Two Opposing Kingdoms on Voting and Politics - Radford Martin

There was once 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. He 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 off of it. The title of the message this morning is "Two Opposing Kingdoms" with the subheading of "Voting in Politics."

So, of course, I'm speaking of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

Not that I feel like anyone here needs schooled in the concept, but I'd like to think about some ways these two kingdoms are quite off of it. And obviously, they're not the same at all, and it's a big subject.

But I'm going to focus on voting in politics this morning. You know, sometimes as I go through life and as different current events happen, as different ideas circulate, the line between the two kingdoms becomes a little gray instead of a crisp, clear black line.

I think it is a crisp, clear black line. Another way of looking at it is the difference between oil and water.

Pour oil and water together, you'll 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 are at war against each other.

These two kingdoms are the same in that they both have constitutions. Just like the kingdoms of this world 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.

And if you think of entering a country more specifically, that's what I'm thinking more as I'm thinking about countries here more than a kingdom of all the kingdoms of this world. 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.

No one here can expect to go to a random country and expect without papers, without anything, and expect to be let in and be part of that country. Same with the kingdom of God. If a person shows up and says that they're a kingdom of God, they're part of the kingdom of God, and then they don't believe or do half of the requirements, then you got to wonder if they're really part.

So another thought about kingdoms is I borrowed this thought from Kevin.

Kingdoms in principle 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. It's one of the ironies of life. Now, I believe one reason for that is an example for other people looking on. They gain courage and buy-in.

There's something about when you see someone die for something, it's hard not to be part of it. It creates strong believability. For example, I remember when a few years ago when the war in Ukraine started, there were reports—I'm not sure how true it is—but there were reports that a lot of the younger able-bodied males that could have stayed and fought for the country were fleeing.

Does that put any confidence at all in the country to the rest of the people? Just comparing that to what we've seen in the history of this country, for example.

A lot of people have died fighting for this country. There also have been countless people who have died for the kingdom of God.

And what's that do for us? It creates something that is real.

There are examples. It creates buy-in.

A constitution is the list of rules and principles by which a country or kingdom operates. Jesus gives us the constitution of the kingdom of God in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

By adopting the constitution of a particular kingdom, one can gain entrance to that kingdom. And we're going to turn to Matthew 5 if you have your Bibles.

The first part of Matthew 5, of course, is the Beatitudes, verses 3 through 10. I'm going to go ahead and read those, starting in verse 3.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Verse 7. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

Verse 10. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." So in verse 3, the poor in spirit can enter the kingdom of heaven, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 5 tells us the meek will inherit the earth. Kind of the same thing. If God owns the earth and everything in it, we're going to inherit that, but we have to be meek.

Verse 8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." So we have to be pure in heart.

Verse 9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." There again, we're going to be called sons of God. You got to make peace, guys.

And then the last verse says, "Blessed are the righteous, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

So that's how you enter the kingdom of heaven. All these things, but not limited to these things, are required to enter God's kingdom. And then following in the verses following, it explains it in more detail how to be a peacemaker, how to be righteous, how to be all these things, how to be meek.

All these things require death on the part of whoever wants to be part of. Maybe physical death is not something that will happen, but a death that will happen and must happen of everyone is the death to our own will and desires.

So in Matthew 16, verse 24, and you don't have to turn to that, Jesus reiterates what I just said with, he says, "If anyone desires to come after me or to be part of me, be part of this kingdom, he must 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 save it." He didn't say for the sake of the country. He didn't say anything like that. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it, will find it. I'd like to look at a topic that is, if I want to admit it, it's a little too easy to compromise sometimes between the two kingdoms, and that is politics and voting.

So the English language is a living language. So words a few hundred years ago don't necessarily mean the same thing as they do today.

But I looked up the word politics, and when we hear the word politics, something comes to my mind, something comes to our mind, and it's not naturally, it's a lot of time not positive. It's a negative thing. But in the English language in the 1500s, politics, the word politics was.

And it simply meant pertaining to public affairs and the governance of a country or its people. I think in the most basic sense, that's what it still means, but a lot of other things come to mind, and it's a little more complex than that.

But I like this simple definition. So things like the distribution of money, wealth in a society, how we relate to the poor in this society, how we take care of our own members, how the society takes care of its own members, and all that stuff is politics. It just means public affairs.

So politics in and of themselves is not wrong. The kingdom of God has its politics, and the kingdom of the world has its politics.

It's easy to look at the two sides of politics in this world and to see one side is better or worse. So then it's easy to think that maybe we should vote and become involved since there is better and worse.

So we've all heard statements like, "The Christians should be the ones who bring about the better in the world." And that's true. We need to be careful with that. So let's imagine if we were to go to the country of India as a tourist.

And when we happened to be there, there was a presidential election right over that time. We wouldn't be allowed to vote in that election, nor would a citizen of any other country expect to be.

That's the same with the nation or the kingdom of God. A citizen of God's kingdom or nation shouldn't even expect to vote in the other kingdom. Really, the kingdom of this world wouldn't even allow a citizen of God's kingdom to vote in their election if they would 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. Christians over there have no rights, especially in the government. It's just because Christianity, in quotes, has gotten almost muddled up with foreign affairs.

The oil is swirling around in the water right now, but it will settle out in the end.

In order to become a citizen of God's kingdom, we have to renounce our citizenship of this world.

We still have residency here. We still live here, but we're not a citizen.

How do we know then what qualities make a good president of a foreign country? We have no idea.

In the Bible, there's an incident recorded, what happened involving two kingdoms, and then what Jesus had to say about it. Let's turn to John 18. John 18, verse 28.

This was when the people who hated Jesus captured him and brought him into trial before Pilate. Verse 28 says, "Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the prayatorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the prayatorium, 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, against Jesus?"

They answered and said to him, "Well, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you." Then Pilate said, "You take him and judge him according to your law." But the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke," signifying by what death he would die.

Then Pilate entered the prayatorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered him and said, "Are you speaking for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning me?" Pilate answered and said, "Am I a Jew?

Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?" And then Jesus answered him, "Pay attention to this." He said, "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 right there is as pretty clear from Jesus' own mouth that there are two kingdoms, and his kingdom has nothing to do with the kingdoms here. There are two kingdoms, and his kingdom is not from here. Neither does it fight.

He could have protected himself, but his kingdom doesn't fight. That's not the way his kingdom works.

By fighting wars, etc., the kingdoms of this world protect themselves. How do the citizens of God's kingdom then become involved in the decision to fight another country? Does Jesus lie? He says his kingdom doesn't fight, so we can't be involved.

It's either one or the other.

So I talked earlier of sometimes current events causing me to waver a tad bit in my resolve about two kingdoms. Shootings were mentioned earlier in prayer. Charlie Kirk.

So for those of you who don't know, Charlie Kirk was assassinated just this past Wednesday at an event where he was speaking. He was only 31 and had a wife and two kids. So he was very involved in politics and worldly politics.

But he also was very—he spoke a lot about Jesus and serving him as king. So I did look up the definition of assassinate to be sure that he wasn't being venerated. And yes, assassination is the correct term. Assassinate means a premeditated murder solely because of political or religious beliefs.

I also looked at the word martyr because I've heard him called a martyr as well. A martyr is a person who sacrifices something of great value, and especially life itself for the sake of principle.

So the only reason I'm mentioning this is I want to throw out a warning to myself and all of us not to mix the two kingdoms.

I'm seeing this happen, especially with Charlie Kirk. People have called him a martyr, and by definition, he is. I saw a post the other day posted by someone we all know that said, "Brother Charlie, he's in hands of Jesus now." And pretty much I feel mixed the two. From what I've heard about Charlie and a few things that I've heard him say, I haven't heard him say much. He was an exceptional influencer in the world of conservative politics. He spoke out about the moral decline of society and talked a lot about Jesus and surrender to him as king. That is true. I've heard him say it.

But then he would also use this world's methods of protection from evil in the rest of the world's politics. Like I said, he was very much involved in this kingdom's politics.

So in order to be a citizen of another country, it's required to renounce your previous country. The same is true for the country of God. You hear sometimes about countries allowing dual citizenship. I don't know how that's true. That may just be on paper. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure how someone can be loyal to multiple countries. What happens when war breaks out between the two countries? Whose side are you going to fight for? The same for the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. Which side are we fighting for?

They are at war, and they're always going to be at war. So what are we going to do? Which side to fight for? Which side to oppose?

I said in the intro to this message about the two kings and that one king was deceptive. I believe the king of this world, Satan, is deceiving people by allowing just enough good into his kingdom that it creates an unclear line.

The good part sounds so good that without very critical thinking, it's easy to fall for a compromised way of thinking.

But the line always appears.

It doesn't mix, folks. It doesn't mix.

Let's not let this happen to us. Deception happens so slowly that it's mostly undetected. That's the very nature of it. If people would think they're being deceived, they would stop and go the other way. But you don't know it when you're deceived.

Very dangerous.

Let's be so familiar with Jesus' way, with the knowledge about it and practicing it, that any other way is so far out that it's inconceivable. We couldn't imagine doing anything else besides Jesus' way.