Rightly Dividing, Pt. 14: The Kingdom, Pt. 2

[0:00] This is going to, in my opinion, it's some of the most important material to learn when it comes to write division.

[0:11] Well, it's really, it's just, this is one that just trips so many people up that getting a handle on this can not just open your eyes, but can just settle some things.

[0:24] And in my opinion, if you get this part, it helps the rest to just fall into place because once this is right, then it makes sense that the rest of it should be what it is. And some of the things that we may have covered in regards to the book of Hebrews and making comments about the tribulation, that might settle with you or it might just cause confusion.

[0:44] But I think when you get this portion nailed down about the kingdom, it opens the whole thing up. Now, before we get to five, just jump over to chapter six.

[0:54] This is where we jumped off last, or two Sundays ago when we started this. Matthew six, when Jesus Christ taught his disciples how to pray after this manner, verse nine, therefore pray ye, our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[1:11] And he told them to pray these three words, thy kingdom come. The prayer for the kingdom to come to earth. This prayer, as I stated the other time, this is something that they all understood clearly.

[1:25] Doesn't matter how many people are mixed up on it today. The men that he spoke to, the Israelites, they knew what their prophets had told. They knew what the Psalms said.

[1:35] They knew what Isaiah said. They knew what Zechariah took you to Micah, took you to Zephaniah. We ran a chain of references that showed that God promised that he would establish an everlasting kingdom on the earth.

[1:49] And the promise is that his son would be king over the entire earth and that he would rule it in righteousness. That he would rule it with a rod of iron. That he would, he said, ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.

[2:03] And when you're there reigning on this earth, the nations and the kings of the earth are told to tread lightly. To kiss the son, lest he be angry. And so the Jews knew the prophets have all foretold that God would come to earth and would subdue all of their enemies.

[2:22] And would establish them once again as the power, the covenants to Abraham and to the Davidic line of kings and all of that would come to pass.

[2:33] I showed you that the angel came to Mary and said that this son that's going to be born to you, he's the son that Isaiah told a virgin shall conceive and the son is given.

[2:45] And the same one is going to sit on the throne of David judging. So what we covered last time was that there was a promise to Israel of a kingdom that God would be their king.

[2:58] He would come to earth, he would subdue their enemies, he would gather them together and he would reign over them and all of the earth. That's what the nation of Israel anticipated happening. And so then I showed you that 30 years later, well, first the king arrives in Bethlehem and the wise men come and say, where is he that is born king of the Jews?

[3:19] And some of those things were not understood and they were true, but they weren't fully revealed. But things gradually came to light. And 30 years later, John the Baptist, then Jesus himself, and then some of his handpicked disciples go around Israel preaching and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[3:40] Now when you insert the gospel of Jesus Christ, the grace of God, of the cross, of the death barrier, when you take that truth that Paul revealed to the church and plug it back into this, then there's a problem.

[3:54] Thank you, John. I don't know, there's also a problem here apparently. When you take all of that and try to plug it back into the kingdom of heaven is at hand, you're way off base. It's EPH321, lowercase.

[4:10] Thanks to Gary Howard. Yeah. Maybe it's that program that's going to go to sleep. Stand by. It's only been up for a few minutes.

[4:23] Okay, so let's catch up. This is where we stopped last time where I showed you the king arrived on the far left. All that other material and stuff that we've already discussed. We're going to do a bit of a review here to kind of get you all the way up to where we're going to step forward.

[4:40] They preached that the gospel of the kingdom was at hand. That's Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23.

[4:52] Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And with that preaching, he also did some healing.

[5:03] Healed all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. I don't know how far we're going to get. I have to backtrack a little bit here. But I wanted you to start in Matthew 5.

[5:14] So stay there. And if you can, I've got to look for a verse here. It's going to take me a second. In Isaiah. It's in the 30s.

[5:31] Yeah. Okay. Isaiah 35. This is the prophet. Remember I showed you in Isaiah last time in Isaiah 33.

[5:44] That thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty. And that the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He will save us. The Lord's promise to come.

[5:54] In that prophetic view of this kingdom that God would establish. In Isaiah 35. It describes the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them.

[6:05] The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly. But also verse 3 says. Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a feeble heart.

[6:17] Or a fearful heart. Be strong. Fear not. Behold your God will come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. And the eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

[6:29] Then shall the lame man leap as in heart. And the tongue of the dumb sing. And so there's promise to the kingdom. There's promise of not just a rebirth of the ground.

[6:43] Perhaps the curse lifted or rescinded. But also of infirmities within the human race to be wiped away. Or at least of the Jewish people. And that's something that was pledged all the way back into the old covenant.

[6:55] That if they would obey. Then they wouldn't cast their young. They wouldn't be stillborn. There would be no troubles with any of their birth. They would have no deformities. God would not only bless them with health.

[7:07] But also with wealth. Like that's the covenant that God made to them. If they would obey him. That's all coming to pass in the kingdom. The prophets declare this. When Jesus Christ showed up and preached the gospel of the kingdom.

[7:19] He starts healing them. Starts taking away their blindness. Starts taking away their dumb tongue. And their deaf ears. These signs are connected to the kingdom.

[7:31] Not to the cross. To the kingdom. So moving on. Matthew chapter 5. Find that again. These are some verses that I stopped with.

[7:42] I didn't have you read them together last time. But I quoted them to you. I want to point out a few quick things. Verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[7:54] Now we are not confused about what that statement means. And what he's addressing. But many, many, many are. Verse 5 says. Blessed are the meek. For they shall inherit the earth.

[8:06] Verse number 8. Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers. Verse 9.

[8:17] For they shall be called the children of God. How do you become a child of God? If you make peace with your fellow man? That doctrine doesn't apply to today.

[8:30] But the Lord Jesus Christ preached this to the Jews. Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[8:41] Do you go to heaven because somebody persecutes you? Because you're just trying to do right, do right, do your best. And the world doesn't like that. And God says. Okay. You did a good job. You can come up here with me.

[8:53] You don't get saved by your works today. Your salvation is by grace not of works. It's no more of works. But here it is. Here's a message that accompanies the gospel message of the kingdom.

[9:07] It's conditioned on their faith and their obedience. Now we'll come back to that. I doubt we get to it this week. But I'd like to. Okay. So this is kind of where we ended last week.

[9:18] With the king arrives. He was foretold that he would come. And there's some things that they're expecting with this. Now there's a quick review. Do you remember kind of from the very beginning we looked at these events.

[9:32] The Old Testament. Kind of before that. Giving of the law was just. We just put that behind us and didn't really think about any of that. Before the Old Testament.

[9:43] The church age. The tribulation. The kingdom. The kingdom. The kingdom. The kingdom. What about the kingdom? Well the kingdom is not going to be established until the king is here. The second coming of Christ.

[9:54] This is the layout of the Bible as we know it. And I showed you this last week. The king's arrival. He comes right around there.

[10:04] Before the cross of Calvary. He shows up. The king of the Jews showed up. He came to earth. He came unto his own. And his own received him not. Now here's a Jewish outlook.

[10:16] This is what they had expected. Reading their prophets. Knowing what God had pledged and promised through Abraham, Moses and David and so forth. They received the law. Well, the law and the prophets followed.

[10:28] The king would come and there he came. And so in the book of Matthew specifically, he's talking. That's the only place you'll see that phrase, the kingdom of heaven. In that book, he is outlining and explaining and teaching the doctrines or some call it the constitution of the kingdom.

[10:43] The kingdom of heaven. The gospel of the kingdom. That is being explained to them. Being offered to Israel. It's at hand. They're expecting that king that would come to be God.

[10:56] To rule the world. To dominate. To triumph over their enemies. In that time, the Romans. To put them down and elevate Israel above all. And then we'll just go right into happily ever after.

[11:12] Everything's good. Just like God said it would happen. This is what they're anticipating. So what are they missing? There's definitely some elements in the Bible that are written. And some that have not yet been revealed until the apostle Paul that need to be understood.

[11:28] Can you see? I faded it out really just because they can't see this. For the most part. Calvary is all over that Bible. It's all over Psalm 22, Isaiah 53.

[11:40] Zachariah tells us that he would be smitten. Is that the one? Pierced? Pierced. The prophets declare the crucifixion.

[11:50] That Daniel said Messiah would be cut off. And so there's an age that follows that. The church age we call it. The age of grace. And then there's a rapture that's a mystery. And it's not revealed through the prophets.

[12:02] Because it's not Jewish at all. It's revealed to Paul. And Paul reveals it to the body of Christ. Because it's for the body of Christ. So it's not in this timeline of the Old Testament.

[12:13] There's a tribulation. And that is revealed. But again, they didn't see Calvary. They didn't see the tribulation. All they saw was the kingdom. The Lord's going to come.

[12:24] And we're going to be lifted up. The kingdom. So they didn't see those things that are kind of tucked away and hidden. Now let's go. Let's look at what they did.

[12:35] Let's get two places here. Matthew 27. The king arrived. He arrived. So how did they respond to that? Find Matthew 27.

[12:46] And the other place is John 19. We'll start in John. John 19. Matthew 27. Matthew 27. Matthew 27. John 19.

[13:07] And let's begin in verse number 14. The king had arrived. Their king, the Messiah, the Christ, had come and presented himself and preached and declared the kingdom of heaven at hand.

[13:20] So what did they do? Verse 14 says, And it was the preparation of the Passover, about the sixth hour. And he, that would be Pilate, saith unto the Jews, Behold your king.

[13:33] To the Jews. Your king. Here he is. He's presenting him. But they cried out, Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him.

[13:45] Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? And their answer is, the chief priest answers, We have no king. But Caesar. So what did they do to their king that God sent?

[13:57] They rejected him. We have no king. Away with that one. He is not our king. Oh yes he is. But they said, Not him. Now come back to Matthew 27.

[14:09] They rejected him. They crucified him. In Matthew 27. In verse 36. Sitting down, they watched him there. And set up over his head.

[14:20] Where they could all see it with their eyes. Over his head. His accusation written, This is Jesus. The king of the Jews. Well that bible just, It has it all in it.

[14:34] Every jot and tittle. It's there. If you study it out. And dig it out. And mine it out. It's there. And so there's this, Their reaction to the king. Now come to Acts chapter 1.

[14:47] Acts chapter 1. So the kingdom was at hand. The kingdom was offered to the nation.

[14:59] But it was not realized. They rejected the king. They crucified their king. And so that man Jesus. The son of God. Rose again.

[15:11] According to the spirit of holiness. And he comes back up from the dead. And shows himself alive. By many infallible proofs. And to many witnesses.

[15:21] To some women. To some men. To a whole gathering of 500 at one time. And finally he's about to depart. In verse number 6. When they therefore were come together.

[15:35] They asked of him saying. Lord. Will thou at this time restore again the kingdom. To Israel. Now this is important. They're not saying.

[15:45] Will you. Save all of our souls. And we all believe on you. And they said a kingdom to. Israel. To a nation.

[15:57] One nation on this earth. Among all the nations and peoples and tongues. They said. Will you restore the kingdom. To Israel. Because that's what we're expecting.

[16:07] This whole time. That's the message of the kingdom of heaven. Is Israel's kingdom. Remember in Matthew 10. When he told them to preach the kingdom of heaven. He said. Don't go into the way of the Gentiles.

[16:20] Into any city of the Samaritans. Enter ye not. You're to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's exclusively for Israel. So now that they're king. They believed on him. The Messiah.

[16:31] The Christ. Had come. Had preached. Had proven with signs and wonders. That he is in fact. The one that should come. Now that he's been put to death.

[16:41] He's raised again. He's explained to them. In Luke 24. That all. That all this must happen. Christ must suffer these things. And. Now they get it.

[16:52] Now they see. Where Calvary was. In the Old Testament. And now it's saying. Okay. So that was accomplished. So then. Is it time for the kingdom? And his answer is.

[17:04] It's none of your business. In verse 7. He said unto them. It's not for you to know the times. And he takes off. He literally takes off.

[17:15] And he's lifted up. And ascends to heaven. A cloud received him out of their sight. In verse 9. And notice in verse 11. There's two men that say this to them. Which. Which also said.

[17:26] Ye men of Galilee. Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus. Which is taken up from you into heaven. Shall so come. In like manner. As ye have seen him go.

[17:37] So he's bodily. Visibly and bodily. Going to descend. Just like he visibly. Bodily ascended. And left. He's going to come back. Now what do we call that?

[17:48] We call that the second coming of Christ. Is that one up here? We'll get that here shortly. Go to Revelation 19.

[17:58] What does the second coming of Christ look like? Revelation 19.

[18:16] And let's just start in verse 11. And read down to verse 16. And I saw heaven opened. Behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true.

[18:27] And in righteousness doth he judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself.

[18:39] He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, clean and white. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword.

[18:51] That with it he should smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

[19:05] All the kings of the earth will be in subjection to that king. And all the lords and rulers and authority of the earth will be in subjection to this king whose dominion, as we read last week in Isaiah, is from sea to sea.

[19:19] Nobody is going to mess with the king. They're going to fear him. They're going to kiss him. They're going to tread lightly. So that's the second coming of the king. Now here I'm taking you all the way back to the last slide we had last week.

[19:32] There's some of the material we've studied. This, this, and this all the way up. And on the far right side, I'm clearing that just so you can see it a little bit without the clutter. On the far right side you see that second coming of Christ.

[19:45] The second coming of Jesus Christ. I'm going to change the words of that just so that it matches our study about the kingdom. And that's going to be called now the king's return.

[19:56] The king's arrival. The king's return. Nothing crazy there. I'm not changing the word of God. This is, yes it is the second time he came. So the king's return.

[20:08] It's in gold I think from here. I hope it is. To match the rest of this. It's about a kingdom. Now, remember Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

[20:22] And all of these teachings about the meek inheriting the earth. Being called the children of God. Remember the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the preaching and the healing. And all the passages that pertain to the kingdom that is being offered to Israel.

[20:37] What about them? What do we do with that scripture? Well, number one. We do not take that and say, oh, well that's doctrine for the church age.

[20:50] Because Jesus said it. Because it's in red letters. Because it has some nice positive sayings of inheriting the earth. And being meek and humble and poor in spirit.

[21:01] And we are to be humble in mind. And we don't adopt that to the church. It was not preached to the church. If you understand, it was preached to a nation. That was anticipating their kingdom arrive.

[21:15] And a kingdom to be established. What we do not do is merge that with Pauline doctrine to the church. But it is still scripture. And it is still valid.

[21:28] It just hasn't yet been realized. Its application has been postponed. And so, take a look at this. When the king returns, the truths that were presented to that kingdom will apply in that kingdom.

[21:46] When that kingdom is in fact established. When you get into the book of Matthew, you're not reading the New Testament. The New Testament. The New Testament, remember, it's not enforced or in effect or instituted until the death of the testator.

[22:01] What you're reading is a constitution. As you're reading rules and laws established for that people. When their God would be seated on a throne in Jerusalem reigning over them.

[22:15] Do you know one of the things he said? He said, turn the other cheek. Do you know how much that one gets put out there today? Well, that's what the Christian does. He turns the other cheek. If you get smitten on one, you turn the other one.

[22:28] And yet, Paul says to us that to live peaceably with all men. But he says, as much as, what's the word? Lieth in you. Live peaceably with all men.

[22:40] And let me just give you a quick little example. If I, when my kids were little, if some fool or troublemaker or pervert or somebody in society tries to mess with my children, I don't teach them now, honey.

[22:56] Turn the other cheek. Whatever they do, you just have to let Jesus handle it. Jesus is not seated on the throne of this earth right now.

[23:07] He's not ruling this planet with a rod of iron. When he is, then you better put your hands behind your back and turn the other cheek.

[23:18] You better be innocent to whatever any man does to you because he will take care of that. But vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. Not you.

[23:29] But today, we don't live that doctrine. That's in, guess where that's at. Matthew chapter 6. You see where it applies? In the kingdom.

[23:41] When the Lord is alive on the planet, ruling this planet. Now there's a lot more to say about that, but you have to get the concept. And then you can dig into the details. The concept is the doctrine that Jesus Christ taught Israel early on, it turned into mystery form in Matthew 13 when it was the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

[24:04] There were seven of them. In chapter 13, it kind of started to get veiled because they were rejecting him. And he said, well, as Isaiah, the prophet's spoken. Da, da, da, da, da.

[24:16] Look at some of the phrases I read earlier in the day there. The kingdom of heaven's at hand. And the meek will inherit the earth. That the peacemakers be called the children of God.

[24:29] They'll see God entering in the kingdom. That's something we read last week. All of these statements, where they fit. Today, they were offered before the cross.

[24:42] They apply after the king returns. So, for a preacher today to read in the book of Matthew, and I'll give you one example here.

[24:54] Go to Matthew chapter 6. For a preacher today to pick up this material and to doctrinally apply it to the church, it's a mistake.

[25:06] It's not rightly dividing. I'll show you an example of this. Because here's a truth, but it doesn't apply to you and me directly.

[25:19] Matthew 6 and verse... Well, let me catch the verse here. In verse 12 of this prayer, as he's teaching them to pray, one of the things he says is, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

[25:39] That's a prayer. Forgive us as we forgive others. We forgive our fellow man. God, you forgive us. Now, look what he says in verse 14 and 15.

[25:51] For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

[26:07] You know how many people got mixed up on that today? Trying to say that, well, if you don't forgive someone, if there's unforgiveness in your heart, God is not forgiving your sin. What happens if you die with sins not forgiven?

[26:22] They get themselves into a mess, not rightly dividing the word of truth. If you get the concept, you get what he's teaching and to whom that doctrine applies, then you see where it fits.

[26:34] The Apostle Paul, if you need to, write down Ephesians 4 and verse, I think it's 32, where that's the doctrine for you. You're to be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.

[26:48] Why? So that God will forgive you? No, because God hath forgiven you, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. The Bible says in Colossians, He's forgiven you all trespasses.

[26:59] That's what the Apostle Paul teaches, Colossians 2, forgiving you all trespasses. But then verse 15 of this says, if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will the Father forgive you your trespasses. Paul says they're already forgiven in Christ.

[27:12] That's doctrine for the church age. All right, this is going beyond this, but let's back up to this. We're almost done. The Jews' perspective was this. There's a kingdom offered.

[27:24] Then he was crucified. Now they get it. Peter, they got it. It was explained. There's a time of Jacob's trouble. The king will return, just like the angel said, and establish the kingdom.

[27:36] But where's the church age, and where's the rapture? Well, from a Jewish perspective, that was not revealed to them. As a nation, as God's timetable with that nation, with Abraham and Jacob, that is not of their outlook, nationally speaking.

[27:54] Individually, they receive Christ. They're placed in the body of Christ where there's neither Jew nor Greek. And that's all wiped away in Christ. But as a nation, this is what they're still expecting, some trouble to come and a king to come back and save them.

[28:08] And he will, Romans 11, and so all Israel shall be saved when he sends from Zion the deliverer. The kingdom will be established. What you need to think of the church and the body of Christ and the rapture and all of that is just as a mystery.

[28:22] It's not revealed. It's hidden from view and it's something God just reserved to himself and then he revealed it to the apostle Paul. And that's in Ephesians chapter 3 and other places.

[28:34] So there's their outlook on it. Here is the pile of material that we've covered. Some of it from the apostle Paul there above the church age with the saved and sealed and that you're secure in Jesus Christ.

[28:48] Somebody has to endure to the end. Somebody has to not draw back unto perdition. That's all scripture. And guess where that matches? The tribulation.

[28:59] And then on the far end, somebody will inherit the kingdom if they endure to the end of the tribulation. When you start putting the scriptures in the right place, the thing is seamless and very clear.

[29:13] It's very simple. And yet, when you don't have this chart to kind of lay it out, it can be very difficult. And if you try to take the endure to the end and plug it into the church age, and if you take the rapture out of the church age, you've got a mess on your hands.

[29:30] You've got doctrine that just clashes with each other. And we can't have that. So, I hope this helps you. I hope that what you see here, I told you this is important. This early stuff in the Gospels, in the ministry of Jesus Christ with His disciples, specifically what was aimed at Israel, that stuff has a place.

[29:49] It has a place in your Bible. Specifically, it has a place in the future. And so when you read through some of that, understand that. When you understand the need for that, these other things can start to fall into their places very much just as well.