You'll find the scripture. We're looking at this morning in your bulletins on page 9 and an outline on pages 10 and 11 scriptures will also be on the overhead and You look at the outline and you see that it's a two-pager and you say, oh my don't worry We'll just look at a couple of the points in a little more detail But I thought it would be nice to have the full scope of what I want to talk about on the paper for you this morning As we read God's word, we know that it is living and active. It does its work in us and God shows us that he knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts Because we are open and laid-bared before him and his word Powerfully works in us as we by faith receive him as we listen to him and Allow his work to do that works. I would encourage you this morning to open your hearts to the Lord and to his word This is what our God says God after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in Many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed air of all things through whom also he made the world and He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power When he had made purification of sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high Giving down to verse eight Speaking of our Lord Jesus it says but of the Son he says your throne, O God, is forever and ever And the righteous sceptre is the sceptre of his kingdom and then from chapter two in verse eight You have put all things in subjection under his feet We're in subjecting all things to him. He left nothing that is not subject to him But now we do not see all things subject excuse me subjected to him We have in this Advent series been looking at our Lord Jesus Christ with the desire to grow in our love for him to Know who he is and what he has done and reflecting on these things who he is and what he has done To increase in our love and desire for him. We have seen from the week before the Advent season that God has Spoken through the Sun that Jesus is the word of God incarnate that has dwelt among us and God has spoken to us to us in the Lord Jesus Christ We see that God has made Jesus to be the air of all things that through Christ God made all things So that in Jesus Christ all things came into being as the gospel of John would tell us and apart from Jesus Nothing has come into being that has come into being This morning we want to think for a few minutes about the reign of Christ that he came to rule that for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. He is the Prince of Peace He is our King and so we want to look at that and the big sweep is Jesus came to be King in his first advent and he will come again with glory as the King to judge the living And the dead and so we'll talk about the first and second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ and make mention of His rule and reign in bringing the Kingdom in the first Advent And we'll focus primarily on the third point there and then look at the second point that he will come again So as we think about the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ I know that this is a review for us who have grown up in the church and I dare say if if not everyone in this room has been in the church More than once in their life Most of us have in this this may seem old hat to you But I want to encourage you to pay close attention, you know, the Apostle Paul when he was reminding the believers of the things of God He says hey, this is no trouble for me to repeat these sorts of things and it's a safeguard for you. It is good for us It is good for us to grow in grace as we Reflect on who Jesus is and what he has done. So let's let's think about that We know that when Jesus came he brought the Kingdom of God Jesus brings the Kingdom of God in his first Advent we this fall looked at the Lord's prayer from both Matthew's Gospel and Luke's and in Luke's Gospel where the disciples say Lord teach us to pray and Jesus does so he then gives them a Little bit of teaching on prayer and the very next thing that Luke records is that Jesus casts a demon out of a fellow who was Mute he couldn't speak and when the demon was cast out he spoke and everyone marveled but there were those who said well He he cast out demons by the Lord of the demons by B is a bull the Lord of the demons and Jesus Responsed to that and first shows them That even even from their own position that really is foolish to say such things that it's not true And then he makes this comment in verse 20 of chapter 11 But if I cast out demons by the finger of God Then the Kingdom of God has come upon you And that is what Jesus is Intimating that when he came it's not as though the Kingdom of God first comes the Kingdom of God had been Expressed through God calling to himself of people from Adam and Eve I think and and through the patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and then he set up that nation didn't he the nation of Israel and set up kings Starting with Saul and then David the great king Through whom the prophecies are made that God would send one to sit on the throne of David and that's Jesus and when he came He cast out demons he showed his sovereignty in various ways and we know that right He he showed his sovereignty over the earth in terms of the wind in the waves He could speak to the storm and calm The tempest over the sea and he could tell the the fishermen Hey, put your nets over here and show that he's not only Lord of wind and waves But of the fish of the sea because they all jump into the net at his Command but not just that he showed he is the king He is the one who usher's in the kingdom of God when he brought healing of sickness of disease when he Brought sight to the blind and the ability to walk to the lame when he raised the dead He ushered in the kingdom in a profound and powerful way when he came and number two We see that when he came he set up a kingdom, but it was spiritual in nature, right? For this reason I think many people missed it They they were looking for a different kind of Messiah and yet when He was before pilot and the Jews had handed him over and they Asked that he be crucified and pilot was was trying to figure out what to do with him and really didn't want to crucify him He started questioning him and they said he asked it, you know, are you the king of the Jews and and Jesus? Well, he says yes, but he says so by saying did someone set you up to ask me this? It's like there he is before pilot talking that way, but he's like hey, you know They get this discussion going and Jesus says as you have printed in your outline Jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world Then my servants would be fighting that I might not be delivered over Through the Jews, but as it is my kingdom is not of this realm, you know They're they're looking for a king to have his servants take up the sword to to fight to throw off Roman oppression to rule on the earth through Jerusalem through the kingdom in Jerusalem and to conquer the world that way and it didn't happen that way and there Was confusion about it, but Jesus certainly cleared it up with pilot didn't he was spiritual in nature There was certainly those earthly manifestations. We just looked at that He he was sovereign over the wind in the waves and the fish and disease and sickness and life and death But he first drew drew people to himself and praised God that he did Praise God that he did if he had merely ushered in the kingdom the way they had wanted How many people would be there? He would come and he would rule with his iron fisted and there wouldn't be many saved But instead he drew all men to himself. He sought to reconcile us to God by teaching us what God is like by showing us the patience and mercy and kindness of God by calling us to repent and To turn to God One other aspect of his first advent and and that still has its profound impact on us today And that is that Jesus's kingdom is growing and expanding he taught about this didn't he Matthew 13 speaks speaks voluminously about the the growth of the kingdom and in the kingdom in general He he tells several parables there. I printed out just two of them He presented another parable to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed Which a man took and sowed in his field and this is smaller than any other seeds But when it is full grown it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and Nest in its branches And he spoke another parable to them the kingdom of heaven is like 11 which a woman took and hid in three packs of flour until it was all 11 and he's saying the kingdom grows the kingdom expands it fills the earth a similar to that prophecy in Daniel of a kingdom that grows to fill the whole Earth We're familiar with this. This is exactly what happened You know Jesus was able to draw multitudes to hear his teaching and to see the signs and wonders Which he did but at the time of his crucifixion things were small and yet I think it is rightly said that when Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and The acts of the Apostle there really in a sense one writing and that when we look in the book of Acts It is still about Jesus Christ and how he was growing his church after the resurrection and We find that the church did indeed grow and expand in the book of Acts didn't don't we in Acts chapter 1 Verse 15 we hear that there were about a hundred and fifteen Believers assembled believers in Jesus Christ at that time and by the end of Peter's powerful Pentecostal preaching in Acts 241 it tells us that we're there were three thousand added to the church that day By chapter 4 and verse 4 we're told that the number had increased to more than five thousand men I wonder what that means it Makes a point of saying five thousand men. So aside from women and children That's incredible growth in expansion that leaven is doing its job, isn't it? And this is even before the the church expands beyond Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria and the remotest parts of the earth and by chapter 13 We have the saints assembled still in Jerusalem praying and fasting actually It's in Antioch that the kingdom has come out a bit and the spirit says set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work I've called him to and then the gospel goes Global and many many are saved. Well, what about today? We are still in this time where the kingdom is growing and expanding I Listen to one of my favorite missionary preachers Michael O he is Of Korean descent. I think he was American born, but Korean descent his his parents were
What's the word I'm looking for held against their will in Japan? And now he's a missionary in Japan. He leads a seminary there You can if you google his name you'll find a lot of his sermons and I recommend them to you He's a great preacher my favorite sermon that he preached was at Have Either Bethlehem Baptist or at a conference one of their missions conference Desiring God is where you would get to to that message, but anyway He's a great resource as is the Joshua project if you type in Joshua project dot net you'll get tons of information on missions So the growth of the church from the time of that first century There are Christians today. It is reported in every country of the world Not necessarily among every people group, but in every country every people group every ethnic Every language in other words, there's not one there, but in every country there are Christians today That's pretty good Growth that it said it's reported that Christianity is the fast and growing Fastest growing religion in the world today. Let me tell you how that works a little bit It's it's kind of a kind of tricky Buddhism is growing at 1.3 percent. They say Hinduism 1.2 Islam 1.9 And then Christianity as it's undifferentiated in other words All those who say their Christians whether they're in a conservative church or a lowerble church whether they say Well, you know, I'm not Muslim. I'm not I'm not Buddhist Call me Christian. I'm not here religious. I mean, I want to go to heaven when I die I think there is one and I hope to go there in that category Christianity is grown at about 1.2 percent so that wouldn't be the fastest growing But among evangelicals among those who say that they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord that they have had a born again Experience where they they receive Christ and and they're willing to die and they believe the word of the Bible is the word of God among among evangelicals the Growth rate is 2.6 And that's what would make it Depending on how you slice that pie the fastest growing religion still today Here's some interesting statistics about the growth of the church in 1949 there were less than a million Christians in China today More than a hundred and thirty million Christians in China more Christians in China than in the United States In Iran 1979 there were 500 known followers of Jesus Christ Today in Iran there's over a million believers in Jesus Christ. That's surprising to you This it was to me to read that Southern Africa not South Africa Southern Africa the Southern half not in other words not North Africa In 1900 Africa was 3% Christian today Africa is more than 50% Christian in some countries with 20,000 new African believers every day A hundred years ago there were some 8.7 million Christians and today there is over 400 million Christians in Africa That's growth That's encouraging to me. That's really encouraging to me Especially in the day and age we live in where we see so little growth in fact Here's here's what I think of is kind of a sad statistic in the past 10 years in the past 10 years For every believer new believer in North America and Europe There have been nearly 30 new believers in developing countries like Nigeria and Brazil and India and China To me that's very discouraging because well guess where I live where we live But in another way it is encouraging as our hearts are set on the Lord Jesus Christ as his kingdom grows and expands There really is cause for rejoicing because his kingdom is growing He is conquering the whole earth We we can have a skewed view because of the way media in the way our our universities or the education system in America Works and we can we can think that Christianity is dying out but but those of us who love our Lord Jesus who are Desirous to see his kingdom grow and expand and fill the earth who who pray yes come Lord Jesus there is a sense of joy That comes with knowing that he is indeed doing that now the work is still there where they still talk about the unreached people groups and there's Still Billions in that category in what's called the 1040 window most do the most of y'all raise your hand if you will if you know What the 1040 window is okay? That's that's that's most of you good. I don't have a power point for you I almost put one in but it would have been last moment and I didn't want to do that. It's that section. You know it'll cover part of The southern part of Italy and that sort of stuff on the Mediterranean's a very little of the northern Mediterranean down into North Africa and a big chunk there and then straight straight across towards China and to China Covering, you know the a lot of the Arab countries and such some two and a half Billion unreached people there estimated 90% of the unreached people groups of the world live in that area And there's there's really not a lot Percentage-wise going on there although that seems to be expanding let me tell you how it's expanding It's through the sending countries. You know how we do missions conferences every year and we we encourage missions And we hear from our missionaries and such well in the United States missions Sending full-time people four or more years has kind of Declined in the past 15 years. It was at about 40,000. It's about there just under 35,000 Missionaries sent from the US full-time missionaries sent from the US But in the rest of the world that's changing in Latin America in the next 15 years. It's projected. There will be 21,000 missionaries into that 1040 window of two those unreached people groups Nigeria Nigeria 15,000 Missionaries are projected to go to the 1040 window to the unreached people groups India 40,000 from India It's projected 40,000 will go. There's such a strong Missionary emphasis among so many of the nations where the church is growing and expanding the Philippines 10,000 China 50,000 and Korea 30,000 in fact it said There's you know Korea is just under or just over the US as far as sending missionaries today not to mention what will happen in the next 15 years So the kingdom of God is growing the kingdom of God is expanding. It's just as our Lord Jesus said it would be It's happening now still All that being said There's still less than 10% of Focused into the unreached people group unless then one percent of the income that's that's raised among Christians goes to that Unreached people group to those unreached peoples of the world But let's still it is it is taking place in in a significant way and we have much to rejoice about in that
That's the first Advent in a nutshell He comes He shows that he is the Lord by his powerful works By raising the dead by Commanding the wind in the waves by healing the sick by preaching the gospel and saying I in the Father and one He comes and he he sets up his kingdom and and it's a spiritual kingdom and he calls us to faith He calls us to a change of heart. He calls us to to know God totally in line with what he had been doing all along Right to love God with all our hearts all mind and strength And this kingdom has been expanding and growing and filling the earth for two thousand years But he will come again there is this second Advent this second time where he will come and I want us to look at least for a few minutes probably spend most of our time on the first point and then I'll just mention the the other two points when Jesus comes Jesus will judge and with judgment comes wrath Jesus will judge When he comes again he will judge and with judgment comes wrath you ever wonder why did they get it so wrong I mean why did they crucify the Messiah with all these signs and wonders that he did I think the the chief of number one reason is the hardness of heart Okay, that really is and that should cause us concern we who live in a nation That is that is not growing in faith That is not effectively expanding We look more like Israel in the time of Christ
There was a hardness of heart that kept them from seeing but There were many who looked in the scriptures and were confused like John the Baptist Who certainly knew the Lord and and was able to say according to John's gospel Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world How could he miss it? Well, it had to do with this idea of wrath so many of the prophecies that spoke about our Lord coming and setting up his kingdom had that connection with it for example In Psalm 110 verse 5 the Lord is at your right hand he will shatter kings in the day of his wrath He will judge among the nations He will fill them with corpses. He will shatter the chief men over a broad country Or the teaching of John the Baptist He began to say to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him you brutive vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath To come It's no wonder John later on said are you the expected one or should we be looking for someone else this It's certainly not happening the way I am which I think is kind of encouraging For me as a preacher anyway that he was you look at what he what he said And what's recorded in the scriptures it's absolutely great. It's right without mistake just like me
Thank you that was meant to be laughed at And yet he himself didn't necessarily know all the time what he was saying
He was looking for the wrath to come Now we don't like that today that when Jesus comes there's going to be wrath especially let me tell you It's worse for us assembled because judgment starts with the household of God Jesus taught that all over the place Paul taught that the it's the message of the New Testament when he comes to judge the living in the dead He'll start with the house of God
And this is kind of what we would call in today's culture the the hard part right we don't we don't like that In fact, we rather a God who is loving a kind we're good with that with mercy We love him sending his son to save us for me He did that that's wonderful. I feel good about that I don't feel so good about judgment In fact in in our day and age Often in the church were quiet about it, but in our hearts. I wonder how quiet we are when when we think you know I just don't believe God's really like that. I don't think he would do that
And I want to I want to speak to that for just a minute and say you know that was kind of the problem with The early church they were looking for him to come with wrath because they didn't like people But they were expecting him to be the way they wanted him and didn't want to accept him the way he came and and that same thing would be true for us today Even though it's the opposite And another thing if we make if we say God cannot be like that because it doesn't feel good and I don't like it Then then we say and we say okay, so he's not that way. He's only a God of love Then haven't we made God in our image rather than the way he said he is and and if we and so we've made an idol And think about it this way too if we say he can't be that way than what we're saying is we only wanted God We're comfortable with Not the God who really is and I may just ask you about every other relationship in your life
You like everything about everyone in your life It's do you like everything about your parents? Don't answer that Yeah, that's right. Yes. Yes And the same right We love our spouses And maybe not everything and there's something in relationships that just kind of demands that if it's going to be real If it's going to be genuine if if love is going to mean something then we're going to accept that person The way they are
There's words and foibles that we may want changed and and encourage them to change it I'm not saying that that's wrong or bad. I'm just saying that That everyone crosses us at some point And so God In fact, it's the other way around the fact that we've all crossed him It's our problem He comes to judge now
Let me give you the next point because and then I want to say something that kind of connects the two Jesus will judge him with the judgment comes reward And it's amazing how the scriptures speak to that. Let me let me just read a couple passages Paul and first Corinthians chapter three is talking about Those who are preaching the gospel and laying a foundation in Christ and and he makes the point in verse 11 No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ So for those who are in Jesus Christ at the foundational level they say Jesus is Lord. He died for my sins He's the sovereign over all things. He's my king He says for those if any man builds on this foundation with gold silver precious stones would haste double Each man's work will become evident for the day will show it because it will be revealed with Fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work You see there's that idea judgment. It's coming if anyone's man any man's work Which he has built on remains he will receive a reward. There's the word. I'm looking for he'll receive a reward And if if any man's work is burned up he'll suffer loss But he himself will be saved yet as through fire. How will he be saved? Well, he's found it in Christ and I think this is very very important for us as we think about He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead the judgment starts with the house of God and we should Take that very seriously. There should be self-examination Because it's not just those who say that they're believers who will be saved Jesus himself taught right at the end of the Sermon on the Mount many will say to me Lord Lord did I not do these things and I will say to them I never knew you do part for me you who practice lawlessness Now I don't want to suggest and I think the dangers we think oh works I have to do enough for for me to get this reward and be saved and that's not what the gospel at all is That's why I kind of pushed this point that there's a foundation. It's Jesus Christ and being found in him and and that's received as a gift There's no other way to be reconciled to God then on his terms which are I've sent my son receive him There's life in him But the fact is that the grace of God that sent his son that it wakens us to the truth of who God is and his beauty and his majesty So that we can love Jesus Christ that grace that saves us changes us
So that our lives aren't the same So that we do love him and as we examine our hearts It's not that we prophesied that we cast out demons. It's do I love him? Is the spirit bringing conviction of sin? Am I learning to hate my sin and thus believe the gospel and rejoice that Christ died for my sins And so there's the self-examination Am I have I've been born of God? Do I really know him though? Do I really love him because if not there's this terrifying Expectation that I will face judgment
But being found in him being found in Christ Jesus There will be times of incredible discouragement because the spirit will show us our sin and we'll say oh my There's more than I realized far more than I realized
And you may be Questioning when he shows you your sin. I wonder if I'm a believer in the simple answer is well Do you go back to the gospel and say but Christ died for this sin Because that's where faith and repentance is right? I see my sin, but I see Christ I see the mercy of God in Christ and I receive him and it is for those Who see their sin and the mercy of God in Christ Who go to him that they begin to live for him and What Jesus said do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth We're moth and rust rust destroy and we're these breaking and still but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where no moth or Thief you know can destroy all of a sudden that makes sense and we We get involved in the Ministry of seeing the kingdom expanded and fill the earth we get involved not in just seeing people come to Christ for the first time But seeing our brothers and sisters grow up in Christ and and caring for the hurting and and entering into this broken world seeking to bring healing and hope and and why Because we anticipate what is this last point That Jesus will usher in Ultimate restoration Let me just close by reading from The revelation given to John 22nd chapter Then he showed me a river of the water of life Clear as crystal Coming from the throne of God in of the land in the middle of its streets On either side of the river was the tree of life Baring 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations There will no longer be any curse And the throne of God in of the land will be in it and his bond servants will serve him They will see his face And his name will be on their foreheads And there will no longer be any night And they will have no need of the light of the lamp nor the light of the sun Because the Lord God will illumine them And they will reign with him forever and ever And he said to me these words are faithful and true And the Lord the God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show his bond servant these things Which must soon take place And the words of our Lord be hold I am coming quickly Blessed is he who heaths the words of the prophecy of this book Even so come Lord Jesus Amen, let us pray Lord Jesus, thank you for your birth And growth and life and ministry for your death and burial and resurrection for your ascension and the sending of the spirit and the growth and increase of your kingdom And thank you that you will come again You will judge all the the hypocrites and unbelievers in your church and all those who have rejected you You will reward your children who by grace are there by faith in Jesus
You will restore all things And we are grateful and we love you Amen