And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that the kingdom of God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts and minds, and was trying to change their feelings and alter their opinions, it only maddened them. They were determined not to change. They were determined not to confess that they had been wrong, and had mistaken the meaning of holy scripture. They were too proud to confess what Jesus told them, that they were no better than the poor ignorant common people whom they despised. And yet they knew in their hearts that He was right. When the Lord told them the parable of the vineyard, they answered, “God forbid!” they felt at once that the parable had to do with them—that they were the wicked husbandmen on whom He said their master would take vengeance: but that only maddened them the more, till they ended by crucifying the Lord of Glory, upon a pretence which they knew was a false and lying one; and when Judas Iscariot said, “I have betrayed the innocent blood,” they did not deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all they answered was, “What is that to us?” They were determined to have their own way whether He was innocent or not. They had seen God’s likeness. They had seen what God was like, by seeing the conduct of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. And when they saw God’s likeness they hated it, because it was not like themselves. And the more God strove with their hearts, and tried to make them obey Him, the more, in short, they felt His kingdom within them, the more they hated that kingdom of God within them, because it reproved them, and convinced them of sin. Oh, my friends, young people especially, beware; beware lest you fall into the same miserable state of mind. The kingdom of God is within you. The Holy Spirit, by which you were regenerate in holy baptism, is stirring and pleading with your hearts, making you happy when you do right, unhappy when you do wrong. Oh, listen to those good thoughts and feelings within you! Never fancy that they are your own thoughts and feelings: else you will fancy that you can put them away and take them back again when you choose to change and become religious. Do not let the devil deceive you into that notion. These good thoughts and feelings are the Spirit of God. They are the signs that the kingdom of God is within you; that God is King and Master of your hearts and minds; and that you cannot keep Him out of them: but that He can enter into them when He likes, and put right thoughts into them. But though you cannot prevent God and His kingdom entering into you, you can refuse to enter into it. Alas! alas! how many of you shut your ears to God’s voice: try to drive God’s Spirit out of your own hearts; try to forget what is right, because it is unpleasant to remember it, and say to yourselves, “I will have my own way. I will try and forget what the clergyman said in his sermon, or what I learnt at school.