Luke chapter 16. Read verse 16 with me. This is what we're going to deal
with, this one verse. The law and the prophets were
until John. And since that time, the kingdom
of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. The kingdom of God. throughout the scriptures of
the kingdom of God. There is much being said today
about the kingdom of God. What is this kingdom of God? Turn to chapter 17. What is this kingdom of God?
Well, it is not a place. Not a place. It's not a material place or
even a spiritual place, per se. Not a place. It's not a thing. It's not a place, not a thing. But it is a person. All right? It's not of this world. The kingdom
of heaven is not in meat and drink. The kingdom has not place, but it's a person. I look at
it in chapter 17, verse 20, when he demanded of the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God should come. Now, you know what they
were talking about. When is God going to restore
the kingdom to the Jews? When is he going to set up David
back on the throne and Israel is going to reign over this material
world. That's what they were talking about. And isn't that
what's being talked about today? That Jesus Christ is going to
go to Jerusalem. They're going to rebuild the
temple. He's going to sit on the throne. Isn't that? When's
the kingdom coming? Thy kingdom come. Look at it. Read on. The kingdom of God,
he said, verse 20, cometh not with observation. Outward show,
in other words, verse 21. Here it is, or there it is, or
behold, here's the kingdom of God. There it is. I see it. Well,
they're starting to build a temple. Kingdom's about here. Look at
verse 22. Or verse 21. Neither shall they
say, Lo, here or there, but the kingdom of God is within you. Now, he's talking to a bunch
of Pharisees that they didn't believe. It says they demanded
of him. These weren't believers. So he's
not saying you have God's love in you. He's not saying that,
is he? Oh, God's kingdom's in you. You
just have to realize it. He's not saying that. If you
have a margin in your Bible. It probably reads this way. It
probably reads, the kingdom of God is among you. Does it read that? That's what
he's saying. The kingdom of God is within
your midst right now. The kingdom of God is not, well,
here it is, or there it is, it ain't it. The kingdom of God, he said,
is right now you're looking at. you're looking at the kingdom
of God. That's what he said to those men. It's right now among
you. The kingdom of God is here. Right now. Well, what is the kingdom? The
kingdom. Well, if you want to, you can
turn with me to Psalm 2. Psalm 2. Kingdom of God. Psalm 2. You know, our Lord first
came preaching, the first words out of his mouth, preaching,
were this, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Remember that? John, that's what
he preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, same
thing, is at hand. Kingdom. Kingdom. Not a place,
it's not a thing, but it is a person. Kingdom. If you break that word
down, listen, if you break the word kingdom down, this is what
we get. Kingdominion. Dominion of the king. King's dominion. King's dominion. The dominion of the king. Psalm
2. My favorite psalm. It just might
be, actually, this time, my favorite psalm. Psalm 2, it says, verse
1 and 2, that why do the heathen rage? Why do the people imagine
a vain thing? Kings of the earth set themselves,
rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against his
anointed, despising sovereign God, his purpose, Christ. Verse 4, he that sits in the
heavens shall laugh. Verse 6 says, I, yes, and in
spite of all this, I have set my king upon my holy hill of
Zion. I declare the decree. He's my
son, and he is your king. Have you ever heard men say this?
Make Jesus your Lord. I'm not being cruel here, but I'm telling you that's blasphemy.
Because God declared the decree a long time ago. God said, I've
made him Lord. But the fact is, he is all men's
Lord. They don't make him Lord. They
don't make him Lord. And then what salvation is, is
not to accept Jesus as a Savior and later on realize he's Lord.
No. Salvation comes first when you see he's the King. And he
is King. And He is Lord, King of kings
and Lord of lords, and I am in His hands. This is what the gospel
of the kingdom is. This is what it is to preach
the kingdom of God. And I may not leave this point
right here. I want to talk about precedent in the kingdom. But the kingdom of God, listen,
is the absolute reign and rule and dominion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. in everything, all things, over
all men, flesh, and devils. This is what it is to preach
the kingdom of God. It's to preach the dominion of
Jesus Christ over all flesh, over all angels, over all principalities
and powers. He's the King. He's the King in creation. He's
God. Not just the Son of God, he's
God. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. All things were made
by him, and without him was not anything made which was made.
And the Word was made flesh. That man that walked this planet
is God that created the planet that he walked on. He's the potter with the clay. And he is a sovereign potter,
and he can make one vessel of honor and one of dishonor. That's
what creators do. He's the creator. He's the king
now, and none can stake his hand or say unto him, You can't do
that. You don't tell kings that. You
don't even question kings' authority. He says, Cannot I do with my
own what I will? And he does. He's the king. You see, you can't preach the
gospel of the kingdom unless you preach a king on a throne,
sovereign. Let me tell you something, folks. His servants love this. They
love this. This is what Isaiah was talking
about, the shout of the king amongst them. It wasn't some
emotional service and all that, getting everybody stirred up.
It was a man standing up declaring, we've got a king. And the people,
yeah, he's my king. I love to have it so. King. He's king. He's God, sovereign over all
things, creation and salvation. King has absolute power, choosing,
electing, saving. Having mercy on whom he will, he declared the decree. God said,
I have declared the decree. I have set my king on the holy
hill of Zion, and Zion loves to have it so. True Zion loves
to have it so. Like Sheba said to Solomon, O
blessed are you to make this one king over you. You're so blessed to realize
that you have a king. He is king. Not just a figurehead,
but a king. Do you love to hear the... I
don't want to leave this subject right now. Do you love to hear
this? Do you love to hear this? Christ
reigns. Well, that's what it is to preach
the kingdom. The kingdom of God is not a place
or a thing, it's a person. And to be in the kingdom is to
be under the dominion of this King, in Him. The kingdom of God is His reign. Now, turn over to Romans chapter
5 with me. The kingdom of God, the kingdom
of Christ, is his reigning grace in your heart, in the hearts
and lives of his people. Listen carefully. If you're taking
notes, jot it down. The kingdom of God is a person,
number one, is a person, the dominion of the king. The kingdom
of God, number two, is his reigning grace in the hearts and lives
of his people. Reigning grace. You know, we
talk about sovereign grace, don't we? What are you talking about?
What are we talking about when we say sovereign grace? Where
do you get that term? It's not in the Bible. Yet here.
And this is where we get it. Romans 5. Now listen carefully. We'll read this in just a second.
When God chose his subjects, and he did, kings do that, don't
they? Don't they? Kings choose their
subject, don't they? Sam, you see why this generation,
they don't have a clue about God, about sovereignty, because
there are no more kings. You see that, don't you? There
are no more kings on this planet, and no more kings. About the
closest you can come to an absolute monarch is somebody like old
Saddam Hussein over there, right? But what he says, he ruled, he
reigned. But this is so far removed from
the United States of America, and so they don't have a clue
of what it means to be king. Boy, David did. Solomon did. Shimei did. Mephibosheth did. King's enemies
did. Everybody under the dominion
of a king like David, they knew what a king was, what the king
said and when, who the king chosen was chosen, who the king rejected
was rejected, who the king lifted up was lifted up. I'm going to
say, this fellow is going to sit at my table, but he's a beggar.
I said, he sits right here. And I say, that fellow who's
high and lofty, I say, oh, what was his name? Oh, who's that
fellow in the story of Hasuerus? That fellow that exalted himself? Got hung on his own gallows?
Can't think of his name. Well, he said, I say, he gets
hung. This fellow does. Kingdom. Kingdom. Kingdom is His reign. God chooses His subject. He chooses
who He would save. That's because He's King, right? He chose whom He would save.
And He gave all of those that He chose. Now, He did this before
the world began. God chose these people before
the world began. That's what Romans 9 said, before
the children were even born or had done any good or evil. Isn't
that what the Word says? And they that are His disciples,
indeed, they continue in His Word. They continue to love Romans
9, He said. He chose them before the world
began, and He gave them to Jesus Christ to save. And by God, He
came and He saved them. By God, He did. Does that offend
you right there? This is a sense in which we can
say that by God, He saved them. by God's Word, by God's decree,
by God's covenant, by God's purpose, by God's will, by God's power,
by God's glory. He saved them by God. I'm not
blaspheming His name right now. I'm taking it in vain. I never
heard anybody use that reverently. But I am now by God. I'll never forget the first time
I heard Tim James say something like that. It shocked me. Everything
the Lord Jesus Christ said shocked everybody. He'd look at them
one time and said, if nothing goes in this mouth, it can defile
a man. Nothing! Didn't he? He looked at all those
people and said, don't listen to these Pharisees. You listen
to me. If nothing goes in this mouth, it can defile a man. Nothing! that sin is not in a bottle or
a box. Sin is right here to begin with.
Sin is in the hearts. You know these things, blessed
are you. You know these things. Our generation of people, the
more this thing goes on and on, the madder I get, There are so very few people
who are even close to the truth now. Remember what my pastor said?
He said, anytime anybody opens their mouth now and starts to
talk about God, I just cringe. What are they going to say now
about God? What are they going to write
on their bulletin boards now about my God? How are they going
to blaspheme Him now? God is king. He's king. And, buddy, he chose his people.
And it doesn't matter if his whole world rejects this. He chose his people because he's
king. That's what kings do. And he
gave them to his son, to his king. Yes, he is. Sovereign king. And he came down here, buddy,
and he lived and he died. And he saved every one of those
people that God gave, every last one of them. Yes, he did. His
glory is at stake if he didn't. His blood is worthless if he
didn't. God's purpose is worthless if he didn't. He saved every
single one that God chose and every one he died for. Yes, he
did. And he went back to heaven. He
sat down, and then he sends his Holy Spirit And he's king, the
Holy Spirit's king. And buddy, you can't resist him.
He's irresistible. The Holy Spirit comes, and buddy,
he creates life where there was none. He brings people back from
the dead. He takes this word, the word
of his power. Not the power of a preacher,
but the power of his word. Just declaring the word. Not
asking, not begging, not pleading, not entertaining, not just preaching
what we've been preaching. The Holy Spirit says, now, you
like this, don't you? Makes them willing in the day
of his power. Draws them, calls them by the
gospel. Gives them repentance. You're
nothing, aren't you? Oh, you're nothing. Can't do it, can you?
Can't do it. If there's Christ as your only
hope, He does it for all those who are worthless and helpless
and hopeless and damned. You need Him, don't you? Go to
Him. Get to Him. I get to Him. You've got to have Him. Confess
Him. No option. You've got to. Christ said it. Now get in there
and make confession. Why tarry us now? Rise and be
baptized. That's what Paul told. That's what Ananias told Paul. What are you waiting on? Christ
said, do it. Do it. He's King. You do what the King
said. Okay. You do it. This is called reigning
grace. Reigning grace. Reigning. Look at chapter 5, Romans 5,
verse 12. It says, Now by one man's sin
entered into the world, death by sin. Death passed upon all
men, so all have sinned. Verse 14, death reigned from
Adam to Moses. Death, death, death, death. Isn't
that what it said? We're dead by nature. Isn't that
what it said? That's what it said. Dead. And
you know it so. You know the only ones that know
it so are the ones that have been raised? Death, death, death reigned. Verse 14, death reigned from
Adam to Moses. Verse 15 says, but now, as if
not as the offense, but as the free gift, if through the offense
of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, the gift by
grace, which is by one man, that's Christ, that's abounded unto
many, not all, but many. Many. Grace abounded. Grace abounded. Grace, now listen, grace is not
something that's offered to us and we improve on it or make
use of it. Here, here's salvation, what
are you going to do with it? That's not salvation. This thing's
by sovereign grace. That is, grace is something that's
done to you. Grace is something God does to
you. not offered to you. Something
that's bestowed upon you, not offered to you. Something that's
implanted in you, not offered to you. Sovereign grace is something
done to us, something done for us, something bestowed upon us,
something implanted in us. Sovereign grace, listen, Here's
the reign of grace, it's raising from the dead. Did Lazarus deserve to be raised? Couldn't Christ raise anybody?
Couldn't he have raised anybody he wanted to raise? When he went to the cemetery,
there were others dead. Couldn't he have raised anybody
he wanted to? Sure he could. Lazarus found
grace. He said, somebody said, it's
a good thing he called Lazarus or everybody would have come
out of the grave. Lazarus, come forth. That's sovereign grace. Now do you get it? Sovereign
grace says, live. It's a certain one. Sovereign grace
gives sight to the blind. Now, here's old Bartimaeus sitting
over at the side. There are plenty of blind people.
Plenty of blind people. in that day. Who received his
sight? The one that Christ called. He
said, bring him to me. Bring him to me. And he received
his sight. Sovereign grace is just that.
God giving us eyes to see his glory. Sovereign grace is giving
ears to the deaf. Many people are deaf back in
that day. But Christ found one fellow,
a certain fellow, who is deaf. and had an impediment of speech.
At a certain time, he found him and said, and stuck his fingers
in his ear, here, that's sovereign grace, he said. Sovereign grace is giving a love
for the truth. Scripture says that man doesn't
love the truth, won't receive a love of the truth. But some
do. Why? Sovereign grace. God's sovereign
grace. God one day said, you see, it
was a time, Teresa, when you didn't love the truth. Somebody
said, let's go worship Christ. Let's go hear the gospel. What?
Are you kidding? I don't want any of that. I'm
not interested in that. But in the day of his power,
Teresa, he said, you heard the gospel. And now he says, let's
go worship Christ. OK. That's sovereign grace, Teresa,
isn't it? That's sovereign grace. You didn't do something to decide
to love Jesus, did you? No, no, no. He loved you before
the world began. Chose you, called you, justified
you, drew you, gave you faith, brought you. That's sovereign
grace, Teresa. That's what we believe. That's
what salvation is. Sovereign grace. Twenty-one is where we get it. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death. A dead man can't do anything,
can he? Why? He's under the dominion
of death. But now wait. As sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sovereign grace reigns. The Lord Jesus Christ sets up
his throne, sets up his throne in the heart, the heart where
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Go back to the
text real quick. Do you remember where the text
is? Luke 16, Luke 16. You see, this does away with
all talk of man's will and decision, doesn't it? It does away with
all that. emotional experience, putting
a man into the kingdom of God. This thing is not an experience,
it's something that God does to us. It's not something we
feel, it's something God does for us in Christ. It's something
that Christ did for us on our behalf before we were ever born. It's something that the blood
is doing right now for us. It's not an emotional experience. It's a covenant fulfilled. It's
a covenant honored. And listen, this does away with
all nominal, part-time religion, too. He said here in chapter
16, the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it.
Every man presseth into it. Now, this is just the fact of
the matter. Listen to me, I'm only going
to keep you just a few more minutes, all right? And this is our Lord
said this, and this is life and death. Those whom Christ truly saved,
this is just a fact, they forsake all for him. They must have him. If nothing
else, they must have Christ. What he says here does away with
all part-time religion. There's no such thing. And you've
heard people say things like this. Well, he loves the Lord,
he just doesn't attend church. Yeah, right. He loves his wife, but he just
never comes home. Yeah, right. He loves his children, but he
doesn't pay child support. Right. You see how foolish something
like that is? Oh, he believes the gospel, but he doesn't. Where
is he? Where is she? Yeah, right. Our Lord knows the heart. Didn't
He just say that? Didn't He just say that you are
they which justify yourselves before men? God dropped the heart. And he
said, now, since John, the kingdom of God, is preached, buddy... John was a preacher, wasn't he?
Wasn't John a preacher? I'd like to have heard that man
preach. I have. I have. There have been many
better than him. Rick, I'm better than him. Yes,
sir. better than John the Baptist.
The kingdom of God has been preached, especially in the last 40 or
50 years, unlike it had been in the previous time before that. And if I may say so, it's right
this morning. And when this kingdom comes and
God in power of the Holy Spirit works on a hardwood, they press
into it. They press every man, every man
or woman, when the kingdom of God, when the gospel comes in
power. Press into it. Listen to what
pressing into the kingdom is. Listen very carefully. Paul said
this, and I won't make you turn, but you've got the scriptures
now. In Philippians 3, Paul said this, in Philippians 3, he said,
Oh, he said, I want to win Christ. Wait a minute, Paul, you're an
apostle. What do you mean win Christ?
Don't you believe you're just a... I want to win Christ, be
found in Him. Oh, he said that I may know Him.
Wait a minute, Paul, don't you know Him? Yeah, but in part. Oh, he said, I want to... I want
to attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Wait a minute,
Paul. You just said over there you're crucified with Christ,
risen together with Him. Aren't you quickened? You said
in Ephesians 2, don't you believe Ephesians 2, Paul? You're quickened
by grace, you say. Don't you believe it? Yes, he
said, but I'm not entertained yet. I'm not already perfect. Reaching forth under those things
which are before, that's Christ. I pressed toward the mark. Children of Israel. God brought
them out of Egypt, didn't he? Well, they're saved. Are they? Are they? See how important this
is? Luke, he said, men presseth into
it. And this is needed now more than
ever, and needed by us right here more than ever. My dad and I were talking. You know, there's more hope for
someone who has never come to heard the gospel, who's never
shown any interest at all in the gospel, who's never made
any profession or has more hope for that person than someone
who has shown a little interest, can then go away. Because those that are in the
kingdom. I'm kind of like Brother James,
you know, he said every time the gospel is preached, I get
saved. I get saved all over again. And to use modern language, I
get saved. Or it saves me every time. Oh,
I was saved years ago. And I don't know about that.
Does the gospel mean something to you now? Oh, yes, just got
saved. Tim said that when somebody gets
in that pool, I want to get in and jump in there with them.
Every time I've baptized somebody here, I've thought, would you
now do me? Let me confess Christ to them. David said this one thing about
a desire of the Lord, and that will I seek after. I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold
his beauty and to inquire into his temple." One thing, he said,
one thing, one thing. And when he wasn't able to be
there, he said, Oh, I'd like to be a bird in the rooftop,
a sparrow. There's a sparrow in the attic
listening to the gospel, watching the blood on the mercy seat.
David said, I can't be there. Oh, I'd love to be there. I'd be there if I could, he said.
One thing that's taken my desire, one thing, now more than ever,
when the delusion of this world, the deceitfulness of riches,
now more than ever, in this world where men are the facade of religion,
the shallowness of religion, Christ said, when the Son of
Man comes, when we find faith on the earth, anybody's going
to be like that widow. Anybody going to be like that woman crawling
there? I've got to get to Christ. If I don't touch Him, I'll die.
Like old Bartimaeus. Here's Preston. You want to know
what Preston is? Here's Bartimaeus. Everybody says, shut up, man.
He started crying louder. You want to know what Preston
is? Here's Zacchaeus. Oh, too big a crowd. I can't
get in. Oh, no. I'll climb a tree if I have to. That's pressing. It's an all-out endeavor. You
men used to play basketball? Young fellas played basketball.
And ladies played basketball, don't they? Young ladies played
basketball. You know what a full-court press is? What's that mean? What do you
mean, press? What are you trying to do? What
are you trying to do when you're on a full court press? There's one thing you want, right? What's that? The ball. You think press because you've
got the ball back. You see? Christ said, I want
to win Christ. Do you? Yeah, so this one thing
I do. And real quickly, let me tell
you, what is it to press? How do we press? Well, I entitled this message,
if you looked at the bulletin, A Pressing Matter. A pressing
matter. Salvation is a pressing matter,
because our Lord said, He that hath the Son hath life, and he
that hath not the Son hath not life. Listen to me. He said that
he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. How do
you know they believe? Man, they've got to have Christ,
they've got to listen to Christ, they've got to be with Christ's
people, they're pressing. He said, he that believeth hath
eternal life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. The wrath of God, not the love,
the wrath of God abideth on him or her. Why is this a pressing
matter? Because, buddy, this thing is
getting short now. It's getting short. Time is getting short. Why is this a pressing matter?
Because there's few that find it. There's so few that find
it. Many are called, but so few are
chosen. Why is this a pressing matter? Because Christ is all. He's all. He's all. There's no peace. There's no
peace outside of Christ. Zero, no peace anywhere, not
in family, not in friends, not in job. There's no happiness,
there's no joy, there's none, none, none, none, zero. There's
no happiness, no peace, no joy, not in a wife, not in a husband,
not in children, not in a job, not in possession, none. Because
all of those things are going to be taken from you, all of
them. A-double-L will be taken from you. But he that hath the
Son hath life. And when all those things are
taken from you, he that hath the strength can say, it's the
Lord. You see what a pressing matter
this is? How do we press? You don't tell somebody how to
press. You know, how do you hunger? Should you write a book on how
to hunger, how to thirst, how to seek? How do I come to Christ? You don't tell somebody how to
come to Christ. They're asking you. I've got
to get to it. They're asking him. Well, let
me do say this, what he said. He said, Seek and you'll find. Whatever that means. Notice these
things are present tense. Seek. Seek. John, I'm a preacher. I'm a poor one, but I'm a preacher.
Am I saved? I'm not dead yet. I've seen a lot better preachers
than me. Now we know what it means to
pray. Seek. Ask. Ask. Knock. Christ said, where two
or three are gathered, that's where I am. I want Christ, so that's where
I'll be. The kingdom of God is preached. But it is preached, isn't it?
The kingdom, the dominion of the king is preached. It is preached. Fairmont, West Virginia, Ashland,
Kentucky, Daniel, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, Cherokee, North Carolina,
Franklin, Tennessee, Crossville, Tennessee, Orlando, Florida. All over, the kingdom of God
is being preached. Very rarely. It's hard to find.
It's like scattering corn on the mountaintops, you know. But
the kingdom of God now, the dominion of this king, is being preached. And men, all of them, all of
them in this kingdom, are pressing into it. Pressing into it. Now do you understand? I think
I do. I think I do. All right. Let's
sing a closing hymn. closing him. Now, 389, 389. God forbid that I should make
salvation a work, or have anybody leave here thinking, well, I've
got to try my hardest. I hope we made that clear, salvation
by sovereign grace. But what a commentary our Lord
made on God's sovereignty and our responsibility. If we want
to know God's sovereignty and our responsibility, it's that
one verse that tells us. Kingdom, God chooses who goes
into his kingdom, and this is how you know him. It's a pressing
matter. It's a pressing matter. And so,
if you find yourself with any interest at all, thank God for
it. But with a suppressing matter,
you don't quit. You don't stop. You don't quit
seeking, asking, and knocking until this thing becomes an absolute
life-and-death pressing matter. Like Jacob said, I won't let
him go until he blesses me. I will not let him go until he
blesses me. That's what it means forever.
All right, this hymn, I Am Resolved. Let's stand and sing, 389. I Am Resolved. I am resolved no longer to linger
charmed by the world's delight. Things that are higher, things
that are lower, please have a lord my side. I will hasten to him, hasten
so glad and free. I am resolved to enter the kingdom,
leaving the mass of sin. Friends may oppose me, foes may
dissent me, still will I enter in. I will hasten to Him, hasten
so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will
come to Thee. I am resolved.