Sermon
The Doctrine of the Kingdom of God - Part 2
Entrance by Repentance
February 1, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

The subject we have chosen to talk to you about four the next number of weeks is a subject that continues our series in the great doctrines of the Bible. The subject is the Kingdom of God. It's a subject seldom talked about in the sense of a whole subject because it's so massive. You remember last week we went through the gospel of Matthew and we found numerous verses that relate to the subject, in fact, if we read through the entire four gospels today we would find that the kingdom of God is referred to over 130 times.

So what we have decided is that for a number of weeks we will just simply take the subject and break it apart in various sections. The Lord willing, next Sunday I want to talk to you about the kingdom under siege, which is the kingdom at war. Remember that portion that we read in Matthew last Sunday which says the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent taketh it by force? Paul writes, for we wrestled not against flesh and blood but against principalities and against powers. So we want to talk, the Lord willing, next week about a kingdom under siege, and the great spiritual contest between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. It's a fascinating subject.

Today I want to talk to you about the kingdom and how we get into it; Entrance is by repentance, so let's take our notes. And one other word of explanation: you'll notice in our notes I've always included in recent months all of the Scripture text, and the reason why am doing that is because the notes have become very popular and they are being used in various locations for Bible studies. In fact, the prison over here uses them for Bible studies and also they are put on the Internet, and thus, around the world people are reading the material that you hear today from the pulpit. They may live in countries, they may be in situations, they do not have a Bible so we place the text here before us and it's put on the Internet so those who join with us will have the entire lesson including the Scriptures.

Our lesson today our Scripture portion is taken from Luke's gospel chapter 3 and it has to do with the preaching of John the Baptist. It says: "And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins: As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias, the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answered and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him. Master, what shall we do? And he saith unto them. Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not."

John preaches repentance. His audience listens. Finally they ask him, John, you're talking about repentance, what do we do, how do we respond to your message? What does repentance involve? So he says to one, you that have sufficiently more than others you divide with those that are in need. To others he said, wherever your assignment is in the kingdom of God do it with all your heart. The implied is that repentance is a response to the gospel message that creates a tremendous change of life and value system within the individual who repents.

Now I've included some other verses: "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Luke 5:31 says: "And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And Peter writes: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

I started our lesson with a beautiful little story. It is related that Michelangelo, the famous Italian sculptor, painter, and poet, once stood before a great block of marble that had been rejected by builders and cast aside. As he stood there with eyes staring straight at that marble, a friend approached and asked what he was looking at. "An angel," came the reply. He saw what the mallet, and the chisel, and the patient skill of an artist could do with that rejected stone. So he set to work and he produced one of his great masterpieces.

The Divine Sculptor sees possibilities that no mortal can see. He looks upon the chaotic, misshapen, and sin-ruined lives of men and women, just like you and me, and He sees a saint. With His infinite grace and His eternal mercy, through forgiveness and love and the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit, He can take the ugly and make it beautiful. He can take the rejected and they become accepted, the unprofitable become profitable, and sinners like you and me He can bring us into His kingdom and make us members of that kingdom. A marvelous miracle.

A beautiful poem that I have always enjoyed:
"Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
A dollar, a dollar...now two, only two...
Two dollars and who'll make it three?
"Three dollars, once, three dollars twice...
Going for three'...but no...
From the room far back a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening up all the strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As sweet as the angels sing.
"The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said; "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars-and who'll make it two?"
Two thousand, and who'll make it three?
Three thousand once, and three thousand twice-
And -going, and gone' said he.
"The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand-
What changed its worth?" The man replied,
'The touch of the Master's hand.'
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and torn with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game...and he travels on,
He's going once, and he's going twice,
He is going, and almost gone!
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd,
Never quite understand...
The worth of a soul, and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand."

What a beautiful poetic story of your life and mine, worthless outside of Christ, sinners headed for a Christ-less eternity. But it's in His infinite grace and His marvel of marvelous love He reached out and touched us, and drew us unto Himself, and changed a sinner into a saint and made us children of His kingdom and heirs of that eternal home.

"Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Now there are three things churning in my mind and my heart today that I want to talk to you about. First of all, I want to clarify as clearly as possible the meaning of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. Secondly, we want to talk briefly about the subject of sin, and thirdly, we want to find out what it means to repentance.

Turn with me in your notes to page 4. I have noted, a third down the page, that in our previous lesson we learned that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are terms used interchangeably throughout the gospel but have the exact same meaning. There is no reason to attach a different meaning to these terms. You say, Pastor, why did you say that? Because there are those who hold that the kingdom of heaven is different than the kingdom of God, and so they build a theology quite different than what you and I hold to.

A couple of weeks ago when we started this subject I had a couple of people bring up their Bibles which had notes to the side, and those notes were in conflict with each other, and it has to do with this whole matter of the kingdom. So let's remember that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are terms that are used interchangeably in the gospels.

Explanation: the combination "kingdom of heaven" is the literal translation of the Hebrew "malkuth shamaim." Matthew's almost invariable use of the term "kingdom of heaven" is connected with the fixed Jewish linguistic usage in which the name of God was usually avoided. Remember, Matthew is writing his gospel to Jewish people, and as Jewish people they don't name of the name of God publicly. And to honor their linguistic usage of the word he uses the term of the kingdom of heaven, but in the literal it means also that kingdom of God.

To the Jewish listener of John's day, the "Kingdom of God" meant the re-establishment of the Theocracy, and a return to those great days in the history of His people when God Himself was the Lawgiver and the King. It was that day when Palestine would be free from oppression and Jerusalem would be the capital of the world. To the Jews, it was the fulfillment of the Golden Age.

Now here's what we have to keep in mind, when Jesus and John are talking about the kingdom of God, they are talking about something totally different that's going on in the minds of the Jewish listeners -- totally different. You see, the Jewish people remembered the great and golden days of King David. David took some straggling tribes, brought them together, made them a great nation, selected the city of Jerusalem as the capital, and the reign of David became a reign to be loved and honored and to be rejoiced about.

And they also had prophecies that said that the throne of David would be forever and forever, and so they had anticipations concerning that kingdom. But David dies, Solomon his son takes rule and he rules for 40 years, but he rules with an iron hand creating slavery that builds all of those beautiful houses and gardens and so forth, and when Solomon dies he is hated. His kingdom is in disarray and it isn't very long before the kingdom separates. The northern 10 tribes said we'll go our way, and the bottom 2 tribes said we'll go our way, so now we've got a divided kingdom.

This wasn't very long in history, along come the Assyrians and they come down and take away the northern tribes, and that portion of the kingdom is gone. In the year 586, I think it is, the Babylonians come over and they take the remaining part of the kingdom, the 2 tribes that lived around Jerusalem. And now, that golden kingdom is no more. But it still beat deep in the heart of every Jewish believer the day would come when that kingdom would be re-established and Palestine would rule the world and Jerusalem would be the capital of the world. They call that the golden age.

Now they're thinking of this physical, material kingdom; that's their understanding when the kingdom is mentioned. But the kingdom to which John referred to in his preaching was spiritual, not physical. He was announcing the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, who would give His life on Calvary for the redemption of man's sin. It was the kingdom of Christ's spiritual rule within the lives and the hearts of men and women, boys and girls. Not a kingdom of castles, buildings, horses and tanks, lands and countries, but a kingdom wherein the King of kings and the Lord of lords comes to reign within the heart bringing peace and righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit.

You remember in Luke the Pharisees in chapter 12 came to Jesus and said, Jesus, talk to us about your kingdom. His answer was, My kingdom does not come with observation. In other words, you can't see it. It's not physical and it's not material. My kingdom is within you.

He's going to the cross, Pilate is fascinated by Him, Pilate says tell me about Your kingdom: Are You a king? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world, if it were, I could call My servants and they would fight for Me.

Paul probably gives us the best definition of the kingdom. Romans 14:17, the kingdom of heaven is not meat or drink. That is, it's not physical. The kingdom of God is joy and peace and righteousness in the Holy Spirit. So Jesus, John and Paul understood the kingdom of which we are talking about today as the reign of Christ when Christ comes to rule and take possession of our lives and become the Lord of our lives. He sets up His kingdom inside of us. The kingdom in which we enjoy His peace, and His joy and our lives are lived in righteousness. Now that's the kingdom he's talking about.

But what keeps us out of that kingdom? It's the problem of sin. Sin has separated man from God, and we must do something with regards to that sin. Turn with me to page 5. About a third of the page down I make this comment: The preaching of John and Jesus started from one valid basic assumption...MAN IS A SINNER, far from God, he is blinded by sin, and at total enmity against God. The gospel starts from the idea of the cleft existing between God and man, and the great moral distress in which man finds himself before God. This distress goes so deep and is so all overpowering because of man's guilt before God, owing to which man with his entire existence, runs the risk of being delivered to the divine judgment.

Jesus said: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already; because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

Now these notes I have not included in your notes, but that question kept going through my mind, is there a definition for sin that all of us can understand? Because if I ask you, What is sin? all of us would most likely have a different answer. The Bible says that sin is a transgression of the Law of God. I picked up an old book that was written back in 1692 by Thomas Watson, a great Puritan divine, and his congregation 300 years ago asked him the question, what is sin? And I'm going to read his answer in just a moment. But the answer that he gave is just as valid and just as true today as it was 300 years ago. Remember the Scripture says that sin is a transgression of the law of God.

The old Puritan divine started his answer with these words: Sin is a violation of the moral law of God. The Scripture calls it an accursed thing. It is compared to the venom of serpents and the stench of sepulchers. Sin is a defiling thing. It's not only a defection, it's a pollution. It is to the soul as rust is to gold as stain is to beauty. It makes the soul red with guilt and black with filth. Sin has blotted God's image and stained the bitterness of the soul. Sin drops poison on everything that's holy.

Sin is the grieving of the Spirit of God. A sinner tramples upon God's law, he crosses His will, and then does all that he can to affront and even to spite God. Sin is a painful thing. Until sin is removed there is no coming to where God is. Sin has degraded our honor. God made us in His own image a little lower than the angels, but sin has debased us. Sin has plucked off our coat of innocence and now it has debased us and turned our glory into shame. Sin, the old Puritan divine said, disquiets the peace of the soul. As poison tortures the bowels, corrupts the blood, so sin does to the soul.

Sin breeds a trembling at the heart and creates fear. Sin makes sad convulsions in the conscience. Sin creates all of our troubles. It puts gravel into our bread, wormwood into the cup, sin rots the name, it consumes the estate, and buries beautiful relationships. Sin, if it's not repented of, will condemn us to hell.

It's this sin, it's this defiling defining principle that puts enmity in our heart against God. It's that attitude we want to live life and be our own master and be our own god, and as the result, we defy God our Maker. That's sin. That's the sin that separates us and that's the sin the keeps us out of the kingdom; that's the sin that disallows Him to set up His kingdom within us. But what do we do about it? We repent.

Go with me now to the bottom of page 6. Let's find out what repentance really is. Question -- What did John the Baptist mean when he told his audience to repent? When the people asked him...he told them to share what they possessed. When the publicans asked what to do, he told them to be fair and honest in their dealings with men. And when the soldiers questioned John what they should do to repent, his reply: "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." His theme: "Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance."

In the Old Testament, repentance meant the turning from evil. In the New Testament, repentance means a fundamentally new turning of the human will to God, a turning from blindness and error to the Saviour. When a man truly repents, conversion takes place which involves a change of lordship. The one until the moment of repentance was under the lordship of Satan, now he comes under the lordship of Jesus Christ. He comes out of darkness into light, from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. Paul writes to the Colossians, Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and He's conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in which we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance is not simply a mental activity; genuine repentance involves the intellect, the emotions and the will. Now I come to a part in our sermon where I'm on very touchy ground in today's proclamation of repentance, for you see, there has been a total change of the definition of repentance in popular preaching. It causes my heart to grieve to realize that men who stand in the sacred pulpit have given their own definition to repentance. Remember, repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, it's a renouncing of it, and it's a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ. That's repentance.

What is being preached today in many evangelical pulpits? I picked up some books this week and I have jotted down in my notes, I didn't get them into your notes, but here is the redefining of repentance in the pulpit today, and many churches who call themselves Christians are hearing this said in the pulpits. One false prophet writes in his book, he says, Repentance is a change of mind about to Christ. It is, in the context of the gospel invitation, repentance is just a synonym for faith, but no turning from sin is required for salvation.

Now ladies and gentlemen, if that kind of preaching ever comes from this pulpit you bring stones to stone the false prophet. Because in the Old Testament when the prophet was a false prophet you stoned him to death. What that has said is a lie, but there are thousands of people who went to church this morning and that is exactly what they heard.

Another false prophet writes, The whole of salvation including faith is a gift of God. But faith might not last. A true Christian can completely cease believing. That's not true. Submission to Christ's supreme authority as Lord is not germane to the saving transaction. Neither dedication nor willingness to be dedicated to Christ are issues in salvation. The news that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead is the complete gospel. Nothing else is required for salvation. Now that's the preaching of men.

Listen to this. A believer may utterly forsake Christ and come to the point of not believing, but God has guaranteed that He will not disown those who thus abandoned the faith, those who have once believed our secure for ever, even if they turn away from Christ and live in outright sin. That's a lie, but that's man definition redefining repentance.

It is possible to experience a moment of faith that guarantees heaven for eternity then to turn away permanently and to live a life that is utterly barren of any spiritual fruit. Genuine believers might even cease to name the name of Christ or confess Christianity.

I believe old Jeremiah was right: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, "You shall have peace" ; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, "No evil shall come upon you."

In our notes down on the bottom of page 7 I make the comment that real repentance alters the character of the whole man. It changes us. That's what John said. That was his answer. They said, what do we do John? John is saying change your ways you selfish people. Prove that the love of Christ has flooded your hearts and take your generosity and give it to those who don't have. In other words, true repentance changes life's values and lifestyles. And if there is not a lifestyle change, one can question the validity of what they call their conversion, because true repentance changes us because we have a new Lord. We become a new creation in Christ Jesus.

On the last page, and our time is gone. A third of the page down: No evangelism that omits the message of repentance can property be called the gospel, for sinners cannot come to Jesus Christ apart from a radical change of heart, of mind and will. That demands a spiritual crisis leading to a complete turnaround and ultimately a wholesale transformation. It's the only kind of conversion Scripture recognizes.

Now here's what they'll tell... If one sitting here today believes what I just read, they'd say Pastor Sheley what you're preaching is works for salvation. You're telling us we've got to change before we are saved. No, I'm talking about the same coin, the coin called conversion. One side of it is repentance and the other side is believe in faith, but it's the same coin and it happens simultaneously. It happens as the Spirit of God has touched us and we realize that we are sinners, we are lost, and on our way to hell. And if we don't turn from our sin and turn to Jesus Christ and seek His forgiveness, and His cleansing, and ask Him to be the Lord of our lives we'll miss the kingdom for now and forever.

But when the Holy Spirit deals with us and we repent and we say, Jesus, I am a sinner and I want to turn from my sin because I want You to set up Your kingdom in my heart and life. I want that peace and I want Your joy, and I crave Your righteousness. I want to live rightly in this life. Jesus I open my heart and I receive You as my Savior. That is repentance and saving faith and the results, conversion. That is how we get into the kingdom of God.

Repent, Jesus said. Turn from your sin and believe. And if that has never taken place in the life, true conversion has never happened. You know ladies and gentlemen, as I stand here Sunday after Sunday there is a verse that haunts me. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, if the light that is within thee is darkness, how great is that darkness. The sacred responsibility that a pastor has in standing behind the sacred desk is to preach the word of God, but if what he preaches is what we just read, there are people who are going to stand at the judgment bar of God on that eternal day and realize the lie they believed was nothing but darkness. And Jesus said, if what I think I believe is right and it turns out to be wrong, how great is that darkness.

I want it very, very clear...the words of Jesus, He wants to come and set up His kingdom in our hearts, but He will not allow us to live on in our sin. He requires that we turn from our sin and let Him transform us and make us a new creation in Christ Jesus. And when He does, His kingdom has come. Amen?

I want you to think deeply about what we've talked about today, and in your quiet moments, the moments of devotion, I want you to make sure that you've given your life totally to Jesus Christ. I know we'll sin. I sin. We all falter along the way, but God knows there's a burning driving desire within my heart to please Him. And I pray that's in your heart too.

Jesus, thank you for making the kingdom, Your rule and reign within our hearts, available. Thank you for making it very clear how we enter Your kingdom. May it be that everyone standing here today loves You with all their hearts, serves You with all their strength, and You are the Lord of all of their life. I pray this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you folks.