[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to all of you, particularly those who are visiting us. We welcome you especially. We're here because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of his coming into the world.
[0:12] And though it seems a long time ago that we celebrated that Christmas, yet we're still going to sing a carol this morning. The last one, I promise you, of the new year until we come around to Christmas again.
[0:24] But just before we do, a verse from Psalm 97. Which seems to echo what we're going to be singing. It's verse 1. The Lord reigns.
[0:36] Let the earth be glad. Let the distant shores rejoice. Because our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, the King of the universe, the Lord of heaven and earth.
[0:48] He has come to bring us everlasting joy and good reason to be glad. And our first carol and hymn this morning, 311. Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
[1:00] Let earth receive her King. Let's come and worship our King, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let earth be glad. Let earth be glad. Let earth be glad.
[1:10] The End The End Let's pray together. Let us all pray.
[2:13] Amen. We thank you, O Lord, our God, that this morning we have good reason to rejoice and be glad. Lord, your word has told us that we should, because you reign.
[2:27] You are the king, the sovereign, the ruler, the power and authority in heaven and over the earth. We thank you, O Lord, that you are a good king and a righteous ruler.
[2:39] Thank you that you are not a despot, that you are not a king who rules to the suffering or the sorrow of his people. We thank you that those who acknowledge you as king, those who recognize you as the Lord of their lives, enter into a wonderful experience of your care, your provision, your love, your tenderness, your faithfulness.
[3:02] Thank you that you are the one who is always working and at work for the good of those who honor you and love you and trust you.
[3:13] And we thank you again that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is the very epitome of that love and care, the very highest, the highest expression of just how you feel about us.
[3:25] For you sent your son to be our savior, to rescue us, to bring us into your kingdom, to bring us into the experience of your loving rule and care for us.
[3:36] And this morning we want to come and again thank you. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that the Lord has come. Thank you that it is joy to the world and all who, no matter who we are, no matter what our past, no matter what our background, no matter what our failings or sins, no matter, Lord, who we are, we thank you that in Jesus we find you to be the joy-giving God, the sin-forgiving God, the healing God, the wholesome-making God.
[4:08] And we thank you again that for many of us here this morning, that's been our experience, Lord, day by day through this week and through the majority of our lives. Lord, we thank you that as we come this morning, we come into your presence.
[4:22] We come again to you. We come to give you thanks, yes. We come to ask your forgiveness, yes, oh Lord, for we continue to get it wrong and to sin. And, Lord, you know that and you're patient with us.
[4:33] But we come as well, oh Lord, because we long for you to change us. We long, oh Lord, for you to bless us. We long, oh Lord, for you to speak to us. For you are the God who has not hidden himself away, but the God who has made himself known, the God who comes, the God who speaks, the God who lives, the God who is active.
[4:52] And, oh Lord, we pray that each of us may know you, speaking with us and meeting with us. So, Lord, help us now, we pray. Send your Holy Spirit afresh into our midst that he may open our eyes and give us hearts to praise.
[5:08] He may lift our burdens and cares. Cause us again to see that trusting in you, oh Lord, is the place of peace. For we ask these things in and through. In the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Saviour.
[5:21] Amen. Amen. We're going to read together from our Bibles. And if you have a Bible to hand, I'd encourage you to turn to Luke and chapter 8.
[5:34] Luke and chapter 8. Now, we've been studying and journeying through this wonderful record of the life of Jesus, leading up to Christmas and for the last year, really, I think.
[5:47] And then we're into chapter 8, so we're making progress. Slowly but surely. And we're going to look together both this morning and this evening, actually, at Luke, which is a slight change.
[5:59] We're going to read from Luke and chapter 8, verse 1 to verse 15. If you've got one of the red church Bibles, then that's page 1036, just so you know where you are.
[6:12] Let's hear what God has to say to us. After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
[6:31] To twelve were with him, and also some women who'd been cured of evil spirits and diseases. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
[6:55] While a large crowd was gathering, people were coming to Jesus from town after town. He told them this parable. A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path.
[7:09] It was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground. When it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.
[7:24] Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. When he said this, he called out, Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
[7:41] His disciples asked him about this parable and what it meant. He said, This is the meaning of the parable.
[8:01] The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are like the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
[8:14] Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
[8:25] The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear. As they go on their way, they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures. They do not mature.
[8:37] The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop. Turn back with me then, please, to Luke and to chapter 8.
[8:57] And we'll be particularly looking at verses 4 through to 15. It would be helpful if you've got a Bible open to see that. And in fact, later on this evening, we're going to look at the first three verses.
[9:08] This evening, we're going to be looking at them, so please come if you can this evening as we think about that. But over the last few weeks, just leading up to Christmas, and particularly when the weather was mild and calm, there were several attempts to cross the English Channel from France to England in small, inflatable boats.
[9:32] Some of those who attempted it were intercepted and turned back or taken on board larger ships, but others managed to get all the way across safely and land in the UK.
[9:43] It's a dangerous journey. It's only 22 miles, but it's one of the busiest shipping lanes in the whole world. And it asks the question, begs the question, why would anybody do it?
[9:58] Of course, it's just one of many ways that people have sought to enter the United Kingdom, stowing away on lorries or in containers, even some folk walking through the Channel Tunnel.
[10:09] Why would people go out in dinghies, which is all they were, and go way out into sea, 22 miles? They weren't on a duty-free shopping trip. They weren't out there fishing.
[10:22] We know what they were doing. They were desperate to get into the United Kingdom. Desperate because they had heard that the United Kingdom was a place where they could live in safety and with peace and hopefully with prosperity too.
[10:38] But I want us to think about a kingdom which is much safer, much more peaceful, much more prosperous than the United Kingdom.
[10:50] I don't mean the USA. I mean a kingdom which is unlike any kingdom on earth, unlike any country on earth, a place which is entirely unique in the blessings, in the joy, in the safety, in the peace that those who dwell in that kingdom have.
[11:11] And it's that kingdom that Jesus was proclaiming and preaching about, we read in Acts, sorry, Acts, in chapter 8, rather, of Luke. After this, Jesus traveled from one town to another and village, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
[11:30] The kingdom of God. Now, the kingdom of God has been mentioned before by Jesus in his teaching, but it seems here, particularly, there's a change in emphasis as Jesus begins to focus his teaching on the kingdom of God, of what it's like, of what it means to be a part of it.
[11:50] That's why there, in verse 10, of this same chapter, as Jesus explains to his disciples what his parable meant, he says, the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you.
[12:04] Later on, at the beginning of chapter 9, he sends his disciples out. We're told in verse 2, he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God. And later in that chapter, chapter 9, verses 11 and 12, when crowds came to him, we're told he welcomed them and spoke them about the kingdom of God.
[12:25] In fact, it seems, by Jesus' teaching, the kingdom of God is the most important thing, the vital thing, the essential thing. For when one man was spoken to, the end of chapter 9, verse 59, Jesus said, follow me.
[12:39] The man said, first, Lord, let me go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
[12:49] That was the urgency, the importance of the kingdom of God in Jesus' teaching and thinking. Now, if that's what Jesus was proclaiming and teaching, if that's what he considered to be the most important thing, that we understand the kingdom of God, and more than that, that we are part of the kingdom of God, then it's important for us to think about it too.
[13:14] I've already said at the beginning that this kingdom is like no other kingdom on earth, no other kingdom that we are aware of. In fact, Jesus, when he was being questioned by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, said, my kingdom is not of this world.
[13:32] In other words, my kingdom is not like any kingdom in the world. What did he mean by that, very briefly? Three things. Jesus meant that the kingdom of God isn't a geographical kingdom, a geographical country.
[13:47] It hasn't got physical borders and territories that can be crossed over. You can't visit the kingdom of God on your holidays. You can't buy a house in the kingdom of God. It stretches out.
[13:58] In that sense, it includes people from all over the world. It has no physical barrier in that sense. Secondly, he meant by that that the kingdom of God is not a kingdom created or run by human beings, by people.
[14:15] It's not something that was established by a great earthly king like Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great or whoever it may be. It's not a country that is run or governed by or organized by men and women.
[14:29] It is, after all, the kingdom of God. And in other places as well, in the New Testament, it's also called the kingdom of heaven. God created this kingdom.
[14:40] God governs this kingdom and rules over it from that seat of his authority and power in heaven. So it's not a human organization in that sense, though people are part of it.
[14:53] And thirdly, the kingdom of God is unlike any kingdom in this world in that it never ends. It never ceases. It never changes hands. Empires come and go.
[15:04] The British Empire that at one time ruled a quarter of the known world has gone. The Commonwealth is what's left. But other countries and kingdoms no longer exist or they've changed their name.
[15:18] Siam, Rhodesia, Persia, Prussia and others like that are all consigned to the history books. The kingdom of God spans not only the present but the future as well.
[15:31] It has a here and now and a yet to come reality. And those who are members of the kingdom of God who enjoy the benefits of being in the kingdom of God have only just begun to experience the full expression of it.
[15:49] It's only when Jesus comes again that this kingdom of God will find its perfect experience and fullest expression for those who are part of it.
[16:00] So, that's just a little bit of an introduction to make us think about the kingdom of God. It's much more than that beside. But Jesus, we're told, went from village to village, town to town proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
[16:15] The good news that it is real, that it exists. In fact, he said earlier when he mentioned the kingdom of God that it was the very reason he had come into this world to begin with in Luke chapter 4.
[16:27] He said, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well because that is why I was sent. So, one of Jesus' primary purposes, one of his mission statements, one of his raison d'etre was that he should preach, proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.
[16:48] And as I said, in the next few weeks, I hope as we go through and continue in Luke, we'll see again and again how the kingdom of God is revealed to us, how we understand what it is to live in the kingdom of God, to be part of the kingdom of God and to see it grow and expand because as many of us know, when we were taught as children or perhaps even now, pray the Lord's prayer, part of the petition in the prayer is thy kingdom come, your kingdom come, your kingdom be realized in my life and in this world.
[17:22] God. So I want us first of all this morning to concentrate on Jesus' description of the kingdom as we find it in this parable and what it means to be a part of the kingdom.
[17:36] If it's so important, if it's so essential that Jesus preached, proclaimed the kingdom of God, then it must be important that we know that we are in the kingdom or not. We should be interested about this kingdom.
[17:49] We should be concerned about it. If men and women risk their lives, pay thousands of pounds, sell everything they have just simply to get into a safe earthly kingdom, how much more, dear friends, should we be concerned that we are in this heavenly kingdom of God?
[18:10] Now, Jesus tells this parable as he's teaching about the kingdom, proclaiming the kingdom, he teaches a parable about a farmer sowing a field with corn or wheat or whatever the grain may be.
[18:23] That seems a strange way to explain the kingdom of God and what it means to be part of the kingdom of God. But remember, the kingdom of God is not like an earthly kingdom and so it's not to be tied down and explained perhaps as we would expect.
[18:38] But Jesus, we're told, in this parable, he tells his disciple he's explaining the secrets of the kingdom of God. And to do that, much of Jesus' teaching was in this parable form, a story sort of form, which was brought down to the level of his hearers, down to our level, that we might begin to comprehend.
[19:00] But, it is only God who gives to us the understanding. That Jesus teaches and taught the parable and the kingdom of God, only God is able to give to us the understanding, the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you.
[19:18] It's not something that's to do with our intellectual ability, it's not to do with our background, it's not to do with our cleverness or what books we read, it's to do with God's gift that we may understand.
[19:30] And it seems here as we'll go through this parable that only those who want to hear will hear. It's only those who are genuinely seeking to understand that God gives to them this understanding.
[19:46] If we're careless, if we're thoughtless, if we sort of brush it aside, the words of Jesus about the kingdom, then we shall always remain ignorant. We shall always remain hidden, as it were, from us, the secrets of the kingdom.
[20:02] And, in this parable, Jesus presents four different sorts of hearts, doesn't he? That's how his explanation is there. Verse 12 takes away the word from their hearts.
[20:15] The seed, verse 15, good soil, noble and good heart. So each of these soils, these areas of ground, as it were, represents a human heart.
[20:27] Dear friends, each of us this morning are represented here in one of these soils. All four groups of these soils, these hearts here, the message of the kingdom, but only one of them reaps the benefit of that message.
[20:45] Only one of them, as it were, enjoys the fruits of that kingdom, is part of that kingdom, and that's the very final one. Four different soils, four different types of hearts, and each of us is represented.
[21:02] Well, the question is, what is the soil of your heart like? Only you know that, and only God knows that. I don't know that, but you and God know it.
[21:15] So we're going to consider each sort of heart that is prevented, that stops its owner in one sense enjoying and entering the kingdom, then spend a little bit of time on the last one. So how do we understand the first heart?
[21:28] Well, let's just look at the soil. So, we're told first of all, a farmer went out to sow his seed, verse 5, she was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.
[21:41] And then verse 12, we're told the explanation, those along the path are the ones who hear, and the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
[21:54] What is this heart? I put it simply, this is a hard heart, a hard heart, because it's along the path. If you've got an allotment or a garden or a vegetable plot, you'll know that where you walk along the path, that soil never produces anything apart from weeds, maybe, but it doesn't produce carrots or crops, it's hard, it's pressed down, it's compact, as Jesus says, it's trampled upon.
[22:23] That heart is impenetrable. The seed simply bounces off the soil. The word of Jesus simply bounces off the heart.
[22:35] They hear it, they brush it aside. They hear it, but they have no interest in it, and it has no effect. Now, people may have many excuses and reasons to be hard-hearted towards Jesus, their upbringing, their social situation, whatever it may be.
[22:55] But in the end, Jesus explains the reason why people's hearts are hard and unreceptive to his word. He says the reason is that because men and women, naturally, each of us, is in the dominion of the devil, and we are deceived by him to turn away from, to ignore, to reject God's word.
[23:20] Notice how Jesus tells us in verse 12, the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts. Later in the New Testament, we're told by the Apostle John, the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
[23:36] Now, we're not going to spend a lot of time thinking about that, but that explains a lot, doesn't it? Why is there a young boy knocked off his scooter and murdered at the age of 14 in London?
[23:47] Why is it that people, even today, are starving around the world? Because their governments are corrupt. Why is it that there are still factions and wars going on throughout the Middle East?
[24:00] Well, ultimately, ultimately, the Bible says there is one explanation. The world is under the control of the evil one. These people are being directed, led, misguided, deceived by Satan, by the devil.
[24:16] He's real. He's not a fluffy toy that you put in the back of your car window. He is the enemy of all humanity and he is at work to destroy humanity. He's at hard work to prevent anybody from leaving his grip and coming into the freedom and the enjoyment of God's kingdom.
[24:35] The devil doesn't want people to become Christians. He doesn't want them to enjoy God's love and forgiveness. And he will sow into our hearts, as it were, or rather harden our hearts, so that when we hear Jesus, we brush it aside.
[24:47] We get on with our lives. We ignore it as foolishness or whatever it may be. But wonderfully, marvelously, God is stronger than the devil and that's why people become Christians.
[24:59] That's why they come into the kingdom. Here's how Paul describes to the Christians in Colossians chapter 1, 13. For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, the kingdom of darkness, the empire of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
[25:20] Isn't it interesting how so many films, so many books, are about a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of light? Think of Star Wars, the dark side of the force and the light side.
[25:32] Always there is that comparison, isn't there? And in many other places as well. J.R.R.R. Tolkien's, the Lord of the Rings, all about these comparing forces.
[25:44] And indeed, the kingdom of God is the kingdom which will overthrow and does overthrow the kingdom of darkness. So there's a hard heart.
[25:55] I wonder if that's how you may be this morning. Then there is a shallow heart, I've called it. It's there in verse 6, first of all. The soil. Some fell on rocky ground.
[26:06] When it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. And then Jesus explains it for us. Verse 13. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.
[26:21] They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. This is a shallow soil. That thin layer of soil that you get over rock in some places, particularly in the Middle East.
[26:34] It's a person who hears the good news of the kingdom of God and immediately says, this sounds good. God loves me. God wants me to be in heaven with him. God has a care and a concern for me.
[26:47] I find this quite interesting. I find this quite liberating even. And for a few moments they seem to have some interest in what Jesus has to say. But before long, very shortly, they move on to something else.
[27:01] Maybe the latest fad or the latest idea or the latest philosophy. This heart is initially excited, but as soon as there's any trouble, as soon as it's difficult, as soon as there's anything to be done, that person moves away, runs away.
[27:19] It's a shallowness about their faith, says Jesus. It's a pick-and-mix attitude to Jesus' words. Many people have that attitude, don't they, to the Bible today.
[27:31] Oh, we love the things that Jesus has to say. That God is love. We love the things that Jesus has to say about being with us wherever we go. We love this Jesus who is full of compassion.
[27:44] But there's so many things in the Bible we don't like. We don't like it when God is angry with wickedness and sin. We don't like it when there's talk of hell and judgment. We want to get rid of those bits.
[27:57] But dear friends, we have to accept God for all that he is. Jesus for every part of him. For Jesus did not only speak of heaven, but very much of hell. He spoke not only of love, but he spoke of wrath.
[28:11] Jesus was not only the one who when people were ill healed them and restored them, but he was the one who drove out the money changers and the thieves in the temple with a whip of cords and kicked over their tables.
[28:24] He's not gentle Jesus, meek and mild. He certainly is gentle and he certainly is humble, but he's not mild.
[28:36] He's full on. Either we take him as he is or we leave him. And many people leave him. They want the nice fluffy bits of Christianity. Having a nice wedding in church or having somewhere that they can go, where they have struggled or had hard times.
[28:54] They like the idea of God, that they can pray to God when things are really hard but have no time for it any other time. Dear friends, that's a shallowness. And it isn't what brings us into the kingdom of God.
[29:10] Then we have, thirdly, what I've called a crowded heart. A crowded heart. Verse 7. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.
[29:23] Jesus' explanation there is in verse 14. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear. As they go on their way, they're choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
[29:36] Here's soil, which is full of weeds already growing in it. and there's no room, as it were, for the seed. There's no goodness in the soil that they can get because it's being taken by these other things, these weeds.
[29:52] This is a crowded heart. Heart that's so full of self-interest. Heart that's so full of pleasures that it has no room for Jesus in its life. Jesus says there, a heart which is choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures.
[30:10] It's only concerned about the here and now. Heart that's only concerned about what's it it for me. Heart that's only concerned about today. Never a thought for eternity.
[30:21] Too busy to leave behind the kingdom of its own making in which it lives to enter into the kingdom of God. Well, I don't want to be a Christian. I don't want to follow Jesus.
[30:32] I've got so much in my life. I'm so full of busyness. I haven't got time for him. There's so many things I should be thinking about. So many things I should be concerned about for myself that I have no time to think and be concerned about my soul, about eternity.
[30:48] In one sense, sadly for many people, they think that they've got the best of it. Perhaps that's the problem with our own present generation. Perhaps that's the reason why so many people are not trusting in Jesus as they did in generations past.
[31:01] We've never had it so good as one politician said about 70 years ago, I think it was. But we've had it even better. We've got such a good health service. We've got good pensions. We've got everything we need in this life.
[31:13] So why should we need God? Why should we need Jesus? We've never had it so good. Dear friends, these things are just temporary. These things are like weeds, if I can put it that way.
[31:26] Even the best things in this life, even the best things that we grow and enjoy are no better, as it were, if I can put it this way, than in Roald Dahl's stories of the BFG.
[31:39] And if you saw that over Christmas, a very new adaptation. Poor old Roald Dahl, poor old BFG and the giants. In their land, all they could grow were snozzcumbers.
[31:51] That's all, the only crop they had. And do you know what BFG said? GFG puts it like this. They taste disgustuous. It's sickable. It's rotsome.
[32:02] It's maggot-wise. I put it to you, dear friends, that the things of this world are snozzcumbers compared to the kingdom of God.
[32:14] The things that we grow, the things that we cultivate in our own lives are these weeds compared to the wonderful, fruitful, bountiful crop which Jesus has for us in the kingdom of heaven.
[32:28] Everything. Everything. Even the best pleasures, even the nicest things of life, of love and care, and there are some wonderful things, are incomparable to the love of God, to the grace of God, to the friendship and the kindness of Jesus, to being in his kingdom and under his care.
[32:48] All these things will go. They're for a moment. They have consequences, many of them too. But with Christ and his kingdom, they're eternal and everlasting.
[33:00] So finally we come to the last, the fourth, soil. The one that produces a crop, we're told a hundred times. Verse 8, still other seedful and good soil came up and yielded a crop a hundred times what was sown.
[33:17] I've called this a prepared heart. A prepared heart. Look how Jesus describes it in verse 15. The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
[33:35] What does that mean? A noble and good heart. It means a heart that wants what is good. Now none of our hearts naturally want what is good in that sense.
[33:47] because there's an inclination in us to selfishness, to pride, to greed. An inclination in us towards those things which are all about self. But yet down, down, deep down in many of our hearts there is a hunger, a longing.
[34:01] I want what's right. I want what's good. I just can't do it. Jesus says, this heart which is fruitful, this heart that receives the word of Jesus is a heart that is prepared.
[34:12] It's ready. That when it hears the words of Jesus it says, these are the words for me. This is what I've needed to hear. This is what I've been longing for. There's an integrity, an honesty, a genuineness about this heart.
[34:28] Remember I said before that those who dilly-dally, as it were, with Jesus' words are the ones who are not given the secrets, who are not given in one sense the open door to see what God has done for them in Christ.
[34:41] people who just faff around on the edges of the Christian faith or the things of God. They'll never get in because they don't really care.
[34:53] But if there's a good heart, a prepared heart, a heart ready and willing to receive Jesus' words, do you have that sort of heart? Is that the heart with which you've come to church this morning?
[35:07] Is that the heart with which you come to the Bible and to God's word and to Jesus a heart that says, Lord, I want to hear, I want to know, I want to understand, I want to be part of this kingdom that you have established, this kingdom which is so good, better than any kingdom on earth.
[35:25] Well, how are we to respond? How does this heart react to the words of Jesus? Look at what it says. Instead of just brushing them aside, instead of just being shallowly receiving them and picking through them the best bits, apart from being so concerned with other things that it just dies and is choked, we're told, retain the seed and by persevering produce a crop.
[35:53] Retain is much more than just receiving, isn't it? Retaining is taking hold and keeping. In one sense, grabbing with both hands. is that your heart?
[36:09] Is that your attitude to the words of Jesus concerning the kingdom? Yes, I must have it and I receive it and I take it and I take hold of your word, Lord Jesus.
[36:21] Your words that tell me that I can be forgiven. Your words that tell me that you long to rescue and to save me. Yes, I take hold of your words that show me that I have gone my own way in life and that I have been lost in this kingdom of darkness too long and I take your words because it's by your words I know and trusting in your word and in you that you're able to save me by persevering by pressing on by really being determined by really being earnest by meaning business with God that's how we enter the kingdom of God.
[37:07] Not that we deserve it not that we earn it not that we work for it but in one sense God is not again as I say to be dealt with in a light and loose and careless way. This is not a matter of shall I change my washing machine this year?
[37:21] I've had it six years I don't need to break down. Should I renew my membership at the golf club? This isn't like that this is essential vital life and eternal effecting.
[37:37] And unless dear friend you can say God I mean business with you and I want to be part of that kingdom and this is the most important thing to me. Like Jesus said to that man he said well let me just go and sort out my family affairs first let me go and put this right first then I'll come and follow you.
[37:52] No Jesus says no let the dead bury the dead leave that you've got to take me seriously and you've got to hear the kingdom of God. You can make all sorts of excuses for putting off for preventing well when I'm older when I've had my fun when life when life is really tough I'll think about it.
[38:13] No good. You have no idea you've got no guarantee for tomorrow you've got no guarantee for next week you can't just put it off and why would you?
[38:26] Imagine that you went to the to the it was called the jungle wasn't it in Calais I don't know if it's still there there were all those people longing longing longing to be a part of the United Kingdom longing to get across by any way they only then travelled thousands upon thousands of miles left families and so on you said to them look come with me I'm going to take you to the UK I'm going to fly you across I'm going to pay all the expenses I'm going to settle you in your new home I'm going to make sure that you've got a nice job that suits you would you like to come?
[38:58] No I don't think so I'd rather try and get into a container I'd rather try to steal a border lorry of course they wouldn't they would be flocking and desiring and longing yes please thank you that's a wonderful thing this is what Jesus is saying you can be part of the Kingdom of God you can come in the way's open and I've made the way and I've provided the way I am the way the truth and life said Jesus do you want it or not?
[39:29] I have to say dear friends only the most foolish person would say no thank you I don't want it have you got a noble heart dear friends a good heart then dear friends let me assure you that Jesus will not turn you away that God will not turn you away but he will gladly grant you entrance and citizenship into his Kingdom for Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power the power of God to give life everlasting let's pray together shall we let's pray thank you oh Lord our God that you know human hearts thank you that our hearts even here this morning are known to you so completely you see right down into the depths we can pretend and hide and even deceive ourselves sometimes about what our hearts are like but you know us you see whether our hearts are hard or shallow crowded or prepared and oh Lord
[40:50] I pray that even this morning that you would cause us to look to you that we might have prepared hearts prepared prepared hearts to retain your wonderful word your good news of the kingdom of God to receive that seed receive that life giving seed which can bring about in us a harvest a crop a hundred times anything we've ever known before of joy of peace of contentment of forgiveness of life oh Lord we pray that you would open our hearts and that Lord you would bring forth fruit in our lives give us Lord we pray that longing that desiring that genuineness of heart that says Lord Jesus sow your seed in me and cause me to live we ask these things in his name
[41:53] Amen what are he five horse my son what he who nah that I know I he Huh I have a I love and that same you I I I I