When will the kingdom of God come? Luke 17:20-37.

well Jesus often spoke about the kingdom

the kingdom of God and we might have a

few ideas about what that is or perhaps

we are completely confused what does the

kingdom of God mean well one Theologian

put it like this and it should appear on

the screen um a guy called Philip reiken

says God's kingdom is God's

rule his Royal Authority and sovereign

Reign God is the king so where wherever

he is the kingdom is the kingdom is

present wherever God exercises his

kingly power and wherever people honor

and serve him as their

King now because of the um promises and

prophecies in the Old Testament Israel

knew something better was coming they

they greatly anticipated the coming of

the Messiah they greatly anticipated the

coming of this new kingdom this

Everlasting

Kingdom just as their Exile have been a

defining moment for the

nation so the coming of this promised

Kingdom would be a defining moment for

Israel too there are certain milestones

in our lives aren't they that that that

occur and they they make a big

difference so getting the new job can

transform everything um moving to a new

place getting married or having children

or perhaps a big birthday you think oh

it's a bit of a milestone in my life uh

perhaps your summer holiday was

something you looked forward to for a

long time and now it's gone you think

well what next what do I look forward to

next and perhaps you're thinking about

Christmas 52 days till Christmas and

you're thinking yeah I'm looking forward

to that

already it's nice to have something to

look forward to isn't

it and the kingdom of God was something

the Jews in Jesus day were looking

forward to there were different ideas

about what that Kingdom would look like

so many hoped that it would mean Israel

was liberated from Roman occupation that

a new era would come in a golden age one

like when King David was on the throne

they were thinking maybe that's what

it's going to be like

um they were thinking about perhaps it

would be a time of great

restoration a Time when uh religion

would take on that new

meaning so why do they think that well

because the Old Testament talks about a

restoration of a coming king of an

everlasting Kingdom so back in Luke

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2 when Jesus was born we meet a

man called Simeon and he was wait

waiting for something called the

consolation of Israel basically the same

thing the thing we're talking about this

was the national hope based on Promises

of God this was the next big thing for

Israel they were waiting for it longing

for it to happen looking up anticipating

this thing and of course the big

question for for the people then was

when when is this big thing that we're

looking forward to when's it going to

happen they knew the kingdom was coming

but they don't know

when if you've ever been on a long

journey with children we all dread that

question don't don't we you you've

barely joined the a303 and your children

are already asking are we we nearly

there yet you think we got another four

hours to go you know happened to me

yesterday it doesn't matter when they

grow up you we took our our girls on a

walk it was an hour and a half walk we

didn't tell them how far it was before

we went five minutes into the walk they

said uh how far is this you know are we

nearly there

yet the Jews had a long time to wait for

this Kingdom they had been waiting and

waiting and waiting from the promises

throughout the old old uh Testament and

they' had been waiting it was about 400

years since they had last heard God

speak um speak to them through the

prophets so they've been waiting for

this this this promised Kingdom to come

and they want to know when when is God

going to bring about this promised

Everlasting Kingdom and so the Pharisees

decide to get Jesus's take on all this

when do you think that the Kingdom's

coming

Jesus and the question is also the title

of our first point when will the king om

of God

come the next Olympic games are in Los

Angeles in

2028 I believe and the opening of the

Olympic Games is is a big thing isn't it

every host nation knows they want to

make a good impression they want they've

got a lot to live up to you don't want

to buy cheap fireworks that fizzle out

you don't want to have performers that

can't really perform very well you know

they sing Out Of Tune and you go and

you're representing our country that's

embarrassing you know you want to

announce to the world the games have

started and it's going to be

[Music]

magnificent and this is the kind of

thing the Pharisees were expecting with

the coming of the kingdom of God

something really noticeable something

that couldn't be missed something

tangible but Jesus tells him that the

coming of the Kingdom isn't something

that you can observe you won't be able

to pull out your phone and and post it

on Instagram you're not going to be able

to put the kingdom of God on YouTube and

say there is it is you can't point to a

map and say that's where the kingdom of

God is here it is there it is why

because the kingdom of God verse 21 of

you some older translations say within

you now in one sense of course the

kingdom of God is within you within us

uh God's rule is in our hearts within us

he must be our King if we are part of

the Kingdom so in that sense God's

Kingdom is within us but it's unlikely

Jesus there is telling the Pharisees who

go on to reject him that he he was the

king that the kingdom of God is in in

you the ones who reject

him notice the tense here the kingdom of

God is present tense is in the midst of

you it's already here it's arrived it's

in your mid right

now so what's Jesus talking about

in what way was the kingdom in their

midst well it's likly Jesus was

referring to

himself he was in their

midst and as king wherever he was so the

kingdom is

there so it's no surprise that when

Jesus went around the region preaching

he often announced the the good news of

the kingdom of God so we can see that in

other parts of Luke Luke 4 or Luke

Luke 8 if you want to

check and and he said he was driving out

demons as evidence that the kingdom of

God has come upon

you so he announced the kingdom he

brought in the kingdom and we see the

the powers of Darkness being driven back

before this new kingdom that is

coming so the kingdom of God hadn't come

in the way the Jews imagined you

couldn't see the kingdom in in the same

way you can see an Earthly Kingdom but

you could certainly see the effects of

the kingdom and it's centered around one

person King Jesus and he was in their

midst the Pharisees are asking when's

this this Kingdom going to

come what if only they weren't so intent

on rejecting Jesus they would realize

he's already

here it just wasn't what they were

expecting they imagine some sort of

dramatic political or military overthrow

or some Mass religious Awakening but in

fact the kingdom was coming

gradually by the surrendering

surrendering of lives to Jesus one

person at a

time but nonetheless it had arrived with

Jesus the king and they were missing it

because they didn't recognize the king

they didn't recognize Jesus even though

they were talking to him and it's the

same for us isn't

that we can hear about

Jesus we can talk about Jesus we can

sing songs about

Jesus we can even come to church we can

be in the presence of those who are in

the kingdom and still not actually be in

the Kingdom

ourselves remember part of that

definition we had to begin with the

kingdom is present wherever God

exercises his kingly power and wherever

people honor and serve him as their

King I wonder if you've ever been aware

of God's kingly power at work in

you saving you changing you I wonder if

you've ever personally surrendered to

him as your lord and savior or we might

say is as as your king and

savior I wonder if

you are in this spiritual Kingdom that

Jesus came to bring

when Jesus turns from speaking to the

Pharisees to speak to his disciples the

Pharisees had stumbled at the first

hurdle which was Jesus the disciples at

least recognized that yes Jesus is the

Messiah Jesus is the king and so Jesus

instructs them about the future and

we'll look at that in our second point

you won't miss

it so the kingdom of God has been

inaugurated people are entering people

are in the Kingdom right now and yet

even at our point in history in

2024 it hasn't come in all its fullness

it's like a

seat that sprouted and it's still

growing it needs to grow it's like yeast

working its way through the dough it

will take time the kingdom of God is a

work in progress people describe the

kingdom as being

now and not yet you see you get that

attention there because it's been it's

consummation it completion is yet to

come so right now we're in a in betweeny

bit we're not at the start and we're not

at the end but there's still people to

come in you see that's why isn't

finished it's not consummated it's not

finished there's still people to come in

still people to to be saved until all of

those that God is going to save have

been saved the kingdom won't be complete

and Jesus won't return until that

time so Jesus speaks to his disciples

about this in betweeny stage Jesus

starts by saying in verse 22 the days

are

coming now if you or I start a sentence

like that the days are coming um you

can't guarantee that what we're going to

say is actually going to happen you

can't be 100% certain so the days are

coming I might say when I'm going to go

B

and um I don't know that might happen

that might not but let's hope it doesn't

happen but I've got no control over it

it's just you know it's one of those

things the days are coming we might say

when Donald Trump will be president and

you might not like that you might like

that I don't know but we might think

well it's quite likely but actually you

and me can't change that how that's

going to work out it's going to happen

but we can't say with any um degree of

guarantee that yes these in the future

Donald Trump will be president the days

are coming I could say the days are

coming when you all will going to run a

marathon and you might look at me and go

that's not going to

happen but when Jesus

says the days are coming he

prophetically speaks the things yet to

come he speaks with the authority of God

and because of who he is his word cannot

fail so we would do well to pay

attention because what Jesus said is

it's going to happen it's 100%

guaranteed well as Jesus gives his

disciples a glimpse into the future he

speaks about a time when he'll no longer

physically be with them a time when they

will long to see he says one of the days

of the son of

man what does he mean by that well

opinion is divided some Think Jesus is

referring to a time probably of

persecution when the disciples will look

back to his Earthly Ministry and think

oh if only Jesus was here he'd come sort

it all out for us that's it's quite

lightly possibly that might be what

Jesus is saying or it could mean more

probably that sometime in the future

again when they're feeling hard pressed

and maybe when evil seems to be

triumphing and the kingdom doesn't seem

to be doing so well that they would long

for the triumphant return of the

King when he comes back in glory but

either way whatever way we understand it

the result it's the same really isn't

there there will be a time when the

disciples or those who are following God

are Longing To See Jesus a time when

they were long to see the king return

and bring his kingdom to its

consummation and that should be the

longing for every single

believer longing to see our Lord come in

glory

longing that I can be with him finally I

I can know him and a new and and deeper

way a time when he comes and there will

be

Justice there will be peace everything

will be made new a time uh when we are

longing for God's righteous rule to be

welcomed and willing willingly obeyed in

every corner of creation a time when we

will be able to come

into full and unfettered unhindered uh

worship and praise before our God a time

when God promises where he will wipe

away every tear from our eyes

these are things that should be in the

heart of the Christian and think yes I

want

that longing to see the kingdom come

that's what Jesus taught us to pray

isn't it may your Kingdom Come On Earth

as as it is in

heaven perhaps you haven't realized

that's what God is doing that's what God

is doing he's bringing in his kingdom

throughout

history when Jesus came he inaugurated

something glorious and the the church's

mission is to carry

on with that enabling the kingdom to

come telling the good news about the

kingdom because one day the kingdom of

God it will be fully come and it will be

more wonderful than you or I can

comprehend because right now we can't

really imagine we go it's hard to

understand and we we have all sorts of

weird and wonderful thoughts about what

it might be don't worry it will be

better than you can ever imagine

Jesus warns them people are going to go

come and try and deceive you verse 23

and they will say to you look look there

or look here and history has proved

Jesus right hasn't that people have

claimed to be the Messiah returns

they've claimed to be Jesus people

throughout history have claimed to know

I know when Jesus is returning they've

set the date the date's come and he

didn't return um some have even claimed

that Jesus has already come and we

missed

it and the danger

for for for people who are longing to

see something is that we can start to

see things where there is nothing to see

can't we start to imagine things where

there is nothing to to to really

see I remember being uh shown at a

photograph

once and the person who um uh was

showing me the photo who had taken the

photo they were convinced uh that she

she hadd captured some sort of spiritual

manifestation in this

photo um there was appeared to be in the

photo some kind of spiritual luminescent

sort of orbs sort of all around a

certain area of of the uh the photograph

and I have I basic understanding of

Photography and I'm a bit of a cynic so

I looked at the um the photograph and it

seemed clear to me what had occurred uh

the Halos she was thinking were

spiritual phenomenon

was actually her watch was um at an

angle to the Sun and you could see the

shape on her watch was glowing

reflecting the Sun and that was

reflecting back and interacting with the

the lens on the camera and creating

these shapes identical to the reflection

on her watch which she hadn't noticed

the that the link there uh but I had to

point out that it's not a spiritual

phenomena but she didn't believe me she

wanted to believe she had caught

something really amazing some sort of

ghostlike thing she wanted to believe it

so she was deceiving herself and all

people including Christians can

sometimes want to believe something so

badly that we get

mistaken and here Jesus is

saying that we may well long for his

return but don't believe the people if

they say we found him we've got him here

come to our whatever it is and you know

he's coming back next week there's so

many people who have tried to predict

Jesus Jesus has returned they they can

dress it all up in biblical sounding

language and they refer to obscure

prophecies and strange phenomena and

people people still get taken

in even after scripture is so clear

you're not going to know when he's

coming he's not going to like let you

know he's just going to come but we

still get taken in people claiming they

got some sort of secret code or secret

Revelation Jesus says don't listen to

them don't don't run after them but we

might think well what if they're right

what what if they're right and they're

saying Jesus is going to come and then I

miss it it's wait for me Jesus I missed

you no one wants to miss Jesus do

you look let me just reassure you the

first coming of Jesus it was humble it

was relatively quiet okay Angels

announced it but it was only in one

small area of the world so it was quite

humble and quiet that's not how he's

going to

return verse 24 for as the lightning

flashes and lights up the sky from one

side to the other so will the son of man

be in his

day I don't know if uh you're like me

but I quite enjoy lightning thunder I

find it quite exciting and thrilling

it's like oh it's an exciting big storm

coming up and sometimes you can almost

miss it can't you it's like a little

Flash and you go oh was that lightning

or was that just a car headl sort of

shining and it's it's easy to miss but

but other

times it can be so bright and prolonged

it kind of go and lights up the whole

room doesn't it and you go I can't miss

that

wow and Jesus is not saying his return

is going to be easily missed like a

little sort of flash this lightning is

going to be a lightning that lights up

the entire sky from one end to the other

the kind of lightning that look makes

night appear as day you you're not going

to miss this likewise he's saying when

Jesus returns no one will miss it it

will be obvious our world-ending event

is occurring Jesus the king is returning

not as a little baby but as the Glorious

King so don't worry when people say

about their dates and their predictions

and their crazy ideas about it all

because when Jesus comes every eye shall

see you're not going to miss it you can

imagine as Jesus was telling his

disciples about this talking about this

oh it would be like exciting like really

Jesus really this is going to happens

it's amazing and and if we were there we

would want to be asking him all sorts of

questions of Jesus you know what's he

going to look like you know how are we

going to feel you know I mean just so

many questions but then Jesus brings all

this electrifying stuff back to

Earth and he grounds it at the

cross because before Jesus can

return he has to

go and before he goes

he has to die because that's why he came

the first

time in verse 25 Jesus speaks about his

suffering and how he he'll be

rejected and again Jesus is predicting

the future here what a comfort I think

it would have been for those disciples

to look back on this later after it had

all happened and

remember Jesus foretold his suffering

Jesus foretold his death and he was

right Jesus foretold his

resurrection and he was

right likewise he he told us he would go

and and into heaven and we saw that

happen and now we're in this in betweeny

bit just as he said and oh how we long

to see him come back to see the kingdom

come in all its fullness how we long to

see that the culmination of the Kingdom

but wait what else did he

say he said he is coming back back he

will be impossible to miss and if what

Jesus said about the death and

Resurrection came true it seems

reasonable to trust what he said about

his

return

believer if you trust

Jesus if you take his word

seriously if you're waiting for his

return surely that is going to affect

every everything isn't that everything

your daily life will be affected by this

won't it so it will affect how

comfortable we get in this world it will

affect what we're living for if I know

Jesus is going to come back I'm going to

be with him my treasur is in heaven

everything that I've got in this world

well that's just temporary that's not

that's not that's not it there's so much

more to come so it will affect how I

invest my

resources because how I in invest I've

got to invest for the kingdom don't I it

will affect how I fight for Holiness how

I fight against sin because it matters I

I want to live for my king not not just

for my pleasure or whatever it will

affect how you share Jesus with your

unbelieving friends they they need to

know this if you know God is building

his kingdom and the king is promised to

return won't you want to be a part of

that and won't you want to ensure I I I

need to make sure I'm in this Kingdom I

don't want to miss

this Jesus is coming back you won't miss

his return but you might miss being in

the

kingdom are you ready to meet Jesus

because one day you will meet Jesus

every one of us will we'll either meet

him as our savior or we'll meet him as

our

judge that Jesus's returning is it's

only really good news if you're in the

Kingdom if that's not you then then his

return will be terrifying so let's look

at the warnings that Jesus gives us in

our final point be ready for

it every now and again there's some

Nationwide perhaps even worldwide

defining moments aren't there

911 when the UK voted to leave the EU

when Russia invaded Ukraine and so on um

and yet from from for many in this world

these big things can happen and yet life

still goes on not for those involved in

whatever it was but for for most of the

world life goes on so when there's a

tragedy in your

life and it's awful and for you it seems

like the world has just stopped for a

moment and you just can't quite

understand the world is going on out

there but for you everything stopped

it's interesting isn't it

and I guess in our lifetimes there have

been many wars many disasters accidents

storms and tragedies even covid well the

world kind of stopped for a bit but it

really carried on just in a different

way and as bad as impactful as all these

different things are for many people

life just Carries On The World carries

on turning the clocks still tick the sun

comes up the people go about their

business and the world just goes on as

it always has and when we think about

Jesus Jesus has returned it's hard to

imagine it actually happening isn't it

because it hasn't happened yet and so we

just think I just don't understand how

this is actually going to happen can I

get my head around it and we don't tend

to wake up and think well could today be

the day that Jesus

returns and of course that's how the

people in Noah's day and on lot's day

carried on oblivious to the coming

judgment disbelieving what was preached

to them thinking there would be no

Reckoning and thinking well what does

God know is he even there anyway and you

know can I believe all this stuff and so

Jesus points to these two cataclysmic

events and says how the people were just

carrying on with normal life thinking

everything's just going to go on as it

always has shopping gardening cleaning

the car getting married steeping working

eating and all the normal stuff and

then it

happened and even as Christians we can

get so engrossed in normal life that we

forget

Jesus is coming

back and for those outside of the

Kingdom this is going to be devastating

look at the end of verse 27 look at the

end of verse 29 it's the same God's just

judgment Falls and destroyed them

all shouldn't this wake us up from any

apathy that we might feel about this

shouldn't this give us a pressing

incentive to share the good news of

Jesus whilst he can be

found and for those in this congregation

who don't know Jesus the warning is

clear make your peace with the King

because he's

coming things are not going to just go

on and on as they always have it might

seem like it is but the lesson of

history is no there comes these points

when When God says

enough and it ends for those people

there is a day when people will get up

get dressed go to work do their chours

and go to bed and then it will

end one of the sad privileges of being a

pastor is um I do funerals I take

funerals and we we had Fred's funeral on

Monday didn't

we North Bradley Baptist Church is as a

graveyard out somewhere out the back

there and if you go down there you can

see all the Headstones

and each headstone is a testament to the

fact that it

ends Our Lives end if there's been a

beginning there will be an end each one

of us end and we might feel like well my

life is just going on and on and on but

we know we know it ends it's the same

with the

world one day it will end Jesus tells us

suddenly the end will come Jesus points

out it happened in the days of Noah and

lot people didn't believe it they

thought everything would just carry on

as it always has after all nothing

nothing has ever happened like that

before until it did and Jesus Compares

those two frightful events in history to

his second coming verse

30 so will it be in the day when the son

of man is

revealed that lesson hasn't been learned

many still don't hear the warning and

they think everything will just carry on

but Jesus is clear there is an end and

it is

coming perhaps the trouble is

that prosperous comfortable Christians

like many of

us can be so in love with with the world

of this life that even though Jesus is

at the

door we may be tempted to go back for

stuff do you know what your iPhone isn't

going to work in

heaven don't think there's going to be

Wi-Fi in heaven our houses will be gone

your designer items your computer games

your career it won't matter for anything

we have a vivid example of Lot's wife

whose Spurgeon described as being almost

saved but not

quite she couldn't let go of her love

for this world she looked back to where

her heart

was in that sinful City for her life

that she had she didn't want to trust

God and go with him she wanted to to

stay back there that's a real challenge

for us isn't it where is our hearts this

morning the singer jipa sings I don't

want another life cuz this one's pretty

nice it's a really catchy

song but that's the truth there isn't it

life is so good for so many people in

our culture and country that actually

think I'm I'm okay I don't really want

Jesus to come back and interact my life

because it's it's pretty nice I'm

enjoying myself it's different if you

live in a country where it's you're

starving or you're having difficulty or

you're persecuted for being a Believer

then actually you really are looking for

Jesus to come back but for us the danger

is we are so comfortable the idea of

Jesus coming back is almost like a bit

of an inconvenience because I'm I'm

enjoying life right now you

know Jesus reminds us verse 33 whoever

seeks to preserve his life will lose

it whoever loses his life will keep it

losing our life means to surrender It

All to Jesus to put all of me at his

disposal to live with with him as my

king as my boss I'm all in with

Jesus we either follow

Jesus or we're looking back to the world

just to nice here I don't want to go

with

Jesus we either treasure our belongings

and our few years on this Earth and we

live for there more we treasure

Christ and we live for him and do you

know that that decision it splits us

right down the middle it cuts through

families it cuts through marriages

through colleagues and dare I say it it

even divides through church goers too

there will be some who taken to safety

to be with the Lord forever as Noah and

lot were taken to safety there will be

some who come who come so close and yet

they never really give themselves to

Jesus and just as the vultures as as

vultures gather around a dead body so

judgment will fall on those who are

spiritually dead it's going to happen

just because it hasn't yet just because

people make a joke out of it and they

think it's all very funny and they can't

imagine it it doesn't mean it's not

going to

happen do you know our teachers um when

I was in Primary School our teachers

used to say that was quite a long time

ago our teachers used to say to me you

need to learn your your times table and

your maths because you won't be able to

carry a calculator in your pocket how

wrong they were I've got a a a a phone

not in my pocket but usually in my

pocket and it's got the power of like a

a supercomputer in your pocket okay math

is still helpful for other things but I

don't need to know my time table I can

go I can speak to it and it tells me

they were wrong they couldn't imagine

what the future looked like so they were

wrong but do you know what God is never

wrong about the future he knows exactly

what the future is going to like Jesus

words testify this will happen and it

will happen he's never been wrong and he

will never be

wrong so the Pharisees they wanted to

know when the kingdom was coming Jesus

tells them it's already in your midst

it's p in by King Jesus and over the

centuries since then it's been growing

it's been growing and the still more

people being added and daily being added

perhaps some even

here yet need to come into that

Kingdom it's not too late it's never too

late to share the good news of Jesus

with people people can be saved today is

the day of salvation but the time for

the kingdom to be completed will come

the world will stop the life lightning

will Flash the trumpets will blast and

Jesus will be caught will be caught up

to be with Jesus uh in the air

forever and those who've rejected Jesus

Will face Eternal

destruction if anyone else said these

things we could just brush it off and

just say ah I don't believe

that Jesus says the days are

coming unlike man's word God's word is

true his his promise is true so let's

not hold on to to this world just the

little things that we have now just this

little life that we have now let's hold

onto something bigger put our faith our

trust into what God promises us an

inheritance that will never fade or

perish or pass away that's what he's

going to be giving to

us look to Jesus trust in Jesus he is

the king and his kingdom is an

everlasting Kingdom prophesized even

before Jesus was was born a kingdom of

justice of peace of Joy Of Glory so if

you're in it well give thanks to God

he's good and he saved you in his great

Act of Mercy you have a glorious future

if you're not in the Kingdom then he

Jesus's words to You Verse 33 whoever

seeks to preserve his life will lose it

but whoever loses his life will keep it

let's be quiet before the Lord