How would you define the kingdom
of God? Now, the fact that when our Lord
teaches us to pray, the first thing that we're called upon
to request is that his kingdom would come. That's how imminent
this is to be in our mind. And that has something to do
with his will being done, doesn't it? Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done. Our Lord said later on in this
chapter, when he talked about all the different things that
we seek, all the things that we're concerned about, he says,
seek ye first the kingdom of God. And his righteousness and
all these other things shall be added unto you. Now, what
is this kingdom that we're asking him to cause to come? What is this kingdom that we
are to seek first? There are many references to
the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven in Scripture. I think
those terms are used interchangeably. There are a number of parables
where our Lord says the kingdom of heaven can be likened unto,
or the kingdom of God can be likened unto, but there are four
scriptures that tell us what the kingdom of God is not. Sometimes the easiest way to
understand something is by seeing what it's not. And these verses
of scripture also tell us what the kingdom of God is. They actually
say the kingdom of God is. Would you turn with me to John
chapter 18? John chapter 18, verse 36. Let's begin reading in verse
33. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called
Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus
answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others
tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?
Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto
me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. That is what the kingdom of God
is not. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants spite that I should not be deliberate
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. Now, the first thing that I see
about the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is that it is not
an earthly political kingdom. It's not of this world. All of
the political activism going on under the name of Christianity
and conservative values, all the legislation attempting to
bring and usher in the kingdom of God is not of God. It's wrong. Our Lord tells us
my kingdom is not of this world. Now, what does our Lord mean
when he says it's not of this world? It's in the world. He's
in the world. You and I are in the world right
now. What does he mean when he says it's not of this world? We'll turn to 1 John chapter
2. 1 John chapter 2. Verse 15, John says, Love not the world,
this world of which the kingdom of God has nothing to do with.
Love not this world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world, look what the Lord says, the love
of the Father is not in him. For all that's in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the desires of fallen, sinful nature, the
lust of the eyes, being concerned more about what men see than
what God sees, and the pride of life is not of the Father. It is of the world, and the world
passes away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abides forever." So whatever God's kingdom is, it's not of
this world, this world that he speaks of. Now, that's why we're
strangers and pilgrims in this world. And I am. I'm a stranger
and a pilgrim in this world. I'm just passing through. You know, I'm all for a nice
hotel room. I've stayed in some bad ones
and I like a nice, clean hotel room, don't you? I don't like
nasty ones. I tell you what, I don't invest
in a hotel room. I'm just there for a temporary
time. Just a short time. And we don't
invest too much in this world because we're just passing through,
aren't we? Temporarily. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
11. The kingdom of God is not of this world. Verse 13. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. You see, his kingdom
is not of this world. We're just passing through temporarily. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they
might have had opportunities to return. But now they desire
a better country that is in heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. This is the city of God that
we're looking for. This world is not our home. The kingdom of God does not come
from this world. Turn to Luke chapter 17, verse 20. And when he was demanded of the
Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come. They heard him
talk about the kingdom of God and they said, well, when is
it coming? Where is it? Show us what it is. When is this
going to begin? He answered them and said, the
kingdom of God cometh not with observation. It's not something that you can
look at and say, well, there it is. It cometh not with observation. My marginal reading says it comes
not with pomp and outward show. Now you think about this. The
king of this kingdom was born in a stable. Nobody knew about
him when he came into this earth. There's a few shepherds that
knew about him. When he came into the temple, the scripture
says he suddenly came into the temple. There's only two people
that knew what was going on. I mean, all kinds of people.
They saw a peasant come in with a little child and business as
usual. It's no big deal to them. But
Simeon and Anna saw who he was, but nobody else did. The kingdom
of God cometh not without a show. When he walked upon this earth,
nobody recognized him but a few fishermen. You know, what I thought
about was Naaman coming to be healed of Elisha. And he stands
outside of the door and waits for Elisha to come. And Elisha
didn't even come and open the door. He sent his servant. And
Naaman was very offended by this. He thought, this is not the way
this works. I mean, I expected to see something
greater than this. And the servant says, go dip
in Jordan seven times and you'll be clean. And his reply was,
behold, I thought he'll surely come after me and stand and call
upon the name of the Lord, his God, and strike his hand over
the place in a very impressive way and recover the leper. Naaman
was looking for something else, something powerful. It didn't
happen. Not like he thought. The kingdom
of God cometh not with observation. Look in verse 21 of Luke chapter
17. Neither shall they say, lo, hear. Or lo there, for behold,
the kingdom of God is within you. Now the kingdom of heaven
does not come in a way that the natural man can observe. Listen
to this. It comes quietly. Noiselessly. Unnoticed. And unrecognized by
the world. They can't see. The Lord says
the kingdom of God is within you. Now, that obviously does
not mean that when he's speaking to the Pharisees that the kingdom
of God has been set up in the Pharisees' heart. No, he doesn't
mean that at all. What he means is the kingdom
of God is an inward spiritual thing. It's not an external and
visible thing. And my marginal reading says
the kingdom of God is among you. In other words, what our Lord
is saying is, I'm it. I'm here among you, I am the
kingdom of God. I'm the king of the kingdom, and I'm the kingdom
of God, and you don't see it, and you don't recognize it. The
kingdom of God, the glorious kingdom of God, is never recognized
by the natural man. He just cannot see it. Turn to 1 Corinthians 4 while
you're turning there. Whatever it is a man thinks about
the kingdom of God, you can write this down, it's wrong. It's wrong,
whatever man thinks. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 4. The kingdom of God is not of
this world. The kingdom of God comes not with observation and
1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 20, we read for the kingdom of
God is not in word. But in power. The kingdom of God. It's not
in word. It's not in speech. It's not
in what people say and what people profess. It is in power. And let's look at why he said
this. He said in verse 17, for this
cause, I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful
in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways,
which being Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. But
now some are puffed up. They're inflated. as though I
have not come to you. But I will come to you shortly,
if the Lord will, and will know not the speech, the words of
them that are puffed up and inflated, but the power. For the kingdom
of God is not word. It's not what you say. It's in
power. I love this description Paul
gives of people being puffed up. Inflated. Well, men have an inflated view
of themselves, don't they? Let me show you scripture and
hold your finger there and turn to Psalm 62. Psalm 62. Verse 9. Surely. Surely, men of low degree, the
nobodies, the influential are vanity. And men of high degree,
the somebodies, the movers and the shakers, the important people,
they're alive. To be laid in the balance, they
are all together. Put them both together, and they're
lighter than vanity. Puffed up with pride, puffed
up with self-importance, inflated views of themselves, but lighter
than vanity. Now, Paul says regarding man. that's puffed up. I don't want
to know the speech. I don't want to know what they
say, but the power. Now, these people who are puffed
up have a lot to say about their relationship with God and all
the things that they do. Paul said, I don't want to know
anything about their speech. I want to know the power. Now, power
means ability. Power means might. Power means
strength to do. Now, it's one thing to say, You
have fellowship with Christ. It's another thing to have it,
isn't it? It's one thing to say you have
the forgiveness of sins. It's another thing to actually
possess the forgiveness of sins and be forgiven. It's one thing
to say you love God. It's another thing to actually
love him. It's one thing to say that you're
heard by God. It's another thing to be heard
by God. It's one thing to say you're
saved. It's another thing to be saved. It's one thing to say you're
a Christian. It's another thing to be a Christian. It's one thing
to speak of good works. It's another thing to possess
them. Power is the ability, the strength,
the might to do. The kingdom of God is not in
word. It's not just in what you say, but it's in power. Remember what Paul said to the
Thessalonians, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God
for our gospel came not to you in word only, but in power and
in the Holy Ghost. and in much assurance. David said, Power belongeth unto
God. And the Lord said to the Pharisees,
You know not the scriptures, nor the power of God. Now, power,
the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Would you
turn back a few pages to 1 Corinthians 1. Beginning in verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto
us which are saved, it, the preaching of the cross, the doctrine of
the cross, is the power, the omnipotence of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where
is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. To save them that believe. For
the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified. That's our message. Who He is
and what He did. Who He is and what He accomplished
by what He did. Now unto the Jews, This is a
stumbling block unto the Greeks' foolishness, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power, the omnipotence
of God. Now, God is all-powerful. That
means whatever he desires to do, he has the power to do. There's all kinds of things I'd
like to do that I don't have the power to do, but there's
no want of power in Him. Whatever He wills, He has the
power to accomplish because He is omnipotent. Now, there are
three things that only omnipotence can do. First, to create. To bring something into existence
from nothing. And that's what God did when
He created the world. He brought this universe into
existence when there was nothing. He said, be, and it was. Only
God, His power can create something from nothing. And the Lord in
His power, remember Christ is the power of God. He made me
something out of nothing. I'm nothing. In and of myself,
I am nothing. And he made me the very righteousness
of God. That's what the scripture says.
I wouldn't dare say that if the Bible didn't say that. But it
says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew not sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God. That means every believer Although
in and of themselves, they're nothing. They're nothing less
than the very righteousness of God himself. That's making something
from nothing. And there's something else only
the power of God can do. As I understand it, matter cannot
become non-existent. Whatever's here, it may change
forms. It may be wood. It might turn into fire. Energy
goes out somewhere else. The ashes go somewhere else.
But matter never leaves the universe. Only the power of God can make
something that is to be not. Only the power of God can make
something is to actually be no more, to where it's not even
in the universe. It's gone. It's not there anymore. Christ, the power of God, He
made my sin, my sin that's ever before me, my sin that I'm aware
of right now, He made my sin to not be existent. Not merely forgiven, but I have
no sin. I don't have anything to feel
guilty about. I don't have anything to feel bad about. I'm the very
righteousness of God in Him, and I have no sin. Christ doesn't
have any sin, neither do I. My sins, which are most real,
He made to be non-existent, blotted out. The Scripture says He was
manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. And if I'm in Him, I have no
sin. Now, here's something else only
omnipotence can do. Only omnipotence can Create something
from nothing. Only omnipotence can make something
to be absolutely nothing and not there. And only omnipotence
can give life. Now, you think about it. Scientists
cannot reproduce life, can they? They tried it. Only God can give
life. Only God can make life. That's
something only God can do. And he made every dead sinner
that he represented to live in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave
life. Christ, the power of God. You know, when he raised himself
from the dead, he gave himself life. I don't understand how
he did that, but he did it. And he did it toward all the
elect. And even the faith we possess is a result of the mighty
power of God. Turn to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 19. Now, I
believe God. I have faith right now. But look
what this passage of Scripture tells us about the faith we possess
in verse 19. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us who believe according to the working of his
mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named not only in this world but in
that which is to come." Now that same power that raised Christ
from the dead is what gives every believer faith. That's the work
of the mighty power of God. You know, Peter said, you're
kept, you're kept, you're preserved by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. I turn to Romans 14. This is,
this is the passage of scripture that I was thinking about that
made me want to preach on this subject. Romans chapter 14. Verse 17, here's another, the kingdom of
God is not. It's not of this world. It comes
not with observation. It's not in word, but in power.
And in verse 17, he says, for the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. But here's what it is. It's righteousness. and its peace and its joy in
the Holy Ghost. Now the Kingdom of God is not
meat and drink. Now what's he talking about?
We eat meat, we drink every day. What's he referring to when he
says the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink? Well, there's
two things he's talking about in Romans and in Corinthians
when he's talking about meat and drink. The first are the
Jewish dietary laws. What you could eat that would
be clean and what you shouldn't eat because it's unclean. And
there were those coming into the church that were trying to
enforce these Jewish dietary laws saying you'd be more pleasing
to God if you abstained from the unclean and you eat only
the clean. And the Lord had already cleared
that up and said, no, rise, Peter, and kill and eat what God has
called clean. Don't you call it common. Anything is okay for
a believer to eat. These Jewish dietary laws are
not in effect. And he's also talking about food
that had been, or meat that was sacrificed to idols. There may
be a false deity where they'd kill an animal, they'd sacrifice
it to that idol, and then it would be sold in the marketplace.
And some people said, you shouldn't eat that food that was sacrificed
to idols. That'd be wrong. I mean, it was
used for a desecrated purpose. You ought not ever buy anything
like that. You only eat food that's not
been sacrificed to idols. You'll be more pleasing to God
that way. Now, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
chapter 8, verse 8, but meat commends us not to God. For neither
if we eat it, are we the better, neither if we don't eat it, are
we the worse. You see, the kingdom of God is
not rules and regulations. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not if you do this, you'll be more pleasing. And if you refrain
from that, you'll be more pleasing. But if you do that, you'll be
less pleasing. That has nothing to do with the kingdom of God.
It's not man-made rules and regulations imposed on people. It's not,
well, I don't drink alcohol. Well, good for you. I'm glad
you don't. But you're not better for it. You're not worse for
it. Well, I drink. Well, good for you. You're not
better for it. You're not worse for it. I mean, the kingdom of
God does not have anything to do with that kind of stuff. It's
not meat and drink. What is the kingdom of God? Listen
to these three words. Righteousness. And peace. And joy. In the Holy Ghost. The kingdom of God is righteousness. Righteousness. What is righteousness?
It means when God's law looks at you, it finds no fault. It means you stand before God
utterly righteous. It means, regarding the Ten Commandments,
You've never broke them. You've kept them completely.
You stand before God without sin. Now, that's what righteousness
means. Now, would you turn over to second
Peter, chapter two? The kingdom of God is righteousness. Remember. How the Lord said,
seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Remember that? His righteousness?
I hope this is going to make this real with the Lord's help. What I want to talk to you about
for a few moments is Brother Lott. Brother Lott. Now, Lott, as far as the record
of him in the scriptures, seems to be a very self-centered man. He should have given deference
to Abraham and let Abraham have the well-watered plains, but
he chose it and let Abraham take what was left. He obviously was
someone who was quite self-centered. It was Lot who pitched his tent
towards Sodom, that wicked, evil place where he should not have
been there, and he ended up living in Sodom. And do you remember
when God said He was going to destroy Sodom? And remember when
those angels, the men said, He said to the men who were going
after the angels, don't do so wickedly. They said, who are
you to judge us? You've come here to be a judge
of us? Why, you have no business judging us. Look at you. You
remember when He was warning His sons-in-law to get out of
that place because God was going to destroy it? The Scripture
says, to them, He seemed as one that mocked. They couldn't even
take him seriously because of the way he seemed to have conducted
himself. And I'm not excusing this man,
but I mean, you read the record of him. If we didn't have the
New Testament, most people would say he wasn't saved. Lot, as
a matter of fact, Lot ended up fleeing out. When God told him
to get out of Sodom, he stayed there and he lingered. He didn't
want to leave. And the angels grabbed him by
the hand and yanked him out. And then when he got out, he
got into a cave and got drunk and had an incestuous relationship
with both of his girls. Now, that's bad. That's bad. You look at the condition of
Lot. I'm not excusing this in any way, but you look at the
record of Lot in the Old Testament. Lot. He's not exactly an exemplary
character, is he? He's not somebody I'd want my
son to be like. He's not somebody I want to be
like. Lot. Now, Let's read about a lot. Second, Peter, chapter two. Verse six. Well, let's begin
in verse five, he spared not the old world. But save Noah,
the eighth person. A preacher of righteousness. bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an
example unto all those that afterward should live ungodly and delivered. Who? Just lot. Justified lot. vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. For that what? Righteous man. And this is what
God calls him. That righteous man dwelling among
them in seeing and hearing vexed his what? Righteous soul from
day to day. with their unlawful deeds. Now,
how in the world can somebody like Lot be called righteous
by him who, if he calls him righteous, there's only one reason he calls
him righteous, because he is righteous. And it even speaks
of his righteous soul that was vexed from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. Now, how can that be? I know the answer to that question.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Even as David described the blessedness
of the man to whom God imputed righteousness. Without their
works. Without their works. Now, something
about that just kind of makes us. Is it really that way? The only way you or me would
be righteous is if it's that way. Isn't that so? The only way me
or you would be righteous is if it's that way. He takes the
righteousness of his son. My sin became the sin of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It became his sin. He was punished
for it. And his righteousness becomes
mine so that I am the very righteousness of God. The kingdom of God is
not meat and drink. It's righteousness. And this
is not just some kind of paste on righteousness. He had a righteous
soul. He was given a new nature, a
holy nature, a righteous nature. That's who he was. And this is
God's testimony of him. This is what God said regarding
this man. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's righteousness. Aren't you thankful for the righteousness
of Christ? And what's he say next? The kingdom
of God is peace. If what I said just now is so, I feel peace. God's at peace with me. And I'm
at peace with Him. I'm not afraid of Him. If what
I said is so, and it is, I have peace. Therefore, being justified,
having been justified. If you're justified, that means
you stand before God without any guilt. That means you stand
before God righteous. You're not guilty. Having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God. If Christ is my righteousness
before God, God's at peace with me. He looks at me and He's pleased. There's nothing for Him to be
mad at. And I feel peace knowing that Christ is my peace. And that's what the kingdom of
God is all about. It's about righteousness. And you know,
even saying that, I don't want to sin anymore. I don't want to ever sin again,
beginning right now. Does hearing that Christ's righteousness
is my righteousness before God make me think, well, you know,
I can be as immoral as I want as long as I can? No, not at
all. Not at all. I want to never sin again. I want to be pleasing to my Lord.
And the reason I want to is because I have his righteousness and
I have peace. But look what he says next in
Romans 14, 17. He says the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
righteousness. It's peace. And listen to this
next word. It's joy. It's joy in the Holy
Ghost. Where there is righteousness,
where there is peace, there is joy. Paul spoke in Romans 15,
13 of the joy and the peace of believing. Now, religion, listen
to this. Religion is about making people
miserable. It's about making people feel
guilty. It's about making people feel just so down and discouraged
about themselves. Now, it will try to give a false
peace, true, but the main religion doesn't want you really to have
joy. It wants you to be miserable. It wants you to keep you under.
It wants you to beat yourself up. It wants you to keep under,
to keep your flesh from... That's what religion does. It
wants to make people miserable. That's human religion. But you
know, that's not the gospel. Every believer, even Launt, has reason right
now, not if you get things better, Right now, every believer has
reason for fullness of joy. John said these things write
unto you that your joy might be full. It's the will of the
Lord Jesus Christ for you to have joy. Joy, happiness, exulting
in the grace of God. Now turn with me to Colossians
chapter 2. Verse 9, For in him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, dwells, resides all the fullness of the Godhead in a
body, and you, every single believer, every
sinner saved by the grace of God, Every Lot, every Abraham,
every Moses, every publican in the temple. And you are complete. Full. You can't get any more
holy. You can't get any more saved.
You can't get any more righteous. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't get any more well-pleasing than you are to God right now. It can't get better. You know, that makes me joyful. Romans 8, 28 says that all things
work together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. That means everything
in my life. Everything. Doesn't matter what
it is. Doesn't matter what it is. The good things, the bad
things, the false, the horrible things. Whatever it is, it doesn't
matter. It's all, all working together for good. To them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Therefore,
it's all good. It's all good. What joy! The kingdom of God
is not meat and drink. All men try to make it that,
but that's not what it is. It's righteousness. Every believer
is the righteousness of God. It's peace. The joy and peace
of believing. It's joy. Joy in the Holy Ghost. So that gives us some idea of
what the Kingdom of God is. It's not of this world. That's
clear, isn't it? It's not of this world. And it doesn't come with observation. It's not something a natural
man can even see. You know, when people were looking
at the Lord Jesus Christ, they had no idea who he was. You know,
I think it's interesting how we'll say, well, I want people
to see Christ in me. And I do, too. I realize that.
But they didn't see Christ in Christ. They saw just a man. They didn't see any glory in
him. The natural man cannot see the
kingdom of God. It doesn't come with outward
show and pomp and circumstance. The kingdom of God is not in
word. It's not in speech. It's in power. power of God. And the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink. It's righteousness. And it's
peace. And it's joy in the Holy Ghost. So truly, we pray, thy kingdom
come. When we lay our head on our pillows
tonight, may this be our prayer. thy kingdom come. Let's pray.