{"id":19228,"date":"2018-09-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-048\/"},"modified":"2018-09-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T05:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-048","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-048\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 048"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[87],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19228","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-luke","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 048","sermon_date":"20180905","sermon_month":"9","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6025,"sermon_slides":6024,"sermon_mp3":6029,"sermon_id":"95181931121","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":87,"chapter_and_verse":"17:20-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n9-5-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Luke 17:20-21\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 48\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles to Luke chapter 17 and verse 20 and 21.\u00a0 We\u2019re continuing our study on the doctrine of the Kingdom, which we haven\u2019t talked about since May and that\u2019s over three months ago, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 So we are in, in this book that I wrote, which just leads you through the Scripture, we\u2019re in chapter 16 and we\u2019re looking tonight and probably next week at pages 215-226.\u00a0 And if you never got a copy of this book we give them out free to people that are class participants or attendees, so see me afterwards if you never got one and I\u2019ll give you a copy of the book.\u00a0 I\u2019ll even sign it if you don\u2019t think it\u2019ll deflate the value of it too much.\u00a0 You might want to sell it on e-bay or something so you may not want my signature on it.\n\nLuke 17:20-21, as I mentioned before we\u2019re in chapter 16 of my book, The Coming Kingdom and sometimes my reviews are longer than the actual lectures for that evening so I\u2019m going to try not to do that, just to kind of remind you a little bit of where we\u2019ve been.\u00a0 The first major section is what does the Bible say about the kingdom.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the Genesis to Revelation study that we\u2019ve done and we\u2019ve developed the kingdom from the Old Testament.\n\nWe\u2019ve seen that it\u2019s basically a geopolitical reality over the earth with Jesus ruling and reigning the earth from which city?\u00a0 The city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 And that\u2019s everything that the Old Testament promised concerning the kingdom, as we\u2019ve carefully documented.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the kingdom that was offered to Israel in the first century on a silver platter.\u00a0 Had they received the offer the kingdom could have come. Tragically we know that they turned the offer down and so the kingdom was not cancelled but postponed.\u00a0 And it\u2019s awaiting a future generation of Israel to receive the offer.\n\nIn the meantime God is at work through which institution?\u00a0 The church which would be us.\u00a0 And as I\u2019ve tried to explain, the church is not to be confused with the kingdom although many people today are trying to merge the church with the kingdom.\u00a0 And we\u2019re trying to say that\u2019s not a right way of understanding the Bible.\n\nAnd from there we just took a quick look at the name problems with kingdom now interpretations.\u00a0 Probably the dominant view of the church, going back to the fourth century and Augustine onward, through his book, The City of God<\/em>, is that the church is the kingdom.\u00a0 And they take all of the kingdom promises and sort of repackage them non-literally and make it sound like they\u2019re being fulfilled today.\u00a0 And the biggest problem with that is you just changed everything the Old Testament presented.\u00a0 With the postponement model, which is what I\u2019ve been trying to teach, you don\u2019t have to change anything.\u00a0 What was promised has been postponed.\u00a0 But with the kingdom now model what you have to do is you have to repackage everything.\u00a0 So since God can\u2019t lie and can\u2019t contradict Himself I\u2019ve tried to explain that that kingdom now teaching is one thing that really doesn\u2019t work.\n\nThen from there we moved into part three, why is it that so many people believe that we\u2019re in the kingdom now?\u00a0 I mean, there must be verses that they use.\u00a0 So in this portion of it we\u2019re looking at passages that people use to promote the idea that we\u2019re living in the kingdom.\u00a0 So one of my teaching methods is not just to lay out what I think the Bible says; it\u2019s to lay out what other people believe the Bible says and how to deflate their use of the Bible.\u00a0 Anybody can kind of get up in front of you and give you their view of things and we\u2019re trying to go a step deeper in this.\n\nFor those of\u00a0 you that were with us for our soteriology series when I got to eternal security I tried to do that also, not just lay out the case for eternal security but what are the passages that people\u00a0 use to deny eternal security and how can those be answered.\u00a0 So I\u2019m basically trying to do the same thing with kingdom now theology.\n\nSo this portion of it we\u2019ll look at passages from Christ\u2019s ministry from the Book of Acts, from Paul, from the general letters, from Revelation, and then some miscellaneous arguments that people use.\u00a0 And back in May we were just starting to look at verses from the ministry of Jesus that people us to say that we\u2019re in the kingdom now.\u00a0 So we looked at the following statements in Christ\u2019s ministry: the kingdom is at hand, theirs is the kingdom, Thy kingdom come, seek first the kingdom, the kingdom is suffering violence until now, I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven, which Jesus says in His earthly ministry, the kingdom has come upon you.\n\nNow do any of those sound familiar?\u00a0 I know it\u2019s been about three months but we worked through all of those and I sort of gave you the answer to each of those.\u00a0 In other words, how would a person who believes in a postponed kingdom answer those passages?\n\nSo from there we move into Luke 17, that\u2019s why I had you open there in your Bibles, Luke 17:20-21, and this is probably, of all of the verses not only in Christ\u2019s ministry but really in the whole New Testament, this is the main verse people go to.\u00a0 Anybody that argues that we\u2019re in the kingdom will instinctively go to Luke 17:20-21.\u00a0 In fact, when you\u2019re talking about this subject, even with people that don\u2019t know much about this they\u2019ll say well wait a minute, doesn\u2019t Luke 17, they may not know the address but they\u2019ll say doesn\u2019t Luke 17:21 say the kingdom is in our midst or the kingdom is in our hearts.\u00a0 In fact, has anybody ever heard somebody use those verses to support a kingdom now idea?\u00a0 Okay, I see a few\u00a0 hands.\n\nSo what do those verses say.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at them.\u00a0 Luke 17:20-21, it says, \u201cNow having been questioned by the Pharisees\u201d now that\u2019s a big deal right there, if you\u2019re an under liner in your Bible you should underline the word \u201cPharisees.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNow having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, \u201cThe kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; [21] nor will they say, \u2018Look, here it is!<\/em>\u2019 or, \u2018There it is!<\/em>\u2019 For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.\u201d\u201d\n\nOne of the things that\u2019s happened\u00a0 is people are, for whatever reason, are attaching less significance to the things that Paul says and they\u2019re trying to move the discussion from Paul into the middle of the Bible and trying to make it sound as if the things that Jesus said were the most important.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re kind of prone to that argument because Jesus was the Son of God and Paul was just a mere humanist but the way to understand the Bible correctly is to understand that many of the things that Jesus was saying and doing were what we would call non-normative today.\u00a0 In other words, Jesus was presenting that generation in the first century with the opportunity to do something that no other generation in the history of man has ever had the opportunity to do and that opportunity has been taken off the table for the last two thousand years for the simple reason that Jesus is not here anymore.\u00a0\u00a0 See that?\n\nBut because we have the red letter editions of the Bible where we underline, in my Bible version here it\u2019s got all the words of Christ in red so we think well, that must be the most important and Jesus was the Son of God, people are basically building their theology on what Jesus was saying and doing even though what Jesus was saying and doing what we today believe is not normative because Jesus is not present. So people are no longer taking our key cues from Paul but they want\u00a0 to go into the gospels and that\u2019s a turn that you see.\u00a0 And as people do that they become open to the idea that we\u2019re in the kingdom now.\n\nJust as an example of that here\u2019s a quote from Gibbs and Bolger who are arguing from what\u2019s called the emergent church\u00a0 and they say: \u201cHow did Emerging churches come to emphasize the Gospel of the Kingdom?\u00a0 [It began with a shift from the Epistles to the Gospels as a way to understand Jesus more profoundly.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[Gibbs and Bolger; cited in Paul Smith, New Evangelicalism <\/em>(Costa Mesa, CA: Calvary, 2011), 119.\n\nNow emergent churches, if you don\u2019t know, it\u2019s kind of trying to leapfrog the Protestant Reformation and go back into the medieval liturgical practices of desert fathers and bring those back into modern day Christianity. So if you have children or grandchildren there\u2019s no doubt that they\u2019re being hit with emergent church doctrine.\u00a0 And one of the big teachings of the emergent church is that we are in the kingdom now.\n\nSo these guys, emergent church writers, are basically explaining why the emergent church is so open to kingdom now theology and the answer is they\u2019re moving the spotlight away from Paul back to Christ who was doing a lot of things that obviously are not normative today because Jesus isn\u2019t present. And sometimes this is called red letter Christianity, where I don\u2019t really care about the rest of the Bible, I just care about Jesus kind of thing, despite the fact that Jesus Himself said in the Upper Room Discourse. \u00a0John 16:12-13, \u201cI have many more things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them<\/em> now. [13] But when the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; [for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.\u201d]\n\nSo as counter intuitive as it seems Jesus never claimed to be the final disclosure of truth; He clearly taught that somebody else would come along, i.e. the apostles, and complete the teaching package that He had just given, sort of in infant form or seed form.\u00a0 How many books of the Bible did Jesus write?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think He wrote any books of the Bible.\u00a0 Now we have four books of the Bible (the Gospels) about His life but He never claimed to be a biblical writer, at least directly.\u00a0 And He very clearly was doing things that are one-time occurrences related to first century Israel that He\u2019s not doing today because He\u2019s not physically present and so He opened the door in John 16:12-13 to the apostles, i.e. Paul being the main guy, coming along and completing the package.\n\nBut you see, that\u2019s the kind of teaching\u00a0 you\u2019re not getting today in the emergent church; it\u2019s not about Paul, it\u2019s all about Jesus and I would say this: the things that Jesus said and the things that Paul said are on equal par, not because Paul is God (like Jesus was) but Jesus said the Holy Spirit Himself would guide the apostles, i.e. Paul, into all truth.\u00a0 [John 6:13, \u201cBut when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.\u201d]\n\nSo you can\u2019t take one part of the Bible and make it more important than another part of the Bible.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re trying to figure out what\u2019s normative today you don\u2019t build your house in the Gospels, you build it primarily on what the Apostle Paul said.\u00a0 The emergent church is going the exact opposite way on this; these guys say how did emergent churches come to emphasize the gospel of the kingdom?\u00a0 It began with a shift from the epistles to the gospels as a way to under-stand Jesus more profoundly.\n\nNow I hope you understand what I\u2019m saying; I\u2019m not saying that Paul is more important than Christ at all.\u00a0 What I\u2019m saying is if you want to get a bearing on what\u2019s normal today you don\u2019t build your house on the gospels; you\u2019ve got to factor in the things that Paul says.\u00a0 Paul is the guy that wrote 13 letters concerning the churches.\u00a0 Jesus, other than the Book of Revelation chapters 2 and 2, really didn\u2019t dictate letters to churches the way Paul did.\u00a0 And so Paul, you have to take him as a priority in terms of what\u2019s normal.\u00a0 But the emergent church has taken the spotlight away from Paul and put it completely in the things that Jesus said and taught in the Gospels, if that makes sense. So one of the verses that people camp on is Luke 17:20-21 and so Luke 17:20-21 become the key verses that people use to argue that we\u2019re in the kingdom now.\n
    \n \t
  1. R. Craven, the scholar that I\u2019ve been quoting throughout this series, back in 1874 wrote, \u201cThis passage, probably, by the advocates of the prevalent theory of the Basileia<\/em>,\u201d now what does Basileia<\/em>, mean? Basileia<\/em>, is a Greek word, what does that word mean? It means kingdom.\u00a0 \u201cThis passage,\u201d what passage,\u201d Luke 17:20-21, the kingdom is in your midst, E. R. Craven says, \u201cThis passage probably, by the advocates of the prevalent theory of the Basileia<\/em>,\u201d in other words kingdom now theology, \u201cis regarded as their most important proof-text, both as to its nature<\/em> and present establishment<\/em>.\u201d [\u201cExcursus on the Basileia<\/em>,\u201d in Revelation of John, J. P. Lange (New York: Scribner, 1874), 96.]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nSo since I\u2019ve sort of set the table and explained how people are using this passage what I\u2019d like to give you are three responses to that.\u00a0 The first two I\u2019ll be lucky to get through before time is up tonight and the third one most likely we\u2019ll have to save for next time.\u00a0 But three responses to the kingdom now theologians views of Luke 17:20-21.\n\nResponse number one:\u00a0 These verses do not say that the kingdom is within you.\u00a0 Most Christians, for whatever reason, think that\u2019s what Christ is saying, that the kingdom is within you.\u00a0 You know, I\u2019ve invited Jesus into my heart, people say, so the kingdom is inside of me, the kingdom is now, and all of this kind of thing.\u00a0 In fact, many Bible translations, like the NIV for example.\n\nHere\u2019s a quote from the NCV, this is called the New Century Version, it basically gives you the kingdom is inside of us.\u00a0 How does the NCV translate these verses?\u00a0 \u201cSome of the Pharisees asked Jesus, \u201cWhen will the kingdom of God come?\u201d Jesus answered,\u00a0\u2019God\u2019s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes.\u00a0People will not say, \u2018Look, here it is!\u2019 or, \u2018There it is!\u2019 because God\u2019s kingdom is within you<\/u>.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [Luke 17:20-21]\n\nSo because of these type of translations people think that that\u2019s what these verses are saying, that the kingdom is within us.\u00a0 And let me sort of explain why these verses cannot be teaching the kingdom is inside of us.\u00a0 First, who was Jesus addressing?\u00a0 The Pharisees!\u00a0 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming He answered and said how in the world could the kingdom be inside the Pharisees.\u00a0 I mean, were the Pharisees believers? No!\u00a0 Were the Pharisees trying to murder Christ?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 In fact, Jesus would say of the Pharisees in John 8:44 tell me if you think the kingdom is inside of these guys as I read this verse:\u00a0 \u201cYou are of your father the devil,\u201d does it sound like the kingdom is inside of them, \u201cand you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature,\u201d in other words, how do you know when Satan is lying?\u00a0 His lips are moving is the answer, \u201cfor he is a liar and the father of lies.\u201d\n\nE.R. Craven says, \u201cThe supposition that he indicated an existing Basileia,\u201d or kingdom, \u201cimplies that it was set up in<\/u> or among the Pharisees.\u201d\n\nSo there\u2019s no way the Bible translations that say the kingdom was within you could be correct if you just pay attention to the context of the passage and who Jesus is talking to.\n\nBeyond that, why is it that those verses are not saying the kingdom of God is within us?\u00a0 Another reason is this: The Scripture always portrays people entering the kingdom and not vice versa.\u00a0 The Bible never portrays the kingdom as coming into people; it\u2019s always the opposite, people, once the kingdom is established, will enter that kingdom.\n\nFor example, notice, if you will, Matthew 5:20, what does\u00a0 Jesus say there to the Pharisees?\u00a0 \u201cFor \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\u00a0 So you\u2019ve got to have a righteousness that\u2019s better than the Pharisees themselves to enter the kingdom.\u00a0 Now obviously that\u2019s talking about what kind of righteousness?\u00a0 Transferred righteousness, imputed righteousness, alien righteousness, righteousness that is not our own.\u00a0 And unless I receive that by way of faith from Christ I cannot enter the kingdom.\u00a0 So notice that it\u2019s people entering the kingdom, not the kingdom entering people.\n\nAnother verse on this is Matthew 23:13, \u201cBut woe to you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.\u201d\u00a0 So you see the emphasis here?\u00a0 The Pharisees, because of false doctrine, were basically inhibiting people from entering the kingdom.\u00a0 So it\u2019s all these people entering the kingdom and not the kingdom entering people.\u00a0 That\u2019s the basic order in the Bible.\n\nYou probably know this verse from Christ\u2019s conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:5, \u201cJesus answered, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201center into the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So a person has to be born again to enter the kingdom once it\u2019s established.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say you\u2019ve got to be born again so the kingdom of God can enter you\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 And the mistranslation of this verse reverses the order, when it says the kingdom of God is inside of you it makes it sound like the kingdom comes into us, which is not EVER what the Bible teaches.\n\nYou might want to jot down Matthew 25:31-46, that\u2019s the great judgment that will take place at the end of the tribulation period called the sheep and goat judgment.\n\n[Matthew 25:31-46, \u201cBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. \u00a0[32] All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; [33] and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.\u00a0 [34] Then the King will say to those on His right, \u2018Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] For I was hungry, and you gave Me something<\/em> to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something<\/em> to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; [36] naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.\u2019 [37] Then the righteous will answer Him, \u2018Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something<\/em> to drink? [38] And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? [39] When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?\u2019 [40] The King will answer and say to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even<\/em> the least of them,<\/em> you did it to Me.\u2019\u00a0 [41] \u201cThen He will also say to those on His left, \u2018Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; [42] for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing<\/em> to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; [43]I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.\u2019 [44] Then they themselves also will answer, \u2018Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?\u2019 [45] Then He will answer them, \u2018Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.\u2019 [46] These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s for tribulation survivors and the goats will be cast off the earth into Hades at that time and the sheep will be redeemed believers and they will enter the kingdom and the whole basis of that judgment is how folks in the tribulation treated Christ\u2019s brethren, who I think is the Jewish people who will have been greatly persecuted during the tribulation period by the antichrist, Satan and the antichrist.\n\nSo you\u2019ll demonstrate, people in the tribulation period itself \u00a0(which by the way won\u2019t be us because we\u2019ll be translated and raptured in heaven watching the whole thing kind of from the balcony seats unfold.\u00a0 But there\u2019s going to be a lot of folks that are saved in the tribulation period and a lot of folks will survive the tribulation period; most of the world\u2019s population will not survive but there is a handful that do survive.\u00a0 And how does Christ determine which of these survivors are believers that will enter the millennial kingdom that He just established and which ones are unbelievers that will be cast off the earth into Hades.\u00a0 The whole basis of the judgment is how they treated Christ\u2019s brethren because \u201cfaith without works is\u201d what? \u201cdead.\u201d\u00a0 [James 2:20]\n\nIn other words, you\u2019re not saved by works ever but in that time period you\u2019ll demonstrate your true faith by having a natural desire to help the Jewish people.\u00a0 But all of that to say the whole tenor of that judgment is which folks are not going to enter the kingdom and which folks are going to enter the kingdom.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So it\u2019s just another example where the kingdom doesn\u2019t come into people, people who are born spiritually on the other hand will enter the kingdom.\u00a0 So that would be yet another reason why these Bible translations say the kingdom of God is within you couldn\u2019t be accurate.\n\nAnother reason why the kingdom is not within us is because what is the kingdom?\u00a0 The kingdom is the perfect rule of Jesus Christ when He\u2019s reigning with a rod of iron.\u00a0 In fact, you might want to take your Bible and go over to Revelation just for a minute, Revelation 12:5, and notice what it says here of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \u201cAnd she\u201d that\u2019s Israel, \u201cgave birth to a son, a male child,\u201d that\u2019s Jesus, \u201cwho is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron;\u201d see that, \u201cand her child was caught up to God and to His throne.\u201d\u00a0 Now \u201crule all the nations with a rod of iron,\u201d that\u2019s an allusion back to Psalm 2 where God the Father is going to vest His authority in the God-Man, Jesus Christ, God the Son, and He will rule all the nations with a rod of iron.\u00a0 Why does there have to be a rule with a rod of iron?\u00a0 Because the survivors of the tribulation period entering the kingdom will do so in their mortal non-glorified bodies.\u00a0 And they will have children and their children will have children and their children will have children and the earth will be repopulated.\u00a0 And what do you think just got passed down through the bloodline?\u00a0 The sin nature.\n\nThe kingdom is a very interesting time where we, as members of the church, will be in resurrected bodies ruling alongside Christ in His delegated authority and you wonder, well who are we going to rule over?\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re ruling over the survivors of the tribulation period that happen to be believers and they\u2019re offspring.\u00a0 And we, in that day under Christ\u2019s authority will have to rule with a rod of iron.\u00a0 Now once you get to the eternal state, Revelation 21 and 22, when everybody is in a resurrected body the rod of iron won\u2019t be necessary.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 But during the thousand\u00a0 year kingdom the rod of iron is very necessary to subdue the rebellious impulses of the population because they\u2019re still have the sin nature.\n\nOver in Zechariah 14:16-18 it talks about people that really will get tired of it and they won\u2019t want to go to Jerusalem to worship Jesus Christ, and what happens is instantaneous justice is imposed on them.\u00a0 They\u2019re not given any rain for their crops and you\u2019ll find all that in Zechariah 14:16-18.\u00a0 [Zechariah<\/a> 14:16, Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. [17] And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. [18] If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall<\/em> on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s not like today where you get delayed justice, or perverted justice.\u00a0 The kingdom is a time period where Satan is bound, Jesus\u2019 reign is unrestricted and it\u2019s with a rod of iron.\u00a0 And consequently there\u2019s going to be an awful lot of people in the kingdom that will behave correctly because they don\u2019t want to get punished, and that\u2019s why Satan is let loose out of his abyss at the end of the thousand years to reveal what\u2019s happening in the hearts of the descendants of those who repopulated the earth.\u00a0 And you read all about that in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20:7-9.\u00a0 He\u2019s able to kind of stir up one final rebellion because there\u2019s a lot of people that are obeying Christ, not because they love Christ but they just don\u2019t want to be punished.\u00a0 So\u00a0 Satan is released to reveal this reality in people and according to Revelation 20:7-9 the rebellion is immediately crushed.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like today where rebellion is allowed to fester and continue on for long periods of time.\u00a0 It\u2019s immediately crushed, fire comes down from heaven, consumes the adversaries, Satan then is thrown into the lake of fire.\n\n[Revelation 20:7-9, 7<\/a><\/strong>When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, [8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. [9] And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.\u201d]\n\nSo that\u2019s the kingdom.\u00a0 The kingdom is a time period with Jesus ruling with a rod of iron.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to have carnal believers in the kingdom.\u00a0 If there\u2019s any carnality it\u2019s people masking it because they don\u2019t want to be punished.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like today when you can have a carnal Christian.\u00a0 That ruling with a rod of iron instantaneous justice, instantaneous punishment, and so when people try to argue that the kingdom is inside of\u00a0 us today\u2026 I mean, is that what happens?\u00a0 When we step out of line do we get immediately punished?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s true at all.\u00a0 Sometimes God does that, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, but I, as a New Testament Christian, have the complete and total ability to:\u00a0 number one, quench the Spirit.\u00a0 Don\u2019t I have the power to do that?\u00a0 I must have the power to do that because what does 1 Thessalonians 5:19 tell me.\n\n1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, \u201cDo not quench the Spirit;\u201d that command wouldn\u2019t make any sense unless I had the ability to what?\u00a0 Quench the Spirit.\u00a0 How could I have the ability to quench the Spirit in the kingdom when Jesus is ruling with a rod of iron in perfect justice?\u00a0 See that?\n\nOver in Romans 5:12 it says, \u201cDo not let sin reign in\u00a0 your mortal body.\u201d\u00a0 Now that command wouldn\u2019t make any sense unless I had an ability as a Christian to do what?\u00a0 Let sin reign in my mortal body.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t have the ability to let sin reign in my mortal body then the Bible wouldn\u2019t tell me to \u201cnot let sin reign in\u201d my mortal body.\u00a0 See that?\n\nA verse that I used on Sunday is Romans 12:21, it says, \u201cDo not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.\u201d\u00a0 Now why would the Bible say, \u201cDo not be overcome by evil\u201d unless I had the ability as a Christian to be overcome by evil.\n\nEphesians 4:30 says, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit who is within you.\u201d\u00a0 Now why would Ephesians 4:30 tell me not to \u201cgrieve the Holy Spirit\u201d unless I today, in the church age, had the ability to do what?\u00a0 \u201cGrieve the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 But let me ask you a question: when the kingdom comes and Jesus is ruling with a rod of iron is there going to be any quenching of the Spirit through rebellion?\u00a0 No, it\u2019ll be immediately punished.\u00a0 Are there going to be people letting sin reign in their mortal body?\u00a0 No, it will be immediately punished. Are there going to be people grieving the Holy Spirit?\u00a0 No, it will be immediately punished.\n\nSo when you understand the nature of the kingdom as perfect justice it does not fit the New Testament description of a New Testament Christian where we still have the ability to do those things that are displeasing to God.\n\nBy the way, when people hear me talk like this they get very nervous because they think I\u2019m promoting that, like\u00a0 yeah, let\u2019s get out there and grieve the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 I\u2019m not promoting it at all; what I\u2019m saying is it\u2019s a possibility.\u00a0 In the kingdom there is no such possibility.\u00a0 Do you see that? So that\u2019s another reason why the kingdom couldn\u2019t be inside of us, if you understand the perfect justice ruling with the rod of iron nature of the kingdom.\n\nAnother reason why the kingdom could not be inside of us is the way the kingdom is portrayed as we have developed it in the Old Testament.\u00a0 What is the kingdom?\u00a0 It always has certain character\u00adistics and we\u2019ve gone through all of the prophecies, all of the Old Testament passages, all of the covenants that explain this.\u00a0 If you were just to go home tonight and you were to read those verses at the top of the screen, all in the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah 2:1-4, Isaiah 11:6-9, and Isaiah 65:17-25, and keep in mind we\u2019ve gone through a lot more Scriptures than that.\n\n[Isaiah 2:1-4, \u201cThe word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.\u00a0 [2] Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.\u201d\u00a0 [3] And many peoples will come and say, \u2018Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.\u201d\u00a0 For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.\u00a0 [4] And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.\u00a0 Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.\u201d\n\nIsaiah 11:6-9, And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them.\u00a0 [7] Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. [8] The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper\u2019s den.\u00a0 [9] They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.\u201d\n\nIsaiah 65:17-25, For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.\u00a0 [18] But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for<\/em> rejoicing and her people for<\/em> gladness.\u00a0\u00a0 [19] \u201cI will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying.\u00a0 [20] \u201cNo longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few<\/em> days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought<\/em> accursed.\u00a0 [21] \u201cThey will build houses and inhabit them;<\/em> they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. [22] \u201cThey will not build and another inhabit, they will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree, so will be<\/em> the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. [23] They will not labor in vain, or bear children<\/em> for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them.\u00a0 [24] It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. [25] The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent\u2019s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,\u201d says the LORD.\u201d]\n\nBut if you were just to read those three sections you would walk away with what the kingdom is \u00a0and you could obviously look around at the world and you could look around at the church and say obviously these things aren\u2019t happening today.\u00a0 So what do those verses reveal about the kingdom?\u00a0 The kingdom is a time period when Jerusalem will be the center of world, spiritual and political authority.\u00a0 Today the city of Jerusalem is bullied by the nations of the earth and I was reading somewhere recently that almost two-thirds of United Nations Resolutions go against the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel.\u00a0 So obviously Israel is a factor today but she\u2019s not ruling over the planet; she\u2019s despised by the nations.\u00a0 So we couldn\u2019t be in the kingdom, could we?\n\nThe kingdom, according to these verses, is a time period of perfect justice, as we\u2019ve talked about.\u00a0 World peace, where the nations will beat their swords into plowshares, obviously that\u2019s not happening today, the storm clouds are always on the horizon.\u00a0 There\u2019s even going to be perfect peace in the animal kingdom where lamb and wolf, wolf and lamb will lie down together.\u00a0 Have you been to the zoo lately?\u00a0 Wolf and lamb are in different cages, aren\u2019t they, for obvious reasons.\n\nIt\u2019s a time period when a little child will be able to put their hand in a cobra\u2019s nest and not be harmed because there will be peace in the animal kingdom.\u00a0 Is that what you\u2019d do with your child, go out there in the backyard and they find a cobra\u2019s nest and hey mom, dad, look here, I\u2019m putting my hand in, this looks like a lot of fun.\u00a0\u00a0 Go for it Junior, have a great time\u2026 obviously you would be terrified if your child did something like that.\n\nAnd then the kingdom is a time period when there\u2019s going to be universal spiritual knowledge, it says \u201cthe knowledge of the LORD will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.\u201d\u00a0 [Habakkuk 2:14, \u201cFor the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.\u201d\u00a0 Isaiah 11:9, \u201cThey will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.\u201d]\n\nThis planet is about 80% ocean, something like that.\u00a0 Just as the ocean covers this planet the knowledge of God is going to cover the whole world during the kingdom.\u00a0 You say well, is that happening today?\u00a0 Are\u00a0 you kidding me?\u00a0 We can\u2019t even get the Bible taught in the public schools any more and sad to say most evangelical churches, many of them anyway, have kicked the Bible out of their own church, instead opting for self-help or motivational speaking or psychology or whatever.\u00a0 The Bible, at least in the United States is losing ground and influence all the time.\n\nSo that\u2019s what the kingdom is.\u00a0 And when people come to a verse like Luke 17:20 and 21, where it talks about the kingdom is in our hearts supposedly in this translation, they\u2019re forgetting everything that the Old Testament reveals.\u00a0 And let me ask you a question---does Jesus do any explaining of what the kingdom is in Luke 17:20-21?\u00a0 Look again at those verses, Luke 17:20-21, it says, \u201cNow having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, \u201cThe kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; [21] nor will they say, \u2018Look, here it is!<\/em>\u2019 or, \u2018There it is!<\/em>\u2019 For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.\u201d\u2019\n\nYou see how the word \u201ckingdom\u201d there is not even defined by Christ?\u00a0 So obviously\u2026 and you see this over and over again with New Testament references to the kingdom, it\u2019s not redefined.\u00a0 So if it\u2019s not redefined the meaning of the basileia<\/em>, the meaning of the kingdom, must be static.\u00a0 I mean, if it somehow has changed Jesus would have given a whole bunch of explanations as to how it changed.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Jesus would have said all that stuff from Isaiah, don\u2019t worry about that, here\u2019s really what the kingdom is, it\u2019s the rule of God in our hearts.\u00a0 But Jesus never does that.\u00a0 And the reason He never does that is because the meaning of the kingdom is the same no matter what passage of the Bible you\u2019re in.\n\nSo that\u2019s really another reason why I don\u2019t think these verses are saying the kingdom of God is within you.\u00a0 And beyond that, if the kingdom of God was set up in spiritual form (which is what everybody is arguing today) in our hearts, in Luke 17:20-21 then what do you do with the other teachings Jesus gave late in his ministry?\u00a0 Those teachings don\u2019t make any sense.\n\nFor example, notice Matthew 19:28, this is very late in Christ\u2019s ministry, and He starts talking about an earthly kingdom yet to come because the nation of Israel had rejected the offer. \u00a0What does He say there in Matthew 19:28, \u201cAnd Jesus said to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne,\u201d now what throne do you think that is that He\u2019s seated on one day?\u00a0 David\u2019s throne, going back to the Davidic Covenant.\u00a0 Where do I find that in the Bible?\u00a0 2 Samuel 7:12-16.\u00a0 We covered that Davidic Covenant very early on in our teaching.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026the Son of Man will sig on His glorious throne and you also shall sit upon twelve thrones,\u201d speaking of the apostles, \u201cjudging the\u201d what? \u201ctwelve tribes of Israel.\u201d\n\nNow when you study Ezekiel 47 what you\u2019ll learn is in the kingdom in the land of Israel, the nation of Israel is going to be divided according to different tribal allotments.\u00a0 Each tribe will govern a specific literal geographic section.\u00a0 And what Jesus is saying here is during that time period Jesus will be on David\u2019s throne, not up in heaven somewhere, not in the human heart, but in which city?\u00a0 Jerusalem, and under Him will be the twelve apostles, and\u00a0 underneath each of the twelve apostles you can throw Ezekiel 47 into the mix will be a tribe governing a specific plot of real estate.\n\nNow this passage makes zero sense if we\u2019re going to say well, Luke 17 verses 20-21, Jesus set up a spiritual kingdom.\u00a0 If Jesus set up a spiritual kingdom in our hearts and changed the definition of the kingdom then what in the world is He talking about here.\u00a0 To me it doesn\u2019t look like He changed anything. Christ\u2019s teaching on the kingdom is consistent with what has been developed within the Old Testament.\n\nTake a look at Matthew 20:20-21, \u201cThen the mother of the sons of Zebedee\u201d James and John, also called the sons of thunder, and she\u2019s one proud mamma, isn\u2019t she; I mean, she\u2019s proud of her boys, she\u2019s looking out for her boys.\u00a0 A good mother does that.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.\u00a0 [21] And He said to her, \u2018What do you wish?\u2019 She said to Him, \u2018Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that Jesus never tells her oh, you silly woman, don\u2019t you know that there\u2019s not going to be a future kingdom on the earth?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you know I\u2019m reigning in your heart right now?\u00a0 He never says that.\n\nIn fact, it\u2019s interesting that if he taught that back in Luke 17 she must have been taking a nap because she missed the whole teaching, because she\u2019s still believing in a future earthly kingdom and Jesus never corrects her.\u00a0 The only thing He corrects her on is the authority is given to those who bear the cross in this life.\u00a0 The cross comes before the crown.\u00a0 That\u2019s what He corrects her on.\u00a0 He never corrects her on the reality of the future kingdom.\u00a0 But again, what Christ is saying here makes zero sense if the kingdom has not been repacked, Luke 17, and Jesus is now reigning in our hearts.\n\nGo over to Matthew 26:29, and I\u2019ve had amillennialists, kingdom now theologians on twitter try to tell me this in arguments, they\u2019ll say Jesus never mentioned an earthly kingdom.\u00a0 And my response is I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re reading the same New Testament; I\u2019m seeing Jesus mention an earthly kingdom in Matthew 19:28; Matthew 20:20-21.\u00a0 [Matthew 19:28, \u201cAnd Jesus said to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 20:20-21, \u201cThen the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.\u00a0 [21] And He said to her, \u2018What do you wish?\" She said to \u2018Him, \u2018Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.\u201d]\n\nHe mentions a future kingdom in Matthew 26, look at verse 29 if\u00a0 you could.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBut I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.\u201d\u00a0 So he never cancelled a future earthly kingdom on earth with literal eating and drinking from the fruit of the vine, which is a very physical experience.\n\nHow about the thief on the cross?\u00a0 Did the thief on the cross believe in a coming kingdom.\u00a0 Remember the people on the cross that trusted in Christ at the last minute in what might be called a death bed conversion?\u00a0 Remember what He said?\u00a0 The penitent thief, remember Jesus was crucified between the two thieves, one thief mocked Him to His grave and presumably went to hell, the other thief trusted in Christ and His salvation at the last minute and presumably went to Paradise, not presumably, he did go to Paradise because Jesus said, \u201cI tell you today you shall be with me in Paradise.\u201d\n\nBut look at what that penitent thief said; Luke 23:42, it says, \u201cAnd he was saying, \u2018Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I mean, the penitent thief on the cross understood there was going to be a future kingdom.\u00a0 Jesus didn\u2019t stop and say well, let me cancel that, there really is no future earthly kingdom because I\u2019m reigning right now in the hearts of My people.\u00a0 I mean, everybody that hung around Jesus and was influenced directly by His teaching, none of them had this amillennial idea that the kingdom is now.\n\nLook at Mark 15:43, remember Joseph of Arimathea, the rich disciple in whose tomb Christ was buried?\u00a0\u00a0 You say well how come Jesus had to be buried in the tomb of a rich man.\u00a0 700 years ago in Isaiah 53 Isaiah said that would happen. [Isaiah 53:9, \u201cHis grave was assigned with wicked men,\u00a0 yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s why.\u00a0 Prophesies in the Bible come to pass literally, short term and long term.\n\nBut Joseph of Arimathea who was a secret disciple, so he was obviously close to Christ, he was a secret disciple, he was around the teachings of Christ, it says, \u00a0\u201cJoseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for\u201d what? \u201cthe kingdom of God; [and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.\u201d [Mark 15:43] \u00a0\u00a0You see, the error of their thinking is they thought it was coming right now.\u00a0 They just didn\u2019t understand the postponement completely but they were still looking for a kingdom.\u00a0 They never had in their minds this idea that Christ cancelled everything the Old Testament says about the kingdom or changed the definition, because He\u2019s ruling and reigning in our hearts today.\n\nSee, that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to point out.\u00a0 If Jesus set up a spiritual form of the kingdom in the hearts of people in Luke 17 then everybody that was close to Christ didn\u2019t get the message; they didn\u2019t get the memo, they were taking a nap when Christ taught that spiritual lesson.\u00a0 Of course I\u2019m being facetious because Christ never taught that lesson.\u00a0 The only people that are teaching that lesson are the amillennialists and the replacement theologians who want you to believe that the church is the kingdom.\u00a0 You know, if you were to stand up in front of all of these people that were hanging around Christ in the first century, all of His disciples, and you were to tell them that there is no future kingdom because the kingdom is being fulfilled now in spiritual form, I think they would all just start laughing out loud.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, the whole idea would be so foreign to their total understanding.\n\nOne more for good measure, take a look at Acts 1:6-7. \u00a0\u00a0What does it say there?\u00a0 This is just prior to His ascension, remember there\u2019s forty days in between His resurrection and His ascension.\u00a0 The resurrection has happened, the ascension is yet to come, forty days down the road.\u00a0 So He\u2019s giving them teaching during this forty day interval.\u00a0 It says, \u201cSo when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, \u2018Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to\u201d who? \u201cto Israel\u2019\u201d The disciples still believed there would be a kingdom on the earth through the nation of Israel.\u00a0 What they didn\u2019t understand is the timing of it; they didn\u2019t understand there was going to be a long delay or an age but they never got the idea that the kingdom was cancelled.\n\nAnd what does Jesus say there in verse7, \u201cHe said to them, \u2018It is not for you to know\u201d the what? \u201cthe times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.\u201d\u00a0 See Christ never told them forget the kingdom, forget Israel, Israel is going to be replaced by the church; I\u2019m reigning now in your hearts.\u00a0 He never gave them any such teaching.\u00a0 They never understood Him to be teaching any such doctrine.\u00a0 The only thing they didn\u2019t understand is the timing.\u00a0 That\u2019s what baffled them.\u00a0 They thought it was going to come instantaneously, they didn\u2019t understand this long period of time called the church age when the kingdom would be in postponement.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Jesus taught the parable of the minas in Luke 19 where He begins to talk about a long age of time when God\u2019s people are given certain things to invest on His behalf, while He\u2019s gone. That was a new teaching to them.\u00a0 Why was it a new teaching to them?\u00a0 Because according to Luke 19:11, which immediately precedes the parable of the minas and explains why He taught the parable of the minas, it says, \u201cWhile they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable,\u201d why? \u201c because He was near Jerusalem,\u201d the prophesied headquarters of the kingdom, \u201cand they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.\u201d\u00a0 So He says the kingdom is going to come but it\u2019s in a state, not of cancellation but postponement.\u00a0 So the only issue they had wrong was not the future earthly kingdom, they knew that was going to come, they just didn\u2019t understand the timing.\u00a0 That was their misunderstanding.\n\nAnd the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, misunderstood not the reality of a future kingdom but they didn\u2019t understand that the positions of authority in the kingdom are given to those who bear the cross in this life, because the cross comes before the crown.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that in all these stories when Christ is correcting them He\u2019s never correcting them on their definition of the kingdom, on their understanding of the reality of a coming kingdom, He\u2019s just correcting them on timing and on whose going to have authority.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd my point is very simple; all of those statements that Christ has made to these folks that we just went through don\u2019t make any sense if Jesus is reigning in our hearts because He set up the kingdom in Luke 17:20-21.\u00a0 [Luke 17:20-21, \u201cNow having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, \u201cThe kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; [21] nor will they say, \u2018Look, here it is!<\/em>\u2019 or, \u2018There it is!<\/em>\u2019 For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.\u201d]\n\nSo having said all that what\u2019s the conclusion of the matter here?\u00a0 The NIV and the NCV [New Century Version] have it completely and totally wrong when it says the kingdom of God is inside of us or the kingdom of God is within you, completely wrong translation of the Scripture.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have to be very careful about what Bible version you\u2019re using.\u00a0 The NIV, some of you might be NIV positive, what is the NIV?\u00a0 The NIV is a paraphrase, see that?\u00a0 What\u2019s a paraphrase?\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of a general summary of the teachings of the Bible.\u00a0 Am I against all uses of the NIV?\u00a0 Not necessarily because sometimes you want to read the Bible and get kind of a devotional understand\u00ading, you\u2019ve got to get through the work week, you\u2019re on lunch break and you need that kind of liver quiver to get you through an unhappy day with a mean boss, you know, those kinds of things.\n\nI mean, I get all that, I used to read The Way<\/em> and different translations of the Bible but I was reading it from a devotional level.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a place for that.\u00a0 What I\u2019m saying is to do the type of detailed study that we\u2019re doing here, trying to figure out what does the Bible say about the kingdom,\u00a0 you don\u2019t use the NIV for that.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to use the NASB or the NKJV those are my two favorites, because those are English translations that claim to be word for word.\u00a0 They\u2019re not just paraphrasing things.\u00a0 They\u2019re doing careful word for word study.\u00a0 So the deeper you go in your study of God\u2019s Word, like what we\u2019re doing here, trying to flush out the doctrine of the kingdom, I would not use the NIV for that.\u00a0 You use different Bible translations for different purposes.\n\nSo I think the NIV and the NCV is completely wrong.\u00a0 I think the NASB has it right when it says, \u201cFor behold the kingdom of God is in your midst.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, that generation had an opportunity to do something that no other generation in the history of mankind, up until this point in time and even after this point in time has had the opportunity to do.\u00a0\u00a0 They had the ability to take Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, and enthrone Him over the nation on His terms, not their own terms, but on His terms.\u00a0 That was their opportunity.\u00a0 And had they done that the kingdom, as predicted in Isaiah and everywhere else in the Old Testament in a nanosecond would have covered the whole earth.\n\nAnd the story of the gospels is how that generation turned down that opportunity.\u00a0 And that is the significance of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, because that sermon reveals, not just the politics and the economics, which is what everybody was interested in, it reveals the moral quality of the kingdom.\u00a0 So they wanted the politics but they didn\u2019t want the morals and the righteousness so they turned it down.\u00a0 And consequently this opportunity has been completely taken off the table, because Jesus Christ, the King, is gone, He\u2019s in heaven.\u00a0 And that opportunity will not be re-extended to any generation until after the rapture of the church when that same opportunity will be given to the nation of Israel yet future, in the tribulation.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd as we know from our studies, the nation of Israel always gets it right, not the first time but the second time. We\u2019ve gone through that.\u00a0 And the next time it happens they\u2019re going to get it right, it\u2019s going to take the events of the tribulation to do it, and then the kingdom of God will come.\u00a0 So I\u2019ll try to unpack that next week, sort of as a way to better understand Luke 17:20-21.\u00a0 So I think I\u2019ll stop talking at this point.","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