Jeff Durbin's 'Gospel of the Kingdom' Message

The Gospel of the Kingdom and the Root Problem in the Church

Lord, I pray, God, that the message, Lord, wouldn't be mine, but yours.

Guard my mouth from error, that you do what only you can.

Let us bring, Lord, reformation and revival amongst your people. Hearts over our sin, over our indifference, our lack of love, God, for you and for the world. Lord, anchor it to our hearts. God, cause us, Lord, to die today to self.

To despise the things of this world and to cling to you. People would forget us. Lord, let us leave a trail of people behind us, God.

In grace alone, through faith in Christ, God, do something.

So today, we're going to talk about the good news of the kingdom. It's interesting because that phrase is used in Matthew, chapter 4. Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew, probably the most popular of the gospels in the 2nd century of the church.

So this was utilized and drawn from heavily by all of our brothers and sisters in the 2nd century. The gospel according to Matthew. What's interesting is Matthew opens up, Matthew is just heralding the truths that they had already anticipated about Jesus, the Messiah, who had finally come and entered into history.

Now this we need to grasp. It says in Matthew, chapter 4, after Jesus defeats Satan in the wilderness, Matthew quotes from Isaiah, chapter 9, well known to the Jews. As a matter of fact, he's drawing from and thinking in Isaiah all the way through the first few chapters of Isaiah.

It's powerful.

But Jesus comes in proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. And as a pastor, who doesn't deserve to be before you this day, when I think about what my role is as a pastor, as a teacher, as someone who proclaims the word of God, undeserving of that role in myself, believe me, when I think about what is the problem with us today.

Thank you, Tony, for the faithful biography.

And Jeff, and all the rest, everyone that's been given these biographies, reminding us of what God has done through his people in the past to change the world, to turn it upside down. And when I look at men like that, and I read their biographies, and I think about their lives, I ask the question today as a Christian, what's wrong with us?

What's going on in the world today? And I think as a pastor, what's the problem?

Is it God?

His spirit? God changing lives, raising the dead, opening the eyes of the blind, and giving hearing to deaf people? Was that something that only occurred in the first century as an abnormal experience in the world?

And I look, and I see the men of God and the women of God that he's raised up in history, particularly we're talking in this weekend about the Reformation period, the Puritans, these men who laid their lives down and sacrificed everything for the gospel.

I think about them, and I say, no, it's not the spirit of God, it's not the power of the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation. It must be something in us. It must be something in our culture.

It must be something in the atmosphere that we breathe. What is it? I think about laying the ax to the root of the problem, not the symptoms, trying to patch them up and fix them and give medicines to them and say, what's the problem?

As a Christian, as a pastor, what's wrong with us? And I look at Jesus entering into his ministry and defeating Satan after being offered all the kingdoms of the world in their glory, just to fall down and worship Satan.

This is what you came for, Jesus.

And that's the story, by the way. That temptation of Satan in the wilderness was not just an added on, well, let's see if this works.

That's the story.

That's what Jesus came for. That's why it's such a significant temptation and why Satan leaves it for last. I'll give them all to you, Jesus.

Great and high mountain, Isaiah 2.

All the nations streaming up to the mountain of God.

Jesus, great and high mountain. There's what you came for.

I'll give them to you.

You bow and you worship me.

That's all I ask.

Jesus says you should worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Defeat Satan in the testing.

Isaiah 9 is quoted.

Remember that.

Note it now. And then Jesus comes proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. And when I think as a pastor, as a teacher, as someone who loves the Lord Jesus and his precious gospel, what's the root of the problem?

I think with all my heart it's wrapped up in the story of the good news of the kingdom. We typically today in our culture think about the gospel.

We call it God's gospel.

The gospel.

The good news.

And we only think about it generally speaking, not of course this room, but we typically think of the gospel as simply my own personal salvation, my reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus. And to that I say amen.

Yay and amen.

Give me the t-shirt.

Give me the bumper sticker I want on my car. Because it's true.

Amen.

Salvation in Christ and in Christ alone. He came to die for sinners. That's true. But that is not the whole story. And I think the root of the problem is found in what the reformers knew and heralded and taught and believed.

It was in the heart and mind of George Whitefield. He believed that Christ was king. Seated, reigning, now. He was putting his enemies under his feet. And the gospel of the kingdom was what counted. It needed to go out everywhere in the hardest places.

Jesus was boss.

And he comes to bid you to repent and to believe. Come and be wrapped up in his arms or under his feet. And be crushed. Whitefield believed in the gospel of the kingdom. The reformers, the puritans believed in the good news of the kingdom.

And I think today, what's our problem? It's that we have gutted the story of its goal.

Paul Proclaims Jesus as the Messiah in Damascus

The good news of the kingdom.

And I want to show you, in the scriptures, probably what most of us already know, but show you the theme, the story. Acts chapter 9. We know the story. The apostle Paul once saw, trained under Gamaliel, one of the most well-known teachers in Jewish history.

If you were to ask a rabbi today who's one of the most well-known, reputable rabbis in history, he'll tell you Gamaliel. He's on the top list there. That's Paul's teacher. He's persecuting Christians, throwing them in jail.

We know he's responsible for the death of Christians.

He calls himself the chief of sinners.

Jesus knocks this man off of his high horse. And it says in Acts chapter 9, read the text, starting in verse 22.

My bad. Sorry.

Acts chapter 9, starting in verse 19. And taking food, he was strengthened. And for some days he was with the disciples of Damascus, and immediately proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying, He is the Son of God.

And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them to full bound before the chief priests?

But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. Notice this, that when Saul is converted, when Saul turns to Christ as the expected Messiah, he takes a beeline for Damascus.

And immediately in Damascus, he begins immediately proclaiming Christ as Messiah, and he begins proving that Jesus is the Messiah. And I want to show you the results briefly here, because we're talking a lot this weekend about proclaiming the gospel into the hard places and preaching the gospel and doing the rough stuff that American evangelicalism is all but lost.

Verse 26. Sorry, 23, just to show you some notes here. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. So much for an easy ride. So much for your best life now.

Right?

Every day is Friday. Now many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. Verse 26. When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples,.

And they were afraid of him,.

For they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached, listen, boldly in the name of Jesus.

So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord, and he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. So notice that the apostle Paul, when he's converted, when he turns from sin to Christ and he trusts in Jesus, the long-anticipated Messiah, the result is people actually want to kill him.

He's being lowered out of windows, in a basket so that his life is spared. And I want to point something out. He says that he's preaching Christ boldly as Messiah, and he's doing it in such a way that it's causing friction with the local community that they actually want him dead.

And the result of preaching boldly in the name of the Lord is that, ready? Verse 31, so the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace,.

Was being built up,.

And walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit,. Ready?

It multiplied.

So what's the result of a bold proclamation of the gospel is the church has peace, it is built up,.

It's being multiplied,.

And as an added bonus, people are trying to kill him.

I've said it many times,.

And I'll say it here in front of this audience because it needs to be heard, early on as I would go out and do proclamation of the gospel publicly in the streets.

At difficult places,.

Downtown Mill Avenue,.

Where the Mormon temple, over 100 ,000 people are in attendance over a week or so in Mesa, Arizona, or just on the street where I've always experienced resistance. That's not how you reach those people.

You can't do that. That's too rough-edged. It's too sharp. Don't do it that way. But I see so much fruit. I see people turning from sin to Christ. Mormon missionaries coming to Christ on their mission, turning from sin to Christ, throwing their stuff away.

Throwing away their tags in the garbage,.

Putting on different clothes.

And joining us on the streets to preach the gospel. And so what I typically say to people, just to sort of shut them down,.

Is the Apostle Paul,.

When he proclaimed the gospel, people tried to kill him. No one's tried to kill me yet. I must be doing something wrong.

I am working on it.

But I want you to pay attention.

To some of the brothers and sisters when we talk about the good news of the kingdom. Is that when Paul breaks into Damascus and starts proving that Jesus is the Messiah,.

Note this,.

He is not, is not teaching a novelty. There's nothing about the story of Jesus.

That was a novelty dropped in history.

You know this.

We know our Bibles,.

Romans chapters one through six should be on the table of your hearts if you're out proclaiming the gospel. You should be reading that to people.

As you preach to people.

They need to hear the word of God so that it cuts their hearts and they turn from sin to God to receive peace with God. But in Romans one,.

Paul opens up as Paul,.

A slave, by the way, of Jesus, the Messiah.

And he talks about Jesus.

Who was promised beforehand in the scriptures. That is the story.

That's the backdrop.

You know this, but it's part of the gospel of the kingdom proclamation. Romans chapter three, after he shows that he's not righteous, not even one, none who seeks for God, that our throats are open graves.

The poison of asps is under our lips. Our feet are swift to shed blood. There's no fear of God before our eyes. He says, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified or deciphered by the law's knowledge of sin.

He then says,.

But now the righteousness of God.

Has been manifested, what?

Being witnessed by the law and the prophets. That was the banner over the whole thing. This is not a novelty in history. This is God's story finally wrapping up history. It is the good news of the kingdom.

This is God's story. It was what they proclaimed. Apollos, mighty, eloquent in the scriptures. Mighty in the scriptures and eloquent. It says that he vigorously refuted the Jews, ready, publicly.

I want to know what.

Our modern evangelical church leaders.

Would say to Apollos,.

Who vigorously refutes Jews, ready, publicly, not privately, did not take them aside.

He did it publicly,.

Proving that Jesus was Mashiach, that he was the Messiah.

Here's what I'm getting at,.

Brothers and sisters. When we talk about the good news of the kingdom, that phrase itself is jolting to the modern Christian ear. It's good news of a kingdom? We ask, what does that even mean?

I know it as the gospel.

Why is Jesus proclaiming.

The good news of the kingdom?

Because that's the story. You see, the Bible teaches us about God.

That he is entirely and totally unique.

He's not dependent upon anybody or anything. He is self-existent, not dependent. He has no mommy gods, daddy gods above him. Nobody's in charge of him. He has to counsel with nobody else. He is God and he is God alone, the first, the last, the beginning and end.

He says that he is the one who declares the end from the beginning. And in conflict with false gods in the book of Isaiah from chapters 40 through 46, this is the challenge to false gods.

In the book of Isaiah.

Have your gods tell you the future. Now there's a problem with that.

What's the problem?

False gods don't do a lot of talking.

Right?

And they're not in control of nothing. They have no power, they have no volition, there's no will, they have no voice,.

No speech, no nothing.

And so God says, okay, have your false gods tell you the future before it happens. How come that's such a challenge? Because God is the one who actually decrees in history what does and doesn't come to pass.

He doesn't just know what happens, brothers and sisters,.

As though he took in knowledge and learned something.

God actually tells history before it happens because he's the one that wields it. And brothers and sisters, when Paul actually confronts the idols.

In the book of Isaiah,.

He tells the idols, here's another challenge. Have your gods tell you the past and why it happened the way that it did.

All of us can recite history,.

We were just doing this. We can recite history, we can say this happened, that guy was there, this lady was there, this is what happened over this course of events in this era. We can all say what happened in history, but nobody in this room, nobody in the world can tell you why.

God can not only tell you the future before it happens, but he can tell you why everything has happened the way that it has because he wields it for his purposes, for, and we all know this, the good of his people and for his glory.

For his glory. History is a symphony, brothers and sisters, when you think about the good news of the kingdom and what was in the hearts and minds of Paul and Jesus and all the New Testament apostles and every Christian in history that did something that wrecked the world and turned it upside down, they understood something about the symphony of history.

The gospel was not simply about my own private salvation. It was not just about me, and that's the problem with our narcissistic culture today is that we think Jesus was just so concerned with little old me, and the truth is I will not grab Jesus of his glory in that way.

It was not just about me. It is the gospel of the kingdom, and everywhere it's heralded in the New Testament, you see things like Jesus in the book of Revelation who bought people out of every tribe, people, tongue, and nation.

That is the story. It's about his rule. It's about his reign over the earth, bringing people to God and restoring what was destroyed by us. The symphony of history. Here's what's wrong. We think about the gospel in our own private individual salvation.

It's about me.

It's about me turning to God, and amen, amen. Again, give me the T-shirt, wrath and grace clothing. Please provide me one.

Give me the shirt.

I want it, okay?

But there's more to the story than my own personal salvation. It's the good news of God raising up his Messiah to his right hand to put his enemies under his feet and to bring the nations to God. It's the good news of his kingdom, his rule, his reign.

Listen, the Bible shows us that God's in charge of everything. He is sovereign over all things, and history, brothers and sisters,.

Is a symphony.

It is a symphony. And what we have done today in our culture is we have stripped or gutted the story in such a way that only part of the players are actually playing. Now, think about what it would be like to attend an orchestra.

To listen to them play their story and to gut the story they play.

Of the climax.

To take a third of the players and to shut them up.

What would it sound like?

The story would be stunted. It wouldn't have the peak. It wouldn't give the rise that filled your heart with tears and caused your heart to pump with joy and zeal. History is a symphony. The Old Testament, players, tells us everything we need to know.

About the Messiah.

And that's what boggles my mind, gives me goosebumps,.

And gives me fire underneath my feet,.

Brothers and sisters. In my lowest moments, in my weakest moments, where I am a coward, what gives me fire is the truth of God laid down long before Jesus ever enters that tells us everything about Him before He comes.

The Old Testament, players, tells us the who, the where, the when, the what, the why, the how of Messiah.

A couple things.

Isaiah 9, 6 through 7. Note it again.

You're going to need that later.

Isaiah 9, 6 through 7.

Tells us something about the Messiah.

That He is not simply a man. He is not simply Messiah.

But specifically, listen closely,.

He is a son and a child given to us. What's that tell us about Messiah immediately?

That He is one of us,.

That He's a human,.

That He's like us. Son, child, given to us. Praise God.

That's Messiah.

They knew that.

Messiah's coming.

But here's what they didn't quite grasp. Wonderful counselor, El Gibor, the mighty God, the Father of eternity. What does every Jew say in the morning and evening prayer, brothers and sisters?

Shema Yisrael, Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh our God.

Here, O Israel, the Lord, our God,.

The Lord is one.

And here you have Isaiah, a monotheistic Jew, 700 years before the Messiah enters history, saying this one coming, who is a child born, a son given, is wonderful counselor, El Gibor, the Father of eternity.

Brothers and sisters,.

We know our Bibles, amen?

There is only one God, who is the eternal one. Psalm 90 verse 2 says, from eternity into eternity,.

You are God.

And then here,.

Isaiah has the audacity to tell us that this son given to us is the Father of eternity.

He's the eternal one.

God's coming to save us.

But there's more. This is not just a Christmas card verse,.

Although it is.

Listen to more of the story, brothers and sisters, you have to hear the rest. Verse 7. Of the, listen, increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Listen, as you get tired,.

As you get weak, need,.

Brothers and sisters out there heralding the good news. Remember this truth. It is the zeal of the Lord of hosts that will accomplish this.

It's not you.

It's not me. It's not your fancy theological footwork.

It is not your unique flavor as a preacher.

It is the zeal of the Lord of hosts that is accomplishing this.

And I want you to note something.

You hear the symphony of history, the story that God is actually unfolding that you must understand. It's the part that's been gutted from our story, and it has removed our zeal. It has removed our power.

It has removed our goal.

Here it is, of the increase of his government and of peace,.

There will be no end.

That does not teach us,.

Brothers and sisters,.

Obliteration. It doesn't teach us that this kingdom of the Messiah goes kablam and blows history up. It teaches us that there is an increase of his government and of peace, which should give you and I hope in a time where, as I agree with Brother Tony, with all of my heart, about a modern state of evangelicalism in America today, it should give you hope of the increase of his government and of peace.

There will be no end.

He will accomplish this.

We're going to have fits and starts.

We're going to have struggles and tribulations. We're going to have suffering and trials.

We're going to lose our lives.

We're going to spill our blood.

It's all going to happen.

But it's the zeal of the Lord of Hosts that accomplishes this, and it is Jesus on the throne of David with his kingdom that is increasing with peace.

As time goes on.

The Timing, Birthplace, and Passion of the Messiah

Micah 5, 2.

We know the who again.

Coming from Bethlehem.

You know it.

Oh, little town.

Thank you for the players in the back.

Thank you.

Congratulations. We know the story.

Micah 5, 2 tells us that Bethlehem.

Is going to be the place of the Messiah. That's where he comes from. Amazingly, this is just what trips me out.

So much about Jesus,.

Is here's Joseph and Mary out in Bethlehem, and the story looks like, uh-oh,.

It's not going to work,.

And all of a sudden there is a pagan, a pagan who says, oh, yeah, let's get you guys to come down.

To birthplaces and let's do a census.

Amazing.

Here's Jesus now born,.

The city of David,.

Born in Bethlehem,.

On time, as planned.

Amazing.

Where?

Micah 5, 2.

When?

This is interesting. You can look at these passages later. Daniel chapter 2 tells us it's during the time of the fourth kingdom that Messiah is going to enter into history. Notice, just for a moment,.

We're not going to read the whole passage.

Daniel chapter 2 talks about four kingdoms that are coming from the time of Babylon. You can count down from Babylon. Most of your Bibles actually label.

The kingdoms in the notes.

It is during the time of the fourth kingdom that, ready, the God of heaven himself will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

Now, notice something.

It is, God says, a stone.

That becomes a great mountain.

And fills the earth. I guess not just kingdom, but he tells you when. And he tells you the nature of it. It will never be destroyed. And he tells you that it is a stone, little rock, that becomes a great mountain.

That fills the earth.

That's God's story.

That's the symphony of history.

It's a kingdom coming that starts small, that increases, and when it increases, it increases his government and peace. You need to hear the story. It's what we've got in it.

When?

Daniel 2.

I would argue, actually, Daniel 9. Brothers, we can get to the Scriptures together over this, but I would argue Daniel 9 is a great tool in our arsenal to demonstrate Jesus as coming on a particular time.

I'll give you a quick story of it.

Just to give you a little encouragement.

Maybe you can check it out later.

And we can have a dialogue over coffee.

But Daniel 9 was a powerful verse for me. Once again, being a, hopefully, godly troublemaker. Note that, by the way.

A godly troublemaker.

Jews for Judaism was doing a seminar on how we know that Jesus is not Moshiach.

Disgusting.

So, naturally, I grabbed my Bible backpack and I went. I got to wear a yarmulke.

It was awesome.

Okay?

And so I go into the synagogue, and amazingly, I'm in the synagogue. It's all Jewish people, and I'm the only one there with a Bible. Except for my friends.

My Roses.

They came, too.

Okay?

My boys, we came with our Bibles,.

And there's no one there with Bibles.

And so everyone's giving us the eyeball,.

Looking back at us,.

Like, you know,.

You've got Bibles in your hands.

I'm like, what? Shalom.

That's the Torah.

That's Hanukkah.

Relax. Right?

And so everyone's eyeballing us,.

And this guy goes up there,.

You know, wearing the rabbinical garb,.

And he's got long hair. The beard looks like Mata Shahu.

And, uh,.

That's for the younger crowd, so you guys don't have to know.

What we're talking about.

And so he goes up,.

And he speaks for about two hours, and how many of you know.

Jesus is not the Messiah?

It doesn't touch a single verse that any Christian, for 2 ,000 years of Christian history, Jewish Christians included, would show and demonstrate that Jesus is, in fact, a Messiah.

Amazing.

So, when the whole thing.

Was wrapped up and over,.

I went to the synagogue,.

I stood up,.

And I took a beeline.

Right down the aisle,.

Right towards him,.

And every single Jewish person.

In the room just swore at us. And now we're standing there.

In the synagogue,.

The rabbi and the Christians, surrounded by Jews, and they're all standing there just panting, waiting for the rabbi to thrash the Christian.