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[0:00] Let's turn to read in God's Word. We have two readings this evening. Our first reading is in the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms and Psalm 72.

[0:14] The book of Psalms and Psalm 72. And of course, our second reading will be in Matthew in the Lord's Prayer. But first of all, Psalm 72. Let's hear the Word of God.

[0:33] Give the King thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the King's Son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

[0:45] The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

[0:59] They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the morn grass, as showers that water the earth.

[1:11] In his days shall the righteous flourish, an abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river into the ends of the earth.

[1:27] They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents.

[1:39] The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth.

[1:53] The poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

[2:11] And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised.

[2:22] There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

[2:36] His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as his sun, and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed.

[2:48] Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever.

[2:59] And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. Again, turning to Matthew.

[3:11] Turning to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew 6, and the few verses we have from verses 9 down to verse 13. Looking at the Lord's Prayer.

[3:26] Matthew 6, verses 9 to 13. After this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[3:38] Amen. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

[3:52] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

[4:03] Give praise to God for his holy and his perfect word. Let's again sing to God's praise. This time from Psalm 96.

[4:14] Psalm 96. Singing verses 1 down to verse 6. There's a theme in our singings and our psalms this evening.

[4:25] They are psalms praising God and singing about the reality of God's rule and God's reign. And that under God's rule and under God's reign that his kingdom and his people and creation itself, it flourishes.

[4:41] Psalm 96. We can sing verses 1 down to verse 6. We'll sing a new song to the Lord. Sing all the earth to God. To God sing. Bless his name.

[4:51] Show still his saving health abroad. Among the heathen nations. His glory do declare. And unto all the people show his wondrous works. His works are wondrous.

[5:02] Psalm 96 verses 1 to 6. To God's praise. Psalm 96. Psalm 96. O sing a new song to the Lord.

[5:19] Sing all the earth to God. Psalm 96. He is a new song to the Lord.

[5:56] to declare, and then to all the people shown his words at handless hand.

[6:17] For grace the Lord and grace the Lord is to be magnified.

[6:34] Ye worthy to be feared is he, the Lamb of God's beside.

[6:51] For on the cross the light of the storm, which blinded nations dear, but thou God is the Lord by whom the heavens created were.

[7:27] Great honor this before this face, and majesty divine.

[7:44] Strength is within his holy place, and there the beauty shines.

[8:02] Amen. Just for a quick recap from last week.

[8:38] We started last week looking at the first petition of the prayer, the first part of the prayer, Our Father which art in heaven. And we saw how for Christians to pray this, this is actually one of the most beautiful and encouraging things for us.

[8:56] We can even begin our prayers with. First of all, it reminds us that we are praying together. Our Father. The reality is, as we saw last week, there is no such thing as a Christian living or serving on their own.

[9:12] We all serve together. We pray to a Father who cares for his children, who is close to his people, and one who is in heaven, who, yes, is close and, yes, loves his children dearly.

[9:26] He is still enthroned in heaven with all the power and glory that he has. So we begin our prayer reminding ourselves who we are and who he is.

[9:39] This evening, again, just for a short time, and as we said last week, not short because of lack of content. It's quite the opposite. In this short phrase, Thy kingdom come, the reality is, and the truth is, that there is so, so much we could say about this.

[9:59] It's overflowing the amount of content that we could talk about. But for a short time this evening, as we look at this next phrase, Thy kingdom come, looking at it just in four very simple headings, four very simple areas.

[10:16] First of all, asking the question, what is the kingdom? What are we actually praying for? What is the kingdom? And then the next simple question, what does it mean for the kingdom to come?

[10:32] And the third question, what are the results of the coming of the kingdom? And finally, looking at, quite simply, the importance for us as Christians to pray this.

[10:47] This is one more quick recap. We did say, and for those who have followed for many years, and those who know the Lord, you know this yourselves. But just to recap for all of us, this Lord's Prayer, it is, of course, a prayer in and of itself.

[11:03] The church has prayed this prayer since the start, word for word. But of course, this prayer is also a guide that Jesus gives his people.

[11:14] It's a framework where we pray like this. We see that, as Jesus tells them in verse 9, after this manner, he's not saying pray this exact prayer, he's saying, in this style, or in this way, quite literally, pray like this.

[11:33] So what are we praying? As we pray in our prayers that God's kingdom would come. First of all, what is the kingdom?

[11:45] Thankfully, our catechism helps us here as it does for the whole, of course, of the Lord's Prayer. If you want to read ahead for next week, go back to your catechism, go back to the shorter, go back to the longer catechism, and you'll see that the Lord has blessed his church, of course, with these documents.

[12:06] They are subordinate standards, but they are reliable, and they are good, and they're for our benefit. Go back to the documents and see, in the catechism, question 102, the question, of course, asks, what do we pray for in the second petition?

[12:21] What do we pray for in the second petition? And the catechism answer tells us, in the second petition, which is, thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed, and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, that we ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it, and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

[12:49] What do we pray when we pray, thy kingdom come? What are we praying for? Well, quite simply, the kingdom of God is exactly what it sounds to be like.

[13:01] The kingdom of God, it's not just his creation, it is his creation, but it's not just his ownership of his creation, it's more than that, it's his reign over his creation.

[13:18] It's his reign, his full control, his full reign, his full access, his full control over all that he has made, all that he has, all that he has given.

[13:33] It is God's full control over everything, quite simply. That is his kingdom. That is the kingdom of God.

[13:45] This evening, in so many senses of the word, we are here in his kingdom. We'll see this as we go on shortly. In a broad sense, you are living and I am living and breathing air given to God, given to us from God.

[14:05] We are living lives that are given to us from God. We are living on creation and earth has been given to us by God as part of his creation, which is part of his kingdom.

[14:20] But verse more, it's just a physical. Those of us here this evening who know and who love the Lord, you are part of God's kingdom. We'll see that more in detail, but you are specially part of God's kingdom.

[14:34] It's more than just the physical. There's a greater spiritual reality and all that belongs to him too. Mark 1 and verse 15, we see Jesus talking and Jesus is there addressing those around him and Jesus preaches the gospel.

[14:55] And when Jesus preaches the gospel, he preaches it as repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is at hand.

[15:09] It's a full rule and presence and control of God over all his people, all his creation, all that he has made and all that he keeps control of, which is all things.

[15:27] The kingdom of God we see even in the catechism answer and we read actually in Psalm 72, we'll go back to that later on, the kingdom of God here, even this prayer, we see it going on in the prayer, it's contrasted with another kingdom.

[15:46] God's kingdom, God owns it all, God is of course in charge of it all, but we know ourselves that within God's kingdom there are other so-called kings who have made their own kingdoms for themselves and foremost in that kingdom of course is Satan himself.

[16:07] Satan himself, we know the account in scripture, we know it goes away all the way through scripture we see Satan out of his lust for power, out of his desire of defiance, out of various other reasons that he seeks and he sought and he still seeks to place himself as ruler of his own kingdom.

[16:30] Satan thinks that his world is his but he has his people here and we see that in Ephesians we looked at before where it's called this present kingdom of darkness, this present age of darkness.

[16:49] That's what we're saved from as Christians. Satan in a sense has set up his own kingdom. Now of course it has no power, no real power.

[17:02] It has no similarity at all to the kingdom of God and that's why we pray here God's kingdom would come. It contrasts the reality that we live in a world where we see the effects of sin.

[17:16] We see the pain and misery that Satan's kingdom is taking part in our world. We see the destruction and the pain and the sadness of sin.

[17:27] We see the sadness and tears in our own lives and in our community and in our world of warfare and strife. we see the reality of a kingdom that is broken.

[17:39] It has no real power. And underneath that we see don't we even humanly speaking on national levels, on household levels, even in families we see at times and to our shame even those who profess the name of Christ to have our own weak kingdoms, controlling situations, abusive situations.

[18:03] On a country wide level, nations which hate the gospel, which hate God. We see kingdoms small and large trying to fight against the reality that they are facing the kingdom of God.

[18:16] We had it this morning didn't we? We had it a morning but the reality is that as non-Christians we must be born again. The reality is that as non-Christians we are born hating God, born fighting against God.

[18:31] We are born outside of this kingdom. we are born hating this kingdom. And if nothing changes we will die outside of the kingdom.

[18:42] We had that in our reading this morning didn't we? Where Jesus tells Nicodemus unless you're born again you will not see the kingdom of God.

[18:53] Unless you're born again you will not enter the kingdom of God. God. So as we pray your kingdom come we are praying to God that he would expand and he would destroy his enemies.

[19:09] That he would rule and reign in our lives, in our community, in our island, in our nation, physically and spiritually. Here's the glorious but the mysterious thing about the kingdom of God and it's something which we can't really grasp because it's not there for us to grasp.

[19:32] But scripture makes clear to us that the kingdom of God is here now, is present now but also is not yet.

[19:44] Here but still not yet. And that sounds quite airy and mystical but it's what we see in scripture isn't it? The kingdom of God is here right now because the gospel is being preached to its people.

[20:00] We are here living, walking, talking, breathing evidence of God's kingdom right now. But when we sang it in Psalm 72 that there's a day coming when God's kingdom will what?

[20:13] Will fill the whole earth. Will fill the new heavens and the new earth. In a sense we are living in God's kingdom. You'll see that as we go on just now why that is the case.

[20:26] And we live our lives as Christians as part of God's kingdom. But the truth is there is more to come. More glory, more power, more wonder, more beauty as God's kingdom expands day by day, year by year, looking forward to that final time in eternity when there is nothing but his kingdom, nothing but his glory as it fills the new heaven and the new earth.

[20:54] A short phrase, we are praying for things beyond our own minds, beyond our own lives. We are praying for eternity. The kingdom of God is his full reign, his full control over his full creation.

[21:11] So what does it mean to pray for his kingdom to come? God has been since creation, since God first created the universe and all that it contains, all the angelic host, all the things we will see, things we will never see, the full expanse of our universe, the galaxies and planets and things which he has made for his own glory, for his own reasons, his universe was made and his kingdom, at that point, his kingdom came into being.

[21:58] The kingdom has been there since creation, but in quite another sense, in quite another and still just as real sense, we see the reality that in the incarnation, incarnation, in Jesus, the son of God, entering in to his own creation, in Jesus taking on human flesh, becoming like us in all ways, apart from sin, in all ways apart from sin, in that moment, in the son of God becoming man, we see the kingdom of God coming in a fullness that had never been seen before to that point.

[22:43] In the coming of Jesus, we see the arrival of the king into his own creation. The king has entered, as it were, the depths of his own kingdom.

[22:57] And he is there in his kingdom, and he is coming face to face as Jesus spends every day of his life, walking around the area, meeting face to face, and seeing for himself the reality of the destruction of sin, the misery that these so-called kingdoms of sin have caused and have chaos they have made in this world.

[23:25] As the son himself, the king himself, as he witnesses the death of his loved ones, death of Lazarus, we see him mourning, as he sees the destruction and pain of sin, he weeps over Jerusalem, as he sees and thinks of their rebellion, as he himself suffers the hands of sinful men.

[23:50] The king of his kingdom is seeing and is facing and is enduring the wrath and the evil and the misery of these so-called kingdoms which are standing in opposition to him.

[24:07] When Jesus is born, when Jesus is born, the kingdom of God in a very real sense is found walking and talking on the earth.

[24:20] as a son comes down out of glory into his own creation, as a son becomes servant, we see in that reality, that glorious reality, the kingdom of God is now incarnate.

[24:38] wherever Jesus is, the kingdom is with him. We see that again and again and we'll see that in our morning series Lord willing as we go through and go through but there's various times and I won't say when now, we'll see when it comes up, but there's various times when Jesus is talking to someone in John and he responds to them and he lets them know that they are talking to, that they are seeing the kingdom of God in front of them.

[25:08] How does that make sense? Well the kingdom of God is God's rule and God's reign as we said and in Jesus we see the full incarnation, the full person of God's rule and God's reign.

[25:23] The son of God, the eternal son of God, now present on earth, yes his glory is veiled, yes his glory is hidden for a time, but he is still there in all his fullness and all his glory, it's still within him, it's still there with him.

[25:37] wherever Jesus went, there the kingdom of God went, because there God himself went. We see that in the Old Testament, Israel is the example of that, we know that Israel was there as a type of Christ, as a shadow of Jesus, that Israel, despite their centuries of failing to do so, Israel were called to be the nations set apart by God.

[26:10] They were called to live lives that are holy to God. In essence, Israel was to be the example of what God is like on earth. Israel failed, Israel failed, and they failed again, and they failed again.

[26:27] But in Jesus, we've covered this before in other texts in our look of Psalm 110 last year, we saw how Jesus fulfilled all that Israel failed to do.

[26:40] So if Israel, the Old Testament, if they were supposed to be the kingdom of God on earth, an example of God's goodness and God's peace and God's love on earth, God's righteousness on earth, where they failed, Jesus did not.

[26:56] Israel was a shadow of who was to come. And when Jesus came, the kingdom of God was there too. All its fullness, all its beauty, but much like Jesus himself, it was veiled, it was hidden.

[27:11] The time was not yet. But look what happens. The saviour comes, and he begins what? He begins building his church. The church of old, of course, had been with Israel, we know that.

[27:26] But in the new testament age, as the spirit comes and lives within his people, as the spirit moves us and leads us and guides us, as the spirit opens up his word to us, as we see the church being added to daily in the first few centuries of the gospel, up to this very moment in time, where we see the church of God across our world, in some parts quite quiet, some parts almost shrinking, other parts of this world this evening.

[27:56] Dear brothers, dear sisters, God is building his church at a rate, at an unbelievable rate. In China alone, and of course we don't know for certain, but in China alone, they can almost say that there are more Christians, quietly serving, quietly living, dedicated Christians, who love their saviour, who love their Lord.

[28:20] There are more Christians in that one country, committed Christians, real Christians, than there are in most of Western Europe. In all of America and Western Europe combined, some estimates say, either way, the point is God is building his church.

[28:38] Again, mindful of this goes online, so be careful on these things, but if any of you receive the newsletters from Steadfast Global, of course that local charity work, they do, again, being careful, but receive their newsletter, and you see how God is building his church in places and in ways you can't even begin to imagine.

[29:00] The sun comes down and he brings the kingdom to earth. In a real physical way, the spirit then comes, when the sun ascends, he sends the spirit down, the spirit comes and the spirit lives inside his people and he grows his church.

[29:15] And here we are this evening, here we are this evening against all the odds, against 2,000 odd years of persecution and of misery and of death and of destruction, we are here in this tiny island, this tiny island, thousands of miles away, thousands of years later, we are praising this same Jesus because he is building his kingdom, his kingdom as he promised to Isaiah, as he promised to the prophets of old, would be across the whole of his creation, even to the furthest reaches of the Gentiles.

[29:55] We are living examples. The kingdom has come. The kingdom of God is his full reign and control over all that he has.

[30:06] The kingdom comes. The kingdom has come from the very start because when God made his creation, it is his kingdom. But then in a much more real and tangible sense for us, when the sun came down, when the sun was made incarnate, when the sun took on human flesh and became like one of us, the kingdom came to earth.

[30:33] And then from upwards the kingdom spreads and it spreads as his people are gathered in. So what's the results? What's the results when the kingdom of God enters into a place into a person?

[30:49] What are the results? See, all this last 20 minutes, it's good for us to know this perhaps theologically. It's good for us to have a better grasp of what the kingdom of God is and all that's fine and well.

[31:04] But if we leave this place this evening, having only grown in our theological understanding, then I have failed completely this evening. Because knowing this is one thing. It's good for us to know it.

[31:15] But we must understand why this is important for us as Christians. Why does it matter that God has his kingdom? Why should we pray for his kingdom to come?

[31:26] Why should we pray for the expanse of his kingdom? Why should we care for this at all? What are the results when the kingdom of God enters into a place, when the kingdom of God expands?

[31:37] why do we care this evening in Tulsa? Why do we care the kingdom of God is here? Christian, I'm sure if we're being honest, one of the things that we lack so much, I was going to say, these days, which we've lacked for many days, if we're being a Christian for a long time, if we're being very honest, we lack assurance, don't we?

[32:03] in various ways and in various guises, we lack assurance, either personal assurance of our own salvation, or assurance if we're being very honest that God is truly fulfilling his purposes and his promises as he says he is, as we stop and think that God is building his kingdom, that gives us such assurance.

[32:27] Every time we pray that God's kingdom will come, we are praying that God will expand his work, he will keep going, keep doing the thing he is already doing.

[32:40] It's assurance of God's promised salvation. As we pray just now, as we think just now, as we go home just now to our loved ones and perhaps to those who as of yet don't know the gospel, as we pray thy kingdom come, we pray that, don't we, for our own loved ones.

[33:00] We pray that we recase thy kingdom come to my house. Lord, thy kingdom come and expand in my home. We pray it for our area, don't we? Lord, thy kingdom come and expand to these houses, to this place.

[33:15] We pray for our island. Lord, thy kingdom come and expand across our island, across our nation. It gives us assurance. It reminds us that God is doing his work.

[33:27] It reminds us also of God's power. As we heard last week, we pray to a loving father who knows his people, who cares for his people, but who has the power to actually answer the prayers of his people.

[33:42] He is loving and close and gentle and caring, but he is also all powerful. This petition reminds us of the same thing. Thy kingdom come.

[33:54] We pray that knowing he has the power to answer it. He is and he will and he does build his kingdom. This prayer also reminds us that there's more to come.

[34:10] It lifts our minds out of whatever present situation we find ourselves in. Again, I don't know your home lives, your personal lives, I don't know your situation at all.

[34:24] The Lord does. And dear Christian, it is no jump of imagination to say that at times, last week, this week, and the coming weeks, there are times we will face where we will feel stuck, we will feel down mentally, physically, spiritually, and so on.

[34:41] There are times when life is hard and our walk is hard. There are times we feel like just giving up in all senses of the word. In these times we pray, thy kingdom come.

[34:52] It reminds us there is a future for us. We read it in Psalm 72. God willing, we'll sing it again in Psalm 72 as we conclude in a few short minutes.

[35:05] We pray looking forward to his coming kingdom. Despite our own current situation, we pray knowing that God is able, indeed, he promises that one day soon he will return, and his glory will fill the land.

[35:23] new heavens and new earth. For all the glory and beauty of this village, and there is much glory and much beauty in this place, all the natural beauty, the day is coming when there's even more glorious, new heavens, a new Tolstah, and with that his people living and serving him in full newness, his glory filling the land.

[35:50] That's what we look forward to. this prayer reminds us there is a future hope that is coming, and every day it is getting closer and closer. Connected to that again in Psalm 72, and again in Psalm 110, too, we looked at before, the kingdom of God implies that God will destroy, and indeed is destroying his enemies.

[36:14] God will destroy, and is destroying his enemies. That brings us hope. comfort. There are many situations and many people who will evade justice, and who will evade punishment in this lifetime.

[36:31] We know that's the case. Again, in your own personal eyes, perhaps you've been wronged in ways that are awful. If not yourself, then you know of situations like that. If not us, then there are Christians this very moment, who are, we know, facing situations that are unbearable.

[36:50] And humanly speaking, they will not find justice. Thy kingdom come. That reminds us, there's a day of justice coming. When his kingdom comes, his enemies are destroyed.

[37:05] We read again in Psalm 72, that beautiful psalm. Read that psalm again this evening when you go home. That psalm has two points to it, two major areas. God's care for the weak and the needy and the poor and the defenceless and God's coming kingdom.

[37:22] And these two things aren't there by accident, they're connected. God's coming kingdom gives hope to those who suffer now, that their enemies will be destroyed, that he will look after them, he will keep them, he will pour his love out on them.

[37:38] The kingdom of God brings an end to his enemies. The kingdom of God brings salvation to sinners. everyone here this evening who knows and loves Jesus, that you and I, that we are, as we said, walking, talking, breathing, living examples of God's kingdom.

[37:59] That you are transformed life, that you are a story, that you are a testimony, that you exist, you exist, despite how you see yourself or think of yourself, you exist as an evidence, as a glowing evidence of God's kingdom.

[38:19] He took you from death, gave you life, and there you are, called out of darkness, called from misery, called from death, and given life. Briefly, to conclude, why should we then as Christians pray this petition?

[38:37] Why is it important for us in our prayers to pray this in some way? not saying we pray these words exactly, there's no magic words in scripture, that's foolish. We pray, we must pray as part of our prayers, we should pray Lord that you would bring your kingdom to my home, my island, and so on.

[38:55] However you word it yourself, we must pray that his kingdom would come. Why? Why must we pray for the coming of the kingdom? As we said, in a day of darkness it reminds us of the reign of God.

[39:11] In a day, I'm not speaking of yourselves, because I don't know the situation, but speaking just in general as to the church in Scotland today, even the church in our island today if we're being honest.

[39:24] We pray that God's kingdom would come because in a day of perhaps personal or congregational or national spiritual dryness that reminds us there is a coming day of flourishing, a coming day of spiritual streams.

[39:40] The day is coming. God will either revive his nation once more, he will revive us once more. If he doesn't do that before the end comes, when the end does come we will be eternally revived.

[39:53] It's important for us to pray thy kingdom come. It gives us hope in the presence of spiritual dryness in a personal sense, congregational sense and national sense.

[40:05] it reminds us also of our servant king. For our saviour, as we said before, he brought in the kingdom of God as a servant.

[40:23] Bell writes, the kingdom of God should have arrived in creation, should have arrived on earth with Jesus coming as conquering king with the millions of angels around him, as we saw last week, as Nathaniel was waiting for.

[40:38] The angels coming and the enemies being destroyed, but no, our servant king chose to come and to bring the kingdom into his own creation quietly, to do so as a servant.

[40:57] Dear brothers, dear sisters, as we pray, thy kingdom come, it gives us assurance of a sovereign king, it gives us assurance of a certain future for us as the king's people, it reminds us of our place in the kingdom, only the Lord's people can pray, thy kingdom come, and mean these words, only the Lord's people want to see the kingdom expanded.

[41:27] Dear Christian, this week, this evening, in your prayers, I would pray the Lord's prayer itself or somehow be mindful this week of including this in your prayers, pray that God would expand his kingdom in your home, in your life, in your area, place of work, and so on and so on, that God would expand his kingdom.

[41:50] Do that this week, try and do that and see how your assurance is built up, see how your confidence in who he is and what he's done is built up. Just to close with, again, the fact that must be stated to those who, as of yet, don't know Jesus.

[42:12] And again, God's providence, you heard already this morning, the text lined up perfectly. This morning, we heard Jesus tell Nicodemus, if you're not born again, if you cannot call Jesus your Lord and your Saviour, then you will never see the kingdom of God, and you will never enter the kingdom of God, despite how qualified you may think you are in every other way, without knowing Jesus, serving Jesus, and loving Jesus, without being born again, without that genuine repentance and turning to Christ for salvation, you will never see the kingdom, or know the kingdom, or enter the kingdom.

[42:58] That itself is terrifying enough, but as we're about to sing again in Psalm 72, as we read in the psalm itself, the reality is that for those outside of the kingdom, what is there?

[43:14] What is there? In verse 9 of Psalm 72, we see that, as it tells in, of course, poetic, beautiful, descriptive language, terrifying language, that's verse 9 of Psalm 72, they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.

[43:37] God will look after and protect and love forever those who are in his kingdom. That, Christian, you can be assured of. Dear friend, dear friend, and I mean this genuinely, dear friend, who as of yet don't know Jesus for yourself, there is no place for you outside the kingdom.

[44:01] There's no place of safety. There's no place where you can find a way in somehow. There's no loophole you can manage. Outside the kingdom, what is there? There's no joy, not eternally.

[44:13] There's no peace, not eternally. There's no life. Not eternally. You're either in the kingdom, or you're still outside the kingdom. Outside the kingdom, what only awaits for you, judgment and destruction.

[44:29] But that is not the end of the news, is it? The fact is, you're here this evening, hearing the gospel one more time. You've heard it so many times before. And I said this morning, if we could, with tears in our eyes, we would beg you into the kingdom.

[44:45] We would drag you into the kingdom, kicking and screaming, but we can't do it. We can't do it. You must be born again. If you want to understand what it is for yourself this evening, to pray thy kingdom come, to know the assurance and the love and the hope that prayer can give you, you must be born again.

[45:06] Go again home and read what we heard this morning of the account of Nicodemus. and read again these verses. Read again Psalm 72 and pray these things over.

[45:16] Discuss with your elders or discuss with someone who you know who's a Christian. It would be our joy, and it would truly be our joy to see you, even this week, even this evening, be able to say and to pray for yourself with a heart full of acknowledgement and with love and with joy, thy kingdom come, that be true of your life.

[45:42] Let's close our eyes and our heads in a word of prayer. Lord, we come again before you. Lord, we thank you again for your word. We have a sure hope that for all who trust in you, that you hear the cries of your people.

[45:59] As we read in that psalm, Lord, that you hear those who are needy, you hear those who cry out for help, that you do not ignore their cry, I pray, Lord, for those this evening who as of yet don't know you, that they would cry out, even this evening, even just now, who cry out for salvation, who cry out to you, knowing that you're there, the work has been done, willing, ready to hear, able to save, to save to the uttermost.

[46:28] We do pray, Lord, for ourselves this evening, as we do pray that your kingdom would come. We pray for the expanse of your kingdom in our own homes, as we think of loved ones who as of yet are not part of the kingdom.

[46:39] We pray for the expanse of the kingdom to this area, to the houses in this place where your gospel, your word is not heard or discussed or known from one end of the year to the other. We pray for an expanse, an extension and a growth of your kingdom in our island, where there are so many who are in complete darkness spiritually, who have all the world can give them, but who have not Jesus and who at this very moment are outside of the kingdom.

[47:04] Lord, we ask you bring them into the kingdom, to expand your kingdom, Lord, across our nation, across our land, across our world. We understand that we pray this knowing that only you can expand your kingdom.

[47:17] Only you can do that work. We, Lord, see that work take place as we fulfil our duties as part of that. You are glorified in all that you do. Lord, you forgive anything that was said not in accordance to your word.

[47:30] We give you praise again that the power is in your word and not in the jars of clay who may stand up here. Help us to sing these final items of praise with hearts and minds full of understanding and full of praise as we sing once more as to the reality of our future, a future where all people will love you, will know you, a new heavens and new earth where all will gather to worship their Saviour.

[47:59] Let's call these things in and through and for Christ's precious name's sake. Amen. Let's conclude with the words of Psalm 72.

[48:12] Those kingdom building, future kingdom words. We can sing verses 16, just the second half, second half of verse 16.

[48:25] The city shall be flourishing. Of course, we said this is looking forward, speaking at very human terms, we was looking forward to that new, very real heavens and that very real new earth and new heavens and new earth where God's glory will exist and we will live for eternity with our Saviour.

[48:41] The city shall be flourishing, her citizens abound, and numbers shall like to the grass that grows upon the ground. His name forever shall endure, last like the sun it shall.

[48:53] Men shall be blessed in him and blessed all nations shall him call. let's sing these words to the end of the psalm, to God's praise.��する verse 10 The city shall be flourishing, our citizens abound.

[49:21] In our church in turn going, the Savior and the Lamb минут in no exile thanks to God.

[49:50] I will sound it shout, and show it us to him, and bless all his young child in God.

[50:15] Now blessed be the Lord and God, the God of Israel.

[50:33] For he alone, the wondrous works, in glory thou excel.

[50:51] And blessed be his glorious name, to all eternity.

[51:07] The Holy Spirit, his holy fill, and earth so let it be.

[51:27] Again, it's after the benediction. Give me a second to get to the back door. Let's close the benediction. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, who is with you now and forevermore.

[51:44]  Amen.