Thy Kingdom Come
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If God is sovereign and in control then why can’t we just sit around and do nothing? I think the church has become comfortable. P.T. Barnum’s character in The Greatest Showman said: “comfort is the enemy of progress.” Why can’t we just sit around and be comfortable Christians?
Intro
Intro
Illus: Baseball. Does God have something to do with the game? Does God control pitches or hits? etc . . . .
Story of the triumphal entry - it is obvious that God has control, fig tree even more so . . .
So, if God controls those things, how does he work in everyday life?
major players:
Satan instigated the suffering
God allows it
Chaldeans and the Sabeans bring it by attacking his family and steal his livestock
How is it that all three of these parties can be involved and yet we can also say that God is sovereign?
We must first understand God’s providence.
We have this wonderful story of the triumphal entry. Most of us don’t take much from this other than Jesus is King and this is God’s way of showing us that he is the king. But, look at the context:
Jesus heals a blind man
Then Jesus sets the stage for his entry as King
Then he curses a fig tree
then he cleanses the temple
What do all of these things show us?
Principles of Faith
Principles of Faith
PROVIDENCE
“The work of God in which He preserves all his creatures, is active in all that happens in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end” - Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine, 59.
Jesus shows us God’s Divine Preservation
The continuous work of God to uphold all things
Nothing continues without God
Jesus tells his Apostles what will happen before it happens. It is not just that he knows what will happen, but he ordains and controls it.
God’s plan for redemption of his people is not foreknowledge but his providence
Jesus beginning this passion play for the redemption of God’s people in His kingdom is not foreknowledge but God’s providence
Jesus shows us God’s Divine Concurrence
the co-operation with His creatures and “causes them to act precisely as they do.”
secondary causes - nature and will of man
These works are not independent of God but stimulates, accompanies, and makes men’s moves effective.
These are not two causes working together, but God being primary and man being secondary
Does not make God the author of sin, but that he uses these secondary causes in his providence
Baseball pitch. Gravity exists, God’s creation and natural order. Yet, man can throw a baseball at a high velocity for a distance to try and strike out a batter. Gravity is a secondary cause and man’s attempt at a throw is a secondary cause. Yet, the location of the pitch and its final effect can be seen as God’s primary cause.
God uses a colt, the obedience of the Apostles, the village, the witnesses, etc . . . to accomplish his desired outcome.
Sproul: major players:
Satan instigated the suffering
God allows it
Chaldeans and the Sabeans bring it by attacking his family and steal his livestock
How is it that all three of these parties can be involved and yet we can also say that God is sovereign?
Job: (Sproul)
Three major parties involved in Job’s suffering.
Satan was trying to discredit God
Chaldeans and Sabeans were trying to help themselves
God’s intent was to vindicate job’s faith
God’s intent was good, the others was evil.
Jesus shows us God’s Divine Government
He alone rules all things and is actively involved in their life so “that they answer to the purpose of their existence.”
When the Apostles told the witnesses that Jesus said, there was no response.
Sufferig Servant
For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Physical - It is obvious that Jesus orchestrated the physical world to happen
Spiritual - He also does the spiritual
Thy Kingdom Come - We believe this is God’s world and he rules all things
The people seeing Jesus riding in on the colt believed that Jesus Kingdom was coming. They were confused as to what this actually meant.
God’s Kingdom is vast, encompassing everything, this was merely a physical manifestation over some.
Jesus shows us God’s Special Providence
general providence - When God works within the bounds of natural law that we see and know.
Triumphal Entry shows us that God works inside a set of parameters
Special providence - when God works outside of those bounds which he has created.
Miracles of the Bible
The cursing of the fig tree shows us that God can work outside of the limits of nature
Lesson Learned:
Why the cursing of the fig tree?
Jesus looks at the temple and knows that it is insufficient to accomplish what is necessary to reverse the curse, fall of Adam. Then he immediately goes out and curses the tree. The symbolism here is that Jesus is revealing that things things were never meant to take his place. Jesus, in God’s providence, has always been the man who would die for the sins of his people. God set in place in His Kingdom a way that was intentionally insufficient. This was to prepare the stage for the arrival of Jesus. In context Jesus immediately cleanses the temple after the cursing of the fig tree. Again, a symbolic gesture to show that these things even if laid out by God’s providence, were insufficient.
So, God, in his work of providence revealed the plan of redemption to man and that is Jesus Christ.
God reveals himself to us through Jesus Christ. All we can know and need to know can be seen or heard in Jesus.
God works through men and through his own means, and we can see that throughout scripture, to bring about a specific end. The sufficiency of Jesus and the insufficiency of everything else.
All we can know and need to know can be seen or heard in Jesus.
God answers to no man. The triumphal entry shows us that Jesus Christ is King who came as God dictated not as man dictates. The fig tree shows us that God can change the rules.
Conclusion
Conclusion
App: When we see things in life take place we are not to try and figure them out. God has plainly revealed himself to us through Jesus. Through Scripture we can know what we need to know. Our job is to recognize that God is in control. Our job is to simply walk by faith and know that God is working for our good.
Lord’s Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven
God’s Kingdom.
Know that God has all things in his control.
This statement cannot be a question - Deism
God is the creator and has no connection or control over the things of this world.
Three major parties involved in Job’s suffering.
This statement cannot be a desire for two worlds to combine - Pantheism says there is no difference between God and man
Satan was trying to discredit God
The desire is not for God’s kingdom in heaven to be like man’s or Satan’s kingdom on earth.
Chaldeans and Sabeans were trying to help themselves
Rather, it is a statement of faith to say that this is God’s Kingdom, It has and will come and be done as he commands because of providence.
God’s intent was to vindicate job’s faith
Man works, God works, and the will of God is done through both of these things. That is the meaning of this statement.
APP: Apostles: Jesus told them what to do and they did it. Why?
God’s intent was good, the others was evil.
There was no prayer meeting to see what God said about it, there was no committee meeting to discuss the various potential solutions, there was only faith and obedience.
Why? They knew that Jesus had spoken and they simply walked in faith that their actions and God’s actions would be fulfilled.
God’s work will be fulfilled and men’s actions will help much of that come to fruition.
We pray because God uses our prayers, we witness to the lost because God uses that, we don’t just sit around passively.
No, rather we walk by faith that God in his providence will use us to bring about his providence through our work and his.
Let us be a people who walk by faith. Let us not sit around in comfort and wait for God to do his work, but rather see that in his providence he uses our work and his divine concurrence to bring about his will in earth as it has been established in heaven.
Let us walk in obedience, and let us walk in faith.
, we read of three major players in Job’s suffering. Satan instigated the suffering by issuing a challenge to the Lord regarding Job’s piety. God allowed Satan to bring suffering into Job’s life. The Chaldeans and the Sabeans attacked Job’s family and stole his livestock. But the intent of each party in producing the same outcome—Job’s suffering—was different. Satan intended to discredit Job, and by extension, to discredit God. The intent of the Chaldeans and Sabeans was to enrich themselves. Our Lord’s intent was to vindicate Job’s faith. Each of these players was necessarily involved in Job’s suffering, but at different levels and with different motivations. There was a concurrence among them that Job should suffer, but each had a different reason for this suffering. God’s intent was good. The other players intended evil.