The Now and Future King

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Well, this morning and then again tonight, we will be looking at the next portion of the Lord’s Prayer, which we find in Matthew chapter 6, if you’ll turn there with me this morning. And to give it some context, we’ll look at the whole passage again before we focus in on the verse we’re going to look at today. But Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 9, says, After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. We left off last week in verse 9, talking about the names and titles of God that are used in this prayer, and what we could learn about God, and how we approach Him as Jesus began this model prayer.

And again, keeping in mind what it says in verse 9 when he says, After this manner pray ye, not after these words pray ye. This is an outline for some of the subject matter that we’re supposed to pray about. It’s an outline for some of the attitudes we’re supposed to have in prayer, but it is not a script for the exact words that we’re supposed to use.

Keeping that in mind, we can learn from this some of the things that we need to know about how we approach God by the names and titles that are used. It talks about him being a father. It talks about him being a king sitting on his throne in heaven.

And we learn from this that we’re supposed to come to God as somebody who we know and love and who knows us and who cares for us and chastens us, but also with a healthy fear and respect of God, realizing he’s not just, folks, he’s not our equal. He is not our equal in any way, shape, or form. And we come to him as we would to the king of the universe because that’s exactly who he is. We move on today to verse 10, where it says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

And this morning, the part of it we’re going to look at is the part about the kingdom. He says, Thy kingdom come. And I’ve been puzzled for years, ladies and gentlemen, about what exactly the kingdom is.

Because they give throughout the Bible numerous explanations or numerous illustrations of the kingdom. And they say, the kingdom of heaven is like this. The kingdom of heaven is like this.

And Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven being like the mustard tree that starts out as a tiny seed and grows and grows until the birds of the air are able to nest in its branches. Talks about the kingdom of heaven being like a pearl of great price that someone sells all he has to buy this field to find the pearl of great price. The Bible gives numerous illustrations of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.

Some of the Gospels refer to the kingdom of heaven. Some of the Gospels refer to the kingdom of God. And it has always puzzled me what exactly the kingdom is.

There are some things that I understand completely what the kingdom is. Some of you, when I first came here, asked me, and for reasons I still don’t understand, oh, you’re from Oklahoma, you must be amillennial. No, I didn’t know that about us. But amillennial, for the rest of you, means we don’t believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Christ. If you’re amillennial, no offense, we can discuss that and disagree.

I see no reason not to take that literally in the Bible, that there’s going to be a thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ at the end of times. I understand that. I understand the kingdom to mean that.

I believe Jesus Christ will at some point literally reign as a king over the earth for a thousand years. I’ve been puzzled by other phrases I’ve heard used talking about advancing the kingdom. And we talk about when people go out to do evangelism or discipleship, we send missionaries out to advance the kingdom.

And what we mean by that is they’re out there winning souls. They’re out there preaching the gospel. They’re out there making disciples.

They’re out there leading people to Christ. And even as a child, I would hear that and think, what exactly does that mean, advancing the kingdom? And there are other, just as I mentioned, there are amillennials who believe there’s no literal thousand-year reign of Christ. There’s also a theology which I understand even less. When I say understand, I mean understand how they arrive at the conclusion, even less than all millennials.

It’s called postmillennialism, the idea that the second coming will occur after the thousand-year millennial kingdom. I’ve never understood how it is Jesus comes back to earth after he’s ruled for a thousand years on earth. Maybe somebody can correct me on that later and help me understand where they arrive at that.

But the idea, particularly 100 years ago, 200 years ago, among post-millennials, and I know I’m using a lot of big words. I’m bringing this in for a reason. For the last 200 years, there’s been this idea among post-millennials that it’s up to the church to make the world a better place, which I agree with that.

I believe the church is here to be salt and light. But it’s up to the churches to be salt and light and make a better world so that they can usher in the millennium. I don’t see that in Scripture.

I don’t see that we are ever going to make such an impact on so many people throughout the world that everybody’s just going to be revived and turned to Christ and we’re going to build utopia here on earth. That sounds, folks, just in my own opinion, that sounds more like a socialist dream than it does what the Bible teaches. Because what I see is the sin nature is still there, it’s still alive, people seem to wax worse and worse as time goes on, society decays, and the idea to me, the idea seems foreign to the Bible that even if we somehow could usher in the kingdom of God, which we never could because we are not powerful enough, we’re not righteous enough to overcome the sin nature and create a utopia, but it seems strange to me the idea that God somehow needs our help to set the stage for him to come.

Do you understand what I’m saying? The idea that somehow we have to build his kingdom so that he can come back. That idea is completely foreign to what I understand about the Bible.

What I understand about the Bible is that we will continue on doing what we’re supposed to do as the churches until Christ returns. We continue to be salt and light. We continue to make disciples.

We continue to preach the gospel, knowing full well that wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and many there be that find it, Jesus said. But straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to everlasting life, and few there be that find it? Knowing that we are never going to be such a majority that we are able to morally reclaim the world and build God’s kingdom.

Instead, we keep plugging along, doing what he tells us to do, advancing the kingdom until Jesus returns for his thousand-year reign. He sets up the kingdom, not us, ladies and gentlemen. But there’s this idea of advancing the kingdom while we’re here and knowing that there’s a kingdom that is to come.

And until we understand that the kingdom of God encompasses all of these things. We don’t really understand it. Today, we’re going to talk about what it means to pray thy kingdom come.

What exactly is he talking about? Praying thy kingdom come. Throughout history, there have been groups of people.

It’s not unusual for a group of people to see some kind of supernatural being, they think, as someone who has ruled over them in the past and is going to come back and rule over them in the future. I think back to when the Spanish showed up, not that I was there. I say I think back.

That sounds like I was there. When the Spanish showed up in Mexico and the Mayans and the Aztecs had what they called Quetzalcoatl, which was the feathered snake god. That’s not something I would worship.

That’s something I would run from, by the way. But they had the feathered snake god that they worshipped and said was their king, their deity that ruled over them at one point and then sailed away and that at some point in the future he was going to come back with light skin and was going to rule over them again. That’s why they welcomed Cortes and some of the others into Mexico, not realizing until it was too late that he wasn’t the king that they were waiting on.

There’s a group of people in Jamaica called Rastafarians who look at the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, who was assassinated in a communist coup in the 70s, and they look at him and say, he’s the reincarnation of God. They call him Rastafari. He was the reincarnation of God.

He ruled as emperor of Ethiopia, and then one day he’s going to come back and he’s going to rule over us. But as far as I know, he’s still in the grave. We’ve all heard the legends of King Arthur, and they write about this mythical kingdom called Camelot that he ruled over, this perfect utopian kingdom in the British Isles of Camelot.

And King Arthur died, and yet there are some, I don’t know if they really believe it, but the legend is there that King Arthur one day is going to return to rule over and to save the British people. They’ve written numerous books and movies and things about him, one of the most well-known is called The Once and Future King. That’s where I get the title of this morning’s message.

But folks, our God is not the once and future king because all of these people, fake and real, Quetzalcoatl, Haile Selassie, King Arthur, folks, they all, if they ever existed, may have ruled at one point and now do not. Folks, our God is not the once and future king. Our God is not the once and future king.

He is still the king. He There’s no period in which God is not the king over the universe. That at one point God ruled in the affairs of men, and then suddenly he fell off his throne, and one day is going to be restored in the millennial kingdom.

Folks, even though we are not in the millennial kingdom, folks, God is still on his throne, and he is still the king. So we’re praying about these two aspects of God’s kingdom. When we pray, thy kingdom come, we’re praying about these two aspects of the kingdom, the now and the future.

And the first thing we’re praying for is prayer seeks the advancement of God’s kingdom. We can go to the next one. I’m sorry.

And God’s kingdom encompasses his present rule over the hearts of his people. God’s kingdom here and now encompasses his rule over the hearts of his people. That’s why people use the phrase, and I don’t know that it’s the best phrase to use.

That’s why they use the phrase, we’re advancing God’s kingdom. They’ll say one soul at a time, we advance God’s kingdom. As we reach people, as we reach people for Christ, that becomes one more soul in the kingdom.

Now that doesn’t mean that a lost person, a non-believer, someone who’s never been born again, that doesn’t mean that they are not under the sovereignty of God, but that means they have not recognized God as their Lord or as their king. And yet we come to Christ, we come to faith in Him after hearing the gospel and after conviction of our sins, we come to Christ. And folks, we become part of the kingdom in that sense that we have recognized or should have recognized God’s sovereignty over us. We should recognize when we come to Christ that we are no longer ours.

We’ve been bought with a price. We are, you know what, the Greek in many instances in the New Testament does not merely indicate that we are his servants. It indicates that we are his slaves.

We have been purchased by God. Now we have an idea of slavery, of cruelty coming from what went on in this country. The biblical understanding is completely different.

They were not allowed under Old Testament law when they had slaves and such. They were not allowed to be cruel to their slaves. But we are bought and purchased and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. And we step into the kingdom in a sense.

We’ve been translated from the kingdom of darkness, as the Bible says, into the kingdom of light by recognizing, by coming to Christ in faith. And at that point, we recognize his rule over us. There’s a lot of controversy about the issue of lordship salvation and whether or not you can make him Savior without making him Lord.

Folks, I believe that salvation is by grace, through faith, without works. But at the same time, it is hard for me to understand the idea of repentance and trusting Christ and responding to the gospel without realizing that he is supposed to be the Lord and master of our life as well. And God’s kingdom encompasses his present rule over the hearts of his people.

I look at Colossians chapter 1, if you want to turn there with me briefly this morning. but Paul writes to the church at Colossae and says, Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. And right there is an important point.

To be meet means to be fitting. M-E-E-T, not M-E-A-T. Means to be fitting.

Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. None of us, folks, not you and not me, certainly not me, Not one of us deserve the inheritance that is coming to the saints. Not one of us deserve the inheritance of eternal life in heaven.

Not one of us deserve that close walk with God. And yet God has made us fit. God has made us befitting to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

I have said numerous times and will continue to say that our message cannot be about how good we are. That’s why people get so frustrated with Christians. That’s why I hear Brother Gene say all the time that Baptists are Pharisees.

People get frustrated with us because a lot of times the message we portray to the world is how good we are. Ladies and gentlemen, our message to the world should not be about how good we are. It should be about how good God is and about how good Christ was.

God hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and get this, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Translated is the same word that is used for Enoch in the book of Genesis, where it says that Enoch walked with God and then Enoch was not, for God took him. Enoch didn’t die.

God picked him up and carried him off one place to another, from one place to another. We are translated into the kingdom of God’s Son, meaning that when we trust Christ, we are picked up from one kingdom and carried off into another. And it translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

Folks, it’s only in the blood of Christ that we have redemption, that we have forgiveness for sins. God cannot and will not simply overlook our sin and say, well, it’s not a big deal, it’s okay, I’m just going to let it go and overlook it this time. Folks, a penalty had to be paid, and Jesus Christ paid it.

Even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, speaking of Jesus, the firstborn of every creature, and by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have preeminence. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus Christ died on the cross as the only, hear me on this, as the only means by which our sins could be forgiven.

We are all born sinners, and we continue on sinning throughout our entire lives, and there’s not a thing that we can do to earn God’s favor. Going to church will not earn you any favor with God. I mean, hey, I’m glad you’re here this morning.

But coming to church does not earn you any favor with God. Giving money, helping the poor, being a nice person, none of this gives you any favor with God. We’ve all sinned against a holy God.

We’ve all disobeyed Him. We’ve all broken His law. We could go through the list. We’ve all lied.

We’ve all taken something that doesn’t belong with us and on down the list we go. And it is only through the blood of Christ that our sins can be forgiven. It is only because Jesus Christ paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins that we have forgiveness and that we have the opportunity then to have a relationship with God, a peace with God here on earth, but also an inheritance of eternal life to be with him forever in heaven.

It’s only through the blood of Christ. And because of that, the Bible says here in Colossians, we have been delivered from one kingdom. We’ve been translated from one kingdom into another. We are now part of the kingdom once we’ve trusted in Christ. And as a result of that, the Bible says, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have preeminence.

Folks, once we trust Christ as our Savior, once we’re born into God’s family, ladies and gentlemen, once we’re adopted into God’s family, we’re moved from one kingdom into the other, and as a result, Jesus Christ becomes our Lord, our King, our Master. He’s the head. He’s the chief.

He is to have preeminence in all things. And God’s kingdom encompasses his present rule over the hearts of his people. Folks, if you’re a believer this morning, if you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you’re part of the kingdom.

When we pray, thy kingdom come, not only are we praying about some future occurrence, which we’re going to talk about in just a moment, but we’re also praying, I believe, that God’s kingdom be advanced here and now. And a good distinction I can think of for the present and the future as far as God’s kingdom. oh, it hurts me to say this, is Texas.

As an Oklahoma native, you have no idea how much it hurts me to compare Texas to the kingdom of God, and yet here we are. In the early days of Texas, it was a province of Mexico, and there were several people in American politics and in American culture who wanted Texas and said, we’re going to make Texas ours. Well, they didn’t first send in an army.

No, they sent in settlers, and the Mexican government allowed them to send in American settlers, and they had to do a few things in order to go there, but they allowed American settlers to come in. And a few Americans went to Texas, and you know what? They were Americans.

And as more Americans moved in, they remained Americans. And you know what? Even though Texas wasn’t part of America, American interests were furthered, and American interests grew bit by bit as more people, as more Americans came into Texas until eventually there was the revolution, and then there was the American annexation of Texas, and then Texas became part of America.

Well, I think about it, and I know there are people on both sides who say that was all a good thing for us. There are people who say that was a bad thing for the Mexicans. I’ll leave that for the historians to sort out.

But folks, we are here on earth in a kingdom in a country that is not our own. We are supposed to be citizens of a different country. I was born an American.

I’m an American citizen. But folks, Philippians makes it clear my citizenship is in heaven. There’s a verse in Philippians that says our conversation is in heaven.

that word more literally translated means citizenship. We are citizens of a higher kingdom. Our first loyalty, I’m not encouraging you to be disloyal to our country, but our first loyalty should be to the kingdom.

And we live in this place, in this world, in this country, not just the United States, but we live on this planet that is not our home. We are citizens of the kingdom, and we bring the kingdom with us. And every time we reach another person for Christ, every time somebody else trusts Christ and is plucked out of the kingdom of darkness, plucked out of that destination for hell because they’re dead and lost in their sins, and is translated into the kingdom of Christ, the interests of the kingdom are advanced.

And when we are praying, thy kingdom come, we are first of all praying that the kingdom of God would be advanced here on earth. Folks, we don’t build that by political means. That’s one of the shortcomings of the post-millennial ideas.

The idea that we build the kingdom here on earth and then Jesus comes back. Folks, we will never turn people around through political means. We will never turn people around through political means.

We will never build the kingdom through political means. Now, I believe very firmly that as God’s people, we need to stand up for righteousness. We need to stand up for the truth of God’s word.

But far too often, we as Christians have substituted political activism for spiritual activism. Because you know what? It’s a whole lot easier to win elections than it is to win souls, to be quite honest. The only problem is, and again, I’m all for morality.

I’m all for standing up for God’s truth. But we could pass all the laws we want to. We could do all the things that we want to to enforce the right behavior and say, well, we’re building the kingdom, and all we’re going to do is send a lot of moral law-abiding people to hell.

Folks, our prayer that thy kingdom come should be that we are advancing the kingdom spiritually, that we are praying that God will translate and God will use us in translating people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son. Thy kingdom come, we need to pray that God’s kingdom is advanced in the hearts of men. We need to pray and we need to work as we pray that others will hear, that others will hear not just do right, live by the Bible, but that others will hear we can’t do right and live by the Bible and we’re condemned to hell because of it and yet Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty that we owed so that we can be forgiven of our sins and our shortcomings, and we can experience eternal life in heaven with God.

We need to pray that His kingdom come. And second of all this morning, God’s kingdom encompasses His future rule over the nations of the world. God’s kingdom encompasses His future rule over the nations of the world.

As a moment ago, I compared. . .

I still feel dirty just saying it. I’m sorry, I know we have some visitors with us from Texas. I do like your state.

I just, not in football season, I don’t. But Americans went to Texas, and they advanced the American cause, and they advanced the American agenda, but then there came a time when Texas became part of America. What had just gone on in the lives of the people actually became the law of the land.

There is coming a day, I believe, when Jesus Christ will set up his kingdom here on earth. Folks, there are too many prophecies about it in the Old Testament for it not to be true. And there were so many prophecies that were correct about his first coming that I, I have no doubt in my mind that the prophecies about his second coming have got to be accurate as well.

I mean, my goodness, hundreds of years before he came and was born, the Old Testament prophets prophesied that he would be born at Bethlehem, that he would be born of a virgin. And folks, that doesn’t happen every day, just so we’re clear on that. That he would be born of a certain tribe, he’d be born of the tribe of Judah, and even more than that, he’d be of the lineage of David.

And there were so many prophecies about his crucifixion. Isaiah chapter 53, read it and tell me it’s not about the crucifixion. Psalm chapter 22, I think it is, talks about some of the things that he would cry out on the cross.

Talks about not a bone being broken, which again was unusual for crucifixion. There’s a place in Psalms where it describes his crucifixion hundreds of years before crucifixion was in use. Folks, the Bible was absolutely spot on accurate, 100% accurate about his coming the first time.

But it also writes about Him coming as a king. It writes about Him, it speaks of Him coming and establishing a kingdom, and establishing justice, and ruling with a rod of iron. And He didn’t do that in the first coming.

Folks, that’s not an error on the part of the Bible, because the Bible speaks of a second coming. And as I said already, the Bible was so accurate about the first coming, I have no doubt that it’s going to be just as accurate about the second coming. There is coming a day, ladies and gentlemen, when Jesus Christ will return to earth.

Now, I know even in our church, there’s difference of opinion about whether the rapture comes before that, the rapture, how all that works out. But what I do know, what the Bible is abundantly clear on, I believe, is that he is coming back to earth and he’s going to set all things to right. He will stand in judgment over all of mankind.

The Bible says that he will judge the quick and the dead. Quick doesn’t mean fast enough to run away. Quick means living in the older English.

He will judge the living and the dead. Judge us according to God’s standards, too, not our own, but judge us according to God’s standards of absolute 100% moral perfection. I do not meet up to that standard.

And I would ask you how many of you do, but I might as well not. The answer is zero percent. None of us meet up to God’s standard of absolute 100% moral perfection.

Judging by that standard, we are all lost, except Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. And the Bible says that his righteousness is credited to our account. But he will judge the quick and the dead.

He’ll judge the living and the dead. He’ll rule over the nations. Micah chapter 4, if you want to turn there with me briefly, says, but in the last days, and this is, folks, this is just one example of an Old Testament passage that refers to him coming and setting up a kingdom.

And there’s even more in the New Testament. But Micah chapter 4 says, but in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.

For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, But they shall set every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. Folks, this speaks of a time to come in the future.

This speaks of a time to come in the future when all the nations will gather to worship him. They said, let us go up to Jerusalem. They’ll gather and they’ll be taught by the words of his mouth.

He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths. That surely does not describe today, let me tell you. If you’re in doubt about that, turn on your television set to the news or a sitcom See, men are not walking according to his ways.

And the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge many people and rebuke strong nations. Folks, there’s only the United Nations cannot straighten out the countries of this world.

The League of Nations before it could not straighten out the nations of this world. The United States cannot straighten out the nations of this world. There is only one power in the universe, strong enough, mighty enough, righteous enough to straighten out all of mankind.

and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says that he will judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off. And this is the part I really love. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Folks, it speaks of a time when violence and injustice and savagery that has been the hallmark of mankind since the fall in the Garden of Eden comes to an end. And we get back through the transforming power of Jesus Christ, get back to what God created us for. Because to me, this sounds a lot like the Garden of Eden.

We walk with Him. We learn from Him. We follow His ways.

And with the swords beat into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks, we go back to just working and worshiping. And they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

Folks, I don’t know about you, but that sounds wonderful to me. When I was a kid, I would hear preachers talk about heaven, I would hear preachers talk about the millennial kingdom, and to be quite honest, it sounded a little boring. Anybody else fess up to that thought?

And if we’ve been raised with the idea that we’re all just going to sit around on clouds and play harps, folks, that does sound really boring, really dreadful. And for that reason, when I was a little kid, even after I was saved, I was kind of afraid of the idea of the Lord coming back, because I thought, that’s just going to be, that’s going to be boring. But folks, the longer I go on in this world, and the more I experience its struggles and its heartaches, not only for myself, but as I see others go through them as well, the thought occurs to me more and more, come Lord Jesus, come Lord Jesus.

Folks, I enjoy my life, but I also long for a day when the Lord comes back and sets this all to right. And we’re not, ladies and gentlemen, going to sit around on clouds and play harps for all of eternity. We are going to spend all of eternity.

We’ve got this thousand-year kingdom where we work and worship, and then after the thousand years, we get to spend all of eternity walking with Him, talking with Him, sitting with Him, hearing from Him, learning His ways. And folks, the more I learn about Jesus, the more I learn about the One who died to take my place, the One who died that my sins would be forgiven, the more I think how sweet it’s going to be to spend eternity getting to know Him more. And there’s an element of this, I think, that when we pray thy kingdom come, we’re praying that God’s kingdom would be advanced in the here and