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Living
in the kingdom
Psalm 1:1-6
– Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor
sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his
delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be
like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also
shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4The ungodly are not so: but are like the
chaff which the wind driveth away. 5Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners
in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD
knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the
ungodly shall perish.
I
would like to start today with a question. Is the word
“delight” only a word, or is it a dream that can not be
reached? There is nothing more common than people that
want to he happy and delighted. We would all like to he
happy and worry free, isn’t that so? But one of the
problems is that many people think that to be happy is
to have more money, more possessions, cars, jewelry,
expensive clothing, etc. If we asked different people
what delights them, we will find that we will obtain
different answers. This is because people have heard
the word “delight”, but in reality they do not know what
it is. The devil has them deceived, and maintains them
in preoccupations and misery, and this of course is not
what the Lord wants for His people.
The
cause of this all is that in this time in which we live,
it is difficult to be an optimist. The majority of
people have a pessimistic attitude. They have their
minds focused in a state of defeat, and they never get
to see the blessings of the Lord in their life. But the
reality of it all is that as believers, we can not
submit to that state of mind. We can not allow
ourselves to be deceived by the devil, because if we do
this, then we allow him to steal the peace that Jesus
has left us. Listen carefully to His words as we read
John 14:27 when He said
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Are
you willing to give this up? Of course not, nobody here
wants to give up the peace that Jesus has left us, but
if you allow the devil to deceive you, then you are in
fact defeating yourself. You are defeating yourself
because the devil has no dominion over your life, and he
can not force you to do anything. Look carefully at
what we find in James 4:7
when we read "Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." So as
you can see, he has no power over your life, all you
have to do is resist him and he will have to flee. He
has to flee because you no longer belong to this world;
you now belong to the kingdom of God. But if you do not
resist him, but rather cave in to his influence, then
you are in fact throwing away the happiness and delight
that is to live in the kingdom of God.
Perhaps some of you are not yet understating the message
today, therefore, let us take now analyze the word
“delight.” Delight is a synonym with happiness and joy.
In these verses that we are using today we find that it
states “But his delight is in the law of the LORD;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
What we find here is a very clear statement that tells
us that when we follow the word of God we should do so
joyfully, we should do so happily, and not because we
want to meet an obligation, or because we may be afraid
of what could happen. When you follow the word of God
you must do so because of your love for Him and nothing
else. People, we can not be living a life full on
aguish, we can not be living a life full of depression
or sadness when we live in the kingdom of God. We must
live a life of delight in His word; we must live a life
full of joy in His promises. The main obstacle to this
type of thinking or attitude is that the majority of
people think that in order to live in the kingdom of God
they must first die, and in a way some of them are
correct. I say this because in order to live in the
kingdom of God, you must first die to sin; look
carefully at what we find in the bible in
Romans 6:6 when we read
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin." So as you can
see we must first die to sin, but immediately
thereafter, once we have died to sin, something
wonderful happens. Look at what the bible tells us is
2 Corinthians 5:17 when
we read “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold all
things are become new.” Praise God, we are reborn!
As I
stated, many people think that in order to live in the
kingdom of God you must first die, but as we have seen,
in order to live in the kingdom of God, all you have to
do is serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Continuing with our study for today we find more
evidence to prove exactly what I am saying. In this
psalm we read “But his delight is in the law of the
LORD.” Bit, what does this mean to us? Let me stop
here for a brief moment and explain what this means.
When David wrote this psalm, they lived under the
covenant of the law, and that is why we see that he says
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD.” We
no longer live under the covenant of the law; Jesus came
to this world to change that. We now live under the
covenant of grace, this is something very clearly seen
in John 1:17 when we
read “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ.” Paul also says it very
clearly in Romans 6:14
when he stated “For sin shall not have dominion over
you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace;” and
again in Ephesians 2:8
when we read “For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God.” But of course this does not mean that we can
disregard completely the laws of God. We can not
disregard the laws of God because it is through them
that we find what God abhors. But due to the fact that
we no longer live under the covenant of the law, we do
not delight in the law as David did. Our delight comes
from being in His presence as we find in
Matthew 28:20 when we
read "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world.
Amen."
Brethren, before the covenant of grace, the people could
not be in the presence of God, but we can. The veil was
torn by the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit now dwells
in us. What I am telling you today is that when we keep
ourselves within the will of God, then we are being
ruled not by a ruler of this word, but by the King of
King and Lord of Lords. This is something that we must
be delighted in, delighted in knowing that we serve the
supreme king, delighted in knowing that we serve a just
king, delighted in knowing that we serve a generous
king. We are living in the kingdom of God, but some of
us do not know it.
Happiness is much more that obtaining material
possessions. To obtain happiness it is necessary that
we examine ourselves to see what we are lacking. It may
very well be that what we are lacking is FAITH. It may
very well be that out faith is weak and inefficient. It
may very well be that we have material needs, but
instead of praying and asking God for assistance;
instead of praying and asking our King to help us, we
allow ourselves to be deceived by the devil and prayers
are completely disregarded. I ask you, when was the
last time you prayed? Please no one answer, these are
just questions to make you reflect. But I ask, when was
the last time you prayed, was it last night? Or, was it
last week when you came to church? I ask these
questions because prayer is something lacking in just
about every believer. The reason this happens is
because the powers of darkness will use everything
within its reach to keep us deceived. The powers of
darkness will make thoughts such as “God doesn’t listen”
or “God has forgotten you” to enter our minds, and once
this happens, then people give up praying. The powers
of darkness will try to eject us from the kingdom of
God. The powers of darkness will attempt to have us
live tormented and preoccupied, so that we will forget
that they have no dominion over us, because we now live
in the kingdom of God. But as Christians we have the
power to rebuke this, look at what He tells us in
Luke 10:18-20 when we
read "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven. 19Behold, I give
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by
any means hurt you." And look at what He also tells
us in Matthew 10:7-8
when we read "And as ye go, preach, saying, the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
freely ye have received, freely give." That is why
I say, we rebuke you demon of depression. We rebuke
demon of sickness.
We
rebuke you demon of sadness. We rebuke you, we bind
you, and we cast you out of our life, in the name of
Jesus. We bind and rebuke all powers that are trying to
take hold in our families, in our jobs, in our
finances. We cast you out in the name of Jesus! We
can’t allow our minds to be filled with the lies of the
devil; we can’t allow him to take away the joy of living
in the kingdom of God. Remember that God will never
abandon us, or reject us. Look at what Jesus tells us
in John 6:37 when we
read "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
The
Lord made us a very important promise as we find in
John 16:20 when we read
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep
and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”
The Lord is telling us something very important here, He
is telling us not to allow the devil to steal that which
He has given us. Don’t allow the worldly things to
harden your heart or cloud your thoughts. Remember that
when we follow the Lord and we do His will, then we are
living in the kingdom of God. God’s love reaches us at
all times, and His promises are never revoked. That is
why we should lead a joyful life knowing that He knows
our needs. Lead a joyful life trusting that He will
supply our needs, and full of faith knowing that He does
care for each and every single one of us. Look at what
we find in Philippians 4:4-7
when we read “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I
say, rejoice. 5Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6Be
careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.” There is something
here that is very important to all of us. Notice that
it says “the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding.” As I said in the beginning, many
people do not understand what happiness is. Many people
do not understand that they are living in the kingdom of
God, but here the second part to this verse says it all
when we read “, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.” Christ the Lord will keep us
from evil; He will keep us under his arms, but only when
we live under his authority. If we turn away from Him,
if we walk away from Him, if we do not follow His will,
then we are telling Him that we no longer want to live
under His protection, we are telling Him that we no
longer want to live in the kingdom of God. Don’t allow
the devil to steal you blessings.
Rebuke that lying devil, and don’t allow him to evict
you from God’s kingdom; he has no power or authority to
do it. Look at what the Lord tells us in
Lucas 11:20 when we read
“But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no
doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” The
Lord is telling us that the kingdom of God is here. The
Lord is telling us that the kingdom of God has arrived;
He is telling us that we are living in it right now.
That is why we can’t turn our backs on the kingdom, and
we can’t allow anything to take away the joy that comes
from living in it. We have to present Him with our
problems, present to Him our needs, and present to Him
our preoccupations. The Lord tells us in
Matthew 11:28 when we
read "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest." He wants to help us, and
He wants us to seek Him. It is time to stand firmly
upon the promises of God, and be joyful. It is time to
stand firmly upon the promises of God and delight
ourselves in His presence. If we trust in Him and His
greatness, then we will be able to realize the joy and
delight that it is to be living in His kingdom. When we
do this, then we realize that no matter what difficulty
may arise, that no matter what circumstances may
develop, God is in control of it all, for we live within
His kingdom.
It
is silly to continue living in a day dream, thinking
that everything would change only if we had better
luck. It is silly to continue living thinking that
everything would change for the better if we were to
let’s say win the lotto. Many people attribute success
to the value of their estate, but the truth of the
matter is that wealth may offer some sort of relief, but
true and absolute relief can only come from the Lord.
When we present it all to Him, He takes care of it all.
I say this because all of the money in the world can
never buy you happiness. All of the money in the world
can never buy you joy. True joy and true happiness only
come from knowing that we live in the kingdom of God,
everything else will always fall short. Listen to what
we find in 1 Timothy 4:8
when we read “For bodily exercise profiteth little:
but godliness is profitable unto all things, having
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to
come.” This lets us all know that material things
have no meaning. This lets us know that in the end
material things have no value; the only things of value
are the promises of God.
In
conclusion.
Our Lord said “the kingdom of God is come upon you,”
in other words, the kingdom of God is here now. You can
have the joy and happiness now. You too can feel the
delight in His presence. You do not have to wait to die
to live in His kingdom. To live in His kingdom all we
have to do in trust in Him, and keep His word. Do not
allow yourself to be deceived by the Devil when he tells
you that God has forgotten you. Do not allow yourself
to be deceived by the Devil when he tells you that you
are not worth anything to God. It is in those exact
times that you must remember God’s promises, such as the
one we find in Hebrews 13:5-6
when we read “Let your conversation be without
covetousness; and be content with such things as ye
have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. 6So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do
unto me.” In other words, be afraid of nothing. We
live in the kingdom of God and we serve a King that is
righteous and full of love. The kingdom of God is here!
Do you want to live in it? If so then come to Him now.
Come to him repent your sins, and accept Him as you lord
and savior. Come to Him now, and from this day forth
you too shall live in the kingdom of God. “The
kingdom of God is come upon you.”
© Jose R. Hernandez |
Christian
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