Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Hope: Thy Kingdom Come

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

What does it mean to pray, “Thy kingdom come”?  Jesus gave us his instruction on how to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, and it’s filled with concepts you need to know from the rest of the Bible. There are two places—Matthew 5 and Luke 6—where Jesus tells us a lot about the kingdom of God and the blessedness of the kingdom. I want to show you 1) what the kingdom of God is, 2) what it’s not, 3) what it’s like, 4) how you enter it, and 5) how that relates to prayer. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 12, 2014. Series: The Prayer of Prayers. Scripture: Luke 6:20-26, 46-49. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

This is Gospel in Life. Prayer is one of the primary ways we can truly know God, but it can also help us understand ourselves. Through prayer we can reflect on the deepest and most private aspects of our lives in the presence of a Holy God. And it's in that space that the Holy Spirit works on our heart, bringing us to repentance and making us more aware of Christ's amazing love. Join us today as Tim Keller teaches on the transformative power of prayer. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelInLife.com and sign up for our email updates. When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly journal with stories of Gospel-Changed Lives

as well as other valuable gospel centered resources. Subscribe today at gospelinlife.com. Good evening. Tonight's scripture reading is in the book of Luke, chapter six, verses 20 through 26, and verses 46 through 49. Looking at his disciples, he said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy

because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was

well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. The word of the Lord. So we're looking at the subject of prayer each week, and we're taking a part of the Lord's Prayer each week, and we're going to some part of the Bible that helps us understand the biblical teaching

behind the phrase. When Jesus gave us his instruction on how to pray, the Lord's Prayer, the Lord's Prayer was filled with concepts that you need to know the rest of the Bible in order to use in your prayer life So what we're doing each week is we're going to we're taking one phrase Going to someplace in the Bible that sheds light on what it means and so tonight We're looking at the phrase thy kingdom come What does it mean to pray thy kingdom come?

And what we're going to do is look at this passage in Luke. There's two places, Matthew 5 is a little more famous, the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount, but Luke 6 is another place where he talks about the kingdom of God and he talks about the blessedness of the kingdom. Blessed are this or blessed are you, blessed for yours is the kingdom. But these passages both tell us a lot about the kingdom of God and then what we're gonna do is look at, I want to show you what the kingdom of God is, what it's not, what it's like, how you enter it

and then we'll apply it to how all that helps us pray thy kingdom come. What it is, what it's not, what it's like, how you enter it, and then how that relates to prayer. First of all, what it is. Be brief, but you see, when Jesus says, at the very beginning, he says, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

What does it mean to be the kingdom of God? Americans, when they think of kingdom, we have a bit of a blur, because we don't have kings here. However, a kingdom is an administration. It's a way of life, in fact, it's a whole culture instituted by the new king. Now, let me give you a suggestion.

We don't have kings, but one of the things we do is we have coaches. And I want you to know that when a coach takes over a major college football or basketball team, that coach, that's not a democracy there. That coach is a king. That coach is not a president elected by the players. That coach is a king. So that coach is exercising authority. And here's what we know about good and bad coaches. A bad coach comes in and has rules and here's how you have to live. A bad coach sets up a corporate culture, attitudes, policies,

vision, values, priorities, right? And when a bad coach comes in, the bad coach's administration, priorities, right? And when a bad coach comes in, the bad coach's administration, as it were, and mores and customs and rules and all that, don't produce much. With a bad coach, the players are fighting with each other, there's no unity, they're not paying up to their potential. But a great coach comes in. New rules, new priorities, new goods, these are the things we're after, new ways of looking at everything and the great coach comes in and under the great coach's authority what you see is the team gels, they play as a team, unity, right? Every player plays up beyond his or her potential, right? Now, what's the kingdom of God? It's God's authority. God's not just a great human coach. When you come under God's authority, under his rule, under his way of life, under his will, when you seek his

priorities, the things that he says we should be after, you enter into his will, when you seek his priorities, the things that he says we should be after, you enter into his realm, into his kingdom, and you blossom, because you were built for serving him. And you blossom and you become everything that you ought to be. That's the kingdom of God. In this life, the kingdom of God, well I'll say it here and I'll say it at the end,

is only partial. The kingdom of God is not here fully. When God returns and is here fully and his kingdom, there's no alternative to his kingdom. Everything here will be perfect. I mean, that's the ultimate coach, you might say. There'll be no suffering, there'll be no death, there will be nothing wrong.

But meanwhile, right now, partially it's here, you can enter in when you're born again, you can enter into his kingdom and begin to blossom. So that's what the kingdom of God is. It's entering into his realm. It's serving him and not anything else. You serve anything else, even yourself, you're in the kingdom of this world.

And basically you will find no unity. Have you noticed the human race? The team is not playing well together. We're not playing up to our penchant, we're not even close to it. But in the kingdom of God we realize the potential, there's unity and so on. That's what the kingdom of God is. It's the realm of God. It's the rule of God. Now, so now we say, okay, well, then what does it mean then to live God's way? What is the king ‑‑ what does the administration of the king look like? What are God's laws and his will? Well, before Jesus gets there, or put it this way, Jesus loves to teach by contrast. So in this passage, he doesn't just

give you the blessedness of the kingdom, he gives you the woes of the kingdom of this world. Notice there's four groups that are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of God and there's four groups that Jesus pronounces a woe on from verses 24 to 26 by way of contrast. And what he's actually doing is he's contrasting two operating systems, two kingdoms and the priorities of God's kingdom and the world's kingdom. And Jesus often does this. He loves to teach by contrast. So let's first look at what the kingdom of God is not.

Let's see what it's not. Verse 24 to 26. Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are well fed. Woe to you who laugh and woe to you when everyone speaks well of you. Now, it's very striking for him to say this. I mean, boy, does this get your attention? Woe to you when everything is going well in your life. That's not exactly what he's saying. Here's what. Let me give you four names for these. These are priorities. He says, woe to you when your priority is a, power, because that's what wealth is. Wealth gives you the power to do things you wouldn't have otherwise. The poorer you are, the less power you have. The richer you are, the more power you have. So it's basically wealth is a matter of power. Woe to you who have power. Woe to you who have material comfort, well fed, everything's fine materially.

You've got plenty to eat, you've got a great home, you've got wonderful clothes. Power, material comfort, thirdly success. Now see when it says woe to you who laugh, it looks like it's saying woe to you who are happy. It's not what he's saying. He's not pronouncing a woe on anyone who is laughing with joy because they are happy. This word laugh is a Greek word that means to gloat. Very important. In fact it's the key to understanding this whole set of

things. You know what gloating is? Gloating goes like this. Ha ha. I have won and you have lost. Now most of you have never been quite that overt. But inside your heart you have lost. Now most of you have never been quite that overt, but inside your heart you have thought that, right? Here's gloating. I win. And see, that's very important. What's important is when you see that he's talking, when he says here's the priorities of the kingdom of this world, power, material comfort, success, and recognition or celebrity, everyone speaks well of you. He's not saying that these things are bad conditions per se.

He's not trying to say if people speak well of you, if you're successful in business. He's not saying oh, therefore that's terrible, no, no. But see, the gloating thing is the key. He's talking about people who make this their kingdom. Power, material comfort, success, and recognition is their kingdom, huh? Their ordering principle, their rule of life,

their operating system, in other words, these are the things they're after. And everything else has to serve them. So who do you hang out with? Who are your friends? Where do you hang out with? Who are your friends? Where do you live? How do you spend your time? Who do you date?

It all has to do with helping you with these things. It all has to do with power and material comfort and success and recognition. Now this is New York City, and we are the capital of the kingdom of this world. And these things are absolutely dominant. You may believe in God, you may be religious or maybe a moral person, but if these are the main things in your life,

you live in the kingdom of this world. These are your ordering, this is your ordering principles. These are the things that really determine how you spend your time. This is your operating system. And here's what Jesus says about people who live inside this realm. They're serving these things. These things are their masters. Woe to you. Now, by the way, you know, because we don't use the word woe that often, it's kind of an old English word. If you're reading through here, you might be excused if you think, well, the first four times he says, blessed, blessed, blessed, we'll get to that in a second, but then he says, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So we think of whoa as cursed, but that's not true. When Jesus says, whoa to you, he's not saying you're cursed. Think about it. If you've ever heard anyone say, whoa is me, they're not saying I'm cursed. What they're saying is, I'm sorry for myself. They're not cursing themselves, whoa is me. They're not saying I'm cursed. What they're saying is I'm sorry for myself. They're not cursing themselves.

Woe is me. They're saying I'm so sorry for myself. And that's actually what the word means. Jesus is saying alas for you. Isn't this something? If you live for wealth and you get wealth, if you live for recognition and you get recognition, alas for you.

How terrible for you is what Jesus is saying. Now why would he say such a thing? You see, when he says, woe to you who are rich and are well fed, you have received your comfort. If these things are your main goal, if these things are your priorities, then the physical comfort and material comfort that you get is all the comfort you'll ever get. The deeper, the richer stuff, the inward stuff you'll never get. When I first got to New York, I remember when I read the village

voice there was a woman who wrote for the village voice. She's long gone now as a columnist. She's not there anymore. Her name was Cynthia Heimel. And there was one column that I clipped out back in the late 1980s. Now, for some of you, I just understand it used to be that periodicals were put on paper and paper is this thing that used to come from trees. And then when you wanted to save an article, you had to take a scissors, believe it or not, and you had to actually cut around it and then you clipped it and then you had it. And by the way, I still have this clipping even though ‑‑ and it's not online anywhere, so this is a true clipping, not one of those clip, clip, clip, you know, that little thing on your ‑‑ you know, that's not a real

paper clip, we all know that, you just click on it. But I have a clipping. And in it, it talks about Cynthia Heiml back in the late 80s who knew a bunch of movie stars. If I remember correctly it was Sylvester Stallone, I think, I never tell you this because whenever I use this illustration because I don't remember it exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was Sylvester Stallone, I think it was Julia Roberts too, I'm not sure. But there was a bunch of people that she said I knew them when they were working behind the cosmetic counter in Macy's and I knew them when they were bouncing, you know, they were bouncers in the village clubs and all that and then they became famous and they became movie stars and then they became famous, and they became movie stars, and then they became more unhappy than they were before.

And in the column she says this, she says that giant thing they were striving for, that fame thing that was going to make everything okay, that was going to make their lives bearable, that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and with ha ha happiness. It had happened and nothing changed. They were still them. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable. And then she goes on and says this, listen carefully, quote, if God really wants to play a rotten

practical joke on us, he grants your deepest wish and then giggles merrily as you suddenly realize you want to kill yourself. Now outside of the fact, outside of that little phrase, giggles merrily, God does not giggle merrily, but the rest of it is actually quite biblical. Because if you live in the kingdom of anything else but God, in other words, if you're king, if the main thing you're after, the main thing that rules your life is anything but God, it's going to distort your life, but the worst thing I could possibly do is let you actually have it, because then you'll know how empty it is. Then you'll know it won't give you anything like what you thought it would give Woe to anyone who is not living in the kingdom of God.

I think this profile of power and material comfort and success and recognition is remarkable. Jesus says this is the kingdom of this world. These are the normal things people are after. Well then, what is the kingdom of God like? What does it mean to live in the kingdom of God? What does it mean to have his power in your life? What does it mean to come under his authority? How are you supposed to live? Then it says, go to the top, let's look at it,

and this is, again, just as striking, just as strange when you first read it. Blessed are you who are poor, yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger, blessed are you who weep. Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and insult you. You have the blessing, the blessedness of the kingdom. What? And at first it looks like it's saying that Jesus is saying that if you really want to have the blessedness of the kingdom, you ought to seek these things. You ought to seek poor, poverty. You ought to seek weakness.

You ought to seek to be grieved, and you ought to seek to be excluded. See, that's the... Who has the kingdom? The kingdom is for the poor, the weak, the grieving, and the excluded. Does that mean you should seek those things? No, that's masochism.

When you pray to God, is it more like a chat, or are you really connecting with Him in a deep and meaningful way? We'd like to help you establish a stronger, deeper, and more personal prayer life. Tim Keller's book Prayer Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God offers biblical guidance as well as specific ways to pray in certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. In the book, Dr. Keller helps you learn how to make your prayers more personal and powerful

through a regular practice of prayer. Prayer, experiencing awe and intimacy with God, is our thanks for your gift to help us reach more people with the life-changing power of the gospel. Request your copy today at gospelInLife.com slash give. That's GospelInLife.com slash give. Now, here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. Besides that, if you look carefully, it really isn't completely parallel to the, the first four is not really completely parallel to the second four.

Do you see that? Because down at the bottom it says you're rich now but later you'll be empty. You're well fed now, later you'll be empty. But up here it says blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who are hungry. And one little hint that you have to read this on multiple levels is it's not really saying just anyone who is poor is blessed. Anyone who is weeping is blessed. Because it says then at the bottom, blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you and insult you because of the son of man, for my sake.

So here's what most commentators say, and I don't have the time to, you know, give you all the background reasoning, but I think, just trust me on this, we're being given a description of the kingdom. The kingdom is for the poor and for the weak and the grieving and excluded, but what does that mean? You read that at four levels, you might say. It means four things. Number one, you have to be poor in spirit.

You have to be spiritually hungry if you are to receive the blessings of salvation at all. In Matthew chapter five, Jesus says this, gives us a sermon again, and there he says, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. See, here it says just the who are hungry. There he says, hunger and thirst after righteousness. Here it says just poor are hungry. There he says hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Here it says just poor, there it says poor in spirit. And what that means is it's multi-layers, but it means at least this. You're not a Christian unless you're poor in spirit. You're not a Christian if you're middle class in spirit. Now what is a middle class in spirit person? Spiritually, what does it mean to be a middle class? I'll tell you what it means to be a spiritual middle class. Middle class people say, what does it mean to be a middle class?

Middle class people say I don't need your charity. I've worked very hard. I pay my taxes. I want my rights. That's how middle class people feel. And a middle class and spirit person says I've lived a pretty good life. I'm not perfect but I've lived a pretty good life and I believe God owes me a good life or certainly needs to answer my prayers.

That's middle class in spirit. But poor people, they're looking for charity. They're looking for bleeding charity. They're looking for a handout. And you're not a Christian until you realize that you are poor in spirit, until you are spiritually bankrupt, that you have not only done good things, bad things, but even the good things you've done, you haven't done for the right motive, and you need radical forgiveness. Not until you're spiritually poor, not until you're spiritually hungry, because you believe what Cynthia Heiml told you, which is that the things of this world will never satisfy you. Not until you are spiritually poor and spiritually needy will

you turn to Jesus Christ as your Savior. Otherwise you'll be your own Savior. You'll be middle class in spirit. And therefore the blessings of the Kingdom of God only come to people who are poor in spirit, who admit that they're sinners and they need radical grace. So that's the first thing that means. To enter the kingdom of God and to be in the kingdom of God, to get the blessings of the

salvation of the kingdom of God is you've got to be poor in spirit, you've got to spiritually hungry, you've got to grieve over your sins, spiritually grieving and so on. That's one level. But then secondly, if you are poor in spirit, truly poor in spirit, if you truly have grieved in spirit, if you're truly hungry, then you will have a tremendous heart for the literally and materially poor and hungry and excluded and marginalized and oppressed.

See, if you look at a poor person and say, why don't you pull yourself up by your bootstrap? That means you're middle class in spirit, because if you're a true Christian, it understands you're saved by grace. You will know why don't you pull yourself up by your bootstrap, that means you're middle class in spirit because if you're a true Christian, it understands you're saved by grace. You will know that you didn't pull yourself up by your bootstrap, God came and saved you with his radical charity and grace.

And a real Christian is someone who, you might be middle class, you might be well off, you might be an incredibly accomplished person, but before God, you know that you are spiritually bankrupt and you are only alive because of his intervening grace, undeserved grace. And once you understand that, it changes your attitude toward everyone around. You don't just want to hang out with the powerful and the materially comfortable and the successful. Your heart goes out to the poor and it goes out to the grieving, it goes out to the messed up, it goes out to the excluded, it goes out to the oppressed. In fact, the

Bible over and over says that's how you know you're a sinner saved by grace because you care about those folks. See, that's the second thing it means when we say that the kingdom of God belongs to, is for the poor and the grieving and the weak and excluded. Why? Because it creates through the gospel, it creates a cadre of people who care about those folks and who reach out to them and draw them in. So first of all, why is the kingdom of God for the poor and the weak and the grieving and the excluded? Because you have to be spiritually poor and weak in order to receive the blessings of the kingdom, number one. Number two, it makes you care about and reach out to the poor and

the weak and the grieving and the excluded. Christian churches ought to be just filled with those people because we draw them in. Because we don't just want to hang out with people who open doors for us and help us in our career. We've been totally changed by the gospel. Thirdly, if you do reach out to people like that, you realize that even if you are middle class, even if you're upper class, even if you are accomplished, even if your life is going pretty well, some of the suffering and some of the poverty and some of the weakness of people around you will fall on you. Think about it. For example, the Bible says you should tithe. The Bible says you should give at least 10%

of your income away every year. Now I'm not preaching on that. If you say what, yes it's there. I could get there for you, but I'm not, I'm just, just lay this out here. Now if that's true, you realize that if you really just give your money away in biblical proportions, you will be poorer.

You won't live as well. That money that you could have spent on yourself, you won't. And there is a sense therefore in which to live in the kingdom of God makes everybody, anyone in the kingdom of God is poorer than they would have been otherwise. Everyone in the kingdom of God is actually, probably weeps more, you know why? Because even if your life is going well, you don't stay away from weeping people You get involved with weeping people and they drain you and you're sad, too See in the kingdom of this world. You're too busy for those folks

You're on your way up the ladder power material comfort success recognition You don't have time for them besides that you you really can't afford to give too much of your them. Besides that, you really can't afford to give too much of your metabolism to all these hurting people. But if you're in the kingdom of God, you give yourself away. You live sacrificially. The kingdom of God is not based on power and recognition and moving up the ladder, it's based on love and service and self-giving and self-emptying. And that means everybody in the kingdom of God is poor. Everybody cries more often. Everybody. And lastly, if troubles hit you, if weakness comes to you, if poverty comes to you, if suffering comes to you, Christians, because

they've got the true wealth, because they've got the true hope, they're not destroyed by the suffering, they're not over run by it, they're not overcome by it, but instead they can actually rejoice in their sufferings, they can put their roots down deeper into God and know that through the suffering they will grow more in grace, they'll grow more in joy, grow up more in strength, more in faith and a sense of God's reality than they would have otherwise. Do you see the four levels? What does it mean to live in the kingdom of God?

It means to be poor, weak, grieving and excluded spiritually, then reaching out to those people and drawing them in, then experiencing some of that weakness yourself, and then finally being able to rejoice in actual weakness because all things work together for those who love God. God walks with you through that suffering to turn you into someone like Jesus. And that's what it means to live in the kingdom of God. So that's what it is and that's what it's not and that's what it's like. And lastly, here's the reason why. I'll be brief here, but you should always remember this. When you read the Beatitudes, you know, the Matthew list is longer than the Luke list,

but when you read the Beatitudes, you're right in seeing this and most commentators say this is a description of a Christian. Christians ought to be poor in spirit. Christians are supposed to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Christians should be peacemakers. Here I'm talking about Matthew 5. Christians ought to do all these things. But you know the Beatitudes don't just describe Christians, they also describe what Jesus Christ had to go through to make you a Christian. Because I want you to think about this for a second. Why can Jesus Christ say,

someday you will be so, blessed are you, you are spiritually rich now. You know why? Because he, though he was spiritually rich, became poor. He was living in heaven, he was a glorious son of God, and he emptied himself and became human, became poor. He was rich glorious son of God, and he emptied himself and became human, became poor. He was rich so that, but he gave up his riches and became poor so that we through his poverty

might become rich. Why can Jesus Christ say, you will be comforted? Because on the cross he was disconsolate. Why would Jesus say you will be satisfied? Because on the cross he said, I thirst. Why would Jesus say, you will laugh and rejoice because he was a man of sorrows? Why can he say you will be accepted, you will be recognized by God, you will be brought into the kingdom of God because he was excluded? He was excluded. My God, my God, why hast thou excluded me? My God, my God,

why have you cast me out? I'll tell you why. Jesus Christ was reversing places with us. He, though he was rich, became poor, that through his poverty he might become rich. And that's the reason why we live in the kingdom the way we do. When we become spiritually poor, we become spiritually rich. Not until we admit our spiritual bankruptcy do we have the riches of infinite bliss and absolute forgiveness and complete acceptance by him. Having a meaning in life that suffering can't take away from you. Having an identity so rooted in God's love that even criticism and even your own failure can't uproot you. See, only when you become absolutely poor

do you become rich. Why? Because Jesus Christ who was absolutely rich became poor. It's actually only through getting involved with the tears of the world that you find the joy of God. Why? Because Jesus Christ who was God left his joy and became a man of sorrows.

Do you see? Reversal. Because God, Jesus Christ, reverse places with us, he gets what we deserve so we get what he deserves. That's why we, in a sense, can live in a reversed, upside down kingdom. The world thinks we're crazy. The world thinks that things that we value,

we should try to avoid, like suffering and poverty and grieving, and the things that thereafter, we're kind of suspicious of. So it's almost like we live in an upside down kingdom, at least from the world's point of view. That's because Jesus Christ was turned upside down for us. So how do you pray, thy will be done? Or what do you do when you pray thy will be done?

I would suggest that you keep four things in mind. Maybe not every time. You know, take turns. Tomorrow when you pray the Lord's Prayer in the morning, pray it one way, the next Tuesday pray it the second way, Wednesday pray it the third way, and Thursday pray it the fourth way. I don't know what you're gonna do on Friday actually.

You know, be innovative. But here's the four things. First of all, thy kingdom come means, Lord, I want more and more people in the world to know the blessings of your kingdom. Thy kingdom come, spread your word, spread the gospel. Thy kingdom come, let more and more people know these spiritual blessings.

That's the first thing. The second thing is when you pray thy kingdom come, you're also praying this, or you can pray this, let your justice be done. See, the kingdom of God is based on love and self-giving and service. If God's the king, God's the coach slash king of the world, when God is complete king of the world,

there will no longer be oppression, there will no longer the world, there will no longer be oppression, there will no longer be injustice, there will no longer be people living for themselves, people in a sense there will be harmony and there will be peace and there will be no suffering or death, right? And so when you pray, thy kingdom come, you're praying against the injustice and oppression and violence in the world. You're saying, Lord, make it right. Set things to right. Thirdly, St. Augustine said, and this actually draws on the last part of chapter 6 that we had read but I haven't spent much time on, St. Augustine said you should never pray, thy kingdom come without saying, and Lord, let thy kingdom go deeper in me.

Because see, you see that place at the end of the chapter where Jesus says why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say? To some degree we're all like that, are we not? We call him Lord. In fact, Lord, Lord by the way was a Semitic way of expressing passion. When you say Lord, Lord, that was a way of expressing emotion. So Jesus says you not only call me Lord but you're passionate and you sing worship songs and you're real excited and you sway with the music but you're not obeying me in every part of your life. And to pray thy kingdom come is to say Lord help me to dig down deeper

and put my foundation on you. See the man,, he says the man who says, Lord, Lord, but doesn't obey me, is like a person who actually says they're basing their life on me, but actually they're basing their life on something else. Their house, the house of their life has not gotten all the way down to the rock. And an awful lot of us, we are Christians, and we're trying, we say, oh yes, Jesus is my Lord,

but actually our career or our family or something else really is what we're basing our life on. And so when storms come, we feel jostled because of course we're not really, we're not rooted, we're not founded on Jesus' love, it's on something else. So when you pray, the kingdom come, as Saint Augustine says, say, and Lord, let your kingdom go deeper in me. Don't let me say, Lord, Lord, help me to be more obedient than ever. I obey you, and I see these parts of my life that I want to obey you, and I give them to you now. And lastly, praying that kingdom come is to hope.

It's to look to the future. It's to look to the day when the kingdom really comes and makes everything right. When we're all resurrected, we have our bodies, our new bodies. To pray, thy kingdom come is a way of consoling yourself because so often it's so hard here. To say, thy kingdom come means, oh, Lord, I'm looking forward to that day. A Lord haste the day when faith shall be sight. You know, The clouds rolled back like a scroll. And John Calvin has a little prayer he suggests, praying every morning when you wake up. And it goes like this. It says, Lord, I went to ‑‑ I lay down last night to sleep and I rose

this morning alive by your grace. Now, and this is what he says, keep me in the joyful remembrance of my final rising because Jesus Christ lay down in death for me and rose for my justification. See what he's saying? Oh Lord, all day keep me in joyful remembrance. Fill me with joy at the thought that someday, no matter all this trouble that I'm going through will be over and I will someday keep me in the joyful remembrance

of my final rising. Someday I'm not going to just wake up from the sleep in my bed. I'm going to wake up into my new body all because Jesus Christ lay down in death for me and was raised for my justification. So I can hope, I can live in the knowledge of that coming kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Let us pray. Thanks Father for giving us what we need in order to pray, thy kingdom come. And we ask that as we pray it, we would feel your kingdom power, we would sense your kingdom power extending itself through us and healing us of all that's wrong with us.

Teach us as a community, teach us as individuals to say, thy kingdom come in us, in the world, in me. We pray this in Jesus' name.com. Just subscribe to the Gospel in Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other resources. Again, it's all at GospelandLife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Today's sermon was recorded in 2014. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.