Sermons About Kingdom-of-heaven
Matthew 7:15-23
False prophets may resemble sheep, but they are wolves. We can recognize them by their works. We must have a right relationship with God; works can't save us.
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True Righteousness & Anger, pt. 2 (Matthew 5:23-26)
The righteousness that marks one's participation in the kingdom, the righteousness that was always intended, is a level of living in relationship with God that extends to the very depths of the heart. True righteousness, being in the kingdom, being a Christian is a matter of the inner man. Follow the Lord as He gives to illustrations of how this righteousness, in relation to the commandment "You shall not murder," looks in the life of His servants.
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How Do We Know Where To Start?
Brad Zinn continues the Pursuing the Peace of Philadelphia series discussing how we can identify where to join in Jesus' work in the city.
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Blessed Persecution, Pt. 2 (Matthew 5:10-12)
Persecution, in all its forms and various degrees, is and has been the experience of the righteous ever since the blood of Abel was shed by his brother Cain. We often respond to ridicule, harassment, and other forms of persecution with anger, resentment, retaliation, and judgment. However, this is sin and we need to come to grips with the Lord's commands in Matthew 5:10-12 and respond with rejoicing, gladness, and graciousness. It is not easy and it certainly is not something we do in our own strength; it is a fruit of grace in the heart. The Christian, however, has a hope in heaven and a reward from the Lord for humble obedience that is our true hope and encouragement as we live out our faith in the midst of a hostile world.
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Blessed Persecution, Pt. 2 (Matthew 5:10-12)
Persecution, in all its forms and various degrees, is and has been the experience of the righteous ever since the blood of Abel was shed by his brother Cain. We often respond to ridicule, harassment, and other forms of persecution with anger, resentment, retaliation, and judgment. However, this is sin and we need to come to grips with the Lord's commands in Matthew 5:10-12 and respond with rejoicing, gladness, and graciousness. It is not easy and it certainly is not something we do in our own strength; it is a fruit of grace in the heart. The Christian, however, has a hope in heaven and a reward from the Lord for humble obedience that is our true hope and encouragement as we live out our faith in the midst of a hostile world.
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Blessed Persecution, Pt. 1 (Matthew 5:10-12)
Throughout the beatitudes, the Lord has been laboring to make clear what it means to truly be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. He has, in a few verses, managed to turn the religious thinking of His day upside down. Now as we come to the end of our study of the beatitudes we are confronted with one of the most shocking statements the Lord ever uttered. The Lord gives His most extensive treatment to this last beatitude. First, let me just note the structure of these verses. In v. 10 the Lord ends the inclusio which began in v. 3, now returning to the present tense, “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” As opposed the previous 6 verses, “shall be,” which looks forward to the ultimate and final fulfillment at the end of the age; in heaven. Verses 11-12 expand on His statement in v.10. To understand what the Lord is teaching us here we are going to break it down into 5 truths about persecution that will encourage us to live more boldly & more decisively for Christ. They are: (1) REALITY, (2) REASON, (3) RESULT, (4) RESPONSE, and (5) REWARD of persecution. We are going to look at the first 3 this morning.
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The Riches of Meekness (Matthew 5:5)
Sermon on the Mount the Lord is describing the inner character of genuine repentance; and the picture He paints is of one who stands in absolute contrast to the spirit and philosophy of the world. It makes no sense to an unregenerate world that has no “no fear of God before their eyes”. It goes against every natural (fallen) inclination of their heart and mind. The character displayed here is to the world the height of foolishness. Man always tends towards thess things that exalt man: self-confidence, self-assertiveness, self-will, self-love, self-glory. But the character of those in the kingdom, who are truly blessed of God, who are in a right relationship with Him turns all of the world’s thinking, under the influence of the evil one, upside down. The Kingdom of heaven is so foreign to man because they are so utterly and uncompromisingly God-centered; it begins and ends with the exaltation and glory of God and the right response of humility, brokenness, meekness, suffering. “If you and I are not, in this primary sense, problems and enigmas to the non-Christians around us, then this tells us a great deal about our profession of the Christian faith.” The character presented here is and unbroken chain; it is a unit; they are not qualities that a person picks and choses from, but flow in logical sequence. So, the first mark of those in the Kingdom is poverty of spirit is to have a self awareness of spiritual bankruptcy and destitution before a holy God - to say, “nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Your cross I cling.” It is to come to God claiming no merits, but bowing before Him as a spiritual beggar holding empty hands to receive His grace. To be truly poor in spirit, is not just intellectual knowledge but is one who mourns, grieves over sin; hates the sin that so robs God of glory and destroys men, but mostly mourns and grieves over the sin that remains in your own heart. Meekness is the character produced by the spiritual mourners. This is not second level Christianity, nor is it instructions on how to enter the kingdom, but is the mark of those who have have been born again, and truly responded to the command of repentance. Those who are truly in the Kingdom of Heaven. Genuine believers.
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Joyful Mourning (Matthew 5:4)
The world defines blessedness, happiness, contentment, in the things of this world. However, it is it not the things of this world that account for true blessedness, but having the assurance of grace, forgiveness, joy, satisfaction, and a relationship with God in the next. That is true blessedness and it is that which the Lord addresses in the Sermon on the Mount. The blessedness that the Lord speaks of runs counter to the thinking and philosophies of men, because it is the blessedness that is God-centered. The promises of those in the Kingdom are rich, but before they can be had there needs to be an inner transformation; there must be a humbling of yourself before God; there must be genuine repentance. The introduced the first element of this genuine repentance with the stunning statement: “blessed are the poor in spirit;”
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The Kingdom of Righteousness (Matthew 5:1-2)
God has always called His people out to be separate from the world - you could say that God’s design for His people has always been counter cultural. Religiously: (a ) OT - (be holy) “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, “I am the LORD our God. You shall not do what is done nit eh land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. you are to perform My judgements and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God.’” (Lev. 18:1-4) “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (19:2) (b) NT “Be Holy” “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:14-16). Christians are to be different than the world, not like it. That is because the current culture and world is fallen. In Adam all sinned and all died; by nature all are born in hating true righteousness, hostile to God’s holy standard, selfish, self-willed, and earth bound in thinking. In other words, the world sits in darkness and “in the shadow of death,” God came as light and calls His people out to be light; that necessarily means that His people live, think, feel, act, love, and relate to one another in a way different than the world them. It is to be a part of another kingdom - and there are only two [!] - the kingdom of the world/”Domain of darkness”; and the “Kingdom of God” “kingdom of His beloved Son,” the kingdom wherein righteousness reigns. It is the kingdom of this righteousness that the Lord now brings before the eyes of those who would follow Him.
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