“THINE IS THE KINGDOM” (Mt 6:13)
Aug. 20th, 2003
Int. There is a lot of talk about the Kingdom being our Lord’s today, but very little acting like it belongs to him.
1. (I Chron. 29:11, 13, 14) "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee."
I. THIS KINGDOM IS DESCRIBED
A. THIS KINGDOM IS DESCRIBED SEVERAL WAYS
1. It is a Kingdom of power.
a. (Psal. ciii. 19). “....His kingdom ruleth over all.”
b. (Rom 14:11) “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
2. There is the Kingdom of His Gospel.
a. (Mat 21:43) "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
3. This Kingdom is described as the kingdom of his glory.
a. (Ps 24:7) “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”
4. This Kingdom is described as a field wherein a treasure lies, which, whoso discover, will part with all, if it were crowns and kingdoms, to gain it, (Mt. xiii. 44)
5. This Kingdom is described as a “light shining in a dark place.” (2 Pet. 1: 19)
6. (Rom 14:17) “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
B. THIS KINGDOM IS DISPLAYED WITH SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
1. It is a glorious Kingdom.
a. (Est 1:4) "When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even and hundred and fourscore days."
b. (1 Ki 10:4-7) "And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, {5} And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. {6} And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. {7} Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard."
C. THIS KINGDOM CALLS FOR LOYAL SUBJECTS.
1. Napoleon summed up the admiration of the ages for Jesus Christ: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires (or Kingdoms) .... But Jesus alone founded His empire (or kingdom) upon love, and to this very day, millions would die for Him. Jesus Christ was more than a man."
2. (Psa 22:28) "For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations."
3. (Psa 103:19) "The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all."
4. Matthew Henry says: “Thy kingdom come. “This petition has plainly a reference to the doctrine which Christ preached at this time, which John Baptist had preached before, and which he afterwards sent his apostles out to preach—the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
5. If the Kingdom belongs to our Lord; how dare we not submit to His rule?
II. THIS KINGDOM IS DESPISED BY THE MASSES.
A. MODERN CHRISTENDOM IS EMBRACED BY THE WORLD.
1. Eugene Peterson said: “Everybody treats us so nicely. No one seems to think that we mean what we say. When we say "kingdom of God," no one gets apprehensive, as if we had just announced (which we thought we had) that a powerful army is poised on the border, ready to invade. When we say radical things like "Christ," "love," "believe," "peace," and "sin" -- words that in other times and cultures excited martyrdoms--the sounds enter the stream of conversation with no more splash than baseball scores and grocery prices. -
B. THE KINGDOM OF OUR LORD IS HATED BY THE WORLD.
1. (Luke 19:12-14) "He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. {13} And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. {14} But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us."
2. Our Lord’s Kingdom is about an old rugged cross.
THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The
emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest
and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
1. Refrain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my
trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And
exchange it some day for a crown.
O
that old rugged cross, so despised by the
world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb
of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
Refrain
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so
divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus
suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
Refrain
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its
shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far
away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
3. (Luke vi. 46) “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?”
III. THIS KINGDOM WILL ULTIMATELY DESTROY ALL OTHER KINGDOMS
A. THIS HAS BEEN PROVED IN OUR DAY
1. Nikita Khrushchev once boasted that he would exhibit the last Soviet Christian on television by 1965. Khrushchev has since gone to give account of himself to the Judge of all mankind, and his deadline for the extinction of Christianity in Russia has also passed. Throughout history, so-called big men and little men have strutted across the stages of life defying God.
a. But as (Psalm 145:13) promises, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations."
2. (Dan 4:35) “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”
3. Phillip II, king of Macedon and father of Alexander the Great, subdued or formed alliances with all of the major Greek city-states except the stubbornly independent Sparta. Finding diplomacy of no use, Philip sent Sparta this threat: "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city."
Sparta's reply was a simple: "If." As one writer says, "Recalling Sparta's glorious military past, Philip thought better of it and left them alone."
a. (Mt 16:18) “....the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
B. THIS KINGDOM WAS GIVEN TO OUR LORD BY HIS FATHER.
1. (Ps 2:8) “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Spurgeon wrote:
"Blessings abound where'er He reigns;
The pris'ner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest;
And all the sons of want are blessed."
"And if some proper hour appear,
I'll not be overawed;
But let the scoffing sinner hear,
That I can speak for God."
2. (Isa 9:7) “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
3. John Hess-Yoder, Portland, Oregon: “While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians. On the other hand, those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese. The exact location of a person's home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she exhibited. So it is with us: we live in the world, but as part of God's kingdom, we are to live according to his kingdom's standards and values.”
Conclusion: “At a missionary meeting on the island of Raratonga, in the Pacific Ocean, an old man, who wished to join the Church, rose and said, "I have lived during the reign of four kings.
1. “ In the first we were continually at war, and a fearful season it was watching and hiding with fear.
2. “During the reign of the second we were overtaken with a severe famine, and all expected to perish; then we ate rats and grass and this wood and that wood.
3. “During the third we were conquered, and became the peck and prey of the two other settlements of the island; then if a man went to fish he rarely ever returned, or if a woman went far away to fetch food she was rarely ever seen again.
4. “But during the reign of this third king we were visited by another King, a great King, a good King, a peaceful King, a King of love, Jesus, the Lord from Heaven. He has gained the victory. He has conquered our hearts; therefore we now have peace and plenty in this world, and hope soon to dwell with Him in Heaven."
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