Feast: Let Him Who Glories Glory in This (Part Three)
Restoration of All Things
#FT26-07
Mark Schindler
Given 02-Oct-26; 54 minutes
description: Rooted in Jeremiah 9:23-24, this three-part series "Let Him Who Glories Glory in This" reorients God's people away from worldly wisdom and power toward the glory of knowing Him through His loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. The narrative arc begins with Leviticus 23 to define holy convocations as sacred training grounds for a kingdom of priests whose conduct serves as a public proclamation, warning that a repentant remnant is essential to avert destruction as foretold in Malachi 4. By examining David's recognition of divine grace and Paul's affirmation that God chooses the weak to shame the wise, the series underscores that true boasting excludes human merit. Finally, it traces the unbroken lineage of God's righteous kingdom from creation through Noah and Abraham to Revelation 21, positioning contemporary believers as the current vanguard called to represent this eternal sovereign plan and prepare for their ultimate service in God's prepared place.
transcript:
Well, thank you, brethren, for your faithfulness to God and for being here on the 7th day, this last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. If you please, open your Bibles to Jeremiah 9. Here we will once again start on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles with what I had said are the keystone verses in this three-part series of sermons entitled Let Him Who Glories Glory in This.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord.
We began this three-part series of sermons on the Sabbath before the Day of Atonement with the question, Why are we keeping God's holy days? The subtitle of that sermon was Proclaiming God's Holy Convocations. We began that sermon noting the responsibility that God has given each of us who are truly keeping the holy days as He intends for His glory. It's right there in the opening verses of Leviticus 23, verses 1 through 4, and so I'd quickly like to go there again, even though we've been there many times through the days leading up to the feast and through this feast.
Leviticus 23:1-4 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Here we found, by comparing scripture with scripture, that besides having holy convocations for worshiping God and formal instruction on the date on God's holy days, God considers the whole period of time that He has set apart as holy convocations. Specifically during this week, we have found out from David and Bronnie how vital it is for each of us to remain within God's presence together throughout the entire holy period of time that He has set apart as a kingdom of priests in training under Jesus Christ. We found that God clearly expects us to remain in the place He has chosen for every single day of His sacred assembly, or we personally make what God has graciously given into an abomination. We found that each time we rehearse God's holy convocations in line with what God expects from those who are diligently striving to fulfill our part in His undeserved gift to become holy as He is holy, we should be changing the direction of our lives for the better, away from the kingdom of this world, to more perfectly being in line with the righteousness of the kingdom of God.
We saw that through those four opening verses in Leviticus 23, God gives us a dynamic role in His work on behalf of all mankind if we are keeping God's holy days for His glory and using the precious time to grow and understand Him and the work He is doing in loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness throughout the world. He tells us that when we are keeping the holy convocations as He intends, our growth and our change of direction to be more in line with the righteousness of His kingdom actually becomes a proclamation for His glory before the whole world. You know, brethren, I was just thinking when I was watching those children sing, your parents that are teaching your children to do what they did - they are a proclamation before the whole world in their actions.
I'm not going to tell you who it was because I do not want to embarrass anyone, but many years ago, when Nancy and I were at a restaurant during the Feast of Tabernacles with a couple and their children, we happened to be at a restaurant they had been to before, and it was a year later. It was a very fine restaurant, a nice restaurant. The children were very nicely behaved, and the waitress came up and served us at the table, and she said, I know who you are. I remember you from last year. And of course, everybody stood up, and that's great. The point was, she said, I remember you because of your children - they were so well behaved. They acted so much different than the children of the world.
Brethren, your children, especially you young people with young children - you're raising children that are proclaiming God's holy convocations before the whole world. When we more fully use the gifts He makes available within His holy convocations to become more like Him, we are actually proclaiming our citizenship in the kingdom of God right now, where we look forward in faith to His kingdom that He is preparing for the earth and a universe that will live and work in righteousness. We spent a good deal of time in that first sermon also comparing the spiritual Israel of God with physical Israel, Judah specifically, at this time, and how God in His faithfulness will make sure that His holy ordinances, including His holy convocations, will continue to be proclaimed even when the people are merely going through the motions of the letter of God's law, as the Jews do these days. I tried to help us see that this is as much a more serious warning for the spiritual Israel of God, that we must see in the way we proclaim God's holy convocations in the letter and the spirit of the law for God's glory.
We ended that sermon in Malachi 4, verses 1 through 6, which I'd like to turn to again right now. Malachi 4, we're going to be reading verses 1 through 6.
Malachi 4:1-6 For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble, and the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under your feet, under the soles of your feet, on the day that I do this, says the Lord of Hosts. Remember the law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
I noted that word curse was not the normal word for curse. The word refers to the practice of devoting things or persons irrevocably to God, often by total destruction. Its use here suggests that God would make a whole burnt offering of the earth if there was not a repentant remnant. We are to be, through Jesus Christ, the vanguard of that truly repentant remnant now, as we proclaim God's holy convocations in our lives as agents of change in our lives toward more faithfully living according to the perfect righteousness of the kingdom of God.
Finally, in that first sermon, I turned to Mark the first chapter, in verses 1 through 4 and 14 through 15. But for right now, I'd like us to look at Matthew 4:12-17, in Matthew's account of the same time, while keeping Malachi 4:2 in mind, where it says, But to you who fear My name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. So, in Matthew 4, and in verse 12 through 17 - Matthew 4 - I'm going to be reading this from the Message Bible, but you can read along. It's verses 12 through 17, and in the Message Bible, in contemporary English, it says:
Matthew 4:12-17 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, He returned to Galilee. He moved from His hometown Nazareth to the lakeside village of Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali Hills. This move completed Isaiah's sermon: Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, road to the sea, over Jordan, Galilee crossroads for the nations. People sitting out their lives in the dark saw a huge light. Sitting in that dark, dark country of death, they watched the sun come up. This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: Change your life, God's kingdom is here.
In the next sermon in this series, I gave this past Sunday on the 2nd day of the feast, which was subtitled Grace in the Kingdom of God, we again began with what I have called the keystone scriptures in this sermon, Jeremiah 9:23-24. I stressed in the beginning how quickly glorying in wisdom, might, and riches can take us away from what God expects from His elect: to know and understand Him and the work that He is doing in loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness throughout the earth. We spent a good deal of time identifying the difference that God is working out, concisely stated in Jeremiah 9:23-24, that should clearly differentiate between the tiny group that is called now by the grace of God to see His sovereign rule and governing over the entirety of the creation to bring His plan and purpose to fruition through Jesus Christ, as opposed to those who still walk in the darkness of this world.
I spent a good deal of time with King David as our Old Testament example from the very select few that were set apart by God as His - the few God had chosen to see the kingdom of God as the reality of life. That's why David could dance with joy before God, as Hunter pointed out. As David grew in heart, mind, and spirit by the grace of God, his ups and downs along the way led him to know God. God led him to understand that everything he had was strictly from God's loving kindness, righteousness, and judgment, and not his own. It also led him to understand that everything he did in life with other people impacted directly on his relationship with God.
David clearly recognized God's standard of judgment, as Jesus Christ explains in Matthew 25, of all who come before Him in the great white throne judgment. Conviction directed David in his own preparations to rule with Christ, to have the mind of God with outgoing concern for others in whatever he did. Although far from perfection - that only Jesus Christ will finally accomplish in Him and us - he continued in the reality of a life lived already totally under the sovereign authority of God's kingdom that has always been in place.
I gave what I considered a fairly clear example from correspondence I had with an engineer who considered that Paul taught a gospel of grace that was different from the gospel of the kingdom of God. It was clear from our correspondence that what is a walk of faith to the elect of God regarding the kingdom of God, and all that points to it from one end of the Bible to the other, in God's work of loving kindness, righteousness, and judgment, is just a frustrating complex of details that was just confounding and confusing to this man. I found I could relate to this man to a limited extent because we were both from similar backgrounds that made the need to boil down the complex issues of engineering to the simplest terms and work from there. My mind works in a similar way to this.
However, with the precious gift of heart, mind, and spirit from God, strictly at God's election by His grace, what is totally confusing and frustrating to that man is becoming clearer to me - those things that God has given to us in order to understand and know Him and the work that only He can do, from the beginning to the end, with whomever He chooses, for His glory and not her own. That man stays mired in Jeremiah 9:23 and his own wisdom, while God has given His elect at this time the privilege to grow in His wisdom and righteousness in preparation to fill all responsibilities within His kingdom. As we heard clearly this week, we are within the kingdom of God now, in His presence, as a kingdom of priests in training.
With that, I'd like us to start today by looking at two places where the Apostle Paul actually cites Jeremiah 9:24 in his letters to the church at Corinth, because it is good for us to consider them within context. We heard earlier this week that the babes in Christ in Corinth had been quite puffed up, and Paul was bringing them back to the reality that their righteousness was only from Him - they could not see Jesus Christ standing behind others, within whatever place only God could put each in the body, for the unity of the body in humility. So please turn with me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. I Corinthians chapter 1, and we will be starting there in verse 18. Chapter 1 and verse 18, and under the heading in my Bible, it says Christ the Power and the Wisdom of God.
I Corinthians 1:18-31 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. [Under Glory Only in the Lord, and verse 26:] For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption - that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in this.
There it is, in verse 31 - Jeremiah 9:24. Let him who glories glory in this. This is the work of Jesus Christ that only He alone can do with us, the foolish of this world, that He has made His people, His elect. This needs to be part of everything we come to know and understand. We have the privilege to have a role now within the kingdom of God, but it should be making us more certain every day - this is all the work of God exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. It must become clearer to us each day: we only share His glory as we learn to live like He lives, with an absolutely humble mind and heart, with outgoing concern for others.
Let's look at the other place now where Paul cites Jeremiah 9:24. Please turn with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians, the 10th chapter. II Corinthians 10, and we will be picking it up in verse 7.
II Corinthians 10:7-17 Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ's, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ's, even so we are Christ's. For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed, lest I seem to terrify you by letters. For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such a person consider this: that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be indeed when we are present. For we dare not classify ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, but they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us - a sphere which especially includes you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as though our authority did not extend to you, for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ, not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment. But he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
There it is again, in verse 17. Let him who glories glory in this, that you know and understand God is exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness throughout the earth. And Paul is making sure that those with hearts to change continue to more faithfully understand this within all our relationships within the body of Christ. We have been called to be in the exact places now within the kingdom of God. Our citizenship is in heaven, for the purposes of more fully developing that heart Dr. Moss spoke of yesterday, for the glory of God. We are a kingdom of priests in training already in the kingdom of God. We have crossed over that threshold that Jared spoke of yesterday, into the unknown world, learning to walk in the righteousness that is the absolute standard of the kingdom of God.
Within this, we are going to take a turn in this sermon, which I hope will help us to more fully grasp the big picture as God sees it, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness as He is working His plan to complete the restoration of all things, which is the subtitle of this third and final sermon: And Let Him Who Glories Glory in This: God Is Completing a Restoration of All Things. As we go through this, I want you to keep in mind just how special your calling is within this incredible plan of God to restore the kingdom of God with men. I firmly believe our great God, who inhabits eternity, declaring the end from the beginning, has never changed His purpose to create a perfectly righteous family that will never, ever turn from His way of life.
I am going to take us on a quick overview. It may help us continue our walk in faith and with diligence, firmly knowing that everything has always, always been under God's perfect work, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth and beyond time and place. I will tell you right now, a significant portion of the end of this sermon is from the pen and mouth of Charles Whitaker, who very clearly proved from God's word that the good news of the kingdom of God was understood by Abraham, as revealed to him just as it has been revealed to you.
In his 2003 Feast of Tabernacles sermon entitled The Promise of the Kingdom, Charles opened that sermon with the following paragraph. Winston Churchill once remarked, Charles said, The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. With that comment in mind, Charles said, I want to spend a few minutes today looking back to see God's kingdom. Paradoxically, we are going to look backward to see forward. Although Charles focused most of his attention in that sermon on Abraham and Daniel, we are going to look back farther so that we can continue moving forward in faith, knowing the righteous kingdom of God has always been in place, been seen by a select few He determined to have a part in His work, to bring all mankind into His holy family through a select few.
I'd like to quote from the opening of the sermon overview of the kingdom of God that I had sent to that engineer, which I had told you about in the last sermon. The following is from Richard Ritenbaugh's 1997 sermon, The Kingdom of God: How It Will Be. Richard said, as he opened the sermon: Well, here we are, prefiguring the soon-coming 1,000-year millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth. As someone once said, we are pre-memorializing it. That is a pretty good way to describe it, brethren - that's what we are doing here today, Richard continued.
As the beginning of this period, we know that one of the Messiah's first acts will be to establish the kingdom of God on the earth. In reality, it is the reestablishment of God's government - a restoration, a restitution of what was before Satan's rebellion. If you want to look that up, Richard finished this via introduction, it is in Acts 3:19-21. We are looking at a restitution of all things. So, brethren, let's turn to Acts 3, in verse 19 through 21.
Acts 3:19-21 Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Brethren, the kingdom of God has always been preached, and the Father has always been on His throne in heaven, untouched by any kind of sin, dwelling in perfect righteousness. Mankind's interactions have always been with the Word of God. God the Father will only dwell in righteousness - they sacrifice in order that we could be saved. Many think the kingdom of God was only a New Testament reality, but God's work to bring men into a perfect, righteous relationship with Him has always been under His sovereign authority. We really need to have this as a reality in our minds. God's kingdom of righteousness and its expansion in perfect righteousness has always been a reality to a select few that God has determined, including you - but not for our own glory, but to do the work with the gifts He has given for His glory and honor.
Let's take this as far back as we can. But before we go there, turn with me to a cautionary verse in Deuteronomy 29:29, because we can only look so far into this as God gives us minds to see it. Deuteronomy 29:29. As we go into this, we all need to keep this in mind:
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Although God's perfect work to accomplish His purpose in exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness through the earth should be growing clearer to us each day as we learn to live as He lives, as His elect, we are still on a need-to-know basis. So please know, this overview I am giving you is hopefully in line with God's word but is still from our limited perspective. Although I think this is a pretty reliable big picture that should help us more fully appreciate what God is doing and the privilege He has given us to be a special part of it.
With this in mind, let's turn to a couple of scriptures Richard mentioned the other day. As far as we understand it, this is about as far back as we can go, short of understanding that God has always existed and inhabits eternity. But let's turn to Ezekiel, the twenty-eighth chapter. Ezekiel 28, we're going to be reading verses 11 through 15.
Ezekiel 28:11-15 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord: [We know from this that the king of Tyre was being inhabited - type is Satan, Helel himself.] You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty, and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.
Now please turn with me back to Isaiah 14 - you can pick up a couple more insights into this period of time, and a little bit after it. Isaiah 14, and in verse 12.
Isaiah 14:12-15 How you are fallen from heaven, O Helel, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit.
As we understand it, here we have a time after God created the angels, with the greatest angel among them, Helel, created perfect and right there at the throne in the kingdom of God - the kingdom that I proposed to you was a kingdom of absolute righteousness - until sin welled up in Helel and he became Satan, the adversary of the righteous kingdom of God, while ruling over the earth. We can only speculate from these verses, but from what we see in God's word, God's kingdom of righteousness was in place with the angels, very possibly carrying out their responsibilities of preparing the next step of making men in the image and likeness of God.
Please turn with me to Job 38. Job, the thirty-eighth chapter. I want to pick up something we are going to add into this. Job 38, picking up in verse 1, when God's answer to Job came from a whirlwind.
Job 38:1-7 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Now turn with me over to chapter 42. I wanted to pick up there, but the angels were in place when God created the heavens and the earth. Let's look at chapter 42, and Job's response after three or four chapters of God telling him about all that He had done, without Job having any idea what He was doing in His loving kindness, His righteousness, and His judgment.
Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, I will question you, and you shall answer Me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
As I said, we see here God had created the angels before the physical universe ever existed, and they shouted for joy in that creation. But I also wanted you to see, with Job, what God expects from all of us through His exercise of loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth of our trials. Now back to the angels. Apparently God sent Helel to begin the preparations of the earth and Eden for the men He intended to create in His image and likeness. Did Helel begin to envy what he knew God was doing, to create men to be just like God Himself?
We can only speculate, but Helel at some point decided to upend God's plan on the earth, and he became Satan, the adversary who ultimately ended up in the garden he had been sent to prepare - no longer in his glorious clothing, but as a snake. Brethren, the point I want us to see is that God's righteous kingdom has always been in place, but not on this earth with us. This is evident because God the Father will not dwell in the presence of sin, and Satan was right there in the garden with men. The Word of God, as the Sacrifice, was the One interacting with Adam and Eve while the Father remained on His throne in heaven.
Was this all part of the great God's plan from the beginning, to create members of His family to always walk in His righteousness? Helel and the angels that followed him had free choice, but did God know he was likely to do what he did, and then be used by God to bring men to perfection? I do not know, but what I do think we can see is that when Helel and the angels were created, they began in the perfection of the absolute righteousness of the kingdom of God. God's kingdom has always existed, and there a select few were set apart by God to know and preach the good news of the kingdom of God ever since.
As Charles noted at the beginning of that 2003 feast sermon, we need to look back so we can confidently go forward. And I just want us all to recognize what an exclusive group God has placed you in, to prepare the way for all men that God intends to be part of His kingdom of absolute righteousness. But unlike Helel, our positions cannot develop into the prideful attitude that will ever have us glorying in our own gifts and positions. We must be developing the mind of God and glory in His work of loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness.
At this point, I just want to show us that God's kingdom has always been the focus of those whom God has set apart. We are just going to take a small sample that shows us this has always been the case. Please turn with me back to Genesis. Genesis 6, we're going to be picking up right at verse 1.
Genesis 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
The sons of God - the sons of men were men who were influenced by the mind of Satan.
Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.
Going on down now to verse 5:
Genesis 6:5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And then down in verse 8:
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
In verse 13:
Genesis 6:13-14 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it.
Down in verse 22:
Genesis 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
By the grace of God, Noah was set apart, like you and me, to do a job, and he trusted God because he recognized God's sovereign authority and the reality of the kingdom, even in the midst of a world of continuous evil. Let's see how we can know that the kingdom of God was a reality to Noah by the grace of God. Please turn with me back to the other side, end of the book, in 2 Peter. 2 Peter, and we will be picking it up in verse - chapter 2. II Peter chapter 2, and verse 4.
II Peter 2:4-5 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.
Now please turn with me to Hebrews, the 11th chapter, a few books back. Hebrews 11:7.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness by the grace of God, and in faith was an heir of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was a reality to Noah, and he was a preacher of that kingdom's absolute righteousness and its righteous way of life. As long as we are in Hebrews 11, let's continue with verse 8, but we are going to do it with Charles Whitaker's comments. I am now going to pick up the last section of Charles's feast sermon from 2003, which I urge you all to study again, because Charles shows the reality that the kingdom of God was with Abraham, and that kept him moving forward in faith. Charles finished up his sermon with these words.
Charles said: We need to remember Abraham's faith, yes, but we also need to remember his works. We call Hebrews 11 the faith chapter, and it certainly is, but James tells us in James 2:26 that faith without works is dead. So Hebrews 11 is, in one very real sense, I believe, a works chapter. Charles continued: I sometimes like to call it the works chapter, and here it describes, for instance, the wonderful works of the men of faith - and here is the wonderful works of Abraham, works that he did in faith. Charles said, I'm going to conclude in Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11:8-12 By faith Abraham obeyed [there is the works, Charles said, he did it in faith, but he obeyed] when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. [What he was waiting for was the kingdom.] By faith, [Charles continued,] Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
Charles continues: Did not these references to Sarah, to stars, to sky, to sand, and the seashore tell us of what promises the writer of the book of Hebrews is speaking? Can there be any doubt that Hebrews is speaking here of the same promises, the promises God made to Abraham that we look at in Genesis? In all the uncertainties, and all the questions, and all the problems, and all of those things that attend dwelling in a foreign land among hostile people, Abraham consistently - not perfectly, but consistently - obeyed God for decades. Charles finishes, we will skip to verse 39, after the catalog of the faithful.
Hebrews 11:39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
This is the promise - perfection, being made perfect, sanctification, abundant life - as God leads it, as we obediently walk in the same faith in which Abraham walked. God works out His promise to Abraham in us, Charles finished. Brethren, God's promise of the inheritance of His kingdom of righteousness has been handed down to us, to continue, as Charles said, as the very elect of God, obediently, in the same faith in which Abraham walked. God is working out His promise of eternal life with him in the kingdom of God, which must be as much a reality to us as it was to those elect who have gone before us - to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and all that have been called by God as preachers of righteousness, that is, the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God has always been a reality to those who responded to God's calling and went on to live as pilgrims, growing within the kingdoms of this world, so that we can all come full circle to the reward God has prepared and faithfully follow the hero's journey, as Gerald said yesterday, and be ready to serve fully in the place He has prepared for us from the foundation of the world, brethren. He has prepared your place in His plan, in this unique elect plan, from the foundation of the world. This is the totality of the work of Jesus Christ.
Please turn with me to I Corinthians 15, which I asked you to be thinking about. I Corinthians 15, as we begin to wrap up this sermon. I'm going to read chapter 15, verses 19 to 26.
I Corinthians 15:19-26 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
Brethren, when Christ is finished, there will be a restoration of all things on the earth. It has not been so since before Helel's rebellion - a perfect righteous kingdom for eternity. For a final scripture, please turn with me back to Revelation, the 21st chapter. Revelation 21 and verse 1.
Revelation 21:1-7 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, only righteousness, no sorrow, no crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
Brethren, you all have a part right now in the righteous kingdom of God. Although we are not doing it perfectly - far from it - Jesus Christ is ensuring that when He is through, there will be no sin, there will be no unrighteousness, there will only be the righteousness of the kingdom of God. And you all have the incredible part right now to have a part in it. So keep this on your mind: you are citizens of God's kingdom of righteousness, and we must all represent Him as we prepare to look out for and serve our brethren who will come after us someday, for God's glory.
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