I have something that is very
heavily laid on my heart in light of everything that I just said
to you. In light of where we are at this moment in this ministry,
I have something that is very heavily laid on my heart. And
I mean this with all of my heart. I truly, truly do. We're going
through Matthew and I had this laid on my heart. and then opened
up to Matthew, because we're going through Matthew, and these
next verses perfectly support and say and show what is laid
on my heart. I was just so, I was trying to
think, where would I go for a text? And then I just opened it up
and I thought, well, that's it. I wanna read the parable of the sower,
all right? The parable of the sower. Matthew
13, verse one, it says, The same day went Jesus out of the house
and sat by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered together
unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and the whole
multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto
them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And
when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls
came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places,
where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up,
because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was
up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and
choked them. But other fell into good ground,
and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered
and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken
away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing you shall hear, and
shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not
perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have
they closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen
them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not
heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, Then cometh the wicked
one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the wayside. But he that received
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word
and anon with joy receiveth it. yet hath he not root in himself,
but dureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that
received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word,
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received
seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth,
some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Now clearly from
what our Lord just said right here, we can see that salvation
is in the hands of the Lord. He said, this is what he said
right here. He said, I speak in parables. He gave this parable
and they said, why do you speak in parables? He said, I speak
in parables because to some it is given to understand and to
some it is not. To some it's given to understand
and to some it's not. He said, the ones that I give
hearing ears to and seeing eyes to, they will hear and they will
see. But if I don't give those ears
and if I don't give those eyes, there's no hope for that soul.
Did we see that that's what he said? No hope for that soul. He said, if I do not make a sinner
ready and willing and able to receive my word, he called it
good ground. If you're going to plant a garden,
what do you do the ground? You break it. You turn it. You tell it. You deroot everything
that was there before for a new root coming in, a new seed, a
new root. You take out that which was old,
you plant that which is new. And he said, if I don't do that
to a sinner, this is what will happen. Either the word that
is sown is either gonna go in one ear and out the other. He
said, that's called wayside. Oblivious. Oblivious. And I'm gonna tell you something,
if God does not have mercy and grace on me, that's me. If I
come in here on my own, in my own flesh, I will sit here, I
will witness all this, I will hear all this, I will read all
this, and I will be oblivious. No idea. No idea. If God doesn't do something for
me and have mercy on me. Or, he said, when the word goes
out, a person will initially see Wait a minute, yeah, that's
what the script, I've never seen that before. With Anon, he'll
receive it with joy. But as soon as the scripture
persecutes that person, yeah, they may go out and tell people
and they'll receive some persecution from people, but this word persecutes
this flesh. As soon as tribulation comes
because of the word, that person is offended And angered by it
and hard hearted toward it and said, stop right there. Just
Nope, not receiving that. He says a stony heart. Or the Lord said a person will
hear it and will be intrigued at first, but we'll be more interested
in the things of this world. and will pay their attention
to the things of this world, and they will follow after the
things of this world, and the lust of the flesh and the pride
of life and all those things will choke out the heart and
the will and the desire to follow Christ. It'll just choke it out. But our Lord said, the man or
the woman who I have broken, that good ground, and turned,
and tilled, and made ready, the man or the woman who is the recipient
of the work of my hand, when that man or woman receives the
seed of my word, they will see it, they will hear it, it will
sink down into the heart, and they will believe it. and it'll
produce the fruit of faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some 60, 30, some 60, some, you
know, the apostle said, Lord, increase our faith. I believe,
Lord, help my unbelief. And he said, they're gonna be
saved. He said, if a man has faith as the seed of a grain
of a mustard seed, he's gonna be saved. Now, this is what I
pray the Lord will burden all of our hearts with this morning. Salvation is God's doing, period. Salvation is God's work. It is God's choice on whom he
chooses to give it to. But God said right here that
he has chosen to use the means of sending forth laborers into
the field. Laborers, laborers, laborers. sowers of seed, sowers of seed,
sowers of seed. This attitude that I'm guilty
of, that I was guilty of it at one point in my life, it don't
matter what you do, God's gonna save his people. Oh, he is. It
doesn't matter what kind of efforts you put in, you know, God's,
God is sovereign. but he's chosen to use the means
of calling men and women to labor in sowing the seed. Sowing the
seed. He said, the seed of my word
is going to be planted in my people, and I have chosen to
use the means of sending laborers to sow that seed. It's going
to be planted, and this is how I've chosen to get it there.
I've chosen to call laborers to go sow seed. That's what God's
people are. That's what all believers are,
sowers of seed. The preacher may be the mouth. He may be the mouth, but it takes
the whole body collectively to make this happen. The Lord may
lay it on the heart of one of his servants, or he may lay it
on the heart of many of his servants to get on a computer and to send
the message all over the world on the internet. I have never
loaded a message on the internet. Not one time. I've never loaded
a message on Sermon Audio. I've never loaded a message on
YouTube. I've never loaded a message on anything. I don't even know
how. I could be taught, but honestly,
I don't even know how. Um, had God not laid it on the
hearts of some to take the message, the only way I've ever preached
is behind a pulpit. That's it. And had God not laid
it on somebody's heart to take that and send it out, the message
would stop at those double doors. That's as far as it would go
right there. The Lord may be pleased to send
one of his servants to preach the message. He may be pleased
to send one of his servants to invite someone to come hear the
message. I generally don't go out and say, why don't you come
hear me preach? You know, somebody asked me this
and that. I may say, well, we'd love to have you, you know, come
on and meet with us, but. It's the calling of all of his
servants. The Lord may be pleased to lay it on the hearts of many
of his servants to go out and work hard in their job. And the
Lord may bless them. And the Lord may give to them.
He may give them good jobs and cause them to make good money.
And he may lay it on their heart to use it for the furtherance
of the gospel. To press the message. Every avenue, why stop at one?
Every avenue, what can we do? There is not one member of the
body of Christ that has not been called to the work of the ministry.
This is what I want us to get a hold of. We are all in the
work of the ministry. Now, all of this came to me because
of a question that was asked to me. When I heard this, I thought,
that is a fantastic question. What a great question. I was
talking to somebody and I said the word ministry. And this person said, when you
say ministry, what do you mean? And I thought, great question.
That's a great question. If we are going to give ourselves
to the ministry, what do we mean? What should we focus in on? Because a lot of people have
a different answer to that question. A lot of people do. If we're
gonna spend our time and if we're gonna spend our efforts and spend
our resources wisely and profitably, then what should we be focusing
in on? I want to answer that with the
Word, and then I want to close this with an exhortation, all
right? I'm just going to answer that with the Word, and then
close with an exhortation to us. Turn with me, if you would,
to Matthew 4. Matthew 4, verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the Sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew
his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me, and I will
make you as those who make preparations Gather all the things together
that are necessary for the work and go out to a particular place
and toil and work and labor, and then bring back with you
the fruit of that labor. fishers of men." I think that
is such an interesting way that our Lord said that. Fishers of
men. He said, that's the work that
I'll call you to do. And he did. He called them to
that work. Turn with me to Mark 16. Mark chapter 16. Verse 15. He said unto them, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. He said, go unto all the world
and preach the gospel. He said, this is your calling.
This is your ministry. He said, Peter, if you love me,
feed my sheep. Go out and find them and feed
them and nourish them with the truth of my gospel. He said,
that's your ministry. Not building houses. Not digging wells. Not bringing physical food. I am all for humanitarian efforts. I am all for those who have,
doing for those who don't have. I'm all for it, but they are
humanitarian efforts. The work of the ministry is bringing
spiritual food. It's building, he's the master
builder, except the Lord built the house, but it's building
a spiritual house. It's a living well. He said, go preach the gospel,
go preach the gospel, go preach the gospel. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto
salvation. So he said, as much as in me
is, I'm ready to go do it. Turn with me to Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 13, it says, For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Somebody will hear this and say,
I thought God had an elect chosen people. Always talking about
the elect. I thought God had an elect. And
I thought Christ died for all of those people. And I thought
He redeemed all of those people. And I thought the Spirit was
going to call all of those people. I thought this was ordered and
sure before the foundation of the world and none would be lost. God does. God did. God has. God will. I thought this was not of works,
lest any man should boast. It's not. It's not. But it has pleased God in His
works, according to His will, according to His election, according
to all those things. It has pleased God to use the
work of His means of calling laborers to sow the seed. That's
just what he said he purposed to do. Preaching of his word,
the preaching of his word. Verse 17 right here says, faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word. That means God has
chosen to use, to send faith into his people, the preaching
of the word. The preaching of the gospel,
faith that believes on Christ. Just turn four more pages to
1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." That's our
ministry. That is our calling. Now, with
all that being said, I want to exhort us to, as the scripture
words it, put our hand to the plow. the beloved physician Luke, the
writer of the gospel, the penman of the gospel of Luke. He began
that letter by saying, for as much as many have taken in hand
to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most
surely believed among us. He said, it seemed good to me
to do the same thing. He said, I take it in hand too. And I want to exhort us to take
it in hand too. Take it in hand too. Paul told
Timothy, do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. I want to exhort us and encourage
us to not have the mind of good enough is good enough. Does that make sense? Our Lord
laid it on the heart of the Apostle Paul to not say, head toward
the mark. This is what he said, press toward
the mark. Press toward the mark. Press
and keep pressing and keep pressing. So our exhortation this morning
is, let's go to work in the ministry of the gospel. Let's labor together
in the message of free grace. free grace, the free grace of
God that is completely given to us in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If a man desires the office of
a bishop, he desires a good work, the work of telling men and women
about the rest that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our
work. Crying, rest. Let's labor to
enter into that rest. The work of slaying man's works. Let's labor to enter into the
work of slaying man's works. Slaying the works of the flesh.
The work of declaring the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
for all of our salvation. Let's labor in that. His work. As we labor spreading this seed,
some of it's gonna fall by the wayside. Some of it's gonna fall on stony
ground. Some of it is gonna fall on thorny ground. And as I already
said, but for the grace of God, that's me. That's me. I'm wayside, I'm stony, I'm thorny. But by God's grace, some of it's
gonna fall on ground that has been made ready to receive it.
It's going to. And our Lord is going to bless
it. And he is going to cause it to
bear fruit. He said he would, therefore he
will. Now I keep saying this is what
I want us to get ahold of because it is. This is what I want us
to get ahold of. Our work will not save anybody. It's not our efforts that save
people. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that saves people. But
if He gives us a desire for effort, if He gives us a heart to labor
in the work of spreading His message, this is what it means.
It means He has a people to save. If He burdens us to go throw
seed somewhere, It means He's going to plant some of it. He's
going to. Our Lord does not do anything
in vain. Nothing. His Word does not return
void. And if He creates a work somewhere,
then it means He has purposed to do a work somewhere. Paul, you know, he... He traveled
all over the place. When you read about Paul, he
was here, he was there, he was in this city, that city. When
he got to Corinth, the Lord said, you stay right there for a year
and a half. Just labor right there, work, work, work right
there. And the reason is because he said, I have much people in
this city. He had much people in this city,
therefore He said, labor mightily in this city. It's not the labor
that creates the result, it's the result that creates the labor. May God be pleased to send much
work here. That's my prayer. May God be
pleased to send much work here. May he put a fervent heart in
us. May he give us the opportunity to preach the gospel clearly,
loudly, as often as we can, everywhere we can. May God be pleased to
send work here. Our Lord said, this is what he
told us. He said, pray that the Lord of the harvest will send
forth laborers into his harvest. Because it means he has a people.
If our Lord doesn't send to work, then there's no people. But if he does, then there's
going to be a result. So, Lord, send the work. Send
the work. Open the door. Give us the message.
Give us a heart for the ministry of your gospel. Give us a heart
for your people. Who are his people? Sinners. That strikes me so, so much. It's the one that you don't think
would be the one. It really is. You know, you think about your
circle of people, pick the worst one in your mind. That's the
one you ought to have hope for. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. And every now and then, and I think about this
all the time, every now and then, you run into somebody who really
is a sinner, who really is in need of mercy, somebody who really
is broken, and tilled, And oh, what a blessing it is. So let
me just close here. I want to close by reading these
verses to you. Go to 2 Corinthians 9. I was talking to somebody about
us leaving. This is the moment. Here we go.
We're leaving this building, going to the next building. And
I was telling them, this seems like, to me, I'm just personally
impressed and burdened that it seems like the moment to really
put our hand to the plow and go to work. And in me trying
to explain all that, this person perfectly said, it's time to
take the training wheels off. And I said, well said. We've been in training. Now let's
go to work. Preaching free grace. Let's go to work preaching. Not
of works. Let's work as hard as we can
to go out and cry. Not of works. But with that, verse six, 2 Corinthians
9, verse six. But this I say, He which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly. If you've ever planted grass,
you go and put a couple seeds out, I wouldn't expect a whole
yard of grass. Am I preaching works now? No,
I'm preaching the commandment of God. He that soweth sparingly
shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall
reap also bountifully. Every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work." Whatever he lays on your
heart to do, he will give you the ability to do it. He will
provide. Verse 9, As it is written, he
hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness
remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed
to the sower, he's the one giving the seed. The more you throw, the more
he gives. He that ministereth to the sower both ministereth
bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the
fruits of your righteousness, being enriched in everything
to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
It causes thanksgiving. Really, may God really give us
a heart for his ministry, for Christ, for his gospel, for his
people. And may he give us a work, a
work,