Well, good morning and welcome
to our continuing Bible study in Luke chapter 17. Today we'll be looking at verses
20-37. and also there's kind of a parallel
section in Matthew 24 that kind of covers the same thing but
with slightly more detail. So remember as we kind of keep
things in context, where he was earlier, and then he traveled
in between Samaria and Galilee and came upon the ten lepers
and healed them. And our last lesson was, where
are the nine? And so, in the context of this,
these Pharisees seem to always be around. He's left where the
other Pharisees were. I don't know if these were the
same ones that followed him, But anyway, he encounters some
more Pharisees, and we have another situation where he's got the
Pharisees in the one hand, and he's got his disciples in the
other. And he has a dialogue with the Pharisees on the one
hand, and he has a dialogue with the disciples on the other hand.
And so that's where we're at today in Luke 17, verse 20. So
let's read there, and then we'll take a look at it. And when he
was demanded of the Pharisees, that word demanded intimates
kind of an interrogation. They weren't just interested spiritually. They
were interrogating him, trying to catch him in some phrase or
saying something for which they could turn him in and have him
arrested. So when he was demanded of the
Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered
them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. And if you have a Bible, I'd
say underline that. That is a very important sentence
there that the Lord says, the kingdom of God cometh not with
observation. And that word observation means
ocular evidence, physical seeing of things. And he says, it doesn't
come that way. Neither shall they say, lo here,
or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you,
or in the midst of you. And some translations have it,
or among you. It's translated various ways. And he said to the disciples,
now he turns to the disciples and talks to them. He said, the
days will come when you desire to see one of the days of the
Son of Man, and you shall not see it. And they shall say to
you, see here or see there, go not after them nor follow them.
For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven
shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall the Son of Man
be in his day. But first he must suffer many
things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in
the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of
Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were
all given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the
ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it
was in the days of Lot, they did eat, and they drank, and
they bought, and they sold, and they planted, and they built,
but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire
and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus
shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that
day, He which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the
house, let him not come down to take it away. And he that
is in a field, let him likewise not turn back. Remember Lot's
wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it,
and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell
you that in that night there shall be two men in one bed,
and the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two
women shall be grinding together, and the one taken, and the other
left. Two men shall be in the field,
and the one shall be taken, and the other left.' And they answered
and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said, unto them, wheresoever
the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."
Now many have taken this block of scripture and based on what's
written in Matthew, because the disciples came up to Jesus and
said, tell us when the end of the world will be. And so he
goes off into the same, pretty much the same scriptures that
we just read. But remember, the kingdom of
God cometh not with observation. Remember, that's a key thing
here. And first thing he says is, well,
don't look for this and don't look for that. And so many have
taken these scriptures and gone off into these eschatology searches
and millennial this, millennial that. But today we're going to
focus on the results of what happens here. We're going to
focus on what the Lord really says to His disciples, what He
really said to those Pharisees. The Kingdom of God doesn't come
with observation. And you know, when people go
off in these millennial things and eschatology things, basically
it just means they're not ready. It just basically means, well,
if I see these things coming, Norm did, I don't know how many
lessons he did on this in Revelation. We're not sign seekers, was one
of them. The Lord's people don't look
for signs. They look for Him coming again,
and they look forward to it. looking forward to and hastening
the day. We'll read that scripture here a little bit later in the
lesson. But they look forward to that day, but the other people
are saying, oh man, if we see these things happening, then
we need to get ready. Then we need to believe. Then
we need to repent. Then we need to make plans for
the end of the world and all this stuff and dig your bunkers
and all this Crazy stuff. So there's some key things here
that often get overlooked in preaching and teaching. And we're
going to examine those things because they help us. They're
for the church. So as we look at this scripture,
He begins with the Pharisees, and they knew that certain things
were going to happen. They looked for a Messiah. Remember
back in Daniel 9.25, and it mentions, Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
build Jerusalem. And Norm's gone through those in Nehemiah and
such in the Wednesday night studies where they came back and rebuilt
the temple. And you know, in that scripture
in Matthew 24, Jesus said, I tell you, there's not going to be
one stone left on another. But you know, that actually occurred
in 70 A.D. when the Lord used the Romans
as a whipping tool against the national Israel. And they came
in there as a result of a rebellion, and they sieged Jerusalem for
a long time. And there was, I think it was
Josephus says it was at the time of Passover, and there was probably
about three million Jews in the city when the Romans surrounded
it and besieged it. And you'll just never read a
more horrendous accounting of what happened. When they besieged
that, no one could come in, no one could go out. They ran out
of food, they were starving, there was looting and pillaging,
there was gangs running all over the city killing people for anything
they wanted and there was nothing could be done about it. There
were so many people dying that they were just throwing them
over the wall because they ran out of places to bury them and
they couldn't deal with everything. And the Roman general in charge
of that, he said, when I saw that I just wept because they
were just throwing people over the wall just to be rid of the
bodies. You know those scriptures that
say an ounce of pigeon dung will be sold for, well, that's how
bad it got there. So that kind of, at the beginning
of that scripture in Matthew 24, that's kind of what that
deals with. But then it goes on and talks about when He comes
again. As we always find, they're all
looking for some messiah to come and set up an earthly kingdom
and throw off the Roman yoke. That's what the disciples said
in Acts chapter 1. They said, after the resurrection,
will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he
says, it's not for you to know the times and the seasons. and
so forth. But that's what these Pharisees
were kind of looking for too. When is this kingdom going to
come? And this guy, he doesn't look like much of a king. He
doesn't look much like, from the ocular perspective, he does
not look like what they have in their in their perception,
in their mind. They're looking for somebody
with pomp and ceremony and a big army and all these things are
going to come and save them. And that's not what he was talking
about. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. And so, then he enters into this conversation with the
disciples regarding the, it's actually talking about the fulfillment
of the gospel in the scriptures. Because even they, as we mentioned
earlier, that they had an incorrect understanding of the kingdom. in the person of Jesus Christ. And we covered that in one of
our earlier Bible class lessons, the Kingdom of God. And that
Kingdom of God is in the person of Jesus Christ. It's not, when's
He going to come and be the King? And they kind of get a misunderstanding
of Revelation chapter 20 on that millennial kingdom stuff. And
Norm covered that in the Revelation chapter 20 studies that he did. So this similarity that we find
here in Acts and in the response of Jesus in Luke 17, it's not
for you to know the times that God has placed on these things. But He says the key things here,
that's not what you need to be focused on. It's not the when,
but the who. And the why? When doesn't really
matter. And we have our instructions
until He comes back. We're to continue declaring the
Gospel and spreading God's Word. And that's our task. This response to the Pharisees
is, "...the kingdom of God cometh not without observation," in
verse 20, and, "...neither shall they say, Lo here! Lo there! For behold, the kingdom of God
is He says, I'm here right now. I'm standing right in your midst.
I'm right here. And you know, every aspect of
creation and life and every miracle declared the almighty power and
presence of God, and yet aside from a spiritual revealing by
the Father, it can't be seen. How many miracles had Jesus done
up to this point? How many people had He brought
back to life? How many people had He healed? He just healed
these 10 lepers. And Nicodemus even said, no man
can do these miracles except God be with him. And what did
Jesus say to him? Unless a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter about the miracles.
He fed the 5,000. It didn't matter. He did all
the other miracles. It didn't matter. You know, He
said up in Capernaum and up in that northern Sea of Galilee
area, He says, man, if the miracles had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah
that had been done here, they would have repented a long time
ago. And that just shows you where
all the miracles and everything He did didn't... didn't make
any difference. It's only the revealing of God's
Son in their hearts is the only thing that makes a difference,
and that only comes through the new birth. So, you know, Paul kind of preached
a similar thing in Acts 17, and it wasn't that long ago that
our pastor was over in that region of Mars Hill, and this is kind
of pertinent because Mars Hill was
a place of judgment. That's where they took the people
and judged them there for various crimes and then took them off
to be executed or punished or what have you. But that's what
Mars Hill was a place of judgment. And Paul preached there in Mars
Hill, and remember, he says, I'm going to talk to you about
the unknown God that you have an altar set up over. I'll tell
you about Him. I'll tell you who that is. And
then in Acts 17, 24, he said, God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is he worshipped
with men's hands." And remember that the Parthenon there, they
had all these, it was a big religious place where they worshipped all
these different gods and they had all these altars all the
way around because they said, well, we don't, we got like 22
gods that we worship and then there might be another one. So
that's what the unknown God was about. So they had an altar for
that just in case. And he says, God doesn't dwell
in any of this junk. neither is he worshipped with
men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to
all life and breath, and all things, and hath made of one
blood all nations of men, for to dwell on the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if happily
they might feel after Him." That's kind of a significant phrase
there. They have to kind of feel after
Him. You can't be seen with the physical eye and find Him, though
He be not far from every one of us. It's kind of a statement
that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. It has
to be revealed to you. And you're just sort of like
groping in the dark in the wrong way apart from that. And so, you know, the point again
is that the kingdom of God is in the person of His Son, Jesus
Christ. He was physically present with
those Pharisees, yet they couldn't see Him. They just saw him as
some strange entity that they couldn't quite understand or
deal with. Even though he did all the miracles,
I wonder how he did that. He doesn't have a crown. He doesn't have big robes. He doesn't have an army. I don't see how he's going to overthrow
the Romans looking like that. Their perception and reality
did not add up, and it never will add up under those terms. So, unless a man is born again,
he can't see the Kingdom of God, John 3.3. Underline that in your
Bibles. That's just probably one of the
most powerful statements in the Bible. You can't see it. Now the central theme of the
gospel running through this text in Luke 17, the Lord points out
in the Old Testament, and He says, He takes them back to Genesis,
and He says, as in the day of Noah, and he takes them back
to Lot. He's in the days of Lot. And
one of the key things that I wish we could just take away from
this lesson today is that Jesus says, don't pay attention to
all this stuff that people say, oh, He's here, or he's there, or
he's doing this, or he's doing that, or here's a sign of his
coming, and here's when the Messiah is going to come and do all these
wonderful things, and terrible things, and depending on what
side you're on. He says, forget all that. That's
not important. That's not the object. He says,
remember Noah, remember Lot. And if we go back there and read
those scriptures, we find that Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. He wasn't looking for it. The grace is in the eye of the
Lord, not in Noah. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. God saw him through the blood of his Son. That's
how he spiritually saw Noah. And then he told him to build
the ark and do all that stuff. And then God ushered all them
in, the eight people, and shut the door. Once they were safe
in the ark, then came destruction. Then came judgment. And we find
the same thing with Lot. The angels went to Sodom and
they ushered Lot and his family out of that town. And when they
were safely out, except for his wife who turned back because
she never really left. She's just like all these Pharisees. All they see is the world stuff. All they see is things and the
things that deal with this physical world. But when the Lord ushered
His people out of there, then judgment fell. And so the Lord
is telling His disciples, you don't have to worry about when
the end of the world's coming because judgment is not going
to fall on you. It fell on me in your place. You're going to be taken out
before All this stuff happens. You don't have to worry about
that. So all you've got to do is worry about the main thing,
which is the main thing, which is me and preaching the gospel. So to the disciples, He says,
I'm here now. And I'm going to come back. And
when I come back, then here's going to be what happens. And
let's turn over to 1 Thessalonians 5. So he writes to them because
this same cruddy stuff is going on back in the day. Deceitful shepherds people trying
to lead them off in all different directions. He says, but the times and the
seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write to you. You
know, God reveals Himself to His people, and their faith is
in Him. That means their total reliance
is on Him, not, here's what I need to do to get ready, or here's
what I need to do to make sure that I don't end up over there
in that realm. He says, for yourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in
the night, You don't know when that's going
to happen. In another scripture, he says, hey, if you knew when
the thief was going to come, you'd be up and ready. But you
don't know when that's going to be. He says, for when they
say, peace and safety, then come a sudden destruction cometh upon
them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness. You're not in
darkness. That day should take you as a
thief. You are children of light and
the children of the day, and we're not of the night nor of
darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep
in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night,
but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as also you do. What a wonderful
scripture. He says, don't worry about all
that other stuff. You're not appointed to wrath. We just comfort ourselves with
that and trust in Him to take care of the issues. And, you know, we have no control
over those things and where they might be or what might occur,
but we do have trust and we do have confidence in Christ that
takes care of His people. And he says, remember Lot's wife?
Boy, when I read that, it just reminded me of, you know when
you know grace, you can't go back. He said, remember Lot's wife.
She went back. He said, if anybody has experienced grace, true grace,
they can't go back to that stuff. They can't go back to that. that
world. They can't go back to Sodom.
They can't go back to that religion, that religious stuff that the
Pharisees were involved in. It just goes on in much the same
way today as nothing really new, nothing changed, just the names
and the places have been changed to protect the guilty. If someone goes back or clings
to the things of this world, then they're just not the children
of God. That's what the Scriptures say.
These things are not from God the Father. These are the lusts
of the flesh. All that stuff is from the world. And so as we read here in In Luke and in Matthew 24, you
know, even at the great white throne judgment that it talks
about, oh, here's the great white throne and everybody's going
to be judged. And boy, Norman, he covered that very well in
his Revelation study. He said, you don't have to worry
about anything because You're without, when you go there, you're
without spot, without wrinkle, and your problems have been taken
care of by the Lord God Almighty through His Son on the cross.
And He says, come you blessed of my fathers, enter the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then after that, then he deals
with the goats on the left. So again, he takes care of his
people. Then the other shoe falls in
Matthew 25, 41. After those things have occurred,
then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from
me, cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels." And so we don't look for signs. I think Norman had
one of his messages in Revelation was, we're not sign seekers. We don't. We're just not. We
know that he's coming back. And we look forward to that day.
And we don't have a bunch of stuff that we need to do before.
We need to know when that's going to happen so we can take care
of a few things before that happens. It'll happen when it happens.
He says, it's not for you to know when that's going to happen.
So the thing to do is to live each day doing what we're supposed
to be doing. And when He comes, we just say,
hallelujah. And I like what Norm said in
that. He says, it's not going to be a secret thing. Oh, look
out for that left behind stuff. It's not going to be secret.
They will come with a trump. And not too long ago, he did
a lesson, the two silver trumpets, you know, and the clear sound
that they issue. And he says, when his angels
come to gather his elect from the four corners, They're going
to come with Trump and his people are going to see that. Now it
may be that the very first thing that we read in this block of
Scripture today in Luke 17, that to the unregenerate it may not
look like that. And we see evidence of that in
the Scriptures all the time. To them, it may just be some
weird thing. Because without being born again,
you can't see the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God comes
not with ocular evidence, physical things. We just heard thunder. Did you hear what the Lord just
said? No, we just heard thunder. So you have that kind of thing. And Elisha and his servant there
on the plain were doomed. There's only two of us and they're
going to kill us. There's a big army out there. And Elisha prayed
and said, open his eyes, Lord, that he could see. And when he
opened his eyes, there was more from the host of heaven with
them than there were of the enemy, and they were going to take care
of the issue. But with ocular evidence, he
just said, we're doomed. You know, we just can't look
at things with physical eyes. And we try to apply physical
things in all these scriptures and stuff, and try to apply those
physical worldly things. It's incongruent with the spiritual
nature of God's kingdom. He says, My kingdom is not of
this world. It's not. All this stuff that's going to
happen, as Norm is always pointing out, it's not going to happen
until the last sheep has been born again and saved. And we
don't know when that's going to be. We just don't know. So, we just
have to keep declaring the Gospel and trust the Lord to save His
people. He says, you know what? All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me I will no wise cast out. And in John 17, He said, of all
you've given me, I have lost nothing. And He says that in
the I am sense. Not all the ones that he'd given
him up to that point where he was praying with his disciples
in John 17. You always have to remember that
his aspect is an eternal aspect. And all that the Father gave
him, he gave him in eternity. And they are his through eternity. They're His no matter what time
they're born, what time they come into this world. But every
one of them is going to be intersected with the gospel and caused to
believe by the Spirit of God and trust in Him. So we just have to look at things
in that aspect, in that spiritual context. So we look for no signs,
but we look for the coming of the Lord. looking forward to
that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He
might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself of peculiar
people. Not odd, but that word means
purchased. That means bought, paid for. a peculiar people zealous of
good works. And we look for a new heaven
and a new earth in the spiritual sense that he's going to deliver. And so we'll stop there. You can have time for some fellowship
and whatnot. So until our next time, be free.