The Influence of God's Kingdom

If you've got your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. Two parables this evening. The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven. Let me read to you verses 18 down to verse number 21.

Therefore he was saying, What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden, and it grew and became a tree. And the birds of the air nested in its branches. And again he said, To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of meal until it was all leavened. The big issue in the ministry of Jesus, the main topic of his sermons, was the kingdom of God. Everything was about the sphere in which he rules.

Everything he said was about his kingdom. That's why in Luke 4 it says, I must preach the kingdom of God because I was sent for this purpose. He was sent to do one thing, to speak and to preach about the kingdom of God. And so the Bible says he went from village to city to town preaching in synagogues about the kingdom of the Lord.

That's what he did. That was the emphasis of his ministry. This parable, these two parables, talk to us specifically about the victory of the kingdom. So let me review something with you.

Last week we talked to you about the voice of the kingdom. That was John the Baptist, remember? He went around preaching, he repented for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus came and he was the verification of the kingdom because he verified everything John said and everything that was spoken of in the Old Testament. And when Jesus spoke, he spoke about the virtues of the kingdom. Matthews 5, 6, and 7 tell us about the special virtues of the kingdom and those who live in the kingdom. With those virtues, he also spoke about the venture of the kingdom, how risky it was, how dangerous it was.

That's what Luke 9, 23 is about. Luke 14 is about, it's about the ventures of the kingdom. But the ventures can be accomplished if you understand the value of the kingdom, and that's Matthew 13 verses 44 and following about the parable of the treasure and the parable of the pearl. That is, the kingdom is so valuable that you can endure the venture because of how wonderful the kingdom is. And yet we also learn from the scriptures concerning the villain of the kingdom. Christ would speak about that as well because Satan is the father of lies.

He would be the one who would snatch the seed off the roadside. So people would remain in his kingdom, the kingdom of Satan, and not enter into the kingdom of light. At the same time, Jesus would speak about the verity of the kingdom, the truth of the kingdom. And that simply is in Luke 13. We'll talk about this next week. When someone asked, are there a few being saved? He said to them, strive to enter by the narrow gate, or narrow door, excuse me, for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able.

Let me tell you something about the truth of the kingdom. Not everybody who wants to get there is going to get there. Because you've got to repent, you've got to turn from your sin, you've got to follow what Jesus says.

If you do, you then become a vessel of the kingdom. A vessel fit for the master's use. And that was the essence of the ministry of Jesus. I'm not sure he used all those V's when he went to preach, but it makes it easy for us to understand the message of the messenger himself. But before there was a voice, and before there was a verification of that kingdom, there was a vision of the kingdom. You need to understand that. There was a huge vision of the kingdom as portrayed by all the prophets of old.

The prophets of old would come and they would talk specifically about the kingdom of God. In just a couple of months, you'll read many times over again these words. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest upon his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom. To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness.

From then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. There was a vision of the coming kingdom of God. Ezekiel spoke about it. Isaiah spoke about it. Zechariah spoke about it. Amos, Malachi, they would all speak about the coming kingdom of God. And so there was this huge vision that was portrayed in the minds of the Jewish people about the coming kingdom of God. And yet, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there were 400 silent years. No voice from heaven.

No word from God. Just what the prophets of old had said about the coming kingdom of God. The vision had been presented. The vision had been proclaimed. The vision had been portrayed to the nation of Israel. And yet, they waited for the king, for the Messiah to come. So before the voice of the kingdom, which was John the Baptist, there was the vision of the kingdom. After the vision came the visualization of the kingdom. That happened in the temple with a man named Zacharias who was approached by the angel Gabriel and told him that he'd have a son.

And that son would be the forerunner to the Messiah. The vision now had become visualized. They could see it. It was coming. It was right around the corner. There now was a forerunner who would precede the Messiah. At the same time, the angel, well not the same time, but a few time after that, the angel would appear to Mary. And he would tell Mary these words in Luke chapter one very clearly. He would say this, that your son will be great. He will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord will give him the throne of his father David.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no end. Now the vision was actually visualized. They could see it. It's coming. There's a forerunner to the Messiah. Mary could visualize the king in her womb because now she would conceive him. And then she would hold the king. Everything came in to picture and to focus for them. It would be the shepherds who would rejoice because the king had come, the Messiah, the Lord had arrived. It would be Simeon who was given a promise.

You shall not die until you see the Lord's Christ. So Simeon could visualize now the kingdom. Why? Because he had held in his hand the Messiah who had come to build his kingdom. Anna, she was the same way in Luke chapter two because she was looking for the redemption of Israel, the consolation of Jerusalem. And so she too was one who was looking for that king and his kingdom. She now could visualize everything true about the kingdom of God. Now the voice began to speak. John the Baptist, repent for the kingdom of heaven is right here.

It's at hand. It's in your midst. And so that which had been a vision, that which now had been visualized, he would speak about. And throngs of people, hordes of people would make their way down to the Jordan River to be baptized in anticipation of the coming king and his kingdom. And so you can imagine what the crowds were like. We went through Luke chapter three and talked about John the Baptist's message and what he said and then the Messiah coming on the scene. And so there was great excitement centered around the coming of the king and his kingdom.

You can imagine what must have been happening in the minds of those Jewish people. And Jesus would come. He was the verification of the kingdom. He would come and he would say to Peter, James and John, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. They understood his Messiahship. This is the king. We're going to have to follow him. Leave family, leave our fortune, leave our future and follow the one who is the king of kings, the anticipation, the excitement, the joy of the kingdom of God. But things didn't pan out as they thought.

Oh, there were crowds that were coming, but there was a problem. The religious establishment didn't accept him as the Messiah, didn't accept him as the king. And so they would ignore his miracles. They would attribute all the things that he did to Satan and slowly but surely begin to turn the crowds away from the king and his kingdom. So much so in Luke 19 it says, we will not have this king rule over us. They didn't want that king. What happened? What happened? There were 12 disciples, soon to be apostles.

One was an apostate. There would be 70 who would follow after them, who would go around preaching the kingdom of God. The apostles of course would preach that same kingdom because they too became voices of the kingdom. Jesus would die and there would be 500 nondescript disciples that he would appear to in Galilee and there would be another 120 in the upper room in Jerusalem awaiting the coming of the spirit of God. He had less than a thousand followers at his death after a three plus year ministry of healing everybody who came in contact with and preaching the kingdom of God because he himself was the king.

And yet the kingdom wasn't anything like they expected. When you think of a king you think of royalty. You think of crowns, horses, armies, palaces, thrones. Jesus didn't have any of that. Pilate would ask him, are you a king? And Jesus said yes. Really? Where is your kingdom? And Jesus would say my kingdom is not of this world. Really? Well of course you're going to say that. There is no kingdom around here. And yet Jesus didn't look like a king. Jesus didn't even act like a king. And so the world didn't see him as a king.

And by the way the world today still doesn't see Jesus as a king. But he is. See? And so they moved, the disciples moved painfully toward the cross. In fact every time Jesus would talk about the cross and his death they changed the subject. In fact the first time he talked about it he asked who do men say that I am?

As if he is asking do they see me as a king? Well no. Some see you as John the Baptist. Others Elijah, one of the prophets. They don't see you as the Messiah, the king. In fact even John the Baptist, the voice of the kingdom was thrown into prison. And he even began to wonder whether or not Jesus was the king. And so he would send some of his disciples back. Remember Luke chapter 7? Are you the coming one, the Erechomai, the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy? Are you really the Messiah? Because if you are why am I in prison?

If you're really the Messiah how come I'm not out of here? So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus. And Jesus immediately healed everybody around him. He said you go back and tell John the blind see, the lame walk I am the Messiah, I am the king. Even the voice, the voice of the Messiah, John the Baptist had doubts about the king Jesus. So these disciples would painfully follow their king to the cross. And even when he went to the cross he mocked him. This is Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. And they left him, they fled from him because they didn't understand the victory of the kingdom.

Although Jesus told them that. They didn't get it. In fact even after his resurrection he spent 40 days with them talking to them about things pertaining to what? The kingdom. That was the message. Listen, if you miss the kingdom message, listen carefully, you can't preach the true gospel. The true gospel is about a king who has a kingdom. And there's only one way into that kingdom. It's through the king. If you don't preach the kingdom message you don't preach the gospel of Jesus. And you preach a different gospel.

So you must understand the elements of the kingdom. You must understand the virtues of the kingdom. You must understand the ventures of the kingdom. You must understand the villain of the kingdom. If you don't understand those things you can't preach the kingdom. Disciples had a hard time preaching the kingdom because they didn't know the king as well as they thought they knew the king. And even after he spoke to them 40 days after his resurrection about the coming kingdom, they said, Lord, are you at this time now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

He must have scratched his head so many times with those knuckleheads that he invested his life into. No, I'm not going to restore the kingdom now.

Yours is not to know when the kingdom comes. Yours is to be obedient to me and to follow me. So important, so crucial. That's why these two parables at this time are important. They're injected here because of what happens before and what happens afterwards. Remember, he heals a woman who's been bent over for 18 years. That's what he does in the previous passage. The synagogue ruler doesn't like that. He's upset about that. He also has opponents that are there, right? They don't like that. And yet the text does say the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by him.

That's verse number 17. So every time there was a multitude that would rejoice, every time there was an uproar of, wow, man, this is great, disciples had to have a little bit of anticipation about the coming kingdom of God. So Jesus inserts a parable, two of them. One dealing with the external impact of the kingdom. The other dealing with the internal influence of the kingdom. He has to tell them that because the very next scene he's asked the question, are there just a few being saved? And he answers that in a very unique way.

You have to come back next week to hear that one, but that's the message you won't want to miss because you need to understand that very few people are getting saved today. I don't care what radio ministry tells you otherwise. I tend to believe what Jesus said. I don't care what the news says. I don't care what some preacher on TV says. I just believe what Jesus says and so better you believe what Jesus says.

So next week we'll explain that to you so you come to grips with what the truth is about the kingdom. These two parables help us come to grips with that. It's called the victory of the kingdom. He's going to tell you how victorious the kingdom is going to be. So he uses the parable, the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven. One to talk about the external impact of the kingdom. The other, the internal influence of the kingdom. Same two parables he used back in Matthew 13 when he gave a whole chapter about the parable of the kingdom.

He talked about how the seed would be sown. Remember that parable and how the seed would fall on the roadside soil and Satan would come and snatch it away and had thrown thorny soil and rocky soil and they would believe instantaneously and they would receive the word with joy, but they really weren't saved. There's only one soul that brought forth fruit. That was a true conversion of one who believed. Then he gave the parable of the wheat and the tares because there would be tares that would grow side by side with the wheat in the church age, in the kingdom age, and you won't be able to tell the wheat apart from the tares, so therefore you've got to wait to the end of the kingdom where the Lord separates them, meaning that there's going to be a lot of people in the church that look like they're saved, that act like they're saved, but are not saved, and you won't be able to tell the difference until the very end, but that's too late for the tares, see?

And then he gives the parable about the mustard seed and the leaven, the parable about the pearl of great price and the treasure, and the parable of the dragnet about judgment. He gives the parables concerning the kingdom. He gives the same parable again here in Luke 13. Talk about the victory of the kingdom. You need to understand this, he says. It is so crucial to understanding my ministry. Now they didn't get it. They should have, but they didn't, and we'll explain to you why. First of all, the parable about the mustard seed, the external impact of the kingdom.

He says, what is the kingdom of God like and to what shall I compare it? He has to do this because all he does is preach about the kingdom of God. The kingdom is the rule of the king. It's the sphere in where the king rules, right? But because he's always preaching about it, he's got to tell them what the kingdom of God is like. He says, it's like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden, and it grew, and it became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches. Now believe it or not, the disciples would understand this because they knew that the mustard seed according to Matthew 13 was the smallest seed.

Now there will be critics who will come and say, well, no, Jesus isn't right because the mustard seed isn't the smallest seed. Yes, it is. They'll say, no, because there's other seeds smaller. Ah, yes, but of all the seeds sown agriculturally, the mustard seed is the smallest seed. Of all the seeds that produce food or herbs, the mustard seed is the smallest seed. It became a phrase that would be used in Judaism, small as a mustard seed. Jesus would use it. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be removed, and it will go into the sea.

So the essence of the smallness of a mustard seed was used quite frequently. So the disciples would understand the analogy that Christ Himself is giving of all the seeds planted in the garden. The mustard seed was the smallest seed, and it produced a mustard tree, a bush, some 8 feet high, some 15 feet in diameter. That's what they would produce. It would be the biggest plant in the garden. It was huge. And so He says, this tree was big enough, this tree was broad enough for birds to build permanent nests in it.

Unusual for a garden plant, but that's the picture. So big, so strong, so sturdy that birds could build a nest and stay because they would find a permanent home, a place for shade, security, and protection. Now, Jesus says, this is what the kingdom of God is like.

But nobody on the outside was saying, wow, what a kingdom. Your king is amazing. And His kingdom is phenomenal. Well, because there were no resources, there was no palace, there were no trumpets, no horns, no lights, no whistles, no thrones, no armies, no battles to be won, no victory to claim. They didn't see Him as a king. In fact, in Luke 17, it says these words. The Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, now why would they ask that question? Because when He preached, He preached about the kingdom of God.

He answered them and said, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, look, here it is, or there it is. For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. Remember what Paul said in Romans 14, 17? The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It's righteousness, joy, and peace through the Holy Spirit. He says, my kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. My kingdom deals with the true needs of man. My kingdom is not going to be visible, but the redeemed will come to understand who the king truly is.

It's here, but you can't see it. And the reason you can't see it is because you don't recognize me as your king. If you did, you'd see the kingdom and you'd understand the king. But because you don't see me as your king, it's invisible to you, completely invisible because the king is in your midst. The kingdom started small. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem, virtually in obscurity. And for 30 years, no miracles, no lessons, no sermons. The only account we have is when he was 12 years of age in Luke's gospel, when he was in the temple talking with the leaders of the time.

That's the only interaction we have recorded in scripture about Jesus between the ages of one and 30 or zero and 30. That's all we have. He would grow up in a town called Nazareth and he would begin his ministry. And that ministry lasted three years. At 33 years of age, he was killed. And he said that unless the seed falls to the ground and dies, it won't bear the fruit. If it dies, it'll bear much fruit. Remember that in John chapter 12? He had to die. So the seed began very, very small. The Messiah, his birth, his ministry, and the very, very few people that believed and followed him during that earthly ministry.

It began extremely small, but it would grow. It would grow so big that the birds of the air would nest in it. It would grow so huge that people would find shelter. They'd find security in it. It would grow and would continue to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow. You see, that was the misperception of the Jewish people. Go back with me to Psalm 2 just for a moment. Psalm 2. This was the great Messianic Psalm. Every Jew believes in Psalm 2 and the anointing of the Messiah, his reign over the nations of the world.

This is how they saw the king. This is how they saw the kingdom. Okay? Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? Verse 1, the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them, but he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury. But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.

I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, Thou art my son. Today I have begotten thee. Ask of me and I will surely give the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of the earth as thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware. That's how they saw the king and his kingdom. The Lord ascending to Mount Zion, the Lord ruling from Mount Zion and the kings of the world coming against him, him destroying them all. That's how they saw the kingdom and the king because that's what Psalm 2 said.

And they would be right because that's exactly what was going to happen. Exactly. The problem is that's the end, not the beginning. They were at the beginning, not the end. And neither are we, by the way. But 2,000 years later, we understand a small seed planted, dying in the earth and growing bigger than ever. But yet we don't understand Psalm 2 in its entirety because we're not there yet. The same thing is in Psalm 76. Same thing is in Isaiah 53. Same thing is in the book of Micah, Micah chapter 2, Micah chapter 4.

In fact, turn to Micah chapter 4 for a moment. This is what they understood the kingdom of God to be like. Verse 1, And it will come about in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. And many nations will come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us about his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.

For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war. And each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. Though all the peoples walk, each in the name of his God, as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever.

In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted. And I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcasts a strong nation. And the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and forever. That's how they saw the kingdom. That's how they pictured the king. That was the vision of the kingdom of God. That's what they saw, because that's what the prophets told them. But they didn't understand. That was the end of the kingdom, not its beginning.

And that's why the kingdom parables are a mystery. Something not revealed in the Old Testament, but concealed, only revealed then in the New. And so the Messiah then would reveal to them the kingdom age, how it begins. It speaks of it as something very small, but growing absolutely huge. So much so that the birds of the air will nest in it, in its branches. Now to us, we understand that, but to them, they got it. How do we know they understood what Jesus was saying? If you got your Bible, turn to Daniel chapter 4.

Daniel chapter 4. See, let me remind you that the Jews are not like us. Okay? They go to the synagogue daily. We go to church once a week at best. Okay? Sometimes twice a month at best. Okay? They went daily. And all they did was study the Old Testament. So don't think for one moment that Jews don't know the Old Testament. Oh, they know the Old Testament. But they knew the Old Testament, especially during the time of Jesus. That's why I kept going back and quoting the Old Testament in his discussions with the scribes and the Pharisees and Sadducees, because they misinterpreted it.

But they knew what the Old Testament said. So they would know what Jesus said. Daniel 4, verse number 10. Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed. I was looking and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew large and became strong, and its height reached to the sky, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its foliage was beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it.

Now where was Daniel? He was in Babylon, in Babylonian captivity. He sees a vision of the great Babylonian empire, and that the birds of the air, the nations of the world, would be protected and shaded by this great empire. If you go back to later on in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37, the same thing is said about Assyrian Egypt, okay? The same thing is said about Assyrian Egypt, how the birds of the air will nest in its branches. And then there's even a phrase about the Messiah in Zechariah chapter 17, verse number 22.

It says, Thus says the Lord God, I shall also take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out. I shall pluck from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I shall plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the high mountain of Israel, which of course is Zion, I shall plant it that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it. They will nest in the shade of its branches. And all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.

I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree, make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord, I have spoken, I will perform it. So they knew, Zechariah, Daniel, about the birds nesting in the trees. They knew that the kingdom of God would be like the great Babylonian kingdom, the great Egyptian kingdom, the great Assyrian kingdom. And in the branches of that kingdom, the nations of the world would find shelter, shade, protection, because it would grow so strong and so big. The disciples needed to understand, this is the victory of the kingdom.

But it begins very, very small, very tiny. And they were at the beginning stages, see? We have a hard time understanding what they saw, but we try to put ourselves in their sandals and realize that what they saw was nobody accepting their king. What they saw was people not wanting to follow their king. What they saw was the religious establishment wanting to kill their king. That's what they saw. They didn't understand why people couldn't believe what they believed. And so there was so much going on in their hearts and minds, but they followed painfully all the way to the cross because they were committed to Jesus, their king, their Messiah, followed him all the way to the end.

But it wasn't until after his death and resurrection and the blossoming of the church in Jerusalem, did they begin to understand the victory of the kingdom. That leads us to the next parable, the parable specifically about the leaven. Now, before I get there, we understand this a little bit. How do we understand this today about the whole shade and protection of nations that are a part or attached to the kingdom? They're not a part of the kingdom in terms of its reality, but they find protection there.

Well, if you're married to an unbeliever, you can understand this. Remember 1 Corinthians 7? This is what the Lord God says.

The Lord God says this, verse 14, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified to his wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband, for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

What is Jesus saying? He's saying that the unbelieving spouse, the unbelieving children experience the blessings that you as a believer receive from God because they are a part of your life. So there is a certain protection, there's a certain preservation, there's a certain security and shade that they are able to get from a spiritual perspective because they are sanctified, not saved, they're set apart and protected because of your commitment to Christ. That's the thing about the kingdom of God.

And so even today, even today we wonder about the kingdom of God, but it hasn't grown to its fullest extent yet. That won't happen until the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 11, verse 15, And the seventh angel sounded, and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. That's the extent of the kingdom. That's the complete victory of the kingdom. The kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdom of our Lord.

And in Revelation 19, he returns. And in Revelation chapter 20, you had that great millennial kingdom that will translate us into the eternal kingdom of God. That's where we're going. That's the victory of the kingdom, you see. That's what we need to understand. That's what the disciples needed to understand. Now, here's the question. How does all that happen? That's the parable of the leaven. He says the kingdom is going to start small, but it's going to grow to be huge, like the mustard seed, the smallest seed planted in your garden, but grows to be the biggest bush in your garden.

So the kingdom of God starts small, but grow to be the biggest kingdom ever. Okay? How's that going to happen? Because not too many people are following. Where is everybody? Okay? And the disciples, you know, they got to be wondering this. They got to be asking themselves, how does this happen? I mean, you're preaching, you're teaching, right? And there are miracles everywhere. Everybody's getting healed. And yet nobody's following. Everybody's getting physically better, but nobody wants to commit spiritually.

So how's it going to happen? Are you going to raise up somebody else to do miracles, and to preach, and to proclaim? Now, the kingdom of heaven, he says, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It's like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of meal until it was all leavened. This is how it's going to happen. Now, three pecks of meal is 50 pounds of flour, which feeds 100 people. Okay? Feed your family, your extended family, and your extended family's family. Okay? Feeds a lot of people.

Okay? And the Lord says that this is how the kingdom is going to grow. It's going to grow, listen, by the permeating influence of the vessels of the kingdom, the children of the kingdom. This is how it's going to grow. It will happen. But before it does, you won't even know what's happening. You won't even know what's happening. Over time, the leaven will permeate the whole lump of dough. The leaven, that's the kingdom and its citizens. The dough, that's the world, it's society. And it will slowly begin to permeate the entire world, but it will take time.

See, the world is clueless that you're a vessel in the kingdom of God. You go to the mall, you walk into the mall, go to the store, no one sees God in you. No one sees you as a child of the king. No one sees you as one who has eternal life. And that's because Romans 8 says that the glorious manifestation of the children of God has not yet happened. Okay? And yet the permeating influence of the kingdom, your testimony, your righteous behavior, the gospel in its presentation, the work of the Holy Spirit in the presentation of that gospel.

By the way, the Spirit of God can't be seen either, can it? Of course not. But over time, that begins to permeate society. And all of a sudden, it takes effect, the internal influence of the kingdom. Leaven is fermented dough that changes the characteristic of the bread. Without leaven, the bread is just stale, dry crackers. With the leaven, it becomes everything you could imagine it could taste like. And so, Jesus speaks of the influence of the kingdom. You could imagine how hard this must have been for the disciples, especially at the death of Christ, how this was really going to take place, how actually this was going to manifest itself for all to see.

Remember, Jesus spoke about leaven. He spoke about, in Luke 12, 1, the leaven of the Pharisees, which is what? Hypocrisy. Leaven is permeating influence. He says, beware the leaven of hypocrisy, because it will influence you in the wrong direction. Remember over in Matthew 16, he talked about the teaching of the Pharisees. That was leaven as well. It will teach you to go the wrong way. Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees. The truth also is influential. It's extremely influential. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 6, the influence of one immoral person in the church would disgrace the entire church of Corinth.

That's why Paul says, don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? He says, do you know that one person living in your congregation in immorality is going to affect your whole church? Get it out. Get it out, because it affects everything. Sin permeates, so get rid of it. Over in Galatians 5, 9, he talks about legalism being a negative, evil, permeating influence in the church. But in Matthew 13 or Luke 13, he talks about the influence of the citizens of the kingdom in a positive sense, in a good sense, because it begins to touch every aspect of the world.

It's a sanctifying influence. Remember when Israel left Egypt, they could take no leavened bread, only unleavened bread. Why? Because they couldn't take any influence from the past. They had to make a clean break, a clean separation. Seven days after they left, they could make leavened bread, because they would take a piece of fermented dough from that unleavened bread and place it in another batch of dough, and it would begin to permeate, and then they would have leavened bread. But they could not take any leaven from Egypt, because it symbolized the negative influence of the world.

You can't be influenced by the world. So there was this big symbol that Israel would have. Oh, did you know that if you were Jewish, a Jewish girl, and you were going to be married, that your mother would give you a piece of fermented dough? Did you know that? I'm loving this, because that's what I'm giving my girls when they get married, okay? And the reason they did this is because they would want to take the influence that they had from their upbringing and the love they had to go into their new relationship and infect in a positive way that relationship.

It was all symbolic. See that? And Jesus says, this is how the kingdom of God is going to grow to be the biggest thing ever.

How's that? The citizens of the kingdom, the leaven, the permeating influence in the dough of society, one person at a time. That's how the kingdom is built. The kingdom was never built by mass crusades. It's built by the permeating influence that you have in your workplace, in your family, with your friends, in your school, in the classroom, and you touching that individual with the truth of the gospel and the work of the spirit of God, and they've given their life to Christ to become citizens of the kingdom.

That's how it happens. That's why Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples. He never said, go into all the world and make converts. He said, go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You teach them, you grow them, you teach them the truth of the kingdom that they in turn might be baptized and followers of that kingdom, and that they in turn would go out and teach others.

That's why Paul said, Timothy, you teach faithful men so they in turn can teach faithful others the truth of the gospel. You've got to teach them. You've got to grow them. You've got to influence them so they will go out and do the same thing. Why do we encourage you to take those invitations and invite people to come on Sunday morning? That's the only way church grows. Sheep produce sheep. Shepherds do not produce sheep. Sheep produce sheep. The growth of the church is on you. It's not on me. See that?

But if the church doesn't grow, what do they do? They fire the pastor. If the baseball team doesn't win, they fire the coach. It's not the coach's fault. He didn't catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball, right? Sheep produce sheep. If the sheep aren't producing sheep, the church doesn't grow. Simple as that. And so what happens then is that Jesus says, oh, it's going to grow.

It's going to be huge. It's going to encompass the entire world when the king himself returns. But until then, there is this internal influence that permeates the entire world. And that is the citizens of the kingdom who go and teach others the truth of that kingdom. And they begin to grow. What a beautiful promise. You see, we need to understand the victory of the kingdom only. Because it hasn't happened yet. We're victorious. We're outnumbered, but we're never out-dueled. Right? Because we're overcomers.

First John 5, 4 and 5. Revelation 2, 26 and 28. Romans 8. We are overwhelming conquerors through him who loved us. We're outnumbered by the world. We're never out-dueled. Because we're the overcomers. I love being an overcomer. That means you never lose. I hate losing. That's why I'm with Jesus. Because he never loses. He always wins. And I'm an overcomer. He is the great overcomer. But we now become overcomers as well. That's why the Bible says, the Psalmist says these words in Psalm 58 verse number 4, this I know God is for me.

Do you know that? This I know God is for me. Paul would say, if God before you, who can be against you? Right? This I know God is for me. Psalm 46, 11. The Lord Almighty is with us. Psalm 60 verse number 12. With God we will gain the victory. Outnumbered, never out-dueled. Small, but very, very significant. Why? Because the transformational power of the gospel in the Spirit of God who dwells within us. Oh, we're small. But we are so significant. Because we're citizens of the kingdom. Designed by the king himself to present the kingdom to others.

But this should encourage you. Because, you know, in your family, you have that influence. You're the leaven in your unsafe family. To touch them with the truth of the gospel. To motivate them to follow the truth. To live the truth before them. To live a righteous life that they might experience kingdom living. Isn't it good to know that people can know that you are a follower of the king of kings and lord of lords? And that they then can taste the glories of the kingdom because you are presenting to them the glories of that kingdom.

Declaring the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. There's a church here in West Covina. The opportunity to touch the people in West Covina by way of radio. All of Southern California. The truth of the gospel. They might hear and believe and come to the knowledge of the truth. Folks, this should encourage all of us. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it. He is building his church. He's building it one person at a time.

And when that last person in the kingdom age is saved, we're gone. We're out of here. We're in heaven. We don't know who that person is going to be. It might be you. It might be you. It might be your son. It might be your daughter. It might be your husband. It might be your wife. I don't know. But when that last person in the kingdom age is saved, boom, we're out of here. The great tribulation happens upon the earth. The king comes back, sets up his kingdom, and that kingdom then permeates the entire world.

And the victory of the kingdom will be complete, and we will be a part of it. Let's pray. Lord God, thank you for tonight, the chance to be together and study your word, the joy that's there. We are so blessed to understand what you've said. Lord, we know the truth because you are the truth, and we know you. And Lord, you've spoken to us about the kingdom of God. We thank you, Lord, that we're citizens of that kingdom. I pray for everybody in this room that they would know that they are children of the king.

And Father, as children of the king, we represent your kingdom. May we be effective representations of that kingdom, that others will know that we serve the master of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, as we infect those around us with the truth of the gospel, we influence them with the righteous gospel of Christ, may we begin to see the kingdom being built one person at a time, as we begin to share the truth of Christ with those we love, those we know, those who so desperately need to hear the truth about the kingdom of God.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.