Mysteries of the Kingdom

Happy Sabbath, everyone! I sure appreciate the music. It's not very often that you hear someone who can actually play the harp. It's beautiful. I appreciate it very much.

My wife and I made an agreement early in our marriage that if she would watch football with me, I would watch shows that she liked to watch. I spent many hours watching PBS Masterpiece Theater.

Now, if you watch PBS Masterpiece Theater, they're English productions, for the most part, of all kinds of mysteries. Agatha Christie, I think, is probably the most popular of the mysteries, and she just loves watching these. And her favorite is Miss Marple. Now, Miss Marple travels all over the English countryside, going to little villages and hamlets and solving something they call medes. Now, it took me the longest time to figure out what these medes was, and then I realized people were blung in, stabbed, poisoned, run over by farm machinery. It was incredible what would happen to these people. Now, Miss Marple takes place these mysteries, I think it's in the 20s and 30s. The one thing I've learned from the program, that English villages in the 20s and 30s were the most dangerous places on the face of the earth. There was one village, I think it had 15 people in it, and by the end of the show, five of them had been matted. And, I mean, it was like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse coming through the village. My wife just loves these violent shows, I can't figure out. Well, but on the other side of it, she knows what a cornerback blitz is, she knows what a full-back trap is, she knows all this other stuff, so I can trade it off. What I want to talk about today is a mystery. A mystery. Now, it's not a murder mystery, but it is the mystery of the kingdom of God. It's a term that is used in the Scripture by Jesus. Now, I'll set up this mystery, like all mysteries, they come in, you know, there's Act 1, Act 2, Act 3. But there's always a prologue in a mystery where they set the stage so that you know what's going to happen next.

Now, setting the stage for this mystery is actually very simple. It begins in a garden where the creator God created the first human beings. And he told them, you could have wonderful lives, just follow me, let me teach you, let me love you, let me take care of you. But he also had given them free will. Now, of course, the issue of free will is eventually you have the right to choose, which means eventually you have to be given something to choose. Free will means nothing unless there's an actual choice. So he allowed Satan, an angel that had rebelled, to come into the garden, and he deceived them, he tricked them, he talked to them. They rebelled against God, and they were driven from the garden.

And the history of humanity is about human beings living lives in rebellion against their creator. And so nothing really works. Nothing in life really works. Generation after generation after generation. Now, Adam and Eve were created in the kingdom of God.

You and I don't live in the kingdom of God. So we have to ask the question, okay, what is the kingdom of God? And it's actually a very simple answer, but it's part of what Jesus Christ talked about when he talked about the mystery of the kingdom of God. If you want a simple definition of the kingdom of God, God created the universe. That's the kingdom of God. God reigns over everything. Everything is His. Everything belongs to Him. He's the king over the entire creation. Now, when Satan was allowed, and I really stress allowed, to come into the garden, God allowed human beings to follow Him. He didn't cause them, but He allowed them. And the result was that this little piece of the universe called the earth had a temporary ruler. It no longer was ruled over by the kingdom of God. It was ruled over by somebody else. Just on this one little spot. By the way, the rest of the universe is still the kingdom of God. He's still in heaven. He's still on His throne. The angels are still there.

Just this one little spot. The Apostle Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 4. You know, this is a mystery. Jesus calls it a mystery, what we're going to go through today. But it's so simple. There's no verses I'm going to read today that most of you don't know by heart. No new knowledge I'm going to bring. No new discovery of the truth. You're not going to say, wow, I never read that verse before. Most verses we're going to go through are verses you've read over and over and over again. Most of them, unfortunately, have become almost so commonplace we miss the power of them. We miss the power of what is actually being taught to us by God. 2 Corinthians 4.

And let's start in verse 3.

Here the Apostle Paul tells the church of Corinth, if our gospel is veiled, in other words, if the message that he was teaching, the message that the church was teaching, the good news of the kingdom of God, he said, if that is veiled, if that is not understood, if it is a mystery, it is a mystery or it is veiled to those who are dying.

The world that you and I live in is a dying world. It's a world of darkness and it's a world of death. He says, whose minds the God of this age has blinded and do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. He said, if this is a veiled mystery to most of humanity, it is a veiled mystery because there's a God of this world. There's somebody else that's ruling over humanity at this time.

Now, Satan didn't wrestle the earth away from God. Satan didn't trick God so that he got control. God allowed him to go into the garden. That's important to understand. There's nothing in the kingdom of God that he doesn't take his hand off unless he takes his hand off. Nobody pushes God's hand off of anything. That's the stage. This is where our mystery takes place. This giant kidnapping took place. Humanity was taken away. God allowed it to happen. But from the very beginning, God told them, I will give you a way out of this. This is the gospel. That in all this bad news, there's a way out of this. And he told through the prophets, generation after generation, to ancient Israel, I will send you a Messiah. And this Messiah has a very important part to play, and he will restore. And we talk about the establishment of God's kingdom on this earth, at the return of Jesus Christ.

That's not exactly accurate. We make many statements in life that are general, but not exact. He is re-establishing God's kingdom on this earth. This was God's earth to begin with. It was God's creation to begin with. And God took his hand off. And then he said, I will put my hand back. Let's look at Isaiah 9. Just one of the many, many places in the Scripture, in the Old Testament, where there are these prophecies about the restoration of God's kingdom on this earth. We come here every year to do what? It was talked about last night. It was talked about in the sermonette.

We come here to get that vision of what God is doing, and our part that we play in it now. A vision of what God is doing. And it has to do with re-establishing his kingdom, bringing his hand back into the history of humanity, into the daily lives of every individual. So in Isaiah 9, Isaiah 9, verse 6, once again, a Scripture that many of you can, just by heart, rattle this one on. For unto us a child is born.

One of the most well-recognized messianic prophecies in the Scripture. You could go to almost any church here in Kerrville, and almost everybody would recognize this. I don't care what the denomination would recognize. This is a messianic prophecy. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom in order to establish it with judgment and with justice.

And from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. It's a promise. Now, we understand, and we know as we set this stage, that Jesus Christ comes twice. We know that. In some Jewish communities, they believe that there's two messiahs, because they read the Scriptures and they can't figure out why.

There's a suffering messiah and a conquering messiah. Because there seems to be two. We understand, because we accept Jesus Christ as the messiah, that there are two comings of one messiah. And he's already come the first time. He came as a child, and that was sung last night in the special music.

The two comings, the child and the king. He came as a child, because all of us, all humanity, because we live in rebellion, because we have actually accepted the belief system and the values of the kidnapper, in this great mystery. We've all accepted the values of the criminal. We've all become criminals. And by the law of the kingdom, the law of the kingdom of God, we all had a death penalty pronounced upon us. And Jesus Christ came. Jesus Christ came to take your penalty, my penalty, on himself. And we celebrate that every year at the Passover, Days of Unleavened Prayer.

These holy days explain the entire plan of God. He came as a child, but he's coming the second time as a king to establish this government. What's very interesting is the first time he came. He walked the earth 2,000 years ago when Judea was under the rule, it was under the boot, of the Roman Empire. The most amazingly, brutally efficient Empire in history.

The Nazis may have been more brutal, but the Nazis couldn't last a thousand years. It's amazing how the Roman Empire lasted century after century. They created a huge economic system that seemed to bring wealth to everybody who came under their system.

They built buildings that still exist today. It's amazing to walk through the Roman Forum in Rome. It's absolutely amazing to see what's there. Last time I was there, I was so overwhelmed, I'm walking along talking to my wife, my children, explaining the wonders. You know what that building is? You know what that building was? You know what these buildings were? I said, right around here someplace is an altar that was built by Julius Caesar. There it is! There's this whole plaque in English. And these ruins in this altar.

I said, there it is! Isn't that amazing? And suddenly this person beside me in this heavy Italian accent said, I thought it would be bigger than that. I realized one by one my children and wife had peeled off, and I was talking to some Italian guy that's following me around. So I talked to him. I figured somebody's going to listen to what I have to say. I'm going to preach to somebody. But here is Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, under the heavy boots of the Roman Empire. And there's an amazing little discourse that takes place between the Roman governor, Pilate of Judea, and the King of Kings.

This man who saw himself is the regal authority of Rome. A man who saw himself is very important. A man who had life and death, power, over hundreds of thousands of people. He had a legion, and that legion was a fist. And he could use that legion however. He had 5,000 Roman soldiers. Rome with legions had conquered the known world. And standing before him is what he considers a strange, uneducated Jewish fanatic. Let's go to John 18.

This is an amazing setting when you think about what's actually happening here. The creator of the universe. The one through whom the Father created everything, it says in the Scripture. He's standing before this man who thinks he has power.

And they discuss this. Let's look at John 18 starting in verse 33. Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? And I can't find anything on him in terms of Pilate was thinking. You know, he hadn't broken any Roman law, and Pilate was sick and tired of silly Jewish law. He had nothing to do with that. But if he claimed to be a king, maybe there's treason involved.

He says, Are you a king? And Jesus answered, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me? Because have you made this up? Are you doing this as the Roman governor to challenge me, or did somebody else tell you I was a king? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? I don't even understand you people. You won't even submit to Roman authority, and we're really good for you. We could bring more wealth into this country than you can believe.

And you have this crazy belief about one God. You ignore all the other gods. Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? And Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be delivered to the Jews.

But now, my kingdom is not from here. He says, Yeah, I'm a king, and I have a kingdom. But right now, my kingdom is not here. You have control of this kingdom. You have a little bit of power right now in this little spot.

Of course, Pilate's thinking, Oh, another philosopher. First, the Greeks, now the Jews. Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? And Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And all Pilate could say is, What is truth? What is truth? He walked away not knowing what to do with this man. He couldn't find fault with a man who said, I'm a king, but my kingdom is not here.

It's someplace else. He wasn't a threat to anybody. This is the stage. The stage is set for a mystery. Jesus came the first time to say, I'm a king. The kingdom's not right here now, but I am a king. I have a slide, if we can show the first slide. Take a second to come up. Here's the stage. It's all set now. This is where our mystery takes place. An angel known as Satan rebelled against God, was allowed to occupy a segment of the kingdom of God, and is now the temporary God of this world.

He's allowed to do that. He can be removed from doing that. We're here celebrating a time when God removes him from doing that. So he's allowed to occupy this little part called the earth, with humanity on it. He's allowed to occupy that little part for a little bit.

Human beings were created in the image of God to be His children. Satan deceived those children and he kidnapped them. The children's nature became so corrupted by the influences of the kidnapper that by the law of God's kingdom, they all deserved death. God promised the Savior to save His children from the kidnapper and from their own corruption. The substitute sacrifice of Jesus as the Christ is God's way of making amnesty available to us wayward children. God promised to send His Savior a second time as King of Kings to restore His kingdom on the earth.

There's the stage. We have it all set. Now, you and I live in between those two great events. We live in between the time when the Messiah came the first time and He comes the second time. And there's a great mystery about this time period. I'll show you what I mean. Let's go to Act No. 1. I don't mean acts.

You all started turning to acts. Act? I didn't do that on purpose. Act 1 of the mystery. You set the stage, and then there's Act 1, 2, and 3. Act 1. We had the stage set. Let's go to Matthew 13. Matthew 13.

Miss Marple doesn't appear in this any place, by the way. There'd be too many meds taking place.

Now, Jesus tells a parable. So this is our first act. We can just sort of picture what He's describing here. Verse 1 of Matthew 13. Matthew 13, verse 1.

On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. Great multitudes were gathered together to Him. So He got on a boat, and He sat, and the whole altitude stood on the shore. So you can imagine, all these people gathered on the shore. He's out on a boat, so His voice can carry across the water.

Then He spoke many things to them in parable, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow. So let's vision them. It's in the days where they would plow up the field, and a man would have a big bag, and he would reach in and grab the seeds, and he'd throw them out. And they would sow the field.

So this is Act 1 here. And He sowed some seed but fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they weathered away. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty.

He who was ears to hear, let him hear. Now that's our play. That's Act 1. The stage is set, but now we understand what's going on. We've read the little booklet. My wife and I and some members from the church there in San Antonio went to Fredericksburg here a couple weeks ago and saw the diary of Anne Frank. I think it's still playing. It's not a professional troupe, but they do a good job. If you get a chance to go over, of course it's a very sad story, and you know the story, but they do a good job.

But you know, you get the little booklet that outlines the prologue, sets the stage for you, and then you have the first act. Well, here's our first act. Now at the end of this act, you know, Jesus tells the story. The disciples said, great story. We have no idea what that means. They didn't know what it meant. So we pick it up in verse 10. And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak in parables? You know, usually when you tell a story, Mr.

Servideo last night told a number of stories, and each one made his point, right? So you tell a story to make a point. When Jesus told stories, the disciples walked around saying, We don't know what he meant. We don't know what he was trying to say. And so they want to know. Verse 11. And so Jesus answers to them. He says, now I want you to notice what he says here. He said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

This is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. A man throwing seeds into a field. And he tells them, The reason I'm telling this to you in parables is because my disciples will understand this, and other people will not. That seems strange. The reason you tell parables is to make your point more clear.

And he's saying, no, I'm telling my point because it's a mystery, and only some of you, I will give the understanding to this mystery. You are here today because God has called you to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. That's why you're here. He says, Forever or whoever has to him will be given, and he will have abundance.

Whoever does not have, even though what he has will be taken away. Therefore I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. He then goes on and quotes an Old Testament prophecy about how people won't hear and they won't understand. And he said, I do this so that they won't understand. That's sort of the exact opposite of why most people think that Jesus came to teach. He came to teach so everybody can understand, and Jesus himself said, no, I came to teach so that people won't understand, except the people that I help understand this mystery.

Or what this mystery means. Verse 16, But bless your eyes, for they see, and for your ears, for they hear. For surely I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Now the disciples were a little perplexed because now, okay, you've talked in parables so that those people don't understand. But we still don't understand either. And so Jesus says, Therefore hear the parable of the sower. This is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

He says, Well, I've got the mystery down. Christ comes one time to save humanity. Okay, humanity is pulled out of the garden by Satan. God allowed Satan to rule on his earth for a period of time, for a period of time in terms of universal history. And then he sends the Messiah to come. His son comes, dies for humanity. He's resurrected. He comes back to reestablish God's kingdom on the earth.

He says, Now there's a mystery here. You can understand that, and you still are missing something. This is part of the mystery. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom today, for eight days, you're going to hear the word of the kingdom. You're going to hear it. He says, The word of the kingdom, this is between the two great events. Between the first coming and the second coming, the word of the kingdom goes out.

He says, When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart, that is, he who received by the wayside. He said, That word goes out, and there are some people, as soon as the seed lands, Satan makes sure you stay in his, those people stay under his rule. They don't even get it. They never see it. The seed never takes root. That seed is going to go out all over. It's interesting, God doesn't just plant one here, one here, the seed is just spread.

And many of the people of that seed will fall on them, and it's just a crazy religion. And they go on through life, not realizing what they just threw away. They threw away a seed of the kingdom.

A seed of the kingdom of God. He goes on, he says, But he received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, for then tribulation or persecution arises, because of the word, and immediately he stumbles. So there are people that say, I like this seed, I bring the seed into my life, I live by it, but there's a price to be paid for this, and they give it up. The word of the kingdom is too much, too hard to live by. And so over time, they give it up. They understood it was the seed of the kingdom, but they give it up. Verse 22, Now he who hears received seed among the thorns, hears the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. This person brings in the kingdom, lives by the kingdom, has a relationship with God. The kingdom of God is you actually begin to understand who God is, and you begin to understand who your king is. And these people become deceived again by the world. And they go back. Verse 22, But he who receives seed on the good ground, is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, and some sixty, and some thirty. It is not enough to say, I believe in the kingdom of God. It is not enough to keep the holy days. The fruit of the kingdom of God has to grow in your life every day. A seed planted by the Almighty God has been put into your mind. When you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive the seed of the kingdom of God, the great mystery. So you say, the kingdom of God isn't here yet. Oh yeah it is. The seed is in you, and you, and you, and you, and you. The seed is in you. Now, Christ hasn't come to reestablish it yet. You and I still live under Satan's rule. Why do you think Satan hates this message so much? It's the seeds of the kingdom are popping up, and he can't pull them out fast enough. He can't destroy it fast enough. God is beginning to lay the foundation of his kingdom, preparing the way for Christ to come back. The seeds are being planted right now. There's the mystery. The mystery of the kingdom isn't just his Christ first coming and second coming. It's what he's doing in between those times. And he's planting the seeds of the kingdom. Sometimes we say, well, I can't be deceived. You know, I know what's right and wrong. I couldn't be deceived by idolatry, or I couldn't be deceived by all the things that we think we can be deceived by. You want the greatest danger of deception? This is a whole other subject, but I just want to mention it. It's in Jeremiah 17.9. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. The greatest deception we face are the deceptions we create through our own emotions.

The greatest deception we face is inside ourselves. The kingdom of God has been planted in you. You have been received God's Spirit. And yet inside you is still that, and inside me, is still a bit of deception that Satan can play on. And it's usually done through our emotions. Now, I want to go to Ephesians 2 real quickly here, as we finish Act 1. Ephesians 2. So, one of the great mysteries of the kingdom is that between the First and Second Coming and the re-establishing of that kingdom, God plants the seeds. That seed planting has been going on now for 2,000 years. Every generation, there are seeds planted someplace. He plants the seeds. People that are being prepared for Christ's return.

Ephesians 2.19 Because since that seed has been planted, there's something that's very important that we must understand. Paul here is writing to Gentiles, who felt like they were estranged from the covenants with Israel. You know, second-class Christians, if you will, because they were not Israelites. And so he wants them to understand exactly what their calling is. That once the seed of the kingdom has been planted into us, something very important has happened, and it doesn't matter what our background was. It doesn't matter. This is part of the mystery. Verse 19.

Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens, everybody, when the seed is planted in you, you are now a citizen. A citizen of what? The United States? Doesn't matter anymore. Trying to be an equal opportunity offender here. Citizen of Texas? Doesn't matter anymore.

Doesn't mean anything. You are a citizen in the kingdom of God. Already. We're already a citizen in the kingdom of God. We are already to act like citizens in the kingdom of God. If the seed is planted in us, our lives are to be bearing kingdom fruit. Thirty-fold. Sixty-fold. A hundred-fold. That's what happens. That seed is divine. It comes into us. It's part of what Peter calls the divine nature. The very spirit of God comes into us, and the fruits, the values, the way of life, the way of thinking of the kingdom of God begins to be produced in us. And some people can do this all their lives, and now there's no fruit born. And when we look at that parable, we begin to understand the mystery. He goes on, "...fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. As a citizen of the kingdom of God, you are a child of God." When you go before God in prayer, you have the right. Not because you and I... How do you grab this right? How do you make it? How good do you have to be to say, Father, you can't, I can't. We're given that right. We are given that right. "...members of the household of God, and having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, whom the whole building being fit together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." When Jesus Christ returns, there's a group of people prepared. A spiritual temple. And you and I are bricks in that temple. You and I are already citizens. We are already children. We are already bricks. This is the mystery of the kingdom. This is what we forget. And because we forget it, we act and think and feel like the kingdom we've been called out of. We act like the kingdom we've been called out of. It's natural for us, but that's not why you're here. That's not why I'm here. You were called to bear fruit created by God. And there's only one way you and I won't have that fruit born in us. You and I won't let God do it. Because I can't figure out anything God can't do. But free will, because He gave it to us, we can hold God back. So, let's look at Act 1 here. The summary of Act 1. We can put up the next slide. Jesus taught in parables to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven for those who were chosen to understand. The word of the kingdom is spread throughout humanity during the time of Satan's occupation. It's always being spread someplace. That sower is always throwing seed someplace all throughout human history. People who hear the word will either not understand it, accept it, be given up when faced with difficulties for living by the values of the kingdom of God, or be deceived by daily troubles and physical things. So they actually believe Satan's kingdom is better than God's. There is one group of people who will choose to live by the word of the kingdom, and these people's lives will reflect the fruit, the values, the laws, the way of life of that kingdom. The seeds of the children of the household of God are being planted today. These children are already citizens. That's you. You are already citizens and participants in the kingdom of God. End of Act 1. Stage closes. Opens up. Act 2. Matthew 13. Matthew 13.

Matthew 13, verse 44. Christ says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like. I know what the kingdom of heaven is like. Christ brings it down with Him. He sets it up on the earth. Here we have the kingdom of God reestablished on the earth. But between the first and second coming, there's the mystery of the kingdom. So the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found in hid, and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Now that's not talking about Christ's second coming. That's talking about those who are waiting for Christ's second coming. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is like people say, Whoa, that kingdom's coming and I want to be part of it, and I'm willing to pay the price it takes to be part of it. The kingdom of God requires a price on your part and my part. We don't get this kingdom by just saying, Oh, thank you, Lord. I accept Christ's sacrifice. Jesus is in my heart. Oh, good. I've got it made.

This kingdom requires a price for you and me. It's a price of learning to be part of that kingdom now. You and I are required to become that kingdom now, to think and act and be the kingdom of God. One little point of light in a dark world. Mark 8. Here Jesus talks about the price that has to be paid.

We forget this sometimes. Just like those in that parable, the first parable of Act 1, when things became rough, they gave up. When they found out there's a price that has to be paid to have this seed. The seed doesn't come cheap. Christ's sacrifice is free. It's not cheap.

Understand, Christ's sacrifice for you is free. It's not cheap.

Mark 8. Verse 34.

I'm in Mark 9. It's interesting, but it has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

Verse 34. Jesus calls to the people to Himself with His disciples also, and He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny Himself and take up His cross and follow Me. What a strange thing to say. You pick up a cross and you carry it till they nail you to it. Pick up your cross and follow Me. He said, If that's what you really want, if you want the kingdom, then this is more than accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. It's accepting Him as King.

In Christianity today, there's a great desire to accept Jesus as Savior. But to accept Jesus as King means that, Wait a minute, that means I have to give up all these things I believe in. I have to give up rulership over my own life. Yeah, that's what it means. You must deny yourself. Well, how long do I deny myself? Well, till they nail you to the cross. There's some powerful, important statement made there. We don't get that because we've never seen anybody carry their cross out and get nailed to it. These people saw it all the time. He says, For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. For whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel's will save it. You and I just don't give up our lives here for Christ. We give up our lives for the message. If you hide who you are from the world, it is unacceptable to Jesus Christ. We can't hide who we are. We're supposed to shout this out. In our example, in whatever way we can. I don't care if it's television, radio. I don't care if it's a sandwich board. Someday you'll probably see me walking on the news. I'm down in San Antonio, walking with a sandwich board on. The end is coming. Repent. Okay? See, it doesn't matter. We're supposed to give our lives for Christ and for the gospel. How can you hold it back? How? He says, verse 36, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his own soul? For whoever is ashamed of me, we can't be ashamed of this. We have to live it. Whoever is ashamed of me, in my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. Part of the mystery of the kingdom of heaven is those who have the seed. Spread the seed.

Those who are given the seed spread the seed. How could we do anything else? So, the summation of Act 2. In the next slide, I'll have the summation of that.

There is a personal price to be paid if you want to serve the kingdom of God in Satan's world. We have to face that. There's a price to be paid if you want to serve the kingdom of God in Satan's world. Many people want to accept Jesus as Savior. Few want to accept him as King. The price for the kingdom of God is total commitment to Jesus Christ, and the commitment to spreading the gospel he preached.

To live by this vision that was talked about last night, the laws, the values of God's kingdom now, while in the world rule by Satan, means that you will always be out of step with the world. As human beings, we want to be in step with everything around us. You can't. It's not God's world. The stage was already set. We knew coming into the mystery. There is a God of this world, and it's not God letting him have it for a while.

So when you and I live in this world, we will always be out of step. That's part of the price we pay. If I asked you, who are you, how would you answer that question?

You might say, well, okay, I'm a... You see these personal ads. White, female, single, career, Christian likes to work in the community. Or you might say, well, I'm a Sabbatarian who, born in Texas, worked on a ranch, middle class, male. Whatever. Who are you? But I want to ask you a question. If God asked you, who are you, how would you answer that? There's probably a little different answer, right? Oh, wait a minute. He really means who am I. Who are we? Who are you?

You're a child of God, a citizen of the kingdom of God, with the seed of God planted in you and with the job of spreading the seed. And your life is supposed to bear 30 and 60 and 100-fold fruit of the kingdom of God. It's supposed to. And since God doesn't fail, the only thing holding that back is us. Now, that ends the second act. The curtain opens to the third act.

Let's go to Matthew 25. What can hold us back? If the seed of the kingdom is planted in us, if we know what we're supposed to do, we're supposed to bear that fruit, we're supposed to learn what the kingdom is all about, we're supposed to live by its laws, we're supposed to live by its values. We have a king that God is going to establish for us. Our loyalties, our values, how we think, how we feel. Everything is to be molded and shaped by that.

How we act as employees. How we treat our mates. Everything in life. How we handle our money. Everything is to be kingdom-oriented. Everything. How we raise our children. How we treat our neighbor. I don't care if he is a rotten bum. How we treat our neighbor. It all has to be kingdom-oriented. We are the children of God.

We are supposed to act like our father. We are supposed to act like our brother. We wouldn't even know how to act like the father. So we have to have a brother who modeled the behavior for us. That's the kingdom. That's the mystery. In between the two comings, there's people who actually live it. Under Satan's rule. Actually prepare for it. Under Satan's rule. Who actually keeps spreading the seed. Under Satan's rule. But what can hold us back?

Matthew 25. You probably know this one by heart. The kingdom of heaven, then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened. This is what it's like. Ten virgins who took their lambs and went out to meet the bridegroom. Preparing. These are the people who the seed has been planted. It's a little different analogy here. In the scripture, of course, false religion is a prostitute is used to be a symbol of... False religion, a virgin, is a symbol of those who are actually following God. Who've been cleansed by God's forgiveness. Oil is a symbol of God's spirit. So these are those who have the seed of the kingdom. They have God's spirit. They're preparing for the kingdom.

They are all virgins. They're all people who have received the seed of the kingdom. Now, five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them.

Now they had oil in their lamp. They had God's spirit. But in understanding what this is talking about, we have to understand a term that is used in, especially in business, that is called the law of process. In other words, for something to start and end, and you want the right ending, there's a process.

You know, if I want to build a house, I get the blueprints, I get the land, I get the material, and there's a process by you. It's just like, well, I'll build the roof first. There's a process, a law of process. Christianity is a law of process. The kingdom of God is a law of process. A seed was planted in you, but you're not supposed to walk around like a seed for the rest of your life.

The kingdom is supposed to come out. It's supposed to come out of us. We're supposed to bear fruit. And every time we do, we sort of drop seeds wherever we go. The mystery of the kingdom. Waiting for the re-establishment, waiting for the bridegroom to come. And while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. In other words, we have the spirit, we have the seed, but we're not in the process. We've lost the process. We don't know how to be prepared because times got tough. And we just got wrapped up in our lives, and making money, and not making money, and this and that and the other. We're not part of the process anymore. We stopped bearing fruit.

And we showed up at church when we felt like it. And we sort of kept the Sabbath, but not really. And our marriage fell apart. And we just lost the process. But the seed was planted. They had the power. But they didn't continue that daily relationship with God. It's the only way this process works. They lost that. Verse 9, But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you.

Go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. And afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

But he answered and said, Assuredly I say to you, and this is a frightening statement, I do not know you. The seed was planted. It was watered. God did His work. And the person didn't want the seed. Well, what we want is we want the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, and we want them both. And there's that deceitfulness of emotions. We want them both. We want one foot in one and one foot in the other, and we were called to be entirely in the one.

Now, it's a lifetime of coming out of the other. You know, every once in a while, you like to sit in the middle, and, oh God, I just put my big foot back in the other. You know, just sort of creep into it a little bit. But the truth is, you and I weren't called to remain part of this.

We were called to be something else. You were here because you're the fertile ground. Do you know that parable? Some ground stays with it. Here a parable, some people do, some people don't. The choice is to up to us. We decide. We decide. Because God has no lack of power. John Maxwell, in the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, says, champions don't become champions in the ring. They are merely recognized there. That's true. If you want to see where someone develops into a champion, look at his daily routine.

What we want to do is live in Satan's world, and 10 minutes before the fight start training. You and I are in training every day. We are in the law of process. This law of process is called... I almost want to say, okay, everybody tell me, but I won't. It's conversion. That's all conversion is. It's a law of process. It's taking one thing and changing it into something else. That's what you and I are involved in. So let's look at the summation of our last act of our play.

It will be a proclivity of those who have received the seed of the kingdom of God to become weary and sleepy over time. You know, the parable of the ten virgins actually applies to every generation that's ever lived. Because it is a proclivity. If you live this a long enough period of time, and you live in the oppression of Satan's world, that we all go to sleep.

Christians must go through a periodic spiritual revival to wake up from the spiritual slumber.

Every so many years, someone has to yell, Wake up! And that's what I'm doing today. They're like, Oh, what happened? Well, we all fell asleep.

We have to wake up. Those who have received the seed of the kingdom are participating in the law of process, where the values, the laws of that kingdom are being developed in our daily lives. Thirty-fold, sixty-fold, a hundred-fold.

The mystery of the kingdom of God. And we didn't even have to med anyone.

The re-establishment of God's kingdom on this earth is a future event when Jesus Christ returns as King of Kings. But the seeds of that kingdom are now being planted in the minds of a few who have rejected the God of this world. We understand how the stage is set. We rejected the God of this world.

And we strive, sometimes failing, but we get up again and we keep trying to live every day by the values, the laws, and the love of the future reign of the King of Kings. There is a strong warning to those in whom the seed has been planted. Because according to many of the parables of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven is like, and you read it, and it's a warning, I will come when they are not ready.

Strong warning over and over and over again. Now we can be ready, but we must constantly be reminded that this play isn't over yet.

We can't go to sleep.

We must constantly be ready. You see, I've been ready for 40 years. Do it for five more.

And if we're still here five more years, I'll stand up here and you'll wake up.

Because we cannot afford to stay asleep. But we'll keep those in awe. We'll keep those in awe.

We are here to celebrate the Feast of Tabernies in order to comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom. We live in temporary dwellings to remind us that we live in reality, in temporary dwellings. We're little points of light in a dark world.

Where God can look down and say, there's one, there's one, there's one.

A person whom I have planted, the kingdom of God, waiting for its re-establishment. Long for that kingdom, live every day for that kingdom. Accept Christ's rule in your life now.

Because the mystery of the kingdom of God is that the seed has already been planted in you.