Okay, will you turn with me then
to Matthew's Gospel chapter 13 and I want to look at this week
what I intended to look at last week but we got distracted by
wanting to lay the foundations regarding the kingdom of God,
what's the kingdom of God really about because it's so foundational
and what I want to look at are three short parables of the kingdom
of God that we have in Matthew 13. The parable of the mustard
seed, the parable of the leaven and the parable of the wheat
and the tares. Now, I just want to recap a bit.
One reason is that I think most of you noticed that I got a little
bit rushed towards the end for the sake of time, trying not
to break my own rule of not going on too long. And so, I'd like
to do a little bit of recapping and hope that that isn't going
to make me run out of time towards the end of this one either. But
we saw last week, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven,
they're the same thing, it's the subject of Christ's preaching
at the start of his ministry it says right at the start of
his ministry he went preaching the kingdom of God repent for
the kingdom of God is at hand and we also saw that it was the
subject of Paul's preaching because he says again and again in Acts
I went and I didn't cease to proclaim to you the kingdom of
God and he says in another place that he determined to know nothing
other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And so therefore we
can say that to preach the kingdom of God, to preach the kingdom
of heaven is to preach the gospel of God's grace in Christ and
nothing else. Listen, that is to preach the
whole counsel of God. Do you know, I heard a very good
friend preacher of mine, grace preacher, and somebody said of
him, I've only ever heard him preach Christ and Him crucified.
I've never heard him stand up once to preach anything other
than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And this person said of him,
well his preaching is okay but he doesn't preach the whole counsel
of God. Paul said in Acts, I have not shunned to preach to you
the whole counsel of God. How do you do that Paul? How
do you preach the whole counsel of God? I determined to know
nothing other among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
I've got nothing else to say because the story of this book
It's not a history book, but yes it is a history book. It's
not a book of morals, but yes it is a book of true morals.
It's a book of salvation. It's a book of redemption. It's
about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's about what God has done
to rescue his people. It's about the awful total depravity
of our condition, the utter lostness and hopelessness of our condition
in and of ourselves. and it's about the glorious good
news of our utter, utter sufficiency in the Lord Jesus Christ for
he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him. It's a spiritual kingdom, this
kingdom of God. It's not a kingdom that's observed. You don't look where its boundaries
are. You can't see it in the world. It's not an organization. It's in the hearts of Christ's
people. It's the kingdom of the redeemed.
All those who are citizens of this kingdom can say, I am redeemed. Redeemed. Bought back. I am bought
back from the slave market of sin by the precious blood of
Christ. It's the church universal. It's
all those whom the Father gave to the Son before the beginning
of time. All of them. That definite number. That army
that stands up in Ezekiel's vision in the Valley of the Dry Bones.
That army. That rank. It's every stone in the temple
cut from the quarry and fitted together. It's every one of them,
a definite, specific number chosen in Christ from before the foundation
of the world. Yet, yet, yet, at the same time,
it's whosoever wills, whosoever thirsts, let him come and drink
of the waters of life, take of the waters of life freely. And
Christ is its King. And all believers are its citizens.
And how many of them are there? A definite number known to God.
But as far as we're concerned, a number that's as innumerable
as the sand on the seashore is innumerable. As innumerable as
the stars in heaven are innumerable. And it's near to each one of
us, whoever we are. The people in this town of Nedworth,
as they walk about their business, he's not far from each one of
us. It's near to each one of us. So what's the message? Repent. For the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent, for there's judgment coming. Judgment on sin. This
is our message. Repent and believe the gospel
of grace. Why will you die? Is it nothing
to you, all you that pass by? There's a gospel of grace. And
there's a gospel of such safety in this kingdom. It's a kingdom
of safety. People often debate, what's the
greatest social service? And they'll say, oh, it's the
health service. We must have the health service. Do you know,
I would make a, because I worked in defense for a long time, but
I would make an argument that for a nation state, its number
one social service is its defense. The defense of its people, the
protection of its people, making them feel safe within their own
borders. Oh, there's such a feeling of
safety in the kingdom of God. Why? Because you're justified. in Christ justified the books
are clear remember we saw a few weeks ago the books were opened
and they looked for the sins of Jacob they looked for them
and they couldn't find any because there weren't any they'd been
blotted out All who were in the Lamb's Book of Life were saved,
sanctified in Him. He is made unto us wisdom from
God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, and we're redeemed
in Him, in Christ. It's all about being in Him,
that I might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law, the works of the law, but that which is
through faith in Him. I am in Him. I am judged in Him.
I am viewed by God in the Lord Jesus Christ if I'm His If I'm
one of his children, I'm viewed in him. Oh, that we would get
our heads around this. Oh, that God by his Spirit would
give us light to see the blessings of being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what liberty, what glorious
liberty, what glorious freedom from fear He's delivered us from
all our fears. This is what the psalmist means
when he says that. He's delivered us from all our
fears and we see it by faith. That faith which is not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God. And we enter it, this kingdom.
We enter it. How? Through the door. Through
the door. We follow the Good Shepherd. We hear his voice. We follow him. My sheep hear
my voice, he says, and they follow me. And he qualifies us to come
in. He gives us the passport. He
gives us the birth certificate. It says that in Colossians chapter
1 and verse 12, He has qualified us to be partakers in that kingdom. He's qualified us. And how do
we enter? We must enter meekly, as a child. Not with any of our
airs and graces as to who we are or who we might be or who
we know or anything of that nature. Childlike. You know, see that
little lad running around out there, you know, as I know he's
a sinner by nature. I know that. But in terms of
social interaction, innocent, knows nothing. That's how we
come into the kingdom of God. Not with anything that we bring
of ourselves. Unencumbered with worldly possessions. You can't
buy your way into it. You can't buy influence in it.
If you can, I'd question whether what you're buying into is actually
the true church of the living God. We're washed by his word. We're enlightened by his spirit.
We're born of water. and of the Spirit. You must be,
otherwise you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Sounds good,
doesn't it? But it's not without troubles.
We're told in Acts. It's not without troubles. There's
Satan. There's the world. There's the
flesh. All in the permissive will of
God. But all of these things, we have trials and tribulations
and problems in this life. There are difficulties. There's
opposition. There's persecution. Count the cost. There is a cost. It's not easy. But it's all because
God chastens those whom he loves. God chastens his sons. But what
blessings there are. What blessings of this kingdom.
Eternal bliss and happiness. Without sin. We can't imagine
it, can we? We're so bound. It's like the
force of gravity on us. It's difficult to imagine what
it is to walk around with no gravity. You know, it's difficult
to imagine unless you floated around in space or in one of
those airplanes that does the parabola so that you float around.
It's difficult to imagine what it's like. We're so bound by
it. And so it is with sin. We live in a world that is so
full of sin and our own hearts and our flesh are so full of
sin that even our best thoughts, our best attempts are but filthy
rags in His sight in this flesh. But there we will be without
sin. There will be no sin. no sin at all and what confidence
we have in death whereas those who are outside of Christ live
all their lives in fear of death Hebrews 2 about verse 12 or thereabouts
all their lives in fear of death Christ has released us from that
there's no fear in death it may be a chilly experience but there's
no fear in death there's nothing other than an opening into eternal
glory eternal bliss with no sorrow you know all those read them
again Revelation 20, 21, 22 read it again and we know that unless
he draws you this is all the sovereign grace of God unless
he draws you you will not come and you cannot come but he says
to whoever thirsts come and drink of the waters of life freely
now Religious people react to that idea of the Kingdom of God
and the Church of Christ and they say, gosh, that sounds good.
That sounds really good. And then they start to bring
worldly thinking into it. And so they say, let's run it
like a worldly kingdom. Let's set up our denominations
and let's have our hierarchies of who's the boss and who's second
in command and so on and so forth. And let's run it like a business
model. You know how we have business
models. Let's run it like that. Oh, we need business finances.
Let's run the church on those lines and maybe we'll have some
success. I tell you what, we could learn some marketing tricks
from the world of business, couldn't we? And they bring all of these
things in. Oh, we better have some discipline. we better make
sure that nobody steps out of line in this organization and
all of these worldly churches in the name of Christianity spring
up and have all of these things and they apply worldly measures
of success and failure and you know that's not in accordance
with the word of God that's not in accordance with the teaching
of Christ and that's what these three parables that I want to
look at this morning briefly with you that's what they're
about what should we do with this treasure of the kingdom
of God What should we do? How should we view it? How should
we view preaching it to those around us? So, three short parables. The mustard seed, the leaven,
and the wheat and the tares. And I'm doing them in that order
because although the wheat and the tares appears first, the
explanation of it appears after the mustard seed and the leaven. Why parables? The mysteries of
the kingdom. It says in Psalm 78 and verse
2, it's a prophecy of Christ coming. It says, I will open
my mouth in a parable or a proverb is another word for it. I will
utter dark sayings of old. Matthew 13 and verse 11, just
turn back, it's probably on the same page or just one page back
from where you are. Because they asked Jesus, the
disciples in verse 10 asked Jesus, why do you speak to the people
in parables? and remember at the time when
we looked at this in the parable of the sower we looked at this
and you know the religious world that calls itself Christian it
really doesn't know how to handle this look Jesus answered and
said to them because it is given to you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given for whosoever
has to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance
but whosoever has not from him shall be taken away even what
he has this is sovereign grace this is sovereign grace absolute
sovereign grace it is not of him who wills says Romans 9 16
it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who
shows mercy and compassion and this is the this is the glory
of God this is his great glory Exodus 33 show me your glory
said Moses I will let all my glory pass before you but you
shall not see my face and this was his glory I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious and have compassion on whom I will
have compassion that is the greatest glory of God is the glory of
his grace his grace but then we're told seek and you shall
find knock and it shall be open to you so we keep these in balance
the sovereign grace of God the absolute sovereign grace of God
but don't let anybody be put off because whoever comes to
him he will in no wise cast out and so he speaks in parables
he speaks parables of the kingdom of God now let's look at this
first one the parable of the mustard seed it's in verses 31
and 32 where Jesus where we read this another parable put he forth
unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain
of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field which
indeed is the least of all the seeds but when it is grown it
is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds
of the air come and lodge in the branches the kingdom of heaven
is like what's the kingdom of heaven like? the kingdom of heaven
is like a grain of mustard seed that goes into the ground a tiny
seed The smallest of all the herb seeds. The tiniest little
seed. Amazing, isn't it? That in that
little seed is all the information to make that huge great herb
that it becomes. That the birds of the air even
come and nest in it. A tiny seed. And it grows imperceptibly. Very slowly. But it's a colossal
result. The end result of it is colossal. And so is the Kingdom of God.
Jesus says this. A tiny seed. disregarded by the
world in terms of, you know, you want a seed, you know, somebody
would say, that's not a seed, that's a seed, here's an impressive
seed. No, tiny, tiny little seed. And how's it going to grow? Surely
you want something, you know, my runner beans, I've finally
overcome the horrible little things that were eating the roots,
and they're now growing quite well. But every day, they've
gone, you know, another six inches or more up the canes. They're
growing really, really well now. Very obvious growth, but this
is imperceptible growth. You don't see, you know, how
many have we got here this week? X. How many have we got here
next week? 2X, 3X, and so on and so forth. No, imperceptible
growth. But the end result is a colossal
result. You see, what Jesus is saying
is, the kingdom of God, you see, he talks about laying up treasure
in heaven. The kingdom of God, to use the
terms of the world of investment and business, It's a long-term
investment. And this is the way that we should
view it. This is the way that we should view such as a work
here. Let's read what we read earlier in the service in Zechariah. Just turn back next to the last
book of the Old Testament. Chapter 4. Zechariah chapter
4 and verse 6. You see, how are we going to
get things done in the Church of God? Now the world would say,
well you need to get somebody strong in there, you know. How
are we going to beat the South Africans at cricket? We need
somebody in there. We need Freddy Flintoff to go
and score a couple of hundred and we need the bowlers to do
the thing. Power and might is what we need. But look, no, no,
not by might. Verse 6, end of verse 6. Not
by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. This is how it grows. Not by
your worldly power, not by your worldly might, as we read right
at the start of the service. Unless the Lord, by His Spirit,
builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. They struggle
in vain. It's by the Spirit of the Lord,
not by human might, not by organizational power. Who are you, O great mountain? He says, verse 7, before Zerubbabel. You shall become a plain. He
shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
Grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came to me, saying, verse 9, The hands of Zerubbabel have
laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it.
And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. For who has despised the day
of small things? We're so prone to despise the
day of small things. There's not a lot happening.
There's not a lot coming in. But don't worry. Don't be concerned. You see, the kingdom of God is
like that. It's like a mustard seed which a man sowed in his
field, the smallest of his seeds, the imperceptible growth and
yet it becomes such a colossal result. God works differently
to how we would expect, always. God always surprises us. We always
think, well, I would have done it such and such a way. My ways
are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts, says the
Lord. He works differently to us but he always accomplishes
his purposes. shall not the Lord of all the
earth do right?" Can anybody resist his will? He will accomplish
his purposes. He's the only one who says he
will do something and he must do it and he absolutely will
do it. You see we learn from this that the kingdom of God
is not set up all at once. Either in our own hearts there's
growth in grace, sometimes it's imperceptible, sometimes you
wonder if you're going backwards. It isn't a huge big flashbang
result. or locally in a community like
this. Don't expect great big flashy
results or in the world. Don't think you're going to look
and see the majority of the citizens of the world all believing the
doctrines of grace and bowing to the Lordship of Christ. No,
it doesn't appear like that. So we learn these lessons. The
church has sprung from very, very small seed. It's been the
same all the way down history. Think of Abram. One man in amongst
a family and a culture of idolaters, one man is told to get out and
he goes. And in his lifetime what did
he see? Nothing for so long that they
almost gave up hope. And they went and tried to do
God's will in their way. And think of the tragedy that
resulted from it. And when they died, all they knew, all they
knew was that there was Isaac and that he, I think Abraham
saw Isaac's children, didn't he? And that was about it. Did
they see that massive result that was promised to him? you
know, of people that you won't be able to number? No, of course
not. That's the way it is with all of them, right the way down.
Think of the small beginnings and what God does. Think how
God used Joseph, stuck away in a pit where his brothers had
put him and think what God did with him eventually. And Israel,
we read somewhere, I can't remember where it is, about Israel. Why did God choose Israel? Was
it because they were strong? Was it because they were so much?
No, He said, you were the least among the nations. You were the
smallest. It was because He loved them.
That's what it says. That's why He chose them. That's why He
did what He did with them. The most insignificant and from
that, from that, came that rock. Came that rock in Nebuchadnezzar's
vision that came and filled the world and crushed all the kingdoms
of the world, pictured in that great big statue. In the time
of the Reformation, one man nailed some theses to the door of the
cathedral in Wittenberg. Another man was raised up with
an overwhelming desire and ability to translate the scriptures into
English that people might understand them. And think of the things
that grew from those tiny, tiny seeds. And who knows? Let's not
lose heart. Let's pray. This is the way God
works. Let us not pray in accordance
with the results we see. Let us pray in accordance with
what God has promised in his word. A little seed, but a colossal
outcome in the end. Then secondly, the growth is
steady and imperceptible. Now, you know, men yearn for
revival. We hear so much talk of it, don't
we? Oh, if only we could go back to the days of the Welsh revivals
and this thing and that thing and the other. I don't want to
pour cold water particularly on a lot of this, but I must
say that the more I get into it and the more I read about
it, the more sceptical I am about much of what appears to be portrayed
as genuine revival, a genuine working of the Spirit of God
in these different places, because I'm afraid what I find is that
so often you dig into the roots of it and it's founded on faulty
doctrine, erroneous doctrine, and very suspect practices. I
mean, can anything really be of the Spirit of God when we
see the sort of, we read of the sort of charismatic excesses
that we would, in our reformed Baptist circles, we would universally
condemn as being not of the Lord. And yet, people go and say, oh
what wonderful revival there was. No. No. Let's not harp back
to those times. Let's think of now. We live now.
And we live in this way knowing that the kingdom of God is like
a mustard seed and it's sown in the ground and it grows imperceptibly
but it becomes an immense result and that's it. The end result
of the true kingdom of God is an immense result. Inestimable
numbers shall inherit heaven's glory with Christ. I think it
was John Newton said it, wasn't it? We mentioned it a few weeks
ago that he's expecting to be threefold amazed when he gets
to heaven. Number one, He expects to be
amazed at the people who will not be there, who he was absolutely
convinced would be. And then he said, I'm going to
be absolutely amazed at the people who will be there, who I never
ever thought would be there. And then, when he sees how great
was the grace of God that purchased his redemption, given how black
was his sin, and given how lost was his case, he'd be absolutely
amazed that he is there. Those three things. the end result
is immense the mustard seed the kingdom of heaven is like mustard
seed and then secondly the second parable verse 33 it's like leaven
another parable spoke he unto them the kingdom of heaven is
like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures
of meal till the whole was leavened very short parable just one verse
it's like leaven this is talking about the spread of the gospel
as it is preached Now, often in Scripture, more often than
not, when we read of leaven, it's as a corrupting influence.
So we have unleavened bread for communion, because it speaks
of the sinless body of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing which corrupts
in it. But in this parable, it's speaking
of the gospel as it's preached. It's like making bread, is what
he's saying. It's like leaven, that is hidden
in three measures of meal. And when it does its work, the
whole lump is leavened. And the woman here, the woman
took and hid three measures of meal. The woman is like the preacher.
Now, remember I said a few weeks ago right at the start, we don't
formulate doctrine on the basis of the parables. They're to illustrate. So we don't go and form a doctrine
of women preachers on the basis that we're likening the woman
here to a preacher. But the woman is like the preacher
and the leaven. is the gospel truth the leaven
is that gospel treasure which is hidden in an earthen vessel
which we possess in an earthen vessel you know the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God which we find only in the
face of Jesus Christ it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4
verse 6 where do we possess that treasure that light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus we possess this treasure
he says in the next verse in earthen vessels This, flesh and
blood, preachers, fallen sinful people, but possessing such a
treasure, the treasure of the kingdom of God. You know what
happens when you make bread. You put a teaspoon of yeast in
400 grams of soft flour with a bit of water and a bit of butter
and a bit of salt and let it do its work and you've got lovely
smelling bread, absolutely gorgeous smelling bread. It's amazing
how it works. Just that little thing does its
work. It leavens the whole lump. It makes it light. It gives it
that aroma. It's beautiful. And so it is. The foolishness, you see, the
yeast is like the foolishness of the message preached. It's
a most unlikely beginning. It's a most unlikely instrument. You know, Paul talks about the
foolishness of the message preached. The foolishness of preaching.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who
believe. Most unlikely beginning. Not
the way the world would do it. Not the way that business would
plan to do it. A most unlikely beginning. And a most unlikely
instrument. A preacher. A fallen man. Standing
up to declare the truth of God. But this is the God-ordained
method. This is it. The Kingdom of God is like a
woman who takes meal and puts it in three measures of flour
until it's all leavened. This message that comes, it's
the Word of God. Hebrews 4 verse 12. It's the
Word of God which is quick and sharp. You see, it does. That
little bit of leaven does which other things can't do. the Word
of God likewise. It's not like any other book.
It's not like any other writings. It comes. It's sharp. It's sharper
than any two-edged sword. It divides. It cuts right to
the core. It gets right down to the heart
of the matter. This comes and it convicts and it shows light. Yet men use worldly means to
extend their churches, their pseudo churches. They get results. Yes, they get bigger numbers.
Yes, they have bigger organizations and flashier buildings and so
on and so forth. But do they have fruit which
endures to eternal life? Or is it just wood, hay and stubble?
This is it. The gospel. Preach the gospel
is the message here. What should we do here in Nebwith? What should we do here? Should
we join forces so that we're a stronger unit? Yeah, surely
that's going to help us, isn't it? Really, you know, that's
going to help us. Let's form such and such an organization.
No. The kingdom of God is like a
woman who took a bit of leaven and hid it in three measures
of meal. And the three measures of meal is all around us. Let's
just take the leaven of the gospel. Just preach it. That's it. That's
all we have to do. Preach the gospel. That's it.
Really, that is it. Just preach the Gospel. Just
hide the leaven of the preached Gospel in the flower of softened,
broken-up human hearts. Who does that? The Spirit of
God does that. He will do that as this message
is preached. He will take sinners. He will
convict. He will soften hearts. He will open hearts. He will
open that door into people's hearts. And if He opens a door,
no man can shut it. So, the Kingdom of Heaven is
like a mustard seed and it's also like leaven then thirdly
the longer of the three parables the wheat and the tares and you
know it but we'll just stick with the explanation which is
in verses 37 to 40 he answered and said to them he that sowed
the good seed is the son of man The field is the world, the good
seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares, or the
weeds, are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed
them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end
of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend, and them which do iniquity. the wheat and the tares. The kingdom of heaven is like
a man who sowed good seed in his field. But somebody else
came along and sowed weed seeds in his field. And they grew up
together. And the servant said, should
we go and pull up the weeds? Give the wheat a much better
chance to grow if there are no weeds in there. Let's go out
and do some weeding. And no, says the master, you'll
do some damage. You'll uproot the wheat while
you're uprooting You know, it often happens, doesn't it? You're
weeding, and in the process of weeding, you pull up the plants
that you didn't really want to pull up. And so we learn from
this, these three things. The kingdom of God on earth is
a mixture of true and false. This is what this is teaching
us. The kingdom of God on earth is a mixture. Any church is a
mixture of the true and the false. Now, one thing that's very good
about small groups that are starting up is that it's very little of
a problem. But as things grow, you tend
to get the opportunity for the influence of tares to come in.
But what we shouldn't be is surprised or dismayed by it. Don't be surprised. Don't be dismayed. There is no
such thing as a perfect church on earth. The kingdom of God
is a mixture of the true and the false. And secondly, and
this is so important for us to learn, we all must try and learn
it. We really must. because I think
we're so prone not to take this on board. The instruction from
the master is don't attempt to pull the weeds up. Don't because
you'll do damage. Don't try to separate the true
and the false. That doesn't mean don't have
discernment. Don't have judgment in terms
of things that are right and wrong. Don't try as far as you
are able to see to you know, guard the message preached from
that which is erroneous but in any group of people purporting
to be the kingdom of God on earth be careful how you go about trying
to pick out the weeds from the wheat because you'll get it wrong
we don't have the wisdom God says you don't have the wisdom
you don't have the discernment to do it nor do we have the authority
from God this is so clear we don't have the authority from
God and Augustine said something that's worthwhile noting. He
said, those who are tares today, those who appear like weeds today,
may be wheat tomorrow. So be careful. We must be careful
what we do. And not be concerned because
in the end, in the end, this is the third lesson from this,
in the end, God will do the separation. He says he will come with his
angels. He'll send forth his angels and
they will gather out of his kingdom. all things that offend. They'll
gather out the tares. Nothing that defiles will enter
in to that kingdom. God will do that separation at
the end of time." This is another statement that I read which I
liked. It says, at harvest time, we've
got some weeds like this in our garden. At harvest time, the
weeds will stand tall. That'll be obvious. But the wheat,
the fruitful wheat, it's got a heavy, heavy load of fruit
at the top of it. and it will bow its head. You
know, the wheat will bow its head but the tares will stand
tall and God will do the separation in the end. So the kingdom of
God is like wheat and tares and we mustn't try, we don't have
the authority, we don't have the discernment to do the separation. So the kingdom of God is like
these three things, the mustard seed, the leaven and the wheat
and the tares. In summary, What does it say
to us? What does it say to us here this
morning? As we look at the corner of the
vineyard that we've been given, if I can use another analogy,
here in Nebworth, preach the one true gospel, unmixed with
worldly tricks. That's what we must do. Just
preach that. Unmixed with worldly tricks or
worldly scheming, just preach the one true gospel. Invest for
eternity. Lay up treasure in heaven for
eternity. Don't despair when we don't see
rapid growth. Because that's the way it is.
It's like mustard seed. Don't let men pour scorn on your
efforts. But confidently, we can be confident
that God will produce the promised result, which is a harvest in
heaven, in glory. And let's be confident of that.
Let's be assured of that. Let's not flinch or lose heart
in any way whatsoever. We're told Just to be faithful. Just preach that word. Preach
the gospel. Preach the truth. Not to go outside
of that. Not to try and form other alliances
and other ways of doing things. Just be faithful. Just preach
the gospel of His grace. Because that's what the kingdom
of heaven is like.