The Law & the Kingdom ~ Jeff Durbin at The Law and Liberty Tour

Afternoon. They gave me the spot right after lunch, so I have to have the job to try to keep you guys awake. You guys good? What's up, kids? I love all the kids here. I was saying I posted on Facebook that, you know, you're at a Christian Reconstructionist conference when there's so many children, which I think is beautiful, and it really does testify to just the strength of the theological position and just where we're aiming.

I mean, honestly, I do a lot of conferences across the country, and I think I've seen more kids in this one little remnant than I have at most conferences, so that's a blessing. I also wanted to say before I get started, what a privilege I see it as to do this with Chalcedon and with Mark and Martin, and I just feel blessed and privileged and honored to be here with you guys, and from what I see from across the country, a lot of the different connections God has graced me to have from across the nation and really around the world, there is a movement of believers looking back to the Word of God as the foundation of all of life, to Christ as the very reference point of everything, and some big things are happening, so you guys should really be encouraged by that, really worldwide, and so I consider this a privilege and in this moment very important.

If you guys would join with me as I pray. Father, I want to pray and bless this time. God, as I come before your people to present, Lord, your Word, I pray, God, that you get me out of the way. I pray that you would cause me in this time, myself, to decrease, you to increase, God, that your Word would move powerfully amongst us, God, this minority, this remnant, this small gathering, God, in such a way, Lord, that you would use this moment, God, to transform the future to the glory of God, the exaltation of Christ in the world, and moving towards his kingdom, expanding and putting all enemies under the feet of Jesus.

God, I just pray that you'd bless this time and speak by your Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. So if you want to open your Bibles, you can go to Matthew chapter 4. Now, you have to forgive me. 45 minutes to speak.

I have sins in the area of time, so you have to maybe throw something at me or kind of give me the heads up something's up, okay, especially when I know there's such an important detail to hit here in a conference.

I have 45 minutes, so I'll do my best. So some of this may be like drinking from a fire hose, which is okay because drinking from a fire hose, you're guaranteed to get a little wet, right? So, all right, Matthew chapter 4, so much to say.

I'm going to read to you Matthew chapter 4, background real fast for you guys, maybe they're new to Christ or new to your Bibles. Matthew chapter 4 is just, Matthew was the most popular of the Gospels in the second century of the church, and I think there's good reason for that.

Testimony to the fact that Jesus is, in fact, the promised King, the promised Messiah. That was expected. Jesus is not a novelty dropped into history. Jesus is, in fact, what was anticipated all along.

All of history is under the control of God, and so Matthew, in particular, the Gospel according to Matthew, really points to the fulfillment of Jesus. All the Gospels do, but Matthew really highlights all those great moments where Matthew says, this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet and quotes the Old Testament, and it's done a lot in Matthew.

Matthew opens up with a clear indication that Jesus does, in fact, own the right to the throne. You need to see that. Matthew chapter 1, the genealogies that most of us, to be honest, usually say, okay, let's move to the next chapter.

Let's kind of skip the genealogies. Okay, Matthew doesn't do that for good reason. Matthew has to show you that Jesus has the right to the throne, and so Matthew opens up with the history, the genealogy, and it's encouraging, amen?

There's a lot of people on that list that aren't the most stellar of lives, right? Murderers, adulterers, and all the rest. It's in that list, so God is good, amen? Matthew chapter 1, Jesus is the king.

Matthew chapter 2 opens up with something you need to pay attention to. It was significant in detail. The promise of the kingdom of God, the Messiah is coming, redemption, salvation, forgiveness, but Matthew chapter 2 indicates and shows us that when the wise men show up, these are pagans, significant to the biblical story.

The kingdom of God was going to encompass all the worlds. Descendants for Abraham, more numerous than the stars. The nations, Isaiah 2, were going to stream up to the mountain of God. You have the nations in view, not just Israel as the people of God, but the nations are going to come to God, and so the first people showing up, searching for the king, are pagans.

This is the story. This is the story. This is why it's so exciting, is that this story of Jesus as king over all the world, bringing the nations, conquering history in victory, not just at the end of history, but actually history itself.

That is God's story for history, and Matthew's picking it up. That's the backdrop. So you move through the story. There's much more that can be said in the Matthew chapter 4. Jesus as the perfect Israelite.

Everywhere Israel fails, Jesus has victory. He is the perfect Israelite, the anticipated king, the Son of God, goes into the wilderness. Everywhere Israel failed, Jesus has victory. And then, very important, Matthew chapter 4 verse 17.

Matthew 4 17. Jesus says, it's from that time Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, are really synonymous phrases in the New Testament.

Kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, same thing. The rule of God, the reign of God in history. It's what was expected. Now, I got to say something real fast to our culture as Christians today in the West, American Christian culture today.

We have all but made the phrase kingdom of God irrelevant and significant and meaningless in our culture. And that's disastrous. Martin said, I'm not sure where you were quoting this from, if it was yours, because if it was, it was delicious.

But if not, it was an amazing quote. You said that the culture is the church's report card. Okay. Excellent. You know, and I think a lot of it has to do, and there's a number of issues that we can point to to say, why are we in the state we're in today?

We're not looking to the word of God as God's ultimate standard and law word for all of life. The kingdom of God is seen as something that comes ultimately later. It's sort of here now, but not really.

It's coming later someday. We don't see Christ as victorious within history. But we look at Matthew chapter four, Matthew's opening up with the Messiah, entering into his ministry with the message, repent for the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It meant something to them because this is not a novelty dropped into history. It meant something. It was meaningful. This is the backdrop they understood. This is God's story breaking into history, coming into fulfillment.

It meant everything. But I want you to see something, a phrase we don't often use in our culture. Well, I don't use this remnant, but I want you to see it. Matthew 4 .23, and he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.

Let me say it again because I want to emphasize that that needs to be the strength of our message today as Christians. When we look at the depravity and the decay of culture around us, let me just get you the phrase so you can grab hold of it and hold on to it.

The gospel of the kingdom. Where is that talked about today? Where is that heralded today? The good news of the kingdom. They saw it as good news that God's kingdom was breaking into history. That was good news.

As Christians today, we have sort of truncated the gospel and brought it down to good news of my personal salvation. Jesus is a friend of mine. Jesus is my friend. You know that song? Yeah. Jesus becomes my friend.

It's my personal salvation. It's about me and me alone ultimately. It's my ticket to heaven. We sort of can grab hold of the ideas of forgiveness and salvation. We love that part of the story, but it sounds odd to the modern Christian ear that this was to them good news of the kingdom.

It was good news that God's kingdom had actually broken into history. You might say to some of us today, why is that good news? There's a whole backstory to this. You see, the gospel of the kingdom, we need to attach ourselves to that biblical phrase and herald it and promote it because the gospel of the kingdom, again, was part of God's story.

What did the Old Testament promise? What did God's revealed word before Messiah enters history, what did it reveal to us about this coming Messiah, his kingdom, and all the blessings? A lot of things.

Listen to the network of things they were anticipating. There's a network of things from the Old Testament that were there in their minds. They understood, which is why it made it such good news that it finally broke into history.

Here's a couple of things that were a network of truths. Number one, redemption. We've got that down, right? We understand that. At least in particular, salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, redemption, freedom from slavery, my sin, reconciliation with God.

We get that. Number two, forgiveness. Forgiveness that God was going to wash our sins away, never count them against us again. Forgiveness would be complete and full because God would deal with it once and for all in the Messiah.

Number three, salvation in a number of different ways. Number four, the giving of the Spirit, the promise of the Spirit of God now indwelling us. God saying, I will put my Spirit within you. I will cleanse you from all your idols.

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, give you a new heart. All those promises were there. Something Martin brought up in his message was the law in our hearts. God would put his law now on our hearts, whereas in the Old Testament, the law is on stone tablets outside of the people of God.

Now the law is actually where? Within us. We have God himself indwelling us now as redeemed people with the ability now to obey with an internal motivation and love for God and others that causes us to love and desire God's law.

That was the promise of what was to come. They were anticipating. It's part of the backdrop. Next, that nations were going to be brought to God. Let me say it again because it's very important. The nations were going to be brought to God.

His kingdom would go over the whole world. His rule and reign over the entire earth. All nations, tribes, tongues were coming to this Messiah. That was part of the story. That was the backdrop. Number seven, the law would go forth from Zion.

Isaiah chapter 2. That is powerful. Where do you, where do we hear that just heralded today? The Messiah is going to come. The mountain of the Lord is going to be brought up and all the nations are going to stream to it and the law would go forth from Zion.

That was part of the promise of the kingdom. Next, number eight, from Isaiah 9, that he would establish this kingdom with justice and righteousness. These were elements of the kingdom of God in history that they understood.

This is why, brothers and sisters, it's good news of his kingdom. It is very good news that Christ is King, exalted and seated as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's good news for the world. It's not just good news for my own individual salvation.

It's not just good news for the guy I preach Christ to on the street. It's good news for the world. All of this is all-encompassing. Everything is getting dealt with by Jesus. Every enemy under his feet.

Next, I want to talk to us about where we're at today. When we think about the gospel of the kingdom as something Jesus was preaching, the good news of the kingdom, I want to say today because of bad eschatological views, bad views of history, can anyone say left behind reboot, Nicolas Cage?

Because of what's coming in a few months, that view of history, we have reduced the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom, to the gospel of the Christian ghetto. It's what it means now, right? Jesus is King.

He's Lord, you know, kind of over Neverland. You know, and if you become a Christian, you know, you're part of this family of God, but it's really kind of over here and it only has meaning sort of over here.

Jesus is King in heaven, but not so much on earth. Whereas when Jesus heralds it, it's the good news of the kingdom. John the Baptist comes in. He repented. The kingdom of God is at hand. Paul's preaching the kingdom at the end of Acts.

It's what he's saying and talking to them about is the kingdom of God, convincing them in the kingdom of God. It was on their lips. It was in their hearts, the good news of the kingdom of God. We've reduced it to the good news of a Christian ghetto, my own personal relationship with God.

The early Jews said something, and this is what you want to capture, if you capture anything from the message today, is as sort of what I want to get as hooked into your hearts and minds. If you remember the trial of Jesus, right?

Put it in your minds for a moment now. The trial of Jesus. You're there, and Pilate says to the Jews of the day, who by the way, get this, would have said, God is God. He is the only true and living God.

They would have quoted the Shema. Shema Yisrael, Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh Echad. They would have quoted the Shema. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. They would have said it, and yet at the trial of Jesus with Pilate, he says, shall I crucify your king?

These monotheistic Jews, which would have affirmed Torah and the Tanakh and everything else, they say before Pilate, in their day as monotheistic Jews, they say, we have no king but Caesar. They saw it fine to have God as God and Caesar really as governor and in charge, and they were fine with that, and so they crucify their king.

An interesting point to point out is that as the church moves forward in the book of Acts, you have something very different happening with the people of God, don't you? The Jews are at the trial of Jesus.

We have no king but Caesar. We have no king but Caesar, and in the book of Acts, the early Christians are being brought up on charges, and what's the accusation being made against those believers in the gospel of the kingdom?

They say there's another king, Jesus. See the difference? You see, you can be religious in nature. You could affirm the truths of monotheism, and there's one God, Trinity, salvation by grace through faith, and you can miss a very important point about the kingdom of God.

He's the king. He's the king, and you could blend or engage in syncretism, religious life and state life. Caesar can be really in charge. Jesus is in charge of Neverland. Do you see the problem? It's not a problem just for us today, brothers and sisters.

It was a problem for them then too. We ask the question, why are so many Christians being killed by Rome? They say there's another king, Jesus. They understood who the ultimate authority was, and they understood the significance that God's kingdom had broken into history.

Now, let's talk about where do we go from here. This is really important, and I'm going to do my very best to hang this together. Hang with me, guys, as much as possible as we work through what I see are some important problems in our thinking as believers that need to be cleansed and reformed and clarified as Christians.

Okay, number one, a problem of sovereignty. Christians today have a problem with the area of sovereignty, and when I say Christian, I'm speaking to myself as well. I need reformation, cleansing, transformation in my heart and my mind in the area of understanding the true implications of the sovereignty of God in history, okay?

Number one, the sovereignty of God. We have to ask the question today to us as Christians, who is in charge? Who's in charge? It's an important question. It should be a simple one for Christians to answer, amen?

It should be simple. Who's in charge? Who's the full authority? Who is the very reference point of all questions regarding truth? Is it man, or is it God? Who's the sovereign? And if I could just hook you on to a verse I want you to memorize and have packed into your hearts and live by as a believer, it's Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go. Do you see the implications of that are not fully grasped many times by us today in our culture that Jesus says, ready?

All authority where, brothers and sisters? In heaven and where else? See, Christians today, we're very happy to say Jesus gets his rule in heaven, but earth? Earth too? You see, let me say it again, ready?

All authority in heaven and on earth. We ask the question, does Jesus get to tell the state today what to do? Yes! Absolutely! We pull punches as Christians today because we've neglected the most powerful, potent part of the end of Matthew where he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go. There's the therefore, and when you see the word therefore, see what it's there for. Good job. See what it's there for. It's because all authority in heaven and earth is his, therefore go get the nations, baptize them, teach them to what?

Obey. Does Jesus expect, anticipate, and ethical response from the nations towards him when he ascended as what he told us? You see, this is really important, is that as a church today, we've lost a fix on just who is in charge, who has a say, who is the reference point, and we know that when we go to our Bibles, we know the answer, right?

It's without question. God is the very center of all questions regarding truth. He is the reference point. He is not what we're trying to get to. He is the one that we start all of our thinking with. You see this, we have something spectacular here with the revelation of God.

Deuteronomy 29 .29 says what? That the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but what he has revealed belongs to what? Us and to our children. This is revealed word from God. It belongs to us, and you and I, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, we have something spectacular to hold on to, and that is sovereignty, and that is providence.

God is in control. The world does not, the world wants to snatch up our children and indoctrinate them with a view of history that says that you are bipedal protoplasm. You are meat bone protoplasm bobbing on the surface of the cosmos.

There is no purpose, no meaning, no cosmic anything. We live, we die, and we're gone. We're absolutely gone when we die. It's just time and chance acting on matter. Your ancestors were fish. This is the worldview propagated in our world today, and as Christians I'm going to say praise God for what he has revealed to us.

It's for us and for our children. That is this. God says he declares the end from the beginning. He declares the end from the beginning. I want to hang on to that for a moment. He declares the end from the beginning.

Isaiah 46 10. Daniel 4 35. Listen to this. He does according to his will, the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can stay his hand. So is he totally sovereign? I'd say so.

In heaven and on earth he declares the end from the beginning and does according to his will. No one thwarts his purposes. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 talks about God who works all things. I'll say it again because sometimes we have to take a moment to breathe in and absorb.

He works all things after the counsel of what? His will. So when I say things today about Christ as Messiah, as seated, as having victory over history, now there are certain times where you hit this and you go, but I mean look around us.

Can he? And I want to say yes and amen. Those are his promises. He does according to his will in heaven and on earth and he said to us, brothers and sisters, when he ascended he said to us, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, therefore go.

He is sovereign. Now this is really important. We have to understand the symphony of history to understand the significance of the gospel of the kingdom. The symphony of history. I've often related it like to a symphony and as Christians we've done an excellent job in so many ways.

God has blessed the church with just giants that have given us such blessings like Rushduni. It's been such a huge blessing but there's symphony of history and what we've done as Christians is we've highlighted many true things about God and about the world and about his truth and it's not that they're bad, any of them.

They're all very good but the problem is in this area of the gospel of the kingdom in our culture today we have stripped this part of the story of God's kingdom in history having victory within history transforming the world bringing the nations.

We've virtually stripped that from the story. Imagine a symphony where you've removed about a third of the players. The story, the sound, the song is stunted, right? It doesn't have quite the same effect.

It's losing its climax because we've stripped the story. It's not that the other parts are wrong that are playing. We've stripped the story. We've stripped it of its players. It's no longer as beautiful.

It's no longer as significant. It's no longer making as much sense. God's story of the gospel of the kingdom is a symphony. All the parts need to play together in unison. We shouldn't strip out any part of the story.

So in order to talk about the gospel of the kingdom, listen closely, we have to understand as believers the backdrop that we walk into when we get into the New Testament. Let's talk about the backdrop.

Let's do first highlight a part that we all in our culture will usually grasp and say I've heard that I get that and that is Isaiah 53 as a stepping stone. Isaiah 53, right? Everyone's excited about Isaiah 53 and I am thrilled about Isaiah 53.

Think about it. The ministry of Jesus, the Messiah written down hundreds of years before he actually touches earth in his earthly ministry. Think about it. The story of Isaiah in Isaiah 53 is absolutely astonishing.

It will give you goosebumps. If you haven't read it yet, go read Isaiah 53. Hundreds of years before Jesus comes, the whole portrait of Jesus, the Messiah and his redemptive work is right there. It's unbelievable.

It's one of those moments that you just get, it's just a refreshing moment where God just sort of exposes to you his power and sovereignty in history that this is all laid down long before Jesus came.

Isaiah 53, what's it say? That he would be counted among the rebels, that he would justify the many as he will bear their iniquities. And it talks about this piercing of the Messiah. He'd be pierced through for our transgressions.

That the Lord was pleased to crush him. All of that we see. That's the redemptive work of Jesus. That's the cross. That's Jesus dying for our sins. There's more though. There's more. You see, Isaiah 53 is just after Isaiah what?

That's not a trick question. That's easy, okay? I know you had lunch, okay? But come back. Come back. Isaiah 53. We've captured it. We sort of like snatched it and kind of let it, and let's suspend it.

And it's hung there in midair. But Isaiah 52 is what enters us into Isaiah 53. And along with the redemptive work expected in the Messiah's life and ministry, Isaiah 52 says something important. Isaiah 52, 13.

Right before 53, it says, Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.

And people go, see, that's like the disfiguring of Jesus. That sort of testifies to him being disfigured, his brokenness. That really testifies that. People will snatch that up. But there's more. Verse 15.

So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told, them they see. And that which they have not heard, they understood. You see, there is a symphony going on here.

And we cannot simply strip this story of its parts. Amen? There's more to the story. It's a gospel of a kingdom. Next point. To understand the backdrop and the symphony as to why the gospel, the kingdom is so significant, I'll just have you go into your minds here for a moment.

You can go back later and look at it in Abraham. No, Abraham. Genesis 15 .5. The promise to Abraham was what? That he would have descendants more numerous than the what? More numerous than the stars. Now, I want to say something.

Where has our defeatist attitude come from? If we are the descendants of Abraham, and if Abraham is told to look up to the sky, and if you can count those stars, that's like how your descendants are going to be.

Where do we ever get the idea that Jesus loses in history? You see, when I look up to the stars from a cruise line out in the ocean, where there's no light pollution, it blows your mind. It takes your breath away.

It causes your heart to slow down. It makes you feel very small. And if you started counting well, in just a few moments you would give up. And we know that just what we see with our naked eye is nowhere near what is actually out there.

Amen? Where do we ever get the idea of defeat? Abraham's descendants would be more numerous than the stars. Genesis 15. Next, Moses from Genesis 59 .10 gives us the promise of Shiloh. And this is really, really important.

Capture this. You must grab hold of this because it's not used very often. You need to have it in your toolbox as a believer when we think about the backdrop concerning the gospel of the kingdom. Genesis 49 .10.

It talks about one coming, Shiloh. I love that name, Shiloh. And to him is going to be the obedience of the nations. Let me just, let me give that to you one more time because I didn't see the expressions that I would anticipate.

Shiloh is coming and to him is going to be the obedience of the nations. Now, something Martin pointed out near the end of his message there is something we need to grab hold of. And that is at the beginning and the ending of Romans.

Romans chapter 1 verse 5 and Romans 16 .26. The Apostle Paul, a Jewish rabbi who understood what was expected and anticipated in the ministry of the Messiah, he bookends, he bookends his systematic explanation of the good news with something very important in Romans 1 and in Romans 16.

And what does he say? To bring about the obedience of faith on among the nations. Brothers and sisters, this is a symphony. It's a symphony. There's a whole backstory playing here and we have stripped the message of its important parts and we wonder why we are impotent as a church today in the culture.

I had Douglas Wilson on my radio program once and something he just said, I liked what he actually said, this thing he said, you hit what you aim at. That's amazing. And it's just, oh really? You hit what you aim at.

And if as a church we believe that we're defeated in history and then we're not working towards the actual obedience of the nations, then you hit what you aim at. You get a culture that looks very much like the one we're living in today.

The obedience of the nations. Understand that. That's glorious. Paul does not simply give an explanation as to how a person is saved from sin. He gives the whole story and he opens it with, to bring about the obedience of faith among the nations.

And he closes the book, obedience of faith among the nations. Would you say it's kind of important to the Apostle Paul? I'd say it's a significant part of the story. Next point, and this is something you want to hang on to because it's in the backstory.

It's in the back of the minds of the believers who receive this revelation. Listen closely. 1 Samuel chapter 8 and 1 Samuel chapter 11. I'll leave it to you to go later to do your homework. But something very significant, part of God's people's story in that book is this.

The people of God have been given God's grace, a relationship with the living God, given his covenant and all the rest. It's glorious. God's their king. And then something happens in 1 Samuel chapter 8 and what is that?

They start complaining and saying, we want a king like all the other nations. And Samuel's a little tripped out by this. He's like, I don't perceive that as sinful. And God actually says, all right, give them what they want.

Now was his giving them a king like they asked for, other than him, was it a blessing or a curse? It was a curse. Because he tells Samuel, I'm their king. They want a king. I'll give them a king. Here are the consequences.

Take your kids to war, taxation, and all the rest. And God says that they haven't rejected you, Samuel, when they've asked for an earthly king like that. They've rejected me because I'm their king. Brothers and sisters, this is part of the story.

Jesus coming as king of kings and Lord of lords isn't a novelty dropped in history. It is God the king taking his rightful place on the throne over his people. This is why our forefathers of the faith, really in the last couple hundred years, had the statement, no God but God and no king but Christ.

It is simply sinful, based on the text of scripture, the words of God, for the people of God to desire a king like the other nations when God is the king. Next. And there's, by the way, there's just no way, and I don't even need to tell you because you guys are awesome.

This is my favorite group of people to talk to. I mean that sincerely because you're trained in a theonomic post-millennial. We have, you know, you've had an understanding of this sort of in the background of your mind, so I don't need to tell you that I cannot even begin to exhaust the passages in scripture to speak to the absolute victory of the Messiah in history.

You see, every Christian agrees that, well, Jesus is victorious at the end of history, but you see, the Bible teaches something much different, though, doesn't it? It teaches the victory of the Messiah within Earth's history, not simply at the end.

And there's simply no way to exhaust it, but I will give you a couple passages to look through. In the Psalms, Psalm chapter 2, very important passage, verses 7 through 12, the Father is speaking to the Son.

The Father is speaking to the Son, and what does He say? Significant, Psalm 2. Have this in your pocket. The Father says to the Son, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And something Dr. Bonson used to always say when speaking about these issues is he would say, do you think Jesus forgot to ask?

When Jesus ascends, what does He tell us to do? All authority, heaven and earth's been given to me. Go get them. We know Jesus didn't forget to ask. The Father says to the Son, ask of me and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance.

And then the beautiful warning in the Psalms goes out to the world from God to the kings of the earth, and He says what to them? He says, obey the Son or you'll perish. So here's God saying to the Son, all the nations are yours.

And then God turns and gives a warning to the kings of the earth and says, obey Him or you're going to perish. Next, Psalm 110 .1, one of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament in the New Testament, and I'm bringing this up as a significant one because it's used so much.

Remember I told you from a moment ago, it's not a novelty dropped into history, right? It's a whole backstory. Why is Psalm 110 .1 quoted so much by those Jewish believers in Jesus in the New Testament?

Well, Psalm 110 .1 teaches for something very significant and Paul quotes as, He must reign until He has made all His enemies a footstool for His feet. Psalm 110 .1 teaches that this Messiah is going to reign and make His enemies a footstool for His feet.

Now the Apostle Paul interprets Jesus as reigning now and currently putting enemies under His feet. The Bible says, here's how the story works. He reigns all enemies under His feet in victory. That's how it works.

People say, what's post-millennialism? That. You want, you want to, what's post, how is it, it's, well, it's really not difficult. He's reigning now, enemies under His feet, that's it, total victory of the world.

How's that sound? Simple. That's post-millennialism. That's all there is to it. If you don't want to, if you don't want to be in a, you know, I don't know, I'm ill, post-millennial, whatever, that's fine.

Believe that. Believe that and watch a transformation occur. Next, Psalm 72, 5 through 11. This one I do want you to see. Psalm 72, 5 through 11. Please go to this one. I want you to see it. Psalm 72, 5 through 11.

It's the title actually of the book that God used to really bring a lot of transformation to my thinking. Kenneth Gentry's book, He Shall Have Dominion, was quoted from this, this passage, He Shall Have Dominion.

Listen to the passage from Psalm 72, 5 through 11. Here we go. May they fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations. May He be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

That gets what? Everything wet. All right? In His days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more. May He have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

Does that sound all encompassing to you? It does to me. That was the backdrop. That was the story. May desert tribes bow down before Him and His enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and the coastlands render Him tributes.

May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before Him and all nations serve Him. Where did we ever get the idea that Jesus fails in history? You see, well, like, what's Jesus' aim?

Is it just the desert tribes? Is it just to get a Bible study in a basement? No, He's saying the kings are going to bow down before this one. And one of the things that's just really a blessing of the work of Dr. Rush Dooney is just his moving us through history, showing us just the mindset of early believers throughout the century.

They weren't going into a culture to get a Bible study in a basement. They were going to have the king bow before Messiah. And the world transformed. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do and we had where they were sinners then and they were broken and a messed-up rabble then, but they knew what they were aiming at.