The Great Commission, as it is
known, is at the end of Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 28 and
19. The last couple of verses of Matthew's Gospel is the risen
Lord Jesus Christ, just before his ascension, and he commissions
his disciples, he commissions his church throughout the New
Testament age, to go and teach all nations what I have taught
you. Basically is what he's teaching to say. That was his command.
Go and spread the message of the gospel to all nations. But what was it that he told
them to teach? Our text this morning is Matthew
chapter 10 and verse 7. It just struck me the other morning
as we were doing our morning reading. He sent out the disciples. He sent them to go to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, on the trail
of God's elect. The lost sheep of the house of
Israel are those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And the job of a preacher is
not to try to call those who were never amongst them to repentance,
it was to call the lost sheep of the house of Israel. For God
has a people whom he is determined to call. And he says, go out
and preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand. That's the title of the message
this morning. We are physical beings of flesh,
sensing all the world, all around us, but we are not just physical
beings with senses, we are beings with souls as well, living souls. We are sentient beings. Beings
who think. This is what distinguishes us
from the animals. I know the animals think about
where they're going to get their next food, but they don't think about
higher concepts like we do. Emotions, for example. Quest
for knowledge. Conceptual debate. These higher thoughts. Because
People, human beings, unlike the rest of the animal kingdom,
it says we are made in the image of God. In the image of God,
made he him. Adam, that is. We're made in
the image of God. We think, we converse, we speak. This is what marks us out. The
physical world is not all that there is. Yet, that which is
beyond the physical world cannot be sensed with the physical senses
that we have. We can't see it with our eyes.
We can't hear it with our ears. We can't feel it with our touch.
We can't smell it with our noses. No, we can't deduce it by our
intelligence, for as the scripture itself tells us, Paul writing
to the Corinthians says, the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
neither can he know them. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. They're not discerned by physical
senses. And in this world, where that
is patently true, physical beings yet with souls, and there being
this spiritual realm that we don't sense with our physical
senses, most people that we see and interact with seem to live
life no better Please don't take this as an insult, but I'm going
to say it anyway. They live their lives no better
than pigs, satisfied with their pigsty and their diet of swill. Compared with the bliss of the
knowledge of God, of eternal life in Him, of the prospect
of heaven, this world is just a pigsty with pig swill for food. That's all it is. But Jesus preached
a heavenly kingdom. This is what he came preaching.
This is what he told them to go out. As ye go, preach, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. His message was the same as John
the Baptist in Matthew 3 and verse 2. Repent ye, was the message
of John the Baptist, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The kingdom of heaven is here, it's near to us, it's close by.
Our text in Matthew 10 In that text, Jesus sends out his disciples
to preach, to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Go out, he says,
calling the sheep for whom Jesus would die. You know who did Jesus
die for? Oh, religion would say, everybody. That's not what the
Bible says. Jesus said, I lay down my life for my sheep. That's what he said. I lay down
my life for my sheep. Go out for the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. Now, of course, this is a vast
subject. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom
of God is at hand. It's a vast subject. The whole
revelation of God in scripture concerns the kingdom of God and
how he populates it. with sinners deserving of hell
but redeemed from the curse of the law by the shed blood of
his precious son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's see if we can scratch
the surface of it this morning in the time that we have available.
I have two main points. What is the kingdom of God, the
kingdom of heaven? What is it? And how do we gain
entry or citizenship to that kingdom? What is the Kingdom
of God then, first of all? The Kingdom of God is pictured
in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, and it's also pictured
in Revelation at the end of time, in Revelation 21 and 22. It's
pictured there. It's pictured throughout the
rest of Revelation in individual texts, but in Revelation 21 and
22, there we see the consummation of it. In Eden before the fall,
Genesis chapter 1 and 2, and just going into chapter 3, and
then Revelation 21 and 22, this is the picturing of the kingdom
of God. It's a kingdom of abundant life. God who is life, in him was life. Life is the light of man. In
Him was that life. It is abundant life. It is holiness. It is sinlessness. It is blissful
communion between God and His people, between His people and
their God. It is the inheritance of the
multitude Christ has redeemed from sin's curse. It says in
Galatians chapter 3, there's the curse of the law. Cursed
is everyone that does not continue in all things written in the
book of the law to do them, because that's the standard of perfection
that God requires. follow holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. We must have that righteousness,
that holiness to enter the kingdom of God. So how are we going to
do it? We who are sinners condemned under it. Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He's
paid the penalty for our release from that curse of the law, from
that condemnation of sin. How has he done it? By being
made a curse for us, by bearing that curse in our place, so that
the justice of God fell on him, bearing the sins of his people,
that it might not fall on his people. In Matthew chapter 25,
there we see the inheritance that we're talking about, in
verse 31 of Matthew 25. And I'll be referring to lots
of scriptures this morning, so try to keep up if you can, but
make a note and look them up later. But in Matthew 25 and
verse 31 we read, This is Jesus teaching his disciples before
he goes to the cross. When the Son of Man shall come
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, to the sheep, Come ye blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. The kingdom of God is that inheritance
of his people, purchased by the redemption of Christ. It is God
the Father's house. Here's another text. Again, it
doesn't matter if you can't keep up with me, but just listen.
In John chapter 14 and verse two, you know, just after Peter
had boldly said that he wouldn't deny Christ and Christ had told
him before the cock crows, you shall deny me three times. But
he says, don't let your heart be troubled. You're just a sinner
in a body of sinful flesh. Don't let your heart be troubled.
In verse two of chapter 14, he says, in my father's house, are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. This is that kingdom
of heaven. He goes to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. How did we get
this message? How did we learn this truth?
He who came down from heaven told us of these things. If you
wanted to know what was it like to have a holiday in the Bahamas,
wouldn't a sensible thing be to talk to somebody that you
trusted, who had been to the Bahamas, and come back with pictures,
with stories, with credible tales, wouldn't it? Jesus is the one
who came down from heaven. He said in John 6, 41, I am the
bread which came down from heaven. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. This is He, the Word, our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the bread which came down from heaven.
He is the one who knows. He is the one who ordained. He
is the one who is God. Listen to his voice. This is
my beloved son. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
Peter, James, and John, Peter was, they were scared stiff,
and Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Christ. And Peter,
always feeling he has to say something, even if it's not sensible,
says, let us build three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one
for Elijah. And then the cloud surrounded
them, Moses and Elijah disappeared, and there was just Jesus, no
longer shining, just stood as an ordinary man before them,
but a voice from heaven. This is my beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. If you want to know the truth
of God from heaven, listen to Him. We have His word. This is
the truth of God from above, who cannot lie. His word cannot
change. His word cannot prove ineffective. His word is not a wild guess.
It is the foreordination of God. It is God's kingdom, and it is
not of this world. Don't think of the kingdom of
God like one of the kingdoms of this world, because God's
kingdom is not of this world. Jesus himself told Pilate that
in John 18 verse 36. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. What is this kingdom of God?
Well, it is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
he said, having just been arrested, then would my servants fight
to release me from this capture, this false imprisonment. But
they don't, because it isn't. It isn't of this world. It isn't
on a par with the world's empires. The Roman Empire, as it was then,
when Jesus was before Pilate. The Roman Empire, which in Nebuchadnezzar's
dream that Peter read to us earlier from Daniel chapter 2, is the
legs of iron, the hardness of iron was the Roman Empire. Unlike
the world's empires, is the kingdom of God, not one bit like them.
It's not of this world. The world's empires, you can
trace them back to Genesis chapter 11. And Nimrod, that rebellious
panther, Nimrod, and Babel, and the Tower of Babel, where they
sought together. The peoples of the world sought
to build a tower of their own way to heaven. Not through the
blood of the Lamb. Not through Abel's Lamb. Not
through the sacrifice that Noah made when he came out of the
ark. No, not through that. Through man's ingenuity, coming
together to make a worldwide empire that has no reference
to the justice and righteousness of God, but seeks Heavenly bliss
outside of that. It's symbolized in the Egyptian
Empire, the great Egyptian Empire, of which we have so many treasures
in the pyramids and the tombs of the pharaohs. It's pictured
in the Assyrian Empire. I know I say it often, go to
the British Museum and see. The Babylonian, Chaldean Empire
of Nebuchadnezzar. He was that head of gold in the
picture that he saw in his dream. The Persian Empire was the second
one, the shoulders of silver. The Greek one was the midriff
of brass, and Rome was the legs of iron. And then it goes into
all the different branches of kingdoms of Europe and further
afield, which are feet of clay, which are easy to crumble. They're
all attempts by Satan at worldwide unity that has no reference to
the justice and righteousness of God. A unity based on false
justice, a denial of God's righteousness. Look at it, it's all around us.
I don't need to provide you with evidence, it's there plainly
for everybody to see. The kingdoms, which is really
one kingdom of this world, it's a kingdom of lies because it's
the kingdom of the father of lies. Jesus said that. Satan,
you do the works of your father, the devil, for he is the father
of lies. Look how it is working out today.
This world, this kingdom of the world, so different from the
kingdom of God. We see these global, supernatural,
I mean above, national, I meant, not natural, national, supranational
organizations, these worldwide organizations, all denying the
truth of God, all seeking utopia without the truth of God, all
oppressing billions of people in the process, What do you mean,
oppressing billions? Look at the news. Look at what's
happening in Communist China today, in the name of defending
people from a mild illness. They're locking people up. It's
absolutely draconian. You see it all around us today,
in the mainstream media, that has swallowed hook, line and
sinker this message. with all of its support for the
latest thing, the World Health Organization, and the plans to
hand over sovereignty to them, the COP26 climate change gathering,
where we're all about to be impoverished by government's actions in pursuit
of this silly, foundless notion. Now it isn't my purpose, as you
know, to raise a political campaign, not in the slightest. I am not
in the process of trying to make the world a better place, nor
should the true preachers of God be, but rather to preach
what Jesus told his disciples to go and preach, that the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. God's kingdom will triumph over
that of the world in the end, it will. You might recall I wrote
a book based on the Revelation studies, The Kingdom of God Triumphant.
It will triumph over that. Revelation 11 and verse 15, the
translators put it, the kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord. I think actually it would be
better translated, the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ. It will triumph. Christ will
reign. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. We have this promise in Scripture.
It's exactly as Daniel saw in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Just
turn back with me to Daniel chapter 2, if you will, please, for a
moment. Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44. Now, the passage that Peter read
to us was Daniel's interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. He was terrified by his dream.
In his dream, he saw a great big statue, a great big image
set up, and it had a head of gold, it had shoulders of silver,
it had a midriff of bronze, and it had legs of iron. And he saw
a tiny little stone cut out without hands, And that stone grew and
grew and grew and enveloped the whole world. And that which was
the empires of the world, represented by the gold, the silver, the
bronze and the iron, was ground to powder and blew away like
the chaff on the threshing floor. You know when they thrash the
corn and the husks, the very light husks, and they have a
fan. And this is how they used to
do it of course, it's done by machinery now, but this is how they used
to do it, and I imagine in some primitive cultures they still
do. They used to beat the grain to separate the grain that they
wanted from the husk, the light husk that they didn't. And then
with a fan they would cause a draft and the chaff is so light it
just blows away and leaves the corn, the heavier corn. And Nebuchadnezzar's
dream showed that This stone would come and make those nations
like chaff, so lightweight it will blow away in a moment. This
is the vision of this world, and the little stone is the kingdom
of God, overcoming everything in this world. You say it doesn't
look like it today. Look at the power of the great
nations, the United States, Communist China, Russia. Look at the damage,
look at the turmoil that's being done. I'm telling you, it's all
fleeting and for a moment, and it's all coming to its end. the
utopia that people aim to establish by international treaty, by scientific
discovery, by elimination of disease, by trying to reverse
aging, oh, for some by the way, but don't say it too loudly,
by denial of God and his truth, all of it will be brought to
nothing by the triumph of God's eternal kingdom of light. Is
there a glimmer? of desire in your soul to be
part of that glorious kingdom, that kingdom is revealed in revelation. It's here on earth now, that
kingdom of God is here on earth now, and then in eternity. If you turn to Revelation 14,
which I won't because I know it so well, but you know Revelation
14, surprise, surprise, follows on from Revelation 13. Revelation
13 is a graphic description of the world in which we live. It's
the dragon who is Satan and his two beasts, the one from the
sea and the one from the earth, representing the empires of this
world and the technological wizardry of this world, all seducing peoples
to have the mark of the beast on their heads, that they follow
him and they have nothing to do with the Christ of God. and
it's terrible and you cannot trade unless you go along with
them and have their mark and you conform to their thinking,
is the picture of Revelation 13. And it is either already
so much like it or it is becoming so much like it. Whatever it
might be, whatever that mark might be, and I'm not going to
spend time speculating now, but as soon as you read Revelation
14 and verse 1, we're still in that world. We're not in heaven
yet because in chapter 14 verse 2 we read, then I heard a voice
from heaven. If he'd heard a voice from heaven
he must have been standing on the earth when he saw verse 1
of chapter 14 which is Mount Sion, the Church of the Living
God, the people of Christ. And they're with the Lamb. And
there's 144,000 of them, which is symbolical. It's 12 times
12 times 10 times 10 times 10, a symbolical number of the people
of God on this earth at any one time. And they're on this earth
as the kingdom of God now in amongst the kingdoms of this
world, the kingdom of Satan. They're there now and on into
eternity. Surrounded by the Lamb, the Lamb
is with us. Read the vision of chapters 1
to 3 of the book of Revelation, and there we see Christ amidst
the candlesticks. He is there in the midst of his
people. Can you see it? Of course you can't with physical
eyes. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. You need to keep these things
in mind. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse
17. Paul writes to the Corinthians,
our light affliction, he's talking about the troubles we experience
in this world and he describes it as our light affliction. Some go through great trials,
and they'll say to you, hold on a minute, if you'd been through
what I've been through, you would not describe it as a light affliction.
But Paul describes it that way, and he'd been through plenty
of trials himself. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, is very short-lived. It works for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, the things which trouble us, the things which
are seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, they're
passing, they only last for the duration of time. But the things
which are not seen are the things of the kingdom of God, and they
are not temporal, not temporary, they are eternal. So then, The unseen thing in
2 Corinthians 4, of which Paul speaks, is the paradise restored. It's heaven. That's the unseen
thing. It's that which is restored.
And there's no probation. Unlike the paradise of the Garden
of Eden, there was a probation on Adam and Eve. that they perfectly
kept the requirements of God. Of the tree, of the knowledge
of good and evil, you shall not eat. You can eat any tree you
want, but not that one. They were on probation. But the
paradise of which Paul speaks is restored without probation. This truly is a wonderful place. There used to be a little chorus
that we used to hear singing, and I always remember it being
sung by a little Irish girl, a Northern Irish girl. Heaven
is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace. I want
to see my Saviour's face. Heaven is a wonderful face. And
then the little voice in the Belfast accent, this little girl
says, I want to go there. I know I didn't do that very
well. But the question is, how to obtain it? How do we obtain
it? You know, asylum seekers come
to this country in their hordes. They're all seeking, how do I
become a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland? How do I become a citizen of
that kingdom? It must hold out such great desire
to so many economic migrants. They want to become citizens.
Here's a more important question. How do I become a citizen? How
do I obtain the kingdom of heaven? How do I ascend from this veil
of tears, which is this life, this three score years and ten,
and if by strength, four score years, but the extra ones full
of the body decaying and becoming more and more corrupt? How do
I get to realms of heavenly bliss? Where is it? How do I get there?
Back in the 1960s, I remember watching the Space Race begin,
where Russia sent up its Sputnik, and then it sent up its first
cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, and one or two others followed him.
And they all said, because the Soviet Union was avowedly atheist
in its philosophy of life, the Soviet cosmonauts declared that
they had been into space and they'd seen no sign of God or
heaven, so therefore they concluded it can't exist. Can we remind
them about the natural man not receiving the things of the Spirit
of God for their foolishness to him? Neither can he know them.
Why? Because they're spiritually discerned. They're not physical.
You don't see heaven by going up in a rocket to look for it
up there. Not at all. Spiritually discerned. But you
know The kingdom of God is not far from each of us. Let's have
a look in Acts 17. I think I referred to it last
week, but it bears repetition. Acts chapter 17 and verse 23. This is where Paul is in Athens
and he's waiting to join up with his friends. But while he's there,
he comes to Mars Hill in the middle of Athens, where you can
go today. And he says to the philosophers there, they're all
after finding out some new thing and to hear some new theory,
they're all philosophizing about all sorts of things. And he says,
I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For
as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with
the inscription, to the unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him declare I unto you. God, that made the world and
all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one
blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if
happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be
not far from every one of us. Not far from every one of us,
for in him we live and move and have our being, as certain also
of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. He's not far from each one of
us. This kingdom of God isn't far from each one of us. It's
close by in the Sermon on the Mount, as we read right at the
start. Jesus taught his readers to seek the kingdom of God above
all other things. Let me just go back there, Matthew
chapter six. And verse 30, a few chapters,
wherefore, well let's go down to verse 33, but seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things, these material
things, food, clothing, shelter, etc., that you want, they'll
all be added to you. Don't worry about them. Doesn't
mean don't make wise provision, don't worry about them. These
are not the things you should be concerned of. Seek first the
kingdom of God. It's something to be sought after,
is the kingdom of God. You know, it's not discovered
either. Well, he says, following that,
he says, seek it, and then in chapter 7, In verse 7 of chapter
7, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Seek first the kingdom of God.
What? Ask God. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth.
And he that seeketh, findeth. And him that knocketh, it shall
be opened. He's saying God is gracious. God will hear you if
you call to him. He taught his hearers to seek
the kingdom of God and to ask God to show them. Luke chapter 17, in Luke chapter
17, the Pharisees were asking Jesus when the kingdom of God
would come. 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. Neither shall they say, Lo, here!
or, Lo, there! for behold, the kingdom of God
is within you. The kingdom of God is not something
that you see with observation. You don't go and check its borders
and boundaries with physical senses. The kingdom of God is
within the hearts of its believing people, is what he's saying there.
It's not discovered. by observation, by physical senses,
but by revelation within. Revelation given by God's Spirit
to those who sincerely seek Him. Sincerely seek Him. There are
those who seek Him for ulterior motives. In Acts chapter 8 and
verse 18, we won't turn there, but we see Simon Magus trying
to purchase spiritual powers from the apostles. And Peter
gave him a severe rebuke for this, you can't buy those things
with money. And likewise the kingdom of God
can't be purchased with the world's wealth. The people of this world,
there was a couple the other day, won on the lottery some
ridiculous amount of money, about 180 odd million pounds I think
it was, a colossal amount of money. Oh, what an evil thing
to have happened to you. They must think nothing better
could have happened. I'm telling you, oh, what a dreadful
thing has just happened to them. And so all who seek riches in
that sort of way. Jesus said concerning riches,
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It really is. Don't seek
the things of this world. Seek first the kingdom of God.
not with physical money, not with riches, not with personal
dessert, something that you've earned, and we can't carry any
sinful baggage into the kingdom of God. Because as Jesus said,
you know, if thine eye offend thee, if you're looking at things
that are causing you to sin, pluck it out. It would be better
that you enter the kingdom of God with only one eye, maimed,
than to go into hell with both your eyes. Many aspire to enter
therein based on their own righteousness, based on their own religious
deeds, but they will be denied that entrance. Again, turn back
to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20 in the Sermon on the Mount
once more. Jesus said to those who were
listening to him, I say unto you that except unless your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Weren't
the scribes and the Pharisees the pinnacle of righteousness
in the religious regime of Judah of Israel in those days. Yes, they were. You know, Paul
said, regarding the laws of Pharisee, nobody could find any fault with
him. He was blameless. But Jesus says, you've got to
be much more righteous than that. How can you be much more righteous?
How can you be much more righteous than the Pharisees? You can only find that righteousness
in Christ. who makes his people the righteousness
of God in him, not based on what they are, but on what he has
done in procuring their redemption from the curse of the law, in
paying for their sins, in casting them away as far as the east
is from the west, of making his people, he who knew no sin was
made sin for us, that we, his people, might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And then in chapter 7 of Matthew,
You know, people think that they can earn their way into the kingdom
of God by being good. He says in verse 21 of chapter
7, not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Oh, it's not just being religious.
Oh, Lord, Lord, I believe in you. Lord, Lord, no. But he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to
me in that day of judgment, Lord, Lord, look at what we've done.
Have we not prophesied, preached in your name? In your name, haven't
we cast out devils and done such good works, many wonderful works?
Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. Self-righteousness is iniquity
in the reckoning of God. Coming with hands full of things
to earn our way into heaven is the very way not to be admitted.
So here's the crucial question. What is it to do the will of
the Father which is in heaven? Because that's what you need
to do to get into heaven. Answer? Answer, listen, it is simply
to look. Believing, trusting, trusting
in Christ and the redemption accomplished by his shed blood,
the salvation he has accomplished, the justification that he has
procured for his people who are sinners in him but made the righteousness
of God in him. This is the Father's work. It's
the Father's work to call His people. This is the Father's
work, that you believe on Him whom He hath sent. This is the
work of the Father, that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
that you believe on Him and none else. We're going to sing in
Toplady's hymn shortly, Rock of Ages, we're going to sing,
Nothing in my hand I bring. Nothing in my hand I bring. I've told you the story many
times before, but it was so sad. speaking to an old lady in a
legalistic church many years ago, 30 years ago, and she told
me, very well-meaning, very sincere, that she was doing her best to
witness because she didn't want to go into the presence of the
Lord empty-handed. I tell you what, I want to go
into the presence of the Lord empty-handed, nothing in my hand
I bring, no works, no progressive sanctification, no best efforts,
no tradition or human reputation, just empty hands. Because what
God calls for, what God calls for is that look. In Isaiah 45
and verse 22, listen to what God says by the prophet. God
says this, and he says it to you and me today, look unto me,
don't do this, that or the other, other than look, look unto me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the world, all the ends of
the earth, without distinction of nationality or age or type,
all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
But who is it that we look to, and how do we look to somebody
that we can't see? No man has seen God at any time,
so how do we look? Where do we find what or who
to look to? Hebrews tells us. Hebrews chapter
12 and verse 2, run the race that is set before us, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Because we see
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the
face of Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He
has made him known. This is what you must do. Nothing
in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Not to the
cross as an idolatrous icon, but to that which Christ accomplished
at the cross, the precious blood, redeeming us from the curse of
the law. The best example in scripture of a fully paid up
member of Satan's kingdom, of this world, being graciously
given spiritual eyes to see, to repent, and to believe, and
call upon the name of the Lord, is in Luke chapter 23. See if
you can guess what it is as we're turning there. Luke 23 and verse
39. Jesus is on the cross. with two felons, two thieves,
one either side of him. And verse 39, And one of the
malefactors, which were hanged on the crosses either side of
Christ, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. But the other, this is the one,
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly,
for we receive the due reward of our deeds, of our crimes.
Repentance there, you see. But this man, Christ, hath done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, looking
unto Jesus, seeing in Jesus the God-man, saving his people from
their sins, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the King of
the kingdom of God. He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto
him, in those moments just before they died, verily, truly, I say
unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. This thief
repented of his sin. He saw who Christ was, the King
of God's kingdom. He looked and he called. What
does the scripture say? Whosoever Is it saying it to
you? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. He called and Jesus himself assured
him of salvation. This day you shall be with me
in the paradise of God, out of this world, in the kingdom of
God. My message to you And to anyone else listening is this. We live in a fallen, broken,
evil world of lies and corruption that grows worse day by day.
It is utterly tainted by sin and it is without hope of a good
outcome in itself. But God's kingdom is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Will you heed the Saviour's call? and seek it first above all other
things. All other things of this world
that you need for this life in the flesh will be added to you. That is the promise of God. Amen.