unclean
of itself, is what our Lord said. For every creature of God is
good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.
If you can take anything God gives you, you say, it's good,
and I can receive it as thanksgiving. I don't care what it is. And
that's what he's talking about here. And in this kingdom, men
in this kingdom, they hunger and thirst after righteousness.
And they live by faith. They don't live by sight. They
don't live by what they see. They live by who they see, by
faith. Let me tell you something else
about talking about this kingdom, spiritual kingdom, based on spiritual
principles. Not sensual, not carnal. It's
a spiritual kingdom. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. He said over there, flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood can't
do it. I'm flesh and blood right now. But now, wait a minute. Well, how in the world do you
get into the spiritual kingdom if you're flesh and blood? Well,
men must be born again, except a man be warned of the water
and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And you know
that which is born after the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born after the spirit is spirit. Paul said in Romans 8, 7, you
can look at this yourself when you get home, he says, They that
are in the flesh cannot please God. For the carnal mind is enmity
against God, neither can it subject to the law of God, and they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. But you're no longer in
the flesh, if so be it the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you. Huh? But you look good in that
flesh, you'd love it. God looks at me as a spiritual
man, and I think of myself as a spiritual man. It's this old
body, this old rotten body here, that hinders my spiritual relationship. But I'm a spiritual man according
to God. Ain't that right? So I've got to be born again.
And oh, beloved, people in this kingdom, this spiritual kingdom,
you can't get in it without the Spirit of God. Our Lord says,
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. And people in this kingdom, they
have lived in different generations, lived in different countries,
all have different names and different lifestyles and different
cultures, but that don't mean nothing. Every single one of
us in this kingdom, we've all been born again by the Spirit
of God, been regenerated. that every single one of them
confessed their sins and repent toward God. Every one of them
confessed their sins and repent toward God. Every single one
of them in this kingdom. All believed Christ is the only
Redeemer. No one else was able to pay for
their sin. No one else satisfied the justice
of God on their behalf. And every one of them, whatever
century, whatever generation, whatever country, whatever The
generation they lived in, they all draw their faith from one
blessed book, the Bible. Every single one draws their
faith from the same blessed book, the Bible. And they all... You go back and find Isaiah.
Go back and find Abel. Go to Abel. What was Abel doing? He was looking to the only Redeemer,
Christ. He was worshiping God in spirit
and in truth. He was walking by faith and not
by sight. And you go down through the ages
and wherever they're at, they all worship the true and the
living God. And they all, every single one
of them, love Christ and love Christ. And those who love Christ
love one another. Love one another. And I tell
you, they all desire to walk and to His glory and walk in
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. And every single one of
them is indwelt by the same Spirit. The Scriptures tell us that the
Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. And let me tell you something
else about this spiritual kingdom. It's not just in word, but it's
in power. It's in power. Let me show you
that over here in 1 Thessalonians. Back to your left just a little.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 5. That's why Paul, you know,
he says that, you know, when I preach, he said, I preach Christ.
I preach Him crucified. Not in the wisdom of men's words.
I don't try to persuade men into anything. I don't try to talk
them into anything. I preach the gospel. I preach
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's your faith.
Stand not in the power of men, not in what men talk you into.
If a man can talk you into faith, if a man can talk you into a
profession, if a man can talk you into believing a set of doctrines,
somebody with a stronger personality, with a stronger argument of come
along and convince you that that's wrong and something else is better.
And that's why he says, you know, he says, I preach this way that
your faith, your faith, your belief, your trust in God might
not stand in the power and wisdom of men, but it stands in the
power of God. That God done this for you. God
worked this salvation in you. God regenerated you by His Word. And that's why he said here in
Ephesians, 1 Thessalonians 1.4, Knowing brethren, beloved, your election
of God. How did you know their election,
Paul? For our gospel came unto you, not unto you in word only. I got up and I used words. I
used words. But it also came in power. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And it came in the
Holy Ghost. It came by the Spirit of God.
And when it came in power, and it came in the Holy Ghost, with
brought much assurance with it that this is the truth as it
is in Christ. Assurance that what you're hearing
is the word of God. Assurance that what you're hearing
is come from God himself, is by the Spirit of God. And that's
why he says, you know, the word's not, the kingdom not in word
only. God's kingdom and Christ and
His kingdom is a reality. It's a reality. It's not just
empty words. It's not just empty words for
us. We really are in a kingdom, a spiritual kingdom. And the
Word is alive, and it's life-producing. It comes, it quickens us, it
sharpens, it discerns our thoughts and intents of our heart. It
quickens our minds, it quickens our hearts, it quickens our understanding,
it answers to Christ in us. And that's why they said about
our Lord Jesus Christ, they were astonished at his doctrine, for
he spake as one having authority. He never made no suggestion,
I suggest, he never stood up and said, I suggest, or I'd like
to share it with you. He never said nothing like that.
He just told, he just preached, and if you believed it, he said
he knew who would believe. And oh, beloved, let me tell
you this quickly, Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Ah, this is wonderful right here.
In all this kingdom of which Christ is king over. He said,
Hebrews 12.28, look what it says here. Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom, which cannot be moved, let us
have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Now, this kingdom
is immovable. God said this about His Son.
He said, Thy throne is established of old. Now, I said, here, He
says, you know, we have a kingdom which cannot be moved, which
cannot be shaken. He said in verse 27, And this word, yet once more,
signifies the removing of the things that are shaken, as of
things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken
may remain. And what will remain? The kingdom
that cannot be moved. Now, there's things that have
been shaken. There's a lot of things shaken in this world.
The opinions of men have been shaken and tore down and changed
so many times over the centuries. Prophecies. Prophecies. Now there's a group of people
that's teaching that Christ is going to return, I think, May
the 12th or May the 22nd more than this year. And radicals
tell me the other day that people already started planning their
vacations to be off at that time, so that when Christ comes, you
know, they'll all be together when He comes to take them out
of here. You don't have to take a vacation for Christ to come
to get you. You don't know where you work
at. Isn't that ridiculous? But all the things, the prophecies
have been shaken. Promises have been shaken. The kingdoms of this world, how
many have them been shaken? Thrones have been tore down. Right now
there's revolutions all over this world. There's revolutions
all over the Mideast. There's two or three kingdoms
over there being overthrown right now over in Africa, all over
this world. And I tell you, beloved, the
kingdom that's in this world right now, America, it'll be
shaken. And America's being shaken right now. And it will be shaken,
and one day it'll cease to be. But I tell you, we're the kingdom. They can't be shaken. Oh, things
that will be moved will be shaken. False foundations, they'll be
moved. A storm will come, the wind will blow, and the rain
will descend, and that house built on the sand, boom, down
it'll go. Those foolish virgins that woke
up in the middle of the night and said, give us of your oil,
when the bridegroom come. They can't. Men's fortunes, will
be removed and shaken. Men's futures will be removed
and shaken. But Christ and His kingdom is
sure, is sure. God said, I lay inside for a
foundation of stone, a tri-stone, a sure foundation. Oh, beloved,
it's based upon His word. His word is sure. Forever, O
Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, and I love this, beloved." Now listen, you think about this.
Heaven and earth are going to pass away. But our Lord says,
My word shall endure forever. You know that this word right
here will be what will be going out throughout the church. This
is the same word. This is the book that's going
to be opened to judgment by right here. And it's going to come
to find out whether they believed it or not. where they believe
the message of it, the testimony of God. And oh, beloved, and
I tell you, His Word, our hope secures. Is that Him that we
sing, His Word, my hope secures? How many He told us, He says,
I'm going away to prepare a place for you, but if I go away to
prepare a place for you, I will! I will! I will! I'll come again
and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. I'll keep you by My power. And
oh, what a hope we have because of that. This is an everlasting
kingdom. I read it to you there in the
Revelations. He shall reign forever and ever
and ever. And then let me show you this
in Luke 17, the last thing. Here's the sixth thing. Luke
17, verse 20. Talk about people looking for
the kingdom to come, looking for a millennial kingdom. Tribulation periods, all kind
of rigmaroles like that, but look what it says here, Luke
17, 20. And 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. You can't say, oh, you can't
look out here and say, boy, where's the kingdom at? When's it coming?
When's it coming? When's it coming? What's this? And I mean, get
out your charts and say, well, this has got to happen, that's
got to happen. But he says what he says here. They say, lo here or lo there. There's over here, it's over
there, it's over there. What's this? For the kingdom of God
is within you. You know what I'm looking at?
I'm looking at subjects of the kingdom. Can't be shaken, can't
be moved. Spiritual people, hungry and
thirst after righteousness, walk by faith and not by sight. Oh, it's Christ in you. That's the hope of glory. And,
oh, beloved, He's our King. And old John Bunyan, in his holy
war, he said, the Son of Man, the Son of God, Emmanuel, He
ascended the throne of man's soul. He walked down through
man's soul and He ascended the throne. And they rejoiced that
He ascended the throne of the heart. And oh, when He comes
in, He sits on that throne. When He rules that heart, He
reigns that heart. It's usually at His throne. And
He has the right to it. And we gladly, so gladly, have
Him to ascend to the throne of our hearts. Now somebody prayed
the other night and said, Lord, if I take everything in me that's
not of Christ and empty it and refill it. Refill it. Whatever is wrong with me and
not right about me, take it out and fill it with Christ. Empty
me and start all over again. And that's what we say at the
end of our throne. And that's why we pray. Our Father which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Kingdom
come within me. Rule and reign over me. Come
to the unconverted and set up your kingdom in them. Cause your
kingdom to prosper and grow in me. Cause it to grow around me
and help me by your grace to cause the kingdom of God to grow
by me. By me. Oh, bless His holy name. He's not a pretender. He's not
a pretender.