The Coming Kingdom #77<\/p>\r\n
Dr.\u00a0 Andy Woods<\/p>\r\n
Kingdom Now Theology & the Social Gospel<\/p>\r\n
October 16, 2019<\/p>\r\nIn the handout, Page 8, Slide #24, is where we will start.\u00a0 You may recall the last time I was with you, we began to get into Part 3 of my book, The Coming Kingdom, <\/u><\/strong>so we are on the home stretch.\r\n\r\nWe are in Part 3 where it is the \u2018So What\u2019<\/em> question.\u00a0 We have explained that the Kingdom is in a state of postponement today, Part 1.\u00a0 In Part 2, we refuted the verses that some use to argue that we are in the Kingdom.\u00a0 That took a lot of time to go through all of those.\u00a0 Now we are in Part 3, Who Cares, and maybe I should have taught this first.\u00a0 Open your Bibles to Matt 4:19; the premise from which I'm operating is when the Church gets confused about the subject of the Kingdom, and it begins to see itself the way that Roman Catholics view their church:\u00a0 the vicar of Christ on earth.\u00a0 You recognize the word, \u201cvicar<\/em>\u201d from which we get the word \u2018vicarious\u2019<\/em> which means \u2018in the place of<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That is essentially Roman Catholic amillennialism:\u00a0 they view themselves as the representatives of Christ on the earth; in other words, they are His kingdom on the earth even though the King is not here.\u00a0 It isn't just Roman Catholics who teach Kingdom Now Theology; you find it in countless other movements.\r\n\r\nWhen the Church looks at itself as the Kingdom and begins to see itself as the Kingdom, what you basically have is soil from which a plethora of false doctrines naturally arise.\u00a0 They naturally and logically arise and one of our problems is that we don't connect the dots very well because we spend all our time shooting at the false doctrines, not understanding that if we went after the foundation, then these false doctrines wouldn\u2019t exist.\r\n\r\nWhat I have here in the final third of the course is nine false doctrines that emerge in the Church (see Slide on 9 Ways Kingdom Now Theology Impacts the Church<\/strong>) as a consequence of Kingdom Now Theology.\u00a0 I just had a chance to teach all nine of these in five sessions at Middletown Bible Church in Connecticut where there was a great conference, so much of this is fresh on the tip of my tongue having just taught the whole thing.\u00a0 I went fast with them; you get the slow boat version.\r\n\r\nThe first false doctrine we talked about last time is that the Church stopped seeing itself as a pilgrim. There is a book called The Pilgrim Church<\/u><\/strong>, and it is a wonderful title of the Church because that is what it is.\u00a0 I gave you the verses last time; Heb 11:13; 1 Pet 1:1; 1 Pet 2:11; James 1:1 \u2014 our home is never in this world; it is not our identity as a Church; we are merely passing through this world.\u00a0 That is what a pilgrim is \u2014 someone passing through a terrain temporarily enroute to their ultimate destination which, for us, is the Father's house, and ultimately, the Kingdom, then the eternal state.\u00a0 That is who we are and our identity.\u00a0 God never intended the Church to sink its roots down deep into this earth.\u00a0 That is why Phil 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven.\u00a0 We are citizens of the United States, but we are dual citizens \u2014 citizens of a home country temporarily, ultimately though, it is in heaven.\u00a0 See how that entire concept is blurred once you see yourself as the establisher of God\u2019s Kingdom?\u00a0 That is the first problem:\u00a0 the Church loses her identity.\r\n\r\nThe second problem which we got into this minimally last time is that the Church starts to move into the social gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 The social gospel<\/strong> basically, in the 1920s, took over the Seven Sisters or the mainline denominations.\u00a0 There was a split in those denominations between the liberals and the fundamentalists.\u00a0 It was around that time period that Harry Emerson Fosdick preached a famous sermon, against the fundamentalists: \u201cShall the Fundamentalists Win<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 There was a war that occurred for the heart and soul of those Seven Sisters or mainline denominations, and we lost!\u00a0 That is why we are meeting here at Sugarland Bible Church in an independent church because we lost control of the mainline denominations.\u00a0 When you lose control of the mainline denominations, you lose the property, the library, the endowments, and that is why you can drive around Houston and see these beautiful churches with stain-glassed windows and beautiful buildings, but they teach oftentimes very liberal thinking.\u00a0 To get conservative teaching, you have to go to a storefront type of church.\u00a0 People make fun of us for meeting in these storefront churches, and there is a history there:\u00a0 the modernist, fundamentalist controversy.\u00a0 We have a very nice facility here, but most conservative churches don't have anything quite like this.\u00a0 They're renting or meeting in a gym or a strip mall, etc, and the reality as to why that is has to do with the 1920s.\u00a0 What the liberals began to teach in the mainline denominations in that decade was the social gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 The social gospel<\/strong> is the idea that the focus of the Church is bringing in Kingdom realities which only Jesus Christ\u2019s kingdom can accomplish.\u00a0 A lot of it relates to confusion because they believe that they're the Kingdom, and if you believe that, then you're busy bringing in Kingdom realities, and you get all this talk about the environment, the ecosystem, being a good steward of the earth, social justice; about rectifying what they call structural racism or structural biases; universal health care, etc.\u00a0 That all takes center stage where their goal for the Church is to bring these things into existence.\u00a0 A lot of humanitarian work; Jimmy Carter with his Habitat for Humanity, etc, becomes the focus of the Church rather than the proclamation of the Gospel.\u00a0 That is what I mean by the social gospel<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nA friend of mine offered up this definition of social gospel<\/strong> that I thought was good:\u00a0 it is giving water bottles out to people as people are on their way to hell.\u00a0 That is the mindset \u2014 you go to someone\u2019s home and mow their lawn and do a lot of tasks for them, but never give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That is basically what is meant by social gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 When that happens and the Church can easily drift into this mindset as the 1920s, the fundamentalists, modernists controversy demonstrates, then the Great Commission, the job that Jesus actually gave to the Church becomes the Great Omission.\u00a0 I want to be clear about one thing:\u00a0 I am not against humanitarian work coming from the Church, but we should always use that as a platform to preach the Gospel because at the end of the day what good does it do someone to have their stomach filled with food for 24 hours if they never hear the gospel and their soul goes into an eternal hell?\u00a0 So, I'm not saying not to do humanitarian work, but to keep it in balance or you will move rapidly into social gospel<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nThe goal of social gospel<\/strong> is to change the structures of society; that is where so many are today; writing books about within evangelicalism; about structural change either from the right or the left.\u00a0 Another name for this is holistic gospel.\u00a0 Holistic gospel is where you are more concerned about the collective salvation of nations than about individual souls.\u00a0 Collective salvation; holistic gospel; social gospel<\/strong> are all interchangeable terms.\u00a0 See Matt 4:19 NASB, And He [Jesus] said to them [His disciples], \u201cFollow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.\u201d\u00a0 Holistic gospel says, \u2018Now you're responsible not just to fish for men but for the fishbowl that they're in.\u2019\u00a0 That is the change in emphasis, in focus.\u00a0 It makes sense if we are the Kingdom, right?\u00a0 We should be bringing these conditions to the earth.\r\n\r\nRobert Schuller was talking about this in the 1980s, and in this quote, he is condemning negative-thinking theologians; that would be people like we are.\u00a0 \u201cNegative-thinking theologians looked at the doctrine of sin, salvation and repentance\u2026through distorted glasses tinted with mortification mentality [they really know how to call you names].\u00a0 Too many prayers of confession of sin and repentance have been destructive to the emotional health of Christians\u2026I am not fully forgiven until I allow God to write his new dream for my life on the blackboard of my mind, and I dare to believe \u2018I am; therefore, I can.\u00a0 I am a child of God [this is essentially the self-esteem gospel\u2026\u201d\r\n\r\n[Just twenty minutes from here, Joel Osteen is basically a younger version of Robert Schuller.\u00a0 I grew up 15-20 minutes from Garden Grove [California].\u00a0 Countless times when on the freeway, I saw that big cathedral of glass that Robert Schuller built.\u00a0 I recall listening to many of his sermons.\u00a0 When I hear Joel Osteen today, it is the same kind of stuff that Schuller used to teach; of course, Schuller got his ideas from a man named Norman Vincent Peale.\u00a0 Walter Martin was asked once what he thought about the theology of Norman Vincent Peale, and Walter Martin, a conservative, responded that Paul is appealing that Peale\u2019s theology is appalling.\u00a0 And that stuck with me.\u00a0 So, the chain goes from Norman Vincent Peale to Robert Schuller and Robert Schuller had a huge influence on Rick Warren who has had a large effect on Joel Osteen.\u00a0 So, that is the chain as we move into this holistic redemption, self-esteem gospel.\u00a0 Schuller has an interesting line in this where he says that] \u2026 \u201cGod has a great plan to redeem society\u201d<\/u><\/strong>\u2026. [So, we are all supposed to buy into this self-esteem gospel and society will be redeemed] \u2026 \u201cThe emerging church, reformed according to the needs of self-esteem-starved souls under the Lordship of Christ\u2026will help us to affirm the concept that \u2018While God's ideas may seem humanly impossible, he will give us these ideas which will lead to glorious, self-esteem-generating success.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\nFrankly, I don't really know if the biggest problem is that there is a lack of self-esteem.\u00a0 Do you know they\u2019ve done studies and where the greatest percentage population-wise of people with the highest self-esteem?\u00a0 In prison.\u00a0 Prison inmates have the highest self-esteem according to some statistics.\u00a0 If you are struggling with self-image; there is a way to remedy that:\u00a0 to discover and understand who you are in Christ and that you bear God's image.\u00a0 There is a biblical answer to self-esteem and self-image problems.\u00a0 It isn't to put myself on the throne, but what he says here is social gospel when he throws in that \u201cGod has a great plan to redeem society.\u201d\r\n\r\nCraig Blaising, a progenitor of progressive dispensationalism at Dallas Seminary who teaches the already not yet form of the Kingdom, writes, \u201cUnfortunately, present-day dispensationalists [that would be us] have written very little in proposing a theology of social ministry\u2026if we as a community of Christ worked on creating our community as a model of social justice and peace, then we really would have some suggestions to make for social reform in our cities and nations.\u201d\r\n\r\nNotice that what he has done here is to flip the purpose of the Church.\u00a0 The purpose is to bring peace and social justice into the Church, whatever that means; it is rather a nebulous concept.\u00a0 But it is popular because people fill that nebulous concept with their own ideas.\u00a0 If they're coming from the left, they fill their ideas into that phrase; if coming from the right, they fill their ideas into that phrase.\u00a0 Blaising, who believes that Jesus is now reigning on David\u2019s throne, that we must bring social justice and peace to our Church so we can make changes in society that people will believe in.\u00a0 Once they see social justice in the Church, then society will then be attracted to our message, and then you will have social justice in the community.\r\n\r\nAll these guys, whether it is Tim Keller, Al Mohler, Craig Blaising, Daryl Bock, are all moving in this direction of what I call social gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 Brian McLaren, a leader of the Emergent Church says stunningly, \u201cThe church has been preoccupied with the question, \u2018What happens to your soul after you die?\u2019\u00a0 As if the reason for Jesus coming can be summed up in, \u2018Jesus is trying to get more souls into heaven as opposed to hell, after they die.\u2019\u00a0 [I thought that was the goal; that is the whole burden to share the Gospel with the lost].\u00a0 I just think a fair reading of the Gospels blows that out of the water.\u201d\u00a0 In his understanding of the Gospel, he sees Jesus going around doing all these miracles, feeding people, and helping the poor, and he believes that Jesus didn\u2019t just preach repentance and salvation and faith alone to escape hell; what Jesus did is to bring in this holistic societal change type of gospel, and if we don't do that, then we are missing out on what Jesus wants us to do.\u00a0 We are missing out on his example.\r\n\r\nA book by a man named Stearns, and he wrote a book called \u201cHole in the Gospel<\/u><\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0 I was talking to some people here in the local community in some of the large churches in our area, and all their small groups about a year or two, they were all reading this book of Stearns, Hole in the Gospel. <\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0He basically calls it the Donut Gospel and is essentially saying is that we are caught up in a gospel that is empty because we are just preaching the Bible and salvation but not bringing all these structural changes to society.\u00a0 Almost everyone who believes this and wants to do this, also believes that we are currently in the Kingdom.\u00a0 Kingdom Now Theology logically leads in that direction.\r\n\r\nI could show you examples in the Bible where Jesus performed miracles to help people in terms of humanitarian need and other examples where Jesus stopped<\/em> meeting peoples\u2019 humanitarian needs because He was more concerned for their souls which is eternal, than about a meal for a day.\u00a0 Some examples which will never be brought up by social gospel<\/strong> advocates:\r\n\r\nJohn 6:15<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cSo, Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.\u201d\u00a0 Now, He has a crowd of people who are coming at Him, saying \u2018You're going to be the King whether or not you want to; we will force you to be the King.\u2019\u00a0 Everyone wanted Jesus to be the King at this point because of the miracle He had just performed about the masses who were fed with a few fish and a few loaves earlier in the chapter.\r\n\r\nJohn 6:26<\/u><\/strong>, Jesus answered them and said, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.\u201d\u00a0 I feel a little guilty reading that because I just had two hamburgers there in the kitchen.\u00a0 So, He has all kinds of people following Him not because they care about eternity, they like the humanitarian side of what He is doing.\u00a0 And if this guy can feed the masses with a few loaves and fish, then He could overthrow Rome, so it is all external politics.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t understanding why Christ came into the world; He did so to deal with the real need we all have:\u00a0 our separation from God because of sin.\r\n\r\nJohn 6:28-29<\/u><\/strong>, 28<\/sup>Therefore, they said to Him, \u201cWhat shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus answered and said to them, 29<\/sup>\u201cThis is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.\u201d\u00a0 \u2018So, what you all need to do rather than look for your next meal, for Me, is you need to believe<\/em> the one condition of justification in the One He has sent, Me, and be saved.\u2019\r\n\r\nSo, Jesus switches the conversation away from social gospel<\/strong> to the Real Gospel.\u00a0 So, everyone stood up and applauded, right?\u00a0 No, they were no longer interested in what He was saying.\r\n\r\nJohn 6:60-61<\/u><\/strong>, this is all taking place at Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee, Therefore, many of His disciples, when they heard this said, \u201cThis is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?\u201d\u00a0 61<\/sup>But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, \u201cDoes this cause you to stumble?\u201d \u2026 66<\/sup>As a result of [changing the conversation away from humanitarian social gospel<\/strong> to the Real Gospel] \u2026 many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.\r\n\r\nI like what Jesus said here to the twelve.\u00a0 You want to talk about church growth being destroyed?\u00a0 He just went from a massive crowd to twelve.\u00a0 Would you hire a pastor like that?\u00a0 \u2018Yeah, I came in and took over a church of a couple thousand people and now there are twelve people left.\u2019\u00a0 That is what Christ did here by focusing on the Real Gospel.\r\n\r\nJohn 6:67<\/u><\/strong>, So Jesus said to the twelve, \u201cYou do not want to go away also, do you?\u201d\u00a0 And Peter has the classic answer, of course, 68<\/sup> \u201cSimon Peter answered Him, \u201cLord, to whom shall we go?\u00a0 You have words of eternal life.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo, that is an example where Brian McLaren\u2019s analysis of Jesus is highly selective.\u00a0 I can show you another example where Jesus rejected social gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 John 12:1-8 the story of Mary pouring expensive ointment on Christ.\u00a0 1<\/sup>Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.\u00a0 2<\/sup>So, they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. \u00a03<\/sup>Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.\u00a0 4<\/sup> But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, [sounds here like a social gospel<\/strong> advocate] who was intending to betray Jesus Messiah, said, 5<\/sup>\u201cWhy was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?\u201d\u00a0 6<\/sup>Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. [So, Judas wanted the perfume sold and put in the money box so he could embezzle more funds.\u00a0 He masquerades his motive as social gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 We need to help the poor.\u00a0 Look at Christ\u2019s response here; it is so interesting]: 7<\/sup>Therefore Jesus said [concerning Mary], \u201cLet her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. 8<\/sup> For you will always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, \u2018I [Jesus] am here for an instant so it would be completely appropriate for Mary to worship Me in extravagance; the poor will always be available for you to help so don't worry about them right now.\u00a0 Worry about the moment that you are in.\u2019\r\n\r\nNotice that Jesus again directs people away from helping the poor to individual worship.\u00a0 Brian McLaren, in his selective use of the Bible, isn't quoting any of these verses.\u00a0 This is the weakness of social gospel<\/strong>; social justice.\u00a0 Everyone is hijacking Jesus to make Him according to whatever their worldview is.\u00a0 If you are a Marxist, then you make Jesus into a Marxist revolutionary; if you are a socialist, then you make Him into a socialist; if you're a humanitarian, you make Jesus into a humanitarian.\u00a0 The reality is that I don't think that Jesus is unconcerned about these issues, but it isn\u2019t His primary issue for which He came into the world. He came into the world to rectify the alienation that exists before us and God through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.\u00a0 That is where the focus needs to remain for the Church.\r\n\r\nCharles Ryrie, concerning holistic redemption, or holistic gospel, correctly says, \u201cHolistic redemption can easily [emphasis mine] <\/u><\/strong>lead to placing unbalanced, if not wrong, priorities on political action, social agendas, and improving the structures of society.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow, am I against people being involved in humanitarian work, in politics?\u00a0 No, not at all, but that\u2019s a matter of individual conscience.\u00a0 William Wilberforce used his position in Parliament as an evangelical Christian to speak repeatedly against the slave trade, and he eventually got the slave trade abolished where he was.\u00a0 So, God can use people politically; I am the product of a political family; my father was a Superior Court Judge, appointed by George Deukmejian, the governor in California; he was elevated to the Appellate Court, I was a political science major in college, I have a law degree, so my who life has centered around politics.\u00a0 It clearly has its place.\u00a0 If people, as a matter of conscience, want to get involved in that, praise the Lord, you have the freedom in Christ to do that.\u00a0 What I am saying is that it shouldn\u2019t be the priority of the Church.\u00a0 That is the danger when all these social causes eclipse what God wants the Church to do.\r\n\r\nIn the Epistles, you won't find any instructions anywhere about how to take over Rome, etc.\u00a0 In fact, I think that the entire book of Philemon<\/strong>, one chapter long, is some good reading.\u00a0 Remember the slave Onesimus who had escaped and fled to where Paul was in Rome, and what Paul told Onesimus at the end of his letter? \u00a0\u00a0He said, \u2018You need to go back to your owner, Philemon, as a slave, and to live out your Christian convictions in that structure.\u2019\u00a0 He never says to overthrow the structure or regime change, etc. \u00a0My point is that the Church, when it makes that its priority, then it shifts onto its shoulders, a task that God never gave to the Church.\r\n\r\nIs that happening today?\u00a0 Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Summit, November 15, 2014) talks about his peace plan: \u201cP.E.A.C.E. is an acronym for P<\/strong>romote reconciliation; E<\/strong>quip servant leaders; A<\/strong>ssist the poor; C<\/strong>are for the sick; and E<\/strong>ducate the next generation.\u00a0 Coalition members see these actions as Jesus' antidote to five \u2018global giants,\u2019 [Why are there only five global giants?\u00a0 Probably because he is trying to make that fit with David going to slay Goliath with five stones in his bag.\u00a0 I think that is why he is focused on these five global giants] \u2014 problems that affect billions of people worldwide:\u00a0 spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy.\u201d\u00a0 Rick Warren and 1,7000 leaders launched the Peace Coalition at the Purpose Drive Summit.\u00a0 Coalition members see these actions as Jesus' antidote to slaying the five global giants; problems that affect billions of people worldwide \u2014 the five which we have already articulated.\r\n\r\nWhat do you call this?\u00a0 Social gospel<\/strong>; this is the very thing that consumed the mainline denominations in the 1920s, so it is a recycling of Kingdom Now Theology.\u00a0 I think I gave you the quote last week about how Rick Warren believes that it is his purpose, and he likes that word, \u2018purpose\u2019<\/em> \u2014 purpose<\/em> driven church, life; the whole goal is to find your purpose<\/em>.\u00a0 He believes that his purpose<\/em> is to get the Church involved in this activity of slaying these five global giants.\u00a0 What do you not see in the Peace Plan?\u00a0 The Gospel is missing; the Great Commission is missing.\u00a0 These verses, Matt 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21; Acts 1:4-8; and Romans 1:16-17 \u2014 are all missing.\r\n\r\nLet's look at some of these verses:\r\n\r\nMatthew 28:19<\/u><\/strong>, the assignment that Jesus actually<\/em> gave to the Church.\u00a0 You know these verses very well, the Real Great Commission, \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, \u2026\u201d\r\n\r\nMark 16:15<\/u><\/strong> , another Great Commission passage as presented in the Four Gospels and the Book of Acts, And He said to them, \u201cGo into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.\u201d\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say to go into the world and slay the five global giants!\r\n\r\nLuke 24:46-49<\/u><\/strong>, [Every Gospel writer has a rendition of the Great Commission] 46<\/sup>\u2026and He said to them , \u201cThus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47<\/sup> and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.\u00a0 48 <\/sup>You are witnesses of these things.\u00a0 49<\/sup> \u201cAnd behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high.\u201d\r\n\r\nAren\u2019t you glad that they waited on and listened to the Lord rather than just go out and tried to do it through human power?\u00a0 Christianity would have fizzled a long time ago, yet here we are 2,000 years later, recipients of the Gospel, on a totally different continent.\u00a0 That is what the power of the Holy Spirit will do.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit will empower the Church when the Church is what it is supposed to be.\r\n\r\nThe game of satan is to try to change the Church into something that it is not.\u00a0 Once the Church becomes something that it isn't, God isn't authorized to pay the bill.\u00a0 He will only pay the bill for things He ordered that are on the menu.\u00a0 On the other hand, if we go off and do our own thing, God has no authorization or interest at all in energizing us to being what we are supposed to be.\r\n\r\nJohn 20:21<\/u><\/strong>, [Read these verses and compare them with Rick Warren\u2019s PEACE Plan, and you can easily see the difference] So, Jesus said to them again, \u201cPeace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.\u201d\r\n\r\nActs 1:4-8<\/u><\/strong>, there is a 40-day period between Christ\u2019s resurrection and His ascension when He is ministering to the disciples.\u00a0 Acts 1:4 says, 4<\/sup>Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, \u201cWhich,\u201d He said, \u201cyou heard of from Me; 5<\/sup>for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.\u201d\u00a0 [When was that prophecy fulfilled?\u00a0 On the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church].\u00a0 Next chapter and watch this important verse 6<\/sup> So when they [the disciples] had come together, they were asking Him, saying, \u201cLord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?\u201d\r\n\r\nWhy would they ask that?\u00a0 Because they did not understand this long interim period of time that would come because national Israel in the first century rejected her King.\u00a0 God would create the age of the Church; we've been living in it for the last 2,000 years.\u00a0 They had no knowledge of the Church Age; all they knew was Israel, Israel, Israel; Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom.\u00a0 Now something has happened where the nation had rejected her King, so God\u2019s plan all along was to create the age of time that we are in called a mystery or an intercalation, an interruption in God\u2019s program which we are currently in is not Israel\u2019s program; it is the Church\u2019s program.\u00a0 It is hinted at frequently in Christ\u2019s earthly ministry.\r\n\r\nIn Luke 19:11 where Luke wrote a prequel and a sequel, the prequel is the Gospel of Luke, and the sequel is the Book of Acts: a two-part series, 11<\/sup>While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable [the parable of the Minas], because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.\u00a0 [\u2018Oh, my goodness, the Lord is making His way to Jerusalem, so He must be getting ready to set up the Kingdom,\u2019 and He is explaining to them that the Kingdom will not be set up at that time.\u00a0 They are in a period of postponement.\u00a0 He reveals to them in the Parable of the Minas about this long age where people are giving minas, a monetary sum or denomination, different giftings or resources.\u00a0 And while the Master is absent (which He won't be when the Kingdom comes), and we are to invest what God has given us during this interim time period.\r\n\r\nThe day will come when the Kingdom comes, where He will hold us to an accounting of what we did with what He gave us.\u00a0 You might be saying to yourself that God hasn\u2019t given you anything.\u00a0 Every person in this room and listening has three things that God will ask them what they did with, and they all begin with the letter, \u2018T.\u2019\u00a0 The first thing that we all have is TIME<\/strong>, the second thing we have is TALENT<\/strong>, there are things that you can do that no one else in this room can do.\u00a0 The third thing is TREASURE<\/strong>.\u00a0 Every person has those three things to one degree or another \u2014 some to more or less of a degree, but everyone has all three of them.\u00a0 The Lord expects us, in the interim, during His absence, to invest those things for His purposes, and He will come back at the end of this interim age, and ask, \u2018What did you do with those three Ts I gave to you?\u00a0 TIME, TALENT<\/strong>, and TREASURE<\/strong>.\u2019\r\n\r\nThe apostles aren\u2019t really hearing all of this, going back to Acts 1; they thought that He was going to set up the Kingdom.\r\n\r\nActs 1:6-8<\/u><\/strong>, 6<\/sup>So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, \u201cLord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?\u201d \u00a0Notice Jesus' response here?\u00a0 \u2018Whoever gave you the idea that there will be a kingdom through Israel? \u00a0What a dumb idea that is.\u2019\u00a0 He never rebuked them for that; the only thing He corrected them on was not the establishment of the kingdom.\u00a0 By the way, who will the kingdom be established through?\u00a0 Israel!\u00a0 It is very clear.\u00a0 He never rebuked them for having the idea of a future kingdom through Israel.\u00a0 What He corrected them on was the issue of timing.\u00a0 That is what the Parable of the Minas was designed to teach.\u00a0 The kingdom will come one day, but for now it is in a state of postponement, and in the interim, don't waste time setting it up.\u00a0 God will set it up one day; we are to spend our time investing the three Ts.\r\n\r\nActs 1<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0 7<\/sup>He said to them, \u201cIt is not for you to know times or epochs [they were confused because they did not understand the interim age; the Church Age]\u00a0 which the Father has fixed by His own authority [In other words, the Kingdom will come when God wants it to come, but in the interim] 8<\/sup> you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 [He is clearly not talking about the Kingdom there because the Kingdom is headquartered in Jerusalem.\u00a0 He is saying to them to get out of Jerusalem; it is the worldwide mission of the Church while the Kingdom is not here].\r\n\r\nVery clearly, that is another rendition of the Great Commission which isn't found at all in Rick Warren\u2019s PEACE Plan.\r\n\r\nRomans 1:16-17<\/u><\/strong>, Paul says, \u201c16 <\/sup>For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.\u00a0 17<\/sup> For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, \u2018BUT THE RIGHTEOUS<\/strong> man [or the just] SHALL LIVE BY FAITH<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 The word \u2018power\u2019<\/em> is \u2018dunamis\u2019<\/em> where we get the word \u2018dynamite\u2019<\/em> and the word, \u2018dynamic<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That is the Source of power that the Church is supposed to be disseminating.\u00a0 This message is so powerful that it can be read in a book, and someone can get saved.\u00a0 This message is so powerful that satan can preach it, and if he does it accurately, people could get saved.\u00a0 This message is so powerful that people can use it to build their own platforms through poor motives.\u00a0 Paul talks about that in Phil 1:14-17, I think, where he says how some preach Christ out of strife and seeking to take advantage of me being here in prison.\u00a0 Paul doesn\u2019t get mad at these people with corrupt motives preaching the gospel because at least the Gospel is going out.\u00a0 The Gospel is objectively true regardless of whose mouth it comes from.\u00a0 That is the power of the Gospel.\u00a0 What is bothering me about this PEACE Plan is that I don't see any reference to the Gospel other than in veiled terms, such as spiritual emptiness, perhaps?\u00a0 It is all these social causes which won't come into existence until the Kingdom comes.\r\n\r\nWhat has happened with all these things is that the Church is losing her identity through Kingdom Now Theology.\r\n\r\nSee slide on Prophecy Panorama<\/strong>.\u00a0 Who will set up the Kingdom then?\u00a0 Jesus will.\u00a0 See the chart on the slide.\u00a0 The second Advent is found in Rev 19, then the Kingdom comes in Rev 20.\u00a0 See how chapter 19 comes before chapter 20.\u00a0 The chronology of the Book of Revelation<\/strong> should tell you who will set up the Kingdom.\u00a0 For the Church to get involved in Kingdom programs, building, etc, is a waste of time.\u00a0 Hal Lindsay wrote a book, The Road to Holocaust<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Most people know this author by his book, The Late Great Planet Earth<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Many people have been led to Christ because of this book.\u00a0 I got very interested in Bible Prophecy by reading that book; God used that book in a tremendous way.\u00a0 Despite that, I don't think that is his best book.\u00a0 If you really want a good read, get his book, The Road to Holocaust<\/u><\/strong>; it will put some hair on your chest, if you're a man.\u00a0 \u201cBestselling author, Hal Lindsay warned what could happen to the church in the last days if she began to see herself as the establisher of God\u2019s kingdom: \u201cThe last days of the church on the earth may be largely wasted<\/u><\/em><\/strong> seeking to accomplish a task that only the LORD Himself can and will do directly.\u201d\r\n\r\nI hope that these verses we have examined tonight demonstrate that Kingdom realities cannot be ushered in by the Church.\u00a0 They will be ushered in by the King when He returns.\u00a0 Do you believe that the devil is sneaky?\u00a0 Do you think that he would pull this one on us on the eve of the Rapture?\u00a0 Do you think he would confuse us to such an extent that we would spend the waning moments on the earth doing something that God never called us to do?\u00a0 I think satan has been trying to confuse the Church on this subject all along.\u00a0 When the Church begins to move into Kingdom Now Theology, she begins to flirt with losing her pilgrim status and moves into social gospel<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nI will just introduce the third way that Kingdom Now Theology impacts the Church though we won't get too far into it tonight.\u00a0 The church starts getting involved in ecumenical and interfaith alliances.\u00a0 The term ecumenism<\/em> is the urge to merge.\u00a0 It is the desire to merge with groups of other spiritual communities who don't hold to our same core biblical convictions.\u00a0 The reason this plays directly into or emanates from Kingdom Now Theology is because there aren't enough Christians numerically on planet Earth to cause Christianity to bring in the Kingdom.\u00a0 If your goal is to bring in the Kingdom, then you must merge with a group who doesn\u2019t think the way we do biblically; they might agree with us on some political issue.\u00a0 Or another group.\u00a0 Ecumenism, the urge to merge, is a result of Kingdom Now Theology.\u00a0 In other words, the idea is to merge with groups to be a co-belligerent.\u00a0 A co-belligerent against some cause, for example, communism, humanism, pornography, abortion \u2014 some cause that you are upset about, but there aren\u2019t enough Christians to get rid of that issue so you merge with another group politically but there is no theological compatibility.\u00a0 This explains ecumenical and interfaith alliances.\r\n\r\nClarence Larkin in 1920, and I love reading the old commentators.\u00a0 When I was taking my dissertation at Dallas Seminary, they told me that I couldn\u2019t quote anyone that is older than five-ten years.\u00a0 I was required to be in vogue with contemporary scholarship.\u00a0 I thought that was tragic, because if you bypass the older commentators, you miss out on a lot of wisdom.\u00a0 Clarence Larkin is known well for his prophecy charts, but he wrote excellent commentaries on Daniel<\/strong> and Revelation<\/strong>.\u00a0 In his book on this slide, Rightly Dividing the Word<\/u><\/strong>, he predicts what happens to the Church when she begins to see herself as the new Israel on earth.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe great mistake the Church has made is in appropriating to herself in this Dispensation [the Church Age] the <\/em>promises of earthly conquest and glory which belong exclusively to Israel in the \u2018Millennial Age.\u2019 \u00a0[That is Kingdom Now Theology, right?<\/em> \u00a0Look over at Israel\u2019s promises, and you say that \u2018those look pretty good, let\u2019s just make them available to the Church,\u2019 and you deliteralize them; you must always deliteralize these promises to make them fit the current age of the Church. \u00a0<\/em>\u00a0It is interesting to me that no one ever appropriates Israel's curses for disobedience.\u00a0 Read Deuteronomy 28:15-68 which are all curses for disobedience; they choose to leave those behind for the Jewish people but they will take all the goodies].<\/em>\r\n\r\nClarence Larkin continues, \u201c\u2026 As soon as the Church enters into an \u2018Alliance with the World,\u2019 and seeks the help of Parliaments, Congresses, Legislatures, Federations and Reform Societies, largely made up of ungodly men and women \u2026\u201d [Why is he talking about this in 1919 \u2014 recall what is happening to the Seven Sisters, or the mainline denominations, the fundamentalist modernist controversy\u2026those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it.\r\n\r\nIf you know even a little about church history, you can see how the same lies keep recirculating.\u00a0 So, what happens when the church gets involved in all these tasks\u2026?], \u201c\u2026 she loses her spiritual power and becomes helpless as a redeeming force.\u201d\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because when the Church moves outside of its design, God says that He isn't obligated to write the checks any longer.\u00a0 \u2018It is your task; you fund it.\u2019\u00a0 The Church is then emptied of its power, see that?\u00a0 This is what Clarence Larkin predicted in 1919.\r\n\r\nSo, what do we have today?\u00a0 The urge to merge \u2014 evangelicals and Catholics together.\u00a0 This was a movement largely started by the late Charles Colson who did a lot of good things, wrote a lot of good books, started Prison Fellowship Ministries.\u00a0 But around the early 1990s, he started a movement called ECT \u2014 Evangelicals & Catholics Together.\u00a0 The goal was to fight some \u2018ism\u2019 out there.\u00a0 Humanism, Communism, Atheism \u2014 we all must come together. The idea is that we have to all hang together or we will hang separately.\u00a0 You merge with some group who you don't agree with theologically for the purpose of fighting an evil, so forget about doctrine; don't worry about it.\u00a0 What we have to do is to save America or the planet, etc.\u00a0 Once we get that task rectified, then we will get back to theology.\u00a0 This is how the Church gets pulled into these ecumenical causes.\r\n\r\nIn this ECT, it was a written agreement, and I can't tell you how many very notable evangelicals put their John Hancock on the document where it was an agreement that we won't evangelize each other anymore; we won't share the Gospel and try to evangelize one another\u2019s sheep folds, since after all, we are all one big happy family, coming together for some great cause, and this is how ecumenism and interfaith alliances start to develop.\r\n\r\nJust when you think the whole thing had died since Chuck Colson died, here comes Rick Warren, and he brings the whole thing to life.\u00a0 This is an interview he did on EWTN, a Roman Catholic Network, being interviewed by Raymond Arroyo; if you watch Fox News, you will see him frequently on Laura Ingraham.\u00a0 He is very Catholic, interviewing Rick Warren here.\u00a0 It is a lengthy quote, and I won\u2019t give this to you in full now because we are ready to stop (see slides on Ecumenisim and Matthew Slick on \u201c\u201d<\/strong>). The most important line in this is, \u201c\u2026 But the most important thing is if you love Jesus, we\u2019re on the same team.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\r\n\r\nThat is the ecumenical mindset\u2014 \u201cIf you love Jesus, we\u2019re on the same team.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>We have a little problem because which Jesus are you talking about?\u00a0 Is there not a false Jesus in the world?\u00a0 Don't the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and the Mormons teach a Jesus?\u00a0 How do I know it is the right Jesus?\r\n\r\nWe will stop here and pick this up next time.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n ","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