Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Well, good morning. Morning. Good morning. Okay. Feel as if I'm sort of wired up in accident and emergency or something like that. It's, um, <laugh>. There we go. Right. Um, it's a privilege to be here this morning and, and I follow the, um, progress of the work here daily. And we pray for you regularly. Um, for the work here in Newton Abuda. We're just, uh, thrilled at what God is doing and, um, I'm just delighted to be here this morning. Um, and I was just asked, um, will you speak on the kingdom of God? You know, well, how many days have I got? It's a big subject. It's massive. Um, but I find I'm determined that this is not gonna just be like a lecture. This is a definition. This is what the dictionary says. This is what it means. This is what it does mean. I don't, I, you know, I find that most of our truth and doctrine in, in, in, in Christian terms, it's a bit like, um, it's a bit like the jigsaw. Do you remember? It was always mother, wasn't it? Who taught you how to make and do a jigsaw? Yeah. Yep. You started with the outside. Do you not have jigsaws down here?
Speaker 1 00:01:33 Oh, we have jigsaws up north. You know, <laugh> do the, get the corner bits cause they've got two straight edges. Then the side bits, they've got one straight edge, and then they're real hard work starts, isn't it? Putting the bits together. Will you be quick? We want out dinner, <laugh>. Oh, sorry. Um, and then bit by bit, you put the pieces of the jigsaw together and then you see the picture emerging. I think it's like that with doctrine. So I'm gonna just throw some things this morning, which on the kingdom, which I think might be helpful, and, um, hopefully it will just be a, um, an, an asset to you and a benefit as you seek to put together the picture of the kingdom of God. So I'm gonna really introduce you to two kingdoms this morning. Two for the price of one. And I'm starting in, um, Luke chapter four. And Luke chapter four is the story about Jesus in the desert. Okay? He's been there 40 days, okay? He's tired, he's hungry, and he's alone.
Speaker 1 00:03:03 And then suddenly he's not alone anymore. In fact, he's not even in the desert. He's now on the top of a mountain. He's been taken there and transported there by some character called the devil. And Jesus is shown all the kingdoms of the world. In one moment, I don't suppose he was too impressed because he created them. That's right. He'd seen them all before, but he'd never, ever before been there with the devil. Or you might call him Satan or Lucifer. We might get onto that a little bit later. But suddenly out of the mouth of the devil comes some words, which you could hardly imagine. They are outrageous words. This is what he says, the devil said to him, all this authority I will give you, and their glory for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
Speaker 1 00:04:26 Now, I know Jesus is tired, but you know this, this upstart needs a little bit of a kicking, doesn't he? Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what do you do? You know who you're talking to. You're talking to the creator, and you are offering him all the authority of all the kingdoms in your claiming that they belong to you. Oh, Jesus is gonna have something to say about this, except that he doesn't come on Jesus. He's quiet. He doesn't debate, he doesn't discuss, he doesn't disagree. In fact, in essence, he accepts what the devil says to him, or the authority of all of these kingdoms of the world that you see belong to me, and I give it to whom I will. And Jesus, I can give you this authority if I choose. Wow, this is some kind of kingdom. Now, let's be un, let's understand. Satan is not claiming to own any land mass. These kingdoms we're gonna talk about today are spiritual kingdoms. They're in the hearts and minds. They are not. You don't get there through a passport. You know, he's not offering Jesus the keys of boing on palace. This is a spiritual kingdom. And he says it's mine. And Jesus doesn't argue.
Speaker 1 00:06:18 In fact, later on in John's gospel, on three occasions, Jesus says, the prince of this world is coming. And John, one of Jesus' disciples who's very close to him, when he wrote his letter later on, he said, the whole of the world is under the control of the evil one. That's amazing statement, isn't it?
Speaker 2 00:06:45 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:06:48 So let's just understand. We are not talking about land mass here. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. Psalm 24, Deuteronomy chapter 10, great lectin, this indeed the heavens. Listen to this, the heavens and the highest heaven belong to God, the Lord your God, also the earth and all that is in it. Folks, this morning, as we listen and talk and understand the serious and the significance of the kingdom of darkness, you need to recognize that Satan doesn't own one stitch of this world in which we live. Not one area, not one country, not one continent, not one place belongs to him, but he has the control and influence of the hearts and minds of the whole world. And Jesus doesn't argue, he acknowledges it. So this is the first kingdom that we are kind of discovering, and it's controlled by the, I'm telling you six things about the devil. See, I didn't come here to listen to Pat the devil. You need to know who he is. You need to understand how he operates. Because if you think that everything in this place, this morning in this church is all about the kingdom of God, you are probably a long way from the truth. Do you wanna know the reason why church is so difficult at times? And church can be problematic? Anyone, anyone. Anyone ever had a fallout or anyone ever had been hurt by church?
Speaker 1 00:09:12 I'll put two hands up. I've gotta tell you, the biggest hurts and pain in my life has been caused in church. Do you wanna know why? Because Satan and the kingdom of what is called darkness, he targets the church of Jesus Christ more than anything else on the earth. And here this morning, as we'll see in a few moments, no doubt there, there are elements of the kingdom of God. If you are saved this morning, the kingdom of God is in you. But the kingdom of darkness is not far from you. I don't dunno about you. And I found I've been a preacher for over 40 years. I have at times been horrified at how close the kingdom of darkness comes near to my life. And I can't believe it. And I've stood behind a pulpit and I've thought, Lord, if those people know exactly what my life is like sometimes in the struggles that I have, they would never accept the preaching and the teaching that I'm bringing. Right? See, because the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness are not only in in on collision course, but they come very close to each and every one of us. Day by day. There's a battleground in our lives.
Speaker 1 00:10:40 Yeah. 16, I can tell you six things about the devil, wasn't I? Number one, I hope this is six. He's either called the devil, or he could be called Satan, or he could be called Lucifer. Those three names are the same. Number two, he is a created angelic being who was one of the most beautiful angels that God ever created in heaven. Number three, he was the leader of the worship in heaven. Worship will come back to this in a moment. Worship and being worshiped is very important in the kingdom of darkness. And when I'm talking about worship folk, I'm not talking about singing a few songs. There is very little about worship that is to do with singing songs. It's about something much deeper. Was that number three? Number four, Satan exalted himself in heaven through pride. He elevated himself, he bigged himself up. He rebelled against God's rule, God's authority. And as a result, he and a third of the angels were thrown out of heaven to cause mischief on the earth. Number five, next place we see Satan is in the garden of Eden. He comes in the form of a snake. And what's he doing? He's up to his tricks.
Speaker 1 00:12:28 He's causing and encouraging Adam and Eve to rebel against God. God's told you not to eat of the fruit of that tree, the knowledge of good and evil. But he says, he says, you'll die if you do. I'm telling you, you won't. Oh dear, tell you, there's nobody better at lying than Satan. So Adam and Eve, of course, they took the fruit of the tree. They rebelled against God. They lifted themselves up against God. And because of that, from that day on, number six, control and influence of the whole of humanity came under the rulership of Satan. People sometimes ask me, Brian, where did Satan get his authority from? And the answer is, we gave it him. Don't blame God for the havoc and the chaos that's going on on the earth today. The fighting the misery. Don't blame God. God never gave Satan his authority. Adam and Eve and us through Adam and Eve gave him that authority. Kingdom of darkness, kingdom of deception, kingdom that runs on lies. I think we need to get to another kingdom and we haven't got far to go. If we look back at Mark's account, mark chapter one of the temptations of Jesus, mark doesn't actually list the temptations in order, but he's talking about them.
Speaker 2 00:14:15 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:14:23 Okay, sure. You he is. Yeah. Verse 12. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:14:33 It says, immediately the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness 40 days and tempted by Satan and was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered to him. So he's kind of just putting the temptations of Jesus together in a, in a short sentence. The very next verse says this, and you need to read rejoice in this. Now, after John was put in prison, don't you don't rejoice about that. Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The next verse, I'm not trying to suggest it's the next day or even the next month, but it was probably a matter of months or weeks at least. Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. It's the next verse, Satan, you can flaunt, you can boast. But in the next verse, Jesus begins to, to bring about the antidote to the kingdom of darkness. Instead of darkness, he's bringing light instead of lies, he's bringing truth. Come on. Instead of death, he's bringing life instead of bondage, he's bringing freedom.
Speaker 2 00:16:08 Come on.
Speaker 1 00:16:10 Jesus begins to speak the message of the kingdom of God. It's another kingdom. And thank God it is because without that kingdom, we would be bound for all of our days and for eternity to the rule of the kingdom of darkness. But Jesus said that there's, there's, there's a new kingdom coming. And do you know, in his ministry, he actually gave us parables. Do you know there were over 50 parables that says the kingdom of God is like, and most of those parables speak about the struggle of the kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness. So for example, he said the par of the kingdom sower went out to sow. He sowed seeds and seeds. The seeds were, were struggling to bring forth fruit. They're struggling against the ground. And eventually some bring forth fruit, but some don't. That's a parable of the kingdom. There are times when the, the, the kingdom makes advances. There are times when it doesn't. He talked about the, the, the woman who put some yeast into the flour. It was a small bit of yeast. This is an encouragement into a large amount of flour. But eventually the yeast permeated through the flour. And what about the parable of the wheat and the weeds? A man sowed some seed and it started to grow really nice. Like the seed in my garden
Speaker 1 00:18:00 Just done so much sewing on my, on my lawn over the last couple of months because I couldn't, I couldn't see the grass among the wheats and the, and a man sowed, sowed seed. And the, the seed began to sprout up. But his enemy came in the night. That's when the enemies of the kingdom of God come. They come in the night, they come in the darkness,
Speaker 1 00:18:28 And he sowed weeds amongst the wheat that rotter, what a thing to do into your worst enemy. And so eventually the seeds of the kingdom of God and the seeds of the kingdom of darkness were coming together. What they gonna do? Well said, the wise master. This is what we'll do. We will let them grow together. We'll not try and pull out the weeds. We'll let these two kingdoms grow side by side until eventually there's a day of harvest. And in the day of harvest, salvation will come and deliverance to some, but destruction will come to the other. It's a story of the kingdom of God and the battle against the kingdom of darkness. And you and I are right in the middle of it. Jesus said, repent. When he, when he preached the message of the kingdom, he said, repent and believe. Do you know when somebody truly repents of their sin and believes on the Lord Jesus? There are not, it's not only just rejoicing in heaven. The thermometer of the kingdom starts to move when people get saved, the kingdom of God comes when people get healed. Every time somebody's healed. What's happening? The kingdom of God is coming
Speaker 1 00:20:02 And the kingdom of darkness is being chased back. Do you know what happens when there's a real sense and a flow of unity in the spirit within the church of Jesus? The kingdom can't stay away. The kingdom of God comes and he brings gifts and he brings joy and he brings life. All the things that Satan hates and would never bring. He brings them to the church when there is unity. But there's a cost to unity. There is, when you turn away from sin in your life, your daily life, every time you do that, the kingdom of God comes. Because Jesus said, the kingdom is not only near, he said it's in you. Oh, hallelujah.
Speaker 2 00:21:18 That'll
Speaker 1 00:21:18 Sound sound good on, um, Spotify, won't it? Yeah. You know, when we, when we walk in righteousness, I'm talking now to Christians here, those who would say, yes, I belong to the kingdom of God. God said, what is that kingdom? It's the kingdom where the king reigns. That's what kingdom means, isn't it? Yeah. Kingdom dom means dominion of the king. The kingdom of God is the place where God reigns. Where does God rain this morning here, or maybe not. I don't know. God knows. And every time in your daily life, you live according to the word of God and to the truth of God. And you, you turn your back on the lies of Satan. Every time that happens, the kingdom of God grows. And the kingdom of Satan is diminished and shrinks.
Speaker 2 00:22:28 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:22:29 That's why we're told. Pray right thy will be done. Amen. Thy kingdom come. Don't just say God, let your kingdom come, bring it
Speaker 2 00:22:41 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:22:43 It's for us to bring the kingdom of God. Every time something, something comes up on that screen,
Speaker 2 00:22:50 Whoa.
Speaker 1 00:22:52 And that natural sort of part of you says, oh, I'll have a look at that. But you say, no, no, no, no church. I know that, that that didn't come from the kingdom of God. That came from the kingdom of Satan. And I'm not looking at it. And the angels rejoice and the kingdom of God advances
Speaker 2 00:23:11 Come on.
Speaker 1 00:23:13 But you see church, it works the other way as well. Every time we allow sin to overtake us, every time we walk in our own paths, every time we walk against and in contradiction to this word and to this scripture, every time that happens, the kingdom of darkness encroaches us. Kingdom of God diminishes in us.
Speaker 1 00:23:46 I have seen in, goodness me, over 40 years of pastoring churches, I've seen the kingdom of God come into people's lives in amazing ways. Come on. Poor people getting saved. I have known lesbians get saved and delivered from their habitual living. Amen. Great. I could take you to a day today to a man who I know brought up under, under my ministry in a certain place. And I'm not giving myself any credit for that today. That man, that man was, was brought up with a very strong homosexual appetite today. He pastors a Pentecostal church in Oxford here, you know, delivered totally free, married, producing children. Hallelujah. Kingdom of God.
Speaker 2 00:24:47 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:24:48 Let's get back. Let's get back to the desert, because I didn't finish the verse, did I? Some of you will have spotted it. I didn't finish the verse. Satan said, if you
Speaker 1 00:25:10 All, all of this can, all of this, the glory and the authority of this kingdom, I will give to you because I can give it whoever I want. But I missed a little bit out, didn't I? He said, if you will fall down and worship me, I want you just to think about that for a moment. Could it really be that the worship of Jesus was worth exchanging the whole of the authority of the kingdom of darkness? What he was saying, isn't it? I'll give you all of this, and all I want in return is your worship. Jesus, of course, was quick to reply. No, no. It's written Your worship, the Lord, your God, and Him only you will serve. I want you to know how Satan craves the worship of those who belong to the kingdom of God. He craves it. He longs for it tells us something about worship. And I said, I'd get onto this, didn't I? But worship really, uh, with a great consist of respect. Worship doesn't have a lot to do with the songs that we sing. It has to do with the heart that we present to God.
Speaker 1 00:27:12 It's the heart. Satan craved the heart, the worship of Jesus. So that tells me something quite important. You know that there is something more important. Get a bigger lecter. Will you?
Speaker 2 00:27:31 <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:27:34 Tells me something. There is something more powerful than power. He was willing to give all his power away. As long as you are worship me. What's he wanted? Jesus. You want me to sing you a few hillsongs? No, no, no. I want you to get down on your face, surrender your life, put your life totally in submission to me, and I'll give you all the power. There is something more important than power. That's worship. Do you remember ne ezr in the Old Testament? He had all the power in the world.
Speaker 2 00:28:32 <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:28:34 He'd been to Jerusalem, destroyed the city, taken all the young men, Daniel Shara, Micha, the Bendigo, taken the back to Babylon. He had all the power, but he craved their worship. So what did he do? He built a big idol of himself. He said. Now he said, when the call goes out, you must bow down and worship me. Came to Daniel. Daniel Wooden. It cost him a night in the lion's den. Then he came to Shara and Abednego, they said, no, no, we can't worship you. Right? He said, you are in the fire. And then they, they responded with that, just that wonderful, that sense. Well, king, if we go in the fire and we are burned up, so be it. But in terms of our worship, it's already spoken for. Do you know the best way I to make sure that Satan has none of your worship, none of your service, none of your surrender. The best way to ensure that you don't surrender your life to Satan is to surrender it fully to God. Come on.
Speaker 2 00:29:58 That's it.
Speaker 1 00:30:00 Folly. It's a release. It's a tremendous, Satan can't do anything, and it's a daily thing. You see, Satan operates still by people lifting up and elevating themselves. My experience over many years, and I've seen so many hundreds and hundreds of people in church, my experience has been that the strongest men and women in God that I have met have also been the most humble.
Speaker 2 00:30:41 Come on.
Speaker 1 00:30:44 Oh, I've, I've known a few people in church who wanted power.
Speaker 2 00:30:48 Woo.
Speaker 1 00:30:51 Look, I used to have long red hair <laugh>. I've known a few people who had a better idea.
Speaker 2 00:31:02 I
Speaker 1 00:31:05 Think we should sing more hymns. Well, actually, so do I. But I tell you what I don't do, I don't let it rob me of my worship of God, because my worship isn't dependent on songs. Yeah. It's dependent on my heart being laid down before him. It's dependent on, on his word being worked out in my life, day by day. I need to come to, to, to a close. But Satan will want to and will try to cause you, you know what, you know, you know what sort of exalting yourself is like. It's, it's people. It's self selfishness. But in a word, it's selfishness. I've seen so many people self-willed. I remember for you, forgive me for this, Phil. I remember the first church I was in, it was in Yorkshire. And I know it was only 24. I knew it all.
Speaker 2 00:32:13 Thomas Lamb.
Speaker 1 00:32:13 And, and a man came up one to me one day and he said, let me tell you how I see it. Oh
Speaker 2 00:32:21 Dear <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:32:23 See, this is how I live by if ever thou does out for out, always do it for the sin. I said, right. I said, that doesn't sound a very kingdom thought. While he said, that's how I've lived, that man lived in poverty of heart and spirit. But he loved, oh, when we sung swoony songs, the his eyes would tear up. You know, he would melt, but then he would go away and completely live his life on that kind of principle. God doesn't want us to do that. He wants his kingdom to come. Remember, every time more of God, more of his word, more of his truth.
Speaker 2 00:33:16 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:33:17 Comes into your heart. The kingdom of darkness is thrown back. I want to just finish this morning with lovely verse from Revelation chapter 11. Anybody understand Revelation? No. Oh, we're okay. You gotta sort of take little bits and maybe you are understanding, maybe you're not. But there's a part in chapter 11, chapter 10 11, where there are seven trumpets that sound from heaven. Boy, oh boy. The first six come and a third of the vegetation is destroyed. A third of the sea is destroyed. A third of the heavens are destroyed. And then a third of the people on the earth are destroyed and killed. And now it's time for the last trumpet.
Speaker 2 00:34:13 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:34:16 What's gonna happen this time? Something's gonna happen to a third. It says there was a loud, I get, I get really excited about this
Speaker 2 00:34:28 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:34:29 There was a loud voice. It says that when the trumpet sounded, there was a loud cry in heaven. And the cry went out. The kingdoms of this world have become the kings of our God and of his Christ. And he will reign forever and forever. And suddenly, the 24 elders who were biting their nails wondering who on earth was gonna get it in the neck. This time they're falling down on their NAS faces and they're worshiping folks. In this battle of the kingdoms, God wins.
Speaker 2 00:35:16 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:35:17 It's not, we don't see it fully yet. The battle's still on. But in revelation, they're talking after the second coming. Oh, the battle's already won. Really? It was one at the cross.
Speaker 2 00:35:33 Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:35:36 But it will be fully one of the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Kingdom of God this morning, folks, kingdom of darkness. Satan works by deception. He works by lying. He works by death. Murder. God works by life
Speaker 2 00:36:00 Health.
Speaker 1 00:36:05 Why don't you spare him prayer with me for a moment. Please Would you do that? So I have no doubt really, that you know, within this congregation, there will be many of you whom the kingdom of God has touched the king, reigns in your life. But there are battles, let's be honest. There are struggles, selfishness, rears itself. When did you last ask your spouse whether you were selfish, whether you lived for yourself, whether you, whether you had self will, whether what you said had to happen, had to be, see, Satan's not deaf. If Satan was to ask the people of the world bow down and worship me, there will be riots in the streets. He doesn't do that. He comes by deception. And suddenly the culture and the thinking and the attitudes of the world reflect the kingdom of darkness, not the kingdom of light. And folks, we need to be on our guard. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna say this, I've been staggered to read how many Christians on Facebook were absolutely thrilled and congratulated and blessed, as it were to see Elton John's
Speaker 1 00:37:47 Kind of thing that he did at Glastonbury. Folks, one of the things that Satan uses in order to persuade people to his kingdom is celebrity, celebrity, celebrity, almost irrespective of their lifestyle. If the celebrity says it's okay, it's okay. If the word of God says it's not okay, folks, it's not okay. Kingdom of God is rooted in the Word of God, not in the popularity of man. So I'm gonna ask, cuz I'm just praying for you this morning. I want you to just, just in your own heart, if, if the kingdom of God has touched you and you've repented and you are truly saved, will you thank God for that this morning? In your heart this morning, will you ask the, the Holy Spirit to recognize any aspects of a kingdom, of a darkness kingdom that are either in your heart and life, or that somehow are too close for comfort?
Speaker 1 00:39:07 You asked the Lord this morning, bring your kingdom more and more into my life, into my home, into my family, into my community, into this church. Father, we pray over this church, Lord, the kingdom of God will flow the rule of heaven chasing away everything of darkness that would seek to take over and seek to infiltrate. As for that this morning, father praying in the name of Jesus, I pray that you will find in this place true worshipers, worshipers of the heart, worshipers of the spirit, worshipers who have surrendered totally their life to you this morning. Can I just encourage you to do that as I just pray right now in the name of Jesus. Thank you Lord for what you're doing. I believe in the hearts of people. Maybe we don't understand everything we've heard, but there's a response. There's a, there's a tug, there's a realization that I need more of your kingdom and I need to bring your kingdom into the atmosphere where I live and where I walk. Mm. I need to operate that I need to. I need to chase away every bit of darkness that Satan would throw against me.
Speaker 1 00:40:36 And I realize that my safety is in my surrender. So amen to you this morning, Lord Jesus. And thank you for your grace and your goodness. Amen. God bless you.
