The Kingdom of God

Jesus said, For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). The Holy Spirit brings the kingdom of God within every believer. We become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. The righteousness of God is accounted to us by grace through faith in Christ. We have peace with God and the joy of our salvation. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

Jesus said to Nicodemus, You must be born again (John 3:5). To be born again is a work of the Holy Spirit, through the gospel of the kingdom (John 3:8). We are born again and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16). We have entered the kingdom of God.

Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The word kingdom is translated from the Greek word basileia, which means rule, dominion, power and sovereignty. The kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of God. The gospel of the kingdom is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

The kingdom of God is in us now through the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God will come in all of its fulness at the second coming of Christ. 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 (1 Corinthians 15:24-25).                        

The Power of Prayer

God answers the prayer of faith. That faith comes to you through the Spirit of God, based upon the word of God. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Do you pray resting upon the word of God? Pray the promises of God's word in your Bible.

Have you been praying about something for a long time? You may doubt if God is hearing you. So you have prayed and the answer has not come? The Bible teaches you to keep on praying. Don't give up. Faith waits on God to answer in His time and way. Faith refuses to give up, because God answers your prayer of faith. That faith stands firm upon the word of God.

Doubt says, "I prayed yesterday and God hasn't answered my prayer. I guess He didn't hear me." Faith refuses to doubt, saying, "I prayed and I know God heard me. He will answer in His time and in His way." But let him ask in faith, with no doubting (James 1:6). Faith without doubt expects God to answer. That's prayer based upon the word of God.

The prayer of faith receives from God. Such faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Faith is based upon the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Faith receives with thanksgiving and praise to God. The prayer of faith defeats doubt to receive from God. 

How God Foreknew Us

God foreknew his people in Christ. God foreknew us as justified and glorified in Christ. God foreknew our salvation as complete (Philippians 1:6). In Romans 8:28-30, God's purpose in salvation is a prolepsis (i.e., to see before). God foreknew all who shall be in Christ (1 Peter 1:2).

Although God foreknew us in Christ, everyone is commanded to repent and believe the gospel (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 16:31). The gospel of Christ is offered to all. However, only those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. As believers, we experience the gospel in power with assurance. That is the Holy Spirit working in our hearts (1 Thess. 1:5).

God foreknew us justified by grace through faith in Christ. We are justified through the death of Jesus Christ for our sins. Justification is by faith in the power of his resurrection. Justification means all our sins are taken away through the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7). God declares us justified by faith in Christ. "It is God who justifies" (Romans 8:33).

God foreknew us glorified in the image or likeness of Christ. Glorification is salvation complete. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). What is future for us as believers is now in the foreknowledge of God. Therefore, God foreknew us as glorified in the very image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Sins Are Gone

Charles Spurgeon preached, "Now, he who believes in Jesus, who puts his hands upon the head of Jesus of Nazareth, the Scapegoat of His people, has lost his sins. His faith is sure evidence that his iniquities were of old laid upon the head of the great Substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ was punished in our place."

Spurgeon taught the truth of the Gospel, when he declared faith is the evidence. By grace through faith in Christ, our sins are gone. The Bible teaches, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). God's Son has taken all our sins away. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is evidence that our sins are gone.

The scapegoat in the Old Testament symbolically took away the sins of the nation of Israel (Leviticus 16). The High Priest laid his hands upon the scapegoat. That symbolized the transfer of the peoples sins to another. Then, the scapegoat was led into the wilderness, symbolizing sins taken away. That Old Testament figure points to our Lord Jesus Christ. As a believer in Christ, our sins are gone. 

The scapegoat in the Old Testament foreshadowed Jesus taking our sins away. The Lord Jesus Christ was punished in our place as sinners at the cross. That's the Gospel of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). He who was sinless, was punished for every believer's sins. Through faith in Christ, our sins are gone.

Deliver Us from Evil

"We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). Evil comes from the sinful desires of people, and the wicked one, as well as other spiritual powers of darkness (Romans 3:10-18; Ephesians 6:10-13). We live in this present evil age "under the sway of the wicked one."

Deliverance from evil is through the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Christ died for our sins and defeated Satan, as well as all unclean spirits at the cross (Colossians 2:13-15). The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is our deliverance and victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-58). Deliverance from the evil one comes as we call upon Jesus our risen Lord (Romans 10:9, 13).

Deliverance from evil is through the power of Jesus our Lord. Jesus died to take away all our sins (1 John 1:7). God raised Jesus from the dead to break the power of death. His resurrection power is our deliverance from the wicked one and all powers of darkness. God delivers us from evil through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has all power in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18).

Deliverance from evil is through prayer. Christ revealed God's goodness to those in bondage to sin and the wicked one. Jesus taught us to pray, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13). That's the will of God to deliver us from evil, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Unbelief Rejects Christ

Holy Spirit conviction exposes the sin of unbelief. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit convicts of unbelief, "of sin, because they believe not in Me" (John 16:9). No one living in unbelief can receive God's blessings in Christ. Faith receives all the blessings of God in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Unbelief rejects God's blessings in Christ. Unbelief spurns the goodness of God. Unbelief is the choice of a heart that is hard against the goodness of God. It never considers that it could be wrong, even eternally wrong. Unbelief defiantly says, no, to all that God graciously offers in Christ. Unbelief is the sin that rejects the love, goodness, and grace of Christ. Unbelief sees the promises of Christ as foolishness.

Faith receives the blessings of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "You believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1). All the blessings of God come to us in Christ. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). Believing is receiving Christ (John 1:11-12).

Faith comes as an abiding gift of the Holy Spirit; unbelief rejects the gift of God in Christ. Faith testifies that Christ is trustworthy; unbelief will not trust in Christ. Faith walks in the light of Christ; unbelief is satisfied to stand in darkness without Christ. Faith receives the blessings of God in Christ; unbelief rejects Christ.