The Gospel of John, chapter 18, verses 33 through 38a. We will stop with the question, what is truth? John 18, 33, 38a. We're in the midst of Jesus in this mock trial, moving Him to the area of crucifixion. Now we come again to Pilate. So Pilate entered his headquarters again. He called Jesus and said to Him, Are You the King of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from here." I know ESV says world, but my kingdom is not from here. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? That's our text today, simply titled, The Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Christ, Kingdom of Heaven. So let us begin this way. The Kingdom of Russia is not going to rule the world. The kingdom of China is not going to rule this world. The kingdom of Mexico is not going to rule this world, no more than the kingdom of Honduras. But the kingdom of America is not going to rule this world. Biden is not going to rule this world, no more than the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Every nation rises and every nation falls. Kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall. Kings come and kings go. It's the way of 6,000 years of church history. If you don't believe it, you could go back through biblical history and you could ask Pharaoh, how long will his kingdom last? If you don't like Pharaoh's answer, you could ask Nebuchadnezzar, how strong is his kingdom going to be? You could go and you could ask Caesar. You could go and ask Tiberius. You could ask Tiglath-Pileser III. You can ask one ruler after another ruler after another ruler, and they're dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, and their kingdoms have never taken control and ruled the world, and they never will. There is a kingdom, though, that's eternal. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. This is a kingdom that is far superior and eternal than any earthly man-made kingdom that may exist. So, briefly, on the examination of Pilate and Jesus, I could make much more of this, but I'm not going to do it. I'm going to make my time on the issue of the kingdom because it's extremely large. But the examination here in this pivotal, climactic, A difficult situation. Death is in the air. Charges and anger and men in the flesh very much pushing a desired agenda. And the agenda is kill Jesus. That's what we want. So all of this pressure is coming. This is political. This is power hungry. This is the people of the day. And Pilate is put in a position, he has to do something. Pilate has the fear of man. If I do this, what are they going to do? If I do this, what are they going to do? He's trying to figure out how to get out of this and save his own skin in the process. He doesn't want to be in this position. It's been forced upon him. I don't think he handles it right, but nevertheless, that's where he's at. No different than today. Political parties work this way. You've got a whole world cramming same-sex marriage down the throat of the Americans, and people are like, I have to respond. Governors and politicians have got to make decisions. All of these issues happen this way, whether it's abortion, whether it's homosexuality, it's finances, debt reduction, whatever it is. The people press it upon them, and they press them in a corner, and then they have to do something to figure out how not to get destroyed in the process. This is a political event. Are you the king of the Jews? I don't think Pilate even cares. What we know, that's what he has been told by others. He responds, am I a Jew? Look, all Pilate is saying is, if you're a king and you're the king of the Jews, I'm not a Jew and you have no authority over me. I'm not one of your subjects. I'm not a part of your group. He says, look, obviously there's a problem here. He looks Jesus in the eye, if you will, and he says, what have you done? You notice, Jesus never answers that question. That one doesn't get answered, just lets it go. But Pilate's position is, if all these charges are brought, you must be in the wrong. You must have done something wrong or they wouldn't be doing this. Well, Pilate himself has heard the charges. He has no patience for the events. He wants to be rid of the issue. It doesn't say it in John. You go to the other Gospels, the Gospel of Luke. You don't have to go there, but just to tell you the history. What does Pilate do? I'm going to get rid of him. In Luke, you find out that Pilate sends Jesus back to Herod, because he's in Herod's jurisdiction. Herod is in Jerusalem at this time. He goes over there, and they have this little exchange. Then Herod sends him back to Pilate. The text says something very interesting. Herod and Pilate are enemies and they hate each other, but they became friends on this issue. Two arch enemies become friends in a common cause. They both want to get rid of Christ, so let's work together to accomplish this one goal. That kind of stuff happens all the time. People, even in a local church that don't get along, all of a sudden they'll be friends in order to fire the preacher or to get this or to get that. They'll team up together even though in the next season they won't even talk to each other. It's just human nature. Pilate is a people pleaser and he is a man fearer. Pilate has no desire to truth. When you get to the end and it says, what is truth? You'll notice in the text, he never waits for an answer. He never gets an answer. He asks a question, what is truth? And you expect there to be a response, this is what the truth is. He doesn't care, and so he never receives an answer. Pilate has this humble, earthly figure before him. It's amazing, you have to think. Here's Pilate in his mind, he has authority, he has power, and he can execute, and he's looking at a man who has no fear. Humble, quiet, precise in his words, and not trembling, and not asking for anyone to assist him. But in looking at the very face of Christ, he could not see the kingdom. couldn't see it. The kingdom in personification is standing three foot in front of him and he can't see the kingdom. Why? Because it has always been spiritual. The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom and only those of faith can see it. But those of faith who see it, it means everything to them. Pilate did not have the Spirit. Now, that's all I'm going to say on those first verses, 33 through 35. Just a couple of things of application just to rouse your mind to think. As far as you Christians in the room, the saints here that have been saved by faith, do not expect the world to understand you if they don't understand your king. I just can't believe they don't understand me. They're never going to understand you. Do not expect the world to support you. Do not expect the world to encourage you. They have no interest in your king. They have no interest in this kingdom you talk of. So don't belabor like, oh, the world did this, the world said this, the world said this. They are not for you. They are dead set against you. They hate your God, they hate your Savior, they hate your gospel, they hate your church, and they have no reason to support anything you do. It's the same way. What Pilate is here, what these Jews are, is a representation of the world that we live in. They do not support the kingdom of Christ. Do not be surprised that the world is against Christian values. I can't believe they're against this. I can't believe it. Why can you not believe it? They're blind, they're lost, and they're in slavery to the devil. What do you expect them to be? That's their position. But on the other side, for those in the room that are not converted, you won't believe Christ, you won't be baptized by immersion, you won't live for the glory of Christ. I say to you this morning, all I can do is say it, do not overlook your need for a Savior. You need one, and there's only one. Don't overlook that. When he is preached, when he is read, when the Bible is opened up, give all your attention because you need a Savior. Without a Savior, you're going to remain a slave to the devil and you're going to end up in an eternal hell and you're going to be in slavery for the rest of eternity. You need a Savior. Don't be like Pilate and look the gospel right in the eyes and say, I see nothing. Do not be overly impressed, dear friend, with the kingdoms of this world. and miss, you get overly impressed with the kingdoms of this world, you may miss the kingdom that will destroy all earthly kingdoms. Now, moving on to verse 36. Here's an explanation from Jesus. Everything he says is massively important, but look again at the text in verse 36. You'll see it there three times. My kingdom, my kingdom, my kingdom. Okay, well, that tells us something, does it not? Number one, he does have one. He does have a kingdom. The implication is what? He's the king of this kingdom he possesses. So there is a king and there is a kingdom. But there's something radically different about the kingdom of Christ than any earthly kingdom. It's just the bare facts of the scripture. This is what we know. You don't even have to go to seminary to get this. You can just read the English language. Whatever this kingdom is, it is not out of this world. Whatever you understand of kingdoms in an earthly realm, that's not what it is because his kingdom is not from here. It's from somewhere else. It's not derived from here. So he didn't borrow it, he doesn't buy it, he doesn't obtain it from here. It's something outside of what we can see. Secondly, this is what we know. If Condition if his kingdom were of this world if that was the truth, there'd be a whole different process going on Every one of my disciples would have a sword you remember back in the Old Testament and you get some two guys like Jonathan another guy and they take out like hundreds of Philistines or you get this guy over here and he takes out thousands of Philistines and he said If this kingdom were of this world and Jesus armed his apostles all with swords and says, hack them all to death, you remember a guy by the name of Agag? I mean, look, there's a lot of blood would be being shed and Jesus would have his servants fight that he would not be arrested. But all his servants are gone. He stands alone. fighting and shedding blood and hacking heads off in order to build a kingdom here and to take over Rome. That's not what I'm doing. If it were, my servants would fight, but that's not what we're doing. The third thing we know, again, it's said twice, so I say it twice, my kingdom is not from here. In a very real sense, he told Pilate, there's no threat. I'm not running for office in your little kingdom here. It's way too small for me. I'm not trying to take over Rome because that's like a drop in the bucket compared to the kingdom that I possess. You go on about your little affairs, they're all going to come to an end. Pilate, you're going to die. Church history says he ends up committing suicide. Pilate's not going to last. Jesus has no fear of his kingdom or his power because he has none in comparison to Christ. So the answer that Jesus is giving here is to the question in verse 33, not an answer to what you have done. He's answering this thing about kingship. Now, I want to tell you some differences. If you love Jesus and you're part of the kingdom, there should be at least some level of interest here. But there are major differences between earthly kingdoms and Jesus' kingdom. I didn't exhaust this list, but let me give you a few. First off, that we know right out of the box, Christ's kingdom is spiritual. Only those with faith can see, experience, and reap the joys of this kingdom because it's not physically set up in a location. Christ's kingdom, since it is spiritual, resides in the heart of man. The kingdom is in you if you are in Christ. You say, how can you say that? I can say that because Luke says that very clearly. Luke says it this way. Nor will they say, look, here it is, or look, there it is, for behold, the kingdom of God is inside, in the midst of you. The kingdom that Christ has takes up residence here within me spiritually. One day it will be realized in fruition when we come into his presence under his kingship for all of eternity. But for now, the kingdom is in here spiritually. Luke 17.21 if you want the reference. Thirdly, Christ's kingdom in one sense. Now, I know this can be understood a couple of ways, but Christ's kingdom is no threat to earthly reigns. Kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall. Go on about your business. Do what you're going to do. When it's all said and done, your kingdom, earthly kingdom, is never going to last. Christ's kingdom is eternal. Number four, Christ's kingdom is built and sustained differently than the way men build and sustain kingdoms. Right? How do you build an earthly kingdom? You can make a long list, I'll give you four really short. You've got to have power, you've got to have money, you've got to be good at politics, and you've got to know how to deceive people. That's at least some elements of how kingdoms are built on earth. Whoever has the power, whoever has the money, whoever's able to politically control the system, whoever can deceive people into voting this way and that way and set up what it is that they actually want to be set up, that's who builds kingdoms. They take the power, they take the credit, everything is looked to them, and they govern things. Christ's kingdom works in such a way that men are appalled by it. The way Christ's kingdom's built is humility. You see it here, do you not? Christ lays his life down. He does not fight. He lays his life down and he gives his life as a ransom. Humility. And then, instead of money, the kingdom of Christ is built. by grace. It's just give, and give, and give, and give, and give. That's what Christ does. That's what the apostles do. That's what 1 John is all about. Love your brother, love your brother, love your brother, love your brother. It's all grace. If you can't love your brother whom you can see, how can you love God whom you don't see? It's all giving with expecting nothing in return. That is the absolute opposite of earthly governments. Instead of politics, in this kingdom, there's headship. Headship, right? It's not congregational rule in this kingdom. Christ reigns. Christ rules. There's no business meeting where we all get to vote. He makes all decisions. He makes all elections. He establishes all rules. He governs all penalties. He does everything. Why? Because he is the sole king of the kingdom. He reigns over everyone. And where earthly kingdoms are built much on deception, even in our text, this kingdom is built on truth. Truth. It's always truth. They're different. Let me give you a couple of things from the Old Testament from Daniel. Christ's kingdom is to be received by faith. Think about Daniel 7.18. The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom. forever and ever. In Daniel 7, 27, the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions, all places, all rules, when all is said and done, they will serve Him. That's the differences in the earthly and the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Let me establish that man's kingdom here on earth is impotent. You do this from a lot of different texts. Let me just do it from one section and we'll do it from the great Nebuchadnezzar. Just to make it simple and clear. at the mighty kingdom I built." That's what Nebuchadnezzar would say. Power, authority, whatever I say in this whole kingdom, everybody does or suffer the consequences. He's large and he's in charge. He's Nebuchadnezzar. He built the kingdom. Ask Nebuchadnezzar, this is what he said, is not this the great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty? That's what Nebuchadnezzar says. I did it all, I did it my way, and I am the biggest, largest, most authoritative figure in all the world. A voice from heaven replies, while the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, quote, O King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom has departed from you. Lost, just like that. There was someone more powerful than him. So he says, Texas, after this, this judgment falls on him. He says his sanity returned. He's got his head back on straight after this severe judgment of losing the kingdom. So his head gets back on straight, and he says, I, at the end of these days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, I lifted my eyes to heaven. My reason returned to me. I blessed the Most High. I praised and honored Him who lives forever. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants before him are counted as nothing. This, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, was true. Now you get it. You are not in charge. There's one over you. We could do 50 sermons here, and that's not an exaggeration, but let me just give you these pieces. You write these down if you like, or just jot down the headings if you will. I just want to tell you this morning, I don't know, I can't make you happy. I can be happy because I'm happy, but I can't make you happy. I'm a part of a kingdom that's not going to end. I'm a part of a kingdom where everything works right. I'm a part of a kingdom where there's no sin. I'm a part of a kingdom that's eternal. And it's like one day it's going to be realized in time and history with a glorified body. I'm going to be president of this kingdom in the presence of my king. And so I'm just happy about that. So think about this kingdom, this magnificent kingdom. Just paraphrase little short phrases to put it in your head and in your heart. Number one, Jesus. Jesus. Nobody else. Not Buddha, not Hare Krishna, not Saddam Hussein, not Putin, not Biden, not Trump, not Republican, not Democrat. None of those. Jesus. Solo. Not a mass. Jesus alone is the king of this kingdom. You go back to Psalms 2, and the great God of heaven says what? As for me, I have set my king on my holy hill, Mount Zion. Over. There's no elections, there's no re-dos, there's no four-year terms. The God of heaven has set Christ on the throne. Number two, Jesus' kingdom presently, contrary to all the heretical theologians of the day, Jesus reigns now. He reigned yesterday, he reigns tomorrow, and he reigns for all of eternity. You say, well, look, how can he be reigning if all this is happening? Look, he was reigning when Pilate was executing him. He was never out of control. He was always in control because he's the king. Psalm 103, 19, the Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. Thirdly, Jesus' kingdom is glorious and it is eternal. Glorious and eternal. Psalm 145, 10-13. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord. All your saints shall bless you. Your saint, anybody a saint in the room, all his saints bless him. They speak, the saints, they speak of the glory of your kingdom. They tell of your power to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds. All these saints Talking about the kingdom of God, where their children learn about the kingdom of God, their neighbors learn about the kingdom of God, because that's the word on our tongue. They'd make known the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words. He's kind in all his works. It's the kingdom that we are part of. As you think about glorious and eternal, I refer you back to Daniel one more time. In Daniel 7, I saw in a night vision, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there went one like the Son of Man." Where did he went to? He went to the Ancient of Days, and he was presented before the Ancient of Days in heaven, and to him was given a gift. What was the gift? Dominion, glory, and a kingdom. And that all peoples, all nations, all languages, every one of them should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. His kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed. Well, America's been here 400 years. Whoop-dee-doo. Whoop-dee-doo. I'm not an anti-American, but whoop-dee-doo. This kingdom is eternal. I don't think you'll get it. You go out to church and you play some kind of Star Spangled Banner or something. People will be standing up waving their flags and saluting and stuff. All people will be happy. You preach the kingdom of God and people look like they're going to sleep. I don't get it. I don't get it. You want to do a funeral and all of a sudden sing, I don't even know. sing something patriotic and people lose their minds. They've got no love for the gospel. Okay, enough of that. I don't know what I'm saying anyways. Jesus' kingdom, number four, Jesus' kingdom is ruled by justice and righteousness. You heard this, I think Brother John preached this, Isaiah 9, verse 7. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there's no end. The throne of David, on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it, uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. You only love this kingdom if you're a part of this kingdom. If you don't like justice and you don't like righteousness, these things just aggravate you because you don't want some kingdom invading the kingdom you think you have. Number five, Jesus, I probably shouldn't give you the numbers, you'll probably get wore out, but Jesus' kingdom is made known to all nations and all kingdoms. This is made clear. You remember a guy in the Old Testament by the name of Hezekiah? Amen or something, at least, yeah. So there's this guy named Sennacherib, right? King of Assyria. Assyria's a powerhouse. Got lots of soldiers. They're really mean, rough-looking people. And so they come down and they want to attack. Hezekiah says, O Lord of hosts, Lord of armies, Lord of armies, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim. Here's what he says, you are God. You alone. Sennacherib is not God. The kingdom of Syria is not God. All the kingdoms of the earth. You alone are over all the kingdoms of the earth. You've made heaven and earth. So now, O Lord our God, save us from His hand that all the kingdoms of the earth. Why do we want to be delivered? Why do we want to be saved? Save us from His hand that all the kingdoms of the earth will know what? That you, you alone are God. That's what we want, for the whole world to know he is king over his kingdom. This is Jesus. I'm not departing from my text. We're looking at Pilate, we're looking at Herod, we're looking at Caiaphas, we're looking at Annas, we're looking at all these people, all these ruling powers, and Jesus says, my kingdom, my kingdom, my kingdom. You can't take it. You're not in control. It's an eternal kingdom, and I have dominion over it, and it will reign when you're long dead and gone. Jesus' kingdom, listen, must be submitted to. Pilate should have taken note of this. And there are people in this room who should take note of this. You are not in charge. You do not rule your own destiny. You're not the captive of your own soul. You're not. You must submit unto somebody else's authority. You must lay yourself down and say, he's in charge and I am not. That's what Pilate wouldn't do and that's why he went to hell. You must give up your pride and your Americanism and say, I have nothing and I submit to Christ as my king. Isaiah 60, for the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish. Those nations that won't submit, those individuals that won't submit will be laid to utter ruin, every one of them. Number seven, don't worry there's only 22, Jesus' kingdom must be entered. You must enter this kingdom. You say, why do you say that? Because that's how the gospel starts. Matthew 3.2, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's the very first words of Christ in Mark. Repent. The kingdom is here. You can't stay in that kingdom. You must turn out of your wickedness and your flesh and your sin and you must come to this kingdom. Matthew 4.17, from that time Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. A one train message here, letting the world know there's a kingdom reigning over all earthly kingdoms. Matthew 5.3, who enters this kingdom? Who is it that comes in? Blessed, anybody? Blessed are the proud, arrogant Americans. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Why? For theirs is the kingdom of God. Humble, lowly people come and submit to this king to enter the kingdom. Matthew 5.10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sakes. Why? For theirs is the kingdom. It belongs to them. Matthew 6.33. What does he tell us? Here's great wise counsel from the lips of Jesus. But seek ye first. the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek that first and all this other lesser junk, it'll be added at His disposal whenever He deems it's appropriate for your life. Just seek the kingdom of God. Seek it in this book, seek it in this church, seek it in your life. Be godly, be holy, love Christ with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Just give yourself wholly to Him and everything you need will be given. I've never seen the righteous begging for bread. God always provides for His children. There's not one person in this kingdom that will go without. Everything you need, your King will supply. And Matthew 7, 21 is a warning, is it not? Everybody knows it, feel the weight of it, because everyone is not willing to submit. And so Matthew 721 says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Who's going to do it? But the one who does, the will of my father. And it's his will for you to repent and submit yourself to this king. Jesus' kingdom must be understood. To not understand it is to lose it. You've got to understand the kingdom. Whenever someone hears a word, you're hearing a word this morning, you hear a word of the kingdom and you don't understand it. You know what happens? The evil one comes. He snatches away what was sown in the heart. That's like the seed on the path. The word came, you didn't understand it, you didn't care, and you walked out to go play on your stupid phone, on your stupid social media, and you didn't care. And so you lost it all, because the devil took it and had no profit for you. Because you didn't understand the kingdom. Matthew 13, there's a difference between wheat and weeds. I'm not building an earthly kingdom here. Let the wheat and let the weeds, just let them grow together. Don't you worry about it. Live as a part of this kingdom till the end. In the end, I'll just send my angels out and we'll separate the wheat and the weeds. We'll take the weeds and we'll burn them in the fire, but the wheat we'll harvest and take them into an eternal kingdom. Matthew 13, the kingdom grows and spreads. How? I'm not trying to set up a government here. I'm not trying to take over Azel and make this place a Christian nation. No, no, no. I'm going to do what Christ and the apostles did. I'm going to take the gospel and I'm going to proclaim it to people, one-on-one, group settings. I'm going to make the gospel known. I'm going to bid all men, all women, and all children to repent and believe the gospel. As that gospel spreads and people believe Christ, His kingdom grows. A visible kingdom that by faith we shall inherit in This is a memory verse. If you memorized verses, you would know it. Matthew 13, 44, and 45. Think about that verse that we memorized. The kingdom should be your greatest treasure. Your greatest treasure. Now I know half of you think I'm stupid about things, that's fine. But he's like, what's your greatest treasure? You can go take, it wouldn't take long to figure out my system. There's nobody at my house. Nobody except Festus and he's locked in a cage and he wouldn't bite you if you gave him an opportunity. You can steal my bicycle. You can steal my running stuff. You can steal my bed. You can take everything. All the doors are unlocked. All the windows are unlocked. My truck's out here. The keys are in it. The keys are always in it. I never take the keys out. Same way with Joshua. He said, you shouldn't tell everybody that. We don't care. None of this stuff matters. The only thing that's a treasure to me is the kingdom. That is not gonna be taken from me. You can't take it. There's no bars that can keep it. There's no way you can take the kingdom away. That's my treasure. We spend all of our money on alarms and whistles and bars and locks and all these things and put all this stuff around our stuff to protect our stuff that ain't worth nothing. Kingdom should be our treasure. Don't misunderstand stuff like that. You all know I'm crazy, but at the same time it's true. You can lock your house, that's fine. It's not a sin. Do whatever you feel comfortable with, but don't treasure it above the kingdom. The kingdom is received by those who are humble. The ones in the kingdom and those outside the kingdom are made manifest on the last day. The kingdom is given to those who bear fruits of the kingdom. The kingdom is made up of those who do not deserve it. The kingdom is a gospel of global proclamation and then the end. will come. The kingdom is to be prepared for, and the kingdom was prepared from eternity past for the elect of God. All right, there's a lot more. But lastly, in 37 and 38, very, very briefly, a declaration is made. This is the only birth scene of Christ in John. Here it is, I was born to this. This is what I came for. That's what he tells Pilate. It's in a claim to incarnation. Deity was born into humanity. It reveals that Jesus is truly God. I've come into this world. It shows he was somewhere else before. Previously the world existed and now he's come and he's entered into this world. Jesus is the truth. You know the verse. I am the way, I am the truth. He, everything we know of truth, is derived from Him. Everything He says is true, everything He does is true, everything He thinks is true. Here's His determination. He's coming to this world for this purpose. I'm going to bear witness to truth. Truth, truth, truth, truth. That's why preachers ought to labor to preach truth, because that's what the captain says. No deception, don't you love it? We all sit around the coffee shop and argue politics. There's no deception with Christ. There's no forked tongue. There's no falsehood. There's no double standard. There's no deception. What he says is true. Everything he says is eternally true. Everyone being of the truth, you see it, don't you? Everyone of the truth. hears my voice, right? So he says, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. And we break that down into redneck farmerology, there you go, to Sam, the old man that I worked for on the farm. And Sam Allen, and so here he is on the farm. He got this truck, and I'm telling you, if you saw this truck, you think, just take it to the graveyard. It's dead. And so all the people, his family, they got a lot of money. He got 4,000 acres of farmland, so they buy him a new truck. So he's driving this new truck. He got a new Dodge, and he's driving a new Dodge. And it's like, wow, that's great. The next day I see him, he's not driving the new Dodge no more. He's driving the old junker truck. It's all beat up and banged up. Sam, what happened to your new truck? Don't work. What do you mean it don't work? I drove out in the field and I honked my horn and none of the cows would come. They didn't know its voice. They had to drive the old truck because that's the only one they know. Drove the old truck and they all come. It's just like a cow knows the sound of a horn, the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. We follow and we love Him and we end what is truth. Those who truly desire to know the truth, read the Bible, and listen to the exposition of the Word of God, and they'll study the words of Jesus. Those who desire truth will be satisfied with nothing less than the teaching of the Bible. And in the Bible, they will find that there is a well that has no bottom. So the answer to the question with clarity, what is truth? Jesus is truth. rhetorical questions to wrap things together. I hope these things resonate with somebody today, encourage you or show you your need to be a part of the kingdom. But what value do you place on truth? Do you know the truth? Do you bear witness to the truth? We live undoubtedly in a world of information. Right? Information is off the rockers. TV, social media, apps, radio. It's quite overwhelming the amount of information that is available. Yet here in front of you is a book with truth. If truth is a value to you as a person of the kingdom, this becomes the priority of your life. When you discover the Bible is true, your heart desires truth, you will be done with lesser things, and the Bible will consume your time. It's your default. Look, it's easy. Yeah, let's meddle. It's easy. You look at your phone and you look at your iPad at home. You sit there and you look at it. For however long you look at it, you come to church, you walk in the door and you sit down and you get on your phone. Like, dude, really? I mean, is that your number one passion, what's on your phone, your iPad? You haven't been in church 30 seconds and you're already scanning your Facebook account? What happened to people who come to church and opened a book? Oh, I come to church. I want to hear truth. I'm sick of all the media. I came here for a refuge to be with God and to be with God's people and I left all that junk at home because I want my undivided attention given to Christ. Why? This is what the children of the kingdom are about. And the only thing that will satisfy your thirsting soul is the water of life found in the written word. All truth is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from him there is no saving truth. Oh that you would repent of your sins and look unto Christ and be saved. He is the king of the kingdom and everybody in this room is going to stand before this king. And you're going to stand before Him as one of His children? Or are you going to stand before Him in your own flesh and receive the judgment of a just judge? Because you were unwilling to submit to His kingship, you will be cast into eternal darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And all because You just wanted to live life your way and do your thing because you didn't want nobody telling you what to do. By the way, every day the devil tells you what to do and you submit to him. come to Christ for he's the only one who cares for your soul. Brother Jeff comes to lead us in a Philanthrope song. Father in heaven Holy Spirit of God would you take these words of the kingdom of Christ write them upon the hearts of your people that they be encouraged and strengthened in a world of calamity and upheaval and the shaking and rising and falling of kingdoms. May today they be encouraged that their kingdom is as solid as their king. And may those who are outside of the kingdom see before them a gospel and and that they would humble themselves, believe this good news, and sell out their lives to Christ for all of eternity. I pray this by your spirit in Christ's name. Amen.