What is the Kingdom of God? Are you walking as Jesus walked, Bearing His Image, Living for the King?

What is the Kingdom of God? What is the Gospel? Are they one and the same? Where does salvation play a role in it all?

What is salvation? Is it just a ticket in heaven? Is that what Jesus preached when he preached the Gospel? These are things we're going to be looking into during this study called "Alien Image Bearers: Salvage for the King." I've titled it this because the study will be concentrating on the Scriptures that show that we are sojourners, aliens, foreigners from a kingdom not of this world, salvaged as image bearers of our King, for our King.

We are to look into the Scriptures this morning and uncover answers to these important questions. We need to pay close attention to Jesus's positions and our responsibilities. When I was half awake, I dreamt of this and that this was going to be part of the intro. I know this is weird. I've never put a—well, maybe I have—but a dream into my sermon, but I think it's fitting.

So I want you to take a moment and imagine if you could go back knowing everything you know about Jesus and you can have one short moment with him. What would you do? How would you act? I believe this woman, Mary, when she brought her alabaster jar of perfume and oil, worth all that she had, I think that she somehow had a glimpse of the past and the future, that Jesus is the Creator of the universe and he died and he rose and he's the King sitting on the right hand of God and he has forgiven me of all my sins and he has given me the power to defeat sin and death, to be out of the bondage of sin.

And that she has a moment with him and she realizes he owes me nothing and I owe him everything. And she takes her jar of perfume, probably her most valuable possession worth a year's worth of wages. And she goes in and pours it on his head, anointing him and on his feet, and she kneels before him, probably weeping and wiping his feet with her hair, worshiping him.

The reason I told you this story is twofold. The first reason I shared this story is because it is fitting for the meaning of Christ. If you do your research, Christ means anointed, normally with oil of some kind on the head for a prophet, priest, or king.

Make sure when you read the word Christ, you don't read it as the last name for Jesus, but you translate it in your mind as the Anointed King. For example, the phrase or some variant of the phrase the Gospel of Christ can be found scattered throughout the New Testament. And if you read it translated, we would read it as the Gospel of the Anointed King or the Good News of the Anointed King. The second reason is in Matthew 26:13. "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told and moral to her." Because here today, the Gospel will be preached.

Let's go back a little bit and start in the Old Testament. The Old Testament period can be divided into four parts, roughly about 500 years each. Each period has its key event, a prominent person, and a type of leadership. In the first period, the patriarchs led: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And in the second period, Israel was led by prophets from Moses to Samuel. During this time, beginning after Joshua to the beginning of Samuel, we also had the judges. In the third period, they were led by the kings from Saul to Zedekiah. In the fourth period, we saw the priest take the lead from Joshua to Caiaphas in the time of Christ. None of these leader types was ideal, and each individual brought his own flaws to the task.

The nation needed a leader who was a patriarch of patriarchs, a perfect prophet, a merciful high priest, and a righteous king who is a just judge. And they found him in Jesus. Each stage, therefore, a foreshadowing of the ideal leader who was to come. And this is the good news of the Kingdom of God. We have a perfect ruler if we let him rule. Here is the definition of a patriarch. It is a male head of a family or a tribe, a person that is regarded as a founder of something, normally biblical figures regarded as father of a human race.

After reading this, I deemed it appropriate to give Jesus the name patriarch of patriarchs. If you look at 1 Samuel 8, we can see that Israel's desire for an earthly king was rejecting God as King. God is restoring his rule in Jesus.

We can look at Hosea 13:9-11 to see this. "He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper. Where now is your king to save you and all of your cities? Where are all your rulers, those of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'?

I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath." Now let's fast forward to the New Testament. There is a resounding theme, which is the foundation of the New Testament, which is the Gospel. And it is not what the majority of the people call the Gospel that is preached around the world today.

Let's dive into the overwhelming evidence of what the Gospel, the Good News, is: the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Good News of an Anointed King. The word kingdom is found 55 times in Matthew, 22 times in Mark, 46 times in Luke, and 5 times in John. Out of the 88 times, 80 of them are in the context of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's take a look at some of them to save time. I'm not going to be mentioning all the references.

Do you remember the first words of Jesus's ministry? "From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'" Now, after John was put into prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel." And Jesus went about all Galilee and teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. "But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." And soon after, he went through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God, and the 12 were with him.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in the synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. And he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal. And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached all around the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God. The law of the prophets were until John.

Since then, the good news of the Kingdom of God is preached." Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The Kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is,' or 'There.' For behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

This is a sad story, and for some of you, it's going to hit at home, and some of you are going to think this is crazy. But almost without exception, in every church that we went to, we'd hear preachers nullify the teachings of Jesus, especially on the Sermon on the Mount, by immediately making all kinds of exceptions for his teachings. Or they would say stuff like, "These teachings show us how impossible it is for men to live up to God's standards."

And because it is impossible, he did not teach us these things, expecting us to actually follow his commands. Sometimes they would say, "It is for another time and another place, but not for now." This always confused me. I always thought, "Why did God go through all this trouble to preach something he didn't mean for us to practice?" Then I had to solve a debate on just war when Dean Taylor asked a question that changed my view on the Gospel. He said, "What if Jesus really meant everything he said?"

That just rang in my head. "What if Jesus meant everything he said?" I know that's not profound for some of you, but to me, it was like, "That's what I've been asking." And then I started to notice Scriptures like this in 2 John 1:9, "Everyone who goes ahead and does not abide in the teachings of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son and the Great Commission. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey all my commands." What commands? He barely commanded anything when you take away all his teachings. 1 Timothy 6:3-4, "Teach and urge these things.

If anyone teaches different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of the Lord Jesus, our Anointed King, and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their masters.

Be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things." Pay attention to who God the Savior is. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus, the Anointed King, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works." If you don't know what he means by lawless, we can look at what John had to say about it.

In 1 John 3:4, "Everyone who makes a practice sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness." Now listen to this one. It is super important. Matthew 5:19, the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. "Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." At every church that we visited, anytime the Sermon on the Mount was preached, somehow they found exceptions that basically nullified everything Jesus said.

I believe these quotes are from Connor Grebel. I could be wrong. I believe the word of God without a complicated interpretation. And out of this belief, I speak. The teaching of the Lord has been given for the purpose of being put into practice.

The teachings of Jesus are for today. And this is so true. This quote from Polycarp is only one of many that shows that the Christians, right after the apostles, also held that the teachings of Christ were true. This is what the disciple of John said in the epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians.

Chapter 2, an exhortation to virtue. "Wherefore, guarding up your loins, serve the Lord in fear and in truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and believed in him who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave him glory, and is thrown at his right hand. To him, all things in heaven and on earth are subject. Him, every spirit serves. He comes as the judge of the living and the dead. His blood will require of those who do not believe in him.

But he who raised him up from the dead will raise us up also. If we do his will and walk in his commands and love what he loved and keep ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing or blow for blow or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in his teaching, judge not that ye be not judged. Forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you. Be merciful, and ye may obtain mercy with what measure ye meet.

It shall be measured to you again. And once more, blessed are the poor and those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of God." Let's continue to look at a few more verses in the Kingdom of God. I am not going to be able to go through all of them. "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven."

In the parable of the sower, have you ever noticed what the seed is? John D. Martin pointed this out to me. Let's take a look. Hear then the parable of the sower. "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path."

Did you see what he said? Did you hear that? "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, the seed is the word, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. If you don't understand the kingdom after today's message, you need to grab your Bible and not put it down until you understand, lest the evil one come and snatch it away from you."

The next few passages of Scripture are evidence that the Kingdom of God, at least a part of it, is now. Yes, it is to come later, more in its fullness, but we are to live as subjects to the King now. Notice what Jesus says the seeds are when he explains the parable of the weeds. "Then he left the crowds, and he went to his house. And his disciples came to him, saying, 'Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.' He answered, 'The one who sows, the good seed, is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.'" If we're sons of the kingdom, we are the good seeds. "The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers out of his kingdom." So he comes back, the angels come, and he's looking at his kingdom, and he's gathering all the bad stuff out of his kingdom. And he throws them into the fiery furnace. "In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

This goes along with the verse we read earlier about the kingdom being in your midst. "And when he comes, he will get rid of all that are not abiding by the king now and all who are practicing lawlessness."

Here's another one with some evidence of the kingdom is now. "Pray then like this, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Another one, Luke 19. You can go—this was pointed out to me by Mike Black. You can go home and read the whole parable if you want.

But right now, I'm just going to read part of it. The parable of the 10 minas. "As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell them a parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minas and said to them, 'Engage in business until I come.' But his citizens hated him, and he sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' When he returned, having received his kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing this."

And it's very similar to the parable of the talents, so I'm going to skip that part of it. But then if you skip down to verse 27, he says, "But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me."

As we can see, in his absence, he reigns over us now. And if we do not want to be ruled by him now, we will be slaughtered upon his return. So he's coming back to receive his kingdom, and he's going to receive those who are subjects to the king now. Let's continue. "And he said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it comes with power.'" He said that to people way back then. If the kingdom of God is some future thing, who is he talking to then that's still alive now?

Here's another one that's some evidence that the kingdom is now. The parable of the hidden treasure. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he sells all that he has, and he buys the field." Does this sound like something that happens in heaven? No. If he was in heaven, he wouldn't be going to sell everything he has to be part of the kingdom.

And the costs are big, but it's well worth it. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers, but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. Then the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. And that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened.

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How difficult will it be for those who have wealth to enter into the kingdom of God?"

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them, "Children, how difficult is it to enter the kingdom of God?" Pilate asked, "Are you a king?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I am born, and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

After Jesus rose from the dead, his message did not change. Look at Acts 1:3. "He presented himself alive to them after his suffering, by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God." He came for 40 days, and he was speaking about the kingdom of God.

The last time he's going to see his apostles and his disciples until they die or until he comes back. That's pretty important. If the gospel was about individual salvation, wouldn't you think that Jesus would be focusing on that and not his kingdom? Look at Acts 19:8, talking about Paul. "And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God." Another one in Acts 28. "When they had pointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers.

From morning till evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets." The last verse in Acts. "He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus, the anointed King, with all boldness, without hindrance." For two years. The book starts with it and ends with it.

All throughout the gospels, it's about the kingdom of God. The gospel message was not focused on individual salvation. But if you live by the gospel of the kingdom of God, you will be saved. Salvation is not the entirety of the gospel, nor the central focus, but does play a crucial role so that we can be useful for the King.

In comparison to the 80 times the four gospels mention the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, I found that if you search "saved" in the gospels, you get about 19 verses and only a few in the context of our salvation. I'll summarize what these say.

Three times it says, "Then who can be saved?" Three times it says, "Those who endure to the end will be saved." One time it says, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." One says that the world through him might be saved. One says, "I'm the door. If anyone enters me, he will be saved." Let's look at a few of these verses a little closer. Some of these get ignored. Starting with Matthew 24. "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. And the gospel of the kingdom, not the save-me gospel, will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

So it's not just the save-me gospel that gets preached everywhere, then the end will come. It says the gospel of the kingdom will be preached everywhere, then the end will come. Luke 13. "Then one said to him, 'Lord, are there few who are saved?' Then he said to them, 'Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter it and will not be able.'" I like what David Pawson said.

Paul's concept of righteousness is far more than just being concerned that his hearers are safe when they die. The nearest English word to salvation is salvage, not safe. An awful lot of people want to be safe, as if we have a ticket to heaven. But the process of recycling takes time. We are to be salvaged, brought back to our original purpose, to be image bearers.

The word "save" occurs in three tenses in the New Testament. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. The gospel leads to good deeds. It leads to separation from evil and the grace to say no to ungodliness. Positively, we are set apart for good. We are like vessels for noble use, cleansed from dirty uses. We are to be salvaged, saved out of our sin, from the power of sin, to be redeemed for good works. We are to be servants, soldiers, ambassadors, priests, brides, and children of the King. We are to be imitators of Jesus, salvaged as image bearers of the King. Let's look at related verses to this. "He who says he abides in him, ought himself to walk as Jesus walked.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. In that verse, you need to go back and read in the context. He's talking about when we're baptized into Christ, we're baptized into his death. Not death like we're freed from sin only when we die. That no, we're free from sin now that we have died with him. "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God." Paul says, "Brothers, join in imitating me. Keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

And you have become imitators of us and of the Lord, for you have received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. He said to you all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'

You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Be merciful, even as your heavenly Father is merciful. For a man indeed ought not cover his head since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who has renewed you in the knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, sentient, slave nor free, but Christ, our anointed King, is all and in all.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'" 2 Peter 1:3-4. "As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

I really like what John D. Martin says. "Jesus gave us the concept of the kingdom to demonstrate to the world around us what the whole world would look like if we would only obey the King."

So now we've gone through two of the concepts. We know that the kingdom is here. We know that it's not of this world. And it's not easy to spot, but it's in our midst. We know that we are to be image bearers, that we are to be made in his likeness of the King, that we are to be salvaged and made new.

And now we're going to go through some scriptures that talk about how we are to be separate from the world, that we are to be in the world, but not of the world, that we are to be foreigners and sojourners or aliens. 1 Peter 2:9-11. "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into the marvelous light, who once were not a people, but who are now a people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your own good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."

Ephesians 2:19. "Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens and saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus the anointed King himself, being the chief cornerstone, and whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God and the Spirit.

These all died in the faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having a knowledge that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows and their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. One of the best quotes I've ever heard about the good news is from Finney Caravilla. He says, "The good news of the nation. God's intention at creation was for humanity to benevolently rule the earth. But because Adam and Eve rejected God's command, the Lord chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David to be instruments by which he would establish his own nation through covenant to bless the world and draw humanity to himself.

Because Israel failed in its mandate, Jesus founded a new nation, the church, with himself as the reigning king to accomplish what Israel did not. Jesus' nation is marked by righteousness and peace. Joining this nation involves following a radical new constitution, the covenant of King Jesus, and requires a radical break from one's previous lifestyle. Disciples are baptized into a new social order, the church. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, members of the new nation receive liberation from Satan, forgiveness of sin, the power of the Spirit, and eternal life.

The good news of Jesus' reign culminates with his nation emerging victorious and his citizens being co-regents with him forever. And all will declare that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Put in another way, the gospel is the good news because of three interlocking truths. The world finally has a righteous king. A new nation under King Jesus' leadership has been birthed. Citizens of the new nation live the abundant life and demonstrate to the world the radiant presence of a God among them.

Israel's story has been brought to fulfillment. Jesus' death is the ultimate sacrifice foreshadowed by the Torah and the prophets. What was promised to the ancient prophets finds its realization in Jesus as the seed of Abraham, the true Israel, the new Moses, the greater David, and the last Adam. The decay of the world has been undone through the resurrection of King Jesus. At the resurrection, he was coronated King over all and imparted sin-crushing, death-overcoming power to his citizens.

Personal salvation, certainly a very important consequence of the gospel, but it is not the centerpiece. As we have often been told, the centerpiece is King Jesus. As will be seen in later chapters, correctly understanding the church as a nation, in fact, a rival nation to all other earthly nations, brings clarity to a host of issues.

Here, the word nation is used instead of kingdom because nation is also a biblical word applying to all followers of Jesus and better captures what the word kingdom did in the first century. While most people in the first century lived in political entities known as kingdoms, most people today live in political entities known as nations, saying that Jesus founded a nation is more intelligible to modern ears and better portrays the subversive character of Jesus' gospel message.

I know that's a lot, but hopefully you can see from those scriptures that we are a part of a kingdom, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation to live as strangers and sojourners in this world as his own special people redeemed, being brought back to the likeness of God, bearing his image. For the last part, I want to shine some light on some faulty concepts concerning belief, faith, grace, and the gift of salvation.

These were created in the 1500s that permeated the church. I'm not going to go into them in depth, as you will surely see them in the upcoming videos. First, I want to hit on what does grace do? For the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation for all people. This grace is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passion and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for a blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior, Jesus, our anointed King, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, sin, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

If this is not what you think of when you think of grace, maybe you don't completely grasp the power of it yet. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul explains that by grace you have been saved through faith and not that of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eternal life comes as a result of God's grace. It is a gift unearned and undeserved on your part. No one will ever be able to boast that he or she has earned or deserves the gift of eternal life. But can we do things or not do things that will disqualify us from receiving the wonderful gift?

God's conditions to receive the gift in no way give us merit in receiving them. We must believe, repent, forgive others, walk in the light, do the will of God, obey the commands of Jesus, be baptized, take communion. There's also a list of sins that disqualify us if we keep living in them.

Let me give you a short analogy to help clear up what I mean. In the past, I've mentioned this to people, and I've gotten weird looks thinking, "Gifts have conditions? I've never heard of that. All gifts are just free." Well, there are conditions to gifts, even in the real world. I'll give you a true story that happened to us in China. One day, my mother and father-in-law gave us a call, and in passing, they said, "If you guys are going to live there for a long time, we would like to purchase you a house, an apartment."

And we didn't believe them at first. A month went by, they called us back, and they said the same thing. And we're like, "Really? You want to give us a house? You want to buy us a house?" They said, "Yeah. Try to find one." And so we looked through the whole city trying to find one in the price range, and we finally found one. It took us quite a long time, maybe a month or two, I believe. I don't remember exactly.

And then we had to negotiate, and we had to figure out all the law. We had to figure out what banks would actually let, if it was even possible for Americans to buy a house in China. A lot of people didn't know. And online, we actually had read stuff that it's not possible, but it was.

And then we got a lawyer, and we asked them questions. Could the Chinese government just take it away? Which, yes, they can. And anyway, we went through a big process, and then we figured out there's only certain banks that can transfer money, and that money had to be transferred from three or four different people because large amounts of money cannot be transferred from overseas to China.

And so whenever we—all this to say is that it was a lot of work. We finally bought the house, and then we spent three months renovating it. And I didn't go around the city or to any of my friends boasting that I worked and I earned this house. I went around in gratitude, and I told everybody, "Can you believe my father-in-law and mother-in-law purchased this apartment for us? We are so blessed. Thank you, God, so much." It was so amazing. We never thought for a minute to boast about this house that we didn't earn. It was a complete gift. But there were conditions. If we had never believed him, he told me that he wouldn't have bought it.

I asked him later. If he had kept calling and we kept saying, "Uh, yeah, that sounds good," and we never put feet on it, yeah, he would have never bought it for us. If we didn't figure out how the money was to be transferred over, if we didn't figure out how to sign contracts, if we didn't figure out all those things and how to renovate, all those conditions mattered to us getting the house.

But it was a free gift, and there was no possibility of boasting. And the same with a gift of eternal life, that expensive, that amazing, he has conditions. He's not just going to give it to anybody. He's going to give it to the faithful, the people who believe and who obey him. We believe that salvation is from faith to faith. Faith is something that needs to preserve until the end. Let's look at Romans 1:17. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, "The righteous will live by faith." We also want to point out that faith is something that should be added to in order to never stumble.

Let's look at 2 Peter 1:5-11. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and goodness knowledge and knowledge self-control and self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness mutual affection and to mutual affection love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the anointed King. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, these things are add to your faith, what was mentioned above, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus, our anointed King.

And we also want to mention that faith can be made complete. We see in James 22 and 24, you see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

You see, faith cannot stand alone without Christ or his blood or grace or the Father. Works cannot stand alone, nor holiness, righteousness, mercy, or love. Scripture and everything else in God's word must stand together and never be put into opposition with one another. In John 3:16, belief is the present continuous tense, showing that belief in Christ must continue until the end. In the same chapter, John 3:36, it says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." We can see that belief is assumed and inseparable from obedience.

Let's jump forward to Hebrews 3:18. We see the opposite is also true, that disobedience is equivalent to unbelief. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So you see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. If you believe in Jesus and do not obey his teachings, I'm going to say the first thing Jesus said in the beginning of his ministry, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand."

Thank you.