How the Church Relates to the Kingdom

Transcript

GRM 988
10/7/2007
How the Church Relates to the Kingdom
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


What I want to talk to you today has to do with areas that I think of concern because of what is taking place, not in the world, but within the church, particularly within the church that would call itself an evangelical church or a Bible-believing church. And has to do with confusion that is greater regarding what the church is, its responsibility, how it relates to the Kingdom, what we are to be doing in society in dealing with social problems and political situations and so on. Matters that we have referred to off and on in a number of our studies, particularly recently. So some of these matters will be overview for you, but I just want to pull together some thoughts relating to the Kingdom and the church's responsibility and our activity.

There was an article in the paper, it's been a week or two ago, but it was on a poll that was taken. They did some tests, and these were people of all ages, and told them certain things were true and certain things were false. They had to answer that. Then they came back a little bit later and it was amazing the percentage of people that were confused and the things that were false, they were sure were true. And the things that were true, they were sure were false. And this wasn't just true for people my age, this was also true for people that were young. And we're reminded, what often impacts us as believers, when we do hear things we get confused and it's amazing. We joke, a well told lie will beat the truth every time. And there is an element of truth in that, in that if we're constantly bombarded with something we begin to accept the fact it must be true, even though it's not. A number of years ago I went on a diet. That should be a good thing, and I lost weight, that was a good thing. But everybody told me I looked sick. Pretty soon I found myself going home wondering, maybe I have something I don't know I have. So I just put the weight back on and we're all happy. But we're impacted by what people say. And what goes on in the church begins to affect our thinking. And if we're not careful we begin to think that we should be doing something that the scripture doesn't say we should.

There is a strong emphasis today on the church assuming a part in the Kingdom. And you'll hear people talk about we're building the Kingdom, we're in the Kingdom, we're adding people to the Kingdom, and this kind of terminology. And this terminology is replacing an emphasis on the church. The church, that's a small focus, that's narrow. Here we are a local church in this given location, and there are thousands upon thousands of local churches in other places across the country and around the world. And it seems, well that's isolated and narrow-focused just to talk about your church. And we should be talking about the Kingdom. And the church is involved in building the Kingdom, and we're in the Kingdom, and we need to be doing things to build the Kingdom. This is a worldwide vision, think beyond your local church. And pretty soon we begin to think, that's exciting, and aren't we building the Kingdom.

I'm going to read you a couple of comments. This is a dominant theme in what is known as the emerging church today. One emerging church writer put it this way, the Kingdom is huge in the emerging church movement. Rick Warren, I'm selecting him because he is someone who is so well known because of his writings with The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life and so on. Here is what he is doing. He's developed a plan called the Peace Plan—P-E-A-C-E. This is an acronym, each of the letters standing for something. P – planting churches, E – equipping leaders, A – assisting the poor, C – caring for the sick, E – educating the next generation. Now you'll note here we have a five-point plan. The church is one of those points, but what we're going to do is bigger than just the church because we're doing the Kingdom. And so the church is there but we also want to be involved in equipping leader, assisting the poor, caring for the sick and educating the next generation. Now where we get into difficulty here is, we say, is that bad? Educating the next generation, are you against that? Are you against assisting the poor? Don't you think the sick ought to be cared for? If you were sick wouldn't you want somebody to care for you? I say, yes, I would. Well then why are you against these things? These often are things that in and of themselves aren't wrong, aren't bad. The question comes, is this what the church is called and appointed to do by the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ. Like your children, they're doing something and you want them to do something else. They say, what's wrong with what I am doing? Well the point is not that what you're doing is something wrong, but it is not the best thing for you to be doing right now. How often do our children try to get out of doing something by substituting something that is not bad, but it's not just what they need to do, should be doing. And a church needs to be careful that these things, we don't say, that sounds all right to me—assisting the poor, caring for the sick, educating the next generation.

Now how this plan all gets carried out. He explains, the problems are so big everybody has failed in solving them. The United States has failed, the United Nations has failed, nobody has solved these five problems (those I just mentioned in his Peace Plan). The reason is we need a three-prong stool for the stability of a nation. Now note where we are now, we aren't talking about the role of the church, now we're talking about the stability of a nation. Not talking about local churches, not talking about what are churches to do. We're talking about having stability in a nation and then among the nations and we can have a worldwide impact because what are we doing? We're building the Kingdom. For the stability of a nation you must have strong, healthy government; strong, healthy businesses; and strong, healthy churches. So now in the five-point plan the church was one of the points. Now with the three-pronged stool that will accomplish the five-point plan, the church plays one role. It's one of the legs of the stool. Healthy government and healthy business are the others.

Now wait a minute, how does this all fit? But you see we've gone beyond that. We're going to build the Kingdom and the result will be a world that meets what the Bible says the Kingdom could be. They will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now we need healthy churches, healthy government and healthy businesses to do this. And in a subtle yet not-so-subtle way we have changed the focus and the whole point of our existence, if you will, as a local church and as individual believers.

So he says, a three-legged stool will have stability. I'm going from country to country teaching business its role, teaching church its role, teaching government leaders their role. You've got to work together. We cannot solve the problem in your country or in the world if we don't work together. Now we've gone beyond what the church is to do, because the church is just part of a far bigger plan. We're building the Kingdom, we're going to bring the Kingdom in.

And so to do this we have to put aside our differences. So, this is still Rick Warren, says, when I go out I start telling people, do you want to work with us on poverty, disease, aids, illiteracy, injustice? Is there anything wrong with working on poverty, disease, aids, illiteracy, injustice? I often find people are more unwilling to work with us than we are willing to work with them. In other words we're saying, you don't have to change your beliefs for us to work with you. If you can only work with people that you agree with, then most of the world you're ruling out. Okay, I don't insist a Muslim change his belief to work with me on poverty. I don't even insist that a gay person has to change their beliefs. You're not going to accept my belief, I'm not going to accept theirs. Now wait a minute, what happened here? All of a sudden now the church is somewhat irrelevant, isn't it? Because really to build the kind of Kingdom we have to have all kinds of people involved. So we can't make an issue whether you have Christian beliefs or Muslim beliefs. What your morality is, whether you're homosexual or heterosexual. We can work together. And so you see, once you put the Bible into a mix or the church into a mix, you nullify the church.

We get this coming out in a variety of ways, these kind of ideas. They keep talking about the unity of the church, and we need to have unity. We don't need to emphasize our differences, we need to emphasize our unity. Recently we studied the seven churches in Asia Minor addressed by Christ in Revelation 2-3, and one of the things that was not dealt with there by Christ, He never told them, seven churches in the same region, on the same postal route of that day, you ought to be working together to impact Asia. As people see your unity, your testimony .............. He never does that, He addresses each church individually, solely accountable and solely responsible to Him. But somehow that's not a big enough plan and not appealing enough. But to say, I'm going around the world, teaching business its role, the church its role, government its role. We've got to work together to solve the problems of our country and the world. We're talking about building the Kingdom.

This whole Kingdom idea and we're building it is what is known as postmillenialism. You know in the 1800s postmillenialism was the popular theology, probably, in what we call the evangelical world, the Bible-believing world. Postmillenialism, through our efforts the world is going to get better and better until at last the Kingdom is here, and we will have the Kingdom brought in by man's efforts. And so if we could improve governments, if we could improve business, if we could get the world to work together ........ What are we going to do? We're going to build the Kingdom. And the problem is, the Bible does not say we are to build the Kingdom. The Bible does not say we are in the Kingdom, the Bible does not say the Kingdom will come as a result of our efforts. You know one of the things that characterizes these individuals, like the one I just quoted and others, they are strongly, rabidly anti-fundamentalist Christian, anti-dispensational because you're too narrow, you draw too tight a line. We want to go to the Bible to find out if it supports it, not just throw verses around.

What does the Bible say about the Kingdom? I want to say a few things about the Kingdom and then some related matters. Come back to Daniel, some of you are studying Daniel in one of the classes. The subject of the Kingdom is very, very prominent in the scripture, particularly the Old Testament. Then in the Gospels it gets a focus with the coming of Christ. The book of Revelation builds to the Kingdom. What is the Kingdom that will be established on this earth? What was Jesus talking about when He taught His disciples to pray, Thy will be done, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, a phrase you'll find referenced to writers that are talking about this is what we want to do, we're in the Kingdom, we're building the Kingdom. That's the time when God's will will be done on earth, so we want to implement and see God's will done and bring the world to function the way God would have it function.

Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon. He sees in a dream an image, of a splendid image. Down in verse 31 when Daniel interprets it for him he says, oh king, you were looking and behold there was a single great statue. That statue which was large and of extraordinary splendor, it was a magnificent image. It was a tall image of a man that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. And the image was comprised of different metals, starting with a head of gold and then culminating in legs and feet of iron and toes mixed with iron and clay. Daniel is called to interpret this dream, Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know what it means. The culmination of the dream, verse 32, Daniel describes it. The head of the statue was made of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. And what each of these represent, as most of you are well aware, are the different coming empires of the world, staring with the existing one. Babylon was ruling the world, so that was the head of gold. That would be followed by Medo-Persia. And you'll note these metals decline in quality, the gold being the most valuable, down until you get to the iron, the least valuable. But the iron is the strongest of all the metals mentioned. But each of these represent empires, starting with Babylon, then you come to Medo-Persia, followed by Greece and Rome. These four world empires, from Daniel's day on.

Then there is another kingdom. Look at verse 34. You continued looking, Daniel telling Nebuchadnezzar, until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. The iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold were crushed all at the same time. Became like the chaff from a summer threshing floor. The wind carried them away, not a trace of them was found. The stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. What does that mean? Down in verse 44, in the days of those kings, the kings represented the feet and the toes, particularly the ten toes as will be elaborated later in Daniel. We'll look at that in a moment. The days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. You see the timeline here? The God of heaven will set up a kingdom. Doesn't say the people of the God of heaven will bring in a kingdom, but the God of heaven will do it. How is it going to happen? Dramatically, with divine intervention, not gradually. But here this stone cut without hands smashes the image. And the God of heaven sets up a kingdom at a definite point in time. In the days of those kings represented by the toes. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but itself will endure forever. Daniel goes on to say the God of heaven has revealed to you what is going to happen in the future.

Turn over to Daniel 7. In Daniel 7 God gives a vision to Daniel and it covers the same material that was covered in chapter 2. In chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar, a man who did not believe in the God of Israel at that point, saw the empires of the world and to him they were splendid and beautiful. Now Daniel, the prophet, the man of God, in chapter 7 sees the same information but with different images. He sees the empires of the world represented by wild beasts that tear and devour one another. Verse 2 tells you, Daniel said, I was looking in my vision by night. Behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. Four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another. These four great beasts will represent the empires, same empires represented by the image in chapter 2. Starting with Babylon, followed by Medo-Persia, followed by Greece, followed by Rome.

You come down to verse 7, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying. Remember in chapter 2 Rome was represented by iron, the strongest and most powerful. Now here the fourth beast is dreadful and terrifying. It trampled down the other empires and it had ten horns, the end of verse 7. Remember the image in Daniel 2? It had toes. How many toes are on the normal man? Ten. Here you have ten horns on the head of this beast. Then he saw another little horn come up among the ten. So it's in this time. And where do we break off here? Remember chapter 2? That stone cut without hands crushes the image in the days of those kings represented by the ten toes. Now here when you have the ten kings out of which come one king, then in that period of time we go to verses 9 ff and you have the establishing of the kingdom of Christ on the earth. You have a heavenly scene in verse 9-10, you have the destruction in verses 11-12 of the enemies of God. Remember in chapter 2 that stone crushed the empires. Here the enemies are destroyed in verses 11-12. Then verse 13, I kept looking in the night visions. Behold in the clouds of heaven one like the Son of Man was coming. Remember Jesus' name for Himself was Son of Man? He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him, to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Basically the same thing is said in chapter 2. At this time all earthly kingdoms become insignificant. There is one ruling king over all the world, one kingdom, if you will. This is the kingdom that the Bible is talking about, that will be established under the authority of the Messiah. And there are numerous, numerous passages through the Old Testament that describe this Kingdom in detail.

Come over to Matthew 24. We're coming to the end of Christ's earthly ministry when we come to Matthew 24. And what people are confused, they read the gospels, and this happens as you read this material. They keep quoting the gospels as though this is for the church, this is the church. You understand that you live under Mosaic Law from Exodus 19 for the nation Israel, the nation Israel being God's people from Genesis 12. And God's people are placed under the authority of the Mosaic Law from Exodus 19. The nation Israel is the focal point of God's work in the world and the Mosaic Law governs their conduct until the coming of the Messiah. With Christ's death and resurrection the requirements of the Mosaic Law are fulfilled, it is done away with, it is complete, it is over. The gospels are under the same rule, it's dealing with the nation Israel, it's dealing with the Mosaic Law. The church doesn't begin until Acts 2, so understand that and keep that in mind when you read the gospels.

In Matthew 24:3 Christ's disciples came to Him on the Mount of Olives and asked Him, tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? You see the discussion, we want to know about your coming again and when this age will end. What about the Kingdom? He describes things that are going on, verse 5, many will come in My name saying I am Christ and mislead many. Wars, rumors of war, tribulation, you'll be hated of all nations because of My name. Many will fall away and betray one another. Many false prophets will arise, verse 11. This is what goes on. I was reading in preparation for this this week and one of the writers was really upset with dispensationalists, which he equated with fundamentalists, which we are. He said, they're always talking about negative things, things are going to get worse, judgment is coming. And this man that is having such a great influence, not the one I just quoted, but another man, he was upset that we even preach about hell. He can't think of a God who would want to use that as a reason to believe. So you start moving away from the biblical truth, you don't want to talk about negative things. No wonder you can't cure the social problems in the world, no wonder you can't cure poverty. You think things are going to get worse, so you're constantly telling people negative things instead of getting about making a better world.

Well, what did Jesus say? Well you know what his answer is, he says we don't understand the Bible right, we are not supposed to take this literally. It's all figurative, it's apocalyptic language. And really what he's telling you is this isn't going to be easy, but you keep at it and it will get done, if I can give my paraphrase to it. Verse 21, there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. And unless those days have been cut short, no life would have survived. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. What's going to cut them short? He says, don't believe them when they tell you, the Messiah has come, He's here, He's out in the field. Don't bother making the trip, I won't be there. Well He came and He's over here having a meeting. Come hear Him. Don't believe them, I'm not there.

Look at verse 27, for just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. In other words, people won't have to come and tell you the Messiah has arrived. Everybody on the face of the earth will know it. Verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, verse 21, a great tribulation like the world has never seen. Verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Now I just want to tell you, that hasn't happened, so don't tell me we're in the Kingdom. It stirs me up. I used to say when J. Vernon McGee preached, I can't wait until I'm old and I can be cranky and it's acceptable. And I appreciated J. Vernon McGee's ministry, many of you still hear it on the radio. But he could just say things in a cranky way and it would make the point. Well when you tell me we're in the Kingdom, it makes me cranky. I mean, that's like saying Jesus is in that room over there, why don't you come hear Him. Or, He's out in the desert, why don't you go see Him. No, when He comes He's going to come like lightning across the sky, every eye is going to see Him. Then He'll set up His throne. So you're telling a like when you say He's come. Well I didn't say He's come, I just said the Kingdom began. The Kingdom can't begin without Him. Well He came the first time, but He didn't establish the Kingdom. The Kingdom did not begin.

Come over to Acts 1. Jesus has been crucified, He's been raised from the dead, He's been meeting with His disciples for some 40 days or so, teaching and instructing them. Now He's ready for the ascension, He will be leaving the earth, He won't be back until He comes to set up His Kingdom. What do they ask Him in verse 6? So when they had come together they were asking Him saying, Lord is it at this time you are restoring the Kingdom to Israel? He didn't say, guys, the Kingdom has already started. He doesn't say, no, guys, you will do the work and bring the Kingdom in, I won't even have to be here. You know the only Kingdom they know that will be established under the Messiah is the one promised in the Old Testament, the one where the enemies of the Lord will be shattered by His coming. The Kingdom that He will establish and it will go on forever, the same one He reiterated to them shortly before His execution in Matthew 24, which we just read. Now they're saying, are you restoring the Kingdom to Israel? What's He say? You don't need to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed in His own authority. Now He doesn't say, you misunderstand the kingdom. He says you don't need to know when the Kingdom will be established. Right? You don't need to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed in His own authority. Am I going to establish the Kingdom now? You don't need to know when I'll establish the Kingdom. You'll know. Every eye shall see Him coming on the clouds.

Look what the angels tell the disciples after He ascended to heaven. Verse 11, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. Which basically is the same description as Jesus said in Matthew 24 would characterize His coming. I mean, we're standing here, gazing up there. He'll be back, same way He went. Where do we get this idea that the Kingdom has started? We're in the Kingdom, Jesus is ruling on a throne in heaven. And that's the Kingdom. So we need to be about building the Kingdom, we're adding to the Kingdom. We get this kind of thinking and theology in our minds, and what we ought to be doing. What should characterize the Kingdom?

Go back to Isaiah 2. I realize this is repeat, but get it so fixed in your minds that you will get grouchy when people tell you we're in the Kingdom. Then they'll say, they're grouchy because they go to the church with that grouchy pastor. Isaiah 2, the word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. That's a picture representing the Kingdom, the mountain. Remember that stone cut without hands in Daniel 2 crushed the other kingdoms and grew and became a great mountain, referring to a kingdom. It will be established as the chief of the mountains and be raised above the hills. All the nations will stream to it, many people will come and say, come let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob that He may teach us concerning His ways. The law will go forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. I just get terribly upset, these men spiritualize Zion and Jerusalem—that's not talking about literal Zion, it's not talking about literal Jerusalem.

Read the next verse, He will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn war. Why do people quote verse 4 and not verses 2-3 that tell you when that will happen? Do they think the United Nations can bring this in? Do they think Rick Warren can bring this in? Do they think the church can bring this in? Do they think Israel can bring this in? No. Who has to bring it in? Jesus Christ. When will this happen? When His kingdom is established over all the earth, and that will take His coming. We saw that in the other passages. So we say we ought to have peace in the world today, we ought to be working toward this. The Bible says they will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into .......... Yes, the Bible does say that, but it doesn't mean what you are using it to mean.

Come over to Isaiah 9:6, that familiar verse. A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. You see that this is talking about when Jesus Christ rules and reigns. And the government of the world is under His authority now, that's what was described in chapter 2 when all the nations of the earth and all the people of the earth will come to Jerusalem, the Capitol from which the king will reign and rule. Verse 7, there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Israel was never told to bring in a kingdom, the church has never been told to bring in the kingdom. The kingdom is not in existence right now. When Jesus Christ returns on the clouds of the sky where every eye beholds Him and He sets up His throne, then we will have the Kingdom established.

One more passage, Isaiah 11. The first eleven verses talk about, the first verse, the shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, a branch from his roots. Its referring to Christ. Everyone is agreed on that. You come down to verse 6, when the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion. These will all lie together. A little boy will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. You understand in the Kingdom all these kinds of animosities even among the animal world will be removed. We don't have that now. We're not in the Kingdom. Well I think the Kingdom may have begun and we're on the way. It's now and not yet. When you read that phrase, shut your mind down and don't listen anymore—now and not yet, now and not yet. Well we have the Kingdom now but we don't have the Kingdom in all its fullness yet, so it's not yet fully realized, but it's now in process. No, no process, just an abrupt......... Kingdoms of the world at work, warring against believers, persecuting believers.

If there is no intervention there won't be anybody left alive on the face of the earth. All of a sudden the heavens part, Jesus Christ descends and every eye beholds Him and He comes in devastating judgment on the earth, sets up His throne and the Kingdom begins. How do we get confused? I don't know. What do you say? How clear could it be? Has He come on the clouds with great glory and every eye has beheld Him? How clear could He be. Don't listen when people tell you I'm back. Nobody will have to tell you, you'll see it for yourself. When will the Kingdom begin? When He gets back. I wonder if we're in the Kingdom. I mean, I don't even understand how this goes. So then people say, this is apocalyptic literature, and apocalyptic literature shouldn't be taken literally. But once you start not taking the Bible literally, pretty soon you don't like a literal hell so they wiped out hell, too. And we start into I Corinthians 15 you'll find out they don't like the substitutionary atonement, either. That's divine child abuse. It's a horrible thought that God would punish His own Son to pay for my sins. Well, where do they stop throwing out the Bible? Wherever they want.

Okay, what is Jesus Christ going to do during this period of time? Matthew 16:18, I will build My Kingdom. No, no, no. I will build My church. He's building the church today, He's not building the kingdom, because when He returns He will establish the Kingdom. But the period of time we're in now, He's building His church. That's why when He addressed the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3, He didn't tell them you need to get about building the Kingdom. But He did tell them, when I come and establish the Kingdom, you're going to rule and reign with me in that Kingdom. Right now you need to function as My church. My church in Ephesus, My church in Smyrna, My church in Philadelphia, My church in Thyatira. So as soon as people start saying, we're in the Kingdom, then we have to bring justice, we have to bring peace to the earth, we have to deal with poverty, we have to ............. And we're on the road to confusion.

What are we to do today? What's the Great Commission? Go therefore and make disciples. There's the command. Make disciples, preach the gospel. That's Matthew 28:19. Listen to Mark 16:15, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Luke 24:47, intention is that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations. And in Acts 1:8 Jesus said, when the Spirit comes upon you, you will be My witnesses. This is what we are doing today. We're not building the Kingdom, we're preaching the good news concerning Jesus Christ and calling men to salvation through faith in Him.

Now some are so determined we're going to get the Kingdom into this, they make some startling statements. Some of you are familiar with John Stott who is now retired. He's in his late 80s. I read here recently that he finally has retired, so you don't get rid of us preachers very easily. He's written a number of books on this subject, he's written a number of commentaries. He's written some very helpful things. But here is one of his writings. I see now more clearly not only the consequences of the Commission, referring to the Great Commission—make disciples of all the nations. I see more clearly that not only the consequence of the Commission but the actual Commission itself must be understood to include social as well as evangelistic responsibilities. Now I read you the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke—Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations. And now Stott says I understand that that includes social responsibility as well as evangelistic responsibility. You're reading something into the Commission that is not there. It doesn't say go and resolve social problems, doesn't say go help the poor. Some will say, you're against helping the poor. No, I'm saying, is that the ministry that the church is called to do. Doesn't mean we can never help someone who is poor. What is the church called to do? Preach the truth, we're the pillar and support of the truth as Paul wrote to Timothy.

Another evangelical has written, there are two legs to the gospel—evangelism and social action. If we don't walk or run on both legs we have a lopsided gospel. Now it is just as important to have social action as to have evangelistic action. Where do we get that? We make it up. But if it's said enough, and we say well, I can't say I'd be against helping the poor, I can't say I'm against helping needy children, I'm not against helping resolve the AIDS crisis. So I just add another leg. So it's not just the church is called to preach the gospel, now the church is called to do social action because somebody said it is just as important.

Let me give you some things you have to keep clear here. You have to keep Israel and the church distinct. That's why people dislike dispensationalism, it simplifies things. That's why they dislike a literal interpretation of the scripture. It's too simple, you just take it at face value. Yes, that's the way Jesus took the Old Testament when He referred to the Old Testament, just at face value. You don't make it say something other than it says. You must keep Israel and the church distinct. The church is not Israel, Israel is not the church. As soon as you blur that distinction, you'll be trying to take ....... Israel is an earthly nation. Still is. As an earthly nation it had earthly human government, it had business responsibilities, there were laws in Israel governing lending money, loaning money. There were moral laws, there were social laws, civil laws. That was all part of being an earthly nation. There will be laws like that in the coming Kingdom. So if you begin to blur these distinctions, you'll begin to think we ought to be working to solve social problems. Didn't Israel have to take care of the poor? Well we should take care of the poor in the world. Didn't they ............. And on we go.

We even have the more extreme form of postmillenialism and the reconstruction, we think we ought to reimplement the Mosaic law because that's what should govern earthly nations. It's just confusing and blurring. Keep Israel and the church distinct as the Bible does.

Jesus in the gospels, I referred to this. The gospels are part of God's continuing program with the nation Israel and Jesus in the gospels is living under the Mosaic Law because He didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law. Law won't be fulfilled until His death on the cross and resurrection in victory. The church will begin, then, after that in Acts 2. So don't be confused. People run you to the gospel, well read the gospels in their context. That's where God is still dealing with the nation Israel and Jesus has come as the Messiah of Israel to offer a Kingdom. That's why He sent His disciples out and said, don't go to any people but Jews. Don't go even to half-Jews, like Samaritans. Don't go to Gentiles, just go to Jews. We don't pick that out of the gospels today, because that had to do when Jesus was walking the earth and His ministry there. ___________ context. What did he say when a Canaanite woman came and wanted help? He said, I didn't come to throw bread to dogs like you. I mean, what do you think of that? You come, are a different nationality and I say, I didn't come to teach the Word of God to a dog like you. You say, _________________ But that's what Jesus said to that Canaanite woman. She came and asked Him for something and He said, I didn't come.......... This is bread for the children, the Jews. You're not a Jew, I didn't come to give the children's bread to a dog. I have to see it in the context of who He is and what the gospels are. So understand the gospels. Jesus' miracles of healing, they demonstrated He was the Messiah, that if they would believe in Him He would resolve all social problems, He would resolve all political problems, He would resolve all physical problems. The Kingdom described in the Old Testament prophets would come into existence, but they rejected Him.

The ____________________ Kingdom has not been established, don't spiritualize the Kingdom. I read part of a dissertation when I was on vacation this year and the person kept saying in this dissertation that the implication, there is no clear teaching the Kingdom has begun, but the implication is it has begun. I couldn't find the implication where he kept referring to this verse and this verse. There are no implications to the Kingdom. I mean when you have description of how the Kingdom is going to be established like we read in Daniel 2 and 7, what Jesus says in Matthew 24, now you're going to read an implication in here. I think this might imply the Kingdom already began. Some kind of mysterious, secret, Christ sitting on a throne that nobody sees in heaven. That's the Davidic throne. No, the Davidic throne will be on earth. No question Christ is enthroned in the heavens now, but He was enthroned in the heavens before He ever came to earth. Read Isaiah 6. The Davidic Kingdom is not established, He's not on the Davidic throne, and the Davidic Kingdom, the earthly Kingdom has not begun.

So don't get that because as soon as you think you're in the Kingdom, then we have to ............ What's going to characterize the Kingdom? Peace over all the earth, no poverty, no suffering. So we have to bring in the Kingdom. So Rick Warren can be over in Rwanda, he's going to resolve that nation's problems, because if we get the right government, we get the right business practices and then the church and all the peoples of all religion working together, then we're going to have. It won't happen until Jesus Christ comes to bring peace on the earth.

There is an issue here, we've talked about this before, individual versus corporate responsibility. I mean, I have to consider what my responsibility as a believer might be compared to what the church's responsibility corporately. You say, wouldn't they be the same? No, not necessarily. In light of the contact the Lord has given me with some people and the opportunity to be involved in their lives, even as unbelievers, perhaps a neighbor or a contact at work. I get involved in ways there, the Bible doesn't say the church needs to, but I believe as a believer in this context, I should help them, take meals to them if they're sick, or cut their lawn or drive them to the doctor or something like that. Not saying any of this is a problem or any of this is wrong. We need to be careful here, now I'm going to read this in and say it's the church's responsibility and somehow we get confused on this because as the world says this is what the church ought to do, we begin to think, well if the world is going to respond to the church, we ought to do what it thinks we ought to do. I have some men, and I picked these men because I have great admiration for them, but I think they're wrong here. They wrote a book on this subject. They said, many of the biblical injunctions about the Christian's role in society relate to individual believers as citizens, not to the church as a whole. It seem, then, that the fundamental mission of the corporate church must be spiritual. That's it, we're here to preach the Word, we're the pillar and support of the truth, we have a spiritual ministry. But then they go on to recommend ways the church ought to be involved in society. This is following when they say, unfortunately there is no direct scriptural teaching on what the church ought to do in society. But they go on, we see no reason why churches individually and collectively cannot and should not both proclaim the gospel and meet social needs. Well wait a minute, they've just said the scripture never addressed that. ______________________________________ But now they've said the church ought to proclaim the gospel and meet social needs. You've just decided what the scripture says, but you've decided it doesn't say as much as you think ought to be said, so I see no reason why we can't add social needs to that. Well maybe we ought to start and see no reason why the church oughtn't to sponsor a major league football team or a college football team. Does the Bible every say churches can't support football teams? Does the Bible ever say the church can't set up ................... I mean, where does it stop? Well, social needs are important. They may be important, does the Bible ever say............. By their own admission the scripture never says that for the church. But we see no reason why churches couldn't come together and proclaim the gospel and ......... Well I see that the church __________ Bible is the sole authority, otherwise we say, well you think social needs, I think political needs. I think we ought to be involved in the political situation. And there is no reason that the church can't be involved in proclaiming the Word of God and reshaping the political process. And we know some are functioning on that. So now we have the political process and social needs. Well then, what about AIDS? That's a social problem, medical problem, moral problem. Maybe we ought to add that. That's where all of a sudden now, the church's ministry of the truth just becomes one and a shrinking one of a number of things. And the church has been turned. And we say, well it's doing things that in and of themselves are not wrong, but they are terribly wrong because they are not what the Head of the church says the church must do. And it's not my church. By their own admission the scripture doesn't say this is what the church ought to be doing. It's not my church to set the agenda, it's not your church to set the agenda. It's the One who died to purchase us for Himself with His own blood. The church belongs to Him, and He sets the agenda.

One passage, Matthew 25. This passage gets quoted so many times, it's just out of context. Remember we had Matthew 24 and Jesus told what it would be like in the days leading up to His return to establish His kingdom. Then what His return from heaven would be like in Matthew 24, like the lightning and every eye shall behold Him and so on. Then you come to Matthew 25:31, but when the Son of Man comes in His glory. Well that's what He described back in chapter 24 verse 30, and the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the tribes that mourn, they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Chapter 25 verse 31, but when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He'll sit on His glorious throne. When will He sit on His glorious throne? Then. Well isn't He seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven right now? Yes, He is, but that's not His glorious throne upon which He will rule over all the earth. He will sit on that glorious throne when He comes in glory back to the earth.

All the nations will be gathered before Him, He will separate them, sheep and goats. Sheep on the right, goats on the left. Verse 34, the king will say to those on His right, come you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, you invited me in; naked, you clothed me; sick, you visited me. I was in prison, you came to me. The righteous will answer, when did we do all this? When did we see you in this state? Verse 40, the king will say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, the least of them, even you did it to me. So see, we are to help the poor, we are to feed the hungry, we do all this. Well, what's the context? Well when He comes. But what are we to be doing, what about them when we come to judgment? Well where are we? This is what happens when people say, you shouldn't interpret prophecy literally. We'll get into this when we get into I Corinthians 15, we'll talk about the Kingdom and events related to it. But you know there is a seven-year period, the church will be removed from the earth, then there is that seven-year period, the tribulation, the 70th week of Daniel. During that time God resumes His program with the nation Israel. That seven-year period leading up to the return of Christ to establish His Kingdom is not a time when the church is the focus. The church will be removed. That's the completion of God's program with the nation Israel, according to the book of Daniel. That's the completion of the 70 seven-year period, 490 years to complete God's program with the nation Israel.

So now when He comes, and it won't be people in the church because we will have been removed seven years earlier and taken to heaven. In fact according to Revelation 19 we'll be returning with Him as His glorified saints, when He comes in power and great glory. Now He sets up His throne on the earth, and those who are alive in physical bodies are brought before Him. What's been going on? Revelation 12. For the last 3½ years of this seven-year period satan has been on a rampage trying to destroy the Jews. During that time, those who have truly turned to faith in Christ will reach out to help the Jews, understanding God's program as revealed in His Word. So when Jesus is dealing with them, He's not dealing with what you and I deal with, generally dealing with the poor. One man well-known among evangelicals said, I was in Africa and I'm holding a baby in my arms. And I looked and I realized this wasn't an African baby, this was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in my arms. That just has nothing to do with the scripture. Nothing, nothing, nothing. This has nothing to do with what you and I do today, this has to do with how people will treat Jews during that time of persecution so severe and judgment coming so strongly, there would be nobody left alive on the face of the earth if Christ didn't intervene. You help a Jew during that period of time, you put your life on the line and you will pay with you life for such an action. So that's what we're talking about. People quote this verse everywhere. Doesn't this mean Jesus is saying, as much as you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me? These are His brethren, there are fellow Jews, it has to do with how you treated the Jews ........... People think, there you go, explaining away the scripture. No, that's just understanding it in its context and what is going on here. If we're not careful with the scripture, we end up making it say what we want to say.

You'll note the next verse, verse 41, then He will say to those on His left, depart from me cursed one, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. These people think we ought to take the preceding verses about helping the poor literally, but many of them have discarded any concept of hell because they don't think ______________ So you see, you just pick and choose. You have to help the poor and feed the hungry and so on, because the Bible says that, but the next verse ............. That's not literal, there's not a literal hell and people won't suffer, that's not literal. And then you'll note what He says, verse 46, the righteous will go into eternal life. They're going into the Kingdom, and that's the same as verse 34. He'll say to those on the right, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now the Kingdom has begun, and you come into the Kingdom. Believers going into the Kingdom, unbelievers closed out of the Kingdom. The Kingdom has begun on that occasion.

So we ought to be careful. Why do we do what we do? There are a number of other verses we've looked at on other occasions. We don't want to confuse the scripture, we want to be those who are approved of God because we handle the scripture accurately, correctly. And that's a responsibility individually and as a church.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for these wonderful truths that we are privileged to look into, that have been revealed by your grace, that we are responsible to know and live in light of. The truth of your coming Kingdom, the time when Christ will return in splendor and glory, the church the bride of Christ will return with Him, sharing in that glory. Thank you, Lord, for the ministry of the church in these days, to proclaim your truth and the wonder of the message of your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, guard us. May we be careful of replacing the best thing, the required thing with that which seems good to us. Lord, we desire to be approved by you, thus may we be obedient to you. Thank you for our time in the Word together, bless this truth to our hearts. We pray in Christ's name, amen.