Now, I don't know if you remember,
was it called the Green Cross Code? Remember being taught to
cross the road as children? I certainly do. We drive on the
left in this country, so to cross the road, what do you do? You
look right, you look left, and you look right again, and then
you cross. but you know british people have
been killed in america and on the continent of europe and i'm
sure americans have been killed here because you do it the other
way around you know you you look in the direction where the traffic's
coming from that you're gonna meet first and if you drive on
the left well it's coming from your right when you cross the
road it's it's dangerous if i saw you if we were out chatting in
Germany, let's say, and I was about to cross the road and was
so engrossed in our conversation that I just step out into the
road and I look right and there are big trucks coming from my
left and nothing from my right. I would want you to grab me and
haul me back onto the pavement and give me a serious warning
You nearly stepped under a truck that's coming towards you. Wouldn't
you want me to warn you if I saw you stepping out in front of
a truck that would kill you? Or you say, ah, but no, we're
not bothered about this. All my friends are stepping into
the path of the same truck and they don't seem to care about
it. They'll all be killed just like you will if you step into
the path of that truck. So it is with the gospel in the
scriptures. The gospel is warning you, all
of us, about eternity, about life, about sin, about justice,
about God's judgment, about God's condemnation. Will you listen
to the warning? Will you heed the warning that
is being given? Or will you just drift, like
the rest of the world, on that broad way that leads to destruction
into the path of destruction? Here are some people, some of
you might have seen this email, I'm just going to read one or
two of these. There are people who were atheistic philosophers. or people that thought everything
that mattered in this life was what was immediately available
to them. And one of the Free Grace Radio preachers sent out
some of the quotes of their dying moments. Let me just read you
one or two of these. These are people that thought,
it doesn't matter. I don't believe there's a God.
I don't believe there's anything that matters at all. And when
it came to that moment, that appointment, which we all have,
for it's appointed to man to die once and then the judgment
there's that appointment you've got one I don't know when it
is I've got one I don't know when it is but God knows and
that day is coming when we must stand before the judgment seat
of Christ where it's appointed to die once and then the judgment
now listen to what some people who lived their lives with total
disregard for the things of God listen what they said Caesar
Borgia. While I lived, I provided for
everything but death. Now I must die, and I'm unprepared
to die. Let me pick out another one.
Thomas Paine, a leading atheistic writer in the American colonies,
who died in 1809. Stay with me for God's sake.
I cannot bear to be left alone. Oh Lord, help me. Oh God, what
have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter?
I would give worlds, if I had them, that the Age of Reason,
that's a book he wrote, proving there was no God, I would give
worlds, if I had them, that the Age of Reason had never been
published. O Lord, help me. Christ, help me. No, don't leave.
Stay with me. Send even a... In that moment
he stripped of all of that bravado and that confidence in life,
stripped of it all. Sir Thomas Scott, until this
moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know
and feel that there are both and I am doomed to perdition
by the just judgment of the Almighty. Voltaire, his nurse when he died,
she said, for all the money in Europe, I wouldn't want to see
another unbeliever die, because he knew what he was facing. All
night long he cried for forgiveness, but didn't find it. I'm in flames,
said another one. It is said of him that it was
a desperate and horrible scene as he died. Napoleon Bonaparte. Here's another one. Sir Francis
Newport. He was the head of an English
atheist club. Listen to what he said when he's
dying. You need not tell me there is no God. for I know there is
one, and that I am in his presence. You need not tell me there is
no hell. I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your
idle talk about there being hope for me. I know I am lost forever. Oh, that fire! Oh, the insufferable
pangs of hell! Oh, that I could lie for a thousand
years upon the fire that is never quenched, to purchase the favour
of God and be united to Him again. But it is a fruitless wish. Millions
and millions of years will bring me no nearer the end of my torments
than one poor hour. Oh, eternity! Eternity forever
and ever! Oh, the insufferable pangs of
hell! I could go on. I think that's enough. people
who thought that they could live without any thought for God or
any knowledge of God. We have this unavoidable appointment
with death. It's appointed to us to die once
and then the judgment. But for you who hear, for all
who hear these words of the gospel of God's grace, there is hope.
There is hope. Praise God, there is hope. These
gospel words These gospel words that are preached, because I
trust it's faithful to what the word of God says, these gospel
words are what Peter said to Christ, the words of eternal
life. You're listening to preaching,
and it's by the foolishness of preaching that God is pleased
to save those who believe him. Of you, And of others in gatherings
where the gospel is truly preached, it can be said what it says in
verse 9. Look here, chapter 10 and verse
9 of Luke. heal the sick that are therein
and say to them, this is what can be truly said of you who
listen to preaching, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. That's the title of my message,
the kingdom of God come nigh. What does it mean? And why is
it so important for you to take notice, for us all to take notice?
The kingdom of God is come nigh. In verse 1 we read, After these
things the Lord appointed other seventy also. After what things? Well, last time we were in Luke
we were looking at the transfiguration in the middle of chapter 9, and
then we've missed some bits out, but there was the healing of
a man's son, of his demon possession. There was the debate about who
should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus brought
a little child to himself. and said, you must be like a
little child in relationship to him. There was the Samaritans'
rejection of Christ and the disciples wanting to call down fire from
heaven upon them and Jesus telling them they didn't know of what
spirit they were, what they were asking for. And then there's
the need for total commitment to Christ, total self-sacrificing
commitment to Christ. to follow him and then at the
start of chapter 10 he appoints 70, 70 others we don't know their
names we don't know any more about them but there are those
that there was the 12 disciples but then there were the others
that followed him and heard his teaching. And he appointed 70
of them and sent them out in pairs. And he sent them to prepare
the way for him. These were places where he was
going to go. They were sent out to prepare the way. Like John
the Baptist came to prepare the way. There was to be a big harvest
of souls, verse two. Therefore said he unto them,
the harvest truly is great. The people are there. The people
are there in their ignorance and darkness, and a great light
needs to shine unto them. The harvest is truly great. The
laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he would send forth laborers, preachers of
the gospel of his grace, into the harvest, and go your ways.
He appoints them. He prepares them. he says there's
going to be this harvest of souls and how does he prepare them
he tells them he warns them you're going out like lambs amongst
wolves verse three he says don't take a purse of money with you
don't don't go you know don't don't hang around until you've
got every last detail of your finances sorted out uh... nor your script you've not planned
out every word that you're going to say in every detail for your
entire trip uh... no shoes no physical provision
not saluting any man on the way doesn't mean that you're to be
rude to people and impolite it's just saying Don't waste time
on the way. Go with purpose. Go relying entirely
on God to anoint and give you the word and to protect you and
to feed you and to maintain you. Go in that strength, entirely
relying on Him. And go in a peaceful spirit,
saying, Peace be on this house, and if the Son of Peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon it. Go in a peaceful spirit, and
be guided by the reception that you get. Where you get a welcome,
stay there. don't flip from place to place,
he says, don't go from house to house don't flip, be guided
by the reception you get if they hear you and they want to hear
more, stay there verse 9, do good to them, heal the sick that
are therein and say unto them the kingdom of God is come nigh
you the kingdom of God. Preach the glad tidings, as Jesus
did in earlier chapters. We read about him preaching the
glad tidings of the kingdom of God. What are the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God? It's the gospel. It's the true
gospel, the biblical gospel, the effectual gospel, the gospel
that truly saves to the uttermost those who believe it. This is
it. This is the good news. This is
the kingdom of God. Preach that. How can a man be
just with God? Because we're sinners and we're
condemned before God. And that judgment is coming like
that truck coming down the road that you haven't seen and you're
about to step in front of. And that judgment and that destruction
is coming. How can a man be just with God
when that is so certain to come? The answer is in the gospel of
His grace. God has found a ransom. Deliver
him from going down to the pit, says the psalm. Deliver him from
going down to the pit. Why? for I have found a ransom. What is the ransom that he's
found? What is the price of liberty that he's found? What is the
price that must be paid in order to accomplish the liberty of
the one who's in captivity? The price is the precious blood
of his son. of the Son of God, that precious
blood which was shed for sins, for He bore sin, He was made
sin for His people, that His people might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And Him bearing that sin, the
full wrath of the justice of God fell upon Him. and having
fallen upon him, sin is taken away. The wrath of God has fallen.
The ground is burnt ground. There is no more fire can fall
there. It can do no more. The people who stand there, the
people of God who stand there in the salvation that Christ
has accomplished are delivered from going down to the pit. This
is the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. He, they were to say,
they were to go and tell them the kingdom of God has come nigh
to you because the fulfillment of every Old Testament temple
sacrifice is now here and he's coming to preach to you. The
end of all of the pictures and the accomplishment of the reality
of salvation is here. Why will you die? Oh Israel,
why will you die? Oh people, why will you die?
for here is accomplished all that's necessary for the salvation
of sinners. Why will you die? How shall you
escape? How shall you escape what? How
shall you escape the just judgment of God if you neglect, as Hebrews
2 says, so great salvation? Oh, how those atheist philosophers
that I was reading their dying words of earlier how they lamented
leaving it too late oh I'll put it off till tomorrow I'll put
it off to another day I've got things I must accomplish now
I'll put off this thing to do with the gospel until another
day I know there's something in it because I see what you
believe but I'll put it off to another day how they lamented
putting it off God says today is the day of salvation today
believe the gospel Verse nine, say to them that God's Christ
is coming to fulfill all. The kingdom of God is come nigh
unto you. Get ready to hear and get ready
to heed. As we read earlier in Luke a
few weeks ago, take heed how you hear. Don't hear flippantly. Don't hear lightly. Don't hear
dismissively. Hear taking notice of it. Take
heed how you hear. And this is every true gospel
preacher's message. It's about the truth and the
reality and the holiness of God. It's about the fact of man's
sin and where it stands in the reckoning of God, its condemnation,
its utter abhorrence in the eyes of God, the justice of God in
judging sin that he must punish sin that he must exact a price
for he is God and he is holy and this is his universe and
there will be nothing that defiles look at the account of heaven
nothing that defiles and when you see yourself as you are as
a sinner before the law of God before the eyes of God who is
of purer eyes than to behold iniquity you see what you're
like filthy corrupted polluted altogether ungodly, altogether
sinful, altogether vile in his sight, altogether fit for condemnation. But God is merciful. Where there's
judgment, where there's condemnation, where there's hell, where there's
hell, you know the Bible is so real about hell Isaiah 66 the
very, you know that glorious prophecy of Isaiah, 66 chapters
of wonderful light in a dark place and yet it finishes with
these words that Christ himself quoted three times in Mark's
gospel talking about hell where the worm dieth not and the fire
is not quenched is that not a dreadful concept? is that not an absolutely
spine-chilling concept? where the worm dieth not, it
just goes on gnawing and gnawing and gnawing for eternity and
the fire is not quenched but in the face of that God is merciful. The kingdom of God is come nigh
you. The kingdom of God, the kingdom
of salvation in Christ is come near you. God is merciful and
gracious. He's chosen his elect to be saved
from condemnation by his ransom, by the blood of his son. This is the true gospel message
that we preach, that he's justified his people in eternity. that
he's ransomed his people in time in the Lord Jesus Christ that
he's quickens every child of God in experience in their experience
in time will you trust him? will you trust God? will you
believe Christ? you may respond but I have things
to do while I'm young look at the end of chapter nine at the
end of chapter nine Verse 59, he said to another, this is Jesus
said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, yeah, I'll
get round to it, but allow me first to go and bury my father.
I've got things I need to do before I start following you.
Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou
and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord,
I will follow thee, But let me first go bid them farewell which
are at home at my house.' And Jesus said unto him, No man having
put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom
of God." It requires commitment, absolute commitment. No man having
put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom
of God. Some believe, but many reject. Look at verses 10 and 11. But into whatsoever city you
enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets
of the same city, and say, even the very dust of your city which
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding,
be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto
you. You know this. They've rejected. They've heard, they've rejected.
Go and shake the dust off your feet, but say to them this, the
kingdom of God has come near you. You've heard the preaching
of the gospel of grace. The Messiah is coming who fulfills
all of the Old Testament promises and pictures and types. And you've
ignored him, and you've rejected, and you've shunned the message
of grace. Many reject. Some believe, but
many reject. But whether you reject or not,
know this. He says to both, the kingdom
of God has come near you now, and you've taken no notice. if
you were amongst those who reject. And you've willfully disbelieved
the witness of God's Word and His Spirit. And that's blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit. And that's making God out to
be a liar. And that's the unforgivable sin. For how on earth can God
forgive that which is to reject the only hope, the only remedy,
the only salvation that there is? There are solemn warnings
given here. I want to look at these, verses
12 to 16. I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in
that day for Sodom than for that city. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For
if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which
have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting
in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you, and thou which
art exalted to heaven shall be thrust down to hell he that heareth
you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that
despiseth me despiseth him that sent me these are solemn solemn
warnings about neglecting about ignoring about calling God a
liar when it comes to these things you know we have the evidence
of the past we have the account of the flood where God looked
down from heaven and saw that every intent of the heart of
man was evil altogether continually we have the account that he then
brought the flood he took them all away in a moment he took
them all away and so we're told will be the final judgment we
hear about Sodom and Gomorrah and how they went on in their
sin, ignoring the warnings, the vexing of Lot's righteous heart
when he was there in that place, and they ignored anything that
he said, and God took him out of that place and brought judgment
upon it. The plagues in Egypt the captivities
that came upon Israel and Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem
that came in A.D. 70, all of these things are true,
that judgment is real and is coming. And as Paul says to the
Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 I think it is, knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade man knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord you know there's a false gospel that is
preached that says to everybody God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life This is much more what the scripture says,
the terror of the Lord for sin. God is angry with the wicked
every day. And knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men. These places had seen Christ
walk the earth. We read often about the things
that were done in Capernaum. Oh, how it was exalted to heaven.
Why was Capernaum exalted to heaven? Because the holy, harmless
Son of God walked the streets of Capernaum. He preached in
their synagogues. He attended events there. He worked miracles there. How
they were exalted to heaven and how they shall be thrust down
to hell. He walked these places. Bethsaida,
Chorazin, he walked these places. He proclaimed the gospel of his
grace. And they systematically, willfully
rejected him. And he gives this warning, it
will be more tolerable for those places with which we associate
great judgment. It will be more tolerable for
Sodom and Gomorrah, for Tyre and Sidon in those days. Because
if they had heard what you have heard and seen, they would have
repented. They would have taken notice.
They wouldn't have treated it as such a light thing, as such
a thing that can be dismissed. They heard his words of warning
and of his words of grace because the gospel always comes as a
word of warning mixed with that glorious word of grace. They
heard the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. but in willful
unbelief. They rejected his warnings. They
sat passively. They took no heed. Take heed
how ye hear. They did nothing in response
to the just demands of God who made them. What about you? What
about us? What about those all around us?
Will you foolishly do as they did? Christ pronounces woe, woe
unto you, Chorazin. Woe unto you, Bethsaida. Woe
unto you, Capernaum. He pronounces woe upon them.
Will you flee from the wrath to come? That's what John the
Baptist said when he saw the scribes and Pharisees coming
out to his baptism in Matthew chapter three and verse seven.
Who told you to flee from the wrath to come? If you're coming
out genuinely, bring forth fruits, meat for repentance. Will you,
like Felix, may have heard of the account of Felix but Paul
was preaching and he was giving an account before he was sent
to Rome and he was brought before various levels of rule of governorship
in the land and one of them that he was brought before was this
man Felix and what is it that you've done Paul and he explains
to him and he preaches the gospel to him and Felix starts to hear
something, and Acts 24 verse 25 says this, and as Paul reasoned
of righteousness, of temperance, and of judgment to come, Felix
trembled, Felix trembled, and answered, go thy way for this
time, when i have a convenient season i will call for thee is
this perhaps what you think now it's not convenient i've got
too many other things to do i've got too many other important
situations to deal with i'll get round to it one of these
days will you be like felix and put it off to another day and
of course he never put it off to another day For that day goes. Today is the day of salvation. This is the day that the Lord
has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it. There's such terrible judgment to come. that there's such a
gracious welcome in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come, he says,
I will give you rest. There's judgment, there's terrible
judgment, but come, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. My burden is light. Come, like
the prodigal son, come to him. You may ask, why am I preaching
like this? If I believe in sovereign grace,
if I believe in election, why do I so earnestly appeal to any
who listen? Why do I appeal to them about
their need to come to Christ for salvation? The reason is
this, simple. God has ordained it. God has
ordained it that way by the foolishness of preaching all who go to hell
do so because they willfully reject the gospel of God's salvation
and they only have themselves to blame and when they get there
they know that they only have themselves to blame Paul wrote
to the Hebrews in giving stern warnings he says in Hebrews 6
verse 9 but beloved we are persuaded better things of you and things
that accompany salvation, though thus we speak." Oh, hear what
the gospel says. Hear what the warnings are that
Christ himself has given about the kingdom of God coming nigh
to you. Come to Christ by faith. Trust
your eternal soul to his keeping. Commit your way to him. Submit
to his rule. Discover the blessings of abundant
life in him. Truly, here in the gospel of
grace preached, the kingdom of God is come nigh to you, even
though it may be passing by so many others that are around us
and that we know.