For now, we're going to turn to the Gospel of Luke. These are, as we've come back to worship with the things happening in the world and thinking about these things, the Lord gives a lot of perspective for us. These are reorienting kinds of sermons to the things that Jesus said and how we are to think, especially at times like this, and how we are to understand and comprehend things. And one of those wonderful passages is in Luke chapter 17. as Jesus explains, the nature and the coming of the kingdom of God. And it's such an important theme for us. So we're going to look at that beginning at verse 20 of Luke 17 and reading through verse 37. This is the word of the Lord. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. Nor will they say, Look, here it is. Or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And he said to the disciples, The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, Look there, and look here. Do not go out or follow them. 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. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, Fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down and take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left. And they said to him, Where, Lord? He said to them, Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. And there ends the reading of God's Word. Again, that's Luke 17, beginning at verse 20. We'll look at all the way through to verse 37 this morning. And this theme of the kingdom of God is really an important theme, isn't it? Such an important theme in the scriptures. I think one of the big challenges right now for us is the confusion over how the kingdom of God comes and how it breaks in. Remember, the kingdom of God, boys and girls, is that rule and that reign over all that he has made of the Lord and how that breaks into history and how that shows itself we're thinking about and where that shows itself and what we should expect. How do we see that? God is sovereign, isn't he? We say that. The Lord is seated on a throne in heaven. He has a kingdom. He's a king. He has a kingdom. That kingdom is breaking in and it broke in through the arrival of Jesus on the scene of history. To have a kingdom, you have to have a land and people and a king. You have to have somebody sitting on a throne. You have to have a reign. And we're looking at these themes this morning. The problem is, is that what we're experiencing is something radically different from how we think the kingdom of God should come. You'll see why this is so important. It's always been a challenge for God's people to understand the nature and the coming of the kingdom. Mainly because we want to see it come now. We want to really see it change the world. We want to really see it affect society. We want to see it transform everything. And I would suggest that in the community of faith right now, it's that great confusion that we struggle with that is the great confusion that we struggle with right now how can anyone tell me that this is going well for the kingdom of God in this world well depends on how you look at it that's the point it's that great confusion that we have to wrestle with a little bit and think about because we want to see Jesus and we want to see the power right now, and we want to experience it, but yet all we're experiencing is this, powerlessness. You guys are all wearing masks, you know. That doesn't feel like a very powerful kingdom breaking in. Why is it not stopping viruses? You see, there ought to be more to this. There has to be something that we can see and something that's tangible for us that we can understand about the breaking in of God's kingdom into this world, and yet everything right now is unraveling at the seams, and it seems that the church has a very little witness, and if anything, it's been shut down. This passage helps us this morning for the community of faith to understand the nature of the kingdom, and really what Jesus is telling us is he's cautioning us in our impatience of the full arrival of the kingdom, to not get too caught up looking for the kingdom in all the wrong places. And that's what Christians are doing in mass right now. This is one of our great issues right now. And so I want to look at that briefly this morning, the confusion of the kingdom of God, the character of this kingdom, and the call of the kingdom. You'll see that they're outlined for you. Well, I didn't really provide an outline, but I just told you, so. The passage is a fascinating one because it really does interject the more familiar language that we know from Matthew chapter 24 that I preached out on the bed of the truck out there, which no one remembers, by the way. That's a tough thing to do. I'd never want to do that again if I don't have to. This is a little different because now it's the Pharisees that have come to Jesus asking about the kingdom. Matthew 24, that was disciple dialogue. This is an interesting twist in this discussion because now it's the Pharisees who have come, and you'll notice here they want to know a specific question. They want to know when will this kingdom break in? When will we see it? Now remember, you'll see this next time in John 6, that they had come when they saw Jesus turn the bread, right? The fish and the loaves and fed 5,000 people. When they saw that, they tried to grab him and take him by force to make the kingdom break in right there. Remember it said to make him king. You'll see that in John 6. He wanted nothing to do with it. He turned around and walked right away from them. He would not let them box him in to their idea of what the king should look like and how the kingdom should come. So keep that in mind here. For Jesus now launches into this teaching on the nature of the coming of the kingdom. And he says in verse 20, it says in verse 20, being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. That's set in for a minute. Nor will they say, look, it's right there. or, notice, there, here it is, or there. For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. That's quite a statement. That is quite a statement to think about for a moment. The kingdom of God doesn't come with the kind of observable phenomenons that you want to see. It is already here in your midst. But you can't see it. You can't see it. Now, that's a hard reality for us. That's a hard thing that must have felt to the Pharisees and even to the disciples somewhat of a disappointment. This is, really, why not show it? It was there. It was there because Jesus was standing there. But what was the problem? Pharisees can't see him. this is what Jesus said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus you need to be born again, unless you're born from above, you can't see, you can't perceive, you have no ability to see the kingdom of God, but I want an observable phenomenon, not until you're born again, this is a really important point, so the kingdom, as Jesus would go on to show and to teach, the kingdom would show itself in the hearts of those who have received their king and believed and see the king by faith. It's this spiritual kingdom that is breaking in, and certainly Jesus is breaking in the real power of the kingdom, even in the present, fully coming when Jesus returns again physically on the clouds of heaven. That kingdom will come in all of its fullness and in all of its glory. That's why we're praying constantly, thy kingdom come. He gave a whole petition in the Lord's prayer to pray that. We're still looking for the fullness of that to break in. And that kingdom fully breaks in on that day. And that's what Jesus leads us to here in this very passage. But this gets to the frustration for a minute that I don't want to leave because I think this is so important for us as believers. In this life, you will not be able to see the kingdom come in ways that you would expect. The kingdom, king, and then the one thing that happens is the kingdom is established and the king is seated on the throne. And now you do realize that we celebrate all those things when we talk about Pentecost and the ascension and that that is a reign in heaven, isn't it? This is what they wanted, though. They wanted to overturn Rome. They wanted to see that kingdom come in power to break free from all the oppression in this world. And Jesus is now explaining this to us, helping us understand this. It does not come with a grand revolution of the world system. Christians have never been revolutionaries. Paul was not a revolutionary. Jesus was not a revolutionary. He was paying taxes. He was telling people to pay taxes. So this is important that Jesus now turns to his disciples, and I want you to notice this shift. He had said this to the Pharisees, and all of a sudden now, whether he walked away with them, whether they were alone, all we know is he has now directed, so we see the distinction here, to really make clear to the disciples their real challenge living in the midst of this kind of coming of the kingdom. Notice what he says. It was this verse here this week. It's one of these verses where you can read it and read it and read it. And until you're actually living it in the world, you don't fully see exactly what he was saying. I believe we're in exactly the moment right now. And this verse brings great clarity to everything that's happening that I never saw before. I never thought about before. Listen to the next verse when Jesus says to his disciples, verse 22, The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it. And they will say to you, look there or look here. Do not go out or follow them. That should really set in for a minute. I think that's an important verse today for us. capturing one of the most confusing experiences that is going to happen in this life for believers in their patient weight, in their anxieties, in their impatience, that something is going to happen. Take our experience right now. 2019 was a relatively calm year. Wouldn't you trade it for 2020, right? Were you really thinking about the coming of the kingdom in 2019? There were some bad things. It depends on your experience, doesn't it? Maybe personally. But if you go through the previous years and you look at the relative calm that we've had in life and you look at how good it's been and compared to now this moment of 2020, wow, those were really good days. And you didn't really pray as much your kingdom come. You didn't think about it as much. In times of great peace and great calm, that's the sort of last thing we're desiring, especially when you live in the best nation ever on the face of the earth that has nationally given you the best freedoms and the best way of life that anyone under the sun has ever known. Let me ask you now, 2020, you're kind of aghast at what's going on, aren't you? What do you desire right now to see? You're a little more ready to hear about the city of God. You're a little more ready to hear about the Lord's solutions. And looking at all these things, what you're really starting to desire in the midst of this, because we don't know what could come tomorrow, is the kingdom of God to break into this mess. I mean, I'm in agony watching what's happening. And it's endless, the fears that we could say, well, what if this happens? And what if that happens? And look where this could go. And it's just awful. It's confusing. It's discouraging. It's disorienting. It's depressing. And all that's on our minds is, what is this? If God is in control and God is showing his power, there has to be a solution to this right now. Here's the thing. In moments like this, everyone is looking for someone or something to save them from what is happening. And they want it right now. They want to break in the kingdom. This is what Jesus is describing. At times, it's going to get really bad in history. and you're going to desire to see one of the days. Notice he said that. You're going to desire to see one of those days now, and it's going to overtake you in agony. And your greatest danger in moments like this is that we look to the wrong answers and the wrong saviors, that we look to the wrong deliverers. This is what Jesus says. that we, everyone else, the world, the peoples, the masses are going to start saying to you something. Look there. Or look here. This is the solution we need to solve these problems. This is the movement we need to get involved in to solve these problems. This is the solution. Everyone's pitching solutions to us right now. Do you wonder what will be the next movement tomorrow? The next movement everyone's jumping to? And the bandwagon everyone's on? Some will say it's right there. It's the leader holding up the Bible. That's our Savior. On the opposite end, some will say, like a pastor did this week, that there's a cornerstone through whom this whole world has started a great movement, the rejected stone, the cornerstone, George Floyd. See, everyone's looking. Everyone's looking for a savior. Everyone's looking for a cause to overcome all this. Everyone's looking for an answer right now. And Christians get swept into this stuff. The world sucks them right in. Great pressure. Come over here. Follow this. Do this. Get involved in this. The devil knows just what to do. He's having so much fun right now. We so desperately want the wrongs in life to be made right. I do. Well, if the kingdom has come, poverty should be overcome, right? now. We should be able to fix all these social problems with the kingdom of God now. We should be able to have totally harmony among the races now. Where do you find that? Isn't it interesting that following this section, Jesus gives a whole teaching on injustice? A little widow was being robbed, and she just kept coming to this unjust judge. And the reason he's describing it is like, because this is the experience in this life of masses of injustice that happened. And he just kept, she just kept coming to this unjust judge, this unjust leader. And in her persistence, big lesson Jesus gave, don't lose heart in prayer there's a solution don't lose heart in prayer God promises that when his kingdom comes in all of its fullness he will avenge his elect speedily you are going to want to see this kingdom in some days come in one of these days right now and it will be really disorienting for you and everyone's going to have a solution when the son of man comes in that day and this is where jesus now goes i want you to think with me for a minute i must first suffer and be rejected he's he's really outlining the whole truth of history for god's people that there is rejection there is suffering there is hardship and there is much tribulation we go through this kingdom life and then we enter glory so remember what the kingdom is like. Remember Jesus said, the kingdom of God is, with what parable can we picture it? I want to help you understand it. What parable can I picture the kingdom of God? It's like, it's like a little mustard seed. A little mustard seed when it's sown in the ground. It's smaller than all the seeds on the earth, but when it's sown, it grows up and it becomes greater than all the herbs and shoots out great branches. His point is, that seed is so tiny, and do you ever watch a seed grow? Farmers know this. It's slow. You get up, you go to bed, you get up, you go to bed. It just takes time. It's slow development. All of a sudden, one day, there's the fullness of the crop. That's exactly how the kingdom of God comes in. That's exactly how it goes, he said. It's nothing outwardly radical, nothing big in our eyes as the world would value it. It doesn't seem powerful. It seems like nothing's happening at all. You see, it's in the midst of this that due to a lack of patience, we get caught up in the wrong projects. And the most encouraging thing for us here, in fact, with the mustard seed one day, is that shoots are everywhere. I mean, that's been my experience in preaching, is that I think I've told you with my own father that we were just nominal. Growing up, the Bible wasn't open much in the home. And then it was when I was in college, the bud came out. He was converted. And I saw it. And that's how the Lord works. That's how the kingdom comes. I'm getting ahead of myself. But it's that development in the hearts and lives of people of patience as God is being patient as the elect come in. see Jesus now moves from this point to help us then with this character as he raises Noah and Lot and the emphasis is given on the full arrival of this kingdom notice that Jesus says here it's vastly different in how we are living with how the world is living it's supposed to be the world has different priorities the world has different goals the world is trying to establish this and the great goal is to live forever on the earth save the planet save it things get hot for a reason judgment's coming the world has all these different priorities and that's what Jesus describes here he says they're living to create a utopia they're living to create the utopia on earth that's what all this is about that you're seeing that's what eat drink and be merry is if we could just solve all these problems with a common humanity then we could get to a place where we're all eating and drinking and happy see it's the investment in this never thinking that God's kingdom is coming it was an investment being a pilgrim is the hardest mindset in this life for us it's hard, I admit it but Jesus is saying the world's mentality is that this will go on forever and that's why they're trying to establish it that's why they're trying to rescue it, it's going to go on forever the goal is to get to a place of prosperity and ease. And in the midst of that, there's great forgetting of what's coming. And that's why Jesus told parables about the wrong investments in this life. In other words, the mentalities of soul, I have many goods, eat, drink, I'll store them up, I'll live forever, and I'll hedge myself in from inflation, from all the problems of the world. And Jesus says, yeah, but you're going to die tonight. So he gives these two examples to us. I won't get into Noah this morning. I just preached him to you. Lot is interesting, isn't it? Isn't he? A perplexing figure. He seems to be the exact opposite. He seemed to have invested in Sodom. He seemed to have pitched his tent and kept heading into Sodom. And the New Testament comes and says, yeah, but he was righteous, and his soul was tormented day and night by all the terrible things that he saw in Sodom. There's a crucial distinction to the terrible things that you see happen of wickedness just rip you up. Jesus says in the midst of this, he gives this sobering call, remember Lot's wife. You know, I mull over these words. I don't know, is there anything more jolting in the Bible than that? Remember Lot's wife. What do I know about Lot's wife? What do you know about Lot's wife? I don't even know her name. The striking thing is I know nothing about her. Obviously, she was married to a believer and she was a non-believer. I don't even know her name. I don't know her background. why is he telling us this? Because he's using a great example and he's telling you this has happened before. Don't hold on to this life. It's hard to not hold on to the world and the love of the world and the things in it to save it all and fall in all the wrong causes. He's pressing us to kingdom priorities. It's easy to fall in a fight for this world. It's easy to hold on to it. It's easy to hold on and look back to it, its solutions. With all of that can become a denial. There is a great antithesis. And that's why Jesus says here, whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life will save it. See, I think we hear that and we read this as a scary thing. And it is a scary thing if you're a non-believer. But I think it's meant to be the most freeing thing for you. Do you want to hold on to this anymore? When we come to one of these moments where we desire to see the king, do you really want to hold on to this? Who does? And Jesus is saying, you don't have to. You shouldn't, number one, but you're free from that. You don't carry the burdens of all the world on your shoulder. Jesus is saying, be ready because you're going to get called out from here in a moment. That's his point. You're going to get called out from here in a moment. And it could be today. Be ready. That's his point. Be ready to walk away from it all. Remember when Israel was coming out of Egypt and on that night of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, he told them to stand up eating. Remember they were eating that meal and he said, stand up and I want you with your clothes on and your sandals on and your belts on, ready to go. The imagery for you was to always think that's how we're to think of the world. We're ready. We're ready to exit as soon as we get the call. I'm gone. And Jesus says, remember that because a final judgment's coming. And they answered him and said, Where, Lord? Where is this going to happen? Wherever the body is, there the eagles will gather. That was a popular metaphor that was saying, just as the dead bodies attract vultures, so the spiritually dead are going to face the judgment of God. And by the way, no one takes that seriously right now. No one takes that seriously. I just saw a sign the other day of a protester inviting hell. well, we need to talk about that. We need to bring this doctrine back. I want to come back full circle to where is this kingdom, and I'll close. Jesus says it's in your midst. I have a problem getting sucked into the echo chamber of social media, and I forget how this kingdom is actually being built and where it's being built. It's not being built on Facebook. It's in your midst. Where? Where, Lord, where? Yeah, right here. The greatest encouragements are right in front of you if you can see them. It's God's people who love one another. Who I see and I know that they are the ones purchased by the blood of Jesus and you see it and you trust them and you see a beauty in the community that is so precious in this world of loving one another, of serving one another, of caring for one another. You know, we're not supposed to sing right now, and I won't mention the name of our dear brother who did the other day, but I had everyone coming up to me and telling me that was one of the most precious things that they had ever witnessed at the event center the other day with one of our older members standing up. He didn't really probably hear me say not to, or maybe he did. And with mask on, he belted out all those songs and everyone just stopped and listened. It was beautiful. There's the kingdom in the heart of God's saint who loves him. You see, it's in a people who are serving the Lord. When Jesus said, by this, all men will know you're my disciples by the love that you have for one another, what he was saying is, you want to see where my kingdom is. You see it in the people who submit to me, in the people who follow me, in the people who love to me, love me. Look at them. This is the kingdom. That's how it's showing itself in the lives of people as they're saved and they're changed. It's what Romans says, the kingdom of God is not in this, this, this. It comes with righteousness, peace, and joy of the Holy Spirit. You want to see kingdom in the midst of this? Look at the joy of the saints in the midst of this who know where they're going and who love. The greatest way to get through all this and not lose your mind is to enjoy the people of the kingdom. That's why it hurts to not be able to come to worship. That's what hurts a lot has been the loss of the fellowship, and you know that. Jesus built a kingdom on living stones whom he died for, and he laid down his life for, that the joy of the Holy Spirit would be evident. Where is that kingdom? Fix your eyes on it. You can see it. You can see his rule in your midst. For the people who live by faith in his promise, in his promises are precious in his sight. Even their death is precious in his sight. Jesus is able to keep us. Jesus is able to preserve us, and he didn't come here to lose one of his sheep. Don't fear, little flock. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So look to the cross. Look to Jesus. Let him be your all in all, and seek first his kingdom, his righteousness. And as we sing, the things of this earth will start to grow strangely dim. It's going to happen anyways. I still remember when my dad was dying and everything that he had sought in life, he said, Chris, he says, it's amazing. I have no desire for politics. I have no desire for stuff. I have no desire for anything anymore except the Lord. Well, that's where we're all headed. None of this in the ultimate scheme of things is going to matter. So look to the Lord. He loves you, and he's faithful to his promises, and he is building and giving us a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for encouraging us with these words today, and thank you for helping us and with perspective that we would not lose heart in the midst of this. And please keep us, Lord, with these words. We're weak, we're sheep, we wander, we're confused often, and we need your guidance as words come from the good shepherd. Forgive our sins, Lord, and keep us in your mercies and grace. And let us, Lord, enjoy what we have with one another, looking for the coming of the kingdom in all of its fullness. O Lord, we pray together, thy kingdom come. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We'll be right back.