SERMON TITLE: The Kingdom of God
SPEAKER: Michael Miller 
DATE: 10/20/2024

Sermon Discussion Guide
Take notes here

Introduction

• Thanks
  • Wife
  • My elders and partners in crime
  • Remnant
  • Jeff, Carol, Kendal, volunteers of Woodsedge
• Today I want to build a case that the Kingdom of God is intrinsically linked to the giving of the Spirit which results in gifts of the Spirit. I hope to do this by proving the following:some text
  • The major emphasis in Scripture of the New Covenant is the Giving of the Spirit. This will be in comparison to what is often emphasized in the evangelical West.
  • That the Kingdom mission of Jesus is and can only be carried out by the Spirit.
  • The Gifts of the Spirit were a means to sustain our faith as the Jesus mission is continued in the advancement of God’s kingdom.
• Story of the Spirit of Infirmity being cast out of a woman in Chicago.
  • Stories like this serve to illustrate that King Jesus is still on the throne!
  • The blind and mute man - Matthew 12:28 “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

The New Covenant Promise

Jon Mark Ruthven deserves the credit for this, “The Bible sees the outpouring of the Spirit and his gifts upon the Church as the central characteristic of the age of the Messiah and his reign in the Kingdom of God.” - John Mark Ruthann pg 100 On the Cessation of the Charismata

• Traditional Passages used to describe the New Covenants
  • Jeremiah 31:31-33 "31 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
  • Ezekiel 36:26-28 “26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
• Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 will quote from several OT passages to explain what is happening.
  • Joel 2
  • Psalm 16:8-11 “8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
  • Psalm 110:1 "A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.””
  • Isaiah 59:19-21 “19 So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives. 20 "And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression," declares the LORD. 21 "And as for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore.””
• Luke’s key to New Covenant hardly draws on Jeremiah or Ezekiel but rather Isaiah 59:19-21 “19 So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives. 20 "And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression," declares the LORD. 21 "And as for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore.””
  • Acts 2:37-38 “37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."”
  • The fact that Peter quotes these other passages is not to say that Jeremiah or Ezekiel were wrong nor was it to say their prophecies are not being fulfilled but rather he is drawing attention to the fact that those who are far off will now receive the Gospel and covenant.
  • Paul will also quote this to the Romans 11:25-27 “25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; 27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”"
    1. The words “for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind (same Hebrew word for Spirit) of the Lord drives” is describing what Luke just described about the loud, violent rushing wind, the spirit descended on each of them.
    2. Peter, Luke, and Paul are making it abundantly clear that this Isaiah 59 passage is being fulfilled with “New Covenant.”
    3. The fire & the wind also harken the reader of Acts to Mt. Sinai at the giving of the Old Covenant again showing that this New Covenant is what is in mind.
    4. The tongue speech could very well be, “My words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring…”
  • Gentile Inclusion
    1. Acts 11:15-18 “15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
    2. Now we see the gentiles or “those who are far off” getting tongue speech as well. God’s words are in their mouths in accordance to Isaiah 59:19-21

The Kingdom Mission of Jesus is and must be carried out by the Holy Spirit. - Story of stenosis Wisconsin

• The signs Jesus performed were not extrinsically valuable intending to only point to Jesus or His message of the Gospel. The miracles and signs were natural outcomes of the King expressing his rule. Where the King and his Kingdom were received there were healings, deliverances, and miracles done through the Spirit.
  • “Rather, miracles manifest the essential core activity of his mission: to displace the physical and spiritual ruin of the demonic kingdom by the wholeness of the Kingdom of God.” - On the Cessation of the Charismata pg 101.
  • This mission wasn’t successful in Nazareth where they rejected their king. Luke 4:23-27 “23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, '"Physician, heal yourself." What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'" 24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.””
    1. There was no King Jesus expression where King Jesus was not received.
       1. Everywhere else that received the King received Kingdom results.
    2. The mission was largely successful everywhere else Luke 24:18-21 “18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" 19 And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.”
• There is a direct link to the giving of the Spirit with the in-breaking of the Kingdom. (Credit to James D. G. Dunn)
  • In three of the Gospels Matthew 3:16f; Mark 1:10f; Luke 3:22 the Spirit being given to Jesus is connected to the coronation Psalm 2:7 “1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
  • When Jesus then casts a demon out of a blind, mute boy he connects this advancement of the Kingdom with the Spirit of God. Matthew 12:28; cf. Mark 3:22-30
  • In fact the Gospels show that the Spirit was given to Jesus so that he could preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the poor Matthew 12:18; Luke 4:16
    1. Matthew 12:15-18 “And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”
    2. Luke 4:16-18 “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”
  • Of the things the Father desires to give the disciples: his Kingdom & his Spirit
    1. Luke 11:13 “13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”"
    2. Luke 12:31-32 “31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
  • The Spirit had been given to others in the past but the Kingdom was not there.
    1. The main difference is that the King was not there.
    2. That all changes though when Jesus was coronated with the Spirit.
    3. Now the King who was bearing the Spirit was present and thus the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God.
    4. The bearer of the Spirit, Jesus, will also be the dispenser of the Spirit at Pentecost, now using his disciples to continue the works of the Spirit which can now also be seen as the works of the Kingdom.
  • John the Baptists’ message also connects the giving of the Spirit with the continuing in-breaking of the Kingdom. Matthew 3:1-11 “1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'" 4 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.””
    1. Here we see the warning of judgment to all who would not be loyal to this coming King.
    2. This King will baptize the loyal with the Spirit and an unquenchable fire that will purge.
    3. Since the giving of that Spirit would not happen until the ascension and exaltation of Jesus the implication is that God’s ongoing work kingdom advancement is for those who are gifted with this Spirit.
    4. Acts 2:32-33 “32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
• It is no coincidence that Jesus would give out these powers and gifts to his disciples at His ascension and exaltation.
  • Ephesians 4:7-16 “7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." 9 (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
    1. Psalm 68:18 “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.”
    2. What is the psalmist picturing here?
    3. He is linking the giving of these gifts to the “body of Christ” and the “one baptism of the spirit” which is the same language employed by Paul to talk about other gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians
• Many have believed that the miracles were meant to prove his message. What if sometimes it were actually the reverse that was true? What if instead sometimes the message was to explain his miracles?
  • When he sends the twelve out he has them doing the same thing. Was it to affirm them or their message or does the message explain why there is a sudden explosion of miracles? Miracles to a degree that had never been seen in history prior.
  • Matthew 10:5-8 “5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.”
  • Luke 9:1-6 “1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”
  • Luke 10:1-20 “1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." 17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 18 And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””
    1. We see the message of the rule of God explaining this inbreaking of healings.
    2. We also see that where the rule of God is rejected there is no inbreaking of the Kingdom but an expectation of the Kingdom’s judgment at the end of the age.
• The pattern of miracles and presentation of the Gospel continues on past the Lord’s exaltation.
  • Acts 15:12 “And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.”
  • Romans 15:17-21 "17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience--by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God--so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; 20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, 21 but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
  • 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 “and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
  • 1 Thessalonians 1:5 “because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”
  • The Kingdom Gospel Message and Mission was accomplished by “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

The Gifts were meant to confirm our faith, building us up till we are with the Lord. - “I don’t know how to pray” story.

• The Corinthian Church Issue
  • There seems to be some “Spiritual Status” seeking within the Corinthian church.
  • Their status was based upon which gift they had and how powerful that gift was with some acting as though they had arrived like some gnostic obtaining reunification with their false god.
  • So here Paul is reminding them that these gifts were not status symbols but rather gifts used as a means by which God would build their faith till the Lord returns quite literally turning their attention away from their own “arrival” or (over-realized eschatology) but rather looking forward to the return of Christ.
  • So while they may have “knowledge” or various prophetic revelations they are not to be mistaken in thinking that they have obtained or arrived but rather they are to eagerly await the ultimate revelation, the Return of the King Jesus.
  • These gifts beautifully serve to strengthen and enrich the life of the believer till the Lord returns and they are fully matured.
  • 1 Corinthians 1:4-8 “4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-- 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-- 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• 1 Corinthians 12
  • The cessationist would have you believe the need for these gifts had ceased because we now have the Bible. We don’t need these gifts.
  • However the emphasis of Paul in Corinth is that despite the elevation of status by some in the Corinthian church based upon what gift those few had, which I suspect is tongues, each gift is only one part of the body. We have need for all of the gifts, which in fact is Paul’s solution when he commands them three times to “desire earnestly spiritual gifts.”
  • The cessationist would have us be a body with no eyes and no hands, no prophecy and no healing, inefficiently bearing the testimony of Christ without such useful graces. They in fact are guilty of being divisive by quite intentionally dividing the body of Christ telling the hand and eye I have no need of thee.
• How do these gifts enrich us?
  • A gift of healing causes us to hope in the resurrection.
  • A gift of prophecy causes us to hope in a greater revelation, the Return of Christ.
  • A gift of knowledge causes us to long for the day when all knowledge has been revealed.
  • A gift of faith causes us to be thankful that there is a day will come when the person who we have placed our faith in shows Himself to be fully true and fully faithful.

Conclusion

• The inauguration of the Kingdom of God in and through Jesus Christ was put on display by his destruction of the devil’s works.
• The ongoing miraculous works of the apostles, their disciples, and believers today is how God through the Spirit is continuing to advance that Kingdom initiative till he returns to put a final end to the reign of the devil.
• The New Covenant giving of the Spirit to those who are near and those who are far off results in believers manifesting that life-giving Spirit through gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit is the means by which the believer carries out the advancement of King Jesus’ rule and reign.