Sermon for Sunday April 3, 2022 The Kingdom of God

Kingdom of God's Word, please. Luke chapter 13, we're going to read actually verse 17 through verse 21.

This is the word of the living God. As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at the glorious things that were done by him.

He said, therefore, what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall

I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew, and it became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.

And again, he said, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like the leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened.

Let's go ahead and read 22. He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

Our Heavenly Fathers, we come before your throne this morning one more time just to say, thank you,

Lord, for your love, for your mercy, for your grace, and for your goodness.

Thank you, God, for your justice. God, thank you for the privilege of being able to open up your word.

And we pray that in and through your word by the power of your Holy Spirit that you would show us

Christ today, that the lost may be redeemed, that the backslidden may draw near, that the cold and the indifferent hearts and minds of men and women, boys and girls in this world have a renewed faith and confidence in the great work in which you have accomplished.

For it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated this morning.

If you're taking notes and want to put a header on the top of your notes, we're going to be preaching about as the text is the kingdom of God.

What the kingdom of God is like. But let's not lose sight.

Let's not forget where we've come through the text thus far. As verse 17, as he said these things, all his adversaries, the scripture says, were put to shame.

And all the people rejoiced at the glorious things that were done by him.

Theologian John Gill made this commentary on that verse. He said all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

They rejoiced for the doctrines that he taught and the miracles that he wrought. And his wise and his close reasonings at this time to the shame and confusion of all that opposed him, for his audience consisted of different sorts of people.

And what he said and what he did had different effects upon them. Some were filled with joy and others with wrath, others with malice and envy.

And Gill said this is true with respect to spiritual and eternal things.

Glorious things have been done by Christ in eternity by becoming the surety of his people.

By entering into a covenant with his father on their account and by taking the care and the charge of their persons and of all grace, blessings and promises for them, for us.

And in time, by assuming their nature, fulfilling the law, bringing in an everlasting righteousness, making peace and reconciliation, he procured pardon and he finished the work of redemption and of salvation.

And now, Gill said, he is in heaven. By entering as the forerunner for us, for them, appearing in the presence of God on their account, presenting their prayers and making intercession for them.

And these are glorious things. They make for the glory of all the divine perfections.

They issue in the glory of Christ himself and in consequence of them.

The saints enjoy eternal glory and happiness. These things are of the greatest importance.

These things are wonderful and amazing and for which saints and angels will glorify

God both now and hereafter. And these occasion joy and gladness in the

Lord's people now, for not carnal and profane persons or hypocrites and not formal professors or Pharisees and self -righteous persons rejoice at these things, but only such as are the

Lord's own people who are openly his, who have passed under the work of the spirit of God and who have seen their need of these things and are sensible of the value of them who know

Christ and who love him and who believe in him.

When we consider the text this morning, when we consider what Jesus has accomplished, what

Jesus has done just thus far in the reading of Luke's gospel, and we consider the kingdom of God and how

Jesus clearly gives us the understanding of what the kingdom of God is like, how that we can somewhat grasp that information.

My friend, it is important for you and I to recognize this fact that unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God.

This is what Jesus told Nicodemus. And this is the same truth for all men and all women, all boys and all girls who ever live.

Sir had mentioned it earlier, there are only two places that you will go when you die, heaven or hell.

There is no in between of the two places. One of the great theologians of church history, we can go all the way back to Augustine in the third and the fourth century.

And we have in his accounts in Augustine's confessions, which is a large book, by the way.

And if you've not heard about his podcast, Greg's doing a podcast on the confessions of Augustine.

And he's breaking these down, talking about these. I encourage you to go and check that out.

But in the eighth book and the 12th chapter of Augustine's confessions, we have what is a moving testimony of how and what it looks like when

God breaks in on a man, when God moves in on an individual, when God birthed you into the kingdom of God, when

God makes you realize that the wisdom of this world is foolishness, but the wisdom of God trumps it all.

It is beautiful. And I wanna read this to you. But Augustine said, but when a deep consideration had from the secret bottom of my soul drawn together and heaped up all my misery in the side of my heart,

Augustine said there arose a mighty storm, bringing a mighty shower of tears, which that I might pour forth wholly in its natural expressions.

Solitude was suggested to me as more fit for the business of weeping. So I retired so far that even in his presence, his alpheus could not be a burden to me.

Thus was it then to me. And he perceived something of it for something

Augustine said I suppose had spoken, wherein the tones of my voice appeared choked with weeping.

And so they had risen up. He then remained where we were sitting, most extremely astonished.

Augustine said I cast myself down and I know not how under a certain fig tree giving full vent to my tears and the flood of my eyes gushed out with an acceptable sacrifice to thee,

O God. And not indeed in these words, yet to this purpose spake

I much unto the Lord. And thou, O Lord, how long? How long,

Lord, wilt thou be angry forever? Remember not our former iniquities, for I felt that I was held by them.

This was a man who's realizing his sinfulness before a holy God. And he said,

I sent up these sorrowful words. How long, how long? Tomorrow or tomorrow or the next day?

Why not now? Why not is there this hour an end to my uncleanness?

So Augustine goes on. So I was speaking and I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart when lo,

I heard from a neighboring house a voice. As of a boy or a girl,

I know not. And they were chanting and they were oft repeating, take up and read, take up and read.

Instantly, Augustine said, my countenance altered. I began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such words.

Nor could I remember ever to have heard the lie. So checking the torrent of my tears,

I rose, interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, the

Bible, and read the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming in during the reading of the gospel, he received the admonition as if it was being read as if what was being read was spoken directly to him.

And the text that he read was, go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

And by such oracle, Augustine said, he was forthwith converted unto

God. Eagerly, Augustine said, I returned to the place where Appius, I'm assuming this is his brother, was sitting for there had

I laid the volume of the apostle from whence I rose thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell.

Not in rioting, the section was this, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put you on the

Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Augustine said, no further would

I read, nor did I need to. For instantly, at the end of this sentence, by a light as if it were of serenity infused into my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.

Then putting my finger between one or some other mark, I shut the volume and with a calmed countenance made it known to Appius.

And what was wrought in him, which I did not know, he thus showed me. He asked to see what

I had read. I showed him and he looked even further than I had read. And I knew not what followed, but this is what followed.

Him that is weak in the faith received, which he applied to himself and he disclosed it to me.

And by this admonition, he was strengthened and by good resolution and purpose and most corresponding to his character, wherein he did always very far differ from me for the better without any turbulent delay, he joined me.

And thence we go into my mother, Augustine says, and we tell her and she rejoiced.

We relate in order how it took place. She leaps for joy and triumphed and blessed thee who are able to do that which we, who's able to do above that which we ask or even think.

For she perceived that thou has given her more for me than she was wont to beg for by her pitiful and most sorrowful groanings.

And Augustine said, for thou converted me unto thyself.

The great cause for rejoicing in a man's, woman's, boy's or girl's heart and life is to know that Christ has died for you.

When the Holy Spirit of God so breaks in upon your soul. You know what

Sarah said, the great, Susie, you know what Sarah said right before I got up there here, after we sung that song about the

Eldorado Cross, she said, I'm not going to Rome to see that cross. Right?

How awful and how tragic and heartbreaking a sight it is. But my friends, you must look unto the cross for it is in the cross of Christ alone that you will find salvation for your soul.

And so to the text this morning, back to the text, but it's important for us to know that we, we have a right to rejoice in the things that God has done in the things that we have preserved for us in the text of scripture.

So first and foremost, the very first point that we will establish today is this, that the kingdom of God has come.

And that as Christian people, we await the second advent. We await the second coming of Christ.

That is the great hope that we have in looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ.

For he said, he said to the disciples in the book of Acts that you see me going in like manner that I will come again and I will receive you unto myself.

This is our great hope. And we can, let me use this term. We can have absolute assurance.

Absolute, unwavering, unquestioning, undoubting assurance that Christ will come again.

Why? Because he has fulfilled all that his word has said previously. And he has never failed to fulfill what he said.

Therefore we can have faith in God because God is faithful. R .C.

Sproul wrote this concerning the kingdom of God. He wrote the whole Old Testament called attention not to a kingdom that would simply appear in people's hearts, but to a kingdom that would break through into this world.

A kingdom that would be ruled by God's anointed Messiah. And for this reason,

Sproul said during his earthly ministry Jesus made comments such as, if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then surely you must realize that the kingdom of God has come upon you.

The kingdom of God is here. Sproul said, how could the kingdom of God be upon people or near them?

The kingdom of God was near to them, why? Because the king of the kingdom was here.

The king of the kingdom was here. And my friend, all power in heaven and on earth has been given unto

Jesus Christ. So when he came, Jesus inaugurated

God's kingdom. He didn't consummate it, that's not yet, but he started it.

And when he ascended into heaven, he went for his coronation, for his investiture, as Sproul said, as the king of kings and as the

Lord of lords. So three things we want you to know as we look at this text, three things the kingdom of God is not like.

Number one, the kingdom of God is not, if you wanna put that in capital letters,

N -O -T, the kingdom of God is not a political kingdom. Amen, praise

God. The kingdom of God is not a political kingdom. Number two, the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of men that take by brute strength and by amassing a great military force.

Because just to be honest, you gotta know this, that if it would have come down to that,

Jesus Christ would have been able to do such a thing because he had 12 legion of angels that could have come and taken him down from off of that cross.

But it does not, the kingdom of God does not operate and function like the kingdoms of men.

And thirdly, in respect to what we just said there, thirdly, the kingdom of God is not like a worldly kingdom.

Why? Because the kingdoms of this world have limits.

If there are kings and monarchs over territories, their territories had a limit, but there is no limit to the dominion of God.

For the heavens and the earth are the Lord's. This is what the scriptures tell us.

One of the songs from several years ago, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name.

Master, savior, like the fragrance after the rain. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about that name.

The name of Jesus Christ, to put it simply. Jesus Christ is the king of heaven and he is the king of the earth.

He is the king of kings, king of all kings, and he is the Lord of all lords.

He was not democratically voted in and he cannot democratically be voted out.

My friend, Jesus Christ is king. So if we trace back our steps here in Luke's gospel, we'll be reminded of what

Jesus said when he began his preaching ministry. Back in Luke chapter four, verse 42 through 44, and the scripture says when it was day, he departed speaking of Christ and went into a desolate place and the people sought him and they came to him and they would have kept him from leaving them.

But he said to them, I must preach the good news. The Greek word is euaggelizo.

I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God. The word kingdom is basileia, to the other towns as well.

For I was sent for this purpose and he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

So let's take a look very quickly at those words because that is the same word here used for kingdom.

Kingdom, basileia. In that word euaggelizo there that was used as well, but it's used to bring good news, to announce glad tidings.

In the Old Testament, it's spoken of as any kind of good news. The joyful tidings of God's kindness.

It's in particular concerning the messianic blessings, the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, that it was good news.

Another of the old hymns says, I have good news to bring and this is why

I sing, right? This is why we sing praise to God. This is why we communicate the gospel to those that we come in contact with on a daily basis in the

New Testament. This term euaggelizo is used especially the glad tidings of the coming of the kingdom of God.

See in those days, the king would have herald and the heralds would go out and so when a king was gonna make his way throughout the country and throughout the land, his herald would go before him and he would announce the king is coming, the king is coming, the king is coming so that the folks in the town would make preparation and be ready when the king came.

And it is no less the privilege of preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ for us to get up and to simply make this announcement, the king is coming.

So that word basilea, it's defined the kingdom, the territory subject to the rule of a king and again, remember, understand the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of men.

It speaks of the relation of the royal power of Jesus as the triumphant Messiah, so royal power, kingship and rule, this is what we see in this.

In Vine's expository dictionary, they give a tremendous exegesis and explanation of this term basilea, what it means and how we can make this distinction between the terms kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.

In Vine's expository dictionary, this is what they write. While then the sphere of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are at times identical, yet the one term cannot be used indiscriminately for the other.

So in relation to the kingdom of heaven, which is used 32 times in Matthew's gospel, heaven is an antithesis to earth and the phrase is limited to the kingdom and its earthly aspect for the time being.

So the kingdom of heaven was literally on the earth in the person of Jesus Christ.

So when we read the term kingdom of heaven, I always think of heaven in opposition or an antithesis to the earth.

But when you hear the kingdom of God, it's used in a broader aspect. When you hear the kingdom of God, consider

God as the antithesis to man or man as the antithesis to God. God is completely other than us, amen?

He is sinless, he is perfect, he is pure, he is holy, he is righteous. And guess what?

We are not all of the above. So when we think of the kingdom of God, consider the antithesis being to man or the world.

So the term signifies, when we hear the term the kingdom of God, the term signifies the entire sphere of God's rule and action in relation to the world.

We learned these terms years ago, sovereignty, right? Truly, there is no earthly king that is sovereign.

Jesus Christ is the sovereign king. He is the only one who rules and reigns over all the heavens and all of the earth.

So this term has a moral and a spiritual force and is a general term for the kingdom at any time.

The kingdom of heaven is always the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God is not limited to the kingdom of heaven until in their final form they become identical.

So the fundamental principle of the kingdom is declared in the words of our Lord when he spoke in the midst of the

Pharisees and he said this, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

It wasn't just saying in your hearts or in your minds, literally, Jesus Christ, the king of kings and the

Lord of lords, who is standing surrounded by the scribes and Pharisees, told them the kingdom of God is right here, right now.

What a big statement. And so thus at the present time and so far as this earth is concerned, where the king is and where his rule is acknowledged, first in the heart of the individual believer and then in the churches of God.

So entrance into the kingdom. How do you gain entrance into the kingdom of God? You must be born again.

I can't explain it to you. Kenny addressed this in Sunday school too, no doubt this morning.

Listen, there are not 12 steps to salvation. There are not three steps to salvation. They tried to simplify it, right?

To make it easy for children. Just admit your sin, believe in Jesus Christ and confess, right?

It's really, there's no steps. There's no formula to being saved by the grace of God. It is this, it is

God working in the heart of the sinner. It is God making the heart of the sinner, taking the dead heart of the sinner and giving the sinner a heart that he can respond appropriately to God.

It is God giving life to the dead. It is God giving the ability to walk to the lame.

It is God giving the ability to see to the blind man. It is God giving the ability to hear to the deaf man.

It is the work of God. So we have in our text today that the kingdom of God is likened and compared to two things.

Likened and compared to two things. Verse 18, he said, therefore, what is the kingdom of God like?

So he's going to, he's asking them this so that they can understand. And to what,

Jesus said, shall I compare it? To what shall I compare it? And he gives them two examples.

The mustard seed being one of those things. And secondly, it's compared to leaven in the flour or leaven in the lump of dough.

Now, the assumption for us, the assumption for us here is to recognize that the scribes and the

Pharisees and the Romans who were all complicit in the crucifixion of Jesus where he's going, they thought that if they just could embarrass or kill

Jesus that they would, in effect, put an end to this kingdom that he had established.

They thought if we kill the king of the kingdom, the kingdom won't go any further because that's how the natural mind thinks.

But the kingdom of God is not like the kingdom of this world. And the king of the kingdom is not like kings of this earth.

He is a true and a faithful high priest who ever lives and makes intercession for his people.

So the parable of the mustard seed is intended to show the progress. If you wanna write this down, the parable of the mustard seed is intended to show the progress of the gospel in the world.

It's intended to show the progress of the gospel in the world. But here in the text, we have the words of Christ that demonstrate this.

If you read the text, it's uncompromisingly clear that the gospel is glorious and that the gospel will continue to thrive throughout the ages.

There are men and women who would assume that they can wait out, that they can kill out the church of the living

God. But my friend, let me tell you something. No matter what goes on in the local church, this one or any other church around us, no matter what goes on, the church of God will not be destroyed because the church of God is not built upon seeking sin.

The church of Jesus Christ is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,

Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. What's the condition of the church?

Fantastic. Marvelous. It is glorious. It is beautiful.

It is wonderful. It is thriving. You wanna know why? Because the king is beautiful.

Because the king is glorious. Because the king is marvelous. And because the king is thriving.

Matthew Henry said this, it will be quite another thing from what you expect and will operate and gain its point in quite another manner.

Henry said this, you expect it will appear great and will arrive at its perfection all of a sudden, but you are mistaken.

For Jesus said, it is like a grain of mustard seed. It's a little thing that takes up but a little room and makes but a little figure and promises but a little.

But Henry said, yet when it is sown in soil proper to receive it, it waxes a great tree.

Many perhaps were prejudiced against the gospel, Matthew Henry said, and they loathed to come in obedience to it because its beginning was so small, they were ready to say of Christ, can this man save us?

And of his gospel, is this likely ever to come to anything? Now Christ would remove this prejudice,

Matthew Henry said, by assuring them that though its beginning was small, its latter end should greatly increase so that many should come and they should come upon the wing, should fly like a cloud to lodge in the branches of it with more safety and more satisfaction than in the branches of Nebuchadnezzar's tree as spoken of in Daniel chapter four.

You expect it will make its way by external means, by subduing nations and by vanquishing armies, though it shall work like leaven, silently and insensibly and without any force or violence.

A little leaven leaveneth a whole lump as the scripture says. So the doctrine of Christ will strangely diffuse its relish into the world of mankind.

In this, it triumphs that the savor of the knowledge of it is unaccountably made manifest in every place beyond what one could have expected.

Matthew Henry closed and he said this, but you must give it time. Wait for the issue of the preaching of the gospel to the world and you will find it does wonders and it alters the property of the soul of men.

My friend, there has never been any news that this world has heard, received, any instruction that this world has known that so aids their souls unto eternal life as the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is nothing more important than you can hear today than to know that Christ died for your sins and that he was buried and that on the third day he arose and that what must you do with that now?

Simply believe the gospel, repent, turn from your sin and look unto the savior today.

Be saved today is the gospel call. So he said this, it's like a mustard seed and we think of this many different ways and I think a lot of times that we over, we kind of embellish when we read something so much so that it's almost beyond our comprehension, but Jesus makes this very plain and makes this very clear.

He is speaking, the context here, he is speaking about a mustard seed. He is speaking about this mustard seed which is teeny tiny, maybe a 10th of an inch in size and he is speaking about when it is planted in their gardens, in their natural gardens, they would grow herbs, they would grow plants for food, so on and so forth and this mustard seed would produce more than what the average vegetable plant, herb plant, it would produce and become larger than those.

So for example, the herb plants, it was almost like a scaled down model of a gigantic picture.

Everybody understand what I mean when I say a scaled down model? It means that somebody took and they put in perspective, maybe put it in a small space and you could see little plants all the way around and this mustard seed that were planted may grow to five to six feet high.

This is historic what a mustard seed tree is, five to six feet high.

Now, that doesn't seem very big to us, right? Because we're from Tennessee, right? We've got poison ivy that grows bigger than that.

But in relation to the plants, other plants of the garden, this mustard seed would grow so much so, five to six feet high so that the birds of the air could come and they could land on the branches of this tree and they would be above all the other plants.

So Jesus is setting a very simple and a very straightforward illustration of what the kingdom of God is like.

It is how that the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom of God progresses in the world.

It towers above the other plants. Next, the mustard seed is a picture of the growth of the gospel in the world.

And we looked at that, J .C. Ryle spoke about that. He wrote a ton about that, but he said this, the beginnings of the gospel were exceedingly small.

It was like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It was a religion which seemed at first so feeble and helpless and powerless that it could not live.

Its founder was a poor man who ended his life by dying a criminal's death on the cross.

Its first adherents, Ryle said, were a small group of people who probably numbered less than 1 ,000 when our

Lord left the world. Its first preachers were a few fishermen and tax collectors who were, for the most part, uneducated and ignorant men.

Its first starting point was a despised corner of the earth called Judea. It was a petty province in the vast

Roman empire. Its first doctrines were calculated to provoke enmity from the natural heart.

Crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews, and it was foolishness to the Greeks. Its first followers were persecuted on all sides,

Pharisees, Sadducees, Jews and Gentiles, ignorant idolaters and self -conceited philosophers, all united in hating and opposing

Christianity. But look where the gospel is now.

It's still in prominence. It is still in prominence. These are not empty assertions.

They are simple historical facts that no one can deny. If ever there was a religion which was a little grain of seed at its beginning, that religion is the gospel.

But the progress of the gospel, after the seed had been planted in the earth, was great, it was steady, and it was continuous.

You cannot look at history from Genesis 1 -1 through to where we are right now, because we can't look any further than where we are right now.

We don't know the future. But we do have from the beginning to now. You cannot look back to the beginning to where we are now and not say, hallelujah, the gospel has accomplished great things in the earth.

Jesus Christ is still on the throne. Men and women who are lost and who are dying and who are separated from God by their sins are still being saved regularly, and how?

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why the message does not change.

This is why we will not back up on the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why we need not assume that worldly methods and measures and modes of practicing and doing church will work.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation and that alone.

Ryle went on to say the grain of mustard seed grew. It became a tree. In spite of persecution, in spite of opposition, violence,

Christianity gradually spread and increased. Year after year, this was in 1900.

He wrote this, by the way. Year after year, its adherence became more numerous. Year after year, idolatry withered away before it.

City after city, country after country received new faith. Church after church was formed in almost every part of the known world.

Preacher after preacher rose up and missionary after missionary came forward to fill the place of those who died.

Roman emperors and heathen philosophers, sometimes by force and sometimes by argument, they tried in vain to check the progress of Christianity.

They may as well have tried to stop the tide from rising or the sun from coming up.

Ryle said, well, tide. Yeah, I snuck that in.

They may as well have tried to stop the tide from rising or the sun from rising. In a few hundred years, the religion of the despised

Nazarene, the religion which began in the upper room at Jerusalem, had spread throughout the civilized world and the grain of mustard seed grew.

It became a tree and the birds of the air lodged in its branches.

The Lord Jesus said it would be so and it has come to pass. Last of all, the leaven.

And he said to them again, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God, the basilea, the kingdom, the rule, the dominion of God.

He said, it is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leaven.

The leaven, last of all here, the leaven. So the mustard seed was a picture of the growth of the gospel in the world.

The leaven is a picture of the growth of the gospel in the Christian man, in the

Christian woman, in the Christian boy, in the Christian girl. John Gill puts it this way.

Leaven, which is in a small quantity, is of a great swelling and spreading quality and it fitly expresses the small beginnings of the gospel ministry and its increase.

Also the state and the case of gospel churches and the nature of grace and the grace of God. He goes on to say, and as the scripture said, he had in three measures of meal among a few of God's people at first, both among the

Jews and the Gentiles till the whole of them were leavened. Until all the elect of God are gathered in and evangelized by it, even the whole fullness of the

Gentiles as Jesus spoke of, and all the people of the Jews which shall be saved in the latter day.

This leaven that permeates the leaven of the gospel, if you would have it.

We're not talking about a negative leaven here. We're talking about the positive leaven of the gospel, how it permeates and how it moves and how it grows in the individual believer in Jesus Christ.

Some of you may look back on your conversion, your testimony and say, looking back on that,

I never thought that God would have accomplished what he has accomplished thus far. Looking back on that day of March, 1987, when

I went to that youth conference in Nashville, Tennessee, with a group of people that did not know me and I did not know them.

That was not what was important. What is important is for you to know this, that it was on that Friday night way up in that balcony at Vanderbilt Stadium that the

Lord let me know that he knows me. And he called me out of my sin and out of my darkness.

He called me out of darkness into his marvelous and his glorious light and you say, how in the world did he do that?

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And ever since that day, there's been the sanctifying work of the

Holy Spirit that takes place in my life, not because of anything that I have done or that anything that I have said or anything that I deserve, but by his good grace and by his mercy and by his faithfulness, he has continued to accomplish his work of salvation in me.

Can you say the same today? Are you saved this morning? Have you been born again?

Have you been made a new creature? Today is the day of salvation.