I please God to bless us this
morning as we consider his word together. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 and we'll read verse 10. The Gospel
of Matthew chapter 6 and reading verse 10. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. It is a great blessing for us
that we have such a simple and such a full prayer given to us
by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And I know that of course this
prayer can be said and is said very often and without any real
feeling or without any real knowledge of what is being prayed for.
If the Spirit of God touches our heart, we shall realise how
full this prayer is and how we should follow, in fact, the outline
which is clearly set before us in these words. And the Lord
Jesus commences by coming to his Father and our Father in
the plural, our Father. It's not singular, it's plural. And how often we should therefore,
when we pray, should pray for the Church of God, desiring that
these blessings might be granted to many. Because how we need
that in the day and age in which we live, when religion really
is in a very low ebb and generally in a low decline, and there is
a lot of Frothy religion a lot of hot air, but there's really
not very much solid based truth and therefore we will be thankful
that we have a encouraging word Instructing us how to pray like
this our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name or
sanctified be thy name or May thy name truly be holy It's good
that we realise who we approach unto when we come to God in prayer. We must not be flippant. We are
thankful we can come to God today in any situation, in any way,
but we must come in a right way realising who we are approaching. We are approaching the Majesty
on High, Almighty God who created everything, this whole universe.
and who sits and knows all about us. The greatness of our God
is impossible for us to really understand or comprehend. But
nonetheless, it's right if you and I have an appreciation, some
appreciation of this great God that we may come. We're thankful
today that we can come. And how can we come? Of course,
through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. as our great and
wonderful high priest. So we can come to our Father
which is in heaven, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Well that's, we might say that
the prece to this prayer. And then the Lord says, thy kingdom
come, thy kingdom come. This is God's kingdom and really,
We can summarize that in two ways. First of all, it is the
kingdom of God's grace. And then it is the kingdom of
God's glory. Well, both of those situations
we should be concerned about. And here we have this word, thy
kingdom come. It's not therefore something
that should be placed in the background, that it might come
when it suits us. No, the word is very clear, thy
kingdom come. And what that means is we should
be desiring that we may know the blessing of this kingdom. Know the blessing of this kingdom
in this kingdom of grace towards our souls and be anticipating
and looking forward to that kingdom of glory which is to come to
the people of God. The kingdom of glory does exist
of course now and it always has done. It's an eternal truth that
our minds cannot fully comprehend but nonetheless it is so. This
kingdom has always existed and A kingdom, of course, means that
there is a king. It is not a kingdom, is it, unless
there is a king. And we observe and we know that
there is a king, and that is the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the Lord Jesus Christ
is eternal. As the Father is eternal, as
the Holy Spirit is eternal, again, beyond our understanding. And
yet, it's a blessing if you and I are given, and it is a gift
of faith to believe such tremendous truths, such great considerations. And so that we come, realising
that we do have a King, a great King, the Lord Jesus Christ. naturally in a kingdom. A king is usually revered or
a queen is usually revered as the ruler of that country, the
ruler of that nation. And indeed, we have a king, the
King Jesus, who is the ruler of the world, a ruler of the
spiritual church. And as people naturally will
obey and bow down and listen to what a king says, so it should
be in our spiritual lives, that we should listen to what the
king has said. And of course, the king has spoken
throughout the word of God. There are so many words, are
there not? So many instructive considerations that God brings
before us. that we should recognize. They
are not the word of a man. Men were used by God to write
the scriptures, but those writings were influenced by the spirit
of God who breathed into those men of old to write the word
of God. So it is the word of a king that
we are blessed to have and to consider and to read. And we should therefore desire
that as people would be expected to obey the words of a natural
king, so we are indeed expected to obey the words of King Jesus. And so we should observe the
importance of knowing that we come and stand before the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. There are many kingdoms on this
earth, aren't there? there's only one true spiritual kingdom
and that's the kingdom of our God and the kingdom of our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so with that background,
some little understanding of the greatness of this kingdom,
then to be able to pray in this way, thy kingdom come. I mean all of us I guess, apart
from perhaps the very young, have prayed this prayer. Perhaps
many times when I was at school, it was the prayer that was always
spoken every morning in assembly without any fail. And therefore
they were up and down the country and indeed in many countries
in the world. So many occasions when these
words were spoken, but was it prayer? Was it prayer? Thy kingdom come. Well, for the
most part, the answer's no, it wasn't. It was just a mere form
of words. Now perhaps, if we consider ourselves
today, and as we hope and we may believe that we are part
of the children of God, the living church of God, do we say these
words? And if we say them, do we pray
these words? Thy kingdom come." Because they
are very important words, they're very sobering words. They're
words which are very relevant and yet to be able to honestly
pray them is something to consider very seriously. Because remember
it has those two great aspects. First of all the kingdom of grace
and then the kingdom of glory. And we might say, well of course,
I need God's grace continually, and of course we do. But I wonder
if we are willing to really pray for the kingdom of God's glory
to come. This really is testing the reality
of our religion so often, isn't it? Because we live in the world
And we're often earthbound. Things in this world possess
us. And we may not be honest when
we really pray a statement like this, Thy kingdom, the kingdom
of glory come. We may not pray that in honesty. Blessed be God if we do pray
it honestly. And I believe that everyone will
pray it honestly if they are the children of God, before they
pass out of time into eternity. And it's good if you and I are
therefore able to pray even today in this way, Thy kingdom come,
the kingdom of glory. Because as the apostle wrote
to his servant, Titus, and he spoke to him in this way, teaching
He says, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts
Just remember that we are to deny ourselves those things,
ungodliness and worldly lusts. We should live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of the good works." Well, that was the instructive words
that Paul wrote to Titus, and they are still very appropriate
for us today to test the reality of our religion. And I suppose
if we look at it face-on, The day and age in which we live
is so material, so materialistic. There are so many things that
come into our lives that distract us from the true things of God
that sidetrack us. They take us aside and therefore
we find ourselves enveloped in those things which, if we are
honest, do not profit. By that I mean this, they do
not benefit our souls. They may benefit our pocket,
they may benefit our natural acumen, our natural desires,
but they do not profit the important aspect, which is the life of
our soul. And so then, as we read this
word, Thy Kingdom Come, it will be a wonderful blessing for you
and me if we are able to pray it Honestly. Honestly. And to realise the words that
we're saying and how they really implicate us if we're praying
like that. They implicate us in this way,
first of all, if we're praying that the Kingdom of Grace may
come. The Kingdom of Grace is of course the the wonderful blessing
given to us of God, that unmerited favour, and that is to reveal
ourselves in our true state as the Lord God sees us, and then
to view himself in all his wonderful salvation and all that wonderful
life and all those wonderful words that he spoke and all those
great commands that he gave. So the kingdom of grace. Now to the believer, the kingdom
of grace, God's kingdom is within us because it's that life of
God which God has given us. And so this kingdom is within
us. Now that's a very great thought
isn't it? To think that this kingdom of
grace is within us that means we possess it. It means that
God has graciously come and given it to us and as such there is
really a tremendous obligation on our behalf to walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith we are called. Because if God has
called us by his grace, if that grace is in our hearts, then
there is that great requirement that we walk worthy of it. We tend to live our life very
loosely, I suppose, don't we? We don't perhaps live our life
as we should. in humble submission to Almighty
God. This kingdom of grace, do we
desire it? Do we desire it more because
you see that grace is something which expands in our spiritual
life, that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. we may realise more and more
the wonderful favours and the wonderful benefits which God
has given to us, which he has bestowed upon us. This kingdom
of his grace that we may therefore grow and it should be a concern
and a desire that God's kingdom may therefore come and ever grow
in our hearts with regards to his grace that we may have more
and more understanding more and more revelation of our condition
before a holy God and of his great mercy and love toward us. Perhaps we don't always understand
and appreciate that God's work in our heart is to show us more
of our true condition. When the Lord first calls us
by grace, when we first are converted, When the light first shines into
our heart, well, what does it do? It reveals to us that we
are a needy sinner, that we are a fallen sinner, that we are
a rebellious sinner, that we are a hard-hearted sinner. And
it may show us all those things perhaps, but only in a little
way. It's as we grow spiritually,
As the Kingdom of Grace comes into our heart and grows, it's
then that we see more of the badness, the sinfulness, the
vileness of our own nature, our old nature. And we realise then
the need we have of forgiveness, the need we have of the Holy
Spirit of God to direct us and to keep us closer to the Saviour. and to walk farther away from
the things of this vain world. Now, we will understand and we
will prove that our life is a battleground. There is a battle which goes
on within us. And it is the battle which is
between our old nature and the new nature. The new nature, you
see, strives after holiness. Well, I hope it does. Perhaps
sometimes it's a very low striving. But you see, our old nature,
which we are born with, we're not delivered from it. We still
possess it, and we still walk along with it. And it's a blessing,
therefore, if we pray this prayer, in all honesty, thy kingdom come,
the kingdom of God's grace to turn us more and more towards
the Lord Jesus Christ and away from the things of this poor
dying world in which we live. Now, the conflict is really because
the devil wants us to concentrate on the trivial things of life,
the lustful things, the pride of life, all those things which
just are attractive to our nature. but those things which don't
really bring peace to our hearts. Sometimes it's good just to sit
down and meditate and to ponder these things, and to think perhaps
if you come to the end of a day, you look back and you think,
well, now what have I done during this day? What have I spent my
time involved in? Has it brought me nearer to God? or has it taken me away from
God? Am I blessed with peace or do
I not have peace? And we need to consider these
things prayerfully and carefully before God. And may His Spirit
show to us the health of our soul in these things. And very
often, we will have to admit that we have not really prayed
such a prayer. Thy kingdom come, that kingdom
of grace into our hearts. We may have spoken words, but
it hasn't come from our heart. It hasn't come in faith. And
what does the word of God tell us? That which is not of faith
is sin. So therefore, instead of praying
a prayer which is good, we've prayed in a sinful way. And it
hasn't been good at all. It's been further sins. Again,
it's a solemn thought, isn't it? That when we pray to God,
to pray honestly and in faith, and if we pray honestly, to be
concerned about the outcome of our prayers. This kingdom of
grace, Are we concerned that it does come, and that it's a
blessing, and that we grow in it? Thy kingdom come. What words they are, very simple
aren't they? Just three words, but full of great depth, full
of great desire, if we pray honestly. And to come this way, you see,
and seek that God's Kingdom of Grace may be found in our hearts
and it might expand. Well, God knows how we stand
before Him and God is the only one that knows. You and God have
that secret. No one else knows what it is
between your soul and God. The reality of it or the mockery
of it. and we are warned not to mock
God. And yet easily we can mock God
by our thoughtlessness, our lack of true prayer, our lack of true
concern. We're really just trying to please
ourselves and complete some religious formality in our life which we
think is well-pleasing to God. Of course, true prayer is, but
false prayer, as we read, is an abomination. And we fall into
the line of the Pharisees who are just hypocrites, and how
terribly solemn it is if we today fall into that category, that
we are hypocritical in our prayers. And so we have this gracious
example that the Lord has set before us. And as we think about
it, and it's good really to just take each clause at a time. You can go home, can't you? And
you can read these few verses, and you can just take the various
clauses at a time, carefully ponder it, and desire to understand
what it really means and how it's directed to us for our spiritual
good. Because it's a wonderful statement
of truth and a wonderful direction for every one of us in our life,
day by day. Thy kingdom come. Well, if this kingdom of grace
is to reveal to us then our true condition, and we may sometimes
think that as we see more and more of the evil in our heart,
we may say, well, I don't see you making much progress. Don't
be discouraged, you know. It's an encouraging thing if
the Spirit of God displays to us, unfolds to us, opens to us
more of the evil and sinfulness of our heart, so that we have
to say, can ever God dwell here? I'm such a bad person. I never
realised that. I never realised it. But now
that Spirit of God shows me more of the evil in my heart. And
I almost collapse under it. I see so many things that I never
observed before. What is happening? God is answering
this prayer. Thy kingdom come. The kingdom
of God's grace. His grace is revealing to us
more of our true state before God, so that we have a little
understanding of what God sees when he looks at us. Not what
we see, what God sees. And it is a spiritual blessing. It is a spiritual growth. It is proving an answer to this
prayer, thy kingdom come. When the Holy Spirit then shows
us truth of these things. We may think, and of course it
is, as we might think, a negative consideration, but nonetheless
it is the work of the Holy Spirit upon us. And then, to turn from
that to this Kingdom of Grace in revealing to us the Lord Jesus
Christ, and how wonderfully positive that is. Now, we won't appreciate
the blessings of Christ, we won't appreciate how great He is and
His great work unless we have a real need in our hearts, a
real need of a Saviour. It's not just a formal thing. And therefore, as this prayer
has been answered in this respect, Thy Kingdom come, the Kingdom
of Grace has revealed to us something of ourselves then it directs
us to our need of a Saviour, and then we see how suitable
the Lord Jesus Christ is to us. We see how needful the Lord Jesus
Christ is to us. What is it? God's answering our
prayers, and he's granting us his kingdom of grace to reveal
to us the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is a great blessing
as the Spirit of God shows us how suitable Christ is because
he's taken away our sins. How has he taken them away? He's
paid the price for that forgiveness. And that price was the greatest
price that anyone could ever possibly pay. our life. He gave his life as a ransom
price that you and I might receive the glorious gift of eternal
life. Now what a blessing if this kingdom
of grace has come. Thy kingdom come. The Spirit
of God has come and we view the Saviour as our Saviour. That one who died for you, the
one who died for me, because the truth is that you and I need
the application of the truth of God to our souls. It won't
be any good just having a theory, just having a natural understanding.
It's when The Holy Spirit of God applies His Word, applies
His truth, and it enters into our hearts, our innermost being,
our souls, the revelation that the glorious God, the glorious
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, died to take away our sin, died
to atone for our sin. It means to bring us back to
God, to make us one with God, in union with the Lamb from condemnation
free. What a great statement that is,
isn't it? Union with Christ. There's no
union unless we know our need, no union unless the Spirit of
God has applied his word to our hearts to know that Christ has
come and that Christ has died for us. The reaction I'm sure
will be as we stand amazed and we say what a saviour, what a
saviour I have who has graciously and gloriously delivered my soul,
saved my soul from the wrath to come, washed away all my sins. What was there in me to merit
esteem or give my creator delight? What was there? Nothing at all. Why was it? Because he loved
our soul. Because of his love toward us.
His loving-kindness, oh, how great! Indeed, Jeremiah speaks
of it, doesn't he? So, very clearly, in the 31st
chapter in Jeremiah, he tells us these things. the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me saying." You see, he spoke to Jeremiah
and he speaks to his people today into their hearts with these
encouraging words, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore with loving-kindness
have I drawn thee." Now it's this grace of God, this kingdom
of grace which has come and has drawn at our heart unto the Saviour. And we've observed by living
faith His amazing love, His loving-kindness. Oh, how great! Well, the blessing
isn't it? If this kingdom of grace has
come into our hearts, and reveal to us the wonder of his loving
kindness to such unworthy sinners. And you will stand amazed. Yes, you will stand, you'll be
nothing because Christ will be all in all to think that almighty
God, you'll begin to see how great God is. The Almighty God
has come and revealed himself to you as your Saviour, that
one who has indeed loved you. Thy kingdom come. Oh, this kingdom
of grace, what a wonderful blessing it is to know the kingdom which
is within us. It's not something peripheral,
not something which we can't reach. It's that which God gives
to us. It's within us. It's the life
of God in our soul. Oh, then how wonderful is it
not, thy kingdom come, this kingdom of grace, to know that God has
given it to us. And when the Lord blesses us
with these things, then it is that we then, as it were, have
some desire After heaven and heaven realities there is no
real spiritual desire for heaven from an ungodly person Because
a person who is content with this world would not want to
go to heaven They wouldn't want to be there they find it a strange
place They wouldn't be happy there at all They wouldn't want
to praise the Saviour. They wouldn't want to be with
God. They wouldn't want to be there. There's no attraction
in heaven to the unbeliever. So, my friends, it's a wonderful
blessing if God has given you grace to pray this prayer, Thy
kingdom come, the kingdom of glory, because you observe and
know and see an attraction. You see something wonderful to
be found with the Lord Jesus Christ in that place of perfect
peace, where there is no sin, nothing of this poor sinful world
to distract you, to turn you away from the things of God,
but to be lifted up in your hearts to view the blessings that Christ
has gone to prepare for all his people, to come and partake of
that reserved place in heaven, that place which God has gone
to prepare for his people. The hymn writer has a very simple
line like this, and he says, where congregations ne'er break
up and sabbaths have no end. Now you see, ungodly people do
not want to be found worshipping God. They hate it. They get out of any situation
as fast as they can. And so what a test it is for
the reality of our religion as to whether we look forward to
Sunday, whether it's a day which is now the best day of our life. It may have been the worst day.
When we were young, perhaps we were unbelievers, it was the
worst day of our life. We didn't want Sunday because
we couldn't do the things we wanted to do. But what a blessing
when the Spirit of God has directed us to realise, yes, you see,
Sunday, the Lord's Day, is the best day. It's a day we can come
and worship. A day when we can lay aside all
the poor things of this world. You see, it's a sad day in which
we live, is it not, when there is no real concern to be found
obeying the fourth commandment. And how important that fourth
commandment is and how easily people today ignore it. They
think it doesn't apply. Well it was there for us and
for our blessing, we read in Exodus 20 and verse 8, remember,
don't forget it, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. six days thou shalt thou labor
and do all thy work but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord
thy god in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son
nor thy daughter thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle
Nor thy stranger is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and
rested the seventh day, wherein the Lord blessed the Sabbath
day and hallowed it." Some people say, well of course, that's the
Old Testament and that's the old ceremonial law and that's
the law of Moses, it doesn't apply today. Well, just note
what is said here of course, that it goes back to creation. when God rested the seventh day. And it is therefore a holy day. And it is a day that we should
be thankful for and truly appreciate. It's a wonderful blessing to
be able to come aside and leave aside lawfully. We don't have
to think, oh, I should have done that. I should be doing that.
No, we don't have to do that. And Isaiah reiterates these words
in the 58th chapter in the last two verses. He says, if thou
turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord,
honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then
shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, And I will cause thee
to ride upon the higher places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it." So there we have the natural blessing and the
spiritual blessing of the Lord's day, the Sabbath on earth. But
you see when we get to glory, when we come to this kingdom
of glory to realize that we've understood in some small way
what it must be to be in that perfect place of light and happiness,
no sorrow, no crying, no tears, perfect peace, perfect unity,
and the Saviour in the midst. Now, the question is, is that
what you and I desire? Is that what you and I are looking
forward to? Thy kingdom come. The kingdom of glory. Now, do
we pray this honestly? Do we pray this in that way?
Thy kingdom come. Remember, this kingdom of glory,
you will still have your old nature, which cleaves to the
things of time. But if there's that new nature,
which God has given us, that new birth, that new life, that
light within, which looks forward to the glorious time of eternity
in heaven. You see, the life on this earth
will soon perish and vanish away. The Word of God tells us our
life's like a vapour. You know what that's like when
the steam rises? It's disappearing, gone very,
very quickly. But you see, eternity is before
the living Church of God. And oh, an eternity in glory. Eternity is before everyone.
It's only the church of God who would enjoy this time of glory
in heaven. To pray this prayer then, thy
kingdom come, the kingdom of glory. Well, this morning, is
it attractive to you and to me? Do we look forward to that time
we should have done with all the sins of this world? And as
the apostle Paul said, who knew very well the truth of his sinful
state? For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. Ah, the apostle knew what it
was to look forward to that heavenly place of glory. Thy kingdom come,
and then just very briefly, thy will be done in earth as it is
in heaven. Again, to submit ourselves to
the will of God. That means when things aren't
going in the right way, That means when things are going against
us. That means when things aren't working out as we wanted them
to. To be able to still come and pray like this. Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. The Lord speaks that
way because we know that God's will in heaven is a perfect situation. And here we have this statement.
Thy will be done in earth. Done in earth in accordance with
my life. It means submitting ourselves
to the will of God. We're just clay, aren't we? You
know that we have the example in Ezekiel of the case of the
potter. And he was told to go down to
the potter's house and to see how the potter was making things.
And the potter didn't like it. He destroyed it and threw it
away and he started again. And he made the pot perfect as
he wanted it. The Lord deals with us in that
way. He has a perfect right to mould us. What a blessing it
is that he does mould us. We're not left to ourselves to
mould ourselves. We'd make a real mess, wouldn't
we? God is that heavenly potter. He moulds us. And therefore to
be able to say, yes, Lord, thy will be done. Thy will be done
in my life, so that I might live my life unto the Lord. Unto the Lord, not unto ourselves.
but for his honour and for his glory. Oh, then, what a blessing
it is to be able to pray this prayer again from our heart.
We've all prayed it, no doubt, many times, but we always prayed
it from our heart, truly, honestly. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. Well, just a few remarks, really,
but wonderful truths, aren't they? Go home, think about it,
ponder it. Thy kingdom come, the kingdom
of grace, the kingdom of glory, and thy will be done in earth
as it is in heaven. Amen.