The Coming of the Kingdom | Sermon Notes, Luke #71
From the April 17 sermon, preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll out of Luke 17:20–37:
The kingdom of God begins in this life with Jesus, the Son of Man, and is ultimately fulfilled upon his second coming. The kingdom comes patiently, unexpectedly, and obviously. The world as we know it will end and Jesus will usher in a perfect world that never ends, the kingdom of God. Will you be in Jesus’ kingdom? Remember Lot’s wife and don’t look back, long back, or go back. Keep going to the kingdom of God. Remember Noah and by faith trust that the judgment of God is coming. Noah was a sinner who deserved condemnation, death, hell, and the wrath of God, but God gave him grace. If you don’t receive the grace of God in Jesus Christ, then all that awaits you is justice. Don’t be so consumed with tertiary things that you die and go to hell with your inbox cleaned out, clean socks on your feet, and food in your fridge, but no grace for your soul.
Next up, Easter!
"Why You Can't Predict the End of the World" and "Don't Look Back, Don't Long Back, Don't Go Back" after the jump:How many of you have had that feeling in your heart? Jesus, why the suffering? Why the wars? Why the poverty? Why the atrocity? Why so long? It’s because, friends, God is patient. The Bible says elsewhere, Peter writes, that God is not slow but rather God is patient. And what can happen is for those of us who are Christians, as soon as we become a Christian, we feel like God should be done with his work, right? "All right, God, you saved me. Great, let’s just finish now. Don’t save any more people or unroll any more history. I’ve got a first-class ticket. Let’s just board the plane and fly somewhere else." Aren’t you glad, though, that Jesus didn’t cease his work the day before you got saved? You’re like, "Yeah, I appreciate that." All right, then be patient as he’s working on other people, he’s unveiling the rest of history. He has a plan. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s not slow, he is, rather, patient. […] So Jesus is saying, "You can’t just have the kingdom, you need to go through the cross." You can’t just have a better world; we have to deal with sin. And once he deals with sin, it opens and unveils the opportunity of the coming of the kingdom. So Jesus comes the first time in humility, he will come the second time in glory. Friends, Jesus did go to the cross, he did suffer, he did die, he did atone for the sin of the world, he did rise from death. We celebrate that every Easter and every Sunday, which is the day of Jesus’ resurrection. He ascended back into heaven. Revelation says, 45 times in 22 chapters, that he’s seated on a throne. That is a king. It says as well that he is the King of kings. And Jesus will return. Friends, we know not when, but we know he will.
[Jesus] says that the kingdom comes patiently, unexpectedly, and it does come obviously. Every once in a while you’ll hear, "Oh, you know, I hear that the kingdom of God is dawning here and maybe Jesus is coming back and it looks like we’re getting to the end." It’s not like that. It comes quickly, suddenly, obviously. Jesus says it’s like lightning in the sky when he comes back. Have you ever seen a good lightning storm? I can still remember the first one I saw as a little boy, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I was at my grandma’s house and … I look out her kitchen window and then lightning just exploded out of the sky and lit everything up. Jesus is saying his return and the unveiling of the kingdom of a God will be like that. You won’t need anyone to say, "Hey, there was lightning last night." "Yeah, I know. We all saw it and felt it. It was obvious. It was apparent, it was clear. It wasn’t off to the side and only a few people saw it and then they had to give a report about it." The second coming of Jesus Christ, the unveiling of the kingdom of God, the judgment of the living and the dead, it will be suddenly, unexpectedly, obviously.
And just in the nick of time, before God incinerates and judges these people [of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family] are venturing from the world into a new life that God has for them. And this is all a big picture of what God does in our salvation: He takes us from worldliness and sin, and he delivers us in the nick of time to a new life. Lot’s wife turns her back on her family, essentially on God, and looks back. And she doesn’t just look back, she longs back. She misses her old way of life. She really loved Sodom and Gomorrah, perhaps more than she even loved the Lord. She wanted to go back to her old lifestyle. Are you like that? Are you someone whom God is trying to deliver from a life of sin, folly, rebellion, and death, that God has you surrounded with people who belong to him, maybe friends, family, coworkers, Community Group, and he’s trying to move you from the world to the kingdom, from an old way of life, to a new way of life, from condemnation to salvation? But in your heart, you miss your sin. You miss your old days and your old ways. You look back, you long back, maybe you’ve even gone back. You’re doing things you should not be doing, believing things you should not be believing, condoning things that you should be condemning. Is that you? If so, Jesus says, "Remember Lot’s wife." Remember Lot’s wife. Don’t look back, don’t long back, don’t go back. […]Remember Lot’s wife. Are you like her? Are you like her? See this all the time. "I’m walking with Jesus, but I miss my old boyfriend. I’m walking with Jesus, I miss my old girlfriend. I’m walking with Jesus, but I miss my old entertainment. I’m walking with Jesus, but I miss my old substances. I’m walking with Jesus, but I miss my old addictions." Keep going to the kingdom of God. It’s nothing but fire and brimstone falling on what you have left.