prayer. Our Holy Father. It is an awesome thing in every sense of that word. When we contemplate your sovereign mercy that drew us out, called us out of deep darkness and unbelief, sin, and called us and drew us effectually to Christ Jesus, your son. And yes, Lord, with that great hymn that we have just sung, we do have to ask honestly and humbly, why? or we made a guest. It is all in accord with your sovereign will, with the good pleasure of your sovereign will. For we know and recognize that there was nothing in us that could merit such favor from you. And Lord, tonight, as we turn to your word, as we will be Beholding this great doctrine of electing grace along with. Other great truths that will. Tie in with. Your sovereign free grace and saving centers like us. We pray Lord that. While they are truths that we have heard before. We ask the Holy Spirit to bring them. To our hearts tonight in a fresh way. A renewing way. May there be a greater assurance of our salvation because of what we will see and behold tonight from the truth of your word. These things we humbly and earnestly ask for the sake of our Lord Jesus and in his name we pray, amen and amen. I do invite you to take the word of God and let's open up to Matthew chapter 13. as we are continuing our series, What Did Jesus Say? And tonight we are looking at a portion of Matthew 13 where the disciples pose a question to our Lord. Why do you speak to them in parables? And so we're going to be unpacking this tonight. But let's read this text from verse 10 through 17. Then the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? And Jesus answered them, to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand. and you will indeed see, but never perceive, for this people's heart has grown dull. and with their ears they can barely hear. And their eyes they have closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. But truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see. and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." And so reads the infallible, the inerrant, sufficient, and certain word of the living, eternal God. There's perhaps nothing more frustrating, demoralizing, and at times even depressing for both the pastor and his congregation than the lack of gospel success or gospel progress. On far too many occasions, a church will see either no response at all to its efforts to reach sinners with the gospel, or there may be an initial promising response, which only results in producing no genuine lasting fruit. But the reaction of a local church to this all too common scenario is one of two extremes. Either they will lose confidence in the gospel and in the power of the spirit, which will quench their zeal for evangelism, or in a desperate attempt to achieve success, they will adopt unbiblical methods and carnal gimmicks to attract sinners to the church. On this latter reaction, we can see examples of this in spades. Churches taking their cue from the world of corporate marketing to learn how they can make the gospel more appealing to the unbelieving sinner. But in their efforts to win the loss, they end up truncating the gospel of its true saving content, which results in 15 to 20 minute talks on how to be a better spouse, a better parent, or a better businessman. with one reference to a Bible verse and a feel-good, fuzzy story from Reader's Digest. And in addition to moralizing the gospel, and in many cases even psychologizing the gospel, many of these churches will turn a worship service into a 1980s pop concert and seek to build the church on self-help programs like improving your golf swing and learning how to do your taxes. But what is so sad in the light of these examples? is that you have churches groping in the dark, as it were, to remedy what they believe is the ineffective nature of the gospel. They want to improve on the gospel and therefore obtain a greater and more positive response to it. The only problem with this, however, is that to add to the gospel, you will essentially undermine and eclipse its saving message. Yet what's worse is that you will actually create another gospel. So what then is the answer to the discouraged church over its lack of gospel success? How can local churches be encouraged concerning their God-given mission in the world despite how little fruit they might see from all their endeavors to reach sinners? Well, the answer to these questions is neither to give up, nor to adopt worldly methods for the purpose of success. Rather, to fortify our mission as Christ Church in the world, even in the face of so few results, what we need is a proper understanding of how God's kingdom operates in this world. And such an understanding can only come from God's word, and specifically this evening, we'll look for that understanding from Matthew chapter 13. This chapter in Matthew's gospel has been classically called the Kingdom Parables. And this title is for good reason. Matthew 13 comprises eight different parables given by our Lord, which all focus on the nature, mission, and fruit of God's kingdom in the world between the first and second coming of Christ. In other words, what Jesus teaches us from all eight of these parables is how His church will operate and be received in the world as she fulfills her mission before our Lord returns. In addition to this, we need to understand that these parables were given on one occasion Yet they were spoken to two different groups. First, to great crowds gathered about Christ as He sat in a boat. And then second, they were spoken in private to His own disciples. To be more specific, the first four parables were given to the great crowds. The last four parables were given to His disciples in the privacy of a home. But nevertheless, it was one sermon just given, however, to two diverse gatherings. Now, as we enter our exposition of Matthew 13, I want to draw your attention to verses 10 through 17. The reason I want us to consider this passage, which is not a recording of an actual parable, is because this section of chapter 13 is our Lord's own explanation as to why He taught the people in parables. And what our Lord reveals as to His reasons behind this have much to teach us, as we will see, concerning the larger doctrine of salvation. Now, historically speaking, before this period in Jesus's ministry, his public preaching and teaching was what we might call plain and clear. Very plain, very clear to understand. However, here in Matthew 13, we actually see our Lord changing his teaching style altogether In verse 34, we read that everything which Jesus would say to the multitudes from this point onward in his ministry, he would say nothing without a parable. From this point onward, he would say nothing without a parable. Why was this? Why was this? Why the change and how he addressed the crowds? What was the divine purpose behind the use of parables? Well, answering these questions will be the focus of our study in Matthew chapter 13, 10 through 17. And what I want us to see from this passage regarding our Lord's employment of parables is that they served a twofold purpose. To begin with, let's notice first that the parables served to reveal the secrets of God's kingdom to God's elect. The parables served to reveal the secrets of God's kingdom to God's elect. Looking at verses 10 and 11, then the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. As we begin to unpack this first point, the initial thing we need to consider is understanding what exactly a parable is. By definition, a parable is a story from real life or a real-life situation from which a moral or spiritual truth is drawn. Parables are not fables. nor are they allegories. A fable is not a real-life story, and with allegories, nearly every detail of the story has a meaning. Whereas with parables, there is typically only one or possibly two principal points to be drawn from the story itself. Moreover, parables required explanation. They required explanation. They needed to be interpreted by the teacher for the people to understand them. And it is with this latter description of parables that we come to the question raised to Jesus by his disciples. Why do you speak to them in parables? The implication of this question is that the disciples seem to think that Jesus was frankly wasting his time speaking to the crowds in parables. In effect, their question to Christ was, Lord, why do you even bother teaching the people in parables since they don't get it? The disciples apparently could see that this change in our Lord's teaching format was actually confusing the people. Jesus was giving parabolic teaching without explanation. So how does our Lord answer? What was behind this change in the way Jesus taught the people? In verse 11, we read, to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, It has not been given. The divine purpose behind Jesus's parables was to reveal and conceal, to reveal and conceal. And for the disciples, it was to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, for the disciples, the parables would not be confusing, but clear. since they had been chosen by God to know the true nature, purpose, and operations of His kingdom, whereas for the multitudes, they would be left in the darkness of their own confusion and unbelief. Now, in this initial answer which Christ gives as to why He spoke to the crowds in parables, there are two overarching truths that we must take into account here first. There is the truth of God's electing grace. truth of God's electing grace. Jesus declares to his disciples that the only reason they know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven is because it has been given to them to know. It has been given to them to know. New Testament scholar Leon Morris said of these words, the doctrine of election lies behind these words. It is not a merit in the disciples that they understand where others do not. Their comprehension is due to the fact that God has chosen them and given them the gift of understanding. Commenting further on these same words, Charles Spurgeon said in his own exposition of Matthew 13 11, to hear the outward word is a common privilege. To know the mysteries is a gift of sovereign grace. Our Lord speaks the truth with much boldness. It is given unto you, but to them, it is not given. Solemn words, humbling truths, salvation and the knowledge by which it comes are given as the Lord wills. There is such a thing as distinguishing grace after all. So then when we read these opening words of our Lord in answer to his disciples' question, we would do well to stand back in awe as to why any of us have ever come to believe savingly in Jesus Christ. There was a time when we heard the gospel with the crowds. And our understanding was dark and full of confusion and unbelief. But there came a moment, there came a moment, for some of us we know the day and hour, for others, they just know it happened. But there came a moment when the truth that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners was believed for us in the most personal way. For the first time, unbelief gave way to faith. For the first time, rebellion gave way to repentance. For the first time, you embraced Jesus Christ as your savior and followed him as your Lord. Well, what is the explanation for this conversion to Christ? What does the Bible teach? It teaches this, before the foundation of the world, God chose to save you. Before the foundation of the world, God chose to save you and his decision to save you was not based on any foreseen merit or choice that you would make. The purpose for his electing you to salvation was nothing but pure, raw, unmerited, uninfluenced, undeserved, sovereign, free grace. That's it. That is absolutely it. This is why we have believed on Christ, period. This is why Jesus would say to his disciples in his last words to them before his crucifixion, You did not choose me, but I chose you. Can't get any plainer than that. You did not choose me, but I chose you. This is why in Acts 13, 48, Luke would write an explanation as to why the Gentiles turned to believe on Christ. He said, as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Why did they believe? Because they were appointed to eternal life. They were appointed to eternal life. And this is why in Ephesians 1, 4, a verse of scripture we know really well, Paul would set forth as the spring and root of our salvation in Christ this glorious truth. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. So as we read these words of our Lord in Matthew 13, 11, We must first see and affirm the truth of God's electing grace. To you it has been given, Jesus said, to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. But there's another great biblical truth we must see here as well. It is the moral inability of the sinner. The moral inability of the sinner. When our Lord says to his disciples that the knowledge and understanding of the kingdom of heaven has been given to them, The implication of these words is that left to themselves, the disciples would have known nothing. It was not in them naturally to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Natural intelligence, common sense would not have aided them in any respect. Indeed, the very word secrets attests further to this fact. This term refers to something that would remain unknown to the human mind unless it is revealed. And in this context, it is a supernatural revelation given by God to the sinner. Hence, the disciples on their own, unaided by God's sovereign grace, would be left in spiritual darkness. In fact, they would not have been disciples of Christ at all. but merely unbelievers among the crowd. And why is this? It is due to the fact that man as a sinner has neither the ability nor desire to trust and follow Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He is morally and spiritually incapable of coming to Christ. There's therefore no natural ability within the sinner to convert to Jesus Christ. Faith and repentance do not exist in the sinful nature of the sinner. Faith and repentance do not exist in the sinful nature of a sinner. This is why Jesus said in John chapter six, verses 44 and 65, that if anyone is to come to him for salvation, they must be supernaturally drawn by the Father and thus granted to come. Otherwise, they will not come on their own. Furthermore, due to the moral inability of sinful man, this is why faith and repentance are spoken of as gifts of God given to the sinner, such as in Ephesians 2 in verse 8 and 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 25. But in addition to this, when the Bible speaks of man's natural ability as a sinner, we're told in Romans 3.11 that no one seeks after God First Corinthians, and in First Corinthians 2.14, the sinner is described in this way, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Based on this, is it any wonder that our Lord would say to his disciples here in our text, but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. What a blessing it is that we have been given the eyes to see, the ears to hear the saving gospel of Christ, which otherwise we would never see. We would never hear if it all depended on our own natural ability. So then the first great purpose for why Jesus taught in parables was to reveal the secrets of God's kingdom to God's elect. But the basis for this revelation is God's electing grace, which implies our moral inability to know and believe such things as sinners. However, the purpose behind Jesus's parables was not only to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. To the crowds at large, our Lord had a different reason for speaking in parables, which brings us to our second major point. The parables served to conceal the secrets of God's kingdom from the non-elect. The parables served to conceal the secrets of God's kingdom from the non-elect. Reading the latter half of verse 11 through verse 15, Jesus says, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given. and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand. and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and with their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart in turn, and I would heal them. The answer our Lord gives his disciples as to why he taught the crowds and parables is frankly one of the most difficult passages recorded anywhere in the Bible. It is one of the most difficult passages recorded in God's word. And the difficulty lies in the fact that our Lord's reason for teaching the multitudes in parabolic form was to judge them for their unbelief by leaving them in their unbelief. To judge them for their unbelief by leaving them in their unbelief. The parables were given to the crowds to only confound them by concealing the truth of the gospel from them. In other words, since the crowds who heard Jesus teach and saw His miracles refused to believe that He was in fact the promised Messiah, then as consequence for their wicked rejection of Christ as their Redeemer, they would be left to face the ultimate condemnation for their sin. They would remain in their spiritual blindness, which over time would only grow and harden their hearts even more against Christ. But what we must understand about this divine judgment is that it is a sovereign judgment. It is a sovereign judgment. Christ is choosing to leave the people in their sin and give them what they deserve. Hence, Jesus says to the crowds, but to them, it has not been given. It has not been given. So where Christ chose to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of heaven to about a dozen men, yet he refused to give such saving knowledge to the multitudes. To them, it has not been given Jesus withheld as his sovereign right to grant the crowds, the saving knowledge of the gospel. And to amplify this judgment upon the people, Jesus said of them in verse 12, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. What does that mean? It means that since they remained unbelieving while Jesus was speaking clearly to them about who he was, now such plain teaching would be permanently Taken from them so that in verse 13 Jesus declares. This is why I speak to them in parables because Seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear nor do they understand What Jesus is literally saying here based upon the verb tenses employed in this statement is this the reason I have chosen now to speak to them in parables is Is so, they will never see. They will never hear. They will never understand. To sum up the heart of this judgment in plain language, we can say this. God gave the people over to the desires of their sinful hearts. God gave the people over to the desires of the sinful hearts. They refused to believe Christ. They rejected him as their Messiah. So then God gave them what they wanted. God gave them what they wanted. They would receive the consequences for their unbelief. They will never see, they will never hear, they will never understand the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, to expound further on this judgment, Jesus explains to his disciples in verses 14 and 15 that this condemnation is actually a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. These words from Isaiah are part of God's commission in calling Isaiah to be a prophet. And what God commands Isaiah to do is to proclaim his word, now listen to this, to proclaim his word to a people who will only grow more hardened and rebellious and obstinate to the preached word. Wow. How would you like that? You know, start your ministry off and the Lord just goes ahead and tells you, you'll have no converts. That's essentially what the Lord was saying to Isaiah. You'll have no converts, but you will go anyway. and you will proclaim, thus says the Lord, anyway. But you'll have no converts. No converts. So, in Isaiah's context then, what the Lord says to his prophet is that as they hear God's word through Isaiah, they'll never understand, as they see it, They'll never perceive. And why is this? Listen, it is because of the spiritual condition of their heart. God says that the people's heart has done what? It has grown dull. It has grown dull. This is a metaphor describing a gross callousness and hardness and insensitivity to the things of God. But what's worse is that as Isaiah preaches the message of God's salvation to the nation of Israel in his day, the sinful heart of the people only grows in greater unbelief. so that with their ears, God says to his prophet, with their ears, they can barely hear. And their eyes, they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn to be healed or saved by God. One great point of this prophecy is that As long as a sinner remains in the unbelief of their sin, the truth of the gospel will only increase their blindness and hardness of heart. However, their growing rejection of the gospel is not God's fault. It is rather the fault of the sinner's own wicked depravity. Now this is really important and follow this carefully. They are only acting out of their sinful nature which hates God and is unwilling for Christ to save them. God does not have to force unbelief in a sinner. A sinner is by nature an unbeliever. And that's important and that's worth repeating because you need to understand that. That is a very critical theological truth. God does not have to force unbelief in a sinner. A sinner is by nature, by nature an unbeliever. Hence his unbelief in the gospel is what he is actually choosing to do. You understand that? The unbeliever is choosing, freely choosing to reject the gospel. God is not forcing that on him. This is coming from what he is by nature. The choice he's making to reject Christ is what his nature always determines to do. Yet, if God chooses to leave the sinner in his unbelief, then God has only given the sinner what he deserves. And this is the second great point of Isaiah's prophecy, which our Lord Jesus is applying here in Matthew 13. This is the biblical doctrine of reprobation. This is the biblical doctrine of reprobation. It is what I call the other side of election. Reprobation teaches that in God's eternal decree, he chooses not to change certain sinners, but to leave them in their sin and to finally judge them as they deserve for what they have done in their sin. To say it more simply, God is giving sinners completely over to the desires of their sinful hearts, which is to rebel and resist God all their days, or to describe it another way, God passes over certain sinners and leaves them to the evil intentions of their sinful nature, which will work to their ultimate ruin. This is what Paul teaches in Romans 9, 18, when he writes. So then God has mercy on whomever he wills, and what else does he do? He hardens whomever He wills. This one statement sums up how God chooses to deal with all sinners in every age of history. Some receive mercy while others do not. On those God shows mercy, He is giving them what they do not deserve. While on those He hardens, He is giving them what they do deserve. Neither sinner is being treated unfairly. Neither sinner is being treated unjustly. God is therefore free to save whoever he chooses to save, and he's under no obligation to save anyone, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, when it comes to the prophecy of Isaiah 6, 9, and 10, in application to the ministry of Jesus, now at this point, now at this point, Christ has pulled back his restraining influence in order To let the people have their own way, whatever line of the gospel they had will be removed entirely. They will essentially be hardened in their unbelief, but understand the hardening has two aspects to this. The hardening of the center is active in willful. It's active and willful. The center hardens his own heart. That's active. That's willful. But on guard, but on God's part, on God's part, the hardening is passive. It's passive. Jesus is simply pulling back and letting the sinful unbelief of the multitudes take their natural course, which will be their demise. and condemnation. They will never hear, they will never see, they will never understand. Jesus is giving them exactly what they want and ultimately what they deserve, judgment for their sin. So in answer to the disciples' question, why do you speak to them in parables, what have we learned In the first place, we've learned that the parables served a twofold purpose. On the one hand, they were meant to reveal the secrets of God's kingdom to God's elect. As Jesus told his disciples in verse 12, for to the one who has, more will be given. Not only would the disciples remain with the basic teachings of the kingdom, but they would go on to be given further and deeper truths concerning the nature and operations of God's kingdom. In fact, the revelation they would receive would be greater than Even many prophets and righteous people under the old covenant who had been given so much as well. So for God's elect, the parables of our Lord serve a redeeming purpose. But on the other hand, the parables were also a sign of divine judgment upon the unbelieving. They were meant to conceal the secrets of God's kingdom from the non-elect. Thus, by the teaching of the parables, we see both salvation and condemnation at work. The believer in Jesus will only grow deeper in the faith, in his faith, in Christ, while the unbeliever will only grow harder in his rejection of Christ. Now, as a matter of application under this first lesson, Ask yourself this question. Does the teaching of the Bible bore you or does it excite you? Is there a hunger in your heart to know the word of God that you may know God himself and live to his glory? Or is your heart cold, insensitive, and completely unfeeling toward the scriptures Does Bible preaching soften your heart in love toward Christ or does it harden you toward Christ? We need to all check ourselves here. Do we love or do we despise the teaching of God's word? Do we love or despise the teaching of God's word? But not only is Matthew chapter 13, 10 through 17 given us the purpose behind the parables, it's also taught us that the only credit for our salvation is the pure sovereign grace of God alone. The disciples cannot take any credit for being followers of Christ, much less having any spiritual understanding as to the things Jesus taught. Their salvation in all its dynamics and characteristics was given to them by God alone. They did not work for this. They did not earn this. They could not and did not contribute anything to the fact that they belong savingly to Jesus Christ. But what about us? What about us? If you are a true Christian, if you have been born again, do you understand that what you are as a Christian is purely a gift of God's grace. Purely a gift of God's grace. Do you understand that the faith you put in Christ did not originate with you? It was God's gift. It was God's gift that he chose to grant you. Do you understand further that your repentance of sin is also God's gift? This is all and every bit the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. And do you understand that the only reason you have experienced salvation at all is because God from eternity chose to save you? He elected you to salvation. Salvation was his choice. Salvation was his decision, his prerogative, not yours. Left to ourselves, we would never choose to be saved because we don't want to be saved. We don't want to be saved. In our sinful nature, no sinner wants to be saved. Nor do we have the power to save ourselves. None of that's there. None of that is there. So if God has saved you in Christ, then you give him all the praise because you had nothing to do with it. you had absolutely nothing to do with it. But, in light of this, let me say a word to those of you here this evening who do not know Christ. Because the credit of salvation can only be given to God, this truth should not discourage you. This truth should not discourage you. You say why? Well, it's due to this. Since only God can save and he is willing to save any center who calls on him in faith. Then I would urge any of you here this evening. who are unbelievers, you know you're unbelievers, you know you're not right with God, I would urge you right now, turn to Christ, trust Him, take Him at His word. God says that whoever believes on Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This call of the gospel is a divine promise that whoever turns to Christ alone, calling upon Him to save them and make them right with God, then they will not receive the condemnation they deserve for their sin, but the eternal life they don't deserve, which is knowing God as their Father and Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So I therefore plead with you. And we do have unbelievers here, especially really young unbelievers. I would plead with you. Don't be like the crowds. Don't be like the crowds who came under judgment for their unbelief. Don't harden your heart. Cast yourself on Christ. Throw yourself in faith on all that he is. Is God save your Lord Redeemer? Trust in what he has accomplished by his life, death, and resurrection to save sinners. And the promise of Holy Scripture is you will be saved. You will be saved. Now let me reemphasize that. Children, look up at me. Ava, right here. Good. I have your attention. So I want you to listen to what pastor Kurt is about to say to you. Okay. Just because you may be, you may be very young. Okay. 12 and under. Do not ever think, do not ever listen to the lie of the wicked one who would seek to fool you to think that everything Pastor Kurt's talking about, about Jesus and the gospel and salvation, you know, I'm just really too young for this. I mean, I'm just, I'm too young, you know, I'm a kid. What does this mean to me? How does this apply to me? Well, I'll tell you how it applies. You're a sinner. And Jesus Christ came into the world to save, to save who? Sinners. He came to save sinners. And so if you're a sinner, then that means that everything Jesus came into the world to do for the salvation of sinners, it absolutely applies to you. It matters to you, and it doesn't, and it doesn't mean, and listen, and it doesn't mean that just because you're as young as you are that, well, again, this doesn't apply to me. It applies every bit to you. It is very possible for a child under 12 to come to faith in Jesus Christ, to be drawn effectually to Jesus Christ. That is absolutely possible. God can and God does that. So with what I'm saying here tonight, listen with what I'm saying here tonight. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has promised that whoever calls upon him, whoever turns to him and trust in him to save them, he will save them. That is his word of promise. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so I am pressing this on you. I am pressing this on your conscience, on your hearts. Do not walk out of here tonight thinking it doesn't apply, thinking you can just keep ignoring this. This is for mom and dad. It's not for me. It's every bit for you. because Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. You're a sinner, so he came to save people like you. So turn to him and trust him tonight. Call upon him by faith tonight. I mean, why delay? I had this conversation with Sean this morning. Why delay? Why keep putting it off? If you know the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then act upon it and turn to Christ and call upon him to save you. Believe him for that. Amen. Amen. No, now we have to pray. All right, let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, your saving grace is astonishing in every degree, Lord. Indeed, it's beyond our comprehension because you, you have chosen to save sinners who do not deserve to be saved. You've chosen to show mercy, grace, kindness and love Set upon those who in their hearts hate you and oppose you, Lord, and rebel against you at every turn. But. But even before the very foundation of the world was set. You tell us in your word, Father, that you chose to save a multitude that no man can number. Out of the vast human race that would come from Adam and Eve, a vast human race of fallen sinners, you chose to save a number no one can number out of every tribe, tongue, and nation. And Father, even though none of us know who the elect are, because that's not our business, but what we do know is that You sent your son into the world to save centers and the offer of the gospel is free and full and it is universal. It is to all centers believe and trust in Jesus Christ, repent and believe the gospel. And so Lord, we do pray tonight that for those here who have yet to close with Christ by faith. And we think in particular of our children. Father, we pray and plead that you will show them great mercy, that you will give them new hearts, removing their hearts of stone and giving them hearts of flesh, that you will cause them by your sovereign grace to be born of the Spirit. that they may enter the kingdom of God, even as their parents have so entered by faith in Christ. Father, we earnestly hold this petition before your throne of grace tonight, believing and trusting you, Lord, to answer it. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and for his sake, we pray. Amen.