The Kingdom Of God

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

A sermon preached in Scotland during the Cambuslang Revival.

‘For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ Rom. 14.17

Though we all profess to own one Lord, one faith, one baptism;though Jesus Christ never was, and never will be, divided in Himself;yet the followers of Jesus Christ have in all ages been sadly divided among themselves: and what has rendered the case the more to be pitied, is that they have generally been divided about the circumstantials of religion, they have generally received one another to doubtful disputation, and embittered one another’s hearts, by talking about those things which they might either do or not do, either know or not know, and yet at the same time be the true followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. I am verily persuaded that this is the great artifice and engine of the devil. He knows if he can divide Christians, he will get the better of them; and therefore he endeavours to sow the tares of division among them, in order to make them a common prey to their enemies. And, indeed, this God hath permitted in all ages of the Church. In consequence of this, the early ages of Christianity were not altogether free of it. No, this text gives us a pregnant and sufficient proof of it.

It seems the first converts of Christianity consisted of two sorts of people – either those who were Jews before they became Christians, or those who were heathens, and never had been subject to the law of Moses, but were converted from a state of heathenish darkness, and brought to the marvellous gospel light. The first of these, knowing that every rite, every ceremony of the law of Moses, had a divine superscription written upon it, they thought themselves obliged, notwithstanding they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, to abstain from such meats and drinks as were forbidden, and to submit to such festivals as were enjoined by the law. Whereas, on the contrary, the heathen who never were brought under this yoke, nay, even the Jews themselves who were better instructed in their Christian liberty, knowing that every creature of God was now good if sanctified by the Word of God and prayer; knowing that, ‘Touch not, taste not, handle not,’ were no longer precepts for those who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; they could not submit to them – they could not submit to the new moons and Sabbaths – they ate what was set before them, and made no scruple about meat ordrink. But, however, it seems there were two contending parties – many right souls, no doubt, on both sides. What must, then, the great apostle do? Why, like a true follower of the meek and lowly Jesus, he preached up to both sides the golden rule of moderation, and endeavoured to persuade them to dispute no more about these outward things.

If we will, therefore, look to the first verse of this chapter, we shall find the apostle giving them a healing advice. ‘Him,’ says he, ‘that is weak in the faith, receive ye’ – do not separate from him, do not forbid him to come into your Christian fellowship; ‘receive him’ – look upon him as a disciple, receive him with open arms into your communion;’but not to doubtful disputation’ – do not fall into disputing with him as soon as ever he comes into your church. ‘For,’ says he, in the second verse, ‘one,’ that is well instructed in his Christian liberty, ‘believeth that he may eat all things,’ without scruple. While, ‘another that is weak,’ and hath not got. so much light concerning gospel liberty, thinks himself obliged to abstain from such meats as were forbidden by the law, and therefore, for conscience’ sake, ‘eateth herbs.’ Why then, says the apostle in the third verse, ‘Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not,’ though he be but a novice in grace: on the other hand, ‘let not him that eateth not, judge him that eateth,’ as though he took more liberty than God Almighty or the rules of the gospel allowed him; ‘for God hath received him.’ Though he is weak, he is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath received him into His favour, and how, then, dare you refuse to receive him into your communion?

In order, therefore, that the apostle might put a stop to this spirit of division and opposition that was among them, he goes on, and tells them that their despising, that their judging and disputing with one another at this rate, was taking Christ’s prerogative out of His hand. For, says he in the tenth verse, ‘ Why dost thou judge thy brother?’ On the other hand, ‘Why dost thou set at nought thy brother? We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.’And Jesus Christ, who seeth the springs of our actions, can bear with us, though we cannot bear with one another. For, says he, ‘One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind;’ that is, let every man take the utmost care to inform his conscience, according to the rule of God’s Word; and after he has done that, let him bear with other people, though they may not follow him in all things. And then, as the most prevailing and most cogent argument the apostle could possibly bring, to put an end to their divisions, he tells them, in the words of the text, that religion doth not consist in these things. ‘For,’ says he, ‘the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ As though he had said, My dear friends, beware of disputing, beware of dividing from one another on account of the circumstantials of religion, beware of receiving one another to doubtful disputations about meat or drink, or observing holydays. ‘For,’ says he, ‘the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’

This is a short, but when I read it, I think it is one of the most comprehensive verses in the whole book of God. And I am sure if ever it was necessary for a minister to preach upon such subjects as these, it must be in the days wherein we live; for, my friends, the devil is getting advantage over us by our manifold divisions. We have been settled upon our lees, we have had no outward persecution; and now God, in His righteous judgment, has suffered us to divide among ourselves. It is high time, therefore, for ministers to stand in the gap, to preach up a catholic spirit, to preach out bigotry, to preach out prejudice; for we will never be all of one mind, as long as we are in the world, about externals in religion; that is a privilege reserved to heaven, to a future state. But while we have different degrees of light, it is absolutely necessary that we should bear with all who cannot in all things follow with us. I am by no means for bringing the church into a state of anarchy and confusion;but that we should bear with one another: we should not divide from one another, so as not to keep fellowship with one another, because we are not of the same mind in some particular circumstances, I verily believe Jesus Christ suffers us to differ, to teach us that His kingdom is of a spiritual nature – it is not such a legal dispensation as the Jewish was;and therefore we should not divide about externals. Besides, by being left thus to differ with one another in our sentiments about externals, we learn to exercise our passive graces. I am sure there is one good effect which division has on my own and many other people’s hearts – it makes us long for heaven, where we shall be all of one mind and one heart. It will be our perfection in heaven, to be all of one heart; and therefore it must be our imperfection on earth to be divided.

There are two things which those who call themselves Christians, want much to be convinced of, namely, First, What religion is not; Second, What religion positively is. Both these are in the words of the text plainly taught, and therefore, as God shall enable me, I shall endeavour, 1st. To explain what you are to understand by ‘the kingdom of God;’ 2ndly, I shall endeavour to show that ‘the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;’ and 3rdly, I shall show you what ‘the kingdom of God’ positively is, namely, ‘righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’

The kingdom of God

Firstly, I am to explain to you what you are to understand by ‘the kingdom of God.’ By the kingdom of God in some places of Scripture, you are to understand no more than the outward preaching of the gospel, as, when the apostles went out and preached that ‘the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven was at hand.’ In other places of Scripture, you are to understand it as implying that work of grace, that inwardholiness, which is wrought in the heart of every soul that is truly converted and brought home to God. The Lord Jesus Christ is king of His church, and the Lord Jesus Christ has got a kingdom; and this kingdom is erected and set up in the hearts of sinners, when they are brought to be subject to the government of our dear Redeemer’s laws. In this sense, therefore, we are to understand the kingdom of God, when Jesus Christ said. The kingdom of God is within you,’ in your hearts; and when he tells Nicodemus, that ‘unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,’ he can have no notion of the inward life of a Christian. In other places of Scripture, the kingdom of God not only signifies the kingdom of grace, but the kingdom of grace and of glory also; as when Jesus said, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God;’ that is, either to be a true member of His mystical church here, or a partaker of the glory of the church triumphant hereafter. We are to take the kingdom of God in the text as signifying that inward work of grace, that kingdom which the Lord Jesus Christ sets up in the hearts of all that are truly brought home to God; so that when the apostle tells us, ‘The kingdom of God is not meat and drink,’ it is the same as though he had said, ‘My dear friends, do not quarrel about outward things; for the kingdom of God, or true and undefiled religion, heart and soul religion, is not meat and drink.’

What it is not

Secondly, by meat and drink, if we compare the text with the context, we are to understand no more than this, that the kingdom of God, or true religion, doth not consist in abstaining from a particular meat or drink. But I shall take the words in a more comprehensive sense, and shall endeavour to show you on this head, that the kingdom of God, or true and undefiled religion, doth not consist in any, no, not in all outward things, put them altogether.

The kingdom of God, or true and undefiled religion, doth not consist in being of this or that particular sect or communion. Perhaps, my dear friends, were many of you asked what reason you can give of the hope that is in you, what title you have to call yourselves Christians – perhaps you could say no more for yourselves than this, namely, that you belong to such a church, and worship God in the same way in which your fathers and mothers worshipped God before you; and perhaps, at the same time, you are so narrow in your thoughts, that you think none can worship God but those that worship God just in your way. It is certainly, my dear friends, a blessing to be born as you are, in a reformed church;it is certainly a blessing to have the outward government and discipline of the church exercised; but then, if you place religion merely in being of this or that sect – if you contend to monopolize or confine the grace of God to your particular party – if you rest in that, you place thekingdom of God in some thing in which it doth not consist – you might as well place it in meat and drink. There are certainly Christians among all sects and communions that have learned the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. I do not mean that there are Christians among Arians, Socinians, or those that deny the divinity of Jesus Christ – I am sure the devil is priest of such congregations as these; but I mean there are Christians among other sects that may differ from us in the outward worship of God. Therefore, my dear friends, learn to be more catholic, more unconfined in your notions; for if you place the kingdom of God merely in a sect, you place it in that in which it doth not consist.

Again: as the kingdom of God doth not consist in being of this or that sect, so neither doth it consist in being baptized when you were young. Baptism is certainly an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ – it ought certainly to be administered; but then, my dear friends, take care that you do not make a Christ of your baptism, for there have been many baptized with water as you were, who were never savingly baptized with the Holy Ghost. Paul had a great value for circumcision; but when he saw the Jews resting upon their circumcision, he told them circumcision was nothing, and uncircumcision was nothing, but a new creature. And yet most people live as if they thought it will be sufficient to entitle them to heaven, to tell Jesus Christ that their name was in the register-book of such and such a parish. Your name may be in the register-book, and yet at the same time not be in the book of life. Ananias and Sapphira were baptized – Simon Magus was baptized; and, therefore, if you place religion merely in being baptized, in having the outward washing of water, without receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you place the kingdom of God in something in which it doth not consist – in effect, you place it in meat and drink.

But further: as the kingdom of God and true religion doth not consist in being baptized, neither doth it consist in being orthodox in our notions, or being able to talk fluently of the doctrines of the gospel. There are a great many who can talk of free grace, of free justification, of final perseverance, of election, and God’s everlasting love. All these are precious truths – they are all connected in a chain; take away one link, and you spoil the whole chain of gospel truths. But then I am persuaded that there are many who talk of these truths, who preach up these truths, and yet at the same time never, never felt the power of these truths upon their hearts. It is a good thing to have a form of sound words; and I think you have got a form of sound words in your Larger and Shorter Catechism. But you may have orthodox heads, and yet you may have the devil in your hearts; you may have clear heads, you may be able to speak, as it were, with the tongues of men and angels, the doctrines of the gospel, but yet, at the same time, you may never have felt them upon your own souls. And if you have never felt the power of them upon your hearts, your talk of Christ and free justification, andhaving rational convictions of these truths, will but increase your condemnation, and you will only go to hell with so much more solemnity. Take care, therefore, of resting in a form of knowledge – it is dangerous; if you do, you place the kingdom of God in meat and drink.

Again: as the kingdom of God doth not consist in orthodox notions, much less doth it consist in being sincere. I know not what sort of religion we have got among us. I fear many ministers as well as people want to recommend themselves to God by their sincerity; they think, If we do all we can, if we are but sincere, Jesus Christ will have mercy upon us. But pray what is there in our sincerity to recommend us to God? There is no natural man in the world sincere, till God make us new creatures in Jesus Christ; and, therefore, if you depend upon your sincerity for your salvation, your sincerity will damn you.

Further: as the kingdom of God doth not consist merely in sincerity (for nothing will recommend us to God but the righteousness of Jesus Christ), neither doth it consist in being negatively good; and yet I believe, my dear friends, if many of you were to be visited by a minister when you are upon a death-bed, and if he were to ask you how you hope to be saved, why, you would say, Yes, you hoped to be saved; you never did man, woman, or child, any harm in your life; you have done nobody harm.

And, indeed, I do not find that the unprofitable servant did any one harm; no, the poor man, he only innocently wrapt up his talent in a napkin; and when his Lord came to call him to account, he thought he should be applauded by his Lord, and therefore introduces himself with the word, lo – ‘Lo, there thou hast what is thine.’ But what says Jesus Christ? ‘Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Suppose it to be true that you had done nobody harm, yet it will not avail you to salvation. If you bring forth only the fig leaves of an outward profession, and bring not forth good fruit, it will not send you to heaven – it will send you to hell.

Again: some of you perhaps may think I have not reached you yet;therefore I go on further to show you that the kingdom of God doth not consist in a dry, lifeless morality. I am not speaking against morality -it is a blessed thing when Jesus Christ is laid as the foundation of it; and I could heartily wish that you moral gentlemen, who are for talking so much of your morality, I wish we could see a little more of it than we do. I do not cry down morality, but so far as this, that you do not rest in your morality, that you do not think you are Christians because you are not vicious – because you now and then do some good action. Why, self-love will carry a man to perform all moral actions. A man, perhaps, will not get drunk for fear of making his head ache; a man may be honest, because it would spoil his reputation to steal. And so a man who has not the love of God in his heart, may do moral actions. But if you depend on morality, if you make a Christ of it, and go about to establish a righteousness of your own, and think your morality will recommendyou to God, my dear friends, you are building upon a rotten foundation;you will find yourselves mistaken, and that the kingdom of God is not in your hearts.

Again: as the kingdom of God doth not consist in doing nobody hurt, nor in doing moral actions, neither doth it consist in attending upon all outward ordinances whatsoever. A great many of you may think that you go to church, and receive the sacrament once or twice a year (though I do think that is too seldom by a great deal to have it administered), you may read your Bibles, you may have family worship, you may say your prayers in your closets, and yet at the same time, my dear friends, know nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ in your hearts. You may have a token, and receive the sacrament, and perhaps at the same time be eating and drinking your own damnation. I speak this, because it is a most fatal snare that poor professors are exposed to – we stop our consciences by our duties. Many of you, perhaps, lead a lukewarm, loose life – you are Gallio-like; yet you will be very good the sacrament week; you will attend all the sermons, and come to the sacrament; you will be very good for some time after that, and then afterwards go on in your former way till the next sacrament. You are resting on the means of grace all the while, and placing religion in that which is only a mean of religion. I speak from mine own experience. I know how much I was deceived with a form of godliness. I made conscience of fasting twice a week, I made conscience of praying sometimes nine times a day, and received the sacrament every Sabbath day, and yet knew nothing of inward religion in my heart, till God was pleased to dart a ray of light into my soul, and show me I must be a new creature, or be damned for evermore. Being, therefore, so long deceived myself, I speak with the more sympathy to you, who are resting on a round of duties and model of performances. And now, my friends, if your hearts were to be searched, and you were to speak your minds, I appeal to your own hearts whether you are not thinking within yourselves, though you may have so much charity as to think I mean well, yet I verily believe many of you think I have carried matters a little too far; and why is this, but because I come close to some of your cases? The pride of your hearts does not care to admit of conviction; therefore you would fain retort on the preacher, and say he is wrong, whereas it is your hearts that are wrong all the while.

Others, again, perhaps may be saying, Well, if a man may go thus far and not be a Christian, as I am sure he may, and a great deal farther, you will be apt to cry out. Who, then, can be saved? And O that I could hear you asking this question in earnest! for I am obliged, wherever I go, to endeavour to plough up people’s fallow ground; to bring them off from their duties, and making a Christ of them. There are so many shadows in religion, that if you do not take care, ye will grasp at the shadow and lose the substance. The devil has so ordered the affairs of the church now, and our hearts are so desperately deceitful, that if we do not take agreat deal of care, we shall come short of true religion – of the true kingdom of God in the soul. The great question, then, is, whether any of you are convinced of what has been said? Does power come with the word? When I was reading a book, entitled The Life of God in the Soul of Man * and reading that a man may read, pray, and go to church, and be constant in the duties of the Sabbath, and yet not be a Christian, I wondered what the man would be at; I was ready to throw it from me till at last he told me, that religion was a union of the soul with God -the image of God wrought upon the heart, or Christ Jesus formed in us. Then God was pleased with these words to cast a ray of light into mysoul; with the light there came a power, and from that very moment knew I must be a new creature. This perhaps may be your case, my dearhearers. Perchance many of you may be loving, good-natured people and attend the duties of religion; but take care, for Christ’s sake, that you do not rest on these things.I think I cannot sum up what has been said better, than to give you the character of the apostle Paul.

Are you a Christian, do you think, because you are of this or that sect? – Paul was a Jew and a Pharisee. Are you a Christian because you are baptized, and enjoy Christian privileges? -Then Paul was circumcised. Are you a Christian because you do nobody hurt, and are sincere? – Paul was blameless before his conversion; and was not a Gallio in religion, as many of us are: he was so zealous for God, that he persecuted the church of Christ. But yet when God was pleased to reveal His Son in him, when God was pleased to strike him to the ground, and let him see what heart-religion was, then Paul dropped his false confidence immediately; those things which he counted gain, which he depended on before, he now counted loss, that he might win Christ, and be found in Him; not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by faith in Christ Jesus. It is time, my dear friends, to proceed to,

What it really is

Thirdly, the next thing proposed, namely, to show you what the kingdom of God, or true religion, positively is. I have told you what it is not; I shall now proceed to show you what it is. It is ‘righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ But before I proceed to this, I must make a little digression. Perhaps curiosity has brought many here who have neither regard to God nor man. A man may be a member of the purest church, a man may be baptized, do nobody harm, do a great deal of good, attend on all the ordinances of Christianity, and yet at the same time may be a child of the devil. If a man may go thus far, and ye at the same time miss salvation, what will become of you who do not keep up a form of religion, who scarcely know the time when you have*This must have been Scougal’s well-known workbeen at church and attending sermons, unless curiosity brought you to hear a particular stranger? What will become of you who, instead of believing the gospel and reading the Bible, set up your corrupt religion in opposition to divine revelation? What will become of you, who count it your pleasure to riot in the day time, to spend time in rioting and wantonness; who are sitting in the scorner’s chair, and joining with your hellish companions, who love to dress the children of God in bearskins? What will become of you who live in acts of uncleanness, drunkenness, adultery. Sabbath-breaking? Surely, without repentance, you will be lost – your damnation slumbereth not. God may bear with you long, but He will not forbear always. The time will come when He will ease Himself of His adversaries, and then you will be undone for evermore, unless you come to Him as poor, lost sinners.But I now go on to show you what true religion positively is; ‘it is righteousness,’ it is ‘peace,’ it is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost.’

First, the kingdom of God is ‘righteousness.’ By righteousness we are here to understand the complete, perfect, and all-sufficient righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, as including both His active and His passive obedience. My dear friends, we have no righteousness of our own; our best righteousnesses, take them altogether, are but as so many filthy rags; we can only be accepted for the sake of the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. This righteousness must be imputed and made over to us, and applied to our hearts; and till we get this righteousness brought home to our souls, we are in a state of death and damnation – the wrath of God abideth on us.

Before I go farther, I would endeavour to apply this. Give me leave to put this question to your hearts. You call yourselves Christians, and would count me uncharitable to call it in question; but I exhort you to let conscience speak out, do not bribe it any longer. Did you ever see yourselves as damned sinners? Did conviction ever fasten upon your hearts? And after you had been made to see your want of Christ, and made to hunger and thirst after righteousness, did you lay hold on Christ by faith? Did you ever close with Christ? Was Christ’s righteousness ever put upon your naked souls? Was ever a feeling application of His righteousness made to your hearts? Was it, or was it not? If not, you are in a damnable state – you are out of Christ; for the apostle says here, ‘The kingdom of God is righteousness;’ that is, the righteousness of Christ applied and brought home to the heart.It follows, ‘peace.’ ‘The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace.’ By peace I do not understand that false peace, or rather carnal security, into which so many are fallen. There are thousands who speak peace to themselves, when there is no peace. Thousands have got a peace of the devil’s making; the strong man armed has got possession of their hearts, and therefore their goods are all in peace. But the peace here spoken of is a peace that follows after a great deal of soul trouble; it is like thatcalm which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the wind, ‘Peace, be still; and immediately there was a great calm;’ it is like that peace which Christ spoke to His disciples, when He came and said, ‘Peace be unto you’ -‘My peace I leave with you.’ It is a peace of God’s making, it is a peace of God’s giving, it is a peace that the world cannot give, it is a peace that can be felt, it is a peace that passeth human understanding – it is a peace that results from a sense of having Christ’s righteousness brought home to the soul. For a poor soul before this is full of trouble; Christ makes application of His righteousness to his heart; and then the poor creature being justified by faith, hath peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. My dear friends, I am now talking of heart-religion, of an inward work of God, an inward kingdom in your hearts, which you must have or you shall never sit with Jesus Christ in His kingdom. The most of you may have peace, but for Christ’s sake examine upon what this peace isfounded – see if Christ be brought home to your souls, if you have had a feeling application of the merits of Christ brought home to your souls. Is God at peace with you? Did Jesus Christ ever say, ‘Peace be to you – ‘Be of good cheer’ – ‘Go thy way, thy sins are forgiven thee’ – ‘My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you”? Did God ever bring a comfortable promise with power to your soul? And after you have been praying, and fearing you would be damned, did you ever feel peace flow in like a river upon your soul? so that you could say, Now I know that God is my friend, now I know that Jesus is my Saviour, now I can call Him, ‘My Lord, and my God;’ now I know that Christ hath not only died for others, but I know that Jesus hath died for me in particular. O my dear friends, it is impossible to tell you the comfort of this peace and I am astonished (only man’s heart is desperately wicked) how you can have peace one moment, and yet not know that God is at peace with you. How can you go to bed this night without this peace? It is a blessed thing to know when sin is forgiven; would you not be glad if an angel were to come and tell you so this night?

But there is something more – there is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost.’ I have often thought, that if the apostle Paul were to come and preach now, he would be reckoned one of the greatest enthusiasts on earth. He talked of the Holy Ghost, of feeling the Holy Ghost; and so we must all feel it, all experience it, all receive it, or we can never see a holy God with comfort. We are not to receive the Holy Ghost, so as to enable us to work miracles; for, ‘Many will say in that day, We have cast out

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