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
Unbelievers can be so frustrating to a Christian sometimes. They are unable to understand some of the truths from the Scriptures that are so clear and obvious to you and me. One man insisted during our discussion that he could never accept that anyone could rise from the dead. I told him that I could never explain it, but I had no problem accepting it. To him, I was a fool. But to me, his inability to grasp what was so precious and plain to me was just a confirmation of the truth of the Word of God, when it declares, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is what our text today is declaring.
A well-preached Gospel message is a delight to a child of God. There are times when, as we listen to faithful and gifted men declare the glorious glad tidings, we feel as though we could get saved all over again! The truths of man’s ruin, God’s remedy, and man’s responsibility are impressed on us once again, and we praise God for the simplicity and grandeur of the message. But poor unconverted souls around us are unimpressed. They appear undisturbed about the description of themselves as hopeless and helplessly bound by the chains of their own sinfulness. They appear unimpressed by the love of a Saviour Who shed His own life’s blood for their atonement on the tree. They appear unconcerned about the dire warnings of wrath on those who reject or neglect so great salvation. And if the truths of the Gospel are so incomprehensible to them, how much more are the magnificent truths that God has unfolded to His redeemed after we have entered into His family? A ministry meeting that the Christians find encouraging and uplifting might as well be preached in a foreign language as far as the unconverted are concerned. How true the words of our text that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation!
But some of the things that are hidden from those who are not born again are also obscured from the carnal believer. While it is true that the Holy Spirit provides instruction to every believer, He will not offer further instruction to any who remain disobedient to the instructions they have already received. A Christian who dabbles in unconfessed sin will never know the leading of the Spirit in matters of doctrine or in godliness. It is only through submission to the will of God, and obedience to the Word of God, that we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. But it does come to those who firmly grasp by faith the things that the unconverted or carnal mind cannot observe. -Jim MacIntosh