Oil and Water: The Kingdom of God doesn't Mix

Lesson Transcript

Good evening. Seemed like, uh, no matter how used to this you get, about that first—uh, that fourth verse on the song, your heart goes a little bit, but we're okay, so... Oh, we're glad to be here. Um, it's been a while since we were here. You know, you—you have good intentions to, to, um, get back to your former church and visit other churches and all that, but it didn't seem like—I mean, that happens on its by itself very much.

The problem is, they're going to be forced Sundays in a month, and if you're only going once, that's only 3 Sundays with your—with your own church, so it's kind of... it didn't happen very often. So I'm glad for the opportunity. I had to make it happen. There once was two kings—were two kings—each had their own kingdom and had their own subjects over which they ruled. The one king was an exceedingly merciful, benevolent king, who loved his subjects and was always looking out for their best interest.

The other king was the epitome of selfishness. He was deceitful, he was arrogant, and he hated the people over which he ruled. In short, these two kingdoms were completely and utterly opposite. So, of course, I'm talking about the, uh, kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. Um, it's not that I—I hear that—it's not that I feel like anyone here needs schooled on the two kingdoms.

But, um, I'd like to—I'd like to talk about it anyway, because I feel like, um, without constant reminders of it, it gets a little—it gets a little muddy. Um, you hear the things you hear, the ideas you hear, um, and it gets a little—little muddy, and the dividing line isn't quite as clear as in your mind as you think it is, and it—as it should be. I think it is a crisp, clear black dividing line. Another way of looking at it is the difference between oil and water.

Pour oil and water together, you always have a line between the oil and the water. They always separate. Oil and water do not mix. Under normal circumstances, they never will. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil don't mix either. Just like in the physical world with different nations and powers, these two kingdoms are at odds with each other, and they war against each other. These two kingdoms are the same in that they both have constitutions.

And, um, when I speak of the two kingdoms, um, having constitutions, um, the country—countries have constitutions, just like the kingdom of God has a constitution. Just like the kingdoms of this world, or countries, have constitutions, so does the kingdom of God. These two kingdoms are the same in the fact that there is a specific way to enter. Again, thinking about countries and how you enter a country.

There is a specific way to enter the kingdom of God, just as there is a specific way to enter the countries or the kingdoms of this world. When a person shows up and says that they're part of the kingdom of God, for example, and then they don't believe, or they don't do half of the requirements, you have to wonder if they really belong to the kingdom they say they do. Kingdoms and, um, their principles are worth dying for. If something isn't worth dying for, it must not be very real or very important to us.

The more people die for a kingdom, the more powerful that kingdom becomes. Just think of the United States of America and how many people died for this country, and how—how powerful is it in the world. I believe one reason for that is the example of, for other people looking on, gaining courage and buy-in. It creates strong believability.

For example, when the Ukrainian—Ukrainian war started, I heard reports that, um, that a lot of the younger—younger able-bodied—able-bodied male that could have stayed and fought for the country were fleeing. Did that put any confidence at all in the country? Just comparing that a little bit to, um, what we've seen in the history of this country. A lot of people have died fighting for this country. There also have been countless people who have died for the kingdom of God.

You think about all the martyrs who have died, the, uh, terrible things they did to them, and they—they—they stood fast. They wouldn't budge. And, um, you know, the—the—the kings of the worlds, um, have tried to stamp out Christianity. They thought, you know, if we would just cut out their tongues, that would help. If we would just, you know, kill another one, that would help. But no. Um, the kingdom of God rules, and it always will. And through that whole experience, it's gotten, um, it's grown. Yes, praise God.

A constitution is a list of rules and principles by which a country or kingdom operates. And obviously, the constitution of the kingdom is in Matthew 5:6 and 7. Um, by adopting the constitution of a particular kingdom, one can gain entrance into that kingdom. In Matthew 5:3 through 10—you all can turn there if you want—Jesus tells us how we can enter the kingdom of God. So verse 3 says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Verse 8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Verse 10 says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Continuing in the chapters following, Jesus describes what it means to be all of these things: poor in spirit, meek, peacemakers, righteous, and how to live them.

All of these things, but not limited to these things, are required to enter God's kingdom. These things, um, described in Matthew 5:6 and 7, require death on the part of whoever wants to be part of the kingdom of God. Maybe physical death is not something that will happen. It might. You look at the martyrs. But a sure death that is required of everyone is our own will and desires. If we don't die ourselves, we have no part in the kingdom of God.

Matthew—in Matthew 16:24 and 25, it says, um, Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." An irony that the world doesn't—doesn't understand. So I'd like—this brings us to a, uh, topic that is a little too easy to—for me personally, it's a little too easy to, um, start compromising in my own thoughts.

Maybe not my actions, but my own thoughts. And we know that bad actions follow bad thoughts. Um, or false—false thinking, false theology. And that is a subject of politics and voting. So, um, a simple definition of politics is the total complex of relations of people living in a society. Well, that seems simple. So things like the distribution of money, how we relate to the rest of the world around us, how a society takes care of its own members, etc. That's what politics is.

So politics, um, in themselves aren't—aren't wrong. The kingdom of God has its politics, and the kingdom of this world has their politics. It's easy to look at the two sides of politics in this world and, and think that one side is better than the other. You have a better and a worse. You know, we've all heard statements like this: "The Christians should be the ones who bring about the better in the world," right?

Let's imagine if we were to go to a—if we were to go to a country, say India, as a tourist, and we happen to be there over the time of a presidential election. We wouldn't be allowed to vote in that election, nor would we want to. Or nor would—would a citizen of any other country expect to vote in that election. What do we know about In—Indian affairs? It's the same with the nation or the kingdom of God. A citizen of the kingdom of God shouldn't even expect to vote in the other kingdom. Why should he?

We—we don't—we don't know what's good for them. Really, if you think about it, the kingdom of this world wouldn't even allow a citizen of God's kingdom to vote in their election if they would actually understand what a citizen of God's kingdom is. Just as the country of India wouldn't allow it. A real-life example is the government of China and governments like China. You know, Christians over there have no rights. If you're a Christian, they don't want you part of the government, and that's for a reason.

It's just, uh, because in the United States and in the—in the other countries, not just the United States, Christianity has gotten all muddled up with foreign affairs. The oil is swirling around right now, but it'll all settle out in the end. And that's what—that's why that's our hope, and that's what, um, we know. So, um, it's easy not to get tangled up. But we have to keep reminding ourselves of that. In order to become a citizen of God's kingdom, we have to renounce our citizenship of this world.

We still have residency here, but we're not a citizen. How do we know what qualities make a good president of a foreign country? We can pretend we do, but we have no idea. In the Bible, it's recorded what happened involving two ki—the two kingdoms and what Jesus had to say about it. Turn to John 18. I'm going to start reading 28. So verse 28 of John 18 says, "Then they led Jesus from Cephas to the praetorium, and it was early morning.

But they themselves did not go into the praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.

Pilate then went out to them and said, 'What accusation do you bring against this man?' They answered and said to him, 'If he were not an evil doer, we would not have delivered him up to you.' Then Pilate said, 'You take him and judge him according to your law.' Therefore the Jews said to him, 'It's not lawful for us to put anyone to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled what he spoke.' Then Pilate entered the praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' Jesus

answered him, 'Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me?' Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew?

Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?' Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.'" So according to Jesus' very words, there are two kingdoms, and he clearly states that his kingdom is not from here, neither does it fight. By fighting wars, etc., the kingdoms of this world protect themselves.

How does a citizen of God's kingdom, then, become involved in the decision to fight another country? Jesus just said his kingdom doesn't fight. Is Jesus a liar? So I talked earlier, um, of sometimes that current—how current events cause us to waver a tad bit on this whole, um, on this whole two kingdoms. I first preached this message, um, a few days after, uh, Charlie Kirk was assassinated. And, um, so I was—I was thinking about this. Um, I suppose you all know who Charlie Kirk was.

Charlie Kirk was a guy about my age, had a wife and two kids. Um, he was 31. I'm 41, so about my age. So he—he was a very passionate, um, conservative, and he would go around, um, holding up, you know, moral values, um, religious beliefs. He'd—he'd talk about—he'd actually talk about, um, Jesus being king and, you know, how people need to make him king of their life. So—so when he died, or when he was killed, he, uh, it affected a lot of people.

And, you know, I saw Facebook posts and posts here and posts there about—from Christian people about—about him and, you know, getting all involved in conspiracies and, you know, how it goes. But so I was thinking about all this, and he—Charlie Kirk still would shoot you if he found you in—in—in his house. Like, I mean, he wasn't—he's this world's, um, ways of—of thinking. Uh, he sounded good, but did he actually believe what Jesus said about it?

So the only reason I—I, um, I'm talking about this is—is because I feel—I feel it in myself sometimes. Um, you know, you look around, uh, the world happens, and—and you have Charlie Kirk, and he's fighting for what's right. And then, um, you can—you—you can let yourself go, "Well, yeah, that's right." But I want to call us to, um, an actual two-kingdom, um, worldview. You know, there's a lot of people that, um, tout the two kingdoms, but in the end, do they understand the two kingdoms?

Um, you know, I see people that are on fire for the kingdom of God, but then they go to Trump rallies, and it's like all mixed up. It's like, come on, God's oil and water, it don't mix. It never will. It wasn't created to mix. You can, you know, shake it up all you want, and it just has a way of not mixing. Um, so I think—I think, um, I think the devil, um, so he had lots of tricks. He's a deceitful king, like I said.

Um, you know, he puts—every now and then he interjects, allows—allows just enough good, just enough truth to be interjected that—that it's tempting, um, to make the line unclear. Just like as he's there shaking it up, the line becomes unclear. But like I said before, in the end, you can't get around it. The kingdom of God is separate, and you can't mix it. So in order to be a citizen of another country, it's required to renounce your previous country. The same is for the kingdom or the country of God.

You sometimes hear about countries that allow dual citizenship. I don't know if it's just on paper or how that works out. Um, what happens when war breaks out between the two countries? Whose side are you going to fight for? The same is for the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. Which side are you going to fight for? They're both like this. Which side are you going to be loyal to? You can't do it.

Um, like I said before, Satan is deceiving people by allowing just enough good into his kingdom that it creates an unclear line for a while. As we can see, the longer this sits here, the clearer the line becomes. But for a while, it's—it looks all cloudy. The good part sounds so good that without very critical thinking, it's easy to fall for a compromised way of thinking. Um, and then if you—if you let yourself think about it too long, then the actions start following.

Um, you have to—you have to, firstly, in your own mind, be convinced—be convinced of it and be, um, be so convinced that you're unmovable. Let's—uh, let's not let the deception that so easily happens, um, happen to us, because that's the definition of deception: you don't know it's happening. That's what's so scary. Let's be so familiar with Jesus' way that any other way is so far out it's un—inconceivable. That's all I have.