Thy Kingdom Come - (part 2) - [Matthew 6:9-13]

The Foolishness of Self-Focused Prayer

Well, I may not agree with D .L. Moody's theology on every point. He was an evangelist who was hot for God and God's glory. And he would preach at lots of evangelistic outreaches. And when you do that, when you're a faithful Christian, there are all kinds of hecklers, those who would say negative things.

D .L. Moody was preaching at a campaign, and somebody handed an announcement to one of the ushers. At least he thought it was an announcement. It was a little piece of paper. So the man handed it to the usher, and then the usher handed it to D .L. Moody as he made his way to the pulpit.

He hushed down the congregation and the audience, and he opened up that little note, and it had one word on it, and that word was fool. D .L. Moody was equal to the task, and he said, this is most unusual.

I have just been handed a message which consists of but one word, the word fool. I repeat, this is most unusual. I've often heard of those who have written letters and have forgotten to sign their names.

Okay, keep up. But this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone who signed his name and forgot to write the letter. He opened up his Bible, changed the text to Psalm 14, the fool has sin in his heart, there's no God.

We've been learning in the Sermon on the Mount that the fool also prays at the top of his list and only for self, self, self, self, self. Of course, we've been learning that it's okay to pray for yourself and for your loved ones, but there is a supreme one to pray for.

I'm helping Maddie with her homework a while ago, and she said, Dad, what's the word supreme mean? I quick looked it up on the internet, and it said, greatest in importance, greatest in degree, greatest in character, the ultimate, the final.

That's exactly what we're looking at if you'll turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6, the supreme sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, delivered by Jesus Christ. I could read this sermon over and over and over and never get tired of it.

There's a sermon by John MacArthur called Examine Yourselves, and I've probably listened to that sermon 100 times. To just be confronted again with the truth of God and His saving grace found in Christ Jesus.

We've been going verse by verse through this book, Matthew, specifically chapter 5, 6, and 7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew is a book about the King, and it starts off in chapter 2, verse 2, where we would see, and I'll just read it for you, where is he who has been born King of the Jews?

So it starts off early talking about the King, the King of the Jews, and then in Matthew chapter 27, almost like a bookend towards the end of the book, they put the charge against Jesus over his head, which read, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

And then found, not just necessarily in the middle, but in Matthew chapter 21, it's really the theme of the book, behold your King is coming, when Jesus was on the beast. Everything about this book shouts the King, and specifically we hear from the King in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7.

I like preaching Jesus' sermons because A, they're inspired, and of course profitable and authoritative, but B, I like it because it gets the focus off of me. My world revolves around me, but when I see Christ and I see Him in the Bible and I listen to Him preach, eyes are off of self, and we come to the Lord and we say, you know, my sins are great this week, my issues are great this week, I have concerns about my family this week, I have all these other kinds of things going on, then we need to turn our eyes to Christ.

I have weak faith, it's a tough time in my life, then we turn our eyes to Christ and who He is. I'm really struggling, I've fallen into some kind of pattern of sin. We don't look to denominations, we don't look to other people, we can look to Christ.

I don't really believe Christ like I should. Did you know your faith in Christ Jesus doesn't save you? It's an instrument, it's a channel, but it's Christ that saves, not our faith that saves. We're not saved because of faith, we're saved through faith.

And so I love it that I can come to this passage and say it's all about God, isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Even as Christians, we get wound up encircling ourselves, I was trying to think of some kind of planet going around or a moon going around the earth and it's just ourselves around ourselves, it's all about us.

But no, studying a passage like this, I think of John Newton, who said young Christians think themselves little, growing Christians think themselves nothing, full grown Christians think themselves as less than nothing.

The Lord's Prayer as a Pattern for God-Centered Petition

So today we hear from the Lamb and I say to you, behold the Lamb as we look at His master sermon, the Lord's Prayer. So famous you've all memorized it, so famous you've all learned it. And John Stott said that even though we learn it, even though we've understood it, it's hardly ever obeyed.

And if you go to Matthew 6, verse 9 through following, you'll see maybe you have a red letter Bible, maybe red letter Bibles have served us to some degree showing that these are the words of Jesus, but they're no more inspired than any other words.

And we have the Lord's Prayer, the disciples prayer really, verse 9, pray then in this way. And Jesus says to His disciples and He says to us with a religious term of command, this is how you beseech the God, the only God.

This is how you come and offer a wish or a petition or a request. This is how you approach God in this particular way. By the way, it's not a suggestion in the original, it's a command. This is the way you do it.

This is the way you approach God. Pray then in this pattern prayer. We've been going over that for weeks. Our Father who is in heaven, it all comes with seeing God as a God who's good and who's fatherly and who provides, the sovereign, powerful, majestic God provides.

And in light of that, do you see the first three petitions are all about God and then the next three are all about human needs. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. Come before, give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts and do not lead us into temptation.

It all starts with a bang that says, God, your name isn't hallowed in the earth. In the world, people blaspheme, they profane, they step on, they revile, they spit on. If God's word was a flag, they'd take the flag down and put it on the ground and stomp on it and burn it.

But we come to God and we say, it's not our name, but we want your name to be hallowed. I've often said that I want my last words that I ever say on my deathbed, hallowed be thy name. And then he moves right into the ultimate hallowing of his name, your kingdom come.

It's an extension of your name to be hallowed is your kingdom to come, an amplification of your name to be hallowed is your kingdom to come, Lord, yes, your kingdom. Now, I'm going to do a little digression here.

I'm kind of wondering what I'm going to do today after the baptism and all those kind of things. And I don't think I'm going to preach for 60 minutes. If I do and you need to get up and go, then you can just get up and go.

I want to just redirect for just a moment. What does the word esteem mean? What does the English word esteem mean? And I found some very interesting definitions of the word esteem, to feel delighted with approval, to prize, to have great regard for, to have a favorable opinion of, to count worth to something, to like something.

I'll take that as an amen right there. And what do we do in this world? Our world revolves around esteem. It is funded by the national government. It is funded by local governments. And we are to have what kind of esteem in our lives?

To function. Self-esteem. We're to prize self, to have favorable view of self, favorable opinion, high value, to regard with reverence. One dictionary says esteem means to respect, to set a value upon, to consider esteem so that it would be an honor.

And I thought that's all wrong. You already know I think that was wrong. But it's not about self-esteem here, as Jesus says, when you pray, here's what you're going to do. Instead of thinking about yourself to start in your own kingdom and your own name and all these other things, forget self-esteem, you need what?

Coin something new. Kingdom esteem. You're to prize the kingdom. You're to say that's where the value is. And if your value's there, your heart's there, your prayers will naturally follow. A man said, if you'd like to be miserable, do this.

Think about yourself, talk about yourself, use I as often as possible, mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others, listen greedily to what people say about you, expect to be appreciated, be suspicious, be jealous, be envious, be sensitive to slights, never forgive a criticism, trust nobody but yourself, demand agreement with your own views on everything, sulk if people aren't grateful to you for favors shown, never forget a service you have rendered, shirk your duties if you can, do as little as possible for others, and let me add, and have a high personal self-esteem.

You want to be miserable, you need to have high self-esteem. I just need to launch for a minute, I'll just tell you right ahead of time, I'm going to launch on that whole topic now of self-esteem so we see how bad that is, so we want Christ esteem, our kingdom of esteem, I don't want you to prize yourself, I want to bury yourself.

If I had a bazooka right now, and I had an infrared laser, I'm going to be after whatever little remnant is in your heart of self-esteem. I know what it would be like, it'd be like a carnival, you ever been to a carnival and they've got like a little star, and it's about 25 yards away, and they give you a BB gun with about 60 BBs, and you've got to get every little bit of that black star off before you get a cupid doll that's worth about 82 cents, that you paid $8 to do.

But if you have one little bit of area there, you don't get the prize. If you've got a smidgen of self-esteem left, I've got the bazooka out today for you. Because you'll find as your self-esteem decreases, your esteem of God who saved someone like you, who saved someone like me, increases.

That's Jesus' whole point. When you come to prayer, you're tempted to pray for yourself and for those around you in a selfish way, instead he says, I want you to pray for God's name to be hallowed, for God's kingdom to come, and for God's will to be done.

And then what good father wouldn't then say, you need food? Great. You need forgiveness? Great. You need help and temptation? Great. I mean, I get fired up when I read things like this, secular realm.

Peter McWilliams wrote a book called Love 101, and it's got a subtitle, Love Yourself is the Beginning of a Lifelong Romance. He said, who's more qualified to love you than you? You know what you want precisely when you want it and are always around to supply it.

Melanie Beatty of Codependent No More wrote a chapter called Have a Love Affair with Yourself. Jackie Swartz, in her book Letting Go of Stress, said, here's what you ought to do, and this is not your homework for the weak congregation.

Write yourself a love letter. Tell yourself all the attributes you cherish about yourself, the things that really please, comfort, and excite you. A Christian radio station was on, and a bunch of people who had committed adultery were on there, and they all agreed that the reason they committed adultery was there was no self-esteem in their hearts.

But it's not just in the secular realm. It's in the Christian realm as well. A man who used to have the number one TV show on, a Christian TV, for decades said this, Reformation theology failed to make clear the core of sin is a lack of self-esteem.

The most serious sin is the one that causes me to say I'm unworthy. For once one believes he's an unworthy sinner, it is doubtful if he can really honestly accept the saving grace God offers in Christ Jesus.

Can you imagine that? He goes on to say, I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality than the unchristian, uncouth strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition.

And so you change the lyrics of Amazing Grace to that man's church from Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me to save a soul like me. And Jesus knows that when we pray, if we're not thinking properly, we're going to have illegal immigration that comes into our mind that says self, self, self.

I mean let me just push it a little bit. How far have we come to listen to a tombstone that says this, William Carey, born August 17th, 1761, died June 1834. Here's what's on his tombstone, ready, a wretched, poor, helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall.

God isn't surprised though with this purposeful, satanic push for thinking highly of ourselves. Second Timothy chapter three says, realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come and who might be at the top of the list of last day's vices, for men will be what, lovers of self.

Turn with me over to Matthew 22 if you will, just for a moment. I want to make sure you understand that we do not have three great commandments but that we have two. And those two great commandments will always be two, will never be three, and if we're not careful we're going to have to twist the scripture around and maybe with Lee Strobel we might say Madonna's problem is one of self-esteem.

We don't want to do that, going against the direct commands of scripture. I'm digressing but I'm digressing for a reason. In Jesus' prayer they're all about God and who He is and not about self. We already think too highly of ourselves and Jesus says, don't let that sneak into your prayer life.

And if you're not consciously thinking about it, it will. I know we've been in the series for a while but just think about the last, the prayers you prayed yesterday. Were they typified by God, it's about you and your program, your kingdom, who you are, or were they, even rightly so, praying for different people in the congregation and people that are hurting the congregation.

That's a good thing to pray but that's not the only thing we're to pray for and to make sure we understand that it's all about God, look at the two great commandments, Matthew chapter 22 verse 36. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?

And Jesus said to him, verse 37, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, complete, total, whole worship. This is the great and foremost commandment.

Now Jesus gives them extra information, they only ask for the greatest but He gives them the second one, the corollary to the first. If you do the first, you'll certainly do the second or you'll be commanded to do the second.

The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Do you find in those verses the command that says you should love yourself?

Because people will say, love your neighbor as yourself, that means I can't love other people unless I learn to love myself. Friends, that's sinful, stupid, silly and it doesn't even work. By the way, if you want to find the little categories of people that have the highest self-esteem in all the world, they're localized by the way.

They're like little villages all across the world where they have the highest percentage of people with high self-esteem localized in small little areas. You know what those small little areas are called?

Prison, it's true. People in prison have the highest self-esteem because I want what I want when I want it and I don't care if you have to get in the way. This is not having three commands. He says the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.

In other words, Jesus says what? We already love ourselves, we already cater to ourselves, we already pamper ourselves, we already think about ourselves, we already take care of ourselves. The degree that you love yourself, love what?

Love who? Other people. He's saying you already love other people, love God, I mean, that's not what he's saying. You already love yourself, love other people like you love yourself. How about back to Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

That's the blessed person, not the one who's rich in spirit, Charles Spurgeon said, poverty of spirit is an absence of self-esteem. Where that kind of spirit is found is sweet poverty for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

True or false? At salvation, God has influenced our mind in such a degree that we have at least mentally said self is over. Is that true? Just listen to this. This is amazing. If it starts with salvation, it should be prevalent in our prayer life as well.

What is that? How about self is over at salvation, John 12, 25, I'll just read it. He who loves his life loses it and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. That's at salvation, it should overflow into our prayers as well.

How about Luke 9, Rhonda read a little bit of Luke 9 earlier. He was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him exalt himself. Let him think highly of himself. Let him daily think of himself as esteemed highly and thinks himself as number one.

Let him follow Muhammad Ali when he says, I'm the greatest. That what the text says? Absolutely not. Let him take up his cross daily and follow me. Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it.

Over and over and over the scriptures are replete with, we have to realize who we are. We've met the enemy and the enemy is us and therefore make sure that enemy is squashed when we're praying. I like this verse, Luke 18, 14.

I mean, I like every verse in the Bible, but this particular verse is good for this morning. I tell you, this man, Jesus says, went down to the house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

Are we going to believe what Robert Schuller says when you ought not to say yourself unworthy because that's the unpardonable sin? Solomon knew better. If anybody should have self-esteem, it should be Solomon.

And Solomon said, it's not good to eat much honey, nor is it glory to search out one's own glory. Proverbs 25, 27. We are to forget ourselves. We are to say, God must increase. I must decrease. And you say, yes, but when Jesus died on the cross, that shows how much we're worth.

We're worth a lot if Jesus could die for all that. Really? It doesn't show how much you are worth. It shows the depth of sin, how much sin has taken place and how horrible and heinous it must be to have the pure lamb of God die for it.

One man gave a great illustration. He said, a recent television newscast reported the arraignment of a serial killer who admitted nine murders. The judge set his bail at $5 million. Would we use the same sort of reasoning to conclude that this man should feel good about himself and regard himself as a very valuable human being since the judge set his bail so high?

No, the severity of the crime influenced the bail. If you look at Matthew 6, verse 10, it's thy kingdom come. We are to have in our minds, I, God, it's all about you. I'm just along for the ride. You don't need me.

You're not fulfilled because of me. You're the eternal triune God and you just condescended to save me and so I will respond with it's all about you. It was all about you at salvation and now it's all about you in my prayer life as well.

Why We Cannot Build the Kingdom by Politics or Ecumenism

Last week I asked this. Let me ask several questions so you can understand more fully the Sermon on the Mount, thy kingdom come. Question number one in review, what preoccupies your mind? God's kingdom are yours.

We talked about that for a long time, that it's God's glory. Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. Question number two, are you aware that there are two aspects of God's rule? When we're to pray, thy kingdom come, we ought not to forget that God sovereignly is ruling over everything, yet there is a future kingdom to come.

D .A. Carson said, God is eternally holy, so he eternally reigns in absolute sovereignty. Yet it is appropriate to pray not only hallowed be your name, but also your kingdom come. We're praying hallowed be thy name.

God's name couldn't be more hallowed, yet we still ought to pray that, that there be a future manifestation and a current manifestation of the holiness of God. So to thy kingdom come, we're not saying, God, you're not sovereign, but as your sovereignty exists, we want to have a future manifestation of that on earth.

Question number three, and you say, Mike, you're going too fast. Number one, get last week's sermon. Number two, forced today to go fast. Nobody's sitting up there in that little area right there, though, that's pretty good.

Question number three, what is your hope in life? In other words, do you long for Jesus Christ and his return, where he gloriously reigns? We looked at that right from the text in Matthew 6 .10, your kingdom come.

Lord, come quickly. Lord, set up your kingdom quickly. That's what we're longing for. I think the Lord has really helped us out with this whole stock market issue. That's been kind of a good thing. Someone asked me this week, do you think we'll see more people at church because they realize they can't trust in some kind of riches that they've hoarded up on paper?

I said, I don't know. That doesn't really change the heart, but I hope so. I hope it's true. The hope is Jesus' return in his future kingdom. Question four, now we're caught up to where we were last week.

Question four, do you acknowledge that God must make his kingdom come? You notice the text, Matthew 6 .10, your kingdom come. It's a prayer. God, you're going to have to make it happen. And we talked last week that we can't make this happen.

We can't use human means like politics to somehow get God's kingdom to come. Zechariah 4 .6 would apply here. This is the word of the Lord, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. No human kind of conniving can bring God's kingdom to come.

Jesus would say to the zealots, the assassins, that's not the way my kingdom's going to come on earth. For those of you that pour your life and heart and mind into political strategies and political campaigning, friends, it can't compare to the preaching of the gospel that would turn people's lives right side up forever.

I wonder if the Christian right poured all its energy into evangelism instead of politics, what would happen? Not one drop of sweat for politics has any eternal ramifications. It's wasted. I also began to think, you know, turn with me to 2 Corinthians 6.

I think there's another way if we're not careful. We want God's kingdom to come. We might want God's kingdom to come by partnering with other people who say they're Christians because numbers and a bankroll and influence would help.

Hey, God, send your kingdom. Maybe politics won't work, but how about religious cooperation? Just to make sure, we have many people in this church who understand our position on this, but some don't, some are new, and so I like to teach old truths on a regular basis like self-esteem, but also like religious partnership.

Let me take you to one of the verses in the Bible that's the most mistranslated in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Paul is writing this letter and he's going to try to warn the Corinthians that even though his heart is, I'm open wide for you in ministry, make room, Corinthians, in your heart for me.

2 Corinthians 7. But he's not going to remind them this doesn't mean going hand in hand with a bunch of people who say they believe in Jesus, but they've got the wrong Jesus. And we use it as the marriage verse.

We use it as a business verse. Well I think you could imply don't marry an unbeliever and I think you could imply don't have a business with an unbeliever, but that's not what he's talking about at all.

Look at these non-negotiables here in 2 Corinthians and when we're praying, God, have your kingdom come. He's not saying go arm in arm with a bunch of other people who say they believe in Jesus, but it's the wrong Jesus.

I will never ever, ever forget I'm sitting at my address back in Omaha, Nebraska over Christmas with my mother who's sitting there and my brother and sister and I'm a brand new Christian. And of course when I was a brand new Christian I was very calm.

I was very, you know, I wasn't Rambo guy or anything like that. I just was gentle, forbearing. It's like when I called my old boss in corporate American sales and he would come and ride with me once in a while and I thought he was such a good boss he let me go visit my father when he was, my father was dying and I thought, you know what, what a great boss.

And so I called him on the telephone, I tracked him down and I said, Ben, you were the best boss I ever had. And I don't know if I thanked you then, I'm sure I did, but I just want to say thank you again.

And he said, oh, you're welcome. He said, have you calmed down with that whole Christian thing yet? And I sat there in my mother's kitchen and I'm talking about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And that was something that was in my heart from God's goodness as he implanted in my soul a desire for Christ's glory.

And I still was rough around the edges. And my grandmother said, I believe in Jesus. I almost fell off the couch, almost fell off the chair. And then she said, and Mormons believe in Jesus too. And I thought, you're right, but it's the wrong Jesus.

You can call him Jesus if you want, but it doesn't match up to the Bible Jesus. And if it's the Jesus who's got Satan as a, as a, some kind of spiritual brother and it's got a second Nephi chapter, whatever the chapter is, it doesn't matter.

It's all blasphemy. You've been saved by grace after all you can do. That's the wrong Jesus. But you know what? There's lots of Mormons. So why don't we partner up with the Mormons? I love Jesus. Yes, we do.

I love Jesus. How about you? The Mormons say, yes, we do. And we all get along because God kingdom, you got to, we're not doing it now. Things look pretty bleak. Could there be a bleaker time in America for supernaturalism?

Rationalism has taken over. Secular humanism has taken over. And what are we to do? God needs our help. I think he knows what to do. I think he's told us, you know, let's all come along for Jesus and, and march and stuff like that.

When I first moved here 12 years ago, I used to get letters from the churches in the area and they want to know if I'd go to their church and preach. And then when somebody from their church could come here and preach and it'd just be a little swap.

We're to kind of go and swap and preach. And I try to be really nice and I try to say, I got a great idea. How about I go to your church and preach and then nobody can come here and preach. And I always wanted to meet them and I wanted to meet them and to let them know, you know, I don't really have fangs.

I'm a nice guy, allegedly. And, you know, I'm not going to just, you know, assault you physically or something. And so then I got this letter and it said, would you like to be part of the ecumenical council?

And I thought, but I probably should say something to someone. Dear sirs, dear Wicca leaders, you know, whatever it was, thank you very much for the kind offer. I appreciate that. But the Bible says this is the way of salvation.

And since we can't even agree on how to get to heaven, it'd be kind of disingenuous for me to come and talk with you all and pray with you all when we don't even pray to the same God. I thought, scoring points in the community.

I'm big community service guy. Like that's that fundamentalist cult down the street. I thought, done. I get a letter, kind of afraid to open those letters. And it had just the new people on the ecumenical council.

And I was laughing thinking, how can the, if, if Whitfield knew what the Methodists were doing now, he wouldn't have been a Methodist back then. He would have said, you know, ex officio, I absolve you.

Uh, you know, I don't want to do that. I just thought I couldn't believe it. And so I read the list and everything was a big funny thing until I got to the very bottom. And it said, Mike Abendroth, Bethlehem Baptist church.

I thought I can write a letter like that. And they still want me. They're not worse. They're not more sinful. But I have received enlightening grace that says, here's God's kingdom and here's how it comes.

And no wonder Paul came along and he said, I don't even remember who I baptized. I'm here to preach the gospel. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, even him who's crucified. And if we're not careful, our heart will just slide right over and say, you know, let's go arm and arm with churches who don't believe in the same way of salvation.

Oh, we should do things with churches that do. I'm not saying that. But look at this. It's non-negotiable. Verse 14. Do not be bound together with unbelievers. Don't be unequally yoked with an unbeliever.

And he's saying it in such a way that some of them already are. They're starting to do things in a fleshly way. This is not optional. I can't do it. You call me and say, here's a person who's not a monotheist and here's a person who's a monotheist, believes in sacraments to get to heaven.

And Mike, you go do something spiritually with them. I would sin if I did. And what does the world say? Oh, that's so unloving. I mean, I could say it in a nice way, but I am bound by God to do his word.

I have to avoid these things. It has nothing to do with marriage and with business. These people are pagans. If it wasn't even commanded by God, I still wouldn't do it because now they're going to think, I think they're in.

I don't think they're in. And by the way, they ought not think I'm in, but they've become so paganized that they think I'm in and everybody else is in no matter what the church says. The Bible says you either believe in Christ Jesus or you don't.

We all can't be right. Why am I yelling? Stupid. Weak point, shout. How can we have a covenant relationship with someone who's a pagan for the good of the kingdom of God? You know the answer. You promote a different way to heaven, I can't go arm in arm with you.

Even if the reason is abortion is murder. Abortion is murder. You can't negotiate with God. He's given the command. Look down in verse 14b through 16. He gives you five contrasts all so you'll say, I can't do that.

And he's going to appeal to your reason, to your logic. Look at how logical this is. Verse 14b, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Answer, there's none. So you ought not to have a partnership with them either.

Second question, are what fellowship has light with darkness? Don't go together. Fellowship and light are Christian terms. Darkness, no. Verse 15a, what harmony has Christ with Belial? What harmony does Christ have with Satan, the wicked perverted one?

What symphony does Christ have with the devil? That's the word, partnership, symphony, harmony. No. Verse 15b, what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? In the salvation realm, nothing. Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God. Five rhetorical questions and we know the answer. There's nothing. If you go down to verse 16b, you want to be pure, it's profitable. You want to be pure for God, it's useful.

I will dwell in them, what a promise. And I will walk among them for the spiritually pure, what a promise. I will be their God, what a promise. And they shall be my people, what a promise. God, I don't know what to do about your kingdom to come.

But I prefer you be on my side. And so I'll say no to somehow religious ecumenism gone crazy. And I would just as soon have you to dwell with me, walk amongst me. Be my God and I'll be your people. That's enough for me.

Therefore, verse 17, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, or religious organizations that are unclean. And I will what? I'll talk to you later when I'm not busy.

I'll see if it all works out pragmatically. And if the numbers stack up in your favor, I'll be right there for you. Can you imagine God saying this? And I will what? What's the text say? I'll welcome you.

I'll put the welcome mat out for you. Well done. You leave idolatry and arm-in-arm with other idolatrous people. And I'll welcome you. So much so, look at the text 18. And I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me.

To God Almighty, the Creator, says the Lord Almighty. Paul says, you Church of Corinth say, Oh God's my Father and He's so wonderful. And then put your arm around a bunch of people who say they believe in Jesus, believe in the wrong Jesus.

That's defiling. That's contaminating. That's polluting. Don't do that. We can't make the kingdom come any faster by somehow saying politics is the answer, or all grouping together is the answer in some religious ecumenism.

Evangelism as the Way the Kingdom Advances

Say, Pastor, the time's gone. I know, but let me at least say this. I think what you can do is evangelize, can't you? God knows the number of the elect, and there's a certain need to come before Christ returns.