Coming Kingdom

The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed.

Throughout the New Testament, we see the Jews want signs. I believe this is what Jesus is mentioning here, that the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that are observed. They want certain signs. They want Jesus to prove himself to them on their terms. Now, Jesus did come with signs. He just healed a foreign leper. Jesus did come with signs saying clearly I have come to fulfill those promises. There are many signs that Jesus presents. The problem with the Pharisees is that they want a certain kind of sign. They want a certain kind of observable kingdom. They wanted a certain kind of kingdom. Jesus here says it's not coming the way you are expecting it. They want a kingdom that will overthrow Rome. At this time, in this day, Israel is occupied by Rome. There's Roman soldiers, there's tax collectors, they are clearly oppressed, they clearly don't have the freedom, they want a kingdom like Rome. They want a kingdom stronger than Rome to throw Rome off so that they can then be the free and powerful people they desire to be. One of the confusions they have is that they're associating the coming kingdom of God with a nation, a political state. And if we were to just want to, if we could take the time, we're not, and walk through the 2,000 years of the church, every time the kingdom of God is associated with a political state, a nation, it goes sideways back poorly. The kingdom of God is, as Steve preached to us, Stephen preached to us Wednesday night, It's the victory parade going throughout the nations. The kingdom of God is never tied to a specific nation. Here we are. We're a Baptist church. One of the things you need to know about Baptist church, we believe and hold dearly the separation of church and state. I don't want to be an Anglican. And I don't think being a Baptist is worth moving to Rhode Island or Georgia for. What am I talking about? Before our Constitution, this was an Anglican colony, and the Baptists were shipped off or had to go to Rhode Island with all the other crazy people, or Georgia. We believe in the freedom of religion. We praise God that our nation provides people the freedom to assemble. That means Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Muslims have the freedom to assemble and worship the wrong God the wrong way. We believe they should have that freedom. Because we want the freedom to worship the right God the way we believe he is rightly instructed. I don't want our hope to be in the United States. I don't want our hope to be in a government who would tell us how we should worship. Or even that we can worship, we're supposed to worship God according to his instruction regardless. Praise God we can vote. But we should never trust that our hope is in the one who wins. If we go to Psalm 2, the nations rage against the king. The nations rage against God's anointed. We've got to be careful not to want to put the kingdom truths, the kingdom hopes into a nation. No, we're to be the church who's proclaiming the king. We're to be the church who's part of that victory parade of Jesus Christ, proclaiming him to our own nation and to the nations. Oh, the Pharisees had all wrong expectations. They wanted a powerful king who was going to exercise his might and overthrow another government to establish a government. Well, Jesus came in a different way, which we'll see in a little bit later. Notice we have the second half of verse 21.

Nor will they say, look here, look there.

It's not gonna be a nation state. For behold, whenever Luke uses the word behold, we're supposed to take notice, watch out, look.

Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

The kingdom of God is here with you. This is shocking. They're wanting to know when the kingdom is going to come. They're wanting to know when this political state nation with an army and a great ruler is going to come, and he's telling them, it's not here nor there, it's not something you're gonna observe, because the kingdom is right here. Going back to the Samaritan leper, what separated the Samaritans and the Pharisees? Samaritans don't believe in the first five books of the Bible. And yet that Samaritan leper, with only the first five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, he was able to see. Jesus was the one to call out to for mercy. Jesus is the one that he should praise as the God who healed him. The Pharisees who have the whole Old Testament, they're blinded to see who Jesus is. They're not seeing. The kingdom is present. The kingdom is in their midst because the king has come. He's the king promised who will crush Satan. He's the king who's promised who will remove sin. He's the king who's promised. And they can't see it because they're looking for a different kind of kingdom. It's quite a warning for us. If you're gonna believe it this morning, the main thing we want you to hear is there's only one way to enter into the kingdom of God. It's through the king, Jesus Christ. And as we'll see in a moment, Jesus wants us to focus in on what the cross is. If you want to know what Christianity is all about, we're all about the cross. Jesus Christ teaches us two significant things on the cross. One, the gravity of sin. Sin is deadly and dangerous. God is holy and he must punish every sin. And when we look at the cross, we see the gravity, we see the weight of sin, because in order for us to be saved, God had to send his own son to die on the cross for our sin. That's how serious God takes our sin. The second thing we see, the greatness of God's love. Sin is so deadly, sin is so weighty and has such gravity, it separates us from God, but God so loved us that he died for us while we were sinners. We see what sin deserves in the cross, judgment, punishment, death, but we see how much God loves us and that he sent his own son to die in our place, to take away the punishment, to take away the wrath of God, to take away death. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe God judged him for our sin so that we can be forgiven. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe he died in our place so that we can live forever. If you're not a believer, the king has come. The king has won the victory on the cross. The king has now risen. The king now invites you to believe in him so that you might be saved. If you're a believer, the warning for us is how easily we can get confused about different organizations, institutions, and confuse the kingdom with them. Oh, the king is at work. He has sent his spirit into our midst. He sent the spirit in our hearts so that we can remain focused, doing his work. First thing we do is see the king. The king has come. The second thing, believe the king, believe the king. If you're taking notes or second point, believe the king. Notice he's healed a Samaritan leper, the Pharisees ask a question, he answers them, and now he speaks directly to the disciples. He's moving along, same subject, same topic, but he's now talking to the disciples instead of the Pharisees. Believe the king. Verse 22,

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, do not go out or follow them. For as a 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.

So the Pharisees ask a pretty good question. And Jesus gives them what would be the equivalent of a 101 class, an introduction to the kingdom class. Very simple, very clear. They have not yet believed their hardness of heart. He gives them just the main thing they need to understand. They're not gonna see the kingdom because they don't see the king. For the disciples, he's giving them an advanced class. He's giving them kingdom 201. He's giving them more instruction. Here, he's going to help them know what they will not see But he's also making it clear to them one of the things that confuse them over and over again, and it confuses the church over and over again, Christ has two comings. He's come once to be born of a virgin, to walk with us as a human in a way that we could not walk. He was perfectly good. He was always obedient. He was righteous. He died on the cross. He rose again. He's ascended, mission accomplished. First mission, to be like us, to save us, to exalt back up to the right hand of the Father. The second mission is coming again. These two comings have to always be on our mind, Christian. The disciples' confusion, which he's clarifying for them without even asking, them having to ask a question, is making clear they understand there's two, not combining the two together like the Pharisees were trying to do. Verse 23 and 24. Verse 22 here, he said to them, the days are coming, you will desire to see one of the days. You will not see it. He's making clear to them there's something you're not gonna see, and I believe he's referring to there specifically the second coming, where he's going to establish the king. We can look back and see what he accomplished in the first coming. He took away the penalty of sin on the cross, we're forgiven. He destroyed the power of sin. We now are no longer slaves to sin if we believe in Jesus. But he did not yet remove the presence of sin. That's what the second coming is all about. They're going to want to see the second day, those disciples right there, the 12, they're gonna wanna see the final, and he's actually telling them you're not going to see it. And it's important there, Jesus in Acts 1, when they ask him, when is the kingdom gonna be established? It's not for you to know. Be faithful. The early church was expected to see and want an imminent return. But I don't believe that first generation of Christians should have expected an imminent return that generation because they actually said you're not gonna see it. But he wants that message to be preached to all Christians at all times. Verse 23, and they will say to you, look there, look here. Again, same idea from verse 21, but here he's instructing the disciples. They're gonna say, look here, look there. Do not go out or follow them. There's gonna be people who say, look, there's the kingdom, the kingdom's come. Maybe even false messiahs, false prophets. Look, I'm Jesus, I've come is what someone might say. No, don't believe them. Don't think you need some preparation. Don't believe someone who's saying it's coming. Why? Verse 24, for as a lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side or the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. The first coming had quite the preparation, promises built up as to who this Messiah would be. He'd be the final prophet, like Moses, but better. He'd be the great king, but he would sit on the throne forever. He'd be the priest, but a priest like Melchizedek, whose service doesn't begin and end, no, he's a priest in the order of Melchizedek forever because he provides the once for all sacrifice. Those are three themes we could see leading up to the coming of Messiah. So many promises, so many signs, so many ways, Christ fulfills them. That's why we trust the word of God so much. It all comes together so clearly in Christ. Second coming. He's only promised he's coming. There's those signs. Is this going to be a loud boom? There's going to be lightning, like lightning flashing. It's going to come so suddenly. That's why he's telling them, you don't go out thinking here it might be coming soon or there's prophets. No, his second coming, there's going to be a trumpet blast. There's going to be absolute clarity. when it comes to the Son of God returning in his might, in his victory, in his power. The day they're longing for, they're not gonna see, but it's clear, it's sure, it's gonna come. They should be expected. Now, notice Jesus said, it's surely gonna happen, but he's also said there's no predicting. Do we have any idea how many hours and lives have been wasted trying to predict the coming of Jesus? I was gonna go back to the Cold War. The amount of conversations about Mikhail Gorbachev's birthmark, and if it was the mark of the beast. What a constant waste of time and energy in conversation at a church. Even today, what kinds of things are we thinking are possibly signs of the Antichrist or are possibly the mark of the beast? Oh friend, it'll be clear. Christ's coming will be so clear. Why do we think we need to possibly hypothesize about the things that we have no idea about? And Jesus says, you will not be able to predict. We can actually go to his word and stir each other up into the good works he says are so clear. It causes anxiety. We're not to be anxious. We're to be expectant. I fear we do this because the more we can think about things like this, the more we think we have some comfort because we think we have some control. No, living by faith is knowing he's coming. Living by faith is knowing his word is good. Living by faith is knowing I can know for certain the things he's told me I can know, and there's things he said I cannot know, and well, it just leads me to godless speculation if I try to entertain them. We need to be faithful. We need to pray, Lord, come quickly. Notice he even instructs his disciples here, verse 25, but first. All right, 22 through 24, that was about the second coming. There's a second coming that will just come upon us suddenly, absolutely. But here he needs to remind them for numerous times, we know, he's reminded them, he's told them, but first, The son of man, that's the way he refers to himself in reference to authority. He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. There's a first coming, the son of God coming to die for sinners. Sin and death defeated. There's a second coming, the son of God coming and finishing his work. Sin removed. The mission of the church while we wait is to focus on the cross, to preach Christ and him crucified. To preach the culmination and the truth of what Christ came to do the first time, and that was to suffer and die for our sins. To promote the expectancy that he's going to return. We want to be faithful undershepherds. As Christ continually reminded his disciples, he must suffer. We want to constantly remind you, he suffered for us. He came to die for us. We wanna make sure we're putting forth to you clearly and regularly. We want you to expect that from us. Let's first see the cross. We will not see the glory of Christ's return unless we first see him suffering on the cross. There's no way to see the glory of sin removed. There's no way to see the glory of his love fully demonstrated. We see him face to face, unless we first see his love demonstrated on the cross where he died for our sins. As we think about him telling the disciples this, he's telling the disciples he must suffer. He's given them numerous warnings, he must suffer. Let's just think about these guys he's telling this to. They're still gonna abandon him when he suffers. They're gonna betray him, they're gonna deny him. They're gonna flee in fear. And yet, he still died for them. He still received them. He still empowered them to go preach the gospel. This is the kind of savior we have. He's warning them, he's telling them, he's preparing them, and even still, they deny him. And he restores them. What a gracious savior. We talk about the suffering in verse 25 because we want to make sure we understand penal substitution. The cross is where Christ was punished. That's what it means. It's a penal substitution. He died in our place. Without Christ dying in our place, we are going to have to die for our sin. We must believe this. And we also can see there's a first and there's a second. We live in an already not yet. The kingdom is already secured and yet we're waiting for the further of the kingdom. We're waiting for the finality of the kingdom. Right now, we live in a progression. We get to look back and we see Christ accomplish his work on the cross. Christ rose again. Christ is right hand of the father. And now he's given us a spirit. If we're gonna consider where we are in the plan of God, we're in the age of the church or the age of the spirit. We're empowered by God to continue to proclaim Christ crucified. Church history has taught us some categories. We call this the age of the church militant. We're longing for the church at rest. Those are two very helpful categories for us to think about. We're the church militant. We're longing to be the church at rest. I believe those are helpful for us for two reasons. One, oh, be on guard of thinking you're the church at rest. We're trying to enter into some kind of casual, comfortable relationship with Jesus Christ. No, there's Satan prowling, sin stirring. Temptation pressing in. Just last week, we saw Jesus saying, temptation is sure to come. We must be the church militant to be on guard, knowing that the real rest is coming. We will be the church militant, faithful, proclaiming the gospel, fighting against sin, when we truly believe there's a better rest waiting. The second reason we actually need to talk about church militant is we need to make sure we're promoting the right fight. The church militant is a fight against Satan. The gates of hell are on sin. Too often churches are known for its internal fighting and its gross. Too often churches are known for some kind of cultural political war. That's wrong. No, the church militant is a church focused in on making sure Christ is proclaimed, crucified. The church is meant to be this microcosm of the kingdom, an outpost, so we can be ambassadors of God's salvation. It's a high calling not to be done casually. Our third point, expect the kingdom. Expect the kingdom. This is verses 26 to 37. Notice he gives us two comparisons, and these are two very interesting comparisons. the connection there, verse 28, likewise. So whatever he's saying about the days of Noah, he's making a connection with the days of Lot.

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 in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when the lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So be on the day of the Son of Man is revealed.

We see here the Son of Man's revelation, the Son of Man coming, that's the one connector. The days of Noah are like the days of Lot because there's something about what the people were doing before the event happened. Notice it's pretty significant here. They were eating and drinking, marrying and being married. They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. Wait, wait, there's other passages. They were eating and drinking and being married. That's a sinful way of living, according to 1 Corinthians 15, that denies the resurrection. Here, I think because of the full context, the eating and drinking and marrying and being married and the eating and drinking and buying and selling, planting and building, those are all good things. Those are all things I think we could see in Genesis 2. That's before sin. These are things that are good as part of life. Now that's pretty provocative that he mentions that what they're doing is eating and drinking, marrying, being married. Marriage, the covenant, they got it sanctified. Work being sanctified as good. They're living. What's startling there is in Noah's day, in Genesis 6, the people are described as wicked. They had sinned constantly in every way. Lot is associated with which Old Testament story? Sodom and Gomorrah, the epitome of wickedness. So God brought judgment down. Notice he makes it very clear the people were just going about life as normal, and then the judgment came. So will it be for the Son of Man. The warning for the church is to hear, if you're just so busy with life, that you're not living in the kingdom, you're not seeing the king, you're not promoting the king, you're not expecting the king. It's gonna come suddenly. He's giving a warning here that's so significant. What's saved always saved, right? Those who belong to Christ, he never loses. We believe in his preserving power. But the danger I believe he's speaking to when he's speaking to the disciples regarding this warning, there are many who are going to be walking, professing Christ, that will not finish the race. There are many who have professed faith in Christ and yet sat so busy and not with sin, not with drunkenness or orgies or prostitutes. No, they just got busy eating and drinking and marrying and being married and planting and building. that they lost an expectancy, that they became so consumed with just the temporal, secular life that judgment will come so quickly. He's giving an incredible warning for us who profess to be disciples. It's a warning on how to avoid hell. Hell, where those who have sinned and not believed in Christ will suffer forever for their sin. It's not to become so prioritized with this world that you're not ready. It's going to come suddenly. That's what these two stories have in common, a judgment that will come suddenly. And they were so preoccupied with just the things of life, they were not ready. The people were just too busy. And again, the danger is they're doing good things. Okay, we can go back to Sodom and Gomorrah. We can go back to the people before the flood. They were wicked, but what Jesus does here is so provocative. He just points out they're so busy with just life, they were not ready. They were so busy doing all the good things, they were not ready for the true thing, the best thing, the kingdom of God. It's a warning. To be on guard of saying, well, I'm not doing those horrible sins. I must be okay. It's a warning that we could take our relationship with Christ so casual, so comfortable that, well, I'm having a good time and it's comfortable my way to hell. Oh, repent of being desensitized to the things of the spirit. What are we focused on? How have we so focused our lives? Is it that we are so focused on our family, our work, our sports, our kids, their activities, education, that we're really not thinking about the kingdom of God? We actually have some bucket lists we like to finish before he comes. Well, here are the commands of God referring to all these relationships.

Work as unto the Lord. Train up your children in the Lord. Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God.

If we're just so focused on what we're doing right here and now, not thinking of the kingdom, not looking forward to the kingdom, we might be in danger of missing it and not seeing it. This is the danger that Christ is warning his disciples of. The day is coming, it's going to come suddenly. Look at verse 31, he continues.

On that day, let the one who's on the house stop 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.

Now, I believe this is a little tricky because there's no way, because it's gonna come so suddenly, that you're gonna have an option to think, oh, I'm gonna go to my house and get some stuff before I go. The warning is this. Have you stored up so much in your house that you love it and desire it so that when Christ comes, your first instinct is, I want to cling to it. I want to keep it. I want to have it. Have I labored so much in the fields that I want to make sure I gather as Christ is coming down? There's a warning here. On that day, do not be so focused on the things you've accumulated or that you've produced to think, I want to make sure I take this up with me. Then we come to what I think is the best verse in this passage. Verse 32. It's the best verse for a couple reasons. It's easy to memorize. You can do it right now. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. Say it with me. Remember Lot's wife. You realize this is the command in the passage. Everything else has been a warning, a teaching. Here's the command. Here's something for you to do. Remember, remember Lot's wife. It's easy to memorize. That's one thing that just makes it absolutely fantastic. Two, the historical reference. Genesis 19, remember Lot is associated with Sodom and Gomorrah. The messengers went to Sodom and Gomorrah. The messengers were taken in by Lot because they knew what the city was like. Then the city got even more disgusting. And then they warned Lot and his family. We're gonna let you leave. There's salvation promises. Salvation was given to Lot and his family. They were declared, go, don't turn back. The warning, remember Lot's wife, after hearing the command, do not turn back, on your way out, on your way to salvation, she turns around. She turns into a pillar of salt. What a significant warning. Remember Lot's wife. We don't have a name for Lot's wife? That's why we call her Lot's wife? Why is she a warning? What does she do? Why does she turn back? There's really three options. There's three options as to how it's been interpreted. One, she's turning back to make sure her daughters are behind her. That sounds fantastically maternal. Two, she loved the sinful city and she was prioritizing her citizenship or showing her proper citizenship because she loved that sinful city. Okay, so that's like the best interpretation, she's a good mom. Worst interpretation, she's a sodomite. She's a citizen of sin. The third option, she'd made a good home there and she was going to miss it. Out of context, I would have actually guessed number two. That would have been my inclination, but in the context of what we just read about the days of Noah, the days of Lot, I think it's number three. I don't think we should conclude automatically it's her desire for sin in terms of the sinful practice of the city, but it was her just turning back to look at her home, the place where she had made a home with all her stuff. that the place where she had raised children and wanted to raise grandchildren, she looked back. What a warning. She had heard the promise. She had heard the instruction. She had been given the warning, don't look back, and yet her inclination was to think, well, what am I missing in this moment of salvation? And there the danger is clear. She was judged. She died. The warning, the instruction to remember Lot's wife. Cling to God's word and obey it. When we hear an instruction of salvation so clearly, and when we hear something to avoid so clearly, cling to it. Recognize that the words that she heard were the words of life. The words she heard of warning were words that were gonna promote and give her life. But she refused them. Verse 32, simple verse, remember Lot's wife. Verse 33, the principle,

whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, whoever loses his life will keep it.

If you're committed to preserving the life you've built up now, you will lose it. If you hold this life that we've built up now with an open hand, you will be saved. Again, just going back to how Lot's wife is an expression of this principle, she received the invitation, she received the declaration, you can be blessed, you can flee destruction. She heard the command of God, don't turn back. She left the city and even still her impulse was so persuasive. Just look back, what am I gonna miss? Are we clinging to what we think we must have here? a couple questions to consider today. Are we expecting more from this world than the God who gives us every good and perfect gift? Are we expecting more of the gifts of God than the one who actually gives them? Are we expecting more or something different than what God is giving us, doubting his goodness? Are we expecting more from this world than the God who did not spare his own son? When we're trying to preserve this life, the life we think is gonna be best, we're missing the promise. We're gonna miss the command. Verse 34, Jesus continues, and the significance there,

I tell you, in the night there'll be two in one bed, one will be taken, the other left. There'll be two women grinding together, one will be taken, the other left.

The two is meant to say a married couple in a covenant union. Two people who have worked together, maybe two great friends. They're equal in every way. Except for one thing that matters most in the end when Christ comes. Have you believed? What separates the two is one thing, and the only thing that matters in the end is, are you converted? Have you confessed Christ and has he entered into your life and has he changed your heart and has he given you a spirit? The significant startling point of 34 and 35, everything in this world, you can be equal in every way, but the grand equalizer at the end of the day is have you believed in Jesus? points to the necessary regeneration, the necessary conversion we must all have. At 37, they then ask a question, where, Lord, where? And he makes it clear to them, you know that wherever you see vultures, there's going to be a corpse. You will know it because as clear as it is, the vultures are assigned, the vultures tell you where a corpse is, so it will be so obvious when I come as it is as when you see vultures, there is a corpse. Key today. Remember Lot's wife. The call of God to receive such blessing is salvation. And we've received a greater blessing of salvation than Lot's wife. We've received a greater instruction than Lot's wife. We were still gonna receive and we're still gonna have the temptation to cling too closely to the things of this earth, to desire and long for the things of the earth too much. The temptation is going to look back. Christians, the call of Christ is to look forward and long for his return, expect his kingdom. How can we as a people, regularly remind each other, we're counted not guilty. We're forgiven in Christ. Sin has been defeated. We look back regularly and proclaim Christ crucified, Christ risen, the salvation is secure, and then we must also constantly point forward so that we're an expectant people. We're an expectant people. Turn to the cross. See the gravity of our sin. See the greatness of His love. Look forward. He will renew all things. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You that Your work is so clearly laid out for us in Your Word. Lord, we have such a privileged position to be able to look back over all these books that you've given us that are so trustworthy, that are so reliable, to look forward to all the promises that Christ fulfilled, to see how he fulfilled them, then to see your instruction to your church on how we are to continue to live in his victory over sin, his victory over death. Lord, forgive us for confusing your mission and our mission. Lord, forgive us for how we have wanted to fuse together your kingdom with some other thing. I pray we would be a people who are constantly stirring up faith in the once for all work of Christ and a desire to expectantly and hope for Christ's return. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us stand and sing our song of response. All glory be to Christ.