{"id":19219,"date":"2018-03-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-039\/"},"modified":"2018-03-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T05:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-039","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-039\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 039"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19219","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 039","sermon_date":"20180328","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5621,"sermon_slides":5622,"sermon_mp3":5624,"sermon_id":"328182256240","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"21-22","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n3-28-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation\u00a0 21-22\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 39\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles if we could to the Book of Revelation, chapter 21, and as you all know we\u2019re continuing our study on the doctrine of the Kingdom.\u00a0 We\u2019re actually in chapter 14 of the book I wrote and as you all know the book that I wrote is not the important book; the Book that God wrote is the important one, mine\u2019s just sort of a supplemental resource to organize biblical data on the kingdom.\u00a0 So we\u2019re basically trying to ask and answer what does the Bible say about the kingdom, which is a very tricky question on my part, it requires you study the whole Bible because the kingdom, as we\u2019re trying to say, is the dominant theme of the Bible.\n\nAnd here\u2019s the ground that we\u2019ve covered as we\u2019ve traced the doctrine of the kingdom through the Scripture, numbers 1-10, and then numbers 11-16, and so we\u2019re at the very end of this chart, we\u2019re at number 17, second from the end where we have been talking about the eternal state.\u00a0 So in this prophecy chart that I have here on the screen you just go to the far right and you see an area called the eternal state, Revelation 21 and 22.\n\nWhat is life going to be like in the eternal state? At this time the thousand year kingdom has already taken place, the Great White Throne Judgment has already taken place and we move into the eternal state, Revelation 21 and 22.\u00a0 So to sort of help us to understand the doctrine of the eternal state we\u2019re basically looking at five things and many of these things we\u2019ve already spoken of.\n\nOne of the things we noticed is that the doctrine of the eternal state, which is the new heavens and new earth, only comes into existence after what we call the office of theocratic administrator has been restored.\u00a0 There has to be a time in history where God rules a man who rules planet earth and the structure that started in Eden is restored.\u00a0 And we believe that this structure comes back during which time period, does anybody recall?\u00a0 This structure comes back during the thousand years, that\u2019s when the office of theocratic administrator is restored.\u00a0 \u00a0So that\u2019s when God the Father rules over a man, God the Son who rules over the earth.\u00a0 So there has to be a time in history that what was lost in Eden is restored.\n\nAnd after that happens now God is free to start over because He\u2019s won that battle in history.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why the doctrine of the eternal state or the biblical teaching on the eternal state really doesn\u2019t come into existence until after the thousand year kingdom is described or prophesied for us.\u00a0 Then what God does is He takes the current earth and He literally destroys it by fire and that\u2019s what you see happening there in Revelation 21:1.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.\u201d\u00a0 And you could put as a cross reference 2 Peter 3:10 which talks about the dissolution of this earth by fire.\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:10, \u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.\u201d]\u00a0 So God has gained victory over this earth and now He\u2019s free to create a new earth which He has to do because this earthy has been tainted by sin.\u00a0 So He starts all over again.\n\nAnd that takes us to number 2 here, I tried to make the case that the eternal state is not a renovation but it\u2019s a brand new creation.\u00a0 The fancy Latin name for that is ex nihilo<\/em>, something out of nothing.\u00a0 The renovation is the thousand years; the thousand years are now over and now we have a brand new creation, a world where sin never entered it at all.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve given, I think five reasons why it has to be that way, not a renovation but a brand new creation.\n\nAnd then the third point we made on the eternal state is we talked about how the eternal state, a lot of people look at it as just sort of symbolic and we\u2019re sort of on clouds and things like that and we have a tendency to kind of deliteralize the eternal state.\u00a0 But when you look at the actual terms that are used to describe the eternal security, we went through several of them and I have them on this slide, and you study those terms anywhere else in the Bible they\u2019re always very literal.\u00a0 So don\u2019t over celestialize our eternity with God; it\u2019s an earth just like this one and it\u2019s just as physical and literal and real as is the present earth.\n\nAnd then from there we moved to number four where we said the eternal state also represents a \u00a0time period where the Davidic throne is going to continue but it continues on in a slightly adjusted way. So the promise that was given to David is that through David, all the way back in 1000 B.C., through David is going to come an eternal dynasty and a forever throne.\u00a0 2 Samuel 7:16. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[2 Samuel 7:16, \u201c \u2018Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 The promises of the Davidic throne are such that having the Davidic throne in existence in Jerusalem during the thousand years really wouldn\u2019t satisfy this language.\u00a0 So the Davidic throne has to continue.\n\nSo what happens is today you see a separation between the two thrones; the Davidic throne of Jesus on the earth in Jerusalem during the millennium, not to be confused with the throne in heaven which is who\u2019s throne?\u00a0 The Father\u2019s throne.\u00a0 But by the time you get to the eternal state and you get to Revelation 22:3 what you see is those two thrones merge together.\u00a0 And it says in Revelation 22:3, \u201cThere will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;\u201d\u00a0 so you notice the throne is called \u201cthe throne of God and of the Lamb.\u201d It\u2019s no longer separate the way it is today and will be during the thousand years.\u00a0 So it\u2019s in that sense in the new form that it\u2019s in as the Son\u2019s throne merges with the Father\u2019s throne that the Davidic throne continues in an adjusted way.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve spent some time talking about that concept.\n\nAnd then last time we were together we were talking about the eternal state\u2019s description.\u00a0 I mean, what exactly is the eternal state going to be like?\u00a0 And we said number 1, it\u2019s very different than the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 A lot of people take the eternal state and the millennial kingdom and merge them together and we went through several reasons, like this chart here, and this chart here, why those are two different things.\u00a0 Those are two different time periods entirely.\n\nAnd then we talked about the significance of the eternal state and why does there need to be an eternal state.\u00a0 And we went through, I think about three theological reasons why the eternal state is so significant.\u00a0 This is all review from last week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then to help us understand the eternal state\u2019s description we talked about things that aren\u2019t in the eternal state, are not there.\u00a0 And you can tell a lot about something not only by what\u2019s there but also by what\u2019s not there.\u00a0 So we went through a list of things that will not be there.\u00a0 Satan won\u2019t be there.\u00a0 Evil won\u2019t be there.\u00a0 The curse won\u2019t be there.\u00a0 Even the potentiality of sin won\u2019t be there.\n\nThen from there we talked about some things that will be in the eternal state.\u00a0 I mean, what exactly is going to be there.\u00a0 And here\u2019s sort of a list we went through: God\u2019s presence, God\u2019s glory, God\u2019s people, God\u2019s city, and when we got to the city, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven to the new earth.\u00a0 And I tried to make the case last time that I think the eternal city exists right now in heaven because when Paul talks about it in Galatians 4:26 he says the New Jerusalem which is<\/u> above.\u00a0 And He uses in Galatians 4:26 the present tense verb.\u00a0 [Galatians 4:26, \u201cBut Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.\u201d KJV]\u00a0 \u00a0So I believe the eternal city is in existence right now, it just can\u2019t descend to this world because this world is marred by sin.\u00a0 So what it\u2019s waiting for is a new world where sin never entered.\u00a0 So it\u2019s waiting for the destruction of this earth by fire after the millennial kingdom, and then the ushering of the new heavens and new earth.\u00a0 And once the environment is perfect then the eternal city, which exists now, descends to the earth.\n\nThat\u2019s what you see happening in Revelation 21:1-8.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:1-8, \u201cThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any<\/em> sea. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, \u201cBehold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, [4] and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any<\/em> death; there will no longer be any<\/em> mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.\u201d\u00a0 [5] And He who sits on the throne said, \u201cBehold, I am making all things new.\u201d And He said, \u201cWrite, for these words are faithful and true.\u00a0 [6] Then He said to me, \u201cIt is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. [7] He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. [8] But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be<\/em> in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.\u201d]\n\nAnd there\u2019s a lot of information about this city, its existence, its name, its dimensions, its walls, its gates, its foundation stones, a lot of this we went over last time, its influence, its character, its glory, its colors, there\u2019s a lot of information about its colors and about its street.\u00a0 And I thought we\u2019d finished all that stuff about the city but then I remembered there are two things we left off, so let me just cover those two things real quickly.\n\nTwo final things about the eternal city that the Bible reveals.\u00a0 Number 1, its water of life and when you look at Revelation 22 verse 1 it says, \u201cThen he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,\u201d because the two thrones have merged, and so it talks about this beautiful river or this pure river flowing from the throne.\u00a0 And then also there\u2019s a reference here to the tree of life.\n\nNow you remember the tree of life was in the Garden of Eden and when you go to Revelation 22:2 you see the tree of life again, except I think it\u2019s trees as dispersed throughout the city because it says \u201cin the middle of its street, on either side of the river was the tree of life.\u201d\u00a0 And look how literal this is, \u201cbearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month;\u201d and that\u2019s interesting to me because a lot of people say well, there\u2019s not going to be time, time won\u2019t exist anymore in the eternal state but it clearly talks here about months, so there are definitely increments of time.\u00a0 It says, \u201con either of the river was the tree of life flowing, twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\u201d\u00a0 So there was a tree in Eden that apparently allowed, as I understand it, people to live forever and that same tree, now trees, is in the eternal state.\n\nThe only tree that I can think of that is in Eden that\u2019s not in the eternal state is which tree?\u00a0 The tree of knowledge; why is that?\u00a0 Because man, by this time, has already been tested and whatever choice people are going to make they\u2019ve already made for or against Christ.\u00a0 And man, in Eden, was in a probationary environment untested.\u00a0 And in order for us to really be made in God\u2019s image we have to have the freedom to reject Him, and how do you reject Him unless you have an avenue of rejection, which is the tree of knowledge, which they weren\u2019t to eat from.\u00a0 So man was untested in Eden, by the time you get to the eternal state man has already been tested.\n\nSo those are the final two things I wanted to cover about the city and where I wanted to move on to tonight is the last two things on the list here: what\u2019s life going to be like in the eternal state, and what are we going to be doing exactly.\u00a0 And then number two, how do you get into the eternal state, because there\u2019s only one way in.\u00a0 So let\u2019s talk about life in the eternal state.\u00a0 What exactly is it going to be like.\n\nThe first characteristic of life in the eternal state is it\u2019s going to be a life of unbroken fellowship with God.\u00a0 And if you look at Revelation 21:3 it says, \u201cAnd I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, \u2018Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And you might remember from the early chapters of the Book of John, when the\u00a0 incarnation of Christ was described, around John 1:14 it talks about how\u00a0 He became man and made His dwelling amongst men.\u00a0 [John 1:14, \u201cAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d]\u00a0 John 1:14 literally means, when you look at in the Greek, He tabernacled amongst them. \u00a0So once He became, once humanity was added to eternally existent deity man could now relate to God, understand God.\u00a0 And so this same sort of concept is there in Revelation 21:3 because it talks about God tabernacling\u00a0 once again amongst man, and it keeps saying over and over again in that verse He will be \u201camong them\u201d and He with them.\n\nAnd this takes us to number two, not only will it be\u00a0 unbroken fellowship with God\u2026 by the way, what breaks our fellowship with God?\u00a0 Sin!\u00a0 That\u2019s why Isaiah 59:1-2 says, \u201cBehold, the LORD\u2019S hand is not so short that it cannot save nor is His ear so dull that it cannot here.\u00a0 \u00a0the hand of the Lord is not so short that He can\u2019t save, nor His ear so dull that He cannot hear,\u201d but your sins have separated you from God.\u00a0 [Verse 2, \u201cBut your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His<\/em> face from you so that He does not hear.\u201d]\n\nAnd that\u2019s why 1 John 1:9, \u201cIf we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,\u201d is such a big deal for the believer because 1 John 1:9 doesn\u2019t get you saved again.\u00a0 What it does is it restores broken fellowship.\u00a0 I mean, if you offend\u00a0 your spouse you\u2019re still married, although your spouse may not want to be married to you, legally you\u2019re still married but what\u2019s broken is intimacy, or fellowship.\u00a0 That\u2019s what unconfessed sin does in our lives.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why we need to exercise 1 John 1:9 regularly, not to get saved again but to stay in fellowship with Christ and you can think of yourself without even the capacity to sin any more.\u00a0 You won\u2019t even have the desire to sin.\u00a0 So if there\u2019s no sin then there\u2019s no way you could ever get out of fellowship with God.\u00a0 So the eternal state is characterized by unbroken fellowship with God.\u00a0 It\u2019s very similar to what you had in Eden where God strolled with our forbearers in the cool of the evening.\u00a0 I mean, there was no sin yet, there was no broken fellowship yet, there was no need for confession and that\u2019s what the eternal state is going to be like.\n\nSomething else about the eternal state to understand is it\u2019s going to be a life of service; a lot of people think we\u2019re going to just be kind of hanging around bored, not really knowing what to do with our time, sort of twiddling our thumbs.\u00a0 But when you look at Revelation 22:3 it\u2019s very clear, it says, \u201cThere will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,\u201d and look what it say at the end, \u201cand His bond-servants\u201d that would be us, \u201cwill serve Him.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0So think of the time period where you want to do something for the Lord, you have a passion to do something, maybe it\u2019s a skill you want to develop or a problem you want to solve, or let\u2019s say God has given you a passion for writing or artistry or something like that, and you just can\u2019t really devote yourself to it because you have to work at another job that you really don\u2019t like anyway, just to pay the bills.\u00a0 And why do we have to do that?\u00a0 Because the earth has been cursed, Genesis 3, where we have to make a living.\u00a0 Amen.\n\nSo we go through a lot of drudgery in this life doing things we really don\u2019t want to do just to pay the bills, when we\u2019d rather devote ourselves to our passion.\u00a0 So think of being in an environment where the curse is gone and you no longer have to work the ground to survive, and you\u2019re free to just unleash yourself into whatever your passion is, in service to the Lord.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the eternal state is like.\u00a0 So it\u2019s a life, I believe, of creativity, it\u2019s a life of activity, it\u2019s a life of service. And I think something else about the eternal state is it\u2019s a life of unbroken fulfillment because when you look at Revelation 22:17 it says, \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who hears say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d\u00a0 So unbroken access to \u201cthe water of life.\u201d\n\nAnd I believe that part of that entails fulfilment, and I get a lot of that from John chapter 4 where Jesus had the encounter with the woman at the well.\u00a0 Remember that story?\u00a0 And He basically said, you know, if you drink from this water (referring to the well that she was at) you will thirst again, but if you drink from living water, which I can provide to you,\u00a0 you\u2019ll never be thirsty again.\u00a0 [John 4:14, \u201cbut whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.\u201d]\u00a0 She had had five husbands and her current partner she wasn\u2019t even married to so she had what, I think it\u2019s what Blaise Pascal said is a God-shaped vacuum inside of her, a vacuum that only a relationship with God can fill.\n\nAnd if people don\u2019t have a relationship with God what do they do?\u00a0 They try to fill that void with something else.\u00a0 The two best substitutes, I would call them artificial substitutes, are power and pleasure, the two \u201cp\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 And so she didn\u2019t have a relationship with God so she\u2019s got this void in her life and she\u2019s trying to fill it with promiscuity and things like that.\u00a0 And the problem is because you can only be satisfied in a relationship with God any artificial substitute you try still leaves you thirsty.\u00a0 So you have the sexual experience, you have the pleasure and then it\u2019s short lived and it\u2019s gone and you\u2019ve got to go back for me.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Jesus was saying to her when He said if you keep going down this road you\u2019re going to thirst again, but if you drink from the water that I give you\u00a0 you\u2019ll never be thirsty.\n\nSo when this imagery is used in the eternal state to describe our unbroken access to the water of life without cost I think part of that is communicated to us that we\u2019re going to\u00a0 have a life where there\u2019s never that nagging emptiness anymore.\u00a0 There\u2019s so much emptiness in us because we\u2019re meant to have a relationship with God and we reject God and we try to fill it with other things but that\u2019s no longer a problem.\u00a0 So you\u2019re in a life which is totally optimized; you\u2019re totally living within your design, which is really the only way to have a little contentment, right, or joy.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting that when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well He never told her to get her act\u2026 He never said, you know\u00a0 you need to really morally clean yourself up.\u00a0 And if there was ever an opportunity to tell her that, to get saved. He would have told her because coming to Christ is not I\u2019ve got to clean myself up and come to Jesus; that\u2019s not the gospel.\u00a0 The gospel is come to Jesus on His terms, let the Holy Spirit come into you, then once the Holy Spirit is inside of you do you know what the Holy Spirit starts to do?\u00a0 He starts to clean you up.\u00a0 But Jesus never makes cleaning yourself up as some kind of prerequisite to experience justification before God.\u00a0 There\u2019s only one condition that has to be met which is to believe, which is a synonym that he\u2019s using for her to receive the water of life.\n\nSo the Holy Spirit did come into her and the Holy Spirit did fulfill her and I believe over time her lifestyle changed but that wasn\u2019t what she had to do on the front end to come to Christ.\u00a0 And so many times we are so eager to see people\u2019s lifestyles change that we end up reaching a works gospel to them\u2014don\u2019t smoke, don\u2019t chew, don\u2019t go with girls who do, or things like that.\u00a0 Or we go to people that are caught up in the same sex movement and we say you need to renounce your homosexuality to come to Christ and the fact of the matter is there\u2019s no such biblical criteria for justification; it\u2019s to believe.\u00a0 Once\u00a0 you believe you receive the Spirit and guess what the Holy Spirit starts to do once you\u2019re saved?\u00a0 He starts to bother you about your homosexuality, or your adultery or your drug abuse or your materialism and things like that.\n\nSo she experienced fulfillment through that and I think we experience total fulfillment and if you ever think that money is going to bring you fulfillment read the book by Randy Alcorn called Money, Possessions and Eternity.<\/em>\u00a0 It\u2019s the best book\u2026 I read it years ago and it\u2019s the best book on money I\u2019ve ever read.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very biblically based book where he goes through every biblical passage on the subject of money and finances which might surprise you as a dominant theme in the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a very biblically based book where he goes through every biblical passage on the subject of money and finances which might surprise you is the dominant theme in the Bible.\u00a0 The Bible talks more about money than any other subject.\u00a0 And in that book he has quotes of the richest men that have ever lived and the quotes reveal how unhappy they were, whether it be Henry Ford or John Jacob Aster, all these guys, even\u00a0 Howard Hughes.\u00a0 You know Howard Hughes basically has four goals, he wanted to be number 1, the world\u2019s richest man.\u00a0 Number 2, he wanted to be the world\u2019s greatest aviator.\u00a0 Number 3 he wanted to be the world\u2019s greatest movie producer.\u00a0 And number 4, he wanted to be the world\u2019s greatest golfer.\u00a0 And here\u2019s a guy that achieved three of the four in his life.\u00a0 He never got the golfer but the other three he achieved; at some point in his life he was the greatest in those three areas.\u00a0 And I watched the interview very carefully, you can find it on You tube, one of the last interviews of his life, the interviewer asked him point blank, \u201cHoward, are you happy?\u201d\u00a0 And he just comes right out and says no I am not, I am not happy.\n\nSo if you think that all these things are going to satisfy you talk to the people that have achieved those things because we\u2019re built for a relationship with God.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only thing that satisfies and that\u2019s what the eternal state is.\u00a0 And think of also a time period when all of your needs, every single one of them is met; you have total satisfaction of every single need you can ever think of, physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually.\n\nIf you look over, just for a minute at Revelation 7:16, which I think hints a little bit of the eternal state,\u00a0 it says, \u201cThey will hunger no longer nor thirst any more, nor will the nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; [17] for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd,\u201d and this is imagery right out of Psalm 23, He \u201cwill guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that great!\u00a0 Any need you could possibly think of in the eternal state is satisfied.\n\nAnd to a certain extent it\u2019s also a life of rest and if you look over at Revelation 14:13, which is also describing the eternal state it says, \u201cAnd I heard a voice from heaven, saying, \u2018Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Yes,\u2019 says the Spirit, \u2018so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 You say well Andy,\u00a0 you\u2019re contradicting yourself because in number 2 there you told us we were going to be active.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re telling us we\u2019re having a life of rest so which is it?\u00a0 Well, you\u2019re in a body that is uncontaminated by the fall so it won\u2019t need any sleep, can you imagine that?\u00a0 It won\u2019t need any recuperation, it won\u2019t need any rejuvenation, and you\u2019re no longer laboring to survive.\u00a0 See, labor and the institution of labor is a pre-fall institution.\u00a0 God gave to Adam and Eve labor, work; He wanted them to be productive.\u00a0 He told them in Genesis 2 to keep the ground, till the ground, that\u2019s before the fall ever was introduced.\u00a0 [Genesis 2:15, \u201cThen the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.\u201d]\n\nSo labor, productivity, activity was always a design of God. What the fall changes, because now you have to work to survive.\u00a0 So think of yourself being in an environment where we don\u2019t have to work to survive anymore because the old things have passed away and you\u2019re able to channel your energy into whatever your passion is.\u00a0 And so yes, it\u2019s a life of service but because the curse is gone and we don\u2019t have to work to survive and we\u2019re not in a body that needs constant rejuvenation through sleep it can all be described as a life of rest as well. So those two aren\u2019t necessarily contradictory.\n\nAnd think of a life where the frontiers of ignorance are peeled back and you have knowledge that you didn\u2019t have before.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m not arguing here that we become omniscient because only God is omniscient, but the scientists all tell us that we only use a fraction of our minds.\u00a0 Think of your mind completely activated and able to go down paths and directions it\u2019s not able to go down right now.\u00a0 And think of a time period where so many nagging questions that we have about things suddenly are answered, just like that!\u00a0 And you say well where are you getting this from?\u00a0 Over in 1 Corinthians 13:12 I think there\u2019s a reference to it.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 13:12 of eternity says, \u201cFor now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.\u201d\n\nAnd it also says in verse 13, \u201cBut now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is\u201d what? \u201clove.\u201d\u00a0 See right now with fragmented knowledge, because we don\u2019t see Christ face to face, we have to trust Him.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So what muscle is being worked in us?\u00a0 The faith muscle.\u00a0\u00a0 And so since I don\u2019t see Christ face to face right now I have to operate in hope that what I\u2019m going to one day receive I will receive.\u00a0 But think of seeing Jesus Christ face to face; you no longer\u00a0 have to believe because He\u2019s right there in front of you.\u00a0\u00a0 You no longer have to have hope because you\u2019ve entered glory.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So faith becomes irrelevant in the eternal state; hope becomes irrelevant, but what will always continue, of the three?\u00a0 Love always continues.\n\nSo that\u2019s why He says \u201cBut now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these three is love.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s telling the Corinthians here to focus on love because they\u2019re using their spiritual gifts in an unloving way, when you study the book of 1 Corinthians because love is something that never disappears.\u00a0 There is even a time in history where faith isn\u2019t necessary nor is hope necessary.\n\nSo once you\u2019re in that condition the fragmented knowledge that you have is erased and all of these nagging questions about why did I lose that job and why did I get that bad report on the doctor\u2019s report and why did my best friend die of leukemia and why did my child get hit in the crosswalk and why are there drive-by shootings, I mean, all of those things are answered.\u00a0 Well, you\u2019re not struggling with those things any more.\u00a0 I mean, right now we\u2019re struggling with those things by the design of God because He wants us to walk by faith.\u00a0 But think of a time period where all of those questions are answered.\u00a0 I mean, think of a time period where there\u2019s not even theological debates any more.\u00a0 I mean one side says the sovereignty of God; the other says the free will of man.\u00a0 Nobody can reconcile that, it\u2019s an unsolvable problem.\u00a0 Well, think of living in a time period where the whole thing suddenly makes sense to you.\u00a0 And so the frontiers of ignorance are pushed back and knowledge\u2026 I don\u2019t think we become omniscient but the small use of our minds that we have right now suddenly that mind is enhanced and we understand things we couldn\u2019t understand before.\n\nSo the eternal state will be a time period of knowledge.\u00a0 Will we know everything there?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so but you\u2019re going to know a lot more there than you know here.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 That\u2019s why now we\u2019re looking dimly into a mirror, a glass, but then face to face.\u00a0 And it\u2019s also a life characterized by authority, you know, your destine as a child of God for authority.\u00a0 You know, we\u2019re ruling and reigning alongside Christ in the millennium but because the Davidic throne continues the authority of God continues and so does our delegated reign under God.\n\nIf you look over at Revelation 22:5 it says there, \u201cAnd there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them;\u201d and look at this, \u201cand they will reign\u201d that\u2019s authority, the \u201cthey\u201d is us, \u201cthey will reign for\u201d how long? \u201cforever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 So think of a life of unbroken authority.\u00a0 Think of a life of unbroken worships to God.\u00a0 Take a look at Revelation 7:11-12.\u00a0 You know, a lot of people, they don\u2019t like to worship the Lord.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because I see them out there in the lobby drinking coffee while everybody else is singing, they just come in for the sermon; singing to the Lord is really not something that\u2019s a big priority to them.\u00a0 Well, you\u2019d better get used to worship and you\u2019d better get used to singing because the eternal state is characterized by unbroken worship.\n\nRevelation 7:11-12 says, \u201cAnd all the angels were standing around the throne and around<\/em> the elders\u201d now I think the elders is a reference to the church there, for a lot of reasons, \u201cand the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying, \u201cAmen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be<\/em> to our God forever and ever. Amen.\u201d\u00a0 So the elders there are worshipping God forever and ever.\n\nAnd what do we worship God for anyway?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s two reasons we worship God.\u00a0 The first one is in Revelation 4:11, there again it talks, verse 10, about the twenty-four elders.\u00a0 [Revelation 4:10, \u201cthe twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,\u201d] And then it talks about what they\u2019re saying in worship.\u00a0 \u00a0[11] \u201cWorthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You\u201d what\u2019s the next word, it starts with a \u201cc,\u201d \u201ccreated all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.\u201d\n\nThe first reason we worship God is He\u2019s our Creator and this is why the theory of evolution is such an assault on the glory of God because it tries to explain creation (without God) as some kind of spontaneous accident.\u00a0 And then the second reason we worship God is in Revelation 5. The first reason is in Revelation 4, the second reason is in Revelation 5.\u00a0 And if you look at Revelation 5:9 it says, \u201cAnd they sang a new song, saying, \u2018Worthy\u201d that\u2019s worship, \u201cWorthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the second reason they worshipped God is because He\u2019s not only their Creator but He\u2019s their Redeemer.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re the Creator and the Redeemer, if you spoke the universe into existence, and then you died and paid a penalty to redeem the earth through the horrific death on the cross and the resurrection, which is what we\u2019re celebrating this week, then you don\u2019t have any higher credentials than that, do you?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I mean, if someone is your Creator and your Redeemer is there a higher office than that?\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of one.\n\nAnd so this is why we worship the Lord.\u00a0 We don\u2019t worship the Lord because we want the liver quiver of the day.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t worship the Lord because oh, they\u2019re singing my favorite song today, I think I\u2019ll get in there, I don\u2019t like that contemporary stuff anyway.\u00a0 Or the younger folks saying I don\u2019t like the traditional stuff, I want the contemporary stuff.\u00a0 And it\u2019s all about me, me, me, me, me, me, me, my preferences when the reality of the situation is you ought to worship the Lord if they sing any song, whether you like the song or don\u2019t like the song that\u2019s irrelevant.\u00a0 You worship the Lord in spirit and truth because He deserves it, worthy are Thou because He\u2019s the Creator and the Redeemer.\u00a0 So worship really has nothing to do with my feeling of the day or whether I want to do it, it\u2019s something that God naturally deserves because of His credentials as Creator and Redeemer.\u00a0 And I think in our worship wars we lose sight of this really fast.\u00a0 If becomes about my preferences, I\u2019ll worship the Lord if I get my preferences met.\u00a0 \u00a0And I think in the process we\u2019ve lost sight of what actual worship is.\n\nBy the way, worship is a response to truth.\u00a0\u00a0 You hear the truth of the Word of God, that He\u2019s your creator, you hear the truth of the Word of God that He\u2019s your Redeemer, the truth hits you and the only thing you can do is explode into praise to God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s reasonable.\u00a0 And so I think in our evangelical church services we\u2019ve got the order backwards because usually worship is looked at as the warm up act for the preacher.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get everybody in the right mood so the preacher can preach when actually when you look at this biblically maybe we should do the sermon first because worship is a response to truth, because it\u2019s through truth that you discover who He is,. As Creator\/Redeemer, and then worship is just the opportunity to respond in song to what He\u2019s done.\n\nSo the eternal state, I believe, is unbroken worship.\u00a0 No worship wars, no fights between the generations, no battle between contemporary music versus traditional music, all of these things that we\u2019re so preoccupied with today in the American church are a thing of the past.\u00a0 You\u2019re in the presence of Jesus Christ, you totally recognize who He is as\u00a0 your Creator and Redeemer and the only thing you know how to do is worship Him.\n\nAnd did you know you\u2019re going to experience this whole thing in a glorified body?\u00a0 By the way, it\u2019s still\u00a0 you but you\u2019re going to look a lot better and I\u2019m going to look a lot better because it\u2019s the body as it\u2019s intended, with the curse pulled out of it.\u00a0 Because our body is under a curse, right?\u00a0 Remember Genesis 3:19, \u201cFrom dust you are, to dust you shall return.\u201d\u00a0 The body started to deteriorate the moment our forbearers sinned, so we\u2019re in bodies that are deteriorating. And as I like to tell people, if you don\u2019t believe this then just break out your high school yearbook tonight and compare it to your modern day driver\u2019s license picture and you\u2019ll see that your body\u2019s deteriorating.\u00a0 So think of being in a body, it\u2019s still you, it\u2019s still your body but the curse has been totally removed and so it\u2019s a very physical existence.\u00a0 So are we just going to be kind of ghosts and spirits in heaven?\u00a0 Or are we going to have actual bodies and the answer is you\u2019re going to have an actual physical body.\n\nAnd if you look over at 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 there\u2019s a contrast there between your current body and the body, what it will be like one day, once we enter eternity.\u00a0 Your current body is earthly, your next body will be heavenly.\u00a0 It\u2019s still a physical body but it has heavenly qualities.\u00a0 [1Corinthians 15:42, \u201cSo also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body,<\/em> it is raised an imperish\u00adable body;<\/em> [43] it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; [44] it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.<\/em>\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s patterned in 1 Corinthians 15, I think verse 49 talks about this, 1 John 3:2 talks about this, it\u2019s patterned after Christ\u2019s resurrected body.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 15:49, \u201cJust as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.\u201d\u00a0 1 John 3:2, \u201cBeloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.\u201d]\n\nSo there are two occasions in John\u2019s Gospel where the disciples are locked in the Upper Room, afraid, John is very clear in John 20 that the doors are locked, and two times, on different days Jesus comes into the Upper Room.\u00a0 Now how in the world did He get into the Upper Room when the doors were locked?\u00a0 Well, He got in the Upper Room because He\u2019s in a new body\u00a0 that\u2019s not bound by the same limitations of this body.\u00a0 A door is not a problem, a locked door, a wall, is not a problem.\u00a0 Something is changed in the body at the molecular level.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure how\u00a0 you would explain this scientifically but it doesn\u2019t have the limitations that your current body has.\u00a0 So it\u2019s obviously a physical body because Thomas touched Christ\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 And Jesus had a meal with the disciples in His resurrected body.\n\nBut at the same time it\u2019s a heavenly body because the normal laws that govern this body are no longer applicable.\u00a0 The current body is weak, amen.\u00a0 What are you guys going to do when you get home tonight?\u00a0 You\u2019re going to fall asleep.\u00a0 (Some of you probably have fallen asleep already.)\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because your body needs rejuvenation.\u00a0 And when you get up in the morning if you\u2019re a coffee drinker you\u2019ll probably load up with coffee.\u00a0 My wife told me I only get one cup of coffee per day, so I went and bought this great big cup because I need that extra jolt.\u00a0 So this body is very weak, the next body you won\u2019t even need to sleep, you won\u2019t even need to visit Starbucks.\u00a0 This body is perishing, the next body is imperishable.\u00a0 This body is portrayed in the Bible as lowly.\n\nAnd I think we ought to take care of this body as best we can.\u00a0 Paul talks about how bodily exercise profiteth little, so it profits some but it doesn\u2019t profit a lot because the current body under a curse is still deteriorating even if you have the best diet in the world and the best exercise in the world.\u00a0 You say well, you don\u2019t understand, I drink that green stuff every single morning. Okay, you have a green decaying body.\u00a0\u00a0 And I have pumped the weights, and okay, you\u2019ve got a muscular decaying body.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, diet and exercise, and I\u2019m trying to turn over a new leaf in some of that, I\u2019m not against that but what I\u2019m saying is the only thing that does is it postpones the inevitable; that\u2019s what it does.\u00a0 You\u2019re going right back into the dirt from which you came even if\u00a0 you\u2019re a member of\u00a0 a lifetime fitness and all that stuff.\n\nThis body is lowly, the next body is glorious.\u00a0 This body is natural, the next body has a spiritual quality.\u00a0 Now you all know this story of this lady, don\u2019t you?\u00a0 Joni Erikson Tada, it\u2019s an incredibly heartbreaking and at the same time sort of heartwarming story where she, as a teenager, dove off the pier (I think it was) in Chesapeake Bay, she didn\u2019t see a rock submerged beneath the water, she dove in, her head as a teenager struck that rock and she spent her whole live in a wheel chair, basically paralyzed from the neck down.\u00a0 And through it all she never renounced Christ and she actually has a ministry all over the world through her writings and her interviews, TV appearances, conferences and things she does.\u00a0 And it\u2019s just an incredible story and you can imagine what a promise like this is to someone like Joni Erikson Tada, that one of these days she is going to be out of that body where she\u2019s currently incarcerated and her body will experience the fullness that it was always intended to have.\u00a0 So this is one of the reasons she has been able to survive through this trial because she has the hope of prophecy, she recognizes that her current circumstances, as severe as they are, I wouldn\u2019t wish this on anybody, are still temporary.\n\nAnd it\u2019s also a life where there are no consequences of sin.\u00a0 If you go over to Revelation 22:2 it says, \u201cin the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month;\u201d and look at this, I love this, \u201cand the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\u201d\u00a0 So think of the nations that came into existence at the tower of Babel and how these nations have been at war with each other for all of this time.\u00a0 And so nations, you know, have to spend massive amounts of money to build up its armament.\u00a0 We just saw that, that was one of the arguments that was used to pass the omnibus bill.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to do this for the military because our military is weak, so we have to spend trillions of dollars on military things.\u00a0 Well, think of a time period where military isn\u2019t even needed anymore.\u00a0 And you can take all that money and spend it somewhere else, invest it somewhere else.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the eternal state is a time period where the consequences of sin are removed.\u00a0 The nations are in a total state of healing.\n\nYou know, consequences follow sin like night follows the day.\u00a0 You can pick your sin but you can\u2019t pick your consequences.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what our young people need to understand; yeah, you can go out and sin and do all this stuff but there\u2019s going to be a lot of consequences that are going to show up in your life that you don\u2019t get to pick. And think of what David experienced when he committed murder, first adultery and then murder, adultery with Bathsheba then murder of Uriah, the Hittite, 2 Samuel 11.\u00a0 Think of all of the consequences that David went through because of that moment of sin.\u00a0 Think of being confronted by the prophet Nathan.\u00a0 Think of the sword never departing from his household as Nathan predicted.\u00a0 Think of the death of his son that came into existence through this illegitimate union and David, he got to pick his sin but he didn\u2019t get to pick the consequences.\n\nAnd so you can imagine living in a time period where the consequences of sin are removed because there\u2019s no more sin and the nations are no longer at war with each other but are in a perpetual state of healing.\u00a0 And then probably my favorite part of the eternal state is that it is what?\u00a0 It is eternal, that\u2019s why they call it the eternal state.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like a dispensation which runs its course and then it\u2019s over; even the thousand year kingdom doesn\u2019t last forever, but the eternal state, as we\u2019ve been describing it lasts forever.\n\nRevelation 22:2 says, \u201cin the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; [and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Let me go back to verse 2 in a second.\u00a0 Verse 5 says, \u201cAnd there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign\u201d for how long? \u201cforever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 So the eternal state just goes on and on and on and on and on and on.\n\nThis is our future in God, which raises an interesting question that I alluded to earlier\u2014is there going to be time in heaven?\u00a0 I mean, are there going to be watches, are there going to be calendars.\u00a0 I used to say no, I used to just boldly say the eternal state is timeless, the concept of time will disappear.\u00a0 But my problem is verse 2 which I read a second ago and at the beginning of this study where it talks about the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every what?\u00a0 Every month!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t a month an increment of time?\n\nWho started increments of time?\u00a0 Who started the concept of seasons and\u00a0 years and months and calendars and decades and centuries?\u00a0 I used to think man came up with that but when you got back to original creation, Genesis 1:14, and it mentions day four, when was man created?\u00a0 Day what? Day six, so two days before man ever existed this is what God says.\u00a0 Genesis 1:14, \u201cThen God said, \"Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and\u201d for what? \u201cfor years;\u201d so seasons, days, years, exist on day four before man is created on day six.\u00a0 So man obviously didn\u2019t come up with time or increments of time.\u00a0 I mean, increments of time is something that God came up with.\n\nSo therefore it\u2019s really not surprising, is it, to learn in Revelation 22:2 that the tree of life bearing its fruit in months.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:2, \u201cin the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\u201d]\u00a0 So I think increments of time still continue.\u00a0 But what\u2019s different about the eternal state is that there\u2019s no fixed duration; the eternal state never ends, it just goes on and on forever.\n\nSo we\u2019ve looked at the eternal state\u2019s description and I just want to cover one last thing.\u00a0 This may be the most important and I can do this very fast.\u00a0 How do you get into the eternal state exactly?\u00a0 I read this and I really don\u2019t feel like I belong there, and the reason I don\u2019t feel like I belong there is this is a holy environment.\u00a0 Revelation 21:8, Revelation 21:27 says nothing unclean will ever enter.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:8, \u201cBut for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 21:27, \u201cand nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.\u201d]\n\nAnd that creates a problem for me because I\u2019m a sinner by nature.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t really belong, so how do I get in?\u00a0 I can\u2019t get in by my own righteousness can I.\u00a0 Philippians 3:9 is your passport in.\u00a0 [Philippians 3:9, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,\u201d]\u00a0 You know, when you travel internationally, recently I\u2019ve been in Germany, Australia, Canada, I\u2019m going back to Canada twice this\u00a0 year, I\u2019m going to Greece, Jerusalem, Rome, I mean, when you travel internationally what you figure out real fast is your driver\u2019s license doesn\u2019t help you.\u00a0 What helps you is\u00a0 your passport.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have\u00a0 your passport you\u2019re in a lot of trouble, you can\u2019t get in, and in some cases you can\u2019t get out.\n\nSo the question is: well, what\u2019s\u00a0 your passport into the eternal state, since you can\u2019t get there through your own righteousness if it\u2019s holy and we\u2019re unrighteous by nature?\u00a0 Philippians 3:9 is your passport.\u00a0 In Philippians 3:9 Paul says, \u201cand may be found in Him,\u201d watch this now, \u201cnot having a righteousness of my own\u201d you see that? \u201cnot having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through\u201d what? \u201cfaith in Christ,\u201d watch this, \u201cthe righteousness which comes from\u201d where? \u201cGod\u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u201cthe righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,\u201d and that\u2019s what you call imputed righteousness, transferred righteousness, righteous which is not yours but comes from another source.\n\nMartin Luther, the great church Reformer, called this alien righteousness.\u00a0 You know what alien means.\u00a0 Alien righteousness is righteousness coming from another source that doesn\u2019t belong to you.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what you get in Christ.\u00a0 The moment you trust Christ you get His righteousness, positionally, in exchange for your own righteousness.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not planning on beating down the door into the eternal state with my own self-righteousness, I\u2019m planning on getting in, my passport in through the alien righteousness of Christ.\n\nAnd most of you I know, a few I don\u2019t, but it\u2019s possible someone could come here today and really have never\u2026 this is a new idea to them and they\u2019ve never heard this before.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why at this church we like to preach the gospel with great frequency.\u00a0 We want people to be given the opportunity to trust in Christ, have faith in Christ, to get this alien righteousness.\u00a0 And trusting in Christ is something you can do where you are; it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where the Spirit convicts you of your need to do this and you respond by trusting in Him.\u00a0 And the moment you trust in Christ is the moment the righteousness that belongs only to Jesus is transferred to your account forever.\u00a0 And God looks at you just like He looks at Jesus.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that an amazing thing.\u00a0 If you\u2019re \u201cin Christ\u201d God is looking at you just like He looks at Jesus.\u00a0 And you say well, I certainly don\u2019t deserve that.\u00a0 That\u2019s the whole point, that\u2019s why it\u2019s called alien righteousness, a righteousness that\u2019s not my own Paul says.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t have that you can\u2019t get into the eternal state, so that\u2019s your ticket in.\n\nSo those are the things that we\u2019ve looked at with the eternal state and that takes us to the very end of the Bible and there\u2019s more to come believe it or not, even though we\u2019ve exhausted the Bible, because I\u2019m going to be showing you some other things beginning next week about the church fathers, how they totally concurred with the viewpoint I\u2019m presenting here.\u00a0 This is not some weird view, that the kingdom is future.\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll be getting into some Scripture that people abuse to argue that we\u2019re in the kingdom now and then we\u2019ll also be looking at why does it matter, because if you get the kingdom wrong, as many do, it opens up the door to almost every false doctrine you can imagine.\u00a0 I believe that that every false doctrine that has ever come into the church is related to a misunderstanding about the kingdom.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be connecting the dots on that. So we\u2019re sort of finished with the tour of the Bible in terms of the kingdom.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll stop here and let people go, if they need to pick up their kids or whatnot.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t