Good Works Manifest The Kingdom of God

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Please turn your Bible to John chapter 15. John chapter 15, we'll be looking at verse eight today.

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That can be found on page 901 of the Pew Bible in front of you. Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's word.

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I'll begin in verse one. I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

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And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

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Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you.

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As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

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I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

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For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers.

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And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

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By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so have

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I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

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These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

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Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, as we return to this passage about the vine, we ask that you would teach us to abide in Christ, that he would teach us from his own words, we would be found in him.

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We ask that we would bear much fruit, and that you would be glorified through this, us being proved to be

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Christ's disciples. In his name we pray, amen. Well, in previous weeks, we've looked at how

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God is glorified through good works, or rather, that God is glorified through good works.

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But here, in this passage, we see how God is glorified through good works. He is glorified through good works because it manifests our discipleship, it manifests the kingdom of God.

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God has a kingdom. Christ is that king. Yet his kingdom is a kingdom that is not of this world, it is a spiritual kingdom.

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And so, though it exists, it is not immediately visible. But it is through good works that it becomes visible, that it becomes manifest.

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And so, God is glorified. Moreover, I suspect that many

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Christians do not feel sufficiently motivated towards good works, in particular, because they do not understand how it is that good works, or that it is that good works manifest the kingdom of God.

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If you do not understand the benefits of something, you will not pursue that thing. If you do not realize that you can make the spiritual kingdom more evident, that you can demonstrate yourself as a disciple, that you can make that kingdom visible to the watching world, to the angels in heaven, to all that would have eyes to see it.

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If you understand this, you will be more motivated to pursue what

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God has called us to pursue, to pursue the way of Christ, because it manifests, it makes evident the kingdom of heaven.

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Jesus, here in this passage, has spoken of the necessity of abiding in him, of abiding in the vine.

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And here, in particular, he explains why it is that that is his will.

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Because by this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

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All things revolve around the glory of God. Because God is absolute, because all things are measured by him, and all goodness comes from him, there could not be a different sort of purpose in the world.

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The only true purpose that could exist in the world, even in theory, would be one that centers around the creator himself.

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And so, all things revolve around his glory. As I've explained in a previous message, this is not selfish because, one, it could not be otherwise, and two, because as we experience the glory of God, as God's glory becomes more manifest to us, we are able to more experience the only true goodness that exists in the world.

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If the only true goodness that exists in the world is goodness that comes from God, the more we experience

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God, the more we see his glory, the more we experience that good. If there were some other purpose in the world, some other ultimate purpose in the world, it would be some lesser purpose that would not grant us that full experience of glory.

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And so, all things being purposed to the glory of God, we see why it is important that the

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Father be glorified in the bearing of fruit of the disciples, the disciples being proved to be disciples.

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Because as God's glory is demonstrated through his goodness to his people, through them bearing fruit, not only do they see

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God's glory, but others as well see God's glory. Those being welcomed into the kingdom and those having their mouths stopped, that they would not be able to mock

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God in his kingdom. When Jesus speaks of fruit, he speaks in particular of good works.

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What is the fruit that the disciples would bear, the fruit that the disciples would bear be good works?

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How is it that they are to bear this? Well, how is it that any branch would bear fruit? It is by abiding in the vine.

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If you have a tree and one of the branches is disconnected, it will not bear fruit.

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If the branch is connected, it will bear fruit. If you have a vine and one of the branches off the vine is not connected, it will not bear fruit.

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If it is connected, it will bear fruit. The way the disciples are to bear fruit is through abiding in the vine, that is making use of the means of grace that God has given us.

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His spirit has chosen particularly to work through various means that he has given us, his word, prayer, and the particular ways that it goes forward in the worship of God, particularly in the gathering of his saints as you all are gathered for here today.

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These are the ways that someone would abide in the vine. And so what does this accomplish?

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This accomplishes the proving that they are his disciples.

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Now, when it says in this verse, and so prove to be my disciples, more literally, it speaks of them being his disciples.

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In fact, some older translations say simply that. By this, my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and will be my disciples.

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There is a sense in which discipleship is twofold. There is the process of discipleship and the fulfillment of discipleship.

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If you are someone who is studying archery or studying history, you would expect to have some kind of knowledge in that, to be shaped by that, to be a good archer, to be a good historian.

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If you tell someone, I'm a student of history, and then they ask you some questions about history and you really don't know anything because all you mean by that is you enrolled in some history courses that you haven't yet started, what you mean by the fact that you are a student of history is something different than what people tend to think when you say student of history.

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It's the same thing with a disciple. There's a sense of which someone can be a disciple having been enrolled as a disciple, but then the fulfillment of the discipleship is to be shaped like the teacher, is to have the knowledge, have the maturity, rather, of the teacher to incorporate that more and more into your own being.

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Now, in addition, there's another detail in this phrase that is worth noticing.

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When he says, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples, not only is the word prove not particularly there, it just simply talks about being or becoming a disciple.

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It also says, you will be a disciple to me. Doesn't use one of the more common ways that someone would talk about possession, right?

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A disciple of Jesus, you will be my disciple. Rather, he says, you will be a disciple to me. I find this particularly meaningful.

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Now, the Greek would often use to me to speak of possession in some ways, but I find this particularly meaningful because in John 8, 31, it said this.

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If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. Now, that phrase in Greek used both the terms, both to me and of me.

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It literally says, if you abide in my word, then to me, you are my disciples.

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So what is it to be a disciple? It is not just to have some external status, but it is to go to Christ and to receive from him that maturity that he offers in his spirit as you are found in him in the vine.

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It is not enough to simply have some kind of external status that there is a fulfillment that happens as we abide in the vine and so become.

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We begin to be disciples early on, but then we become, we are more fulfilled as disciples having incorporated, having had

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Christ's own maturity incorporated into us, us becoming more like the head.

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This is the way it describes it in Ephesians 4, that the whole body is this immature body attached to a mature head and we grow up into more and more maturity to be like him.

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Now, why would I choose to speak of this in terms of kingdom when there is nothing in particular in this whole chapter that speaks of the kingdom of Christ, that speaks of the kingdom of heaven?

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Well, as we've been going through how good works benefit the kingdom of heaven, it is evident to overuse that term, that good works do make the kingdom more evident.

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And what better passage than this passage, first of all. Secondly, what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

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If you are a disciple of any particular field or any particular teacher, there is a particular topic that you are being taught on.

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One who studies archery, studying archery. One who studies history, studying history. If you are a student of a particular thing, you are going to more and more know about that thing and more and more be identified with that thing, especially if we're talking about some sort of apprenticeship.

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And that's what discipleship is, it is a form of apprenticeship. And what has Jesus spoken of discipleship being hand in hand with throughout the gospels?

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The answer is the kingdom. Different philosophers have their message and so if you say you're a student of a particular philosopher or of a particular teacher, they know that that means not just, oh, you were taught by this person, but that you have embraced their teachings.

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Teachings of John the Baptist were primarily about repentance. The teachings of Moses were particularly about the law.

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The teachings of these various prophets, God had given them particular things. Christ is a prophet.

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What was the particular teaching that made the disciples of Christ distinct from someone who might call themselves a disciple of some other teacher?

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It is the kingdom. To be a disciple of Christ is to be one who is pursuing the kingdom, who is entering the kingdom, who is a kingdom citizen.

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There's a sense in which the kingdom is already here and among us and there's a sense in which we are called to enter the kingdom.

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We've spoken of that before as well, that there is a kingdom of grace that we are in and there is a kingdom of glory that we are pursuing.

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Consider these verses from just the Gospel of John. In John 1, Nathaniel identifies

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Jesus as the king. So John 1, first chapter of John, we already have Jesus being identified as king.

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This is what makes him distinct. He is a king. John 3, what does he tell

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Nicodemus? You must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. What is discipleship?

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What is the transformation that he offers? It is what is necessary in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Earlier in John chapter 12, everyone has called Hosanna. It is very clear at this point in the chapter, at this point in John, that Jesus is a king and the nature of himself as a prophet and as a teacher, having disciples, has precisely to do with the kingdom.

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Now, John is a gospel where the theme of kingdom is not particularly emphasized even compared to the other gospels.

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The other gospels emphasize this theme much more. Consider these passages in Matthew. In Matthew 5, 3 and 10, it says, "'Blessed are the poor in spirit, "'for they will see the kingdom of God.

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"'Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name's sake, "'because they will enter the kingdom of heaven.'"

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John, excuse me, Matthew 5, 20, in the same

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Sermon on the Mount, what does he tell them? That in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the

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Pharisees. This is the key thing in his teaching. When he teaches his disciples how to pray, what's the thing he tells them to pray?

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Your kingdom come. This is a chief thing that is part of Christ's ministry.

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When he sends his disciples out on their first mission in chapter 10, in Matthew chapter 10, what is the message that they are to proclaim?

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That the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is the message that Jesus' disciples are given. It is the message of the kingdom.

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To be a disciple is to be about the kingdom. These two things go together. Matthew 18, 1, the disciples have questions, and what do they ask him about?

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They ask him about the kingdom. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? In Matthew 19, 23,

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Jesus tells them more about entering the kingdom of heaven. Only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. And as you go on, even beyond the gospels into Acts, you see that this is something that still concerns the disciples, is what is needed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Paul, after he is stoned and he is left for dead, and he rises up again, when does he immediately start teaching on?

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That you must endure in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Acts 14, 21, when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

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To be a disciple of someone is to be their imitator. This is not merely like the teaching that you may be used to in a standard grade school system where the teacher is just some arbitrary vessel that is passing on information from another.

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If they are teaching you out of a particular textbook, you're really more a disciple of the textbook author than you are of that teacher, or of the one that they are learning from.

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But this kind of discipleship is one where you are following the individual itself.

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This is what it means to be a disciple. If Jesus is a king, then to be his disciple is to be part of his royal priesthood.

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It is to be a citizen of that kingdom. If you say, if you see someone who has painted well with light, you might suspect that they are a student of Rembrandt.

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If you see someone who is very skilled in geometry, you might say they're a student of Euclid, or a disciple of Euclid.

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But the one who is about the kingdom, who is entering the kingdom, who is in the kingdom, and entering the kingdom, and pursuing the kingdom, that is one who is a disciple of Christ, the one who is king.

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So good works manifest discipleship, and in manifesting discipleship, they manifest the kingdom of heaven.

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Jesus said in Matthew 28, 19, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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So you see that there are two portions to this discipleship. He says go and make disciples. How are they to make disciples?

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One, by baptizing. Okay, that's the entry into being a disciple. What's the other way they're to make disciples?

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What's the other half of it? Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. One becomes a disciple through baptism, through entering that kingdom of grace, joining with the church.

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One fulfills that discipleship so that the Bible can speak, so that Jesus can speak, both in present of people being his disciples, and in future of them eventually being his disciples.

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How? Through following all that he has commanded them. There are two aspects to this discipleship.

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Discipleship commenced, and discipleship fulfilled. We are to be not only commenced disciples, but fulfilled disciples.

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And in being fulfilled disciples, we manifest that we truly are disciples, that we are not disciples in name only, fake disciples, but we are true disciples.

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This kingdom is a kingdom that has a sense of progress to it. We see all kinds of statements about the kingdom being advanced.

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In 1 Corinthians 15, speaks of every last enemy being put under Christ's feet until he reigns, but every last enemy needs to be put under his feet.

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So it speaks of him reigning in this reign that continues to be accomplished. Now, there are ways of misunderstanding this.

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Many people will look at this and think that that kingdom that is increasing is one that will be, in every respect, one that is manifest, or maybe even in most respects, one that is necessarily manifest.

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So for example, though Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world, and so he is not advancing his kingdom through the use of the sword, there are those who believe that the kingdom cannot be advanced through the use of the sword.

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Now, I'm not suggesting in any respect that the sword should not be used to uphold good order, et cetera, but as far as the kingdom goes, as far as the advancement of the church in particular goes, it will not be advanced by the use of the sword.

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And those who think it would be misunderstand the nature of the kingdom of heaven, that it is not manifest in that way in this time, but only will be fully all submitting to Christ under final pains of death at that end, at that last judgment.

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Now, there are also those who imagine that this every last enemy being put under Christ's feet, that the kingdom becomes more apparent, more manifest as individual, not individual enemies are conquered, because that is what this is speaking of, but categories of enemies being conquered.

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I have one brother in the faith who I love very much who had at one point an anti -abortion ministry that was called

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Abortion of Footstool. So this was one who believed that the kingdom of Christ would be advanced in this way, and the idea behind that name is abortion is one of these footstools that will be put under Christ's feet before the end.

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Now, I don't believe we will ever see a time where murder ceases, where lust ceases, where any category of sin ceases.

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I don't believe that we have any kind of hope that that is the case prior to that final end when

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Christ's reign is fully manifest, because he comes in judgment. Yet, we are to expect a gradual increase in other ways as more are brought into the kingdom, as more mature in the kingdom, as the gospel reaches more nations, as there are more churches created, as there are more people added to the church, as we all individually grow in maturity as God has commanded us to.

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These are the ways that the kingdom advances in particular. Now, there are also ways that are mixed.

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So I've spoken of ways that will be sudden. Case of the kingdom being enforced with the sword, that will be sudden.

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Categories of sin being completely defeated, that will be sudden on the day of judgment. Then there are gradual ways that I've spoken of that maturity, church plants, things like that.

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Now, there are also ways that would be mixed that people can get very confused by, because they reflect obedience as Jesus describes here, people being proved to be disciples by obedience, but sometimes obedience can be merely outward.

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A lot of people are looking for the advancement of Christ's kingdom through societies as a whole honoring the name of God.

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Societies as a whole just upholding good order, having better laws, things like that. Now, those are all good.

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Christians in trying to obey the

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Lord should obey the Lord in upholding civil order, and in the process, others will also likely uphold civil order.

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Yet their upholding of civil order is not in particular the fruit that this speaks of.

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The particular fruit that this speaks of is the sincere, heartfelt obedience of the disciples that proves that they themselves are the disciples.

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And so that is an issue where people can get confused and be looking for the externals of what appears to be fruit rather than looking for true fruit, which are hearts that are anchored to the vine of Christ, moved by the

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Spirit in good works. This is the way that discipleship is truly demonstrated.

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And this, more and more that there is fruit, the more that this kingdom, which is otherwise invisible, is manifest, becomes visible.

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If you think about some of the phrases that Jesus used to describe this, this is a kingdom of heaven, but he speaks about it coming to earth, right?

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When he says, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There's an idea that there is this heavenly kingdom that has some kind of presence on earth, and its visibility on earth is increased as disciples perform good works, as they are moved to truly do good works.

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If you have a graft of any kind, you know, it could be a graft for a plant, it could be a graft for, if you know anyone who's gotten surgery and gotten some kind of transplant of some sort, there is this time where you are testing, you know, waiting to see, did it truly take, is it truly part of this new organism, or is it become part of the original organism, or has the graft failed?

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And as it dies, you see that it looks like it's part of the vine, but it is not part of the vine, that this organ looked like it would join to its host, but it is not joined to its host.

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So it is with the kingdom of God. There's a heavenly kingdom, there are those who have laid claim to it outwardly, but it is only through heartfelt obedience that this becomes more and more demonstrated, and God is truly given glory.

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A lot of people think he's given glory just by more people claiming to be

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Christians. There are so many people in the world who claim to be Christians. In many ways, this takes glory from God, because there are so many who, by their evil works, bring shame to the name of Christ, so many by affirming some false version of religion bring shame to the name of Christ.

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These things do not bring glory to God. But in as much as true believers obey the way of the

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Lord, they manifest the kingdom of heaven, they ensure that there is no reason for mockery against his kingdom, and it becomes more and more apparent.

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If you care about the kingdom, if you are truly a disciple, this is something that you should desire. You should desire the kingdom to be more apparent, that people would recognize that kingdom, that people would come to it, that people would not have an occasion for slander against the kingdom.

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And in doing this, it glorifies God. By this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

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Now, why is it the case that proving to be his disciples glorifies the

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Father? Well, first of all, God has chosen to glorify himself in this kingdom.

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God has not chosen to primarily glorify himself in other ways, though he could.

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He could glorify himself in other ways that no person participated in. He has a creation that he has made, and we see this work of his hands.

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We are part of that creation, and so it is a significant thing, but he has decided to make a new creation in which we are part of that new creation that is far greater.

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And so he has decided to primarily glorify himself through that kingdom of salvation, through the kingdom in his

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Son. All of creation was made through his Son, but there's a particular way that Christ as King has made this kingdom.

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1 Peter 4, 11 says, in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. In everything,

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God may be glorified in Jesus Christ. If God wants all to be glorified and to be glorified in Jesus Christ and it is through the kingdom, which is

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Christ's particular dominion, right, him being incarnate, him being a human king, it is in that kingdom that he, that God is particularly glorified through Christ Jesus.

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Now, it is not only the fact that he has chosen this kingdom, but think of also of the nature of love that we see in this passage.

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In verse nine, it said, or in verse nine it says, as the

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Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. That's not an unrelated concept.

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This verse, it comes immediately after. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love.

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Okay, the Father has loved me. I have loved you. What you see here is the nature of the vine.

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Why does the vine have life? Father has granted the Son to have life in himself. This life comes from the

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Father through the Son to those who are grafted into the Son in order that we would have full maturity, in order that we would have full manhood.

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And it is through that communication of love from the Father through the

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Son that God is glorified because it shows that he has an abundance of love, that he is truly blessed over all, right?

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To be blessed in the primary sense is not to receive, but rather to give, that God is especially blessed in that he has all things and gives all things.

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And he has given goodness to his children through the Son. He has loved the Son, and the

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Son has loved his people. And through the

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Son, God has loved his people. I don't know if you saw the quote on the back of the bulletin this morning, but there's a phrase from George Hutchinson that I thought was particularly pointed.

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He said, for however some think they glorify him by a naked profession, and others are so presumptuous as to pretend to glorify him by persecuting his servants, yet saith

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Christ, herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so that they have need to look to it, who by their barrenness would reproach him as if he were a wilderness.

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So I know that there are some more older phrases in there that are kind of hard to follow, but if you claim by some naked profession to be in Jesus Christ, if you claim to be a son of God, and you have just a barrenness of life, what you're claiming is,

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I'm in this vine, and there is very little life that has been communicated to me.

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That doesn't just reflect poorly on yourself. It reflects poorly on God. You are claiming that he is barren.

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If he has communicated his love to the Son, and the Son communicates his love to his people, then for one to be grafted into that, to be united to the

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Father, to be united to the Son, and to not have spiritual life, is evidence that God himself is not full of life, that God himself is not blessed, or at least it would be if it was taken for truth, if it was taken at face value, that this person really is a disciple of Christ.

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It gives reason to slander the name of God, but the more we manifest this kingdom, the more we follow in his ways, the more we demonstrate

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God to the world to be one who is full of life, one who is blessed over all forever.

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Consider also what this passage says about prayer. In the previous chapter, in verse 13,

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John 14, 13, it said, whatever you ask in my name, this

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I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in the name,

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I will do it. So here he's talking about the Father being glorified in the Son again. He talks about them asking in his name so that he would do it.

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And this is his promise that he reinforces here. By this, my

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Father is glorified. And consider the previous verse in verse seven. If you abide in me, my word abide in you.

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Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. So he's echoing this thought from John 14, 13.

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Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Why does he want that? That the Father would be glorified. So consider this.

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Why would the Father be glorified in answered prayer? Once again, it's a communication of love from the

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Father to the Son to his people through the Spirit, which is that nature of that union, abiding in Christ.

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If we receive good things apart from going to God in prayer, then he is not particularly glorified because it is not clear that he is the source of them.

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As we go to the Son and receive from the Son, then God is glorified in the

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Son because it's clear that he is the source of the blessings and that they are coming through his

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Son who is King over all. So those are the primary ways that I would have you to consider how this glorifies

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God, how this manifestation of the kingdom glorifies God. One, this is simply the way that he has decided to display the kingdom.

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It is in, or decide to display his glory in a kingdom with a human king over humanity.

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On top of that, the communication of love which necessitates a life in ourselves, and then the communication of all goodness through prayer where we are acknowledging that good comes from God through Jesus Christ.

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This glorifies God. Now, God is inherently glorious apart from any such answers to prayer, apart from an evidence of life in his people, apart from the expanse of the kingdom.

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But that glory is more manifest as it is made known in the expanse of the kingdom, in the manifestation of life in his people, in the answers to prayer.

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When I first moved to California, one of the things that's impressive about this area is all the fruit trees. It's just, if you're from here, you might not think it's very impressive just to go around and see that people have a fruit tree in their yard.

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Like, that's just, it's just mind -blowing to someone who comes from somewhere else that you could have a fruit tree in your own yard.

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But what makes those fruit trees interesting to someone who's not very skilled in identifying plants is the fruit, right?

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Without the fruit, a lemon tree, an orange tree, a cedar tree, maybe not a cedar tree. I could tell the difference between that.

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But you know, a lot of other deciduous trees, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it if you were not very skilled.

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But what really makes them stand out is the fruit. You see the fruit on it, and suddenly this tree is glorious.

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Now, even in its non -fruiting season, the tree may have life in it. So the sun still has life, even if he were to have no vines connected to him.

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But it is in the vine that he has decided to make himself glorious. It is in the branches that are connected to the tree where the oranges appear and the lemons appear that the fruit tree is glorious.

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He makes the kingdom glorious through us and particularly through our fruit.

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Now, another important truth that you can take from this is that you could prove to be unfaithful.

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Those who are not truly in the sun can prove to be unfaithful. There is such a thing as a failed graft.

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There is such a thing as connecting something to the vine in such a way that appears to be connected, but is not actually connected.

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Just because you look like you're connected to the vine does not mean you are connected to the vine. You must abide in the vine.

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Jesus says in Matthew 13, 22, "'As for what was sown among thorns, "'this is the one who hears the word, "'but the cares of the world "'and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, "'and it proves unfruitful.'"

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It proves unfruitful after that season. Christ's kingdom is not a kingdom of word, but a kingdom of power.

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He will demonstrate his kingdom and power. Too many people think that they can identify as part of the body of Christ, and this guarantees them some entry into the kingdom of heaven.

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It's not by some bare, naked profession. It is by truly being attached to the vine.

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Those who are truly attached to the vine, those who are truly in Christ, evidence it by good works.

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That discipleship is not merely commenced, but it is fulfilled, it is manifest. And that manifestation makes the enjoyment of the kingdom all the greater.

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Do not lie to yourself about your nature in the kingdom. Evaluate it carefully.

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Am I truly in the vine? Has this demonstrated itself in the way that it ought?

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Not as though your works are the entryway into heaven, not as though your works are anything other than the evidence, but they are the necessary evidence.

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There's no one who will enter the kingdom without the evidence of God having worked in them.

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So ask yourself honest questions about whether or not you are in the vine.

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And look to, not the fruit, but ultimately look to the vine.

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Look to the vine as your source of life. Look to Jesus Christ as your source of life. If you feel yourself lifeless, cold -hearted, full of sin, full of fear, anxiety, all the things that demonstrate someone who is not attached to the vine because they're not full of the life and joy that God has given, run to the means that he has given you.

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Run to his word. Call out to him in prayer. Believe what he has spoken.

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Do not go about claiming to be a part of the vine, but not abiding. This is a real command to abide in the vine.

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Abide in the vine is not just some statement that's either happening spiritually or it's not happening spiritually and there's nothing that can be done.

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He has given you the means to obey this command. Follow after his word. Turn to it.

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Hold onto the promises. Grasp onto them. Believe. When you pray, pray as Christ has commanded.

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Remember, he has commanded that we pray that that kingdom come. Pray according to this.

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Pray that that kingdom would come and become more manifest on this earth. When you pray that God's will will be done as it is in heaven, that it would be done on earth as it is in heaven, be praying with the idea that he is all -powerful.

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He is above all things and there is a need for a greater manifestation of his kingdom. It's perfectly manifest in heaven.

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If you were there and you had the eyes to see it all, you would see perfectly ordered society, perfectly ordered kingdom that perfectly demonstrates the glory of God.

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Now here, that kingdom exists in great measure. It exists in a completed sense.

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Christ said it is finished. He was raised, declared to be the son of God. He is truly king.

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There is nothing lacking in his kingdom except the manifestation of that.

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But it is in the manifestation of that that we are able to enjoy it more, particularly as we are the ones who are manifesting it.

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As we are the ones that are evidencing it by that fruit. And be encouraged in the advancement of the kingdom as you understand the nature of the kingdom.

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If you believe that the nature of the advancing of the kingdom is in external things, you could become greatly distressed.

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You see martyrs, you see churches being destroyed.

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What is the natural man's reaction? The natural man who cares about the kingdom, who's not informed by the word of God.

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What would his concern be about this? His concern would be the kingdom is being destroyed. It's being defeated.

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But what is martyrdom described in this scripture? Is it not the highest of good works that could be done?

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Is it not some of the best fruit that could be given? That is the greatest that the kingdom could be manifest.

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And so you see there are examples of things where someone who's not thinking about it rightly is discouraged because they see the kingdom of God failing, when actually it's the kingdom of God being manifest in blazing glory.

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You know, there are many who are looking for the advancement of the kingdom in, for example,

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Christians rising to high places of power, things like that, because they imagine that even though Christ said the kingdom is not of this world, there's a sense in which it is.

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And, you know, one time I had, I won't say his name, but someone who's well known in those circles back when

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I was at Google tell me, you know, you go and you become the CEO of Google, because he really wanted that.

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He really wanted me to be in the high -ranking position, because that's the advancement of the kingdom of God is

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Christians sitting in high positions. You know, Christians have to take over every institution. If you think that this is what it's going to be, then you will be discouraged as you see that continue to not be the case.

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As you see the tares grow and the wheat grow at the same time, which is what Christ said would happen, you're going to be discouraged, because you're not seeing what you're expecting, which is the wheat growing and overtaking the tares.

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But Christ didn't say the wheat would grow and overtake the tares. He described in 1

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Corinthians 1, through Paul, his apostle, that he has not chosen many of the powerful people, many of the great people of the world.

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It will continue to be that way. It will not cease to be that way, that he generally chooses the lowly of the world, and yet some of those in high positions will come to him.

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It will not cease to be that way, and then suddenly it will be many of those in high positions at equal measures.

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This is not what he has promised, but if you are expecting that, you will be discouraged. But instead, as you see those in lowly positions follow him despite their lowly positions, you will understand that there's a particular way that that glorifies

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God because of the difficulty of the position, and you would rather than being discouraged by that, discouraged by seeing

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Christians not have high positions and institutions, be encouraged by seeing their endurance in low places.

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These can be reasons for encouragement rather than discouragement if you are reading them rightly according to God's word, the way he has spoken of his kingdom being manifest.

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People manifest their discipleship. They manifest themselves as students of Christ who have studied about his kingdom and are entering the kingdom.

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How? By their good works, by their fruit, by their endurance in difficulties, in trials, not by glory as the world might encounter it, or as the world might consider it.

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In 2 Corinthians, Paul receives all kinds of, all kinds of criticisms about his ministry because it doesn't appear to be a glorious ministry, so how could he say it is a glorious ministry?

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He gives all kinds of responses to this about the fact that he's been beaten down and shipwrecked and left for dead, and so on and so forth.

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He has a great treasure in jars of clay, and this is what we should expect.

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This is the glory of the kingdom is not found in that kind of outward glory.

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Rather, the way it is made outward and manifest is through the fruit that comes by the

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Spirit, that comes through us being grafted in, united to Christ through the

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Spirit, and this is a great reason for encouragement as you see it rightly.

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Pursue the kingdom of God. Pursue the kingdom of God motivated to bear fruit for all the reasons that you ought to be motivated, including the fact that you have the opportunity to take that which is inherently invisible and make it some way prior to its full manifestation at the end, to make it somewhat visible in your good works as you bear fruit, being shown to be truly

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Christ's disciples, bring glory to the Father in heaven, enjoying the goodness that can only come from him, amen.

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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your blessings to us that you have not only saved us, not only having legally accounted us as your own in Jesus Christ, but having truly in a real and spiritual way grafted us into him by your

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Spirit. We thank you for the life that you give and we pray that we would not neglect the means that you have given us, that we would not neglect to pray the

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Lord's prayer, asking for your kingdom to come, asking for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and we ask that you would manifest your kingdom more fully in us, that you would grow us to full maturity, that we would bear much fruit and so prove to be your disciples, glorifying you as we are.