The Lord’s Prayer Your Kingdom Come Lesson 3 .10 102019

1 Two weeks ago we began a new series on the Lord’s Prayer. It is found in both Luke 11 and Matthew 6, and it’s Matthew 6 that we will be using for the series. It is probably the most well-known portion of scripture in the . Let’s look at it together. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.] Matthew 6:9-13 2 The Lord’s prayer is a beautiful portion of scripture to recite. But as we found out two weeks ago did not give the disciples a prayer to simply recite. He was giving them a model for prayer because He was teaching them how to pray. Prayer Model.

Start with worship Father in heaven hallowed by your name Pray God’s will be done (you, Your kingdom come your will be others & world) done on earth as it is in heaven Pray for your (daily) needs Give us today our daily bread Confess your sin and forgive others Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors Pray for protection and deliverance Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. End with worship For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

3 So what we have here in Matthew 6 is a prayer guide already built into your . But it’s more than a prayer guide, it is a guide for all of your life. The Lord’s Prayer helps us to center our lives around the Lord.

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a God made us in such a way that our lives were designed to orbit around Him, that He would be, not a part of our lives, but the center of our lives, that everything in our lives would rotate around Him. b Prayer, and the Lord’s prayer in specific is meant to bring us back into that orbit or maintain that true orbit centered on the Lord. • It’s like the moon orbiting around the earth. If it were to leave that orbit it would be devastating. • Or how about a satellite orbiting around the earth. If it leaves it’s orbit it will crash into the atmosphere and burn out. c It’s the same in our lives. When our lives don’t orbit, revolve around the Lord we will look to other things to center our lives around and inevitably they can’t hold us and we crash and burn out. • We will eventually lose our sense of purpose, we will feel empty, we will lose our joy or invest our lives into things that will fade away. • Why? Because we were made to center our lives around the Lord and the Lord’s prayer helps us do that, to maintain a right orbit. 4 Last week we looked at the second part of the Lord’s prayer, Hallowing God’s name or all that God is which is expressed in His names of which there are dozens. Here is a sample of how to hallow God’s name. And like we did last week, lets read-pray this scripture-based prayer together.

Father in Heaven, I hallow Your name. Your name is the Great I AM, the One who never came into being, the One who created everything that is, including me while still in my mother’s womb. I worship your name for You are God Almighty, with infinite power to fulfill all your good will, including the work you started in me. I hallow your name for You are Holy God, high above over all your creation and yet the God who is near and hears my cry. I hallow your name for You are the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. I worship Your name, which is most fully expressed in Your Son and His death for me on the cross. Oh, Hallowed be the name of Jesus, the name above every other name, the name at which very knee will bow and tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord. Hallowed be Your Name. Amen. (Ex 3:14; Ps 139:13; Ex 6:3; Phil 1:6; Is 57:15; Jer 23:23; Ex 34:6-7; Phil 2:10-11)

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5 This morning we come to the third part of the Lord’s prayer … your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 a Originally I had planned covering this whole verse in one message. But the more I prepared the more I saw that this verse actually contained two related but different aspects of prayer and that it would be more beneficial to look at them one at a time. b So what we are going to do is discover what it means to pray Your kingdom come by looking firstly at what the kingdom of God is and then secondly, what it means to pray Your kingdom come. c To understand what the kingdom is we have to go back to the book of Genesis.

What is the Kingdom of God? 1 From the very beginning God chose to rule the world He created through a human king. a That first king was Adam who was given dominion over all God’s creation. Unfortunately he sinned and failed. In spite of Adam’s failure, God did not abandon His plan to rule His creation through a human king. b Generations later God appeared to Abraham and promised him that from his offspring would come kings to rule over a great nation which was eventually called Israel. But the kings of Israel also miserably failed. 2 However, to one Israelite king in particular named David, God promised that from his lineage would one day come a unique King, a -King that would never fail like Adam or the Kings of Israel. And when this perfect Messiah-King came into the world He would usher in an eternal ultimate kingdom and rule forever (2 Sam 7:13). a In the years that followed that initial promise, God spoke through the OT prophets and said that this coming ultimate kingdom would begin when the Messiah-King would suddenly appear in what is called the Day of the Lord and the wicked would be destroyed, justice and righteousness would prevail. b And with the new kingdom would come a new covenant in which those who chose to be a part of it would be given a new heart and a new closeness to God and God would remember their sins no more.

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c In this new kingdom the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all people not just Jewish prophets, priests and kings. Even Gentile sons and daughters would prophesy in this new kingdom. d There would be no more death, no more war, swords would be turned in to plows and lions would lie down with the lambs and a child would be able to play near a cobra den. e The coming kingdom will be a time of shalom or perfect wholeness … the blind would see, the deaf would hear and the lame would leap for joy and disease would be destroyed forever. f This renewed Eden-like creation would yield abundant provision, be a place of perpetual joy and sorrow would be no more. Basically, it would be a return to the garden of Eden before the fall. 3 Now it was this coming kingdom ruled by the promised Messiah-King, the descendant of David, that every Jew looked forward to. a But the years passed . . . then decades . . . then centuries and all the while under the oppression of foreign earthly kings. b Four hundred years after the final prophet, Malachi, had spoken, God’s people still longed for the arrival of the promised king and kingdom. c Under the oppression of King Caesar and the Romans they thought, “Has God forgotten? Had the prophets been wrong? Where is the King God promised?” 4 Then one day in , a baby’s cry pierced the air and he was given the name Jesus. The Promised King, the Messiah had arrived and the long- awaited kingdom of God was about to dawn. But it would dawn in a way that they would least expect. a Thirty years later, Jesus began his ministry by saying … The time has come … The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! :15 b This was the central theme of all of Jesus ministry. He came into the world ultimately to go to the cross. But the central theme of Jesus’ earthly ministry … his preaching and teaching, his miracles … all of it was aimed at accomplishing a single goal: to announce and inaugurate the long-awaited kingdom of God. 5 But it would not come all at once as the Jewish people anticipated. a It would come gradually as Jesus taught in his parables.

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• It would come like a small mustard seed planted in the ground but produce a large garden tree. It would be like a little bit of yeast placed in a lump dough that would greatly expand. • That’s not what they were expecting. They were expecting the kingdom of God to come fully, instantaneously and with shock and awe. b It must have been even more bewildering when Jesus said of little children, The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. :14 and you have to become childlike in humility to enter it. c Imagine how baffled they were when Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. :10 • They would have thought to themselves, “Wait … when the kingdom comes all of our enemies will be defeated and we will live in perfect shalom.” • “If the kingdom has come then there would be nobody left to persecute us.” 6 So what Jesus was doing in His teaching, especially in the parables, was revealing something about the kingdom that they had missed. The kingdom would arrive in two separate stages. a The first stage began at His first coming when He came as a suffering servant to reclaim our souls. (Is 53). b The second stage begins at His second coming when He will come as a conquering warrior to restore the earth to the perfect shalom of the garden before the fall. c This is why Jesus spoke of the kingdom as something that has already arrived (the kingdom has come upon you) and something that is still yet to come (the kingdom of God is near). d And this is why some of the promises of the kingdom have been fulfilled and others have not. • The promise of a new covenant, new heart, forgiveness of sins and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit has been fulfilled. We have those now. They have been completely fulfilled. • Other promises remain unfulfilled, like the promises of no more death, sorrow or tears, no more sin, no more wars, lion lies down with lamb. Those promise of the kingdom are still yet to come.

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• But there are other promises are fulfilled in part. For example, the knowledge of the Lord. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 7 Definition: The kingdom of God, as proclaimed by Jesus, is the end- time ultimate reign of God, predicted by the prophets, introduced by Christ at His first coming, and to be fully implemented as a result of His second coming. 8 So that means we are living in a time when the kingdom has come but not fully come. The kingdom of God has come in the first advent of Christ but it will fully come in His second advent. Theologians call this the “now but not yet” nature of the kingdom. a Now, in Christ, we have been redeemed from sin’s penalty and power yet we are still waiting for our full redemption from sins presence. b Now, in Christ, we are fully forgiven all our sins yet we still are waiting for our final perfection. c Now we have been adopted into God’s family and given the Holy Spirit as a down payment on our heavenly inheritance … yet we are still waiting for our full heavenly inheritance. d Now we can experience divine healing yet we are still waiting of the day when there will be no more sickness and disease. Now death has no sting yet we are still waiting for the day when death will be no more. e Now our spirits have been raised to newness of life yet we are still waiting for our bodily resurrection. f Now we have been given new birth yet we are still waiting for the new heavens and new earth. 9 So with Christ’s first coming we get a foretaste (Heb 6:5) of the blessings that we will fully experience at His second coming when He will completely establish His kingdom. And this part of the Lord’s prayer is aimed at both the present foretaste and the future full realization of the Kingdom.

What it means to pray “Your kingdom come” [1] Praying your kingdom come is praying for the ultimate future kingdom of God to completely come.

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1 In every genuine believer’s heart there is a longing for the full coming of the kingdom and the current pains of fallenness & imperfection only increase that longing. We yearn for day when all will be made right, when everything will be made new, when everything will be perfect. a That is why scripture tells us to not lose heart… for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. b And while we wait for that glory, we are to fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen (2 Cor 4:16-18) We to set our hearts on things above (Col 3:1). c It’s not that we are ungrateful for what God has given to us in this life. But this life is the valley of the shadow of death and we long for the mountain top of God’s glory. d Romans 8:23 says that there is a groan or sigh in every one of us for our complete redemption. • So, in our hearts we resonate with the apostle John’s words in Revelation 22 … Even so, come, Lord Jesus! • That’s the same prayer as Your Kingdom Come! May you complete what you have started. 2 Now why is it important to pray Your kingdom come? Here’s why. a Praying your kingdom come protects us from unbiblical expectations. • Sometimes we are deceived into thinking that everything should be wonderful and that if we do things right we should have very few trials in life. • And then when we experience some kind of suffering we say, “Why me. This isn’t supposed to happen to me.” And we get disappointed or distraught in our suffering. To that Peter says don’t be surprised at your suffering. And Paul says, your present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in you. (Romans 8:18) • Praying your kingdom come reminds us that this world is broken, under the curse of sin and therefore full of suffering. But there is a day when the full kingdom of God will come and there will be no more suffering. • And the king presiding over this kingdom is perfectly righteous in all his ways and we will live under His gracious reign forever and ever. The Lord’s Prayer / Your Kingdom Come / Lesson 3 / Matthew 6:10 7

And the only reason He delays the full implementation of His kingdom rule is that He is mercifully patient with those who have yet to be born again and enter His kingdom (John 3:3). • Praying the promise of the future kingdom gives me hope and sustains me to persevere in the sufferings of this present evil age (Gal 1:4). b Praying your kingdom come purifies our heart. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3 --If you believe that this life is all that there is you will tend to live your life with less moral restraint because you have nothing to look forward to. You will say, lets eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. --But if you believe that that one day the kingdom will fully come and that in that kingdom you will receive the full inheritance God has prepared for you … you will live your life with more moral restraint because your looking forward to what is to come.

[1] Praying your kingdom come is praying for the ultimate future kingdom of God to completely come … and that protects us from unbiblical expectations and purifies our heart. [2] Praying your kingdom come is praying for the overthrow of the current kingdom of this world. 1 The earth is the Lord’s but the current king of the system that governs the world is Satan. He is called the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (Eph. 2:2). a He is the father of lies (John 8:44) and who oversees a kingdom of darkness (Col 1:13) with a host of demons through which he attempts to thwart the plan of God for the human race. b He planted his flag in the garden of Eden and has sought to rule over humanity ever since. 2 So, every time you pray to the Father, your kingdom come, you are praying that Satan’s kingdom would go. It is a holy rebellion that Jesus started on the cross where he dealt a head-crushing blow to the serpent

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(Col 2:15) and the triumph of that victory will be fully realized when Jesus returns. 3 Therefore, praying your kingdom comes reminds us that we are part of a holy rebellion against an illegitimate kingdom. It reminds us that we are in a spiritual battle against another kingdom. a And in this spiritual battle we have three enemies; the world, the flesh (indwelling sin) and the devil. b So we have one enemy within (indwelling sin) and two enemies without (the world and the devil). 4 Now it does not take a great deal of perception to realize the enemy within with a little bit of humble self-assessment. But we often fail to realize how formidable are the enemies without. Ephesians 6 says …. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12 5 Satan is the god of this world (system) through which he influences and control the philosophies, ideologies and practices in the human race that constitute a rebellion against the One True God. Now if you don’t realize that your like a soldier that doesn’t acknowledge the enemy and thinks he’s on vacation. 6 To the contrary, you’re in a battle. You say prove it. OK. If you took away the influence of the world system, indwelling sin and the devil you would want to pray all the time. You couldn’t get enough of it. I mean think about it, you get to commune with God. Why is prayer such a struggle? Why is their resistance? Because there is a battle. 7 You and I are in a battle, that is more like wrestling match. Paul calls it a struggle. And it is impossible to fight with your own resources. You will be rendered ineffective, wounded or go AWOL if you don’t use the armor and weaponry that God has provided through Christ; a The belt of God’s truth, the breastplate of right standing with God, b The that brings peace, the shield of child-dependent faith, c The helmet of salvation, the sword of God’s Word and prayer in the Spirit. 7 We are in a battle and praying Your kingdom comes reminds us of that. a Behind the everydayness of life, behind the remnants of the beauty in creation left over from the fall, behind the simple God given joys of life … don’t be fooled, there is a battle.

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b We are in a battle against a usurper who oversees an illegitimate kingdom. Praying Your kingdom comes reminds us that His day of judgment is sure to come …just as our days of eternal joy and peace in the ultimate kingdom are sure to come.

[1] Praying your kingdom come is praying for the ultimate future kingdom of God to completely come [2] Praying your kingdom come is praying for the overthrow of the current kingdom of this world.

[3] Praying your kingdom come is praying for the power and glory of the future ultimate kingdom to manifest in the present. 1 In a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and He healed him by driving the demons. Afterwards he said, If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12:28 2 So when the man was delivered and healed it was because in that moment the kingdom of God had come. a In other words the power and glory that one day will vanquish Satan and his demons and remove all sin and evil from the earth had just been manifested in this man resulting in his complete deliverance. 3 When you pray your kingdom come you are praying for the glory and power of the future ultimate kingdom of God to manifest in the present. a Every time someone is saved, healed or delivered the kingdom has come. b Every time a believer resists temptation and obeys to the glory of God the kingdom has come. c Every time a thought that exalts itself above the knowledge of God is cast down the kingdom has come. d Every time a prayer is answered or provision is received or guidance provided the kingdom has come. e Every time God’s presence manifests in worship the kingdom has come. f Every time a child commits verse from God’s word to their heart the kingdom of God has come.

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4 Jesus said that “From the days of until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” Matthew 11:12 a This implies of course that there is resistance to the kingdom of God and that we are called by God to enforce his kingdom and that is part of what prayer is…. enforcing the mandate of our King! b So we say, “Your kingdom come into my life. May the power that will one day transform the whole earth transform my mind and heart, transform my marriage, transform my children, transform this city, transform the Mountain People and Mariner People. Your kingdom come! c When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are praying for the continued extension of God’s reign on earth. • We are praying for God to convert the hearts of His enemies, bringing them to confess Jesus as Lord. • We are praying for the coming of the day when all evil, all sin, and all rebellion against God is finally eradicated and we live in God’s perpetual shalom forever and ever. 5 And so we pray together, Father … Your kingdom come!

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