May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke and chapter 8 and we'll read the first verse. The
Gospel of Luke chapter 8 and reading the first verse. And it came to pass afterward
that he went throughout every city and village preaching and
showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve
were with him. As we read through the Gospels,
it is evident that the Lord Jesus was occupied on so many fronts,
doing so many things, And we know he had but little sleep
and nowhere to lay his head. And we must recognize, therefore,
what a great and glorious God we have. And in this verse, we're simply
told he went throughout every city and village, preaching and
showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the 12 were
with him. Clearly that was all the villages
and towns around Galilee. But there were a great number
and it was seen that he was set on preaching the gospel to all
these people. How wonderful it was for those
that heard his words. Now it is our favour today that
we have a record of much of this. Many things are recorded. for
our blessing and for our benefit. And what we're told in this verse
is this, he went throughout every city and village preaching and
showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve
were with him. And we know of course that the
Apostle Paul speaks about the foolishness of preaching and
yet it is the ordained way in which God sees fit to instruct
and to bless people. And so we should never belittle
preaching. We should never think it is irrelevant. We should always consider it
as the most important part as we gather together for worship. And here we are told that the
Lord went preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom
of God. Now, the glad tidings of the
kingdom of God, the glad tidings of the church of God, the glad
tidings of what the Lord spoke to the people. And in the 17th
of the Gospel of Luke, Luke explains it a little clearer to us because
in the 17th chapter and the 20th verse we read this 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 neither shall they say no here or no there
for behold the kingdom of God is within you. That is a very
important and significant statement. As we think of these words, the
glad tidings of the kingdom of God, to realize that if we are
the people of God, that kingdom, the good tidings of the kingdom
is actually within us. Now, obviously you need some
qualification. Because it is only to those who
have received the Word of God. Only to those who have been made
spiritually alive that receive the Word of God. And it's only
to such that this Word applies. The glad tidings of the Kingdom
of God. Because unless that is so, it
is not glad tidings. Why should it be glad tidings? Well, it's glad tidings because
of this. A person in whose heart is the
work of the Holy Spirit will have been shown something of
their sinfulness, of their wretchedness, of their evil, and they won't
come and as the Pharisees did to try and justify themselves
and telling all the good things they were doing. They will come
very much like the publican which the Lord spoke about. When he
came to pray and he smote upon his breast, he didn't lift up
his eyes and he said a very simple and a very powerful and a very
effectual prayer, be merciful to me, a sinner.' Now it is to
such who recognise their failings and their position before a holy
God who come to him in this way, and it's those that receive the
glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. The glad tidings with regards
to the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done. So the Lord Jesus
Christ will not be glad tidings unless we are looking to the
Saviour, unless we know we need a Saviour. There won't be anything
other than that. But it'll be a wonderful blessing
if the Holy Spirit does come and direct us to the need of
a Saviour. And as such, it will be glad
tidings. Well, we've gathered here this
morning, haven't we, to hear the gospel. I hope we've come
here to hear the gospel. And I hope we've come here because
we want to hear some glad tidings. We want to hear some good news. We want to hear that the Lord
Jesus Christ has come into this world to save sinners. as the Apostle Paul said, of
whom I am chief. And we want to know that Lord
Jesus has come to save our souls. He's come to visit us and so
that we receive these glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And we
have the evidence then that the kingdom of God is within us,
in our very being. Well, I spoke to the children
this morning at the Sunday school on the monthly occasion when
I go, and I hope the children remembered what I spoke to them. And I spoke to them about the
fact that all of us have a never-dying soul. And that soul is within
us. And that soul is something separate
from our natural body. And I gave them the very wonderful
example of the thief, the dying thief on the cross. There were
two thieves, and we know that one received the Kingdom of God,
the good tidings of the Kingdom of God, and the other one didn't. And the one that did receive
the good tidings of God, he recognized that he was receiving that which
he justly deserved, to be crucified for his sin. But he also desired
that God, the Savior Jesus Christ, would remember him when he came
into his kingdom. It was very clear that in that
short space of time, that thief had recognized through what the
Saviour had said on the cross, a short distance away, that he
was dying and that he would be going to glory, to be with his
Father in heaven. And therefore, what did the thief
say? He said, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. The effect was that this was
glared tidings. And the Lord said to him, This
day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And what did that clearly
show? It showed this. The dying thief's body was one
thing. That would not go to be with
Jesus in paradise at that time. But what would go to be with
Jesus in paradise was his never-dying soul. And that was really the
point of our little talk this morning, to prove that all of
us therefore have a never-dying soul. And all of us therefore
must spend eternity either in glory with the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, or we should perish and die and go to hell with the
devil and all his angels forever and ever. There is a very stark
difference. It is a very tremendous difference. It is a very important difference. And therefore how needful it
is for us today to know that we have received the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God within us. Not something which just
penetrates into our mind and just stays there. That's why
I refer to that verse in the 17th of this chapter in Luke
where the Lord spoke so very clearly, for behold the kingdom
of God is within you. It's that which the Holy Spirit
makes spiritually alive. our soul. What a wonderful thing
then to have the evidence of life within. And it is then glad
tidings. Why is it glad tidings? It's
glad tidings because then we, like the dying thief, can believe
we will be in paradise with the Saviour forever and forever and
forever. How important it is then that
we today know something of these glad tidings. And the glad tidings,
of course, are very powerful and very simply this, that you
and I need a saviour, one who takes away our sin. We stand
as a sinner before a holy God, who is holy, and we are not holy,
left to ourselves. We are sinners, unholy. An unholy sinner can never enter
into that holy place of glory. So what a wonderful thing it
is to realize there is some glad tidings, the glad tidings of
the gospel. Jesus Christ came to seek and
to save that which was lost, that which had no hope naturally,
like the dying thief. He knew he needed a savior. That's why he prayed to Jesus. He prayed and he said this, Lord
remember me. He didn't want to be forgotten.
He didn't want to be passed by. And my friends, none of us want
to be passed by. We don't want to be forgotten. We don't want to hear the gospel
and it has no effect. We read together in this chapter
what we refer to as the parable of the sower. And it's a very
direct statement. It's a very clear statement.
And we're told that the seed is the word of God. Jesus explained
the parable. The disciples heard it. They
didn't really understand it. But Jesus told them what it meant. And this is what it means. The
seed is the word of God. We've heard the seed. We've heard
the word of God. All of us here have heard the
word of God. What Jesus has said. Now, the great question is, what
effect has it had upon us? The words of Jesus on the cross
had a gracious and good effect upon that dying thief. And what
a blessing it will be if when we hear or have heard the Word
of God, that it is glad tidings. We rejoice that we have a hope
of eternal life, not because of what we've done, but because
of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. And he's given us hearing
ears, because the Savior said in this parable, he that hath
ears to hear, let him hear. My friends, we've all got natural
ears, and all of us can hear. The great thing is whether we
have spiritual ears. Some people have sat here in
the Gospel for many years, perhaps they've heard hundreds of sermons,
but they've never heard the Gospel. They've never heard the Gospel.
What a blessing if we've heard it. And if therefore we've heard
it, and it's being glad tidings. It will have been, if the Holy
Spirit has applied the Word, it will have been glad tidings
to us. Now, this seed of the Word, you
see that Lord Jesus gives us examples of these people that
hear the Word of God. He tells us there were those
by the wayside and what happened to them? The good seed was sown,
and what happens? The devil comes along and takes
away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved. Well, all of us have heard the
Word of God. Has the devil come? Has he taken
the Word away? So you haven't really heard it? And by that I mean this, it hasn't
had a real effect upon your soul? left you in the same state, you've
gone out from hearing the sermon, you've forgotten about it, and
it hasn't made any change in your life. The Word of God, the
truth of God, as our ears are open, has an effect. It must have an effect because
it is the work of God. And so that was the first type. And the second type were those
that the parable describes, like a rock, which when they hear,
they receive the word with joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe, and at time of temptation, they fall away. They turn away from it. That's
when they're faced with a choice, a difficulty. in their life,
whether they're going to follow the Lord or whether they're going
to deny the Lord. And what do they do? They deny the Lord by
their actions. They turn away from him. The
words they've heard haven't penetrated. They haven't had a good effect.
And therefore they fall away. That's a tragic situation, isn't
it? That's a tragic situation. They
haven't truly received the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And then there are those which
receive this word like that and falls among thorns. And what's
the description there? When they go forth and they are
choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. You know, you and I can be choked
with the cares. We can sit in chapel, can't we?
And all we think about is our workload or our study load or
our things we're going to do. And we don't listen. The word
doesn't have any effect upon us. No, we're just like these
people here. Just like they are. Choked, choked
with cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And what's the
effect? No fruit. No benefit. No good. No, we've wasted our
time. And some of us have to confess
we've wasted perhaps many years in our life. Tragic, isn't it? What a blessing if the Holy Spirit
therefore has convinced us of our true need of a Saviour. So
that instead of wasting our time, we come and we're found then
like good ground hearers. What are they described as? Who
in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it
and bring forth fruit with patience. They keep it, and as we read
further on in this same chapter, they do it. What a good thing,
isn't it? When the Holy Spirit convinces
us that we should follow the gracious example and the gracious
words of the scripture. And therefore we rejoice in the
glad tidings of the kingdom of God, the glad tidings concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And those glad tidings are very
simply this. The blessed saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he came into this sinful world. He went about doing
good. And you think, my friends, ponder
what he did. in those three years, really,
when he started preaching the Gospel after he was baptized,
how much good he did, how much he preached, how many places
he went to, how many people heard the Word, how many people rejected
the Word, how many people received the Word into an honest heart. You see, you and I have fallen
into one of those two categories. We either reject the Word of
God or we receive it. Now then, if you and I receive
it, it's because the Holy Spirit has given us ears to hear. And we receive it not as the
Word of Man, we receive it as the powerful Word of God. And the blessing of it is, it
has an effect upon us. And what does it do? It changes
us. We become a new creature. We're
a different person. We have different priorities.
Rather than serving ourself, rather than trying to please
ourself, rather than occupying our life in the pleasurable things,
now our concern is to follow and to honour the Blessed Saviour
who gave His life to redeem us. the glorious God, the mighty
Jesus who so wonderfully and so willingly laid down his life
that you and I might receive the gift of eternal life. There's no greater gift than
you and I can ever receive than the gift of eternal life. It is glad tidings of the Kingdom
of God. You know, you children are probably
very pleased, aren't you, to receive presents at birthdays
and Christmas. You look forward to it and you
receive it and you're thankful. But you know, the greatest gift is what God gives. It's not something
anybody else can give. And God gives the gift. of eternal life. And that will never perish. The things you and I have given
at birthdays and Christmas, they come and they go and they break
and they wear out. But you see, the gift of eternal
life is what it says. It's eternal. It never wears
out. And what glad tidings it is. Because when we stand before
a holy God convinced of our condition, we don't deserve any merit. We
don't deserve any favor. We know that we're guilty and
we're a sinner and we're lost and ruined and to know the wonderful
favor of the Savior. What a mercy it is then to rejoice
then in these words, glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And it
is very amazing to think that God should have loved us so much
that he would be willing to come and die upon the cross at Calvary
in order to redeem our sin, redeem us from our sins. Some of us
went to a baptising service yesterday afternoon and a hymn we sang
was Hymn 191. And it's this, and it's a very
true statement from, I believe, all believers. Oh, why did Jesus
show to me? See, religion is personal. The beauties of his face, why
to my soul did he convey the blessings of His grace. Grace is the free, unmerited
favour of God. We stand amazed. Why should God
do that for me? Oh, how could He so sweetly smile on
such a wretch as I? I, who His name did once revile,
and his dear truth deny, but t'was because he'd love my soul,
because he died for me, because that nothing could control his
great, his firm decree, Lord, for thy manifested grace, I'll
raise a cheerful song, till I shall see thy brighter face midst the
celestial throng." Well that was a good expression by the
person that wrote that hymn. I believe it is the expression
of a true believer. Because we look at ourselves
and we are amazed that the Lord should look upon us just like
John Newton when he said those began that him amazing grace
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me he wasn't under
any misapprehension he realized how unworthy he was and that's
true of the church of god we don't think like the pharisees
do well i am worthy of tape somebody taking notice of me i've done
this and i've done that we can't count that at all We come just as we are without
one plea. Can't justify it ourself. But
so glad to hear the good tidings, the glad tidings that Jesus died
to save sinners. And therefore, that gives us
hope. That gives us hope to believe
that Jesus has looked upon me. Jesus has loved me. Jesus has redeemed me. Jesus has gone to prepare a place
for me in glory. What a wonder of ones it is. And so here you see the blessed
Savior was seen going from city to city and village to village
preaching the good tidings of the Kingdom of God, showing the
glad tidings of the Kingdom of God, and that which was describing
the personal experience of the work of grace in our hearts,
in our very being. Not that which is just passing
through our minds, but that which is by the grace of God, which
produces that new being, so that we are passed from darkness to
life. We are a new creature. The Bible of course expresses
it in very wonderful and very clear terms. When the Lord spoke
to Nicodemus and told him, you must be born again. That means we have that new nature. Our soul is spiritually alive
and then it is that we are glad to hear these tidings of the
Kingdom of God. We are thankful to hear what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. And I'll tell you something which
is interesting. You might think, well, the minister preached that
last week. Well, was it good tidings last
week? If it was, it'll be good tidings
this week. You know, we're told this in
the Word of God. The people heard the grace of
God. They heard the truth of God. And they wanted it repeated
the next Lord's Day. They didn't get fed up with it.
It was good news. It was glad tidings. And it is
indeed a very clear evidence of God's mercy and God's love
and God's favour if, when the Holy Spirit comes, and opens
our spiritual eyes to see what we are, what we need, and how
the Saviour has gloriously come into this world to suffer and
bleed and die upon the cross at Calvary to take away our sins. It is good news. It's wonderful
news. And it's news that you and I
will never be tired of. It's so wonderful. And so, the glad tidings of the
kingdom of God. And the glad tidings are this.
When you and I have finished our life upon the earth, we shall
go and to be with Christ, which is far better. Now, what a mercy
if you and I can enter into what the apostle Paul was able to
say. He said for me to live today, tomorrow, is Christ. And to die is gain. Christ was his life. What a blessing, my friends.
Today, if Christ is our life, that means it's glad tidings
of the kingdom of God. This is what the Savior preached.
This is what the Savior spoke to these people in all these
places that he went to. The good tidings of the kingdom
of God. We're passing through this world,
we live on this world, but this world is not the home of the
people of God. We're looking forward to our
eternal home, to our eternal rest. As the apostle says when
he wrote to the Hebrews, for here we have no continuing city,
but we seek one to come. And that's a pretty dividing
statement as well, isn't it? Because it sorts out those who
are true Christians if they are seeking the city to come, the
heavenly city, heaven at last, if we're on a journey and we're
passing through this earth, we're passing through time to our eternal
home, to then to be with the whole Church of God and the Saviour
forever and ever. Is this not good news? It is
good news. to those who are undone, to those
who are lost and ruined sinners, who have no hope in themselves.
Their hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. What a mercy when you and I see
the value in the life and the death and the resurrection, ascension
and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we see in
Him a glory which exceeds all the glory of the things of this
earth. However glorious they may be,
you remember that King Solomon, he tried to find happiness in
this earth. He was a most clever man and
a very wealthy man. And he did all he could to be
happy in this life. And the book of the Ecclesiastes
describes what he did. And he came to this conclusion.
He said, all is vanity of vanity and vexation of spirit. Now what a blessing it is if
you and I come to the same conclusion. You know, we will come to the
same conclusion if the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts and
directing us to the truth of these words, the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God. We will be looking forward. to
the eternal home that the Lord has gone to prepare for us. And
we will find that this world is not our rest. The prophet
Micah tells us, with reference to this world, he says, this
is not your rest, it is polluted. It's not a nice place to remain
in. And you and I only have to look
around, don't we? Now God has given us many things
to enjoy, and we should. all the glories of nature, a
wonderful demonstration of the greatness of God. Wonderful it
is, isn't it, as we see the spring, we see the things becoming alive,
the things which appear dead, springing forth, the clear demonstration
of the great and glorious Creator all around us. Rejoice in that. Praise God for it. Bless God
for it. But my friends, don't rejoice.
in the poor so-called pleasures of this world, that the world
is so involved with, and so saturated with, and so taken up with. My friends, may you and I be
taken up with the things of God. May they be the things that we
want to hear about, want to talk about, want to speak about. Don't forget the words in In
Micah, then, those that feared the Lord spake often one to another. And a book of remembrance was
written. It wasn't something which was foreign to them. It
wasn't something they spoke about once a year. It was something
they often spoke about. Surely, it is so very, very true. I've used the illustration. I'm
sure you're familiar with it. You know, especially if you're
a boy or a man, you know you see people go into a football
match and they watch the match and they come out, what are they
talking about? Talking about the football match,
aren't they? And that's like talking about
other things. You know, when the people of God come and hear
the sermon preached, they go out, and what are they talking
about? Well, it's pretty sad, isn't it? They don't often talk
about the thing they've heard. You'd think they hadn't been
and heard of service. You'd think they hadn't heard the preaching
of the gospel. are talking about everything else under the sun. And yet they should be speaking
about the things they've heard. And they should be testifying
that they approved of them. They should testify they had
an effect upon them. They should testify that God
had heard and answered their prayers. He'd come and met with
them. It wasn't a wasted hour. It was
a time of blessing. It was a time of profit. They
that fear the Lord spake often one to another, well, showing
the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. Well, the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God is to know my Jesus crucified. by far excels
all things beside." That was the hymn writer's testimony. It was a good statement and it
would be a good test and a good statement for us today, if we
can't say it, to desire and to pray that we might be able to
say it, because it is good And it is a wonderful place. And
it is a blessed place. And it is a godly place. And
it's not an ungodly place. And the devil hates it. The devil
tries to turn us away from it. Well remember, this is what the
blessed saviour did when he was going around to all the villages
and the cities. What did he do? Showing the glad
tidings of the kingdom of God. Well, may we be concerned to
hear continually the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, the glad
tidings concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, concerning his great
and glorious plan of salvation and to meditate upon it and to
praise and honor and glorify his name if he has given us spiritual
eyes to see the great and glorious truth of the gospel and to rejoice
in it and have no confidence in our flesh. Amen.