Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] You're listening to a podcast by Lance Lambert Ministries.
[00:00:04] For more information on this ministry, visit lancelambert.org or follow us on social media to receive all of our updates.
[00:00:13] In today's episode, we'll be listening to a message shared at the Christian Family Conference in the year 1990. The theme of the conference was Thy Kingdom Come. Lance's responsibility was to share on the Gospel of the Kingdom. This message is the second message he shared that year and is about the salvation of the Lord being all of grace. This message is an especially excellent gospel for believers and a reminder of the fullness of the salvation that has been won for us. You can find the transcript of this message on our website, and you can find Lance's full teaching from this conference in the book the Gospel of the Kingdom. Let's listen to it's all of His Grace.
[00:00:51] If you will turn with me to a few scriptures in the Gospel of Luke, Luke's Gospel first of all, in Luke's gospel, chapter four, in verse 42 and 43 and when it was day he came out and went into a desert place, and the multitudes sought after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them.
[00:01:27] But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings, the Gospel of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for therefore was I set and Luke's Gospel, Chapter eight and verse one, Chapter eight and verse one of the same gospel.
[00:01:54] And it came to pass soon afterwards that he went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and with him who are the 12. Isn't that an interesting phrase? Preaching the gospel and bringing preaching and bringing the Gospel of the kingdom of God.
[00:02:24] Chapter 16 in the same gospel, chapter 16, Verse 16, the law and the prophets were until John.
[00:02:43] From that time the Gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it.
[00:02:56] Shall we just have a word of prayer?
[00:02:59] Father? We want, as we turn to you this morning, we want, Lord, in the light of your word and the ministry of your word, to confess our absolute need of yourself, both in speaking and in hearing.
[00:03:19] Lord, we have no other plea, and we have no other foundation, we have no other righteousness than the Lord Jesus.
[00:03:33] And in him we come to you, Father, this morning, and we by faith stand into all that glorious enabling power and grace that you have made available to us through the finished work of our Lord Jesus.
[00:03:52] Will you open your word to us so that it is not just a word of truth for the Mind. But Lord, it may be that word of life that is deposited within our beings.
[00:04:09] Lord, we commit ourselves to you over this very important matter of the kingdom of God. And we ask it in the name of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus.
[00:04:26] I think you all know that the theme of this time is thy kingdom come.
[00:04:31] And I think you also know that my responsibility in this wonderful theme is the gospel of the kingdom, that good news of the kingdom of God that Jesus himself preached and which in himself Jesus brought.
[00:05:03] That's my theme, and I'm very conscious of my inability when it really comes to it.
[00:05:11] But what I want to talk about this morning by his enabling power is this good news of the kingdom of God is all of his grace from beginning to end.
[00:05:31] It is all the grace of God.
[00:05:37] Its foundation is the grace of God. Its top stone is. Is the grace of God.
[00:05:47] Our introduction into this kingdom is by the grace of God. Our reaching the goal of this kingdom is by the grace of God.
[00:05:59] And every development within it, every step taken by faith, every new discovery.
[00:06:10] The Lord Jesus, every new experience of his power and of his fullness is by the grace of God. This is the gospel of the kingdom.
[00:06:26] I have no idea why it is that in Christian circles they seem to have reduced this word gospel to something very introductory, something almost we could call kindergarten. They have called it a simple gospel. The scripture speaks of no such thing.
[00:06:49] It is described again and again and again as the gospel of the kingdom of God. And I must say I believe that that is the missing note in our gospel preaching.
[00:07:08] We take simply the facts of the gospel. Jesus was born, Jesus died, Jesus has won salvation. Jesus offers forgiveness, which of course, is tremendous. But the early church proclaimed first and foremost the kingship of God.
[00:07:31] And on that basis of God's absolute sovereignty, declared the truth concerning God's Son and then demanded commanded repentance.
[00:07:49] That, it seems to me, is something far, far more than so much gospel preaching that we are used to today.
[00:08:07] Now, I know when I say that this gospel is all to do with the grace of God that some people will almost immediately shut off. They will say, now this is not to do with the deep things of God. This is all kindergarten. This is going to be all very initial, so I might as well have a sleep.
[00:08:25] If you wish to sleep, please feel at liberty to do so.
[00:08:30] But in my estimation, this whole matter of the grace of God is absolutely fundamental. It is fundamental not only to our entrance to the kingdom of God, but to every single stage in its development.
[00:08:48] In every stage, single thing to do with the kingdom of God touching this earth, coming in our lives, coming into our circumstances, coming through the church, into communities, into localities, affecting a nation, affecting nations. It is all to do with the grace of God, the sovereign grace of God.
[00:09:15] Father Stephen has already mentioned that amazing talk that Nicodemus, one of the great rabbis of his day, had with the Lord Jesus in the night.
[00:09:29] And you remember those marvelous words in John's Gospel, chapter three and verse three, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born anew or born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, how can a man be born when he's old?
[00:09:59] Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
[00:10:04] Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
[00:10:23] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
[00:10:32] Marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again.
[00:10:41] Now, this second birth is something beyond fallen man in himself.
[00:10:50] The greatest scientists cannot produce a second birth.
[00:10:55] The greatest doctors of medicine cannot produce a second birth.
[00:11:03] The greatest.
[00:11:10] Doctors of theology, and we have many of them, cannot produce a second birth.
[00:11:20] Only the grace of God can bring a man or a woman to a second birth.
[00:11:28] Only the abounding grace of God can bring a man or a woman, whoever he or she is, whatever their background, whatever their cultural context, whatever their pedigree or lack of it, whatever, only the grace of God can bring us to the kingdom.
[00:11:52] God.
[00:11:53] Now, once we begin to see that, we begin to understand why, in this same chapter, in this talk with Nicodemus, Jesus went on to say, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.
[00:12:18] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
[00:12:36] Now, what I'm saying is, the good news of the kingdom is that God alone has done the impossible.
[00:12:48] That is the good news of the kingdom.
[00:12:53] Let me try to explain what I mean.
[00:12:56] This really is good news. What is impossible to fallen man, what is impossible to the best of fallen man, to the most educated of fallen men, the most religious fallen man.
[00:13:15] What is impossible to fallen man, whether he is bad or good, ignoble or noble, God has made possible through his grace, fallen man.
[00:13:34] Man born of Adam, however clever, however resourceful, however knowledgeable, however gifted, however religious, is barred from the kingdom of God.
[00:13:55] Do you remember when man fell? Right at the very beginning of the record of the word, God set cherubim at the tree of life with a flaming sword.
[00:14:08] Lest man seek to enter into the kingdom of God, become recipients of God's eternal life in their fallen state. It is a picture of something tremendous.
[00:14:23] In other words, God put a veto on fallen man. You can have your League of Nations, your United Nations. They can talk about golden millenniums and utopias. They can seek with this ideology or that ideology, or this philosophy, or that philosophy, or this political system or that political system to try and bring peace on earth and unity and prosperity and love. And every one of these great attempts ends in bondage, in corruption, in wickedness, in enslavement, in evil.
[00:15:08] God has put a veto on Adam and all that are in Adam. He has put a veto on. We're barred from this kingdom.
[00:15:20] The gates to this kingdom are closed.
[00:15:29] And I look at some of the scriptures in this matter.
[00:15:33] They almost make a shudder run through her.
[00:15:38] You've got your Bible with you. Just give you a few.
[00:15:42] The first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 15. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:16:02] Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
[00:16:08] Did you hear that? We hear this at every funeral service normally, and it goes in one ear and out the other.
[00:16:15] Listen again. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. You have to be born of the spirit.
[00:16:35] Only that which is born of the spirit can inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:16:40] Only that which is declared righteous by God himself on the basis of. Of the finished work of the Lord Jesus can enter into the kingdom of God.
[00:16:55] Flesh and blood. Now, this is a very comprehensive term.
[00:16:59] He's not saying, as some people, especially those with kind of Hellenistic ideas, we tend to think flesh, flesh, oh, yes, flesh. Flesh is always evil. Flesh is bad. If only he could be rid of the flesh. If we could say goodbye to the poor.
[00:17:15] If somehow or other the physical could be laid on one side, then we shall be pure.
[00:17:23] Satan himself doesn't have flesh.
[00:17:27] Nobody thinks of that.
[00:17:34] As if by getting rid of the body and getting rid of the physical, we become pure. This is a Hellenistic idea. This is what. One of these unbelievable things that seeped into the whole theology of the Church and has influenced everybody, so that somehow or other we get this Idea that flesh is evil.
[00:17:53] But, my dear friend, this flesh and blood can be so good, so noble, so religious, so devoted, so zealous. It can know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but it cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:18:09] It's holy. When we're born of the spirit. Does it mean that when we're born of the spirit, we lose our flesh? Of course not. It may have to be crucified, God may have to do. But in the end, our entire spirit, soul and body will be preserved entire unto the coming of the Lord Jesus.
[00:18:33] So here we have a very comprehensive term. This isn't talking about flesh, flesh and blood, which is Hitlerite, flesh and blood, which is Stalinist, flesh and blood, which is Mao Zedong flesh and blood, which is all that is dark and ignoble and base. This is flesh and blood. This includes Shakespeare, it includes Goethe, it includes Schiller, it includes all the great poets, all the great painters, all the great composers with all their magnificent gifts to mankind. This is flesh and blood which cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:19:11] Not because God doesn't like the creativity that is in us. Not that God doesn't like the genius that he's placed within us, but because there is a poison in fallen man which can never be trusted.
[00:19:25] Not now, neither in the age to come. It has a devotion, divine veto on that kind of man, because he is never safe.
[00:19:41] So, my dear friends, we have here an amazing scripture. It's very comprehensive. Now, of course, most people always understand only these kind of scriptures. 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
[00:19:52] Here it is, same chapter again.
[00:19:56] 1 Corinthians chapter 6 from verse 9. O, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ephemera, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:20:26] This kind of flesh and blood we're more acquainted with. Anyone who's sensible understands straightaway this kind of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But then we turn to Galatians chapter five, and we get something more of a shock in Galatians chapter 5. And from verse 19 here we now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. Fornication, uncleanness, that comes nearer to many.
[00:21:00] Lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and Such like of which I forewarn you. Even as I did forewarn you that they who practice such shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:21:47] Now, my dear friends, when we take a good look at this kind of thing, if we are honest with ourselves and face the facts, we are barred from the kingdom of God.
[00:21:59] Even if we felt that there was no jealousy in us, if we felt there was no party spirit within us, if we felt there was no partiality within us, if we felt there was no uncleanness in mind or thought or heart, still we are flesh and blood, fallen flesh and blood, Self centred, flesh and blood, egocentric. From the moment we enter this life and upon us there is a divine veto. Now let me put it another way.
[00:22:42] Only those who are as righteous. Listen carefully, please. Those of you who are awake, listen again.
[00:22:54] Only those who are as righteous, as pure, as holy and listen.
[00:23:06] As perfect as the Lord Jesus can enter the kingdom of God.
[00:23:17] I'm going to say that again.
[00:23:19] I know you all know it. This is the gospel that ought to be preached normally.
[00:23:24] Listen again.
[00:23:26] Only those who are as righteous, pure, as holy, as perfect as the Lord Jesus can enter the kingdom of God and inherit it.
[00:23:50] This disqualifies us all, does it not?
[00:23:56] It disqualifies us all.
[00:23:58] We're disqualified. Now, now, once you begin to see this, you will understand the good news of the kingdom of God.
[00:24:09] I am disqualified.
[00:24:12] That's not good news.
[00:24:16] I'm disqualified. It doesn't matter what I do. I can live like a hermit. I can go like some of those deer men used, or up on the top of poles and spend my whole life sitting on a pole to try and make myself holy.
[00:24:29] I can wall myself up in a cave a little way from my home, as many of them did in days gone by.
[00:24:38] Try to make myself acceptable for the kingdom of God. But according to this book, unless I become as righteous and as pure and as holy and as perfect and as. As the Lord Jesus, I am vetoed. I am barred. I'm disqualified.
[00:24:59] Yet God has called us to his kingdom and his glory.
[00:25:08] You take again your Bible and you turn to 1 Thessalonians and chapter 2.
[00:25:20] And verse 12 to the end. That ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory, calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
[00:25:42] I think again of the same letter, chapter 5, verse 24. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Now here we come to the a marvelous discovery. We find that the APostle Peter in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 11. 11 speaks about. Let me read it to you. 2 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 11.
[00:26:17] Well, verse 10. Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble. For thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
[00:26:44] How can we have this rich supplying of this entrance into the kingdom of God's eternal glory? How can we know this?
[00:27:01] How can you and I actually come to the kingdom, and not just into the kingdom, but come to the throne of God within that kingdom? How can you and I be educated and finally qualified for the kingship of God?
[00:27:25] How is it possible?
[00:27:28] Only one way.
[00:27:32] By grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
[00:27:43] It is the gift of God.
[00:27:45] Lest any man should boast.
[00:27:50] Did you hear that very simple gospel word?
[00:27:56] By grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
[00:28:06] It is the gift of God.
[00:28:14] He saves us through his grace.
[00:28:20] He doesn't merely save us.
[00:28:24] Listen carefully to me. This is the good news of the King. He begets us.
[00:28:32] He actually brings us to a new birth, to a second birth. It would be marvelous if we were saved but minions in the kingdom of God. It would be marvelous if we were eternally saved, just to be subjects in his kingdom. But he does far more than just save us. He begets us again. In other words, he becomes father to us. He actually, as it were, brings us to a second birth whereby you and I are born, born of the Spirit and qualify for inheriting the kingdom of God.
[00:29:17] Oh, well, if you want to turn to it, I've already given you one scripture in John's Gospel. Let me give you the one in one Peter and chapter one.
[00:29:28] One Peter in chapter one and verse three. Listen to this wonderful word. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who according to his great mercy, begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Now this is such a wonderful word that it just runs off us like water off a duck.
[00:30:27] Don't you think? It does. We get so used to these wonderful words. Begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away.
[00:30:47] My dear friends, does it begin to dawn on you the good news of the kingdom of God? Yes. You, by the grace of God, have not only been saved if you have put your faith in the work of the Lord Jesus and the person of the Lord Jesus, you have not only been merely saved, delivered from the power of darkness, transferred into the kingdom of God's dear Son, you have been born again by his spirit, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled.
[00:31:25] In other words, this inheritance cannot fall.
[00:31:32] It cannot be spoiled, it cannot be compromised, it cannot be corrupted. It doesn't fade, as most things do in this world, from its initial glory. It is an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. Listen. Reserved in heaven for you, I say, this is something unbelievable.
[00:32:05] Who, by the power of God, are guarded unto that salvation? My dear friends, isn't it marvelous? We are saved, we have been saved. We are being saved.
[00:32:21] And finally we shall be saved.
[00:32:25] Isn't that marvelous?
[00:32:27] Actually, the full consequences of our salvation are all reserved.
[00:32:32] Isn't that wonderful? Just to think about it for a moment, a new body like unto his, a likeness to the Lord Jesus. Think for a moment of all the consequences of this salvation. It's reserved for us, this inheritance.
[00:32:51] Who by the power of God, are guarded unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last, at the last time.
[00:33:04] My dear friends, I find this so marvelous.
[00:33:09] Now, are you ready for something more?
[00:33:11] I have no doubt why the Lord Jesus called this good news.
[00:33:16] It is a tragedy that most Christians are basically unaware of. This whole thing is relegated to an evangelistic meeting.
[00:33:23] And the result is multitudes and multitudes of believers, of Christian believers truly born of God, do not understand their salvation. They don't understand that grace lies at its foundation. They don't understand that every movement forward is by the grace of God. Every discovery of God is by the grace of God. Every new experience of the Holy Spirit is by the grace of God.
[00:33:52] I am told by Christian psychiatrists that it is a very sad fact that a very large number of psychiatric patients are evangelicals and charismatics.
[00:34:06] Isn't that interesting? And I'll tell you why.
[00:34:10] Because when a person becomes a believer, they suddenly take on a standard far, far greater and higher than anything they ever had when they were unsaved and being saved by the grace. Because they know the love of God. But they feel God is always making discoveries about them.
[00:34:29] They feel that suddenly the Lord said this morning, oh, I had no idea that so and so was so rotten.
[00:34:41] And so we say I cannot come into his presence. I cannot speak with him because he's discovered something about me. Actually hasn't discovered anything about you. You have discovered something about yourself, that's all.
[00:34:54] As if the Lord didn't know how rotten you were. Do you know that every one of us, subjected to certain circumstances, to certain situations, to certain temptations, would undoubtedly fall?
[00:35:08] Not one of us would stand. But by the grace and the power of God.
[00:35:14] It is the only way that you and I can possibly stand by the grace of God. Now, my dear friends, I have to tell you that if you're ready for something more. Here it comes. Look at Romans.
[00:35:32] Because it is. There's no wonder it's called good news. Now, having been given this by this dear sister, I better use it.
[00:35:45] Just another example of grace.
[00:35:50] Now let's look at this. Romans, chapter 8.
[00:35:54] Now here, listen to this wonderful word from verse 15. For ye receive not the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but ye receive the spirit of adoption or placing or recognition whereby we cry Abba Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs.
[00:36:31] Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
[00:36:36] If so, be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with Him.
[00:36:47] What a salvation.
[00:36:50] Not merely saved to be a subject or a minion in the servant in the kingdom of God.
[00:36:58] Not merely born again of His Spirit and bought into a family, the family of God, but the Spirit of the Lord shed abroad in our heart, establishing a practical, relevant, living, day to day experience with the eternal God the most.
[00:37:25] The Spirit is shed abroad in our hearts crying Abba Father.
[00:37:36] Many Christians suffer.
[00:37:38] They do not know this relationship in practice.
[00:37:43] For them God is still a distant schoolmaster.
[00:37:49] He is some huge disciplinarian.
[00:37:55] He is some kind of, if I may be so irreverent to describe it. But it's true of many believers. He's some kind of divine capitalist who has an enormous factory in which he works everybody to death.
[00:38:16] How few believers know the fatherhood of the God. How few believers appreciate the fatherhood of God. How few believers really know. And I'm not talking about being familiar. I've heard people call God Papa. I think it's terrible.
[00:38:36] The Holy Spirit may be shed aboard in our hearts with this marvelous relationship, but God is still God.
[00:38:42] But we have a relationship with Him.
[00:38:46] He is Father.
[00:38:49] He is upper to us. Now my dear friends, this to me is certainly good news.
[00:39:03] Only those whom God justifies are subjects of his kingdom and Members of his family.
[00:39:13] Did you hear that?
[00:39:15] Only those whom God justifies are subjects of his kingdom and members of his family.
[00:39:25] How, we might well ask, could God break the hold which the power of darkness holds us with?
[00:39:39] How could he sever the link between us and a Satanized and fallen mankind?
[00:39:51] I wonder whether most believers have ever really begun to understand Calvin.
[00:40:07] Sometimes some preachers dwell on the physical sufferings of the Lord Jesus on Calvary, and we do not underestimate them or devalue them. But the fact remains that Jesus only suffered physically for six hours.
[00:40:36] It is a most remarkable fact that the Gospels do not dwell on his physical suffering.
[00:40:43] We hear his cries, we hear the conversation, we hear the jeering of the crowds.
[00:40:52] The facts are given to us in an almost journalistic way. In fact, may I say, it is almost as if the Gospel writers are so conscious of a fathomless mystery that they dare not talk merely about the physical.
[00:41:15] You have to go to the Old Testament to actually understand something of the agony of the One on the cross in Psalm 22, there you have the most unbelievable account of Calvary from the eyes of the One on the cross.
[00:41:33] But, my dear friends, it is the untold story and the untellable story that is the real suffering of the Lord Jesus.
[00:41:48] I always take a few scriptures and I go for a journey with those who are with me through those scriptures.
[00:41:59] It is the only way I know of being able to communicate something of that work that the Lord Jesus did on the cross. I turn you first to Isaiah, chapter 53 and verse 6. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, in the Hebrew the word is, he has made together, gather on him the iniquity of us all. That is not just sin, but the most depraved word for sin, the sin that speaks most of the abominable depravity of sin.
[00:42:52] From Adam, right the way through all the great figures of history, every single person ever known, Adolf, Hitler, Stalin, all their iniquity came upon the Lord Jesus. Into one single human flame was compressed the iniquity of the whole world from its beginning to its end.
[00:43:19] Or again listen to this word in John's gospel, chapter one and verse 29.
[00:43:28] Behold the Lamb of God who beareth away the sin of the world.
[00:43:36] There is nothing more beautiful than a lamb, nothing more innocent, nothing more sweet.
[00:43:44] A newborn lamb.
[00:43:46] It is a symbol always to all people, all over the world. Whatever culture it is a symbol of innocence, of purity, of righteousness.
[00:44:01] But then we have a most amazing thing.
[00:44:04] Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
[00:44:13] Now, a snake is exactly the opposite.
[00:44:17] It is a symbol of all that's dark, of all that's cunning, of all that's deceitful. It is a symbol of the underworld. It is a symbol in the name of Satan. It is everything that is poisonous, everything that is horrifying.
[00:44:34] And now we suddenly find that this lamb of God upon the cross became the uplifted serpent, as if into himself he took the very poison of Satan, as if he took into himself that venom which has poisoned the whole of mankind and barred us from the kingdom of God. There's another scripture, if you will turn to it in Mark's gospel, chapter 14, and this is a very interesting one. Mark's gospel in chapter 14, Mark's gospel, chapter 14 and verse 27.
[00:45:26] And Jesus said unto them, all ye shall be offended. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered abroad. But he is quoting the prophet Zechariah. But the prophet Zechariah did say that the prophet Zechariah said, smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. If you look in the Hebrew, it does not say, I will smite the shepherd. Nor in the Septuagint version, which the. The Greek version of the Old Testament which the early church used. So why did the Lord Jesus change this word unless he was seeking to bring home to us? It wasn't Satan that struck him. It wasn't even mankind that struck struck him, Jew or Gentile. It was God himself who struck his own son.
[00:46:14] When the lamb became the uplifted serpent and all iniquity was laid upon him, God struck him.
[00:46:24] And out of the darkness, out of his tortured heart came the words, my God, God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
[00:46:44] We know not what happened in those hours, except that Jesus tasted death for every man.
[00:46:53] Not in just a general way.
[00:46:56] It is beyond our minds, beyond computation, that he tasted death as if it was your death.
[00:47:05] And he tasted my death as if it was my death.
[00:47:09] And he tasted death for every man.
[00:47:13] And in that moment, Jesus died with those words finished.
[00:47:25] Now, if you look at another scripture, you will find in mark's gospel, chapter 15 and verse 34, those wonderful words. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now I must finish, but my point is very simply this.
[00:47:45] We shall never understand what happened to the Lord Jesus. Neither now, not in eternity. I don't care how long eternity is.
[00:47:55] It is endless. None of us with our finite minds, even all of us together, will ever understand all that the Lord Jesus went through.
[00:48:04] But this we know.
[00:48:06] He won our salvation.
[00:48:10] He came back with a finished work, with a salvation of God which breaks the link between us and Satanized humanity mankind, and brings us to the place where we can be delivered from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
[00:48:36] This is indeed good news.
[00:48:41] Could there be anything more wonderful?
[00:48:44] I think of all my sin, as the old hymn puts it, not in part, but the whole is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more.
[00:49:00] Praise the Lord.
[00:49:02] Praise the Lord. O my soul.
[00:49:07] The prophet Isaiah says, the Lord said, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgression.
[00:49:18] And in another place the Lord says, I will remember your sins no more.
[00:49:27] How could this be?
[00:49:29] In what way?
[00:49:30] This is how the Spirit of God, through the apostle Paul describes in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 21, he who knew no sin, God made to be our sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Now, did you hear that? He who knew no sin, that's the Lord Jesus God made to be our sin. Your sin, my sin, that you and me, we might become the righteousness of God in him. How is it possible for me, for myself, I was disqualified from the kingdom of God. How is it possible for me to become the righteousness of God? Only when God justifies me on the basis of the work of the Lord Jesus? For my sin was not only cancelled, it was not only.
[00:50:30] It is not only remembered. No more. It has been transferred, Jesus, upon his perfect frame. All my sin was placed and his righteousness was transferred to me. So that God says, lance, Lance, he is righteous.
[00:50:51] Can you believe that? Now you know me well enough to know that it is not possible.
[00:50:57] If God didn't say, I declare him righteousness, I declare him righteous on the basis of my son's finished work.
[00:51:07] For my son became Lance's sin, that Lance might become my son's righteousness.
[00:51:14] This is what it means to be justified.
[00:51:19] Just as if you never sin.
[00:51:24] Oh, it's such good news that most believers can't believe it.
[00:51:32] It's as simple as that. Most believers can't believe it. They say, oh, no, no, no, no, it's going too far. This is extreme. This is radical. If he goes on like this, we'll all be able to live in Sin.
[00:51:43] But this is the good news of the kingdom of God. Of course you can't live in.
[00:51:48] There's much more. We'll come to that my next time. But the fact of the matter is this here is a foundation. Now have you begun to understand something? The foundation of God's kingdom is the grace of God.
[00:52:03] It is the finished work of the Lord Jesus. Now I make an most amazing discovery. I find that in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. It says the Gospel.
[00:52:17] The good news of God is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. To the Jew first and then to the Gentile.
[00:52:34] Now think of that.
[00:52:38] I think of 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
[00:52:41] Well, the apostle again puts it in a slightly different way, but it's the same idea. Verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.
[00:52:50] Not in wisdom of words as the cross of Christ should be made void. For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved. It is the power of God. Verse 24. Unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ. The power of God and the wisdom of God. My dear friends, hear. Then we begin to understand the good news of the Gospel. How can you and I enter into this kingdom of God? Only when we humble ourselves. There is none of this kind of presidential election atmosphere that is so often found in so many of our evangelistic meetings. We sell Jesus as if he's a commodity. We devalue him. We make him all sweet and sentimental. We make him appealing, we make him pop.
[00:53:39] And somehow or other then we ask people to vote for him. Put up your hand. I'm not saying you cannot be saved by putting up your hand or by standing up. I myself came to the Lord when I stood up in a meeting. I thank God for such a challenge. But the fact remains that this gospel is not some presidential election. It is not some appeal to you to throw your weight behind Jesus. It is not something appeal to you somehow or other to vote for Him. It is not an appeal to you to do him good. To put your energy and your gifts at his disposal. This gospel is that you and I need to humble ourselves before God. And we need to repent from all our dead works.
[00:54:28] We have to turn away from our sin. Turn away from. If there was more old fashioned conversion with people weeping over their sin, we would not have the immorality we have in the church and we wouldn't have this superficiality in the church. We wouldn't have all this worldliness in the church. Because men and women would have at their very heart of their experience, repentance.
[00:54:54] And this is the Gospel.
[00:54:57] Look anywhere in the whole New Testament and you will find every apostle, every evangelist, it was the same. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus.
[00:55:11] My dear friends, this is something.
[00:55:20] Humility, repentance, faith.
[00:55:26] The three essential constituents if you and I are to be saved.
[00:55:34] If you and I. If you and I.
[00:55:40] Few moments. I haven't just yet finished. Listen carefully. Listen carefully. Because this comes home to us as believers.
[00:55:47] But the foundation of all God's dealings with us from the day you and I are saved, from the day we were born of God, is the same grace and the same finished work of the Lord Jesus.
[00:56:06] And now here I come to it. Listen carefully, please.
[00:56:09] Those of you who are asleep, please wake up.
[00:56:13] Here are the three things.
[00:56:17] Only if we humble ourselves can we go on.
[00:56:22] That is why God abominates pride.
[00:56:27] Where there is pride of any kind, it bars us from any progress in the kingship of God. It frustrates the purpose of God in our lives.
[00:56:43] I have seen people come into an experience of the Holy Spirit that's changed their whole lives.
[00:56:50] And I've seen other devoted believers who have not.
[00:56:54] And then they come to me, these devoted believers, and they say, why so? And so is a rat tag person.
[00:57:01] They're just no good.
[00:57:05] There must be something wrong with this whole matter to do with the Holy Spirit. That so and so's absolutely nothing. And now look, he comes into a real experience of the Holy Spirit. And I've been serving the law for years and years and years and I don't.
[00:57:22] And I'll tell you why. There is no humility.
[00:57:28] And not only no humility, but my dear friends, I'll tell you something else.
[00:57:34] You're trusting in your zeal and your devotion and your work, as if that will win God's favor and bring you into a deeper experience of the cross or a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit, or a deeper discovery of what the church is. My dear friends, is so simple.
[00:57:52] I find it terribly hard.
[00:57:54] I don't know about you, you see, the foundation for God's kingdom is grace.
[00:58:00] So here I come. And I feel, well, I'm a Jew.
[00:58:04] I think I have a better chance than you.
[00:58:09] After all, these people are my relatives.
[00:58:13] That's what I feel. I feel like the Apostle Paul did. I feel I have a. A claim on you, Lord. Now, these others here, they're good folks, they've been saved, but they're only Gentiles I'm a Jew, Lord, I'm a Jew.
[00:58:27] And you know, the Lord doesn't do anything. And then I see someone who's a Gentile and not just an ordinary Gentile. He comes from a family of convicts. He has behind him nothing but bad and delinquency in the whole of his life. And I see him entering into fullness and into B. And he begins to see. And I think, what's wrong? Here am I. My mother came from the tribe of Benjamin. My father came from the tribe of Judah. Avra Vanel, the great Jewish, is one of my relatives here. My Lord, what's wrong?
[00:59:01] The basis of all God's dealings in the Kingdom of God are his grace. Not your pedigree, not your background, not your knowledge, not your zeal, not your good works. It is the grace of God from beginning to end. If I'm going to know what is to be crucified with Christ, only God can reveal it to me. And only by his grace will he reveal it to me for no other reason.
[00:59:29] And if I'm to know the Holy Spirit in all his indwelling the fruit, fruit of the Spirit, it is only by the grace of God I shall know the work of the Holy Spirit. And if I'm to know the anointing of the Holy Spirit with all his gifts and all his power, it is only by the grace of God that I will know such an anointing. And if I'm to see what the church is and practically be in its building up, related to other brothers and sisters, then it'll only be by the grace of God.
[01:00:03] My dear friends, when you sit down and think about it, this is good news.
[01:00:11] If it really was a question of pedigree, if it really was a question of our background, if it really was a question of our studies, if it really was a question of our zeal, where would we be?
[01:00:29] No, my dear friends, here we have something so marvelous that I just.
[01:00:37] I say, this is the good news of the Kingdom of God.
[01:00:45] Many, many years ago, God gave a vision to a certain Hebrew prophet called Zachariah.
[01:00:54] It was all to do with the testimony, the testimony of Jesus.
[01:01:03] It was to do with the building program.
[01:01:10] Zachariah was so burdened, everything seemed to be going wrong.
[01:01:17] And then God showed him this seven branch menorah, this lampstand and the two olive trees.
[01:01:25] And then came the word. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel, Thou shalt Become a plain, and his hand shall bring forth the top stone with shouts of grace.
[01:01:52] Grace unto it.
[01:01:55] The work began in the grace of God, it developed by the grace of God, and it would end by the grace of God.
[01:02:07] Here then is the good news of the kingdom of God.
[01:02:14] Any man or woman who finally comes to the throne of the Lamb, who finally overcomes and sits down with the Lord Jesus in his throne, who is part of that bride of that city that will reign with him forever, it will be all grace.
[01:02:37] May the Lord bless every one of us and this preaching this morning of the gospel, may it reach our hearts. Shall we pray?
[01:02:57] Father, we want very simply to respond.
[01:03:01] We take this matter to do with your grace. And the gospel are so kindergarten, and yet, Lord, so few of us understand it. And when you begin to deal with us, and when you begin, as it were, to disturb us and turn us upside down and inside out, then, Lord, we become neurotic, nervous, full of accusations from the enemy charges.
[01:03:28] O Lord, let this gospel of the kingdom get into our hearts this day.
[01:03:36] And may we know that whom God justifies, who can accuse Lord Jesus, work in our hearts in the most wonderful way to open the eyes of our hearts to understand in a new and fuller way than ever before this matter of the gospel of the kingdom. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
[01:04:10] May you know the goodness of the good news. May you know the freedom of having all your sins paid for. May you know the deep, deep love Jesus.
