Citizens of the Kingdom The Kingdom of God and the Gospel # 3 The Glory of the Cross Colossians 1:13-14 Introduction If you want to become a Canadian citizen, you must follow several steps: 1. Determine if you are eligible to become a citizen. * Have to have permanent residence status - live in Canada 3 yrs. - must have a working knowledge in French or English - must have a basic knowledge of Canada 2.Apply for citizenship. 3.Take the citizenship test 4. Attend a citizenship ceremony Citizen Test Questions - Rights and Responsibilities of a Canadian Citizen - Canada s Geography - Name t2 key documents that contain our rights and freedoms - Name 4 fundamental freedoms Canadians Enjoy - Who are the founding peoples of Canada - Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine - etc. * Coming to Canada and becoming a citizen is a life changing event for millions of people. - Fantastic advantages to being Canadian. ** But There Is A Citizenship of far greater value and reward. * Rewards of Being A Christian Are Inexpressibly awesome - forgiveness adoption relationship with Jesus gift of the Holy Spirit freedom from sin fellowship of the church final resurrection glorification inclusion in God s Kingdom new heavens and new earth eternity in God s presence - seeing His face etc. But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9) At the Moment You Become a Believer, Everything Changes. * Christian life is not just about making sure you miss the judgment. It s about being in a right relationship with God, and ultimately enjoying Him forever. - It s about gaining what we cannot lose becoming a citizen of His eternal Kingdom. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:13-14) * THE KINGDOM OF GOD - Kingdom of God is an important theme in the New Testament * Jesus preached about the Kingdom continually
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15) * Paul s Ministry proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (Acts 28:31) * Hebrews Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, (Heb 12:28) * Peter For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11) * Revelation And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. (Rev 12:10) * But - Just What Is The Kingdom of God? Who Is Part Of The Kingdom? How Do You Get To Be Part of the Kingdom? What Does It Mean And What Does It Matter To Be Part of the Kingdom? - To help us answer some of those questions - lets look at - * FOUR ASPECTS OF THE KINGDOM * Jesus Began His Ministry With A Dynamic Message. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt 4:17) When Jesus Christ - Divine Son Of God Showed Up in Bethlehem - The King Had Come. I. The King Is Here 1. The King Is Here * Word that there was this man proclaiming that the Kingdom of God had come spread through out the country like wildfire and great crowds soon were gathering around Jesus to hear this good news. God had promised hundreds of years before that He would establish His Kingdom through His promised Messiah. For once and for all, He would put an end to the world s evil and rescue his people from their sins. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isa 9:6-7) * At Jesus birth - the angel proclaimed: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:32-33) * New Testament Reveals The Jesus Is The King - The Divine Son Of God Who Is The King
Who Has Come To Inaugurate And Rule Over His Kingdom. * Jesus Christ Is King - O.T. Genesis - Creator with right to rule over us. - Sin = rebellion against the Kingdom rule of God. God in scripture reveals His plan to redeem a people for Himself. - calls out the people of Israel through whom Christ The King would come. * God Will Establish His Rule Over His Creation * THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IN YOUR LIFE IS: HOW CAN YOU BECOME A CITIZEN OF CHRIST S KINGDOM? 2. The King Calls Us To Enter His Kingdom * He Came Onto His Own And His Own Did Not Receive Him. He came to his own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12 But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, (John 1:11-12) * Interesting discussion Jesus has with a key religious leader in Israel. John 3:1-15 (Read) 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:3-5) * Unless You Are Born Again - You Cannot Enter The Kingdom of God. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-16) * The Way Into The Kingdom Is Through The Cross - (Gospel message) - There are those who are teaching - Gospel is to live a new life. Ie. Kingdom Living - take this new kind of living into the world. - but apart from regeneration - new birth - power of the Spirit that is impossible. * The Good News of the Kingdom Is That The King Has Come And that He Has Himself, By His Death And Resurrection Has Made It Possible For You And I To Be Citizens Of This Fantastic Kingdom. * To Put Your Faith In Christ Is To Recognize That He Indeed Has The Right To Be King And To Place Yourself Under His Rule. if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9) II. The Reigns In The Hearts Of His People * At this point in time - the Kingdom of God is not a geological location Biblically speaking it is
the Kingship of God in our lives. * The Kingdom of God Is God s Redemptive Rule Over His People. 1. Living Under The Rule, Reign And Authority Of The King * Loving sovereignty He exercises over His people those who have been redeemed by Jesus through His death and resurrection. - No such thing as having Him as Saviour but not as Lord. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:13-14) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20) * Being A Follower Of Christ - A Christian - You live under the Rule, Reign And Authority of the King. you are not your own. Live Under His Lordship. III. The Kingdom Is Now * Sometimes we think that sometime in the future we will enter the Kingdom of God. When we go to heaven. Jesus began His ministry proclaiming the Kingdom had come. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand (Matt 3:2) - a stunning claim by Jesus - Jews had been waiting for the day God s rule would be established on earth and His people would finally be vindicated. - Jesus is telling them that day was here. * Kingdom is inaugurated in Christ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matt 12:28) - God s promised deliverance of His people had begun. * Launching of God s full and final counteroffensive against sin, death, and destruction that entered the world when Adam fell. - God is working out His eternal plan. I love the way author Greg Gilbert puts it: You can see the war happening all over the story of Jesus life in the NT. King Jesus goes alone into the wilderness to face Satan the one who had tempted Adam and thrown the world into corruption so many years earlier and decisively defeats him! He touches the yes of a man born blind and light enters for the very first time. He stares into the sad blackness of a tomb and cries out Lazarus, come forth! and death feels its grip on humanity begin to weaken as the dead man walks out.
And then above all, of course, sin itself was defeated when Jesus cried out on the cross, It is finished! And death s grip finally failed entirely when the angel said, with a smile, I m sure Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen (Luke 24:5-6). Step by step, blow by blow, Jesus was decisively rolling back the effects of the fall. The rightful King of the world had come, and all that stood in the way of the establishment of His Kingdom sin, death, hell, Satan was being decisively overcome. * Rightful King of the world had come. - Already many of the blessings of the Kingdom are ours now * But - we know that the Kingdom is not yet complete in this world. We are taught to pray Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. IV. The Kingdom Is To Come * The Kingdom will not be complete until King Jesus comes returns. * Though through His death and resurrection - King Jesus overthrew the powers of darkness, He did not finally and fully establish God s rule on earth. * Evil has been defeated but not annihilated - Kingdom of God was inaugurated, but not brought to its full and final completion. * We Know The Scriptures Teach Us Two Important Things About Christ s Full And Final Reign. The 1,000 Year Reign - explain M. Reign on this earth * Followed By The New Heavens And The New Earth - Final reign when King Jesus will reign for all eternity. * Jesus spoke of a day when His Kingdom would be finally consummated. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matt 13:41-43) * Apostle Paul spoke of how the Holy Spirit was given to us as a down payment for a future inheritance for the people of God. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14) raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6-7) * Apostle Peter writing to encourage believers under pressure. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5) * The great hope of every believer is the day when King Jesus will part the skies and return to establish His glorious and eternal Kingdom when everything will be set right and justice will finally be done and sin will be eradicated. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. (Isa 65:17-19) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Rev 21:1-4) Again, I love the way Greg Gilbert put it: God intends to create for His people a new world, free from sin and death and sickness. War will end, oppression will cease, and God will dwell with His people forever. Never again will any of God s people suffer death, and never again will tears burn our eyes at a grave side. Never again will we mourn, or hurt, or weep. Never again will we long for home. For as Rev. tells us, God Himself will wipe every tear from our eyes, and we will, finally, see His face! * Wow! Hallelujah! - We will dwell under the full, victorious, eternal reign of King Jesus in the New Earth. The Kingdom is fully established when the returning King Jesus has rightly centred our hopes, affections, and our longings on Jesus Himself. Conclusion *There are many implications Of The Kingdom of God - let me briefly mention 3 1. You Need To Respond To The King * Wether or not you are included in the Kingdom is entirely dependent upon your response to the King. ---- * Receive Him As Your Lord And King Now - Over and over again Jesus indicated there would come a time to separate the sheep from the goat * The Cross Makes It Possible For You To Be Included In His Kingdom. 2. Your Need To Live For The King If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col 3:1-4) 3. We Are To Be Ambassador For The King * The Church of Jesus Christ Is The Outpost of God s Kingdom In The World. - we are to live for Him and make a difference in our world we will never usher in the Kingdom - but we are to reflect the Kingdom in the world Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20) * Let Me Tell You About Amanda - a Cuban lady who has live out the implications of the Kingdom of God STORY OF AMANDA