Well, good morning. If you would
open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 9. Mark 9. I have a lesson this
morning I think you will find very interesting and a blessing
at the same time. It was for me as I studied it.
Before we begin, let's bow before our Lord and seek his blessing. Our Father, we bow before your
throne of grace this morning. We bow as your children. We bow
as poor and needy sinners. And Father, we come seeking a
blessing from your storehouses of mercy and grace that you have
reserved for your people. Father, we cry out to thee and
ask that you would be pleased to meet with us this morning,
that you give us the spirit of worship that you would enable
us to hear from Christ our Savior and to truly from the heart worship
Him. Father, bless us as we open up
your word and look in it and read it and study it, seek to
find Christ our Savior in it. What man is sufficient for these
things? To either to teach them and preach them or to hear them
and believe them. Father, I pray you'd be with us. Enable me to
rightly divide the word of truth And Father, enable your people
to hear and believe. Cause faith to be mixed with
everything that we hear from your word this morning. And Father, I thank you for this
place. I thank you for this family of believers that you have called
together. I thank you for the love that
you've given to us, the faithfulness, generosity that you've given
your people. And Father, I pray that you would make us faithful
to serve our generation by preaching Christ faithfully and clearly
to them. We pray that you would send your
word forth to call out your sheep, to reach their hearts and to
bring them to Christ. Father, that you'd use your messages
that are preached from here to comfort and edify and instruct
your sheep. Father, we thank you for our
country. We thank you for the freedoms that we have here that
you have so long protected Father, pray that you would continue
to do so, that you would continue to turn the hearts of our leaders
for good, for the good of your people, to protect our freedoms
and enable us to continue to worship together peacefully.
And Father, we dare not sin against thee in forgetting to pray for
your people that you brought into the valley of trouble and
trial. There's those who are sick and heartbroken and difficult,
difficult situations. Father, we pray you'd be with
them, that you heal, that you comfort, that you give them a
special portion of your presence as you bring them through the
fire, through the deep waters. And Father, all these things
we ask in that name, which is above every name, the name of
Christ our Savior. Amen. I titled our lesson this morning,
The Kingdom of God Has Come, and I just have one verse in
our text, Mark 9, verse 1. And he said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here
which do not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom
of God come with power. Now, I just bet that when most
of us read this verse, we think, how can that be? I mean, I know
none of these people lived until Christ returned. I mean, they're
all dead. But yet, I know it has to be
true because the Lord said it. And he began saying it by saying
fairly. And that word means amen. It means faithful. This is a
faithful saying. And the Lord said, I say unto
you. So the Lord said it, so it has to be true, but I don't
understand how that can be. And I tell you why we think that.
It's because we've limited our definition of the kingdom of
God. We think that the kingdom of God is not going to come to
earth until Christ returns. That's what we tend to think.
And this morning I hope to show you that the kingdom of God has
already come in power. It's come in power to everyone
that believes. Now there are many people when
you talk about the kingdom of God coming There are many people
who believe in what they call a millennial kingdom, where there's
going to be a great time of peace and prosperity on earth, and
believers are going to rule the earth. And this will last for
a thousand years, a time of plenty and peace and good. And at that
time, since believers are ruling, they're going to be able to lord
their power over all those that have refused to believe on Christ
and who have been mean to them over the course of their life.
Now the believers are going to rule over them. You know they
kind of teach this like those that don't believe they'd better
watch out because one day I'm gonna get you. One day I'm gonna
have this and lord it over you, my power over you in this millennial
kingdom. Now I ask you, does that sound
peaceful at all? I mean that doesn't sound very
peaceful, does it? The only reason it sounds good
to a believer is it's because the opposite of the way that
the world is now, how the world hates the believer and hates
those that love Christ and believe him, preach his gospel. It's
the opposite of the days when the Catholics used to persecute
the Protestants and it just sounds good to us now because now the
shoe's on the other foot, right? But that can't be so. That cannot
be so. That thousand year millennial
kingdom is simply not true. That kind of thinking leads to
using threats to get people to believe on Christ and you better
start acting right, you know, because you're gonna suffer during
this millennial kingdom. That kind of thinking preaches
the rewards, preaches rewards for our works. So that can't
be so. This millennial kingdom business
is not preaching grace and peace and forgiveness in Christ. It
doesn't glorify Christ either. It glorifies man, doesn't it?
But it doesn't glorify Christ. And I know that the Lord can't
be talking about a millennial kingdom because none of the people
who heard the Lord speak that day lived to see it. They're all dead already. And
the Lord couldn't have been talking about a kingdom that will be
established when he returns. And he rules because none of
the people who heard the Lord speak that day lived to see it. So the Lord's got to be talking
about another kingdom, doesn't he? What the Lord is actually
talking about is something a whole lot better than an earthly kingdom,
a whole lot better. The Savior's talking about salvation
that he puts in the hearts of his people. That's what he's
talking about. When God saves his people, he
actually establishes his kingdom in their hearts. That's what
he's talking about. And that's how the kingdom of
God has come in power to you, to you who believe. Now I want
to show you three things about this kingdom that the Lord is
teaching here. And I believe it will be a blessing
to us. Number one is this. There's no death in this kingdom.
The Lord says here, there's something, some of you that stand here shall
not taste of death. There's no death in this kingdom
and the kingdom that Christ is talking about. Christ is giving,
given everyone in that kingdom, eternal life. And he's given
them eternal life by dying the death that they deserve. And
since he died the death they deserve, they can't die. Now,
we know this all too well. The bodies of believers still
die, don't they? How many funerals of a believer
have we been to? So many. The bodies of believers
still die. Just like all those who heard
the Lord speaking that day, eventually there came a day they held a
funeral for every single one of those people. They all died
and before they ever saw the Lord come back. But the Lord
only calls that a taste of death. It's just a taste. It's just
a small taste, but it's not death itself. Let me show you that
first in Isaiah chapter 25. It's a taste. Isaiah 25, verse six. And in
this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people
a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things
full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will
destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over
all people and the veil that is spread over all nations. He
will swallow up death in victory. and the Lord will wipe away tears
from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away
from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it. He's gonna
swallow up death in victory, so death will never swallow up
his people. All his people ever gonna get
of it is a taste. Let me show you that again, John
chapter three. John chapter three, verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. I looked up that word should
this week, and it means to put away entirely. It means to kill
and to destroy. What the Lord is saying is, His
death killed death for his people. Christ's death on the cross destroyed
death for his people. So it's impossible for them to
die. It's impossible. Look over page
of John 5, verse 24. The Lord says, verily, verily,
faithfully, truly, amen. I say unto you, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me will have everlasting
life someday. No, he says, hath everlasting
life. Right now he has everlasting
life and he should not come into condemnation, but he's passed
from death unto life. And one more scripture on this,
John chapter 11. Unless the Lord returns first,
all of us, are going to die. This is an experience that we're
all going to share. I think it's good for us to see
what the Lord has to say in his word about the death of the bodies
of a believer. In John 11, verse 25, you know,
the Lord is here at the tomb of his friend Lazarus talking
to his sister Martha. In verse 25, Jesus said unto
her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Now think of where the Lord is
saying this to Martha. He's saying it at the tomb of
a man who died four days ago and whose body's already stinking.
So the Lord's not talking about the death of our bodies. Lazarus'
body had died. What the Lord is talking about
is spiritual life. All of his people have spiritual
life and it's life that's eternal. It's life that they can never
lose. It's life that it's impossible for it to die. So for the believer,
the death of our bodies is not defeat. It's not defeat. I understand what people are
talking about when they say, well, you know, so-and-so has
lost their battle with cancer. They've lost their battle with
some disease or another. I understand what they're saying,
that that disease killed the body. But for the believer, they
didn't lose a battle. No, for the believer, the death
of our bodies is complete and utter victory. You think what
happens to a believer when they die? When a believer dies, we
finally get to leave this sinful clay prison, and we immediately
go into the presence of the Savior, where we'll worship Him face
to face. forever, where we will be made
just like Him, where we will behold His glory, just exactly
like He prayed that we would receive in John 17. The only
thing that a believer loses when we die are these, sin. We lose sorrow. We lose tears. We lose pain. We lose fear. We lose unbelief. We lose doubts. We even lose faith. Oh, I'm thankful
for saving faith, aren't you? So thankful. But the best faith
that you'll ever find on this earth still sees Christ through
a glass darkly. We even lose faith so that we
see Christ face to face. Now, brethren, that's a blessing. That's a victory. It's not defeat.
Look over Philippians chapter one. I see what the apostle Paul
called this. What does Paul call the death
of a believer? The death of their body. Philippians
one verse 21. For me to live is Christ. As long as I live in this body,
I live in Him, I live by Him, I live by His will, I live to
serve Him, I live to serve His people, I live to preach Him.
For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. The Apostle Paul
did not call death a loss. For the believer, it's nothing
but gain. Nothing but gain. Now, since that's true, for the
believer, life It's not in this flesh, is it? It's not in this
flesh, and it's not about this flesh. Spiritual life is all
where? In Christ. And it's all about
Christ. And oh, we do well to remember
that. That life is not in this flesh. It's not about this flesh. It's
not in this world. It's not about this world. We
do well to remember that, because if we would, we would not get
so bent out of shape about stuff in this world, stuff that's going
on in the world, stuff that's going on around us. We just wouldn't
get so bent out of shape if we remembered this. This is not
our life. This is not where the believer's
life is found. So for the believer, life is
spiritual, and it can never be lost. The believer won't taste
of death. But for the unbeliever, life
is in this flesh. It's all in this flesh, it's
all about this flesh, and that life will be lost forever. I'll show you that in Revelation
chapter two. This is a very, very sobering scripture. And
it's something that, you know, I don't like to think about,
but now we need to be aware of this. This is what the Lord has
said in his word about the death of an unbeliever. In Revelation
2, verse 23, and I will kill her children with death. And all the churches shall know
that I am He, which searcheth the reins and the hearts, and
I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
And to the unbeliever, what he gives according to their works
is I will kill her children with death. That's the second death,
the eternal death. The Lord said, I will kill you
with death. I'm gonna give you exactly what
your works deserve. You know the same thing is true
to a believer. God's gonna give you what your works deserve.
What are your works? Everything that Christ did. Everything
that Jesus of Nazareth did on this earth, that's your works.
When he obeyed the law, so did you. When he did every thou shalt
of the law, so did you. When he didn't do every thou
shalt not of the law, neither did you. You're in Christ, so everything
he did is your works. And God's gonna give you eternal
life because of it. God's gonna bring you into his presence because
of it. So the Lord tells those, they're
listening to him teach that that day. There's some of you that
are standing here who will not taste a physical death until
the kingdom of God comes with power. Apparently, there were
those there listening to our Lord preach who did not believe
him yet. But he knew they would. He knew
they would. And he said, you're not going
to taste death until the kingdom of God comes in power to you. I like to think about that as
someone who preaches Christ to folks often. They are some who
do not yet believe, but they're gonna. They're gonna. God's gonna give them faith and
they cannot die until God comes and gives them faith in Christ,
until his kingdom comes in power to them. None of God's elect
can die until they have fulfilled God's purpose for them on this
earth. Now you think of that. Until
God saves his people, he brings his kingdom to them, and they
do what God's purpose for them to do in that kingdom, they cannot
taste of death, and they won't. All right, here's the second
thing. First, there's no death in this
kingdom. Second, this kingdom is seen by all of God's elect.
The Lord says that there be some of them that stand here which
shall not taste of death until they have seen the kingdom of
God. Now that word see, It means to
perceive. It means to know, to know of. All of God's elect, they're gonna
be born again so that they see. So they perceive the kingdom
of God. So they understand it and they
see it. But you've got to be born again
before you can ever see, before you can ever understand this
kingdom. Look over at John chapter three again. This is what our Lord told Nicodemus. John 3, verse 3. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Same word, he cannot see,
he cannot perceive, he cannot know, he cannot understand the
kingdom of God. You've got to be born again before
you can see this, Nicodemus. In verse 4, Nicodemus showed
he hasn't been born again. He didn't see, he didn't understand.
Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he's old?
Can he enter into the second time into his mother's womb and
be born? Nicodemus didn't see yet. He
didn't understand yet because he hadn't been born again. But
the moment somebody is born again by the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, they see, they understand, they perceive God's kingdom. Now, when I say that we understand,
we perceive God's kingdom, We are never, ever gonna know everything
there is to know about God. We're not gonna know everything
there is to know about his kingdom. Now, there's just things we don't
know. The things that our God does is so far above us, we couldn't
understand even if he did explain it to us. But brother, there's
some things we see. There's some things we perceive.
There's some things that we know. One thing we perceive is this,
Christ is the king. this kingdom. He's the king of
his people and he does what he will with me. I perceive that,
I see that, I understand that. Look at Romans chapter 14. Here's
something else I perceive about this kingdom. I perceive, I see, I understand
the nature of the kingdom. The nature of this kingdom, the
kingdom of God is spiritual. Romans 4 verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink. It's not the stuff of this life.
But the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. God's people understand what
God's kingdom is all about. It's a spiritual kingdom. Just
like our Lord told Pilate, my kingdom's not of this world.
It's a spiritual kingdom. And everyone who's been born
of God sees that. They perceive that, they understand
that, and since that's true, we're not looking for a political
earthly kingdom. We're not looking for one. I'm
thankful for our government. I think our form of government
is the best form of government in this world, but don't ever
think that it's gonna be run by a bunch of believers and it's
just not gonna happen. We're not going to have an earthly
kingdom, and we're not looking for one. I'm not looking for
the Lord to even set up a millennial reign on this earth. Not looking
for that. Believers are looking for Christ.
Believers are looking for our king. We're looking to our king.
We're looking for and we're preaching a spiritual kingdom. Isn't that what the writer to
the Hebrews said? These all died in vain. Not having received
the promises, Abraham died looking for a city. He's looking for
something else that's not of this world. We're looking for
a spiritual kingdom. Here's something else God's people
see. They perceive this, they understand it. And more than
understanding it, they love it. Christ is the glory of God's
kingdom. Christ is the glory of it. The
glory of it is not getting stuff in this earth and making us powerful
in this earth. Christ is the glory of God's
kingdom. The glory of God's kingdom is found when I bow at the feet
of Christ and worship Him. Not when I lord some power over
somebody else, but when I bow at the feet of Christ and worship
Him, that's the glory of God's kingdom. Now, we don't do that
perfectly here on this earth, do we? But by God's grace, we
do it. Didn't have a blessing. Those
times when the Lord enables us to truly worship, oh, what a
blessing. One day, we're gonna get to worship
Christ with a perfect body, a perfect mind, and a perfect soul, perfect
spirit, face to face. Maybe we'll say face to foot,
bowing at his feet. As a songwriter said, that will
be glory for me. Oh, I can't wait. That will be
glory for me. But even in this life, those times of worship,
that's glory for us. That's the glory of God's kingdom. Again, just when we talk about,
like when we talked about death, we've got to talk about the death
of an unbeliever. It's a very, very sobering thing
to think about. This thing of seeing God's kingdom,
God's made it so that the Jews can't see His kingdom. He's given
that nation judicial blindness. They rejected Christ. They rejected
God's Messiah. And God took the kingdom away
from them. He took His presence away from them. He took the worship
of God away from them. Our Lord came into His own and
His own received Him not. And I've told you so often, this
was my greatest fear. The Lord gave them what they
wanted. They wanted rid of him and he gave them what they wanted.
But you know what? That was God's will. Now I can't
explain why God did this. I just know this is what he did.
It was God's will for the Jews to reject the gospel so that
the gospel would come to Gentiles like us. I don't know why God
did it that way, but that's exactly what he did. And I'll show you
that in Romans chapter 11. Romans 11, verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that
you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise
in your own conceits, that blindness in part, now this is at least
part of God's will in doing this, blindness in part has happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. God gave them judicial blindness
so he could send sight. to the Gentiles. Again, I can't
explain why God did that, but I know He did. And that keeps
me from being wise in my own conceits. God could do that to
us, too. Oh, I don't want Him to take
this away from us. The worship of Christ, to be able to see
Him and see His kingdom, and to see that the glory of it is
Christ. If I see that, and I perceive
that, I'm telling you what I'm going to focus on. It's seeking
Him. It's finding Him. Now, this sounds
like a pretty good kingdom, doesn't it? I mean, what a kingdom. There's
no death there in this kingdom. Christ is the glory of it. It's
a spiritual kingdom that will never end, that will never cease.
Everybody there has faith in Christ and they worship Christ.
Their joy is in Christ. Christ is there with them. What
a kingdom. Brings me to this question. How can I get in this
kingdom? I want to be in that kingdom, don't you? Well, here's
the third thing, what the Lord says. This kingdom comes to God's
people in power, in power. Look at 1 Corinthians 4. Look
at verse 20. How is it that the kingdom of
God comes in power? Paul says in verse 20, for the
kingdom of God is not in word, not just in man's words and man's
threats and what man says, but in power. In power, in the power
of God, in the power of the Holy Ghost. When God sends his kingdom
to his people, it comes in such power that they're made willing. They're willing to be translated,
transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God's dear son. God's power made them willing.
It comes in such power that that stubborn, stiff-necked rebel
of a sinner is suddenly willing to humble themselves at the feet
of King Jesus. That self-righteous sinner is
all of a sudden willing to beg for mercy and grace and forgiveness
for Christ's sake. They're willing to surrender,
to surrender to Christ and to be saved on his terms. Not what
I always thought, not what my mama always thought, not what
my grandparents always thought. I surrendered to Christ and I'm
willing to be saved on his terms, his terms alone. Suddenly, I'm
willing to receive salvation and quit trying to earn it by
my works. Suddenly, I'm willing to give up my rags of righteousness
for the perfect righteousness of Christ. Now, how'd that happen?
God's kingdom came in power. In power. Just like the kingdom,
one day came to that proud, self-righteous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus. The
kingdom of God came to him in power. Put him in the dust. And you know how I know the kingdom
came to him in power? Lord, what would you have me
do? The kingdom of God came one day to a group of ladies beaten
down by a riverbank. It came in power to Lydia, and
her heart was opened, and the kingdom of God was put in her
heart. The kingdom of God came one night to a hardened, hardened,
I mean, that Philippian jailer, I cannot imagine how hardened
that man was. Hardened to the cries and pains
of the prisoners, just completely hardened to it. And the kingdom
of God came in power to his heart. What must I do to be saved? How
can I get in that kingdom? How can my sins be forgiven?
Oh, it's in Christ. It's in his death, his burial,
his resurrection. Let me confess him in Believer's
Baptism. One day the kingdom of God came
to the Ethiopian Union. He'd been looking and looking
and searching and searching and searching. Couldn't find anything.
Leaving just dry and empty, didn't find anything. But he had ahold
of a scroll, the word of God. Isaiah 53, and lo and behold,
the Lord sent him a man to come beginning at that same scripture
and preach Christ to him. The kingdom came in power. You
know how I know that? That Ethiopian eunuch said, I
believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe. How could he believe? The only way he could believe,
the kingdom of God came in power to his heart. And how about you? You know, once the scripture
was completed, is the Lord quick coming, empowered his people?
Oh, no, sir. How about you? At one time, you had no interest
in hearing the gospel. Same as anything else to you.
You didn't see what the big deal was about. And you may have even
tried to believe, but you couldn't do it. You couldn't make yourself
believe. You just didn't see. You couldn't make yourself see,
could you? You couldn't make yourself understand.
But now you do. You were blind and now you see.
Now you need to hear the gospel preached. Now you love to hear
it preached. Now you need it. You can't go
hear some false preacher and him just, you know, muddy the
waters and it be doing any good to you. You believe Christ. And
I tell you what, you can't quit believing him. No matter how
much your old man tries to make you not believe, you cannot quit
believing Christ. What happened? The kingdom of
God came in power to you. That's what happened. So you who believe, you don't
have to wait until Christ returns to see his kingdom, because God's
already put it in your heart in the very moment that he caused
you to be born again. That's a miracle, isn't it? a miracle of God's power, a miracle
of His grace. And if you're one of God's elect,
it's impossible for you to taste death until God establishes that
kingdom in your heart. That's why we keep preaching.
We've got loved ones that don't believe Christ. We're gonna keep
preaching to them. We're gonna keep begging God to show mercy
to them. You know what it could be? God will come in power to
them. He'll send His kingdom and power
to them. The Father chose you. The son died for you, the Holy
Spirit must give you life. He must establish God's kingdom
in your hearts. That's the result of having a
successful savior. You're gonna be put in his kingdom
and his kingdom's gonna be put in you. That's what the Lord
was talking about there. Isn't that a whole lot better
than a millennial reign, a millennial kingdom, a king that's gonna
come someday? I think it is, I hope you do too. All right,
Lord bless you.