The Gospel of the Kingdom #2 — Stephen Kaung

The Beatitudes and the Kingdom of Heaven

Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. And will you please turn to chapter 11, verse 12, Matthew chapter 11, verse 12.

But from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and the violent seized on it. May we have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for inviting us to Thy table.

Who are we that we can come even to Thy table of love? We want to thank Thee for the tremendous love that Thou has shown us. Thou does not love us by word only. Thou does love us by giving Thy very life for us.

We thank Thee for Thy precious blood that is shed for the remission of our sins. We thank Thee for giving Thy body for us, that we may live no longer by ourselves, but Thy life in us. We are now today, not because of what we are, but because of what Thou art.

We pray that Thou will fill us with Thyself. Deliver us from everything that comes from ourselves. That we may truly testify for thee to live is Christ. Lord, we do not want to live for ourselves. To satisfy our longings, we want to live for Thee, and only by Thee.

That Thy purpose in our lives may be realized, and Thy heart may be satisfied. This is the longing of our hearts. Do hear our cry. Bless this time, as we together study Thy Word. May glory be unto Thyself, we ask in Thy precious Name.

How we want to praise the Lord for even allowing us to meet this morning. I really feel that every time He gives us opportunity, that is His love for us. He knows us so well, that He wants to continue to speak to us, to deliver us out of ourselves.

That we may be fully filled with Christ and Him alone. Because this is God's eternal purpose. Brothers and sisters, we do not live for the time. We live for eternity. And for that reason, how we need to be filled only with Christ.

Because everything is passing away. But Lord, our Christ is eternal. So this is our prayer before God. As we said yesterday, this time our burden is to share on the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason for it is because I do feel that probably it is because of the lack of the knowledge of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven that our Lord Jesus seems to delay His return.

Because as we read yesterday, in Matthew 24, the Lord said, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven shall be preached to all the habitable world, as a witness to all the nations. And then the end shall come.

So brothers and sisters, as we look at the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, we see its importance to us. Because it is not only that Gospel that transfer from the Age of Law to the Age of Grace. I believe that we all know we do not live under the Age of Law.

But unfortunately, we often live still in the Age of Law. We have not been fully delivered from it. But so far as God is concerned, the Age of Law is over. We are now in the Age of Grace. Now what brings the change?

It brings in by the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Because it was when John the Baptist began to preach, repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn nigh. And for that reason, you find the King shall come.

And with the coming of the King, the Age has changed to Grace. So dear brothers and sisters, I hope every one of us is clear. We are now living in the Age of Grace. Not only so, but we sense that we are living at the end of the Age of Grace.

Because the Lord tells us that He is coming back. And when He shall come back, He will establish His Kingdom of Heaven upon this earth. In other words, there will be another change. It will be changing in the Kingdom of Heaven.

From the Age of Grace to the Age of the Kingdom. And now we are on the very brink of it. You know, even the world somehow had that feeling. There will be false prophecies. Saying that the end of the world will come at a certain time.

And we recently heard about that prophecy. But it didn't happen at the time. But anyway, the world is even conscious that something is going to change. The world cannot go on anymore. By all indications, from the Word of God, we know that the Lord is coming back soon.

And the sign of it is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven being preached to all the nations. Now, brothers and sisters, one thing we really realize is that the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven has been preached to all the nations.

It has not been preached to all the nations. Even among God's people. Many of them have never heard of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. And I believe this is the reason why we are not yet prepared for the coming of the Lord.

Because it is that Gospel that prepares us for the return of the Lord. It should be a witness to the world. And then the end shall come. So this time we want to concentrate on this matter. You know, as you read the New Testament, you will find the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven is written to us in the Gospel of Matthew.

Especially in the Gospel of Matthew. You find it is mentioned about the Kingdom of the Heavens. In other Gospels, it mentions the Gospel of God. And here you find it's specified as the Gospel of the Kingdom of the Heavens.

In the Gospel of Matthew, it mentions the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heavens. Yesterday we already mentioned, aside from two places in other places of the Bible, the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heavens is specially written in the Gospel of Matthew.

We know that so far as the four Gospels are concerned, the Gospel of Matthew is not the first written. Chronologically speaking, the Gospel of Mark is the first written. But why is it? As you open the New Testament, you find the first book is the Gospel of Matthew.

I believe there is something from God. Because so far as we are concerned, we are interested in the Gospel of Matthew. We are interested in the Gospel of Mark. But as far as God is concerned, He is interested in the Gospel of Matthew.

Because He wants us to enter into that Kingdom. So this is why we have the Gospel of Matthew in the very beginning of the New Testament. Now if we really want to know what the Kingdom of the Heavens is, you have to study the Gospel according to Matthew.

Now for the sake of our understanding, you know in that Gospel, which is the Gospel of the Kingdom of the Heavens, there are two peaks there, three peaks there. And when you look at these peaks, you will be able to understand the whole book.

The first peak is Matthew chapters 5 to 7. It tells us of the reality of the Kingdom of the Heavens. What the Kingdom of Heavens really is. And then in Matthew chapter 13, you find the parables there.

And these are the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens. Why is it a mystery? Because it is hidden from the world. The Lord will only explain it to those who are His. So that gives us the appearance of the Kingdom of Heavens today.

When we look at the Kingdom of Heavens today, it is a mystery. And these mysteries are represented by these parables. And then you find in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. And they tell us about the coming, the appearance of the Kingdom of the Heavens upon this earth.

So if we are able to grasp these three peaks, then the whole Gospel of the Kingdom of Heavens will be open to us. Now this morning we would like to concentrate ourselves on the first peak. And that is Matthew 5 to 7.

The King’s Humble Coming and Call to Repentance

Now we know, during His first coming, even though He came as the King of the Heavens, and yet you find His birth is so different from the way of the Kingdom of Heavens. So far as the Word is concerned, the King should be born in Jerusalem.

That's why the three Magi, they went to Jerusalem to try to find the birth of the King of Judah. But our Lord Jesus was not born in Jerusalem. He was born in Bethlehem. And He was not born in a palace.

He was born in a manger. And you find that only some shepherds came to visit Him. So the very way He came into this world was so different. It shows that His Kingdom is entirely different from the Kingdom of this world.

His very birth shows us the difference. And then you find that He was raised up in Nazareth. Now what is Nazareth? You remember when Nathaniel heard that Christ was born, came from Nazareth. He said, can Nazareth produce anything good?

Nazareth was a place, a small place, despised by people. And yet our Lord was raised in Nazareth. He was hidden there until He was 30 years old. And when He came out for His public ministry, you find His way of coming forth is so different.

How was He introduced into this world? He did not come in a big party in a palace. You find He came to be baptized of joy. Even John the Baptist realized something is so great in that person. He says that he should be baptized by Jesus, rather he baptized Jesus.

Because He was so perfect. There is nothing to repent of. And the baptism of John is the baptism of repentance. But our Lord Jesus said, let us do it for the righteousness of God. Because this is the way that God would introduce grace.

So brothers and sisters, how He came to be one of us and take all our sins upon Himself. And it seems that He had to go through the baptism of repentance. You know His way of coming out is so different.

And when He began to preach, we would think that He would say, when the king has come, come into my kingdom. But that was not His message. His message is, repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn nigh.

Why is it so? The king is here. But He said, the kingdom of heaven has drawn nigh. And because the kingdom is coming, it is so different from the world. That difference is so great. As heaven is higher than the earth.

So the kingdom of the heavens is so much higher than the kingdoms in this world. Everything is different. Everything is on another level. So the Lord said, you need to repent. Do not think that you are fit for that kingdom of heaven.

Do not think that you are fit for that kingdom of heaven. You have to repent. Completely turn around. And then you will be able to enter into the kingdom of the heavens. So our Lord began to preach. As we mentioned yesterday, you know when you read the gospel, when we read the gospel, you will be surprised that when our Lord was on earth, it seems that He is always meeting people who are sick, who are blind, who are lame, and even sick, sit dead.

That's the people He came for. But they were not fit for the kingdom of the heavens. So our Lord Jesus has to come to save the lost first. We were the lost. In the eyes of God, we were those who were blind.

We were those who are so sick. We are those who are dead in sins and transgressions. But our Lord Jesus came for us. And how He died for us, that we may be saved. That we may receive God's life. So you find when He came the first time, He was trying to establish His kingdom of heavens upon the earth.

But the earth was not prepared for Him. So He had to save some people. But being saved is not enough. We already said, to be saved is our hope. But to be saved and still live by our own selves, that's not God's thought.

He wants to save us to the uttermost. So you find after those people got saved, what did the Lord do? In Matthew chapter 4, He began to call for disciples. He found Peter and Andrew. They were casting the net.

Because they were fishermen. And then He said, come and follow Me. I will make you fishers of men. And you remember how they left the boat and followed the Lord. Then He went a little bit forward. And He saw the sons of Zebedee, they were blessed.

Manning the net. And He said, come and follow Me. And they left everything and followed the Lord. And other people too. Now after He got some disciples, then He began to speak to them about the kingdom of the heavens.

The Sermon on the Mount Is for Disciples

So when you read chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew, and here you see seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain and having sat down, His disciples came to Him. You know, in the beginning when our Lord was preaching, crowds followed Him.

So when the Lord saw the crowds, He went up to the mountain. And the Bible said He sat down there. And His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them. So in other words, the so-called Sermon on the Mount is not for the world.

The Sermon on the Mount is exclusively for the disciples of our Lord Jesus. You know, if you try to preach the Sermon on the Mount to the world, you know what would happen to you. One day, when Peter was preaching the kingdom of the heavens, and you know what happened?

A person suddenly came to him. Striked his right cheek. You know what it means? Because that person heard of the Sermon on the Mount. If other people strike you on the right cheek, you turn the left cheek too.

And fortunately, that preacher did turn the left cheek. So you know, the Sermon on the Mount is not for the world. It is only for disciples. Now brothers and sisters, there is such misunderstanding about the Sermon on the Mount.

Most people think the Sermon on the Mount gives us the so-called Christian ethics. Many people say the Sermon on the Mount is higher than the Law of Moses. And because the Lord has given us the Sermon on the Mount, so we must try our best to keep the words in that Sermon.

And there are truly people who want to do that. But brothers and sisters, if you have ever tried to keep the Sermon on the Mount, you will see that the more you try, the more you cannot do it. Because the demand is higher than any human being can answer.

Now why is it so? It is because the Lord is showing us how different is his kingdom from the kingdom of the world. We may be fit for the kingdom of this world, but we are totally unfit for the kingdom of heaven.

When you read Matthew, now what it really is, the kingdom of the heavens is nothing but telling us who the king is and what he is. Because a kingdom is under a king. In other words, that king overrules the kingdom.

He will rule according to what he is. If the king is benevolent, and then you find the people live a good life. If the king is a despot, and then the people live poorly, because the kingdom is according to the king.

The character of the king rules over his kingdom. You know, among the disciples of our Lord Jesus, there was one thing that happened again and again. They have believed in the Lord. They have even followed the Lord.

And yet you find among them there was one thing that's always going on. And what is it? Everyone wants to be the head. You look at these 12 disciples. They didn't have very noble background. And yet they are struggling with one another over this matter, who was the highest.

Even to the very last. You know, when our Lord Jesus was going to Jerusalem for the last time, the disciples thought that the Lord was to be enthroned there. And that was the last chance. So you find John and James got their mother out.

Because their mother is the aunt of our Lord Jesus called into the flesh. And the word of the aunt has power. And of course the mother loved the children. She would do anything that they wanted. So they came to the Lord.

And she told the Lord, I have a request. Promise that you will answer it. Here is a blank check. And you just write your name there. Why did she do that? I think within herself she felt something was not quite right.

But they had to request that. But our Lord would not write such a check. And the Lord said, now what really do you want? So she said, when you are enthroned, let my two sons sit on the right and your left.

Brothers and sisters, when the other disciples heard about that, the Bible said they were indignant. Because these two disciples outmaneuvered them. Thank God. The Lord Jesus did not give such a promise.

He said, the cup I'm going to drink, are you able to drink? The baptism I'm going to be baptized, are you able to be baptized? I think they didn't know what they mean. But they wanted to sit on the right and left so much.

And they said, we will. And the Lord said, yes, you will. But sit on my right and left is the Father to give. And the Lord had to tell the disciples. He said, in the world, if you want to be great, if you want to be the first, that's what you are seeking for.

But in my kingdom, if you want to be the first, you have to be the last. If you want to be the great, you have to be the small. Because he said, I come to serve, not to be served. And to give my life a ransom for all.

You will think that that's to settle the matter. But no, it hasn't settled it. Because even at the last supper, you find the disciples were still arguing with themselves, who is the greatest? Brothers and sisters, do you see we are totally unfit for the kingdom of the heaven?

No matter how good you are, we are totally unfit. Because the kingdom of heaven is totally different. It takes its character from the king itself. So the Lord came into the earth to demonstrate to us what kind of a kingdom he is to establish among men.

Christ’s Character in the Beatitudes

So when you read the so-called beatitude, blessed, blessed, blessed, it means happy, happy, and happy. Now, who are to be blessed? Who will become the sons of the kingdom of the heavens? And it starts with the beatitude.

But brothers and sisters, in these blessings, they tell us of the character of our Lord Jesus. And here in the very beginning, he said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

Now, who is the poor in spirit? Now remember, this is not saying, blessed is the poor spirit. Blessed is the poor spirit. Bad spirit, poor spirit. He says, blessed is the poor in spirit. How can you be poor in spirit?

Your spirit is supposed to be rich. How can your spirit be poor in spirit? Your spirit is supposed to be rich. And yet, because it is so rich, so you can be poor in spirit. If you are really poor, your spirit is really poor, there is nothing to give up.

So brothers and sisters, here you see our Lord Jesus telling us of who he is. Because in Philippians chapter 2, it says, he who is equal with God, and this is not something to be grudge at. In Philippians chapter 2, it says, he who is equal with God, and yet he emptied himself.

Now, who can empty himself? Only those who are rich in spirit. There is no one that is richer than our Lord Jesus. Because he was equal with God. And to take that place is not something to grasp at. You know, one day, an archangel tried to grasp at that place.

And Lucifer became Satan. But our Lord Jesus is equal with God. And yet, he is poor in spirit. He is willing to empty himself. Empty himself of all his glory, of all his position, of all his authority and power.

And he came to take the form of a bond slave. Brothers and sisters, what is the form of a bond slave? The form here does not refer to the outward appearance. The form here refers to what his character really is.

It is the word, just as image. This is what he really is. And yet, he who is the image of God, now he takes up the image of a bond slave. Bond slave to who? Bond slave to God his Father. So you find throughout his life, he never tried to exert his own will.

Even to the very last, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he realized that all the sins of the world will come upon him. He will be a sin-bearer. He who knew no sin was to be made sin for us. He who knew no sin was to be made sin for us.

As a human, he couldn't stand it. Because he had never sinned. And yet, he said, not my will, but thy will be done. Outwardly, he took the form, fashion of a man. And inwardly, he took the form of a bond slave.

And he was obedient to the Father, even unto death and the death of the cross. Now this is poor in spirit. Brothers and sisters, what do we have in our spirit? Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, our spirit was dead in sins and transgressions.

And even by the grace of God, our dead spirit was renewed into life. And our spirit is in communion with God the Spirit. But how rich will be our spirit? How much do we really know the Lord? How much do we really be obedient to the Lord?

Do we obey him to the uttermost? How much we still think of ourselves? We think, do you want to have our own way? How much we murmur before God? Our spirit is really a poor spirit. Brothers and sisters, we have almost nothing to empty of.

We can only empty the evil things within us. We can only empty our self-will. We can only empty our self-opinion. We can only empty our self-feeling. That's all we can do. And brothers and sisters, we find it so difficult to do that.

So in a sense, brothers and sisters, we are told, humanly speaking, it is impossible to be a child of the Kingdom of Heaven. But thank God, he who has begun his salvation in our life, he will continue to work in our lives until our spirit gets richer.

And because of that, because it is richer, therefore, it is possible to be poor in spirit. And when, by the grace of God, we enter into that, and then it says, the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Now you can go down through the other blessings.

And the spirit behind it is the same. So in the beginning, it shows us who our Lord Jesus is. How he is poor in spirit. How he moans. Oh, how he moans. You find when our Lord was earth, how he moans. When he, when Lazarus was dead.

And our Lord came. And people telling him about it. And the Bible says Jesus wept. He wounded for our sake. And the Bible says he shall be comforted. Brothers and sisters, the problem with us today, even though we are saved, but so far as the life of Christ in us is concerned, it is still being very restricted.

Consecration and the Life of Christ Within

We try to be a Christian on our own. We may try to do our very best, and the result is, sooner or later, we find ourselves a failure. You know, we just have seen that consecration hymn. It is a beautiful hymn.

But the problem is, we do not really know what consecration is. Because when you read that hymn, take my life and let it be. Take my eyes and so on and so forth. It gives you the impression that God wants all your talents.

If you are musical, then in the church you conduct the music. If you are a manager, then in the church you can be an elder. You try to give the Lord the best. But the best is all of yourself. And the best of yourself is the worst in the sight of God.

Brothers and sisters, what we really need to do is to give ourselves completely to the Lord and let Him purify us, displace ourselves and place Himself in us. Then whatever comes of Christ and not of ourselves, then this is true blessing.

So, dear brothers and sisters, if you read chapter five, the Lord Jesus said, because you are the salt of the earth, brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, there is an element of salt within us.

You know salt has a special flavor. If you put the salt in it, you know it's there. Because the salt will preserve from decay and give a special flavor to the food. But the salt can become saltless. Now, how can it be?

Because when you are in such close fellowship with the world, and gradually it becomes less salty, less salty, until it is no longer salty. And the power of preservation is totally gone. We are the salt of the world.

We should preserve the world from decay. And yet we are so in friendship with the world, we have lost its flavor and we can no longer affect the world. But the world affects us. And that's the reason why our Lord Jesus says, if you befriend the world, you become enemy of God.

And when the salt becomes saltless, now what can you do with it? It's no longer fit for anything. And it will be cast out and be trodden underfoot by man. And that's what happened among Christians. Instead of the world admires it, the world despises Christians.

Because they say, you are no longer different from us. And you become even worse than us. And then the Lord says, you are the light of the world. We are supposed to be sons of light. Now where do you put the light?

You do not put it under a couch. A couch means that you want the comfort of this world. Then the light will be hidden. And you do not put it under a bushel. The bushel means the things of this world. And you put it in a bushel, the light is hidden.

It is to be put in a city. On the man's stand. And then the light will have his result. So the Lord said in chapter 5, He said, I come not to make void the Lord and prophets. So the Lord said, I come not to make void the Lord and prophets.

I come to fulfill the law and fulfill the prophets. In other words, The law and the prophets tell us something good. But it is the Lord who makes it good for us. So dear brothers and sisters, You find in chapter 5, The Lord uses different illustrations.

He uses the illustrations of what the Lord demands. The illustrations tell us what the Lord demands. And then the Lord tells us what He demands. It is so much higher than what the Lord requires. And at the last of this chapter, In verse 48, He said, Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now we know, Here is a degree of similarity, but not the same degree. Because God is perfect, is perfectly perfect. But our perfect is only comparatively perfect. There is no such thing as sinless perfection.

God is sinless perfect. No human being is sinless perfect. Except our Lord Jesus. But what does the perfect here mean? It means there is a similarity of nature there. Because it is His life within us.

It is His character that began to come out of us. So in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul said, among the perfect, It means among the matured. He does not mean sinless perfect. He means those who are maturing, growing in the Lord.

So here in chapter 5, We find it is to live by Christ. If we live by ourselves, We will never be able to fulfill it. How we need to live by Christ. And only through Him we are able to be light and to be sought.

Seeking God’s Kingdom and Building on the Rock

And then when you come to chapter 6, The Lord shows us how we live upon this earth. You find people, they give alms. People, they pray. People, they fast. They have a religious life. But the religious life is for man to see.

But for Christians, For us who live for God, We live for the Father in Heaven to see it. We do not live before man. We live before God. And here you find we serve God. We are not trying to serve two masters.

Because we cannot serve two masters. Either you serve God or you serve mammon. And because we serve God alone. Therefore, we do not need to care what should we eat, what should we drink, what should we dress with.

This is what the world seeks for. And for us, we seek the Kingdom and His righteousness first. And for us, we seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first. And all these things shall be added unto you.

And that is verse 33. So chapter 6 is centered upon this verse. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. And then you come to chapter 7. Chapter 7 shows us, if you live such a life, what will happen to you?

And it is like building your house on the rock. So when storm came, rain came, water came, it was dead. So when storm came, rain came, water came, it was still there. So in Matthew 5 to 7, it tells us what the Kingdom of Heaven really is.

That is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. But how can we get into it? So here you'll find in Matthew chapter 11. The Lord Jesus said, in verse 12,. But from the days of John the Baptist until now, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence.

And the violence sees all of it. Brothers and sisters, we have seen what the Kingdom of Heaven is. But the Lord is now telling us, how can we get into it? How can we possess it? He said, the Kingdom from the time of John the Baptist until now.

The now means after the Lord has given us what the Kingdom of Heaven is, and He is discipling His people. And He is telling us, how can we live today in the Kingdom of Heaven? Because from the day of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has come.

The King has come. And now we want to possess it. But there is a condition. He said, the Kingdom of Heaven is to be taken by violence. Now, we do not like the word violence. In Chinese, you say, nǔ lì.

It makes it good. But the word itself is violence. The word nǔ lì sounds better. In fact, the original meaning is violence. The Kingdom of Heaven is to be taken by violence. Because nǔ lì means, you are trying your best.

But violence is just the opposite. You are dealing with yourself. Now, we do not like the word violence. But remember, so far as the word is concerned, it just describes a situation. It is neutral in itself.

It depends upon whom do you do the violence. If you do the violence to other people, that is bad. But the Lord said, do violence to yourself. Are we willing to do violence to ourselves? Naturally, we love ourselves.

We want to protect ourselves. We want to have our way. Brothers and sisters, who does not love himself? If anyone says, I do not love myself, he is telling a lie. That is what we naturally are. But the Lord requires us to do violence to ourselves.

Not in any sense to neglect our body. As if we are doing violence to ourselves. You know, in the dark age, that is what people do. They will sleep on the bed with all these iron things jerking out. And they will even take their clothes with all these iron things.

To ill treat their body. Because they think sin is from the body. But you may treat your body so bad until you die, it does not help. The violence here is due to your soul. Your own thinking. Your own feeling.

Your own volition. Anything that represents you, yourself. You have to do violence to it. Because of the love of God. You are willing to lay down yourself. As our Lord Jesus laid down himself, because of his love of the Father.

And if we are willing to lay down ourselves. If we are willing to even lay down our talents. Even if we only need to lay down our intelligence. So that we can pass the cross. Then God can use us. Just like Moses.

For 40 years he was in the palace of Egypt. He learned all the learnings of Egypt. Only in words and in deeds. So he tried to save his people by his mightiness. The first day he used his deeds. He killed an Egyptian.

The second day he used his words. He tried to solve the problem among the Israelites. But he was rejected. Thank God for his failure. And he had to flee for his life. And after he had been in the wilderness for 40 years.

He being a few sheep. He lost his eloquence. He lost his might. When he was 80 years old. He himself said man can live if he is strong to 80 years. In Psalm 90. And he is 80 now. He thought himself as dead.