This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. The Gospel of Luke chapter 4, picking up in verse 42. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well. For I was sent for this purpose. And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. This is the reading of God's word. Let's open in prayer. Our father, we need you now. And truly right now, no matter how good we're feeling, we need you. We pray that you would be kind to your people once more. Please shower us with grace once more. Don't let us miss a single thing that you want us to hear in your word. We pray for the work of your Holy Spirit because we know we have tried and that doesn't change anything. Father, we need your help. So please now use this time well for our good and for your glory. We ask this in Jesus's name, amen. You know, a couple of chapters ago, we read this foretelling the birth of Jesus. It was chapter one, picking up in verse 32. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. I've had occasion to talk about David more than once just recently, really recently. And it's because there's so much to see about our Lord, about our savior in what God did with King David. I mean, who was he? He was, we've said this, the ideal king. David was the model of an ideal, godly king. His purity and his righteousness, they were so in tune with God. And all of Israel benefited from David, the shepherd king. His righteousness and his valor, they brought blessing on all of them. But David's faithfulness didn't last. We know the end of that story. David's faithfulness didn't last. He committed terrible sins and he showed that even good kings can't escape their sinful hearts. See, David, as you stretch on across time, becomes this tantalizing reminder to Israel of the blessing that comes when you have a faithful and good king. And yet David and every king thereafter demonstrated that they could not be that faithful and good king that Israel needed. David's legacy, was to show the importance and value of a true king. And it also left a perpetual reminder of the frailty and the fallenness of human kings. So you have to understand that so you understand why it's a big deal when the angel Gabriel is foretelling Jesus to come. And he's saying that Jesus is going to assume the throne of his father, David, and he would rule over a kingdom that would never end. See, as soon as you put Jesus in light of these promises with David and of David's throne, it touches on the deepest hopes of God's people. And you have to get that so you see today's passage. Here we have Jesus, the true king exercising his power and authority. And here we see his endless kingdom making inroads into creation. I read the passage for you again. We're back in chapter four. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well. For I was sent for this purpose. And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea." Now, basic events of this passage, they're not that hard. Jesus, he's trying to leave. He's trying to move on to the next town. He has work to keep doing, but these people, these people had embraced him in faith. And so they don't want him to go. They appreciate him. They value him. How much different from his hometown, where not too long ago, his hometown had driven him out. And here we have these people seeking to make him stay. And the desire is good. They should want that. Anyone who's caught even a glimpse of who Jesus is should want him to stay. But the plans of God are bigger than this town. Jesus says he needs to keep preaching the good news of the kingdom of God elsewhere. He was sent to proclaim and spread the good news. Moreover, their good news can't be contained. It must be spread. That's Jesus' perspective. Jesus is meant to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. That is a big idea. The kingdom of God here in this gospel, the kingdom of heaven, you'll see it described as in Matthew's gospel. The teaching pervades the gospels. We've talked about how Luke and Acts are volume one and volume two by the same author. These two volumes, you have the kingdom referenced about 50 times across that whole stretch, 50 times. Now, sometimes we see something so often and we just sort of assume we know what it means. But then you ask yourself, do I really? Do I really know what he's talking about when he's talking about the kingdom of God? See, the kingdom of God, it's actually a complex teaching from Jesus. There's really no just bite-sized way to approach the kingdom of God And on top of that, not only is it complex, it's actually, it's also all over the place. Jesus is talking about it all the time. So what we're going to do today is we're going to spend some introductory time with the kingdom of God, recognizing we're going to hear this, Lord willing, unless Christ comes back before we finish this gospel, we'll hear about this a bunch more times. I figured now is the time to sort of start getting our mind around it. Although we're not going to finish this by any means. What I figure is anything that Jesus talks about this much, we want to at least be familiar with, right? So I give you four aspects of the kingdom of God. That's what we'll talk about today. Four aspects of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a kingdom at war. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of restoration. The kingdom of God is a kingdom utterly different than the kingdoms of this world. The kingdom of God is already in effect and yet still to come. Four aspects of the kingdom of God. First off, the kingdom of God is a kingdom at war. So you get the picture here. Jesus, the true king, enters the kingdom of this world. The true king enters the kingdom of this world. And you have to realize he's not here on a mission of compromise. That's not why he came. He's here to advance his kingdom. He's here to advance his rule. And when he's proclaiming the kingdom of God, he is proclaiming his kingdom to a kingdom that is totally opposed to him. I mean, get those dynamics in your head so you can feel the tension that comes from Jesus even showing up. You know, we like to talk about Canada here, don't we? From time to time, it makes for a good example. Here's your Canada example from my sermon, okay? You picture the Canadian ambassador leaving the embassy and everywhere he goes, he systematically starts announcing, this too belongs to Canada. We'd have a problem with that, wouldn't we? It would draw a strong and swift response from the United States if any ambassador went out trying to claim parts of the United States for another nation. So, likewise, Jesus' presence and actions are going to elicit some strong opposition from the powers of this world. Because what you have is where the king goes, the kingdom comes with him. Where the king goes, the kingdom goes with him. So you put it on top of that, when the true king speaks, he's speaking his kingdom into place. And he's speaking his kingdom into place behind enemy lines. the true king bringing his kingdom with him, speaking his kingdom into place behind enemy lines. You see then how his very presence is an act of aggression to Satan and the ways of this world. Even the moment when the word became flesh, that was an act of war by the kingdom of God. And you see this aspect of the kingdom in the way that Jesus just makes a pattern of casting out demons. This is almost a daily occurrence in his life where he's out there, the incarnate son of God, exercising his power and showing demons, you don't get to stay here anymore. The kingdom is advancing. You see how this is even in those everyday things, an act of war. He'll go on to say later in the gospel in chapter 11, he'll go on to say that casting out demons by the power of God, it is a sign that the kingdom of God has come upon you. The kingdom of God is a kingdom at war. Second point, the kingdom of God is a kingdom of restoration. It's a kingdom of restoration. The blessings of the king will flow as far as the curse is found. Now this has a lot in common with last week's sermon when we were talking about the authority of Jesus. This has a lot in common with it. Because what you find in these acts of restoration, where sin has mangled bodies, Jesus the King has the authority to restore bodies. We just saw that with Peter's sick mother-in-law. Then you find moreover where sin has corrupted souls. and brought them under condemnation, Jesus will show that he as the King has authority to restore souls. Consider that great commission, that call to go, make disciples. It's all rooted in the kingly authority of Jesus. Because what does he say before it? He says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go. He roots the mission to go and restore souls and to proclaim salvation to sinners in His authority. That's where it flows out of. He is the one who possesses all authority, therefore His followers should go and make disciples of all nations. The Great Commission in one sense, it is Jesus Christ's Royal Commission. Christ asserts his authority as the reason sinners are to be saved. So this restoration that Jesus is going to bring, it's a restoration that won't settle for just a better worldly life. We talked about that briefly this morning. He will not settle for just a better worldly life. Jesus wants to replace that and bring new life that will never fade. The restoration that Jesus brings will not settle with worldly treasures. Jesus comes to give us treasure in heaven that will never fail. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of restoration. The kingdom of God is utterly different from the kingdoms of this world. The kingdom of God is utterly different than the kingdoms of this world. See, whether you compare the kingdom of Christ to the kingdom of Satan or any kingdom of man, it is very good news, very good news that the kingdom of God is nothing like those kingdoms. Seriously, really good news that it's nothing like what we've seen. The kingdom of God, it is other worldly. Or as Jesus would say, his kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of God, it depends on the supernatural power of God and not the natural weakness of men. Our great hope is we look forward to that new heavens and that new earth. And I want to prepare you for one fine day when we see that we're not going to get there and think, wow, that looks just like the United States constitution. you are going to find it so completely surpasses anything that we have seen, even the best of what we've experienced. And that, brothers and sisters, it is very good news. Because the truth is, don't we look around and we look at how we as mankind run things, and it is a train wreck. It is a train wreck. I'm not just talking about the tyrants when they govern people. I'm talking about even when you have people who are benevolent towards one another, trying in some way to help one another, we still can't get away from our sin. We still can't get away from our weakness. The fruit of us in the driver's seat, it's a train wreck every time. We're just kind of impressed when we can keep from derailing the whole thing for a few generations. We need a new ruler. We need the true King who will rule unlike anything we have ever seen. I know you guys, and I know that one of the sources of great consternation and stress in your life is when you just read the news and you see what your elected officials are doing. It is a source of despair sometime, is it not? What a joy it will be to see our King ruling his kingdom in a way we never could have imagined. You will not be able to nitpick the rule of Jesus Christ and say, have you thought about doing it this way? There will be no more of this, when will Washington have common sense language? You will never come up with a better idea than the ruling king when that day comes. Oh my God, that sounds good. What a joy that will be. The kingdom of God, it is utterly different from any kingdom of this world. Point, last point. The kingdom of God, it's already in effect and yet it's still to come. Jesus, when he's ministering, he's constantly talking about the nearness of the kingdom. The kingdom is at hand. And he could say that truly. Truly it was near because of what he was doing. And the apostles, they would go and take this same message forward about the kingdom of God. Even after Jesus ascends, the message of the kingdom keeps going forward. And you have to love, just as a side note, at the very end of Acts, remember volume two of what we're reading here, the very end, you have the apostle Paul in the heart of the Roman empire. And what's he there to do? To proclaim the kingdom of God. You can believe there is going to be a fight started by that one when you go to the heart of the kingdoms of the world to proclaim a kingdom that's not of this world. Truly Christ could say that the kingdom was at hand, yet the kingdom is not fully present. And Jesus is not fully exercising his rule. And you see this just in a very simple way. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, one of the central things he says is, thy kingdom come. thy kingdom come." There's this understanding that for whatever he is ushering in in that moment, there is still something to be looked forward to. And we are taught to pray in that way, to constantly be looking forward to a kingdom that is still to come in some sense. He could both say that it was near and at hand and yet still something to look forward to. So you have on the one hand, the king came and defeated evil. and he bought a complete forgiveness for sin and, and he still comes. He still plans to come to judge all evil and to usher his blood bought children into glory. What we find is that the kingdom of God, it's too big to relegate to just the past or even just the present, even just the future. It has to span all three. The kingdom of God cannot be relegated. The kingdom of God, it is already in effect and yet it is still to come. So what do I want you to take from this? What are we meant to learn from Jesus' teaching? I mean, the most fundamental question that you end up having to ask yourself, it's whether you belong to the kingdom of God. Where do you stand in relation to the kingdom of God, if you don't belong, that's all you need to deal with today. That is all you have to deal with today is whether you belong to the kingdom of God. You don't have to deal with any of the rest of the sermon. You just need to be right with God. What you find from this teaching of the kingdom of God is that Christ the King has a claim on your life and on your soul. There's no denying this claim. You can stick your head in the sand, but you will not be able to deny this claim when that last day comes. He has a claim on your life and on your soul. And as you hear the kingdom of God proclaimed, you have a choice. You have a choice of whether you're going to bow the knee and submit in faith to the true King. or you can go your own way and stand in the condemnation of the kingdoms of this world. Really, that's it. Those are the choices. So choose well. Choose the true King. For those of you who are already in the service of the King, you have the encouragement and you have the reminder of what your King is accomplishing. In his ministry, Christ was exercising his rightful rule over all creation. And you see, he wasn't here to just make individual lives a little bit better. He didn't come to create happier and healthier relationships. He came to advance his kingdom. He came to usher in cosmic victory and renewal. Our hope, our goal, our driving motivation, it's not the state of our lives. The hope we have is in the righteous rule of the perfect King. Our hope, and hear this well, our hope, it's not in a perfect society. Our hope is in a sinless kingdom that only Jesus Christ can usher in. We're gonna turn to communion here real shortly. I would have you remember that communion, the Lord's supper, it's the king's meal. It is the king's meal. It is the meal of the kingdom. This is the royal supper. It's the meal of the king who went to war so that his people could have peace. It's the meal of the king who restored his people and every supper thereafter restores them again. It's the meal that is utterly different from all other food in this world. None of them can feed your soul like the simple supper that's right there before you. It's the meal that rejoices in the fullness of what we have now and yet looks forward to an incredibly precious supper that is yet to come. Today, the king bids his followers, his subjects to come and eat. Find your blessing in his righteousness. Satisfy your soul with his sacrifice. Let's pray. Our Father, we pray for your kingdom to come. We rejoice in the work of our King that he's already accomplished, work bigger than we can imagine, work that has saved our souls. And we look forward to what our King has yet in mind. We look forward to Him coming back and fully exercising the rule that belongs to Him. Lord, we long for a day when that kingdom is all we see and no longer the kingdoms of this world. We long for the joy and the blessing of having a righteous King and not just our fallen leaders. We pray for the salvation of every single person who is yet to bow the knee. We pray especially for those here. We pray especially for our kids. Lord, be gracious to save. Be gracious to give them the faith that they lack. Be gracious to give them the humility they lack. We pray that you would convict them of their tremendous need for you. May they not be able to escape their guilt for one more minute. And may they never again be able to escape the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ on their behalf. Thy kingdom come. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.