THE KINGDOM OF GOD 7

THE KINGDOM OF GOD 7

God originally devised man to be a king

and to rule the earth in righteousness.

There is the fundamental idea of the Kingdom.

Throughout the Old Testament dispensation

there were various moves and efforts made

toward establishing this goal in the world.

However, it was never accomplished.

Then when the New Testament dispensation began to come in,

the first move that was made in that time

was the ministry of John the Baptist.

He came preaching to the Jews,

Repent ye, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

John announced or introduced the Kingdom,

he did not establish it.

He made no claim in that direction at all.

Jesus soon followed him as the Messiah,

or the Anointed one who had been promised to Israel

and who came first to Israel.

I think beyond a doubt Jesus actually established the Kingdom and

that the Kingdom has been in operation in the world

since early in the ministry of Jesus.

The Kingdom, to my mind, is defined as righteous men under Christ

ruling the earth in righteousness.

The Kingdom of God is not in operation in a physical phase today.

It has its manifestation in the working of the churches of Jesus Christ.

Before we take up Scripture scanning,

we need to notice some definite moves that have gone on before.

In the first place, when a Kingdom was established in Israel under David,

automatically all Israelites came into that Kingdom

and became citizens of it.

This was true whether they were saved or not,

regardless to whether they were capable of being saved,

they became citizens of that Kingdom.

That Kingdom embraced a nation as such.

When John the Baptist came with his ministry,

he insisted on the proposition that every individual,

every responsible individual in the nation

repent as a personal matter and personal responsibility.

This teaches us that this Kingdom that Jesus had come to establish

was different from that of David.

This Kingdom is to be composed only of saved people,

and then, incidentally,

people who submit themselves to the spiritual rule of Jesus Christ.

Some other things we ought to notice are

that when Jesus began to preach the Kingdom message.

He preached only to the Jews.

The purpose and intent of God seem to have been

that the Jews should have the inside position in the Kingdom affairs.

Then, it was to be built around them.

I do not think there is any doubt

that God meant go bring those other nations

into this new economy of things,

but it was not done until the Jews made their decision

either for or against it.

Jesus continued making this Kingdom appeal to the Jews

for about three years, or more.

During that period of time,

the religious authorities in Jerusalem manifested themselves

evermore unfriendly toward Jesus and His cause.

He went to the Passover Feast in Jerusalem each year,

but in between the Passovers

He would spend a large majority of His time up in Galilee

where the common people lived.

They received Him more favorably

than the Jewish religious leaders did in Jerusalem.

We come to

John 7.

1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee:

for he would not walk in Jewry,

because the Jews sought to kill him.

There is not any positive proof one way or another that I know of,

but the evidence seems to be in favor of that proposition

that Jesus did not attend the Passover Feast

that took place one year before His crucifixion.

The Scriptures rather give us this impression

that while the other Jews were at Jerusalem observing the Passover Feast,

Jesus went away off to the very border land of Israel.

He taught His disciples in the region of Caesarea Philippi.

He spoke the parable of the Bread of Life to His disciples.

Some think this was at the same time the Passover Feast

was under way in Jerusalem.

There is a foreboding of what was to come later,

that He did not go to Jerusalem

because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.

He went to the extremes of the land,

and there, in a way at least,

He made an appeal to the Gentiles as we commonly call them.

Shortly after this Passover that we think Jesus did not attend,

He was back in Galilee.

Instead of staying down in Jerusalem minding their own business,

these Jewish religious authorities

sent priests and Levites up there to question Him.

Their hope was to entrap Him and to make trouble for Him

even up in the land of Galilee.

We have set forth a few of the Scriptures

that deal with the time of the last year of the public ministry of Jesus.

His last year is divided into two definite periods.

In the fall of that year

Jesus did go to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles.

When it was over, he did not go back to Galilee as had been His custom.

He stayed there in Jerusalem and in the land of Judea.

In a manner of speaking,

He had it out constantly with those Jews on religious things.

For the present time we are dealing with those Scriptures

that tell about the first half of that last year

of the public ministry of Jesus.

He was up in the region of Galilee;

the Jews have pretty well expressed their decision and position.

The result is that Jesus began to deal with His teachings

less and less with the Jewish nation as such,

and more and more addressed the church

and what it is to become in this the Church Age.

There is also that matter of Jesus preaching that gospel of the Kingdom.

In connection with that,

He commanded the healing all the sicknesses and diseases among the people.

The only thing I can make out of that is that He was demonstrating

and exhibiting to the Jews what the fullness of the Kingdom would be like,

and if and when it should come.

In other words,

Jesus demonstrated the millennium when He preached the Kingdom gospel

to the Jewish people.

It became more evident that the Jews

were not going to accept Him as the Messiah

and the message of personal repentance that He had for the Jews.

More and more He began to reveal to His disciples

what the working of the church is to be in this, the Church Age.

It is in the midst of teachings of that nature

a revelation of what the church is to be like,

how many church members are to conduct ourselves.

Mark 9.

42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me,

it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off:

it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell,

into the fire that never shall be quenched:

44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off:

it is better for thee to enter halt into life,

than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out:

it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye,

than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

50 Salt is good:

but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it?

Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Frankly, such passages of Scriptures as this

are as hard for me to interpret to my full satisfaction

as any I know of in the New Testament.

Here are some things that happened –

the disciples were asking Jesus some of the details of the Kingdom.

He said first, Except ye come as a little child,

ye shall not by any means enter into the Kingdom.

That teaches us that humility and simple faith are the prerequisites,

or way of entering into the Kingdom.

In other words, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ

is the way we are saved,

or enter into the Kingdom.

Using the figure of that little child,

He referred to His own disciples as the little ones,

or the little children.

These were not little children.

They were grown men.

They are little children in the fact

that they were saved on the simple faith of the little child.

After they were saved they walked in the simple faith of the little child

and on the basis of New Testament Scriptures.

That is evidence enough for these parables about the little children.

It is adults who walk in faith in the manner of little children.

However, then we come to the rest of that proposition where it says,

If thy hand offend thee, cut it off,

and thy eye offend thee, pluck it out.

It is better to enter into the Kingdom with one eye, one hand, etc.,

than with both hands and both eyes

to be cast into the Gehenna of fire,

which I take it the same eternal lake of fire in the book of Revelation.

Just what does that mean?

Does it mean that we, when we are saved,

do not obey God, if we do not walk according to His commandments

that we will lose our salvation?

We cannot stand on the proposition like that

because the other teachings of the Scripture

absolutely deny any such position as that.

One of the dangerous things in the world

is to try to establish an important or fundamental religious doctrine

on an obscure or uncertain passage of Scripture.

This does not teaching falling from grace.

But what is it if your hand offend you and your eye,

and you cut it off or pluck it out.

Here is what I think it is – with reference to the Jews.

They had the traditions of the fathers

and they had the law of Moses,

from which they had departed, as far as that is concerned.

They said, Now this is right, and anything

that comes up to the contrary is just wrong

and that is all there is to it.

In that, they allowed their hand and their foot to offend them.

They refused to cut off those offending hands,

those offending eyes, and feet, etc.

What is the result?

If a person is already saved when he does a thing like that,

he does not lose his salvation over.

He does lose his Christian influence.

He, himself will not be cast into the Gehenna of fire

but his false religious position will more than likely

point his children, his friends, and other people

over whom he has some influence away from the right way of salvation

and direct their steps down toward that devil’s hell.

That is the only way in the world

that I know to deal with this proposition

of cutting off the hand and foot, etc.,

lest that some should land in the Gehenna of Fire as the result thereof.

Let us look matters squarely in the face for once.

Some religious people teach salvation by grace. We as Baptists do.

We are the only people that I know

who do stand strictly on the ground of salvation by grace.

We say that is the only way it is,

and the Bible says that also.

Other religious people teach that salvation is either entirely,

or in part by works.

If that is so,

then they are teaching a false gospel and a false doctrine

and people are not saved on the basis of a false doctrine or false gospel.

I think a lot of people are saved in those bodies,

as far as that is concerned.

However, they are saved in spite of what they are taught in the church,

That is hard doctrine,

but we came up with this conclusion

that if a religious body is teaching salvation

either in part of entirely by works,

it is pointing everyone who comes under their influence toward hell

instead of heaven.

Think about it and see if that is not so.

I think that is the thing that Jesus is really driving at here.

Both as individuals and as churches, or religious bodies,

if you have anything anywhere

to keep you from coming to the full knowledge of the truth,

and then standing on it, you had better get rid of that thing.

Souls of men are the things that are held in the balance.

If they go down to hell as a result of false and erroneous instructions,

regardless of how dear that falsehood might be to the hearts

of those who hold on to it.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount

that the church is the salt of the earth.

Salt does two things – it gives good flavor and it preserves.

That is the office that the church of Jesus Christ

is to carry out in the world.

It is to season the world with the truth that it upholds

and proclaims the world may be saved.

That is, those of the world that will accept the salvation in Jesus Christ.

Then, if the salt loses its savor, or its quality of salt,

well, it just loses it.

It loses its power and quality to do what is supposed to do in the world.

Jesus is no longer talking to the Jews,

He is talking now in terms of the church

He is instructing the church members how we are to stand

and conduct ourselves when matters of doctrine and New Testament practices

Matthew 18.

21 Then came Peter to him, and said,

Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me,

and I forgive him?

till seven times?

That seems to ring a familiar bell.

Brother Peter was wanting a legal basis upon which to stand.

He was wanting to know just how far he was to go

in wanting to stand on legal grounds before God,

that is exactly what he wanted to do.

22 Jesus saith unto him,

I say not unto thee, Until seven times:

but, Until seventy times seven.

What does that teach?

The primary application is to the Jewish people.

In so far as humanity is concerned

the Jews are not any more than any other people.

Their precedence lay strictly in the fact that God had chosen them

under the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Yet, they came to the position

that they were not willing to deal with the rest of humanity

by any means as God had dealt with them.

Jesus is attempting to point out to these Jews

the reality of the selfish and haughty attitude that they had assumed.

That made them not only to despise those of other nations,

but made them reject Christ as Messiah.

This forewarned them of the severity of the judgment

that was to fall upon them as the result

of the haughty attitude they had taken.

Luke 9.

59 And he said unto another, Follow me.

But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead:

but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee;

but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

62 And Jesus said unto him,

No man, having put his hand to the plow,

and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

That seems to me to be teaching to the church

that those who commit themselves to this Kingdom economy

are to put the things of God first and set out in the forefront,

and the things of the world into the secondary position.

Luke 10.

1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also,

and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place,

whither he himself would come.

2 Therefore said he unto them,

The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few:

pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,

that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

3 Go your ways:

behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes:

and salute no man by the way.

5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.

6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it:

if not, it shall turn to you again.

7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give:

for the labourer is worthy of his hire.

Go not from house to house.

8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you,

eat such things as are set before you:

9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them,

The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not,

go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,

11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you:

notwithstanding be ye sure of this,

that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

After these things the Lord received seventy others and sent them in twos before His face and every town and place where He, Himself was about to come. He said to them, indeed the harvest is great, but the workers are few. Intercede ye with the Lord of the harvest then that he may cast forth workers into the harvest. Go ye, behold I send you forth workers into the midst of wolves. Then, don’t carry a purse and extra provisions. Whatever house ye enter, first say ye, Peace to this house, and if the son of peace be there let your peace rest upon it. But, if not, let it return unto you.

That is a peculiar situation.

If these seventy are sent forth

to cause sinners to repentance and salvation,

then how could the Son of peace already be in this house

into which they went?

Here is exactly what I think the facts of this case are:

A lot of these Jews scattered about over the country

were already saved.

These seventy were not sent out primarily or exclusively

to preach the gospel of salvation.

They were sent out to make the appeal to these Jews

to make their final choice and decision

as to whether they were going to accept Jesus of Nazareth as that Messiah,

It will add up that way,

and that is the only way I know of that will add up.

He goes on and says,

Heal the sick and say to them, The Kingdom of God is drawn near unto you.

Whatever town ye enter and they do not receive you,

coming out in the streets midst, say ye,

Even the dust clinging to our feet of your town,

we wipe it off against you.

But, assuredly know ye this,

the Kingdom of God has drawn near.

That is essentially, to my mind, the same thing in another place

where He says, It will be more tolerable to Sodom and Gomorrah

than these places where this appeal

was made and rejected in the day of judgment.

In the day of judgment the descendants

of these same Pharisees and Sadducees – well,

they are identified with the Jewish religious groups today.

They are going to accept Antichrist as Christ,

and they are going to suffer terribly as the result thereof.

There is the less tolerable condition,

that some people enter into even such cities as Sodom and Gomorrah.

We come now to the last half year of the ministry of Jesus.

As pointed out earlier in the fall of that year

Jesus went to Jerusalem and observed the yearly Feast of Tabernacles.

Instead of returning to Galilee when the feast was over,

as He had been accustomed to doing,

He remained in Judea and in and around Jerusalem.

He taught His own disciples many things on the one hand.

He was in almost constant conflict with the Jews on the other.

In Luke 11.2 we have a Kingdom reference,

2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,

as in heaven, so in earth.

Now, that is the fullness of the Kingdom, or the millennium.

The fact that we today are to pray for the coming of that Kingdom

does not deny the fact that the Kingdom

already exists in the world in the spiritual phase.

Matthew 23.

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men:

They did not want any Gentiles in.

They did not want people they called publicans and harlots and sinners.

That is shutting up the Kingdom against men.

for ye neither go in yourselves,

neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

For ye do not enter in, nor the ones entering in, do you permit them.

Not only were they not conforming to the terms

of the gospel of Jesus Christ themselves,

but they were doing everything in the world they could

to keep other people from coming to a knowledge of the truth.

There is not any middle ground on this religious proposition,

on the way we would like for it to be.

As a religious people, we are either for Christ,

or hindering that cause

and contributing to the cause of the devil and Antichrist.

Thus, the same thing might be said of the religious world today,

that instead of bringing people into the Kingdom,

they are shutting the Kingdom and keeping people out

by offering religious error in the place of religious truth,

turning people to that religious error.

Matthew 6.

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?

or, What shall we drink?

or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:)

for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God,

and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow:

for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

This is taken from the Sermon on the Mount

and it is a thing we should look after carefully.

There are some religious fanatics, which is just a fancy word for fool

as far as that is concerned,

who get into a religious frenzy

and refuse to take a practical viewpoint of life.

They expect the Lord to feed them

the way He fed Elijah at the brook in his flight from Jezebel.

They come to starvation, and then,

they have either got to steal or starve.

That is not the thing that Jesus is setting forth here, at all.

The opposite is pictured in the Scripture,

where the rich man said, I’ll gather in my bountiful harvest,

and then I will say to my soul, take thine ease and be merry,

all thine needs are supplied, I am secure.

But, the Lord said, This night thy soul is required of thee.

The middle ground between these two

is the ground on which the Scriptures and common sense

should teach us to stand.

The things of God and Kingdom affairs should come first,

and will come first if our hearts are right before God.

That does not teach us to ignore and neglect the practical side of life.

You put the Kingdom first,

but you do put making an honest living in the second position.

You go about to make that honest living too,

if you honor God in the way you should as you go down the way of life.

The only thing He is driving at here

is that we not put material affairs ahead of spiritual affairs.

If we would only get that,

we would make it a lot lighter on ourselves

and we would not be such a hindrance to the Kingdom progress.

It is one of the hardest things in the world to get ourselves,

out of the habit of providing for our material needs

and then, if there is anything else, we will give that, or some of it,

to the cause of the Kingdom work of Jesus Christ.

There are entirely too many of us that operate on that principle.

The Kingdom things come first

and material needs come in the secondary position.

He says that it is to this little flock He is going to give the Kingdom.

I think this is people who are born into the Kingdom when they are saved.

However, the Kingdom authority and administration

are in the hands of the church who is this little flock.

Luke 13.

28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,

when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets,

in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south,

and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.

30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first,

and there are first which shall be last.

That Kingdom is the millennium after the resurrection has come

and those are the Jews who are addressed here.

Certainly we shall take great precedence over the Jewish people,

Luke 14.

15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him,

Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come;

for all things are now ready.

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse.

The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground,

and I must needs go and see it:

I pray thee have me excused.

19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen,

and I go to prove them:

I pray thee have me excused.

20 And another said, I have married a wife,

and therefore I cannot come.

A certain man made a great supper and called many.

He sent his servant at the hour of the supper

to say to the ones who had been called,

Come ye, because all things are ready.

There is where these three began to make excuses.

One said, I have bought some land, and I can not come.

Another had bought some oxen and he could not come.

The other had married a wife and he could not come.

We notice this as we go along,

that these people had been previously called

before this invitation was given,

or this call was made at the time the feast was ready.

This clearly identifies these servants as the Jews who had been called

ever since they had possessed the oracles of God

way back yonder in ancient times.

Jesus had come into the world as the Messiah,

and John, Jesus, and others go forth with the message the supper is ready,

the Messiah is here now,

and they refuse to come,

it seems here, because they are too much involved in material things.

It may imply that they are too much involved

in an utterly fleshly religious system.

Then, the servants went out into the crossings of the road

and the streets and gathered in whomsoever he might find there.

This is the bringing the Gentiles into the church and Kingdom economy.

Luke 17. :20, 21,

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,

when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said,

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!

for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

There has been a great deal of argument and speculation

about what that particular Scripture teaches.

These Pharisees were looking for a Kingdom like that of David,

and somewhat like the Kingdom will be in the millennium.

Jesus told them in substance that at this particular time,

the Kingdom was not coming in that guise,

but the way it was at that time and the way it is today.

That is not a thing that is seen with the natural eye.

It is not a thing that is measured by material standard.

The Kingdom is a spiritual thing, either within you, or in your midst,

seen or comprehended by those who do not have the spiritual insight.

I think the fact in the case is that the Kingdom

was within the hearts of the disciples of Jesus

who were right in the midst of those Pharisees.

The Pharisees could not sense or perceive its presence.

Matthew 19.

12 For there are some eunuchs,

which were so born from their mother’s womb:

and there are some eunuchs,

which were made eunuchs of men:

and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.

He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

The eunuch on account of the Kingdom of the Heavens

is about the same thing that Paul discusses in 1 Corinthians 7.

Here he says that if a man can live happily and satisfactorily

without the marriage and family relationship

that he can devote more time and energy to the Kingdom.

That is not a requirement and people who are not so constituted by nature,

are not advised or commanded by the Scriptures

to attempt this manner of life.

Matthew 19.

13 Then were there brought unto him little children,

that he should put his hands on them, and pray:

and the disciples rebuked them.

14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children,

and forbid them not, to come unto me:

for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus reverts to the same manner of teachings

that He had taught up in Galilee some months before.

That is that people must come with the attitude of little children

in order to be saved.

If we would accept the Scriptures for what they are,

and walk by them in the ways that are acceptable to the Lord.

Mark 10.13-16 is about the same thing,

Look next to Luke 18.15.

Matthew 19.23-24

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples,

Verily I say unto you,

That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you,

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,

than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

The disciples, having heard were greatly astonished,

saying, Who therefore is able to be saved.

Jesus, looking upon them said,

With men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Now I think just before this rich man had turned back

because he was not willing to sell all his possessions

and distribute them to the poor and go and follow Jesus as a pauper.

Then, Jesus comments on this proposition.

A man that is wealthy,

a man who had put his trust in the things of the world,

it is almost impossible, very hard,

for him to surrender these things

and come to the terms that Jesus demands.

Well now, who can be saved? they said,

Who can meet these qualifications?

A man within himself cannot do it.

With the help of God, any man who wants to can do so.

It is only with the help of God in our salvation

that we were enabled to forsake, surrender,

and give up all the things of the world and trust in a God

whom we have never seen.

We were not able to do that of ourselves.

Luke 18.

18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying,

Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?

none is good, save one, that is, God.

20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery,

Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness,

Honour thy father and thy mother.

21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him,

Yet lackest thou one thing:

sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor,

and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:

and come, follow me.

23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful:

for he was very rich.

24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said,

How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye,

than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26 And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?

27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.

29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you,

There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children,

for the kingdom of God’s sake,

He again speaks about how hard it is for a rich man

to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Then, He said to His disciples,

Truly, I say unto you, there is no one who has left house or wife,

or brother, or parents on account of the Kingdom of God

who not by all means shall receive many fold in the present season

and the coming age eternal life.

For a long time, I regarded that as unerringly promising material prosperity to those who are faithful in service to Jesus Christ.

It does not say so.

It says he is going to get many-fold more in this present life.

If we follow philosophy like that,

we will come up to the conclusion that Stephen died

because he was not faithful.

We will come up with the conclusion that Paul’s many sessions in jail,

shipwreck, and all those other misfortunes he suffered

came on him because he was not faithful to God.

I can not get very enthusiastic about that proposition –

God is going to make rich men out of us

if we are faithful in service to Him.

I think the thing He surely promises here is the satisfaction in life

that comes from our spiritual experiences,

regardless whether we are rich or poor in the material things of life.

I know that not so many people are with me on that,

but I just point out here that it says he shall receive many-fold

in the present time.

He does not say that this is many-fold is necessarily material wealth.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man, a householder,

who went out at dawn to hire workers in the vineyard.

He agreed with them for a price,

and they went out and worked all day.

Later in the day, he went to the marketplace

and he found some more standing idle.

He hired them and sent them to his field.

At the eleventh hour,

he went back to the market and found yet some and he hired them

and they went and worked one hour.

Evening came and the time to settle up.

He paid those who had worked one hour the same

that he did those who had worked twelve hours.

Those who had worked twelve hours grumbled about this thing,

said they ought to get more.

Well, the Lord said,

I gave you just exactly what I had promised

and it is not any of your business

if I go and give these others the same as I did to you.

At a business decision, that does not look just on the square.

The spiritual import of it evidently is

that the Jews are the ones who had worked all the twelve hours of the day,

and no, when Jesus comes to establish His Kingdom economy,

He invites the Gentiles

to come in on absolutely equal terms with the Jews.

They did not like that, of course.

And that is my notion of the meaning of that particular Kingdom parable.

Matthew 20:23,

the mother of the sons of Zebedee,

with her sons came to Him,

bowing and asking a certain thing of Him.

She wanted her boys to sit on the right hand and the left hand

of the Son of Man when He should come into His Kingdom,

which is the millennial Kingdom.

He said, Were you able to drink of the cup that I drank of?

They said, Yes, we can drink of that cup.

They did not know what they were talking about, of course.

And He said, You are going to get a drink of that cup,

referring to the hardships and persecution of the church.

The He said, Now who is going to sit on my right hand and my left hand?

That is the Father’s to give to whomsoever He will.

What are we going to make of that?

What is it to you that were born in this age when there is a church?

What did you have to do with the fact that you were not born back

when Israel was under the law

and you had a chance to enter into that Kingdom?

What did you have to do with the fact

that you were not born an American Indian

back when the gospel was not preached to them at all?

You did not have a thing in the world to do with it.

So now, when you look at it from that standpoint,

just how much have you got to brag about, anyway?

In that, you flatter yourself

that you are a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ

and therefore are worthy of a far greater reward than anybody else?

--