993. Thy Kingdom Come

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Our study series for the next several days will be in Matthew chapter 6 the Lord's prayer will hear from several BJ you seminary professors in this series today will be studying thy kingdom come with seminary professor Dr. Brian hand giving our attention this morning to the third clause in the Lord's prayer when he got a Matthew chapter 6 or Luke 11.

Your choice same the same in either case I think it's fascinating that the Lord chose after directing our attention to the need for prayer in the first place and then direct worship of his name that the foremost thing that he holds out for his people to call for his first kingdom in a sense he's calling for us to join with him in looking for the finalization and the bringing about of all of his purposes. The wrapping to gather of his intense for humanity in space and time as we know it we just come to the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States.

So if you watched with amusement as I did.

The combination of absolute elation and absolute histrionics as the president's presidential election results came in. Some people acted as if we had some grand figure who could solve all of the world's problems and he is here and other people despaired is at the end of the world had come with this election. I think it's it interesting and frankly indicative of the stated humanity though that we actually are looking for a figure like that that people want someone who can solve their problems and they want him to arrive on the scene with power and with the will to solve those problems not idly standing by. So the drama that we sense with these millions of Americans who, in some sense were crying out by presidency come we turn instead to our God, save thy kingdom come to the Lord's prayer is a prayer. What situation could exist in this world in the hearts of God's people that would we would cry out to God, thy kingdom come, let's read the text and here it's instruction for us today. Again we we point out the in some senses mundane. We know this passage but look at it again with me and draw your heart and your mind's attention to it. Jesus himself said after this manner therefore pray ye are father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven during nonschool times. My children get to watch a very select a narrower range of videos that are appropriate to their age group. My wife doesn't always think are appropriate because I let them watch things like the hobbit in the Lord of the rings, but my daughters always vote for if given the option know the sense and sensibility and pride and prejudice type and Daniel was sitting there expressing his angst.

We just watch that one. Two years ago okay in the end and Daniel votes for you know, hobbit, Lord of the rings and the girls go now we just watch that one. Two weeks ago will recently it was my son's birthday so he got to choose what we're going to watch and yet the time was limited over his birthday weekend so easily to get one shot.

So knowing that he enjoys that entire saga. Can anybody guess which of the six available options. He chose a course it had to be return of the King. Now if we had had an unlimited amount of time.

Then he would've gone through all six together, but our weekend was not that long so given the choice of only one thing to focus his attention on it was the return of the King, and as I reflected on that I thought actually it's it's not much different with all the chick flicks either because you know with all the relational storyline and all the that the beautiful light and very fluffy things that are going on there. What what is a woman looking for the man to show up know essentially writing the white charger at least figuratively if not literally. In all this. Everything comes to this grand and glorious ending and normally it's as they right away.

The carriage married you think or what else is going to happen know what that is the name.

He's come the expectation has arrived, and I think this draws again our attention to something that the Lord is pointing to us to the phrase in the Lord's prayer is calling for God's people to look beyond short-term solutions and look to the solution, your heart yearns for the king then pray for him and so we get this theme from the Scriptures and from the passage today that we are to pray for the full arrival and realization of God's rule and I that is inclusive, will talk about what the passage is probably not including and that is God's universal rule, you can't pray for God's universal rule to come because it already is operational as much as it will ever be universally God rules the most high rules in the kingdom of men. It gives it to whomsoever he will. God is raining over the universe. He is infecting his perfect will. So in some sense were praying for something other than just his universal rule and that is the full arrival and realization of God's rule and so our passage begins by drawing our attention to a very simple word and we could preach at this almost with every phrase of the Lord's prayer but it's the word thy thy kingdom come in the passages directing our attention to the fact that when we pray we must be submitting to God's person we could treat this world like throw away almost a filler in the sentence to get onto the meat of the passage, but we are focusing our attention from the beginning on God and what he wishes and the passage draws that contrast and in two ways, and we buy, we would have to go outside of the text in some textual way to expand upon it in detail, but were praying to God in contrast to other persons. Any time you're praying for a kingdom of a specific individual. That's in contrast to all the other available kingdoms.

Instead of pinning her hopes in our attention and our love and our aspiration on the solutions that we see around us in this world and from other humans pray to him by kingdom. Thy kingdom distinctly uniquely. There are no lack of claimants to the throne of our lives, our lives are full of people saying that their opinions that their agendas that their attitudes ought to be viewed almost as law and whether there conducting interviews whether there tweeting those opinions. They essentially believe that people ought to follow them and aspire to fall on most at their feet, and a virtual worship and there many people in this world who are highly offended if the rest of humanity will not treat them that way. So we do see that they are aspiring to be almost as it were a king authoritative.

We might not be so foolish as to listen to these types of people as if they were the supreme leader of our lives but we do turn to friends. Two popular books. Sometimes even the pastors and act as if their agenda is the prime agenda. Any good pastors can appointed to the Lord his kingdom come.

We have our opinions. We have our ideas but ultimately there only as good as the Masters kingdom. So we we cry out by kingdom comments. Pray that we want God and not a replacement not a surrogate, not an alternative, and not arrival he created us and we want him so the first aspect our Texas point us toward the necessity of thrusting out any other claimant to ultimate authority. We must not admire her countenance the claims of anybody else, Adam and Eve from the beginning her to competing claims to authority God's voice and Satan's voice after Adam's and he said I heard thy voice in the garden and we all say since then. I wish he heard God's voice earlier. Listen to it and treated God as King of the passage also invites another contrast even in that word thy and that is pray to him.

In contrast to your own desires. In fact it's actually easier to edit work carry out or execute. The first point, and that is getting rid of other external claimants to the throne. And it is getting rid of the internal claimant to the throne. The real problem I have is not sorting between a whole bunch of rivals to God out there, but whether I will follow him, whether I will be independent in my own life. We pray to God in contrast to what we wish. Setting aside are in desires and favor recognizing God's authority is the harder choice.

It's one thing to set God side-by-side with idols in the clambering voices of this world that we recognize are foolish. It's another thing when her own heart and the desires of that heart are pushing in the direction and we have arrival King we have arrival cry.

We have arrival to our will and it is or will itself in her own lusts, and I suspect that is precisely why Satan set up the first conflict and temptation, not even ultimately as a Satan versus God thing. Satan did not come to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and say God doesn't know at all what he's talking about. Follow me, follow me, follow me that women setting himself as a rival to God.

Now he was doing that to some extent, but he did not bring that adamant needs attention. Instead, he drew attention to their desires. He set up the ultimate rivalry between God and man and man have ever sense has been duped by that and succumbing to a satanic agenda, following after my kingdom come.

Alan Redpath once said, with reference to this exact prayer before we can pray Lord thy kingdom come, we must be willing to pray my kingdom go, and part of what were doing as we approach the Lord and recognize him in thy kingdom come, is recognizing him as the king Brooking no rivals. The passage second turns her attention to the fact that when we pray were seeking God's rule. This is turning a little bit away from the person but it's it's actualizing the person in activity.

I remember how distressed I was the first time I face this in Greek under probably Dr. Schneider, Dr. Leedy, many, many moons ago. Okay I it struck me about four years ago that I had known Greek as long as I had not known it in my entire life and now I'm adding only years to that but one of the first times we had to face this expression, the kingdom of God, or something like that. We we all wanted to say that this was a possession God possesses the kingdom and our teacher just kind of smiles knowing that every generation of students is going to do the exact same thing and he goes no market wrong or in Dr. Schneider's case you put a little axis of the big ask your close you were not far from the kingdom, but you are still wrong but I don't know located look at it and we went to a whole series of passages in which we saw that that set up the kingdom of God is expressive of his rule and the idea of kingdom is not so much a topographical or geographical region.

As the exercise of the king's authority. Wherever that happens to me whether that's a physical earthly material realm that can expand or contract, whether slow or immaterial realm of the individual human heart, so we were praying for thy kingdom to come. That itself introduces the difficulty of what exact rule of God.

We dealing with are we dealing with the immaterial, are we dealing with the material and frankly, this terse and short as this passages in my kingdom come. Christ doesn't elucidate doesn't explain any further, so we know. Again, we can rule out the universal kingdom synapses that is already here. It is already extensive.

The only way we can be praying for God's kingdom to come for his rule to be actualized is to be praying for that, individually or severally that is praying for it to occur in's as individual beings that Christ rule can be extended over my life, my heart your life your heart or his physical earthly kingdom that is to come. So the passage is going to invite us to seek God's rule in your life individually. Luke chapter 17 verses 20 and 21 tells us when Jesus was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come in there there dealing with that second aspect, the physical earthly kingdom. He answered them and said the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say low here or low there for behold, the kingdom of God is with in the new and of course he's not actually contradicting the fact that there's going to be a future Earth future earthly kingdom is going to address that in other passages but he is saying that here the Pharisees are caught up exclusively with a physical earthly kingdom and he says you guys really need to be concerned about whether God is raining in your heart. I find it fascinating that is much as we would say we aspire to Christ's coming kingdom always and it can be great crisis can be here on this earth. He's gonna subjugate all the nations.

Righteousness is going to fill the earth and then we turn around and go our own way and disobey him.

That's pretty inconsistent is in it where we would on the one hand, call for the coming earthly kingdom which were correct to do, but on the flipside of that equation essentially denied his right to rule over our individual lives in individual choices to day that he has the right to direct us right now. Do you know that Wahoo were prevented. Pray for the coming earthly kingdom and again the dissolution and resolution to all the promises and all the hopes and all the aspirations and all the needs of humanity to come.

We can already be praying for Christ kingdom to come in our lives in us. We walk around with it.

Lord, I have choices to make today. May your rule be extended over those choices.

I am actually recognizing that you are the king over my life and I want to do whatever you want me to do.

I want to be a good servant, a good slave, I recognize that authority in this moment, so by obedient faith. We are essentially already not only calling for but then acting upon the call for Christ kingdom to come by living like he's king in this very moment you're asking God to direct, to decide to determine the extent the course in the content of our actions, but we are inviting much more than that many of you been hoping and even expecting us to go here and it is right for us to go here because when Jesus is pointing to something that is future something that the disciples would've intuitively and immediately had their minds drawn to. As soon as Christ mentioned the kingdom as good patriotic Jews but is good religious Jews, they knew that the Old Testament promised a messianic reign of Christ on earth as the ultimate seed of David establishing a kingdom and they can look back everywhere from Isaiah and Daniel. Even the fulfillment of the Abraham a covenant that the Messiah edited the greater seed of Abraham, or the seed of Abraham would reign over the whole earth, and through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. All these things would be expected and we are right to expect God's role in his coming kingdom corporately hope for it, you're in for it, but ultimately, then, in the process of yearning or calling for his coming kingdom stop acting like there are ultimate solutions now. We were fascinated as some of the political discussions as you were, and we tried to remind each other regularly as we got all fired up in the last election cycle and said no matter what happens God is in control and no matter what happens. There is no ultimate solution we dividend depending on where your own take is on the matter did not necessarily end up with the best of the available options that are out there we could have had more conservative Republicans running more godly people running wiser people running but even if we could articulate the best possible candidate outside of God himself. He could not solve our problems. So pray for his kingdom to come. It is a reflection by the way, and aspiration of our heart that in the process of doing so when we look to Christ's future coming kingdom and were actually setting our sights on the millennial kingdom and then eternity beyond it were putting our attention off of this world off of the here and now off of the things that trouble us that cause our faith to waiver that distract us from our primary mission and we say wait a minute you know what's really important. I kingdom thy kingdom. It is coming. I joined my voice that it would hasten Lord bring your kingdom to bear on us so we are seeking God's rule in his coming kingdom on this earth as a body for Christ to reign over us in the future when Jesus spoke to his disciples, just prior to his arrest and crucifixion.

He said, for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come, while the universal kingdom is already at work. It's already come. The spiritual kingdom is already come because those disciples are believing in him as Messiah is Christ the only thing that he, I think can legitimately be referring to is the coming kingdom earthly material kingdom in which Christ promises that again he will share blessings with us and he didn't discourage the disciples from thinking about that kingdom. He invited them into hoping that it would come because there is a day that's coming in which Messiah will be present.

He's with us and we live with obey him perfectly and rejoice with him so. This fact leads us to pray for an extension of God's rule in a unique fashion on this earth a fashion which he is not yet ruling today. The passage then is saying that when we pray we are to seek the actualization of God's promises and commands. Technically, by following the English text. We've rearrange the Greek text order in the Greek text, the head of the clause is the single word that we translate come. Our translation could actually seem almost permissive or even passive. A polite request that something would happen but the word is a command that a little awkward you to command the kingdom to come.

Do you have authority to do that we have the authority that God has set down and all the prophetic books of the Bible and really the only thing you are doing is mirroring God's own voice of command when you say King come Christ is articled for it and there is a day in which the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our God and that is Christ, he will reign forever and ever. What we are praying for is that bringing about the actualization.

The instantiation of God's promises and commands.

So since we do not and cannot command God to do anything. What were doing is adding the cry of our voices to his promise and his command agreeing with him and his intent so respond to the model that Jesus sat and began to pray earnestly and diligently that God would do something in your life to bring his kingdom to bear on you that daily event after event, activity after activity. He would reign in your life Lord, your kingdom come right here but also pray for the full realization of his promises.

Thy kingdom come in time and space.

Recent human history is littered with the wreck and ruin of those who sought hope and prosperity in a new king, and kingdom.

Lenin promised the people peace land and bread. Instead he gave them more the confiscation of property and starvation. Mao Zedong's aria stall and promised free elections. Then he slaughtered his political opponents and ruled with an iron fist. Mao actually ran against Chang Kai-shek and galvanize the people with the one word democracy they gave the people exactly the opposite of democracy, stripping away their human rights. Others have promised reset buttons wars on poverty and adjust society only to provide more of the same increased poverty, greater chaos and arbitrariness and justice in some sense we are incorrigible optimists. We always hope that around the next corner is a solution to our problems around the next corner is the president will fix everything. The earthly king who will solve all of our woes God in the Lord's prayer commissioned by Jesus Christ himself, not only invites us but commands us to pray, thy kingdom come looking for the only kingdom that matters to use the words of Daniel the kingdom and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high, that most high, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. God's people to seek that eternal hope so since your Savior models the perfect prayer you join your voice and praying for the full arrival in realization of God's rule follower thankful for the truth of your word, recognizing it and admitting it as part of our necessary response to you because these are facts. These are statements that you have given these are commands that we must obey the Lord give us the will to do your will. May we seek your kingdom raining your direct rating your direct rule over our individual lives and then we also pray Lord Christ that you will hasten the day when all of our faith shall be made.

Site that you bring about all of your promises to your people for your glory or your power for your majesty and for your dominion. We pray that you been listening to seminary professor Dr. Brian hand, which is part of the series on the Lord's prayer. I'm Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. I'd like to invite you to attend one of our summer camps for both middle and high schoolers. BJ you has over 50 camps to choose from. So there is one for you. Here's just a few aviation astronomy cinema computers, culinary criminal justice media music nursing theater robotics soccer, basketball, volleyball, golf, and there's many more come explore your future.

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