Born To Reign In Us Forever

[0:00] Well, last week, I worked to show you the all-sufficient merit of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man.

[0:12] We saw in John 5 how our Lord Jesus, number one, is equal with God. That was verse 18. Number two, how Jesus accomplished the work of God, verses 19 through 21.

[0:25] And number three, last week, how all authority that Christ holds is from God, verses 22 and 23. So today we'll begin our reading at verse 24, and we'll go to the end of chapter 5.

[0:41] So John chapter 5, starting at verse 24. What I want you to listen for, I want you to hear what King Jesus declares about his own authority.

[0:56] So hear God's own word, remembering that God's word is inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient.

[1:07] John 5, 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

[1:17] He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, for as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

[1:40] And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

[1:53] And those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Verse 30. I can do nothing on my own as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own, but the will of him who sent me.

[2:13] If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me. And I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

[2:26] You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

[2:41] But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John, for the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

[2:55] And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard. His form you have never seen. And you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

[3:11] You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

[3:23] I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me.

[3:34] If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. But how can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

[3:45] Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me.

[3:59] But if you do not believe me, believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Well, this is the word of our Lord.

[4:09] Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit. And I pray, Father, this hour in a special way, fill me with your love and your earnestness, so that as your word is proclaimed, we can all confidently believe and gratefully obey you, King Jesus, we pray.

[4:35] Amen. You may be seated. The sheep bleat. The lame walks.

[4:48] The temple crowds shove. The lawyers whisper tactics to incriminate the God of all justice. The established elite plot to kill the only meritorious man to have walked the earth.

[5:05] The great high priest whose name is love fulfills God's law perfectly at every turn. The only possible mediator between God and man prays.

[5:18] The king of all glory patiently waits. The dust in the temple courtyard settles. Then he speaks.

[5:29] Verse 24. Truly, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

[5:46] Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

[5:56] For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself and he has given him all authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.

[6:15] The Son of God was born the Son of Man so that his heavenly kingdom now comes to earth. We sang this in the hymn.

[6:27] Born thy people to deliver. Born a child and yet a king. Born to reign in us forever. Now thy gracious kingdom bring.

[6:40] That's what King Jesus declares for whoever has an ear to hear him. And what I see in this passage, my goal is to walk us through verse by verse in the order that Christ gives it.

[6:55] I see two ways that you can respond. Number one, you will either obey him as your king now and live. Or number two, you will refuse him now knowing that you will face him as judge later.

[7:14] So those are my two points. Number one, why you must obey King Jesus. And number two, what refusing Jesus as your king means.

[7:26] And I plead to you, his kingdom is coming. Heed his voice. So first, why you must obey King Jesus in three verses.

[7:40] 24, 25, and 26. I've got three observations here. Number one, you must obey King Jesus now because his hour to rule as king is here.

[7:55] That's what he says in verse 25. The hour is coming and is now here. So what I want you to picture is two different kingdoms, two different nations.

[8:08] On one side is a kingdom of death and destruction and poison and sin and Satan going around like a lion seeking who he can devour in this kingdom of darkness.

[8:22] And then there's a very thin line, like a thin thread. That's the border between the two kingdoms. There is no middle ground. And on the other side is the kingdom of life and light.

[8:36] It's the power of heaven. It's the white throne of God ruling over this domain, this dominion. And the king of heaven, King Jesus, speaks out over the darkness.

[8:52] And when he speaks, his voice, it's creative and powerful and it's effectual. Effectual. The dictionary defines effectual this way. It's possessing the necessary virtues that gives effective power.

[9:05] In other words, it's effectual when there is power to produce the promised effect. So King Jesus, in these verses, we see he effectually gives life through his voice.

[9:20] his voice exhales the spiritual life into every soul that hears him and believes. Look at verse 24. Those who hear will live.

[9:34] It's effectual. When you hear the voice of King Jesus and you believe in him, your name is now revealed as one who he has given life to and has passed over and now your name, you can know with certainty, it is in his book of life.

[9:52] We sang he left riches without number. He was in the kingdom of heaven, riches without number. He left that and he was born in the world within a cattle stall.

[10:08] This, our everlasting wonder, Christ was born. the Lord of all. King Jesus gives life through his voice.

[10:21] King Jesus also effectually grants you citizenship into his kingdom of heaven when you believe in him. You have the passport.

[10:34] You have citizenship. You can never be kicked out of his kingdom if you are united to Christ. If you believe in him, look at verse 24. You have passed.

[10:46] In the past tense, you have passed from death to life. How do you know that? Because you have the word of the king himself effectually making it so, declaring you belong to him.

[11:02] That's what it means to be ransomed by Christ. It means that he entered this fallen world to bring you to the kingdom of heaven, to pass you from this domain of darkness into his kingdom of light.

[11:18] So we're promised by our Lord that you have passed from death to life. And he says those who hear will live. So we need to try to understand what is our Lord revealing to us.

[11:32] He's talking here about a type of life that only goes out to those who believe. See, it's exclusive. It's only those who will hear him.

[11:44] So he's talking about a spiritual life. What is spiritual life? Well, spiritual life is when your soul is united to God.

[11:56] When your soul is one with your maker, the giver of life, you have spiritual life. So what is spiritual death? Spiritual death is when the soul is separated from God.

[12:09] Your soul is dead at birth until the Holy Spirit makes your inner being able to hear the voice of Jesus Christ. And you are so dead in sin, the Bible teaches, that your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body are all tainted by sin.

[12:31] And it binds your will. It binds your freedom to sin. You are a slave to sin. That's the language the Bible uses. You are now imprisoned to sin, Satan, and death.

[12:45] That's what Colossians 2.13 says, you who were dead in your trespasses, in your flesh. You were made alive.

[12:55] How? Together with him. You were made one. You were united to Christ, his one person, two natures. made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.

[13:14] So God, by his creative power, his effectual voice as king over all, he speaks life. And he speaks into that dead soul and causes the deaf to hear his voice.

[13:29] And by doing that, by believing through faith in his grace for you, you are united to him, and you pass over from death to life. That's what he promises in verse 24.

[13:42] And that's why you must obey king Jesus now, because this is his hour. His rule is now here. He is speaking into the domain of darkness so that you will believe.

[13:55] Number two, you must obey king Jesus now because his grace is your only hope in life and in death. notice how gracious king Jesus is in these words.

[14:07] He graciously declares, you who hear him now, you are pardoned forever. You get the judicial pardon from the highest court, from the king, over the kingdom.

[14:18] You are pardoned forever. Look at verse 24. You do not come into judgment if you are roped in his righteousness. That's all that the father sees.

[14:32] Now, as I mentioned, it's only some who are robed in Christ's righteousness. Who is it? It's only those who hear his voice now and believe.

[14:42] So spiritually, it's those who are in the domain of darkness but believe they have spiritual life now. And this is in contrast with verse 28.

[14:53] See, he says, there's another hour that's coming when all will hear. But this does not refer to spiritual life. This refers to the final judgment.

[15:05] The time to hear him spiritually is now. It's only those who hear who will live. They will enjoy union with Jesus Christ. Romans 7 23 drives this point home.

[15:19] Even as a Christian, you are going to be fighting against remaining sin till your final breath. But you have spiritual life in Christ. You're united with Christ. Listen to how Paul describes the bondage of the will to sin.

[15:33] Romans 7 23. It's captive to the law that is the rule or the principle of sin that dwells in your members, he says, your body or your fallen flesh.

[15:46] You need to believe in Christ now because his voice is effectual for all who he causes to hear and believe him. Think about God's providence. Children, your parents brought you to church.

[16:00] You hear the scripture. You hear the word of God. That's his kindness. It's his providence for you so that you will believe because he is your only hope.

[16:10] His grace is our only hope in life and in death. Left on your own without him speaking to you, you will refuse his grace.

[16:22] Your will is free. You have free will to refuse God. John Owen, Puritan pastor, wrote, the sinner's will has the power to refuse God's grace.

[16:35] The ministry of the word alone without the work of the spirit cannot convert sinners. Human persuasion is useless to change fallen nature any more than the most effectual arguments can prevail to make a blind man see or a lame man walk or a dead person rise from the grave.

[16:58] You know why this is important? If this is what the scripture teaches, you need to start there. Your unregenerate will is free only to refuse God.

[17:09] And this is important because God alone gets all the glory in our salvation. This is what Christ makes very clear. If you believe, it's because his Holy Spirit has taken that effectual word of the king and worked it into your soul to unite you to Christ so that your soul can have life by being united in God and belonging spiritually to his kingdom.

[17:36] Obey the voice of King Jesus. His grace is your only hope. Number three, you need to obey King Jesus now because only King Jesus has this spiritual life for you.

[17:51] He's the only one who can give life to your soul. Remember, that's what spiritual life is. It's when your soul is united to God. But because of sin and Adam's sin and your own sin, your soul was born separated from God.

[18:04] But Christ alone can give your soul the life that it needs. Your soul will be unhappy. It will be miserable until it's life in himself.

[18:19] So he has granted the son also to have life in himself. You know, when the Lord formed Adam out of the dust, his earthly body was formed, but it wasn't until God breathed the spirit into him, gave him a soul, that the body had life.

[18:40] We agree in John chapter 1 verse 4, in Christ was life. In Christ, in union with Christ was life.

[18:50] And that life was the light of men who were otherwise in darkness. This theme is echoed throughout all of scripture. You could say this is the dominant note in all the gospel of John.

[19:02] One example is Psalm 36 9. The psalmist confesses of God with you, with you, in union with you, in your presence is the fountain of life.

[19:12] in your light do we see light. There is darkness apart from God, but with his presence is the fountain of life. The kingdom of heaven is filled with the life that is in God alone.

[19:29] God, our most glorious, most radiant creator, it's his essence that gives spiritual life to anyone who will belong to his kingdom through Christ.

[19:41] apart from God is only death. When the Holy Spirit unites you to Christ, he puts into your soul his life. Can you hear the voice of King Jesus effectually calling you, commanding you, believe in him.

[20:00] He is the only source of life for your soul. We just read this in the Chalcedonian Creed. It's only King Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man who can bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.

[20:14] Do you see why this is so important? He unites in one person, one mediator between God and man, the two natures that are needed, God's divine nature and representative of all humans.

[20:27] God and God and God and God and man according to his human nature he is in all things like unto us yet without sin and according to his divine nature he is begotten before all ages of the father according to the God head one person two natures for the very purpose of our salvation that we can be united to God a high view of Christ his person and his work is vital for your hope of salvation it's vital Satan wants to attack your view of God Satan wants you to lower your view of Christ this will always be a temptation this is why we are always being reformed in our thinking under the word of God and Satan wants to go after your faith and my faith when we're most weak most tired and

[21:31] I promised last week I would not leave you hanging with Athanasius remember Arius and those who had a low view of Christ the liberals you could say within the church they wanted to bring Christ down a few notches and there was one point when Athanasius was seemingly the only man within the church writing to defend from scripture how Christ is fully God fully divine and because that group took over the government and the church they exiled him not one time not twice not three times five different times Athanasius was exiled weak abandoned alone his medieval biographers described this period as Athanasius contra mundum in Latin Athanasius against the world and Athanasius was the first one to confess yes I am weak I am feeble but that's not the source of my strength you could see Athanasius got to experience what

[22:32] God promised to all who are in him in 1 John 5 3 who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome Athanasius would be the first one to say it was not by my strength I just simply heard the voice of the king and he's exalted to obey king Jesus uncompromisingly is no burden if you belong to the kingdom of heaven Athanasius wrote for the might of man and of all creatures is weak and poor but the the might capital m Jesus Christ which is above man and uncreated is rich and incomprehensible and has no beginning but is eternal that's who Jesus Christ is he is our strength and as first

[23:32] John wrote everyone who has been born of God everyone overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith it's not our strength it's our union with Christ it's our view of him our faith in Christ overcomes the world even when we're most weak well that's why you must obey King Jesus now he has overcome the world he extends the father's love to you by grace alone and he speaks today because his hour is here he was born to reign in you forever heed his voice obey King Jesus but if you'll notice beginning at verse 27 all the way to the end of the chapter verse 47 the rest of Christ's sermon is warnings and if we're going to practice expository preaching we're going to flow through these verses with the warnings of

[24:35] Christ because his kingdom is coming and you need to heed his voice so what refusing King Jesus means if you refuse him now four things number one you will face him later as judge King Jesus already holds all authority as high judge you are refusing the one now who already has God's full authority as judge look at verse 27 he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man so refusing to God is God has given him King Jesus fulfills the promise to enact God's justice over all creation this is no surprise this is what God has declared and preached to every single generation that's why he says in verse 28 do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when the son of man will judge all our

[25:41] Lord Jesus is making it very clear to them and to you and me as well you are without excuse every generation has heard that the just God is also all powerful and he will bring his kingdom to the new heavens and the new earth be ready for that day it will happen how well the book of Jude verses 14 and 15 tells us Enoch the seventh from Adam so Adam and Eve as they knew God and walked with him in the garden and experienced the banishment and they also had the gospel promise they would have preached this to their kids and their kids and their kids and grandkids and then we come to Enoch and that that preaching continues the day of the sinners have spoken against him so refusing

[27:00] King Jesus now means that you are ignoring the warnings that he has given to every single generation in verse 28 Jesus makes it clear also that he will make every soul rejoin its body for the purpose of hearing him on the day of judgment look at verse 28 there is a day coming an hour that is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out what does that mean all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out this means that Jesus Christ is bringing a judgment not only in a spiritual sense over your soul but he will judge your soul and your body so how you live your life in this world in the body now it has direct implications for his judgment upon your life when he brings body and soul back together with the new heavens and the new earth does this mean only those in the tombs no the rest of scripture makes it clear all souls will be joined with their bodies yes

[28:16] God is able to do that he who created heaven and earth out of nothing he will bring this new heaven and a new earth and your hour to believe in him is now so we define spiritual life as the soul being united to God the giver of life well what is physical life then physical life when your body is alive think about that it's harder to define than you would think what is it to be alive the Bible teaches that physical life is when your body has a soul as God breathed life into Adam we also read in Acts 17 25 God gives to all mankind life and breath and everything and the reason it's important that we understand what life is for the body physically is because of this warning what is physical death because Christ is coming to judge the living and the dead the body and the soul well physical death is when the soul departs from the body that's what physical death is and if your soul leaves your body without being united to

[29:22] Christ then your body will get eternal condemnation along with your soul there is an hour coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out for judgment king jesus will justly judge every soul according to his moral law look at verse 29 those who have done good will be judged to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment in verse 30 jesus says my judgment is just I seek the will of him who sent me in verse 45 he says well how is it just against what criteria will be judged and he says the one who accuses you in 45 is moses so there's the lord speaking through moses to israel his picture of a kingdom people and he gives them by his own finger the moral law of god so what pleases god over his kingdom is attached to the character of god the character of god does not change what has pleased god since the beginning and when adam was made and eve all the way to mount sinai with the israelites that's the moral law of god it still pleases him today jesus said i do not come to abolish the law because god does not change his law shows what pleases him what should we envision on this terrifying day of his judgment if you are not in christ revelation 20 verse 11 this same apostle john writes a glorious vision that god gave him for the good of the church why is it for your good because a covenant the kingdom covenant it has warnings and blessings and this vision of his second coming the blessings ought to attract you you are hearing his gospel make sure you are found in his kingdom and the warnings it's because god is just they are to serve that same gracious purpose it's to drive you out of your bondage to the world to faith in christ alone that you will belong to his kingdom hear the vision of john i saw a great from his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them and i saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened then another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done and the sea gave up the dead who were in it death and hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire the kingdom of

[32:42] Jesus is coming heed his voice refusing Jesus as your king now means you are pretending to be your own judge and you are despising God's lamb the king of all who promises eternal life if you will put your trust in him another Puritan pastor John Flavel under much persecution he lost family members was kicked out of his church by the government he continued to proclaim the kingdom of Jesus through his pen even when he was blocked from the pulpit and he wrote this the side to which the tree leaned most while it stood that way will it fall when it is cut down and as it falls so it lies whether to the south or to the north do you get what he's getting at with this illustration had your heart he wrote affectionately inclined and bended heavenward whilst it lived that way no doubt had it fallen at death but as your heart inclined to sin and even bended to the world so when

[34:06] God gives that final stroke you must fall hellward and how dreadful will be such a fall be warned if you reject the voice of king jesus now you are also rejecting his witnesses refusing jesus as your king now means that you say all of the prophecies all of the prophets including the one to their generation the last old testament prophet john the baptized you reject all of them look at verse 33 jesus tells them you sent to john and he has borne witness to the truth not that the testimony i receive is from man but i say these things so that you may be saved he was a burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light but yet by not following what he points to they reject his witness so the picture here is of a lamp and during this time period king herod it's called the herodian era a lamp would have put out about as much light as a candle not very much and the backdrop here is of a dark dark world and there is the light of god by the holy spirit on this man john the baptizer like a dim lamp or candle in the dark world and for a while here are these wicked sinners dancing around his light and he's trying to point to them look the light from heaven has entered this dark world the essence of god's light is here look to him but they refuse him and by refusing his message they refuse christ you reject not only christ prophets you also reject another witness which is the son of god himself jesus is the true and greater moses he is god's new covenant law giver and they are rejecting the very son of god look at verse 36 the testimony that i have is greater the works that the father has given me to accomplish the very works that i am doing they too bear witness about me that the father has sent me when god called moses out of the wilderness to go to the people he said well what signs will you give me that they can believe that i'm sent by you in the same way the greater moses jesus christ comes to the people and the lord gives him signs his father gives him signs he does the works that the father has given him to do so that the people would believe and yet they reject the very son of god deuteronomy 18 15 moses actually said this would happen in the words of moses the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your countrymen and you shall listen to him so by rejecting christ they're also rejecting moses and the law of god given through him this is confirmed by rejecting moses they're rejecting the son by rejecting the son they're rejecting the father look at verse 37 the father who sent me has himself borne witness about me his voice you have never heard his form you have never seen he's making them go back to sinai sinai the people of god they knew they were in the presence of god an animal could not go at the base of the mountain or else it would be struck dead and they heard the voice of god like thunder and they trembled in the presence of god yet jesus says verse 38 you do not have the word of god abiding in you because you do not believe in the one he has sent they they around mount sinai they had god speaking from the cloud giving the law and here they have god himself in the flesh and they don't recognize him as god they

[38:07] have rejected therefore the same god god himself and finally the last witness that they reject is the word of god the scriptures look at verse 39 you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life the principle of the old covenant is do this and live remember the young ruler the young lawyer he came and said what do I need to do to be into the kingdom of god and he said well I'll follow the ten commandments and he said I've done all of this Jesus says do all of the ten commandments perfectly and you will live do this and live that's the principle of the old covenant and in his pride this young and he could earn god god god he could earn the righteousness by living a perfect life and so first christ the new covenant law giver he exposes our sin he drives us to our need for him alone to be saved jesus says the scriptures of god bear witness about me you need to study all the scriptures but you need to do it not to earn your own righteousness who the scriptures exalt jesus christ your salvation because his kingdom is coming and we too need to heed his voice well there's a final point here that if you refuse king jesus now what this means is that the darkness of your soul is truly exposed if you reject king jesus your soul is exposed for not having god's love within you look at verse 42 but

[39:45] I know that you you I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me refusing jesus as your king now means you don't have god's love if you reject king jesus your soul is also exposed for caring more about the glory that comes from man than god's glorious offer of union to god in christ verse 44 how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not from god your pride and mine as i mentioned it's going to fight to rob god of a little bit of his glory even in our salvation you and i we want to think that at least part of our salvation is because we are choosing god we get some of the glory don't we for being saved we don't choose god jesus says in john 15 16 you did not choose me but i chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide refusing jesus as your king and you and you are a slave to what fallen sinners think of you and if you reject king jesus your soul is exposed for being self righteous you think you are good enough look at verse 45 do not think that i will accuse you to the father there is one who accuses you he does not see moses they used to think the pharisees taught that moses had this high place of being super righteous and he interceded for them moses they wanted him to be their mediator he'll pray for us we keep his law we keep him righteously and they turned moses into their savior and moses the bible says was the most humble man he's the one who made himself nothing in the sight of the glory of the lord and they put their hope in moses and jesus sets their theology right all that you get from moses is the law the moral law of god and it accuses you you cannot earn your salvation you've set your hope on moses on keeping the law for yourself in verse 46 he says if you believed moses you would have believed me moses was humbled by my presence moses knew that we are saved by god's grace and he knew better than anyone else that the people of god cannot obey the law of god by their own strength verse 47 if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words so refusing jesus as your king now think about this this is probably the most shocking of all refusing jesus as your king now means that you are betting on your own self righteousness to merit entrance into the kingdom of heaven by rejecting the king of that kingdom that's the epitome of self righteousness we need to heed the warnings of christ and our confession states it so powerfully this kingdom of heaven that jesus describes it is closed to unbelievers and to hypocrites as long as you do not repent the anger of god and the eternal condemnation of your body and your soul is still there because of your sin and rebellion you need to repent of self love man pleasing and self righteousness because his kingdom is coming heed the voice of king jesus

[43:45] see our lord gives stern warnings and this is what the kingdom of heaven is now the glorious truth is that when god regenerates you when he makes you a new creation he gives life to your soul in union with christ he causes you to hear his voice you will obey him and he will make you willing and ready from now on to live for him he renews your will you will choose him because he gave you a new soul you will follow him and he says you will bear much fruit fruit that abides fruit for his eternal kingdom it's the fruit of righteousness it's the fruit of the spirit it's the fruit of sanctification it will happen if you are truly united to him martin luther puts this so clearly he said good works are the fruit of justification first god declares you righteous he makes you righteous and in his kingdom of life the nutritious soil the power of his holy spirit you will bear fruit luther said the tree makes the fruit the fruit does not make the tree you're in the kingdom of darkness and destruction and death you could never produce the fruit that would then be your ticket into the kingdom of heaven you see but once he has made you alive in christ you will bear fruit that abides do you hear the voice of king jesus obey him obey him as your king now and live but if you refuse his kingship now you've been warned by christ himself you will face him as judge later revelation 1 7 behold he is coming on the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him in all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him even so amen let it be so our lord has spoken we need to receive his word see this hour of the kingdom of heaven being inaugurated on earth it has been long coming we saying come thou long expected jesus but jesus tells you in his incarnation in his life and ministry his his kingdom is now here for you he was born for this very purpose he has taken on flesh fully god fully man for your good and for his glory in you that's why he was born it's to reign in us forever king jesus speaks so that you will believe see his heart in this verse 34 he says i speak to you so that you may be saved jesus says if i am your only hope in life and in death verse 45 i will not accuse you to the father the second part of our catechism gets it so right as well the kingdom of heaven is open to you who heed christ's voice now accept his gospel promise in true faith because of what christ has done god truly forgives you for all your sin jesus said i am the alpha and omega who is and who was and who is to come the almighty king jesus he loves you and if you put your faith in him he has freed you from your

[47:45] sins by his blood john calvin helped me to see another illustration of this passage with maybe the like the best test case so what about the man who saw the blood of christ perhaps closer than anyone else what about that criminal on the cross lord said you will be judged by what you have done and there that man hung looking to christ on the cross both of them and he hears the lord jesus say father forgive them they don't know what they have done so he he sees the god man who took on flesh innocent man praying to his father and in that moment the criminal on the cross heard the voice of king jesus and he was made new and he said this is the son of god he is speaking to his father and he is promising forgiveness to those who don't deserve it like me especially me see this man did not have another moment in his life to bear fruit but his tree the tree of his life was was tipping toward christ god regenerated him there was not a single good work he could do and the lord jesus promised him this day you will be with me in paradise but i'm a criminal what about my life of sin murder i've broken all the ten commandments this day by faith i am speaking life into your soul in a moment your soul is going to part from your body and your soul will be with me today in paradise for that man and for you who put your trust in christ your body will be joined to your soul and your body will be raised for judgment to life or to condemnation what is your response what is it that you will be judged for what have you done you can never do enough the one step of obedience is you must respond you must heed the voice of king jesus his kingdom is coming put all your trust in him and trust the promise that all your past sins have been forgiven you are translated into the kingdom of life and in you he will produce fruit that will abide let's pray our most gracious most just most righteous lord jesus christ in the words of the hymn we sing you were born thy people to deliver born a child and yet a king you were born to reign in us forever now thy gracious kingdom bring by thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone by thine all sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne because you have made us a kingdom of priests to god the father so to you be glory and dominion forever and ever god's people say amen rather

[51:55] as pearl and we all but