About the Kingdom of God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[CONTEXT] Paul visited Ephesus briefly in the past, reasoning with the Jews in the synagogue. When the Ephesians asked him to stay longer, he promised to return if the Lord willed.
It was the Lord’s will for Paul to spend the better part of three years in Ephesus on his third missionary journey.
What did he do there?
He offered clemency and mercy to rebels.
[READING - Acts 19:8-10]
8 And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
[PRAYER]
[CONNECTION] There is a story—a story of uncertain origin and of uncertain authenticity—but a story about a Saxon king who put down a rebellion in a distant part of his kingdom.
He lit a candle and placed it in the archway of a castle and announced that all who had rebelled would be spared if they put down their arms and took an oath of loyalty to the king.
He offered clemency and mercy to those who rebelled against him as long as the candle burned.
When the flame expired, the king’s offer expired.
[CIT] In Acts 19:8-10, Paul persuaded the Ephesians about…, taught those who were interested in…, and inspired the spread of… the Kingdom of God.
In other words, on behalf of Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Paul was offering clemency and mercy to the rebels in Ephesus.
[INTER] Do you know that you are a rebel? Do you know that the LORD offers you clemency and mercy this morning?
[PROP] In this passage, we rebels are invited to lay down our arms and swear allegiance to the King; we are invited to walk the Kingdom Way; and we are inspired to spread the Kingdom Word.
But hurry.
The candle burns, and the King will not offer clemency and mercy forever.
[TS] Let me give you three ENCOURAGEMENTS from this passage…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
ENCOURAGEMENT #1: While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, enter the Kingdom of God. (v. 8)
ENCOURAGEMENT #1: While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, enter the Kingdom of God. (v. 8)
8 And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
[EXP] The Kingdom of God refers to the rule and reign of YHWH, the one true living God.
The LORD is King forever and ever (Ps. 10:16).
He is the King of glory (Ps. 24:10).
He is a great King over all the earth (Ps. 47:2b).
He is a great King above all gods (Ps. 95:3b).
And we all rebelled against Him. By violation of God-given conscience or violation of God-given law, we sin against God.
For Jews and Greeks are all under sin (Rom. 3:9).
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
But the King offers clemency and mercy through His Son, Jesus.
We rebels were set to die because of our rebellion against the King, but the King sent His Son to pay our price so that through Him we could receive forgiveness and be welcomed back into the Kingdom.
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
12 Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities— for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!
The Apostle Paul came to Ephesus preaching this message about the Kingdom of God in different words, but he came preaching this message because this is the Gospel message, the only message of salvation.
[ILLUS] A long time before Paul, another great man of God spoke of the Kingdom. Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon…
44 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
Nebuchadnezzar had seen a vision of a great statue that represented four earthly kingdoms: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, but Nebuchadnezzar had also seen a stone crush those kingdoms.
As Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, that stone represented the Kingdom that would never be destroyed, the Kingdom that would put an end to all other kingdoms, the Kingdom that would itself endure forever.
That Kingdom is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that Paul was trying to persuade people to enter!
The Kingdom dawned in the appearing of Jesus Christ in the days of the Roman empire, and one day the full revelation of that Kingdom will be the end of every other kingdom!
[APP] Do you see why you must enter the Kingdom of God? When Jesus comes again, every other kingdom will fall, but His Kingdom will stand forever!
And if we would stand forever, we must stand with Him in His Kingdom!
Have you entered the Kingdom of God?
You can only do so by being born again, by being born of the Holy Spirit, by believing in Jesus who was crucified and resurrected as your Lord and Savior.
[TS] While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, enter the Kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
ENCOURAGEMENT #2: While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, walk the Kingdom Way. (v. 9)
ENCOURAGEMENT #2: While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, walk the Kingdom Way. (v. 9)
9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
[EXP] Paul knew how quickly evil speaking could become evil persecuting. He had experienced it before. When he felt the tremors of persecution rumble in the evil words of those in the synagogue in Ephesus, he decided to take those who were learning about Jesus to another location so they might continue to learn.
Paul found the school of Tyrannus, whose name sounds like ‘tyranny’ and means ‘our tyrant.’ Perhaps he was a very stern teacher and his students gave him this name in jest, but we don’t know anything about Tyrannus.
Paul may have been able to use the hall of Tyrannus because of the siesta enjoyed by the Ephesian people in the middle of the day. Tyrannus likely dismissed his students around midday, and Paul started teaching his students in the hall while everyone else napped until the late afternoon.
Day after day, Paul reasoned in the school of Tyrannus.
Day after day, Paul taught them the Way.
The Way is a name Luke uses for the early followers of Jesus that read about in Acts.
Because Jesus is the Way to the Father (cf., John 14:6) and they followed Jesus, they referred to themselves as the Way.
They saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 5:33…
33 “You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
The only way to walk in all the way which YHWH has commanded is to walk like Jesus.
Paul taught them to enter by way of Jesus and to walk in the way of Jesus.
If they did this, they would enter the Kingdom of God and walk in its way.
[ILLUS] When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he continued to remind them about walking in the Way…
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
But Paul also knew that walking in the Way of Jesus could get you persecuted.
He knew this not only because he had to relocate to the school Tyrannus, but also because he used to persecute the Way himself.
As one theologian said, “(Paul once) traveled on the way against the Way, yet he was stopped on the way (by Jesus) to join the Way,” (Darrell Bock).
Paul knew that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12) because he had been both persecutor and persecuted.
[APP] Have you entered the Kingdom by Way of Jesus? Are you walking the Kingdom Way? Are you walking like Jesus?
[TS] While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, walk the Kingdom Way by walking like Jesus.
ENCOURAGEMENT #3: While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, spread the Kingdom Word. (v. 10)
ENCOURAGEMENT #3: While the candle still burns—while the King still offers clemency and mercy, spread the Kingdom Word. (v. 10)
10 This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
[EXP] How did all who lived in Asia Minor hear the Kingdom Word, the Word of the Lord? Did Paul travel everywhere and tell everyone about King Jesus and His Kingdom?
No. Paul reasoned and persuaded with great boldness and inspired others to do the same.
Look back to v. 8 and notice that phrase “reasoning and persuading.”
Paul reasoned and persuaded about the Kingdom of God.
Reasoning and persuading go together. Paul reasoned from the Scripture concerning the Kingdom of God in order to persuade his audience to enter the Kingdom through faith in Jesus as the Christ.
I think the NIV and NLT say well that Paul was “arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.”
In his reasoning and persuading, Paul dealt with questions and objections and had conversations while also preaching sermons.
He did all this because he was “attempting to convince” (CSB) them that the revealing of the Kingdom of God had begun in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
Look back to v. 8 and notice that phrase “speaking out boldly.”
Paul spoke out boldly about the Kingdom of God.
Paul spoke freely concerning the revealing of the Kingdom. He spoke with confidence. He held nothing back.
He knew that some of things he said would offend some of the Jews, but he didn’t hold back. He told them about the crucified and resurrected Messiah who offers clemency and mercy to rebels like Paul.
He didn’t alter the truth to make it more palatable to his audience. He wasn’t intentionally offensive, but he spoke the whole truth even though he knew it would be offensive.
Paul was in the habit of speaking boldly (Acts 9:27, 28; 13:46; 14:3; 2 Cor. 3:12).
Paul spoke boldly even after being mistreated (1 Thess. 2:2).
Paul spoke boldly even before those who were powerful (Acts 26:26).
Paul requested prayer that he would continue to speak boldly. To the Ephesians Paul wrote…
19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
By reasoning and persuading boldly, Paul inspired others like Priscilla and Aquila, Timothy, Apollos, Titus, and others to go elsewhere to reason and persuade boldly.
[ILLUS] Hugh Latimer was a bold proclaimer of the Kingdom of God in the 1500s. He would eventually die a martyr because of his great boldness. But one story captures the spirit of Latimer’s boldness.
He once preached before King Henry VIII. Henry was greatly displeased by the boldness in the sermon and ordered Latimer to preach again on the following Sunday and apologize for the offence he had given.
The next Sunday, after reading his text, he began his sermon by talking to himself:
“Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou are this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life, if thou offendest. Therefore, take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease.
“But then consider well, Hugh, dost thou not know from whence thou comest—upon Whose message thou are sent? Even by the great and mighty God, Who is all-present and Who beholdeth all thy ways and Who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that thou deliverest thy message faithfully.”
He then preached with more energy the same sermon he had preached the preceding Sunday.
[APP] Doesn’t an example like that encourage you to reason and persuade boldly so everyone hears the Word of the Lord concerning the Kingdom of God.
We should speak of Jesus with boldness; we should speak of Jesus with freedom.
There should be no hesitation in our speaking of Jesus as the Christ, the only Savior, as God in the flesh—the way, the truth, and the life—the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Judge whom we all must stand before—the only One who lived perfectly before God the Father and died on a Roman cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins—the only One who was raised from the dead as the firstfruits of all who trust in Him—the only Way into the Kingdom of God.
Here are the questions I ask myself when I see Paul’s boldness or the boldness of one like Latimer?
Am I in the habit of speaking boldly for Jesus?
Will I speak boldly for Jesus even if I speak to those who are powerful?
Will I speak boldly for Jesus even if I am mistreated?
Here’s a question for you…
Will I pray that I speak boldly for Jesus?
Know that I will pray for you.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
The candle still burns—the King still offers clemency and mercy, enter the Kingdom of God, walk the Kingdom Way, and spread the Kingdom Word.
Soon the candle will expire, and so will the offer of God’s mercy.
[PRAYER]