Another parable. Spake he unto them, the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. Everybody knows what this is. It's yeast. It's a leavening agent that's used in bread. And a woman took this leaven and hid in three measures of meal. You fold it in, you mix it into the the loaf or whatever you're making. And again, it's hid. The leaven is hid. You don't look at a loaf of bread and say, that's some good looking leaven. You don't see it. You don't know it's there unless you just know the constitution of bread or you're the one that put it there.

And this magnifies the irresistible and effectual purpose of God in saving sinners in this world. The scripture speaks of that it sure is the sunrises in the east that the Lord cares for his people. And we look to things like that, and it causes us to not just see a beautiful sunrise, but a promise from the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one of those. The way that leaven works in bread, and bread is called the staff of life, it's the element, the basic element, that even other food is referred to as bread in the scriptures. And this leaven and the way it operates within the bread is indicative and, of course, instructional regarding the Kingdom of Heaven.

And it's a natural thing that happens. It's inevitable. It's certain. It's desirable. It's reliable. You may not do what you're supposed to do, making a loaf of bread, but the leaven's going to do what it does every time. You still may mess it up. I would, every time. But the leaven does what the leaven does, and it permeates, it grows. Leaven is a living thing.

And you see how this indicates the Kingdom of God. This whole world, first of all, one way of looking at it is that this whole world has been permeated with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All men are without excuse because of light from God. That doesn't mean all men have heard the gospel, but every man is without excuse. Even creation tells forth the godhood of God and causes people to know God, whether or not they will acknowledge Him as God and glorify Him as God.

But the gospel has been preached openly and has gone to all corners of this world. Christ and his gospel, and though it began as a very small thing, the Lord picked out, and how much smaller can you get if you're gonna, as the scriptures put it, turn the world upside down, to recruit a handful of fishermen and a tax collector and an old man and people that were not educated So the Lord picked out a handful of nobodies and he commissioned them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. They went to different continents preaching the gospel. And those who were converted by the preaching of the apostles went to different continents.

And in Acts chapter 17, Paul and Silas came to a synagogue of the Jews that was in Thessalonica. And Paul, it says, as his manner was, Opened and alleged That Christ must needs have suffered We saw how this morning that the kingdom is Christ it's the king and His people that's that's what makes up a kingdom the geography can be anywhere or nowhere But a king with a people is it is a kingdom and the Christ and his people are or the Kingdom of God, and Christ Himself the King. And also, similar to that, this is a hidden thing, and it's an all-permeating thing. He opened and alleged that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus He preached unto them was Christ.

In Acts 17.4, if you'd like to turn there, I'm going to read three or four verses here in Acts 17.4, just to recall and I guess rejoice in how that the Lord changed this world. Remember, he said to the Pharisees, if I'm who I said I was in the kingdom of God has come unto you. And he's speaking of himself.

And when that happened, when he came to this earth, Acts 17.4, some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas. And of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few.

But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, Those who despise the truth always resort to personal attack and violence because the only thing that makes somebody matter than being wrong is to be openly shown to be wrong. It's infuriating because God can't be wrong and we think we're God. And when we're proven wrong and shown to be wrong, of course they started assaulting They sought to bring them out to the people, and when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come here thereto.

They've come here also. And so, think about these ones, nobodies from nowhere. The Lord used probably his greatest enemy on the face of the earth at that time, Saul of Tarsus. to turn the world upside down for him. And that's what we're talking about. A handful of nobodies turning the world upside down. And they did so because it was not a political movement. It wasn't a mere religious fad.

Turn to Acts chapter five and verse 29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them.

Then stood thereof one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space, and said unto them, ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.

For before these days rose up Theodos, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone. For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, you can't overthrow it, lest happily you be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Now, you see how this spread? They agreed, yeah, okay, this'll come to nothing. But they didn't stop doing what they were gonna do, did they? Because it didn't take them long to realize that this is not like Thutis and Judas. This is not the same thing. This is not just somebody charismatic and with a winning personality. This is bigger than that. So they didn't stop.

And the disciples, you know, these other men died and their lives died with them. Their foolishness died with them. And these men were threatened, they were beaten, they were scourged. And all it caused them to do was daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

You'd shut somebody up, maybe, that was just a religious huckster that's going around selling snake oil to people by beating them and threatening to put them in prison. But not the people of God. They counted themselves blessed. They counted They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. How do you put that light out? How do you stop them? Well, they couldn't. This gospel began to permeate this world. There have been men in our day that have risen up here and they're claiming to be somebody that have also drawn men after them for a while. And they come and go.

But the gospel has been changing lives and transforming sinners since the woman's seed was promised in the garden. It was the gospel, it was Christ that was believed on by Moses and by Joseph and by King David. This gospel is as old as this world. And the Lord Jesus Christ came who is the gospel and preached that gospel.

And he began to turn the world upside down with just a handful of leaven, just a little pinch maybe of leaven. It began to spread through the whole world. The effectual success of this world, the gospel in this world is according to the eternal purpose of God. And he said, when I send my rain upon the earth, It causes the earth to bring forth and bud. You see our parable there, a parallel to it.

The rain, it just does what God wants it to do. And leaven does what it does. It changes things. It affects, you know how it affects things? Exactly the way God wants it to, he said. The rain comes down and it does exactly what I want it to do. It causes the earth to bring forth and bud, and so shall my word be, which goeth forth out of my mouth. That's the leaven. And it's a seed, it's called a seed in the parables all around this one. It's small, it's tiny.

But it changes everything. And you say, well, there's a lot of people it doesn't change. It changes everybody that God sent it to change. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. There's your epic struggle between good and evil. God's doing what he wants to do right now. If He lets us in on it, we ought to praise Him all the time for that. If we've gotten in on that, what an honor, what an eternity, what a weighty and unspeakable honor that is. It'll prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. And after 400 years of silence between the Testaments, there was no prophet, there was no preacher. God sent nobody with the Word of God.

This world was a barren place spiritually. That's why it says of John that he was a voice of one crying in the wilderness. Because it was all brambles and weeds and briars growing up. There had been no gospel, there had been no garden planted during that period of time. There were generation after generation of godlessness. And so when John came, he's a voice crying in the wilderness.

That doesn't mean he was out in the woods. That means he was in the desert place of this world, spiritually speaking. And this is why it says, of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53, he shall come forth as a root out of a dry ground. A little baby was born in a manger. A little, a little leaven. But this world will never be the same. And that's according to the purpose of God.

The Son of God came into the world and angels were singing and rejoicing, but just a few men were, not many, some were waiting on him. Osimian had been waiting on him, hadn't he? The Lord revealed to him, you're going to see him before you die. And he was looking for him, the consolation of Israel. Wise men came. And I don't know how many that was. It doesn't ever say there were three wise men. There could have been a dozen of them, or two, or one. Well, it says wise men, so there was at least two. But not very many.

It was only by special revelation from God that anybody was looking for it. We see that about Simeon? The Lord talked to him about it. And the wise men, they saw his star, and the Lord revealed, But that star wasn't any star. A lot of people probably saw that star, but they said, look, God's doing what he said he'd do. God has come to this earth.

Just a little leaven. But look at, let's look at the account, part of the account of it in Luke chapter two. Luke two seven. She brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, all people, a little baby, but for all peoples, all the nations of the earth.

For under you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, a little baby now, but a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, the promised Messiah, the anointed one that God promised from the beginning. the seat of the woman, the ark, the serpent of brass, the tabernacle, and the mercy seat. All of the promises of God, yes and amen in Christ, come to fruition, come to pass in His good time. And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. The earth, the whole earth.

And it came to pass as the angels were going away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. When they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying that was told them concerning this child. They began to tell everybody they knew, everybody that would listen.

The Lord has kept his promise. The Lord Jesus said in John 12, 32, Be lifted up from the earth. I will draw all unto me all This he said signifying what death He should died. He has been lifted up and He's drawing his people from every nation kindred tribe and tongue under heaven. He came under this world for this cause To redeem his people by his precious blood that he shed on Calvary, to save everybody that he loved and chose in eternity that are chosen in him, everybody that he interceded for in his high priestly prayer in John 17, Lord, I pray not for the world, but for all those you've given me.

And he said of them in another place, I'm not gonna lose any of them. I'm not gonna lose any of them. Listen to the song of heaven. Revelation 5 9 and they sung a new song saying thou art worthy To take the book and to open the seals thereof. Nobody else could do it.

This is the book of God's purpose unfolding and Coming to pass the book of God every purpose of God written Established in this I don't reckon it's a physical book. I don't know anything so I can't say for sure either way about that. I But I think it's called a book because it's established. It's written down. It's certain. It's in black and white. It's graven into stone.

The purpose of God and the opening of it is the bringing to pass. What does it say about the Lord? To fulfill this and to fulfill that. He did this and said that. He opens the book and nobody else can. And all of heaven wept because nobody could open the book. and enter the Lamb of God. And they started singing. He's worthy to take the book.

And to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by that blood out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation. He didn't redeem every people. He redeemed his people out of every people. He didn't redeem every nation. He didn't redeem every tongue or people or kindred. He redeemed his elect out of those places where these different languages were spoken. This is the words of our text where he said, the whole was leavened out of every corner of the world.

He said, come. You can't hold my people back. Come from the east and come from the west and the north and the south. The leaven is hid, as we said well ago. You could look at a dinner roll. Somebody said, take the leaven out of that. How are you going to do that?

Once the leaven has spread and has established itself in the heart, it don't go away. It doesn't go away. It can't be depleted. In fact, everything that lives grows. It continues to grow. in a spiritual sense, in the heart. That bread is what it is because of the leaven. The whole loaf is transformed by it. And there is such a thing as unleavened bread. And leaven normally is used as a type of sin.

And some people think this parable regards that. Because they say everywhere the word leaven is used, it's considered as a type of evil or sin or corruption. And so they say that this parable means that even in God's church, the kingdom of heaven, there's leaven in it, there's evil in us, and it permeates all of his church. But the thing is, whenever the kingdom of heaven is spoken of, find me a place in the scripture where it talks about the kingdom of heaven is like this, and it's a bad thing. So they could say, well, it's always, leaven is always that, but the kingdom of heaven is always glory and success and salvation. But if you're going to have bread, you got to have leaven. You can have crackers without it. You can call it bread if you want to. But the leaven is alive and powerful and it makes the bread what it is.

And think about this, not in terms of the whole world, but of the whole sinner. Let's think about the world a little bit more in this one aspect. What is this world without God's people in it? What is this world? What is, and let's use the parallels of the other parables for a second here, what is the bread without the leaven? What is a farm without good seed? It's a wilderness, it's unprofitable, it's worthless. What is a king without, or a people without a king?

It's chaos. What is this world without the light? And the Lord said, you're the light. As we shine forth his glory in the gospel, we're the light of the world. What is this world without salt? He was talking about us when he said, if you take the salt out, what is going to season your food? There's no replacement for it. There's no substitute for leaven. The flavor is wonderful and the effect of it is wonderful. And when it is bestowed by God in spiritual terms, it's something that is living. It's something that's life-giving, the bread of life.

But think also here, Not in terms of the whole world, but the whole sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ, if you know him and the forgiveness of sin through the redeeming power of his blood, is there any part of you that's unaffected by that? You say, well, my flesh is unaffected, and that's one way to look at it. But think with me here. That's not what the scripture says. And we're going to read that in a minute. But can we give glory to God for that? We are changed. We are utterly affected in all parts.

Yes, the flesh is still the flesh, but there's no single part of me that's just flesh. Even these bodies, the Lord has redeemed them. There is no single part, even of my flesh, that's not changed because The flesh lusteth against the spirit, but the spirit also lusteth against the flesh. Thank God for that. And the flesh cannot be what it was.

There is a sense that with the flesh itself, the sinful nature in us doesn't change. But we're not just a sinful nature. There's more to us than that now. And you can't separate that sinful nature in the sinner. You can't separate us from Christ. That's a lost person. The whole loaf is transformed. through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in his precious blood. Is there any part of us that's not affected? And can we not glorify God for that?

I know that to some degree, what Paul knew, and this is the truth, of course, that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And that with my flesh, as Paul said in Romans 7, 25, I serve the law of sin. If you could separate my old nature and consider it in and of itself, then it's all sinful.

It hasn't gotten better. When God saves us, He doesn't change the flesh so that it can understand things. That's why I don't understand. And, you know, look, the Lord reveals things and I'm wrong about things and other people are wrong about things. And I don't want to make enemies over it. But some people say we don't have a new nature and I don't get that. I don't get it.

Are you telling me your flesh knows God now? No. The spirit and the flesh are natures and there's two of them. Is that hard to understand? Is that complicated? You tell me the flesh is not a nature and you tell me the spirit is not a nature. You can't read this book and say that. But, you know, it is what it is. That's how it is. Some people just don't get that. But we're too, we're too different.

He said, I serve the law of sin. He just got through saying, I love the law of God after the inward man. And I want to, with all my heart, I want to please God. But he said, my flesh serves the law of sin. My sin wars and rages against the spirit. But blessed the holy name of God, I know something else too. You can't separate my flesh from my spirit, from the spirit of God in me as a person, me as a person. You can't isolate it, because listen, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. That's talking about the whole person. A new creature, a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. All of it.

Because the part that is my flesh and serves the law of sin, it can't just run rampant anymore. It's been changed. It's been crippled. It's been shackled. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Is that a difference? My old flesh has been changed in that sense. It doesn't reign in us anymore. That's a difference. So all things are new. All of it's new. There's no part of me that's unaffected by my sin. But also there's no part of me that is unaffected by Christ.

You see our parable? That's not to my praise, that's to his praise. The one who built the house is worthy of the praise, not the house. I am what I am in the flesh by my own sin. But as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 10, I am what I am in Christ by the grace of God. Nothing else. With a word transformed. With just a little whisper into my soul. Completely changed all through. That's the beauty of our parable.

Christ has made us a new creation, just as sure as he created the old one. John Newton said this, and we'll close. He said, I'm not what I ought to be. And how we mourn that, because Paul did say, I would, I would, I would keep and honor the law of God. I want to do that. I want to do that. John Newton said the same thing Paul did. I'm not what I ought to be. How to perform that I find not. I am not what I want to be. I'm not what I hope to be in another world. But still, I'm not what I once used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am. Can we thank God for that tonight? In this simple, Brief parable.

You know, when I look at myself, I don't see a whole lot to rejoice in, but when I look to Christ and think about what he's done for me, what wonder and glory it is. How does God see me? Is there any part, is there anything in me that God sees? that's not perfect and holy and righteous in Christ everything's changed everything now we can rejoice because we're rejoicing in him Colossians 119 let's read this and close Colossians 119 This is what will cause us to go through this world rejoicing. For it pleased the Father that in Christ did all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, And you that were at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.

You might look at me and say, Chris hadn't changed. But when God looks at me, he sees a new creature. He sees his son, wholly unblameable, unreprovable. Oh, by nature, a child of wrath. But now, right now, are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that we're going to be like him, or we shall see him as he is. What wonder! That, if we ever get a hold of that, that'll get us through this thing, won't it? That'll get us through it. All right, I pray the Lord will reveal it to us.