SPEAKER_00: Have you ever noticed that we never get up in the morning and hear the news or read the news whichever way you choose to do it, expecting to hear that everything is just great and wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: We actually expect the opposite of that.
SPEAKER_00: We want to know what's wrong with the world.
SPEAKER_00: We want to know the T, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: We we expect war.
SPEAKER_00: We expect political division.
SPEAKER_00: We expect crime to hear about, you know, what happened on the streets last night.
SPEAKER_00: We expect another tragedy.
SPEAKER_00: Somewhere along the way, we've become accustomed to living in a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't tell us to ignore those things.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell us to forget about or overlook the brokenness, nor simply to complain about it.
SPEAKER_00: But he does teach us to pray about it, which is what we pray for when we pray, Your kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Lord, come and make things right.
SPEAKER_00: Make right what sin has made wrong.
SPEAKER_00: As we continue looking at the Lord's Prayer, we come to the second petition, Your Kingdom Come.
SPEAKER_00: The first petition was, Hallowed be your name.
SPEAKER_00: That's a prayer that God would be honored.
SPEAKER_00: The second is your kingdom come, which is a prayer that God's rule would be embraced.
SPEAKER_00: We don't simply want people to acknowledge his name.
SPEAKER_00: We want them to gladly submit to his name or submit to his reign.
SPEAKER_00: Not only do we ask that people would magnify God as God, but that they would also submit to God as God.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God can sometimes be misunderstood because we're tempted to think of it as merely heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Some people assume that praying, your kingdom come, simply means praying for heaven to come.
SPEAKER_00: And that's understandable because heaven is understood to be the place of God's abode.
SPEAKER_00: It's where he rules and reigns.
SPEAKER_00: Now, and there is indeed some overlap between heaven and the kingdom of God, as we will see.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, sometimes in the scriptures, it is referred to as the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of God is more than heaven alone.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: What exactly are we praying for to come when we pray your kingdom come?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first, it is a petition, it is not a declaration.
SPEAKER_00: We are not just declaring something.
SPEAKER_00: We are asking for something to happen.
SPEAKER_00: We are asking for his kingdom to come.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you this helpful definition.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is God's saving reign inaugurated through Jesus Christ, already at work in the world, but not yet fully realized.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read that again.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is God's saving reign inaugurated through Jesus Christ, already at work in the world, but not yet fully realized.
SPEAKER_00: There are two things that this definition is answering.
SPEAKER_00: What is the kingdom and when is the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: What it is, is God's rule and his reign established through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: When it is, is both present and future, or as some people like to say, already and not yet.
SPEAKER_00: Now, someone, maybe you, might question, well, hasn't God always been ruling and reigning?
SPEAKER_00: If he is sovereign, doesn't he already rule and control all things?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we praying for that to come?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it is true, Psalm 115.
SPEAKER_00: It is true that he rules, but the kingdom of God is not only what's true, it is also what is realized or what is established.
SPEAKER_00: For example, let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say you were left an inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some rich uncle or maybe some rich friend left you some money, and let's say that money is there sitting in a bank somewhere with your name on it.
SPEAKER_00: And let's also say the news hasn't gotten to you yet.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know about this money that is in your name.
SPEAKER_00: You have yet to realize this truth.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the fact that it's there and yet you don't know about it doesn't make it any less true.
SPEAKER_00: The money is really there.
SPEAKER_00: You have yet just yet to realize it yet.
SPEAKER_00: And even when you do realize that it's there, it means nothing until you take hold of it, until you you have it in your bank account.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, the kingdom of God has always been true.
SPEAKER_00: It is true that God has always been ruling and he's always been reigning, and that he's always been directing all things according to his own glory.
SPEAKER_00: But when we pray, your kingdom come, we are praying for that to be realized.
SPEAKER_00: We are praying for that to be taken hold of, not only by us, but by all of the nations.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for it to be known in the hearts and in the minds of men, and furthermore, for that to be known through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reason the kingdom of God is referred to more in the New Testament than the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Because it is God's rule and reign, yes it is, but it is his rule and reign through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 28, Jesus is accused by the Pharisees of using the power of Belzebub, the prince of demons, to cast out demons.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what his reply was in Matthew 28, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, if I'm casting out these demons by God's Spirit, if it is God truly doing this, not Belzebub, then this means that the kingdom of God has come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the elements of the kingdom of God in this one small verse.
SPEAKER_00: There is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who is casting out demons.
SPEAKER_00: There is the power and the authority of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is seen in God's power over Satan.
SPEAKER_00: And then there is also this present and visible realization of this manifestation that is being witnessed and being seen by the people who are around and seeing Jesus cast out these demons.
SPEAKER_00: So why does Jesus tell us to pray for all of this?
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to pray your kingdom come?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's what we're going to be spending our remaining time answering this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to answer it in these three ways.
SPEAKER_00: To pray your kingdom come, number one, is to pray that his kingdom would rule our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, that his kingdom would advance in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, that his kingdom or his future kingdom or his coming kingdom, however you want to put that, would arrive.
SPEAKER_00: That his coming kingdom would arrive.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at that first one.
SPEAKER_00: That his kingdom would rule our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke chapter 17, verse 20, we read this.
SPEAKER_00: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, Look, here it is, or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
SPEAKER_00: You remember the Jews in Jesus' day believed that the kingdom of God would come politically.
SPEAKER_00: They believed that the kingdom of God would be a political kingdom, one where God would set up an earthly kingdom with an earthly king or Messiah to reign and rule on their behalf.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus had to correct their thinking.
SPEAKER_00: As he says, the kingdom of God would not come in ways to be observed.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning, you're not going to recognize it by or through an army coming to overthrow your oppressors or to overthrow Rome, nor will you recognize it by earthly peace and prosperity.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they expected.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews were expecting God to come and do.
SPEAKER_00: They expected the kingdom of God to look like him coming to overthrow their enemies.
SPEAKER_00: They believe God will restore Israel to national independence and back to the glory days of David and Solomon.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said to them, he told them, the kingdom of God is not going to look like that.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, your king is here.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than waiting for an earthly king to come and rule your land, God has sent you a heavenly king to come and rule your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom that you're seeking, Israel, is too small in scope.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're seeking, you're seeking, and you're looking for an earthly kingdom that can be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: But God is inaugurating this heavenly kingdom that will reign forever.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying, that kingdom is here.
SPEAKER_00: It is among you, it is in your midst.
SPEAKER_00: Will you believe in me and will you allow me to bring you into this wonderful kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 1, Colossians 1 13 says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone belongs to one of two kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: You either belong to the kingdom of darkness or you belong to the kingdom of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And some might say, Well, I choose neither.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you don't have a choice.
SPEAKER_00: You have to reside somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't reside in God's kingdom, then you remain in the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: You remain in a kingdom where sin rules your heart, where Satan oppresses your life.
SPEAKER_00: And God, in his goodness, might restrain the devil for a while or for a time, but in that kingdom, you are not promised any security.
SPEAKER_00: Security and safety only come by residing in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And how do you reside in this kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: How do you get into this kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we just read.
SPEAKER_00: The text says you must be delivered.
SPEAKER_00: You must be delivered from one kingdom, and you must be transferred to another kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God through Jesus Christ must rescue you from the domain of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And he must bring you into his own kingdom, this kingdom of light.
SPEAKER_00: And he does this through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: By believing and receiving his work on the cross, you are delivered and transferred into a new kingdom, the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a Christian, that is you.
SPEAKER_00: You are now a citizen of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Your allegiance no longer belongs to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Neither does your allegiance belong to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You have died to sin and you now live to Christ, which means that your allegiance now belongs to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is the king of your new kingdom, which you belong to.
SPEAKER_00: Which further means you must submit to him.
SPEAKER_00: You must submit to his rule.
SPEAKER_00: You must submit to his lordship.
SPEAKER_00: He must have authority, complete authority over your life.
SPEAKER_00: So if this is already true, why do we pray for it to come?
SPEAKER_00: If the kingdom of God is already in our midst, and if we if we're Christians, if we have believed and received Jesus, why do we need to continue to pray that it come?
SPEAKER_00: Hasn't it already come when we said a prayer, when we got baptized?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need to pray for it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer to those questions are yes, the kingdom of God has come.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, the kingdom of God is already in your midst.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, if you're a Christian, you are living and breathing in the kingdom of God today.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: Does your life reflect this?
SPEAKER_00: The answer again to all those questions is yes, you're there.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you're a citizen, yes, you Jesus is your Lord and your master.
SPEAKER_00: But the question for you is can you examine your life and say, my life reflects this?
SPEAKER_00: Can you say that you are a good citizen in the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: Can you say that Christ truly rules your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Do you submit to his lordship?
SPEAKER_00: Not just on Sundays or when you pray and have morning devotions, but can you honestly say that Christ, that Jesus, rules every area of your life from morning to evening, not just today, but also tomorrow, not only when things are good, but also when things are bad, not only in health, but also in sickness, not only in prosperity, but also in poverty, or vice versa.
SPEAKER_00: Now you see why we need to pray for his kingdom to come.
SPEAKER_00: This is a prayer for him to work in our lives so much so that our lives would begin to reflect us living under his rule or under his lordship.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're honest, our lives don't always show that.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, our lives often show us living for ourselves and being mastered by sin and giving allegiance to our passions and submitting to the world.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we must pray, Your kingdom come, Lord, let your kingdom come and rule my heart every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that look like as we live our lives?
SPEAKER_00: What is some tangible evidence of this?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in Romans 14, 17, we read this for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul here points out three things that mark the kingdom of God, which means these three things also must mark the citizens of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: The first is righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: To pray your kingdom come is to pray that God would grant us the righteousness of Christ, that he would enable us and empower us to walk in his ways, that we seek not a righteousness of our own, but we seek a righteousness that comes by faith, and that we live our lives accordingly.
SPEAKER_00: That we be obedient to the Father, just like Jesus was, that we resist sin and the devil just like he did, that we serve one another and love one another, just like he showed.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of darkness is not equal or is not the equal opposite of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, sometimes we're tempted to think that that this kingdom that we live in has such a stronghold on our life that that it's it's actually sometimes even stronger or pulling us stronger to its kingdom than the kingdom of God is.
SPEAKER_00: But no, if we are truly citizens in the kingdom of God, then that kingdom has priority.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the kingdom that we walk in, and that is why we pray, Lord, let me live this life of righteousness, this righteousness that you have given me.
SPEAKER_00: A second thing, according to Paul's message here, is that we pray that we live in peace.
SPEAKER_00: Righteousness, not only righteousness, but also in peace, that that we remain in peace, which is, as we know, not always easy in a chaotic world where the devil is working against our peace.
SPEAKER_00: Through Christ's death and his resurrection, we have to understand that this kingdom of darkness that is always working against us.
SPEAKER_00: It's it has already been crushed.
SPEAKER_00: We are just waiting for that final consummation of it.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we're just waiting for God's kingdom to come in its fullness and sweep up the mess.
SPEAKER_00: I say that to say that this world, again, is not as powerful as the devil deceives us into thinking it is.
SPEAKER_00: His deception will be to us that righteousness is not ours, that peace is not ours, and that those things are out of our reach.
SPEAKER_00: He will show you that that your circumstances and your failures and your hardships prove that righteousness and peace is impossible.
SPEAKER_00: But that is not the truth.
SPEAKER_00: These things belong to the believer.
SPEAKER_00: Peace belongs to the believer because the believer belongs to the kingdom of peace.
SPEAKER_00: So we pray for it.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for it to come, we pray for it to be realized and established in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: To pray your kingdom come is to pray for God's peace to come into your life and rule your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And thirdly, as Paul says, it is a kingdom of joy.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes places or cities or areas start to develop these reputations, right?
SPEAKER_00: The South, some people will say is known as a place of southern hospitality.
SPEAKER_00: Like South is known where people or people are known in the South to be hospitable.
SPEAKER_00: You might say, not the people I know in the South, but that is the that is some the saying anyway.
SPEAKER_00: In the Midwest, there's a thing, and I just found this out recently, as Midwest nice.
SPEAKER_00: There's people that are nice in the Midwest.
SPEAKER_00: In Philly, they're known for being rude.
SPEAKER_00: I remember being a cowboy fan years ago in the Philadelphia Eagles, booed Michael Irvin when he ended his career.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, people and places build reputations.
SPEAKER_00: And you can sometimes tell where people are from by their demeanor, by their attitude.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the kingdom of God likewise has a reputation.
SPEAKER_00: The citizens of the kingdom of God should be joyful people.
SPEAKER_00: Christians of all people should have the most joyous hearts on the planet because we know what we have been rescued from.
SPEAKER_00: We've experienced the love of God for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And as the text says, we've been enabled to walk in joy through the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Only the Holy Spirit could empower us to find joy like we have.
SPEAKER_00: Joy in the midst of storms, in the midst of trials.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we pray for it.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we seek it.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we ask for it to come.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for King Jesus to rule someone's heart?
SPEAKER_00: It looks like someone or a person who is walking in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: And as we know, we can't get there through our own efforts.
SPEAKER_00: We can't get there by trying hard enough.
SPEAKER_00: So we pray for it, Lord, let your kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: Let it come now and rule my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Let me, Lord, submit to your rule, to your authority, and to your reign.
SPEAKER_00: Next.
SPEAKER_00: It is also a prayer that his kingdom would advance in the world.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 24, 14, we read this.
SPEAKER_00: And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
SPEAKER_00: Praying your kingdom come is not only a prayer that his kingdom be established in our hearts, but that his kingdom be established and advanced in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And this will happen through proclamation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus calls it the gospel here in Matthew, the gospel of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The good news of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: There is good news of the kingdom that must be proclaimed throughout the earth.
SPEAKER_00: So that the kingdom would be advanced and that the kingdom would break into this world.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is telling us to pray for.
SPEAKER_00: This is a petition for transformation.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just a prayer that more people decide to follow Jesus or that more people be baptized, although we pray for those things.
SPEAKER_00: Though it's not less than that, it is more than that.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just want to see inward conversions.
SPEAKER_00: What we want to see is outward conversions.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see transformation.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see things change.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see the forces of the devil being pushed back in our world.
SPEAKER_00: Because what we see in our world every single day looks a lot like the devil's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We see his hand of oppression everywhere we look.
SPEAKER_00: We see it in our youth.
SPEAKER_00: We see it in our marriages.
SPEAKER_00: We see it every time we hear or read the news.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and sometimes, maybe you've been here before.
SPEAKER_00: Things get so bad in our world or in our lives, we might pray, Lord, go ahead and just take me away from all of this.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I don't want to live here anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to live in this sad world anywhere more.
SPEAKER_00: But notice the prayer is not, let me go to your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The prayer is let your kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: We want God's kingdom to be realized in this world.
SPEAKER_00: We want it to come.
SPEAKER_00: And we want it to overthrow every other kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We want it to overthrow the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to retreat from the world.
SPEAKER_00: We want to advance on the world.
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom is not shrieking back, it is pushing forward.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray that it does so more and more every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel chapter 7, verse 27 says, And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're asking for, that God's kingdom would come and overthrow every other kingdom, and that mankind would submit themselves to a new rule, not Satan, not themselves, not their own sinful passions, but to our God through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: J.C.
SPEAKER_00: Ross says this is a prayer that our desire that the power of Satan may be speedily be cast down, and that all mankind may acknowledge God as their lawful king, and that the kingdom of this world may become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when we think about it like that, this prayer is going to direct many of our other prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we want to see his kingdom come and the kingdom of God advanced in our world, then we need to pray for things that are going to advance the kingdom in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Which means we're going to need to pray for things like more missionaries to be sent out into the world.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to need to pray for more evangelists to be raised up.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for churches to be planted, for the body of Christ to be strengthened.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that the truth might be proclaimed from our pulpits.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that false doctrine be silenced, that the church be united in the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Because these are the things and these are the means by which the gospel goes forth.
SPEAKER_00: And when the gospel goes forth, then the kingdom of God advances.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's very popular in our day to believe that we can Christianize the world through political means.
SPEAKER_00: So what we have is half the church investing half or more of their time working and seeking and thinking about how we can strengthen the political arm that will advance the Christian cause.
SPEAKER_00: In many ways, we want what the Jews did in their day.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see an earthly king establish an earthly kingdom who will come and crush our enemies.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see, look, here it is, and there it is.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see a kingdom of eating and drinking.
SPEAKER_00: Who cares about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit as long as we win?
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, politics are important, and we should care about things like justice and the rule of law and keeping our freedoms as a way of advancing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Those things have their place, but too many Christians care more about advancing their country than they do the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Or even worse, they conflate the two, as if their country is the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: But remember, Christ's kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_00: His kingdom is spiritual and it will be advanced through spiritual means.
SPEAKER_00: It will be advanced through prayer and through the proclamation of the gospel and through discipleship and through the ordinances and through your service and love for one another.
SPEAKER_00: Never think that those things are insignificant.
SPEAKER_00: The track you handed out, that encouraging text that you sent, that service that you did for your neighbor, the offering that you gave to your church, that prayer that you prayed for your friend or family member, these things slowly advance the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now they might not make headlines, and no one but you might ever know about it, but they are slowly but surely planting seeds into the growth of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 430 says, And he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
SPEAKER_00: It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.
SPEAKER_00: God is doing things in your families, in your neighborhoods, in your cities, and throughout the world that we can't see with our eyes at the moment.
SPEAKER_00: He is growing his kingdom every single day, and he is using people like you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the parable in Mark is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus started proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom with just a few, with just a handful, with just twelve.
SPEAKER_00: And when he went to the cross, he didn't even have those twelve.
SPEAKER_00: But there in Jerusalem, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the gospel started to be proclaimed with just a few, with just a handful.
SPEAKER_00: And in the book of Acts, we see that it started to spread from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And today, today we have people all across this globe serving and worshiping the one true God through Jesus Christ in their own language.
SPEAKER_00: What started out as small as a mustard seed in a small region of Galilee has grown into this large garden that is seen throughout the world and it continues to grow today.
SPEAKER_00: And how does he how does he grow it?
SPEAKER_00: What is his seed?
SPEAKER_00: What is he using to grow this garden?
SPEAKER_00: He's using the saints.
SPEAKER_00: He's using you and your prayers for your kingdom to come.
SPEAKER_00: He's using your your love for your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: He's using your your evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: He's using the time that you pray for one another to advance the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: When we pray, your kingdom come, we pray that his kingdom will continue to grow and spread and advance throughout the world.
SPEAKER_00: Next and lastly, a prayer for his kingdom to come is to pray that his coming kingdom would arrive.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Matthew 25, verse 31.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 25, 31, we read, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne, before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left, and the king will say to those on the right, Come, you who are blessed by the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: So even though the kingdom of God was inaugurated at the first coming of Christ, it will be consummated at his second coming.
SPEAKER_00: When we read the New Testament, the New Testament seems to speak of the kingdom of God as both something that is here already and something that is yet to come.
SPEAKER_00: From the time of Christ there has been a progressive advancement of the kingdom of God, and it will keep advancing and keep growing until it's fully realized and fully consummated at the second coming of Christ, when the powers of Satan are fully and finally eliminated.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel Chapter 2, verse 44 says, And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.
SPEAKER_00: It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.
SPEAKER_00: Theologian Hermann Ritterboss puts it this way The kingdom's final manifestation belongs to the Perusa, meaning Christ's second coming, when all the powers hostile to God shall be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're waiting for.
SPEAKER_00: We're waiting for Jesus to come and to destroy the powers of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: The second coming of Christ is rarely talked about anymore in our days or in our churches, but the church throughout history has always looked forward and have always hoped for this great day when Jesus will come again.
SPEAKER_00: That day when he will come back and he will make things new.
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily the day when we go to him, but that day when he comes to us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when we read the Bible, and there's a lot of people who are interested in Revelation and the apocalyptic literature of scriptures, and Christians are tempted to read these passages that speak of Christ's return strictly as warnings for the loss, as judgment for the loss and warnings and threatenings.
SPEAKER_00: But remember, the scriptures were primarily written to believers.
SPEAKER_00: They were written to Christians.
SPEAKER_00: When John was on the island of Patmos, he was writing to other Christians.
SPEAKER_00: While there certainly are warnings for the loss, that judgment will come, that judgment is coming for those who reject him.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose of these passages is to bring hope to the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: The consequence of only focusing, when we read those scriptures, of only focusing on the fear is missing out on the hope.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation was written to Christians who were being thrown into prison and to Christians who were being beheaded and who were being persecuted for their faith.
SPEAKER_00: There were real forces of evil who were oppressing them in their day and who were threatening them and their families.
SPEAKER_00: So they longed for Jesus to come and end their suffering.
SPEAKER_00: So when we read these apocalyptic literatures and scriptures of the earth being destroyed and stars falling and powers being overthrown, we should read them as Jesus coming to our rescue.
SPEAKER_00: What we're doing is we're reading the good guy winning.
SPEAKER_00: The persecuted church understood this.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we might not read the scriptures the same way is because we're possibly too comfortable to.
SPEAKER_00: We need to refind what they had, a little uneasiness of living in this world.
SPEAKER_00: The longing to see our Lord come and crush our enemies.
SPEAKER_00: For Jesus to come and overthrow evil, for him to come and make everything that's wrong in this world right again.
SPEAKER_00: We need to find that hunger to return to him, for him to return to us, for us to get back to the garden, to return to paradise where we were once in this great fellowship with our Maker.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian lives with this tension of being thankful for every good and perfect gift that God has bestowed on us here in this life.
SPEAKER_00: It is right to enjoy the things that God has given us, the good things like family and food and leisure and the arts and the beauty of creation and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: But we also know how good those things are.
SPEAKER_00: There's something better.
SPEAKER_00: That this is not our home.
SPEAKER_00: That we are citizens of another kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And we long for that kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're given constant reminders of that, all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Reminders that we don't belong here.
SPEAKER_00: We may not see it like the early church did with intense persecution.
SPEAKER_00: But we do see it with the effects of sin in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We see it when we see what sin does to marriages, and we see what sin does to our families and our health and our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: We see it when we see how sin makes us harm one another and hurt one another, how it's responsible for death.
SPEAKER_00: Sin and its consequences belong to this kingdom, and they're everywhere, and it's prevalent in this kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: But sin and its consequences will not be found in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: None of the effects of sin will be there.
SPEAKER_00: First Corinthians 15, 24.
SPEAKER_00: Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom of God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
SPEAKER_00: For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.
SPEAKER_00: The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for God has put all things in subjection under his feet.
SPEAKER_00: But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is expected, it is plain that he is expected who put all things in subjected under him.
SPEAKER_00: When all things are subjected to him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjected under Him, that God may be all in all.
SPEAKER_00: Every power, every authority will be subjected to the great King.
SPEAKER_00: And if you had if we had some time this morning, you can probably name all of your enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Sickness, pain, hurt, depression, failure, loss, worry, doubt.
SPEAKER_00: And there are times in the dark of night when you have no idea how you're gonna get the better of that enemy.
SPEAKER_00: You have no idea how you're gonna defeat this enemy.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, you believe that this enemy is gonna defeat you.
SPEAKER_00: The power over you, the enemy's power over you, seems too difficult to defeat.
SPEAKER_00: But believer, hear the promise of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There will come a day when his kingdom comes and destroys every authority and power.
SPEAKER_00: Those things that you feel subjected to will finally be subjected to him.
SPEAKER_00: And if we believe this, if we honestly believe this, shouldn't we be asking for it to come quickly?
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't we ask for his kingdom to come today, not tomorrow?
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't we long for the day when Jesus returns?
SPEAKER_00: What a wonderful day it will be for the believer.
SPEAKER_00: It will be a glorious day.
SPEAKER_00: Not for the unbeliever, which should draw out our urgency to share the gospel with those whom we love.
SPEAKER_00: It should make us and quicken our hearts to make a phone call or send a text to let people know that, hey, by the way, I'm praying for something.
SPEAKER_00: That's good news for me, but it's not good news for you yet.
SPEAKER_00: It could be good news for you.
SPEAKER_00: But when the kingdom of God comes, it's gonna be bad news for the unbeliever.
SPEAKER_00: It will be a day of judgment, it will be a horrible day for those who submit, who don't submit to God and Jesus Christ as their Lord.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be one of his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: And as we read, they will fall like his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're a quick, if you're a Christian, as we close, I want you to ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you pray for his kingdom to come?
SPEAKER_00: That is, do you pray that God would rule your heart through Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: That he will lead you and empower you more and more every day to submit to his will, to his authority, to his word.
SPEAKER_00: That he will lead you in all these things.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're honest, there are other authorities in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And these authorities try to rule our day.
SPEAKER_00: Our flesh will try to rule us every day.
SPEAKER_00: Our anger will try to rule us, our jealousy will try to rule us, our envy, our lust, our fears, our worries, our doubts.
SPEAKER_00: And when we submit to those things, what happens is we become their servants.
SPEAKER_00: But as Paul says in Romans 8.2, the law of the Spirit has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what a law is.
SPEAKER_00: A law is something that we obey.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, you are free from that law.
SPEAKER_00: You are free from obeying the laws of this kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to obey them.
SPEAKER_00: You no longer need to submit to them because you don't reside in this kingdom anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You have a new king and you belong to a new kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And this king that is king of your new kingdom says to you that his burden is light.
SPEAKER_00: This king is not a cruel taskmaster that the devil is.
SPEAKER_00: He's not an oppressor, he's a liberator.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't seek to harm you, he seeks to do you good.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't hope for your failure.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to help you succeed.
SPEAKER_00: Pray, Christian, for that to be realized every single day in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: But also pray that his kingdom would be advanced in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Pray that people from every tribe and nation and tongue will bow and pay homage to the King of Kings.
SPEAKER_00: That the powers of this kingdom would be diminished as the kingdom of God breaks more and more into our world.
SPEAKER_00: Do we want to see some things that we hate in our country be overturned?
SPEAKER_00: And we need to pray for more Christians.
SPEAKER_00: We need to pray that people be that more and more people become Christians rather than focusing all our time on legislation.
SPEAKER_00: We need to pray for more and more evangelism and discipleship and that people turn their hearts from darkness to light.
SPEAKER_00: Because the light overcomes the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: We need to pray that the gospel goes forth unhindered in our world, unhindered in our families.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for things like the safety of our missionaries that are in hard places.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for more church plants to be established.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for established churches that are there already to grow even stronger and be united around the word and the sacrament and the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And we also pray for the consummation of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for King Jesus to return soon.
SPEAKER_00: Pray that he will come and wipe away every tear of ours, that he will come and end all of our suffering, and that he comes and finally does away with sin and all of its effects.
SPEAKER_00: John MacArthur was once asked, what is it that he looks forward to when he gets to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: And you know, when people are asked that, they'll think of a number of things.
SPEAKER_00: They'll say, Well, I look forward to the streets of gold, I look forward to the mansions that are prepared for us, I look forward to not being sick anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And those are all great things.
SPEAKER_00: But his answer was I look forward to not being around sin anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Because I hate sin.
SPEAKER_00: And I hate what it does.
SPEAKER_00: I hate what it does to me, my heart, I hate what it does to my neighbor, I hate what it does to our world.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to a day with no more sin.
SPEAKER_00: Let me close with this scripture, Revelation 22, verse 1 through 5, and then verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the streets of the city.
SPEAKER_00: Also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit each month.
SPEAKER_00: The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
SPEAKER_00: No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
SPEAKER_00: They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more.
SPEAKER_00: There will need no lamp, light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: He who testifies of these things says, Surely I am coming.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.