What is the Kingdom of God?

The way you humbly serve and work as an example for the entire flock. That is much appreciated. I’m going to now read some statements and you will all say together I will after I read each statement. I recognize that the Lord my God is responsible for my appointment to this place of leadership. I will therefore be his representative, listening to his word and obeying his voice as I fulfill my responsibilities over all other suggestions and advice.

I will seek to hear the counsel of Almighty God as it is revealed in the scriptures in every major decision connected with my involvement in this ministry. I will take refuge in and rely on the spirit of God rather than my own flesh and skill or that of any other person. I will make every effort to carry out the leadership of this position under the full control of the Holy Spirit. With my whole heart, I will fear the Lord Jesus Christ, my God, and acknowledge him as the sovereign head of this church, deserving of my unreserved faithfulness, submission, diligence, and commitment. I will honor his name.

Realizing the strong tendency to compromise with this commitment, I openly declare my dependency on God, and my need for others in his family. As a servant of the Lord of the body, his church, I will guard against every temptation from the enemies of godly leadership, authoritarianism, greed, hypocrisy, rationalization, exclusiveness, sensuality, pride, unaccountability, and I will fulfill my responsibility for the greater glory and praise of my master, Jesus Christ, whom I love and willingly obey. Amen. Thank you. And now at this time we’re going to you can go and stay standing as we pray for you.

I know you wanted to sit there. Stay standing and and those of you who are surrounding those who are standing, can you just lay a hand of affirmation on them as we pray together and ask for God’s blessing on our leaders. Gracious heavenly father, we thank you that you are king of the universe. We thank you that you are the chief shepherd. And Lord, we entrust each one of these leaders to you to guide the flock, to be that example that Peter talks about, to to willingly not by coercion, but by humility to to lead others and serve others and be that representative of Jesus Christ among your body, the church.

We ask that you would bless them, Lord. Keep them rooted in your word, filled with your holy spirit and always fix their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ as they lead. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you.

May be seated now. And kids, you are welcome to take off for kids church at this time. Bye-bye. And the rest of us. You can meet me in Luke chapter 4.

Luke chapter 4. Coming to the end of the fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel. And this question we’re going to be looking at this morning is what is the kingdom of God? Now, if you’re going to understand the answer to that question, you have to come to the Bible with the recognition that this book has a supernatural worldview. We live in a culture in a time where that is often suppressed.

And I would say ironically, it’s suppressed by the supernatural enemies of the kingdom. But we we’ve we’re all, you know, we’re children of the enlightenment is the way we can put it. We we are all kind of embedded in this culture that teaches us materialism that the physical world, what you can see, touch, hear, that’s that’s the real world. And beyond that, it’s just a figment of your imagination. And so because of that, because we’re kind of inundated with this materialistic message and this this message of physicalism, we need to be reminded that there is a entire supernatural realm and there is a war that we have all been born into.

Whether we realize it or not, acknowledge it or want to be a part of it, we are part of a cosmic war that has been waging since the dawn of time. Now, demons in particular are one of those things that people have mixed feelings about that. People kind of get a little weirded out when the guy standing up here at the pulpit starts talking about demons. But because it’s in the Bible, we’re going to talk about demons today. And the way that Jesus gives us victory over the demonic.

Now, there’s two ways that people will typically respond to the demonic. They will either explain it away and say you know whatever is attributed to the demonic is actually just brain chemistry you know it’s just atoms in motion it it’s stuff playing with your mind it’s not actually the spirit realm that’s one perspective the other perspective on the other extreme is to become so fascinated and enthralled with the dark spirits that you actually want to give yourself over to their control because you want to learn more about them and their their magical arts and their supernatural powers and all those things that come with it. In the greater part of the world, people acknowledge there are evil spirits. People don’t deny it because they’ve encountered them overtly. In our world, in our culture, I should say, we encounter demons, but it’s often through more subtle ways.

The demonic in our culture typically works through deception, confusion, idolatry, getting people off of focusing on Christ. That’s how demons work in our culture. M. Scott Pek was a secular psychiatrist who once doubted the existence of demons. And he was one of those who would just come up with all these, you know, mental or medical explanations for demonic oppression.

But then he encountered patients that could not be explained in psychiatric terms. And the way he said it is, I now believe the devil is real because I have met him. And he not only came to believe in the devil, he came to Christ at age 43. Even the skeptical historian Marcus Borg of Oregon State has said of the Jesus Seminar, very u very liberal, very skeptical group has said that it’s it’s indisputable based on the historical evidence we have that Jesus was a healer of some kind and that he did in some sense drive out demons. Okay, so that’s a skeptic talking.

He says because of the evidence in scripture, because of the evidence outside of scripture, something happened when Jesus was here where he had a power over the demonic realm. CS Lewis wrote that famous book, The Screw Tape Letters, which basically is this correspondence from a senior senior demon. It’s a fictional account, but a senior demon to a lesser demon named Wormwood. And he’s basically counseling him on how to take people down and keep them from the God who loves them. It’s a fictional account, but I think it’s a fascinating way to think about how the they they might strategize.

They might look for ways to trip us up. But in the preface, Lewis says there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. And I alluded to this earlier. One is to believe or one is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

And I think that’s the right response. We want to understand demons are limited. We don’t want to be overly fascinated with the demonic, but we want to understand we do have an enemy because if you’re not aware that you’re in a war, you won’t be prepared for that war. But we need to also remember greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Jesus came into this world, the Bible says, to destroy the works of the devil.

And so when Jesus comes on the scene and he’s announcing the kingdom of God, what he’s doing is he’s announcing liberation from spiritual captivity, which would include those of the demonic realm. Here’s the big idea this morning. Jesus came to inaugurate the kingdom of God in an enemy occupied world. >> [snorts] >> If you would please stand for the reading of God’s holy and perfect word. Again, we believe in these supernatural truths because we have it in a supernatural book given to us.

Luke says in chapter 4 beginning in verse 31, “And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,” “Ha, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him.” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

And he rose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.”

and he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Thank you. You may be seated. Well, Luke says that Jesus went down to Capernaum, which tells us that he really did know his geography because to go from Nazareth to Capernaum, you actually had to go from about 1,200 ft above sea level down to about 680 ft below sea level down to the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. And Capernium was a very wealthy and prosperous fishing town.

It’s where Jesus would meet several of his disciples. Many of the fishermen would be found in Capernaum. And in [snorts] verse 43 it says Jesus came here to announce a kingdom. He came to announce the kingdom of God. This is the very first of 35 times that Jesus will use that phrase kingdom of God.

This is not just a minor theme in Jesus’s teaching. This is something he keeps coming back to over and over. He was constantly talking about the kingdom of God. And here’s what Luke wants us to understand from this passage in your notes. There is no power or authority greater than King Jesus.

That’s the first thing we have to understand. There are many opposing forces in this world, many enemies of the kingdom. But Jesus will reign for all eternity. He always wins. Whenever something opposes him, Jesus always has victory.

He’s [snorts] the sovereign king of the universe. And so that means you can take every trouble in life to him. No matter what is ailing you, if there’s something you can’t handle in life and you feel overwhelmed, know that there is one who can handle it and he can deliver you from what you’re facing. Throughout the Old Testament, there’s this repeated theme of the kingdom of God. It’s actually the theme that connects the Old and New Testaments together and and they find their their nexus here at the coming of the King Jesus.

But what is the kingdom of God exactly? I’m glad you asked. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over the people of God for their blessing, their good, and his glory. It’s the rule and reign of God over the people of God for their good and God’s glory. And it’s the power of the age to come breaking into our world today.

It’s heaven invading earth. It’s it’s the eternal reality of God’s rulership coming in and making a difference in our world here and now, changing our experience of how life is meant to [snorts] be lived. See, when God created the world, he created it with the goal of ruling over it. He came to this world, Jesus did, but it was it was always meant to be ruled by God. And what happened is at the fall of man, there was this time where there was this usurppation that happened where the devil and his cronies came and they were ejected from heaven.

There was a war in heaven. They were ejected, cast down to earth, and then they began to claim this earth as their dominion. But from the beginning, it has always been God’s dominion. It is his kingdom that will last forever. And God didn’t create the world just to walk away from it.

The secret of the kingdom is that God wants to dwell with his people. He intends to be with us so we can experience his glory and his presence and his love. He wants to be known. He’s not like the deist God who’s just out there somewhere. He is a personal God who wants to relate to you and wants to show you who he is.

Because of sin, we have as a human race rejected his kingly authority. We’ve turned our back on God, but he never turned his back on us. And Jesus came to redeem and restore a lost and sinful world. And it’s through his death, through his death on the cross that he he brought all the the sin and evil and rebellion onto himself. He bore it all so that our forgiveness could be given so we could have a way back to eternal life with God and celebrate life forever in his kingdom.

That’s how life was always meant to be, lived under the kingship of God. And and as long as we are trying to live out from under his kingship, life will always go badly. It will always end badly. It will always end in destruction. And Jesus even talks about this.

He says that the way to life is narrow. It’s hard to find the way to life. And it’s not because God is hiding it from us. It’s because of us. Because of our pride, because of our self-righteousness, because we want to be self-ruuled, not ruled by God.

And so that’s why so many Jesus says so many follow that gate to destruction because they do not want God to reign over them. But Jesus came to show us that the kingdom is good. It is right. Is where joy and forgiveness is found. It’s where life is found.

But he warned that the door open that’s open right now. Anybody can come into the kingdom. It’s offered to anybody. There’s no prerequisites to enter the kingdom. You just come by faith.

You trust in Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, it will be applied to you, and you’re you’re brought into the kingdom. But that door will not be opened forever. And Jesus warned that one day the door will be shut and those who thought they had it made will be left out in the darkness. It says in Luke 13, “For many, Jesus talking,” many I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us.”

Then he will answer you, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me all you workers of evil. In that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth.

When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves cast out, and the people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. [snorts] And throughout the Old Testament, this same theme keeps coming up. God is king. He rules over the nations.

He’s not just the ruler of Israel. All nations will serve him. All nations will bow before him. And we get a taste of this in in many of the Psalms. I actually included some references in your notes that you can study later on your own.

But to give you just one example, Psalm 47 7-8 says, “For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne.” Over and over, we’re told, “God is king.

All must bow to him.” But know that his authority is good. That he will bless those who come under his rule and reign. He will enlarge their hearts. He will bring joy to all who come into his kingdom.

And so, because that message is repeated so often in the Old Testament, by the time you get to Jesus’s day, everybody was waiting. The Jewish people were waiting for the arrival of the kingdom of God. They were looking for it, looking for that spirit anointed Messiah that was promised. And then Jesus comes and he starts preaching in all these synagogues saying basically the kingdom of God is arriving in and through me. I am the one you’ve been waiting for.

I am that king who will get you into the kingdom. Now on one level it might be obvious that God rules his world. He made it. And we we kind of assume that if you make something it’s yours. You you rule it.

But the reality of sin has made it so that so much of what goes on in our world is is subject to futility and corruption. And it doesn’t happen according to God’s good and perfect design from the beginning. This this world that we live in is subject to suffering, death, and disease. And and the Bible says it’s all traced back to Adam’s sin. There was a an original sin before that in heaven.

But the reason for all the corruption on earth today is not first because of Satan’s fall. It’s because of Adam’s fall. And it’s because we were as a human race given reign over the world under God. We were meant to rule over this world. But when we fell, all of creation fell with us.

And so Jesus came to bring redemption, to restore us to that rightful place so that we could share in his rule. Even we’re called co-airs with Christ because it’s not just Jesus that’s going to reign and rule. We will be ruling with him as also his his servants. We see this idea in places like Romans 8 where it says God will one day bring redemption to all of creation that is right now in bondage to futility. So this is what Jesus preached everywhere he went.

And he comes to Capernaum and he’s preaching this message of the kingdom of God. And Luke says everyone there was astonished at his teaching for his word possessed authority. No one taught like Jesus when he got up to preach. All eyes were on him. They were fixed on what he was saying because he was talking about this reality that nobody was willing to say.

No one was willing to claim this about themselves. Jesus said truths about God, about human life, about what what eternal life is and what life in the kingdom was always meant to be. People were amazed at what he had to say. He spoke about forgiveness and liberation. See, other rabbis when they preached, they would get up and they would read a passage and then they’d say, “Well, Rabbi Hell says this and Rabbi Jonathan says that.”

and they would just appeal to all these authorities that came before them and they were kind of stuck in this tradition that they had received. But not Jesus. Jesus’s teaching was like a lightning bolt because he came and he would say things like, “You have always been taught this, but I say to you,” and then he would give this profound truth making sense of all these things in the Old Testament that had been confusing for them. Jesus didn’t have to appeal to higher authority because he’s the king. He’s the highest authority, the alpha and the omega.

And he spoke like a spiritanointed king. So if Jesus is teaching in this way, people are amazed. Of course, this is going to catch not just the people’s attention, but the enemy’s attention. In your notes, wherever the kingdom of God is announced, opposition is sure to come. Opposition is sure to come.

This is why we need to be praying for those who are are missionaries that we pray for teachers. Please pray for me. I know I need it. Pray for people who are proclaiming the kingdom, evangelists, people who are out on on the streets. Let people know that you’re praying for them because there is a spiritual opposition.

The devil does not want people to hear the gospel. He doesn’t want people to know that they can be forgiven of all their sins. And he wants people to stay under his dominion. [snorts] And so this this is happening. Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God and then the demonic realm shows its ugly face basically.

And in this case, it’s a man inhabited by a demon and he starts shouting at Jesus. Now this is in the middle of his his preaching time. And and just think about this. We would kind of assume if Jesus is going to interact with demonic powers, it would maybe be at like a graveyard at night or, you know, something like from Ghostbusters, right? But he’s he’s at church.

People are gathered to hear the word and that’s where the demon goes. And that shows us that this is the kind of tactic that the demonic realm will often use. They will try to come right to the place where people are most ready to hear the kingdom news. And he will oppose the message right there. The devil wants to distract people from the gospel.

He wants people to be confused and miss the gospel. He’ll do everything he can. The [snorts] devil or the demon cries out in a loud voice, “Ha, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

You sense the defiance in the demon’s voice. The demons are irredeemable. The Bible’s very clear. They will be cast into the lake of fire. There is no hope for them to be saved.

And so all they can do is try to disrupt and distort the work of God in the meantime. And they would try to bring as many down with them as they can. They know, it’s interesting, u you know, there’s a lot of people who are confused about Jesus in the Gospels. People are kind of slow to figure out who Jesus is, but it’s the demons that recognize him immediately. They know he’s God and they’re terrified of him because they know he can destroy them.

He has that authority. The James James says the demons believe and shudder. In other words, it’s like when you when you turn on the light and the cockroaches scatter. Right? That’s the idea.

The light of Christ is so holy and so powerful and so magnificent that it terrifies them. And they flee from the light of Christ and all Jesus has to do is silence him and say, “Come out of him.” One word, that’s it. And the demon has to leave. [snorts] You know, there were reports of other Jewish exorcists at this time.

And usually they’re described as these very long and elaborate processes. Sometimes they would like mix up these these roots and give it to the person to in order to help them expel the demon. All these long processes with Jesus is totally different. He just says, “Get out of there.” And the demon has to flee.

That’s it. And so the people are amazed because he has such power and authority like they’ve never seen. But seeing this story of the demonized man compels us to ask, what about today? Can people be afflicted by demons today in our world of 21st century technology, all these things available to us? Do we still have to wrestle against the spiritual realm?

Well, if we grant that they are real, just as the Bible teaches, then we can know the truth about them. And the truth is that Satan and his demons are very real and very evil. They are bent on your destruction in whatever way they can. If you are saved, they will try to discourage you. They will try to instill doubt.

They will try to take away your hope and make you less effective for the kingdom. And if you’re not saved, they will try to do whatever they can to keep you out of the kingdom. And if [clears throat] that means making your life amazing and giving you all this wealth and all these material possessions, and as long as that distracts you from being in the kingdom, they’re happy with that as long as they can keep you from Christ. And so, there’s a war. Now, how does a demon gain a foothold in someone’s life?

How how is it, in other words, that this man would have gotten demonized in the first place? Well, to be clear, a Christian cannot be possessed by a demon. We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and so there’s no room for evil spirits to possess us. We belong to Jesus, not the devil. But we can still be influenced.

We can still be deceived and confused by demonic powers and by sin. And according to scripture, there are numerous ways that we can be influenced or or under the affliction of demonic powers. And remember, their goal is to just drive you away from faith in Jesus Christ. Whatever it takes. One way in particular is through anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness.

We see this in Ephesians 4:26 and 27. It says, “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. And do not give the devil a foothold.” Now, that word for foothold, in some translations, it’s going to be opportunity or something like that is tapas, and that means place.

And so the idea is when you harbor anger, when someone wrongs you and you harbor anger and resentment and unforgiveness, it’s like you have made a place in your heart where the devil can get to you, where where the demons can in a sense set up a base of operations to get to work on you. And so that’s one way they can get a foothold in your life is if you remain angry and bitter. And keep in mind the kingdom of God is where joy and forgiveness is found. So wherever that place is in your heart where you’re not allowing God to reign, you’re not coming under the [clears throat] reign of God, that is where bitterness, jealousy, envy, anger, all those things can take a foothold. When Jesus saves us, we not only become citizens of the kingdom, we become adopted by the king.

And God wants us to know how loved we are. He wants us to know that and to live and find security in his love as a child of God. But even as a child of God, it’s possible that you committed a grievous sin earlier in your life. And what the devil will try to do is he will try to pinpoint that particular sin and target that and convince you that that sin cannot be forgiven. He will he will drill down on that as far as he can and try to persuade you that that one is unforgivable.

You’re still going to have to deal with that one. Or in some cases, a grievous sin has been committed against you. And it it’s like you’ve felt this shadow of shame over you for a long time and you don’t know how to get rid of it. Again, the devil will use whatever he can. And if it’s at times that you felt worthless, know that that is not from God.

That is from the devil. He wants us to feel that way. Revelation describes the devil as the accuser of our brothers and sisters. And so, ever since Christ brought the kingdom of God, the devil has been hard at work to accuse Christians over and over, day and night. He is relentless.

The flaming darts are relentless. And we’re told in in that same passage that the way to overcome the evil one is through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. In [snorts] other words, it’s through the gospel of a crucified and risen Jesus. It’s through his sacrifice and putting all your faith and hope in what he did and his death and his resurrection. That is what gives you the freedom you’re meant to enjoy.

That’s why Paul says, “Take up the shield of faith.” We put our faith in that gospel. Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. All of them. That that word is important in Ephesians 6:16.

Every single dart that the devil shoots at you. These accusations can be extinguished by faith. [snorts] So these accusations, they may be like a a voice in your head that’s just on repeat telling you, you know, God could never love someone like you. Look at what you’ve done. That repeat can be extinguished by faith.

That’s [snorts] the voice of the enemy. Revelation 21 goes on to speak of God’s people collectively as a bride dressed in pure linen brought to her husband Jesus Christ. It’s interesting. It doesn’t say that, you know, mostly pure, but there’s one little stain. Pure as in completely pure and holy and righteous, dressed in the righteousness of Christ.

No flaws, no faults, no guilt. And that’s how we’re brought to Jesus Christ. He makes us his own. We’re secured by his blood payment on the cross. And that’s guaranteed by his resurrection.

See, Satan hates that the tomb of Jesus is empty. He hates it. He hates that Jesus has accomplished salvation for us. But what he will do is because he can’t stop that. He can’t undo what Christ has done.

He will try to get your thoughts off of that. He will want to get you to forget that Jesus has done everything necessary for your salvation. But he can’t stand against the power of the resurrection. Many people have been plagued by bitterness, including many Christians, plagued by bitterness and anger and resentment and unforgiveness for so long and they never connected it to spiritual warfare. They never realized that all that time it was actually demonic oppression that was going on there.

That foothold that had been gained in their life. [snorts] But the kingdom of God that Jesus announced was all about liberation from the enemy. [snorts] Liberation from everything that ens snares us, including worry, guilt, unforgiveness, agitation, all of it. So once again, in your notes, the kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over the people of God, and it guarantees the end of the enemies of God. >> [snorts] >> Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

See, in heaven, God’s rule and reign is already welcomed and embraced. All the angels are worshiping him collectively right now. But Jesus said, “Pray for that reality to be true on earth as well in the same way.” And everywhere Jesus went, the kingdom went. That’s why he would say things like, “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

It’s come. You are experiencing it already.” And even today when we see things like people set free from addiction, people set free from demonic oppression, powerful answers to prayer, enemies reconciled, people forgiving each other, husbands and wives reconciling after longstanding differences and bitterness. All of that when people are showing that joy and forgiveness of the kingdom, that reality is already showing up on earth as in heaven. Again, 1 John 3:8 says, “The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

He came, that’s what his miracles were all about. They were there to show his power over the devil, to drive back the darkness, and to bring the kingdom of God. Verse 38 says, “Jesus went to Simon’s house. Simon, later known as Peter, and as it happens, his mother-in-law has a fever.” >> [snorts] >> Now, the fact that Simon has a mother-in-law tells us that he was married, and that’s that’s important.

My mother-in-law is actually here along with my father-in-law this morning. This is a this is a something that’s important because in in some places, some traditions, it’s taught that marriage can hinder ministry, that you you can’t really be fully devoted to the Lord if you’re married. And and I think this is a real problem because what it does is it downplays the significance a married couple can have in ministry together. And you know I I just find it interesting. Every apostle except Paul was probably married because at one point Paul says that even he has the right to be married.

He was a single guy. He says he has the right to be married like Peter and the apostles. That’s the way he puts it. And in the early church, we know that at least the majority of leaders in the church were married because P

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