Citizens in the Kingdom Of Christ

Introduction

And we certainly do have a long history. It’s a great blessing to get to be back with you again. And I’m going to just make a few comments by way of introduction today and then get right into our lesson at hand. Not only was I here early on, but my mom and dad have been here many times. We’ve lost both of them. But my dad lasted till 102. I hope I get to last that long. And I hope that in the process, there will be a privilege to serve God as fully as possible all the days of my life. I was blessed to be raised by folks who were totally dedicated to the Lord. And it’s a great blessing to be that way. I want you to know that today’s lesson, as we look at the kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord, is a lesson that in some ways very nicely fits with what we’re going to do the rest of the week.

Monday through Wednesday, we’re going to turn our attention to the evidence for God in the natural world.

So it’s been a passion of my life to see God in the natural world. And I must tell you, beloved, you live in one of the most exciting times in the history of mankind with regard to science and math. I know all of you love science and math. That’s your favorite subject. But if you don’t, it’s because you didn’t have me as a teacher.

When you come back Monday through Wednesday, we will give our attention mostly to the evidence in the natural world. But it is more powerful than it has ever been in the history of mankind. I’m a student of this, ladies and gentlemen. And I’m telling you, it is as if God has opened the floodgates. I hope you will take the opportunity to join us for that. And the lesson I’m going to give you at this hour is to emphasize that the God who made us also loved us so much that he gave his only begotten son for us. And through his only begotten Son, he made everything that there was. So we’re talking this morning about who created us and who sustains us and who has established the way he wants us to live.

And Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we’re going to talk about the glory of that king displayed in the natural world. We hope you can be with us for all of that. So let’s begin this morning in Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. And as I said in the Bible class this morning, I really like it when members of the church come to the assemblies with their own Bible in their hands. It’s okay if you bring a telephone, but don’t you get on the internet while I’m talking.

And when you open your Bibles together in this assembly, pages rustle. So the preacher knows when he’s asked you to turn to a passage whether you’re there or not. So, kids in this class, in this audience, I want you to do something for me. If I have a problem with my computer, I call my grandkids. You do that too, right? And they know how to fix it. Well, how about writing an app so that when you open the Bible on a telephone, it goes shh. Wouldn’t that be good? But I hope you have your own Bible with you. We’re in Colossians chapter 1. And I’m reading beginning in verse 13. And my habit is not to give the whole text of scripture on the screen. People have different views about that.

But I like very much for the people in the audience to turn to their own Bible and read it from the book they use every day of their lives as they see what God has written in text. Colossians 1 13.

1. In a Kingdom, the Monarch Has All Authority

So you see, we have already been rescued from the power of darkness. There’s another ruler in this world, beloved. He’s the ruler of darkness. And he’s powerful. But he’s nothing compared to our king. And you and I who have become Christians have been translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. What a blessing. But we’re Americans, most of us. And we were raised not in a kingdom in terms of our politics. We’re closer to a democracy. We’re not a democracy. We’re an elected representative republic. But it’s the closest modern thing today to a democracy. And the way a democracy works, as you see on the screen before you, and by the way, I didn’t do this. This was done by somebody else.

I’m not that good. People have the authority to set up whatever kind of government they choose in a democracy, do they not? In your republic in the United States of America, you as a voter, as a participant, I hope, have a part to play in what your government does. And so it comes from the people up. I believe we had a president that once said, our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. That’s the kind of government we like. And our Constitution was written so that the laws can be changed as the thinking of the people changes. That’s why we have amendments. And we have a bunch of them, don’t we, for our Constitution that have been voted on and enacted then for the rulership of our nation.

And I must tell you, I am thankful that I was born in a nation that provides more freedom to do what we’re doing right now than any nation ever has in the history of mankind. And we have the freedom, beloved, to go into our neighborhood and talk to people about the message of Jesus. At this point in history, we have more people that are being sent to other nations from the United States to preach the pure and simple message of Jesus than all the other nations put together. That’s just the way it is at this point in history. You are blessed to live in this nation. But when our Lord Jesus died for you and for me and established his kingdom, he did not establish a democracy or an elected republic.

Watch the screen. This is how it works in a kingdom.

Because we’re not used to that. In a kingdom, the monarch has all authority. And the people have only such rights as he chooses to give them. This nation at one time was under King George of England. Now he didn’t have quite the dominant power that a lot of the ancient kingdoms had. But we threw off the yoke of that kingdom here in this nation politically. But in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, we have a monarch who makes the laws, and the citizens must obey them, whether they approve them or not. May I say that again? Our king is the absolute monarch. He makes the laws, and we are to abide by them as citizens, whether we like them or not. Jesus, you see, is a monarch.

And I want to explore that just a little more. You know the passage. I’m not going to ask you to turn to Matthew 28. After he was resurrected from the dead and just before he went back to heaven, he said to his disciples, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe the commandments that I’ve given to you, and I’ll be with you always to the end of the age. All authority has been given to our King. And Acts the second chapter in 1 Corinthians 15 both teach that he is presently ruling and reigning over his kingdom at the right hand of God in heaven.

Beloved, we are not waiting for Jesus to begin a kingdom on earth. There are lots of folks teaching that today. That somehow he’s going to come back and set up a kingdom in Jerusalem and rule for a thousand years on this earth. That is a misunderstanding of scriptures. Please turn to these passages on your own. Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 15. It’s very clear. He is already king, and we are in the kingdom with him. And he’s provided for everything for our needs as citizens in his kingdom. So let’s turn now to Esther chapter 3. Please turn in your Bible.

2. The King of Persia Made Laws

And they had authority, some of the greatest realms of authority ever.

Susa. That’s right in the region of modern day Iran. The Iranians traced their heritage to the Persians. In the days of Esther, King Ahashuerus, king of the empire of Persia, made laws. And it is said of the laws of the Medes and the Persians that once that law was written, it was not to be changed. So an ultimate authority. Let’s look now at a specific instance in chapter 3 of the book of Esther. There was a very hateful man named Haman, who had become acquainted with a Jewish nation who were in captivity in Persia, and he didn’t like them a little bit. And he especially didn’t like them because Mordecai, whom he knew was a Jew, would not bow down to him and give honor to him.

And so Haman set about to have the entire nation of Israel wiped off the map. So what else is new, right, in the history of mankind? So he came to the king and asked for authority. Look at verse 10 with me. Ephesians or Esther chapter 3. So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hamadith of the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, The money and the people are given to you to do with them as seems good to you. So the king, as you can see, delegated his authority to Haman. Verse 12. Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded.

So notice on the screen here, class, ladies and gentlemen, he called the scribes, and they were to write the decrees. Let’s read on. To the king’s satraps and the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all the people to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. And I can assure you that in this time the Persians who occupied all of this region occupied people who spoke all different languages. So they had scribes whose job it was to take the decree of the king, translated into the language where it was going to be sent, so that every part of that kingdom knew exactly what God the king, pardon me if I may call him God the King, because that’s really what he was like.

What he wanted. So they were to write what the king dictated.

In the name of King Ahashuirus, it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces to destroy and to kill. Now watch on the screen. So from Susa he sent out to all the provinces of the entire kingdom. Messengers were sent to take the message of the king about this particular incident and had it delivered all over that nation and kingdom. Because it was far fetched, and lots of different languages, but the messengers were to carry it out, and they were to deliver it to the governors and the satraps at all of those places, which are the designated officers of the king to carry out the will of the king. So notice now, at the end of the end, all the endpoints, we have entered on our screen here, governors and or satraps who received the messages and they carried out what the king said.

So can you see how a king from one physical location then had control over all of that nation and all of that kingdom? And can you imagine the consequences of tampering with the message? Instant death. All of those servants were to do exactly as the king said.

3. Apostles and Prophets, Like the Scribes

Parallels here with the ancient kingdom of Persia. Let’s go to Ephesians chapter 4. The passage that was read just before we concluded that other portion of our service. In Ephesians 4, starting in verse 7, it says, To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Excuse me. Therefore, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. And then if I may skip down to verse 11, and he himself gave some. So these, beloved, are the gifts that Jesus the King chose to give.

I would say to you, those are very much like the scribes who made certain that what God wanted was transmitted appropriately to all the people of the kingdom. So we have apostles and prophets, which Ephesians 2 also read this morning, were in the foundation of God’s kingdom, like the scribes of old.

You remember Jesus said, You go into all the world and to every nation, and you preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then other gifts were pastors and teachers. These are local servants who are to execute the will of God and establish his work in every location. So let me interrupt myself here just a moment and say you are truly blessed here at this church that for a long time you have had men serving this church as elders who are the same thing as pastors, who are the same thing as shepherds in Jesus’ kingdom. Christ’s kingdom does not have a pastor system where one man is the pastor. There’s no such thing in the kingdom of Christ. There’s always a multiplicity of pastors who are shepherds, who are elders, who are bishops.

That’s the different words for the same people. And they have authority, as 1 Peter 5 says, to rule over the flock that is among them. So this eldership here at South Bumby Avenue has no authority over Livingston Avenue where I’m a member, or any other congregation anywhere else. Their authority by our king is restricted to this group of people over whom they are the shepherds. That’s how our king works. And by the way, you don’t see in the kingdom of Christ a further extension of authority beyond the local church with its pastors and teachers.

Don’t believe me about this. You go examine what the king says. There’s no such thing as a hierarchy of people leading all up to one whole group of people that speak then for the whole church worldwide. No, beloved. He gave gifts. Pastors in local churches have that authority. Only for that church. That’s what our king said. So let’s take a just a moment and talk about apostles and prophets. They are the scribes. Jesus sent them out, but he didn’t send them out until he gave them the Holy Spirit. John 14, 15, and 16. I’m not taking the time to turn to those this morning, but he would not turn them loose to do what he wanted until the Holy Spirit came on them to guide them into all truth.

So they told exactly what our king wanted. And that’s what this book is. It’s the expression of his will given to us by the apostles and prophets.

I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 1. And by the way, I haven’t marked any of these passages in my Bible. So I could turn to them with you. And I will beat you there. Acts 1, chapter 4. Jesus is speaking to his apostles after his resurrection. Verse 4 says, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me. For John, truly baptized with water, you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. And verse 8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The apostles were given authority by the Holy Spirit to speak for God and to get his message out. They would be given God’s words and commandments in the way he chose for it to be delivered. And by the way, if I may take a little side trip here, he delivered his message, first of all, in the language of Hebrew and Greek and a little bit of Aramaic, the languages of the time, the common languages of the time. And from then forward, he provided a mechanism by which they could be translated into other languages by human beings. The translations are not guided by God. That’s why you need to be careful.

4. The Evangelists Are the Messengers

The evangelists appointed by God are the messengers. And you are blessed to have Sean and Jared working with you in that role here.

God bless you for that. You’ll see a bunch of passages on the screen. Timothy and Titus were written to messengers, evangelists by the Apostle Paul. And they were told what to do. Again, I’m not going to turn to all those, but I would like for you to turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2. And you’ll see what they were required to do by God. And by the way, it includes us. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 2. The things that you’ve heard from me among many witnesses. Commit these to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. My version says faithful men. Look at your Bible. Does your say men there? Well, let me tell you what the word is in Greek. It’s the word anthropos.

You’ve heard of that word? That’s another word we’ve adopted into English. You know why they have spelling bees in English? Because English has adopted words from every language on earth. And spelling is horrendous. Because we just take their word and stick it in our language. Did you know the word baptism is not an English word? It comes from a Greek word, baptizo, which every Greek knew was to bury, to immerse, to cover up. That’s what it meant. But when it was translated into English back in the early English translations, there was controversy over whether it was baptism if you immerse somebody or you sprinkled somebody or you poured a little water on them. So rather than deal with it, they just took the and stuck it in English.

And then it was whatever you wanted it to be. No, beloved, it’s what it meant originally. Baptism is immersion. That’s what the word means. And it should have been translated, and then there’d be no question. My point to you is this the evangelist’s job is to take what God said and make sure that message gets out exactly the way God says.

In Timothy and Titus, there are 10 or that’s actually 15 times where he says, speak these things. You evangelists, tell what I, the apostle, said what God said, and don’t change it. And you do that to faithful anthropos. That’s men and women. It’s human beings. So let me read that again. 2 Timothy 2, verse 2. The things you’ve heard from me, Timothy, among many witnesses, commit these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also. That is a better translation.

5. Pastors and Teachers Execute His Will in Local Places

And then he established pastors and teachers, the Lord’s servants, to execute his will in local places. He made them overseers, Acts of the 20th chapter. Pastors. I’m sad to say that he predicted some of them will start to teach perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. So you have to be constantly alert. Those men have no legislative authority. Turn with me to chapter Titus chapter 1. Titus 1, verse 9. He says to those elders, those pastors, those bishops, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convict those who contradict. Don’t you appoint elders in this church who can’t convict people are teaching false doctrine.

But they have no legislative authority. Their authority is to take what God said and enact it.

Galatians 1. Paul said, if an angel from heaven, or another one claiming to be an apostle, comes to you and teaches something different than the gospel I have taught you, let him be accursed. That includes me, beloved. If you find me teaching something in violation of what our king says, I hope you’ll stop it. These elders must give account of those over whom they have oversight. And those who over who are under their oversight are to be submissive to their leadership. But it better be founded on what the king says. Ephesians, the fourth chapter, speaks of the edification of the body itself in love. The elders are responsible for seeing that that happens in local churches. And our Lord Jesus is an unchanging king. The laws of men change, but not the laws of Christ.

6. Our King Does Not Change

Hebrews 13th chapter, verse 8 says he’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now I’ve made a list here on the board for you. In our nation of the United States, as long as you have lived, and certainly as long as I have lived, have laws changed about alcohol?

How about gambling? You know one of the biggest curses in our society right now? You can gangble on everything that happens in a sports contest. Did you know that? You can gamble on whether one man in the March Madness basketball games makes 20 points or 18 points.

And there are kids that are being eaten up by gambling because they can gamble on everything. And it’s perfectly legal. How about abortion, beloved? I’ll tell you one of the darkest days in my life. It’s when our Supreme Court made a ruling that little ones in the womb of a mama are not people. I’m thankful I lived to see the day that that ruling was overturned. But I will tell you that Jesus the Christ, our King, is not changed about that. Little ones in the womb from the old testament to the new were revered as little people that belonged to God. But nations change those things. Not our king. And how about homosexuality? Maybe the second darkest day in my life was when five judges out of nine said that the constitution of this nation recognizes when a man marries a man.

Or a woman marries a woman. Well, that’s nothing, because now we don’t even know what a man or a woman is. And by the way, the science has not changed about that. You know from the instant of conception whether this is a female or a male because of the chromosomal makeup.

But our king knows what’s right and wrong. I don’t care what the culture is. And he doesn’t change. The Lord Christ did not change. There’s no for his kingdom. Did you not counsel at Mag just that made the decision that in their fellowship they will now recognize homosexuals in the priesthood? You reckon this book has changed about that? No, it is not. We live in a kingdom, beloved, not in a republic where you can vote and change what the king says. But it’s going on all the time. Jude the third verse says, your job is to support, stand up for the faith which has been once for all delivered. That’s what our king says. And in Revelation 22, he says, you add to what I say, or you take away from what I say, you’re going to have problems.

Like, how about eternal damnation? Well, people say, spiritual laws made 2,000 years ago, they’re not relevant. We know more today, so the laws ought to change to comport with what we now know. Here’s my question. Are the laws of nature still relevant? They were made by the same God. And they’ve been here for thousands of years. How about changing the laws of nature? And part of why this ties with my lessons the rest of the week is because I’m going to talk to you a little bit about the lawmaker. His wisdom is evident everywhere. All these passages say it is our God who created and sustains all these things. And he’s the one that made the laws. And they’re unchanging. So by the way, space exploration is made possible by the dependability of God’s laws.

And I will tell you the men who first discovered these laws back starting in the 1400, 1500, 1600s, didn’t know anything about space exploration. Never in a spaceship. But I will tell you the space program today rests on what they learned about God’s natural law. And man is helpless to change the natural law. And by the way, they don’t need to be changed. What they need to do is they need to be approved and valued and appreciated, and we need to obey them. And if you don’t, you’re in big trouble. And kids, if you don’t think so, get up on the roof and walk off. God’s natural law is not to be changed. So here’s what I thought I’d do with you for the next few minutes.

Because it ties in with the science we’re going to do the rest of the week. There was a mission to Pluto some years ago. It’s called New Horizons. Most folks that I talk to have never heard of it. Because it wasn’t published that much. That’s why I like to talk about it. But if you want to investigate it, go home after we get through this afternoon, because everybody’s coming back at 2 30. But when you’re through with that, go home and look up New Horizons mission to Pluto on your computer because it’s still going on. They’re past Pluto, though. So here’s what I want to tell you, class. And for now, you’re my class. This operation was planned before it ever happened. In fact, there was a complete itinerary made out for a nine-year trip with lots of detail.

And the only reason we could do that is because we’ve learned enough about God’s natural laws, and they are so dependable, you know ahead of time what’s going to happen. So here’s a map laying out the trip to Pluto. So here we are on Earth in January the 19th, 2006. New Horizons spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, right over here, not that far away. It took off and skipped way over here, July the 14th, 2015. That’s nine and a half years later. New Horizon makes its closest approach to Pluto. Nine and a half years later. And I can tell you, class, I have the document, I didn’t bring it with me, it’s about that thick, that tells you what they were going to do. I’m going to point out two or three things.

Folks, we have learned the law of gravity. Isaac Newton in the 1600s is credited with first discovering the mathematical expression of the law of gravity. He didn’t know what gravity was, but he knew how to describe it mathematically. And by the way, if you describe something mathematically in the sciences, you’ve reached the pinnacle. It’s the queen of the sciences. And by the way, mathematics is not a thing. Listen to me carefully. Mathematics is a mental construct. It’s not a thing. You can’t kick it. You can’t put it in your refrigerator. It’s mental. And the fact that nature can be described very carefully and accurately by mathematics is an indication it was produced by mind, not by formless, useless matter.

So here’s one thing that was mapped out on that trip. When they got here close to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, massive gravitational force. They took that little place spaceship, and they let it go around Jupiter several times, and then they used the gravitational force of Jupiter to go around like this, and then whoosh, shove it out into space with a gravitational kick because we’ve learned how to use it. It saved that trip three years because they made that spaceship go way faster than it was going before as it traveled this long distance through space to get to Pluto and they mapped it all the way. Now please understand I’m skipping about a thousand things, but every piece of this trip was planned out.

We have learned, folks, enough about radioactive decay that we’ve learned you can take a piece of substance that just naturally decays and gives off particles, and in the process it produces energy. We’ve learned how to take a little chunk of radioactive material, take the energy that’s produced from its natural radioactive decay, convert it into electrical power, and it can run the spaceship.

I think it’s 28 kilograms of a specific radioactive substance that’s still providing enough electricity to make that thing run. See this thing right here? Let me go to the next slide.

But it’s got this thing here to receive messages. Folks, we’ve learned how to send electronic messages across billions of oils. And to receive it. It takes days to get the information from Pluto back to Earth. But we know how to do it. And we’re doing it all the time. You know why, class? Because God made it so dependable. We know exactly what’s happening. And He’s given us the capacity to think His thoughts after Him. Apologize for all the stuff I’m skipping. But here’s a map of the trip from Earth down here all the way out to Pluto. There’s Pluto right there. See, these are the orbits of the different planets. They did different things as they were going along that way, but when they got to Pluto, they took some pictures.

And by the way, when they got to Pluto, they said, why don’t we just keep going? Well, here’s an object out in the kyber belt, KBO2114. They got as close as they could to that little guy and took pictures of him some years later, and now they’re way out here somewhere. And they’re still sending stuff back. It’s amazing. There’s another picture of that. That’s the best picture we had of Pluto before this spaceship. Here’s what it got. And then here’s a much better one. Snakeskin terrain on Pluto. Folks, we have learned more about Pluto in the last 10 years than in all of the history of mankind. And by the way, it’s still a planet. Though there’s some folks that disagree with that. One of the problems is that it’s small enough that it’s almost not a whole lot bigger than some of those rocks out there.

That’s part of the reason they’re arguing about it. Did you also know? Well, here’s a question for you, class. I want you to take your kids home and let them find out how many moons Pluto has. That’s an assignment. I’ll ask you Monday night.

It has more moons than we thought before these guys got there. See what else we got here. Well, that’s enough. But can you understand? We could go on for the next two hours about that. And I could tell you about 68 things that we’ve learned about God’s created world that allows us to do that. And they were discovered before we knew this stuff about space travel. It’s amazing. You live in an exciting time. Don’t be afraid of science and math, kids. You learn your science and math. And learn how to glorify God with it. So if God can make natural law suitable for all ages and useful even in times when they were doing, we’re doing things now we never did back 2,000 years ago. What about spiritual laws?

The need, class, and ladies and gentlemen, is not to change God’s laws to fit man’s limited wisdom. And by the way, let me say this lest I forget later. The modern-day scientific theory about things, don’t you try to force that upon the Bible? Because what are you going to do when science changes later and says, no, that was now wrong, and we’re doing something else? And you’ve tried to force it on the Bible. You be careful about that. We don’t need to change God’s laws to fit man’s limited wisdom. We need to change man to fit God’s perfect laws, just like we do for the natural laws. And God will send a strong delusion to those who do not believe the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thessalonians 2.

And some untaught and unstable people twist even Paul’s writings as they do other scriptures to their own destruction. And God will allow it if you don’t love truth. You see, there are two ways to study the Bible. You can study to justify what we want to do. And there’s a whole lot of that going on. Or you can study it to learn what our king wants us to do. And I hope you know which one I recommend. Because we live in a kingdom. And we are privileged, beloved, to live in the citizen as a citizen of a kingdom with the best king who’s ever been.

Conclusion

That’s our king. We need to close this lesson by going to Philippians chapter 2.

Please turn there with me. There’s no more dramatic and beautiful passage in all the Bible about our King. Philippians 2, verse 5. And let this be the invitation, beloved. If you’re yet to become a Christian, if you have yet to give your life to Jesus the Christ, may I say to you, you have lost so much time. And the King of kings wants you to be in his kingdom. And he gave his all just for you and for me. Don’t wait another day. Verse 5, let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I want to say it again right now on behalf of all of us. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I hope you’re ready to confess that every day of your life. Because if you aren’t, you’re going to one day, as is everybody on this earth or who’s ever been.

Because he has a name that is above every name. And there is no salvation in any other name given among me. You have to have his name to be saved. So if you were to come forward this morning and say, I’m ready to obey the gospel, we would ask you, do you believe with all your heart Jesus Christ is the Son of God? And if you’re willing to say that blessed name, confess your sins and repent of them. Everything’s ready to baptize you into Christ right now. Come while we stand and as we sing.