What is the kingdom of God like? Ask a dozen people you see on
the streets, and I'll almost guarantee you you'll get a dozen
different answers. I'm talking about asking religious
people, churchgoing folks. And I will almost guarantee you
that none of them will be anywhere close to biblical. We see things
on television and folks exercising religion. The other day I was
sitting in the motel room, flipped on the channel, and a fellow
that got done singing their song, I wouldn't call it a hymn, the
choir had some kind of a presentation, and the fellow came out from
behind the curtain and stood up to the pulpit and started
his sermon. And folks clapped in and I thought, is that what
the kingdom of God is like? I see these folks on television.
David was talking to me today about the guy that looks like
he's got war paint and bushed out hair. I see their charade. Is that what the Kingdom of God
is like? See Billy Graham and his advanced team? You may or
may not know this. have a crusade in any city. They send an advance team in,
get together local preachers and priests and religious leaders
of every kind and variety, and they start working and producing
what they're going to do. And then they have a great production. They bring out Johnny Cash and
Hollywood stars, and they sing a little song. They tell what
they sacrificed for the Lord and what they've done for him,
or this, that, and the other. Is that what the kingdom of God's
like? Is that it? What's the kingdom of God like?
Our Lord Jesus asks that question and answers it in Luke chapter
12, or chapter 13, verses 18 through 21. Let's read these four verses
together. And I'll show you what the kingdom of God is like. Then he said, unto what is the
kingdom of God like? Whereunto shall I resemble it,
or liken it? Verse 19. It is like a grain
of mustard seed. What? little crane of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into
his garden, and it grew. Not suddenly, not impressively,
it grew and waxed, became a great tree, and the fowls of the air
lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereinto
shall I liken the kingdom of God? It's like leaven, which
a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened. And let's look at these two parables.
First, the parable of the mustard seed. Our Lord tells us the kingdom
of God is like a grain of mustard seed. Man takes that little grain
of mustard seed out, puts it in his garden, and he waits,
and watches, and it grows, and becomes a great tree. So great
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches of
it. Now remember, our Lord's parables are common, familiar,
earthly illustrations. Our Lord took things that were
familiar to people. He was a great preacher. He didn't
strive to impress. He wasn't interested in men's
applause. He was interested in their souls.
And he spoke in such a way that when he got done preaching, folks
understood what he said. Have you ever seen a fellow take
a little mustard seed, put it in his garden, wait a while,
watch, see what became of it? That's what the kingdom of God's
like. These parables were used to illustrate heavenly truths. In this case, he takes a parable
which was drawn from a commonly used proverbial expression during
the days of his earthly ministry. What's the message of the parable?
What does our Lord here teach us? We have an old adage. We say frequently, bigger is
not always better. It's often repeated, but few,
very, very few people believe the adage. You see, we are all
impressed with big things. We are terribly prone to look
upon small things as insignificant. We tend to despise that which
is small, unnoticed, unimpressive, unobservable, contemptible. We look at it as nothing to that.
that which men aren't impressed with, that which men just look
at and kind of pass by it on the road, you know. Well, there's
nothing to that. But we don't see things the way
God does. His thoughts are not our thoughts
ever. His ways are not our ways ever. In the kingdom of God, with regard
to spiritual things, and you can jot this down in your mind,
I hope, and in your heart as well. In the kingdom of God,
in spiritual things, everything is exactly opposite of the way
men and women naturally think. Everything. Exactly opposite. Well, I think that's wrong. Well,
this way I'll admit, that's wrong. That's wrong. It's exactly opposite. In this passage, Luke shows us
plainly, or our Lord shows us plainly, Luke records it, that
this grain of mustard seed is designed to teach us never to
despise that which is small. The parable of the mustard seed
illustrates the growth of God's church and kingdom in this world.
The purpose is to teach us not to despise that which men commonly
despise, that which is small and insignificant, that which
our flesh looks at and says, nothing going to come of that,
nothing going to happen there. It's also intended to assure
us to assure us that as the mustard seed cast into the ground and
blessed of God in His providence with sunshine and rain springs
up and breaks a great tree, so the church of Jesus Christ shall
grow and increase. His kingdom shall spread and
increase throughout the ages of the world until at last it
becomes a great kingdom. like faith in the heart. The
church and kingdom of God in this world began as a remarkably
insignificant small things. As a rule, God's works in this
world are always looked upon, men and women, as insignificant
and meaningless. Certainly that's the way it was
with the church in the New Testament. Who would ever have imagined
that you could take twelve unlettered, uneducated fishermen. Fishermen. And I'm not suggesting
that they were in any way men without reason to admire their
qualities. They were good fishermen. But
not many fellows would want to take a fisherman and make him
president. Not many fellows would want to make a fisherman into
an ambassador. Not many fellows would choose
a fisherman to be the basis upon which he builds a kingdom. But
God Almighty chose for the foundation apostles of his church twelve
insignificant, unbettered, despised fishermen who were nobodies.
Just fishermen. He who is our Lord and Master,
the King of this kingdom, was himself a despised Nazarene. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? He was a crucified Jew. The doctrine proclaimed
by his church, the doctrine of his kingdom, the doctrine they
preached everywhere, was the doctrine of grace, life, and
eternal salvation, the glory of God, accomplished by the merit,
the efficacy, and the work of a crucified substitute whom the
Jews, all the Jews, and the Romans together turned thumbs down at
all and said, let's get rid of him. And they nailed him to a
cursive tree. In the eyes of men, nothing could
have been less likely to be successful. Nothing could have been more
despicable. Nothing could have been more offensive. The Jews
seek after a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block. You don't really expect me, you
don't really expect me to trust that Jesus that we hung up on
that tree 2,000 years ago. You don't really expect me to
stumble and walk. To the Greeks, to the Gentiles,
foolishness. You don't really, you don't really
expect us to believe that God Almighty would take a man a man
who is his own son, and made him up on a crescent tree as
a substitute for sinners, and thereby bring sinners into perfect
righteousness before him by his obedience unto death, and required
nothing of them, that's foolish. Why, it just stands for reason.
How often have you heard that? It just stands for reason. God's going to look at what I
do, my good, noble, uprightness, and that's going to count for
something. It just stands for reason. That's exactly wrong. It's exactly opposite. Exactly
opposite. I repeat, God's thoughts are
not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. God almost always does things
exactly opposite of the way we would and of the way we imagine
he ought to do them. The gospel seldom triumphs all
at once, neither in the hearts of individuals nor in the hearts
of multitudes. The church and kingdom of God
is not set up all at once, neither in this world nor in our own
hearts. But the church of God sprang
from small things. Small things. Turn to John 12.
Let me show you a few passages. John 12. Our Lord Jesus is speaking of
himself in verse 24. These two Gentiles came to Philip,
and they said, Sirs, we would see Jesus. And they brought him
to the master. And the Lord Jesus beheld in
these Gentiles that which would be the fruit of his work and
the accomplishment of redemption when he would draw all men, that
is, men and women out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue
unto himself. And he says in verse 24, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground, that is, a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. If it dies, if it dies, it brings
forth much fruit. Our Lord says, I am just a corn
of wheat, and if I continue walking in this world, and I continue
in life. I may continue in life even as
God incarnate, and I may establish righteousness even as God incarnate,
but my life without my death is utterly fruitless and insignificant. But you take this body right
here and plant it in the earth, and it decays. and dies as corn
of wheat, he comes up. Only his body didn't decay and
die. His body is planted in the ground, and before it sees corruption,
three days later it comes forth in resurrection glory. And he
declares himself the Son of God with power, and he declares justification
accomplished by the sacrifice of himself and sin put away.
And now, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto me. When our Lord Jesus had finished
preaching, after three years, after three years, This man,
who had gone through all of Israel, gone through all of Judea, proclaiming
himself the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer, testifying plainly
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things by the
hand of the Jews, and be delivered to the Romans, and be put to
death, and then would rise again the third day, after he was gone. And the Lord Jesus was risen
from the dead. His disciples came together,
and they all met in a room smaller than this one. There's only about
120 of them. About 120 of them. 120. And there wasn't a single,
so far as I know, there wasn't a single man or woman of significance
among them. Not one. Just ordinary Janes
and Jones. Just ordinary folks, just like
you and I. But those 120 were used of God Almighty, in His
wise and good providence, in His bounteous grace, to carry
His gospel to the four corners of the earth, and they did it
in just a few years. And the gospel went everywhere.
Oh, but they were scattered about because of persecution. That's
right, they were. God uses whatever it takes to
get his word and his kingdom through the earth. But they carried
the gospel with them wherever they went. You see, God's works,
as I said, almost always begin in obscurity, with what appear
to be insignificant things. Let me see if I can show you. There's a pagan down in Urucalli,
down in that place over there we call Iraq now, down there
amongst those pagans, where there was no knowledge of God, no knowledge
of the living God. But there was a man chosen of
God by the name of Abram, and God called Abram. Well, what's so important with
that? Out of that man's seed came forth
a nation around whom God Almighty for two thousand years performed
all the works of blessing in this world. Out of that man came
forth him who is the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations
of the earth are blessed, Jesus Christ the Lord. God called Abram,
and calling Abram, he brought life to all his people by the
power of his grace. There was a fellow by the name
of Joseph who had dreams. His dreams didn't mean much to
anybody except him and God. And his father loved him. Loved him above all his sons.
And he made him a fancy coat. Ha! Made him a fancy coat. Well, what's the significance
of that? Looks to me like if there's any way on this earth
to make sure that Joseph amounts to nothing is to show his brothers
your favoritism for him. It looks to me like there's any
way on this earth to make sure that Joseph never comes to anything.
Make sure his dreams don't come true. Just put his coat on. That coat his daddy made him.
Make him stand out from his brethren. And then send him out to check
on them. Look at Joseph. Look at him wearing that coat
daddy made him. We'll fix him. And the Lord God
from Joseph brought him down to Egypt. through abuse and bondage
and slavery and imprisonment, and finally brought him to the
throne in Egypt and set him on the throne of Egypt to save his
people, to save much people alive in the day when need arose. More
than 500 years ago, there was a Roman Catholic monk whom God had been pleased to
call by his grace. And that Roman Catholic monk
saw the fallacy and the error and the heresy of Romanism in
all that Rome taught. He saw the papacy to be utterly
hellish in all of its doctrine. Utterly hellish. He understood
now that justification is by faith alone, through the grace
of God alone, in Jesus Christ alone. And one day he stepped
out on the church door, on the front porch of the church, in
Wittenberg, Germany, and he took a piece of paper and nailed it
to the church wall. They didn't have e-mail, they
didn't have PA systems, they didn't have television or radio.
But anytime somebody wanted something posted, they'd put it on a public
place, particularly a church door. Folks came by and did the
thing. Just a paper. It's a paper with
95 propositions on it. This must be so, this must be
so, this must be so, this must be so. And God Almighty set fire
through the world in the hearts of men and women, raised up a
people and broke the arms of papal darkness and superstition
around all of Europe and through the world. The work of the gospel,
the spread of God's church and kingdom, is a gradual thing,
but consistent. Like a grain of mustard seed
sown in the ground, its growth is almost unobservable, but it's
always steady. As the full-grown mustard seed
is the greatest and largest of all herbs a man would plant in
his garden, so the church and kingdom of God, when he gets
done, shall be the greatest and largest kingdom ever imagined. Turn to Psalm 80. Psalm 80. Verse 8. This is how God works. Thou hast
brought a vine out of Egypt. Thou hast cast out the heathen
and planted it." Went over and took a little tippet
off of this vine back here, and carried it out of Egypt, and
brought it here and planted it in Canaan. Thou preparest room
before it. Isn't that amazing? that prepared room before it. And this caused it to take deep
root, and it filled the land, that little sign. And the hills
were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof
were like goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs to the
sea, and her branches to the river. As God did with Israel
of old, so he does with his church and kingdom today. The number
of God's elect, when he gets done, shall be 10,000 times 10,000,
yea, thousands of thousands, an untold multitude which no
man can number. Why now, let's see. A multitude
which no man can number? I'm not a mathematician, and
I couldn't write out a trillion, if you ask me to right now, I
don't know how to do it. I never thought about it much,
until right now. But folks can number that much.
A multitude which no man can number, or for it doesn't look
like it, God's way is not our way. Once planted, this church and
kingdom grew into a great kingdom. Our Lord's parable then was prophetic.
Again, he was telling his disciples, don't despise small things. It
appears small, a despicable thing. Something like mustard seed.
If you carried a bag full of holes when you dropped a few
grains, you wouldn't mind picking them up. It just makes you difficult. But the Lord here prophesied
that his church would become a great, huge kingdom. He said,
as the mustard plant grows to be the greatest of all herbs,
so shall my church grow to be the greatest of all kingdoms.
And so it has come to pass. Even in this day of darkness,
there is no kingdom like his kingdom. It began to grow visibly
on the day of Pentecost. Peter stood up and proclaimed
that Jesus Christ, whom the Jews had crucified, was delivered
to their hands by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. A man approved of God among them, but crucified nonetheless. Buried and put out of sight,
and they thought they were done with it. But this same Jesus
was raised again the third day. And God has highly exalted Him
and given Him a name that is above every name. And now Peter
says that all the house of Israel know that this same Jesus hath
God made to be both Lord and Christ. And by the power of God's
Spirit, God, three thousand people said, Men and brethren, what
shall we do? Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of
you for the remission of sins. And God handed 3,000 to his church
in one day. A few days later, another message
is preached. Simple. They didn't have any
advanced team going in to establish a crusade. They didn't have anybody
sitting back in the bleachers so that when they start to sing
a hundred verses of Just As I Am, folks started to come forward
and they'd make a big show. But the preaching of the gospel
of God's grace, the preaching of Christ and Him crucified,
5,000 more born of God in one day. Why was this great, remarkable
thing done? on that particular occasion,
when the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead. Because hereby
the prophecy of Joel is fulfilled, and God demonstrates to all the
world in a climactic manner that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is
on His throne, David is ruling, and now God has poured out His
Spirit upon all flesh, and men and women everywhere shall be
brought into this kingdom. He says to the north, give up,
and to the south, keep not back. He brings his sons from afar,
his daughters and his sons from the east and from the west. Wherever
God's servants went preaching the gospel, it proved to be the
power of God to salvage. Now turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Southern Baptist preacher came
to hear me this week. He was down in Texas. Pastor of a large,
huge Southern Baptist church. And he quit. He started listening
to me on the radio down there. God taught him something about
the gospel of God's grace, I think. He said, you know, I'd get together
with our staff and we would plan a worship service for six months.
For six months. He said we'd plan the lighting
and the music and the building up to and everything be done
just exactly according to the way we plan. Numbers, steady. No preaching of any kind worth
anything. But oh, a great, he said it was a great theatrical
performance. And that's just what it was.
A hellish theatrical performance. Worse than any theatrical performance
ever dreamed of in Hollywood or in the back alleys of Hollywood. How does God build his church?
How does God build his church? How does he do it? How does he
do it? He has one method. Did you know that? One method. Gospel preaching. That's all. That's all. Just
gospel preaching. I can't tell you how many times
in my life, particularly when I was younger, folks figured
I'm too stubborn to listen anymore. Folks said, well you can't build
a church that way. Folks expect more. Folks want something for
their kids, something special for their old folks, something
special for their single folks, something special for their teenagers,
something special for their divorced folks, something special for
this group or that group. What have you got for us? The
same thing for everybody. The same thing for everybody.
I'll tell you what that young boy right there needs. He needs
the same thing his granddaddy needs. He needs God's grace. He needs Christ. That's all. That's all. Let the world entertain
the world! We're here to proclaim to men
God's free grace! That's all. And that's the only
method by which God builds his kingdom. Everything else, he
says plainly, is just wood, hay, and stubble. And it's going to
be burned. It may look impressive. It may
look magnificent. It may be something that all
the world applauds. It may be something that presidents
and kings and queens want to come and visit. But it's all
going to be burned. Romans 1 verse 14. I'm a debtor. That means I have this obligation. I have this obligation to the
Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in the years, I'm
ready. I'm ready. I'm sitting on ready.
I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm not embarrassed
by it. I don't have it. I don't present
it in such a way as you can take it or leave it. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. You ask me to see a picture of
my wife. If I happen to have one with me, I'm not a picture
toter, but if I happen to have one with me, and there's a big crowd around, and
I say, well, come here. This is her. You'd say, what
kind of ugly woman was he married to? He's ashamed of her. That's exactly what preachers
all over the world do. Come over here, get back in the
office and say, this is what we believe. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. I'm not ashamed of proclaiming
it anywhere, to anybody. That preacher went down to Florida,
preaching on the steps of redemption. And the preacher came up to me,
he said, would you preach that message first Baptist church
down here? I said, Tampa, Florida. I said, you make the appointment
and I'll pay my expenses, motel room, food and all to come down
there and preach it. Exactly what you heard now. Not
ashamed of it. Not ashamed of it. How come?
Because this gospel, this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ the
Lord is the power, the power, the power If the word were transliterated,
Rex, it would be dynamite. That's the word. It's the dynamite.
Oh, I don't know what you'd do with dynamite. I love those Clint
Eastwood movies where you got him a cigar and a bag full of
dynamite. You light it, you throw it, and you get out of the way.
It doesn't need any direction. You just throw it in the general
area, and something around there is going to be affected. It's
the power of God. Throw it in. Step back. See what
God does. That's all. Power of God to salvation. To everyone that believe in it.
To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein, watch
it now, here it is, therein, in this gospel, the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the righteousness of God revealed. Now I'll tell you how Almost
every religious leader in the world would love to read that.
As a matter of fact, they normally, when they start to quote this,
don't even read the 17th verse. They say, for therein we see
the love of God. Then say that! Then say that!
Oh, but preachers, don't you tell folks God loves them? No!
No. I wouldn't dare tell anybody
that. I wouldn't dare tell anybody that. Anybody who doesn't believe
what? I wouldn't dare tell them that. I wouldn't dare believe,
folks. You have no reason to suspect
that God loves you until you believe this, huh? No reason
to imagine that, sir. Well, what's the gospel all about?
The gospel in a word is love. No, it's not. Therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. God Almighty, in perfect righteousness,
without bending His law or budging from His justice, God Almighty
has brought it away through the sacrifice of His daughter and
son, through His obedience by the imputation of sin to Him,
and righteousness does. God shows His righteousness for
the glory of His name in saving His people by His grace. It's
revealed from faith to faith. For as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. Today, the church of God continues
to grow. It's not done growing yet. And
God still employs, in this day, the same means as he did in the
beginning to build his kingdom. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 21. For after that in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. This didn't take
God by surprise. By the wisdom of God it came
to pass. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. The Jews want something they
can see and look at and say, boy, God must be there. And the
Greeks pretend to be smart. Oh, we're the wise, philosophical
Gentiles. We want some philosophy. But I'm not going to give you
a sign, and I'm not going to give you any philosophy. Not
going to happen. we preach Christ crucified. To
the Jews, a stumbling block. To the Greeks, foolishness. Ah,
but when God, by his word, causes the gospel to come home to the
hearts of many women, Jew or Gentile, with no signs and no
philosophy, to them which are thee called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ He's the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the weakness of God
is stronger than men. I wonder if we'll ever learn
that. Folks foolishly imagine they're
smarter than God. I do this my way. Now watch verse
26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, Not
many noble are called. It's sadly comical to watch our
preachers and religion grovel before those who are considered
mighty and wealthy and influential. Of course we can get here. Of
course we can get this group. Now we do something. Look around
you. Look around you. Not many wise. Not many mighty. Not many noble
are called. I know a few here and there,
but not many. Not many. But God has chosen
the weak things of the world. I think I qualify for that. The
weak things of the world to confound the wise. If God uses weak things
to bring the wisdom of men to utter confusion, He might just
let me be an instrument in His hands. The best things of the world. Ben asked a question this afternoon
that embarrasses mom and dad a little bit about my past. Embarrasses me a lot. That's
alright, buddy. I don't need you to be embarrassed.
The best things. I should qualify for that. base things to bring to naught things that are. Why would God use those things
that are base and despised and nothings? Why on this earth would
God Almighty take you for His servant? Why would he take me
for his servant? Why would he take this man, the
ragtag, nobodies and nothings, for his servants? That no flesh
should glory in his presence. I'll tell you what, anytime God
does anything, Any time God does anything with
a man, there's no reason for that man to ever pop his suspenders
and strut before others, because he's nothing. He's nothing. Insignificant. Insignificant.
The second thing that's evident in this parable is this. The church and kingdom of God,
not only is a growing kingdom, but it has a very ennobling,
sanctifying influence upon the world around it. Turn to 1 Corinthians
7, I want you to see what I'm talking about. I don't mean that
it sanctifies the world in a religious sense, it doesn't. In a spiritual
sense, it doesn't. But though no one in the world
knows it, and few in the kingdom of God realize it, It is the
church and kingdom of God, the gospel of God's free grace, that
profoundly sanctifies society. That's at least in part what
is meant by the birds of the air flocking to and nesting in
the branches of the mustard plant. The church of God is like a great
tree that provides shelter for the world and influences it for
good. We have an example here in 1
Corinthians 7.14. Paul says the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean,
but now they're sanctified. Now, what on earth is he talking
about? What's he talking about? This is what he's saying. A man
converted by God's grace, and his wife is unbelieving. A woman
converted by God's grace, her husband is unbelieving. And they,
by living in the house, have an ennobling influence upon those
in the household, the husband, the wife, and the child. And
God's church and God's kingdom makes the world a better place.
If you don't believe me, open your history book. Open the newspaper. See what kind of society that
is over there where folks worship the moon god. See what kind of
society you find down in Africa, New Guinea, in the tribal jungles
where folks worship stumps. See what kind of society was
found in Mexico when the Mayans were worshiping their gods in
the form of serpents. But where God Almighty and the
gospel of his grace is established in society, it has an ennobling
effect on the whole of society. causes those folks around us
to benefit by God's goodness to us, and causes those folks
around us to benefit by God's protection of us, as Lot protected
Sodom from the wrath and judgment of God as long as he lived there.
And it also causes the society to simply be a better place.
Thirdly, in this parable of the mustard seed, our Lord reminds
us again that the church and kingdom of God in this world
is a mixed multitude. Always has been, always will
be as long as we are in this world. Birds clean and birds
unclean, lodged in her branches. So very important for us to learn
this, that no such thing as a perfect church in this world. Every church
has within both goats and sheep. It is a resting place for both
clean birds and unclean birds. It's a garden enclosed, but a
garden with wheat and pears growing side by side. But what are you
going to do about that? What do you propose we do? Let's
make us a book of church discipline. Do nothing. Do nothing. It's the Lord's business to separate
the goats from the sheep, and the sheep from the goats, the
tares from the wheat, and the wheat from the tares. And he
does it. He does it. I have a... Wrote to me a while
back. He was going to be preaching,
and he was going to be preaching on church discipline. He said,
if you've got anything I can read to help me with that, I'll
write it back gently. But I said, why don't you try
preaching on something the Bible says something about? Like the
gospel of God's free grace that will do folks some good. It's
exactly right. What do you do about the goats?
Leave them alone. They'll soon butt their way out. What do you
do about the pears? Leave them alone. You don't know
pears and wheat. Only the Lord does. What do you do about the
ungrateful? Leave them alone. God separates
the precious from the vile, and he does it by the preaching of
his gospel. Now briefly, look at this parable
of the leaven. It's much like the other. Again,
he says, where unto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It's like
leaven. Now, this is so often misunderstood
and misinterpreted. I've heard all the time I was
in college, both colleges I attended, they said leaven always represents
evil. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't.
Sometimes it does. He's talking about the kingdom
of God. He's not talking about the world. He says it's like leaven, which
a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole
is leavened. A woman, a weak vessel, puts
leaven not in three measures of corn. It won't do any good
in the corn. But she puts it in three measures
of ground meal. And when God causes his gospel
to lodge in the heart broken by his spirit, it lodges there. and gradually brings forth fruit
until it leavens all.