{"id":19261,"date":"2019-11-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-081\/"},"modified":"2022-08-16T11:32:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T16:32:12","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-081","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-081\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 081"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[68],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19261","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-isaiah","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 081","sermon_date":"20191113","sermon_month":"09","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":7279,"sermon_slides":7278,"sermon_mp3":7286,"sermon_id":"111319234653835","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":68,"chapter_and_verse":"35:5-6","sermon_transcript":"

The Coming Kingdom #081<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n

\u00a0 Isaiah 35:5-6<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dr. Andrew Woods<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nTonight we have all the tough-minded people that braved the cold weather. This is cold for us, right? Texas. This is like Anchorage, Alaska. There's a handout back there. Does anybody need a handout? We're talking about a paper handout, not a financial handout. Do you need one, Robin, up front? \u00a0Can you bring one up, Karen?\r\n\r\nSo Brother Ron passed away. He usually does our handouts, and Janet had to take her daughter home because she wasn't feeling well. And so now Karen is stuck. The shortest person in the church has got to do all that striding to get up here. \u00a0Sorry about that, Karen, but thank you for your servant-mindedness.\r\n\r\nWell, you might as well take your Bibles and go to Daniel 2 just for a minute. \u00a0As you know, we've been doing this study on the kingdom and this is actually lesson number 81. \u00a0You believe that? \u00a0Yes. Someone said \u2018yes.\u2018 So if you're here for the first time, like Robin and Bill up front, some of it might be seem kind of odd because we've built a massive foundation. \u00a0But every lesson builds on the prior lesson. \u00a0And so the series of studies really has three parts to it, as you know.\r\n\r\nWhat does the Bible say about the kingdom? It's a study on the kingdom. And there we taught that the kingdom is not something that's happening today. It's not something that's canceled, but it's something that's postponed. So to develop that conclusion, you have to go from Genesis to Revelation and look up tons of verses, which we've done.\r\n\r\nThen number 2. Well, if the kingdom is in a state of postponement, why do so many people believe that we're in the kingdom now? \u00a0So we went through all of the verses that they use, and that was a major chunk of material that took, I don't know, maybe over a year to go through all that. \u00a0So we went through every problem passage or passage people use to argue that we're in the kingdom. \u00a0And we showed that none of those passages really teach what people think they teach.\r\n\r\nAnd as of late, and we're hoping to finish this up this quarter, is part 3, which I probably should have taught first because I dragged you through all this stuff without revealing \u2018who cares?\u2019 <\/em>That's number 3. \u00a0I mean, why does it matter? \u00a0Why do we need to know this? \u00a0Greg, in his prayer, hinted at the fact that if you believe that we are currently in the kingdom, it has a huge effect on the life of the church. In other words, the church gets very confused when it sees herself as the Kingdom of God on the earth.\r\n\r\nSo in part 3, what we've been going through are nine false teachings. \u00a0And most of you probably are familiar with these false teachings. \u00a0So the purpose of this section is not to get in and refute every single false teaching on my list in detail, but rather to demonstrate that these false teachings exist today because the Church thinks it's in the kingdom.\r\n\r\nIn other words, kingdom now theology essentially furnishes the right soil for all kinds of bad fruit to come up in the life of the church. And the reason I wanted to go into this is a lot of people, as Christians, spend their time shooting at these false teachings, they don't really understand the foundation that Paul's teachings come from, which is kingdom now theology.\r\n\r\nSo the first 4, we have already gone over, we finished number 4 last week. The Church stops looking at itself as a pilgrim on the earth and views itself as the earth [inaudible ?is our home?].\r\n\r\nAnd then there's another false teaching called the social gospel, where the ministry of a church revolves more around humanitarian-type issues, rather than giving people the eternal gospel that can keep their souls out of hell. \u00a0That's called social gospel.\r\n\r\nAnd then the church, once she starts to see herself as the kingdom of God on the earth, develops what I like to call the urge to merge. \u00a0There are not enough Christians on the earth to bring in the kingdom. \u00a0So what the church starts to do is to merge with all of these other groups that don't really share our theological beliefs. So we looked at evangelicals, the movement, evangelicals and Catholics together, evangelicals and Mormons together. \u00a0Now it spiraled into evangelicals and Muslims together. And I tried to show you those movements that are happening today. \u00a0And the reason they're happening is because of kingdom now theology.\r\n\r\nThen from there we moved into number 4, where if the church starts to see itself as the kingdom, then the church starts to reject or to discard Bible prophecy. \u00a0So in other words, why teach Bible prophecy? \u00a0Why teach about a coming kingdom?\r\n\r\nWhy teach about a coming kingdom if, in fact, the church is the kingdom? You see that? And if the church sees itself as establishing God's kingdom on the Earth, why would you talk about the rapture, which is the rescue operation of Jesus to take us out of this world?\u00a0 Why would I care about that silly doctrine? \u00a0Because after all, the church is the kingdom.\r\n\r\nAnd so I showed you how prophecy is being kind of chipped away in our circles, marginalized\u2014just an awful lot of churches I know of, and you know of them, too, that will not teach anything out of the Book of Revelation. \u00a0And the reason that is so is because of kingdom now theology.\r\n\r\nSo those are the 4 things that we've gone over thus far in this section. \u00a0And I want to move here into number 5. A fifth problem that begins to take place when the church sees itself as the kingdom is [that] you start to build the wrong kingdom. The devil is a pretty sneaky guy. Would you not agree with that? And there is nothing more that he would like to do in the closing age of the church than to get the church involved in some project that God never gave to \u00a0the church; to get us to completely waste our time, effort and energy into doing something, trying to do something that only Jesus can directly do. \u00a0And I believe that this is probably one of the main reasons why Satan has been at work all the way back to the fourth century, Augustine, to through his writings, the city of God, to convince the church that the church is the kingdom.\r\n\r\nSo one of the guys I like to quote from the past is this guy, Clarence Larkin. A lot of people dismiss him, but he's very good when you actually look at his commentaries, and he's got all kinds of warnings about the church and its flirtation with kingdom now theology. And he's talking about practical problems that would come into the church when the church began to see itself as the kingdom. So this is a point that Clarence Larkin made back in 1920, roughly, in his book, The Second Coming of Christ<\/u><\/strong>. He says, \u201cWhen the church enters into an alliance with the World,\u2019\u2026 the end of such an \u2018Alliance\u2019 will be a Religious Political Regime\u2019 that will pave the way for the revelation of Satan's great Religious Political Leader\u2019 and \u2019Superman\u2019 \u2014 the ANTICHRIST<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d [And what he's saying here is if you get involved in trying to build the kingdom of God on the earth, you may not realize it; you may not understand it as a Christian, but what you're really doing is you're building the empire of the Antichrist without even knowing it. \u00a0Now, why would he say that? \u00a0It relates to the dream in Daniel 2 (See slide on Statue & Stone at 10:51)<\/strong>. \u00a0So Daniel 2 gives us a chronology of empires from the time of Daniel right up to the Second Coming. The first empire would be Babylon, which is the head of gold, which was the empire in existence when Daniel was alive. And that empire reigned from about 605 B.C. to about 539 B.C., and that's the head of gold in the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw.\r\n\r\nAnd then would come the chest and arms of silver. And that would be the empire of Persia, which overthrew the Babylonians in Daniel 5, the Handwriting on the Wall chapter. \u00a0And that empire existed after Daniel died. \u00a0But it came into existence 539 B.C. and went all the way to about 331 B.C..\r\n\r\nSo, head of gold chest and arms of silver, and then you have belly of bronze. \u00a0And that would be the empire of Greece. \u00a0The Empire of Greece reigned particularly crushing down the nation of Israel, from about 331 B.C. up until about 63 B.C., until a general named Pompeii under Rome came into the land of Israel and subjugated the nation of Israel. \u00a0And so that was replaced by the legs of iron. \u00a0The legs of iron represent Rome, which trampled the nation of Israel down from about 63 B.C., and finally kicked them out of their land in AD 70. \u00a0And you'll notice that the legs of iron, there are two legs\u2014most people believe that that has to do with the division between the eastern and western divisions of the Roman Empire. \u00a0So Daniel is seeing all of this in advance.\r\n\r\nAnd then when you get between the ankles and the feet, there's a gap there of about 2000 years. And that's where you put the age of the church. \u00a0That's us. \u00a0We're not in this statue because the church, Paul, calls us a mystery. And the church has been going on for the last 2000 years. \u00a0So if you want to, people always want to know, where am I in the prophecy? \u00a0Where do I fit?\u00a0 Well, you're right there between the ankles and the feet. That undisclosed period of time. But eventually, the rapture of the church will take place when the church is complete. And what eventually will come into existence is the two feet of iron and clay. \u00a0The last time I checked, there are 5 toes on each foot, right?\u00a0 So 5 plus 5 would be 10? \u00a0And that's the 10-region or ten-king confederacy of the Antichrist that will cover the Earth. \u00a0That's what we would call the New World Order. And that's even what's being built right now in our time period. It's coming together. \u00a0It's not in place yet. \u00a0But clearly, preparatory work is happening.\r\n\r\nSo the feet are going to come into existence and they're mixed with iron and clay. \u00a0And it's sort of interesting as you go through this statue from head to toe, the metals keep getting weaker to the point where you have something very brittle at the bottom, the feet mixed with iron and clay, they don't mix well with each other, Daniel tells us. And that is the 10-king global confederation of the Antichrist. And that kingdom is going to be replaced by a stone cut without human hands.\r\n\r\nSo Daniel, as he interpreted this for Nebuchadnezzar, saw at the end of this whole thing, this stone cut without human hands, shattering the feet in a nanosecond. \u00a0It's not something that comes gradually, but it happens instantaneously. \u00a0And once the feet are shattered, since the feet is the foundation of the statue, the whole thing crumbles. \u00a0And Daniel, in this dream that he's interpreting that Nebuchadnezzar had, saw the wind go into the threshing floor and blow away all the pieces of the shattered statue. \u00a0So the wind just drives everything away.\r\n\r\nAnd then the stone cut without human hands grows and grows and grows till it fills the earth. So we know what everything else in the statue is. \u00a0The big question is what does that stone cut without human hands? \u00a0That is the kingdom that Jesus Christ personally will establish at the end of the 7-year tribulation period. \u00a0So the Antichrist\u2018s kingdom will come into existence. That's the feet. But that kingdom is going to be replaced by God's kingdom, the stone cut without human hands that will grow and fill the whole earth. And that's the Millennial Kingdom.\r\n\r\nSo when you look at this very carefully, what you have here is a chronology. You'll notice that man will not bring in God's kingdom. You see that?\u00a0 God alone\u2014the kingdom doesn't come through human agency, God alone brings it. \u00a0And that's the whole significance of the stone cut without human hands destroying the feet of the statue.\r\n\r\nSo, first we have Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then Greece, then Rome, and then we have at least 2000 years between the ankles and the feet. \u00a0And so what's the next kingdom in our future? \u00a0The Antichrist kingdom. \u00a0See that\u2014just by paying attention to the chronology.\r\n\r\nThen and only after the Antichrist\u2019s kingdom comes on the scene\u2014tribulation-period stuff, then it will be shattered by God's kingdom. \u00a0So here's the order:\u00a0 Church age, Antichrist kingdom, God's kingdom. \u00a0You're with me on that? \u00a0And I know that there's a chronology here because all the rest of the statue going right back up to the head is chronological.\u00a0 So therefore it's no big deal interpreting the ankles and the feet and the stone cut without human hands chronologically.\r\n\r\nSo, the next kingdom in our future is not God's kingdom, you follow?\u00a0 The next kingdom in our future in the year 2019 is whose kingdom? \u00a0The Antichrist\u2019s kingdom. \u00a0Now you're sitting in a church, perhaps, that never gives you this chronology. \u00a0And all they're talking about is kingdom this and kingdom that. \u00a0And we're kingdom builders. \u00a0And we're bringing in the kingdom. \u00a0And in actuality, what kingdom are they ushering in? They're not ushering in God's kingdom because God's kingdom can't come until the Antichrist\u2018s kingdom comes on the scene, and then is destroyed by God. \u00a0Actually, what they're building, because we're living between the feet and the ankles, is Antichrist\u2019s kingdom? You see that? \u00a0So the deception is we're building the stone cut without human hands. No, you're not. You're not building the stone cut without human hands. \u00a0What you're building is the feet mixed with iron and clay.\r\n\r\nAnd so that's why kingdom now theology never wants Bible prophecy taught, because if someone gets up and explains to you, matter of factly, Bible prophecy, it would defy the order of kingdom now theology. \u00a0So the error of kingdom now theology is it's taken that stone cut without human hands, and it's bringing it into, as if people had the power to do this, they think they do. \u00a0They're bringing it into human history prematurely. And consequently, what Satan is doing with all of this kingdom now theology\u2014he's got the church thinking about and building the wrong kingdom.\r\n\r\nAnd by the way, Daniel 2 is also explained in Daniel 7. \u00a0The same content that you have in Daniel 2 is explained in Daniel 7. \u00a0It's just [that] in Daniel 2, it looked like a dazzling statue. \u00a0In Daniel 7, the same chronology is given, but through 4 grotesque beasts. \u00a0And you say, well, \u2018why the difference?<\/em>\u2019 Well, in Daniel 2, who had the dream originally?\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar, who was a Gentile, one of the oppressors of Israel. \u00a0So to him, it looked like a wonderful time period.\r\n\r\nIn Daniel 7, who receives the vision? \u00a0Daniel does. \u00a0Daniel is a Jew. \u00a0He's being oppressed. \u00a0So he's narrating the story from the Jewish perspective. \u00a0Daniel 2 is narrating the story from the Gentile perspective. To Nebuchadnezzar, it looked like a great and wonderful time, but to Daniel, it looked like a terrible time where Israel was being trampled down by these four ferocious, disgusting beasts.\r\n\r\nSo the lion would represent the head of gold, or Babylon. \u00a0The bear would represent the chest and arms of silver, or Persia. \u00a0The leopard would represent the belly and thighs of bronze, or Greece. \u00a0The terrifying beast would represent the 2 legs of iron, or Rome. \u00a0And then, at the very end of the vision, we learned that this beast has 10 horns. \u00a0And that matches the 10 toes in Daniel 2.\r\n\r\nSo it's a fascinating read when you look at both chapters together, understanding that they're narrating the exact same period of time but from different perspectives.\r\n\r\nSo here's the point I'm trying to make:\u00a0 if the next kingdom on the horizon, looking at it from our time period in 2019 almost near 2020, if the next kingdom on the horizon is the Antichrist\u2018s kingdom, and that's what this chronology reveals, and your church or your ministry that you're supporting is busy building the kingdom, then exactly whose kingdom are you building? \u00a0You think you're building God's kingdom, but you're not building God's kingdom. You're actually contributing to Satan's kingdom.\r\n\r\nSo this is one of the big problems with everybody today and [with] evangelicalism using the word \u2018kingdom\u2019<\/em> over and over again; giving people the impression that we're setting up the kingdom and establishing the kingdom. \u00a0I mean, amillennialism and post-millennialism have been teaching this for centuries, this doctrine of kingdom now theology. \u00a0It's a very important thing to actually sit down and think through because it relates to what you think the church should be doing. \u00a0I don't think the church should be building any kingdom because, number 1, God doesn't need our help. Amen? \u00a0When that stone cut without human hands enters human history, Jesus is going to bring that on His own. \u00a0He doesn't need human agency to do it.\r\n\r\nAnd number 2, if we don't pay attention to the chronology, we end up building the wrong kingdom. \u00a0It's a tremendous deception.\r\n\r\nSo, just to let you know that I'm not here making things up, here's a quote from Dave Hunt's book, which I will recommend to you. \u00a0It's called Whatever Happened to Heaven<\/u>. \u00a0<\/strong>And he's sort of lamenting in this book how the idea of Jesus coming to rescue us out of the earth via the rapture and take us to the Father\u2019s house is an idea that's falling onto hard times. \u00a0Dave Hunt writes this, \u201dThere are many factors that make up the growing apostasy and seduction of the church. One of the most alarming, least understood, and fastest spreading errors is the teaching that earth instead of heaven is the ultimate home for the church, and that her goal is to take over the world and establish the kingdom of God. \u00a0Only then, it is said, can Christ return\u2014not, however, to take us up to His Father\u2019s house, as He promised His disciples in John 14, but to reign over the kingdom which we have established for him.\u201d<\/em> [So the idea is we're setting up Christ's kingdom for Him without the king being present. That's the error of kingdom now theology]. \u00a0Dave Hunt says, \u201c...If the real Jesus Christ is going to catch His bride up from earth to meet Him in the air<\/em> [which He is going to do for us one day, do you believe that? \u00a0It is right out of your Bible] (1 Thess 4:17), \u201c...then those who work to build a kingdom for a \u2018Christ\u2019 whom they will meet with their feet planted on earth have been under heavy delusion indeed!\u00a0 They have been working for the Antichrist!\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo I believe this:\u00a0 that Satan is so slippery and so sly that his agenda is to push us into working for the Antichrist while we think we're working for Jesus Christ. And that's the deception and error of kingdom now theology.\r\n\r\nNow, I'm very fond of this book here by Hal Lindsay. \u00a0Most people know Hal Lindsay's book, The Late Great Planet Earth, as his most famous book. And I read The Late Great Planet Earth<\/u><\/strong> a number of years ago; I thought it was excellent. But his actually his very best book, even better than The Late Great Planet Earth<\/u><\/strong>, is this book here, The Road to Holocaust<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 And he, along with Dave Hunt's book, Whatever Happened to Heaven<\/u><\/strong>, explain some of these concepts that I'm trying to articulate this evening.\r\n\r\nSo here's a quote from Lindsay's book, The Road to Holocaust<\/u><\/strong>, bestselling 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's kingdom: \u00a0\u201cThe last days of the church may be largely wasted seeking to accomplish a task that only the LORD<\/strong> Himself can and will do directly<\/em>.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo we shift onto our shoulders all of these cultural, societal things. That's why you're hearing more and more sermons in local churches about social justice and white privilege and institutional racism and universal health care and, all of these social-type causes. \u00a0And we think that God has called us to fix all those problems, when in reality, the only One that can really fix those problems is Jesus Christ. \u00a0I'm not saying the church can't make certain inroads as we preach the gospel and bring people a proper worldview. \u00a0But the reality of the situation is Jesus said \u2018the poor you're always going to have with you.<\/em>\u2019 The church is not going to fix poverty. \u00a0It's not going to cure cancer. \u00a0It's not going to fix the problem in the ozone layer, assuming there even is one. \u00a0It's not going to fix climate change or global warming. \u00a0People say, \u2018Well, do you believe in climate change?\u2018<\/em> And I say, \u2018Are you asking me do I believe in the weather? \u00a0Yes, I believe in the weather. \u00a0But we had global warming in the time of the Vikings.\u00a0 And that was long before I got my SUV. So you can't blame everything on capitalism and SUVs and all of these kinds of things.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0But we start thinking about all that stuff as if we can solve it.\r\n\r\nAnd what are we not doing? \u00a0We're not doing the one job God did give us\u2014to fulfill the Great Commission. \u00a0The stuff Brett Nazareth was here talking to us about Friday, Saturday and a little bit on Sunday. \u00a0And so the deception of kingdom now theology is that it gets you involved in doing something God never called us to do; He never equipped us for; never empowered us to do. \u00a0And as you get involved in all of that, your eyes are off of what He actually did call us to do. \u00a0And every moment you spend under that deception is a moment you take what little time you have left on this earth, which is not a lot of time. \u00a0Because our lives are \u2018like mists that appear for a little while. Then they disappear,<\/em>\u2019 right? James 4:14, and our lives may be cut short prematurely anyway, via the rapture. \u00a0I can't, of course, promise that, but that could happen. Would anybody be in favor of that? \u00a0I'd be in favor of that. \u00a0I was thinking about it not long ago. I don't have a single problem in my life that the rapture wouldn't solve. \u00a0So I'm looking forward to the rapture. \u00a0The rapture could interrupt our lives, if it doesn't, I live out my natural lifespan, which is really not a lot of time. \u00a0It's like mist that is here and then it's gone.\r\n\r\nAnd wouldn't Satan love to get us to take that mist and waste it? \u00a0And that's what he's trying to do with the church at large by getting us involved in kingdom now theology. \u00a0So one of the big problems with kingdom now theology is it gets you involved in building the wrong kingdom.\r\n\r\nWhich leads me to number 6: kingdom now theology goes hand-in-hand with charismatic theology. And I want to be very careful here because I have very good brothers and sisters in Christ, and a lot of times they invite me to come speak in their churches. \u00a0They are what I would call soft Pentecostals or soft charismatics, meaning that they believe in the perpetuity of all of the spiritual gifts, but they want to practice those gifts according to the rules that are laid out in 1 Corinthians 14. \u00a0Now, even though I have a theological difference with some of those folks, it's never an issue. \u00a0So my comments are not targeted at what I would call soft charismatics. \u00a0The comments are targeted at what I would call \u2018charismania<\/em>.\u2019\r\n\r\nAnd this is where we're getting into Chapter 24 of my book, The Coming Kingdom<\/u><\/strong>, or what also is called \u2018power evangelism<\/em>.\u2019 \u00a0Power evangelism<\/em> is the idea\u2014John Wimber, I'll give you some material on him in just a little bit\u2014that, unless you see signs and wonders in a ministry, then the gospel is not really being preached. \u00a0In other words, just preaching the gospel without signs and wonders is insufficient to lead people to Christ.\r\n\r\nAnd they hold that belief despite the fact that Romans 10:17 says, \u201cFaith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God;\u201d<\/em> it doesn't say by signs and wonders. \u00a0In fact, there are a lot of people that get saved just by reaching into the hotel drawer and pulling out Gideon's Bible. \u00a0And they're directed to John 3:16, and they get saved that way. \u00a0A lot of testimonies like that, there are absolutely no signs and wonders.\u00a0 If signs and wonders produce faith, then why didn\u2019t the Exodus generation, who saw almost any kind of sign and wonder you could see\u2014the 10 plagues, and Sinai, the provision in the wilderness, and water coming out from the rock. \u00a0I mean, if signs and wonders produced faith, then why did the Exodus generation who saw all of that, fail in faith? Remember, they got up to Kadesh Barnea, and they saw giants in the land and fell into unbelief. \u00a0Well, if they saw all of the signs and wonders, why did they fall into unbelief if signs and wonders produce faith?\u00a0 The reality of the situation is signs and wonders do not produce faith. \u00a0God's word proclaimed and believed is what produces faith and salvation.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nI wasn't going to go here, but just slip over, if you could, to Luke 16:19-31\u2013well, we don't have time to read verses 19 through 31, but we'll just read verses 29 through 31.\r\n\r\nRemember the man that died in unbelief\u2014the wealthy man? And he wanted to go back and warn his family and brothers, and so forth, who were on the same course in life of unbelief that he was on, so they wouldn't go to this place that he was in, called Hades? \u00a0Remember what the rich man said to Abraham? \u00a0But Abraham said, well, actually, let's back up to verse 27. \u00a0He said, that is, the rich man in Hades in torment, \u201dThen I beg you, father<\/em>, [speaking to Abraham], that you should send him to my father\u2019s house\u2014<\/em> [Well, not speaking to Abraham here, but wanting Lazarus, I think it is, if I remember the story right, to go back from the dead and preach to his brothers\u2014 Luke 16. Sorry, Luke 16:27]. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment.\u2018 \u201cBut Abraham said, \u201cThey have Moses and the Prophets<\/em>. [Well, now, what is that? That's the word of God]. \u00a0\u201cBut Abraham said,\u2018They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.\u2019 \u201cBut he said, No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!\u2019 \u201dBut he said to him, \u2018If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0In other words, they have God's Word<\/strong>. They don't need a miracle. They don't need a sign. They don't need a contact from someone that's coming back from the dead. \u00a0What they need to do is to believe that Word<\/strong> that they have. \u00a0And if they won't believe that, it doesn't matter how many signs and wonders you do for them. \u00a0They still won't believe.\r\n\r\nAnd see, this is the error of \u2018power evangelism<\/em>,\u2019 because it assumes that unless the signs and wonders are accompanying the proclamation of the gospel, the gospel is not really being preached. \u00a0So when I criticize charismatic theology, that's the version or the variety of it that I'm critiquing here.\r\n\r\nThere are, in your Bible, various spiritual gifts. There are 7 gifts that we would call the disputed gifts, [see slide on The 7 Disputed Gifts at 36:31<\/strong>) meaning we don't believe, in our doctrinal statement, that those gifts are in operation right now. \u00a0They were in operation at one time, but they are not in operation right now. \u00a0Those gifts are: \u00a0apostle... [When I was teaching at the Bible college, students used to introduce themselves as \u2018I'm Apostle so-and-so<\/em>.\u2019 And I would always say, \u2018Man, you look good for your age because you should be about 2000 years old by now<\/em>.\u2019 And that kind of got them thinking a little bit. \u00a0So sometimes using a little humor is better than just attacking someone's belief system right out of the gate. \u00a0So we have apostle, prophet, worker of miracles, tongues, which is a terrible translation. \u00a0It is actually languages. \u00a0The word is \u2018dialecto\u2019<\/em> where we get the word \u2018dialect<\/em>\u2018 and \u2018glossolalia\u2019<\/em> where we get the word, \u2018glossary<\/em>.\u2019 \u00a0What do you find in a dialect or a glossary? \u00a0A known language. \u00a0So it was a capacity to speak in a language that one had never learned. \u00a0So if all you spoke is Spanish, and all I spoke is English\u2014and all of a sudden, I break out in crystal clear Spanish, having never studied it, with Spanish being a known language, you would say \u2018that's a miracle from God<\/em>.\u2019 And that was one of the miracles that God used to confirm the early church and its message, because the Jews had been under the same kind of thinking for 1500 years, and now something new is on the scene. \u00a0And so there had to have been some kind of sign God gave to authenticate the change of rules that had just taken place. \u00a0That's why these foundational gifts were given.\r\n\r\nSo tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, and the gift of knowledge where you claim you just got direct knowledge from God. \u00a0Charismatics believe that all those spiritual gifts are in operation today. \u00a0Every spiritual gift you see in the Bible is in full operation today. \u2018Power evangelism<\/em>,\u2019 the soft, charismatic say, \u2018Okay, they're in operation today, but you need to follow the rules of 1 Corinthians 14 because Paul lays out very clear rules that have to be followed if those gifts are in operation today.\u2019<\/em> I'm much more akin with that variety of the charismatic movement than \u2018power evangelism<\/em>,\u2019 which says [that] if these gifts are not in operation today, the gospel is not being proclaimed.\r\n\r\nNow cessationists, and I don't even like that title either, because we're not cessationists, because we believe some of the gifts of the Spirit are in operation today. Hopefully, you believe in the gift of teaching, or else, why come to a Bible study?\u00a0 As for cessationists, which is our camp, I prefer the title selective cessationists, because we don't believe that all of them don't exist. \u00a0We believe most of them exist. \u00a0But these 7 do not exist today. \u00a0Selective cessationists believe that most of the gifts of the Spirit are in operation today. \u00a0All but those 7. \u00a0And one of the reasons that this is a big deal is because if you believe that people today are receiving direct revelations from God on equal par with what's in this Book\u2014because if someone receives a direct revelation from God, I should be able to take their words and be able to add Revelation 23 to my Bible, when Revelation only has 22 chapters.\r\n\r\nThe problem with the belief that there are direct visions and revelations and knowledge from God today to some people, is that it's an attack on sola Scriptura. It's one of the great truths that came out of the Protestant Reformation\u2014that the Scripture alone is sufficient. The whole Protestant Reformation and all those other solas that you see on the list come out of the foundational belief of sola Scriptura. \u00a0In other words, this Book<\/u><\/strong> itself is foundational. \u00a0And what is in this Book, 2 Peter 1,3,4, 2 Timothy 3:17, is sufficient for all matters of faith and godliness.\r\n\r\nEverything that you need to spiritually develop into the person that God wants you to be is in this Book. \u00a0I don't need to consult some private prophecy somewhere, so what you have in the charismatic movement, to my understanding of it anyway, is this sort of idea that the Scripture alone is not enough. \u00a0Why would I read this 2000 year-old book?\u00a0 With the New Testament 2000 years old, the Old Testament 3500 years old\u2014would I read that when I can go and get the direct word from God today, and get the updated version? \u00a0So what you have in the charismatic movement, to a large extent, is an attack on sola Scriptura.\r\n\r\nSugarland Bible Church is a church that believes in what are called the temporary spiritual gifts. Or rather, it has a statement about the temporary spiritual gifts. \u00a0So we do not hide the ball at this church. \u00a0Everything we believe is out there in print. \u00a0And if you agree with the position of the church, then come on and join us. \u00a0But we don't let people be here for 10 years and say, \u2018Oh, surprise, we have this belief over here.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nWe're very honest in the front end, and we have what are called position statements. It's interesting how our Constitution is set up. You don't even have to believe the position statements to be a member. There are the statements of faith, which is a smaller list, less controversial, that you have to believe, but you don't even have to believe the position statements to be a member. The position statements, though, communicate that when this church teaches, in any venue, pulpit, Sunday School, Youth Group, small group, whatever, that we come from the angle of these 7 position statements. \u00a0So actually, there might even be more than 7 position statements. There are 7, right? \u00a0Seven is a biblical number. \u00a0We'll go with that. But you'll notice here, number 7, the title of it is Temporary Spiritual Gifts.\r\n\r\n[See slide on SLBC Position Statement No. 7]<\/strong> \u201cThis church teaches that the miraculous sign gifts, including the gift of tongues, <\/em>[which is] (always the ability to speak in a previously unlearned known language), along with the gifts of healing, were temporal gifts given by the Holy Spirit solely to authenticate both the Apostles and their message before the close of the canon of Scripture (1 Cor. 13:8-10). \u00a0We do not believe [<\/em>that] these are active as gifts today\u201d...<\/em>\r\n\r\nNow, what gifts are we talking about? \u00a0We're talking about those 7 right there [see slide on The 7 Disputed Gifts at 44:23]<\/strong>.\r\n\r\n[Back to slide on SLBC Position Statement No. 7<\/strong>] \u201c...However<\/em>, [and I like how this is worded], we affirm that God is sovereign and may heal today.<\/em>..\u201d [So just because we're saying there's no gift of healing doesn't mean we think God doesn't heal today.\u00a0 I mean, if I didn't believe that God didn't heal, why would Earl stand up and give us all these prayer requests of people in the hospital and people who are sick? \u00a0We obviously believe God heals when He wants to. \u00a0We don't tell Him who to heal. \u00a0We petition Him. \u00a0He doesn't obligate Himself to heal everybody. But we believe that when God heals, He does so directly, rather than indirectly, through someone who claims that they have the gift of healing.\r\n\r\nSo just because we're cessationists in these 7 gifts doesn't mean we think that God doesn't heal today. We believe that the majority of what is termed miraculous within the contemporary charismatic movement... Now, here, I'm not critiquing the soft, charismatic movement that wants to follow the rules of 1 Corinthians 14; I'm critiquing here charismania<\/em> where anything goes. \u00a0And \u2018power evangelism<\/em>.\u2019\r\n\r\nWe believe that the majority of what is termed today miraculous within the contemporary charismatic movement is something other than the biblical gifts of tongues or healing. \u00a0So, your typical charismatic or pentecostal will talk in great detail about some kind of private prayer language that they believe they have or they can communicate with God. And they do that because of the poor translation, tongues, when the fact of the matter is that's not even what the Greek word says. It's \u2018glossolalia\u2019<\/em> and \u2018dialecto\u2019<\/em> in Greek, which always refer to a known language.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIt would be like going out on the missionary field, and you speak English, and everybody else speaks Spanish, and then you break out in perfect Spanish. \u00a0That's the true gift of tongues in the Bible. \u00a0It has nothing to do with babbling. It has nothing to do with some kind of private tongue between you and the Lord. \u00a0So that would be an example of our last sentence there, where we believe that the majority of what is termed miraculous within the contemporary charismatic movement is something other than the biblical gifts of tongues or healing. \u00a0So that's sort of the divide. \u00a0You all are familiar with this division within the Christian church. \u00a0I mean, you can be a Christian for a month and see this division. You go down to an Assembly of God type of church, and these gifts are alive and well. At least they claim they are. You come to other churches like ours, Sugar Land Bible Church, and we say, \u2018No, those gifts passed away. The majority of gifts are still here. But those seven passed away because they're intimately connected with the apostolic ministry.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo why go into this? \u00a0What I want to show you is this: \u00a0the more you move in the direction of kingdom now theology, [then] the more you move in the direction of the charismatic movement. In other words, now this is not an ironclad rule, because I know some soft charismatics that don't believe we're in the kingdom [now]. \u00a0However, generally speaking, not 100% of the time, generally, this maxim is true: \u00a0if you believe in the kingdom and that we're in the kingdom now, then it's almost impossible to be a selective cessationist. Kingdom now theology leads in the direction of the charismatic movement, \u2018power evangelism<\/em>,\u2019charismania<\/em>, etc.\r\n\r\nNow, why would I say that? \u00a0It's very simple. \u00a0In the kingdom, there's going to be miracles, right? \u00a0That's one of the characteristics of the Millennial Kingdom. \u00a0Isaiah 35:5-6, of the coming kingdom, says \u201cThen the eyes of the blind will be opened. And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. \u00a0For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.<\/em>\u201d Now that's a kingdom passage. \u00a0If you believe we're in the kingdom now, then that should be a reality in every single church. \u00a0That does not take you in the direction of selective cessationism. \u00a0It takes you in the direction of a belief system that believes in the full perpetuity of the spiritual gifts, including those 7 disputed gifts.\r\n\r\nSo, and this is what most people miss in this whole discussion\u2014they argue their points from other grounds. \u00a0But what they're missing is the foundation through which charismatic theology comes to the surface, and the foundation is kingdom now theology. In my entire life as a Christian, I've almost had nobody, except in writing and in print in a few places, draw that connection for people.\u00a0 And that's what I'm trying to do in chapter 24 of my book. \u00a0I'm not trying to rehash the whole cessationist charismatic debate. \u00a0What I'm simply trying to show is the relevance of kingdom now theology to that particular debate.\r\n\r\nSo, John Wimber, who is dead now, but back in his day, was the founder of what is called the Vineyard movement. There was, in Southern California, around the late 1960s, early 1970s, something called the Jesus movement, where all of these people off the beaches, hippies, were just getting saved like crazy. That was connected to a belief in charismatic theology. \u00a0In other words, the the movers and shakers in that movement were what I would call charismatics or pentecostals. \u00a0Now, some of that group wanted to remain or be soft pentecostals. \u00a0They said, \u2018We believe in all these gifts, but we want to follow the rules of 1 Corinthians 14.\u2019<\/em> Another chunk of that group wanted to discard the rules, and Katie- bar-the-door. Actually, Katie opened the door to anything and everything that's miraculous, and there was a split at that point in time between what I would call the ultra-charismatic movement, John Wimber, from the soft charismatics. And that's a split that most people might know as the split between Calvary Chapel, if you're familiar with that movement, and the Vineyard. \u00a0So the Vineyard wanted to go in the direction of \u2018power evangelism<\/em>.\u2019 That's why there are Calvary Chapel churches and Vineyard churches. \u00a0It had to do with this split.\r\n\r\nSo Wimber was on the cutting edge of this more radical form of the charismatic movement. \u00a0And he explains here in his book, entitled Power Evangelism<\/u>. <\/strong>Now, what is \u2018power evangelism<\/em>?\u2019 \u2018Power evangelism<\/em>\u2019 is the idea that unless the gospel is proclaimed with signs and wonders, then the gospel is not really being proclaimed. And I tried to show you some deficiencies in that earlier.\r\n\r\nIn his book, Power Evangelism<\/u><\/strong>, John Wimber explains why he moved in this direction of experientalism. \u00a0And look what he says here, because Wimber will connect the dots between his belief system in the charismatic movement and kingdom now theology. \u00a0He does it right there in print. He says, \u201cI was already acquainted with George Eldon Ladd's writings.<\/em>..[now you should know who this George Eldon Ladd is because George Eldon Ladd at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, a seminary that's now gone very, very liberal, was the progenitor of the already-not-yet view of the kingdom. Does that ring a bell at all? That's exactly what Darrell Bock is promoting at Dallas Seminary. The already-not-yet view of the kingdom. Bock makes a few cosmetic changes to Ladd's belief system. \u00a0But the best I can tell, the two systems have a lot more in common than they do apart]. So Wimber says \u201cI was acquainted with George Eldon Ladd's writings (he was a Fuller Theological Seminary professor), but it was not until I read his book, Jesus and the Kingdom...\u201d<\/em> [what is Ladd arguing in Jesus and the Kingdom? That Jesus set up a spiritual form of the kingdom in His first coming]...\u201cthat I realized how his work on the kingdom...<\/em>\u201d [look at this\u2014this is right out of Wimber\u2019s writings], \u201c...formed a theological basis for power evangelism. As I read Dr. Ladd's works and then read afresh the gospel accounts, I became convinced that power evangelism was for today.\u201c <\/em>\r\n\r\nSo he basically bought into, at Fuller Seminary, this idea that Jesus set up and already formed the kingdom in His first coming. \u00a0And so Wimber said, \u2018Gosh, if that's true, then everything Jesus did in terms of miracles should be replicated today in the life of the church. And in fact, if your evangelism doesn't include these miracles, it's not real biblical evangelism<\/em>.\u2019 \u00a0So do you see the nexus there? \u00a0Most people don't see this. \u00a0So Wimber founded, because of this split, the Vineyard movement. And here is the Vineyard movement's mission statement, and it's quite fascinating to read because the Vineyard keeps talking about the kingdom present all of the time. \u00a0John Wimber, in the Vineyard Mission statement, \u201cCommitment to the theology and practice of the kingdom of God is the most fundamental core value in the Vineyard<\/em>\u201d... [and this is what we're all about. We're not just about miracles. We're about the kingdom that gives you all of these miracles]...\r\n\r\n\u201c...When the Vineyard talks about the kingdom, we are talking about the kingdom of God as a dynamic reality that the future reign of God breaking into the present through the life and ministry of Jesus.<\/em>..\u201d [Now, that's exactly what Darrell Bock teaches at Dallas Seminary; he uses that identical language. The future has broken into the present already-not-yet view of the kingdom] ...\u201cWe have been commissioned to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, bearing witness to the already and the not yet of the kingdom in words and deeds\u201d ..<\/em>.[Boy, that sounds familiar]. \u00a0\u201c...[Wow]. We view the kingdom of God as the overarching and integrating theme of the Bible.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nDo you see how dependent the Vineyard is on an already view of the kingdom? And and this is why Wimber got the whole concept of \u2018power evangelism<\/em>\u2019 from the already-not view of Fuller Seminary, of the writings of George Eldon Ladd. \u00a0Now, Charles Ryrie critiques the already-not view of the kingdom on this ground. \u00a0Because, you see, at Dallas Seminary, they're teaching this already-not view of the kingdom. \u00a0And yet that's supposed to be a cessationist school. \u00a0So Ryrie\u2019s point is: \u00a0how can you be a cessationist school and believe in this already form of the kingdom when the already form of the kingdom logically leads in the direction of the charismatic movement? Ryrie says, correctly, I think, \u201cNon-charismatic, progressive dispensationalists <\/em>[those are those who are largely riding on the coattails of George Eldon Ladd] have not faced the question as to why signs and wonders are not characteristic of the church, if in fact, Christ is already on David's throne. \u00a0During our Lord's earthly life, many signs validated His claim to the promised Davidic king for Israel. \u00a0Now that he is allegedly reigning as Davidic king,<\/em> (according to progressives), why are there not miraculous signs happening today in the \u2018already\u2019 stage of his Davidic reign?\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nOne of the progenitors of the progressive dispensational movement is a man who is also passed on. \u00a0His name is Robert Saucy of Talbot Theological Seminary. \u00a0He actually wrote a whole book defending progressive dispensationalism. \u00a0And it is very interesting that as he moved in that direction, towards the end of his life, he got more and more open to the charismatic movement. He began to call his view open but cautious. \u00a0Now that was a shift because it used to be \u2018those things don't happen anymore,\u2019<\/em> to \u2018now I'm open to those things, but I'm cautious about it.\u2019<\/em> And he moved in that direction as he began to flirt more and more with the idea that we are, in some sense, currently in the kingdom. \u00a0Dan Wallace of Dallas Seminary, Greek scholar, has a whole article. \u00a0You can find it on his website online where he admits his openness to the charismatic movement. \u00a0The title of the article, and I have it footnoted in the book, is \u201cThe Uneasy Conscience of a Non-Charismatic Evangelical.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhat is the reality of the situation here? And I'm getting ready to wrap up, believe it or not. What is, according to this list, the very last book that Paul wrote? \u00a02 Timothy in AD 67. \u00a0Now, this is Paul, who brought people back from the dead in his ministry. There was actually a guy named Eutychus. \u00a0In Acts 20 there in Troaz, Paul got a little long-winded one night as their pastor, and he talked all night long. \u00a0Now today, if I go pass 12:30, it's World War III. \u00a0If Paul was your pastor, you would never get out, and Eutychus fell asleep in the windowsill. \u00a0He fell off a two-story building. He hit the ground, and he died. Paul went down, laid hands on Eutychus and brought him back from the dead. \u00a0So Paul is not exactly a guy that did minor miracles.\u00a0 He did heavy miracles to the point of bringing people back from the dead. But this is what Paul says at the end of his life, AD 67, in the very last book that he wrote, \u201cErastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.\u201d<\/em> Why would you do that, Paul? Why would you leave Trophimus sick at Miletus when you, earlier in your ministry, brought back Eutychus from the dead? \u00a0In fact, right before Paul writes 2 Timothy, he wrote around the same period of time, 1 Timothy, a latter book. \u00a0And the Baptists don't like this verse because he says, \u2018Take a little bit of wine for your upset stomach<\/em>\u2019 (1 Timothy 5:23). \u00a0Why would Paul tell Timothy at the end of his ministry, \u2018Take a little wine for your upset stomach<\/em>?\u2018 Why didn't he just heal him? Why did he leave Trophimus sick at Miletus?\u00a0 \u2018You brought back Eutychus from the dead. \u00a0Just heal him!\u2019<\/em> \u00a0Well, the answer is that the sign gifts were petering out because they had served their purpose. The foundation for the church had been laid. \u00a0The new movement of God and the church had taken place. \u00a0It had been authenticated to everyone. \u00a0So these sign gifts gradually began to be withdrawn. This becomes biblical evidence as to why we at Sugar Land Bible Church don't walk lockstep with the charismatic movement. Remember our doctrinal statement. \u00a0We're not saying God doesn't heal today. \u00a0He heals when he wants to, but he does it directly rather than indirectly through someone like Paul, who at that particular time in history, prior to 2 Timothy 4:20, had the gift of healing. \u00a0Now, here's the quote from Chrysostom, which I don't have time to read to you; you can read that on your own, 4th century. Here's the quote from Augustine, 4th century. And here is the lengthy quote from Philip Schaff, who wrote the history of the Christian Church, which is probably the most authoritative academic source we have on church history.\u00a0 He's not a lightweight, Philip Schaff. And all sources, all three sources, Chrysostom, an early church father, Augustine, and Schaff, in this long quote, all hold to the selective cessationist perspective.\u00a0 (See slides on above quotes)<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSo we believe, according to our own position statement number 7, that the biblical position is that of selective cessationism, and my only point tonight is simply to demonstrate that that view will never harmonize with kingdom now theology. The more the church sees itself as the kingdom of God, the more selective cessationism doesn't make sense.\r\n\r\nSo what does kingdom now theology do?\u00a0 Number 5: \u00a0it gets you building the wrong kingdom. And number 6, it opens the door to something that used to be shut, which is the charismatic movement. And the part of that movement that I'm bothered by is not even so much the soft side of it, but the \u2018power evangelism<\/em>\u2019 side of it.\r\n\r\nAnd next week, I'll show you number 7 of something that you see every time you turn on so-called Christian television, which is the prosperity gospel. \u00a0That you're the \u2018kid of a kin<\/em>g,\u2019 so God wants you to be rich. Have you seen guys on TV promoting that? That is directly related to kingdom now theology, and I'll show you that next time.\r\n\r\nAnd so, wow, I'm way over time, 6 minutes over. \u00a0So we'll stop at this point.\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