The Kingdom of Light Amidst the Kingdom of Darkness

Very apparent to us.

Now that we who are in the invisible kingdom are living in the middle of another kingdom when Jesus prayed to the father.

He didn't say take them out of the world, he said keep them from the evil one.

We have to be in the world.

Otherwise we can't preach the gospel taking a science course taught by an atheist speaks up in class to challenge his professor's views on evolution.

That's a recipe for public humiliation. If there ever was one. And let's be fair. It has never been easy to stand up for biblical truth and a Christian worldview.

In fact, now it's harder than ever. So for encouragement for those situations stay here as John MacArthur continues his brand-new study the world versus the kingdom of God.

The first, though John a personal question for you has being a pastor brought special challenges in terms of making friendships with unbelievers, and especially in today's adversarial environment that were looking at in your current series. I don't think being a Christian, necessarily makes you a threat, but I think being a pastor tends to do that and being a well-known pastor and having everything you've ever said for the last half a century available on the Internet had a stutter. I've been with you overseas. We got into an elevator and somebody recognized you just from your voice. Yesterday I was walking with Patricia a little bit and in a very brief walk and this is the other side of your question ran to three people who stopped me and said oh you're John MacArthur by just want to say thank you so much for everything. Your ministry is meant in my life that was this the first person, and this is a lady and she said I can imagine that you're even real, so I grabbed her I'm real in the three people in one short hour of time.

So for me I the opposite really happens I'm more likely to be stopped somewhere to be thanked than I am to be ridiculed, but I do think you can mitigate that by by having a gracious spirit. You don't you don't have to be harsh, I think you you want to speak the truth in love, and I think if you do that, I think you can you can break down some of those barriers. That's right will thank you John and it's a good reminder that we should always be gracious even as we stand firmly for biblical truth in an unbelieving age and on that note, here is John MacArthur again to continue his thought-provoking study the world versus the kingdom of God.

I want take you to Luke 17 and I hi, I want to say things that will be definitive and helpful to you because it's very apparent to us. Now that we who are in the invisible kingdom are living in the middle of another kingdom when Jesus prayed to the father.

He didn't say take them out of the world, he said keep them from the evil one. We have to be in the world. Otherwise we can't preach the gospel, so we are this invisible kingdom in the middle of a visible kingdom that is getting more wicked all the time in Luke chapter 17 verse 20 Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming. I thought it was still future, and elements of it are of course but he answered them and said the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed nor will they say luck here it is or there it is for the behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst store among you, that is an incredible statement they were looking for a kingdom in the future and the kingdom was there because the king was there.

We don't know a lot about kingdoms and King.

So I want to help you with that.

We haven't had a king in our history well until now, America has been gradually in becoming a kingdom with a cane and evil kingdom with an evil king and his evil agents how that happened.

Turn to Romans chapter 1, I want to rehearse for you some very important portions of Scripture verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

Now the wrath of God takes many forms. It could be eternal rather could be eschatological wrath the wrath it's described in the book of Revelation could be the wrath of sowing and reaping, built in judgments of certain behaviors.

This wrath is not any of those, but rather described as follows its wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So it's a kind of wrath that has to unfold on a society that is suppressing the truth wherever you have a society suppressing the truth, it necessarily then is characterized by ungodliness and unrighteousness, that which is known about God says. Verse 19 is evident within them.

For God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. God has revealed himself to the degree that man is without excuse if he doesn't acknowledge the existence of God. And when men suppress that knowledge in ungodliness and unrighteousness, a kind of wrath comes out of heaven for this wrath is for those verse 21. Who knew God did not honor him as God or give thanks. It comes on a society that inexcusably turned against the living God, who is the creator of all. In the case of our society turned against the revelation of Scripture, which has been available to everyone.

Though they knew God, that is, they knew God existed because it was clear in the creation and in the Scripture. They did not honor him as God or give thanks. They became empty in their speculations, their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools was to reject God. Our fools when I talk about an evil kingdom. I'm also talking about an evil kingdom made up of fools. The exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. You might say that sanction animism.

You might also say it's modern environmentalism. Therefore, here's the judgment.

God gave them over language of turning someone over to prison for incarceration and execution. So how do you know when this wrath is operating.

You know when a society turns from God, but had the knowledge of God, but by creation and the Scripture when they give up on the truth of God in exchange God for a materialistic secular worldview that form of social national cultural apostasy leads to God giving them up, turning them over what is that look like the first phase in verse 24 God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.

Amen.

So the first thing you would see in a culture under judgment as a sexual revolution, morality, impurity, lust, unbounded dishonoring their bodies among them pornography as a norm. The second is in verse 26 God then gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. That's lesbianism in the same way.

Also, the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own person the due penalty of their error and that might be AIDS so first you'll have a sexual revolution when God's wrath is unleashed on a society deterrence against him. Secondly, you have a homosexual revolutions unfamiliar verse 28 says there's 1/3 step, just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind that's a mind that doesn't function there's a kind of insanity.

What does that refer to, not accepting reality.

I read that this one, and author wants people to know there are 100 genders.

That's insanity. What comes out of that kind of insanity we are seeing now where you not even dealing with reality were making laws to make the insane feel normal. What comes out of that all kinds of things are not proper all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil in the murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful okay that's what you get in that culture of insanity. Verse 32, says the insanity is so severe that though they know the ordinance of God. How do they know it because it's built into the fabric of their humanity law of God is written in the heart and in our case that had the Bible, and even though they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but give hearty approval to those who practice them. They make them legal.

Why are we where we are because were under this wrath. This is not just us.

Acts 14 says God has allowed all the nations to go their own way.

This is the cycle of human history we are now in an evil kingdom kingdom wherein is so evil that God's wrath is been unleashed. Women living in it for a number of decades now from the sexual revolution through the homosexual revolution to the reprobate mind where you can even think straight and reality and fantasy are mingled evil kingdom holds its power by one thing lives and that's what Paul said they exchanged verse 25. The truth of God for a lie. The evil kingdom gains its power by lies, it holds its power by lies by suppressing the truth what the evil kingdom fears most is truth. Truth kingdom of darkness is the kingdom of lies. Even humanity recognizes the importance of truth.

Plato said no one is more hated than he was, speaks the truth. George Orwell said the further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.

Alina came out of and not see German era. Those who burned books will soon burn people as they have stopped the truth. The truth is the only power against the lies. This is not new to us. This is essentially the indictment of Isaiah against Israel back in chapter 5 it says it among the indictments. Chapter 5 of Isaiah verse 21 of those who call evil good and good evil we substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. That's what happens. Evil kingdom switches everything. Everything is inside out and upside down number give you an axiom that you need to remember a society is defined by what it will not tolerate you get that the society is defined by what it will not tolerate when God wanted us to know is will he didn't say let me give you 10 suggestions of what would be good behaviors to give us 10 Commandments because life is always going to be defined by what you tolerate in the past, even in our country, there was a traditional Judeo-Christian biblical conventional morality, and there were laws against certain kinds of behaviors and when you violated those traditional laws drawn from Scripture.

There was shame was. We went to college probably read the Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne a look at 1850 viewpoint from Nathaniel Hawthorne of early America and the sad story of Hester Perrine who committed adultery and how to go through the rest of her life with in a stamp on it now as the old culture where biblical morality still had Swabian shame was connected to the things that the Bible assigns shame. Then came the rejection of God. Then came the rejection of Scripture, so that a transcendent sacred authority whose law was a standard for everyone. Gave rise to what Carl Truman calls the modern self, where sovereignty goes from an external sacred standard of God to the individual and now we have self-styled sovereignty.

Everybody's a sovereign over his own life and can declare himself to be anything he wants to be God's rejected. The Bible is rejected and with it biblical morality. Everything goes to individualism. As a result, what our society will not tolerate is exactly the opposite of what it would not tolerate in the past. So we are now in an overturned morality. This society is making laws to normalize, justify sins, blatant sins, laws are being made to criminalize righteousness.

Laws are being made.

The silence terminate true speakers.

Half of the states in America have such laws and Air Force chaplain was removed from his duty because he gave a message against sexual immorality. He was dismissed, either bake the cake or go to jail.

The new king can't stop making rules for any essay wire, some a monarchy because of executive orders that are just endless.

That's unilateral rule the king in the kingdom of lies will not tolerate the truth speak the truth is the greatest threat they defined it as hate speech, personal animus and now as I said, domestic terrorism, there can be no civil liberties for those who tell the truth, there can be no freedom of speech for those who tell the truth because they invade safe spaces. They trigger people so the king and his lying agents must demonize the truth tellers and then they need to demonize the path they need to kill history the need to go back so past moral standards don't crawl up out of the grave and offend somebody strong societies have their foundation in sacred truth.

They have a transcendent standard when that is removed. What you have is barbarism. According to one writer.

Barbarism means paganism lack of civilization so the trend here is exactly what Romans one said its ungodliness, and on righteousness godless paganism hating God hating Christ, hating the Scripture hating the true church, and fearing the truth.

There was a time when these general was asked a question by medical doctor about how Taiwan escaped the pandemic initially and this Taiwanese general said this, we have an entire department in the Taiwanese government does nothing but monitor Chinese social media and everything they censor. We know to be the truth. If you're living in a reversed world. You have to think in reverse your being lied to, all the time. Here's a testimony from Natalia came to grace 30 years ago with her five children. They left the USSR because of persecution. She finished high school. Of course at the top of her classes valedictorian because our kids are smart. She began her university studies on a prestigious full funded scholarship. She was being prepped to work as a translator in London and the Soviet embassy so she was studying English. Her password change which he became a believer when the authorities found out that she was a believer. They demanded that she and her sister resign from their job. The ended up working as cleaning ladies can find a job after graduation she spent the next 13 years as a cleaning lady, cleaning the offices and emptying the trash bins of Soviet scholars, even though she graduate of the top of the class when her older brother became a believer.

He was expelled from the PhD program in mechanical engineering.

The final semester of his studies. Her sister was expelled from another program in architecture after a woman saw her reading the Bible on a train Natalia continue to play an important role in the underground church. She had regular meetings with believers from other countries who supported Soviet believers had a secret code if they said grandmother isn't feeling well. The meeting was off. If the telegram said grandmother's looking forward to the birthday party church was on 1976 when the Italian or fellow congregants came to church on a winter Sunday, they discovered on the front door of the building, a large lock, which is been placed there by the Soviet authorities for the next two years, the congregants met in the forests of Riga, Latvia during the warm months and in people's homes during the winter when police discovered the location they showed up to scatter the meeting and arrest the leadership.

Despite the threat of arrest. The church continue to meet and accept new members baptizing new converts in local lakes in the middle of the night. Sometimes in the middle of the winter 1981. Natalia's home was raided by 17 KGB agents and police officers who confiscated six large bags of religious material and personal belongings during those years. Natalia's friends were arrested on various occasions, interrogated by the KGB and sent to prison for multiple year sentences. Her best friend, a 19-year-old young woman was sent to a Siberian labor camp for six years for participating in a children's Christian camp and while the Soviet authorities prevented Natalia from working as a translator for the communist regime. She became the church translator for all the missionaries who visited her local church. All that was a result of Marxism and socialism were your hearing all the time all the time. Satan is the liar king. He's a liar. King, he has a massive supernatural force of demons against whom we wrestle his children are liars. The kingdom of darkness is known by its allies. This is penetrated the most sacred halls of our government. Supreme Court the United States Supreme Court struck down the Defense of marriage act to make way for homosexual behavior in marriage and actually declared in their filing that religious objections to homosexuality come from hate God is out. Prayer is out the 10 Commandments are out. Get those off the wall. The Bible is out. Blasphemy is in immorality is to be protected. In fact, laws are being are to be made and enforced to normalize perversion cancel all dissent, there can't be any dissent.

That's why people are getting canceled. That's where their twitter accounts are being taken down and big tech is in cahoots with this paganism and for the first time in human history.

They can shut down anybody they want. This leads me to draw your attention to second Corinthians chapter 10 second Corinthians 10 three though we walk in the flesh. He doesn't mean send it humanity. There were human, we do not war according to the flesh we we can't fight this spiritual battle with any human strategies. The weapons of our warfare are not human but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses would we we got to realize that we're assaulting fortresses that's the word for palaces and forts, prisons and tombs were assaulting massive stone edifices we have to destroy them and we don't expect to do that with human ingenuity and human strategy. What are these fortresses, he says in the next verse, we are destroying log is moss, ideas, ideologies, philosophies, speculations we are destroying lies because they are defined further as every anti-God idea every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We as a church in the world have the responsibility to assault the fortresses of lies. Why were here the smashed down every idea raised up against the true knowledge of God and then on the positive. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's magnificent languages, and it we turn people from lies to the truth. That's why were here so do you understand what a threat we are.

We exist in the world for one purpose. That is to expose the lies and to bring the truth and when lies dominate the kingdom at every point.

And when they are basically the foundation of the society's laws. We are not tolerable, but we are the kingdom, and the kingdom is here because the king is your listening to, grace to you featuring John MacArthur's brand-new and compelling study called the world versus the kingdom of God. Know another compelling study that you're going to want to listen for is freedom from sin, that series will air next month and it really is going to help you understand the power that you have as a Christian to resist the temptation to sin, to help you get all you can from that series.

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