Laughter in the Kingdom of God

George Whitefield is correctly known as the greatest preacher in the history of the English language.

Who was his mentor? Some might say the professors who gave him his degree at Oxford, of course. Others might confidently shout back, “Why, John Wesley, of course.”

Both his university teachers and dear brother Wesley contributed to the man of God who he became. Yet, among the sons of earth, the greatest credit must be given to the greatest of all Bible Commentators: Matthew Henry.

Whitefield, before beginning his ministry, as is famously known, spend months on his knees before his Greek Bible and his volumes of Matthew Henry’s Commentaries. Divinely taught directly by the Word of God, while being preached to from a volume of books.

These commentaries are filled with vividly clear understandings of the Word of God. One becoming acquainted with them will easily begin to wonder why he has never heard a preacher just preach directly from these pages so wonderfully filled with clarity

It is believed that this is exactly what God wanted for this sermon tonight. Yes, and perhaps for others messages to come on other Wednesday nights, the chosen to address the members of the Body of Christ, here at the S.A.L.T., the Savior’s Ambassadors Laboring Together.

Come with us now, as we dare to let another man, a wiser man, a better man fill our pulpit and preach to us from a part of the Gospels so little preached on.

Listen now to what brother Henry has to say. Although some small changes have been made to make his words clearer for the age we live, the majority of what we now hear is preached by him.

He says,

“[In the last half of the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 17:20-37) Jesus speaks powerfully to both the ministers of his day and to the proposed members of his church (i.e. to the “Pharisees” and to the “disciples”)] concerning the kingdom of God, that is, the kingdom of the Messiah, which was [then] shortly to be set up, and of which there was great expectation.

I. Laughing at the little preacher

“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:” (Luke 17:20)

Matthew Henry says,

“Jesus tells them that the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a spiritual kingdom, and not temporal and external.

“Here is the demand of the Pharisees concerning it, which occasioned this discourse.

1. “They asked when the kingdom of God should come, forming a notion of it as a temporal kingdom, which should advance the Jewish nation above the nations of the earth.
2. “They were impatient to hear some tidings of its approach; they understood, perhaps, that Christ had taught his disciples to pray for the coming of it, and they had long preached that it was at hand.
   1. “Now,’ say the Pharisees, ‘when will that glorious view open?
   2. “When shall we see this long-looked-for kingdom?’
3. “Christ’s [replied] to this demand,
   1. directed to the Pharisees first, and
   2. afterwards to his own disciples, who knew better how to understand it (v. 22);
   3. what he said to both, he saith to us.”

II. Laughing at the big preacher

“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21, King James version)

“Nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke17:20-21, New American Standard Bible version)

Matthew Henry says,

“Jesus tells them that the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a spiritual kingdom, and not temporal and external.

“They [the established, experienced and well-schooled ministers] asked when it [the kingdom of God] would come.

“You know not what you ask,’ saith Christ; ‘it may come, and you not be aware of it.’ For it has not an external show, as other kingdoms have, the advancements and revolutions of which are taken notice of by the nations of the earth, and fill the newspapers; so they expected this kingdom of God would do.

“No,’ saith Christ,

“It will have a silent entrance, without pomp, without noise; it cometh not with observation,” meta parateµreµseoµs—with outward show.

“They desired to have their curiosity satisfied concerning the time of [the Kingdom of God], to which Christ does not give them any answer, but will have their mistakes [corrected] concerning the nature of [the Kingdom of God; in fact, four different parts of it. Listen now as brother Henry tells these big preachers all four of them]:

1. “It is not for you to know the times of this kingdom, these are secret things, which belong not to you; but the great intentions of this kingdom, these are things revealed.
2. “When Messiah the Prince comes to set up his kingdom, they shall not say, Lo here, or Lo there, as when a prince goes in progress to visit his territories it is in every body’s mouth, he is here, or he is there; for where the king is there is the court.
3. “Christ will not come with all this talk; it will not be set up in this or that particular place; nor will the court of that kingdom be here or there; nor will it be here or there as it respects the country men are of, or the place they dwell in, as if that would place them nearer to, or further from, that kingdom.
4. “Those who confine Christianity and the church to this place or that party, cry, Lo here, or Lo there, … nothing is more contrary to the designs of [combined historical] Christianity. [Do you see it? This is how the big preachers attempt to make (to qualify)] prosperity and external pomp [as] a mark of the true church.”

III. Laughing for the right reason, at last

“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21, King James Version)

Matthew Henry says,

“It has a spiritual influence: The kingdom of God is within you.”

“It is not of this world. [Look up] John 18:36 [later.] Its glory does not strike men’s fancies, but affects their spirits, and its power is over their souls and consciences; from them it receives homage, and not from their bodies only.

1. “The kingdom of God will not change men’s outward condition, but their hearts and lives.
2. “Then [the Kingdom of God] comes when it makes those humble, and serious, and heavenly, that were proud, and vain, and carnal,—when it weans those from the world that were wedded to the world; and therefore look for the kingdom of God in the revolutions of the heart, not of the civil government.
3. “The kingdom of God is among you; so some read it.
   1. “You [all] enquire when it will come, and are not aware that it is already begun to be set up in the midst of you [and continues today, and even right now].
   2. “The gospel is preached, it is confirmed by miracles, it is embraced by multitudes, so that it is in your nation, though not in your hearts.”
   3. “Note, It is the folly of many curious enquirers concerning the times to come that they look for that before them which is already among them.

Conclusion:

We do not have time to stop and pay attention to those who would hinder us with their mocking, with their unbelief, and wasteful questions. Members of the Body of Christ, be about your Savior’s business.

• The Kingdom of God is within you! Hallelujah! Rejoice in Christ and be filled with his power and love, but… For what?
• The Kingdom of God, since it is in you, is among them! You therefore are “the light of the world.” You are the S.A.L.T.
• The Kingdom of God must be expanded by you!
  • We have no time to listen to the big preachers, the know-it-alls, those who, as our Lord told them, “Say you see, therefore your sin remaineth.”
  • And we definitely have no time to be a mocker unto them: to rise to that which God says in his Word he hates: to pride, and doing to them what they would do to us: laugh at their misery, their pride which daily smooths their slide down further and further from nearest, from divine connectivity to Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Savior of the World!
  • We must be about our Father’s business. Yes, for behold our Lord is coming… soon!
  • Win souls, now!

Take away:

“Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed:” (Luke 17:30)

OUTLINE:

Laughter in the Kingdom of God

1. Laughing at the little preacher! (Luke 17:20)
2. Laughing at the big preacher!

• Laughing for the right reason, at last! (Luke 17:20-21)

“The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21, KJV)

“The kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke17:20-21, NASB)