30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 23 18-25 THE WILL OF MAN 05 Luke 23 20-23 The gospel of His kingdom
📖 Luke 23:18-25
Fri03Dec2021 – The gospel of His kingdom - Luke 23:18-25 - THE WILL OF MAN (05) - Bible reading: Matthew 7:21-23
The Lord is calling us to surrender to His will. To be surrendered to God’s will, we must be entirely cast upon the Lord. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit, for it is the Holy Spirit who takes what is in the heart of God and reveals it to us.
I Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
Luke 23:20-23 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. (21) But they shouted, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" (22) Then he said to them the third time, "Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go." (23) But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.
We said, we love to have Jesus as our Saviour, Healer, Miracle Worker, Provider, Protector and so forth but we struggle to surrender to His lordship.
If we do not come under the lordship of Jesus, we do not belong to Jesus neither do we belong to His kingdom. To be in this relationship, as subjects of the kingdom of God, we need to be entirely cast upon the Lord for, without Him, we can do nothing.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' (23) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
To whom did Jesus say, “Depart from me…”? These were those, who were in a convenient relationship with God of experiencing prophesies, miracles, signs and wonders but were not walking according to His will.
The will of God is what the Law of God is all about. When we do not live by God’s will then we are living in lawlessness.
Without the will of God being done, we cannot have the kingdom of God here on earth.
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Pilate was desperate to find a way to release Jesus. He knew that the Jews were envious of Jesus and that was the reason they had brought Him to Pilate, to have Jesus crucified.
Pilate thought that if he humiliated Jesus, it would pacify the Jews. For they were envious that Jesus was drawing the crowds and the crowds were acclaiming Him as the King. Pilate, therefore, had Jesus humiliated.
John 19:4-15 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him." (5) Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"
Pilate’s statement was, “Behold the man”. He did not say, “Behold your King”. He was telling the Jews, “All of you need not be envious of Jesus. He is not a King, He is just a man. Now, forget about wanting to have Him crucified. It is not needed. He has been sufficiently humiliated”. Pilate was hoping that the Jews would be satisfied. Alas…instead of being pacified, they were angrier
(6) Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."
Pilate was totally exasperated with the crowd. He had tried his very best to release Jesus and not have him crucified. But the crowd was not willing to let go of their demand that Jesus must be crucified.
Mockery and beating of Jesus were not enough for man. Jesus must be eliminated. We do not want Him for we do not want Him to rule over us. We do not want to come under the authority of Jesus.
We prefer to talk of the kingdom of God as a utopia, which it is but to be in the kingdom of God, there has to be the submission of our will to His.
John 7:17 If anyone wills to do His will , he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
Jesus made it very clear that the doctrine of God is of submission to His will. We are to will His will. This is the doctrine of God.
Jesus, to man, is a huge irritation. Jesus makes humanity uncomfortable. We’d rather be without Jesus for then we can live as we please.
To be reconciled with God, we must be in His kingdom and this is the gospel that we must share. Not a convenient gospel, which does not insist on the lordship of Christ over us.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
There will be witnesses of the gospel of God’s kingdom in every cultural, social, language and people group. They will live in submission to the will of God. Living as witnesses, they will present the Gospel of the kingdom of God to others.
Thought to ponder
Are you living and presenting the gospel of His kingdom?