Advancing Christ's Kingdom: A Case for Amillennialism

Welcome to the Ruled Church Podcast. This is my beloved son, with whom

I am well pleased. He is honored, and I get the glory. And by the way, it's even better, because you see that building in Perryville, Arkansas?

You see that one in Pechote, Mexico? Do you see that one in Tuxla, Guterres down there in Chiapas? That building has my son's name on it.

The church is not a democracy, it's a monarchy. Christ is king. You can't be

Christian without a local church. You can't do anything better than to bend your knee and bow your heart, turn from your sin and repentance, believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ, and join up with a good Bible -believing church, and spend your life serving

Jesus in a local, visible congregation. The Ruled Church Podcast.

I am your co -host, Allen Nelson, one of the pastors of Providence Baptist Church in Perryville.

I am flying solo today. No Eddie Ragsdale. Today we're going to look at a sermon preached in 2023 at my friend

Joseph Allen's church, Lee Creek Baptist Church, in Van Buren, Arkansas.

And I preached this message from Revelation 20 on advancing the kingdom of Christ, and I give a case,

I hope, a helpful case, a positive case for all millennialism. So, as you're exploring this doctrine, or thinking through these things about eschatology,

I hope this sermon is helpful to you. Here we go. A few months ago, of course, Joseph contacted me and asked me to preach on advancing the kingdom of Christ.

I immediately thought this is an absolutely wonderful subject to preach on, but it really took me a while to kind of think.

I was like Harold said last night, I was assigned a topic. So, when you're assigned a topic, you have to think, what angle am

I going to approach this important and biblical topic from? Where I finally settled was this, and maybe

I'm wrong, but a good sermon on advancing the kingdom must necessarily consider eschatology.

And by the way, that's a great quote if you want to keep that. You can keep that quote, maybe I'm wrong,

Allen Nelson. And you can post that wherever you want. But I'd like to encourage you this afternoon to turn your

Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation chapter 20. If I were going to give this sermon a Puritan -esque title, you know, they give the title and then a long subtitle, it would be something like this.

Physical distractions to kingdom advance, or a brotherly homily exhorting

Christians to pay heed to the spiritual nature of the kingdom of Christ expressed in His church so as to move away from both golden age -ism and rapture -ready -ism in order to face the coming days with courage before the

Lord and commitment to advancing the gospel of Christ to the nations in glorious triumph.

Friends, they said, put that on, that would take up a whole piece of paper. Put that on there. But let me lay my cards on the table for a moment.

The church, I believe, is God's plan A. I believe that we're not living in a time of parenthesis.

I believe that the church is a fulfillment. I believe that she is glorious. I believe that she is beautiful.

I believe that she is what God is doing right now in the world.

And it's in this place of Scripture, of course, as you know, that we are introduced to the thousand years or what we call the millennium.

And depending on one's interpretation of this text and others, it will put you in whichever millennial camp that you fall into.

If you're like me and you're born in the 80s, you also fall into another millennial camp. That's for another day.

What I want to do this afternoon is I want to look at Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 6.

I'm just in a habit of doing this, nothing against any of the other brothers, just what I do. So would you stand just always?

That's what I do, stand as we read the Scriptures. And plus, after lunch, it'll probably help keep the blood flowing and keep you from falling asleep.

Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 6. Then I saw, that is, this is a vision of John for the church.

I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

And threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image, and not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.

Over such, the second death has no power. But they will be priests of God and of Christ.

They will reign with him for a thousand years. Let's pray. Father, would you help us?

Would you help us to understand the text, Lord? Even though there will be some disagreements, but help us to find unity in the areas that we do agree.

And love Christ together. And seek, as we leave this place this afternoon, to have a heart and a desire and an excitement to advance the kingdom of Christ, for the glory of our

Lord. And we pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Most of you are already familiar, there's probably a review here, but I will tell you the millennial camps, as it were.

And once you start talking about these, there's nuances all over the place, I understand, but let me just try to lay them out for you.

We have the pre -millennial camps, so millennium comes from the term thousand. So you have the pre -millennial camp, that is,

Jesus is coming back pre -millennial, before these thousand years to reign on earth.

You have the post -millennial camp, that is, Jesus is coming back post -millennial, after these thousand years, which they may be literally a thousand years in this system, or just a long period of time.

These thousand years will be ushered in by the triumph of the gospel over governments, and the earth will experience a golden age.

I understand, again, nuances in both of those positions. I'm probably in a minority position this afternoon,

I'm okay with that, and I don't want to disparage these positions in any way, or my brothers,

I want to link arms with you, but I'm going to offer a pushback on both of these in this message, and I think both of them, for example, look to something physical to necessarily transpire before the new heavens and the new earth.

I think this leads into some misapplications of Old Testament prophecies.

So the position that I'm advocating for in this message is the crazy position known as all -millennialism.

This position is going to take these thousand years that we'll look at in this text, and see them as a symbolic representation of the church age.

That is, the entire time between the resurrection of Christ and His return. Now, before I dive into the text,

I want to note something. James Renahan, in his new book on the 1689, he says that our particular

Baptist forefathers in the 17th century, that they did not have a monolithic eschatology, right?

They had a variety of positions. And he quotes Ian Murray, who says this, The particular Baptist had no party divisions determined by prophetic beliefs.

So I want to start this message by saying very clearly and as humbly as I can, this sermon today is not a polemic.

I want to set forth before you the all -millennial position, and why I think, the reason

I'm doing this, is I think it's our most consistent foundation for advancing the kingdom of Christ.

I believe this position that I'm giving you this afternoon is the most biblical of all the positions.

But in setting forth this position, I will inevitably point out some errors I see in other positions.

But please, brothers and sisters, do not allow me to be uncharitable to you. If I'm uncharitable to you, please talk to me after the sermon, allow me the opportunity to repent.

It's not my desire in this message. It's not my desire to mock or ridicule your position.

I have been influenced and blessed by many brothers from various eschatological camps.

I've read various brothers of eschatological camps. I wouldn't be who I am today if not for people holding even these other positions.

What I want to say to us this afternoon is these days are not the days for division.

We cannot have division among healthy and solid Christianity. When they come to lock us up, they're not going to ask you what millennial position that you hold to.

So whatever your position, orthodoxy demands that you hold to a literal, physical, personal return of our

Lord Jesus. Invisible glory to the earth. And I believe all of us in this room will say amen and agree to that.

There's two types of people in this room. I know there are those who are figuring out eschatology. If that's you,

I hope you'll listen to this. And I hope you'll be encouraged to maybe think through some of the things as you weigh in the balance of your eschatological position.

There's also those in here who are already fixed in your eschatology. Well, for you, brothers and sisters,

I ask that you just look over the areas that you disagree with and look to find the common ground that we both agree on in advancing the kingdom of God together.

I'm here to tell you this afternoon that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ is not on the defense.

She is advancing. And so it's not my desire this afternoon to preach a system.

May we always guard and be careful not to take a system and force the Bible into the system.

May we never stand behind this sacred desk and preach a system. I'm here this afternoon to preach on behalf of my

King. I want to preach Christ. So what I'm going to do with this text is give you four truths from it.

Then we'll get to five exhortations. And that's just preacher lingo. Say, I've got nine points.

But it comes across much better to you if I say I've got four points and then five exhortations.

And maybe it goes over your head that it's a nine point sermon. So let's reread the text and then let's jump in here.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

And threw him into the pit and shut it, sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.

Until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.

And those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

It will be impossible for me this afternoon to lay out the entire case of all millennialism in this sermon.

And that's not even my task, that's not even my goal. Because my task is to preach about advancing the kingdom.

What I'm trying to do is just lay a foundation here for advancing the kingdom. So let me give you four truths from this text that lay a foundation for this.

First truth, number one. Christ reigns now.

Friends, our Lord Jesus Christ is reigning over the universe.

Not in the future merely, he's reigning right now. In the text it says that the saints come alive and they reign with him.

That's in verse four. Then I saw thrones, a seat on them were those to whom the authority of the judge was committed.

I also saw the souls, those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, for the word of God. Those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their heads.

They came to life and reigned with Christ. That is, if they're reigning, Christ is reigning for a thousand years.

Now, the point to mention here is that Christ is reigning for these thousand years.

It is my position here that these are symbolic. Because the book of Revelation is often symbolic.

Even these things that we've read already in verse two. I believe everyone in here would agree that when

John says dragon, that's symbolic. It's not a literal dragon, it's an image of a dragon that is symbolic of Satan.

So there's symbolism here. Harold, last night, encouraged me by reminding me that Baptists love symbolism.

We have this great ordinance. We're Baptists because we believe in the symbolism of baptism.

We have this physical ordinance that we've been given. This physical ordinance, if you go to the baptistry unregenerate, you come out a wet unregenerate.

That's all. Baptism is a physical symbol of a spiritual reality.

And that is, you must be born again. That water don't do it. But it does symbolize a spiritual reality.

Further, and all over the Bible, the number 1 ,000 is symbolic. Just a quick math reminder.

I'm not into numerology and all that, but there's some things to think about that I think are important. The number 1 ,000 is just ten to the third power, right?

Ten times ten times ten. It's just to symbolize, in my opinion here, a long and fulfilled period of time.

Now, the number 1 ,000 is used like this all over the Bible. I'll give you three examples. Deuteronomy 7, 9.

Know therefore that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.

Does that mean that the thousand and first generation God is unfaithful to? No, that's not what the text is saying.

It's using the term 1 ,000 for a long, long fulfilled period. First Chronicles 16, 14 and 15.

He is Yahweh our God. His judgments are in all the earth. Remember his covenant forever.

The word that he commanded for a thousand generations. So we remember this for a thousand generations.

Then we finally get to the thousand generation and we tell the thousand and first generation, you don't have to remember this anymore, right?

No, of course, it's being used symbolically. Or in Psalm 50, verse 10.

For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

Let's get to the thousand and first hill, right? And there God doesn't own the cattle anymore. No, no, of course not.

We understand the symbolism here. Or in Psalm 94, chapter 90, verse 4,

I was reading this morning. A thousand years is as yesterday in your sight.

The idea of the psalmist saying before the Lord is this long period of time. It's like nothing compared to your eternal omnipresence and omniscience.

There's more places, but it is a consistent number in the scriptures used to symbolize a large quantity.

So my question is, why would we come to this text and expect something different? I think this is the plain and simple reading.

That the all -millennial position is that the number is symbolic of this long period of time between Christ's first and second coming.

And that Christ, right now, this is the point, point one, is reigning, right? Do you believe this afternoon that Christ is on His throne?

Perhaps you disagree with this interpretation, but let me take you to Revelation. Sorry, Ephesians.

We're in Revelation. Go to Ephesians for just a moment. Ephesians, chapter 1. Again, we're in Revelation, maybe a more difficult, challenging book to interpret.

Okay, this is easy to interpret, I believe. Ephesians, chapter 1. Go to Ephesians, chapter 1, and consider.

We'll kind of start in the middle of a sentence, but start in verse 19. Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 19. And was the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ.

Now listen to this. When He raised Him from the dead and seated Him. Not will seat

Him. Seated Him already at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule.

Not just above, by the way, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

And above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He has put all things under His feet.

How many things? All things under His feet. And gave Him as head over all things to the church.

Which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Friends, we have the already, not yet, tension of the kingdom.

Christ reigns already in this age. And in the age to come, He will reign in the new heavens and new earth.

So, Christ is reigning right now. Let me encourage you with this. You disagree with some of the things and some of the interpretation.

Fine, but let me encourage you with this. Jesus Christ is on His throne. Over every government, every nation, every so -called natural disaster, every virus, every demon, over every particle of dust, in the far reaches of the universe,

Christ is king over all of it. And we can celebrate this together.

Secondly, Satan is limited now. First, Christ is reigning now.

Number two, Satan is limited now. Now, I believe, as Brother Harold preached last night so well, everyone believes that Satan is limited.

But let me give you the perspective here from the text. What I mean is, everyone who believes in the sovereignty of God, I should say.

There are those out here who think Satan is on one side and God is on the other, and they're duking it out, and we don't know who's going to win.

Of course not. We know that Satan is under the sovereignty of God. But the perspective from the text is,

Then I saw the angel come down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.

Until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while. Here's John's vision of what is happening behind the scenes during this age.

Satan has been bound, the text says, we all agree with this, Satan has been bound for these thousand years.

Now, my interpretation here is that he has been bound between the time of Jesus' resurrection until right before his return, when he must be released.

But you say, but Satan is still active today. Well, right, I consider thou art very discerning, right?

Yes, he's active today. He's absolutely active in our world today. Abortion, and pornography, and homosexuality, he is running rampant over America today.

Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking to whom he may devour.

So you say, doesn't that negate your interpretation? Doesn't that disprove it?

I say, no. Why? Because Satan is specifically bound in a certain way.

This is the point of the text, verse 3. And threw him into the pit, and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that, what?

He might not deceive the nations any longer.

This is the way that Satan is specifically bound now in this age.

So let me give you some other texts. The point is, Satan is bound in this way.

The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. And at Calvary, my argument is, at Calvary, he did not just issue a future defeat of Satan, but he really defeated the evil one.

Let me give you some other texts. Matthew 12, 29. You can write these down. We'll go through them quick. Matthew 12, 29. Jesus says,

How can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?

Then, indeed, he may plunder his house. Now, the word that Jesus uses, we need to be careful of this, but it is interesting to know, the word

Jesus uses for binding the strong man, the same word that John uses in Revelation 20.

John, who would have heard Jesus say this, right? He uses the same word in Revelation 20.

Jesus, in other words, has bound the strong man. And right now, he's plundering his goods.

Every time a sinner comes to Christ, Satan's house is plundered.

In John 12, 31 and 32, Jesus says, Now is the judgment of this world.

Now will the ruler of this world, not later, not later, now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I, when

I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. So Satan, in other words, has been cast out in this way so that he is unable now to stop the advance of the gospel to the nations where Christ will draw his elect from every tribe and tongue and people and language.

Satan has no power over the church to stop the advance of the gospel. Or Colossians 2, 15.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

That is, the cross crushed the serpent. What I'm saying here is that John in Revelation 20 is showing us a behind -the -scenes picture of all that these texts are describing.

Satan has been dealt a death blow through Christ's triumphing work. And he is unable, friends, to stop the advance of the gospel to the nations.

He is a pit bull on a chain. Oh, that thing can bark and it can hurt you, but it can't stop you from getting in the house.

Or let me give you another illustration. On Monday, I was turkey hunting with my son and a church member, my oldest son, who's not here, and a church member in the

Ouachita Mountains. Somewhere around 8 o 'clock that morning, an old gobbler stuck his head above the ridge, and as we say, my church member blasted his face.

And he flopped around there for a little bit, then he quit. And my son, because when you're the youngest on a turkey hunt, you will be charged with this responsibility.

He was carrying the turkey back to the vehicle. And that old turkey started flopping around a little bit.

That old turkey started trying to peck my son on his back.

But guess what? We were confident that bird had been dealt a fatal blow.

He wasn't recovering. His flailings were in vain. His rage we could endure, for lo, his doom was sure.

Friends, Satan has been dealt a death blow. He's locked up in this sense.

Threw him into the pit, and shut it, and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.

That is, the whole Old Testament, God's working through national Israel, and there's others, you know, that come into that.

But by and large, the nations are in darkness and deceived. But that is no longer, because Christ has triumphed over the serpent.

He's been dealt a death blow. He flails about. He's raging against the church.

But he has been severely crippled. And the church, friends, has guaranteed certain victory because our great enemy has been weakened so as to be unable to spread the gospel, the spread of the gospel over all the earth.

Christ is reigning now. Satan is limited now. Thirdly, the saints are ruling now. Now look at verse 4.

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. So we know John is not talking about a physical first resurrection.

He's not saying the bodies of these beheaded came alive, but the souls of the martyrs and these others, by the way.

It's not just the martyrs, the others here. So what you have here is a spiritual resurrection and then a bodily resurrection that happens just like you have a physical death and then a spiritual death, which is later mentioned as the second death, of course, where sinners,

I'm saying there's a spiritual death in the sense that the second death is sinners being cast off into eternal torment in a place called hell, the lake of fire forever and ever and ever.

So what happens here then? We have the souls of the martyrs and those who have not worshipped the beast nor taken his mark.

This is all happening right now in the churches. In other words, what John is saying is believers are spiritually resurrected and they're reigning with Christ.

Just let me point something out in verse 6. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.

Over such, over such, the second death has no power. Friends, I'm just going to tell you right now, if you want the second death to have no power over you, you better be a participant in the first resurrection.

This is actually all over the Bible. To be resurrected is to be born again. I'll mention a couple of texts, 1

John 3, 14. We know that we have passed out of death and what? Into life because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love abides in death. John 5, 21. For as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will.

So friends, listen very carefully. I know I'm preaching to a church, but let me give a gospel call here to you for a moment.

If you are not resurrected spiritually, then you're not united to Christ.

It doesn't matter if you've been baptized. It doesn't matter if you've been going to this church for 50 years. It doesn't matter how much money you put in offering.

It doesn't matter even that you're showing up to a Saturday church conference. If you're not born again, you don't see the kingdom.

You must come to Christ, repent of your sins, look to his work and believe the gospel.

It is in the first resurrection that we're united to Christ. We're given spiritual life so that when saints in Christ die, this was also preached last night, they don't go to some holding cell.

They don't go to purgatory. For God forbid you hold some sort of crazy theology that you just think the soul sleeps until the

Lord comes back. No, friends, when the saint in Christ dies, his soul goes to glory.

Flip over again to Ephesians. This is a beautiful book, Ephesians chapter 2.

Again, you say, well, some of that's confusing. I don't know if I agree all of that in Revelation 20. I'm not sure where I'm at.

Okay, well, you will agree with this. This is plain, Ephesians chapter 2. It's plain, but it's a wondrous mystery.

Ephesians chapter 2, let's start in verse 4. Two of the greatest words in the Bible, we were dead in sins, but what happened?

Ephesians 2, 4, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive.

There's a resurrection, right? Together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. Now listen to verse 6.

And raised us up with him, and, listen to this, seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Friends, just as sure as you're sitting here in this place, if you're in Christ in a mysterious and glorious way, you're reigning with Christ right now, seated in the heavenly places.

Isn't that wonderful? Now perhaps you disagree with what I'm saying about Revelation 20, but surely you would not disagree here.

It's undeniable that the saints are seated with Christ in a mysterious way, and the souls of those who are dead in Christ are with him right now as he reigns.

And the reason, if I may offer, why I think my interpretation is correct, is not only these texts that we've examined, but also consider this afternoon why the book of Revelation was written.

It was written to the seven churches in Asia Minor to encourage them to endure to the end.

It wasn't given to them so that they could say, boy, this is great, this is wonderful, and the church 2 ,000 years from now is really going to be encouraged by all this stuff, but this is just really sad for us right now.

I wish there was something here for me. No, friends. No, no, no. That's not what John is doing. John is saying, don't you see?

Don't you see? You're reigning with Christ. You win. Even if they kill you, you still win.

You reign with Christ, and the church is victorious. This is the already -not -yet tension.

We die, but we're triumphant. Let me just give you a quick baseball analogy, and then we'll move to the fourth point.

Suppose a man comes to bat. It's in the bottom of the ninth. The score is tied.

Bases are loaded. The man walks up, and the first pitch beans him in the face.

Blood's everywhere. Teeth's everywhere. Knocks him unconscious for about three minutes.

You say, man, that guy lost, didn't he? Look what he lost. Lost the blood. The teeth are gone. And then you realize, wait a second.

He just advanced a runner. He just won. He just went to first base.

And it's through suffering that the church gains her victory. Fourthly, the kingdom is advancing now.

So Christ is reigning now. Satan is limited now. The saints are ruling now. And fourthly, the kingdom is advancing now.

So I won't read the whole text again, but I just want to say this. Can we not see a wonderful and weighty truth being communicated in a way that our finite little peanut brains can wrap our heads around?

This symbolism in the text, it's really both wise and beautiful for the church.

This is what is happening behind the scenes, and we get a glimpse of it all. Christ is reigning now.

Satan is limited now. The saints are ruling with Christ now. And so if that's all happening, as it were, behind the scenes, what's happening on the main stage?

What's happening right here on earth right now? And the answer is the kingdom is advancing now.

The already is the kingdom advance now. The not yet is we don't topple governments or escape death or persecution.

There'll never be a time in this age when it will not be necessary to say to a person who needs to be converted, you must take up your cross and follow

Christ. This is the age in which we live. So it's happening in Revelation right in the face.

Think about this now. When this book was written, it's happening right in the face of the

Roman Empire. And it has been continuing to advance for 2 ,000 years in the same way.

I want to be charitable to my friends, but this is why Paul's not writing letters and fighting about Christian nationalism, right?

Not fighting about these things. Why? Because they're preaching the gospel and the church is winning.

We don't need governments toppled in order to be a triumphant church. In other words, the church in North Korea right now, the government is one of the worst in the world, and yet she is triumphant.

She's winning. The church is under the reign of Bloody Mary as they march their pastors and as they march the church members to burn them at a cross.

They sing the glories of Christ and they preach the gospel. Why? Because they could not be defeated.

To say this is pessimistic would be like saying the crucifixion is pessimistic. No, it's not.

Christ's suffering is his victory. That's realized in the resurrection.

So does the church suffer like her Savior promised her. Like her Savior promised her.

But her suffering is her triumph. I'm saying, friends, do not marry. Don't try to marry the spiritual kingdom of Christ to the physical governments of the world.

The church is the kingdom. Do not cheapen the power of the gospel by wedding it to the state.

Think about what's happening, not to be irreverent, but Christ laughs in the face of the governments of our world today as he continues to plunder the house of Satan and he builds his church right in their face.

And there's nothing that the powers on earth or hell can do to stop him. Glory to the lamb.

There's one institution that Christ promises to build and it's not the state.

It's not even the family. That's not national Israel. It is his church.

The church militant is his kingdom advancing and the power of Christ is displayed in pillaging the nations, even as they rage against him.

And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years.

Paul says it this way. To the Corinthians, he says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Think about that for just a second. You'll laugh at this, but I think sanctification is actually a good illustration of this position.

Amillennialism. Why? Because we grow now. Christ is in us now, but it's not glorification.

It's not our promise now. Glorification is not ours yet. We continue to fight the kingdom of darkness as we seek to gain the upper hand within us.

God's power is magnified. Listen, it's magnified in human weakness, not human fortitude.

So listen, brothers, you dream perhaps of this golden age where the streets are pristine and where the government says you can't go to the temples of the pagan gods and you see the churches full and you think, what power here?

How am I pushing back on that? I'm saying that Christ actually demonstrates the greater measure of His power in that the church is busting right now wide open the gates of hell.

And the church is going into the brothels and the pagan temples and the ditches and the drug dealers and Christ by the

Holy Spirit takes what He wants and nobody can stop Him and He's doing it right in the face of opposition as the church marches on to victory seeing sinners redeemed by the blood of the

Lamb. The Lamb did not come to ultimately overcome pagan princes in this age, but to rescue sinful hearts.

So He's been doing that for 2 ,000 years. And I get it,

I get it, because I have these conversations and I talk with post -millennial brothers and they talk about, well yeah, the golden age is coming, you just have to give it time.

Okay, when I hear that, see I'm an Arkansas Razorback fan, so when I hear that,

I think about our crazy fan base, right? It has been said that the Razorback football team has never lost a game, they've only ran out of time.

You give us one more quarter, you give us one more half, we play that team again and we beat them.

Or it's like being a Dallas Cowboy fan. You know when our year is, fellow

Dallas Cowboy fans? It's always next year. Next year never comes.

Been saying that for 30 years since the last Super Bowl. So the post -millennial brothers, they keep adding all this time, 500 years or 5 ,000 years, and then we'll see a golden age, but friends,

I believe that this misses what Christ has been doing for 2 ,000 years.

And that is, the church does not need a golden age to triumph. She has been doing already for two millennia.

In the face of depravity and wicked government, she wins. It is estimated, consider some facts, it's estimated in the world today, there are 6 billion

Bibles. It's almost one for every person. 100 million Bibles are printed each year.

The whole Bible has been translated into 704 languages. The New Testament has been translated into an additional 1 ,551 languages.

Christ's church has expanded geographically in the age of the apostles. And it continues to expand from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.

There are gospel preaching churches on 6 out of 7 continents. And the only reason there's not one on the 7th continent is because that continent is

Antarctica, and it's uninhabitable. But in Europe and Asia and Africa and South America and North America and Australia, God's people are all over the globe right now.

And they're in faithful churches. And the gospel has spread over the whole earth.

And the kingdom of Christ, that is the church, cannot be stopped. And she continues to advance.

My friend and fellow Millennial, Jeff Johnson says this, while the nations of the world are waging war against God's anointed,

God's anointed are building His kingdom in their very midst. From every nation and people group,

Christ is robbing Satan of his prisoners. That's because Satan is bound in this way.

Verse 4, or verse 3, threw him into the pit and shut it, sealed it over him so he might not deceive the nations any longer.

He is bound in this way. The church, friends, then, the church is what God is doing in the world today.

She is the true Israel. She is

Israel's fulfillment. The kingdom is advancing now. So listen, don't be distracted by news cycles or plot lines in the

Middle East. We must not be distracted by political activism or hyper -Christian nationalism or maybe

Christian hyper -nationalism. Christ is building His church. We must keep our eyes on Him as we declare

His glory among the nations. Which, by the way, does include, must include, preaching the law and gospel to our magistrates.

And seeking to hold them accountable to God's standards of righteousness. Don't hear me today say that you need to disengage.

I'm not saying that. I'm not saying be Anabaptist and go off into your own little holy huddle.

I'm not saying back down in the slightest. Don't pull back in the minutest sense.

Christ is King. Go! Go! Declare this truth to all.

Boldly stand in the public square and do not back down. Verse 4 says, Then I saw thrones and seat on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

If my interpretation is correct, and we're seated with Christ right now, Ephesians 1 or Ephesians 2, in the heavenly places, you have authority to judge, to judge the nations.

So go and preach, and preach Christ and declare Him Lord over all. Later on in verse 4 it says,

Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus in the word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image, etc.

etc. So some say today, let's let cooler heads prevail. That's not what

I'm saying. I'm saying lose your head for the glory of Christ. Our promise is not the building of governments, but in the building of Christ's kingdom,

His church. Don't think, that's what I'm saying. Don't think that if corruption grows worse that you're losing.

So now I've laid this foundation. I want to give you five exhortations. It'll be much quicker. How does this foundation help us advance the kingdom?

I guess one benefit of preaching last, I'm not really worried about the next guy. Let me give you five exhortations based on this foundation.

Christ is reigning now. Satan is limited now. The saints are ruling now.

The kingdom is advancing now. So here's five exhortations to take home. Number one, expectation.

Verse six, it says, Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such a second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ.

They will reign with Him for a thousand years. We expect the already, not yet.

We expect the two ages, this one and the new earth. The church is winning.

And she wins in the end. We are the militant church reigning with Christ who triumphs over all in Him.

I am not saying that in everywhere in every single situation that the church is not facing heartache.

Sometimes churches, entire churches and movements have been snuffed out. Why? They've lost their lives for the sake of Christ.

But I'm saying to you, overall the church moves forward and the gospel continues to go. That's our expectation.

Our great hope is not in a golden age or in a thousand year reign in the future with the restoration of Israel.

Our hope is Christ. And our hope is His return one day to vanquish every foe and establish the new heavens and the new earth.

We live with expectation of Christ's physical return to this earth. And by the way, that this return will be soon.

So we must be busy. We must take the kingdom seriously. Friends, if you can't look around today and feel the urgency of the hour, then you're not paying attention.

Secondly, establishing this. This foundation helps advance the gospel by giving us an expectation.

Secondly, by establishing this, we are grounded in the hope of Christ, in His reign, in His rule.

I need to say some things here. I'm greatly concerned about the post -millennial depression that I see coming down the road.

It's just my opinion. And I think I have historical backing, Jonathan Edwards and John Owen, not seeing these things manifest.

As the nations rage, as the people's plot in vain, as the church suffers like her savior, people put their great hope in something the

Bible has not given us. In fact, it has given us a greater hope, and that is the hope of the glory of God displayed over all the earth in the very face of opposition.

It's not that post -millennials are optimistic and the rest of us are pessimistic. In my opinion, it's that too many post -millennials have placed their hope in government surrender.

I'm telling you today, God doesn't save states. He saves centers. Christians can and should and must influence the state.

Don't back down. But our hope is Christ's reign right now. That's what we're to be grounded in.

Christ reigns, and you're reigning with him. No bullet, no Biden can stop you.

I'm gonna do all within my power to elect a conservative president in 2024.

But all within my power is one vote. And I'll vote, and then

I'll say, Christ is king. Nor are we to watch the nation of Israel.

I'm afraid that nation will be wiped off the map one day, and then some of my dispensational friends will feel the necessity to rework the charts.

But don't put your hope there. Put your hope in the present reign of Christ. That's where we're established.

Thirdly, expectation established. Thirdly, equipping us. Satan is limited, our text shows us.

But he's not cast into the lake of fire yet. And so Christ continues to equip his church by his word, by his worship, by his ordinances, by the local church, right?

Christ is sanctifying his people, and he's going to do so until he returns. We never reach a point where we don't need sanctification.

We never reach a golden age where we stop undergoing our growth and holiness. So what we do is we advance the kingdom now in and through and by and with the local church.

We commit to the church. We give our weekly lives, we give our lives to the weekly worship of the church.

We commit to fellowship outside the church. We participate in the church and evangelism and missions.

Christ equips the church now so that the kingdom advances. I want no part of ministries separated from Christ's church.

You've got people all over the world today who say, hey, I'm doing this ministry. Would you like to give to it? What church are you involved with?

Oh, I'm too busy for church. I'm too busy for you. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry.

The church is what God is doing. All of this shines to focus on the gospel.

The finished work of Christ for sinners his life and his death, his burial, his resurrection.

Do not be distracted, brothers and sisters, by other means of winning souls to Christ.

We cannot legislate souls to Christ. It is the precious, glorious, life -giving gospel that is the power of God unto salvation.

If we lose the gospel, we lose everything. If we turn the gospel into a mechanism for building physical kingdoms, we lose it.

God saves sinners. Christ saves and equips his church with the gospel to go out into the present kingdom of darkness and prevail against the gates of hell to bring ruined sinners to the king who he will pardon by his mercy.

Fourthly, expectation establishes us, equipping us. Fourthly, encouraging us. This text that I preach in Revelation is meant to encourage the church.

I'm not saying stop your fight for the end of abortion. Don't. I'm not saying don't preach the gospel to corrupt governments.

Do do so. I'm not saying to stop trying to influence local magistrates in your town.

Do it. Fight with your all. Christ is king, right?

They say, you can't do that, right? Just open your coat pocket and pull out a little fake card and say

I have a permit. Christ is king. I do what I want.

Christ is king, right? I preach the gospel. I don't preach it to the abortion clinics. I'll preach it to the magistrates.

I'll preach and I'll preach and I'll preach and I'll preach and they can't stop me. But what I'm saying is if and when these things go south, you get hit in the mouth, you get taken to jail, you get beheaded, you die when these things fall apart.

By the way, watch history. History is cyclical like that. There are mountaintops and valleys, as it were, of the church's outward success in the world.

You can go down to this period of time. He said, well, the church looks like it's up here. You go to this period of time. Wow, looks like the church is down here.

So you see these mountain and valley. But the point is when these things fail, we are encouraged in our victory already secure.

We are already reigning. Do not, do not go making alliances with false teachers or unbelievers to win against the culture or whatever.

That's the strategy of some people. We've got to partner with these rank unbelievers in order to stand against this.

Or we've got to run over here and partner with these rank unbelievers in order to stand against this. I will not stand with a

Roman Catholic or a Mormon just because they agree about ending abortion. I won't stand with them.

Why? Because I stand with Christ. Christ stands opposed. Atheists, others, don't compromise.

Be encouraged. Even in the face of defeat, you've already won. Expectation, establishing, equipping, encouraging, and then finally, it serves as a foundation for exciting us.

Because all of this is true. How can we not face every day excited to take another step in advancing the kingdom of Christ?

How can we not give our lives, all that we are, all of our focus, all of our time, all of our priorities to the church which

Christ is building and advancing? Why, friends, are our lives not revolving around the local church?

The church ought to be what we schedule everything else around.

We don't live that way. I'd love to be there. I've got this going on.

And I'd love to come back Sunday night, but here's the dumbest excuse in the history of man.

We've got family in town. Bring them to church.

Have you thought that one through? The point is, our lives ought to revolve around the church.

So how can we not pass out tracts? Why can you not walk with a pocket full of tracts and say, man, listen, honey,

I'm leaving today, and if I get lost today, just follow the tracts, and you'll find me. Pass out tracts.

Why can't we do that? Why are we not doing that? Why are we not serious about preaching the gospel, proclaiming the gospel on the streets, going door to door?

Why are we not doing that? Christ is king. Who's going to stop you? Christ has all authority. We've heard this conference over the nations.

And if they kill you, that's the worst thing they can do. But they can't even do that because you already live. Right? If they kill you so bad, you've already won.

You'll depart and be with Christ. Paul says that's far better. You believe it? You believe what the

Bible says when Paul says it's far better for me to depart and be with Christ? How could you let governments or sports or finances or sorrow steal your joy in Christ?

None of those things are going to snuff us out. None of those things are going to defeat us. The militant church marches forward to final victory when

Christ returns. So I say to you, go forward, my friends. Onward, Christian soldiers.

Do not let the kingdom of this world be a distraction to you. This is a call to arms.

Pick up the sword of the Spirit and wage war against the kingdom of darkness through the church.

Grab hold of the plow, friends. Grab hold of the plow. There is work to be done.

There are seeds to be scattered. There's wheat to be harvested. And there are sinners to be saved and saints to be sanctified.

March with me on to victory. And because Christ is reigning now and Satan is limited now and the saints are ruling now and the kingdom is advancing now, you must be excited this afternoon to press on in the work that Christ has called you to until He returns or calls you home and says to you, well done.

If you really believe the church is the building, the church is the house, the church is what

God's doing. This is His work. If we really believe what Ephesians says, we are the poemos, the masterpiece of God.