Sermon: The King is on His Throne

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Open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 28. The Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 28.

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We're going to read through this chapter. It's not very long, starting in verse 1. Hear now the word of the living and the true

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God. Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week...

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Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the

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Lord descended from heaven... and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

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And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women,

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Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.

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Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples that He has risen from the dead.

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And behold, He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him. See, I have told you.

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So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy... and ran to tell His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said,

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Greetings. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped

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Him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see

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Me. While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city... and told the chief priests all that had taken place.

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And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel... they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said,

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Tell people, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep. And if this comes to the governor's ears...

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we will satisfy Him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the

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Jews to this day. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which

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Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them,

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

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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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And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Thus far is the reading of God's Holy Word.

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Let's pray. Father, thank You for the gift of Your Word. Thank You that You've preserved

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Your Word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

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Thank You that You've entrusted Your Word to Your church... that it's been delivered to us faithfully.

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And we have this beautiful revelation. Your revelation.

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Your story that brings You glory. Lord Jesus, You are the King of kings.

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The Lord of lords. The ruler of the kings of the earth. You are the promised Messiah. We confess

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You as Lord. We thank You for the gift of Your Word that shows us the greatest story ever told.

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We thank You that You're on Your throne now. You're not waiting to be seated. We thank You that You have all authority now.

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That You're the King. We thank You, Lord, that we join You, Lord, on this mission... to bring the entire world under Your feet.

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We give You praise. We pray that by Your Spirit You would teach today... that You'd get this teacher out of the way.

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People would forget me and remember Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen. So here we are, the last message in Matthew, the

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Kingdom of God series. We've gone through this entire text. And when we started this we were thinking...

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as a relatively newer church plant. When we first started we had babies, all baby

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Christians. I mean, they were all... We're at a drug rehab in the family building. And people in the room, there was very few of them.

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But they were all on detox medication in halfway houses. Brand new babies. And so when we first started, we started with a series on doctrine.

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Just teaching these baby believers who is God? What's the Gospel? What is this revelation?

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How do I know it's the Word of God? How can I trust it? What is justification? What is sanctification?

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Just the basics. We were just giving milk, but important truths. We were building a solid foundation for our church body.

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And then as we moved on and we're growing as a church body... deeply in fellowship and our communion with one another and with God...

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we got to the point where we said, okay, now we need to do... an expositional working through an entire book.

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Which ones are going to be? And so we chose Matthew because...

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all of the Gospels and all the New Testaments... assumes the Old Testament underneath it.

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It's all the same God, the same story, that same revelation continuing. It's not a novelty.

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It's something that's attached to God's story. It's just a continuation of a story. The entire New Testament does that.

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But the Gospel according to Matthew is clearly, clearly... seeped in the

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Old Testament revelation. It is seeped in the Old Testament revelation. Matthew loves the prophet

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Isaiah. He loves the Old Testament. And so throughout the Gospel of Matthew... you are getting so much of the

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Old Testament revelation. So we thought, okay, this would be a perfect, really... first book of the

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New Testament for a baby church... for this brand new church plant because...

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this will allow us to teach our people about the Old Testament... as we're giving them

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Jesus. And that's really the point of Matthew. That's Matthew's whole aim. And it's interesting because if you understand that Old Testament revelation...

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if you understand the scene that the first century Jews were in... in terms of expectation...

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you can understand this last section of Matthew. This last part is that explosive moment, right?

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In the movie you're waiting for. You watch that entire movie to get to the climax. Don't you hate when you watch a movie and it has no climax?

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It has no ending? I mean, unbelievers today tell terrible stories. I've seen so many movies over the last decade where...

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you invest your time, two hours or two and a half hours in watching a story... and you get to the end of the story and there's no end to the story.

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There's no climax. There's no sort of oomph to the movie. Christians shouldn't write stories like that...

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because we have a solid basis of a story teller. What should a story be like? And this is perfection.

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Because if you understand their setting and what they understood... and what they were standing on, what they were waiting for... you understand that Matthew completes his gospel...

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clearly aimed at Jewish people with a Jewish understanding... understanding Torah and Tanakh, the

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Old Testament revelation. He ends it with the climax that would have been so meaningful...

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to a first century Jew. It should be entirely meaningful also to 21st century modern evangelicals...

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but we've in many ways lost our way... and our understanding of the scope of the gospel of the kingdom...

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and just the glory of Christ and His authority. But here it is. The story ends, Matthew's gospel ends...

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with the statement, all authority... in heaven and on earth...

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has been given to me. That's past tense. That's first century. That's done.

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That's complete. Jesus has all authority. He's not waiting for it. He came to get it.

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That was the purpose of His mission. They were waiting for the kingdom of God, the rule of God in history...

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and now Matthew is shouting to the world, it's here. It's arrived.

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Not kind of, not in a way, but in reality. The Messianic King is here.

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He has ascended. He has seated. So the long -anticipated story of Mashiach...

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that he would rule the world and subdue the nations... and establish salvation and peace and justice...

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it's finally arrived. That whole story has come true.

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God kept His promise. And so He says, Jesus is ascending...

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and He says, all authority in heaven and on earth... has been given to me. And He says, on that basis, therefore...

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because that's true. You can go win the nations now. You can go get

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Abraham's descendants. In you, Abraham, shall all the nations be blessed.

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Well, now you can actually be a part of that. Why? Because all authority is His. He owns it.

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He's in charge. And here's the challenge for the moment... in terms of completing Matthew, thinking through this climax.

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Here's the challenge to all of us... in this room and around the world, whoever's going to hear this message...

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is we tend to think today... in terms of a compartmentalized spirituality...

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where Jesus is Lord. He has all authority in my heart... in my home...

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between me and my wife, my spouse, my kids. In this church, Jesus has all authority.

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We tend to compartmentalize the Christian faith... to think, well, it exists over here in this sphere of the church...

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and it's really like a heavenly story, right? It's up there somewhere. Like, Jesus is the boss.

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He's Lord. He's in charge. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. But it's really a heavenly reality.

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It's out there. His authority exists really up there in that cloud space. Up there, with fat babies and harps on clouds, right?

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Like, we have these weird pictures even of heaven and what that's like. But no, the story actually ends in Matthew's gospel with...

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all authority in heaven and on earth... has been given to me on that basis, go win the nations.

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Teach them. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son... and of the Holy Spirit in the name singular...

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of the three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit... and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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So the point is, all authority is mine here on this planet. Now go win the nations.

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Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit... and teach them to obey Jesus. That's the scope of the gospel.

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That's such a glorious summary of everything the

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Old Testament anticipated. And it's just in a couple verses. Everything they were told in whole discourses of the

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Old Testament. These beautiful portrayals of Mashiach and his kingdom... and his rule and justice and peace.

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Everything condensed down to this little section at the climax of Matthew. I'm in charge of everything, everywhere.

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I've got it all. Now go get the nations for me... and teach them to obey me.

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That's the entire summary of the whole story. And so Matthew in 28, 18 through 20...

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is shouting affirmation of God's faithfulness to his story. Here's the challenge.

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This is an aside. Because we miss the substance of what the Old Testament anticipated...

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and what Matthew is doing here in terms of giving you the climax saying... okay, it's fulfilled now. Now that story is playing out the way you expected.

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Because we miss the substance of it, we lose so much as a church...

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in terms of where is Jesus in charge, right? I'll give you an example.

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This week one of our members who's a part of our team... who's contacting churches in Louisiana...

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was contacting churches in Louisiana. I think talked to a pastor and the pastor was like... we don't want anything to do with this really.

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Why? Because we're about the gospel. We're about the gospel here.

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And so we shouldn't get involved in issues of sin in society. That's out there. Do you see the problem? Do you see the problem?

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As you see, Jesus is Lord over us in the church. But He's not Lord out there, right?

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And so there could be all kinds of things happening out there. Jesus isn't concerned with that because what is He concerned with?

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He's concerned with a private salvation... an intimate encounter with Himself. He's not concerned with ruling and reigning over the world...

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and having all the nations actually obey Him. Do you see? Do you see the problem? How does

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Matthew end his gospel? With exactly that story... that absolutely everything is under the authority of Jesus.

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Right? If it's in this world, He has something to say about it. And that is, by the way...

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a distinctive teaching of the Christian church through the ages... is that Jesus is in charge of absolutely everything.

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There is no sphere outside of His authority and His control. So no matter what you're talking about... the family, is

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Jesus in charge there? Does He have something to say there? Yes. Education, is

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Jesus in charge there? Well, is it in this world? Then He has authority over it. How about the arts?

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Is Jesus in charge there? Is it in this world? He has authority over it. How about medicine?

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Is it in this world? Jesus has something to say about that. He has authority to speak to every area of life.

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We teach people this is what the King's law is... concerning those things.

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And isn't it amazing in the history of the Christian church... when the church understands the Great Commission...

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when the church understands the glory of this moment... the church is advancing in powerful ways. Do you know who sent out the most missionaries in history?

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The most powerful gospel missions in the history of the church... was during the time of the Reformation... when you had people who had a vision of the glory and authority of Jesus...

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that it was all -encompassing... and the goal is to expand the kingdom of the

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Messiah... over every part of this planet. And they sent out missionaries with that mindset.

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Win the world. Win everything. Have everyone come to Jesus. You know, fairly recently in our history...

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people have been using this terminology of Christian nationalists. And in some ways

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I'm like, I don't even know what you're talking about. What is this, a new term you can load all kinds of weird definitions into? But people somehow are saying around this term...

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they're saying like, yeah, these Christians who believe... like, the entire world is supposed to be in subjection to Jesus.

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Like, the entire world is supposed to be Christian. And I feel like when I hear that, I go, ah.

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What's the appropriate, like, strong philosophical response? Duh. Like, 2 ,000 years of church history and you're just figuring this out?

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That the goal of the Great Commission is to win all the nations to Jesus? That every nation, every knee...

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would bow at the authority of Jesus and confess Jesus as Lord? You know, it's amazing.

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I love this story. Our church has invested so much in Kauai, in the

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Hawaiian Islands. Our goal is to see the entire Hawaiian Kingdom, you know, come under the rule of Christ.

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That's been our goal. We're passionate about that. But one of the things I love is the story of Hawaii. Here you have people who were pagans.

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Here you have people who are apart from Christ. And the first missionaries come out to the Hawaiian Islands, 1820.

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And within 20 years, did you hear that? Within 20 years, Hawaii was over 90 % professing

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Christian. In 20 years of mission work, 90 % professing Christian.

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The Hawaiian Islands were a Christian kingdom. When they established their Hawaiian, the Kingdom of Hawaii Constitution, they actually named in their

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Constitution the biblical God. They said no law of the Hawaiian Kingdom will be at variance...

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with the laws of Jehovah God. That's 20 years of missionary work.

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Those Christians had a different perspective, didn't they? Because they worked in every area.

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As a matter of fact, it's pretty controversial when the first missionaries get out there... and pastors are out there and they're preaching the gospel...

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and people are coming to Christ. Do you know what was controversial? Is that one of the main pastors was influencing even the government they were forming at that time...

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that it would be fundamentally Christian, fundamentally under the rule of Christ. And the first thing they worked on was actually criminalizing prostitution...

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which was a real problem in Hawaii. They said that's a sin against God. You know, we need to obey Jesus and so prostitution needs to be illegal.

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It's very controversial. They were actually saying that. That your allegiance to Christ should actually bleed out into the laws of your culture.

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Like being a nation that's converted to Christ does something weird. It makes you look

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Christian. Isn't that strange? It's anticipation. But here's the amazing thing about this moment...

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is that this particular text, understanding it... gives you an understanding of the scope of the entire story of the

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Old Testament revelation. When you see what Matthew's doing here... he's putting the cherry on top of his story saying, and there it is.

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It's finished. It's done. Look at this masterpiece that God has given to us in history.

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This is finally here. It's arrived. Now this world starts to progressively come under the feet of Jesus.

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We're expanding his rule and his reign. That's why the Apostle Paul at the

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Areopagus, Mars Hill... it is a pagan place. It's not a quote -unquote religious place in terms of like the synagogue or anything like that.

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It's a place of paganism and false gods. He's probably being put up on charges.

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I would argue that's probably what's happening at Mars Hill... because it's a preliminary hearing in a sense to say, what is this guy teaching and believing?

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He disses their false gods. He says there's only one true God. And he says this to pagans, under Caesar's rule...

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that God commands men everywhere to repent. That's the call of the gospel coming from the apostles.

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It's not the modern, squishy version of the gospel that we preach today, right?

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Like God has a wonderful plan for your life and Jesus loves you. Won't you just give him a chance and all that stuff?

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No, he actually says God commands men everywhere to repent. Why? Because he's raised his

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Messiah from the dead. He's ruling now and so repent and repent in a hurry. Now question,

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God commands men everywhere to repent. Who's that directed to?

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No trick questions today. Easy stuff, right? Everywhere. Does that include Caesar?

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Is Caesar a man? Does God command men everywhere to repent? Yeah, people say like, well, the

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Christian church has like a privatized... it's all about individuals over here. It's not speaking everywhere to everyone.

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We're not anticipating that every single person comes under the rule of Jesus, right? All authority, heaven, earth, mine, go get them.

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And so the apostles preach a 100 proof gospel. God commands men everywhere to repent.

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That means that the mission of the gospel of the kingdom... is to win this entire world to Jesus Christ.

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That is the goal, brothers and sisters. Don't be ashamed of it. When our spiritual ancestors were moving and transforming the world with the gospel...

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they came into the world with this in mind. Everything's coming under the feet of Jesus. He's already on his throne.

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Let's go expand his rule and his reign and let's go get his sheep. That's the goal.

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And it's all summarized right here in these beautiful two verses. But you see, we don't understand the implications.

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Because today, largely... listen, not everybody. Largely, we've ecclesiasticized the

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Bible. Dr. Joe Boot uses that terminology a lot. I think it's perfect to describe.

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We've ecclesiasticized the Bible. What's that mean? The word, the Greek word, ecclesia or ecclesia...

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that word, the assembly, it's the word for church. Ecclesia, ecclesia, the church, the assembly of called out ones, you.

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We've ecclesiasticized the Bible. In other words, today, we think this book, this revelation is for the church.

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It's for this moment, right? And boy, doesn't the world love that.

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Don't they love that perspective? Like, you can have your Bible, you can do your thing... but as long as you do it between those walls...

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and between your ears and behind your eyes, that's where that's allowed to stay. And so we've ecclesiasticized the

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Bible. We don't think the authority of Jesus is on earth. We think it's in the heavenly places.

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We think it's over the heavenly things. We think it's over just the church. So we've ecclesiasticized the

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Bible. We have, and that's displayed so much in the failures of the modern church...

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to resist the darkness that has encroached upon us. When you look at Matthew's story, he says all the authority is

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Jesus's. It's up and down, it's everywhere. Now go win the nations and teach them to obey Jesus. Now, Christians in history that understood the authority of Jesus...

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they knew that it went everywhere. I constantly highlight this because I don't want us to forget it. Listen, America is not the jewel in God's eye...

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and the centerpiece of the entire story of redemption. We're all good with that, yes? This is one place, and he's come under the feet of Jesus, got that.

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But we have a history of Christians, consistent Christians... who didn't fight perfectly, but they fought faithfully in many, many ways.

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And so you have a history in our nation where Christians came over here... and when they were establishing communities... they actually named

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Jesus Christ in their charter documents. When they would make treaties with somebody...

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they would name the triune God of the Bible. John Jay, our first Supreme Court Justice.

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If you look at the case law system in our nation... that came from Moses through Christian history...

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into this nation, case law, and that's based on Moses. So John Jay, a solid

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Christian, quotes explicitly... as the first Supreme Court Justice in his case law examples...

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he quotes explicitly from the Bible. Go look it up. He quotes from Exodus. He quotes from Deuteronomy.

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He quotes from Leviticus. Why? Because he understood that Jesus is the authority... and he's king over this nation.

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If I'm going to be a judge, I'm going to be a judge that's faithful to Jesus. And so what is law apart from him?

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His law reigns. His rule is supreme. And so he puts the law word of God into those examples...

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because they didn't understand that the Bible was simply a book... for the religious over here in this little circle.

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They understood that Christ had all authority. They didn't ecclesiasticize the Bible. They saw

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Jesus as ultimate over all things. Over all things. So we don't understand the implications of Matthew's final statement here...

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because we've ecclesiasticized the Bible. Next, we've privatized the Christian faith.

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We've privatized the Christian faith. We think that it's just about my own personal salvation...

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and going to heaven one day. Like if you ask the average evangelical today...

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If you say, hey, can you explain to me the gospel of the kingdom? Why is the kingdom good news?

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Because the word gospel means good news. And so Jesus was preaching in Matthew's gospel.

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As soon as he's introduced with the trial in the wilderness... Jesus comes out of the wilderness proclaiming something...

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that modern evangelicals don't have a clue about, unfortunately. The gospel of the kingdom.

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Why is the rule of the Messiah good news for the world? Can you explain that?

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You see, we have a hard time today because we've privatized the Christian faith... in terms of, listen, this is what it's about.

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It's about my own personal intimate relationship with Jesus... my own salvation, my own going to heaven today.

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And the answer is, well, yeah. I mean, when you trust in Christ, you're going to heaven one day.

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Of course, you're reconciled to God through faith... and you're going to heaven one day, and you're going to be alone. Yeah, that's part of the story, but that is a small part of the story.

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The story goes beyond you and your private experience. You're part of Christ's body. And God is doing something in the world with his rule and kingdom in the world.

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And you're a part of that. It is not just about you going to heaven one day. That's one part of it, but it's not everything.

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We've privatized the Christian faith. We've also not understood the implications of Matthew's ending here...

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because we have today, in many ways, denied the present reality of the kingdom...

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which the New Testament authors and apostles constantly affirm... that Jesus is on his throne now.

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That he's ruling and reigning now. You know it. It's instinctive for us as Christians.

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He's king of what? Lord of what? King of kings and lord of lords.

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Not just a good bumper sticker or an ugly Christian t -shirt. Right? It's the truth.

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King of kings and lord of lords. That he's actually the king now and his kingdom is advancing now.

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And that it's really advancing. We've denied the present reality of the kingdom of Christ.

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And finally, we've limited the authority of Jesus...

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and the scope of his messianic mission on earth. We've become so gnostic and dualist in our thinking as Christians in the

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Western Church. We think all that matters is this higher spiritual story.

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God doesn't care about this world and the physical world. All this is going to the gutter anyways. What matters is that life there, that high spiritual story up there.

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It's like, okay, welcome to Gnosticism. Welcome to Gnosticism. That's not a Christian view or a biblical view of the world and life at all.

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And we've limited his authority. And we think that salvation is just about me and Jesus.

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But it's much bigger. You see, in order to understand Matthew's masterpiece... in order to understand it, everything we've done over the last couple of years...

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I've tried my very best at times, I know, being totally repetitive... to keep making sure that our feet are firmly planted on solid ground.

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I've tried to teach that to understand this masterpiece... we must stand on what

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Matthew is standing on. Right? Now this becomes difficult, admittedly, right? This becomes difficult.

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How many of you guys came to Christ, like, later, later in life? Like, late teenage years, adult life?

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Okay, so a bunch of heathens first. But then we had... just teasing. So what happens is this.

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We go to the Bible and we pick it up. We're totally new to it.

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We're fresh. We're not raised in a Jewish worldview, in the Old Testament worldview.

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And so we pick up Matthew and we almost start it like it's brand new... and there's nothing behind it.

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Right? And so when you're reading stuff in it, some stuff might sound strange and unusual to you...

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because you're not familiar with that previous revelation. You're not standing on what Matthew stood on.

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But in order to understand his masterpiece... which ends with this climax in Matthew 28, 18 through 20...

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you have to stand on what Matthew stood on. Like, why would this last section be like the eye -popping moment?

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Right? If you were in synagogue and someone gave to you the Gospel according to Matthew... and said, hey, this just happened.

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And this is eyewitness testimony. Can you read this? And if you were seeped in synagogue in Torah and the

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Tanakh... you're reading it. You get to the end, whether you accept it or not. You know what Matthew is saying.

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When he ends it and says, all authority in heaven and earth is mine. Now go get the world, teach them to obey me.

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You know what Matthew is saying. Oh, you're saying that he's Mashiach? That he's the one that was promised?

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That he's going to bring salvation and peace and justice to the world? That the whole world is going under his feet?

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That he's going to have victory over this entire world? You're saying it's this Jesus? They would have understood.

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Because they knew their scriptures. We've got to stand on what he was standing on. And what was he standing on?

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First, expectation. What was the expectation of Mashiach? Now by the way, I gave you a question.

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I said, can you, as a modern day Christian in the West... can you even explain the

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Gospel of the Kingdom? Like we typically know what we mean when we say Gospel, right? What do we mean today when we say

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Gospel to a person on an individual basis? We're generally talking about reconciliation, peace with God.

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We're talking about justification. God not counting your sins against you. When he's actually counting you as righteous.

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Romans 4, apart from your works. We're talking about that internal operation of the Gospel... that is truly, truly intimate.

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It's truly personal. But when we talk about the Gospel, that's what we generally mean on a regular basis.

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It's individual. Because we're talking about individual reconciliation. But when

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I asked you, can you explain the good news of the Kingdom? Why the rule of Mashiach?

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Why that's good news? It comes down to this point here at least.

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The expectation from the Old Testament. Matthew is in that setting. It's behind them.

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They've been waiting now, even in this period of silence... where they're just waiting and waiting. And they're like, I know we're in the time of the

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Messiah. God told us exactly when it was going to happen. Someone here is the Messiah. Someone here is the

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Messiah. And they know what they're waiting for. There was expectation. And what was it?

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A couple of verses. I'm not going to exhaust this. Because I do want you to go home tonight. I'm tempted, because this is my last sermon, just to go for broke.

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And be like, hey, let's make it a four hour one, okay? I'm not going to do that to you. But what was the expectation?

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It was victory. Victory. Victory. We've been living in a time where it's nothing but pessimism, pessimism, pessimism.

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And I'm not talking about the unbelievers. I'm talking about the church. I'm talking about the church in the last generation...

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has been seeped in pessimism. What's the pessimism? At any moment, we're getting raptured out of here.

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We're getting out of here. And to hell with the world, quite literally. It's going to hell in a hand basket.

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So why bother polishing brass on a sinking ship, right? Who cares? And it's pessimism.

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It's getting worse and worse and worse. We think that. We don't think with a kingdom mindset... of the advance of the kingdom like a seed to a tree...

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and like leaven and a lump of dough. We don't believe the victorious nature of the prophecies of Messiah. So we don't get this.

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But Matthew does. And that's why he ends his gospel with it. It's here now. It's arrived.

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He's the king. Now go win the world. Because he has all the authority. Nothing's going to stop him.

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How do you know that nothing's going to stop Jesus? Because the promises of the

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Old Testament... not just the words of the apostles... not just the words of Jesus... the promises of the

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Old Testament tell you... that the Messiah is going to have victory in this world.

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And that's why this is so meaningful for Matthew... to put that at the end of the revelation and go... It's here.

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We're going to win. Why? Because he has all authority. So Genesis 3, Old Testament.

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Genesis 3. You know the story of the fall. Fall enters. Sin enters. Death enters. And the first thing

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God does... is He promises Jesus. It could have been much worse, right?

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It should have been much worse. Morally speaking... speaking justly, it should have been much, much worse.

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But God is a God of love and grace and mercy. And so the fall enters. And the first thing God does is He promises

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Jesus. He says, the seed of the woman... the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. And then

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God does this amazing thing where these animals die. And He has the first sacrifice. Innocent for guilty.

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Bloodshed. He has the animals die. He rejects the covering Adam and Eve tried to do to cover their shame.

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And He covers them in the skins of the animal... just giving them a little taste... of what's to come with Jesus.

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And it's right there as you open your Bibles in Genesis 3. It's right there at the beginning. It's Jesus from the start.

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And then as you move forward in Genesis... the expectation for every Jew... was Genesis 22 -17,

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Genesis 26 -4. You know it. In you, Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be what?

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Blessed. All the nations will be blessed. You're going to have descendants as numerous as the stars.

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It'll be like the sand on the seashore. That's a heck of a lot of stars. That's a whole lot of sand.

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You really think Jesus is going to be defeated in history? That He's going to fail in terms of His victory over the world?

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No, this is good news of His rule. Why? Because now all the families of the earth can return to worship

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God. The nations are going to be blessed in Abraham. How? Through Mashiach.

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He's going to win the world. It's coming. It's coming. Whether you like it or not...

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whether you resist it or not... God has sworn by Himself...

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that He's going to do this. And that's why it's assured. That's why it's guaranteed. That's why it's absolute.

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And that's why Matthew's climax to the story is so very meaningful. Because this is good news for the world.

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The world is dark. It is decaying. It is depraved. It is unjust. It is full of sin.

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It is corrupt. And this Messiah is going to draw the nations to God. This world will be won by the

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King. Because He has all authority. Because He's conquered death. And He's conquered our greatest enemy.

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That's good news. And it's good news for the world because it means light in darkness.

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It means justice where there's injustice. And it means peace with God for the nations. And so that's why it was good news.

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But Genesis 49 .10 was another Messianic statement. And it was that someone is coming.

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Shiloh. Some translations will put that right in there. Shiloh is coming. And it says this. Ready? It says,

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Did you hear it? Genesis. First book of the Bible. First book of the

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Bible in the first five books of Moses. I mean, that's the law. They know the law. They love the law.

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And guess what Matthew does? He goes, okay, here's what Jesus said last. He has all the authority in heaven and earth.

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He says, go make disciples. He says, baptize them. And teach them to obey me.

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What was the promise of the Old Testament? All the nations are coming to God. Shiloh is coming. And to him shall be the obedience of the nations.

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Are you seeing the fulfillment? That's why it's good news of his kingdom. All the nations are coming under the feet of Jesus.

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Another one. We could do this for days. Psalm Chapter 2. You don't have to get far into the

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Jewish hymnal where you realize there's this Messianic Psalm where interestingly the

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Jews have got to be confused about this at times. How many times God is talking to God in the Old Testament?

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The Father is talking to the Son. One God. Three distinct co -eternal, co -equal persons.

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But there seems to be a relationship going on between persons here with this one God. And in Psalm Chapter 2, the

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Father says to the Son, he says, ask of me.

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And I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession.

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Now, one of my heroes of the Christian faith, you know, I've said this to you a thousand times, but I think it's powerful.

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It's a potent point. He said, do you think that Jesus forgot to ask?

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Father says, ask of me. I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession.

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Do you think Jesus forgot to ask? Clearly no, because Matthew's climax says, what about Jesus?

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It's all mine. And do what? Go get the nations. The Father says,

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I'll give them all to you, the very ends of the earth for your possession. And then the Father has a warning for the rulers of this world.

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And he says, what about the rulers of this world? He says to them, obey the Son or you'll perish.

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Obey the Son or you'll perish. That's in Psalm chapter 2. Then you move forward in Psalm 22 that we've talked a lot recently about.

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The Psalm 22 is the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. It's a story of this suffering servant of God being pierced through for our transgressions.

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They pierce his hands and his feet. They'd be like dogs wagging their heads at him. They'd be casting lots for his clothing.

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His heart would be like wax melted within him. But that story ends. Same psalm.

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Passion of the Messiah, his crucifixion. And then it ends with the glory of his resurrection.

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And it says all the families of the earth will return to worship Yahweh. So what do you see in that psalm?

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They're singing about it like a thousand years before Jesus. They're singing about his death. They're singing about his resurrection.

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And they're singing that all the nations are coming to God. I love to point this out.

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And some of you guys might be tired of it by now. But I can't stop. I can't resist a room like this.

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When you think about the fulfillment here, the victory of the Messiah, a room like this is glorious.

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It is. Here we are in the desert. So far away from where this story was told in the 21st century, people in this room confessing

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Christ as God, as Savior, as Lord, submitted to him together, unified in a single body.

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And this room, represented in this room, are people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. Just look around you.

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Look at all the colors. I'm not going to ask you to turn to your neighbor and say something to him. I hate that, right? I make you so uncomfortable.

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When people do that, I won't do that. But look at your neighbor real fast and say it. I'm just joking, OK? But if you look, this room is such a beautiful representation because I'd say probably there's very few of us in this room that can say that we have a connection ethnically to the people of Israel.

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Very few. This room is filled with people who are descendants of pagan ancestors.

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Just look at our colors. Look at the mixture of colors. Look at the unity we have in Christ.

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Look at the nations that have come to God just in this one space. That's the victory of the

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Messiah. That's what was expected. All the families of the earth returning to worship God. And Jesus says it.

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OK, now go get them. You know the promises. You know what's told to you is to come.

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Now go get the nations. Psalm 72, 5 through 7, was just quoted. I had

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Giovanni come up here and read that specifically for today because it's one of the Messianic victory psalms.

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And what's it say? What's the bold statement? What's the bold statement in Psalm 72 that we need to get our hearts and minds wrapped around in the world today if we're going to be effective ministers of the gospel?

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It says this about the Messiah. Long before Jesus comes, he shall have dominion.

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He shall have dominion. His enemies will bow down and lick the dust.

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He will have dominion. He shall have dominion. That's the promise of Messiah. He's going to have dominion over the entire world.

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Psalm 72, 8 through 11, more testimony. And of course, I have to put a cap on it that you already know.

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I'm going to go to Psalm 110, the most quoted verse from the

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Old Testament in the New Testament. Clearly, they knew where they were going. Gospel of the kingdom,

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Psalm 110, 1. It says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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That was the favorite verse of the apostles and New Testament writers. They quoted it more and alluded to it more than anything.

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What do you think they were trying to communicate to future generations of believers? Defeat or victory?

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Victory, because they know he's at the right hand of God. That's his position of authority.

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Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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And then God says that he's going to put all of Christ's enemies under his feet as a footstool for his feet.

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Jesus says, all the authority is mine. He says, now, therefore, go get the nations, disciple them, baptize them, and teach them to obey me.

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That's everybody coming under the feet of Jesus. That's everybody coming under his feet. There's more.

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Isaiah chapter 2 is the promise, Isaiah's expectation of this Messiah who's coming.

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He gives it in this beautiful, this beautiful story. He says he sees all the nations streaming up to God's mountain.

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And I've said this before, water doesn't typically stream upwards. Well, it never does.

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And so when Isaiah gives you the vision in Isaiah 2 of the nations streaming up to God's mountain, what's he telling you?

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God's drawing the nations up to him. And it says that this

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Messiah is going to bring the salvation to the world. And it says the law will go forth from Zion, the people of God, God's law.

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Why is it good news of a kingdom? Because God's law is just, perfect, true, good, holy.

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And so when you have the nations coming up to God's mountain, and now they long for God's Torah, they long for God's law, they love his statutes, they love his law, and his law goes forth from the people of God.

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A world that is converted to Christ, that loves and longs for God's law, is a world where there is justice, and righteousness, and peace, and holiness.

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That's why it's good news of a kingdom. Isaiah chapter 9, 6 through 7, famous Christmas verse.

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What does it say about the increase of his kingdom? There will be what?

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No ends. On the throne of David, to establish it, ready, with justice and righteousness forevermore.

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Why is it good news of a kingdom? Because it's news of God doing something in Messiah, where his rule is going to expand forevermore, and he will establish justice and righteousness in the earth.

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And I've got to tell you one of my go -to passages for solace with God as Christians.

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When we proclaim the gospel and the excellencies of Christ, and you see madness out there, and you see people resisting

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God's law and his holiness, it looks like, how is this ever going to happen? How are we going to establish justice here or there?

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How are we going to have the gospel have victory around us here or there? It looks impossible right now.

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It looks so hard in some places. That passage in Isaiah 9 says what? How is it going to take place?

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. God's going to do it.

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He does it through his people, yes. But it's God who does it. He's going to accomplish it.

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That's where the victory comes from. And then there's Daniel 7, 13 through 14. By the way, not only was this prophesied, but you know the

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New Testament authors were thinking of Daniel when they're putting this into the record itself.

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Daniel 7, 13 through 14, famous scene of the Son of Man. There's worship taking place over this

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Messianic figure in Daniel 7. It really is amazing. It testifies to so much about Jesus as God receiving worship.

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There's a lot here. But in Daniel 7, 13 through 14, Daniel's looking in the night visions.

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And it says, he sees one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. And it says that he comes up to the

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Ancient of Days and is presented before him. And to him is given a kingdom, dominion, glory.

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And it says that all the nations, tribes, tongues, people, nations are going to come to him. And his kingdom is an everlasting one.

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His dominion will not pass away. So think about it. 700 years before Jesus comes,

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Daniel says, I've got a vision of a son of man coming up to the Ancient of Days. And he's given a kingdom that will never pass away.

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And all the tribes, people, tongues, nations are going to serve him. Matthew 28, what takes place?

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All authority is mine. Go get the nations, teach them to obey. And what do we know took place?

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He ascended. Where did he go? Up. What did he receive? A kingdom that would never pass away.

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Everybody is coming under the feet of Jesus. There's more. But understanding

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Matthew's masterpiece, you need to understand the expectation of victory of the Messiah. That's why it's a masterpiece. That's why it's a big deal.

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Next, you have to understand the expectation of salvation. What is Matthew covering in his gospel?

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He's covering Isaiah 53. What was the Messiah supposed to accomplish?

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Not just justice, not just peace, not just drawing the nations to God, but salvation.

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What's Isaiah 53 promise about the righteous servant? What's it say? It says that Yahweh was going to lay on him the iniquity of us all.

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That he would have no deceit in his mouth. That he be pierced through for our transgressions.

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That he's going to be crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement for our well -being fell upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

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It says that he would justify the many as he would bear their iniquities. It says that he'd be cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of God's people.

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That's all in Isaiah 53. And I've got to say to you, if you're hearing that right now, and you're like, that all sounds like Jesus. It's like, yes, because you know the story of Jesus.

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But understand how strange that had to sound to Jewish people who first received that revelation 700 years before Jesus.

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Who's this person who's coming who has no sin? We all have sin.

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Who's this person coming that actually can be a sin bearer? There's no human like that.

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David's not like that. Saul's certainly not like that. Moses isn't like that. Isaiah himself, he's the one who wrote that revelation.

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And in Isaiah 6, when he sees a vision of God's holiness, he's immediately aware of his own filthy mouth.

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Immediately. He covers his mouth. He's like completely aware of where he's at.

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But that same one who does that says in Isaiah 53, there's no deceit in his mouth.

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The one who's coming. The one who's coming. The one who's going to bring peace and salvation.

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The one who's going to be cut off. He's going to die a violent death. And he's going to rise again from the dead. It's all in Isaiah 53.

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The righteous servant. Next, you have to understand, to understand the glory and masterpiece of Matthew's story, that the expectation of the

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Old Testament, what Matthew's standing on, is victory, salvation, and judgment.

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I'm going to do this quickly. Isaiah 65, Joel 2, Malachi 3, and Malachi 4.

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We've done this when we did the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24 for like two years.

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We did it. You heard me say this a lot. The promise was, Messiah was coming. He was going to bring purification, salvation from sin, and he was going to bring judgment upon the covenant -breaking

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Jews. So if you're standing in the Old Testament, you know there's victory over the world, salvation and forgiveness, and there's going to be judgment.

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Judgment on who? Well, in this case, for Matthew, judgment upon the covenant -breaking

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Jews. It had to happen. Joel 2, Malachi 3, Malachi 4,

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Isaiah 65 said that the covenant people, the unfaithful, were going to be judged in the coming of Messiah.

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And Matthew does that quickly, starting in Matthew 1. Matthew 1, the genealogy.

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Why is it there? Because Matthew's got to prove something to you. Jesus has the right to the

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Davidic throne. He has the royal right as king to rule the world. So as much as you want to just pass by that genealogy, understand that for the first century

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Christians, the Jews, they needed to demonstrate that Jesus has a right to this throne. He's ruling the world.

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God did the genealogy right to Jesus. So Matthew shows you that, the genealogies.

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He starts off shouting this. Ready? The king is here. Let me prove it to you.

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These are his parents. This is his history. He has a right to the throne. So Matthew starts his gospel with Jesus as the king.

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He ends his gospel with what? Jesus is the king. Book ends.

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So the genealogy is proof that Jesus is the king, truly has right to the throne. In Matthew chapter 2,

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Matthew starts to recapitulate the history of Israel to show you that Jesus is actually the righteous servant that Israel was supposed to be.

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God refers to Israel in the book of Isaiah as the righteous servant, only that they have failed at their vocation.

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And he introduces Jesus as the king. And he is the truly righteous Israelite. He's what

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Israel was supposed to be. So he recapitulates the life of Israel. What do you have in Matthew 2?

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You've got a ruler trying to kill babies. And they have to escape. Who's that sound like? Moses.

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You have Matthew appealing to a passage from the Old Testament that was about Israel. Out of Egypt, I called my son.

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He applies it to Jesus. He says it was actually about Jesus. The story was anticipating Jesus.

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And so you also have Matthew chapter 3. The first thing, I want you to see it with your own eyes to see that this is a theme of the book.

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Matthew chapter 3, the promised forerunner from Malachi chapter 3 in the Old Testament.

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The forerunner was supposed to precede Jesus before judgment on the covenant breaking Jews. In Matthew chapter 3, it says in those days

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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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What's that mean? The rule of God is at the fingertips reach.

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It's right here. So he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet

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Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

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So John the Baptist enters, and his message is what? The kingdom of heaven.

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The kingdom of God. That's how the story starts. Jesus, right to the throne, Matthew 1.

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Matthew 3, kingdom of God has arrived. And then, of course, you have this moment in Matthew 3 where John the

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Baptist, not Presbyterian, the Baptist.

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That was a joke, just to see if you're awake. I love you, Presbyterians. He starts speaking to the

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Pharisees and Sadducees, and he calls them a brood of vipers, and he warns them about the judgment that's about to come, and he actually says his winnowing fork is in his hand, and the axe is already laid at the root of the trees.

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Now, if you've read Malachi 3 and 4, you know that it says that the forerunner comes, and then the

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Messiah comes, and then there's going to be judgment and salvation. Judgment upon the unfaithful, covenant -breaking

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Jewish people. And Matthew's already opened his gospel.

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What is he doing? He's basically telling you the fulfillment of Malachi 3 and John the

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Baptist. John the Baptist is warning the covenant -breaking Jews. He's like, you better repent in a hurry and bear fruit because the axe is already laid at the root of the trees.

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That's Malachi 3. That's a straight connection. That's where the story's coming from. Then you have, of course,

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Matthew chapter 4. I want you to see this with your own eyes. You should already be in 3, so look at 4. Jesus goes into the wilderness.

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He shows that he's the true and perfect Israelite. He defeats Satan in the wilderness. He's obedient where Adam was not.

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He's obedient where Israel was not. But I want you to see what Jesus says when he comes out of the wilderness.

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In verse 17 of chapter 4, from that time Jesus began to preach saying,

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Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What is kingdom of heaven synonymous? Kingdom of God.

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The rule of God. The rule of heaven. God's throne, heaven. The rule of God. Heaven has now met earth again.

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That's the point. But in verse 23, and he went through all

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Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the what? So think about what

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Jesus is teaching in Matthew. He comes into the world and says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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And then he's going about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. That's the theme of Matthew.

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And Matthew finishes with that climax. But as you move throughout Matthew, you see Matthew 5. Jesus goes up onto a mountain.

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He goes up onto a mountain to do the most famous sermon in the history of humanity.

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The Beatitudes. The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus goes up to the mountain, and he actually explicates and explains the law of God to the people of God.

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Anything that's familiar about that? Do you know anything in the Bible's history of someone going up to the mountain with the law of God?

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Do you see what Jesus is doing? The whole story is fulfilled in Jesus. He's the true righteous servant.

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He's the true and perfect Israel. He is the perfect law giver. But notice something.

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In Matthew 5, when Jesus goes up to the Sermon on the Mount and he begins speaking to people, he says something in verse 5 of chapter 5.

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He says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I want to emphasize that with Matthew 28.

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If Jesus tells us to win the world to Christ and to have everyone baptized to obey

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Jesus, what do you think an entire world looks like if it's all under the feet of Jesus and they have peace with God through Christ and they're obeying

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Christ? It looks like the meek inherit the earth. Doesn't it? You see, we have thought wrongly, especially in this generation, that it's the wicked who inherit the world.

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The wicked inherit the earth. And sometimes, admittedly, it looks like that's happening. In some places, you might have a moment in history where there's an historical judgment going on.

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God is judging a nation where it looks legit, like, ah, it looks like the wicked are going to inherit this.

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No, it's just a moment. It's just a moment. God is always fulfilling his purposes. And there are moments in history where there's historical judgment, true.

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But what's the purpose of the church in moments like that? To say, well, it looks like the unrighteous are ruling and winning now.

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So maybe we should hide our light under baskets. Right? What are we in that world?

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What are we? We're the meek who inherit the earth. This earth belongs to God, not to the ungodly.

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And we have the light that can dispel darkness. That's our role. And by the way, Jesus says that here. He says, you're the city set on a hill.

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You're the salt of the earth. You're the light. That's what you're supposed to be doing. So Jesus gives us the true interpretation of the law of God.

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In 517, he says that he did not come to destroy it, but to fulfill it. And in Matthew 5, 9 through 13,

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I'm going to have us emphasize this for a moment. Would you go there with me for a moment now? Matthew 5, 9 through 13.

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I want to say this. Listen. If we pray like Jesus tells us to, in accordance with how he tells us to pray,

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I think our work in this world will look so much different. I think how we live and serve in the world and in the church will look so much different.

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I think how we look at our children will look so much different. How we think about our grandchildren will look so much different.

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When we look at tyranny, evil, sin, license everywhere, if we're praying what the

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Lord tells us to pray, we'll think in completely different ways. What do I mean by that?

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Let's read it. He says, pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus tells us, hallowed be your name.

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You pray that. What's it mean, hallowed? Everyone goes, I don't know what a hallowed is. Most kids are like, never heard that word, don't know what it means.

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But somehow, God, hallowed be your name. Hallowed means holied.

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You're actually asking the Father, God, would you allow your name, would you make your name to be holied, that people would holy your name, reverence your name, holy your name, in Africa, in Canada, in South America, in New Zealand, in China, in Japan, in Guam?

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Like, you're praying, Father, your name be holy everywhere. Do we pray like that?

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Do we have that eager expectation that ultimately the will of God is for the entire world to holy his name, to reverence his name?

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That's how God tells us to pray. And then he says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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How are we supposed to pray about the will of God, that it be done on earth the way it is in heaven?

01:00:34

I love to ask this question. I love to ask it. Would you follow me with it? Very important question. How rigorous do you think the commitment is to the will of God in heaven?

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How rigorous? Pretty rigorous? Pretty intense commitment to the will of God in heaven?

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Jesus tells us, people, you and me, he tells us, he says, you pray like this, that God's will would be done here on this planet, on earth itself, the way it is in heaven.

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Does that change the way you think of the world? When you see decay and depravity and sin and injustice and evil all around you, does it change the way you think about your role as a

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Christian? Does it change the way you think about your mission to bring the gospel to bear on that? You're supposed to be praying. I'm supposed to be praying to the effect that God, let your will be done here on this earth like it is in heaven.

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And by the way, do you think that Jesus had that in his mind? When he ascends, he tells us, go get the world and teach them to obey all that I have commanded you.

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It's exactly what Jesus expected about the future. Next, in Matthew's story, he's standing on the

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Old Testament. In Matthew 10, 16 through 23. In Matthew 16, 24 through 28.

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In Matthew's chapters, 21 through 24. I'm not going to go over all those again. It's clear that Matthew understands the

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Old Testament revelation said the Messiah would come and there would be purification, there would be salvation, and there would be judgment upon the covenant -breaking

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Jews. In Matthew 10, he sends his disciples out on a temporary mission and he tells them, you won't even finish going through the cities of Israel before the

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Son of Man comes. Comes what? In judgment. In Matthew 16, he says, some of you here will not taste death until you see the

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Son of Man coming in his kingdom. In Matthew 24, he says that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place, which included the destruction of the

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Jewish temple, the second Jewish temple. Jesus warned them. In chapters 21 through 24, he told the covenant -breaking

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Jews, he said, seven woes upon them. Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you.

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And he said, the kingdom's going to be taken away from you and given to others who will bear the fruit of it.

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That's the Old Testament story. That's where Matthew is leaning. That's what he's standing on.

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That was the eager expectation. And it's filled in Matthew's narrative. He knows the story.

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Next, Matthew, when he moves into the story of the crucifixion, what is he doing there?

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He's standing on that Old Testament revelation that said Messiah would come to bring salvation. But brothers and sisters, how would he bring salvation?

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We're sinners. We're broken. We're rebels. We need a sacrifice. We need a substitute.

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And so Jesus is the righteous one, the perfect one, the blameless one, who goes willingly to lay his life down for the sheep.

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And he takes the punishment that we deserve. And he cancels our debt. He says it's finished.

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Then he defeats death. And he rises again from the dead. Matthew knows the story. He even knows the story to the detail to say, hey, by the way, when

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Jesus died, the temple veil ripped from top to bottom. That massive veil that separated the people of God from the holiest place, even that symbol now was fully revealed for what it was.

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Jesus was going to pass through that thing so that we have access to God. The whole story, Matthew knows it.

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Next, Matthew also knows the story of the ascension. We already did this together a moment ago. Daniel 7, 13 through 14, the

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Son of Man would come up to God, the Father, and be given the nations.

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So let's summarize. We could do this all day, but it's getting late.

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Does the New Testament tell us about this throughout everywhere? Everywhere.

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Every creature, everything, under Christ, experiencing peace, under his feet.

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It's all throughout the New Testament. Revelation 1 .5 says that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

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Do you believe that today? Do you know how dangerous that was to say in the first century? John wrote that in exile in Patmos, sent there,

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I believe, by Nero. After Nero tried to slaughter all the Christians and he burned John in a pot of oil, he sends him to exile to Patmos.

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And John has the audacity to write down, under Caesar Nero, that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth today.

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So you might look at the world today and say, really? Like, over China and even this government we have today, like Jesus is ruler over them, that he's the boss, that he has all authority?

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Brothers and sisters, that was said by John under Nero. Nero would kill you for statements like that.

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And John wrote it. Ruler of the kings of the earth today. Not he's going to be ruler. He is the ruler today.

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Revelation 19 .16, King of kings and Lord of lords. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that Christ is reigning now and he must reign.

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And so all of his enemies are put under his feet as a footstool for his feet. And he says the last enemy to be defeated by Christ will be death.

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So where is the world going according to Paul? He says Jesus is king. He's ruling now.

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The whole world's going under his feet. And he says one day, finally, after that's done, death's going to be defeated.

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So that's where the world's going. So the question to ask yourself as you finish Matthew's gospel and you hear his masterpiece, as you leave this place of worship with God's people and you think about where you apply the good news, which contains the truth that he's king and Lord of lords.

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Now, ask yourself this question. Is this under the authority of Jesus?

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Is this under the authority of Jesus? The answer should be obvious. If it's in this world, it's under his authority.

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So watch this. Everything is a gospel issue. When you hear someone saying that's not a gospel issue, you have a very strange perspective of the authority of Christ because this book says that he has all authority in heaven and on earth today.

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If it's on earth, Jesus has authority over it. That makes it a gospel issue. Everything in this world is a gospel issue because the gospel itself is not just about your own private relationship with Jesus.

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The gospel is an entire story of a kingdom that includes the promise of our salvation, but it's much bigger than your privatized salvation.

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It's the whole world. So if it's in this world, it's under the authority of Jesus. So as you go out into the world, ask yourself the question, is this under the authority of Jesus?

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Well, is it in this world? Then it's a gospel issue. It's under the authority of Jesus. We find ways to apply his lordship and his word to that issue.

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Everything's a gospel issue because his whole world belongs to Jesus. Everything's a gospel issue because this whole world belongs to Jesus.

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Everything's a gospel issue because Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.

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So remember that Matthew is telling you the good news of a kingdom. That is that story

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Matthew is communicating. So go win the world, brothers and sisters.

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That's what Jesus came for. And if you get discouraged at any point, you remember that it's the zeal of the

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Lord of hosts that will accomplish this. This is all God to his glory. Amen?

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And now we're done with Matthew. Praise God.

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Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the gift of being able to go through this amazing revelation.

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Thank you for this privilege and this honor that you've given me to feed your sheep with your word.

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I pray that you would use it to equip and edify your church for generations to come.

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Use us for your kingdom and glory in Jesus' name, amen. And now we come to the table. If you're new to Apollo Church, please visit our website at apollochurch .org.