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[0:00] Let's find your Bibles and open them to Luke chapter 4 and find verse 31.

[0:17] Then he went down to Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.

[0:43] And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.

[0:53] And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us?

[1:05] I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet. Come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, he came out of him and did not hurt him.

[1:22] Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word this is! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.

[1:33] And the report about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. Now he arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house. But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made requests of him concerning her.

[1:49] So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them. When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

[2:03] And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, You are the Christ, the Son of God.

[2:13] And he, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that he was the Christ. Now when it was day, he departed and went into a deserted place.

[2:27] And the crowd sought him, came to him, tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.

[2:42] And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. All right? An interesting text. And maybe at first glance we look at it and we think, well, there are just a number of little kind of short stories.

[2:56] It may have all taken place in the same general area, but how do all these fit together? They do fit together. And I want to show you that here on the very front end, because I believe to fully understand the meaning of this text, we should notice something about the structure of the text.

[3:18] I'm not going to get real technical here, so don't worry about that. And I'm not talking about the grammatical kind of structure of the text, the verbs and nouns and all the parts of speech and sentence structures and things.

[3:32] We're not going to get into that here this morning. But rather, what I'm talking about is what we would call the literary structure. You say, well, that sounds just about as complicated and boring.

[3:46] But it's really quite interesting. And the more I have studied the text throughout this week, the more it just began to stand out to me that there is a structure here.

[3:57] The way that Luke wrote this, how he put down on paper his thoughts here, as he's relating these experiences of the Lord Jesus, there's a structure in it, the kind of way he organized it.

[4:12] It helps us understand the meaning of the text, the primary meaning. And so what can we discover about that in the text? Well, the first thing we can notice is this.

[4:26] Luke begins and he ends with the same subject. And what subject is that? Well, we could define it this way, just in a general sense.

[4:38] It is the teaching and preaching ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins with it and ends with it. He begins in verses 31-32, talking about Jesus teaching in the synagogues on the Sabbaths and so forth.

[4:51] And then he closes this section in verses 43 and 44 with Jesus saying, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also. And then it ends this way.

[5:01] He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. So it begins and ends with the same subject, the preaching and teaching ministry of Jesus. Then as we move further into the text, the second thing that Luke writes about, and it is the second to the last thing Luke writes about, these two things also share the same subject.

[5:24] In verses 33-36, the second thing Luke writes about is Jesus casting out a demon. This man who just kind of, he's just right there in the synagogue, right there in their worship service.

[5:38] And suddenly this deacon is speaking and Jesus casts him out. And then on the other end, we have in verse 41, the second to the last thing Luke writes about, we have, again, demons also coming out of many, the Bible says, and they too speaking, and Jesus also rebuking them and so forth.

[5:59] So, there's a pattern here in the structure. And so what is the subject here? The second thing he talks about, and the second to the last thing, what is the subject? Well, it's Jesus' authority over demons, very clearly.

[6:14] And then finally, as you move yet further into the text and get to the very center of this part of the chapter, at the center of it, we have a third subject.

[6:27] And it is very clear, Jesus' power to heal all diseases. And so we have there, in verses 38 through 40, we have Jesus healing Simon Peter.

[6:42] This is Simon Peter's mother-in-law from this life-threatening fever. And also we have the people of the town coming and bringing this great host of people who are sick with various diseases.

[6:57] And Jesus heals every single one of them. So that's at the heart of the text, the middle. So the subject, again, is Jesus' power to heal all diseases. So let's put this all together.

[7:10] Moving from each end of the text toward the center, we have Jesus preaching the kingdom of God. And we'll flesh that out as we go along here. But Luke's subject, we could say, is the eternal realm of God.

[7:23] That's how this is encapsulated, this passage. The eternal realm of God. And then moving the next step toward the middle, we have Jesus revealing His authority over the demons.

[7:35] And so Luke's subject is the spiritual realm of Satan. First the eternal realm of God. And then moving in, we have the spiritual realm of Satan.

[7:48] And then moving to the very center of the text, to the middle of the text, we have Jesus healing all diseases. And so the subject there is the physical realm of mankind.

[8:02] All right, so from the eternal realm of God, moving in the spiritual realm of Satan, and moving to the heart of the text, we have the physical realm of mankind.

[8:13] And the order of it is really quite logical. The physical realm of mankind is at the center. At the center of the text, and also at the center of our reality.

[8:27] The physical realm of mankind. This is where we live. This is where we struggle. This is where we have the diseases. This is where we have difficulties and hardships and so forth.

[8:37] So at the center of it is the physical realm of mankind. And then the physical realm of mankind is surrounded by what? And dominated, by the way, by what?

[8:48] The spiritual realm of Satan. And then beyond and outside of all of that is the eternal realm of God. So it's interesting, the structure of this text.

[9:04] Now, what does Luke want his readers to know then? What does he want us to know? Simple. That Jesus Christ is sovereign Lord over all realms.

[9:20] All realms. The eternal realm of God. The spiritual realm of Satan. He's sovereign Lord over the spiritual realm of Satan.

[9:32] And over the physical realm of mankind. And so, therefore, we must not only place our faith in Him and believe on Him and trust Him, but we must also submit to His rule over our lives.

[9:49] That's what Luke is wanting us to know. Now, let's see how Luke presents this in our text. Now, I want us to start at the center. Let's start there.

[9:59] I'm not going to go in the order of the text. You can do that with narratives and you're okay. All right? So we're going to start at the middle and then move out. Let's start at the center of the text.

[10:10] This is where we are. This is where we live. And so let's consider that Jesus is sovereign Lord over the physical realm of mankind. He is. Look at verse 37.

[10:20] We kind of, again, walk through this text. And the report about Him, about Jesus, went out into every place in the surrounding region. All right? So, very simply, word is getting around about Jesus.

[10:33] And why is that? Well, because His preaching was unlike anything they'd ever heard. And also, I guess you could add, because He cast out a demon right in the middle of a Sabbath day's worship service. I tell you, if we cast out a demon here this morning, the word would get out about that.

[10:47] I mean, you'd tell somebody, wouldn't you? But let's read on. Verse 38. Now, He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.

[10:57] And I've already mentioned this is Simon Peter. And I know that Luke does not mention Peter, but you can turn to the Gospel of Mark in Mark 1. And Mark identifies this Simon as Simon Peter.

[11:09] He also tells us that Andrew is there, and James and John are also there in the home. But there's a problem in Simon's house, right? Luke tells us about that.

[11:20] Simon's wife's mother was sick. His mother-in-law was sick. You say, Peter was married? The first pope was married? Sorry for that little crack there.

[11:36] Well, yes, Peter was married. In fact, you can look at 1 Corinthians 9.5 and you'll find that out. All right? You can do that on your own. All right? So, there's a problem here. His mother-in-law living in the home with Peter and his wife, and she's sick.

[11:53] What kind of sickness does she have? Luke says that she has a high fever. Now, don't get the idea that she was just running kind of a high fever and that's all there was to it. This was very serious.

[12:04] In fact, the word for high is the Greek word megos. Sound a little like mega and rightfully so. This is a great fever.

[12:15] Not just a fever, but a great one. A mega fever, we could call it. Mark, by the way, in his gospel account, just simply says she had a fever. But Mark's not a physician.

[12:27] Luke's a physician. And so, Luke gives a diagnosis from a physician's perspective. And so, what he wants us to know is that Peter's mother-in-law was very sick.

[12:40] In fact, I would even suggest saying that she was in mortal danger. And so, he says, they made request of him, made request of Jesus concerning her.

[12:53] And what did Jesus do? Verse 39. He stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

[13:03] Now, this is amazing. Let's not pass over this too quickly. Jesus stooped over or stood over her bedside. She's in bed.

[13:14] She's sick. She has a very high fever, dangerous fever, probably delirious because of her fever. And Jesus leans over her and he rebukes the fever.

[13:25] Rebukes it. Which, I think, is just simply Luke's way of showing us that Jesus has absolute sovereign authority over the physical realm of mankind.

[13:36] That's very clear. Much in the same way that Luke is going to show us a little bit later in his gospel in Luke 8 and verse 24 where Jesus rebukes the wind and the seas.

[13:48] And what happens? They obey. They obey. They calm. All right. Now, so here he rebuked the fever and what happens? Complete healing. Complete healing.

[14:00] As though Peter's mother-in-law had never been sick in the first place. That's important to note. There was no mention of a recovery time.

[14:11] No need for rest. No weakness as a result of this fever, this illness. I mean, when is the last time you had a high fever? And when the fever broke, did you get up out of the bed and you're just as good as new?

[14:23] No, it takes a little while to recover. There's nothing like that here. Luke says she immediately got up and served her guests. But notice what happened next.

[14:35] Verse 40. Look at it. When the sun was setting, which meant the Sabbath was over. They marked time from sunup to sundown. Sabbath is over. All those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

[14:49] And I like what Mark adds in Mark 1.33. He adds, and the whole city was gathered together about the door. Now, you can picture that, can't you? And Luke says Jesus laid his hands, now watch this, on every one of them and healed them.

[15:12] That is, he healed every last one of them. And contrast that with the so-called healers of our day.

[15:27] You say, Pastor, don't you believe in healing? Yes, I do. I believe in a God who can and does heal. And I pray for God to heal many times.

[15:39] I believe in a God who can heal. But I do not believe in these charlatans who prey on the emotionally unstable and scripturally ignorant and weak of faith.

[15:52] Who flock to their churches. Or tune on their TV, to their TV programs. And watch as these guys supposedly heal people in a controlled and manipulated environment.

[16:07] Are you listening? I challenge these men and women who claim to have spiritual healing, spiritual gift of healing today, to visit M.D. Anderson and heal every single cancer patient.

[16:23] Or to go down to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis and go from room to room to room to room and heal every precious child of leukemia or other incurable cancers.

[16:40] They'll never do it. Because they can't. But Jesus laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

[16:52] Does God still heal today? I believe so, yes. And I believe it's always right to ask God to heal. But I also believe, and I have it confirmed from Scripture, that He does not always heal.

[17:06] And it's not even His will always to heal. In fact, I would suggest to you that there is no promise in Scripture that suggests that God will grant healing to anyone who asks in faith.

[17:23] It's just not there. The Apostle Paul, remember, prayed three times to be healed, and God said no every single time. And you can also find Epaphroditus in Philippians 2 and Timothy in 1 Timothy 5 and Trophimus in 2 Timothy 4.

[17:40] All suffered sickness, but God did not grant them supernatural healing. So what should we understand about the healings in the New Testament Scriptures?

[17:52] I agree with MacArthur who said this, The gift of healing in the New Testament was not given to keep believers healthy.

[18:04] I'm sorry. Does that mean God doesn't heal believers? No, He does. But He doesn't grant healing. His gift of healing in the New Testament time and during the time of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles was not given so that believers could be healthy.

[18:22] We have many examples, and I've cited some of them, where believers were sick and they died. And even today, believers get sick and they die. God did not give the gift of healing to keep believers healthy.

[18:36] He gave it as a sign to unbelievers to verify the truthfulness of the Gospel and the authenticity of its preachers.

[18:49] And that's why MacArthur further noted, and I agree with him, healings faded from the scene as the Apostolic era drew to a close.

[18:59] You have it in the Gospels and to a lesser extent in the Acts of the Apostles, and that is it. See, Luke, and this is what we need to understand before we get too bogged down about this whole idea of healing.

[19:18] Luke is not concerned about healing here. You see, we look at this text and we read this part about him healing Simon's mother-in-law and then healing all of these others.

[19:29] No telling how many. They were packed around the house and at the door. There were many, maybe hundreds, of people with all kinds of different diseases and incurable diseases.

[19:39] Not just simply sick people, but we're talking about people who were terminally ill, sick, mortally ill. And Jesus healed everyone. We don't know how many there were, but we want to focus on that.

[19:51] We say, well, let's just have that here today. That's not Luke's intention. That's not what he's wanting us to focus on. He's not concerned about what healing Jesus can do or how he might do it or when he might do it or how often he might do it or whether he still does it today.

[20:14] That's not his concern. Luke's chief concern is to reveal Jesus as the sovereign Lord over the physical realm of mankind and he is the one who will heal all our diseases one day when his kingdom comes in all of its fullness.

[20:34] I guarantee you. That's why sometimes I'll say when a loved one within the church passes away, a believer, I'll say, well, that one has experienced perfect healing now.

[20:52] Let's move out a bit from the center, the physical realm of mankind and see that Jesus, also Jesus, is the sovereign Lord over the spiritual realm of Satan.

[21:03] Jesus cast out demons in the synagogue and in Peter's house. Now, if the subject of miraculous healing troubles us and concerns us and, you know, causes some controversy, then I tell you, the casting out of demons much more so.

[21:32] This whole idea of it. And we, you know, we can just read this part of the text and it causes our minds to wander into all kinds of imaginations and all kinds of speculations and even questions.

[21:43] Let's try to resist that and keep our minds focused on the main point of the text. And what is that? That Jesus is sovereign Lord over the spiritual realm of Satan.

[21:56] However that works itself out and however that might be manifested and whether when this happens or we see this, it's true or false, is not the issue. The issue is that Jesus is the indisputable sovereign Lord over Satan's realm.

[22:15] That's what Luke wants us to get. There's no, listen, there's no back and forth struggle between Jesus and the demonic forces.

[22:28] Don't ever get this picture in your mind that we have the forces of God and good and we have the forces of Satan and evil and they are doing battle all the time and sometimes Satan gains some ground and sometimes Jesus gains some ground and, you know, it's kind of a back and forth and the battle lines are formed and sometimes those lines move back and forth and so forth.

[22:51] Don't ever get that idea at all. Jesus' power over the satanic world, over demons, is not greater by some measure.

[23:01] It's not greater. He's not just the greater power. Jesus' power over Satan and the demonic forces is so absolute that it is as if Satan has no power at all.

[23:19] Let's not ever forget that. So there's no risk of the battle being lost, ever. And though Satan may seem to have the greater power sometimes, his power is not his own.

[23:36] It's granted to him by a sovereign God for reasons that we could explain in part, but where the full answer cannot be discovered. Not here.

[23:49] But God's power is absolute sovereign. And we get a glimpse of that here in verse 33 and following.

[24:00] Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon which by the way is not to suggest that there are clean demons. Okay. The idea I think is that the demon manifested his possession of this man in the form of moral perversion.

[24:22] An outside of the box, out of the box, overt moral perversion. That's how this demon manifested himself. An unclean demon.

[24:34] So right here in the synagogue, right there in the middle of the synagogue, the Sabbath worship service. I don't know what point it happened, maybe after Jesus preached.

[24:44] In fact, I suspect it was after he preached. And by the way, I think he probably preached the same sermon. He preached in Nazareth. You know, we studied that last time as he quoted from Isaiah.

[24:56] Setting the captives free and so forth. I believe it was after that that this demon manifested himself. And he did so because of the powerful preaching of Jesus but more so because of his very presence there.

[25:09] His presence there. And the Bible says here that the demon cried out with a loud voice. Ooh, how would you like to be there when that happened? In fact, the language, the words used here give this kind of description that the demon gave out a shriek.

[25:30] I tell you, it would be blood-curdling, I think. This demon speaks. And listen, he's not taunting Jesus.

[25:42] It's difficult, you know, when we're just reading the text to get some idea of, you know, the dynamics of what this demon said and the emotion of it.

[25:54] He's not taunting Jesus with these words. He's not challenging Jesus. He's not trying to argue with Jesus or bandy about with Him in a conversation.

[26:06] He is terrified of Jesus. That's what we need to understand here. And that's how we ought to read it. He's terrified. And what did the demon say?

[26:16] Verse 34, let us alone. I don't know that I could mimic how it might have sounded. What are we to do with you?

[26:30] Or, literally, what are you going to do to us? That's really what he's saying. What are you going to do to us? Jesus of Nazareth, did you come to destroy us?

[26:45] I hope. I know who you are. The Holy One of God. This is what the demon said. Now, this is incredible. And Jesus, in verse 35, rebuked him, saying, Silence!

[26:59] That's literally what he said. You be quiet! He commanded him. And come out of him.

[27:12] And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, probably just down on the floor, it, the demon, came out of him and did not hurt him. And then Jesus shows his authority over demons a little bit later, second to the last part of the text.

[27:28] There in verse 41, in Simon Peter's house, and verse 41 says, And demons also came out of many, crying out. Again, the same idea. Screaming.

[27:39] Shrieking. And saying, You are the Christ, the Son of God. And he rebuked them, did not allow them to speak. That's real power. For they knew that he was the Christ.

[27:52] Now, this is interesting. Don't you think this is interesting? Why didn't Jesus let them speak? I mean, they were telling the truth, weren't they?

[28:06] He is the Holy One of God. He certainly is the Christ, the Son of God. They're speaking the truth. Why didn't he just let them speak?

[28:18] Well, in the first place, the Holy One of God does not carry on conversations with demons. When you allow a conversation with, if he would allow a conversation with a demon, it would be the same as giving him some kind of stature.

[28:32] This wicked, vile demon to have some kind of, you know, thought and kindness and courtesy to let the demon speak.

[28:46] Jesus is not going to carry on a conversation with a demon. To even suggest to an nth degree that there is any measure of equality here.

[29:01] We've got to understand, He's the Holy One of God. He's the Lord of glory. He does not speak with demons. Nor should we. Did you hear that?

[29:14] Nor should we. And in the second place, the Holy One of God does not want a vile demon to verify His true identity.

[29:27] He doesn't need a demon to give testimony to who He is. His true identity before man. What? Are these people in synagogue going to believe based upon the word of a demon?

[29:39] Are they? Well, of course not. But the bigger question is this. Why did these demons tell the truth about Jesus?

[29:53] Huh? I mean, it seems to me wouldn't it have been in the best interest of Satan and his forces and his designs that these demons lie?

[30:06] You know, to say that Jesus was a devil? That He's really a devil? Or to say that Jesus is a fake? He said, we know who you claim to be, but you're a fake.

[30:18] You're a fraud. You're not the Messiah. It just seems like that would have worked for Satan's purposes much better. Or at the very least to remain silent.

[30:32] Which is what I believe demons are doing this day. I mean, why did the demons reveal themselves first place?

[30:43] And why, when they did reveal themselves, why did they say what they said? Basically, to tell the truth. My answer is they couldn't help it.

[30:54] Jesus Christ standing in the very midst is the sovereign Lord of glory.

[31:10] And there is no hiding. No hiding from Him. In reality, it was His presence that drew the demon out.

[31:22] And later in Peter's house, it was the presence of the Lord, the sovereign Lord of glory, who drew them out.

[31:34] Which is, by the way, I believe why demon possession is mentioned almost exclusively just in the Gospels. You have a couple of mentions of it in Acts.

[31:46] Just two, by the way, mentions, and maybe these are a bit sketchy, mentions of demon possession in the Old Testament. The bulk of it is in the Gospels. And why is that? Because Jesus was here.

[31:59] Here. And the forces of evil could not remain hidden like they are today, by the way. They could not also lie in the presence of Jesus.

[32:18] They could not keep silent either. they could not help but glorify God, Him, Jesus, as the Holy One of God.

[32:29] Now, remember what Luke is trying to do here. Let's keep moored to that in our, as we walk through this text, this is where our minds ought to be.

[32:40] He's talking about, he's presenting Jesus as the sovereign Lord over the spiritual realm of Satan. and even the people there that day had some sense of that. I mean, even though they did not fully believe that verse 36, look at it, then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves saying, what a word!

[33:02] What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out. that's right!

[33:16] They recognized it. Now, listen, people, here's the point. These demons knew this.

[33:29] Satan knows it, but his days are numbered. Satan's days are numbered. He and his demonic forces will one day be destroyed.

[33:43] It's not just maybe it'll happen. You know, if he loses the battle, there's no question he's going to lose. In the infinite sovereign mind of God, he's already lost.

[34:03] He's dead and doesn't know it. His days are numbered. And Jesus said that he would one day destroy him and his demonic forces. 1 John 3, 8, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of Satan.

[34:20] And that day is coming. John, the Apostle John, in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 20, he tells us about it.

[34:31] Listen to it. 20, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

[34:43] He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

[35:07] But after these things, he must be released for a little while. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations yet again.

[35:21] But in very short order, by the way, as John goes on with his revelation, the devil who deceived them will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

[35:45] His days are numbered. Let's put this together. Luke's chief concern in this text is to reveal Jesus as the sovereign Lord over the physical realm of mankind and he will heal all our diseases one day when his kingdom comes in all its fullness.

[36:08] That day has not yet come. And he's also revealing that Jesus is the sovereign Lord over the spiritual realm of Satan and he will destroy Satan and his demons one day when his kingdom comes in all its fullness.

[36:30] And then moving further out from the center we see a third and final truth concerning Jesus. Jesus is the sovereign Lord over the eternal realm of God.

[36:44] I wish we had more time to develop this but I'll just tell you that it's developed all the way through the book of Luke so stick with the series.

[36:56] And what I'm talking about here is this truth concerning the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. We hear that over and over again. That's what Jesus came preaching.

[37:08] The kingdom of God. Verse 31. Then he went down to Capernaum a city of Galilee and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. All right. So he's teaching and by implication preaching.

[37:21] And what was he teaching and preaching? Verse 43. Jesus said I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent.

[37:33] What purpose? To preach the kingdom of God. To proclaim it. Literally to proclaim its arrival.

[37:45] The kingdom of God. This is what Jesus taught and preached. The kingdom of God. Luke mentions this 32 times in his gospel. 32 times.

[37:55] And you remember Luke's second volume. The book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles. He ends it with the preaching of the kingdom of God unhindered. So Jesus is preaching the kingdom of God.

[38:09] And so when Jesus is preaching the kingdom of God the people Luke says in verse 32 were amazed at his teaching for his word was with authority.

[38:22] He's preaching the kingdom of God with authority. They made note of that. And why? Why? Why did they notice this authority? Because the kingdom of God is his.

[38:34] It's his to rule. And it has come. You see, listen, centuries before before this time when David was on this planet, David had been promised by God an eternal kingdom.

[38:50] It would come out of his seed. A kingdom that would be eternal and that would never end. And someone eternal would sit upon that throne. This was a promise given to David and really by extension all of Israel.

[39:03] And really by extension all of the world. it. And so this was God's covenant with David and God would not break it. But now nearly 600 years have passed up to the time of Jesus and there has been no king on the throne of Israel.

[39:20] No king. Not an eternal king or any king of any kind for 600 years. Has God forgotten about his covenant? Has God changed his mind?

[39:32] You know, going to plan B or something? No. Jesus came. Jesus came into the world. And Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God.

[39:44] This is the kingdom of God that was promised to David so long ago. And so Jesus is preaching the kingdom of God. And here in essence is what he is preaching.

[39:57] Good news! The kingdom of God is here. That's what he's saying. And really more specifically he's saying the king of the kingdom of God is here.

[40:11] And that's me. The eternal king has come to sit on David's throne just like God promised and I am that king. King. Do you remember what Pilate said to Jesus before he was sentenced to death?

[40:25] In John 18 verse 33 Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews? Remember that? And Jesus eventually answered. He said, My kingdom is not of this world.

[40:36] If my kingdom were of this world then my kingdom would fight for me. And then Pilate said, because that just went right over his head, he said, So you are a king then.

[40:49] And Jesus said, You say rightly that I am a king for this cause I was born. And for this cause I have come into the world.

[41:01] And yet, still now, for 2,000 years since then, there is no king in Israel.

[41:13] Is there? So what's going on? Is Jesus the sovereign Lord over the eternal kingdom of God, the realm of God now?

[41:25] Is he right now? Yes. Yes. Where is his throne right now? In the heart of the believer.

[41:41] His kingdom resides right now in the heart of his true church. True born again believers.

[41:51] It resides right there. All true believers. All followers of Christ. But one day, his rule will reside with the true church as a whole.

[42:05] The universal church that, by the way, in any visible sense does not exist today. We're talking about after the tribulation.

[42:17] tribulation. And when Jesus comes and establishes his kingdom and his church comes with him and he sets up his throne on this earth and rules for a thousand years and we will rule with him, his rule will then reside with the true church here on this planet.

[42:38] And after the end of that thousand years, his rule will then reside in heaven forever and ever and ever without end.

[42:51] He is sovereign Lord over the eternal realm of God. Now let's put this all together.

[43:05] And see it very visually. And in a sense, just simply reacting to, expanding upon the structure of how Luke wrote this part of his message.

[43:20] Here it is. Christ, the Son of God, left the eternal realm of God. Pierced the darkness of the spiritual realm of Satan and entered the physical realm of mankind, sacrificing himself upon a cross to save those who will repent and believe on him.

[43:53] And one day, maybe soon, he will once again enter the physical realm of mankind, destroy the spiritual realm of Satan once and for all, and lead his beloved to the eternal realm of God, the kingdom of our Lord, where we will be with him forever and ever and ever.

[44:20] Let me close with a question. How does one get in to the kingdom of God? Say, I want to be a part of that kingdom.

[44:31] How does one get into the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God that is eternal, Christ ruling and reigning. How does one get into the kingdom of God?

[44:43] The same way one gets into the kingdom of mankind. We are birthed into it. Not physically, but spiritually.

[45:00] Through faith, by grace, through faith in Jesus as Lord. Are you born again?

[45:18] Are you born again? again? again? again? Thank you.