Good evening. Let's turn again to the Gospel according to Luke and to chapter nine. And tonight we're going to read and then think of the first fifty verses. So it's Luke's Gospel, and we're reading at chapter nine, verse one. Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said unto them, take nothing for your journey, neither staves nor scrip, neither bread, neither money, neither of two coats apiece. Whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide in thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against him. And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by him, and he was perplexed because that it was said of some that John was risen from the dead, and of some that Elias had appeared, and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again. And Herod said, John have I beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him. And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him. And he received them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God and healed them that had need of healing. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get victuals, for we are here in a desert place. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes, except we should go and buy meat for all this people. For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them in break and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. And they did eat and were all filled. And there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist, but some say Elias, and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And he strictly charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised to the third day. And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in his Father's and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God. And it came to pass about an eighth days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and blistering. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake, they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias, not knowing what he said. While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud. There came a voice out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved son, hear him. When the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone, and they kept it close and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. It came to pass that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met. And behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child, and lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him, and he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. As he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down and tailed him. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered everyone at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, let these sayings sink down into your ears, the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. They understood not this saying, and it was hid from them that they perceived it not, they feared to ask him of that saying. Then there arose a reason among them which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their hearts, took a child and set him by him and said unto them, whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me. Whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me. For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbad him because he falleth not with us. Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us. Now it is that God will bless the reading and consideration of his precious word. I think we've got eleven sections in our passage this evening, but I'll just give the wee headings of the precise verses as we come to them, one by one. So section number one is from verse one down to the end of verse six, and it's about the Lord Jesus sending out the twelve apostles. I gave you immediately the, the heading of the first section. Uh, I remember some years ago I thought I would go through the gospels and try to get one heading for each chapter that would be memorable. And some chapters were straightforward enough, you know, like the ones with the Sermon on the Mount, you could just call it the Sermon on the Mount, and then the Sermon on the Mount continued, you know, that was easy enough. But when it came to chapters like this, with all these different resections, well, you know, I grew up in the old adage, if at first you don't succeed, give up. So I never got that singular title for all these chapters. I suppose from this chapter you might record the Transfiguration as maybe one of the most notable events, but then you've also got the feeding of the five thousand as well, so I don't have a general title for you, I'm afraid, but we'll just go get the titles as we come to the section. So section one, verse one to six, the Lord sends out the twelve apostles. Now, I want to use this little section to make a very general point. It's very important, wherever you're reading in the Bible, to read it in its context, and not simply to lift things and willy-nilly, as it were, take them to yourself. Because there might be some people who, reading this, might think, oh, Jesus sent out Christians to teach and to preach and to heal people. Isn't this what he's doing here? He's given them ability to cure diseases, so Christians should have ability to cure diseases. Well, of course, that would be quite wrong. In this context, quite simply, we have the Lord Jesus doing something very specific, sending out, as it says, his twelve disciples. And remarkably, he does give them power over demons and to cure diseases. And there almost seems to be, uh, no limit to that. And they did that. Uh, it says in verse six, they were healing everywhere. There's no detailed record of what they did, interestingly. That's not given at all, but they did fulfill what he sent them out to do. But this is what he gave to these twelve apostles to do within a very limited time frame. And so it's not, of course, Christians at all he's speaking to, because you don't get Christians till after Acts chapter two, after the day of Pentecost, and what this was was specific to them. But having made that point about how you must, first of all, interpret every passage in its context, there are always, of course, underlying moral and spiritual principles which continue. So let me just mention three of them from this little section about evangelism. In one sense, one principle is this: evangelism doesn't depend upon money. Now, of course, evangelists do need to be fed and watered and clothed, but he sends these people out with minimal material things because their spiritual work was going to be quite independent of that, and so it is today. Sometimes we might wish it were that evangelism depended on money because lots of people are sometimes very generous, and if you paid so much and you saw a soul saved, I'm sure the Lord's people would just do that. But of course, it doesn't work that way at all. It's the power of the Spirit of God. So material things are important for those who serve the Lord, but it's not material in themselves upon which success in evangelism depends. The other point I want to make is that the Lord Jesus envisages places to which they're going to go, where they're going to be refused. See that in verse five, whosoever will not receive him. What I find interesting is then what he does not say. He doesn't say to the disciples, when that happens, you'll really have to look at yourselves and see what you're doing wrong. He attributes no blame whatsoever to this lack of success, as it were, in evangelism. In fact, the blame fairly and squarely is in the people who refuse not to listen to the disciples. And then one final point. I have mentioned that we've not to take this to ourselves in the sense of thinking that we as Christians should be able to have authority over demons and to cure diseases. But you know, what's the underlying principle of that? Quite simply this. When the Lord Jesus wants you to do something for him, he will enable you to do that. And this is very important. Sometimes Christians, in their misguided enthusiasm, put themselves under all sorts of stresses and strains and pressures that the Lord has never ever intended, because they try to do things that he has not fitted them to do. So what we have to do in this earthly life, in God's grace, is to understand and to learn and to discover the gifts that he has given us, and of course to exercise them, but not to try to exercise gifts that he hasn't got us. So if God wants somebody to be a teacher of the word of God, he'll give them the ability to teach. If God wants somebody to be an evangelist and to lead souls to Christ, he will give them the ability to be an evangelist and lead souls to Christ. He will give us the gifts that he wants us to have so that we can fulfill the jobs he wants us to do. Now, section two is from verse seven to the end of verse 9, where we find Herod is perplexed. Perplexity. Well, Herod was already disposed of John, so he's wondering who this other person is. He's filled with curiosity, which is, I suppose, a good thing. But here's the one point I simply want to make from this. Herod is perplexed, and he's hearing stories from all over about the identity of a man who's alive at the same time as him, and yet he doesn't know about him. Do you know what Herod needs? Herod needs a preacher. Herod needs someone to come and tell him the answer to his question. Who is this about whom I hear such things? He needs someone to tell him carefully and precisely who the person of the Lord Jesus is. Now, if that was true for Herod, who lived at the same time as the Lord Jesus, how much true it is today. The world outside does need people to tell them who the Lord Jesus is, because they don't know. A preacher is needed, and of course, that's what we have in the New Testament. How shall we hear, later in the New Testament, how shall we hear without a preacher? So we need the preaching of the gospel. We need Christ being presented both publicly and, of course, where we have opportunity in private conversation as well. Now we come to the third section, which is from verse ten down to the end of verse seventeen, where the Lord Jesus feeds the five thousand. Well, here's another great example, of course, of the great power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, last week, when we read of the storm and the lake, I took you back to the Psalms to show that the Jews should have recognized what the Lord Jesus did, that their God was in their midst. Now, this is a very similar, uh, a similar story. This time I'm going to read to you from Psalm number seventy eight, which tracks the experience of the people of Israel in the wilderness. Now, I'm reading Psalm seventy eight. I'm going to break in at verse seventeen. They sinned yet more against him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness. So here they are in the desert. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God. They said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth. So a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation. Though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and had rained down manna upon them to eat and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels' fruit. He sent them meat to the full. We'll just leave that there. But there's a classic example of how God had given bread to his people. God was the bread giver, so they knew that their God was the bread giver. So, of course, what happens now in our chapter when the Lord Jesus feeds the five thousand? he gives another powerful evidence that Jehovah was amongst them, the one who miraculously could. Now, it was a great miracle, of course, and again, it just causes you to wonder as you think of those five loaves and two fishes. You know, you just sometimes try to imagine what was it like as the Lord gave it to the disciples? You know, it just kept multiplying. What did the loaves look like as a bit was broken off and given and passed on? Did it suddenly appear again? What did they see? None of that detail is given, of course. Never in the Bible do you get that sort of detail given, because this is one of the hallmarks to me, amongst many others, of the inspiration of scripture. It's not given to satisfy our human curiosity. It's given as a revelation of the divine purpose and character of you primarily in Christ. So that type of detail isn't given. So many details like that are never given, especially in the Gospels, that we'd have been wanting to put in if we were making up the story. Of course, the story's not made up, and it's an inspired record of these wonderful events. So it's a great cause of wonder. But one practical point I want to mention from it is, of course, that the Lord Jesus didn't do it all himself. Well, he did the miracle all himself, but in terms of actually getting the food to the multitudes, he used his disciples. The Lord Jesus gave it to his disciples, and so he used them. And of course, that's the principle by which the Lord Jesus uses us today. The, the great work of God, the effective work of God, whether it be in the salvation of souls or in the edification of his people, is a work of God, but it uses us in the doing of it. And that, of course, is one of the greatest privileges of life on earth, to be used in the service of the living God. One of the features I do like about this is that it tells us that the people, when they had what the Lord Jesus gave to them, the people were satisfied. Uh, verse seventeen says they were all filled. Oh, I do like that, you know. Nobody just got a wee bit and had to make do. Everyone got a full meal that day. Oh, that's typical of the Lord, isn't it? Grace abounding, a fullness of provision. And so that's what salvation is all about. It is about satisfaction, a full satisfaction through what Christ would give us. And when we feed in the scriptures, that's when we find satisfaction as well. In fact, I'm sure you find that's when you have a surfeit, because so often, in a sense, you've got a pause reading because you've been given so much to enjoy and to meditate upon that you've just got to pause and enjoy it. So it's a great provision from the Lord Jesus. I just made one comment about the nation, because I think that is set before us in verse seventeen, the twelve baskets. What else could it refer to but a reminder that the nation was made up of twelve tribes? God never lost sight of that, even though we're only talking at most in this context of the two, of Judah and some of Benjamin, perhaps the ten tribes have been taken away by the Assyrians and never seen again, in effect. Uh, but God's never lost sight of the twelve, and of course it's the twelve tribes that will be regathered when the Lord Jesus comes again. So there's food for the nation. This is the Lord Jesus telling them, look, I have plenty for the nation. I think when you get the other great story, the four thousand with the seven baskets, it's a message for the world, it's provision for the world, but here he's saying that he has enough for the whole nation. And then a very practical point too, of course, this, well, these twelve baskets, it's what they took up. They weren't going to leave a mess lying about. Isn't that very important? Moscow's got a great dry wall to try to stop people dropping litter. It's not working very well, I'm afraid to say. But there we are, everything's tidied up, a very practical thing. No. Doubtless that was used for the need of other people at other time. Now, section four is verses 18 to twenty. Now, it's twice over that we're here in the passage we read of who the Lord Jesus was thought to be. I had it in the head section earlier, and here it is again. Who do the crowds say that I am? asked the Lord Jesus. And the answers come, well, John the Baptist, but he's dead. Elijah, well, or one of the old prophets. Well, of course, they were all wrong. And this is where Peter shines. You know, there are moments when Peter's brilliant by the goodness of God, and he gives this wonderful answer, the Christ of God. Uh, in one sense, it's at the heart of the whole issue here. The Lord Jesus is amongst the people who should have recognized him as their Messiah, the long promised Messiah. It's interesting, of course, there's not many uses of of that word in the Old Testament, but you get the idea of it right throughout the Old Testament, an expected one, you know, until Shiloh come away back in Genesis, uh, the prophet that Moses speaks about, lots of references about one that's expected, lovely references in Isaiah, of course, about the branch and about my servant and so forth. So there's many, many different references to an expected one who will be the anointed of God. And here he is, the Christ of God, the one who was promised throughout the Old Testament as the one who would come in and deal with the nation in all its needs and bring them into a proper relationship with the God of heaven and would deal with all their problems and all their. And here he is, and the crowds don't recognize him, but Peter knows who he is. So this is the true identity of the Lord Jesus. Of course, I'm sure when you read what Luke says about these things, you're thinking of other scripture at the same time, and underlying this is the fact that flesh and blood hasn't revealed it unto you. My Father, which is in heaven, and that is the great principle that the true understanding of who Christ is is given by divine revelation. And then it's the Son who reveals the Father. The human mind is shut up to a knowledge of God. Unless God in his grace illuminates the human mind, the human mind is incapable of coming to an understanding of God left to itself. Peter's had his eyes opened, and so he answers in this wonderful way, the Christ of God. Now, section five is, well, I've just got here verses twenty one and twenty two. The Lord Jesus foretells his death. And so he gives a very quick summary of all that's going to happen to him, how he's going to suffer many things and be rejected and be killed, and on the third day be raised. He uses the title of himself, the Son of Man. That is, I think, typical, apart from when he uses the title the Son. And my own understanding is that when he uses the title the Son, it's an abbreviation of Son of God. But when he wants to use Son of Man, he gives the full title. And here he is as the Son of Man, as the man whom God has sent to take up the rights of man and fulfill all God's purpose for man, but of course also to provide salvation for man by what he now speaks of. His suffering, his rejection. And the Lord Jesus does pinpoint that it's the leadership who are going to do this. It is the leadership. There's lovely occasions in the Gospels where the common people hear him battling and the multitudes throw them, albeit sometimes just for what they could get out of it, perhaps, but the, the, the leaders of the rejection of Christ are clearly the, the religious leadership of the nation, and he knows he's going to be killed, and he knows he's going to be erased. So, of course, nothing was ever going to be a surprise for the Lord Jesus. This is the purpose of his coming. Involved in that purpose is, of course, the three years of public ministry when he would teach, when he would preach, when he would do the miracles, and he would give all the evidences of his Messiahship. But he knew that it was all going to culminate with his rejection in his being crucified. And this is why he came. This is what it was all about, that he should come and suffer and die. But he would be raised. He would be raised, of course, for the glory of the Father, and he would be raised because he also knew there was another coming in mind when the exact opposite of this will happen. There's such great contrast between the first coming of the Lord Jesus and his second coming. First coming, as here, he comes and he gets killed. His next coming, he comes and it's his enemies who get killed, as of course most so. Now, section six, verses, uh, twenty to twenty seven, the challenge to take up your cross and follow the Lord Jesus. Well, that's a very powerful section of the Word of God, isn't it? A great section of challenge, a section that's been used numerously, on numerous occasions in the preaching of the gospel, and please do keep on using it in the preaching of the gospel because it sets before us some very salutary truth, although perhaps in its immediate interpretation we should consider it in relation to our own selves as believers. But it certainly does say in verse twenty three that he said to them all. It might just be all of the disciples, but uh, there's always the possibility in these narratives that there's other people about as well. You sometimes find that in the gospel, but sometimes it says he starts talking to the disciples, but it becomes evident that people have gathered around as well. But primarily he's addressing his disciples, and so he's setting before us the principles and the priorities of what we would call, I suppose, discipleship. But really just what we mean by that is what it means to live for the Lord Jesus. One of the great truths of gospel work is to emphasize that the person to be trusted for salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ, because that means you not only trust this man to save your soul, but you are committing yourself to this man as the one who's going to have charge of your life. And that, of course, is what this is about here. The one who would come after him, who would follow the Lord Jesus, has to deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow him. Deny that- deny himself, yes, to say no to self in the sense of to say no to one's own will and to say yes rather to the will of the Lord Jesus, which for us, of course, is discerned through the word of God. To take up your cross, to recognize that the old life has died, has been finished with. You have been crucified with Christ, and daily you have to recognize you're going to live a different life. You're going to live the life that you're living because you're now subject to the lordship of Christ, and on that daily basis you seek to follow the Lord Jesus by trusting him in the sense of trusting the teaching of his word as to what it means to live for Christ. He gives a warning, whoso- whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Now the go- the gospel application of that is quite simply go on without trusting Christ and you'll be lost forever in the lake of fire. But when we take that to ourselves as believers, what we're saying when he says, whosoever will save his life shall lose it, is whosoever hangs on to that earthly life which would have been his if he'd not been saved, will actually lose the life that you could have lived for the Lord Jesus Christ. There's two lives set before you here. The life that you would have lived if God had never intervened in your experience, and the life that you're brought into only as a result of being saved. That newness of life that you testify to when you get baptized that you're going to live of God. And therefore he asks this wonderful question in verse twenty five: what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? And of course, the gospel application of that is clear. What is the point of getting everything you can in this world if as soon as your life in this world ends, you find yourself in the place of torment with nothing of what you've had in this world, because you leave it all behind, and all the experiences are left behind, and you won't even have the happy memories to go with you into the lake of fire. So powerful and gospel, uh, testimony. But the question is really also asked of us. What of us as Christians, if we go on living out a life in this world, which is advantages, which are advantages to us, and that we even gave that. This is hyperbole, of course. This isn't even, you know, what is a man advantage to become as wealthy as Bill Gates? You know, Bill Gates is pretty wealthy, but he doesn't own the whole world. I mean, I've got a car, and he doesn't own my car, so that's something he doesn't own. So, I mean, this is a utter hyperbole. Just imagine you did own everything in the world, and you got all the world's praise and all the world's acclamation, and yet the life you could have lived for Christ, you haven't lived. What does that advantage you? And when you stand before the judgment seat, well, your sins are all dealt with, no issue to them, but you stand before the judgment seat, and there's nothing that the Lord can reward you for, because that life of service that you could have lived for him, you haven't lived. And so he says, what are the advantages if he gave the whole world and lose himself, lose the life you could have lived, saved us though by fire. I think it's a similar idea in First Corinthians, or be cast away, not cast away into the lake of fire for a believer, of course, but cast away in terms of your testimony and usefulness here for God in this world. So a great passage about priorities. Keep on using it in the gospel, but let's also apply the principles to ourselves and be encouraged by what the Lord says to live for him and to put his interests and his service first. Now we come to this great passage. Now it's from verse twenty down to the end of verse thirty six, the transfiguration. The transfiguration. He introduces it in verse twenty seven. He says there, I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God, and it fulfills exactly what he means by that. That's a little example, by the way, of sometimes when you read in the Bible and you say, what does that phrase mean? The key to it's usually just lying somewhere near, not under the plant pot necessarily, but the key's there somewhere near. Always look around you when you're trying to understand a phrase in the Bible, first of all. So we've got this great event, the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and listy. Now, what is this about? It is seeing the kingdom of God. Now, I know some people see the kingdom of God different ways, but here's the, here's the ways I see the kingdom as it's used in the Bible. It's used in what I call a majestic sense, and I use that to mean the kingdom in the biggest and widest sense possible, the rule of God over absolutely everything throughout time and eternity, the biggest sense possible of God's rule. It's used in the moral sense, which is God's rule in the hearts of men and women, and again, that can apply throughout the dispensation. Wherever people have trusted the word of God and been obedient to him, then they're in God's kingdom morally because they're obeying God's word in their daily lives. Then, of course, it's used in its mystery form. They really use that word because it's so prominent in Matthew thirteen uh and elsewhere, uh, the Lord speaks about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. So that's the administrative setup today when the king is not actually ruling per se, although he's in control behind the seals, behind the scenes, but he is still ordering events in accordance with his will. But then my fourth way, it's also beginning with M, is the millennial kingdom. Now, in the Gospels, I would say the majority of usages of the term kingdom of God, or indeed kingdom of heaven, I think they can be interchangeable. The majority of usages refers to the millennial kingdom of the Lord. The predominant usage in Matthew's gospel, the thought of the kingdom is the millennial kingdom, because that's what the Jews knew about it. The Jews knew from, or should have known from the Old Testament scriptures, there's a great time coming when Israel will be a prosperous nation, when it will be ruled by a descendant of David, and, you know, we'll be top nation in the world. So many Old Testament passages foretell a golden age for Israel. So the Kingdom of God in the Gospels, in the majority of s- usages, refers to the millennial reign of Christ, and this most definitely is the millennial reign of Christ, because they see the Kingdom of God. What do they see? They see the Lord Jesus glorified. They see his glory. Now that was, that's how the kingdom of God begins in the millennial sense. The Lord Jesus comes from heaven in the brightness of his glory. Yes, he's dealing with his enemies, but he comes in his glory to establish his kingdom. And the Lord Jesus will be seen in his glory for a thousand years, ruling over planet Earth as we know it. This isn't going into the new heaven and the new earth situation. This is the earth as we know it, albeit still changed dramatically by the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the exercise of his miraculous powers. So they see what the whole world will enjoy when the Lord Jesus comes again. We'll enjoy it, of course, and uh, we get a preview of it all when we are snatched away before it all starts to happen. But this is what's in view here. The Lord Jesus in the land, you know, this is the point, he's in the land, and Old Testament saints are raised, and they're also with him in the land. So it's a lovely pre- uh, you know, foretaste of the kingdom of heaven and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's many lovely things to do with this passage, of course, but one of the things we'll just mention before we leave it is when God says there in verse thirty five, this is my beloved son here. And so this is the whole point of it, that God is drawing attention to the uniqueness of the glory and excellency of his son. Moses and Elijah have to go out with you, and the Lord Jesus is alone left. Then the standard version puts it this way, this is my son, my chosen one. This then, that's an Old Testament description, of course, of the the perfect servant of the Lord, the one who is chosen, chosen not despite of what he is. We have chosen despite what we were as children of Adam, but the Lord Jesus is chosen because of all that he is, because of the absolute excellency that is found in him. Now let's move on to section eight, which is verses thirty seven to forty three. Here the Lord Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit. Now this happened in the last chapter, of course, and here's a son this time. I think in this little episode, perhaps the true force of this is again to do with the nation, just like the feeding of the five those twelve baskets, food for the nation. Here's a man who says, I beg you to look at my son. Well, God had a son. Oh yes, he had the son in the sense of the Lord Jesus, but he had another son. He had the nation of Israel. I have called my son out of Egypt, and his son, in the sense of the nation of Israel, was far from what it should have been. It was under the power of sin and Satan, just like this poor boy. But the Lord Jesus comes, he shows again that he can deal with the power of Satan, he can dismiss the power of Satan. As a result of what he does in verse forty three, they're all astonished at the, uh, they're all astonished at the power of God, it says, and the authorized English Standard Version says, at the majesty of God. And so again, the Lord Jesus is demonstrating divine majesty in grace, in liberating those who are entangled and in bondage to sin, and that's the state of the nation. And God did a love for his son, just as that man had a love for his son. God had a love for his son, the nation, and he would that that nation be freed from the power of Satan as well. Now, section nine is from, it's up the middle of verse forty three, I suppose, and to the end of verse forty five. The Lord Jesus again foretells his death. They did not understand. There it is in verse forty five. They understood not. Now, this is remarkable, isn't it? I mean, I think this is the, I mean, it is the disciples he's talking about, and they do not understand. How is it they do not understand? How is it so many Old Testament scriptures about a suffering Messiah? Pharisees never understood that, but his disciples are with him all the time. How do they not understand? This is a classic example of the truth that Paul will later teach in First Corinthians. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit. Remember what made the difference in the disciples? It was the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That's what changed Peter, really. And that's what brought them into an understanding. Lord Jesus said about the comfort it would come. He will lead you into all truth. He will lead you into all truth. He led them into all truth. The Spirit of God did that. And here we find men in the presence of the Lord Jesus himself. They're not understanding. Their minds are closed. It is hid from them. They don't understand. It says that in verse forty five, it was hid from them. So even men who accompany the Lord Jesus day by day haven't a clue about the basics of divine purpose. How it, how it emphasizes we are utterly dependent on the Spirit of God to understand the things of God. That's one of the great evidences of salvation in a believer, believers who comprehend the scriptures, believers who read this book and see in its pages the revelation of Christ and revel in that. God has opened their eyes, the eyes of their understanding have been enlightened. It's a divine work done by the Spirit of God. No amount, you know, especially those who are evangelists, you must feel so often you're banging your head against a brick wall trying to get people to understand the gospel, and they don't. And you preach your heart out, and you can't understand why they don't understand. Here's the answer. Unless God acts by his spirit, they're never going to understand. No matter how many thousand times you tell them, they'll not understand unless God in his grace moves. How often it's been when somebody's come into a gospel meeting and heard it once and been saved right away. They've never gone on a course, never been spoken to for hours or days. Some people need that, of course, but there's others who just hear it. My in the assembly I was brought up in, went to the gospel on night one day, sat beneath the, he was told to sat beneath the clock, tells where he sat, he heard the gospel once, and he believed and he saved. Wonderful. Amen. Never any doubt about it. So it's the work of God, you see. The natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. But God is gracious. God gives his spirit to bring in enlightenment. Section ten. oh dear, verses forty six to forty eight. Who is the greatest? Well, they're very worldly now, aren't they? Who's going to be the greatest? And the Lord Jesus has to introduce and well reinforce, I would say, I'm sure he's taught this before, about another value system entirely. Oh yes, God's value system. And he brings in the child. As the result of that child brought in for illustrative purposes, he says, he who is least among you all is the one who is good. Because that's a great principle in the word of God. The people that the world despises are the people who God thinks the most of. The fullness of that, of course, comes out, uh, on the, on the judgment seat of Christ. And then finally, section eleven, verses forty nine and fifty. Anyone not against us is for us. Hmm. Someone's able to cast out demons. This is interesting. How is he doing that? No explanation. Hmm. Things going on that the disciples haven't been told, only the Lord gave them that ability, but who's this person? How is he doing it? They don't know about this, and so they forbid him to do it because they think that's their prerogative. Understandably, I suppose. But then the Lord Jesus gives us this great principle. He that is not against us is for us. Forbid him not. What I think the Lord Jesus, or at least one of the things the Lord Jesus is saying, is simply this: just leave him alone. You just leave him alone. And I think that's, I find that principle very important for us. Obviously, the Christian community is, is well divided because of different ways that Christians think they should serve God, different ways they think they should gather, and all the rest of it. So all around us, there's Christians who are doing things in different ways to what we think we should be doing it. I think the principle is we're not here to go after these people or to attack these people. Just let, just let them go on with it. What is that to us, you know? If they're not against us, well, they're for us. And that means if you have opportunity, you explain to them the ways of God as we understand them. They're for us to speak to and encourage in the ways of God. But otherwise, don't you go and rant against them or rail against them. Just let them be, and let us be and seek to serve God by his grace in our day and generation. Thank you very much for the privilege of speaking to you about these great chapters from Luke. I trust that God will bless you in the rest of your studies as you continue through the gospel. I will just leave tonight and just head home now, but thank you for your patience. God bless.