Introduction

Please Stand for the reading of God’s Word

Luke 17:20-25 ESV  Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,  (21)  nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”  (22)  And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  (23)  And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.  (24)  For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.  (25)  But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

You may be seated.

What we have here is again Jesus talking to two groups of people, the disciples and the pharisees.And just as a friendly reminder, the Pharisees were a group of very religiose people who acted like they followed God, they had a holier than thou kind of attitude, but in their heart they truly didn’t believe, in their heart they truly didn’t obey, in their heart they truly didn’t follow.On the other hand was the disciples. The disciples followed, obeyed and trusted Jesus with everything inside of them. Both inwardly and outwardly, they were true Christians.So we have these two groups of people that Jesus is addressing, the true and the false believers.The conversation starts out with the false believers asking Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come…Now we know that these pharisees had some hope of the coming of the Kingdom…But they wanted the kingdom to come visibly and mightily.They wanted governments overthrown, kings and armies slaughtered… fire and brimstone raining down from heaven to consume their enemies… But they didn’t want to change anything about themselves…So, to them, Jesus talked about the current Kingdom of God, how it was already in there midsts and how they were missing out on it.On the otherhand, the Disciples were ecstatic, they believed Jesus was the Christ. They saw Him walk on water, raise the Dead, heal leprosy… They saw the power and the miracles. And, most importantly, they had the inward change that Jesus was telling the pharisees about.So to the disciples Jesus talked about the coming kingdom, one that would come later, one that the pharisees desired now, but the disciples would patiently await and one day be a part of.This is the kingdom established when Jesus comes back to earth for a second time.So, again, Jesus talks to two groups of people, the pharisees and the disciples… and he describes the Kingdom of God in two different ways.

Bring Up Title Slide

Todays sermon is part one of three about the Kingdom of God.I decided to make this at least a three parter because there is so much going on here that needs to be talked about, so this week we will talk about verses 20 through 25 and next week we will go through verses 26-31. Finally we will finish things off with verses 32-37.Sound good, allright, let’s pray!

Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray

Point One – The Kingdom is already here!

Luke 17:20-21 ESV  Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,  (21)  nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Being asked “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus responds with “The Kingdom is already here!”It’s in the midst of you…Again, point one, the Kingdom is already here!You see the Pharisees knew the scriptures… and the Old Testament, the books of the Bible that had been written up to that point, the Old Testament was clear that the Kingdom of God would come to earth…But what they failed to miss, or chose to miss, is that the Bible describe TWO comings of the Kingdom of God.The Old Testament that they studied