Please turn in your Bibles to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. The biggest takeaway that I think I got from R.C. Sproul's chapters on the Holy Spirit was who the Spirit is as the comforter and as the helper. See, we need the Holy Spirit here, but we need to know what the comforter is. The comforter is the encourager. But the point that R.C. made in this chapter was the word comfort, means with strength. It comes from the words with strength. When we think of comforter, we think of somebody who comes beside us and says, nice boy, nice boy, would you like another chocolate? Isn't that kind of comfort food? That's the way we think of the word comforter or encourager. Nice boy. Nice boy. Have another chocolate. Isn't that the impression we get when we think of comfort or encourage? You see, that's how weak Americans are. That's how flaccid we are in our worship. That's how flaccid we are in our Christian lives. We need an encouragement, a comfort. No, what we need is courage. We need strength. We need the Holy Spirit of God to give us boldness and strength and courage to speak the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus in every context. Does everybody feel the need for the Holy Spirit this morning? Do you sense you need courage and strength? Not just comfort. Strength, courage, boldness. I know I'm way off topic, but R.C. really ministered to me in those chapters. Alright, let's just pray. Can we pray for a moment before we get into the Word? Father in heaven, we pray this morning for comfort and strength. Father, more courage and boldness. We pray you'd open our eyes. We pray you'd make us more alive, more awake. Father, more strong in the spiritual battle. Father, sometimes it feels we're on the enchanted ground. We're just half asleep. We have a hard time really engaging in boldness and courage. Father, send your Spirit, your Holy Spirit, with strength and with courage. to be our advocate, to be our strengthener this morning. Father, send Your Spirit. Convict us. Open our eyes as we study Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen. Please stand with me now to read from John 20, verses 11 through 18. Now hear the Word of God. But Mary stood outside by the tomb, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And then they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have taken Him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him, Robinie, which is to say, teacher. Jesus said to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father But go to my brethren and say to them. I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her and Now let's move to Matthew 28, beginning with verse 1. Matthew 28, verse 1. This is the parallel passage. I'd like to read it this morning as it has much to say about the same scene. Matthew 28, verse 1. Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and indeed, he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, rejoice. So they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. And then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. And all of God's people said, Amen. Please be seated. Let's take a look at this. aspect of the resurrection story of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Each of the Gospels takes a different perspective of it. Why? Because there are different eyewitnesses that are watching all these things unfold. So if you have different eyewitnesses, four different Gospels, you're going to get what? Four different perspectives. So this morning we've seen Matthew's perspective and John's perspective of what happened on the day, the first day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead. So the order of events in this particular section of the Gospels begins at the tomb. The two Marys or the three Marys are the first to the tomb. The Gospel of Mark speaks to three Marys being there, not just two, but three. Matthew and John refer to the two Marys. And they were the first to the tomb. And then there was the earthquake. The angel comes, the guards are out of it, but the angel speaks to the woman, or to the women, and he says, he is not here for he is risen as he told you. It's interesting that he adds those words, as he told you. So we see that again and again. We saw that Several weeks ago, as we saw that, the resurrection of Jesus is certain. Why? Because it is according to the scriptures. God said it, God ordained it, therefore it is. And so the angel was sure to add that little piece on to his reference to the resurrection that he told you that, so you should have known it. So after the angel testifies to the women, they leave, and then they meet Jesus in the garden, and Mary Magdalene speaks But she still does not believe that Jesus is risen from the dead. You see that in this passage. She believes she's talking to the gardener. She's asking the gardener where they have taken him. Look at verse 14 or 15. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. She does not yet believe that Jesus has risen despite the angel's testimony and despite the testimony of Jesus previously. And then Jesus turns to Mary and says her name, Mary. It is at that point that Mary of Magdala recognizes Jesus and she turns to him and she says, Rabboni, which is to say, teacher. and then both Marys worship at the feet of Jesus. Now John does not reference both Marys worshiping at the feet of Jesus, but Matthew does. So evidently both Marys, at least two Marys, are worshiping at the feet of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene is there holding on to his feet. So that's the sequence of events that we read this morning from John 20. Now there's only two points I wanna make in the sermon this morning, and that is number one, We want to know the disposition or the perspective of the women. And then number two, we want to know the thing that Mary Magdalene missed. So there are two points, just two points. The first is that we see the perspective of the women as they are approaching Jesus in the garden. There's this disposition. There's this perspective of the ladies as they approach Jesus. Now we read in Matthew chapter 28 that they were approaching with both fear and rejoicing. It's interesting. There is a mixed emotion that's coming into them as they approach Jesus in the garden. They're still doubting the resurrection of Jesus, but there does seem to be something of this mixed emotion. There is something of a grief. Mary, evidently Mary Magdalene, is weeping, Because Jesus sees her and says, woman, why are you weeping in verse 15? So evidently there's a sadness, there's a grief still. There isn't this rejoicing, there isn't this confidence or faith that Jesus is risen from the dead. They're still not convinced of the power of God and the redemption, the resurrection of Jesus. So there is this grief, this fear, this tentative But there is a steady joy that begins to dawn in their minds and their hearts. And the reason I point this out is because this is us so often, isn't it? Where we have this mixed emotion. On the one hand, we come into worship with a sense that Jesus is risen and we kind of tentatively say, Jesus is risen, he is risen indeed. And we have this sense that there's something really good going on, but we also have perhaps a little bit of a grief about us. And the Lord comes to us as he comes to Mary Magdalene, and He says to you, woman, why are you weeping? He asks you that. He's always asking us this. He's always, it seems, coming to us, brothers and sisters, and He's asking the question, why are you weeping? There Jesus is risen from the dead. This is no funeral. It's not time for the memorial service. Christ is standing in front of Mary Magdalene. It's the best day in the whole history of the world. It is an amazing day. It is the good news of all of the good news. Jesus, standing in front of Mary Magdalene, and He asks the question, Woman, why are you weeping? Good question. Everybody say, good question. That's a good question. Why are you weeping? What's there to weep about? Essentially, what is there to weep about? Christ is risen. The good day is here. The greatest day in the world has come. Woman, why are you weeping? I've fixed everything. Amen. Secondly, it's interesting that Jesus reveals himself to these women first. And I want to explore this just a little bit. It appears at first, now this is the way I see it, that they are not facing each other. I don't know if Mary Magdalene is veiled, I don't know. But evidently they're not facing each other. And because Mary turns to respond as Jesus says her name. So they're evidently not facing each other here. So I think that might help you to understand. But then Jesus reveals himself to Mary by just simply using her name. He just says Mary. And immediately Mary recognizes Jesus. I think she would have recognized his face. I think she probably would have recognized his face. But she certainly recognized his voice when he said her name, Mary. But why did Christ reveal himself to these ladies first? And I think it's because, here's the reason, because they were there first. They came into the grave site at the very early dawn on Sunday morning. They were the first there. It has to have something to do with the love that they had for Christ. They loved Him. They loved Him in life. They loved Him in death. They were both there to see Him at the grave. And the reason why Mary Magdalene loved Jesus is obvious from the text. There are fanciful horrible, blasphemous explanations for Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene. And they're disgusting. And there's nothing in the Word of God concerning any of that. But what is it that we need to get? If the Word of God speaks authoritatively to us, what is it that we need to take concerning the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene? There's something there that we need to think about. Don't be distracted by what the world is doing, these crazy explanations concerning Mary Magdalene. But understand that the Word tells us Why Mary is attached to Jesus. And the first reason, there's two reasons that we get in the text. The first is that Jesus had cast the seven demons out of her. That's number one. We know from scripture that Jesus cast seven demons out of this woman. And as we said several weeks ago, this had to have been a tragic, horrible experience. I can't think of anything more oppressive and horrible as demonic oppression. I've experienced oppression myself, but then possession is a higher level. It's even worse. It's degrading. It's miserable. It's everything evil that the demon world can come up with is imposed upon the woman. In this case, seven demons have infiltrated this woman, and Jesus has set her free. You see, Christ came to save us from evil. He came to stomp the head of the devil, and He's come to solve the problem of all of the evil in the world, and He goes to the very source of evil, the devil himself, and we see Him coming into our world. and casting the demons out of just about everybody he runs into that is possessed of these devils. The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates Himself to be absolutely sovereign over all, certainly over all of the demonic realm. He is the only Savior from sin and Satan, and Mary of Magdala had experienced the power of the devil, but more importantly, he had experienced the power of Christ. Night and day. What a difference. The devil is horrific. And yes, all the horror movies and all the perspectives of the world towards the devil are not accurate because they're not horrific enough. There isn't a horror movie that displays the horror of Satan enough. Not one. I don't care how R-rated, how X-rated it is, there's nothing that displays the evil of the devil in this world. The power of this evil is really extraordinary. And yet, Marian experienced the power of evil and the power of Christ crushing the devil in her own life. Hallelujah! Praise be to Jesus! A stronger one has come. One who is stronger than the strong man, as the Lord put it Himself. See, He said in order to cast out the evil one, one must bind the strong man. and then rob his house. And that's what Christ did with Mary Magdalene. He came in as stronger than he came in and bound the strong man and robbed his house of Mary Magdalene. Praise Jesus. We praise you Lord Jesus for what you do in our lives and the lives of others. Amen. Now, the point I want to make here is that When you love Jesus, it's not a hypothetical thing. When Christ comes, it's not a hypothetical salvation. It's not theoretical. It's not some theological thing. It's a real thing. It's an intense reality. I can't think of anything more intense than being set free from the devil, set free from sin. Friends, this is the gospel. This is what Christ does. He is the powerful Savior. He really saves us. He really sets us free. We are the objects of His grace, of His power, of His saving power in setting us free from these powers of sin and the devil. It is an intense reality. It's impossible to miss. We experience the power of Christ. And therefore we proclaim the power of Christ. His powers are orders of magnitude beyond that of the devil. And we experience it, we receive it ourselves. And yes, you get out into the world And it was a shock for me. I can remember as a little boy growing up in a Christian home, very much protected and preserved from influences of the world around us, I came out into the world and friends, yes, I was shocked. And you're going to be shocked at the evil in the world. Sometimes we refer to it, we say, all this child slavery going on in Cambodia, whatever it is. We're shocked by it. And we try to preserve our children from not hearing all of the horrible things that are going on. We're shocked at the evil in the world. The demonic realm, the scandals, the fear, the oppression, the demonic possessions, the bondage, the demonic abuse going on in the world. I remember as a little boy hearing the stories of other missionaries and how demonic possession had crept into their church and how certain people were being attacked by knives and they barely got out of the place with their lives. Yeah, I remember all these stories. We're getting a little bit, as kids, we know that the world is an evil place. We know that. But that's nothing compared to the power of the living Christ. Mary Schleser walks into the darkest realm of Africa, in which little babies are experiencing infanticide by the hundreds. She's walking into the very darkest realms of Satan, a woman by herself, others afraid to go. It's not the first time in the missionary history this has happened. But praise God, somebody stands. Somebody sees the power of Christ. Somebody overcomes the powers of darkness. It happens again and again throughout history. The power of Christ is orders of magnitude more impressive than the powers of darkness. And Mary understood this. Why is she the first at the tomb? Because seven demons cast out of this woman. Praise Jesus. The prince of this world comes. See, he'd already been dealing with all these other demons, all the lieutenants and colonels and the other lower magistrates in the demonic realm, but here he says in John 15, the prince of this world comes and he has nothing on me. He has nothing on me. It was just a no contest. It was a no contest. He crushes the devil. He crushes our sins. If a hundred foot, no, a 500 foot tall bulldozer came in here and just rolled over this building, would you notice it? Would anybody notice? A friend of mine just said he picked up a bulldozer somewhere. And he says, huge, it's five yards. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a 500 foot bulldozer just rolls in here and crushes this building and moves on to crush other buildings. Would you know that a bulldozer came through and crushed the building? Would you be aware of it? I'm here to tell you, that's Jesus. He comes, he crushes. He overwhelms the devil. He crushes our sins. It's like this gigantic 500 foot bulldozer coming down over these buildings. That's what Jesus does for us. It's hard not to notice. Amen? Amen. Amen. Would you love this one? Would you like to be around Him? I'm with Him. Isn't that good? Doesn't that feel good? Yeah, I realize there's all this demonic work going on, there's evil in the world, et cetera, et cetera, but I'm with Him. The 500-foot bulldozer that just came in and crushed the devil and sin in my life, I'm with Him. Okay, second reason why Jesus is so loved by these women is the fact that He is referred to as a teacher. So again, we don't go any deeper than this. This is it. Mary Magdalene refers to Jesus as her teacher. Rabbani is the word she uses. And why is this? He's a great teacher. Have you read his stuff? It's great stuff. People from time to time say, great sermon, really enjoyed it and all that. I said, just, I mean, it's good material. You know, it's really good material. How can you miss, you know? Have you read his stuff? In a world of deception, Jesus brings the light of truth. How much deception is there in the world? How much? Have you been out there in the world? Have you heard deception? That's outrageous. And I'm even concerned for members in our church that just sit and read books written by ungodly people, watch movies done by ungodly producers. After about 5 or 10 or 15 years of absorbing themselves in material that's not really rooted in God's Word, it's just man's ideas, I'm concerned for people in our church. In a world of deception, we got light here. That's beautiful. It's the light of Christ coming in His Word. In a world of hopelessness, He brings infinite hope by His words. Let me give you an example of what's going on. The hopelessness in our world today just takes your breath away. It is suffocating. It is all over the place. I think man is increasingly self-conscious and self-consistent to the fact that life is hopeless. The most popular movie in the world right now has raked in about 800 million dollars in the last two to three weeks. It's the most popular movie in the world right now. I didn't watch it, I saw the preview, but It's playing in the theaters, and it is probably one of the most self-consciously humanist worldviews represented on the screen right now. And the Protagonist represents the worldview of humanist man, unlike, I've heard it before. Now, the Protagonist is a murderer. He's a horrific axe murderer, and he's a hero, effectively. He's kind of a dark hero, but he's a hero. And he confesses to everybody watching, listen, this is the quote, I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize it's a comedy. Okay, so that's the worldview of the world that is out there. I used to believe my life was a tragedy, but now I believe it's a comedy. And everybody in the church service, that is everybody in the theater, the modern church, the worship service, they're supposed to say amen to this. Now, the humanist Greeks, Shakespeare and others, they do tragedies and comedies. They're involved in tragedies and comedies. This is what the humanists do. The godless humanist tragedy is where people begin to take seriously the doctrine of the meaninglessness of life. Okay? And you'll see that throughout the Greek plays, Sophocles and others, just read them. I'll provide examples in an upcoming book I'm writing. But the humanist tragedy is all about how people begin to take seriously the doctrine of the meaninglessness of life. The godless humanist comedy is where people stop taking seriously the doctrine of the meaninglessness of life. That is, what's the difference between life without God as a tragedy and seeing life without God as a comedy? With a tragedy, man still believes that there is a problem with the meaninglessness of life. Are you with me? With a comedy, man tries really hard to believe there isn't any problem with the meaninglessness of life. That's the difference. And that's what they pound in to people relentlessly who read this material and watch these movies. They're supposed to get it. Life without God, life in rebellion against the true and living God is all about you believing in the meaninglessness of life. At first you're depressed about it and then you try to laugh about it. And it goes back and forth because they have a really hard time believing that life is meaningless. But this is the hopelessness, the utter, sick hopelessness of the life around us. It is so hopeless, so incredibly hopeless, so filled with lies to this world. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, comes with absolute authority, and He crashes through all of these deceptions, and Jesus speaks the Word. And He says, life is completely, totally, absolutely meaningful. you're gonna know it for eternity either in heaven or hell but you're gonna get it oh yes life is meaningful oh you may not believe how meaningful life is right now but you're gonna get it someday listen to what Jesus says what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul his eternal soul Jesus comes and says, I've come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. And life all the way into eternity. If you drink of the water I give you, you will never thirst again. All that discontentment, all that lust, all of that desire, always wanting and wanting and wanting another sexual experience, another husband, another this, another that. Jesus says, drink of the water I give you, and you will never thirst again. I go to prepare a place for you. This isn't all there is, kids. Jesus says here in John 14, this isn't all there is, kids. I go to prepare a place for you. Life is not the pits and then you die. No, life is a bit of a struggle and then you go to heaven. I go to prepare a place for you. And Mary Magdalene wants to be with this guy. She wants to hear Him. She wants to be assured of these things. She's been in too many theaters. She's read too many of these worldly books. She's had too many stray ideas coming into her minds from the demonic realm. She wants to be with a teacher. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Why? Because I love you guys. You're my friends. I want to be with you. You're my very best friends in the whole universe, and I don't ever want to be without you. I want to be with you. I like him. Do you like him? Do you love this teacher? These things I have spoken to you, that your joy may be full. Amen. These are the words of Jesus. Why would you go anywhere else? Why would you run into the arms of the world or the devil? You say, I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize it's a comedy. No, no, this life is a very serious thing. It's a very real thing. And with the hope of the gospel, we have true rejoicing in Christ, in Christ. So we look to Jesus and we say, Teacher, and we fall on His feet, we hold on to His feet. He's our Teacher, He's our Savior from all evil. We cling to Him and we worship Him, just like Mary did. Now here's the last point in the message this morning. The first is, what was their perspective? Why did they love Jesus so much? He's their Savior. He's our Savior. He's their teacher. He's our teacher. But this is the last point in the message this morning. What was it the women did not understand? I want to focus on verse 17. What was it exactly that Mary Magdalene did not understand? Well, she clings to his feet. Why is she clinging to his feet? She's hanging on to his feet. She's grabbing on to him. Why is she doing this? Well, I think it's obvious she doesn't want Him to leave. That's it. She doesn't want Him to leave. He's left already, right? Where did He go? He went to the cross. He died on the cross and then went to the tomb. Did she appreciate that? She didn't really appreciate that then. She didn't understand the meaning of it. But she didn't want Him to go away. She remained at His feet. That's because she loved Him. She didn't want to lose Him. She didn't want Him to die. But Jesus says in verse 17, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father and to my God and your God. This is a very heavy, very important statement here. There's so much here. I can't cover it all this morning, but I want to answer the question, why is Jesus saying this? Why does he say, don't cling to me, let go of my feet? Why is he saying this? Well, it's because Jesus is saying, I'm halfway through the journey. I'm not there yet. I can't just stay here. I need to continue to go. I need to move. I can't just stay here. I'm resurrected, but I must ascend. He's on a journey. He's halfway to where he's going. He's merely asking Mary Magdalene, please don't interrupt my journey. That's what he's saying. Now, a lot of Christians, I think, are not seeing the story, the gospel of Jesus Christ correctly. We've talked about how many Christians say the gospel is how He died on the cross, and then they forget the resurrection. But oftentimes, we have them dead on the cross, we have him resurrected, but we don't continue to see his ascension and his sitting on the right hand of the Father. So the ascension to the throne is absolutely essential, and that's what Jesus is saying here in Acts 2 and verse 29. Listen to Acts 2, 29. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried. And His tomb is with us to this day. I was referring to Psalm 110 and Psalm 16 there in the sermon in Acts chapter 2. And then in verse 30 of Acts 2, Peter says this, Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. Now I want you to get that. It would be nice if you were looking at it. Because there you see, you know, God had sworn. God had said, I swear by myself that this is going to happen. I'm absolutely committed and dedicated. Now when God is swearing, when God is committing Himself, when God is predestinating something to happen, you know it's going to happen. But what is it that God is swearing to Himself will happen? And that is that He would raise up the Christ, but raise Him up where? Raise Him up where? What does it say there? He would raise up the Christ to sit on His throne. You see, you can't just hold Jesus in the garden. You can't say, I want you to stay here with me. You cannot say that, Mary. Jesus has got to rise from the dead and ascend to the right hand of the Father. That's got to happen. So why Is it better for Jesus to leave? It was good that Jesus stayed there in the darkness of the world, in the devil's territory, where the devils were active, and there's all this hopeless, fearful, horrible thing going on in the world around us. And you could see how people like Mary and others would say, well, it's really good to have your superhero with you all the time. Right? It's handy. It's good. It's a dangerous place. It's nice to have Jesus around you to cast out seven demons anytime he wants to. But Jesus says, no, I need to leave. Now, for several reasons. Quickly, three reasons. Number one, because the Holy Spirit would enable better things, brighter things, even more powerful things than Jesus had accomplished himself. Listen to John 16 and verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, The helper, that is the paraclete, the person, the power of the Holy Spirit, will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. So Jesus is saying is, when the Holy Spirit comes, it will be even better than me being here with you. That's the power of the Spirit. Secondly, Because the right hand of the Father, where Jesus has ascended, is also the vantage point from which he would bring his enemies under his footstool. And we get that in several places, Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 25, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. So I don't know how to explain this, but I will say that when someone is on a throne, they're in a position of authority. They're in a position of strength. They're in a position where they can begin to control what goes on around them. And so it is critical that Jesus be on the right hand of the Father, that He would bring His enemies under His footstool. And then thirdly, here's the third reason. Third reason why it's important for Jesus to ascend to the right hand of the Father is because his rule on the right hand of the Father and by the Holy Spirit enables this kingdom of righteousness to flourish. And we're gonna close here. How would you describe the kingdom of Jesus? What analogies would you use for the kingdom of Christ? Jesus says the kingdom is within you. Paul says, the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It's obeying God's laws, submitting to God's laws from the inside out, loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, peace in this church, peace between brothers and sisters, forgiving each other 490 times a day, which, you know, that's something the world never does. The world never does that, but we do it here. It's amazing how much forgiveness has gone in this church in 20 years. I'm amazed. There is so much kingdom in this church, it blows my mind. And then the joy of the Holy Spirit, which y'all know what that's like when you have the joy of the Holy Spirit within you. It's joy within yourself, joy in your homes, joy in the church. There's joy that comes with the one who gives us the courage and the boldness to stand against the mighty forces of the evil. Turn to Colossians 1. Colossians 1 refers to the kingdom of Jesus. And I'll close in this passage, so I'd like you to just stay in Colossians 1, verse 13. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, that is God has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. God has delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness, or the power of darkness. He's conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. We have been delivered into a kingdom. We, as those who are in Christ, are delivered into a new kingdom. We're not under the power of the darkness of the evil one we've been delivered out of that and now we are in another kingdom now what does this kingdom look like if you just read all around it you'll find this is what the kingdom looks like it explains it throughout the passage for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Verse 21, you who once were alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight. If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul became a minister." Well, it's all of that. The kingdom of Jesus is manifested in all of that, whatever we just read in Colossians chapter 1. So if you ever want to know what the kingdom is, it's explained in great detail in this passage. Now it's important for all of us to have a certain expectation for the kingdom of Jesus, a certain understanding, a certain vision, a certain expectation for what constitutes the kingdom of Christ. Your expectation of this faith, your expectation of God, your expectation of Christ, His gospel, His kingdom, is very, very important. So, if your expectations are way down here, then your faith is way down here. If your expectation of what the Kingdom of God is doing or what the Kingdom of God consists of in this church or in your life is way down here, then your faith is way down here. But as we read God's Word, we begin to see the magnitude and the beauty of the Kingdom of Christ and what it looks like in our lives. There is a strong desire among certain eschatologies to keep Jesus reigning on earth, to keep Him in Jerusalem. as the civil magistrate. This goes all the way back to the first century apostles. They sort of had that expectation. Later they didn't. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They understood the incredible magnitude and the beauty of this kingdom. But before that, they didn't understand it. But there are, unfortunately, people not so filled with the Holy Spirit in the last hundred years of American Christianity, where I'm not sure they're getting it. They want such a physical reign, a reign of Christ in Jerusalem, et cetera, where evidently the kingdom consists of sort of this top-down approach. Or the focal point of some of our friends who may be a little more optimalennial can go into this direction of just their eggs are in the basket of the civil magistrate. So their expectation is constantly in the area of the civil magistrate. But friends, that all comes out of socialism, it comes out of statism. This focal point of 95% of life is the civil magistrate. And so that's the focal point of the kingdom of God. That's heresy, it's Marxism. It's utterly to be rejected by us as we are filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Why is this a heavenly kingdom? Why is this a heavenly Jerusalem? It transforms to the very depths of the human soul. Something the civil magistrate cannot do. It's a spiritual, it's a heavenly power. It provides a life that's entirely different from a physical life, a spiritual energy about us, a spiritual force in our lives. It's a whole different kingdom. Again, your estimation of the gospel, your estimation of what Jesus came to do needs to be way up here, guys! Let's get it up here, let's see what the Word of God says about this great salvation and this great redemption that Jesus has brought for us. Let me ask you this, what do you really want? You hunger and thirst after righteousness. This is who we are. We want righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit. This is what we want. We desire the kingdom of righteousness. Isn't that what you want? More righteousness in the earth? Isn't that what we desire? I think of the ridiculous caricature of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale that came out in the last four to five years. Haven't seen any of it, but the world speaks of this all the time, of this caricature of Gilead. Let me ask you this, Christians. Let me ask you this question. Do you really want a world where abortion is illegal? But everybody is pretending to be pro-life, but still using abortifacients, birth control. dealing with broken relationships, 99%, emancipation rates for daughters, 70% divorce rates, hatred, bitterness in the heart, broken relationships, self-orientation that manifests itself in a thousand different ways, churches filled with schisms and splits and bitterness and strife and envy, bitterness towards parents, generation after generation, but at least we've got some regulations for abortion in clinics around America. Is that what you want? Are those your expectations for this kingdom? I don't think so. Do we really want a world where homosexuality is in the closet by law? But 90% of the male population, including in churches, are in the closet doing porn. Is that the world you want? Is that the extremely low, hypocritical, nothing burger of a kingdom? Is that what you want? Or do you want hearts regenerated, minds renewed, joyful in suffering, willing in service, grateful to God, Not always lusting for that which God hasn't given. Loving God, grateful to God, loving one another sacrificially as Christ loved us and gave himself for us. Can you see how that's like a hundred thousand times more powerful than the other vision? A million times more beautiful as it's working from the inside out. and transforming lives. I mean really transforming hearts and lives. Isn't that beautiful? Is that a vision that you like? Is that the righteousness that you're hungering and thirsting after? Do we really want a world free of slavery from big government and local slave-based abusing plantations, but not really free from the bondage of sin and the devil? What do you want? What is your heart yearning for? What is the vision? What is the expectation for this kingdom, brothers and sisters? There's a slight role for the civil magistrate. We know that. But it can only be a derivative of a heart change. How can we ban third trimester abortions when there's a 78% use of abortifacients on the part of evangelicals. I just don't get that. Why are you trying to save a baby in his third trimester, but you're killing him? 78% of evangelicals are out there killing him on day one, or day five, or day seven. Does this make any sense to you? The hypocrisy drips among evangelicalism. The kingdom of Jesus needs to embed itself into the evangelical church in America. We need to be hungering and thirsting after righteousness instead of this selfish, me-centric, just don't let any inconvenience come into my life. I realize there are Mexicans making $7,000 a year raising eight kids, but we can't afford it. Give me a break. We need the kingdom of Jesus here. We need the kingdom of righteousness cleansing us from the selfishness and the pride that so demonstrates itself. I picked on one little application, but there are thousands of them. There are thousands of them. Oh, there's just so much self-orientation in our nation today. Oh, that the kingdom of Jesus would come. This kingdom is fundamental, radical. It is internal first. It has political ramifications, but it has to begin within us. It has to change us from that self-centered, proud, lustful person into the kingdom of love and life and light. And this kingdom can only come from God. Some of you are thinking what you're talking about is impossible. Wow, we could have done the political thing easy, but this is impossible. That's right. This is impossible. for us. With God, all things are possible. This is the kingdom of Jesus. This is a kingdom that rejects the cults, the cheap lookalikes, the man-centered, man-derived, man-controlled, man-initiated kingdoms of men. This kingdom eschews whitewashing and hypocrisy. We see it in our own lives. We all do. We see this, you know, these hypocrisies creep out. We see ourselves voting pro-life, but there's this selfishness in my relationship with my wife this morning and my kids, right? Don't we see this? And then we're convicted by the Holy Spirit of God, and God in His mercy comes to us, cleanses us from the self-centeredness and all the rest. It's a beautiful thing. It's a wonderful thing. But we're looking for 200 proof, 99 in 40, for 100% pure love, love without hypocrisy, sincere, fervent love of the brethren that abides and abides and abides. And we're not going to settle until we begin to see it more and more in our own lives. This is the kingdom of Jesus. Hallelujah. What are we seeking? What are we looking for? The kingdom of God. Until and unless we're filled with divine love and we mortify sinful lusts and we see the righteousness of God and obedience to His laws increasing in our own lives, we're not seeing the kingdom of His righteousness operating. That's what we're seeking after. Let me close with this one application. I know I've closed four times already, I'm sorry. But I had one more. Some of you are making money in this congregation, and some of you are losing money. There's a lot of money being made, and there's a lot of money probably being lost in this congregation right now. So I want to leave you with this. Brothers and sisters, we need to live like there's something bigger, something grander, something more eternal, something more substantial than these investments, these kingdoms here, the comforts here on this earth. We absolutely need to live as if there is a bigger and a broader and a better kingdom. Colossians chapter 3 applies everything Paul said in chapter 1. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members, which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry, because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them." What is Paul saying here? Here's the application. We don't set our focus, our interests, our affections on things below. We don't live with the expectation that our happiness will be fulfilled in this life. We don't put all of our eggs in this basket here. We live here. We disciple the nations here, but always with an eye on eternity. If we can sacrifice something here for something in the future, it's a good deal. It's a great investment. We'll do it in a heartbeat. Throw your lusts, your sinful desires off the ship. Like a ship riding through the storm, those lusts will only drag you down. Throw your lusts off the ship. They don't belong on the ship. We have an inheritance awaiting us as sons of God. You know, we grapple for the world's decaying honors, but why? Those honors are going to go away. Why grapple for the world's decaying honors? Why not go for the inheritance of sons, the sons of the eternal God who has adopted us into his family? That's a privilege that will go on for eternity. Like the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man enjoyed his good things here, and he didn't get his good things over there. He had his best life here, and he did not have his best life over there. Where will your best life be? Where will your best times be? Where are all of your eggs? In what basket are you wanting to live a life of pleasure here and then suffer in hell forever over there? Is that your plan? Or is it perhaps to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ here? Do you give up yourself here that we will live eternally with Him? We are sons and daughters of the living God. He's promised us a great inheritance. Our eggs are in that basket. That's where hope is. You just want to publish a book. You want to be famous. You want to be rich. Forget it. It all goes up in smoke. It always does. Lay up your treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal. We have a solid hope in the reconciliation of all things. It pleased the Father that in Jesus all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. We have all of our problems fixed tomorrow. Don't get too depressed over all the problems in the world today. We're not gonna fix them all ourselves anyway. Our hope needs to be in eternity. Our hope needs to be in the everlasting eternal inheritance. If we've got 600 quadrillion dollars waiting for us over there, why are you quibbling over 600 bucks? Here, why are you scratching after more and more of that? Here. If our inheritance is in heaven. The degree to which our lives and our institutions will be improved here on earth is not known. We just can't know it. We won't be perfected here. Our institutions will not be perfected here. But we can count on the Lord Jesus Christ perfecting everything at the end. Again, this is not to say we don't obey here and be involved in various aspects of life over here and seek righteousness in our own lives here. But this idea that we're gonna fix everything here is no good. Jesus will do that. He will reconcile all things to himself at the end. Let's not be discouraged. The kingdom of God is established. Jesus is on the throne. He's perfecting us here, and there's a degree to which our institutions are perfected here, are improved here. but it will be in heaven when all of this is brought into consummation because Jesus is on the throne and he will not make a half-baked job of it. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come before Jesus. This day we worship at his feet. We cling to him. We delight in his salvation. We delight in His reign, that He is resurrected from the dead, and He is on the right hand of the Father. That's something that delights our souls. We see the influence of His kingdom in ourselves and others, and we see that it has worked its way through institutions over the last 2,000 years. We give Jesus all of the credit, the honor, the glory, the blessing for His marvelous reign And Father, we delight in the reign of Christ that transforms our hearts, that regenerates our hearts and renews our wills, makes us obedient in the days of His power, and brings about this transformation that can only be described as divine, supernatural, almighty, the work of God. Father, bring more of this into us, into our lives, that we will delight more and more in your kingdom. Bring more of your kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy here in Jesus' name. Amen. Loud hallelujahs to the Lamb from all below and all above. In lofty songs exalt his name, in songs as lasting as his love. You just get the sense of Christ's rule, His power, His transforming word and spirit are prevailing. They're doing this amazing work, not just in this country, but all around the world. And we continue to sing His praises for that. John 20 in verse 17, I want to go back to the verse again as we come to the table. Jesus said to Mary, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God." What stands out here, and the same thing stands out in Matthew 28, is Jesus' first reference to my brethren. He hasn't referred to us as my brothers up to this point. In John 15, he talks about us as being his friends, but not his brothers. directly until we get to John 20.17. And here he says, you are my brothers, go tell my brothers about this that I am going to my father and to your father. You see at the resurrection we see immediately that we have this family of God that is forming around Jesus. And it really is around Jesus. If it weren't for Jesus, you see, we wouldn't be the brothers of Jesus and God would not be our Father. It has to be Jesus that's right in the center of this family. Listen to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. That is those of us who are being sanctified by the blood of Jesus and Jesus who provides us that blood of sanctification, we are all one, for which reason He is not ashamed. to call them brothers, saying, I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will sing praise to you. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, and that is us. So he freed us from the devil, he freed us from bondage, and he did it by partaking of flesh and blood, the Son of God, The Lord is not ashamed to call us His brothers. And yes, He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. Absolute sovereign over all the nations, even Donald Trump. Jesus is sovereign over all the nations in the world. And He is the creator of the entire universe. He spoke and all came into being. Pike's Peak and all the stars and everything came into being by the creative power of Jesus, but then he humbled himself, he took upon himself human flesh like us in order that he would die on the cross and so that he could call us brothers. That's amazing. Guys, I didn't make the universe. I'm not king of kings. I'm just some guy. Amen? It may be just some guy, some girl, just say amen. We're just some guy, we're just some girl. Jesus made the universe. He's king of kings, sovereign over all. And he says, my brothers, my brothers. Isn't that something? Isn't that beautiful? It's a beautiful thing. But he had to put upon himself flesh and blood. He had to enter the womb of the Virgin Mary in order to bring all this about. He partook of our flesh and our blood, and here it is, that we would be able to partake of His flesh and blood. You see? He partook of our flesh and blood in order that we could partake of His flesh and blood. in a supernatural, miraculous way. We don't know how it happens, but that's why He did it. He took upon Himself human life so that He could give us real life, eternal life, and spiritual life. So as we take the bread and the cup, let's do so with faith, remembering that we do partake of His flesh and blood. Let's humble ourselves as He humbled Himself to give us His flesh and blood. Let's humble ourselves in a humble way, in a grateful way, say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for becoming like us in order that we would be like you. and in order that we would have eternal life and be called the sons of God forever and ever. Martin Lloyd-Jones, listening to a sermon last night, he says, the greatest manifestation of the love of God is our adoption. That's what he said. I thought he was going to say it was Jesus dying on the cross. He says it's the fact that God has adopted us into his family by his son Jesus. He says that's the greatest act of love. That's the most amazing act of love. Listen to 1 John. What manner of love the Father has poured out upon us. John just effects it. What manner of love the Father has poured out upon us that we should be called the sons of God. What he's saying is it's mind blowing. Love. I don't understand it. This is the greatest love. This is the greatest privilege. The only way he could do it was by his son becoming like us so that we'd be united to him and be his brothers and then be in the family of God forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Our Father in heaven, We thank you for the mercy of Jesus. Father, we thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your amazing love that you would come to sinners so filled with selfishness and pride and all these sins, covetousness. We talked about today. Father, but you come to us in our sin and your Son dies on the cross, that we would be cleansed, that we would be your sons, that we would have your life and have it more abundantly. We would be justified and forgiven of our sins and sanctified by the power of the Spirit of God working in us, changing us, transforming us into the kingdom of your dear son, and mostly, Father, now we thank you that Jesus calls us his brothers, and you call us your children. Thank you, Father, for your adoption, for your love and your grace to adopt us by your son, Jesus. What great love, what a great privilege it is for us to take the flesh and the blood of Jesus in the spiritual sense because Jesus took upon Himself that flesh and that blood of His brothers. In Jesus' name, amen.