Let's turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6, verse 9. Matthew chapter 6, we're reading verses 9 through 13. Our time today will be in the first part of verse 10. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6. Verse 9-13, before we read the Word of God, let's pray and ask for the Lord's help upon us as we hear the reading and the preaching of His Word. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we give You praise that You're the God who speaks to us in pure wisdom even now, teaching us how to pray, teaching us as well how to live. Father, we pray that You would grant us an understanding of what we're praying for, of what we ought to pray for, that we would be all the more holy and righteous in praying Your will. For we desire to pray according to Your will, which would and the rest of our lives grant us greater peace and comfort in Christ, Your Son, who is reigning as the King. Father, help us now to have hearts to receive. We pray that You would humble Your servant who preaches and that all of us would hear You and not him. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Matthew Gospel chapter 6 and verse 9. These are God's words. After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Those are God's words. Jesus, as He's teaching us here how to pray and again how to live, He teaches us in the second petition now. That's verse 10. The second petition. The first petition was, Hallowed be thy name. So how is the name of our God, Jehovah, to be glorified and hallowed? Or sanctified? Verse 10, through the second petition. Through the coming of His kingdom. Through the coming of His kingdom. Now there are many kingdoms of this world. We think of the great ones throughout history, Assyria that we've studied, Babylon, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, Great Britain, the United States. Great kingdoms throughout the history of the world. But there is a kingdom of an entirely different nature that we've been hearing about in this Gospel and in the Scriptures, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are four parts to every kingdom. Four parts to every kingdom. There must be a king, a ruler, someone who leads. There must be a king. Second, there must be subjects or citizens, those who are submitting to the king. Third, there must be laws. There must be laws. And fourth, there must be authority, power. The kingdom we are considering today has a King, Jesus Christ. The subjects or citizens of His kingdom is not everyone, but such as are willing to give their free and earnest obedience to His Word who bow and submit to Him as King. The law, the third thing that every kingdom has, the law of Christ's kingdom is the Word of God and the authority is given to King Jesus by God. The authority is given to King Jesus by God. That's how He has His authority. And this is what we'll hear in part this morning. The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the great congregation of Jesus Christ called the Church. Remember we studied what is the Kingdom of God? It's the Church. Our Confession says the visible Church is the Kingdom of God. on Earth. And a reminder that we have one leader, the church has one leader, one king, the head of the church, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 says, which He, the Father, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Jesus is the head of the church. When we hear in Matthew, the Great Commission, right before the Great Commission, Matthew 28, Jesus comes and He says, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Jesus has all power, all authority in heaven and in earth because He's the King and He's the head of the church. And He has been given all things. He's been made head of all things, even all things. All means all, right? Even the nations, all creation. He rules sovereignly over all the universe. as the king and head, as our mediator for the sake of His citizens, the church of Jesus Christ. That was Ephesians 1. And there in Ephesians 1, Matthew 28, we could go to Psalm 2, Psalm 110, that we'll hear more about today, this morning and this evening in Isaiah. We could go further in understanding the meaning of thy kingdom come. Because we're called here to pray unto the Father, right? That's verse 9. And our Father, which we did here last Lord's Day, when we're praying to the Father, that's not separating the Son and the Spirit from our prayers when we're praying unto the Father. We're praying by the enabling grace of the Holy Ghost. who works within us to pray, and moreover, that we can only pray and be heard by our God through the life and sacrifice and now mediation of our Savior and King, Jesus Christ. And yet when He teaches us to pray, Thy kingdom come, God the Father is being addressed, of course. We just heard that this kingdom we have been speaking about, all power and authority was given by the Father to Jesus Christ, to be and to serve as mediatorial king, as a mediator or priest or savior king of His kingdom. The Father gathers, rules, and preserves this kingdom by His Son, Jesus Christ. Consider Revelation 12. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. A chapter right before that, Revelation 11. And the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. He reigns over all those other kingdoms. And yet here we already know, when we have studied the first petition, hallowed be Thy name. That's not merely the name of the Father. That's the name of the Lord, Jehovah. When we pray Thy kingdom, Thy kingdom come. We are considering in our prayers not merely the Father, not merely the Son Jesus Christ who is the King, we're considering all the whole one Godhead, all three persons of the one Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That all the promises of the covenant of grace would come to fruition in His kingdom. Now when it comes, To the kingdom of the Lord, we acknowledge in Scripture three distinctions. Before we have gone over this, maybe a year or so ago, maybe it was in Romans, I forget. But it was some time ago now. Three distinctions, considering the kingdom of the Lord. First, the kingdom of His power. the kingdom of His power, which is clearly taught in Psalm 103. The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. That is, in other places it talks about the Lord has all His creatures as His subjects, good and evil angels, good and evil human beings, men, all living creatures, all inanimate objects, in the heavens and the earth. Daniel 4. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. 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? That's the kingdom of His power. His kingdom, which is all of creation, that He has power over. And then there is the kingdom of His glory. Secondly, the kingdom of His glory and the subjects of the kingdom of His glory are the holy angels and all the glorified elect, what we often call heaven. It's what we often call heaven in our day. I'm going to go to heaven, right? Or in heaven. That's the kingdom of His glory. Matthew 25 says, Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And 1 Thessalonians 2, That ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory. And then the kingdom, thirdly, the kingdom of His grace that we are particularly looking at today. The kingdom of His grace. And that which is called, as we have before, the church of God. Now in Matthew's Gospel, we've seen that the kingdom has all true citizens. That has been a big focus thus far. in Matthew's Gospel, but we will also begin to see as Jesus continues preaching and continues teaching the disciples and the Jews, that there is a visible church in which all true citizens, of course, are a part of. The kingdom of grace is filled with all true believers. Revelation 17. and the Lamb shall overcome them. For He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful." These that are truly elect, in other words, who truly believe the gospel of Jesus Christ unto salvation, that He alone saves them from their sins. There is a most intimate and spiritual bond between them, all who believe. Amongst us here, we have an intimate relationship with each other. When we go to other churches where there are other Christians, we have an intimate relationship with those people because they believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and they have the King who is the same King as we have. Acts 4. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." And we could go more into that, where there is the unity of the church based upon the truth of God in Ephesians 4, found in His Word, because all the elect are in union with Christ and one with the Father in Christ. Now this kingdom, Jesus Christ is King. Psalm 2, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. We're going to learn this evening about Zion. That it's the church. Even though only true believers are the actual subjects of the King, They who truly constitute the church and His bride being really united to Jesus Christ the Lord and King Jesus is nevertheless also King of the entire church as She, the church, is manifested in the world. As manifested in this earth. And this is what we call the visible church. What you can see with your eyes. Which includes all true believers who are elect. those who are converted, who repent of their sins truly and believe on the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also it includes the unconverted, who come into the doors and who are part of the church, who profess faith, but are not truly believers. And there are many in the church who profess faith, in Jesus Christ, profess they have salvation, that they've repented of their sins, they profess that they submit to Jesus Christ who is the King, but they truly do not believe. And they truly do not submit themselves to Him, for the Lord our King, we know, will separate the wheat from the chaff. Right? That's what's to come in Matthew's Gospel. We'll learn all the parables about those things. Consider Matthew 7. Jesus is speaking. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? There's preachers who are part of this group. Pastors. And in thy name have cast out devils, done miracles. and in Thy name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity." There are people who were in the church, they thought they were in the kingdom, and they were. The visible kingdom. They were in the visible church, in the church, friends, and Jesus told them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Well, how can He say that? He's the King and it's His kingdom. Of course He can say that. And so there's the kingdom of His power, everything in creation under His power. The kingdom of His glory, secondly, all the elect angels and humans in heaven. And the kingdom of His grace, the church, true citizens being all true believers, but manifested on the earth includes all true believers, those also who profess faith, together with their children that we've studied before. And it's in this kingdom of His grace that we're looking predominantly at this morning. That is the last one, the church on earth. And the true aspect of that, the true citizens of that church. And it's this kingdom of His grace and this petition To grasp this petition in a more fuller light, we need to understand the origin of this Kingdom. At least in part. We're not going to go into all of it because we'd be here for weeks probably looking at His Kingdom. But in part we can look at it. Genesis 3.15, we find the first time the Gospel is preached. It's proclaimed on the earth for the first time. It says, "...And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Promising there Jesus Christ, defeating Satan, that all who believe on Him would have that same victory in union with Jesus Christ. This was the gospel, the covenant of grace in seed form. If we just read that verse, we didn't have the rest of the Scriptures, we'd be very confused. It's in seed form. Preached and promised to Adam and Eve. Now, we could go through all the covenants from Abraham and Moses, especially David, who's the king, right? And who gives us that promise of Jesus Christ, who would be the eternal king of an eternal kingdom, who sits on a forever throne, right? And the covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 and to the new covenant today. But over time, the gospel in his kingdom has spread more and more unto all nations, starting with no nation, then to Israel, foreshadowed much going to the Gentiles in the Old Testament, even in the promise to Abraham being a father of a multitude of nations and many nations, And often in the Psalms and in other places, in the prophets, we see the promises of going to the kingdom spreading to the Gentiles. We have the example of Ruth, Rahab, people like that. But coming to fruition and great expansion of His kingdom to all nations, starting in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 1. When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Not just that the gospel will go, but the kingdom will go to the uttermost parts of the earth. And so in Revelation 5 it says, For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. It goes to all nations. We need to remember that the kingdom of grace The kingdom of grace is not earthly, but it manifests itself on the earth in the visible church that we know and we see as members of Christ's body serve and worship Him on the earth. But properly speaking, the kingdom of grace is like John 18 says, Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my kingdom not from hence. His kingdom is heavenly in nature, functions in a heavenly manner, culminates in heaven. And so it's called the kingdom of heaven. This kingdom has always been the same from Adam to Christ. In all ages there has been a kingdom of heaven. And yet, as we have already heard, the Old Testament shadows of this Kingdom, dominated by earthly kings and rulers like David and Solomon and others, pointing and foreshadowing to Jesus Christ, who is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven does not have today, though, external weapons that we use to fight, but still its nature is heavenly. even in its external manifestation, that's us, the external manifestation of what we can see with our eyes today when we look around. This is why we have heard in Matthew's gospel so many times already, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Later on in Matthew chapter 10, it says, and as ye go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Kingdom of Heaven, you see, would come to full fruition at the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, where He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. He was given this Kingdom. That's Ephesians 1, we just read that. He was given this Kingdom. Psalm 2, He was given this Kingdom. And so when Jesus was teaching this prayer, He was calling His disciples, in part, to pray for His death, for His resurrection, for His ascension, and now His session, which means His seeding, His reign as our Mediatorial King on the throne of His Kingdom. That's what He was teaching His disciples. Pray, Thy kingdom come. You're praying for the death, resurrection, and ascension in my session, seated at the right hand of God. You're praying for that kingdom to come as head of the church, as king of the nations for the church. And so now we can say that the kingdom of heaven, in part, is here. It has, in part, come. Christ is on the throne. He is King! He rules and reigns. And so in part it has come, and yet today we still must pray this petition. Or pray the idea of this petition. Everything that's involved in this petition, we must pray still today. Jesus' guidance to us in our prayers is not done. His Word is eternal. And this petition is eternal. This petition will always be right and good, even when we enter into glory. The kingdom we pray for is a kingdom that is ruled today by a sovereign priest-king, Savior-king, Jesus Christ, who gathers, who protects and governs His kingdom. Protects His kingdom against what? Well, you see here, we must acknowledge that due to the fall, By nature, we are under the dominion of sin and Satan. We are under the dominion of sin and Satan by our nature, by ourselves, apart from Christ. We are by nature sinners, unrighteous, under the dominion of sin, under the dominion of Satan. Notice that word, dominion. Consider it. We are by nature ruled by sin. We are by nature the ruler, that is, the ruler who has dominion over us is Satan when we are in our sins apart from Christ. There is a kingdom of sin. There is a kingdom of Satan. Ephesians 2 says, wherein in time past, he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Satan is called the prince. He's a prince. He's a ruler. He's a king. A ruler of his evil, rebellious kingdom. He is the great enemy of the King and Savior Jesus Christ. And so what do we pray for in this petition? Thy kingdom come. We pray first that the dominion of sin and the dominion and the kingdom of Satan would be, what? Destroyed! Because it's about His kingdom, God's kingdom, not Satan's kingdom. Everything must be about the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It's all for His glory. And so we pray for the dominion of sin and the kingdom of Satan to be destroyed. Consider Psalm 68. It says, let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, let them also that hate Him flee before Him. Oh, that the great enemies, not only of us Christians, but God's and King Jesus' enemies be destroyed. That they flee and be no more. And how will these be destroyed? But by our King. They'll be destroyed by our King. King Jesus will destroy them. 17 verses later in Psalm 68, it says, Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts from Enyi for the rebellious all, so that the Lord God might dwell among them. Promising, we know that's about Jesus. Jesus subdued Satan and sin under us, and gave His people, His kingdom, the church, His Holy Spirit. And He ascended. He's seated on the throne of His kingdom as King. Why? Because He led captivity captive. All the dominion in the kingdom of Satan and sin, He's led captive. that we are set free in Him. When you pray, thy kingdom come, remember and consider Revelation 12. And I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. and by the word of their testimony. And they love not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." He tells us how we overcome the dominion of sin in the kingdom of Satan. We overcome sin and Satan, those kingdoms that we desire to be destroyed. So when we're praying, we're praying these things. We're praying considering it's by the blood of the Lamb that they're destroyed. By the Word of their testimony, that is the preaching of the Gospel, the Word of God. That they love not their lives unto the death. They love Jesus Christ the King all the more than their very lives. Satan right now is still roaming the earth like a lion seeking someone to devour. Seeking particularly one of us to devour. But one day, the day we pray for, for His complete and utter destruction forever by the blood of Christ, by the preaching and continuing of the church and the preaching of the Gospel throughout all nations, and not loving our lives greater than Christ, Jesus will defeat Him. And that's what we're praying for, fully and completely. Revelation 20, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." That's His end. He will be destroyed. And so, again, what we're praying for is the will of God. We already know that's what is the plan. He's already promised it will take place. And so we're praying, Thy kingdom come, we're praying that Satan will be destroyed and that the dominion of sin be destroyed." And in the very next verse, praise the Lord, in Revelation 20, and I saw a great white throne. So, go back. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." Christ on the throne of His kingdom brings down the kingdom and dominion of sin and Satan. And so Christ is on the throne, so what we pray for is the destruction of the kingdom and dominion of sin and Satan, but in this petition, We are praying for what? We're praying for the ending of the bondage of sin. Right? That is for sinners to do what? To turn from their sin to the Mediatorial King, the Savior King, the Priest King, Jesus Christ. By faith alone. We pray to God because He alone gives faith. We pray to God alone because He gives grace. We pray to God alone because He gives us the Holy Spirit to change our hearts that we would believe and be saved from sin and Satan. He changes hearts. We pray to God that sinners would repent of their sins. When we pray, Thy kingdom come, we're praying that sinners would repent of their sins. and turn to Christ. We pray, when we pray, Thy Kingdom come, we pray for each of you here that you would find alone salvation in Jesus Christ alone, who is the King. and become a citizen of His kingdom. And by it, not only Satan be cast down, but that sin would no longer have dominion over you, no longer will you be slaves to that sin or Satan. But each of you here today, you don't have to be slaves to sin, you don't have to be slaves to Satan. King Jesus sits on the throne. He has all power to save you from sin and Satan. And He calls you He hasn't left you in the dark. He calls you to come unto Him, to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, more specifically, is here. And how much more now today that Jesus is on the throne. He's already ascended. Right? He's already on the throne, calling you to come into His kingdom. Come unto Me, and I will end sin's dominion over you. I will end your enslavement to Satan. Come and be free from your sin and be a citizen of My kingdom, the kingdom of grace unto glory." That's what we pray first when we pray, Thy kingdom come. But also we pray in what was just said about being saved, what do we pray for? In Thy kingdom come. For the Gospel to continue. to be proclaimed so that those who are under the dominion of sin and Satan would be set free in Christ alone. 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul, the Lord through Paul, says, Finally, brethren, pray for us. And he's saying, pray for us. And when you're praying for us, you're praying, Thy kingdom come in this prayer. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. that the Word of God would reign in your hearts as Christ is King. That is, the Gospel would be heard and believed by you unto salvation. Just like it is to you, pray that it would be to others. That's what we're praying when we pray, Thy Kingdom come. That's why we are here. Jesus the King, who has given all authority and power, commanded what? He commanded the Great Commission. That's why we're here. and that the rest of the elect will be saved. Right? We are here for the sake of our future brothers and sisters in Christ. That's why we're here and that's why we pray, Thy kingdom come. Romans 1 again, For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." There's the Gospel. And the Gospel promises to the Jew first, that the Jews would be called in, the elect Jews would be called in. Romans 10, brethren, Paul's saying, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, for Israel, his Jewish brothers in the flesh, is that they might be saved. He's praying there in part, Thy kingdom come. Paul's prayer is in line with Thy kingdom come, that Israel and the Jews would be saved. That's Romans 11. As we studied before when we went through Romans, showing the promise of the coming in of the elect Jews in a great multitude. And so we're praying for that when we pray, Thy kingdom come. Or in other words, to flip it around, because we're not going to pray in all of our prayers, Thy Kingdom come. We're praying our prayers. They ought to have included in there a desire for the Jews to come to faith. That's what we're praying and taught here by Jesus Christ. And in that, we're praying for what? Romans 11. The fullness of the Gentiles to come in. That they would believe and ignite a great incoming of the Jews. That's what we learned in Romans 11. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, the Jews, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel, that's the elect Israel, shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake." And there's a reason we sing Psalm 67. And in greater terms, why Psalm 67 is in the Bible and in our hymn book that God has given to us. Psalm 67 says, let the people praise Thee, O God. Let all the people praise Thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for Thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the people praise Thee, O God. Let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us." God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth. All the ends of the earth shall fear Him. And from there we exalt in King Jesus. who's talked about in that passage, governing the nations upon the earth, who will bring all nations to Himself. That is how He serves as mediator. He's going to bring all those nations to Himself. All the elect Jews and all the fullness of the Gentiles, the nations, the ends of the earth shall fear Him. That's what we pray for in praying, Thy kingdom come. And that prayer we must in our lives live out. It's not just that we pray for it, we must live out these truths. That everything, our purpose for being here, is the glory of God. By calling the nations, everything should be about for His glory. And part of for His glory is the continuing to call the nations and all Jews to submit to King Jesus. who is the king of his kingdom. That's the Great Commission. And how will we do this predominantly? King Jesus raises up gospel ministers to proclaim the gospel and gives us the means of grace, words, sacraments, and prayer. But this is why we pray for gospel ministers in the churches, because what we're praying is really, thy kingdom come. This is why we pray for purity in worship. Because we're praying, Thy kingdom come. Matthew 9, King Jesus teaches us to pray. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest. Ministers. Gospel ministers. This is what it means to pray for Thy kingdom come. What else are we to pray? How many times has Paul called the churches to pray for him and other ministers? this way. Again, 2 Thessalonians 3. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. Praying for the ministers. that the preaching and the prayers, His ordinances would be pure from pollution and sin and idolatry. That's everything about the prophets we've heard and continue to hear. Malachi 1, for from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." It's all about His kingdom and bringing in the Gentiles into His kingdom. What is necessary for that purity of worship? That when the Gentiles come in, they see not the things of the world, but they see, in some aspects, the Lord Himself. Zephaniah 3, for then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent, in unity, in unity by the truth. And why is this? We pray that kingdom come for purity in the gospel, in gospel preaching, in kingdom prayer, so that the elect will believe on the salvation and enter into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. that He would rule in our hearts. That's what we're praying for when we pray, Thy Kingdom come, that King Jesus would rule our hearts. Ephesians 3, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. that you might be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And so as the nations come unto Christ, and they come and covenant with Him and bow the knee to the King of kings, repenting of their sins, believing the Gospel by faith, then we pray, when we do pray, Thy kingdom come. We are praying also for the second coming of Jesus Christ and are reigning with Him forever and ever to enter into the kingdom, the other kingdom, the kingdom of glory. Revelation 22 says, He which testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come. There's the prayer. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 2 Timothy 2, We shall also reign with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. And in this we submit to His sovereign providence as our King who rules over all creation to order and bring in the complete fulfilling of the covenant of grace in all nations to Himself. This itself declares and proves that Jesus Christ is the Mediatorial King, Priest-King, the Mediator and King over all nations and all creation, for He orders all things unto salvation of the elect who are throughout all the nations. for the benefit and the good of the church and for His exaltation. So this is what we pray for when we pray, that Kingdom come. That our prayers should have those things in it often. And this guides us in our great focus while we're still on the earth, Christians. We're here working, we're here serving, just as we just read, serving the King that His Kingdom would come. that the nations, the Jews with them, would come and bow before the King and praise His name and fear His glorious name." 2 Thessalonians 1, it says, "...when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day." What a blessing to know. When we're taught to pray, Thy kingdom come, what a blessing to know that our King Jesus Christ is victorious. He's already won the victory in Matthew 16 of Christ's kingdom. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The gates of hell shall not prevail against His kingdom or Him. And so today, the King calls you to come into His kingdom by coming to Himself, by coming to the King, Jesus Christ. Wanting, desiring for the fullness of the Jews and Gentiles to come in, that our hearts would be made pure, that His Kingdom would grow to all the ends of the earth. Christ would be exalted. Let's pray. Our Father, we're thankful once again that Christ is on the throne for what great comfort we have knowing He is. And that He is continually interceding, even when we are being taught how to pray, He is continually interceding in our prayers, perfecting our prayers. And Father, it is true. We come to pray Your will, that it would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we know Your will. from Your Word. We know that Your Son, Jesus Christ, reigns now. And so in part, the Kingdom of Heaven is here, and it manifests itself visibly in the church that we can see with our eyes. And Father, we plead that You would raise up godly ministers, faithful ministers who are bold, who teach and preach Your Word. and call sinners to repentance and faith in Christ your Son. We pray that those sinners who hear of the Jews and of the Gentiles, all of the elect would be brought in, that the dominion of sin and the kingdom of Satan would be destroyed, and that of your people that you bring into your kingdom, that we would faithfully submit in all things to the King, to Your law, to Your Word, because You are the God and Christ Your Son who has all authority in heaven and on earth. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.