Thoughts on the Kingdom. Love Demonstrated. I have three texts for you. Matthew 4, verse 23. Matthew 9, verse 35. And supremely, Romans chapter 5, verses 6 to 8. Love Demonstrated. In the previous discourse, I tried to show you that God has a wonderful love for sinners, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Now I want to take this further in this brief thought on the kingdom. Love demonstrated, that love of God for sinners, even though they're enemies to him, even though they're under the wrath of God, even though they're locked in the world, they're born dead in sins and trespasses, enemies of God, haters of God, Yet God so loved the world that he gave, and still loves the world. Now, how is it demonstrated? Well, the first of my two texts, Matthew 4 and Matthew 9, speak of Christ preaching in the kingdom. And of course, there's a wonderful demonstration of the love of God. Christ came into the world. God sent his son into the world, not just a prophet, not just a preacher, Not even just John the Baptist, but he sent his son into the world to preach. And Jesus went around preaching the kingdom. Very early in these series of discourses, we looked at Mark. Christ came preaching the kingdom, saying the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe and so on. And here we have it again in Matthew 4 and John 9. But I really want to take this a stage further, a much greater leap here than I can describe. Romans 5, verses 6 to 8. Let me just read it to you. It hardly needs any comment, my friend. If I have to explain this to you, you can't see the wonder of it. I don't know what's wrong. You see, at just the right time, When we were still powerless, ruined in Adam, in the kingdom of darkness, in the realm of darkness, in the world, in the fallen world, under the control of Satan, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Do you want any more bluntness, any more explicit, any more plainly put than that, any more tenderly put than that? Christ died for us. Yes, he came to preach to the ungodly. Yes, he came to do this for the ungodly and do that for the ungodly. He fed them. He healed them. He did this. He did all sorts of things. But Christ died for substitutionary atonement in the place of sinners, on behalf of sinners, for the salvation of sinners, the redemption of sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. for a good man, well, somebody might, but for a righteous man, but somebody for a good man, it's just possible, I agree, but God demonstrates his own love for us. How? In this, while we were still sinners, if you go on, God's enemies, you see that in verse 10, God's enemies, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's what the believer can say. If you're a believer, you can say that. If you're an unbeliever, call upon the name of the Lord. Trust this Christ. Receive this love from God, and you too will be the same. Once I was blind, but now I can see. Why? Because Christ died for me. Because the Spirit has regenerated me. Because God demonstrates his love toward me. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the one Godhead, united to save sinners. God demonstrates his love for sinners in this. Now can you see the meaning of John 3.16? For God so loved the world. He sent a preacher, his son. No, his son, not just a preacher. No, he sent a savior, a redeemer for sinners. Will you not receive this redeemer? Will you not receive his redemption? Will you not trust his blood and merit? Will you not rely upon this savior? And will you not know, therefore, that you are now a child of God and you are in the kingdom of Christ?