The Book of ACTS | The Kingdom of God

Well, hello out there, my name is Jeremiah Nortier. I'm the apologetic dog. If this is your first time tuning in, this is an apologetics ministry meant to contend for the gospel of grace.

And so the apologetic dog, this is just simply a reminder that all

Christians are supposed to guard the gospel of grace. And so in the the logo, hopefully you'll see 1

Timothy 6 verse 20 where Timothy is told by the Apostle Paul, Oh Timothy, guard the deposit that's entrusted to you.

Do this by avoiding irreverent battle. Do this by avoiding contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

And so that's my heart here at the apologetic dog, is I want us to stand firm on truth. Where do we get truth?

Well, we get truth from God, and he reveals truth to us through his life -giving word.

And so I also serve as pastor and elder at 12 Five Church amongst a plurality of elders with Pastor Nathan Hargrave and Pastor Keith Hennick.

We are in the Northeast Arkansas area, Jonesboro. And so if you're looking for Reformed Baptist Church, we're the only one in the town.

We love our Reformed Presby brothers. We do many things with them, fill their pulpits, we preach for each other.

And so that's a little bit of where I'm coming from. Just want to thank you so much, 12

Five Church, for your support. That's the name of the church, and you can find us at 12fivechurch .com.

And so people ask, what what's a 12 Five? Well, it's a reference to Romans 12 verse 5 that talks about all the saints.

We are one together in the body of Christ. So with that being said,

I really want to show off this new shirt that I have. Tell me if you can see it, okay? Hey, have you read

Romans 9? A dear brother sent this to me and said, hey, I got some merchandise that I'd like for you to make people more known about.

My good friend Jerry Duckworth, the Twitchy Theologian. And so after the live stream, I'll post a link for where you can find some more of this merchandise.

I just want to tell you that there's something on the back that you'll just have to click the link and find out.

It's really, it's really cool what he has to say. But it's letting people know, hey, you got to check out Romans chapter 9.

All Scripture is God -breathed and profitable. And so also just go check out the Twitchy Theologian YouTube channel.

Like I said, a dear brother contending for the gospel of grace, getting in the debate dojo, and I've seen him participate on Marlon's channel,

The Gospel Truth, and he did a great job. And so that is the Twitchy Theologian.

So go check him out. And like I said, I'll eventually post his link in the show notes below where you can go check him out.

Some other things down the pipeline before I get into this evening's live stream is,

I do debates also. So coming up is August 23rd.

Me and the Fishbone, Trey Fisher, we are going to be on Marlon's channel, The Gospel Truth, debating that and talking about, is baptism necessary?

Necessary for what? We have to go check it out. Well, essentially this will be a baptism debate. What's interesting about the full proposition is asking the question, is water baptism necessary to forgive all your sin?

And it's interesting because the the gentleman you see on the graphic there, they're going to be saying, yes, it forgives all of your sin.

Well, we'll see if they will be able to consistently say that by the end of the debate. Thank you so much.

Got to get some coffee going. So you want to check out that debate?

I believe it's going to be August 23rd. So it's coming up around the corner.

Let's see what else we got in the pipeline. That was the wrong button.

Let's see here. In February, I will be speaking at a conference in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

I just want to let everybody know, it has proved very difficult to find a debate opponent.

Every single person I've asked has told me, I can't make it for this reason or that reason.

And what I'm on the lookout for, so if you see this episode and you think, hey,

I know somebody that's interested, is I really want to debate someone that would represent the

Church of Christ. Okay, so this debate is called WAR, and we're going to be talking about the spirit versus the flesh.

And so this whole conference will be talking about a believer's sanctification. And so you see me in this graphic right here.

I want to represent the conference in terms of a debate against a person that wants to challenge the idea that a believer can lose their sanctification, lose their salvation.

And for those of us that are Reformed, we understand that God is absolutely sovereign, and he who begins that good work in you is sure to bring it to completion.

He started the good work, and God cannot fail to accomplish what he intends to do. So I'm looking for a

Church of Christ representative that would like to either affirm the position that a believer can lose their salvation.

Like I said, I'll do some more podcast live stream episodes with Trey and tell you about some of the bizarre encounters

I've had with people trying to get them to commit to come to Tullahoma, Tennessee. But I imagine something will work out soon.

But anyway, this will be in February and hopefully recognize some faces from the speakers last year.

Jeff Rice is hosting. Keith Foskey will be there again this year. Andrew Rappaport, Sam Waldron, and the rest of the gang.

So you don't want to miss out on them. Okay, so this evening,

I realize maybe Donald Trump will be giving an important speech, the biggest one he's ever given as I've seen some thumbnails say on YouTube in a few hours.

So I thought, man, I really want to do a live stream. I want to connect with y 'all, and hopefully we'll be done before the whole world listens to perhaps one of the greatest speeches ever, ever given.

But something I'm doing here at the Apologetic Dog is I am going through the book of Acts.

And the more I thought about this, I got excited because I want to show y 'all my heart. Yes, I do interviews.

I get interviewed a lot, especially in how to apologetically and evangelize the

Church Christ and full preterism and things like that. But I also want to show people that, hey, we should be able to step into Scripture and go line by line and examine context.

And so I've already done two live streams. I think the first one was about O Theophilus, you know, who the author of the book of Acts is, and who

Theophilus is, and what's the intent of the book of Acts. And so we made it for that live stream. We talked about how historically the person

Luke, the traveling physician and companion and blessed brother of the

Apostle Paul, wrote two volumes, the Gospel of Luke, and then wrote volume two, or book two, the book of Acts.

And so the second live stream I did, we talked a lot about John the Baptist, how he's an important backdrop to the book of Acts, as we see pointing to what

Jesus accomplished in his earthly ministry, and he ascended on high. And so in future live streams, we'll get into who can replace

Judas Iscariot as an apostle. They had to witness, essentially, John's baptism and him baptizing

Jesus and giving an eyewitness account of his entire earthly ministry. So this is the third live stream, and I want to back up to kind of looking at this prologue in Acts.

And if you saw the the thumbnail, this live stream is going to be about the kingdom of God.

So I want to thank you out there on YouTube.

Thank you for letting me know that you love the shirt. Like I said, I plan on posting the link where if you want some of the merchandise to support

Jerry Duckworth, the Twitchy Theologian, you can easily type in the

Twitchy Theologian and find the link that way, but I will post that as well. Yes, love the shirt. I just want to let everybody know,

I already got a thumbs down. I didn't even get started yet, but we got to counteract the thumbs down with some thumbs up.

So if you appreciate Christian apologetics contending for the gospel of grace apart from works in King Jesus, the second person of the the triune

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That really helps my content get out there more, and it opens up more opportunities for me to speak and perhaps do this full -time one day.

I have a Patreon, and I have a new website. I'll try to remember to post a link so you can check that out as well.

But if you ever want to support the Apologetic Dog, you can always support me by praying for me. Praying that I would represent the truth, and that God's truth would ultimately vindicate the saints.

Another way you can support is by liking the content, sharing it, subscribing, and hitting the notification bell.

Okay. Oh, I got a thumbs up. Thank you out there to counteract that thumbs down. I'm telling you, the

YouTube world is brutal. So anyway, back to the book facts. Something that I want to once again highlight is

I want us to go slow. We will make some headway this episode because I want to talk about the kingdom of God, and I want us to look at the question that the disciples asked

Jesus here in verse 6. So let's look at the opening prologue of the book of Acts.

Okay, and so we've talked about in past live streams, the book of Acts is named that historically because this is the act of the

Apostles indwelt by the Holy Spirit all under the sovereign hand of God as he is building his temple, the church.

The Holy Spirit indwells believers. And so here in the prologue we read, in the first book,

O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given the commands through the

Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

So I want to keep reading, but I do want to highlight this to just let you know is this is what

I really want to key in on this evening. So we continue to read, and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the

Father, which he said, You heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the

Holy Spirit not many days from now. Okay. So the kingdom of God.

I want to tackle this question, and I want to tackle it by asking who, what, when, where, and why.

And so essentially what is the kingdom of God? Who are the citizens that make up the kingdom of God?

Where is it? What does it look like? What's the nature? And the reason why we're going through slow through the book of Acts is because the way

I want to essentially tackle this is the book of Acts is volume 2 of volume 1.

And so I just want to remind those just now tuning in that if you ever have any questions along the way, please send them in the side chat, and I would love to interact with your questions, especially as we talk about the kingdom of God that inevitably will relate to eschatology, everyone's favorite subject, and we're gonna see how the kingdom of God also involves soteriology, the method of salvation.

So if you've been around for the apologetic dog content for any length of time, then you know that I deal with the

Church Christ and hyperpreterist. And so I want to show you along the way how to ultimately engage in context with these cult groups.

So that being said, Acts is volume 2 of volume 1 of the gospel of Luke, and it was the gospel of Luke that I want to show you that the whole theme of that gospel is the kingdom of God.

And so in Luke chapter 4 starting verse 43, I hope you can see it okay on your end,

Jesus is speaking and says, I must preach the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.

And so that kind of kick -starts the whole theme to the gospel of Luke. Salvation ultimately can be understood as how can one see the kingdom of God?

How can one be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven? And so before we continue to answer the who, what, when, where, and why question, one verse that immediately comes to mind,

I'm gonna cheat a little bit and get outside of the gospel of Luke a little bit, even though that's gonna be primarily where we're gonna hang out, is

Romans 14 17. And so when we're asking about the kingdom of God, one of the most concise verses that we could look to to answer most of the questions, the

Apostle Paul tells us, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. And so that's gonna be key for us this evening, is I want us to continue to dip back, if you will, into this verse.

So maybe as people join in a little bit late, that'll be a good time for me to say, hey, what is the kingdom of God?

It's righteousness. It's joy. It's peace in the Holy Spirit. Okay, so with that being said,

Jesus, once again in the gospel of Luke, tells us the whole reason why he was sent was to preach the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God.

And so as we cheat a little bit more, one of my favorite verses, Mark 1 15, and perhaps we can look at Mark 1 14 and 15, because once again, we're gonna see the gospel, the kingdom.

All this is very closely tied together. And so we did talk about John's ministry, how he was preparing the way of Messiah, for King Jesus.

And so now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, the gospel of God, and saying, the time is fulfilled.

The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.

And so the gospel is essentially the good news that the kingdom of God is here.

It's at hand. It can be entered into, as we're going to talk about, by repentance and believing in Christ.

And so it can be entered into by faith. We can't see it with our physical eye, but we can see the kingdom with the eye of faith.

Okay. So, with that, let's kind of begin to tackle the first question, which, once again, is when we're talking about the kingdom of God, who is the kingdom of God?

Or better, we could say, who makes up the kingdom of God? And I want to just simply say believers.

Believers are citizens of the kingdom of God. And when you hear me say kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, we're talking about the same place, the sphere of salvation.

Now, we're gonna get more into that, this location of where it is at, but the kingdom of God is made up of citizens.

And so in the gospel of Luke, which we're kind of gonna be hanging out in mainly because we're gonna see this theme, and we're gonna kind of hop all over the place.

But if it's true for the gospel of Luke, then it is true for the book of Acts volume 2.

And like I said, Acts chapter 1 verse 5, when it talks about the kingdom of God, there's something already pre -established in the writer

Luke's mind. And so we go to his gospel. This is the citizens of the kingdom.

So when we look at the Beatitudes that are in Matthew's gospel, we see it right here in Luke as well.

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, as Jesus is talking with the disciples here, and said, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Okay, and so if you're familiar with the Beatitudes, there's a list, there's a longer list, in Matthew's gospel.

But it's talking about who the blessed man is, right? The blessed man and woman who has peace with God, who has true joy and contentment in Christ.

And so once again, what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the

Holy Spirit. And so that's essentially what we see being true of the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor.

The world tells you, Oh, you want happiness? Search after wealth. Search after influence and power and dominate.

But then Jesus comes in and says, actually, life is being poor in spirit.

Understanding that you cannot work your way to God with your accomplishments and your obedience to a list of commands.

No, those who are spiritually poor, meaning that we have no righteousness of our own to offer

God, we need a Savior in our stead. That is the poor in spirit.

For those that look to King Jesus in faith apart from their works, for yours is the kingdom of God.

And so we have a list of Beatitudes. And so as we read through these,

I'll read kind of the last two here. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the

Son of Man. Now listen to this. Rejoice, citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.

For so their fathers did to the prophets. And so what

Jesus is getting at is we can be blessed. We can have true contentment and joy even in the midst of persecution because we are looking forward to a heavenly dwelling place.

Our reward is to see Jesus. Our reward is getting to be with Him for all eternity.

And so this is important when we're talking about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. And even though we're talking about the who question, believers that look to Christ by faith alone apart from their works, this is giving us a clue that the kingdom is above.

Okay? So also as we continue to answer the who is the kingdom of heaven,

I believe the Apostle Paul also weighs in here in Philippians 3 verses 20 and 21.

He says, but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a

Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables

Him even to subject all things to Himself. And so what I want to highlight here is a believer's citizenship is in heaven.

Paul also talks about how we don't get entangled as soldiers of Christ enlisted for war with the things of this world.

Now does that mean that we have potentially an earthly citizenship in a certain country?

We need to abide by the laws of the land? Absolutely, we do. But ultimately, where our heart rests, where we're putting our faith in, is our true citizenship, which is heavenward.

And as we begin to talk about the kingdom of God more and more and more, yes, it is above, right?

It is also within, right? The church, the saints that have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But we're gonna talk about how this kingdom, even though it is here, it is not fully consummated and realized yet.

So I want us to be thinking about that. And this verse that Paul is getting at, our citizenship is in heaven.

As we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is going to return. And what he is talking about here is our blessed hope, right?

Jesus came the first time and He said, oh, I'm sending a helper. I'm sending the Holy Spirit as a down payment, as a guarantee that I am coming back.

And so as we go back to Acts chapter 1 in a little bit, we will perhaps touch on that He was sent on high and there were two angelic beings there.

It says, what are you doing, apostles? Go share the the message of the kingdom of God, because the way that you saw

Jesus leave, that is the same way that He will return. And so once again, our citizenship as believers is in heaven.

Okay? And so returning back to Luke's Gospel, as we're answering the who, this is believers.

In the parable of the sower, the the four soils, if you will, Jesus says to you, believers, the apostles in his midst, to you, it, the kingdom of heaven, has been given to you to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.

But for others, they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

And so once again, not only are believers the citizens of the kingdom, but the kingdom of God, as we're going to transition to in a moment, is salvation, right?

To you, to know who the Messiah is, the good soil. It has been revealed to you to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.

And so Jesus gives many parables about the kingdom, but it's cryptic for those that love their sin, and this is obviously a judgment on Israel.

If you've followed the Flower Patch Kids, that is Layton Flowers, and I have a lot of love for them.

This is a passage, I think, oftentimes gets misunderstood, maybe from the Reform Camp, because we do acknowledge that these parables are multifaceted.

These parables are given to Israel as a form of judgment. But we understand that Israel, being ultimately

God -haters and enemies, especially after the distortion of the Torah during the intertestamental period,

Jesus now comes, and this is a type of judgment to speak in parables.

So that doesn't compromise anything about the absolute sovereignty of God. God can choose how

He will administer judgment, since He is King and ruler over all.

And so if you have any questions about that, just let me know. That being said, we will continue to move on because, like I said, the big takeaway that I want us to see is that citizens of the kingdom are believers.

In this next passage in the Gospel of Luke, maybe you recognize this, but there was an individual that said,

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Okay, now the whole context here is this is the thief on the cross.

The thief on the cross was not baptized. He was in the New Covenant.

He was still alive when Jesus died at Calvary, and if we read the book of Hebrews, we understand that the

New Covenant was inaugurated by His blood, by His death. But Jesus not only is a suffering

Savior, but He's a victorious Savior that resurrected from the dead three days later. And so the reason why this verse is so important is because I have talked with Anglicans, I've talked with Church of Christ, and some people have said that this is an exception,

Jeremiah. The thief on the cross is not an example of the faith, of how we are to be reconciled with God.

I've even heard someone say, are you telling me that I have to go be crucified on a cross in order to be saved?

And I say, yeah, we are to carry our cross daily. That's what Jesus said. And so the thief on the cross is a vivid picture of someone that does not deserve salvation, that is being judged for thievery, right, the thief on the cross.

And yet, in his dying moments, he looks to Jesus, no doubt, in saving faith, and says, remember me into your kingdom.

And so I want to elaborate a little bit more on this, but got somebody out there.

We have Mrs. Alley. She said, hey,

I commented. That was her way of saying, hey, acknowledge me out there. She's watching the Apologetic Puppy, Baby JJ.

Alley, when's his birthday again? Is it coming up? We have a beautiful baby boy that's coming, going to be two years old, coming up in October 21st.

So keep us in prayer as we raise that baby boy to raise him in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Thanks so much, babe.

She's texting me, that's funny. All right. All right. We have some more people joining in. We have

Christ Rescued Me. This is the great Leanne Ferguson, but she always wants me to remind people she's not great because of what she has done.

I say the great Leanne because she has been saved by a mighty Savior, and she wrote the book

Christ Rescued Me from the Church of Christ, and Leanne, you tuned in at a really good time because look at verse

I'm talking about. The thief on the cross said, Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.

If Leanne wants to post why this verse might be important to her and some of the things that are coming up in the future, just post something about that so maybe

I can let people know a little bit. Oh, oh, we got a mod in the house, finally.

Sparky. Sparky, I was wondering when you were gonna come in. You never know when

I may need a mod to tell people to behave over there in the side chat. Oh, Georgia, thank you so much for joining us.

Yes, so just to catch a little bit of y 'all up to speed, we are going through Acts, and you better believe it's gonna take a decade to get through the entire book because I go at a snail's pace.

I go at the pace of Anthony Rogers. You don't know what I mean. Go watch some of his live streams.

Love Anthony so much. Leanne, what did

I ask again? Oh, look at the verse on the screen. Because I'm talking about the thief on the cross said,

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. I didn't know if you wanted to tell us why this verse is so meaningful to you.

And if you want to let people know, we'll kind of let them know some of the projects that you have going on. So if you're just tuning in, we're going through the book of Acts, and we just went through the opening five verses, which is the prologue, and this live stream is about the kingdom of God.

And so as we're talking about the kingdom of God in the book of Acts, the writer Luke would have already had so many things in mind when he mentions the kingdom of God.

And so we are in the gospel of Luke, looking at the highlights of who gets to make up the kingdom of God.

So we're gonna look at the who, the what is the kingdom of God, when is the kingdom of God?

That question was actually asked to Jesus. Where is it and why? What's the big deal about the kingdom of God?

So also if you're tuning in, someone, let's see, says hello everybody.

If you're just now tuning in, please hit the like button. That helps the algorithm. It helps the circulation of the content.

And please like, share, and subscribe. You know what to do. So thank y 'all for joining in.

I want y 'all to know that as soon as I hit go live, someone hit the thumbs down. So someone is not a fan of the apologetic dog.

And if I had to guess, it is more than likely someone that is Church Christ. And as we're talking about who makes up the kingdom of God, who are the citizens of the kingdom of God, it has always been believers.

And I'm talking about the thief on the cross here because that is exactly what

I want to touch on for a moment is the thief on the cross was a citizen of the kingdom of God by faith.

Okay, he says Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. And that text goes on.

Jesus says today you will be with me in paradise. So how is the thief on the cross an example of one of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven?

He put his faith in Christ. And so it doesn't matter if he was baptized, which it is easy to show that Jesus died before the thief on the cross, and he wasn't baptized.

And yet he had a promise that he was going to see the kingdom. But that's not an exception to the rule.

That is the rule. That is how anyone has always entered into the kingdom. In Hebrews chapter 11,

Abraham was looking heavenly. He was looking towards heaven. That's where he knew his citizenship ultimately was at.

He was not looking to this earthly domain, but he was looking by faith to heaven.

And so he was able to be a citizens of the kingdom by promise. Okay, so um

Let's see here Christ. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so this is where I wanted to give miss Leanne a chance to mention this, if she wanted to.

She says coming soon, Christ rescued the thief, the thief's testimony.

This is another book that Miss Leanne has been working on. She wrote this book, which has been a an absolute blessing to me.

Christ Rescued Me from the Church of Christ. Please go check that out. And she let me interview her a number of months ago.

So please check that out. And she's working on another book called The Thief's Testimony.

And so she gets into how the Church of Christ have, well, you'll just have to check it out, but it's an incredible book so far.

How's that Leanne for a book plug? Okay, so yeah, be on the lookout for that book.

And I have a feeling that Leanne, she won't quit cranking out those books. So I want to move on now to answering the question, what is the kingdom of God?

Right? We know the who. It's believers, always has been, always will be. Old Testament saints became members of the kingdom of heaven by faith in the promise that was to come.

Something else that we might can delve a little bit deeper into, especially if we have any questions. In 2

Samuel chapter 7, God promised, made a covenant with King David that he would establish an everlasting kingdom.

I want to submit to you, we see the fulfillment, the ongoing fulfillment of that covenant in the book of Acts.

But Old Testament saints, by faith in the promise of this coming kingdom, looked forward to what was in store for them.

And yes, Abraham saw that day and was glad, and he saw Jesus. So as we move now to answering the what, what is the kingdom of heaven?

Something that we began the live stream is saying Romans 14 17 is kind of one of the best verses to answer all the who, what, when, where, and why questions.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. So we're saying, what is the whole the kingdom of God?

This simply is righteousness, peace, joy in the

Holy Spirit. In a word, I want to say the kingdom of God is salvation. It's the sphere of salvation.

The kingdom of God right now is heavenly, okay? We can't see that, right?

We can't see past the world that we currently are living in, but we see it by faith.

Meaning that we have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious, who cannot fail to accomplish his promises.

The kingdom of God is also, I would say, within. Okay, so even though we're in the gospel of Luke, and we're gonna be getting into Jesus brought his kingdom with him because he's a king, and he has a rule.

And right now, when he sits at the right hand of the Father, the kingdom is where the king is on his throne.

But, in a very real and practical sense for believers today, not only is the kingdom above heavenly, but it's also within because the

Holy Spirit indwells the saints. For the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, joy in the

Holy Spirit. Okay, I gotta take a few sips of coffee on that one.

So, as we're continuing to answer all these questions in the side chat, let me know, how would you explain to someone what is the kingdom of God?

How would you go about explaining that? There's so many wonderful verses throughout.

I will actually say Old and New Testament of what that looks like. But, just to kind of repeat a little bit, the way that I want to do this is saying, as we're going through Acts, we have to have in mind the human author,

Luke. He has already established a very concise doctrine of what the kingdom of God is in his gospel account, in the gospel of Luke.

Now, here at the Apologetic Dog, since God's Word is truth, since all scriptures God breathed and profitable for reproof and for doctrine, and how we are to live godly lives, we will be interpreting

Scripture with Scripture. So, occasionally, as I'm going through Acts and the gospel of Luke, I want to remind us of Romans 14, 17 about the kingdom of God and other verses.

So, as we are now talking about the what of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, they're synonymous,

I want to submit to you in Luke 18. We read about the rich young ruler.

And so, one of my notes is, what is the kingdom of God? It's the sphere, the realm of salvation.

Okay? And so, I want to read this account because there's so many important principles that we immediately learn about the kingdom of God.

There was a ruler that asked Jesus, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Okay. And so, I just want to go ahead and pause here because, as the Apologetic Dog, my heart is to evangelize the church of Christ.

And so, one of their favorite words is do. And if you think about Acts 2, 38,

Peter is answering the question of the Jews that were pricked to the heart and said, what must we do?

And so, as I'm talking with the church of Christ, they're like, Jeremiah, you must obey. You must do something.

And so, it's verses like this that they will actually point at and say, well, yeah, the rich young ruler was asking a good question.

What must he do in terms of his works? And I already say, timeout.

This is not good. Must we do the will of God? Yeah, but that means by putting your faith in Christ, be justified by faith apart from trusting in yourself.

And then, Scripture is very clear about not only the doctrine of justification, which is by faith apart from works, but the

Scriptures give us a doctrine of sanctification, that the justified by faith now live out their faith in good works to the glory of God.

We don't do works to earn God's favor, and we don't do good works to keep

God's favor and our salvation. So, this is a fantastic Scripture talking about the kingdom of God, because it's ultimately talking about salvation, eternal life.

But, if we have any church of Christ in the side chat watching in the future,

I want to submit to you that the rich young ruler, he is the best that any earthly person can be.

This is the ideal person. He's rich. He's wealthy, right? He's young, so he attained this wealth at a young age, and he's a ruler.

He's been given a lot of authority. He is the ideal person in this world, okay?

So, what is the only thing left that he has to do and accomplish? Well, he goes to Jesus and says, good teacher, okay?

Now, Jesus is going to question him on his understanding of the word good, because he has a very low standard of goodness and holiness and what is right, ultimately.

And so, he says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And so, what I want to submit to the church of Christ and any group that has to say your obedience to a list of commands to what you do is what makes you right before God, I want you to understand, the rich young ruler did not understand that he could not do anything.

And he did not understand Jesus' point when he exposed his heart, and as we're gonna see, he left very sad.

Okay? So, I just want us to kind of lay this context. We are talking about what is the kingdom of God?

It is salvation. So, the rich young ruler, he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

That deserves a sip of coffee. Because something we need to recognize is

God is holy, holy, holy. And so, guess who is not? Man, right?

Ever since the fall of Adam, we have all inherited a sin nature.

We do not seek out after God. We're not born in this neutral state. We're not born perfect.

We are born God -haters. And so, yeah, there are things that exist in this world that we would kind of, in a civil, virtuous way, call something good, helping out somebody.

But we have to understand, God alone is good, because he is righteous.

He is holy. He is light, and there is no dark in him. That's the standard of good.

And so, the rich young ruler was right in calling Jesus good, because he is God. But he didn't understand that.

The rich young ruler thinks that he is good, and that he can do something to inherit eternal life.

And what I want to submit to you is that this individual was not only wrong, but he was delusional.

Okay, so Jesus said to him, why did you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments.

Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear a false witness.

Honor your father and mother. And he said, now this is the delusional statement that the rich young ruler said, all of these

I have kept from my youth. So, real similar with the

Church of Christ, and the rich young ruler, and the Pharisees, is they look at the commandments as something that you just try your best.

Try your best to do what's required of you, and when you when you mess up, just repent, and it'll be okay.

Galatians tells us that no, the law was given to crush. Galatians tells us that if you try to keep any of the law, then you better keep all of it.

And then you start thinking, oh, but I can't do that. Well, of course you can. If you've stumbled at one point of the law, then you've shattered the entire thing.

I was listening to a preacher. He was talking about if you have a beautiful glass pane window, and if you throw a rock, and you just hit the tiny corner of it, it's gonna destroy the whole thing.

It's gonna shoot up streaks, and the whole thing is ruined. That's our sin. One sin is enough to eternally condemn us to God, because we have sinned.

It's not the sin itself. It's the one whom we've sinned against, and God is holy.

God is eternal. And so, with that being said, the Church of Christ believes that you are born without a sin nature, and that you become a sinner the moment you sin.

And we back up and say, no, no one seeks God from birth, right? We've all died in Adam, past tense.

That's why the Apostle Paul can say, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. He can say it as a guarantee.

Even those who haven't lived yet, for all have sinned, right? That is inevitably going to be...

Sorry, y 'all people in the side chat. What's up, Wesley? Oh, one second.

Wesley says, cook it up, Jeremiah. Thank you for joining, man. I was just saying, Wesley, that it's not what you do in terms of your works, and the rich young ruler is saying, oh,

I've kept all the commandments since my youth. Okay, let's see how Jesus responds to that. Jesus heard this and said to him, one thing you still lack.

Okay? Well, how could he lack anything if he has kept all the laws since his youth?

Jesus says, one thing you still lack, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.

Now, I want to submit to you, Jesus is the best teacher to ever walk the earth, and so he's exposing a heart problem.

This is fundamentally what separates man from God, is a heart of stone, a heart that loves sin and suppresses the truth in unrighteousness.

And so rather than Jesus pointing out the fact that this person was delusional and cannot perfectly keep the entirety of the law and live, because that was what the law said, do this and you shall live, oh, we can't do that, right?

We fall short of God's standard. Jesus puts his finger on the heart problem and says, go and sell all that you have, and then you will have treasure in heaven, right?

That is the kingdom of God, and come and follow me. But when the rich young ruler heard these things, he became very sad, because why?

He was very, he was extremely rich. Okay? Jesus, seeing that he he was very sad, said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

Alright, that's a, that's a coffee break. Because I want you to see, the rich young ruler is asking about eternal life.

Jesus talks about having treasure in heaven, and then here he equates all of those things to the kingdom of God.

So what is the kingdom of God? It's salvation. It's righteousness, joy, peace in the

Holy Spirit. Okay? And so I want you to see that. Jesus goes on to say, for it is easier for the, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person, and he mentions it for a second time, to enter the kingdom of God.

Okay? And so, the kingdom of God, what is it? Salvation. Those that heard this, the disciples no doubt, said, then who can be saved?

Because, they understand what the kingdom of God is, it's salvation, and they realized that the rich young ruler, the most ideal person in this world, as far as someone who is young, who is wealthy, and has power and influence, who is a ruler, if he's not getting in, then what hope does everyone else have?

That's, this was the same reality with the Pharisees, when Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, then you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven, which is also the kingdom of God.

And so the point is, you must have a heart righteousness. You must put your faith alone in Christ alone.

The Pharisees didn't do that. They were trusting in themselves, and so that kind of reminds me, I had a debate a couple months ago with Mike Hysall.

Absolutely, loved that man, loved our interaction, but I talked about the parable of the tax collector, the

Pharisee and the tax collector, because that shows that those that believe your justification rests on what you do in your works, your obedience to a set of commands.

Well, you have to trust in your ability to carry those out, and Jesus says, you're not trusting in me, you're not trusting in the promises of God, you're trusting in your own righteousness.

And so go check that out. All right, also, I want to encourage all, if you have any questions in the side chat, let me know.

All right, Wesley has a comment. Let's see what you got, Wesley. It says, the rich young ruler failed to account for the one thing that all the law and the prophets hinged upon, loving the

Lord with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. Amen!

You know what Danny would say at 12 -5? Amen, brother! But you're absolutely right, he failed to account for the essence of the entirety of the law, which is to love

God and to love neighbor. And listen, you can't love neighbor if you do not love

God, meaning putting your faith in the Savior. So you're absolutely right. The rich young ruler, no doubt from a human perspective, he probably, other people probably said, oh man, we have observed his life and he has kept the entirety of the law.

That man did it. Remember, the rich young ruler is the ideal person here on earth. And yet, his heart is far from God.

And how do we know that? He just throws the word good, kind of another name for holy. He just kind of comes up to any rabbi and says, hey, good teacher.

And Jesus basically points out, you don't realize that that belongs to God and him alone.

And ironically, he was right to call Jesus good because he is actually

God. But thank you for that Wesley. So let's continue. Once again in verse 26, those who heard it said, who then can be saved?

I love this next part because Jesus says, what is impossible with man is possible with God.

Okay, so this reminds me of John chapter 3. In fact, let's go rogue a little bit.

I had all these scriptures already mapped out, but I can't help myself to go to John's Gospel because John mentions the kingdom of God.

We see the account between Nicodemus and Jesus where Nicodemus says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And what I'm wanting to submit to you is that by man, worldly standards, it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God.

It is impossible to see it. It is impossible to be saved on man's own terms. And notice, we're talking about the rich young ruler, the one that has achieved what he can do.

He is top dog. And yet they, the apostles here, are not quite grasping it.

God love them, right? They're being sanctified over time. But they're saying, if he can't get in, then what hope is it for everyone else?

And then Jesus is saying, oh, but with God, it is possible. And so that's why we talked so much about the new birth, being born again, being born from above, promised within the new covenant that God says,

I will take out that heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh, a living heart that is convicted of sin and puts faith alone in Christ alone.

And that's a work of God. That's what John 6 goes on to say, because that audience that was seeking

Jesus was to fill their own tummy with food. They weren't really looking to know the truth about Jesus.

They were, they had their own interest in mind. And they said, what can we be doing to be doing the works of God?

So they're thinking very earthly and the things that they can do, like the rich young ruler. And Jesus says, you must believe.

That believing, that is a work of God. So we don't have to continue to hash that out into the fullest, but the kingdom of God is salvation.

And so with man, it is impossible, but with God and the regenerating work of the

Holy Spirit, salvation is possible. It is possible by the work of God for someone by faith to become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

I do want to continue reading, because we're talking about the kingdom of heaven. This is going to give us some more insight to how the kingdom of heaven that is above has interrupted our existence here on earth.

Peter said, see we have left our homes and followed you, Jesus. So he's kind of contrasting himself with the rich young ruler, right?

He left sad, because he would not count the cost. He was not willing to follow

Jesus in faith, a heart of faith that says, whatever barriers come my way, I want to leap over them.

Whatever means possible, I want to follow you and be a disciple. So Peter is saying, see we have left our homes and followed after you.

And he said to them, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Here's the importance, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life.

So you see all the things that the kingdom of God encompasses. That's why in a word, what is the kingdom of God?

Salvation. Now, can we articulate so much more? Well, absolutely. It is also righteousness, peace, joy in the

Holy Spirit. And so before we move on, notice this detail here in verse 30, that those that follow after Christ, that are citizens of the kingdom of God, he says, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come.

So as you're looking through the Gospels and especially the Epistles with the Apostle Paul, we learn something very important as we think heavenward, heavenly, the kingdom that is above, and with a kind of kingdom, we'll get into this a little bit, the kingdom of darkness that pervades this this world.

The kingdom of darkness essentially began in Genesis chapter 3.

Adam was supposed to be fruitful, multiply, and have a kingdom of light, the kingdom of God on earth to the uttermost parts of the world, and he failed.

A little garden snake slithered into the kingdom and destroyed the whole thing with one subtlety, one lie, one distortion of the truth.

And so from that point on, we live. Adam plunged all of his posterity and this entire cosmos into the evil day of death, this evil present age where everything is cursed by sin.

Okay, and so we have this two -age model that's so important as we're talking about the kingdom of God.

You have this age, and then you have the age to come.

Okay, the age to come is eternal. It's where the king is at. It's in heaven. And we live in a world that is perishing.

We live in a world with time. And so there's all of time, all of history is going somewhere, and Jesus talks about there is going to be a last day.

Something else that I do a lot at the Apologetic Dog is I contend against full preterism, because every time we read about the last day, when we read about the beginning from the end, everything for the full preterist is 70

AD, Flavius Josephus, 70 AD. A little facetious there. But they have this age, this time, and so I keep saying this age.

That's Paul's language a lot of times, too. They have this time, this age ending, at 70

AD as the time when the aeon of Mosaic Law was fulfilled.

And they have that happening at 70 AD. That is not right. And I want to submit to you, this time, this age, is the age where there's evil.

If there's evil and death and sin, we're still in this age. And then notice how

Jesus qualifies this time. Truly, I say that there is no one who has left house.

Right? Or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children.

And so my point is, this age is also depicted by partaking in marriage.

Right? Because we know in the the age to come, when we are looking at Christ face -to -face, we're gonna be similar to angels that don't partake in marriage.

Right? The only marriage, if you will, would be the Bride of Christ, the church, all believers of all time, and the

Bridegroom, Christ. And so we're not gonna have earthly relationships of marriage and procreation like we have in this time.

Okay? But the days are evil, the Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians.

But God is redeeming the time. Christians, we make the best use of our time.

How? I would submit to you by seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He's going to take care of the rest.

Okay, we are an hour in, and we have answered, who is the kingdom of God?

Namely, who are the citizens, believers? And what is the kingdom of God? Righteousness, peace, joy, and the

Holy Spirit. But the kingdom of God is salvation. And so the gospel of Luke is a wonderful gospel to outline these things, especially as we continue that theme in the book of Acts.

So y 'all out there, let's see, we have a few of y 'all that are live. Y 'all are probably like, well,

I got some time to kill before Trump gives his greatest speech that everyone needs to hear coming on later.

So hey, why not kill the time a little bit with the apologetic? No. All right,

Leigh Ann, I see a lot of things in the side chat here. Leigh Ann, thank you so much.

You're such a blessing. Thank you so much for weighing in all that wisdom and bringing up these scriptures.

Wesley tells us that the Pharisee and the tax collector is so beautiful, man.

Luke chapter 18. Amen. Amen. Okay, well, there's not any questions so far.

We are going to continue onward. Okay. So as we continue onward, the next question

I want us to ask pertaining to the kingdom of God is when? Now, how can

I answer this? When is the kingdom of God, Jeremiah? Well, we're in Luke's gospel, right? And so in Luke's gospel, let's see here.

Let's see. I thought I had, oh, there we go. So the question was asked to Jesus in Luke's gospel.

So if y 'all can see this on my end, the coming of the kingdom, okay? So this is

Luke chapter 17 starting in verse 20, being asked by the Pharisees, when? When the kingdom of God would come?

Jesus answered, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, look, here it is, or there.

For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you, Jesus says. I want to touch on some things here.

So, Jesus, born under the law, born a Jew, born going to fulfill all of what the law, he's going to fulfill the entirety of the law, perfect Savior.

He's going to inaugurate the promised new covenant, and he is going to establish, this is so important, he is going to establish an everlasting kingdom, okay?

And so what I want to highlight here is the Pharisees are asking, so when are you gonna do this?

You say you're a king? When are you going to set up your kingdom? And then we dip back into the what question.

What is the kingdom of God? Well, it's not a kingdom that is coming in ways that can be seen and observed.

This is a spiritual kingdom. Now, I do want to pause, because we're gonna get into this already, not yet, right?

We're living in this present evil age, but at Jesus's first coming, we're gonna get more into this, he brought his kingdom with us.

He is saying the kingdom is already in your midst. It's here. You just can't see it because it is spiritual.

Why? Because this world as we see it now, it's tainted by sin ever since the fall.

But Jesus, when he ascended on high, he is going to come back, and then he is going to restore the physicality of his kingdom, and he will restore all things and defeat the last enemy, death.

So my point is, yes, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is spiritual now.

It cannot be seen by the human eye. It can be seen by the eye of faith. It can be felt by a regenerated heart that now has the indwelling

Holy Spirit, but it is here. It is here, just not in the way that earthly rulers want to see an established kingdom.

Okay, so are we tracking? Jesus says that it's coming. In fact, it's already here in your midst.

You just can't see it. Okay. So before I move on to the next passage, I'm gonna consult

Fergie Ferg. What's up, Samuel? Thanks for joining us, man.

This is a dear brother. I want to thank you, Samuel, for trying to find me a

Church of Christ interlocutor for my debate coming up in February. Samuel's been trying hard.

We thought we had a couple different individuals, but one thing led to another, and we got some really cryptic text that just said, hey, more than I thought about it, don't think that this would be a good fit.

So it is what it is, but thank you, Samuel. Samuel, we're talking about the kingdom of God in the book of Acts, and so I'm wanting us to answer questions like, what is the kingdom of God?

Who are the citizens of the kingdom of God? Where is it, and why? What is the whole purpose with the kingdom of God in the first place?

So we currently love the shoes.

Okay, you may have to explain this one to me. Love the shoes, brother. Well, I'm actually in socks right now.

Goodness. And I'm trying to tackle a little bit of this before Trump's speech coming up in a couple hours.

So we're actually on the question of when, okay? So we got to understand this.

In the Old Covenant, the kingdom was not on earth, right? There was a theocratic nation.

The weakest nation in all the world was the nation of Israel, and God says, oh, you're mine.

I'm going to vindicate my power in you, and he did. Oh, oh.

I love it. I love it. Samuel's saying, love the show. I was like, when did he ever see my shoes?

Thanks, man. So with this question, this is telling us that the kingdom of God is now.

It was prophesied, and perhaps maybe the best place. You know what? Let me go rogue again on my script.

I want to show you probably one of the neatest passages, 2 Samuel chapter 7, because this is known as the

Davidic Covenant, where God, in essence, is telling David, his servant,

I will build you a house. David wants to build God a house, and God says, appreciate it.

You're a man of war. You're a man of valor. That's not going to work, but I'll do you one better. I'm going to build you a house, and your offspring, one of your sons, will be the one that establishes this kingdom.

And so, like I said, 2 Samuel chapter 7. I don't have all my notes here with me, but let's see here.

Yeah, yeah. I will raise up your offspring after you. Thank Jesus Christ.

The offspring, right? Singular. This is important. Not the physical people of Abraham.

Remember, the Pharisees were saying, we're of our father, Abraham. And Jesus is like, no,

I'll tell you who your father is. It's actually the devil. But they cared too much about being earthly descendants of Abraham, physical offspring.

But there is going to be a singular physical offspring that will perfectly fulfill all the law.

Jesus Christ, he is the offspring of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent. He will be raised up after you,

David, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

And so my point is, Old Testament prophesied about this kingdom. Oh, I actually have some book plugs.

Glad they're not forget about this. So, as we're talking about these very important truths,

I hope I can pull this up for y 'all. I want to recommend a book that really helped me understand the

Davidic covenant. It was actually prophesying about the church.

And so let me see if I can find it.

Yeah, so Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, he wrote a book called The Five Points of All Millennialism.

In fact, if you look on my channel, I interviewed him on this book. And if you want to get a little primer with that, we went through the five points, the five chapters of this book.

In chapter number three is the Davidic covenant that was promised, was talking about the church.

That should blow your mind, especially if you grew up like I did, pre -millennial dispensational. I still love

Johnny Mac. I still give him props out there. But we understand that God has made covenants.

There is a triune, eternal, redemptive covenant that started before the foundation of the world. And then we look into the

Old Testament. We see many covenants of works. They're just republications of the moral law being applied, and we always fall short of the covenant of works.

That's why Jesus came, to fulfill it. And then we have the covenant of grace, which is exclusively the new covenant that Jesus cut in his own blood and saves to the uttermost.

Those that are in the new covenant are those that are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. And so where was

I going with all that? The Davidic covenant promises an everlasting kingdom that cannot fail.

That was inaugurated at Jesus' first coming. And then he says, I'm going to be with the

Father, but it's to your benefit, because I'm gonna send you a better helper, the Holy Spirit, to indwell you.

And so I'm going to give a little bit of what I'm building up to. But starting at Pentecost, we see the expansion of the kingdom of God.

It's a spiritual kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom where we herald the gospel. Souls are being regenerated.

But the kingdom of God is believers. And think about it. Believers are a part of an everlasting kingdom that cannot fail.

It's been inaugurated, right? The powers of the age to come. Eternity has already interrupted this perishing evil age, but we will live forever, right?

So we are currently living in this age, right? But we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven by faith.

And so we are citizens of a kingdom that cannot fail. So even though that kingdom has already been inaugurated, and it's a spiritual kingdom,

Jesus will return at the end of history on the last day, and he will restore all things. He will judge wickedness.

He will judge the world in righteousness, and he will bring heaven on earth and consummate his kingdom for all eternity.

And so like I said, an incredible book. Just want to recommend it for people. All right, we got some new people in the side chat.

If you're just tuning in, please hit that like button. I just want to tell you all, as I went live and didn't even say a word, someone hit a thumbs down.

So we got a counter. Oh, uh -oh. We got a nemesis in the building. We have an unapologetic cat.

I've actually kind of missed the unapologetic cat. Hey, you've missed some live streams, so thank you for joining.

And notice, he is a self -appointed mod. Appreciate that. We gotta have some self -appointed mods in the place.

Thanks for joining. Does anybody have any questions so far? Let's see here.

Jeffrey Anderson, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, hey, one of your two -year -olds watching frozen, hey, why not talk about the kingdom of God?

Absolutely. Let's see. Yes, I believe we agree on this point.

The incarnation made the kingdom of God much more visible, physical, tangible, and so on.

Absolutely, because Jesus is the king and he has a kingdom with him.

And as we're going to continue to talk about, when he first came, he brought his kingdom with him.

And he told the scribes and Pharisees, we're gonna talk about this, but when you see demons being casted out, that is how you know the kingdom is here and now.

So yeah, I think you're right. The incarnation brings a physicality to that kingdom.

Now, it was brief because he ascended back on high, but when he is here, we saw the king incarnate, and he performed miracles, giving a foretaste of the consummated kingdom where there will be no more hurts, no more pains, and no more death.

And so definitely want to, once again, remind y 'all, check out the five points of all Millennialism by Dr.

Jeffrey Johnson. Gotta remember,

I got some more book plugs. So as we start talking about a few more points, remind me in the side chat, hey, what were those other books that you told us about?

Because I do want to list them in the show notes below afterwards. All right, as we move onward,

Samuel weighs in and says, the kingdom of God had always been those who believe in Christ and have been justified by the righteousness of our great

God and Savior. Amen, brother! That's right. Abraham, how was he a citizen of the kingdom of heaven?

Hebrews 11 tells us, by faith, he was looking towards a heavenly home.

And as you might be alluding to, he was justified by faith in Romans chapter 4.

And so Abraham is the father of faith, whether Jew or Gentile, he was justified before the

Mosaic law, before his circumcision. He was justified by faith apart from leaving the land of Ur, apart from offering up his son

Isaac on an altar. He was justified by faith and not by his works, but his justified faith produced sanctifying works of obedience.

That is what a true saint, a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, looks like.

And we can point right back to Abraham, one of those many Old Testament saints that were looking towards a heavenly kingdom.

So thank you for that. Okay. Okay, where were we at? So we're talking about the wind.

And so before we move on the next passage, Jesus said to the Pharisees, Oh, the kingdom of God is already in your midst.

You just do not have the eye of faith. And so as we're going through, we're just kind of going along in Luke's gospel, we come across this amazing passage.

We talk about Jesus and Beelzebub. This is also the passage where Jesus talks about how he must first bind the strong man in order to plunder his goods.

This actually tells us a lot about the kingdom of God, okay? And especially the wind, which is already in our midst.

Now, Jesus was casting out a demon. Now, he was casting out a demon that was mute.

When a demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled. But some of them said, he cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from where?

Heaven. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste and a divided household or kingdom falls.

And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?

For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub, and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?

Therefore, they will be your judges. Now, okay, so I just want to say Jesus exposes their their faulty logic.

Jesus is doing miracles that clearly show that he is sent from heaven and they have to blaspheme the

Holy Spirit. They have to figure out a way to explain what's obviously happening in front of them. They say, well, he's actually possessed by a demon.

That's what's going on. Well, I want you to understand, this entire world, 1

John tells us, is in the power of the wicked one. And before Jesus' first coming,

Satan had the entire world, minus Israel, that was given the oracles of God, and God was with them.

The whole world was deceived by the prince of the power of the air, of darkness.

And so the whole world was was extremely dark, except for just a little bit of light that God was shining in his temple, in the tabernacle, with the the nation of Israel.

And so the reason why I say that is Satan has a kingdom of darkness, and it started essentially in the fall, in Genesis chapter 3, where Adam lost,

Satan gained. Okay, now Jesus comes on the scene and says, look, you can't accuse me of being possessed by a demon.

That would be the kingdom of darkness fighting against itself, and there's no way that it can advance in what it seeks to do if it's fighting itself.

And so he's just saying that's a broken logic. He goes on to say, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Okay, so when is the the kingdom of God coming? Well, for us, it has already came, and Jesus is telling the

Pharisees, the people in his midst, the kingdom of God is here, because he is here. Remember Luke chapter 4, verse 43?

He says, this was the reason that I was sent, to proclaim the gospel, the good news about the kingdom of God.

It is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Okay, so I just want to pause, mainly so I can take a drink of coffee, and look at y 'all's awesome comments in the side chat.

Okay, I see we still have a cat in the self -appointed cat. That's a mod.

But I want us to see that the kingdom of God is already here in a spiritual way. It's inaugurated.

For us, it's not fully consummated. So then, Jesus goes on to talk about a very important truth about this kingdom.

He says, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.

But, when one stronger than the strong man attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he entrusted and divides his spoil.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever is not, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.

Whoever is with me, is against me. So, this is so incredible. Satan is the strong man.

Okay, Satan is the prince power of the air. He's the ruler of this world. When we think back to Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, remember one of the temptations?

Satan took Jesus to a mountain and said, all the kingdoms of the world can be yours.

Satan was tempting Jesus to receive an inheritance, the nations, without having to die on a cross.

You can have it now if you just worship me. But, here's the interesting thing about that. All the nations of the world, minus Israel, was

Satan's. He had totally deceived them. It was dark. They loved sin.

They hated God, all these things. And so, Satan is the strong man, right?

But, what Jesus is saying, when he cast out demons, the kingdom of God is here. Salvation is at hand. Jesus is saying, he is the one that is stronger than Satan.

And so, Jesus is the stronger man that bounds up the strong man, right, and takes his plunder.

Now, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, but how does Jesus defeat the strong man? Well, at Jesus's resurrection,

John chapter 12 says, totally defeated the ruler of this world with the resurrection, showing that he has the power over death, right?

Remember, for all of Adam's posterity, they all died in Adam, and all sinned.

Jesus was sinless and resurrected from the grave. That was a crushing blow to the enemy,

Satan, because he does not have power over Christ. All of his temptations fell flat.

They didn't do Jack Diddley's squat. Jesus can empathize with this as a perfect Savior who was tempted in all ways like we are, but he was perfect.

There's actually a C .S. Lewis quote I really like. I think it

Meek and Lowly was the book written by Ortlin and quoted C .S. Lewis that says, if you can imagine,

Jesus was walking through the the onslaught of the storms of temptations, and for us, we all fail.

Eventually, the temptation makes us just kind of tap out and say, okay, we give in, but Jesus never failed.

So as you think about someone walking through a storm with heavy rain, heavy winds, that's

Jesus walking through the storms of this life with temptation. So my point is, he experienced temptation in an even greater way than all of us, because eventually we fall and we fail, and we give in.

He always stood. He endured all of it. Anyway, he plunders the strongman's goods, firstly at his resurrection, proving that he is a risen

Lord, he is God in the flesh, and he plunders the strongman's good by regenerating souls.

This is how the the kingdom of God overpowers and judges the kingdom of darkness.

Every time the Holy Spirit regenerates a dead sinner's heart, this is the kingdom of God judging the kingdom of darkness, and this is the stronger man,

Christ, plundering the strongman's goods. Okay, and so I believe in Matthew's account, we don't have to necessarily turn there, but it also mentions this age and the age to come.

And the point is, we see Jesus inaugurating the kingdom of God, and he's binding the strongman at his resurrection.

When he sends the Holy Spirit, we see a continuation of the age to come subduing and judging the kingdom of darkness.

Awesome. Amen, Georgia. Appreciate it.

Now, we're gonna have to giddy up. We're an hour and a half in, and try to do these live streams within about two hours or so.

Okay, so hopefully we answered the when question pretty sufficiently. When? Now.

When is the kingdom gonna come? It's already here. It's inaugurated. It's spiritual.

It can't be seen with the physical eye, but we await to Christ's return, and when he returns, he's going to consummate the kingdom, and he's gonna bring the physicality of the kingdom that lasts forever with an eternal state.

And we're already living in that forever kingdom in its spiritual form, but when he returns, it'll be both spiritual and physical and is everlasting.

Okay. With that, let's move on to the where. Don't know if y 'all have caught on to this, but we are talking about the kingdom of God, and however you understand the kingdom of God influences your eschatology and soteriology, right?

So we're saying the citizens of the kingdom are believers, those that are justified by faith apart from works, and I want to recommend a couple books.

The Case for All Millennialism. What I've been pushing for as we move into the where, these are distinct points that are not pre -millennial, and they're not post -millennial.

Maybe you've caught on to that, and I just want to encourage people. I'm super charitable towards eschatologies that hold fast to our future blessed hope that Jesus Christ is returning at the last day of history.

It's gonna be physical. He's gonna resurrect the dead, and believers will receive physical bodies fit for eternity to rule and reign with him, and those that are outside of Christ will be resurrected with bodies fit for eternal judgment for their sin, and that is future.

That has not happened. This is a physical reality. And lastly, Jesus will restore all things like we've been talking about.

At the Apologetic Dog, one of the things that I've had to inform people about is the heresy of full preterism.

So my point is I'm very charitable with the the three orthodox perspectives of eschatology, but I sound the bullhorn for anybody that flirts with full preterism.

And so one of the things that we've already touched on but really can help you in this is understanding this age and the age to come.

This book over here, Kim Riddlebarger beautifully talks about how this age is this present evil age where we see the days are evil, and they will continue until Christ returns.

And so I just want to encourage people. This age did not end at 70 AD, the Jewish Aeon, right with the destruction of the temple.

That is not this age. That's a part of this age, right? This is a evil age over the days of evil.

It began at Adam. It'll continue into the last day of history. And so anyway, I just want to recommend this book.

I've actually emailed Mr. Riddlebarger, and he would love to come on the Apologetic Dog. So you have to look out for that.

Excellent book, excellent book. Also want to do another shameless book plug.

Sam Storms wrote Kingdom Come, the

All -Millennial Alternative. And so actually, I actually interviewed Dr.

Sam on this book, but we kind of had a bent towards warning people about hyper -preterism because he mentions some of the heresy in this book.

Got a point this way. And so you can find that interview on my YouTube channel. But this has been an incredible book and once again,

I'm tipping my hand of saying All -Millennial Eschatology, as you understand, covenant, right?

This is the beautiful plan of redemption, the mystery of Christ in the church that is revealed.

This is the temple. This is the kingdom that is expanding in this present evil age.

We have tasted of the powers of the age to come has been inaugurated.

Believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and as we share the gospel, Christ and his sovereignty is regenerating hearts, plundering the goods from the strongman

Satan. So just want to definitely plug this book. And I will probably mention this book again in a little bit because Sam has a chapter talking about the kingdom of God in the book of Acts because ultimately that is our starting point.

Oh, an unapologetic cat asked a really good question. Gives me a chance to plug this again.

What does my shirt say? Have you read Romans 9? Let me see if I can show y 'all a better shot.

So my good friend Jerry Duckworth, thanks for asking cat.

Let me see if I can show you the graphic. I forget that you tuned in a little bit later.

There we go. The Twitchy Theologian sent me this shirt and said,

Jeremiah, please help let everybody know that I want to jump into the apologetics arena and I got merchandise.

I want to go to seminary. I'm trying to raise money. I said, brother, I got you. And so he said, let me send you a shirt.

That way people can maybe click a link in the show notes after I'm done and go subscribe to the

Twitchy Theologian. So that's where I got the shirt. And just so you know, cat, there's something on the back, but you're gonna have to go click the link and check out what it says.

It's pretty awesome. Okay. So we are approaching eschatology here, the kingdom of God, from an all -male perspective.

And that's really important when we start asking the question, where is the kingdom of heaven?

Now remember something that we're talking about. What is the kingdom of heaven? Righteousness, peace, joy in the

Holy Spirit. But where is it? Right. And so as we're looking through the

Gospel of Luke, Jesus says this in the Sermon on the Mount and how he's teaching the disciples how to pray.

When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Now, like I said, I'm kind of tipping my hand with the the all -millennial perspective. And please don't tune me out because even if you're hashtag

Dat Post Mill or hashtag that Johnny Mac pre -meal, there are so many shared principles with the

Orthodox eschatologies. I really don't like it when people have a pet eschatology and you just tell they are unwilling to have charitable discussions.

Trust me. Let's link arms and fight hyper -preterism together. So save that energy and let's let's do it together.

So, where is the kingdom of God? Well, we get a clue here in Luke and in the fuller account in Matthew's Gospel.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So what I want to submit to you, where's the kingdom of heaven? It's above.

It's in heaven. The kingdom is where the king sits on his throne.

You've heard me say that a few different times. And so I wanted to show you in Isaiah chapter 6.

Remember earlier I said we learned some things about the kingdom in the Old Testament, right? The Davidic covenant about a kingdom that's going to be established, right?

It's going to be inaugurated and consummated, but it's going to be a forever kingdom. That's what was promised in Old Testament.

Saints became members citizens of that kingdom by faith by looking towards heaven like Abraham.

But in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died,

Isaiah says, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Okay, now this is this is a vision that Isaiah saw in John chapter 12 tells us that in fact

Isaiah saw Jesus. And so Jesus has sat on a throne.

He is a forever king and we're gonna get into where this kingdom first began in eternity past in terms of a kind of covenant.

So I'm just telling you Jesus has always been king, baby. And it's above.

It's in heaven. And so he teaches the disciples prayed that Lord your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Your kingdom come. And another passage as I'm hopping to different gospel accounts,

John chapter 18 and verse 36. Oh, y 'all, y 'all probably told me y 'all miss these awesome scriptures.

Yeah, so that one I just read was Isaiah chapter 6 starting verse 1 and then

I want to show you this passage. And where's the kingdom? I want to submit to you two places. It's above and within.

Okay. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I may not be delivered over to the

Jews, but my kingdom is not from this world. Does that make sense?

Oh, got some more people in the side chat. What's up truth defenders? Christ rescue me says love it.

Hopefully that means something I said was was biblical. Yes Samuel Harris says let's go.

Yes, and I think OP means optimistic all meal. Now the reason why

I would identify as an optimistic all meal because you gotta think about it. Pre -meal says everything in this world is progressively getting worse and worse and worse, right?

Johnny Mac has even said said we don't win down here. We lose and I laugh because there's a difference in losing and being persecuted.

I would argue we are victorious through suffering and persecution. In fact, Jesus says we'll be blessed.

So great, but I would say I think there is gonna be increase in righteousness and an increase in wickedness.

And so there are always going to be wheat amongst the tares. So I'm very optimistic in the law of God going forth, the gospel going forth, the

Jesus binding the strongman and plundering his goods and souls becoming saved. I'm very optimistic.

I think there's going to be a massive increase of righteousness and citizens the kingdom of heaven.

So much so that Abraham was told that his descendants, his spiritual offspring, would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

Very optimistic. I just don't agree with the post -millennial thought that says that eventually righteousness here on earth will increase and there will actually be basically a stomping out of wickedness almost altogether and the whole world will be

Christianized and then Christ will return and only destroy one more enemy. So I actually am going to talk on that here in just a little bit.

Okay, we're doing good. Hour and 40. So yeah, I've said a lot so far. Y 'all let me know if you have any any questions.

Cat, you may have to explain. I've upgraded my live stream game.

Tell me what you mean by that because I think maybe maybe

I have upgraded a little bit. I need to upgrade my coffee game. Oh, no, that's that's sadness right there.

Let's see. Did I miss any questions so far? Thank y 'all for tuning in.

If you haven't, please like, share, and subscribe. And hey, if you want to be notified when

I do random live streams, you gotta hit the notification bell. Thank y 'all for tuning in. Okay, with that being said,

I believe we are still talking about... They must...

Okay, we're still talking about the where. Oh, I guess we're kind of wrapping up this point. But the where's the kingdom of God?

Oh, I know what I was gonna say. Now, obviously, I'm pushing the point that the kingdom of God is not in this world.

It's above. It's where Jesus is seated at the right hand of the

Father. But I also want to submit to you that the kingdom of God is within.

Right? For the kingdom of God is, dot, dot, dot, righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. So the kingdom of God is above and the kingdom of God is within the

Holy Spirit, right? This is the temple that God is building that was promised to King David here on earth.

It's a spiritual kingdom that's inaugurated and we are awaiting a final consummation of this kingdom when

Jesus Christ returns. So my post meal brothers, hopefully find some level of agreement there.

And pre -meal, right? I mean, it's hard to argue when you have the scriptures literally right there.

And like I said, Jesus says, my kingdom is not from this world.

Okay, so we have answered the question, who is the kingdom of heaven?

Well, citizens, believers, by faith apart from works. What is the kingdom of God?

It is salvation. When is the kingdom of God? When is it coming? Well, it's already here.

It's in our midst. It's at hand. That's why Jesus says, repent and believe the gospel. Where is it?

It is above and within. And I'm really excited about this next point, is why?

What is the purpose for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven?

Okay, trying to stay true to staying mainly in Luke's gospel as the backdrop to Acts, continuing this theme of the kingdom of God.

In Luke chapter 22, we find a passage. Now, there's there's a context here.

Jesus is talking to the Apostles about the kingdom. They're wanting to figure out who's the greatest in the kingdom, sitting at Jesus's right hand.

Now, he says this incredible statement. Please pay careful attention. I don't know if you follow

Red Grace Media with Emilio Ramos. I've had him on, actually, to talk about eschatology, and I heard him first make this point, and I just thought, man,

I can't unsee this, right? Because what is the purpose of the kingdom of God?

Well, we've already been talking about covenants, okay? I think Emil fails if we don't understand it in a covenantal framework, and you've already heard me mention three covenants so far.

I've not just spelled them out, but I've alluded to them three different times. The eternal covenant made between Father and Son in the perfect fellowship of the

Holy Spirit. We can say that a few different ways, but the eternal covenant of redemption.

This is something that God made a covenant within Himself, okay? This happened before the foundation of the world.

This was between Father and Son, like I said, in the perfect loving fellowship communion of the

Holy Spirit, and then we see another covenant being played out in history, beginning with Adam.

Essentially, a covenant of works, right? Do this, receive blessing, receive life, right?

Or disobey me, and receive cursings, and receive and earn death for yourself, and I want to submit to you.

I've got to do another shameless book plug, so we shall return to that slide.

Don't let me forget to show the verses to y 'all, but I want to do another book plug about a book that's helped me understand covenant theology.

Now, what's so good about Dr. Jeffrey Rice's book is this particular book is written in two parts.

It's the kingdom of God and covenant theology, and then part two is the kingdom of God and biblical theology.

I cannot express to you how important this book is. Yes, Reed, Sam, Renahan, Reed, Nehemiah Cox, and the second

London Baptist Confession of Faith research 1689 federalism,

Reformed Baptist covenant theology. Now, we're talking about the kingdom of God, especially in the book of Acts and in the book of Luke.

This book right here has helped me tremendously. Okay, and so there are three covenants that Dr.

Jeffrey outlines. You got the eternal covenant of redemption, essentially between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Then you have the covenant of works that begins with Adam. We see republications of that covenant of works that dip into the moral law.

We see this with Abraham. He told him to be circumcised, and if he didn't, that there would be consequences. We see the

Mosaic law. It's essentially the covenant of works republished, re -administered.

Obey, blessing, disobey, cursings, and death, right? These historic covenants really all dip out of the moral law, the covenant of works, and then you have the covenant of grace that is exclusively, hear me, in the

New Covenant, in the New Testament that was cut by Jesus Christ's blood.

Okay? Understand, the Old Covenant is not the same substance as the

New Covenant. Why? These Old Covenants, the Mosaic Covenant, these covenants, they were cut with animal blood, especially the

Abrahamic Covenant, right? It was animal blood that was was cut. The New Covenant is better than the

Old Covenant in every way. Why? Because it's cut by the blood of Jesus that saves to the uttermost.

He is a intercessor, mediator, that cannot fail to save.

Not like the old high priest, theirs is temporary, theirs is fleeting, it's imperfect.

These are all types and shadows of a better covenant that is to come. And so,

I just want to say the the New Covenant is the the kingdom of God inaugurated and also promised to be fully consummated.

So, let's see. Just checking y 'all in the side chat, like I said, if y 'all got any questions, let me know.

But yeah, this is the book. This is the book right here, The Kingdom of God by Dr.

Jeffrey Johnson. Okay. With that being said,

I want to return to this passage. So, now we're talking about the why.

Why the kingdom of God? Jesus says to his disciples, I assigned to you.

Okay. So, make special note of this word, assign. Jesus says, I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So, you may look at this word, assign, and some translations say, maybe consulted or granted or arranged.

All good words. But, when you look at the the semantic domain of this word, a lot of times, especially in the book of Hebrews, and that's primarily where this word is used in the

New Testament, this has to do with making a covenant. Okay.

Covenant, you have to have multiple parties. It's a type of agreement.

And notice, Jesus is making a covenant with his apostles. He's essentially promising them that they can enter into his covenant that he made with the

Father that started before the foundation of the world, the glory that they shared with one another, that my

Father made covenant to me. And what is it? A kingdom.

Okay. This is starting to lay the the the pactum salutis, the eternal covenant of redemption that was between Father and Son, where the

Father elected a bride, a people that believe, that will perfectly believe in the

Son and look to him in saving faith, right? That is the kingdom. That's why earlier, who is the kingdom?

Who are the citizens? It's always been believers, that the Father promised, predestined for the

Son. Okay. And so, this is Trinitarian, because this covenant that the

Father made with the Son, the Father predestines the Son will perfectly save, be a perfect Savior, and the

Holy Spirit will regenerate hearts and seal to the day of redemption. Okay.

So I want you to see it. We see covenantal language here between the

Father, he says to me, a kingdom, a people that believe in the

Son by faith alone, in Christ alone. And it is they, right, that he says, you get to join in that covenant and you will partake of the marriage of the supper of the

Lamb, right? There will be a inauguration, but there will be a full consummation to that.

I wanted to pull up another verse. Let me go off script again. I believe it's

Matthew 11, starting in Brown verse 25, because in Matthew's Gospel, really, this is talking about the eternal covenant of redemption once again.

Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden the truths of Messiah and salvation, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to little children, those with childlike faith.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my

Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone whom the

Son chooses to reveal. Going back to this passage, this is the kingdom.

So why? Because God wants to glorify the full range of his glory.

And so I quickly am reminded of Ephesians chapter 1 and Ephesians chapter 3.

God the Father predestines, the Son perfectly redeems, and the Spirit regenerates and seals unto redemption.

Why? Well, three different times for each person of the Trinity, all to the praise of his glorious grace.

In Ephesians 3, kind of brings this eternal covenant of redemption full circle. To bring to light for everyone, what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God?

And so the mystery of Christ is that all of history is reconciling

Jew and Gentile by faith alone and Christ alone. This is the temple of God. This is the kingdom that is being established that cannot fail its believers.

This is what all history is working together for. Who created all things,

God who created all things, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be now made known to the rulers, right?

The demonic forces, the authorities in the heavenly places, right? Jesus is continuing to plunder the strongman's good.

And listen to this, verse 11. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our

Lord. So I hope that explains the why of the kingdom. Like, the kingdom of God, what's the purpose?

Well, it's to display the glory of God. And we get to partake in the glory that Jesus shared with the

Father from before the foundation of the world by faith in him. And we await the resurrection, our blessed hope, when he consummates his kingdom at the end of the age, when he returns at the end of history.

Okay, we are coming up to the two -hour mark and let's see here.

I got a few more points I want to share with y 'all. Depending on whether the covenant of salvation is an actual covenant or not, either two or one,

I like one, though, simple. Yeah, you may have to—maybe I am tuning in to y 'all's conversation a little late.

I, historically, with Reformed Baptist covenant theology, understand that there was one plan of salvation the

Eternal Triune Council, as Ephesians 1 kind of articulates. And we see it from Luke 22.

There was a covenant that the Father made with the Son about a kingdom.

So it seems like the covenant of salvation—I believe it's Hebrews chapter 13—talks about an eternal covenant.

So, let's go there. I know y 'all like it when I go rogue. Let's see.

I think it's kind of towards the benediction around verse 20 or 23. Yeah, now may the

God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the

Great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the—and this is the thing—the eternal covenant.

That's huge, right? If it's eternal, then it precedes the foundation of the world, and it's singular.

So, depending on whether the covenant of salvation is an actual covenant or not,

I don't know how it couldn't be. So, I'm just—like

I said, it may not be understanding y 'all's side chat conversation, but we shall continue onward.

Christ rescued me. What do you got to say, Leanne? She says, it is important to distinguish between the eternal plan of redemption and the covenants, though.

Oh, yeah. That's why I think there's three covenants that we need to be mindful of. The eternal covenant of redemption between Father, Son, and Spirit before the foundation of the world.

Then you got the covenant of works that we see firstly with Adam in the garden, and I forget the verse.

I think it's in Hosea, one of the minor prophets, that even talks about Adam breaking the covenant.

So, there's no way around what Adam, in relationship with God, was in covenantal terms.

And we see that covenant being readministered by the

Mosaic Law. We even see that with Abraham. Now, there was a promise contained of the new covenant that was to come, but as a promise.

And then you have the covenant of grace that I would contend is the new covenant, because that's where the elect are.

Those are the citizens of the kingdom that know God from the least to the greatest and have all their sins forgiven.

And so, eternal covenant of redemption, covenant of works, and the covenant of grace.

I think that's the best way to understand it. Okay.

Maybe we all agree there. Maybe there's a little dispute. I like a good dispute every now and then.

Okay, as we kind of begin to wrap up, I want to go back to Acts now, because we've covered a lot of ground talking about the kingdom of God and asking the question, who, what, when, where, and why.

So, I want to return. Remember, this was verse 3. I spent almost two hours talking about this right there.

The kingdom of God. Okay. Now, as we continue in Acts chapter 1, starting in verse 6, we see something about the kingdom again.

Now, a lot of dispensational theology is, this is going to be a departure on how, if you're, you know, more of covenant theology, covenant understanding

Scripture in terms of more of the covenants rather than dispensations, there are some overlap. So, I just want to throw that out there.

But I would like to understand that true Israel are believers.

True Israel. Regenerate, the elect, those that put their faith alone in Christ alone.

To them belong the eternal blessings, right? The land that was promised to Abraham, I would contend was an everlasting home.

So, yeah, when he was looking at the world all around him, I think he understood that God is going to bring heaven on earth and the

Beatitudes blessed are, what is it? The meek for theirs is the,

I got to look this up, for theirs is, props if someone beats me here, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

It's got a, it's got a flow off the tongue, right? So, I do want us to understand that Abraham is going to receive his promise of a land, but it's an eternal inheritance, okay?

And so, he was looking towards heaven and realizes that God is going to make all things right.

So, anyway, that's a lot of the backdrop that I would contend for, especially with the gospel of Luke and we're looking to the

Davidic Covenant, even going all the way back to Abraham, what he was looking forward to. And so, now, verse 6.

So, when the disciples had come together, they asked Jesus, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

So many things I want to point out here. They're asking at a particular time, is right now, what you're about to do in restoring the kingdom that you've talked about, right, in his earthly ministry, are you going to restore this, no doubt, to the nation of Israel, is what they are thinking, okay?

Now, I believe a lot of, especially when I was dispensation, I would say, okay, next verse, Jesus doesn't really answer their question.

I want to actually share with you, not a brand new thought, but definitely new and fresh to me as past couple years, is

I actually want to say verses 7 and 8, Jesus directly answers their question, just not in a way that they were ready for or necessarily understood all in that moment, okay?

So, hang on with me. Jesus said, it is not for you to know times or season that the

Father has fixed by his own authority. So, Jesus appeals much broader than a singular time to restore a national

Israel, the kingdom, okay? He, at first, appeals broader and says all times, all season, is fixed by the sovereign hand of God.

So, that would include the time to restore a kind of kingdom, right?

And, I think in verse 8, he does say, oh, yeah, Israel is going to be involved, but in a much bigger and grander way than y 'all realize that's about to take place.

So, before I keep reading, does anybody have any thoughts or questions so far as we begin to wind down?

Oh, I got an amen to that. Wesley, Reading Jeffrey Johnson's book makes me pray

I'm able to retain. Hey, I've been reading through Dr.

Jeffrey Johnson's book, The Kingdom of God and Covenant Theology. I've went through it at least two times, and there's a few chapters that I've went more than one, but once you see it kind of all coming together, you can't unsee it.

You can't unsee it. You see all of history fulfilling the eternal covenant of redemption that was made between Father and Son in the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit from before the foundation of the world. All of history is fulfilling that eternal covenant.

So, I'm just saying there's there's some beauty there, and Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, his book shows, in a loving way, shows where dispensational theology fails to account for the whole counsel of God, and where Presbyterian theology fails to understand the relationship of the covenants.

The kingdom are only believers. It's not a mixed covenant of both regenerate and unregenerate.

So, yeah, be encouraged by that book. Go through it slow and take notes. That's what

I have to do. And when I say, you know, when I contrast my position from dispensational theology and Presbyterian theology,

I want to say that in love. Obviously, love Johnny Mac, dear brother. He's not a classic dispensationalist, which

I would caution people from, which say there's radically two different peoples of God and two different plans of salvation that requires

God being sub -sovereign, needing a plan A, a plan B, and a plan C. Thank you,

Mr. Joe Horn for tuning in as we begin to wrap up this live -stream.

Okay. All right, Wesley, what you got? What you got? Wesley says,

If there was a covenant of redemption, is it fair to say there's a covenant of condemnation, or is that assumed in the covenant of redemption?

No, no, no. You are spot -on, my friend. Before we continue on here in Acts, let me share with you—I'm about to make my

Presby bros a little bit mad. That's okay. They need a good gut check sometimes. Now, we believe in iron sharpening iron here.

So, for Presbyterian theology, the Old Covenant is the covenant of grace and substance, but it's just administered and looks a little bit different than the

New Covenant, which is also the covenant of grace. It just looks a little bit better and more clearly than the

Old Covenant, which is also the covenant of grace. And I would say—oh,

I hope I remember the right chapter—I would actually contend the

Old Covenant is the covenant of works, and the covenant of works is a covenant of condemnation.

Now, why do I say that? Let's see. Okay, so we won't unpack all this this evening.

2 Corinthians chapter 2, talking all about the Old Covenant, right, refers to the

Old Covenant as the ministry of death. Okay?

Now, this is why I think it's appropriate to call the ministry of death, the covenant of works, as a covenant of condemnation.

Because of what Galatians chapter 3 goes on to say is, if you try to keep the law, you'll be judged by the law, and you necessarily will be condemned.

The substance of the Old Covenant is law. It's the moral law written on tablets that can be seen.

It only brings out more of our sinful tendency, right? It's kind of Romans chapter 7.

And so, the Old Covenant was a ministry of death and pointed to our need for a perfect Savior to perfectly fulfill the law.

So, what do you think, Wesley? I agree with Leanne.

That's an excellent question. Tell me, did I answer it succinctly?

But yeah, I would refer to the Old Covenant as a covenant of condemnation and a ministry of death.

Now, I would contrast that with the New Covenant being the covenant of grace that saves to the uttermost and is better than the

Old Covenant in every way. Oh, I'm getting some feedback from Wesley.

Wesley's one of my favorites. Don't tell anybody. Let's see here. He says, that's wonderful, the apologetic dog.

That makes so much more sense. I've never heard the covenant of works explained as a covenant of condemnation, but that makes perfect sense with what

Paul attests to about it. Yep, and that's where Presbyterians will say, so you're telling me the children of the

Old Covenant in the first century, their children now can't be a part of the New Covenant? And I kind of tell my

Presby bros, I'm like, so are you mad that the children are no longer bound by a covenant of condemnation?

And then they're scratching their head like, what do you mean? I'm like, yeah, the covenant of circumcision was a picture of law that you could not keep and that you could not circumcise your own heart.

So to no longer be bound, for children no longer to be in the Old Covenant, is a good thing.

And I always say that I believe in infant baptism. It's babes in Christ that are to be immersed, those that confess

Jesus as Lord and Savior, that have a heart of faith, and they want to demonstrate that faith in their baptisms, showing that they want the body of Christ to hold them accountable in their walk, and they're celebrating the new life that they have in Christ.

So, yep, you can tell I'm getting ready one of these days to square off in a debate with Presbyterians on the covenants.

And like I said, Dr. Jeffrey Johnson's book is, it's the one to help best help us understand the covenants.

Okay, so as we're continuing to wind down, let us consider, remember the question,

Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Okay? Dispensational theology typically says, okay,

Jesus kind of dismisses their question and then talks about something else.

I would like to say that he directly answers their question in a way that they were not ready for.

And so he says, not only this time is within God's prerogative, but all things are fixed by God's sovereign hand, even the restoring and building the

Davidic kingdom that is going to be established. It's inaugurated and will never cease, right?

It's eternal. So verse 8 is actually key. But you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Israel, Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

I want to submit to you, Jesus says, oh, yeah, the kingdom is now, the kingdom has been inaugurated.

It's in your midst. And yes, I'm about to leave and ascend on high and be seated at the throne, but I'm sending the

Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is going to expand, beginning with Jerusalem, with Israel.

Oh, but it's not gonna stop there. It's gonna continue to expand to Samaria and to wherever there's dirt, all the way to the ends of the earth.

The kingdom of God is spiritually going to continue to plunder the strongman's household.

The kingdom of darkness is going to be judged as souls are redeemed and regenerated and made citizens of the kingdom of God.

So that's really important. I do want to stop it at verse 8, because hopefully next time

I want to talk about the Great Commission a little bit. And I do want to spend maybe a live stream talking about the

Ascension, because I don't want to just fly through the Ascension of Jesus this was prophesied about in the

Old Testament. And so another passage I do want to end on, because we've talked about the who, what, when, where, and why of the kingdom of God, how this is a spiritual kingdom, that it's above, it's inward.

Remember Romans 14, 17, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, things that can be accomplished here on earth with our own resources, but it's of righteousness and joy and peace and the

Holy Spirit. So the kingdom of God is already in our midst, it is above, it is inward, it is inaugurated, and we are awaiting for the kingdom of God in its physicality to be consummated at the return of Jesus.

And so a beautiful passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul talks about this, he talks about our blessed hope.

And as we continue to read in Acts, when Jesus ascended on high, physically glorified, resurrected, never to die again, we realize that that is what fuels us to contend for the kingdom of God, for God and His righteousness, because the way that He left is the same way

He's coming back. It gives us joy. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order.

Christ, the firstfruits, what's true of Christ is true of us. Then at His second coming, when

He descends, those who belong to Christ, then comes the end.

Everything we've been talking about, there's going to be a consummation, when He delivers the kingdom of God the

Father, right? Right, it was the Father that sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, a covenant that they made together.

He's going to consummate it, and in essence, show the Father, I have fulfilled all of what you sent me to accomplish.

He's going to bring heaven on earth, consummate the kingdom, deliver it to God the Father, after there's something else that has to be done, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

That's happening now. He's plundering the strong means goods, right? There's a spiritual battle that's happening.

For Christ must reign. He's reigning now. That's verse 25. For He must reign until He has put all

His enemies under His feet. And listen, the last enemy to be destroyed is death, okay?

Now, I would submit to you this word, until. We see that Jesus continues to bind the strong man by plundering his goods.

This is a spiritual battle. This is going to continue to happen until He returns and He destroys all who are in opposition to Him.

All wickedness are put under His feet, and He destroys the last enemy, death.

For God has put all things into subjection under His feet. But when it says, all things are put under subjection, it is plain that He is accepted,

He is accepted, who put all things in subjection under Him.

When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that, and this is key, that God may be that He may be all in all, that God may be all in all.

So isn't that beautiful? We are awaiting His coming.

That's going to be at the end of history when He delivers and consummates the kingdom to God the

Father after destroying all enemies, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Have we already understood that that has not happened yet? That's some, that's the Christians blessed hope that we are waiting for.

Okay, that's about all that I got in the tank. Two hours and 15 minutes, right?

Right? Oh, I've already told Ms. Leanne, me and her share a brain.

We gotta, we gotta do our homework, right? I know you had the same conviction there.

She's cranking out books, contending against the Church of Christ for the gospel of grace, the kingdom of God, as we've talked about.

Samuel, thank you for holding on for this two -hour live stream.

Covenantally reformed Baptists get infant baptism right. Yes, because we are spiritually babes in Christ by faith.

How do you become a citizen of the kingdom of God? How do you partake of the covenant of grace?

It's always been by faith, right? The unregenerate, they are not members of the kingdom of God.

They are not members of the new covenant. Infants cannot repent, cannot exercise faith.

But those that have been transformed by the Holy Spirit and put their faith in King Jesus, they are citizens.

They are members of the new covenant. Okay, Georgia, thank you so much for joining me.

You're welcome. Thank you for your support. Oh, an apologetic cat.

Hey, you reminded me of something important here. Make sure

I did all my book recommendations. So funny.

Oh, yeah, so remember I recommended a few books already. The Five Points of All -Millennialism by Dr.

Jeffrey Johnson. I actually interviewed him on this book. Go check out the interview. Go check out this book. The other book that I mentioned,

The Kingdom of God and Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology and Biblical Theology. Check out that book.

Once again, Kim Riddlebarger, who I definitely want to interview one of these days on A Case for All -Millennialism.

But I'm telling you, you have to understand all -millennialism in connection with covenant theology.

And then this was a great book, The Kingdom Come, An All -Millennial Perspective by Dr. Sam Storms.

Also interviewed him on this book. And an apologetic cat, I did have one more book

I wanted to recommend. This is Revelation, A Shorter Commentary by G .K.

Beale. Just so you know, this is the direction that I'm going. As we look at the book of Revelation, I believe that it's being fulfilled over time.

Okay, so just tip of my hand. This is an idealist perspective that what we see is the church undergoing persecution, spiritual warfare, and what we read in the

Olivet Discourse, much of it, there's some of it, like the destruction of the temple definitely happened in the past, but the persecution, wars, rumors of wars, yes, that happened in the first century where there was a remnant, a true saints, believers, right?

But this is just the beginning. This is going to continue until the end of the age when

Christ returns. Yes, and an apologetic cat says, didn't know

G .K. Beale was all -mill. Fun fact. Yep, I believe, too, the key thing to take away is idealism when it comes to the book of Revelation.

Okay. I do that all the time. Thank y 'all so much for tuning in to The Apologetic Dog, where, once again, my heart's desire to contend for the gospel of grace and some of these fun live streams with the book of Acts is to show how we are not just a negative ministry that debates and tells

Church of Christ that they're wrong and full predators that they're wrong, but we also vindicate the Christian worldview. We actually are going to show the beauty of Thy Word is truth, how when you know the truth, the truth shall set you free in the sun.

So, anyway, I love studying soteriology, eschatology, and when

I was looking at Acts chapter 1, I thought, oh man, we have to spend a live stream talking about the kingdom come.

And so, if you've benefited from this live stream, other episodes, please like, share, and subscribe.

That helps me out so much. Something exciting, and I will learn how to better communicate to y 'all how to continue supporting

The Apologetic Dog, but I'm starting to get more and more financial support, which is just a huge blessing to me and my family.

I just launched a new website, so you're about to see that link being posted on my Facebook.

I'm gonna have to start the whole Instagram thing, and oh my goodness, probably TikTok, but those are definitely platforms that I want to defend the faith.

And also, if it blesses your heart, just want to thank you for your support, and if you would like to support in more creative ways, definitely check out my website.

You can find a Patreon. I don't have a YouTube membership yet, but there are tons of different ways that if you're interested in that, you definitely can.

So, with that being said, I'm going to sign off here and be looking forward to Trump's most important speech that he's ever given.

But more importantly, I want you to be mindful of Christ. I want you to be more focused on your citizenship that is in heaven and not getting entangled with the things of this world.

And so, to live as Christ, to die as gain. To live as Christ while we're still here on this earth,

I pray that you would seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Thank you so much, and God bless.