Speaker 1: Thank you very much for that warm welcome. I'm keeping
Speaker 1: my cap on, not to disrespect Jesus or you, but
Speaker 1: I've been spending too many nights in aeroplanes crisscrossing the world,
Speaker 1: and my body is no longer taking the lack of
Speaker 1: sleep and air conditioning in the plane, so it's good
Speaker 1: to keep my cap on. We are very privileged to
Speaker 1: be celebrating the Reformation Sunday with you. On the thirty
Speaker 1: first of October fifteen seventeen, Martin Luther, professor, pastor and
Speaker 1: academic pastor. He nailed the ninety five Theses, which is
Speaker 1: his criticism and correction of what the Europeans believed at
Speaker 1: that time and how they were practicing.
Speaker 2: He nailed his criticism.
Speaker 1: And correction on the door of the Castle church in
Speaker 1: the city of Wittenberg. This was a call for an
Speaker 1: academic debate, and he nailed them at the door of
Speaker 1: the church.
Speaker 2: Because the church was the university.
Speaker 1: All the universities in Europe came out of the church,
Speaker 1: out of monasteries or cathedrals, and this was no exception.
Speaker 1: He was calling for a debate and that triggered that
Speaker 1: triggered a movement that created the modern world.
Speaker 2: So it was a battle for truth.
Speaker 1: That we must believe what is true, we must live
Speaker 1: according to what is truth, and that we looked and
Speaker 1: studied that.
Speaker 2: In the first service. So if you were not here
Speaker 2: in the.
Speaker 1: First service, please audio recording is available and I would
Speaker 1: encourage you to listen to that. But you are an
Speaker 1: unusual church which is optimistic, that believes that future twenty
Speaker 1: first century can be greater than the past. That is
Speaker 1: not typical a Christian church in America. So I'd like
Speaker 1: to study in the second sermon the theme of hope.
Speaker 1: Because Reformation was reforming the Middle Ages, and those Middle
Speaker 1: Ages were brutal, a young man, William Tyndale, a scholar,
Speaker 1: attempted to translate the Bible into English.
Speaker 2: He approached three bishops.
Speaker 1: Translating the Bible had been illegal in England since the
Speaker 1: time of Wickliffe one hundred and thirty forty years before Tyndale,
Speaker 1: so he had to leave England, and leaving the shores
Speaker 1: of England without permission was also illegal. So he left England,
Speaker 1: came to Wittenberg, where Martin Luther was and began translating
Speaker 1: the Bible into English. But then he came to Belgium
Speaker 1: and the English Channel where he printed that and had
Speaker 1: to smuggle it into England. And for the crime of
Speaker 1: translating the Bible into English, he was strangled and burnt
Speaker 1: at the stake. John huss a reformer prior to that,
Speaker 1: had also been burnt at the stake. So the Church
Speaker 1: in Europe was brutal. This was the age of darkness
Speaker 1: that we call the Middle Ages. A lot of good
Speaker 1: things were happening during the Middle Ages, but it was
Speaker 1: still dark Ages. But the Reformation believed that the world
Speaker 1: can be changed, the world can be better because Jesus
Speaker 1: is making all things new. So that's the theme for today,
Speaker 1: and I want to look at the first epistle of
Speaker 1: John with you. We will look at few verses. So
Speaker 1: if you have your Bible and do please open that.
Speaker 1: I'd like to begin, because we have more young people
Speaker 1: now than we had in the morning, I'd like to
Speaker 1: begin with one John two fourteen. I'll read the whole verse,
Speaker 1: but focus on the second part of the worse One
Speaker 1: John two fourteen. I write to you, dear children, because
Speaker 1: you know the Father. I write to you fathers, because
Speaker 1: you know him who is from the beginning. I write
Speaker 1: to you young men, because you are strong and the
Speaker 1: word of God lives in you, and you have overcome
Speaker 1: the evil one. Now those are amazing statements. John is
Speaker 1: saying that he's writing to you, young men and women,
Speaker 1: because you are strong and the word of God lives
Speaker 1: in you.
Speaker 2: And you have overcome the evil one.
Speaker 1: Who are we to overcome the evil one? We can't.
Speaker 1: The world has go from back to verse until the
Speaker 1: rider on the white horse comes and slays the Antichrist
Speaker 1: and establishes kingdom. He has to slay the Antichrist. We
Speaker 1: can't overcome the evil one. That's the mindset on much.
Speaker 2: Of the American Church and European Church.
Speaker 1: But John is actually repeating in verse thirteen what he
Speaker 1: has said in verse fourteen, what he has already said
Speaker 1: in verse thirteen, so that repetition is emphasized in the point.
Speaker 1: He says in verse thirteen, I'm writing to your fathers
Speaker 1: because you.
Speaker 2: Know him who is from the beginning.
Speaker 1: I'm writing to young men because you have overcome the
Speaker 1: evil One. Now, with significance of it, we might have
Speaker 1: time to look at the end. This is like the
Speaker 1: ancient saying to Gideon in a Judges six that God
Speaker 1: is with you a mighty young man. And Gideon says,
Speaker 1: what look at all the Midianites, and look at all
Speaker 1: the Amlakites. Whatever we plant a harvest, they come in
Speaker 1: and they overrun the whole land. They've taken over all
Speaker 1: the Protestant universities and Christian colleges, and they have they're
Speaker 1: robbing the Church of her children. Seventy percent of the
Speaker 1: Christian children who grew up in Christian homes. First year
Speaker 1: in college university, they're robbed.
Speaker 2: And who am I? Angel says to Gideon.
Speaker 1: You go in your strengths and you will deliver Israel.
Speaker 1: You will change the future. But my clan is the
Speaker 1: least in Israel, and I'm the smallest in my family.
Speaker 1: You're talking ridiculous. That's what John is saying here that yes,
Speaker 1: the great, mighty, famous men and women of God, they
Speaker 1: have already been defeated.
Speaker 2: But you're strong, you will overcome. That's like Joshua.
Speaker 1: If you have time to go back and read Joshua
Speaker 1: Chapter one, Moses is dead. Here are these people in
Speaker 1: the wilderness, and God is saying, you have stayed long
Speaker 1: enough in this camp. Back up your camp and march
Speaker 1: in to this land.
Speaker 2: That I'm going to.
Speaker 1: Give you what All those lands, the universities and political
Speaker 1: parties and municipalities and the big industries in Seattle, they're
Speaker 1: already already occupied by the giants. They control the money,
Speaker 1: they controlled politics, they control the press. Who am I? So?
Speaker 1: Joshua was one of the twelve spies who had gone
Speaker 1: into the Promised Land to spy out the land before
Speaker 1: they are going to take it over, and ten of
Speaker 1: them had returned and said, we went there. It is
Speaker 1: a great land, just like Seattle. But we're grasshoppers in
Speaker 1: front of those giants, right, Who are we? We can't
Speaker 1: take it over. We will get Let's go back into
Speaker 1: slavery in Egypt. Joshua and Caleb said, well, if this
Speaker 1: really is God's battle, if he really is with us,
Speaker 1: if he really brought us out of Egypt, we.
Speaker 2: Can take over that land.
Speaker 1: So, when Joshua is being commissioned to take Moses's place
Speaker 1: after thirty three years, no it was forty years, he
Speaker 1: is being told three times in Joshua Chapter one, be
Speaker 1: strong and very courageous, because God is with him. This
Speaker 1: land possessed, controlled, ruled, and ruined by the giants. I'm
Speaker 1: giving it to you. So That's what John is saying
Speaker 1: in chapter one, verses thirteen and fourteen, that young men,
Speaker 1: young women, I'm writing to you because you're strong, even
Speaker 1: if you don't believe it, and because you have overcome
Speaker 1: the evil one, Satan has no right to rule the USA.
Speaker 1: Why because John says in the same chapter, chapter two,
Speaker 1: a verse eight. Yet I'm writing to you in New command.
Speaker 1: Its truth is seen in him. We talked about truth
Speaker 1: in the first service. It's truth is seen in him
Speaker 1: and in you. Because the darkness is passing and the
Speaker 1: true light is already shining. Oh no, the true light
Speaker 1: will shine only after the second coming.
Speaker 2: Right now, the.
Speaker 1: Darkness is overtaking the USA. Right now, evil is destroying
Speaker 1: our families, our marriages, our children. But John is saying, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: The light came the first time, and the true light
Speaker 1: is shining. It's worse. Eight, it's already shining. And that
Speaker 1: light you're going to be reflecting. I am the light
Speaker 1: of the world. He who follows me shall not walk
Speaker 1: in darkness, but shall receive the light of life. You
Speaker 1: are the light of the world. So John is repeating
Speaker 1: what Jesus has already said in the Gospel of John
Speaker 1: chapter eight, etc. But we won't go there. In chapter
Speaker 1: three of one John, were taking off now. In the epistle,
Speaker 1: First Epistle of John, in chapter three and verse eight,
Speaker 1: he explains what he has said in the previous chapter
Speaker 1: one John three eighth. The one who does what is
Speaker 1: sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been
Speaker 1: sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God
Speaker 1: appeared for the first time was.
Speaker 2: To destroy the devil's works.
Speaker 1: So he already came to destroy the devil's work. Therefore,
Speaker 1: devil is already defeated. His coming on the cross was
Speaker 1: his coming in his glory and power. Ah, that's the
Speaker 1: subject for another time, because most of American theology doesn't
Speaker 1: believe that the cross is Christ coming in victory, in power,
Speaker 1: in glory in his kingdom to defeat the works of
Speaker 1: the evil one. I won't go there today. In chapter
Speaker 1: four one John, Chapter four, verse four, John says that
Speaker 1: you dear children, are from God and have overcome them.
Speaker 1: That's the them means Antichrist. One John is the only
Speaker 1: epistle where the phrase Antichrist is used, and he says,
Speaker 1: there are spirit of Antichrist, and there are many Antichrists
Speaker 1: who are post Christ already walking around. But you have
Speaker 1: overcome the Antichrist because the one who is in you
Speaker 1: is greater than the one who is in the world.
Speaker 1: The one who is in you, he said, you are
Speaker 1: strong because the Word of God lives in you, and
Speaker 1: you have overcome the evil one. And the one who
Speaker 1: is living in you is greater than the one deceiving
Speaker 1: the world, ruling the world. Let's in the same chapter
Speaker 1: he says in verse seventeen that the last phrase that
Speaker 1: in this world we are like Jesus. Is Jesus victorious?
Speaker 2: Is he the light? In this world? We are like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let's look at chapter five one, John five, verse four.
Speaker 1: For everyone born of God, and we'll talk about that
Speaker 1: in a minute. For everyone born of God overcomes the world.
Speaker 2: This is the victory.
Speaker 1: That has overcome the world. Even our faith.
Speaker 2: Born of God overcomes the world.
Speaker 1: Why then, is the American Church a defeated church? Why
Speaker 1: is Evangelical Christianity a defeated religious movement, marginalized ridiculed in America?
Speaker 1: Here John is saying that everyone born of God, and
Speaker 1: we don't understand what that means. We will look at it.
Speaker 1: Has everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is
Speaker 1: the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Speaker 1: So faith gives optimism, hope, and that's the one defining
Speaker 1: feature of your church. You're a church that believes in reformation.
Speaker 1: You believe in hope. Now verse nineteen of one John
Speaker 1: five is a terrible worse one. John five nine h
Speaker 1: John says, we know that we are children of God
Speaker 1: and that the whole world is under the control of
Speaker 1: the evil One. Come on, John, the whole world.
Speaker 2: Is under the control of the evil One.
Speaker 1: That would be ridiculous. There are so many good people
Speaker 1: around Ah running these great technology companies out of Washington.
Speaker 2: John has a problem.
Speaker 1: He knows many wonderful people in Rome, in the capitol
Speaker 1: the swamp Ah. These are hardworking, honest people who are
Speaker 1: making their money, feeding their families, paying their taxes, and
Speaker 1: the emperor is arresting them, burning them as human tortures
Speaker 1: for his evening party because poor fellow doesn't have electricity.
Speaker 1: How can these innocent people be arrested and burned alive. See,
Speaker 1: we haven't lived in that world. Therefore, we don't know
Speaker 1: that the whole world is under the control of the
Speaker 1: evil One. I see some beautiful young women here. You know,
Speaker 1: if you were married to Abraham, Abraham will have a problem,
Speaker 1: he said to his wife, because you're so beautiful, I
Speaker 1: will be beheaded. They'll take you. So please don't say
Speaker 1: that I'm your husband. Just say that you're my sister.
Speaker 1: And then when Pharaoh hears, she stays indoors in the tent.
Speaker 1: When Pharaoh hears, and then Abimelech hears that Abraham is
Speaker 1: a beautiful woman living in his tent. Why is she
Speaker 1: in your tent? Why not in my harem. That's how
Speaker 1: most of the world actually lived until the Gospel began
Speaker 1: to transform the world.
Speaker 2: We underestimate the power of the Gospel.
Speaker 1: So John is saying that we know that we are
Speaker 1: children of God, and that the whole world is under
Speaker 1: the control of the evil one. That's the conflict of
Speaker 1: two kingdoms. Is God going to rule? Is God's kingdom
Speaker 1: going to be here? Or is Satan going to rule?
Speaker 1: It's you haven't experienced corruption in America, and which is wonderful.
Speaker 2: You can send.
Speaker 1: Your daughters to the school, you can send them to college,
Speaker 1: send them to work. But in our villages where we were,
Speaker 1: Ruth and I were working, a girl could go up
Speaker 1: to the primary school. If the school is in her
Speaker 1: own village, she can't go to the middle school in
Speaker 1: the next village. She will be rapped. So I could
Speaker 1: go and explain more how terrible the situation was. But
Speaker 1: you can get the books and you can read some
Speaker 1: of our battles. Of one fight that Ruth started about
Speaker 1: with parents who are trying to kill their child, and
Speaker 1: we struggled for months to try and save her. Ultimately
Speaker 1: we lost. They did kill their daughter. So I won't
Speaker 1: repeat that story. But that's the background from what John
Speaker 1: is describing where parents.
Speaker 2: Killed their children.
Speaker 1: Because some of the leaders champion massacreing millions of American babies.
Speaker 1: How can they do that? John says that we're the
Speaker 1: children of God and that the whole world is under
Speaker 1: the control of the evil one. But you're strong and
Speaker 1: you have overcome the evil one. That's hope, that's optimism.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I wanted to focus on this phrase, we're the children
Speaker 1: of God because we have all heard the gospel that
Speaker 1: if you repent of your sin, you believe in Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: you receive him, you're born again to as many as
Speaker 1: received Him to them gave you the power to become
Speaker 1: the children of God. We become the children of God.
Speaker 1: What does that mean? Oh, it means that we will
Speaker 1: now go to hell. We'll go to heaven. That's what
Speaker 1: we think becoming the children of God means.
Speaker 2: But in fact, if you look in the last of.
Speaker 1: John's writings, which is the Book of Revelation, John has
Speaker 1: a very different idea of what it means for us
Speaker 1: to be children of God.
Speaker 2: So let's turn to the Book of Revelation.
Speaker 1: I don't intend to go into schatology because the Book
Speaker 1: of Revelation, the central theme of the Book of Revelation
Speaker 1: is kingship of all believers.
Speaker 2: To be a son of God, to be a child
Speaker 2: of God.
Speaker 1: Means to be king. If you're a child of the
Speaker 1: King of kings, if the King is.
Speaker 2: Your father, then ah, you're a king.
Speaker 1: That's the central theme of the Book of Revelation. Revelation,
Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse five, he says that Jesus the last
Speaker 1: part of verse in the middle of verse five, that
Speaker 1: Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Speaker 1: Later on that is defined as he is the King
Speaker 1: of Kings, the Lord of lords, who is Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: the ruler of the kings of the earth to him
Speaker 1: verse five, who loves us and has freed us from
Speaker 1: our sins by his blood, and verse six, and has
Speaker 1: made us to be kings and priests to serve his
Speaker 1: God and Father. Now, American translators will often not translate
Speaker 1: that he has made us kings and priests, because in
Speaker 1: American sociology, the separation of church and straight state, how
Speaker 1: can you be priest and king? So American sociology dictates translation.
Speaker 1: But it is actually pretty difficult. Because he has made
Speaker 1: us kings and priests means.
Speaker 2: That we shall rule on the earth.
Speaker 1: The past Duran emphasize that you are exercising your sovereignty
Speaker 1: when you're voting. In Chapter two of Revelation, John says
Speaker 1: in verse twenty six, to the one who is victorious
Speaker 1: and does my will to the end, I will give
Speaker 1: authority over the nations, that one will rule them with
Speaker 1: an ironcepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery,
Speaker 1: just as I have received authority from my father. So
Speaker 1: what does it mean to be a child of God?
Speaker 1: It means to be a king. I am the Messiah.
Speaker 1: I'm the son of God, which means that the Father
Speaker 1: said to me in some to ask of me and
Speaker 1: I will give nations as your inheritance. God didn't say,
Speaker 1: ask of me, and I'll give you tons of souls.
Speaker 2: He said, ask of me.
Speaker 1: And I will give you nations as your inheritance. And
Speaker 1: Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has
Speaker 1: been given to me. In chapter five of Revelation, or
Speaker 1: the title deed of the Earth is given to him
Speaker 1: sealed with seven seals.
Speaker 2: And Jesus is saying that.
Speaker 1: I'm making you God's children, which means I'm going.
Speaker 2: To give you authority over the nations.
Speaker 1: That's what it means to be son of a king.
Speaker 1: That he's the king of kings means you are kings.
Speaker 1: He's giving you authority over the nations. Chapter three. All
Speaker 1: of you have memorized Chapter three, verse twenty, but read
Speaker 1: twenty and twenty one together without the paragraph division. When
Speaker 1: will Jesus come again? What are the signs of his coming?
Speaker 1: Jesus says in chapter three, verse twenty, stand at the
Speaker 1: door and knock. If you listen to my voice, open
Speaker 1: the door, I will come in. Which coming is this
Speaker 1: first to second? It's first, second, third. Well, well, the
Speaker 1: American theology has a problem that we can only think
Speaker 1: in terms of two comings, but then the book. In
Speaker 1: the Gospels alone, Jesus comes at least seven times when
Speaker 1: he's says in Matthew ten that you go and proclaim
Speaker 1: the good news to all the villages and towns. Before
Speaker 1: you've gone through all the towns and villages, you will
Speaker 1: see the Kingdom of God come in his glory. When
Speaker 1: did he come on palms? All the gospel writers quote
Speaker 1: Zechariah that your king is coming. He is humble, coming
Speaker 1: on a donkey. In chapter sixteen of Matthew, when Peter
Speaker 1: confesses you're Christ, the son of the Living God, Jesus says,
Speaker 1: there are many standing here who will not taste death
Speaker 1: until they have seen the Kingdom of God come in
Speaker 1: his glory and splendor authority. In chapter twenty four, when
Speaker 1: they ask when will these things be, and that he
Speaker 1: has said that not one stone will be left upon
Speaker 1: another in this temple, when.
Speaker 2: Will this be?
Speaker 1: Jesus says that this generation shall not pass away before
Speaker 1: this has happened. So in the Gospels, Jesus comes at
Speaker 1: least seven times. In the Book of Revelation, he comes
Speaker 1: at least seven times. On my Facebook and other places
Speaker 1: you can get all those references. But today I'm sticking
Speaker 1: to one theme, which is a central message in the
Speaker 1: Book of Revelation, that to be a child of God
Speaker 1: means to be sovereign. To be the son of the
Speaker 1: king means that this king, this world is under the
Speaker 1: control of the evil one.
Speaker 2: The kingdom has invaded.
Speaker 1: You have become the children of God, and he is
Speaker 1: giving you authority over the nations. So chapter three, verse
Speaker 1: twenty You know, but twenty one. We don't ask our
Speaker 1: Sunday school children to memorize. In verse twenty one, what
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying is that, look, if you let me
Speaker 1: come into your heart and make your heart mind throne,
Speaker 1: so your heart becomes my throne.
Speaker 2: So if you let me sit on the throne.
Speaker 1: Of your heart, that your life is now running according
Speaker 1: to me my word, I will let you sit on
Speaker 1: my throne as I have sat down on my father's throne.
Speaker 1: That's verse twenty one, that if your heart becomes my throne,
Speaker 1: you become my child. You do my will, I will
Speaker 1: let you sit on my father's on my throne as
Speaker 1: I have sat down on my father's throne. Now Jesus
Speaker 1: doesn't say that I'm sitting on the right hand of God.
Speaker 1: Because God doesn't have two hands and God doesn't sit
Speaker 1: on a physical throne. Sitting on the right hand of
Speaker 1: God is an idiom, which means that all the authority
Speaker 1: of the Father is being exercised by the Son. So
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying, I will give you authority over the nations.
Speaker 2: You will rule them with an inceptor.
Speaker 1: If your heart becomes my throne, all authority in America
Speaker 1: has been given to me, and I will rule from.
Speaker 2: The throne of your heart.
Speaker 1: You will rule that Chapter four. In Revelation chapter four,
Speaker 1: John has a vision of the throne room. The Father
Speaker 1: is seated, the Ancient of Days is seated on the throne.
Speaker 1: Around the throne of God are twenty four other thrones
Speaker 1: on which are seated elders. Elders manage God's kingdom.
Speaker 2: That's going back to Moses.
Speaker 1: Then, look, I'm not going to be a king like
Speaker 1: children are not going to be your kings. You choose wise,
Speaker 1: just righteous, respectable elders for yourself. They will not be
Speaker 1: able to govern in their own wisdom and strength, because
Speaker 1: you guys are too stubborn, too wicked. So I will
Speaker 1: lay hands on them. They will receive the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: you must choose them, you must hold them accountable. That's
Speaker 1: what you're doing in this election, choosing the elders who
Speaker 1: will manage your city, state, your nation, because you are
Speaker 1: sovereign as God's children. That's what it means to be
Speaker 1: a child of God. It means to be a ruler.
Speaker 1: In Chapter five of Revelation, this is still John writing.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite verses, Chapter five, verses nine
Speaker 1: and ten. They're they're in the throne room of God,
Speaker 1: and the lamp has come, and all of these.
Speaker 2: People in God's presence begin to worship the lamb.
Speaker 1: How can you do that? The God is seated right there,
Speaker 1: but they're worshiping the Lamb. The only way you can
Speaker 1: do that is if if Lamb is God. And Jung
Speaker 1: uses a very cryptic phrase in the Book of Revelation,
Speaker 1: I saw the Lamb seated in the center of the throne.
Speaker 1: This is God's throne. Why is the Lamb seated there?
Speaker 1: Unless the Lamb was right that the Father and I
Speaker 1: are one. So, but we can't expound the whole powerful
Speaker 1: passage there. The point that I want to make is
Speaker 1: just in verse nine and ten, as they begin to
Speaker 1: worship the lamp. They say, you are worthy to take
Speaker 1: the scroll that is the title deed of the Earth,
Speaker 1: the authority of the Earth, and to open its seal,
Speaker 1: because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased
Speaker 1: for God persons from every tribe in language and people
Speaker 1: and nation. You have made them to be kings and
Speaker 1: priests to serve Our God, and they shall reign in heaven,
Speaker 1: they shall reign on thee earth. Why did the Lamb
Speaker 1: shed his.
Speaker 2: Blood to make you a king?
Speaker 1: That's what it means, to make your child of God,
Speaker 1: a son of God. That Jesus is saying, I mean,
Speaker 1: the heavenly choir is singing that you are worthy because
Speaker 1: in this world which was ruled by the devil, have
Speaker 1: you were slain? You shed your blood, and we had
Speaker 1: powerful song about the blood. And with that blood you
Speaker 1: purchase from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Speaker 1: Why to make them kings? Although American translation have hard
Speaker 1: time translating that this is American sociology corrupting.
Speaker 2: The text of the scriptures, that no, no, no, he
Speaker 2: didn't make us kings in priests.
Speaker 1: He only made us kingdom of priests. But unfortunately even
Speaker 1: American translators can't get away from the last phrase. You
Speaker 1: have made them to be kings and priests, to serve
Speaker 1: our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Now
Speaker 1: is John introducing ideas that Jesus never talked about in
Speaker 1: the gospel. Blessed that the food poor, for theirs is
Speaker 1: the kingdom. Blessed that the meek, for they shall inherit
Speaker 1: the earth. Right, that's the essence of the parable of
Speaker 1: the prodigal son. The prodigal son rebels against his father
Speaker 1: and becomes a slave, eating pigs, food, sleeping with the pigs,
Speaker 1: something that a Jew can't do, shouldn't be doing. He
Speaker 1: comes to his senses and he says, I will return
Speaker 1: to my father and confess my sin. That's conversion, that's salvation.
Speaker 1: So he comes back, I'm no longer worthy to be
Speaker 1: your son. Please make me so, and because I'm starving.
Speaker 1: The father says, nonsense.
Speaker 3: You are my son. You were lost, now you're found.
Speaker 3: You were dead, now you are alive. He calls his
Speaker 3: other servants.
Speaker 1: Give him a haircut, shave him, change his clothes, give
Speaker 1: him new clothes.
Speaker 2: Kill the fight at calf, Bring the.
Speaker 1: Best chefs, the best musicians, let's have a party.
Speaker 2: They drink a.
Speaker 1: Little bit too much, so they all go to sleep
Speaker 1: in their jees they drinking wine. Next morning, when they
Speaker 1: wake up, what happens. Everybody goes to work in the
Speaker 1: father's state. The prodigal son also goes to work. He
Speaker 1: works the whole day. Servants works, the whole day. Son works.
Speaker 1: The whole day. Servants get paid. He doesn't get paid.
Speaker 1: Why he's the owner. This is his father's vinyard, is
Speaker 1: his wynard. He has become the son. Servants have to
Speaker 1: be told what to do. The son already knows the
Speaker 1: father's will and does it right.
Speaker 2: He does his father's will, and he makes sure that
Speaker 2: everybody else is doing so.
Speaker 1: When Jesus is telling us that conversion means being reconciled
Speaker 1: to your father as his son, you are inheriting his kingdom.
Speaker 1: His kingship belongs to you. If God's will is to
Speaker 1: be done on this earth, you have to do it.
Speaker 1: You have to make sure that Father's will.
Speaker 2: Is being done.
Speaker 1: I wish we had time to go through the rest
Speaker 1: of the Book of Revelation, but we don't. But I said,
Speaker 1: I won't talk about a schatology. But let's look at
Speaker 1: the chapter twenty one for a few minutes, just one
Speaker 1: point in chapter Chapter nineteen, of course, has the millennium,
Speaker 1: where we are told that in verse six, the second
Speaker 1: Death has no power over them, but they will be
Speaker 1: priests of God and of Christ and will reign with
Speaker 1: him for a thousand years. Most American churches read misread
Speaker 1: this text that Christ will reign with the saints for
Speaker 1: a thousand years. That's not what the text is saying.
Speaker 2: The text is saying they will.
Speaker 1: Reign with Christ, because that's what he has said in
Speaker 1: chapter three that if your heart becomes my throne, I
Speaker 1: will let you sit on my throne as I sat
Speaker 1: down on my father's throne. You will be managing my
Speaker 1: father's kingdom, sayings will reign We seated with him in
Speaker 1: heavenly realm of authority. But in chapter twenty one is
Speaker 1: the section of this Coming of the New Jerusalem. So
Speaker 1: one of the seventh verse nine of chapter twenty one,
Speaker 1: one of the seven angels who had seven bolls full
Speaker 1: of seven lost Plagus came and said to be come,
Speaker 1: I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.
Speaker 1: And he carried me away in the spirit to a
Speaker 1: mountain great and high, and showed be the holy city Jerusalem,
Speaker 1: coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with
Speaker 1: the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that
Speaker 1: of a very precious jewel, like a jasper clearest crystal.
Speaker 1: So the Angel is saying to John, come, I will
Speaker 1: show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
Speaker 2: He takes you on a very high mountain, and John.
Speaker 1: Sees this beautiful, gorgeous city descending. And John says, excuse me, sir,
Speaker 1: I'm a little confused. Did you say this is the
Speaker 1: bride of the Lamb? Yes, yes, I thought I was
Speaker 1: the bride. I never got any divorce papers. Did he
Speaker 1: just see a more beautiful ah bride and took this?
Speaker 1: How many wives does Jesus have? Is the new Jerusalem
Speaker 1: being built somewhere beyond the blue and therefore in so
Speaker 1: many light years away that it's taking a long time
Speaker 1: for it to come. Will the new Jerusalem descend like
Speaker 1: a gigantic U four? Or is the new Jerusalem being
Speaker 1: built here now? In the chapter three of Revelation, John
Speaker 1: has already told us. Jesus says to the church in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia that if you're victorious I will make you a
Speaker 1: pillar in the House of God, and I will write
Speaker 1: on you the name of my God.
Speaker 2: And the name of his city.
Speaker 1: In New Jerusalem. Is the New Jerusalem being built somewhere
Speaker 1: beyond the Blue or in Philadelphia, in Seattle, in Tacoma,
Speaker 1: Galatians for Hebrew's ten, etc. We don't have the time
Speaker 1: to look at it, but I am dropping these things.
Speaker 1: The heart is if nations. The end of that chapter
Speaker 1: twenty one is that the city the Bride has no light,
Speaker 1: It has no sun, no moon, because the glory of
Speaker 1: God gives it light Verse twenty three.
Speaker 2: And the Lamb is its lamp.
Speaker 1: The nations will walk by its light, and the kings
Speaker 1: of the earth will bring their splendor into it. The
Speaker 1: glory in honor of the Nations will be brought into it.
Speaker 1: So God is building the New Jerusalem his bride, washing
Speaker 1: her with his powerful blood that we sang about, so
Speaker 1: that Christ's light and glory might shine to give light
Speaker 1: to the nations. Now, the American Church is a American
Speaker 1: Evangelical Christianity is a defeated religion because it has it
Speaker 1: has not had.
Speaker 2: This perspective on.
Speaker 1: What does it mean for a sinner to become a
Speaker 1: son of God. It means to acquire the kingdom. He's
Speaker 1: the king of kings. His children are ruling. So that's
Speaker 1: what John is saying. To conclude, I write to you,
Speaker 1: young men, because you're strong. The world is under the
Speaker 1: control of the evil one. But you have overcome the
Speaker 1: world because he that is in you, he's not in me.
Speaker 1: He's sitting up on a throne in heaven. He that
Speaker 1: is in you is greater than he that is in
Speaker 1: the world. Let's pray, Father, We thank you that you
Speaker 1: have taken the weak.
Speaker 2: Things of this world to shame the Mighty, and we
Speaker 2: pray that you will awaken.
Speaker 1: The church in America to become city on a hill,
Speaker 1: the light that gives light and life to the nations.
Speaker 2: In Jesus name, Amen,