Please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 4, verse 17.
From that time began Jesus to preach and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.
—Matthew 4:17
The same book, 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 seize on it.
—Matthew 11:12
The same book, chapter 24, verse 14.
And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole habitable earth for a witness to all the nations; and then shall come the end.
—Matthew 24:14
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee. Thou hast gathered us together again in Thy presence. In Thy presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
We do praise and thank Thee for giving us such a privilege. We open our hearts to Thee, O Lord. Speak to us. Bring us into Thy heart, that we may follow Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Yesterday morning, we mentioned that the burden of this time is spiritual exercise and the life to come. We thank God that spiritual exercise is not only profitable for this life, that in this life we may experience the life of Christ.
Whether it is our personal life, our family life, church life, or social life, we are not like the people of the world, who live their lives by their old Adamic life. We who have been born again by God are supposed to live differently.
And the difference is that we no longer live by ourselves. We live by the life of Christ in us.
For to me to live is Christ.
—Philippians 1:21
In every dimension of life, we do not live by our old Adamic life. We live by the life of Christ in us. But this promise of life comes only through spiritual exercise. If we do not exercise our spirit, even though the Holy Spirit is leading us in that way, we will not be able to live by the life of Christ.
But thank God, the profit of spiritual exercise is more than just for this life. It extends into the age to come and into eternity. This time we will fellowship together on how spiritual exercise gives us the promise of life in the days to come.
Yesterday morning, we spoke of spiritual exercise and the second coming of our Lord. This afternoon, we will go on to spiritual exercise and the kingdom of the heavens.
The gospel of the kingdom of the heavens is an integral part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is also an important part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not another gospel.
We have only one gospel, as the apostle Paul maintained. There is only one gospel: it is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gospel. But He is so rich and full; His gospel is so great that it includes much more than we think.
We often think of the gospel only in terms of the gospel of grace. That is to say, we think that our Lord Jesus came so that we may believe and have our sins forgiven. Certainly, this is true, and we do thank God for what He has done for us.
But according to the Word of God, this is only the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not according to our need; it is according to the glory and nature of God.
We may be satisfied by merely being saved, but God will not be satisfied. He gave His gospel to us that we may reach the eternal purpose of God concerning us.
Therefore, we find that the gospel includes not only the grace of God but also the kingdom of the heavens. Unfortunately, this part of the gospel has been neglected.
You know, when the Reformers told us of the gospel of justification by faith, that was the gospel of grace. But they purposely left the gospel of the kingdom aside.
The reason was the heresy proclaimed by the Catholic Church. They have the teaching of purgatory, and it is all based upon this matter of merit. That is to say, according to that teaching, one cannot be saved apart from one’s own merit.
If you do not accumulate enough merit to go to heaven, then after you die, you have to go to purgatory so that somehow merit may be accumulated. There is also the idea that others have more merit than they need to go to heaven. You can pray to them, and they will share their extra merit with you, so you will come out of purgatory more quickly.
There is also another way: if you buy an indulgence, then, when the money goes down to the box, your soul will fly out of purgatory.
Now, that is heresy. It is completely opposite to the grace of our God. The Reformers were afraid of that, so they purposely left this part aside. Thus, among Protestants, the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens has not been preached.
But thank God, even though there is heresy, there is also truth. We cannot leave off truth because there is heresy. As a matter of fact, the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens is an important part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When our Lord Jesus came into this world, He was born a King. When He was thirty years old, He began His public ministry, and He preached the kingdom of the heavens:
Repent; for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.
—Matthew 4:17
The Jewish nation believed in God. They were expecting a King to come into their midst—the Messiah-King, who would deliver them out of the bondage of the Roman Empire. That was their belief.
But when Christ Jesus was born, He was the King, and yet they could not understand Him. Eventually, they crucified Him. But when our Lord Jesus came, the gospel He preached was, “Repent; for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.”
The King has come. He came to form His own kingdom. Because He is here, the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.
The King alone cannot be called a kingdom. A king without a people does not have a kingdom. When our Lord first came, He had no people. He had to find His own people. He had to save His people.
He came for that purpose: to establish His kingdom on earth. First of all, He had to find a people. Therefore, He called people to repent and to believe in Him. Not only did He call them to believe in Him; He called them to follow Him.
When our Lord Jesus began His ministry, He called people to believe in Him and also to follow Him—to be His disciples. They were not only to be believers; believers, at the same time, were to be disciples.
In the sight of God, to be a believer and to be a disciple are one and the same thing. Put another way, you cannot be a believer without being a disciple. Unfortunately, this is not true today. But in the mind of God, believers and disciples are one and the same thing.
When He called those who should believe in Him, He said, “Come and follow Me.” Simon Peter and his brother Andrew left their boat and followed Him. Then He called James and John, and they left their father and the boat and followed Him. They became disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Now, what is a disciple? Disciple does not simply mean student. In one sense, they are students, and our Lord Jesus is the Teacher. But in the modern sense, being a student is different from being an apprentice.
In the early days, there was no regular school. If you wanted to learn a trade, you had to be apprenticed to a master. Suppose you wanted to be a carpenter. There was no school of carpentry, but there were master carpenters. You would make a contract with your master.
When the contract was signed, you would leave your home. You were not allowed to stay at home; you had to live with your master and become part of his household.
Usually, during the first year, he would not even allow you to touch the instruments. He would not tell you anything about the trade. What would you do? You would serve the house. If he had children, you would help with the children. When he was eating, you would attend to him. You would sweep the floor of his house and do all these mundane tasks.
You may say, “I did not come for that purpose.” But that is the way of apprenticeship. Perhaps in the next year he would allow you to touch his instruments and teach you some secrets.
After you have finished your apprenticeship, what has happened? You have not only learned your master’s skill; you have learned the way of life from your master. Oftentimes, when you come out of apprenticeship, you talk like your master, walk like your master—everything seems to be like your master.
Now, that is discipleship. When our Lord Jesus saves us, that is only the beginning. He saves us that we may be His disciples, and He will train us.
In the early days, apprentices had to leave their home and everything, literally. Today it is spiritual. You do not need to leave your home; you can remain in your home. But spiritually speaking, you have left everything behind. You are following the Lord, learning from Him, and He is training you. That is discipleship.
Then, in Matthew 11, the Lord Jesus said:
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and the violent seize on it.
—Matthew 11:12
Of course, in the original language, the word is violent. In another Gospel, the word force is used. This does not mean that you are violent toward other people. It means that you have to do violence to yourself.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence. We have to be violent toward ourselves, and the violent and forceful seize upon it.
In other words, He began to have His own people, and these people were following Him. He tells us that, if we are to follow Him, we must have this kind of mind. If you are not forceful, if you are not violent toward yourself, you will not be able to learn Him.
That is why consecration is so important. The first spiritual experience is consecration. Consecration does not mean that you give yourself to the Lord merely to serve Him with your own talents.
It means that you give yourself to Him and let Him work in you. You allow Him to do whatever He wants to do with you. He is going to train you. He is going to make you something.
But He wants your approval, because God will never force anyone against his will. He created us with a will, and He always respects our will.
So, brothers and sisters, we will not have spiritual experience until we have consecrated ourselves. Even if we have believed in Him for a number of years, if we do not put ourselves under His authority, if we do not give ourselves totally to Him, then He will not be able to train us in any way.
Here you find our Lord Jesus saying, “The kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and the violent seize upon it.”
When you come to Matthew 24, it tells us how the kingdom of the heavens will come upon this earth. Before that happens, the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens has to be preached in all the world as a testimony, and then the end will come.
When you look at the Gospel according to Matthew, you find that the kingdom of the heavens is its theme. Our Lord Jesus commenced the proclamation of the kingdom of the heavens.
In Hebrews 2, we find that this great salvation was first spoken through the Lord and was confirmed by those who heard Him. The apostles continued to confirm it.
Whether it was Peter on the day of Pentecost, telling the people that the One whom they had rejected and crucified God had made both Lord and Christ, or the apostle Paul in the final chapter of Acts proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ—the gospel of the kingdom was the gospel preached by the apostles.
If you turn to Revelation 1, you find:
Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood; and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
—Revelation 1:5-6
Our Lord Jesus loves us so much. He has washed us from our sins in His blood, but He has done something more: He has made us a kingdom.
Then in Revelation 5, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures worship the Lamb:
Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon earth.
—Revelation 5:9-10
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, what has happened? In Colossians 1:13, we find that God has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
We are not only saved from our sins and saved from eternal death. God has made us a kingdom. He has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of God’s Son. This is the purpose of God concerning us.
Positionally, we are in the kingdom of God’s Son. The world is under Satan. He has organized this world into a cosmos, and through that system he opposes God. The world and the things of the world are used to fight against God.
When our Lord Jesus came to this earth for the first time, it was as if heaven began to invade the earth. The world is under the enemy of God, but now the One from heaven has come upon this earth. He came as a King to establish His kingdom upon this earth.
It was an invasion. Heaven had invaded the earth, and He was calling a people out of the world unto Himself.
Discipleship, then, is not only the training of citizens; it is the training of kings. All the citizens in the kingdom of the heavens are kings. He is the King of kings, and every citizen in the kingdom is a king.
Now, brothers and sisters, how are you going to be a king? How do they train kings? Of all the training found in this world, the strictest is the training of a king.
If you are going to be a king, if you are going to reign, you must go through very strict training. You have to begin at the very bottom. Even a prince who is going to become king must be trained so that he first becomes a common soldier. He has to be under authority.
He has to forget that he was born a king. He is just a little soldier, and he must go through strict training. The training of a king is the strictest of all training, because without it he will not be able to rule.
When our Lord Jesus began to call disciples, He wanted to train us as kings, because He is the King of kings. The training of kings is the strictest of all.
Brothers and sisters, do you think that merely believing in the Lord Jesus automatically makes you a king? Are you fit to be a king? Unless we are under strict training, we are not fit to rule.
Discipleship in the Bible is the training of kings. Today, some of God’s people think that after they believe in the Lord Jesus, they will simply sit in a sedan chair and be carried to heaven. Brothers and sisters, this is not God’s purpose.
After we believe in Him, He wants to make us kings. He wants us to reign with Him. Because of this, we will be under strict training.
Look at how our Lord Jesus trained His early disciples. Consider His ways with the twelve disciples—how strict He was with them.
Take Peter, for instance. Sometimes, when you read the record in the Gospels, you feel sorry for Peter because it seems that our Lord Jesus was always finding fault with him. Peter really loved the Lord, but the Lord treated him very strictly.
You remember that after Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, he must have felt as if he had been lifted to the third heaven. Immediately, our Lord Jesus began to share with His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem and eventually be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead.
Peter, full of love for his Master, took the Lord and began to rebuke Him, saying, “No, never.” But the Lord turned and said:
Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
—Matthew 16:23
What a shock that must have been. Peter did that with good intentions because he was really mindful of his Master. But the Lord said, “You are not mindful of God, but mindful of men.”
That is opposed to the nature of the kingdom of the heavens. Once we belonged to the kingdom of this world and lived by our old Adamic life. We were earthly, fleshly, and sinful. That is the nature of this world, and we were no different from other people.
But the Lord has saved us and is translating us into His own kingdom. His kingdom is altogether different from the kingdom of the world. The kingdom of the heavens is heavenly and spiritual, yet we still have our Adamic life in us. We used to live in this world and belonged to this world.
How can we be in the kingdom of the heavens? How can we be trained to be kings unless we are put under strict training?
We need to expect strict training. We may think that after we believe in the Lord Jesus we will have an easy time, but you will find that it becomes harder than you ever thought. He loves us so much. He wants to train us to be kings—that is, to take up His own character.
Brothers and sisters, there is nothing more important than this. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we may desire that God will give us this gift or that gift, and that He will use us in this way or that way. But, to our surprise, we find that He puts us under strict training.
Character building is more important than gifts. Gifts are only channels, and the real thing that goes through the channel is character. That is life, and life alone can help.
Peter was a very open person. He was outspoken and an extrovert. Yet, you find how God trained him. In the Bible, three times God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit cut off Peter’s speech.
Remember when Peter was with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. He woke and saw Moses and Elijah there with our Lord Jesus. It was a wonderful sight. Immediately he said, “Let us stay here forever. I will make three tabernacles.”
Immediately, the glory of the Lord covered them, and the heavenly Father said:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
—Matthew 17:5
In other words, do not talk too much—hear Him.
On another occasion, in Matthew 17, those who collected the temple tax came and asked Peter, “Doth not your Master pay the temple tax?” Peter said, “Yes.” He went in to speak to the Lord Jesus about it, but the Lord cut him off before he could speak.
The Lord asked, “From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their sons, or from strangers?” Of course, Peter answered, “From strangers.” Then the Lord said, “Therefore the sons are free. But, lest we cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish that cometh up. In its mouth you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for Me and thee.”
Peter was a fisherman, accustomed to catching many fish. Yet the Lord told him to go and catch one fish. His patience must have been tested. The Lord paid not only His own tax but also Peter’s.
On another occasion, in Acts 10, Peter was speaking in the house of Cornelius. In the middle of his long speech, the Holy Spirit came down upon those Gentiles. God was still dealing with Peter, even after the resurrection.
You remember that morning when our Lord asked him three times, “Peter, dost thou love Me?” Peter said, “Lord, Thou knowest that I am attached to Thee.” Then the Lord said, “Follow Me.” Peter looked back, saw John, and asked, “What about this man?” The Lord said, “What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.”
Brothers and sisters, do you see that? The Lord was training Peter to be a king.
The same was true of the two sons of Zebedee. None of the twelve disciples was really high-class, yet they were always asking among themselves who was the greatest. They tried to find every opportunity to be the greatest. That is natural; that is what the natural man wants.
Even when our Lord Jesus was making His last trip to Jerusalem, the disciples thought that Christ was about to be crowned. In Matthew 20, the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to the Lord and said, “I want to make a request.”
She asked that her two sons might sit, one on His right hand and one on His left, in His kingdom. The other ten disciples were indignant.
The Lord said to them:
Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it hath been prepared of My Father.
—Matthew 20:23
Brothers and sisters, you find our Lord Jesus dealing strictly with His disciples because He said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” You cannot treat His kingdom as the kingdom of this world. It is completely opposite.
His kingdom is heavenly. His kingdom is spiritual. Everything that belongs to the world is opposite to the nature of His kingdom.
If you want to rule, you have to be the servant. If you want to be first, you have to be last.
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.
—Matthew 20:28
This kingdom of the heavens is totally different from the kingdom of this world. We may be qualified for the kingdom of the world, but naturally speaking, we are not qualified for the kingdom of the heavens.
Unless there is strict training in us, that we may be totally delivered from ourselves—from our own ideas, opinions, desires, feelings, and mentality—unless all these things go through the cross, we will not be able to be kings in the kingdom of the heavens.
The principle is the same today. Let us remember: the kingdom of the heavens is not of this world. The kingdom of the heavens takes its character and nature from the King of kings.
Our Lord Jesus is the King of kings in the kingdom of the heavens, and His character characterizes the kingdom. Whatever He is, that is the nature of the kingdom of the heavens.
That is what you find in the Sermon on the Mount. There He shows us what His character is. Those who begin to have His character built into them—when His character begins to be formed in us, and we are transformed and conformed to His image—will be qualified in the kingdom of the heavens.
To put it simply, to reign with Christ in the kingdom of the heavens to come is not an automatic thing.
It is true that when we believe in the Lord Jesus, eventually we will all be in heaven. But to share in the kingdom of the heavens when it appears on earth is something different.
We are living in this age, and the Bible tells us that there is an age to come, and not only the age to come but eternity to come.
What is the age to come? It is not eternity. The Bible calls it a thousand years. When this age of grace is over, the next age to come is the millennium—the millennial kingdom.
In the millennial kingdom, there are two parts: a heavenly part and an earthly part. The earthly part is called the Messianic kingdom, because all the promises God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be fulfilled with the Jewish nation. They will become the first of the nations.
But there is also the heavenly part, and the heavenly part concerns the church. Those who overcome will reign with Christ for a thousand years. They will reign from heaven over the earth.
This is the public manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. Today, the kingdom of the heavens is hidden—known to God, but not known to the world.
That is why, in Matthew 13, the Lord shows us the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens. So far as the world is concerned, the kingdom of the heavens is here, but it is hidden. To the world, it is a mystery because they do not know exactly what it is.
In the seven parables, you find leaven and abnormal growth. The kingdom of the heavens is like a woman who put leaven into three measures of meal, and it began to spread. The kingdom of the heavens is also like a mustard seed. Though it is a small seed and a vegetable, it grows abnormally into a great tree, and the birds come and make nests in it.
Leaven in Scripture always refers to heresy and evil teaching. The enemy came in and put tares into the field.
To the eyes of the world, the kingdom of the heavens is Christendom. They look at Christendom and say, “This is the kingdom of heaven.” Thank God, even in Christendom there is the pearl and there is the treasure. But it is such a mixture; it is a mystery. Only God knows who is in His kingdom.
But one day the kingdom of the heavens will come upon this earth publicly. That is Matthew 24 and 25. Then everybody will see it.
Revelation 11 tells us that, at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
That is when the kingdom of the heavens descends upon this earth. Our Lord will rule over the whole earth, and those who are in the kingdom of the heavens will rule with Him. That is the public manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
But what is important is this: who is qualified to reign with Christ when the kingdom of the heavens appears publicly? All believers? No. Only those who are discipled to Christ.
Only those who live today in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, who put themselves under the authority of Christ, and who have been trained by the Lord to be kings.
Only those who deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord. Only those who are yoked with Christ and learn of Him.
Those who live a kingdom life today will reign with Christ in the kingdom to come.
Brothers and sisters, how can we enjoy life in the kingdom of the heavens? One day, the kingdom of heaven will come upon this earth. If we endure with Christ, we will reign with Him. If we die with Him, we will live with Him.
We have the kingdom of the heavens in view. Because of this, we need to do violence to ourselves, and the violent seize upon it.
There is a very close connection between the gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens. The gospel of grace brings us to the kingdom of the heavens.
By ourselves, we will never be able to endure. Who does not love himself? Who does not want to gratify himself? We want to be the head and not the feet. That is natural to us. We cannot do it.
How can the character of Christ become our character? How can we be meek and lowly? How can we be pure in heart? How can we endure all tribulations and sufferings? Unless it is the grace of God, we cannot do it. But He in us is well able.
Because of this, there needs to be spiritual exercise. When grace comes upon us, our spirit needs to be exercised to respond to it, that we may be willing to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him.
Grace leads us to the kingdom, and the kingdom proves grace.
Do you know what grace is? Grace includes three things.
First, the One to whom we look is full of grace. Our God is full of grace.
Second, what is in Him is given to us freely. That is grace. As we look upon Him, His grace comes to us freely. We are saved by grace through faith.
Third, those who have received grace become gracious toward others. That is what grace means.
You can see how the gospel of grace brings us to the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens, and the kingdom of the heavens proves what grace really is.
So, brothers and sisters, let us have the full gospel. We believe this is the will of God. That is the way to experience life in the kingdom to come.
May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee because Thy gospel is such great salvation. We pray that we may not just touch the corner at the beginning.
Lord, may Thy Spirit bring us into the full gospel, that we may not only be saved from death, but may experience Your life now and forever, and bring all glory unto Thyself. We ask in Thy precious name.