Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Let's stand together in here God's word. Read this morning from John Chapter Eighteen.
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This is the same passage that we
read last time. I'll be focusing
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particularly on the events at the end
here. This is the accounting of Jesus's
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arrest before His crucifixion, Death and
resurrection. When Jesus had spoken these words,
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he went out with his disciples across
the Brook Kidron, where there was
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a garden which he and his disciples
entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him,
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also knew the place, for Jesus
often met there with his disciples.
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So Judas, having procured a band
of soldiers and some officers from the chief
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priests and the Pharisees, went there
with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then
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Jesus, knowing all that would happen
to him, came forward and said to
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them, whom do you seek?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
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Jesus said to them, I am
he. Judas, who betrayed him,
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was standing with them. When Jesus
said to them, I am he,
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they drew back and fell to the
ground. So he asked them again,
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whom do you seek, and they
said Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus answered,
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I told you that I am he. So if you seek me, let
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these men go. This was to
fulfill the word that he had spoken.
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Of those whom you gave me.
I have lost not one. Then Simon,
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Peter, having a sword, drew
it and struck the high priest's servant
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and cut off his right ear.
The servants name was Malchus. So Jesus
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said to Peter, put your sword
into its Sheaf. Shall I not drink
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the cup that the father has given
me? My God bless his word.
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You may be seated well here in
these in these verses, we have one
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of the most dramatic stories of the
world and of the scriptures, this amazing
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moment when Jesus gives himself over to
those who would seek to arrest him,
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those who seek to harm him and
eventually put him even on a cross.
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And yet, as we explored and
and heard last time, on Jesus's or
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sizing and showing a lot of power
ear as well, he's showing that he
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is not here by accident, he's
not here because he doesn't know what's going
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on, or that they have somehow
overwhelmed him and he was not aware that
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this would happen. But Jesus is
entirely in control. Jesus is on a
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mission and has a very specific plan, a thing that he wants to accomplish.
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But the story, of course,
is not just here to entertain us,
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though it may do that. The
purpose it is here is to save
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us. God gives us the scripture
so that we would understand more of WHO
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Jesus is, of why he came, of what he intends to do,
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and we see that in all kinds
of ways. I want us to focus.
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I want to focus on the end
on his interactions with Peter, I'm
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his interactions with Peter here, before
we move on from this passage, we
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read in verse ten that Simon,
Peter, having a sword, drew it
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and he strikes. He strikes the
high priests servant, cuts off his right
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ear or possibly his possibly his earlobe, and Jesus says to Peter, put
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your sword away, and he gives
a very specific reason for that. He
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says, shall I not drink the
cu up that the father has given me?
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Now, in these words, recorded
not just for Peter or not just
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said to Peter, but recorded in
scripture for us, Jesus wants us to
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understand something about his mission, something
important about his kingdom, and it does
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have to do with that sword.
If you think about the kingdoms of this
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world, if you think about every
kingdom you've ever heard of, the origin
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story for that kingdom usually, maybe
every time, we could talk about it
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afterwards, involves a sword, or, if not a sword, some kind
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of weapon. Will Use Sword to
represent strength and power and and military might,
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even justice. On the sword is
the tool of God's magistrates to exercise
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justice and to execute the law.
The origin story for the most kingdoms begin
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with the sword flashing, swinging,
killing, executing, whether it's done for
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good or for evil. The establishment
of kingdoms requires this kind of power and
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strength. But here, for the
Kingdom of God, for the everlasting kingdom,
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for the strongest, most powerful,
full, most stable kingdom that ever
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was and ever will be, Jesus
explicitly says to put the sword away,
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put it away, and then says, shall I not drink the cup that
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the father has given me? Jesus
refers to the Cup of Wrath that the
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father has given me. He's referring
to the judgment for sin that he is
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about to take on. For this
kingdom, for this everlasting kingdom, for
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the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom
of fulfillment, the Kingdom of promise.
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It will not be established by the
sword. Put It away. Why?
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Because this kingdom is going to be
established by the Cross, by the Cross.
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Instead, instead of the king roaring
victoriously into battle slang his enemies on
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every side, the king goes willingly
to a cross and dies. This is
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not like a kingdom anyone has ever
seen before. This kingdom, you might
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say, is not of this world. It's different, it is of heaven.
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Now understand why this is important.
It's helpful to know something about history,
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something to know about the history of
recorded in the scriptures. So we
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need to go back in time and
remember that ever since the fall men has
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have tried to establish their kingdoms by
strength, and this is often according to
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sin. Wealth, power, money, influence, political maneuvering. This is
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how power is established, this is
how kingdoms are established. But God would
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have the Supreme Kingdom, the his
kingdom, the Kingdom of God, and
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which he resides with and among men, not on the basis of evil,
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but on the basis of something else, on the basis of righteousness. God
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would never have evil and sin as
the basis of his kingdom, or not
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just pure strength or anything like that. Now, his kingdom, in the
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basis of its rule, would be
righteousness, and not just surface level righteousness
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or halfway smiling righteousness, but fullhearted, full throated, whole mind, whole
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body righteousness. This kingdom would be
the best place that you would ever live,
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could ever live, because this kingdom, you could say, is not
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just a kingdom of righteousness, but
it would be a kingdom of love.
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And so God gives to his people, rescued out through the mighty power of
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God, out of Egypt, out
of slavery. He rescues them, he
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brings them out and he gives them
his law. He tells them here is
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how you live. This is the
basis of the Covenant, or this is
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the covenant for the basis of this
kingdom. Love, God, Love Man.
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What could go wrong? Right here, God has commanded a kingdom of
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love and he has given the most
perfect requirements for it. He also promises,
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he adds to it, that this
kingdom of love would not be a
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would be a kind of kingdom of
love that was enforced by the law.
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Love is required. You must love
and if you don't love, you will
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face consequences. God is going to
defend the those who are oppressed. He
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is going to put down wickedness.
Why? Because this is a kingdom of
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righteousness. This is the kingdom that
God would establish, a kingdom of love,
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a kingdom of law, and the
sword here would be put to good
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use. You murder your neighbor and
you will be put to death, and
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many other sins would require your life, and I for an eye, a
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tooth for the tooth. This kingdom
would be a kingdom of fairness, of
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righteousness, of Justice, of love
of law. God would protect the weak,
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he would judge the wicked. A
perfect kingdom, except, of course,
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we all know that it wasn't right, or else it still be here.
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The law was fine, the standard
of Justice was fine, the commandments
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to love, nothing was wrong.
For Them, God and all that he
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gave nothing wrong there. Where was
the problem? The problem was, of
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course, in the hearts of the
people. The problem was, of course,
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that the people were born as sinners, is, people who did not
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love and did not like to love
and did not like justice and would pervert
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justice. And what God teaches us
throughout the Old Testament is that the law
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was unable, as Paul puts it, all I was unable to bring about
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the righteousness that was required for this
kingdom. The law was unable to bring
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about the love that should have existed
between God and man and brothers and sisters.
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And we also know that, just
as the law could not enforce the
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love, the love could not enforce
the law. In other words, people
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didn't just naturally obey. Well,
we don't need justice here, because everyone
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just obeys from their heart willingly.
It's a happy place. Know. As
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it turns out, there was all
kinds of idolatry and murder and rate and
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riots and evil of every kind that
you can imagine. Terrible, terrible things
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happened in God's kingdom. Well,
as it turns out, God had a
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plan. Of course he did,
because God had promised to establish a Kingdom
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of righteousness, a kingdom of love, and he would do it by raising
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up a king who would not abolish
the law but fulfill it, a king
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who would be just and righteous and
perfect in every way, not only for
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himself but also for his people.
This king would fulfill the requirement of the
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law and would established the life that
would follow. Because of obedience to that
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law. This king, this unminted
one of God, was called the Messiah
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Christ in the New Testament, and
this is, of course, Jesus of
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Nazareth who was sent and he would
establish the Kingdom of righteousness, but he
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would do it not by enforcing the
law, wielding the sword, executing judgment,
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but by taking judgment on himself.
Instead of using the sword to execute
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judgment on others, he would allow
himself to be executed for others. Jesus
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not only fulfills the righteous requirements of
the law, but he also endures the
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curse and the penalty of the law
for us, so that we can have
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his righteousness, as well as our
guilt, removed, so that we can
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be a people who stand in the
Kingdom of God not as guilty people who
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are impostors, or guilty people who
are in the dock about to be unjudged
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and then executed, but as righteous
people who have been forgiven. We stand
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in the Kingdom of God not fearing, as John pointed out in First John,
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not simply waiting the judgment, hoping
that somehow something might happen where we're
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going to escape this. Now we
stand as those who have already endured and
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judge, already gone through. Judgment
Because of Christ went through it for us.
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This Messiah, this king, would
establish a rule, but he would
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not establish it by the sword.
He would establish it by the cross.
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Who could do this except for God
alone? Right? What man, what
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King, could ever come and established
this kind of kingdom? David didn't do
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it, Solomnon didn't do it.
These men were not even close to fulfilling
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the righteous requirements of the law for
living their lives perfectly and holy. The
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scriptures themselves bear witness to this in
many ways. But not only were there
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not only close to fulfilling the obedience
that was required for this kingdom, brothers
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and sisters, they never came close
to removing the guilt that was due on
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us. Jesus did both. Jesus
did both. God sends his only son
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into this world to establish a Kingdom
of righteousness, to fulfill the law,
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but he's not going to do it
by executing justice, not yet. He's
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going to do it by taking justice
on himself so that we can dwell and
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live in this kingdom forever. Peter, it's different this time. This kingdom
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is not like the kingdoms of the
world put the sword away. This is
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a kingdom that is going to be
established on the Cross, by the Cross.
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This is going to be a kingdom
that is established with a covenant of
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grace that is going to be marked
by forgiveness, the removal of sins,
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Everlasting Life in love and obedience that
the world has never seen. The Lord
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Jesus obeyed the law and endured the
wrath of God, and he did this
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for us and in doing this,
beloved, he does establish a Kingdom of
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glory as well. Yes, there
will be efferring involved, yes there will
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be persecution involved, but that is
not the end. Jesus endured the cross,
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the scriptures say, desbised the shame
because of the glory that was set
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before him. That's why he went, that's why he did it, that's
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what he achieved, and we've confessed
that this morning. Right he sits at
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the right hand of God, the
Father Almighty, coming to judge the living
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and the dead. Jesus Accomplished Glory. Jesus is seated in glory, but
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he did so through through the cross. This everlasting kingdom is, of course,
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for us, and that means that
we now, like Peter, are
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are given new lives to live.
We are called to put away the sword,
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to shine forth in a new kind
of way as citizens of this kingdom,
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of this heavenly kingdom. We testify
to it by living very different kinds
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of lives. Let me read to
you a little bit from Matthew Five.
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In Matthew Five, Jesus goes up
on to the mount volives and he preaches
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the sermon, we call it sermon
on the Mount. And there in chapter
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thirty, or sorry, Chapter Five, verse Thirty Eight, he says to
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this. He says this. You
have heard it said, and I for
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an eye a tooth for a tooth. That's Old Testament, that's the law,
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he says. But I say to
you, do not resist the one
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who is evil, but if anyone
slaps you on the right cheet, turned
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to him the other. Also,
if anyone would sue you and take your
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Tunic, let him have your cloak
as well. And if anyone forces you
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to go one mile, go with
him two miles. Give to the one
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who bags you and do not refuse
the one who would borrow from you.
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You've heard it said, or that
it was said, you shall love your
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neighbor and hate your enemy. Those
enemies that were outside Israel, pressing in
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on them, trying to destroy the
Kingdom of righteousness, destroy them, hate
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them, the scriptures say. But
I say to you, Jesus says,
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Love Your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, so that you may
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be sons of your father who is
in heaven. This is all very different,
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isn't it? Jesus is saying we
are going as citizens of this heavenly
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kingdom, not as a the law
and not as part of a kingdom with
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the law has been abolished, but
the king part of the Kingdom where the
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law has been fulfilled. We are
now going to live in light of that
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kingdom in a new way and we
are going to be representatives of that kingdom
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and that cross, and sometimes that
means putting the sword of the way and
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boone getting hit on the other side
and giving up your work and giving up
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your clothes and of loving those who
persecute you. These would be seemed to
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be impossibly hard words to resist,
had not our Lord himself gone this way,
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done this thing and established a kingdom
in his name and now, having
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been brought and his into his kingdom, as those who did not have the
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the dagger of death plunged into our
hearts because of our sin. But as
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those who have been forgiven, we
now forgive others. As those who have
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been loved when we were not worthy
to be loved, we love those who
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are not worthy. We love our
enemies, even as God loved us.
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Again, Matthew, Chapter Five,
and light of this kingdom and light of
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this Messiah, our citizens it there, Jesus says in verse thirteen. You
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are the salt of the earth,
and if salt is lost its taste,
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how shall it saltiness be restored?
It's no longer good for anything except to
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be thrown out and trampled under people's
feet. You Are the light of the
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world. A city set on a
hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people
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light a lamp and put it under
a basket, but on a stand,
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and it gives light to all in
the house. In the same way,
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let your light shine before others that
they may see your good works and give
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glory to your father who is in
heaven. We live a different way,
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we shine a different light. Now
this, of course, doesn't mean that
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we never use the sword, because
we are also citizens of this common kingdom.
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Are we not citizens of a kingdom
that we share in common with all
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men and God calls us to protect
ourselves. He tells us to protect others.
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We are to be people that seek
and promote praise justice and the prosecution
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of justice. This is life in
our world. We are called to it.
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But when we do these things,
when we seek justice in this world,
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when we seek can use a violence, even to protect ourselves or to
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teched others, we do so knowing
that that power can never give eternal life.
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It's only provisional, it only accomplishes
so much. And then, when
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we are called to testify to our
heavenly citizenship, to bear witness to our
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savior, we of course put down
our swords and we bless those who persecute
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us and we endure the cross.
Now, I don't want to pretend that
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knowing when to do which is easy, sometimes it is, sometimes it's not,
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but what we do know is that
because God has established this Kingdom of
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his, this Kingdom of Grace,
this Kingdom of righteousness, and because he's
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established it by his spirit and by
his word and by his work and not
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by our strength and our swords and
our power, we know that God helps
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us. We know that God is
with us. We know that God forgives
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us when we do it wrong,
either on purpose or on accident. We
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know that the cross is sufficient to
save us, and we're thankful for it.
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Let's live in light of it,
let's pray
