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The King and the kingdom.

The King and the kingdom.

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

/ Programs / Key Life / The King and the kingdom.

Steve Brown:
The King and the kingdom. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is all about God’s radical grace, grace that has dirt under his fingernails and laugh lines on its face. If you want the Bible to be a book of rules, you may want to stop listening now, but if you’re hungry for the truth, that’ll make you free. Welcome to Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you guys had a great weekend and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. If you’re just joining us, we’re continuing with our study of the book of Galatians. There’s no place in the Bible, maybe with the exception of the book of Romans, where the gospel is spoken so clearly. And such detail and with such power than in the book of Galatians, I believe that every Christian, at least once a year, needs to read the book of Galatians as a part of his or her Bible reading. And if you really want the fire to come, read Martin Luther’s introduction to the book of Galatians. And so we’re taking our time and I’m your tour director through the book of Galatians. And we’re looking at some really good stuff, Paul’s something else. And now he’s turning to the idea of the King and the kingdom and our part into the kingdom. Our part in the kingdom, I might say. And, it’ll make you almost, if you’re not charismatic speak in tongues and for an old Presbyterian I might even dance, as we look at the kingdom mentality of the believer. Before we turn to the text, let’s pray. Father, we come into your presence, and sometimes we do forget that we are a part of a kingdom, with a King that nobody yet elected and nobody will ever depose. Remind us in these words from our brother Paul, and thank you for the inspiration of your spirit that had him say it truthfully, in exactly the right way for the right people, and that would be us, your children. Father, your kindness is sometimes overwhelming and your goodness and your love, but our sin is sometimes overwhelming too. And in your presence, we feel uncomfortable, until we remember that we’re not here because we’re good, but because we’re yours. Father, you know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast right now and you know the hard places, the rough roads, the bumps, the difficulties, the hard side roads. Father, on our journey, remind us that you are our guide and our companion, remind us that you are sufficient for every need and remind us that you know what you’re doing, and you do it quite well. And then Father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast, forgive him his sins, cause there are many, we would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Alright, if you have a Bible and you’re in a place where you can open it, open it to Galatians 3:25-29, where Paul writes as follows.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Now in the verses, I just read to you the apostle Paul continues with the thesis of the book of Galatians, and it’s this, that the way of Christ is superior to every other way, and certainly the way of the law and rules and religion. Paul is saying that if you want to be reconciled to God, to have abundant life, to know power of being connected to God, then you don’t do it by trying hard. You don’t do it by hustle. You don’t do it by obeying the rules. You do it by faith, which then is accounted as righteousness. In the verses that we’re going to be studying for the next few days, Paul allows us to see some marks of the way of Christ, some distinguishing characteristics, if you will, of the kingdom of Christ. Those marks are by no means exhaustive, but they are definitive. And we’re going to look at them. One of the great theological themes today, and it’s always been true, is the theology of the kingdom, or the doctrine of the kingdom. And the Bible has a couple of things. Well, a whole number of things to say about the kingdom. I don’t want to go down all those roads, but it includes everything. Psalm 10:16,

The Lord is King forever and ever; the nations shall perish from his hand.

And Romans 11:33-36,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Hugh Latimer, the English martyr encouraged himself before an appearance before King Henry the eighth, with these words, you talk about self-talk, this is good self-talk. He said to himself,

Latimer, Latimer, thou art going to speak before the high and mighty King Henry the Eighth, who is able, if he thinks fit to take thy life away, but Latimer, Latimer, be careful what thou sayeth. remember also that there art about to speak to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, take heed that thou dust not displease him.

The universe is a ruled by God and no civilization. It’s the microphone and I’m doing the best I can. And no civilization can stand, except at his behest, no man or woman succeeds without his permission. No Sparrow falls without his knowledge. He is the King. The kingdom is also future, in Revelation 11:15, it says this.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Donald Hanky encouraged his troops with these words.

Come on, lads. Come on. If we get through this thing, we’ll find God. If we get wounded it’s Blighty. If we go west it’s the resurrection.

Someday, dear friend, Christ will establish his kingdom on earth.

At the sound of the last trumpet,

Paul says,

the dead in Christ will arise and the kingdom shall be established.

There won’t be anymore death or disease or war or elections or hurt or tears, because the King will be all that is, and the kingdom is thirdly. And then we’re going to look at the text, I promise. Is thirdly a present reality, Matthew 12:28. Jesus has just been accused of casting out demons by the power of the King of demons. He says,

If it is by the spirit of God that I cast demons, then the kingdom of God has come among you.

And then in Luke 1:32-33. Gabriel is speaking to Mary about the birth of her son. Jesus.

He will be great, he will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

And so Jesus is a present King. He is a past King and he will be a future King. And I don’t want to spend much more time on this, because we’re heading to land the plane for today. But this is important to remember, especially in a year when politics are so divisive and people seem to hate each other. We’re citizens of a nation that is flawed and in trouble almost all the time, but don’t you dare forget that you’re citizens of another kingdom, with a King who rules everything that is, everything that was and everything that ever will be. Nobody elected that king and nobody will ever depose him. And he will return and clean up the mess. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That was Steve Brown, continuing to lead us through Galatians. Today taking a look at the idea of a King and a kingdom and our place in all of that. There’s a lot to unpack here, so be sure to join us tomorrow, as we do just that. So in a month or so there’s this holiday you’ve probably heard of it. It has become associated with giving and receiving gifts, which of course is great. But Key Life, we like giving gifts throughout the year, that’s why we have the Key Life CD family. Join today, and you’ll get two free CDs from Steve each and every year as funds permit. These CDs are from talks at various events where Steve speaks throughout the year. Usually this is audio that hasn’t been heard anywhere else previously. So get in on this by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also drop an email to [email protected] and ask for the CDs. By mail send your request to

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