Our lesson this morning will
be taken from Luke chapter 17. The subject is about the Kingdom
of God and it runs through to the end of the chapter. But I
want to take a few verses and maybe a few more next week. If
it takes it, we'll go even another week. But I want us to consider
the kingdom of God and all of its various parts and distinctions. Kingdom of God is something you
read a lot about in the scriptures. It talks a lot about the kingdom
of God. But this morning I want us to
consider verses 20 through 24 on this subject, the invisible
kingdom. Luke 17, verses 20 through 24. Let's read these verses together. And 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. Neither shall they say, lo, here
or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said to his disciples,
the days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days
of the Son of Man, and you shall not see it. And they shall say
unto you, see here or see there. Go not after him. No, follow
them. Whereas the lightning that lighteneth
out of one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under
heaven. So shall also the Son of Man
be in his day. Now let's, on these few verses
of Scripture, there's a lot more here than what meets the eye.
And when we read the Scripture, we need to slow up. Just slow
up. and ask ourselves about everything
that he's saying, because he doesn't say, I may say things
that are unnecessary, but he don't. If he says something,
he's got an intent and purpose behind it. And we just need to
slow down when we're reading the Scriptures and think about
all the various things that he's saying. So let's just look at
these few verses of Scripture, and I just want to point out
three things concerning these five verses. I want to consider
what prompted them to speak about the Kingdom of God. Where did his subject come from?
Why is he even talking about the Kingdom of God? And then
I want us to look at how he answered. He answered them not... they
were expecting him to say something about the future. But that's
not how he answered. He answered them in the here
and now. And I want us to see that. And then thirdly, I want
us to see how he applies these things to his appearance in this
world. So let's deal with this first.
What prompted him to say what he said concerning the Kingdom
of God? Verse 30. He was demanded of
the Pharisees. Now they were of such, oh what's
the word, clout. Religious clout. They were of
such influence in their day that they couldn't be ignored. If
this was just a prankster or a little cult of some kind and
they had approached the Lord, I dare say he wouldn't have answered
them a word. He just ignored them completely and went on about
his business. Or like the Apostle Paul, he'll just stop and cast
out the demon that's in them from all their repetitious soundings
and go on about his business. But these Pharisees had a lot
of religious clout in that day. They were respected by everybody
that followed him. They were respected, highly revered
by men. And they demanded of him when
the kingdom of God or where the kingdom of God should be. Now,
who or what are the Pharisees? Do you know? We read about them
all the time. We're prompted to say if this
one or that one, well, he's just a modern day Pharisee. But do
we know what the Pharisees were? Who or what are the Pharisees?
They were the leading and elite sect of the Jews. experts in
the Scriptures, and especially concerning the law of Moses.
They had men trained in the law of Moses like men are trained
today in the laws of our land. And they called them by the same
name, the lawyers. And when Paul writing to the
Colossians and talking about what he held as a fleshly confidence,
he said this, I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and as touching
the law of Pharisee. I'm an expert. That was my confidence
in the flesh. I was an expert on the law of
Moses. Expert in Old Testament Scriptures. And over and over, our Lord called
both the scribes and the Pharisees hypocrites. They were hypocrites. They were extremely religious,
zealous, self-righteous and judgmental hypocrites. That's the Pharisees. They prayed all the time. But
our Lord pointed out, he gave this little scenario of a Gentile
heathen going into the house of God and a Pharisee going into
the house of God. And here's what he said about
the Pharisee, he prayed thus with himself. We've seen people like that,
heard people like that. Their prayers are... I don't even know how to describe
them. It's something you would want
to hear. I wish I could say things like they say them and do that. But most real prayer... He said,
you don't even know what to pray for like y'all. Most true prayer
is bumbling and stumbling around because we don't know what to
pray for. We don't know how to pray for
what we want and what's according to His will at the same time. But these men prayed all the
time, but they prayed thus with themselves. They prayed in the
marketplaces to be seen as men. That's why they pray in a restaurant.
That's what a man told me one time. He said, you don't pray
in restaurants? I said, no, I don't like to pray in public out loud
in a restaurant. And he said, well, how are people
going to know you're saved? When Brother Mayhem was asked
that question, he said, I think they'll get a good idea when
they see the tip. That religious man is going to
squeeze that little chain purse open and give him a dime, you
know. They prayed to be seen of men.
And they were proud of their prayers. Proud of their prayers. In John 5, he said, you search
the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
And they are they that testify of me, but you will not come
unto me that you might have life. Who are these Pharisees? They were experts in the Scriptures,
but they didn't know God. You can't know God apart from
Christ. He told them in John chapter 6, just before he gets
into that verse, that I quote so many times on how do you know
your election? All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, is going to come to me. Well, just before that,
you know what he told them? You've seen me, and believe not. They found everything in the
scripture except Christ, who is the very spirit of prophecy.
They found a moral guide. They found a strict rule of life.
They found the history of Israel. They found a plan of salvation
and a promised kingdom and a coming king. And their election they
found in the blood of their ancestors. And God's covenant promises to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they were no different than
the modern day Pharisees. They were proud, knowing nothing. For all their wisdom, made broad
their phylacteries. For all their wisdom. Somebody
got angry at me one time and left the church. When asked one
of the members why they left, they said, well, where's his
diploma? Where's his recommendation? I didn't see anything hanging
on the wall. You know what Paul told the Corinthians? He said,
you're my recommendation. They're proud knowing nothing.
They doubt about questions and strikes over words. They'll argue
for a week over the meaning of a word. They feed on perverse
disputes of men and their destitute of truth, supposing that gain
is godliness. Boy, that guy's blessed. He's
blessed. Not necessarily that rich man
that tore down his barns wasn't blessed. Wasn't. This day shalt thou so be required
of thee. And from their lofty seats, Paul
said, they forbid men to marry. You can't marry. You can't serve
God and be married. They forbid men to marry. They
command men to abstain from meats. Don't eat pork. And on and on it goes. They desire
to be teachers of the law. Now listen to this. Understanding
neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. They're ever learning
the scripture said and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. And these men were those in John
6.36 who saw the Lord and believed not. They heard his gospel. from lips
of grace. That's what they said about Christ.
Gave Him lips of grace. And these words poured forth
from His lips, and their hearts and minds went unchanged. And
these are they that demand things of God and God's servants. I hope you're listening to me
this morning. Believers don't demand anything from anybody. Let that sink in. They hope and pray for it. They advantage themselves of
the means of grace and the things of the Spirit. But they demand
nothing. Why is that? They have, by the grace of God,
been shown what they are. Ignorant. Bankrupt. God-hating sinners, depraved
sinners, ruined by the fall, worldly sinners, living for the
flesh, desperate sinners, living in the wilderness of sin. Humbled
by the love, grace, and mercy of God, they have an attitude
of grace. They don't demand things. They
use this word, puradventure. You know why? Because it's an
if-the-Lord-wills. That's what that word means to
the believer. They have an attitude of grace
and they have and are being humbled under the mighty hand of God.
And these men, these so-called representatives of God, demanded
of God the Son when the kingdom of God should come. I want you
to get what's going on in proper light. Secondly, let's deal with this. Our Lord answered them with a
simple explanation about the kingdom. The Pharisees and most
of the Jews believed that the kingdom of God would be an earthly
kingdom. God was going to raise up a man
like Solomon or like David, and this man was going to deliver
Israel out from under whatever Roman rule or or Babylonian rule
or whatever rule it was, He's going to deliver them out from
under that rule and establish a kingdom. And the way He does
it through this man and through the miracles of God, the whole
world would tremble at the power of Israel because God was with
them. Now that's what they thought
the kingdom of God was all about. The promised Messiah. was often referred to as David,
or as the root of David, or as the seed of David, and they believed
him to be a man who would deliver them out of earthly bondage. God would raise up a man to sit
on an earthly throne, and the rest of the world would tremble
knowing that God was with him. And they were suffering this
captivity because of their disobedient parents, not because of what
they did, but they blamed it on their parents. If my parents
had said this, if my parents had done that, if my parents
had done that, it wouldn't be this way. They were suffering
this captivity because of their disobedient parents and ancestors. And by their self-discipline
and good works, they hoped to restore themselves into God's
favor again. Now if these things are mine,
listen to what our Lord said to them and us. Here it is. This is about the
kingdom of God. Verse 20. The kingdom of God
cometh not with observation. When's He coming? Where's He
coming? Where's He going to appear? The kingdom of God cometh without
observation. Actually, the Kingdom of God
was taking place right before their eyes. But they didn't see
it. They didn't see it. He knew that this was a special
council of Bible-trained men whose purpose, among many other
things, was to look for, recognize, and receive the Christ, the Messiah. They were a special high council,
the Sanhedrin. And they were standing before
him, demanding things of him, and they were experts. Nobody
questioned their expertise as recognizing Messiah, and they
were talking to the Messiah. You remember that woman at the
well? We know Messiah coming, and when
he comes, he's going to tell us all things. He said, I that
speak unto you am he. The Lord told them the kingdom
of God is not something you can see. It's invisible to the world. It's invisible to your neighbors
and to your closest friends. You just can't see it. Why? Verse 21. The kingdom of God
is within you. I can see your outward countenance.
I can see your behavior. I can see your obedience, your
lack of it. But I can't see your heart. I can't see your heart. The promised Messiah has come. He was standing before them.
He has defeated all our enemies and God has raised him up and
set him on the throne of grace and all the true Israel of God
have become partakers of his person and work. And in a typical
way, This is what happened in natural Israel with David and
Solomon. He won their hearts. Didn't he? Israel followed David. They didn't
follow Saul, they followed David. And Solomon, his son. But in
the here and now, this was taking place in Jesus of Nazareth. This kingdom was... When's it
going to come? It's already come. It's already come. And they couldn't
see it because it was taking place in the hearts of God's
elect through Israel. Paul said in Romans 14 verse
17, For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not
in the physical. But what is it? It's righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's the kingdom. For he that in these things serveth
Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. God's kingdom
is a spiritual kingdom and the glory and power of that kingdom
is the king. It's the king. How do I know
if God has set up his kingdom in me? Is Christ your king? You haven't entered into the
kingdom of God without knowing the King. Without bowing to the
King. Without committing to the King. It's a spiritual kingdom. And
the glory and power of that kingdom is the King. He's the Lord of
Lords and King of Kings. Salvation is not in a baptismal
pool. It's not enjoined in a church. Salvation is not in a reform
of doctrine or a simple adherence to the plain teaching of Scripture.
Salvation is Christ sitting on the throne in your hearts. That's
salvation. Listen to this. Christ in you. The hope of glory. Like Israel of old, we're held
captive under the oppression of an evil king. In almost every
sense of the word, kingdom denotes sovereignty, royal power, and
dominion. And in every saving sense of
the word, God's kingdom being established has to do with the
willing, loving, sincere surrender of a man to Christ. He surrenders. Putting yourselves into his hands
to do with as he will. What is it when the Kingdom of
God is established in the heart? A desire enters into that heart
to serve the King. This King is a King to save your
soul. He was already sovereign in glory. But He become a man. He robed
Himself in human flesh and He lived on your behalf and died
on your behalf. And to this end He both died
and was raised from the dead that He might be Lord. What do you mean? He was already
Lord. Yeah, but now He's Lord to the glory of God. He's Lord
in the salvation of His people. And we desire to serve Him. Romans
6.16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom
you obey? How often we sing that song,
trust and obey. to be happy in Jesus, but to
trust and obey. The word kingdom denotes the
realm of the king, the territory over which he's king. And the
scripture said, know you not that you're not your own, but
you've been bought with a price. There is no salvation where King
Jesus don't sit on the throne. That's what I'm saying. That's
what this scripture's teaching. And Paul said, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Who are
they? Those who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. What is the law of sin and death?
It's the dominant power of a depraved heart. It's lust and desires
dominate your actions. That's what it is. And even worse
is the deceitful influence of Satan who feeds those desires
and exploits those sin-ridden souls. That's what he does. The law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus is the dominant spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit
of God, taking the things of Christ and coming in power and
applying those things to our hearts. Listen to John, he said,
you are God's little children and have overcome them. How? Because greater is he that's
in you than he that's in the world. Unfortunately, the Savior
of most men, He's nothing but a weak, defeated man. Don't think He'd do whatever
you let Him do. Now brethren, that ain't so with
Christ. He works in His people to will
and to do of His good pleasure. And then lastly, and I want to
be clear, Christ reigns in the hearts of every true believer.
He reigns. He reigns. He's the dominant
force in them. And then lastly, what cannot
be seen will be seen in His day. Verse 24. For as the lightning
that lighteneth out of one part under heaven shineth unto another
part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day. What day is he talking about?
Well, if we stay in the context of these verses, we're talking
about the coming of the kingdom of God. He's talking about the
gospel day, the day in which he was well. I must work while
it's day. Night cometh when no man can work. He was working.
He was busy. He was God's servant. And he's
talking about the day he was preaching in and every day until
his final coming. I want you to think with me for
just a minute, because they apply this to his second coming. A
lot of commentators do, and I think they've made a big mistake in
doing that. That's not what he's talking about here. In the day of his final coming,
nothing shall be hid. Every eye shall see him, even
those who pierced him. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue
shall confess. But here he speaks of a light
shining in darkness. Lightning shines in the storm,
don't it? Huh? What a simple illustration
he gives us and we just totally ignore that and go on in our
theology. Just stop and think about what
he's saying. As the lightning When does the lightning come?
In the storm. God creates a storm, and in that
storm there's light. There's all kind of light. God's
got the sun rules over the day, the moon by night, the stars.
That's the light of His preachers and so on, and then he has this
lightning. Has the lightning, lightneth.
It lightneth. He came to his disciples out
in the middle of the sea at two or three o'clock in the morning.
Pitch dark, worst storm they'd ever been in. And they saw him. How could they see him? Lightning. Lightning. It lightneth. And they looked out there and
there he was. What does this light like? It lights Christ. And I don't know if you've ever
thought about it, because his preachers, Boanerges, sons of
thunder. When do you hear the thunder,
Walter? When the lightning strikes. Wherever God sends his light,
he's followed by thunder, isn't he? Followed by thunder. Lightning and thunder. to tend
the storm. That's what he's talking about.
The hymn writer said he plants his footsteps on the sea and
rides upon the storm. And this is the nature of his
light in the day of salvation. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. Enoch said, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousand of his saints. Why? Verse 15, to execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,
and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against them. When does that take place? In
the last day? Oh no. No, they're still convinced
of their lies in the last days. That's right. Our Lord said,
you'll say unto me in that day, have not we cast out devils in
thy name? Have not we preached in thy name?
They're still hanging on to that old theology. They've never been
lightened about anything. But here it's talking about convincing
sinners of all that they've ungodly committed. He exposes the unbelievers
with this light. What did he expose in the disciples? Their unbelief. Their unbelief. And all his own should be called
to his side and serve him in this work. He's coming with 10,000
of his saints. God has a number in this world
that he's preserved. And they attend him and attend
his ministry. The church is the pillar and
ground of the church. All right, next week, the Lord
willing, we'll talk a little bit about life in the kingdom. What is this life? What is the
believer's life when God establishes his kingdom? Life in the kingdom. May the Lord add his blessing
to the preaching of his gospel. Thank you.