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Over the last couple of years, what I hear from genuine Christians is a longing to be freed from this fallen world. It is true that before COVID, I heard this, but I've heard it much more over the last two years as we've seen a world in chaos.
We have seen global pandemic, corrupt governments using a time of crisis to gain more power. We have seen civil unrest resulting in American cities being burned. We have seen economic turmoil through inflation spiking to record highs.
There have been record numbers of depression and suicide. We have seen increased hostility toward traditional values that have their origin in biblical Christianity. The country we live in is almost unrecognizable from the country many in this room grew up.
In.
We need to be honest and say this world we live in is a mess. Now a world that is going downhill fast is obviously bad, but it's not bad for everyone. As we see a world spiraling out of control, what we need to understand is that God's Word told us it would be this way.
What is clear in Scripture is the world is not going to get better. Read the book of Revelation. It will continue to decline leading up to the return of Christ. This is not, I'm not a doom and gloom guy, I'm just telling you reality, telling you what Scripture says.
The world spiraling out of control is bad for most people, but it's not bad for Christians. It means the King is coming back. As the world darkens, this ought to fill Christians with a longing for Christ to come back.
Recently I've heard many people tell me I want Jesus to return, like the prayer in Revelation where the Apostle John says, Come Lord Jesus. This is the correct response of the believer as you observe the world that you live in.
We are commanded to long for His return and be filled with hope as Luke 21 -28 says,. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
As we see turmoil in the world, showing that this world is coming unhinged, what it shows us is that this world is not our home. It never has been our home. But when times are relatively calm, this place can feel like home.
The fact that the world will come to an end, and we see signs of it all around us, this should teach people wisdom. The wisdom that is waiting for people to grab a hold of is this. Do not live for this world.
It is utterly foolish to have your hope in this life. To have all the focus on this life is to neglect that which is fast approaching, a kingdom that will never end. This morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, Jesus is going to explain that the wisest people on earth forfeit treasure in this life to live for a treasure that lasts.
Forever.
So this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 19. We'll be looking at verses 27 through 30, so just four verses today. And if you're using one of those red Bibles, it's on page 980.
The sermon is titled, The Fast Approaching Forever Kingdom. I'll begin by reading the text, Matthew 19, verses 27 through 30. Then Peter said in reply, See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?
Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my namesake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first.
Here's our big idea with this sermon is calling you to do. Look toward your bright future as Christ's disciples. Look toward your bright future as Christ's disciples. And we'll see three reasons why in this text.
But before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago. We looked at the story of Jesus and the rich young man. What we saw is that this man thought he was a good person.
He said he kept all of the commandments from his youth. But Jesus pointed out the problem with this man. This man thought that keeping rules earned his way to heaven, and he also found security in his wealth.
But Jesus said that salvation only comes through following, through believing in him and through this true, lasting security that comes. Salvation belongs to the one who worships him and forsakes idols.
This man's idol was his wealth. It was his wealth that kept him from truly following God. And we need to resist thinking in worldly ways concerning salvation. Jesus did 100 percent of the work at the cross.
This is the only way anyone is saved. Salvation comes from God. It is your place to believe. It is your place to lead your idols to follow Jesus. Something that the rich young ruler was unable to do. Jesus gives this warning so that no one in this room would make the same mistake.
Now this leads us to our text this morning that we've already read, but now we're going to zero in on. And I'm going to begin by zeroing in on verse 27, where Peter replies to Jesus. Remember, Jesus just told the story of the rich young ruler, and this is Peter replying to this story that he told.
And Peter says to him, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? As Peter says this, we need to remember the context. As I just mentioned, the rich young man was unable to leave his possessions behind.
And verse 22 says that when the man heard Jesus tell him to leave everything to follow him, the young man went away sorrowful. For he had great possessions. What Peter says is that they are different from the rich young man.
What he tells Jesus is that we have left everything. This is an honest statement. He's not being prideful here. He's telling the truth. Peter and the other 11 disciples have left everything to follow Jesus.
Now we know that Judas followed Jesus for the wrong reasons, and he would betray him. But 11 of the 12 disciples truly left everything to follow Jesus. Peter was a fisherman who in some measure left his trade to follow Jesus.
When Jesus called them, their lives changed forever. Their life was different. And this is how it is for anyone who truly follows Jesus. Many people in this room have a genuine relationship with Christ, and my prayer is that everyone would.
But for everyone who is a genuine Christian, think of your life before you were saved. Your life was different. You had different concerns. You had idols that made you happy in a superficial way. At that time, you were willing to do things that you're not willing to do anymore.
Your life has changed. This is the life of a Christian. You leave your old life to follow Him. As 2 Corinthians 5 .17 says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come.
You are new and your life shows it. Paul says in Romans 6 .4, You walk in newness of life. The disciples were different from the rich young man. He wouldn't give up his stuff to follow Jesus. That's where his joy was.
That was his treasure.
He wouldn't give it up.
He found his happiness and security in it. And there are people who won't give up alcohol, sexual immorality, gossip, money, fame, popularity, power, and other addictions to follow Jesus. Can't do it.
In order to follow Christ, you have to give things up. Now, this does not mean selling everything you have. The Bible is against socialism that teaches, take from the rich and give to the poor. What Jesus is saying is turn from the sin in your life to follow Him and in the case of the rich young man, his great sin, his great idol, that got him out of bed in the morning was his wealth.
He had great possessions. That was his treasure. But Jesus says, I need to be your treasure. Follow me and you will truly have life. So one definition of a genuine Christian is that you are willing and you do give up your idols to follow Jesus.
Genuine believers are willing to do that while unbelievers are not. Genuine believers still fight those idols. Yes, but unbelievers are glad to continue living for their idols, forsaking Christ in the process.
So what Peter tells Jesus is that we have left everything to follow you. And then Peter finishes verse 27 by asking Jesus, OK, since we've left everything to follow you, since we're not like the rich young man who held on to his treasure in this life,.
What then will we have?
That's what he asks them. In other words, if they left everything, if the disciples left everything, their idols, their hopes in this life, their dreams, their treasures, if they have left this, then what do they have in place of that?
People in the world have all kinds of hopes and dreams. Things that they think will satisfy them. Things that they live for. A number of years ago, I remember talking to a man who told me he wanted to get a high paying job so that he could make lots of money and have a comfortable and easy life.
But then he came to faith in Christ and everything changed. He became a pastor and had a much smaller salary than what he would have made going down this path that he wanted as an unbeliever. When people discover that which is truly life, everything changes.
People find out that what they were living for is not life. And that true life only exists in Jesus. Jesus said in John 10 .10, I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. True life is only found in Jesus, not in idols.
And that is what Jesus is communicating. In verse 21 from last Sunday, Jesus said that by following him, you will have treasure in heaven. King David describes well the stark difference between the path of following idols and the path of following the Lord in Psalm 16.
And in verse 4 of Psalm 16, David writes that the sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply. It's a miserable experience for those who pursue idols. Then he says in verse 11, the exact opposite experience for those who follow God.
He writes, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there's fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So misery, fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore.
Those are the two paths right there.
And when Peter tells Jesus that they have left everything to follow him, including their idols, and then asks, what will we have? The answer is that you leave the empty path, the path of misery, and you find life.
That's what you'll have. You will have life. Jesus talks about this great future experience more in the remaining verses, as we will see. But here's the first point. Look toward your bright future as Christ's disciples.
And the first reason why is that true followers leave their empty idols behind. True followers leave their empty idols behind. The second reason why you are to look toward your bright future as Christ's disciples is this.
True followers will reign with Christ in his millennial kingdom. True followers will reign with Christ in his millennial kingdom. Now we get to the part where Jesus tells Peter and everyone who follows him what their future is.
Verse 28, Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now this is such an interesting verse. And what Jesus is talking about in verse 28 is such a great passion of mine. At the end of last Sunday's sermon, I mentioned that this is really a hobby horse for me.
And the reason it's such a hobby horse is you're going to find out it's because it's been so neglected within the church. If you want to ask me, okay, what is Seth passionate about? I'm passionate about blind spots.
What people are missing in the wider church. And I want to address those things because I want to say everything that this book says. That's our goal as a church. And what our text says at the beginning of verse 28 is the new world.
But the Greek does not say the new world. It says regeneration. And that's interesting. The Greek word here that is translated regeneration is only used in one other place in the New Testament. And that is Titus 3 .5 that describes the new birth.
Another way to say the new birth is to be born again. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he says, you must be born again. So regeneration, the new birth, born again, they all mean the same thing. It means that when you believe in Christ, you're alive.
The spirit gives you life. But here, it's interesting that Jesus uses that word. What he is saying here is that in the future, the earth will change. This earth that we live on, this planet that we live on is going to be different.
It's going to be much different. Right now, we live under the kingdom of darkness. Satan rules this world. And people who follow Satan rule this world.
I mean, look at the world we live in.
Do you think the United Nations is a Christian organization? Do you think they read the Bible in their meetings to start the meeting? Do you think they offer a prayer?
Of course not.
Because who rules the United Nations?
Satan.
Who rules the European Union?
Who rules the World Economic Forum?
Look at the agenda. Is it biblical?
Not even close.
1 John 5, 19 says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We see it every day. Most of the nations in this world are led by corrupt leaders. And people ask the question, who are the ones behind the scenes calling the shots?
And the answer is, there's one who's behind the scenes.
The devil is pushing the world in the direction that he desires. But thankfully, it will not always be this way. And by the way, the Bible tells us he's going to gain lots of progress. We're already seeing it.
He's going to gain even more progress. But then everything is going to come crashing down. And Christ is going to come back. Verse 28 of our text describes this period. What Jesus says is the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne.
And those who have followed him will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
What period is this describing?
This can only be describing the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ that occurs after Christ's second coming and before the eternal states. Now, the eternal state is the time when everything is made new. But there's a period in between that and the return of Christ that is known as the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.
In Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 6 describes this period. And let me read this to you. This is the vision of John, the apostle, where he writes,. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.
And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pits and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.
After that, he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority of the judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.
Over such, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with him for a thousand years. So what we just read is that Satan will be bound and Jesus will reign for a millennium.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that this is the future. This is coming in this text and in Revelation 20, the phrase one thousand years is used six different times. Yet believing this has been under assault.
In many circles, it is not fashionable to believe that there will be a one thousand year reign of Christ. Seminaries are pumping out graduates who do not believe in this future millennium. My old pastor and I who talk about this tell each other that you have to go to seminary to believe anything else.
Seminary is supposed to be the place where you learn the Bible, where you become more precise in understanding the Bible. But sadly, it's become a place where people actually become less precise. It's called academic corruption.
And there are two other views out there. These views are known as amillennialism and postmillennialism. Atheism, why do we call it atheism?
No God, right?
The A means in Latin, it means no God. Amillennialism means no millennium. And this teaches that Christ is reigning from heaven right now and Revelation 20 is to be taken figuratively. The other view is known as postmillennialism.
This teaches that Christ's reign is going to come through the world getting better. People actually believe that. In other words, before Christ's return, everything is going to get better. The entire world will be Christianized and the entire society will be mostly transformed and then Christ is going to come back.
In other words, at the UN, at these meetings, they're going to actually have prayers. It's going to be a godly influence. Could you imagine that? People actually believe this and they're smart people, but that's the problem.
Smart people tend to be less precise. I'm telling you, I've seen it. They overthink things. They become too creative. Now, both of these views defy common sense. Both of these views were born in academia and will die in academia.
You have to go to seminary to get corrupted with this view. Now, thankfully, the seminary that I went to didn't believe this. That's good, but many do. No one just reading their Bible would come up with these views.
You have to think outside the box. Augustine, a 4th century theologian, who did some good things, by the way, which we should be grateful for, was sadly a problematic Bible interpreter in many places.
And this view derives from him. He took far too many passages in the Bible figuratively that are intended to be taken literally. But when you are interpreting the Bible, there is a good rule to follow.
Actually, I probably first learned this from Mark. But this is a quote that is out there that's been said a lot lately. If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense, lest the results be nonsense.
If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense, lest the results be nonsense. And to not believe in a literal millennium is nonsense. There's no reason to believe anything other than that there will be a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.
It's a big mistake to take figurative what is intended by God to be taken literal. How else do you interpret verse 28 of our text? Jesus will reign on his throne and his 12 disciples will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
But I thought the church replaced Israel. Because if you believe there's no millennium, in other words, you believe that the church replaced Israel. That the people of God that started 2 ,000 years ago at Pentecost replaces all these great promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, there were 12 tribes for the nation of Israel. Each tribe was named after a son of Jacob. This is what is interesting about the millennium. Jesus will reign from Jerusalem where he will reign over Israel as Israel's Messiah and he will reign over the whole world.
If you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, what you will find is that early in the Bible in Genesis 12, God promises Abraham offspring, land, and blessing. The land he promises is from the Euphrates, which is present-day Iraq, to the river of Egypt, which might be the Nile River.
God also promises that this land will be theirs forever. In other words, no one's going to take it from them. What we know from the Old Testament is that not only did Israel never get the land from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt, but the land was ripped from them.
They were taken into exile. In 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was invaded by the Assyrians. In 605 BC, the southern kingdom was invaded by the Babylonians and they're taken into exile. So, the two promises concerning the extent of the land and the duration of the land have not been fulfilled.
Remember, when God makes promises, He fulfills it exactly the way that He said. Euphrates to the river of Egypt, that's how it's going to happen. Forever, that's how it's going to happen. So, the two promises have not yet been fulfilled.
God also promised David in the Davidic covenant that he would never lack a man to sit on the throne as long as they obeyed God. But their kings became wicked and so God sent them into captivity. God also promised that a day would come when Israel's heart would turn toward God and that has never happened.
Not yet.
Then the New Testament comes. And, do New Testament writers say that there is no future for Israel?
They know there's a future for Israel. In Romans chapter 11 verses 25 through 27, the apostle Paul wrote, a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and in this way all Israel will be saved.
As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. There is a future for Israel. It's everywhere in the Bible.
Not only will God save a mass number of Jews in the end times, he saves them to finish his promises to them. The time when those promises are fulfilled can only be at one time and that is the millennium, the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.
Why does this Revelation 20 verses 1 through 6 just show up at the end of the Bible? You're only surprised by it if you haven't been following the Bible, what it says from Genesis to Revelation. There has to be a time when God fulfills his promises to the nation of Israel, his ancient covenant people.
But sadly, many try to read their own Gentile interpretation into the text and that's why it's called replacement theology. We get the promises, they don't. Again, I'm a Gentile but I'm passionate about Israel getting their promises fulfilled.
Why would it be any other way? By the way, I've never heard of a Jew who became a Christian who does not believe what I just said. Try finding a Jew who says, you know what, oh yeah, we're in the church, we can replace Israel.
No, of course not, that's ridiculous. And yet people with a lot more degrees than I have would say something different. But thankfully, common sense wins the day. And by the way, when people ask about our church, tell me a little bit about your church.
One of the things that I like to say is we're a common sense church. We interpret the Bible how it's meant to be interpreted. And academic corruption is not allowed here. If God does not keep his promises to Israel, how can we be so sure he's going to keep his promises to the church?
Paul talks about that in Romans 9 through 11, by the way. But he will keep his promises to Israel and he will keep his promises to us. God never breaks his promise. This church, Eureka Baptist Church, has gotten the 1 ,000-year reign of Christ right historically.
It's in our Constitution, and I love that. Someone wrote it years ago. And this understanding of the end times is the historical view of this church, and it will be until Christ returns. I love John McCarthy's quote.
He says, you get Biblical interpretation right, you get Israel right, you get Israel right, you get the end times right. The key is Israel. If you want to have a correct understanding of how the world's going to end.
And during the millennium, Jesus is going to be the king, and under his reign, there will be an unprecedented run of peace and prosperity. Who's going to win in human history?
God is.
And he's going to have a long run, too. It's going to be 1 ,000 years. The eternal state is not history. It's the eternal state. Jesus has to win in human history, and he's going to have 1 ,000 years of peace and prosperity.
And it's going to be this way for two reasons. Satan will be gone. He'll be in the pit, as Revelation 20 says. And Jesus will be the ruler every believer wants. He's going to be the best ruler this world has ever seen, and the best ruler there ever will be.
And the result of that is a world that runs incredibly well. It's a world that is filled with peace and prosperity. Why do we live in such a messy world? Are they following the principles of Scripture?
God makes things to work right, if done rightly. If you do it wrong, surprise! It's not going to go well. You're going to have 30 trillion in debt. That's what we see in our world. But Christ is going to do everything according to the Bible, because he's God.
What is interesting is that what the rest of Scripture explains is that not only are the 12 apostles sub-rulers, but so is the church.
You.
Now, at this point in the sermon, I have explained that there are two peoples of God, Israel and the church. We belong to the church. The church are all believers, saved from Pentecost to the rapture.
The church is made up of mostly Gentiles and a very small percentage of Jews, because the hardening has come over them. It is the church that will reign with Christ for 1 ,000 years, as Revelation chapter 5, verses 9 and 10 say.
Those verses say, By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.
What you will notice is that the nations are described in this text. The church is made up mostly of the nations, the Gentiles. So, this is talking about the church reigning with Christ during the 1 ,000 year reign.
This is not talking about the eternal state. What Revelation 5 says agrees with what our text says in verse 28. During the 1 ,000 year reign, the church will reign with Christ over Israel. At this time, Israel will be at the superpower of the world.
Now, for a long time, the United States has been the superpower. A day is coming when Israel will be the superpower of the world. Every other nation on planet earth will be under the authority of the King of Israel, and the King of Israel is Jesus Christ.
We don't know exactly what this will look like, but what we do know is that the 12 apostles will reign from Jerusalem, and kings from the nations of the earth will reign under Christ's authority. We don't know what our role will be exactly.
Some of you might be kings and queens. I don't know, but it's certainly possible. What we do know, as the Bible says in Revelation 5, is that we will, in some sense, reign with Christ. He will give authority to us, and we will reign alongside Him.
What you see here is that this is the future for those who follow Christ. At this time, those who lived for this world will look so foolish. Those treasures that once were so treasured and held in such value will be long gone, and yet those who lived for Christ, holding loosely to the things of this world, will be vindicated.
They will dwell with Him on the earth for a thousand years. So look toward your bright future as Christ's disciples, and the second reason why is that true followers will reign with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom.
Here's the third and final reason why we are to look toward the bright future as Christ's disciples, and that is this. True followers will receive a lasting reward. A lasting reward. In verse 29, Jesus describes the portion of those who left their old, sinful life behind to follow Him.
He says,.
Now you might look at this and ask, what is Jesus demanding of me to be His disciple? We've already seen that. In Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said,. To deny yourself means turning from your sin, leaving your old idols behind.
To take up your cross means enduring opposition. Satan rules this world, which means living in this world, you will have opposition. In 2 Timothy 3, 12, Jesus said,. Following Jesus means being in the minority, taking the path less traveled.
Standing with Christ means facing opposition. This is what Jesus is saying here. When you follow Jesus, your friends change. You have trouble with family members. Following Jesus means leaving your old life and following Him in the new life that He has given you.
The portion that Jesus promises to everyone who forsakes their old life to follow Him is this,. You receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. As the end of verse 29 tells us,. This is your portion.
The Lord promises you heaven. You will reign with Christ during the 1 ,000 years, and after the millennial reign, you will live forever in God's eternal kingdom that is described in Revelation 21 and 22.
This is your future as a follower of Christ. In the present, it is difficult. It is difficult to leave idols, friends, and family members behind. When you think of friends and family, you want them to come with you, but they might not, and you have to go on without them.
It doesn't mean completely cutting them off from your life, but it does change, right? Things do change. You have good friends that you're not as good of friends with them anymore. You have family members that things aren't the same because you're following Jesus,.
And they're not.
And as you endure the difficulty of this life, as you fight your own sinful flesh,.
The world,.
And Satan, you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. The rich young man was not able to give up his wealth, and so he took the wide path. But every follower of Christ has turned from one's old ways to follow Jesus, as the song says, the cross before me, the world behind me.
And Jesus tells you what you inherit.
Eternal life. You receive a hundredfold.
The people who live for this world lose everything. They take nothing with them. And there's a future of misery in hell. But those who take up the cross, who deny themselves, who leave everything to follow him, who leave houses, who leave lands, who leave friends, who leave family behind, receive a hundredfold.
What he's saying is,.
Anything you give up,.
I'm going to give you back way more. It's worth it. That's what he's telling us. So look towards your bright future as Christ's disciples. And in this text, we've seen three reasons why. True followers leave their empty idols behind.
True followers will reign with Christ in his millennial kingdom. And thirdly, true followers will receive a lasting reward. The future of a believer could not be brighter. As you live in this world, remember this, have a loose grip on the things of this world.
As your time here is short, understand that what awaits the true follower is greater than we could ever imagine. And that's the hope we need to go with this very day. Now, next Sunday, Jesus is going to tell us that those who are last will be first.
And the first last in verse 30, he says that in verse 30,.
Explains,.
Helps explain the next 16 verses in chapter 20. So we will look at that next Sunday where Jesus tells the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father in heaven, your word is a treasure.
Your word gives life to our souls.
What would we do without the Bible?
What would we do without the preaching of the word that fills our hearts? That you design, that this is something you give in the church until the day comes when Christ comes back.
And takes us to be with him.
And so my prayer, Lord, is that everyone in this room would have that relationship with Christ and that everyone would be looking ahead to that reward where that person will receive a hundredfold in eternal life and will never regret following Jesus.
In his name we pray.
Amen.