Luke 11:2b

Luke chapter 11 verses 1 through 4. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When you pray, say, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done as in heaven. So in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us. from evil. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word. This morning. History recalls, I should say, the rise and the fall of many great kingdoms down through the centuries. Historians tell us there have been 21 great civilizations, but none of them have lasted. There have been four world. empires. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome are certainly the four that we have mentioned in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. None of them exist today. No kingdoms or empires established by man’s will will will last forever. They grow, they expand, they dominate, and eventually they collapse, they fall, and they crumble to dust, and they no longer exist. Now in the model prayer, Christ lays out for the disciples a petition, the second petition, thy kingdom come. This is a prayer for God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is a unique king. It’s different from all the kingdoms of this earth because it is a spiritual kingdom. And so he has given this prayer to instruct his disciples on how to pray and it’s sort of like an outline or a way to base our prayers. Not that we have to use the exact wording here, but in like manners, Matthew says, something similar to this. And so we look at this second petition. While kingdom after kingdom in this world has toppled, God’s kingdom continues to go on and on and on. It always will. It will continue until Christ returns. It will never be destroyed. Now, let me begin by saying this. You need to understand what is meant by God’s kingdom. So we know what we’re praying about. to that end I had Russell Reed some of Daniel 7 and you read about the saints and getting the kingdom and taking it and they’ll have it forever and so forth in that passage of scripture. But for our purposes this morning and getting some of the characteristics of this kingdom, let’s look at Daniel 2 which is a very similar passage. In fact, when you’re studying Daniel, those two chapters should be studied in conjunction with one another. But let me begin with verse 31, as Daniel relates the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and explains it. Thal O king, sawst and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, in the form there. was terrible. This image his head was of fine gold. His breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet, part of iron and part of clay. Thou saw still a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon her his feet. that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and fill the whole earth. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation they’re all before the king. Thou, O king, are they ared a king of kings, where the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory, wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beast of the field, and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand. and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee, and a third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, or as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueeth all things, and as iron that breaketh in pieces, all things shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou saw’st the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of iron, for as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with Maori clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be. destroy. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And as thou, for as much as thou saw’st, that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces, the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God, the have made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain, and the interpretation they’re of is, the interpretation they’re of sure. Now let us notice a couple of things here. The first is this. This is a promised kingdom. Verse 44 says, in the days of these kings, he is going to set up, a kingdom. He promises to do so. God graciously revealed to his people in the Old Testament that he was going to establish a kingdom on this earth. It will be the Messianic kingdom. Daniel relates that God’s kingdom would be established as the fifth and then the last, of course, world kingdom. We’ve talked about the four before this. It’s going to topple these four empires of the metallic image because in a sense one lived on in the other even though one conquered the other it’s sort of the same thing was carried being carried on but when Christ’s kingdom comes it destroys them all and they are completely destroyed like chaff you get blown away and they’re gone in the wind Christ kingdom is going to demolish these previous world empires and stand alone as the dominant kingdom on the earth from that point on. So it’s a promised kingdom. Now, you’ll notice it’s an everlasting kingdom. We saw that in chapter 7. It’s repeatedly said in that passage that Russell read. But you’ll notice here in verse 44, it shall stand forever. It’ll never be destroyed, he says. While all the other empires are shattered by the kingdom of God, it cannot be conquered. and it cannot be replaced. No kingdom shall supersede it. No kingdom shall overthrow it. All assaults against it are going to miserably fail. As the angel Gabriel announced to marry at the birth of Christ of his kingdom, there shall be no end. No end to his kingdom. It’s an everlasting king. Notice it is a everlasting king. a spiritual kingdom. Now in verses 34 and 35, he talks about this kingdom without, made without hands, the same 45, he also talked about it as well. But notice 34 and 35 with me. Thou saw us till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer freshing floor, and the wind carried them away. No place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the earth. Now, God’s kingdom, as I said, is different. all the previous world empires were made by the hands of men. In Daniel, king and kingdom are often synonymous. They’re like very closely related. I don’t know if you picked that up as we read chapter 7, but it’s very clear. The stone here does, I believe, refer to Jesus Christ, but it also refers to His kingdom, because Christ does not grow and fill the earth. but his kingdom does grow and fill the earth in other words both of them in the sense are made without hands it’s it’s a heavenly kingdom in all the kingdoms of this world there’s a material element or visible kings there is visible armies visible territories and so forth but the kingdom of God is brought into being without hands it comes from a body It has a heavenly origin. It is spiritual in nature. The scripture teaches that God’s kingdom doesn’t have armies and lands in a physical sense. Do you remember when Jesus stood before Pilate? He said this to Pilate. He said my kingdom is not of this world. That means it’s not material. or man-made heavenly, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight? They would act like the military of all the other kingdoms of the earth. They would fight to preserve their king. That I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from heaven. My kingdom is different. You can’t actually see this kingdom. Now this is interesting. You remember when Christ talked about the kingdom of God in Luke chapter 17, he said, the kingdom of God is within you. Now think about that a minute. The kingdom of God does not come with observation. It doesn’t come with visible display. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It’s not about a material or physical element. But right? righteousness, joy, peace in the Holy Ghost. It’s spiritual in nature. It takes a spiritual birth enter into the kingdom. Unless one is born of the Spirit of God, he cannot see the kingdom. Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus. He cannot enter into the kingdom, John 3.5. The kingdom of God involves God’s rule or dominion then in the hearts of men, the lives of God’s people. It’s made up of believers then, who submit to Jesus Christ as king. So it’s a spiritual king. Not like every other king. Fourthly, it’s a present kingdom. In the days of these kings, God’s going to set up a king. Now you’ll notice when we read chapter 7, when we’ve talked about the fourth beast in chapter 7, that he exists. explains the different aspects, the horns of the beast, and the heads representing kings. And remember the little horn that comes up and grows into a face? So forth. That, of course, was the emperor of the Roman Empire. But each of the ten provinces of the Roman Empire had like their own own. like governor or ruler, but they were looked at as kings. So they had like 10 kings. Plus, eventually, later on as the kingdom went forward, they ended up with emperors who were also recognized as king. We have no king but Caesar. Remember, the Jews talked about that. So during the days of the kings of the last, empire, the fourth one, the Roman Empire, God promised to set up and establish his kingdom. The Roman Empire was unique, as I said, because of the way it was governed. But it was during the reign of the emperors and the provincial rulers of this empire, the John the Baptist and Christ both proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is the kingdom which Christ is speaking of in the model prayer. It is the kingdom to which he gave the keys to Peter. It is the kingdom that Christ apostles preached in chapter 9 and that the 70 preached in Luke chapter 10. This is the kingdom which God’s ministers preached to the Gentiles. You recall that when Philip went to Samaria, they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. And as Paul told the Ephesian elders, and now behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching, the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. This is a kingdom which every believer has entered by faith in Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Wherefore, as the writer of Hebrews says, 1228, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably in reverence and godly fear. What I’m trying to tell you this morning is the kingdom of God is in existence now. It’s not a future and time kingdom. It is a present reality. Christ is not praying here that we would pray that someday he will set up a kingdom. He’s praying for it to advance or come. We’ll talk about that in a moment. It’s a present kingdom. And let me finally say this. A fifth thing. It’s a conquering kingdom. The stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God, which starts out very small and insignificant. He starts out with 12 disciples. And then he gains people as he preaches the God. gospel and so forth. But what does he tell us about that small beginning? Like a mustard seed. The tiny little seed. It grows and it becomes this large, full-sized tree that all the earth can get underneath. The stone of which Daniel speaks is in the process of filling the whole earth. This refers, of course, to the Great Commission, that Christ will send the disciples out, his apostles out, to preach the gospel to all nations. Right? Now, this doesn’t mean that the whole world is going to be converted, but that the gospel is going to reach into all corners of the globe, into every nation. The gospel of Jesus Christ is saving people, as the book of Revelation tells us, from every tribe and tongue and people, and nation. Christ’s kingdom expands as new converts are brought to Christ and submit to him as king. So there’s a great number that no man, a great multitude that no man can number that make up Christ’s kingdom as revelation indicates to us. So you need to understand what is meant by the kingdom. It’s a promised kingdom. It’s an everlasting kingdom. It’s a spiritual kingdom. It’s a present kingdom. and it’s a conquering kingdom. Now with that in mind, you should pray that God’s kingdom would progress in this world. Notice he says the word come. Now you must understand that saint’s kingdom opposes God’s kingdom. The model prayer begins with a petition that the name of God would be hallowed and held sacred. Right? The moment you pray that petition, you are reminded of the fact that God’s name is not hallowed and held in reverence in the world around you. It’s blasphemed and cursed. Why is that? Why are men and women unconcerned about honoring and worshiping God? Because they belong to Satan’s kingdom. They belong to the kingdom of darkness. That opposes God’s kingdom. His opposition to God goes all the way back to his rebellion when he was an angel in heaven. It was cast out along with those who rebelled with him. You see him at work in the Garden of Eden. Tempting man, causing man to fall. And since that point, all men that are born in this world belong to his kingdom from birth. So his kingdom is one of spiritual ignorance and slavery to sin and depravity. Satanic dominion. Satan Satan worketh, according to Ephesians 2, in the children of disobedience. It’s working in them. And he’s urging men and women to oppose the kingdom of God. Everywhere Satan’s kingdom is contending with God’s kingdom. You recall that the church at Pergamos in the book of Revelation is said to dwell where Satan’s throne is. The same book relates that the world in general worships the dragon. And who is the dragon? It’s Satan. It’s the devil. That’s what the problem is in all generations. He is their king. He is their ruling. And as a Christian, we have to put up a whole armor of God that we might be able to stand up against the wiles of the devil. So there’s a spiritual conflict going on. This spiritual warfare is taking place. There are two kingdoms that are clashing. are battling if you would. So you have to understand that Satan’s kingdom opposes God’s king. Now you are praying in this prayer for the success of the kingdom of God. I don’t know if you’ve ever looked up the word common in a Greek forests or something like this or some type of dictionary. There’s like 39 different Greek words. for the word come. They’re very precise. When they use the word come, there’s all kinds of nuances associated with. Different shades of meaning. So Christ uses the word ercomai here, a frequently used verb to denote either to come or to go. It signifies the act of coming or going rather than the actual arrival. So he’s not praying for the arrival. That would be heco. echo. He’s not praying for the arrival of the kingdom. He’s praying for it to come or go. In this case, to go forth or to come into the world in a certain way. So the idea is to come or go from one place to another. To progress. To go forth. To grow. To enter into areas. And therefore, when you pray thy kingdom come, you were requesting for the kingdom of God to progress, to grow, to expand, to fan out into the world. Sort of like an invading army. This is what God revealed through Daniel, that the kingdom of God would grow and fill forth. As Isaiah proclaimed, remember in that famous passage in Isaiah 9-7, of the increase of his government, there shall be no end. His rule will go forth. It’ll be no end. It will increase. Now, you are asking God to bring people into his kingdom through the preaching of the word and by the power of his spirit. You are pleading with God to grant people repentance that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who has captured them. And this is a prayer then for the success of the gospel, for the conversion of souls to Christ. So that Christ’s dominion indeed is from sea to sea and from the river, even under the ends of the earth, as Zechari 910 tells us. We find about Augustine that his mother Monica travailed with greater care and pain for his spiritual birth. than his physical one. She prayed for the kingdom of God to come into his life, to change him. When you consider each generation provides a new area to conquer, the kingdom of God needs to continue to grow. It’s not like, well, we’ve conquered this area and we go on to the next and this always stays conquered. Well, you’ve got new people. Every time we have a new generation coming, it’s a new area to conquer. So you’re to pray for the success of the gospel. So this raises the question. Do you have a desire to see the king of God progress in this world? Do you pray for the souls of others that God would be pleased to save them from their sins? What interest do you have in witnessing do your friends and your neighbors are by Christ and do you pray about the opportunity to do such? Do you pray for the minister as he gets up and proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ that he may do so in such a way that Christ will add to his kingdom by saving souls and the kingdom of God would expand in your area. Do you pray for the missionaries that Christ’s kingdom would be expanded in these foreign countries that people would be brought into Christ’s kingdom? Do you pray for other churches that? are shining the light of the gospel in their community that we may see the kingdom of God expand. Do you put first the interest of God’s kingdom? Christ’s kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, the Bible sentence. And that includes in your prayer life. Evaluate your heart. See if you are truly sincere regarding this second petition. Now one other thought that I need to develop, and that is this. you should pray for God’s kingdom to expand in your own life. I want you to turn with me to Luke 17. I mentioned this earlier, but look with me at Luke 17 in November. Verse 21. He’s talking to the Pharisees about when the kingdom of God’s going to come. He says the kingdom of God does not come with observation. Then he says, verse 21, neither shall they say, low here, or lo there. For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Since the kingdom of God is within you, you should be praying for a greater expression of it in your own heart. Right? When God’s kingdom increases in your life, then you’re growing in spiritual knowledge. Look with me in Ephesians chapter 1, if you would. Versus 15 to 19. He says, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of God. his inheritance and the saints. And what is exceeding, the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power. Spiritual ignorance would keep the kingdom of God from expanding in your life. The more you grow spiritually, the more the things of God are going to dominate in your life. An illuminated mind then provides a greater knowledge of the Savior, a greater knowledge of your hope of your calling. Because unless you are rooted in a knowledge of Christ, you can’t really grow spiritually. God’s kingdom also increases your life when you grow in spiritual strength. Now look with me in Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1, verses 9 through 11. He says, for this cause, we all. also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and the desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Very similar to what he just said in Ephesians. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful with every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience. and long-suffering with joyfulness. It’s not easy to suffer or to wrestle with problems. It requires spiritual strength to survive. We need long-suffering. We have to show patience in these situations. When you are unable to bear up under affliction, without murmuring against God or fainting, then the kingdom of grace is expanding in your life. Spiritual strength enables you to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So we should pray that we might be strengthened with might by His spirit in our inner man, as Ephesians 316 indicates. So when God’s kingdom increases in your life, you’re going to grow in spiritual strength. God’s kingdom increases in your life. when you learn to live by faith. Remember what Paul said in Galatians 220. I live by the faith of the Son of God. That’s the way he lived. He said, I live by faith. A faith in the Son of God. Now here we have a situation when we have to trust in God’s promises, regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in this life. God’s kingdom is expanding. when we’re doing that. Do you remember the story of Abraham, who, against hope, believed in hope? I’m too old, and Sarah’s too old to have a child. But God promised me a child. And he believed that God would provide the child. So we believe God when we cannot see how things are going to work out, because we walk by faith and not by sight. believe God’s love when all you seem to feel is God’s frown is to live by faith. When you can do this, then the kingdom of God is flourishing in your life. God’s kingdom increases in your life when you are full of zeal for God. You’re zealous of good works, as Titus 214 talks about. Now zeal really is an outgrowth of our love of God. zeal is something that is often seriously lacking in so-called Christians today when it comes to the things of God. Most Christians are very lefargic. There’s no enthusiasm. There’s no fervency in serving the Lord. There’s no fire that sort of burns within somebody. Are you zealous for God? Are you zealous for his work? Are you zealous for his kingdom? Do you ever feel, compelled to serve Christ because this shows a zeal which is part of the kingdom of God growing in your life because you’re going to be zealous for the kingdom of God. You should pray that God’s kingdom would progress in this world. In particular here as we closed this out, we talked about it in your own life. That’s a good place to start. Are you in the kingdom of God? Let me ask to that tonight this morning as we close. My friends, if you’ve never been born again, then you’re not in the kingdom of God. The spirit of God has not brought you into the kingdom. Except a man be born in the spirit. He cannot enter to the kingdom. If you die while you’re in Satan’s kingdom, then what’s going to be reserved for you is the darkness and blackness of darkness forever. In hell. that’d be a terrible thing. If you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, then you need to pray that God would translate you into the kingdom as God’s dear son. His dear son. Scripture says, the kingdom of God is preach and every man presseth into it it in Luke 1616. To press finally to force one way, force one’s way forward. Sort of like when Lot, remember when Lot, the angels came to visit Lot and the men of Sodom wanted to know these two men, and when the angels struck them with blind, that they’re pressing on the door to try to break it down to get at these men. They’re pressing. My friends, let me just say this. There should be an urgency about being part of the kingdom of God. You can’t treat this with indifference. You need to press into the king. You need to seek for God’s grace that he would save you from your sins, change your life, and you could serve the Lord Jesus Christ as king in his kingdom. That’s what you need. Don’t let up. Keep praying about that matter that he would save your soul. Well, let’s close with a word of prayer.