Observing The Kingdom

Please turn your Bible to Luke 17. We'll continue with this preaching series through Luke and Luke 17. Passage speaking of the kingdom of God when you have that please stand for the reading of God's Word.

I'll read verses 20 all the way to 37 but we will only be looking up to verse 25 today. 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. And he said to the disciples the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and You will not see it and they will say to you look there or look here.

Not go out and follow them for as the lightning Flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Just as it was in the days of Noah So will it be in the days of the Son of Man? They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given a marriage. Until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise just as it was in the days of lot. They were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building. But on the day when lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.

So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed on that day? Let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away and likewise Let the one who is in the field not turn back.

Remember lots wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you in that night there will be two in one bed one will be taken and the other left.

There will be two women grinding together one will be taken and the other left. And they said to him where Lord and he said to them where the corpse is there the vultures will gather. These are the words of the Lord.

Amen. You may be seated dear how my father in this passage it speaks of your kingdom. We ask you would open our eyes to understand your kingdom to understand its presence its power and its future. In Jesus name.

Amen. There have been a number of books written trying to assess. What is the central theme of the Bible? What is the main point of the Bible that.

That.

Unites it and brings it all together. And the general consensus of these books That I would agree with also is that the main theme is the kingdom of God. You look in the Garden of Eden and Adam sort of has his own little kingdom over the garden.

But then he loses that kingdom. And then in the Pentateuch in Deuteronomy You have an anticipation that one day as the people are led out of Egypt and as they are established in the promised land that God has given them that he will give them a king and Then you see that kingdom established in David and in Solomon.

You have the height of that kingdom in these two kings this one this king of strength and war and this other is king of peace and wisdom and Together you have this height of Israel. And then as that's lost what you see in the prophets is a frequent reference to David and Solomon.

Why. Because there's an understanding this kingdom of Israel is something that needs to be recaptured and there needs to be something even greater this kingdom needs to be not only restored but made entirely fresh through the Son of God.

And Then the New Testament you see the same thing throughout Jesus ministry. He speaks of the kingdom of God and all the way and to Revelation you hear statements of the kingdom of God being established.

So for the Christian who wants to understand God's Word who wants to understand God's message to us there could be really few things more important if anything more important than understanding the kingdom of God and We are told not just to understand it but to desire it and to pray for it.

We were told earlier in Luke in the Lord's Prayer that we should pray for God's kingdom to come. Now, how can you pray for his kingdom to come if you do not know what the kingdom is? People cannot desire things rightly if they do not what know what those things are.

No, I lead my children in prayer very often and They pray for various people in the church and often some of the things that we pray for is for People who are out of work to get jobs and people who desire marriage to to find spouses.

Now sometimes my kids will pray with the wrong name to find a job someone who already has a job or someone who the prayer Was already answered and sometimes we'll pray for someone to find a wife who has already found a wife.

You know, this is this is the prayer of a child. But and while on one hand, you know, God appreciates the prayer of children. We must pray according to God's will in order for our prayers to be truly heard.

And so it is important that we pray not as children in ignorance. But as children in knowledge trusting the Lord but knowing what it is that we are supposed to be desiring and this is a passage that is concerned with that topic of the kingdom of God and The previous context has brought this together, too.

Because it was not just In Luke 11 that you hear a statement about that. We should pray for the kingdom of God, but even in Luke 10 there was When Jesus sent out the 72 he told them to heal and that those who they heal They are supposed to proclaim that the kingdom of God Has come.

Okay, so healing and the kingdom are going together. And what do we have in this preceding passage the healing of this leprous individual? We have the advancement of that kingdom as he is being healed that healing representing the advancement of the kingdom.

And so this passage then addresses this kingdom and it's something that we ought to Understand in order that we may be able to desire it rightly and pray for it. Now it speaks of the kingdom using two kinds of phrases.

It talks about the kingdom of God and then it talks about in the next as you see it typeset in the ESV in the next Paragraph the Son of Man the days of the Son of Man. So it speaks of the kingdom in two different ways the kingdom of God and the days of the Son of Man in our own tradition and the Reformed tradition and by tradition.

You know. Sometimes when you hear the word tradition you think traditions and then things that are things that are being added to scripture that are contrary to scripture. What I mean when I use the word tradition is just the words and phrases of theology that That those who have gone before us also filled with the Spirit.

As any of God's people ought to be have used to describe what they see in scripture the tradition. Reformed tradition speaks of this in the categories of the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory.

Okay, so the kingdom of grace is what we have here on earth the kingdom has been established it advances the kingdom of glory. Is not yet here the kingdom of glory glory these being both one kingdom. But one with that power present and one with that power fully manifested.

Okay. So what we're going to be looking at here is both the kingdom of grace. Referred here to here simply as the kingdom of God and the kingdom of glory. Which is referred to as the days of the Son of Man in verse 20.

He says it says being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. So there's this question. When will the kingdom of God come? Jesus has been talking about the kingdom much. They're wondering when is this kingdom going to be here?

There's a lot of reasons why one might think that it hasn't come yet. If you think about a kingdom think about someone sitting on the throne in Jerusalem ruling over Judah you would expect it there to be a Displacement of the other kings and yet Herod is still over Judah.

Caesar is still over the Roman Empire. There hasn't been a displacement of these kings. And so it it very much seems like the king May not be here. Now you must be prepared to answer the question of whether or not the kingdom is here is the kingdom here.

The kingdom is here and it has come in power. But it is not the kind of power that other people expect not the kind of manifest power that is frequently expected. So he answers them and he says 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. Now, why have these Pharisees? Been so skeptical about the nature of the kingdom. You can see in the previous sections.

Jesus has talked about Qualifications to be in the kingdom. He's demonstrated that even with the healing of the leper and describing his faith and what is expected of disciples is an abandoning of their priorities and.

In.

Coming to Christ that acknowledges his priorities as being the chief priorities and he has repeatedly told these Pharisees that they're. That their sets of priorities their attachment to wealth over the riches of Jesus Christ Demonstrates that they do not belong as part of his kingdom.

And so it's You can see why they would express their skepticism not just because Some false understandings of what that kingdom are might lead them to think that the kingdom is not here but they have a vested interest in there not being a kingdom and it's still the case today that those who express Skepticism of the kingdom of God those who doubt the faith Do so frequently because they have a vested interest in there not being a kingdom.

You know, they say have these things really taken place. Is there really a kingdom, you know. This book that you read wasn't that written over 2 ,000 years ago, you know, why would you trust this? What are they saying?

Essentially, they're saying that this kingdom is not real. This kingdom should be doubted and why because my own life does not is not in accord with it. I do not desire to serve Jesus Christ I do not desire to be a part of this kingdom and I have a vested interest in doubting it now you look at other philosophies other theories people have there are a lot of people here in this particular area who believe that it's likely that We are all a part of a simulation, you know that it's not just that this isn't a real world but really we're in some kind of computer simulation a lot of people think that and the reason why they think that is because if that is possible at all, right if you don't believe in the human soul if you're a naturalist if you're a materialist who believes that all that exists is matter and Consciousness is just a feature of matter and it's possible for us to be in a simulation.

Then all the possible simulations we could be in are far greater than The count of the real world which would just be one right? And so there's it's infinitely more possible in this materialist worldview that denies the soul.

But you never see anybody rail against this right? You never see anyone get really upset and say, you know, that can't be true. That's just ridiculous, etc, etc, right? You rarely see people get riled up and excited about that.

But so many people are excited about there not being a kingdom. All right, they are very intent on saying there is no kingdom. Jesus Christ is not coming back. He is not powerful. He is he was a fool and you are a fool and they are so intent on that.

Why are they so intent on that because the kingdom requires something of them? Okay, they have a vested interest in it. If this world were a simulation, what would be the implications nothing? You could just go on keep your priorities your priorities.

There would be nothing wrong with that at all. But if there is a kingdom and it has come and it is coming in greater power. There are great Implications for those who are here on this earth That they need to get their business in order and get it in line with the King Jesus Christ and follow him.

But he tells them that the kingdom of God is not coming in a way that can be observed now when he says this What he is not denying is that it's not visible, okay when he talks about observable he is talking about about watching something Progress the way you might watch a clock.

Okay.

He's not saying it's not visible. The kingdom of God is already among them. It can be seen in those people who are part of the kingdom. Moreover, he is not. Another example of a way that it's visible is in these healings.

He's not saying there are no signs that attend to it. There are many signs that attend to this kingdom and There was even a star even an astrological sign that preceded his birth. There are many signs about this kingdom.

And so he's not denying that the kingdom is visible in any sense. What he is denying is that there was any Precedent to it that would allow you to see how close it is and little tick marks as you would with a clock.

This is not like the ball dropping on New Year's Eve. Okay, you can't just watch it and see it getting closer and closer. And he's also not denying That there is any Evidence or that there isn't sufficient evidence for the kingdom.

Some people imagine that when Jesus speaks like this He's saying you need to just believe regardless of the entire lack of evidence that exists for this now there has been countless demonstrations of His kingdom.

Okay this This healing that just happened is a demonstration of the kingdom. And so what are they doing when they ask they're not. They're not saying Lord. We don't have enough evidence. We really need a little bit more for you to tell us.

What they're doing is despite having ample evidence. They're rejecting the truth. The world today has ample evidence that Jesus is King. His word is powerful the test it testifies to his death barrel and resurrection.

There is ample evidence those who reject him after having heard the gospel are not rejecting doubt. Which they have not received sufficient evidence for they are rejecting doubt which they have received sufficient evidence for.

And so he should not be tested in this way. It said in Luke 7 22 Jesus is responding to the disciples of John the Baptist and he answered them go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind received their sight the lame walk lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them and Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Now, what is he saying? He's he's telling John that the kingdom has come and what was the evidence of it all the healings including? Healing similar to the one that has just taken place in this narrative here in Luke and so we have ample evidence That Jesus that Jesus is the king but those who seek a sign are testing him.

In Luke 11 it said others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven and what's his response later? He says in Luke 11. This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign. But no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah for as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh.

So will the Son of Man be to this generation. So he says no sign will be given to it except for the sign of Jonah. He'll go into the earth. He'll come up. People will say surely this was the Son of God and this is while it is a great thing for God's people.

It is a judgment on all those who reject him because it shows that he is King and shows that he will truly judge the earth or the animals of the forest of The jungle all got together and they they asked the lion, you know, are you really King?

Are you really King. Show it to us prove it to us. And the lion said? It's not time for it's not time for me to do that. It's rather time for me to rest. And they kept asking him and taunting him prove that you're King prove that you're King.

Finally feeding time came and he proved that he was King. Right. This is this is the picture of what it looks like to taunt Jesus and to say improve that you are King prove That you're a king. The kingdom has already come.

It is not coming with with signs In the way that they expect rather it has already come with signs and the signs that we have are sufficient signs it has come with power with the sufficient power you see and first Corinthians 2 Where Paul talks about Jews seek sign and Greeks seek wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified.

What does he say in my speech my message were not implausible words of wisdom. But in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

There is already ample power Demonstrated in the kingdom of God, you know here in this place many souls have been saved here in this place. Many prayers have been answered there are all kinds of Evidence of demonstration of the power of the kingdom of the presence of the kingdom and If you doubt this you will have a difficult time Enduring in the Christian life if you doubt the power of the kingdom of God as it exists here.

It even says in Ephesians To Ephesians 2 6 that we have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Not only is it the case that he reigns. But those of his kingdom ring with him in a sense being seated with him in the heavenly places.

You know if you doubt if you have come to Jesus Christ For salvation and you doubt that you are seated with him in a place of authority. You will lack what is needed in order to endure and if you if you have not come to Jesus Christ for salvation.

It will certainly be the case that you will have to give an account to him one day on the day of judgment and unless You have his mercy and forgiveness, which is available in the cross. There will be no hope for you, but there is great.

Hope in his mercy if you come to him in faith. Trusting in this kingdom knowing that not only is he a king. But he raises up those of his people with him to be seated with him in authority. And so this is not important just for for raw endurance but for doing the various tasks that God has called us to.

For example evangelism to share the good news with others. How many people do not do this? Simply because they doubt the power of the kingdom. Right. They doubt the power of God to actually transform someone.

They look at that stony heart and they say there is. This is just too unlikely this doesn't seem worth it. This seems too difficult. You are not going to be able to do this. You are not going to want to do this if you doubt the power of the kingdom of grace.

The kingdom of grace is present. The kingdom of grace is powerful. It is transforming lives. It has if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, it has transformed your own life. You were a wretched sinner a child of wrath.

Deserving of nothing it is not by your wisdom that you came to God is not by your Humility that you came to God is rather by his spirit that he transformed you to come to him if that power Worked in you it can certainly work in another.

The kingdom of grace is here and it is present. And if you are expecting something more some more sign. You've already missed it because this is not how it's coming. It is already here and then he goes on.

To speak about this kingdom of glory under the heading of the phrase the days of the Son of Man. And he said to the disciples The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man.

Now this is what most people are thinking of when they are thinking of the kingdom of God they aren't thinking of the kingdom of grace where he has a spiritual kingdom that is Ruling over the church and spreading across the globe.

Rather they are thinking of it becoming manifest and him ruling in power physically descending to the earth and ruling over it.

Indeed.

He will come again. He will rule over this earth and we should eagerly desire this kingdom. Daniel 7 speaks of the Son of Man and it explains why Jesus refers to this is the days of the Son of Man and It's interesting while he is reserved and careful about the way he calls himself the Son of God in the context in which he does and this coming out only at the end when he finally receives his formal charge of blasphemy to be Crucified and him telling his disciples this privately with Peter.

He speaks of himself as a son of man frequently. He's making a great claim to authority even prior to Him more openly speaking of himself as a son of God when he speaks of himself as a son of man. Because here you see in Daniel 7 verse 13 and 14. It speaks of the authority of the Son of Man.

It says I saw in the night visions and Behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like the Son of Man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion in glory and a Kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which shall not pass away and this kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. This is a description of the of that son of man in his kingdom and.

So people.

Desire to see this kingdom because this is what they want. This is what they want. Is Jesus reigning. They want all oppression to cease they want all tears to be wiped away. And indeed, this is something we should be desiring.

This is something we should pray for when we pray that part of the Lord's Prayer and we say Thy kingdom come we're praying for the kingdom of grace to advance. We're praying for the kingdom of glory to hasten for to arrive sooner.

For to arrive quickly and soon. So do pray for this when you pray in your prayers pray for the kingdom pray for it to advance. Pray for that kingdom of grace to advance and pray for that kingdom of glory to come.

But he says to them and you will not see it and they will say to you look there look here. Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights of the sky from one end to the other side.

So will the Son of Man be in his day? So he tells them That people will say to him say to them. Look there. Look here, etc. But it will not be why because that is not the timing of the kingdom of heaven.

The timing of the kingdom of heaven is one where no man knows the day or the hour as it says in Matthew 24. No one knows the day or the hour. It's interesting that he's phrases this in the opposite way that he had in 21 of the kingdom of grace.

He said nor will they say look here it is or there for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. It has already come. So there's nothing preceding it, but then here speaking of this coming kingdom He says they will say to you look there or look here.

He says the same thing right people are going to say to you look look here look there. Telling you that that kingdom of glory has come the days of the Son of Man has come but it is not yet here. Because it is not preceded by those sorts of signs.

Now it is preceded by signs. Bible talks about wars and rumors of wars talks about all sorts of things. But those signs are not signs that Lead up to the kingdom like a clock or like a or like, you know The ball dropping on New Year's Eve right so that you can count it down and you can watch it.

Rather they are signs that remind us that he is still coming and he is still coming in his timing. Which is very different than signs that tell you when he is coming. Okay, so he is coming. He's coming soon by his own Sense of soonness not by ours by his and He describes this as lightning flashing from one side to the other.

For as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other. So will the Son of Man be in his day? This is how it will be it will be as lightning flashing now a lot of people when they see this they think okay lightning is Sudden it's just like that.

It happens. That's part of what's going on here. But this is not what Jesus is emphasizing. Jesus is emphasizing. It goes from one end of the sky to the other. Everybody sees it. Okay, everybody sees it.

So many people expect Jesus to come in a way where only a few people are going to see it. Right. It's like if I were to say you've got to see this a nuclear bomb just went off in San Jose. You know and you would say well, I didn't you know, I think I would have heard that if that had happened.

You know San Jose is not that far away. This is this is what is like. But so many people think that it's some that only a few are going to clue in on it and a few are going to see and so you have people who Come up with new prophecies that show that show that Jesus is coming on a certain date and they want to get people Into their little group and it's only those group that know that Jesus is coming who see the sign that he's coming.

Right or there are people who think that they've got some new insight into the scripture that show them exactly when he's going to come or even that they they have a Sense of some kind of real timeline beat on this beyond what Jesus has given us that there will just be Encourages Encouragements letting us know that he is coming but not a specific timeline as such.

People expect different kind of astrological signs, you know there was that blood moon craze a few years ago if some of you followed that right where one guy was just talking about the about the different phases of the moon or different appearances of the moon.

Demonstrating when Christ is coming or people are looking for geopolitical things to indicate and say oh this is happening with Israel. Or this is happening with the United Nations. Therefore Jesus is coming this we've reached the next marker.

Okay. He is not coming in a way that can be observed. When he comes the sign is a sign that goes from one end to the of the heavens to the other okay, it's something that everybody everybody sees and Someone who has a false sign who brings you a false sign is also bringing you false Christ.

Do not do not fall for these things. Do not fall for these things. There's all kinds of groups that do this, you know, there were the Millerites in the I Forget if it was early 1800s or or even before that but the Millerites were this group that were expecting Jesus to come and.

Then.

On a certain day and then he didn't and this is known as the Great Disappointment if you look it up and. Then out of that someone realized one of their followers realized. Oh, no. He's just making a spiritual entry into the heavenly Holy of Holies.

Well, is that what's described here something that everybody sees or just something that a few people know and out of this group came in the Seventh-day Adventist by the way, if you if you're not familiar with this story, that's where they came from is from this false prophecy.

So the Seventh-day Adventist came from that you have Jehovah's Witnesses prophesying Jesus coming back many times over many failed prophecies there. There was the herald camping incident. There are just a lot of.

There are a lot of things a Lot of different groups that do this you remember back when it was a 2012 with the Mayan calendar. You know. There were a lot of Christians even who got excited about that thinking the Mayans had special insights until when exactly Christ was returning.

Or there's this new this new Korean cult called New Heavens New Earth. I think I'm gonna pronounce it wrong, but something like shinjin. She is the the name of the. The organization they teach that they have special insight into the timeline of when Jesus is coming and they're.

You know, they're counting off the days basically. We should eagerly anticipate This kingdom of glory, but we should not think that it's coming in a way that can be observed, right? And by observed once again, I don't mean visible.

It will be visible, but it is not something that can be anticipated with a particular timeline or with a particular. With a clock of some sort. That is not that is not what this is. And so you have all kinds of different groups that believe something like this.

There's the notion of preterism if you've never heard of full preterism or hyper preterism. It's the idea that all the things that are prophesied in Scripture have already happened including the return of Christ and the resurrection.

How does that fit with this passage here that says that everyone will know it when it happens? Okay, how come everybody that if it has already happened, how come everybody doesn't know it? Right, and then there are dispensationalists.

Right. Those are those who are looking through Revelation as as a sort of timeline where they're saying Okay, we're at this part of Revelation now we're now we're at this part because these things with the UN have happened or these things with Israel or I Expected this.

Okay. So yesterday. I'm sure most of you have heard the news that Former President Trump there was an assassination attempt, right? He got he got nicked in the ear. I was expecting someone to quote this first and Within an hour or two.

I saw someone quote it non-ironically. Showing that we have moved further into Revelation. Revelation 13 3 one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound. But its mortal wound was healed and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

Okay, this is this is the kind of thing people do where they think that this kingdom can be observed. You can count it down. We're gonna get this sign notes lets, you know, we're this close this sign lets, you know, we're this close, etc Etc, etc, etc, and we're supposed to be tracking these things down and it leads you to read the newspaper as some kind of Along with the Bible to show you where we are in Revelation or where we are in this Larkin chart timeline.

That's what if you ever see those charts that talk about Where we are in the book of Revelation those are known as Larkin charts because I think the first guy who made them his name Was Larkin so there's that then there's also Most forms of post-millennialism right post-millennialism being that Christ will come after his reign, right?

So they're expecting this kingdom to advance further and further. Not just this kingdom of grace, right? But to have more of that glory in.

In.

Secular institutions as many of them are Christianized to see this more and more and so that's like the Reconstructionist half. Sorry, I'm using I'm using Words that I know a lot of you might not be familiar with but there's some Post-millennialists who believe that Jesus is coming back after after this reign.

That's going to happen. Right who think that this is going to happen by the Christianizing of secular institutions. And what would you be able to do. You'd be able to watch that right and see? Okay, more and more and we're counting it down because we're seeing more and more.

Or.

That you would be able to see More and more. Simply as the as this kingdom of glory advances you would be able to see it come to full fruition. Any kind of. Give you one more should be the last big word.

Okay Kiliasm. Kiliasm is the idea that there is going to be this golden age before Christ finally returns. Okay anything that expects that kind of golden age is Essentially denying what this passage says because it is saying that there's going to be this big sign.

There's going to be this golden age that happens before Everything is fully manifest. I believe we have reason here to reject to reject all forms of Kiliasm.

But.

Because consider what it says in uh in Revelation 1 7 it says behold He's coming with the clouds and every I will see him. Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will wail and account of him even so.

Amen. Every I will see him. Okay, there's no reason to get Overexcited about the kingdom of glory overexcited thinking that it's that it's here now or that it's or that it's. Look, it's over here and we need to go there to find to find this kingdom.

No, when the kingdom of glory arrives, it will arrive all at once. And so what that should lead you to do is to be encouraged you do not have a task to go discover This kingdom of glory. This is not on the radar of what the Christian needs to do.

This is not on your agenda.

Okay.

Christ has only told us to be faithful as the kingdom of grace expands as more and more souls are brought into the kingdom and.

And.

We can be encouraged that that kingdom of glory is indeed coming even if it is not coming in a way where people.

Would.

Get so excited. What you end up doing is you end up teasing yourself with with what are ultimately lies because Yes, while Christ is coming He is coming in his own timing in any any way that you You encourage yourself with something that is not true.

You are setting yourself up for disappointment and discouragement in the Christian life. So we should be encouraged that the kingdom of grace is here and powerful. But we should not and we should be encouraged that the kingdom of glory is coming but not discourage ourselves by setting ourselves up with false hopes that is already here or that it's coming in a way that.

That can be observed he says in this last verse.

But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation now some of these passages and we've seen this before in Luke some of these passages are put in different positions in the different Gospels and Matthew it's very clear when Jesus talks about this that he's talking about That present generation and he's talking about the the the destruction of the temple here when it presents us.