Prophet, Priest & King - Adult SS - Lesson 4: King

[0:00] Just to highlight the book that I mentioned a few times, so this is kind of the book I found! really helpful on this subject of prophet, priest and king. So on the book so it's called Man of! Sorrow's King of Glory by John T. Rhodes. He's the IPC minister up in Leeds. It's an excellent book.

[0:19] He's a really good writer so I recommended this. It's kind of it's a book about the person of Christ in the first half so one person, two natures, how to understand Christ as being God our man.

[0:30] And then it moves into his work, prophet, priest and king. So I recommend that's on the bookstall at the back of church. All right let me pray and we'll jump straight in.

[0:46] Heavenly Father we thank you that we can meet here freely and in safety. We thank you that that you protect us, that you have a king over us, over your church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you help us to to know him better, to understand his work and his rule and appreciate it even more in our lives. We would we find great comfort and reassurance knowing that Christ is king and in his name we pray. Amen.

[1:17] So we've come to the end of our series on prophet, priest and king. And the big thing that I wanted us to see in all of this is that Christ's work of salvation, when Christ saves us, his work isn't just this general work of salvation and he zaps this thing called salvation down. No, his work of salvation is the work of a prophet, priest and king. So God, if you remember, God has always used prophets, priests and kings to save his people. You see that throughout the Old Testament because those three offices, those roles solve our three problems of sin. So prophets cure ignorance, priests cure guilt and kings free the enslaved. And all that's wrapped up in Christ. In fact, the name Christ means the anointed one. And prophets, priests and kings were the anointed ones in the Bible. So when we say Jesus Christ saves us, what we're saying is Jesus, the prophet, priest and king saves us.

[2:24] And so look how the shorter catechism puts it. Question 23, what offices does Christ execute as our redeemer? So what does Christ do to save us? Christ as our redeemer executes the offices of a prophet, priest and king, both in his state of humiliation on earth and exaltation in heaven.

[2:47] Christ, in order to redeem us, to save us, executes the office of a prophet, priest and king. And so that's how we should understand all his work in this world and in our lives.

[3:00] And last week, Harry showed us how Christ's work on the cross was the work of a king. So look again at the shorter catechism, 26. How does Christ execute the office of a king?

[3:14] Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. So look at that last phrase, Christ came into this world with enemies to conquer. So John T. Rhodes in this book, again I'll recommend it.

[3:36] John T. has this helpful phrase. He says, Christ's work of salvation wasn't only a search and rescue mission, it was a search and destroy mission. In order to rescue us, he had to conquer three enemies, sin and Satan and death. Three enemies that were keeping us from God.

[4:00] And today I want us to see that Christ's work as king, it was on the cross, but it also continues today. And we've seen that with all the offices so far, haven't we? All those offices continue today and that includes king.

[4:17] But I first want us to see what does that actually mean for Christ to still be king? If Christ conquered all our enemies and his enemies on the cross, what else is there to do?

[4:31] Why do we still need a king? Well, let's jump straight in. The first thing to see is this. Christ is reigning now. Christ is reigning now. Look at Hebrews 8.1. We looked at this passage a few weeks ago to see Christ's priesthood in heaven, but it shows us something else. Hebrews 8. Now the point in what we are saying is this.

[4:53] We have, right now, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.

[5:06] So Christ right now is a high priest in heaven, but also what is he doing there? He is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

[5:20] So this is a picture of reigning and ruling with God. So God reigns and is in control over all things. He is God.

[5:34] And Christ is there, sat next to God, reigning with him, enthroned in heaven with him. Obvious question, what type of person sits on a throne and reigns and rules?

[5:50] A king. Christ, when he went to heaven, he went to be a king to rule over creation. That this was his coronation.

[6:01] There are kind of more things to say about Christ. He always was king, but when he entered heaven, he was coronated. He was enthroned. Now, you might want to ask, but hold on, Jesus is God.

[6:17] Hasn't he always been ruling from heaven? Was God not ruling, but now he is ruling? Are there two kings ruling?

[6:29] What's going on here? Well, let's be clear. First of all, God always is and always has been and always will reign and is always king.

[6:41] So Psalm 103. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all. 1 Timothy 6.

[6:52] He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and the Lord of lords. God is and always has been king over all creation.

[7:03] Unchanging. Think back to our doctrine of God. God never changes. He is always king. Perfectly ruling creation, looking after it, telling creation and history where to go and what to do.

[7:16] God is king. Okay? And so let's ask again, what is then the, what's different with Christ entering heaven?

[7:28] Well, think about who Christ is. He is God, but he's also man. And so what is new here as he enters heaven after his resurrection and sits on the throne?

[7:42] What's new here? There is now a human being ruling over creation as well. And this is significant because this is how creation was always meant to be.

[7:57] So think back to our being human series a few months ago in Sunday school. Think back to Adam. How did God create Adam? What was Adam's role and task in creation?

[8:09] Do you remember? He was to have dominion. That's kingship over creation. So God rules over all.

[8:20] Okay? But he set a man to be his under king, his vice regent, to rule for God's over creation. So he was to be God's representative on earth, his mediator over creation, to rule for God.

[8:39] And so the world was meant to be how God intended it by Adam implementing God's rule. He was meant to work it and keep it and guard it, rule it.

[8:54] And so think, this world, this isn't just kind of a blank canvas world, but this world is a kingdom. And it's designed to have a man ruling over it, God's king.

[9:08] That was always the case from the beginning. This world is meant to be God's kingdom with his king on the throne. And that world was meant to be a world and a people who obey and serve God with this king set over it.

[9:26] So think to creation, just look here. Creation, it was intended to have, you have the world here with all the people, it was intended to have a man ruling over it.

[9:43] Adam. And he was meant to rule over it, to implement God's rule perfectly, so that God's world would be how he wanted it, with all his people worshipping and serving God.

[9:59] That's why I've got the arrows pointed up. They're pointing in the right direction. They're loving and serving God in the right way because the king is set over it. The right king is set over it. But in the fall, that king, Adam, fell from his throne, didn't he?

[10:18] And when that king falls, he's a giant. Remember, what falls with him? All his kingdom. It all falls with him. And so creation, the kingdom of this world, it became ruined.

[10:32] So we're in the fall here. It became ruined. And so Adam was meant to be. So that's the desire of it. He was meant to be over it.

[10:44] But in the fall, he lost his throne. Okay? And instead, a new king took that throne.

[10:59] He was Satan. Satan began to rule as a king over creation.

[11:11] And so, when a king like that is over creation, all these enemies are let loose in the world. Sin and Satan himself and death and all of Satan's minions.

[11:27] And he wasn't ruling by God's will, by God's standards. He was ruling this world, by his own will, against God. So that was seven.

[11:41] And so, that's why Satan is called the god of this world. And the prince of the power of the air.

[11:52] He's called that for a reason. Satan became like a king over this world. Now, you've got to realise he's not the true king.

[12:04] And he isn't God. He doesn't have that power. But he does have real power in this world. And so this world became an evil kingdom. With hearts turned away from God.

[12:18] The opposite of what it was meant to be. And in our sin, we all follow this king. That's what Ephesians 2 says. We follow the prince of the power of the air.

[12:31] I read, you might have this book. You might have seen this book. The King and the Dragon. I think it's on the bookshelf. I read this to Lydia sometimes. And this is a great book.

[12:42] Kind of talking about how this world has fallen. And how Satan, who's pictured as the dragon. That has taken over this world. And so it's got this paragraph there. I'll read it to you.

[12:54] A dragon came prowling. And what a strange thing. He thought he could sit on the throne and be king. The king replied, no, I do not think that's right.

[13:05] And chased off the dragon back into the night. But wanting to take his revenge on the king. The dragon then tried to destroy everything. There you go. I recommend buying that book.

[13:16] As well as John T's. That's what has happened in the fall. And so although God continued to reign over all things.

[13:31] He's still God. Always in control. Always in charge of all things. Although God is there. There has always been a need for a man to be set back on that throne.

[13:47] To become king and to rule this creation properly. And therefore to restore it. Because that is salvation.

[13:59] That is how sinners and this fallen world can be saved. We need a king to be set back on that throne and rule properly. And when Christ, after his resurrection, entered into heaven.

[14:14] And sat down at the right hand of God's throne. He did just that. Christ, when he went to heaven.

[14:26] Took back the throne over creation. And this is why the Father says to the Lord Jesus in Psalm 110.

[14:42] So this is David writing about God and Christ being king. Okay. So the Lord, God, says to my Lord, the Christ.

[14:55] Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Rule with me and destroy all the enemies of this world. God has made Christ the true man and the true mediator, middle man.

[15:13] To rule over and restore creation. And what does this king need to do to do that? He needs to bring all these rebels, all these rebellious enemies under control.

[15:29] And so there's a specific purpose and direction to Christ's rule. As king, Christ isn't kind of just generally ruling over creation and just keeping it under control.

[15:46] No, there's a specific purpose and direction. Christ is ruling as a saviour to restore creation, to defeat the enemies against his rule.

[15:58] And to bring human beings under his rule. In other words, Christ is ruling now to bring in his kingdom.

[16:11] God's kingdom. And so is it any surprise why Christ's first words of his first sermon are, does anyone remember? The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

[16:25] Repent and believe in the gospel. Christ came to bring in the kingdom of God. And that involves two things.

[16:35] First, defeating sin on the cross. That's when his kingdom broke in, his rule began. But in heaven, he took his throne over all creation.

[16:48] And now he's free to take the world back for himself. To defeat the remaining evil. To expand his kingdom. And to bring people into that kingdom.

[17:00] To turn the rebels' hearts back to God. And that is what Christ is doing now in heaven. So you can kind of think of it like this. He won the war on the cross.

[17:14] But now there are kind of still these ongoing skirmishes and battles. And now he's in heaven kind of clearing all that up. And so, what's happening now?

[17:26] He's expanding his kingdom. You can see that. He's expanding his kingdom into this world. Turning rebels back and restoring what the world should be.

[17:38] And now it's happening under Christ's rule. And this is why we pray, Your kingdom come, in the Lord's Prayer.

[17:50] So when we say that, we are praying, Lord, we know that Jesus is king now. With all authority. But there's still opposition in this world.

[18:01] And so we ask, Heavenly Father, bring your kingdom and your rule more and more into this world. And so if Jesus is king and rules with a specific purpose, as saviour to conquer these remaining forces, if that is the purpose and direction of his ruling, what is the centre of all that work?

[18:29] Exactly where and how is he doing that? Where are enemies coming into his kingdom and turning their hearts back to God? It's in the church.

[18:42] The church is where Christ is specifically working and ruling over in order to bring his kingdom. So look at Ephesians 1.

[18:54] Do you see what it's saying here?

[19:09] Christ has been given his throne over all things, but that kingship is given for something in particular. It's given to the church. The church is kind of like the spearhead of his rule.

[19:24] It's like Jesus says, I'm ruling over all things, controlling all things, doing all of this for the church. And all history has to come into that plan for the church.

[19:38] So think of it like this. Here we go. This is kind of like the third picture of an outstanding standard. So God ruling over all things, sets his Christ, the king, over all creation.

[19:54] But the focus of Christ's rule, it's on the church. I've kind of picked the church as a building. Of course, the church is all across the world, throughout time and space, kind of picturing it just as that.

[20:08] So in his church, that's the focus of his rule. And so he rules over his church specifically. And through that, from the church comes his kingdom.

[20:24] It spreads all from there. The church is kind of like an engine, the driving force of the kingdom. And so it all stands out from there. Which, if you just think about all this, this is quite a remarkable thing to think about.

[20:45] So Jesus has taken the throne of heaven. He's ruling over all creation, galaxies, planets, nations, kings, governments, cities, lives, atoms, everything. Ruling over all of it for the sake of us.

[21:04] For our good, for our growth, all out of love for us. He's doing it. So that's why Romans 8, this is a familiar verse, a comforting verse.

[21:17] And this is why this is so powerful. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. The church is the centre and focus and goal of Christ's rule.

[21:33] So it's kind of like, whenever Christ commands something from heaven, his first thought is always us when he does that. And so we need to realise that there's a close relationship between the kingdom and the church.

[21:51] And I want you to see that. Just to see this one thing. Break out into groups. I think it's on the next page. Yeah, turn over your page. Break out into groups. Look up these passages and answer this question.

[22:03] How do you enter the kingdom of God and come under Christ's restoring rule? So just look up those two verses. Shouldn't take long. Break out into groups. Let's see that. Thank you.

[22:43] Thank you.

[23:13] Thank you.

[23:43] Thank you.

[24:13] Thank you. Okay. What do we find? So what's the first one? Colossians. Paul Felix, what did you come up with, Colossians?

[24:25] How do you enter the kingdom of God and come under Christ's rule? He has to deliver. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And there's like a little clause at the end.

[24:38] What does that delivering involve? The forgiveness of sins. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. You enter his kingdom by having your sins forgiven. How about John 3?

[24:51] Iona, did you get to that one? But you need to be born again. Right? I think how are we born again?

[25:01] Well, it's by the spirit. But what is that involved? John 3, 16. It's believing in his son. It's faith. Right? So you enter this kingdom by having your sins forgiven and being born again.

[25:17] Which is exactly how you enter something else. The church. You enter the kingdom by entering the church.

[25:29] Now, let me just say here that the kingdom and the church are not identical. Okay? There's a lot to say about this. But the activity of the kingdom, it's slightly broader than the church.

[25:42] And if you think to new creation, the new creation would be all of God's kingdom. But that's not necessarily, you know, plants and trees aren't the church. Right? So the church and kingdom aren't identical.

[25:56] But they are inseparable. Where the church is, so is the kingdom. And the church is the center, the driving force of the kingdom.

[26:08] And as his church grows, that means so does his kingdom grow. You can't have the church growing but not the kingdom. Right? That the church is the center of his rule.

[26:20] And so that should really shape how we understand Christ as king today. He's restoring this world and bringing his kingdom by ruling over and growing his church.

[26:34] And this shows us what kind of kingdom this is. This is a spiritual kingdom. This kingdom is a matter of salvation and forgiveness.

[26:47] Eternities, hearts, loyalties. Christ is bringing his kingdom and his rule and expanding it and conquering enemies. Not through force.

[26:58] But through forgiveness. And raising people to life. Born again. And this is such a genius plan if you think about it. If we were enemies of God, right?

[27:10] We were enemies of God. And Satan had his power by us following him. We were kind of Satan's army. What did Christ do with us?

[27:22] He is defeating his enemy by bringing them onto his side. He's converting them. And so Christ advances his kingdom not by annihilating sinners.

[27:38] But by bringing them onto his side. So you forgive the sinner. And not only have you defeated the enemy. You've also grown the kingdom by bringing them onto your side.

[27:52] And so it's a genius plan. And just like any king, not only does he conquer and defeat, he protects his kingdom. Christ is our king watching over us right now.

[28:07] And all this, understanding Christ as king, this is how we know as God's people, this is how we know we will make it to the end. This is how we know Satan will never snatch us from God's hand.

[28:21] This is how we know the church will never disappear. It's because Christ is king. And he's working all things in this universe to protect his church, to protect us.

[28:35] And so think of Christ as king. Whatever you face in work or at home or in your family. And it just gets, it starts to get scary to be a Christian.

[28:49] And temptation seems to overwhelm us. And it feels like the devil is attacking us personally. This is why we don't need to panic in those moments. Because Christ is king and he's ruling over all and protecting your life.

[29:07] And so this is the big thing I want us to see today. Christ is reigning now. And he's reigning over his church. We are the center of his kingdom. Okay, but now let's ask another question.

[29:21] How is Christ doing this? How does Christ rule and advance and protect his kingdom? Because think about it.

[29:32] A king only really rules if you see his rule, right? If he does something on the ground in his kingdom, like his rule is actually engaged.

[29:43] So a king who rules in theory, in theory over a kingdom, but never actually does anything. His rule never makes contact with people.

[29:57] That's no king at all, really. That king isn't really ruling. A king, a real king, sends his soldiers in and his armies. That's how he rules and protects.

[30:08] You see his rule engaged in your life. And so what is Christ's contact with us? How exactly does he rule?

[30:20] Well, he doesn't use swords. He uses keys. And I want to finish with this. I want us to look at the keys of the kingdom. So look at Matthew 16.

[30:35] This is Jesus speaking to Peter, the apostle Peter. And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church.

[30:46] And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

[30:56] And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I just want you to see one thing. Do you see the connection between the church and kingdom here?

[31:07] So Jesus promises to build his church. I will build my church. And then in the same breath, he gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter.

[31:17] There is a connection with Christ building his church and these keys. We see here Christ will build his church and therefore his kingdom by giving the church keys.

[31:35] Now, what are these keys? Because I don't think we're often familiar with these keys. Well, let's see how the Heidelberg Catechism summarizes it. I've got it there for you. We're going to see how the Catechism gets this from the Bible.

[31:47] But just look at the question and answer here. What are the keys of the kingdom? The preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline toward repentance. Both of them open the kingdom of heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers.

[32:04] These keys that have been handed to the church are preaching and discipline in the church. So just think for a moment, what do keys do?

[32:19] Keys open and shut doors, don't they? Right? That's why we have keys in our pockets. That's why we have keys for everything. They open and shut doors. Well, Jesus is saying, as king, he has given his church his own keys to the kingdom to open and shut the kingdom to people.

[32:41] That's why there's the language of loosing and binding in Matthew 16. That's a term for being in or out of the kingdom. And so Christ is growing his kingdom and defeating his enemies by opening his kingdom with these keys and letting people in.

[33:02] But also he uses these keys to shut the kingdom, to protect it, to keep the enemies out, to keep the wrong people out. That's why we lock our doors at night, isn't it?

[33:14] We protect our homes. We don't want the wrong people in. Keys protect. And how do the doors of the kingdom open and shut? It is through the preaching of the gospel and through church discipline.

[33:30] Now, where do we see this? Look at Matthew 23. This is Jesus condemning the scribes and the Pharisees for their false teaching. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

[33:44] For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. So how have the Pharisees? So how have the Pharisees been shutting the kingdom?

[33:58] By preaching a false gospel. Their legalistic preaching wasn't opening the door and bringing forgiveness and new life. It was shutting it.

[34:09] And so it is through the preaching of the true gospel that the kingdom is open or closed. Open for those who repent and rightly shut to those who don't.

[34:24] Now, this isn't to say preachers and elders have this kind of magical power to save people and take away salvation just by whatever they say.

[34:36] No, elders aren't infallible. These keys only work when it's in line with God's word. But when that word is preached, we need to realize that is Christ opening and closing his kingdom.

[34:53] He opens it when he says that Christ forgives the sinner. Come and receive that. That is the kingdom opening. But what about discipline?

[35:05] Well, look at Matthew 18. This is all about church discipline and how to deal with unrepentance in the church. I'd recommend you to read this whole section later. But just look at these two verses, Matthew 18.

[35:16] If he, the unrepentant sinner, refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector, an outsider. Treat him as someone outside the church.

[35:28] Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Whatever happens in the state of the church, Jesus is saying that there is a connection with that to the heavenly reality of the kingdom.

[35:50] So do you see the same language of loosing and binding? As church discipline is applied, that is the keys of the kingdom in use. And the kingdom is being open or shut.

[36:04] And so Christ is breaking into this world and taking it back from Satan and bringing in his new restoring kingdom and protecting that kingdom with these keys.

[36:18] It's through preaching and discipline. And so let me end with this.

[36:41] This is how we should think about preaching every Sunday. But preaching, if you think back to our prophet Sunday school, but preaching, it is a prophetic act, right?

[36:54] Christ speaks today through his preachers. We saw that a few weeks ago. But I want us to also say, preaching is a kingly act. As forgiveness is held out to the sinner and Christ calls people to repentance, that is the king opening up his kingdom and advancing it into the world.

[37:18] As his word challenges you and rebukes you and addresses our sin, that is the king bringing his rule more and more into your life, bringing his kingdom more into your life.

[37:33] salvation comes to us by these keys. But also, as his word goes out and says, no, that sin is not okay.

[37:44] You can't promote that in my church. You cannot be baptized without repentance. That is the king protecting his kingdom, keeping it pure, keeping the enemies out.

[37:57] And so I just want us to realize today that these keys should be jangling in every church, in every church service. And so I hope we can see that Christ isn't this hands-off king who kind of watches his church up from heaven, but isn't really involved.

[38:18] No, he is among us, active, speaking and defeating sin and Satan in our lives, protecting his people. And he is doing that using these keys.

[38:30] That is where we see the contact of Christ's kingship. And he is working all things for the good of his church. And so all of this in church, all this may look normal, but this is actually the king of the universe ruling over us.

[38:49] Bringing his kingdom into a fallen world. And one day, this kingdom will have no end. There won't be a boundary line like this.

[38:59] His kingdom will cover all the earth. And the whole world will be his kingdom perfectly. So that is why we keep praying, your kingdom come.

[39:12] And so that is the work of Christ. That is Christ's prophet, priest and king. I hope it's been helpful. I hope that's just a helpful way to understand the work of Christ.

[39:25] It's not just this general saving. It's a prophet, priest and king working in our lives. I'll stop there for questions. Yeah, we've got a few minutes for questions.

[39:35] Hey, Melvina.

[39:48] All right, so discipline in church. How is that executed in church?

[40:00] Would you, if the president doesn't want to change the things that you just exclude them? Yeah. If you want to know all the details of how IPC will do church discipline, speak to one of the elders.

[40:17] They'll be able to give you a full outline of that. But first of all, we need to understand that discipline isn't, when we think of discipline, we think kicking out the church. It's communication, right?

[40:27] That's the final step. That is the extreme final step of church discipline. In fact, church discipline, it happens all the time in church. Preaching, in a way, is discipline.

[40:40] It's the word kind of rebuking and challenging and correcting and reinforcing the good of the church, right? So discipline happens all the time.

[40:51] Discipline, you know, like a light conversation in some ways could be discipline, like just an encouragement could be discipline in a good way, right? All discipline is good. So let's understand that.

[41:05] Discipline isn't just the extreme, it's the whole spectrum. Like all of the elders' work is discipline in a way. But kind of that formal discipline that you're talking about, you know, usually the steps are, it kind of be, first of all, kind of a conversation, maybe a personal conversation.

[41:24] It's been like, I see there's something going on in your life. Like, are you addressing that? So it can start off like that. Then it might go to kind of a bit more of a formal conversation, maybe with a couple of elders being like, I don't, we don't think that's right.

[41:39] That needs to stop. Then if it doesn't, it might be addressed to the, taken to the session. And then if that continues, it might mean being barred from the Lord's Supper until repentance takes place.

[41:55] That doesn't mean you're kicked out of the church. That just means you're barred from the Lord's Supper. It's a part of showing like, ah, this sin has consequences.

[42:05] And it's making me not be able to enjoy the communion and the fellowship of the church. And so it's a good form of discipline to make me realize, man, okay, my sin really should stop.

[42:17] But if that persists and continues, it may get to the point of, yes, excommunication. Like, you can't be a member of this church anymore. You're openly sinning and it could potentially corrupt the rest of the church.

[42:31] I'm speaking very kind of crudely here. That's generally how it is. And it's very rare to get to that point. That's pretty extreme. It happens, but it's extreme.

[42:41] Yeah, is that helpful? Yeah. So we often get the phrase, kingdom of God, thrown at us.

[42:55] When that gets thrown at us, just give us what we could be thinking to get the right definition. Yeah. So kingdom is God's rule, right?

[43:07] So king's rule. So the kingdom of God is when Christ's rule comes into this world. So this world is rebellious. And so when it ceases its rebellion and becomes subdued under Christ's rule, that's the kingdom of God at work, right?

[43:26] And so we see that most clearly centrally in the church, right? We are all submitted to Christ. We are following him and he's ruling in specific ways with his elders over us and by his word.

[43:39] So there's that. But also it can be broader than that. Yeah. His rule can kind of, as his kingdom expands, you can see it's not necessarily, so let's give an example.

[43:56] So a Christian sharing the gospel at work, that is the kingdom kind of pushing forth a bit.

[44:10] That isn't necessarily the church. Like, is the church in that coffee area at work? Yes, a Christian's there, but that's not quite the church is there.

[44:22] But that is kind of Christ kind of pushing the boundaries of his kingdom through that Christian. And so, yeah, it's, I don't have kind of a neat definition to separate church and kingdom, but yeah, they're not the same.

[44:38] But when someone uses the word kingdom of God, obviously, how have you heard it being used in various ways? Well, you often get sort of, it's often rolled out in my liberal theology as well, this is the kingdom of God.

[44:53] And you think, I just wonder what the definition of that is. Right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Good place to ask them, what do you mean by that? And does that match up to all that we've been saying?

[45:05] Because people just being nice, like, we can't just say that that's the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God means church just cannot be happy. Yes, essentially.

[45:18] But the church and the kingdom aren't one-to-one. The kingdom is a bit broader than that. But, yeah, but to separate it from the church, to say that this, yeah, this thing over there has nothing to do with the church, but it's still the kingdom.

[45:34] Yeah, that, that's when we can say, no, that's something not right there. Yeah, like us. So, when everyone has been born into the kingdom, saying, oh, Christ comes again and we're going to find a state.

[45:49] Oh, yeah. Does the kingdom change? Oh, so in eternity, when all the world is God's kingdom, are you saying, is there a difference between that kingdom and this one that's coming in now?

[46:04] So, it's the same kingdom because it's, it's the same king, right? Remember, kingdom is rule. So, it's the same rule, but it's going to be the kingdom consummated. So, the language is currently the kingdom is inaugurated, right?

[46:17] It's broken in, it's beginning, it's expanding. But in the new creation, when everything's perfect, no sin, no rebels, that will be the same kingdom consummated, finished, completed, perfected.

[46:31] Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. Oh, yeah, Lucy. I'm just thinking about now, when we go to church, there's not, it's not a sort of, it's like it's been, the devil has taken that out of Christ at all.

[46:51] How, how do you, how should I think about, I'm doing a, you know, church thing that don't normally do, you see something doing, you see something doing, you see something out.

[47:01] Yeah. Yeah. How should I do that? Yeah. Has it, um, what we say, like, was it, yeah, were, were those hearts ever really submitted to Christ?

[47:15] I'm going to say, ultimately, no. So, was that Christ losing one of his citizens? Ultimately, no. But we also need to acknowledge that there is a, in the world now, as this kingdom is inaugurated, and we look at the church, the church is, there is a visible and invisible aspect of the church, right?

[47:39] So, the church, formally and structurally, visibly, is full of true Christians who will be in the new creation, and actually, people who say that Jesus is Lord, but they're not actually true Christians, they won't be in the new creation.

[47:52] It's a mixed church, so, um, yeah, Jesus speaks of the wheat and the tares, the good fish and the bad fish. Um, uh, so, so, yeah, we need to understand that that is the case about the church.

[48:05] And so, you can say, visibly, yes, they have left the kingdom, right, because we would say, oh, yeah, that's a church over there, they're a part of the kingdom of God.

[48:16] So, you can say, visibly, yes, they have, but, but, kind of, invisibly, like, they were never in it, because they were never, like, Christ never loses anyone under his rule. But someone under the leadership could be in it.

[48:30] Oh, yeah. So, you said it could be a mix. Yes, even in that church, it's mixed, yes, yeah, yeah. So, globally, yeah, it's a mixed church, but also, even within, kind of, bad churches, there'll be, there'll be mixed people, exactly, yeah.

[48:43] So, those, those faithful saints, they have not left the kingdom, like, they, they were always in it, Christ would never lose that, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Let me pray.

[48:53] Lord God, we praise you that Jesus Christ is king. He rules over all, and he rules over us today, his bride, the church.

[49:11] And Lord, we pray that we would find great comfort knowing that Christ is king, working all things for our good and for our salvation. And we pray that we would praise him today. Would Christ's kingdom come more and more into our lives, into this world.

[49:25] And we pray that he would be glorified. And in his name, amen. We start it, we've got a half term next week, so no Sunday school next week.

[49:36] But the week after, we're starting a new series on apologetics, defending the faith. So, it should be a good one. See you then. Thank you. John T. Rhodes, get the book at the bookstall.

[49:51] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.