Southern Hills Baptist Fellowship, 127 W 8th Street, Cambridge, OH (2026)

10/27/2024

“Light Of The World” (part two)

Matthew 5:14-16 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Last time we started to take a look at this section of scripture that has the potential to revolutionize both how we see ourselves and our understanding of how God wants to use us in this world.

And it all begins with realizing that when Jesus comes into our lives, the “who we are” part of our picture is already settled.

It’s done deal.

It's written down in black-and-white, or most likely, red and white, in the most important book in the world.

And if you’ll take a look at our text, you'll see it for yourself right there in the first phrase of verse 14,

You are, I am, the light of the world.

And as I pointed out last time, it's not something to work toward, to hope for, or that may someday be true…

It is our identity right now, and there is nothing we can do to add to, or take away from, that reality about ourselves.

We are already a person who is capable of accomplishing the second thing we talked about in last week’s message…

The thing that is spelled out for us in the last phrase of our text,

And that God has us here on the Earth to do at this very moment…

And for the rest of the moments of our lives,

And what is that?

To glorify our Father, who is in heaven!

And I concluded that message with an invitation for us to try to see ourselves as that person Jesus says we already are…

And so this morning I'm hoping you have worked your way through that process and are ready to tackle the question that the process just naturally brings up,

And that question is…

What do I do now?

I can see that who I am, and that what I'm here for has already been determined by God,

And I'm willing to accept that and to get on with being what I am and doing what I'm supposed to do,

But how does all that work out in real life?

Well, I'm glad you asked, and I'm especially glad you used that little phrase “real life” in your question,

Because one of the main things we are going to see today, that you may very well find to be surprising,

Is that real life is exactly where this whole business of being the light of the world takes place.

And that becomes pretty clear when you place Jesus’ words into the historical context they were spoken in.

We live in a world where light isn't something we have to think much about,

As long as the power plants are running, (which they seemingly always are),

And the transmission lines aren't on the ground, (which they usually aren't for long),

Light is pretty much automatic.

But in the historical context of our text that wasn't the case at all.

In those days, when sunlight was not available because it was night time or you were indoors away from a window,

You had to do more than flip a switch, or clap your hands or even just have the light appear because it was triggered by you entering the room.

In those days, if you wanted to have light, you had to make some arrangements to make sure there would be light where you wanted it, when you wanted it, to be there.

You had to have a light emitting device ready to go in the right place at the right time.

And with that thought in mind, turn your attention from a dark city street, or lightless room,

To the even starker reality of the spiritual darkness of the world we live in,

And you will begin to see the genius of God's plan and the importance of your role in it.

Many thousands of years ago, when the world was still in its infancy, God's arch enemy, Satan, managed to deceive our ancestors,

And the earth became a very dark place.

A place where it was easy for evil to flourish, and hard for right to prevail,

A place where whole continents could be held hostage by what Paul called in Ephesians Chapter 6,

“The rulers of the darkness of this world”.

Of course, God didn't just stand idly by while the human race was being plunged into darkness,

He immediately launched a plan that had been prepared for just such a contingency.

And an interesting feature of that plan is that it has always involved people…

People like:
Noah and his family,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their families,
Moses and the struggling descendants of Jacob,
Gideon and the other judges of Israel,
King David and his descendants,
The Old Testament prophets,
John the Baptist,

And finally, He involved Himself, becaming a human being in the person of his eternal son Jesus in order to do what none of those who had gone before were capable of accomplishing.

And of course, the main thing He accomplished was the removal of the sin barrier that had separated God and man for thousands of years.

And because of that, something new started to take place in the world that had never happened before!

Whenever and wherever a person entered into the relationship that God could now offer them through faith in Jesus,

He would literally transform them into a new person, and, actually live in them through His Spirit…

And this is where it starts to get really interesting and pretty exciting,

Because now, God has managed to defeat the powers of darkness, and to transform those who were previously in the dark into light emitting devices through which He can reveal himself to more and more people.

Do you remember a little bit ago I said that if you want to have light in the darkness, you have to have a light emitting device ready to go, in the right place, at the right time?

Well, God does want there to be light in the darkness of this world,

And He does have a light emitting device ready to go,

Actually He has many of them!

One for every place, every time, and every conceivable situation,

And you are one of them, and so am I.

You say, “Yes brother kirk, I see that, you have driven that point home quite nicely, but what do I do now?”

Well, I know you're probably going to think this sounds too simple,

But what you do now… what I do now,

What God wants all of us to do now…

Is the thing we were designed for, and that is described for us in verse 16, beginning with the first phrase,

“Let your light shine before men”

Remember, #1, you are already a light…

Why?

Because God made you one.

And #2, He has placed you in the world to bring light into darkness…

Where?

Well, I have to believe that the answer to that question is…

Right where you are!

On your job,
In your school,
In your business and the places you do business,
In your neighborhood,
Even in your own family…

And the most exciting thing of all, that I believe is the key to understanding how you go about shedding light in those situations is seeing that,

You are where you are…

Because you are…

The right light for the job!

You are the right light light for the job God has placed you on,

You are the right light for the place God has positioned you in,

You are the right light to pierce the darkness that is trying to command the area God has you operating in!

We've already pointed out that in order to deal with darkness you have to have a light emitting device ready to go at the right time and in the right place.

But if you want to be successful, you have to get something else right too, don't you?

And what's that?

You have to have the “right kind” of light emitting device.

For instance, if you wanted to illuminate a room so that it would be functional and attractive, you wouldn't use a search light,

You would probably use a number of lamps, maybe with 60 watt soft white bulbs.

And by the same token, if you were searching in the darkness for a lost child, you wouldn't string a bunch of extension cords together, and try to use those living room lamps,

You would get a search light!

These long tapered candles behind me don't put me much in mind of the men in our congregation,

You guys would be more comparable to a Mag-light, or a trouble light with a rough service bulb installed in it,

And that's a good thing, because there are a lot of rough, troubled places in the world where God is determined to shed his light.

And there are any number of other types of places that need a corresponding number of different types of light emitting devices,

And God has a light for everyone of them.

He has a light for every occasion,

And you are one of those lights!

You say, I've never really thought of myself like that before,

And it does sound intriguing,

But I wouldn't begin to know how to go about it.

Well, that's the beauty of the situation.

How you go about it is by simply being the person God has made you to be in the places He puts you

Remember, He's the one who has made us to be what Peter Marshall in his great book “The Power and The Glory” called “light bearers”…

And He's in charge of having the right light, in the right place, at the right time.

All we do is simply let His light shine out through us,

Into and onto the place he has put us, for the time we are there!

All we do is just live out the transformation that He has accomplished in us,

And through us,

He will dispel the darkness and reveal Himself to the world.

10/20/2024

Matthew 5:14-16 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

I have been saying to you guys and anybody else who will listen for some time now that the way forward, (and by the way forward I mean the way we’re going to experience the change we know has to occur here in our civilization if it is to survive), is for folks like us to be out in the culture doing the thing that The Lord has left us here to do,

And in the text we just read, we come face to face with exactly who folks like us are,

And how who we are fits into what God is doing, and therefore what we should be helping Him do, in this world…
And I wonder, with that thought, or those thoughts in mind,

How many of us have ever thought of, or seen ourselves, as someone who plays a part in what God is doing in the world?

The very humble among us may have had a hard time thinking like that because they simply see themselves as too unimportant and insignificant to be of much use to God,

And the very practical may not have given it much thought because it just doesn't make much sense to them that God would have any great use for an imperfect human being such as themselves as He carries out a program that spans thousands of years, and who knows how much space in the universe.

Still others of us may have just tried not to think about it because the prospect of being a really meaningful part of God's plan is just too much to take in, and, or, seems like it will take up too much of our time.

Or maybe you have longed to be more useful to God, but just haven't been able to figure out how to go about it, and so you've just given up trying.

Well, wherever we are, we're going to see that Jesus’ words provide some very compelling answers to our questions,

And that those answers may not be quite as complicated as we have imagined them to be.

And don’t forget that saying something is complicated, and then overcomplicating it, is often nothing more than a mechanism for excusing ourselves from being involved.

So, with those thoughts in mind, let's first of all see what Jesus has to say in this text about who we are,

And that's pretty easy to see, isn't it?

It's right there in the first phrase of verse 14…

We are…. the light of the world.

And something about that phrase that got my attention is that Jesus didn't say we need to work on being the light of the world,

He didn't say that if we tried hard enough, we might be able to work our way up to being the light of the world,

He didn't say that being the light of the world is a goal to shoot for…

Rather, He said what?

He said we already are, at this very moment, at this point in time, the light of the world.

If you've ever wondered who you are,

You, (and I'm talking to Jesus’ disciples here), don't have to wonder anymore.

You already have an identifiable identity.
The question of who we are has already been answered!

So we don't have to spend any more energy trying to find the answer,

And not only that, but we don't have to expend any energy to gain our identity… to be who we are…

We are the light of the world because of the connection we have with the one who spoke light and life into existence,

And we can neither add to, or diminish, the light that is in us because of that relationship.

We are what we are because Jesus made us to be what we are… the light of the world.

And it is critical that we understand that.

It is also critical for us to understand that grasping that great truth upon which everything else about living our lives depends by no means ends the discussion,

Because as we can plainly see by looking at our text, Jesus has somewhat more to say to us about ourselves.

And the first thing I want to call to your attention is actually the last of the several things He talks about in verses 14-16.

Having already told us “who we are” in the first part of verse 14,

He goes on to reveal to us “what we are here for”,

Or maybe we could say “why we are who we are” in the last line of v16.

And you can see it and read it for yourself there by glancing back at out text,

We are, (v14), the light of the world,

So that, (noticing now the last phrase of v16),

So that… we can glorify our Father which is in heaven.
Now I don't know about you, but putting it together like that helped me quite a bit,

Because I'm the kind of guy that likes to know what it is I'm trying to accomplish, and what I have available to work with in accomplishing it,

And here in just these few words that Jesus spoke, he has given me a sweeping overview of both those things.

I am here, and you are here, to glorify God,

And so that we can accomplish that goal,

He has made us the light of the world.

Now, that is by all means not everything we need to know, and not everything He reveals to us in this text, and we’ll look at some more of it next time,

But let’s pause for a moment and try to take in just how awesome and enlightening what we've seen so far is.

And what it means to each of us every day in our every day lives.

It means that every day when I wake up, I can start the day knowing what I'm supposed to do.

Not only that, but I can go about it knowing that I can get it done.

I can go about it, knowing that I can be successful…

I can go about it knowing that I can accomplish my goal,

Because my goal is to glorify God,

And Jesus has equipped me to do that very thing by making me, along with my brothers and sisters in Christ, the light of the world!

Next time we're going to get into the mechanics of how we let our light shine in the world, and I have some insight that I think you're going to find interesting, refreshing, and maybe most helpful of all liberating.

Actually, I think it may make a seriously positive change in our lives and help us to see how we can be more effective at glorifying God than we ever imagined possible,

But as we draw to close for this morning, I want to ask you a very important question,

And that question is simply this…

Do you truly believe in your heart that you really are a person who is capable of glorifying God through your life,

And if you’re not sure you really believe that, would you be willing to commit yourself to trying to take hold of that idea about yourself, right here, right now, this morning?

And in case you are still wondering if it's even right to think of yourself in those terms,

I'll remind you that,

Not only is it right,

But that it is already the truth about you.

And how do I know that?

Because Jesus said it, (if we are His disciples), about you, and He said it about me.

I don't know what you think about yourself,

I don't know what your spouse thinks about you,

I don't know what your kids think about you,

I don't know what your parents, your boss, or your friends and colleagues think about you,

But I know for sure what God thinks about you,

Better yet, I know what He “knows” about you.

He knows that you are the light of the world, because that's what He made you to be.

And He knows how much you can do to glorify Him…

And He knows the effect that that could have on, and in, this world…

Maybe it's time you knew it too.

10/06/2024

“Managing The Millennium” (part two)

Isaiah 11:5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

In our last message we were discussing the government that will be in place during the Millennial Reign of Christ,

And that word… “Reign”… I just used,

Pretty well sums up the picture we saw, because as you’ll remember,

Government during those 1000 years will be by…

“The Immediate Direction of God”… or “Theocracy”…

With Jesus at the helm.

And in Isaiah Chapter 11, v5 we saw the two attributes…

Righteousness, and Faithfulness……

That will undergird all He will do and cause Him to succeed where all others have failed.

And if that was the extent of the information that is available to us….

That Jesus is going to be in charge and everything will work out right….

I would be satisfied!

But amazingly, the information God has provided for us concerning both how Jesus will operate, and what He will accomplish…

Is vast… detailed… and spread throughout the scriptures.

So much so that it would be difficult to cover it all in this kind of a setting.

Thankfully, sections like the one we’ve returned to this morning, provide us with overviews of what to expect,

And this particular one hits on several of the themes that will be prevalent during Jesus’ administration.

And let me just stop and say, before we look at what we have here,

That if you are a Godly person, doing your best to focus your life on Godly priorities,

Then virtually all the concerns you have about the ungodliness…

Let’s make that growing ungodliness…

You are grieved by in this world,

Will be addressed by Jesus in The Millennium…

As will be the horrible ravages that have resulted from it in people’s lives.

And with that basic understanding in mind, let’s look at some of the highlights God has given us here in Isaiah Chapter 11….

Beginning with the even more detailed description of the characteristics that will form the foundation of the actions we’ll see Jesus taking.

Notice v2….

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

And “His delight”, His “Quick Understanding”, as the KJV puts it in v3,

“Will be in the fear of The Lord”.

When someone has a certain quality that seems to have become part of who they are, and how they think,

We say, it’s… “just second nature to them”…

Put that concept on steroids and you’ll begin to get an idea of what this phrase is saying about Jesus where the fear of The Lord is concerned.

We might say that it’s His, “first nature”!

It is the thing that defines, directs, and drives His actions…..

And getting into what those actions will look like, and what they will accomplish….

Notice the balance of v3…

“And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears”

This begins to speak to one of The Millennial Kingdom’s most prominent features, and one that I quite frankly can hardly wait to see unfold!

A couple of years ago I had the honor of leading a group of folks at the opening ceremony of our County Fair in the Pledge of Allegiance,

And in that pledge, is a line which speaks of Liberty and ___________? (Justice),

For _______? (All)

Meaning, I think, that in our nation who you are, those you know, and/or what you have, (or don’t know or have),

Are to have no bearing on how you are treated under the law.

You may have noticed that we somehow lost track of that concept somewhere along the line.

We often hear politicians talk about what they’re going to do on “day one” of their arrival in office.

One of the many things that will happen on the day Jesus ascends to the throne of The Millennial Kingdom,

Is that the symbol of Lady Justice,

Which stands above the entrance to our Court House and many other such places,

Will actually mean something!

In fact, the truth she was placed there to convey,

That justice should be blind to appearance of position, prestige, and prosperity…

Will instantly become a working reality at every judgement seat in the world.

And look at v4,

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

Those whose rights are too often overlooked because there is no way they can be of benefit to people in places of power will receive right judgement,

King Jesus will neither need or desire anything they might have to offer, or don’t have to offer…

The same will be true for another group mentioned there in the middle of verse 4…

“The Meek”…..

The humble… the lowly… the unassuming ………

By the way, this is the category you want to be in, with people like Moses, David, Washington, and the coming King Jesus Himself….

People who wouldn’t presume to think,

No matter how high their position in life…

(And you may have noticed that in the examples I mentioned that was pretty high…)

But people who wouldn’t think of calling:
The Judge,
The Coach,
The Principle,
The Superintendent, or
The Pastor……

Expecting to get special treatment.

And don’t think for a second that that doesn’t happen,

Or that it doesn’t work…

It does, and it does!

It does happen, and it does work.

That will no longer be the case when The Millennial Kingdom is in place.

Oh, It will be possible for people to try it, and they probably will, since sin will still be a possibility and a reality…

So it may happen, but it won’t work…

Because everything will be done with that wonderful word there in the middle of the phrase we’re currently considering in v4…

“Equity”

Interestingly, that’s a word we hear a lot about isn’t it?

I suspect that when it finally becomes a reality, we will find that those who talked about it the most, will be seen to have understood it the least…

And if they happen to be around, will be appalled to see what equity really looks like when it’s put into action.

One thing is certain, when that day arrives, the debate about what is and is not equitable will be over.
Notice the last couple phrases of v4…

“He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.”

There will be no argument, or appeal, and there will be no appeasing…

The righteous wrath that will come down on the heads of those who pervert judgement, and justice.

And forgive me if making that pronouncement seems to bring me some satisfaction….. It does.

But don’t take that as an apology…. It’s not.

In an opening scene of one of my favorite movies, “The Patriot”,

An out of control British officer murders the son of lead character Benjamin Martin and then arrests one of his other boys, intending to murder him as well.

The desperate father is forced to involve his remaining young sons in an attack that leaves all but one of their brother’s former captors dead.

When it’s over, the distraught father tries to talk to his sons in an effort to help them understand why what they had done was necessary…

Fearing they might become traumatized by what they had participated in.

As he struggles to assure them that what they had done was right, one son looks up at him and says….

“I’m glad I killed them, I’m glad.”

And as uncomfortable as it may be to think about his response in this setting…

When you’re watching the movie….

You’re glad he killed them too.

Why?

Because like the characters being portrayed in the story,

You see that a great injustice has been perpetrated,

And that until, or unless, they are stopped, probably more, and possibly worse crimes will be committed by them.

So yes, as a person who must endure, day after day, the results of an onslaught of lawlessness,

Sometimes perpetrated by the very people whose job it is to safeguard the rights of our people,

I will be glad when Jesus returns, (v4, last line),

To “slay the wicked”.

And if you have the love of God for people in your heart….

So will you be glad.

But that’s only the beginning of the story.

The most wonderful part of all, will be witnessing the transformation that will take place when things start being done the way God intended them to be done all along.

The only downside I can see is the sadness associated with the realization that so much of the pain and sorrow people have suffered over the centuries,

Could have been avoided by simple, voluntary obedience to the law of God!

And when the time comes, I want you to remember that I said this….

I think you’ll be amazed to see just how many of the problems we have will be addressed when true justice, judgement, and equity….

Are the real law of the land from one end of the earth to the other!

When those things are perverted, as they certainly are here in our nation, (not to mention the rest of the world),

All sorts of other evils ensue.
Marriages and the whole family structure is affected…

And if you don’t believe that, just stop and ask yourself what it means when your governmental officials are facilitating the killing of children by their own parents and their mutilation at the hands of whatever perverted person happens to be available.

It seems almost too cold and calculating to say at this point,

But I was already going to mention the economic problems that a scarcity of justice, judgement and equity foster….

And so the cold, calculated truth, is that the 60,000,000 people who were coldly, and calculatingly denied their God given right to life,

Are about to, by their absence, exact a devastating toll on our economy.

And by the way…. that’s not all…

They’ll also be back!

They’ll be back with Jesus to exact the toll we’ve already talked about in v4.

These, and many other grievous wrongs will be righted in The Millennial Kingdom.

And it will quickly become clear that God had our best interests in mind, and at heart, all along,

And that all the instruction He gave us was for our benefit, not to keep us in bo***ge!

The Millennium is clearly going to be a wonderful time,

But we don’t have to wait to benefit from the truths it reveals.

Because even though we are not yet participating in it,

It nevertheless provides us with a model of how lives,

Both individually, and collectively should be conducted,

And we have the opportunity to put that model into practice today, starting right here in our own hearts and minds.

09/29/2024

“Managing The Millennium”

Daniel 7:18 “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’”

In last week’s message, (taken from the Parable of The Minas in Luke Chapter 19),

We saw Jesus comparing Himself to a nobleman who, having returned from a long journey,

Rewarded the faithful servants who had done business on His behalf during His absence.

I have long suspected that Jesus’ parables are much more connected with real life events than we might normally suspect,

And that particular parable… of the minas… certainly serves to reinforce that sense,

Because as we have been seeing, a scenario like the one it describes is definitely going to unfold on this planet…

In fact, it has already begun to do so…

Indeed the part about the nobleman leaving… is already in play,

And scripture assures us that His return is imminent…

And that places those of us who are faithfully serving Him in position to be given places of responsibility in the kingdom He will establish upon His return.

That reality is related very clearly in Revelation Chapter 20, as well as in the text we read a moment ago,

And another verse in Daniel 7 gives us even more clarification…

Notice verse 27….

27 Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’

Verse 22 is also instructive…
22 until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

…So, seeing that a time is coming when Jesus will establish an earthly kingdom that very much involves our participation,

It seems to me that it would be wise for us to do our best to understand it’s nature….

Which is what we’re about to do…

And in the interest of time I’m going to go straight to a topic that is very much central to the identity of any earthly kingdom,

And that is it’s form of government,

And I to ask you to pay careful attention to this segment for a couple of reasons…

#1, You can learn a lot about the overall nature of any kingdom by understanding how it is governed, -and-

#2, I don’t want you to go away with any wrong impressions that you might share with somebody who already has an incorrect idea about what it is Christians are trying to accomplish in the world.

And with that thought in mind, I’m going to give you a word, and that word is….

“Theocracy”…

The reason I asked you to be careful is,

That this, “a theocracy”… is what some people, (actually many people), think we Christians are trying to establish here in The United States of America…

And it is not! (or at least it shouldn’t be)

As much as we’d like to see a situation where every person’s actions are in line with Scriptural truth,

Most of us struggle enough making that a reality in our own lives,

Let alone trying to make ourselves the administrators of it in somebody else’s!

Theocracy will however be a reality during the Millennial Period.

Theocracy, according to Webster’s definition is…

“Government by the immediate direction of God.”

And in the Millennial Kingdom,

God, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, will be here to govern,

And that is exactly what He’ll do…

And the effect will be almost indescribable!

I said, “almost indescribable”,

Because I am about to try to describe it in some fashion,

And I think you’ll be surprised to see just how clear the picture will become!
It is interesting to consider, (if I’m correct in thinking so),

That most people’s main objection to a theocracy is that, under it, under one, they would have their rights removed,

And the truth is that nothing could be any further form the truth!

In fact, it is precisely the opposite of the truth.

Jesus’ government, like any other government, will have a written code to guide the conduct of it’s constituents,

And while I expect it will consist of the entirety of the Book we have been drawing from, The Bible,

I think it would be instructive and enlightening to turn to that section that is almost universally understood to contain the Laws of God…

So come with me to Exodus Chapter 20,

And I want us to see the Ten Commandments we’ll find there,

From an alternative viewpoint…
And keep in mind, as we do, that we’re addressing the complaint that in a theocracy, such as Jesus will establish during the Millennium, people’s rights are trampled on and abused.

So let’s see….

Take a look, (here in Exodus 20), at v13…

What does it say?…… “You shall not murder”

Most people would probably point to that as being one of God’s most serious laws….. and I would agree….

You know why?….

Because it is what gives us the right to life…

And as someone has correctly observed, without the right to life, any other rights we may have aren’t very important…

And how about v15?

Let’s read it together…. “You shall not steal”

Pretty important?

I would certainly think so….

It gives us the right to property….

How about v16?

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”

There you have the freedom to tell the truth….

Or as some might even say…. The freedom of speech…

And by the way, I think you might also find the right to call witnesses in your own defense in there….

Are any of these sounding familiar to you?

There’s a reason for that, and I’m hoping you know what it is, though I won’t go into it…

It is enough to say that when and wherever God fearing people have established government on this earth,
They have always tried to secure to the people, the rights given to them by God…

That is the #1, if not whole purpose, of government.

Sadly, as can most recently be seen in what is arguably the most robust of those attempts,

Our republic…

The best laid plans are never enough.

But that will not be the case in Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom!

While I wouldn’t say that securing people’s God given rights will be the primary focus of Jesus’ government,

As is supposed to be the case regarding government here in America…

The very nature of His administration will cause it to be successful in doing so,

Where all others have failed, interestingly…
Because of the “nature of their administrators”…

Even a system as wonderful as our own can be brought to the ruin you now see because of the fallen nature of those who must:
Make,
Interpret, and
Enforce…….. The Laws.

In The Millennial Kingdom,

Not only will that not be a problem, but precisely the opposite will be true.

Turn with me to one of The Old testament’s most stunning descriptions of The Millennial Period in general,

And of it’s king in particular…. Isaiah Chapter 11…

And just so you’ll know that the Millennium is definitely the context of what we’re about to see, look with me at
v’s 6-9….

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

You and I have never seen or heard of any time in history past that remotely resembles the conditions described in those verses,

And we won’t…. until we enter The Millennial Kingdom,

And having established that, let’s now go back to v1, and see the description of the One Who will be in charge of and
head up the theocracy during those days….

Look at v’s 1-5…

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

The world has seen some wonderful leaders in it’s time…

Our nation in particular has had it’s share..

But never, and nowhere, at any time,

Has there appeared a person at the head of an earthly kingdom, who matches that description.

Verse after verse conveys the qualities that will uniquely qualify Him for the work He will be called upon to complete…

But none are more descriptive or defining than what we are given in v5…

“Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.”

Where others have done their best and failed, He will succeed!

Where the finest among us have fallen, He will stand!

Where darkness has struck fear into the hearts of our most valiant heroes, He will shine forth the power of His presence and the forces of evil will flee from before Him!

And the effect, as we’ll see next time,

Will be a dramatic reversal of the corruption that eats away,

Day after day,

At God’s creation,

And especially the pinnacle of God’s creation….

People’s lives!

I for one look forward to being a part of that process,

And hoping that what we’re seeing is having a similar effect on you let me close by showing you something I think will inspire us to make the preparations that will ready us for doing so most effectively.

We have spent our time focusing on the features of the coming theocracy’s King, and that is altogether fitting…

For He is it’s focal point…

And yet, in His usual fashion, He has seen fit, (as we’ve been learning throughout our study),

To include those of us He can call friends, in His program…

And while you may not know it… yet…

Along with all the wonderful descriptions of His own nature, (like the ones we’ve seen this morning),

He has included in His Word something about…..

“Us”!

Something humbling, defining, and challenging…..

Are you ready to see it?

Then come with me to Revelation Chapter 17….

In the 1st half of v14, (here in Revelation 17), an angel is talking to John about the battle of Armageddon and the evil forces that will be overcome by Jesus…

“For”, (picking it up about half way down, and giving us the reason for His overwhelming victory),

“He is Lord of lords and King of kings”…

“And”…. (now watch this)….

“And those who are with Him”, (that’s us), “are called, chosen and faithful”.

How gracious of The Coming King,

Not only to say such wonderful things concerning us,

But to say it in advance!

It’s kind of like being written into an epic adventure story as it’s hero’s supporting characters,

And getting a sneak peak at the last chapter to find out how we fare.

And there in the final moments,

When good is about to vanquish evil,

We find ourselves playing a pivotal role,

Because throughout the entirety of the saga,

Having been “Called and Chosen”…

We have went on to be….

“Faithful”!

I can’t think of a finer thing to say about a person,

Or anything more challenging than,

With the help of Him Who said it about us,

Making sure it fits!

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