Okay, so will you turn with me
to our text which you won't have gathered from any of the readings
we've had so far. It's in Matthew's Gospel and it's chapter 4 and
verse 17 and there in Matthew's Gospel
chapter 4 we have recorded the start of the ministry of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He'd gone and moved to Capernaum,
dwelt by the sea that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by Isaiah the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphthalim by
the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people
that sat in darkness saw a great light and to them which sat in
that region in the region in the shadow of death light is
sprung up and then we read from that time Jesus began to preach
and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand now what
you might have noticed trying to guess what the sermon was
going to be on this morning in the readings is the kingdom of
God. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. That's my
subject because what I was going to do this message is not the
one I intended to preach. I set out in our series on the
parables and I was going to preach on a number of small parables
of the kingdom of God. You know the ones where Jesus
says the kingdom of heaven is like The kingdom of heaven is
like leaven. The kingdom of heaven is like
a man who sowed wheat in his field. The kingdom of heaven
is like a man who gave a marriage. There's lots of parables on the
kingdom of heaven. And the more I thought about
it, I thought I'd better start to dispel some myths at the start.
What is the kingdom of heaven? What's it about? And before I
knew it, there was an entire message on the kingdom of God
and the kingdom of heaven. So that's what we're going to
look at this morning before launching in. And I know the summer season's
coming along and a lot of us are going to be away, but maybe
you could make that a cause of study with this as the basis.
What are those kingdom parables? We'll have some next week. So
Jesus started his preaching and the message was this, repent
for the kingdom of God is at hand. Do you know that's the
same message that we have today to this world, to Nebworth, to
wherever we are, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Turn
around is what repent means. If you repent of making a journey,
you get on the train at Nebworth, you head towards London. If you
repent of it, you get off at Potters Bar, cross the bridge
or cross the tunnel and you get on a train going the other way.
You repent of it, you turn around. You turn around, he says, turn
around from your God-rejecting philosophy of life. Because that's
what it is really. All the world around us, it's
a God-rejecting philosophy of life. From its sin, from its
unbelief, from its worldly materialistic selfishness. Turn around. Why?
Because the Kingdom of God is also known as the Kingdom of
Heaven. Use them interchangeably. The Kingdom of God is close by. So true today. So I want to answer
some questions. What is the Kingdom of God? Where
is the Kingdom of God? How do we see the Kingdom of
God? How do we enter the Kingdom of God? And what are its blessings?
It's just going to be one message, at least that's the way it feels
at the moment. I could easily make it into an entire series
of messages, because the more you dig into this, the more that
you find. I used to think at one stage, I remember very early
on when I was, I wouldn't say I was a Christian, but showing
interest in the Scriptures, I used to think that there was this
thing called the Gospel, and the Church, and salvation, and
then there was this other mysterious doctrine called the Kingdom of
God. And in a sense, it is true. Because
the scriptures, the Bible speaks of revealing the mysteries of
the kingdom of God. But they're revealed to his people.
Those mysteries are revealed to his people, to his saints.
And I want to, in a sense, demystify for us, there is nothing different. This isn't some highfalutin doctrine
that theologians go on about. The kingdom of God, the doctrine
of the kingdom of God is the core of the gospel. It's the
heart of the gospel. This is why Christ said, repent
for the kingdom of God is at hand. So first of all, what is
the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God. We know about
kingdoms. We happen to live in a kingdom.
The land that we live in, the nation we live in is called the
United Kingdom. It's a united kingdom of a number
of separate nations, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England,
and a few other dependencies, I suppose, here, there. Don't
pick me up on the details of that, but it's a united kingdom. And what are its characteristics?
Well, it has borders. And one thing that's been very,
very good for this kingdom, down its history, is that, generally
speaking, its borders are the sea. So it always gives people
a problem that want to come here. They've got something that's
a bit inhospitable to cross. It's got borders. It has citizens. All of us here are citizens of
this country. And those citizens have rights as citizens of this
country. But they also have responsibilities
as citizens of this country. It has laws. It has government. It has a head of state. It has
defences. It has benefits for its citizens. In some respects, in many respects,
we are happy citizens in this country. There's lots of things
that we hate about it. There's lots of things that are
going horribly wrong. Absolutely true. but there's so many people
in the world would love to have been born citizens of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland well in a way
the Kingdom of God has some of those similarities in that it
has borders and citizens and rights and responsibilities and
government and a head of state it has all of those things but
there's an important difference and it's absolutely vital this
is so important in John chapter 18 and verse 36 Jesus said this. Do you just want to turn to it?
I'm not going to get you to turn to everything, otherwise we'll
be turning to too many scriptures. But John chapter 18 and verse
36. This is that Jesus is being arrested
and he's in front of Pilate. And in verse 36, Jesus says this. Jesus answered, My kingdom... See, he's talking about his kingdom.
My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence." My kingdom is
not of this world. Do you know the trouble that
has been caused down the centuries of history? The trouble that
is even today caused by religion of all sorts of types thinking
that its kingdom is of this world and therefore its servants think
that they do have to fight and explode bombs and kill people
and do all sorts of other things and it was happening in the 11
and 1200s when the Crusaders went off to fight the Crusades
over Jerusalem because they thought that the kingdom of God was of
this world and therefore they took up arms to go and fight
Jesus said clearly there we read it my kingdom is not of this
world his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom it's a spiritual kingdom
it's the church of the redeemed the church of those who've been
bought back by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ it starts
here in our mortal lives as believers on this earth as we walk through
this earth but that isn't it Because if it were, we would
of all men, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, be most miserable. If this
is all it was, we would of all men be most miserable. Because
why don't we eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow and die? We
die. It starts here, but it culminates in eternity. Glorious eternity. Unlike worldly kingdoms, the
kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom. You know, in the vision
of Nebuchadnezzar, that dream he had, that statue with the
head of gold and the chest of silver and so on all the way
down to the feet of clay. And what was it that happened?
That was the picture of the history of the world before him in his
vision. The great empires of ancient
history. And then the many, many, you
know, the ten toes of the little crumbly kingdoms of which we
are part these days. You can see it all. It's quite
clearly there in that vision. But then a little stone comes.
A little stone. which then grows and fills the
entire world and it crushes that picture of the kingdoms of this
world. And it's the kingdom of God. That is the kingdom of God.
It's an eternal kingdom. It's a supreme kingdom. And its
citizens, who are they? They're all whom the Father gave
to the Son before the foundation of the world. This is it in sovereign
grace. In sovereign grace. It's not
a kind of a take it if you will that's open to everybody. it's
a kingdom whose citizens are all whom the Father gave to the
Son from before the beginning of time all those for whom Christ
stood as surety and substitute every single one of them on behalf
of whom He established righteousness that they might have righteousness
that when they're judged for their works their works are in
Him and they're judged as perfectly righteous because they're in
Him to satisfy justice, that the sin that would drag them
down to hell he has already paid for. All as well who answer his
call to come. Because he says in John's Gospel,
all that the Father gives to me will come to me. Unless my
Father draw him, no man can come to me. But then he says this,
but whosoever comes to me, whosoever comes to me, if you think I might
not be one of those whom the Father would call, but I'd so
want to come. I so want to come to the grace of God that's in
Christ. then he says this come unto me all ye who labor and
are heavy laden and I will give you rest and come and find him
and find abundant life in him and where do they come from these
citizens of the kingdom of God where do they come from the Jews
thought they were just from the Jewish nation and there are those
strict Orthodox Jews today who still think that the only way
to be in heaven is to be one of those strict Jews. They think that's it. But no,
the Scriptures were quite clear. Throughout the Old Testament,
it's quite clear. Where did they come from? Luke
13, 29. No need to look this one up. From every nation because
they come from the north and the south and the east and the
west. Jesus said in Luke 16 and verse
16 that the people were pressing into. You know, like you want
to go and see some show and you see the crowds turning up and
they're pressing into it trying to get in. He said that when
he was preaching the kingdom of God the crowds were pressing
to get in to the kingdom of God. They come from all over and Christ
is its sovereign king. Who's the king? You know we have
the Queen as the head of state. The United States of America
has the President as the head of state. Who is the king of
the kingdom of God? Well obviously Christ is its
sovereign king. He's the king of kings and the
lord of lords and that tells us what sort of a kingdom it
is. You know in any business, in
any enterprise, the whole ethos of the enterprise is set by the
person at the top. Yes, the managing director, the
chief executive sets the tone of the entire organization. In
the company that Peter and I work for, there's recently been a
change of chief executive and it is already quite distinctly
apparent how different the culture is under this new man. It's much
better, I'm very glad to say, because the previous man, I just
didn't like his approach to business at all. But he set the tone for
the entire organization and the whole management structure and
message and the ethos and the happiness of the people working
in it was set by the man at the top. And so it is in the new
organization. Well, think of it like this.
I don't want to labour the analogy too much, but think of it like
this. Who's the head of the kingdom of God? It's our Lord Jesus Christ. It's His kingdom. It's glorious. It's a glorious kingdom. It was
pictured by Solomon. You know, after David, then there
was Solomon. That kingdom of Solomon was such
a glorious kingdom. The wisdom of Solomon. The riches
of Solomon. the happiness of the people living
in that kingdom was overwhelming. And the news of it had spread
throughout the known world. And the Queen of Sheba came,
the Queen of the South came to see because she'd heard. They'd
said, you've never seen anything like it. We can't describe it.
We can't show you pictures. You must come. It's the only
way to know about it. You must come and see. And she
came. And Jesus said this. He said
this in Luke 11 and 31 he said this the Queen of Sheba the Queen
of the South he called her will stand in judgment over this God
rejecting nation because he was preaching the words of truth
and so many rejected he said she will stand in judgment because
she heard of these things of Solomon and came to see the wisdom
of Solomon and the glory of Solomon and he said this and a greater
than Solomon is here he was here He of whom Solomon was a mere
faint picture was here. Christ had come. This glorious
head of His kingdom. What is the kingdom of God? It's
the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's His church. It's
His redeemed. And you know the gospel, the
good news, the good news of the kingdom of God is what it's called
in Mark 1 14. The good news, the gospel of
the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is identical.
to the gospel of God's grace it was the subject of all Paul's
preaching that's why we read Acts chapter 28 I'll give you
some references in Acts 19 verse 8 it says about Paul that he
spoke boldly for three months disputing and persuading the
things concerning the kingdom of God in Acts chapter 20 and
verse 25 he said this I have gone preaching the kingdom of
God In Acts 28-23 that we read earlier, he expounded and testified
the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out
of the Law of Moses and the Prophets. Preaching the Kingdom of God
is synonymous with preaching Christ and Him crucified. Because
what did Paul tell us? I determine to know nothing among
you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To preach the Kingdom
of God to say repent for the kingdom of God is at hand is
to say repent because of the gospel repent, turn your back
on it because there's good news of salvation there's good news
of reconciliation with God so that's a quick look at what is
the kingdom of God where is the kingdom of God then? where is
it? well in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 7 Matthew chapter 10
and verse 7 and he's sending out the 12 the disciples verse
5 the 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying go not into the way
of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter
not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel
that's where they started and as you go preach saying what
was the message what shall we preach what's the message they
should preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand where is the
kingdom of God where is the kingdom of heaven It's at hand. It's
not far from us. It's close to each one of us.
This is what Paul said to the Athenians on Mars Hill. He said,
this God whom you do not know, this God to whom you've got a
statue, you've got a monument, saying to the unknown God, He's
not far from each one of us. We live and move and have our
being in Him. He's close to all of us. Now
tomorrow, Monday, we'll concern ourselves with temporal things.
We have to. Most of us have got to go to
work. There are work projects that will fill your mind. My
mind is going to be filled for the next four working days with
the project to put right the IT systems of a major government
department. Don't worry, it's not me on my
own. It's lots of other people as well, but that's what I do
Monday to Thursday. We're filled with temporal cares,
temporal things, work projects. Others are in the business of
delivering services to the public and the processes that are involved
in that. Others are involved in home making
and child rearing, in earning money. But you know, God may
call it all to a halt very suddenly, very suddenly. You see, the kingdom
of God is not far from us. As we're bound up in these worldly
things, which we must of necessity be, Remember this, the kingdom
of God is not far from each one of us. The kingdom of God is
at hand. When is Christ coming again to
end this world and bring in his eternal glorious kingdom? I'll
tell you when it is. It's when we don't expect it.
There was, Reg used to tell the story of a theological professor
who once said to his students, Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to come in the next week?" And he went round them
all and they said, No, I wouldn't have thought so. No, I don't
think so. And at the end of it, he said, Very interesting you
should say that, because you see, it says in Luke chapter
12 and verse 40, The Son of Man comes at a time that you think
not. When you don't think he's going to come, is when he's going
to come. He comes. Does the thief say, I'm going
to rob your house tonight? No, he doesn't. He comes as a
thief in the night. He comes when you don't expect
it, so you're not ready. And he says that's how he's going
to come. As it was in the days of Noah, they were marrying,
giving in marriage. They were doing all of the things
that we have to do in the days of this coming working week.
And then the flood came upon them. And so it is. The Kingdom
of God is at hand. Are you ready? Are we ready?
Anybody listening to this, are you ready? What about the parable? We'll get to it one of these
days of the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. Do you know
why the wise virgins were wise? Because they'd prepared for the
marriage supper of the Lamb. They had oil in their lamps.
What's the oil? It's the oil of the Spirit of
God. They had the Spirit of God. They were in Christ. They were
ready for Him. The foolish? They'd been too
busy. They hadn't bothered with the oil of the Spirit of God
for their eternal soul's sake. Are you ready? Don't be like
the fool. We mustn't be like the fool. That fool who had a
good harvest and then another good harvest and the good times
came and he built barns and he said, I must build bigger and
tear down my old ones and fill them with everything that I need
and then I'll have loads and loads of stuff so that I can
enjoy my retirement. And God said to him, you fool,
this night your soul will be required of you. Seek first,
we're told, the kingdom of God. It's not far from each one of
us. The kingdom of God is at hand. Seek it first. Be above
all of these other things. Above that promotion and advancement
in the world. Oh, those things will come if
you're faithful. Daniel was a faithful servant
of God in the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. He did the best job of all of
those servants of the king in Babylon. and he was promoted
to the highest position because he was so good but he remained
a faithful servant of God and he sought first the kingdom of
God and all those other things that he needed were added to
him and this is what we're told a we of little faith seek first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness that righteousness which is in
Christ I must have it I must find it I must grasp it I mustn't
let it go knowing that he will not let me go Save yourselves,
said Peter. Day of Pentecost. What must we
do, they cried out when they were pricked in their hearts.
He said, save yourselves from this untoward generation. Save
yourselves from it. Does that mean that we save ourselves
by the works we do? No, he was saying, here's the
lifeboat. Here's the ark in the flood that's
coming. Get in it. Get in it. Say, if
there's free grace, why not for me? Get in it. Get in it is what
he's saying. And save yourself from this untoward
generation. We live in such an untoward generation. I know the historians try and
tell us that things are no worse today than they have been in
the past and perhaps in some ways that that's true. But did
you notice in the news the other day, I don't want to get sidetracked
with too much of an aside, But, you know, we live in such an
untoward generation. The news of it's around Europe
now. It's news headlines. Do you know there were five stabbings
in London in 24 hours? It's absolutely horrendous. And
a man whose advice was being asked, an ex-police chief, he
said, well, the root of it is in the selfishness and lack of
consideration for others that's endemic in our society. Is it
not? I can remember back as a child to the 1950s when people might
have gossiped about each other, people might have been spiteful
to one another, but actually there was a mutual respect for
neighbors. You respected your neighbors.
Mrs. Johnson down the road was not
some nasty name that we wanted to call her. You got a clip around
the ear if you called her anything other than Mrs. Johnson. You
were to respect her. There was mutual respect, and
yet it's completely gone. And do you know where it shows
itself? You trace it all, this lack of respect and consideration
for one another that's endemic in this untoward society. It
culminates in all of these knife stabbings that we see around
us. It's a terrible generation. Don't think I'm just saying that
here in England now we've got terrible things and we need a
moral crusade. I'm not saying that at all. But this society,
there's no hope in it, you know. There really isn't. Save yourself
from this untoward generation. cast off everything else that
you may count dear for the prize says Paul Philippians 3 8 and
9 he says this for the prize of winning Christ that I might
win Christ and be found in him where is the kingdom of God?
it's close at hand all those whom the father gave to the son
redeemed by him they're its citizens but where is it? it's close at
hand so how do you see it? If it's close at hand, here's
our third question. Here's our third question. How do we see
the kingdom of God? Now turn with me to Luke's Gospel
17. Luke's Gospel 17. And verse 20. He's with the Pharisees. And
Jesus is with the Pharisees. And the Pharisees ask him, when
the Kingdom of God will come. So what they're saying is, show
us the Kingdom of God. Where is it? This Kingdom of
God that you go on about. Repent for the Kingdom of God
is at hand. Well, where is it then? Show us it. Where is it?
You know, we know about the Romans. We can see them all around us.
They're the occupying force. Show us this Kingdom of God.
And he answered and said, the Kingdom of God does not come
with observation. The kingdom of God is not something
that literally you can get out a ruler and measure the boundaries
of it. It's not something that you can literally go and count
because its numbers are uncountable. Would anybody ask you to go and
count the sand on the seashore? You'd reject the very concept
as absurd. How on earth could you? You just
couldn't possibly ever, nobody can ever put an estimate on it.
Nobody has a clue. In the same way, Nobody has a
clue. The numbers of the citizens of
the Kingdom of God. It doesn't come with observation. Verse 21, Neither shall they
say, Lo, here! or, Lo, there! Why not? Because, behold, the Kingdom
of God is within you. The Kingdom of God doesn't come
with external observation. The Kingdom of God is within
you. The Kingdom of God is within
Christ's believing people. That's where it is. That's where
the Kingdom of God is. it's in the hearts of his believing
people Christ in you we read Colossians 1 27 Christ in you
the hope of glory when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb to reveal his son to me no doesn't say that when
it pleased God to reveal his son in me Christ in me the hope
of glory you see people think that they look at the established
church, you know, the Roman Catholic Church with its Pope and its
architecture, the Archbishop of Canterbury and all of these
structures, where's your denomination? People would say to us, well,
which denomination are you part of? I mean, I don't recognise
you because I need to know which denomination you're part of.
Are you of the Baptist denomination? Oh, well, okay, if you say you're
Baptist, I can go and I can speak to the head of the Baptist Union
and I know that you've got some credibility because you exist.
No, it doesn't come with that sort of observation. It's not
that sort of thing. It's not its history. It's not
its robes. It's not its architecture. It's not its structures. It's
not its money. It's not its wealth. It's not its political control.
None of those things. It doesn't come with observation.
It's in the hearts and minds of his people. And how can you
see the kingdom of God? You know these verses. Look at
John 3. How can you see the kingdom of God? John chapter 3 and verse
3. Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night,
Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees. But he's not quite like the other
Pharisees because he's interested. What's this all about? He knows
there's something special. Maybe some of those scriptures
are echoing in his mind. And he comes. We know that no
man can do the miracles you do except God is with him. So in
verse 3, Jesus answered and said to him, you know nothing. Nicodemus,
you don't know anything. Verily, verily, I say to you,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. How do we see the Kingdom of
God? You must be born again. Without being born again, you
cannot see the Kingdom of God. You must be born of God's Spirit
for you who were dead in trespasses and sins. He has made alive. He's quickened by His Spirit.
He's come and made you alive and given you the light. He shined
light into your heart, the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God and it's only one place, in the face of Jesus Christ.
If you're born again of the Spirit of God, you can see the Kingdom
of God. You can see it. You're given that ability which
the natural man does not have. The natural man cannot see these
things. They're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them.
They're spiritually discerned. You're given by the Spirit of
God ears to hear. You know when Jesus said, let
him that has ears to hear, hear and him that has eyes to see,
see. He's not just saying if you just
happen to randomly be one of those who has an inclination
to hear these. No, he's saying if you've been
given it, if you've been blessed are your eyes for they see. You've
been given that spiritual sight to see these things. Blessed
are your ears for hearing these things because the Spirit of
God has taken that spiritual wax, if you like, out of your
ears so that you can hear the sound of the preaching of the
Kingdom of God. Given ears to hear and it's the
sovereign work of God. What can we do? What can we do? I'm preaching something that
sounds fatalistic. Well, you've either got it by
the gift of God or you haven't. And that's absolutely true. But
look, plead mercy. We can plead mercy. Why does
God tell us that he's a God who delights to show mercy? So that
we might plead for it. Isn't it? I've heard that you're
a God that shows mercy and delights to show mercy. So plead for it.
Plead for it. As on others, I keep quoting
this, we haven't sung it, as on others you are calling, do
not pass me by, do not pass me by. So how do we see it? How do we enter the kingdom of
God? How do we enter it? Well, we
won't look at this now for the sake of time, but if you look
at John chapter 10, John chapter 10 is about the Good Shepherd,
Christ the Good Shepherd and his sheep. And the way we enter
is through the door. And Jesus says, I am the door
of the sheep. He is the way. He has earned
the right to enter. He has earned it that we don't
need to earn it because we're qualified in him. And all whom
he represented when he earned it have that right to enter with
him. Outside of Christ, outside of
Christ, nobody as a ticket to enter the Kingdom of God. It's
only through Him. That's why He said, I am the
door. I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by Me. We enter the Kingdom of God,
this glorious Kingdom of God, by Christ who is the door and
by Him alone. And how do we do it? We hear
His voice. For He said, My sheep, My sheep hear My voice. They
won't follow a hireling. They won't follow the one who's,
you know, the difference between a hireling and somebody who owns
the sheep is that the wolf comes and the hireling runs away. He
says, well, they're not my sheep. I don't really care about them.
I'm off. You know, I'll forego the wages. I'm just not, I'm
not going to face the wolf. No, the shepherd who owns the
sheep, he's done all that's necessary. And they hear his voice and they
follow him. His sheep follow him. Is He calling
us? Is He calling anyone listening
to this? So it's by hearing the Shepherd's voice and following
Him and going through the door for He is the door. This is how
we enter. Now look at some more verses
that show us how we enter. Look at Matthew chapter 5 back
in the Sermon on the Mount. I'm still struggling to make
the pages of this Bible turn as quickly as the old one used
to do. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20. For I say to you, he says, he's
preaching to the crowd, that except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. How do we enter the
kingdom of God? Only with exceeding righteousness. Think about it. We enter the
kingdom of God only if we have exceeding righteousness. Better
than the best religious people. The scribes and the Pharisees
were the best religious people. But we must have a righteousness
which is much better, far in excess of theirs. Now, where
do we get it? You know the answer. I know the
answer. But what a glorious story, this
old, old story that we must keep repeating. I know where we get
it. You know where we get it. It's
only in Christ. For He is the Lord, our righteousness. To what extent is His righteousness
enough for us? Well, you think of the extreme.
Do you know I can't think of anybody more extreme than this?
And that's the thief on the cross. his hands and his feet were nailed
to a wooden cross he had no chance in this life to earn any righteousness
at all never mind that which exceeded that of the scribes
and the Pharisees and don't be in any doubt that the righteousness
of the Pharisees was extreme righteousness Paul said as a
Pharisee when he was a Pharisee no man could accuse him of anything
he was blameless but yet he needed righteousness which was far in
excess of that and in that moment on the cross next to Jesus on
his cross. Lord, remember me. This day,
you shall be with me in paradise, in my kingdom. When you come
into your kingdom, remember me. This day, you shall be with me.
So, which righteousness did he have? That which Christ had purchased
for him. That which Christ had enacted
for him. What about his sins? They were being paid for by Christ
on the cross at the time. And then chapter 7, Matthew chapter
7, and verse 21. We're answering the question, how do
we enter the kingdom of God? Not everyone that says to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of my Father which is in heaven. You see, with actions
that speak louder than words, we enter the kingdom of heaven.
What is the will of the Father? We know that from John chapter
6. This is the will of my Father that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. God will bring us to believe
on His Son but that's the work. To believe on His Son, to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You only enter into heaven if
you're doing the will of the Father and that will of the Father
is following Christ and being in Him, being found in Him. I
must hurry for the others. Matthew 18 and verse 3, you only
come in childlike simplicity. You know, there's so many references
as coming as a child, not with your highfalutin ideas, not with
your position, not with your theological theories and debates,
not at all. Childlike simplicity. I don't
care who you are. I don't care how elevated you
might think you are in the world or in the church, in which organization
you are, not at all. I tell you, in our in our reformed
Calvinistic circles in this country. I do wish some men would get
down off their high horses and stop regarding themselves as
so full of their own importance. They consider themselves so full
of their own importance and their pronouncements are just so much
on a higher level than everybody else. Come with childlike simplicity. Come in unencumbered, I've got
to hurry, come in unencumbered with worldly riches. not with
riches, how hard it is for a man who is rich to enter the kingdom
of God. How is this possible, said the disciple? Ah, with God
all things are possible. There's no bar to riches but
this, your affection for those riches, that will bar you from
the kingdom of heaven. Those who love riches, those
who seek riches, those who want these things above all other
things, that will be a bar. Those who are born of water and
of the Spirit, That's how you will enter the Kingdom of God.
That was the next thing he said to Nicodemus. He who is born
of water and of the Spirit. Because without that you will
not enter the Kingdom of God. What is it to be born of water
and the Spirit? What is the water? It's not the water of baptism. It's not that at all. It's the
water of washing by the Word. It's the Word of God. Through
the Word of God that teaches us the Gospel and by the Spirit
that enlightens that Gospel. That's how we enter the Kingdom
of God. God speaks through His Word, through His servants. He
shines the light of His Spirit onto it and through that we enter
the Kingdom of God, born of water and the Spirit. And how else? Through much tribulation. Through
much tribulation. Acts 14, 22. Through much tribulation
we enter into the Kingdom of God. Not without a cost. There
is a cost in this life. Oh, there is. But if you're called
You can't let that put you off. You must come. Christ has the
words of eternal life and nobody else does. It's the pearl of
greatest price. And I've all but run out of time,
but I must get on to this. The fourth question. What are
its blessings? What are the blessings of this
kingdom of God? Psalm 144, 15 says this. Happy. Happy is that people whose
God is the Lord. Now you look around our churches
where they claim to preach the truth. and you point out to me
all the people that are happy in the Lord Jesus Christ and
I'll show you an awful lot that are under a terrible burden of
confusion and they don't know what they believe and they say
they say like somebody I know said many many years ago she
said the Word of God says the truth shall make you free but
I don't feel free I'm under a burden all the time a burden of religious
obligation you know But those who are in this kingdom of God,
they're happy people. They're happy people. They're
free people in Christ. They're safe. They're secure.
They're in want of nothing. Jesus said this to Peter when
he said, we've left all and followed you. What shall we then have?
What shall we have? What are going to be our blessings?
And he said, basically, you'll find it. You'll find it in Matthew
19, 27 to 29. He said this, you'll have families and houses and all things
in this world and in the life to come eternal life. Those are
the blessings. They're such blessings. Now turn
to Revelation 21 which we read earlier and with this we'll close.
Revelation 21 and verse 27. You see This is a blessing of this kingdom
of God. There shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination
or makes a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. What a glorious, sinless, holy place it is. A place without
the taint of sin that mars everything that we think and we do. Even
our best things are marred and tainted by sin. And yet in this
kingdom, there's none of that. And you see that glorious picture
that we read earlier of that state of those who are in Christ. And then we read verse 17, didn't
we? Come, let him that is thirsty come. All who are thirsty for
these things. You say, maybe I'm ruled out
of it. God only calls those whom he intends to save. Come. hear his voice let him that is
a thirst come and whosoever will because he makes his people willing
in the day of his power let him take of the water of life freely
whosoever will let him come we're going to sing a hymn in closing
now which is number 861 and it's the sands of time are sinking
now don't switch the tape off just yet or has he already done
it Because I just want to read some verses of this while you're
looking it up. It's 861. Because what are the blessings
of this kingdom? Listen to this. The sands of
time are sinking. The dawn of heaven breaks. The
summer morn I've sighed for. That fair, sweet morn awakes.
Dark, dark has been the midnight. But day spring is at hand and
glory. Glory dwelleth in Immanuel's
land. The king there in his beauty,
without a veil is seen. It were a well-spent journey,
those seven deaths lay between. The lamb with his fair army does
on Mount Zion stand. And glory, glory dwells in Immanuel's
land. And so it goes on. An ocean fullness,
his mercy does expand. The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my King of grace. Not at the crown he gives, but
on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of
Emmanuel's land." What a glorious hymn. It just puts it so nicely
in poetry. What are the glories? What are
the blessings of the Kingdom of God? It's these things. This
is what is our hope. This is what is at the root of
our testimony to this world in which we live. This is what we
have to say to the people who live round here. There's a hope
of eternal glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. Shouldn't that
motivate us? Well, let's sing it now when
we can get our penis back.