The Coming of the Kingdom

Last week, Tobin introduced us to Luke 17, 20 to 37.

I was up here reading that scripture as well.

This week, he continues with a deeper dive into this passage.

In preparation, we again look to the Word of God as an anchor for this teaching.

And this week, we're going to read a slightly different translation.

So it might have a different effect.

Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come,

answered, the kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar,

nor when someone says, look here, or there it is.

And why?

Because God's kingdom is already among you.

He went on to say to his disciples, the days are coming when you are going to be desperately homesick

for just a glimpse of one of those days of the Son of Man, and you won't see a thing.

And they'll say to you, look over there, or look here.

Don't fall for any of that nonsense.

The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see.

He simply comes.

You know how the whole sky lights up from a single flash of lightning?

That's how it will be on the day of the Son of Man.

But first, it's necessary that he suffer many things and be turned down by many people of that day.

The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah.

Everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time, right up to the day, Noah boarded the ship.

They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away.

It was the same in the time of Lot, the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual,

until right up to the day that Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burnt everything to a crisp.

That's how it will be.

Sudden.

Total.

When the Son of Man is revealed.

And when the day arrives and you're out working in the yard, don't run into the house to get anything.

And if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat.

Remember what happened to Lot's wife.

If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you will lose it.

But if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.

On that day, two men will be in the same boat fishing.

One taken and the other one left.

Two women will be working in the same kitchen.

One taken and the other left.

Trying to take all this in, the disciples said,

Master, where?

He told them,

Watch for the circling of the vultures.

They'll spot the corpse first.

The action will begin around my dead body.

This is the reading of God's word.

How you guys doing?

Oh, that's terrible.

How you guys doing?

Okay, good, good, good.

Great, that's good.

That's the first time I've ever heard of great.

That's great.

That's great.

Okay, well, we are on a journey as a church.

And so, talking about a topic,

they probably would tell you never to preach at a church

because it will make people uncomfortable and scare people away.

But we want to talk about what God has in store for us and all this stuff.

See if I can do these things.

This week, Christina and I went on a hike.

We usually go on a date night once a week.

And this time we did it on Monday.

And we were walking down in Central.

And the weird thing about up here teaching all the time

is you're going to know all my quirks and idiosyncrasies.

And if you don't know by now, I love Diet Coke.

And I love chocolate.

And I love bookstores.

And I just can't turn down a bookstore.

Usually when I go into it, I have to stop and see it and look at it.

And so, Christina and I were on a little walk.

And we ran into a bookstore.

And I ran into this bookstore.

And it was amazing.

I'm not going to tell you which one

because I don't want to do an advertisement.

But I found these two books right here.

One was How to Survive Anything.

And this other one was Worst Case Scenarios,

the book of survival questions and skills.

And I thought these were fascinating.

As I read them, and I have different levels of reading.

Some of them were just fun.

This was kind of my fun reading level.

And so I started reading them.

And this book just has stuff like, you know,

what do you do when you're in your car and your brakes go out?

And what do you do if your car is going into the water

and you're trapped inside the car?

Or what do you do?

How do you get out?

What do you do if you're skydiving

and your parachute fails to open up?

That's an important one, right?

Everybody wants to know that one just in case.

You know, one that I knew and I used before

is what do you do when you're scuba diving

and you're underwater and your tank runs out?

What do you do?

And then I found this one,

which I thought was really interesting.

It's basically for people on trips to Australia.

I'm not teasing, okay?

What do you do if you're surrounded by a mob of kangaroos?

So it says,

during a train trip from Australia's southern desert,

you've experienced wonderful scenery and long vistas.

At a short layover,

the conductor suggests that passengers can get out

and take pictures as they choose.

You get out of the train

and you wander into the sandy soil

only to come face to face with a mob

of seven to eight angry kangaroos.

As you slowly approach for a close-up photo,

so it must be a Texan.

They have no sense,

and so they just kind of walk into the danger.

One kangaroo begins thumping his large feet at you.

Do you,

A,

continue approaching without showing fear?

B,

move away quickly

so that you are more than 10 feet

from the closest kangaroo?

C,

back away slowly.

D,

stand up straight,

tall,

and open your coat wide

to make yourself seem larger.

E,

open a can of Foster's beer

and leave it on the cruise

and back away slowly.

What do you think the answer is?

Come on.

You guys,

you're going to be in trouble

when you're on that boat

and you're out there

and something happens in that thing.

So the answer is C,

back away slowly.

Kangaroos are herbivores.

They rarely attack any animal,

including humans.

However,

some male kangaroos may be over seven feet tall

and weigh hundreds of pounds

and may charge if cornered or threatened.

Thumping indicates that a kangaroo

is alerting group members to danger.

If a kangaroo attacks,

there's no truly safe distance.

It's large kangaroos

can jump 20 feet or more

and travel as fast as 40 miles an hour.

If you notice thumping,

move back slowly

and seek shelter.

That's good to know.

It's important, right?

You never know when you're doing it.

I found this other one here,

which I thought is,

I don't know if this is true,

but I've been told that it's true.

It's from the Peace Corps manual.

It's from the Peace Corps manual

and it's for people going to South America.

And the scenario is,

what do you do if you're attacked by an anaconda?

I'm not making this up.

Do not run.

The snake is faster than you are.

Two,

lie flat on the ground.

Three,

put your arms at your sides

and your legs tight against one another.

Four,

the snake will come and begin to nudge

and climb over your body.

Now, I don't know about you,

but like at that time,

I'm like,

I'm going to risk the running, right?

40-foot anaconda nudging my body.

I don't know.

Number five,

don't panic.

Number six,

after the snake has examined you thoroughly,

it will begin to swallow you from the feet first.

Always the feet in first.

Number seven,

the snake will suck your legs into its body,

so you must lie perfectly still.

This will take a long time.

I am not teasing.

This is the manual, okay?

Number eight,

when the snake has reached your knees slowly

and with the littlest movement as possible,

reach down and take your knife

and gently slide it into the side of the snake's mouth

between the edge of its mouth and your leg,

and then suddenly,

with all the energy you can muster,

rip upward,

severing the snake's head.

Number nine,

be sure your knife is sharp.

Number ten,

be sure you have a knife.

So that was important to know.

Those are important facts, right?

We should file those things,

and it's good that some people document those things

for the rest of us

so that we know what's going on.

But you know,

as I read this book,

I continued to read,

and it was interesting

because it went from funny to serious.

And as you read,

it got to points of,

what do you do if you're caught out in the open

and bombs are going off around you?

Another scenario talks about,

what do you do if you're in the open

and all of a sudden,

people start shooting at you?

And as I read this book,

I realized this book isn't so funny

because I thought about all the people

who've lost their lives

these last several weeks

because of shooting and bombing.

And I mean,

it's all funny and ha-ha

when we're reading it,

but when it becomes real life

and death situations,

it doesn't become so funny.

And I read this,

and I think, you know,

I would give anything

to know the right thing to do

in that situation.

I would do anything

to know what to do right.

And so what I want to do today,

very briefly,

is I want to talk to you

about what I think

is probably the most best worst,

best worst case scenario

that you're ever going to face.

And it's the second coming

of Jesus Christ.

It's probably the question

I get asked the most as a pastor,

that besides,

should I date him or her?

The next question I get asked often

was,

when is Jesus going to come again?

When is he going to come?

I'm wondering.

I hear about this,

and even people who aren't churchgoers

or Christ followers

ask this question of me quite a bit.

And so I want to continue

and talk about the passage

that we began in

last week,

Luke 17.

And I want to talk

about this scenario.

What do you do

best case,

worst case scenario

if you're caught

in the scenario

where Christ is coming back

a second time?

What are we to do?

And this passage,

I think,

is full of information

and full of ideas.

We studied a little bit

of it last week.

We said in verses 20 through 21

that Christ is confronted

by the Pharisees.

The Pharisees are asking him

a question

because he talks about

the kingdom of God

all the time,

and they want to know

when is this kingdom

going to come?

When is it going to happen?

Because we've told

that you're going to be

bringing it.

And the Pharisees realized

as they looked around them

in the world

that things weren't good,

that things weren't

as they should be.

As the people of God,

they realized

that they didn't have

the place they should be in,

that they weren't

in the place of prominence,

the Romans were controlling them.

And so the Pharisees

and the Jewish people

were looking for a king.

They're looking for

a warrior king.

They were looking for

someone to come

and to break the yoke

and to bring freedom

and to kill the enemy,

to set up his kingdom

and to make all things new

and make all things right

and to give them

a place of prominence

and position of power.

The Pharisees were looking

for the second coming

of Christ,

kind of like we are

in this shadow line time

that we live in

and in the darkness

and in the unknown

and in the hurt

and in the pain.

And Jesus says

in verse 21

something very unusual.

He says,

the kingdom is already here.

It's amongst you.

And what he's saying there

is that kingdom of God

came.

But they had these expectations

and these thoughts

that this is how God

should work.

This is what it should do.

This is what it works like.

This is what I need.

And they didn't realize

and they had missed

that Jesus came

and that the kingdom

came through Christ

and it came through gentleness

and meekness

and serving

and compassion

and caring.

All of these things

they didn't want.

They wanted power.

They wanted strength.

And Jesus brought them

grace

and mercy

and forgiveness

of enemies.

Especially those enemies

who slapped you

on one side of the cheek.

And they didn't like

to hear that.

Jesus said that

in this kingdom

right now

where you and I are

that my spirit is here

and it's working

and it's changing

and it's slowly

changing people's hearts.

It's like this grain of seed

that gets planted

and sometimes we don't see it.

We keep coming back to it.

We have this seed

in our house.

It's amazing.

Christina went on a vacation.

She came back

and she brought this redwood seed

in our house.

Now what I'm going to do

with a redwood tree

I have no idea

in Hong Kong

because it grows to be

300 feet tall.

But what I've seen

about this redwood

is that the first four weeks

nothing happened.

It was just this clump

of wood.

And then all of a sudden

it started sprouting

and there's like 20 sprouts

on this clump of wood

and they're growing

like one inch

every two days.

Now I'm trying to figure out

do I sneak down

into our little wood area

right outside of our apartment

and plant it

and just wondering

what people are going to think

one day

when this 300 foot redwood

comes up

in the middle of Hong Kong

and falls on

the apartment complex

one day

in the middle of a hurricane

or something like that.

I don't know

what we're going to do with it

but Jesus said

that's what the kingdom

is going to be like

and God's spirit

is going to come

and it's going to change hearts

and it's going to set people free

because whether you know it or not

you and I are in slavery

and we're in bondage.

And he says

my spirit's going to come

and free those things

and make all those things

new and right.

Sure there's going to be a day

when power's going to come.

Sure there's going to be a day

when lightning's going to strike.

Sure there's going to be a day

when I'm going to come back

with an army

but right now

it's going to be totally different

and I'm going to work

through the church

and I'm going to work

through my people

and then we have a pause.

Verse 22

Jesus continues

his talk

his lessons

and it's important to remember

that it's chapter 17

and chapter 19

he's going to be in Jerusalem

so it's only about two weeks away.

He's going to go to Jerusalem

he's going to be crucified

so right now

in these two weeks

he wants to teach his disciples

he wants to teach us

he wants to teach us

everything we need to know

so that when he goes

that we know everything

and he wants us to be aware

of what's going to happen

and he's going to talk

in chapter 22

verses 22 to 37

about the second coming

when he comes the second time

when it's in power

and strength

and out of control

and lightning

and he's going to share

three things

he's going to share

three warnings

three things that he wants

us as a church

to know about

three things

I want to share with you

and talk about

very briefly

because right now

if you're like me

you're wondering

if it's ever going to happen

and God

when are you going to do this

I mean for 2,000 years

we've been talking about this

for 2,000 years

we've been celebrating

for 2,000 years

we've been praying

for 2,000 years

things are still difficult

and people are hurting

and there's brokenness

and oppression

and sickness

and pain

and people are crying out

and they get discouraged

if you're like me

you get discouraged

I was reading some articles

it's amazing

what you can find

on the internet

about the end times

and the difficulty

I read this article

from a U.S. newspaper

actually it was a magazine

it's from Harper's Magazine

this is how they describe

our time right now

they said

it's a gloomy moment

in the history of our country

I'm sorry

it's America

I didn't have Australian magazine

or any other

but this is American

and he says

it's a gloomy moment

in the history of our country

not in the lifetime

of most men and women

has there been so much

grave and deep uncertainty

never has the future

seemed so unknown

as at this time

the economy is in shambles

the situation is in total chaos

the dollar is weak

throughout the world

prices are high

higher than they could ever be

the middle class cannot survive

the political situation

is full of chaos

selfishness

and uncertainty

again our enemies

are begging at the doors

and there's like this dark cloud

that's looming over the horizon

about to strike at any time

it's a solemn moment

no one

no one

can see the end

of our troubles

I thought

wow

what a powerful description

of today's time

in age

and then I read it

and it said

Harper's Magazine

October 10th

1847

and I realized

that times

really haven't changed

that much

no matter how

we hope

that they will

that we're still

having problems

that we still have problems

we still have struggles

we still have struggles

with our family

and with our kids

and with our bosses

and with our jobs

and with our culture

and with our government

and with our finances

and with our dating

and with our relationships

and we're just wondering

God

when are you going to come back

and when are you going to make

all these things new

when are you going to fix

these things

it's been

2,000 years

and the first thing

that Jesus tells us

in verse 22

is that the coming

of the second kingdom

is patient

I wanted to say slow

because that's how I feel

sometimes

but the Bible says

that God's coming

his second time

is

is

is patient

the passage says

that he doesn't want

anybody

to perish

that judgment

is not

his first option

but he wants

all people

to come

to know him

and so the second coming

is slow

it's patient

the passage

tells us

that for

120 years

Noah

was building

an ark

in a desert

can you imagine

what that would have

been like

I'm not talking

just like about a boat

I'm talking about

you look outside

and you see one of these

container ships

he was building

a container ship

for 120 years

the passage says

that as God

looked out on creation

everybody was corrupt

everybody was selfish

everybody was broken

there was no one

who desired God

and then we read

in this passage

in Genesis 6

that God

came to Noah

and Noah

found favor

in God's eyes

what it means

in Hebrew

is

he found grace

but Noah

was just as corrupt

as everybody else

and God

came to him

with his grace

and he changed him

and Noah

fell in love

with God

and God gave him

a message

and the message

was

judgment

judgment

judgment

and God

didn't just give him

a message

he gave him

something to do

to save the people

from the judgment

he built a boat

he built this massive

ark

I mean it was like

955 car

you know

railroad cars

big

it was huge

and so for 120 years

he's teaching them

God is upset

there's judgment coming

let's build this ark

this is the vehicle

for which you're

going to be rescued

this is where

you're going to be saved

can you imagine that

the Bible says

that as he did

that people

just mocked him

they laughed at him

what are you doing

Noah

well I'm building

a boat

what's a boat

I mean you've never

seen a boat

they're in the desert

what was this

containment

to the soul

really

why are you

building that

well it's

because it's

going to rain

what's rain

because up until

that moment

we're told

that it never

rained on the earth

they said

well it's this

wet stuff

that comes out

of the sky

it's going to

rain so much

it's going to

fill the earth

and because

God is angry

and because

we've sinned

and we've

turned away

from him

he's going

to destroy

everything

but this is

our chance

we can repent

we can come

back to him

it's grace

it's mercy

we can be a part

of building

this ark

you want to

do that

and for 120

years

they laughed

at him

until

God

in Genesis 7

Genesis 7:16

verse 16

it's one of

these verses

I memorized

as a little

kid

and I wasn't

in a church

family

but there was

something about

this passage

that stuck

to me

because we

had one

bible picture

book in our

house

and it was

a picture

of the flood

and it was

a picture

of these

waters rushing

in and people

like this

and they're

trying to

knock on the

door

and in

Genesis 7

Genesis 7:16

verse 16

it says

God

up until

that day

that Noah

and his

family

walked in

the ark

and then

God

he closed

the door

and his

judgment

was set

and everyone

was destroyed

so the first

thing that Jesus

wants to tell us

is that his

judgment is

coming

the second

kingdom is

coming

but it's

patient

because he

wants everyone

to know

he doesn't

want anybody

to perish

the next

thing we see

in this passage

which I think

is incredible

he says

and he

brings this

warning

he says

that when

the second

coming

comes

in verses

23 and

24

he says

they will

say to you

look here

look there

do not

go away

do not

run away

from them

they're

going to

tell you

here it

is

and here's

the Messiah

and he's

going to

say no

no

before I

came this

morning I

did a

Google search

and I'm

sure I

did not

do it

properly

but I

typed in

websites that

deal with

end time

prophecy

and I

got

1,950,000,000

hits

and then I

said well

I must have

done that

wrong

and so I

went on

I'm sure

I did

are there

1,950,000,000

websites

or locations

and so I

typed in

books

books that

deal with

end time

prophecy

how many

are there

within

that time

I got

1,650,000,000

hits

and there's

a lot of

people talking

about the

end times

and when

is it

going to

happen

when is

going

when I

was a

young

Christian

I was

in a

high

school

with a

guy

Katie

we went

to the

same

high

school

but I'm

a little

older

than she

is

and when

I

was in

high

school

there was

an

upper

freshman

his

name

was

Joe

Little

and so

Joe

tried to

persuade us

underclassmen

that Jesus

was going to

come back

that year

also

and so

we didn't

need to

do homework

because what

good is

homework if

Jesus comes

back

right

it's going

to be

for nothing

well I

wasn't as

wise as

he was

so I

did my

homework

but at

the end

of the

year

Joe

didn't

do

any

homework

and

Jesus

didn't

come

back

and

you

know

what

happened

Joe

Little

Page

was in

my

class

next

year

because

he

failed

and

then

in

the

university

in

1988

I

was

in

university

just

graduating

and a

guy

a

NASA

scientist

came out

with a

book

and he

said

88

reasons

why

Jesus

is

going

to

come

back

in

1988

and I

bought

those

books

and we

bought

those

books

and we

handed

them

to

our

friends

and

it

is

all

scholarly

and

scientific

and

historical

and

all

these

things

and this

is

what's

going

to

happen

this

is

how

I

know

next

year

there

was

89

reasons

why

Jesus

is

going

to

come

back

in

89

and

the

last

one

was

because

he

didn't

come

back

in

88

and

the

passage

says

to

Jesus

he

says

don't

worry

about

it

Jesus

said

don't

worry

about

it

when

I

come

you're

going

to

know

it

when

I

come

everybody

is

going

to

know

it

there

is

going

to

be

lightning

night

and

day

in

different

parts

of

the

world

everyone

is

going

to

know

when

God

comes

again

what

Jesus

says

to

his

disciples

and

he

says

to

us

more

importantly

what

are

you

going

to

be

doing

when

that

happens

what

are

you

going

to

be

doing

when

the

Son

of

man

comes

again

in

power

what

are

you

going

to

be

doing

and

finally

Jesus

shares

something

which

every

time

I

read

this

passage

I

pray

here

and

Jesus

gives

us

this

huge

warning

at

the

end

of

this

passage

in

26

to

33

and

he

says

in

this

end

times

not

only

is

it

going

to

come

patiently

not

only

is

it

you're

not

going

to

know

when

it's

going

to

come

it's

going

to

come

so

just

make

sure

you're

doing

the

right

thing

but

he

says

in

the

end

times

you

and

I

we're

going

to

be

tempted

to

be

consumed

with

other

things

around

us

we're

going

to

be

tempted

with

things

of

the

world

we're

going

to

be

tempted

with

our

work

we're

going

to

be

tempted

with

our

family

we're

going

to

be

tempted

with

doing

the

things

of

life

and

if

we

do

these

things

we're

going

to

miss

God's

coming

that many

of us

are going

to be

so

tempted

to

focus

on

these

things

and

building

our

kingdom

and

building

our

world

that

we're

going

to

miss

his

world

and so

Jesus

wants

to

warn

us

he wants

to

warn

his

disciples

one

last

time

verse

21

he says

they were

eating

and they

were

drinking

in the

days

of

Noah

and they

were

marrying

and they

were

giving

a

marriage

until

the

day

of

Noah

entered

the

ark

and the

flood

came

and

destroyed

them

all

and it's

very

interesting

here

because

they

had a

lot

of

problems

I

mean

they

were

really

wicked

bad

people

but

Jesus

doesn't

talk

about

their

wickedness

and

their

badness

what

does

he say

there

he

says

well

they

were

eating

and

they

were

drinking

and

they

were

marrying

and

they

were

being

given

married

and

the

idea

behind

it

is

they

were

so

consumed

in

the

things

of

today

they

forgot

eternal

realities

they

were

so

consumed

in

doing

things

of

life

they

were

so

consumed

in

being

busy

and

living

life

that

they

just

forgot

God's

message

they

forgot

God's

kingdom

coming

again

it

wasn't

that

they

were

evil

wicked

people

we

know

that's

true

but

that's

not

the

reason

they

were

destroyed

the

reason

they

were

destroyed

is

they

are

so

consumed

in

living

life

today

in

the

busyness

that

they

that

problem

I

do

sometimes

I

get so

busy

in

a

cycle

of

life

I

mean

it's

exam

week

it's

reading

week

I

don't

have

things

to

do

I

gotta

focus

just

on

my

test

I

gotta

focus

right

on

my

exams

I

don't

have

time

to

go

to

church

I

don't

have

time

to

read

my

Bible

I

don't

have

time

to

meet

with

people

I

just

gotta

do

these

things

going

on

I

gotta

get

all

these

things

going

I

gotta

get

going

I'm

busy

things

are

happening

and

Jesus

says

that

sometimes

we

become

so

focused

so

wrapped

up

in

the

things

of

this

world

and

in

the

busyness

of

life

that

we

misplace

reality

and we

forget

that

there's

a

spiritual

reality

which

supersedes

all

realities

and that

spiritual

reality

is that

one day

God

is going

to come

again

so we're

told in

this passage

in Noah

that the

people

they basically

just stopped

listening to

the crazy

man

the crazy

man for

120 years

starts speaking

of God

speaking of

God

speaking of

God

and they

just got

so numb

they got

so tired

they don't

want to

hear of

God

anymore

and he's

building this

ark for

their rescue

and he

basically says

in this

passage

they listened

to him

and then

they mocked

him

they made

fun of

his message

the Hebrew

in the Greek

basically says

they were just

indifferent

they were just

living life

they were living

their world

they were doing

their business

thing

they were doing

all the things

they were supposed

to do

until that day

that God

closes that

door

and then all

of them

are destroyed

Peter

and 1 Peter

says it this

way to us

he says

as in the

days of

Noah

so in

yours

watermark

because people

will mock

you at

your message

people will

mock you

at your

lifestyle

people will

mock you

at your

priorities

you will

be surrounded

by mockers

but Peter

says be

faithful

stay the

course

walk with

God

know that

Jesus is

coming

again

and just

as Jesus

and God

took care

of Noah

he's going

to take

care of

you

be

faithful

verse 28

and 29

says the

same thing

he says

it's the

same in

Lot's

day

Lot's

was the

same

thing

he says

in that

day

they were

eating

they were

drinking

they were

buying

they were

selling

they were

planting

they were

building

they were

doing all

these

things

they're

not bad

things

but it

says they

focused on

these things

so much

that they

were indifferent

to spiritual

things

they were

indifferent

to the

things

of God

they were

preoccupied

with building

their own

kingdom

and they

were not

building

God's

kingdom

the third

shortest

verse in

all the

Bible

remember

Lot's

wife

and it's

this message

that Lot

was part of

the escape

she escaped

again

God gave

grace

he gave

a message

he brought

the message

to the

man

Lot

he brought

a messenger

he brought

a way

to escape

from the

disaster

and Lot

spent the

night

sharing

with all

his

son-in-laws

and everybody

around him