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[0:00] Now, in the second passage that we read together, Matthew chapter 6 and verse 10, you have the words I'd like to focus our attention on together tonight.

[0:15] The words are, Your kingdom come. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[0:27] Your kingdom come. These words form the second petition of the patterned prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples.

[0:38] A prayer that he tells us is to be offered from the heart, rather than as the heathen pray just as vainly repeated before God.

[0:50] And in this prayer in general, and in this petition in particular, I believe we have a vision that the Lord wants us to catch.

[1:04] There is a situation that the Lord wants us to acknowledge. And there is an engagement that the Lord would have us make. So first of all, let's look and see if we can see what this vision is.

[1:19] The vision to catch. Thy kingdom come. Your kingdom come. What kingdom is spoken of here? Well, let's think about the founding of the kingdom.

[1:30] What kingdom is it? Well, it is God's spiritual kingdom. It's not a political kingdom. As the apostles seem to, some of the apostles seem to think, still to hope for, even after the resurrection.

[1:44] But in Acts chapter 1 and verse 6, they say, Lord, are you ready now to restore the kingdom to Israel? Nor is it the providential kingdom, which Psalm 103 speaks of, for example, when it says his kingdom rules over all.

[2:00] God ruling and sustaining his creation. But it is his spiritual kingdom. It is his rule in the hearts and the minds and the consciousness of his people.

[2:15] It is the kingdom of grace. A kingdom that will one day flower in the kingdom of glory. It is the kingdom that was promised on the day of the fall in the Garden of Eden, when the word was given that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head.

[2:35] It is seen in embryo, in God's working in and with his people in the Old Testament days. And it was announced at the beginning of the New Testament era, in John the Baptist's preaching, when he cried, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[2:52] The king has arrived. And though his divine glory was obscured, was veiled in a human nature, Jesus the Messiah, the one destined to occupy the throne of David, and reign over the house of Jacob forever, Jesus has come.

[3:11] That his kingdom was not of this world, Jesus made clear to Pilate.

[3:23] And admission to it, Nicodemus was to learn, was only by way of the new birth, a saving work of God. As Nicodemus was told, that unless he was born again, he could not see the kingdom of God.

[3:40] But those who come that way, by way of the new birth, into the kingdom, become citizens of that kingdom. They are saved and secure forever. And have an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, that fades not away, that is reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day.

[4:04] This kingdom was introduced early in the teaching of John the Baptist. And it was explained in the teaching of Jesus. And it was established when he ascended to the right hand of the Father.

[4:20] All power having been given to him in heaven and in earth. So, what then is the future of this kingdom?

[4:33] Well, the future prospect of this kingdom is glorious. Never does the Bible permit us to doubt the ultimate triumph of Jesus, the King of this kingdom, and that it will be complete.

[4:46] The kingdom he came to establish will be perfected in God's good time. From God's promises to Abraham, through the words of the psalmists, the preaching of the prophets, and even the amazing visionary dreams given to Nebuchadnezzar, such as we read this evening, and the visions granted to Daniel in the Old Testament, the Old Testament message looks confidently forward to that day, as Habakkuk tells us, of when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

[5:25] And the New Testament, when we come to that, does not disappoint. The Savior came. And in its pages, the Scripture continues to present us with the Savior, the Son of God, in human flesh, moving on from Bethlehem through His life, on to Calvary, to crucifixion, yes, and to resurrection, and on to exaltation and coronation, as Lord of all, and taking His seat, having finished His great work, at the right hand of God in glory, all power given to Him, reigning there as He is now, till all His enemies are put under His feet.

[6:10] And on that day, that time comes, He will hand over the kingdom to His Father, having destroyed all other dominion and power. And John records the climax of it all when he tells of that glorious song ringing out in heaven.

[6:30] The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever. Now this is the kingdom that the Gospel proclaims.

[6:44] And for whose coming we are asked by the Lord and instructed by our Savior to pray. But the question is, does this King rule in our heart?

[6:59] Do we have a part in this kingdom? Does He rule in my heart and yours? You see, you may be here tonight, but still a stranger to grace and to God. But being no doubt, He shall reign.

[7:14] His kingdom will triumph whether people will repent and crown Him king or not. And the very presence of this petition in this prayer that the Savior has given us is assurance of that.

[7:28] It's what God intends and it's for which He instructs His people to pray. Pray this prayer. Catch the vision.

[7:39] Serve the King. The second thing I see here is a situation to acknowledge. It is a kingdom to come.

[7:52] Thy kingdom, your kingdom come. You see, we do not yet see here on earth all things put under Him. We see Jesus in glory, crowned with glory and honor.

[8:06] When we look around the world and apart from relatively few Christians and many remaining half-empty churches, it is clear that the public and people in general do not hallow the name of the Lord.

[8:24] They have little time for God. Little respect for Christ or for His kingdom or for the things of God. And this is why this petition follows the one before it which says hallowed be Thy name.

[8:41] Why is it so? Why is it that the God of heaven, the Creator, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, His name is not hallowed, it is not reverenced, it is not respected, it is not adored, it is not worshipped.

[8:56] It is because, first of all, there is a rival in the field. There is another king. Alas, there is another king who rules in the hearts of men and of women.

[9:08] He is the one whom Jesus Himself called the Prince of this world. You see, it is He, not Jesus, that has the allegiance of human hearts.

[9:22] He is the usurper. He is the one who claims that He has the right to rule in the heart and life of every man, woman and child. And it is His desire that they should share in His kingdom and the end of His kingdom with Him.

[9:38] Ever since that fatal day in Eden, when Adam fell, the human race have been in the devil's thrall. And we, by nature, are born in sin.

[9:53] We have become willing followers of this way as descendants of Adam. We are born, as they say, as the Scripture says, in Adam. So when Jesus came into this world, there was a clash of kingdoms.

[10:08] kingdom against kingdom. And a significant part of Christ's ministry was confronting the very powers of darkness that challenged His authority.

[10:20] the blind religious leaders saw Him at work. And they said, He casts out devils by the prince of the devils.

[10:34] That's the explanation. He's in league with the devil. But Jesus said, no. Any house that's divided against itself cannot stand. But if I, by the finger of God, cast out devils, then surely, the kingdom of God is among you.

[10:56] You see, whenever Jesus comes in power, His kingdom comes. He came to engage the Lord of darkness and to set His people free.

[11:08] And it seemed also that He seemed to draw out the devils into conflict with Him. The Scripture tells us that no one else could break the chains of service to Satan.

[11:25] There is one who came to destroy the works of the devil. One who has triumphed in the battle with Satan. One who came to destroy Him who had the power of death, as the writer to the Hebrews says.

[11:40] Destroy Him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. And He did it.

[11:53] A fact that was certified by His resurrection from the dead. His name is King Jesus, the Savior. And His Gospel today proclaims liberty to the captives.

[12:09] The opening of the prison to them that are bound. And when it comes in power to a lost soul, it is as the trumpet of Jubilee, which in ancient times told slaves that they were free to go.

[12:24] No master could hold them a slave a day or a moment longer. And in the same way, there is no power on earth and there is no power from hell itself that can hold a sinner one moment longer who by faith has reached out to this mighty Savior.

[12:43] Put your hand in the hand of Christ tonight. And He will never let you go. Lay yourself, put yourself in His hands and you are secure. He will set you free.

[12:56] Charles Wesley wrote of his the day that he was able to embrace Christ as his Savior. He said, long, my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night.

[13:10] But thy knife diffused a quickening ray. I woke. My dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

[13:25] There is a rival in the field. Yes, a rival, but also there is a responsibility given to the church in this situation that I believe this prayer wants us to recognize.

[13:41] Jesus' final charge to His disciples was this. Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

[14:02] And lo, I am with you to the end of the age, to the end of the world. And that, as soon as the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit came, is what the apostles proceeded to do.

[14:17] So that within a generation, the gospel had been heard in the entire known world and the church of Jesus Christ had been established. And in the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, which records all that Jesus continued to do and to teach after He had ascended to heaven, which He continued to do through the obedience of the apostles and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we read in its pages and as we read these pages, we see the coming of the kingdom of God.

[14:54] You see, the kingdom comes wherever Christ is advanced, wherever sinners are saved, wherever the church is strengthened and the word of God is obeyed.

[15:10] And it is the burden of this prayer, your kingdom come, that this should continue in every age. and that the hearts would be opened and that the King of Glory would be come into our hearts, the hearts of people, into our communities, into our society.

[15:34] The Lord, strong in battle, the mighty King would be acknowledged. You see, Jesus had pictured the world, the world of men, as a grain harvest field, urgently begging to be reaped.

[15:50] It's white, ready for harvest. Lift up your eyes, look on the fields, see, the harvest truly is great. Masses of humanity without the gospel, still in Satan's kingdom, unreaped fields, which if not harvested, will perish.

[16:11] Sometimes in bad years, we have been treated to the sight of good harvest rotting in the fields, unable to be reaped for different reasons.

[16:24] Is that the picture of the world around us today? The situation remains unchanged. It is no less urgent today, in every generation, in every country, in every race, in every tribe, and where every tongue is spoken.

[16:47] There is a harvest of souls urgently crying out to be reaped. And the Master is waiting. Dare we disappoint him?

[17:00] Sadly, it seems that many Christians, although perhaps full of zeal and enthusiasm and wonder at their salvation, when Christ has found them, that soon they seem to settle down and find a nice comfort zone somewhere in the church, where they can get on and not get involved.

[17:25] Oh yes, they would recognize, if you spoke to them, their debt to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they would acknowledge the fact that, as John says, He is the propitiation for our sins.

[17:40] But so easily they seem to forget the rest of that verse, which says, He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

[17:56] Not for ours only. Someone has said these five words, turn the church outwards, and make it responsible for the evangelization of the whole world.

[18:15] Someone has said evangelism is rooted in that phrase, not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. He died for me.

[18:28] Someone brought that news to me. There are others who know about him. Who is going to tell them? Has anyone told them?

[18:42] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings of good things. Are our feet going to bring the message to someone this precious, wonderful message of a Savior who will take us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the kingdom of his dear son?

[19:03] Jesus saying, pray, your kingdom come, and recognize the responsibility that is there. And its answer, the answer to this prayer, will bring the gospel in power to your house, to my home, to your neighborhood, to your situation, yes, to the very ends of the earth.

[19:30] psalm 67 which we sang, teaches us to pray, Lord, bless us and be gracious to us. Why? That your ways may be known in all the earth and your salvation to all nations.

[19:50] Bless us for them. bless us for Aberdeen, for Aberdeer, for Aberdeer, for from Alaska, for who knows where.

[20:08] God may use you, may reach out to us. You see, there is a world out there crying out for the word of salvation, for the liberating trumpet of the gospel jubilee.

[20:24] And yet, after 20 centuries of Christianity in our world, a world of roughly 5,000 million people, less than a quarter are even nominal Christians.

[20:38] And of the remainder, 2,000 million, at least, live separated from the rest of the Christian world, or the so-called Christian world.

[20:50] Why is it? Are we disappointing our Lord? What has happened? Have we failed? Are we failing? How earnest is our prayer when we cry to the Lord, Your kingdom come.

[21:09] We have a vision put before us to catch, the vision of this kingdom. There is a situation for us to recognize, but further, there is an engagement for us to make.

[21:24] Or there is an involvement to which we are called. Can it be possible for a believer to come to the Lord with such a prayer in his lips and in his heart and yet stand aloof from involvement in the great missionary task that the Lord has given to his church and to the plight of this lost world?

[21:53] Was Jesus not saying, make this your vision and the burden of your heart and the passion of your lives? But you may say, listen, God has determined the end.

[22:05] He says the triumph is going to be glorious. God will work his purpose out. And if God has decreed the total triumph of the kingdom of Jesus, what need is there for little me to get involved?

[22:21] Well, God has decreed that and it will happen. But God has also decreed the means by which it will be achieved and will come to pass.

[22:35] It will come to pass by the obedience of his children. It will come to pass by the preaching of the word. It has pleased God through the preaching of the word.

[22:48] The foolishness of what is preached to save them that believe. It will come by the witnessing of his people and most of all by the prayers of the faithful.

[23:04] A very striking thing you read in Ezekiel is this that God has promised through Ezekiel to bless Israel in Ezekiel's day.

[23:15] He goes on to say, I will yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to do this for them. This is my intention and I'm going to do it when Israel get on their knees and ask for it.

[23:32] You see, God is saying, if I may paraphrase it, I act when my praying people lay hold of my promises. Plead the promises of God.

[23:47] He said he would do it. Ask him to fulfill his promise. Here is the petition. My kingdom come. It says there is a place for every Christian disciple of Christ in the evangelism of the world and the coming of his dear son.

[24:02] And the place of the petition in the prayer indicates three things. First of all, notice the place. Where this will begin. Where our involvement will begin.

[24:15] Our involvement will advance in the advance of the kingdom of God must spring first of all from our love for the Lord himself. It is easy to get sidetracked in Christian things from excellent things and the best things even to very good things and take our eyes off the Savior Christ.

[24:39] And you see when he ceases to fill our horizon each day, Satan is not too perturbed about us. For when we cease to set the Lord always before us, we are not much threat to him and his kingdom because he knows we have nothing, we can do nothing of ourselves.

[24:59] Without me, says Jesus, you can do nothing. But if you find a man who lives close to Jesus, who has caught the vision of his grace and glory and whose heart is full of love for him, and we have a man who's praying, we have a man who's praying, thy kingdom come, makes the very gates of hell to tremble.

[25:25] This is what the prayer teaches us to do. The person who can truly say to God from a loving heart, hallowed be your name.

[25:37] That's what I desire more and more, that you would be reverenced and adored in my heart and my life and the life of the world. That is the previous petition, the petition that comes before.

[25:51] And it's the one who by grace has learned to love that name and adore all that it means and what it implies for lost sinners. And when our greatest joy is to extol Him and to encourage others to join in the exaltation of His name, then we will be able to pray with deep and genuine longing and increasing expectation, Lord, Your kingdom come.

[26:19] How it will begin and the manner in which it will proceed. The prayer, Your kingdom come, will then increasingly mark our life.

[26:30] And as our vision grows and the need of the world weighs on our heart. But, did you notice that when Jesus directed His disciples to the enormity of the task in the harvest fields, and He urged them to pray the Lord of the harvest, that He would thrust out laborers into the harvest so that it would be gathered, who was it who were first thrust out?

[27:00] It was themselves that they were to pray, and in their prayer they would see what God wanted them to do and where they would be.

[27:12] It was themselves who were first sent out with a message, both during the earthly ministry of Christ and after it. God. And so when we pray for ministers, pray that ministers and evangelists and church leaders and missionaries and Sunday school teachers and support workers and prayer warriors and faithful parents would be raised up and thrust into the field to serve the Master and the spread of the kingdom.

[27:40] And praying that those would be the ones that God Himself has truly commissioned, must we not each ask when we pray? And tell the Lord, am I willing also to say, Lord, if you want me, here am I.

[28:04] Send me. Maybe just to speak to a flatmate about Jesus. Perhaps to see your Sunday school teacher at Sunday school teaching in a new light.

[28:20] Or to evaluate in the light of God's light your present life and occupation. Perhaps for some. It may even mind setting aside a career they had set their heart on to go at the Master's bidding, yes, to the very end of the earth.

[28:37] Or perhaps for someone else. To become a facilitator of someone else whose gifts you don't have. To go at his call.

[28:49] Assist someone else to go at his call. Someone who hasn't got the gift. Who has gifts you don't have. But that you may support them with resources that you have that they don't have. Amazing things can happen and will happen when God's people learn to pray this heartfelt prayer in a heartfelt way.

[29:14] If you want to keep God out of your forward planning, it can prove quite dangerous. But remember this. As I heard a wise man say once, in God's economy, every man is a missionary, or he needs one.

[29:38] You and I are somewhere in that category tonight. In God's economy, every man is a missionary, or he needs one. And the outcome that will result, thy will will, the next petition is, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[29:53] This is the following petition. A vision of a world transformed by the power of the gospel, from rebellion to glad obedience to the will of God. A new heaven, and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

[30:08] God's will being done in the hearts and lives of individuals where sin before reigned as king. a glorious dream. But as we contemplate the need and the means of the coming of that kingdom, must we not desire more than anything else that it would begin in our own hearts and that it would be true of ourselves.

[30:32] Lord, I hallow your name. Lord, I long for the coming of your kingdom and see that I must be involved in its coming for your glory.

[30:44] So, Lord, may your will be done in my sinful rebellious soul just as it is done in heaven. Have your own way. Have your own way.

[30:57] You are the potter. I am the clay. On a night of freezing fog, a fisherman pulled up his boat in the lower reaches of the river Thames.

[31:13] It had been a long, miserable, and freezing day. And he had wondered at times if he would ever get home at all. He was so glad to feel his boat touching the shore again.

[31:30] His wife must be desperately worried. And now he was killed to the bone. And it was then that he heard a horrible, crunching sound somewhere out in the river.

[31:44] Something had happened out there. Let he best get home lest his wife be over anxious and that the shivering cold would get the better of him. Well, weeks later, that man had to stand in the dock at the inquest to the sinking of the princess Alice.

[32:05] And there he had to tell his story, which he told. Another fisherman also was called. And he told his story too, which was much as the first man.

[32:18] But his reaction for all his misery was very different. I knew I should get home as soon as possible. It was late and they'd be worried.

[32:31] But someone out there needed help. So I loosed my boat and I pushed out into the midst of the river and I found the water full of people. I filled my boat and took them ashore.

[32:45] I went out again and got another boatload of people. I went out again and again and still there were people struggling and drowning there. What did you do then?

[32:57] He was asked. He said, I just stood in my boat and I looked up to heaven and I said, Oh God, for a bigger boat! As the time come for us as individuals and as a church to set aside personal consideration and push our boats out into the murk and the mist around and see who needs help out there, God will give you and me and I believe our church too a bigger boat when we fill the one he's given us.

[33:38] Are we praying and doing? Have we courage to say to God from the heart when we pray, knowing it involves ourselves, your kingdom come, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[34:01] May God bless our thoughts on his word. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, we pray that you would enable us from the heart to pray these words.

[34:14] Our Father, how we thank you that that word reminds us of the grace of a God who reaches down to us and wants to make us his children. Our Father, which is in heaven, heaven which reminds us of his greatness and his glory and the wonder of his person, help us to pray in sincerity.

[34:35] Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. And we're in this earth. It means in our hearts and our lives as it is in heaven.

[34:50] Granted it may be so. Bless us and bless your word to us and go with us and help us to sing our parting psalm of praise to your glory for we ask it in Jesus' name.

[35:03]  Amen. Amen.