I'd like for you to open your
Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 13. We're continuing going through
the parables, and there's several in this chapter, Matthew 13.
Originally, I had planned to preach on the parable of the
wheat and the tares this morning, but I'm going to make you wait
on that. And the reason I'm going to make you wait on that is because
as I began to study this, one of the keys, I believe, to understanding
the parables in their context is to make certain that we don't
forget what came before and then don't avoid what comes afterward. And one of the keys to understanding
the parable of the wheat and the tares, and I know that's
a parable that makes a lot of people nervous, But don't be
nervous. Just look to the Word of God.
And there's nothing in this book here that is meant to make a
believer squirm and be nervous. Did you know that? I know preachers
sometimes in their anger and selfishness and whatever, you
know, may use it that way. I know I've been under that too.
But this book is for the comfort of God's people, and I assure
you the parable of the wheat and the tares is just as much
for our comfort as anything else. However, these parables are matters
of self-examination. Several weeks ago, before I started
going through the first one, which is the parable of the seed
and the sower, the parable of the four soils, I did two messages
on self-examination, because that's what this is all about.
Really, if you think about it, that's what the whole scripture
is. We come here to worship God, but our whole lives as believers,
if that's what we profess to believe, is a process of self-examination. And self-examination according
to the Word of God. For example, now this morning
I'm just going to use one verse as my text, verse 23 of Matthew
13, the good ground hearer. I've entitled the message, The
Seed and the New Heart. And I want to say more about
this good ground hearer before I go on to the parable of the
wheat and the tares. That's the reason I'm going to
make you wait on that. But you know in the parable of
the four soils, the soils, the grounds, the seed and the sower
as it's sometimes called. There you had four types of hearers.
Here's Christ and His ministers spreading the seed, like the
farmer sowing seed in various types of ground. And that seed
is the Word of God. It's the mysteries of the Kingdom.
It's the Word of the Kingdom. It's the Gospel of God's grace
in Christ. How God saves sinners. It's the
Gospel that Paul described as the Gospel of God. in Romans
chapter 1, because it's not original of men. It came from heaven. It's a revelation from God. It's
a message that no human being could conceive, and especially
sinful human beings. Every religion of the world except
one is somehow, at some degree, at some stage, a religion of
works salvation that are aimed at either saving us or keeping
us saved. And that's what sets the gospel,
the seed that's spread here, apart. It is the gospel of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is based on and conditioned on and secured by the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He put away the sins
of His sheep on the cross of Calvary by one thing, and that's
His own precious blood. And we don't preach a religion
here that teaches the forgiveness of sins based on anything else
but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't teach a religion
here that teaches acceptance before God based on anything
else but the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. credited,
charged, imputed to the account of his people. And the work of
the Holy Spirit in us. We're going to talk about that.
The new heart is the fruit, the result, the effect of what Christ
accomplished on Calvary. And let me add this. Now, let
me tell you this. Now, what Christ did on Calvary was not and is
not an incomplete work. He didn't get it started. He
did it all. He said it's finished. That's
what he said on that cross. Read it in John 19. The veil
was written to. He was accepted. He was justified
in the Spirit, Paul wrote to Timothy. And he arose from the
dead. The death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. Why did he arise from the dead?
Because he finished the work. And that's, he entered into his
rest, Paul wrote about. That's how Paul described it
in Hebrews chapter 4. He entered into his rest. What
does that mean? It means he finished his work.
Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24. He made an end of sin. He finished
the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness.
He sealed up the vision and the prophecy. All of that He accomplished. And everything that we are as
believers and everything that's happened within us by the power
of the Holy Spirit is the fruit, the effect, the result of what
Christ fully accomplished on Calvary. And you know what's
amazing about that. You see the wisdom of God because
that's exactly what the Holy Spirit shows us and drives us
to when He gives us that new heart. But now here, that's the
seed, the gospel, the power of God unto salvation concerns the
person and finished work of Christ. So that seed goes forth and people
receive it in different ways. Here today, You'll receive it. People in this audience, you'll
receive it in different ways. What are those ways? Well, the
Bible gives us four ways that that seed is received. I dealt
with that last week. I'm not going to go into depth
on it, but you have the wayside here. That's the hard-hearted
person. Now, we're all hard-hearted by
nature. That's the seed that falls on the hard ground, just
like going out there and throwing seed on 13th Street. and expecting
it to grow. They have no interest in the
gospel. They have no interest in seeking
the Lord. They have no interest in hearing
what this book says or what the preacher is preaching. And that's
what I said last week. Now, let's examine ourselves.
If that's your case, if that's the way you feel this morning
here sitting there in the pew, then that's what you are. You're
a wayside hearer. You don't have to go out that
north wondering which kind of here you are. And then the second
kind was the stony ground here. That's the seed that falls upon
ground, but it's like a shallow depth of ground, but underneath
there's all kinds of rocks. And the seed cannot take root.
It has no depth. So this is, we might call this
the shallow here, the shallow heart. And it doesn't take root. In other words, there's no real
conviction. Over in 1 John chapter 2, the
Apostle John described those who had a profession of the gospel,
a profession of Christ, but they had no real unctions, what he
says. They had no real conviction.
Conviction of sin. You know, it's like this. If you don't know and you're
not convinced that you have a dreaded, deadly disease, then you're not
going to really seek the cure. But now once you become convicted
over that fact, and once the doctor shows you by x-ray or
MRI or whatever kind of test they run, that you have that
deadly disease, whatever it is, in your body, then you become
convinced, don't you? And then the only thing that's
on that mind of yours and mine would be what? I want that cure.
I've got to have the cure. Where's the cure? Is there any
cure? Isn't that right? It's what you'd be thinking of.
And so that's the way it is with the gospel. Once the Holy Spirit
convicts us of sin, shows us our depravity, and the impossibility
of being saved based upon our best works, Then we want to know,
where is there any hope for a sinner like me? We want to come like
the public and them, beating on our breasts, saying, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. I need mercy. I need grace. And
here, religion will offer you all kinds of false cures. They'll
say, well, just get baptized, and that'll do it. If the Holy
Spirit has convicted you of sin, that won't satisfy you, because
you'll know better. Shouldn't a believer be baptized?
Yes, but not to be saved. Not to be cured. You want the
real cure, and the only cure is Christ. But now that stony
ground here, the Word doesn't take root, and when trouble comes,
when persecution comes over the Word, then they leave it. Let
me show you something of that in John chapter 12. Turn to John
chapter 12 with me. I didn't get to this last week
when I showed that to you, But here's the issue, John chapter
12, and look at verse 42. Here's a good example of a stony
ground hearer. And I want you to listen to this. This is good self-examination,
isn't it? Look at this in verse 42. He
says, nevertheless, John 12, 42, nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, now that's the chief rulers of the Jews, Now, when
you see chief rulers, what you're talking about there is either
a Pharisee or a Sadducee. You've heard of those. The Pharisees
were the most religious. They would be like the fundamentalists.
The Sadducees, they were religious too, but they were more politically
oriented. They denied the resurrection
of the dead. They were more liberal, but they
were religious. But these were men who had risen
high in the ranks of the Jewish religion and government. These
were members of the Sanhedrin. That's the high court of the
Jews. So nevertheless, among the chief rulers also, many believed
on him. Now, did you see that? They said
they believed on Jesus Christ. Well, did they savingly believe
on him? Well, look on. He says, but because
of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should
be put out of the synagogue, thrown out of their religious
gatherings, I had a preacher tell me one time, he said, if
I preach what you preached in my church, they'd fire me. That's
what he said to me. I asked him, I said, would it
split the church? He said, no, it'd wipe it out. That's what
he said. Lest they should be put out of
the synagogue. And he says in verse 43, he writes,
"...for they love the praise of men more than the praise of
God." You see, trouble came. They saw that, you know, Christ
told His disciples in John chapter 16, He said, they'll put you
out of their synagogues when you preach Christ and Him crucified.
When you preach salvation solely and totally and sovereignly by
God's grace without the works of man, When you exalt Christ
and put man in the dust where he belongs, they'll throw you
out of their churches. Because they don't want to hear
that. They want to hear something that exalts the flesh, that gives
man the glory. Some way, some how. Just give
him that much. That'll be enough. And he said,
they'll put you out. And that's what happened to the
stony ground here. He received it. You remember
he said he received it immediately, with joy. But he didn't think,
you see, ahead. He didn't count the cost. And
when the trouble came over the Word, then he left it. He left
it. Well, let me tell you something
now. Any of you who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you truly do, there's going to be trouble. Isn't that right? It's a promise from God. In fact,
Paul wrote to the Philippians, he said, it's a gift of God.
You say, well, I just do not have that gift. Well, it comes
with the territory. He said, just as much as faith
is the gift of God, suffering persecution for the cause of
Christ is a gift of God. You know why it's a gift? Because
number one, it's an evidence of God's love towards us. It's
called the chastisement of a loving father. Hebrews chapter 12. In
other words, it's like you parents. If you didn't discipline your
children, what does that mean? It means you don't love them.
You say, well, I love my children. Not if you don't discipline them.
And I'll tell you why. Because the only reason you don't
want to discipline them is you don't want to take the time and
the trouble and receive their opposition. And that means you're
just thinking of yourself. Isn't that right? And so God
disciplines His children. And then he does it by way of
trials and persecutions. And it doesn't make faith, it
doesn't create faith, but it reveals faith. Now, in the stony
ground here, it reveals a false faith, because he leaves. Well,
the next here is the thorny ground here. And that's the divided
heart. In other words, this is the person
who claims to believe in Christ, but he tries to serve Christ
with divided loyalties. He's more involved with the world
and the affairs of the world, with making money, with doing
other things, not necessarily money, but other things, that
takes him away from the things of God. And he leaves, look here,
look at Matthew 13, look here at verse 22. He says, He also that received
the seed among the thorns, You see that here at the Word, that's
where the Word of God is sown, and that seed is sown, and the
thorns spring up, and the cares of this world, that's what it
is, the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke
the Word, and He becomes unfruitful. That's the thorny ground here.
That's a false profession. Now, listen to me now. The Bible
does not tell us to ignore the things of this world which we
have to be involved in, our families, our jobs. Things like that. But they are not to take precedence
over your loyalty, your love, and your worship, and your fruitfulness
in Christ. Now that's exactly what that's
teaching. And so you don't have to walk out those two doors today,
or out these doors, and wonder where you are. Well, here's the
only, only one that represents a real believer. It's the good
ground hearer. Look at verse 23, "...but he
that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the
word." Now, you remember Christ told His disciples, He said those
who reject the Word, they won't hear the Word. They close their
ears. They close their eyes. They're
hard-hearted. Their heart is waxed gross, He
said. That means it's grown hard. In
other words, it's like you've heard the analogy that the same
Son That melts wax also hardens clay. And that's what's happened
in the other three here. But in the good ground here,
it's like the wax that melts. This is the heart that's been
prepared by God. And so he says, he hears the
Word. And he says, and he understands it. That means he knows what
it means. And he not only knows it, but
he believes it. This is the understanding of
faith. This is the understanding that brings a person to repentance. This is the understanding by
which a person loves the truth. You know, 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 speaks of that in the last days, that God will send some
people strong delusion that they would believe a lie. What does
that mean? Well, why does He do that? It's
His judicial judgment upon them for rejecting not just the truth
but the love of the truth. Read in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses
9 through 10 and 11. They don't love the truth. You
remember when the multitudes went away from Christ, the Lord
in John chapter 6 turned to Peter and the apostles and He said,
will you go away also? And Peter said, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of life. These are words of life,
you see. This is the cure. Pointing sinners
to Christ. That's the only cure for your
problem. Physically, you may be in the
best shape you've ever been in in your life, but let me tell
you something. You're still a sinner. And death is going to get you
and get me. This body is dead because of
sin. And the only hope that I have to be saved from sin is the blood
and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
it. And this life, however, you know,
I think I read in the paper yesterday or the day before about some
guy who died who was 111. Wow! 111. What an accomplishment. He's dead. He's dead. Why? Because of sin. You're going
to be dead because of sin. Me too. But now will we suffer
the consequences of the wrath of God forever? Not if we're
in Christ. Because as this body is dead
because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Not yours, not mine, but Christ. There's the cure. So as we go
along in our lives and we occupy ourselves with the things of
this world, let's keep this in mind. You don't have to walk
out today wondering which kind of hearer you are. I don't have
to do that. Here it is. It's very plain.
It's very simple. You don't have to complicate
it. There it is. Now look, he says, which also
beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundred, some sixty,
some thirty. Now let me tell you something
now. This good ground here, let me tell you about this heart,
this new heart. That's what he's talking about.
The good ground and the new heart are the same thing. It's being
read about the new heart in Ezekiel 36. We'll go back there in just
a second. Let me tell you something about the good ground, the good
heart, the new heart. Luke called it an honest heart
in his version of this parable. An honest and a sincere heart.
Well, the first thing you need to understand about this new
heart is it's not natural to us. That's not how we're born. We're not born with a good heart.
Now I know that offends some people because they like to think
of little babies as being innocent and pure as the drift and snuff,
but that's not the case. The Bible says we were born in
iniquity. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies. That means we have that sinful
human nature that we got from Adam. For as in Adam all die. There's no human being born of
Adam that is born good or with a good heart. Listen to me now. If you were born with a good
heart, you're different from the rest of humanity. I don't
even know how you got here, actually, to be honest with you. I don't
want to look into that. But I suspect the problem is
that you're just lying to yourself. You see, Luke called it an honest
heart. Now let's be honest. What are we by nature? Well, Ephesians chapter 2 says
we are children of wrath by nature. We deserve wrath. That's what
that means. Our best deeds cannot save us.
Our best intentions cannot save us. We're sinners, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3, there's
none good, no not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. Is that offensive to you? That's what the stony ground
here, he gets offended. Do you remember that? He says bye bye, he's offended. Are you offended at the Word
of God? Christ looked at his disciples one day and he says,
does this offend you? Remember one time he was talking
to the Pharisees and they said, Lord, you offended them. It's
called the offense of the cross. It makes me be honest with myself. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
That's what the new heart does. When the Holy Spirit gives me
a new heart, it's a heart that shows me that I'm a sinner and
I need salvation, and not by my works, but by grace in Christ. If I'm going to be saved, it
can't come from me. It can't be conditioned on me,
and it can't be anything that I do. It has to come from God
alone. That's the good ground here.
Nothing good in us. Totally depraved. I heard a fellow
talking about that on the radio this morning. He said, totally
depraved. And then he said that the blood of Christ is given
to us on the foundation of our faith and repentance. And I said,
well, you just blew total depravity out of the water. Because, you see, a person who
has faith and a person who could repent of their own, you see,
they're not totally depraved. But you see, that's why we need
grace. That's why we need the power
of God. That's why salvation is of the
Lord. And let me tell you the second thing about this new heart.
It's the fruit and result of Christ's work for us. Turn over
to John chapter 16. The new heart is not the result or the product
of the free will of man. It's the result and the product
of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Now, let me show
you this. In John chapter 16, look at verse
7. Now, the Lord, this is what is
called the upper room discourses in the Bible starts in John 13.
And you remember that's when the disciples were arguing over
who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and
then Christ, He ungirded Himself and stooped down and washed their
feet. teaching them a lesson. He said, I'll tell you who's
going to be greatest, the least is. Christ is the greatest. He is the One. But here in the
Upper Room Discourses, He's preparing them for what's coming. He's
telling them that He's going to the cross. He's got to go
away. And here's what He says in verse
7. He says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for you that I go away. Now that simply means this. It's
necessary for you that I go away. Now, how was he going away? Well,
he was going to suffer, he's going to bleed, he's going to
die, he's going to be buried, he's going to be raised again
the third day, and then later on he's going to be ascended
unto the Father. And the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God and man in one person, was not going to be with them bodily. Now, he's with us spiritually
all the time. He said, I'll never leave you.
Never forsake you. And he's with us by his Spirit.
That's what he's talking about here. and His Word. And He says
here, He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient
for you that I go away. And for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will
send Him unto you. Now the Comforter there is the
Holy Spirit. And what He's telling them is
that if I go away, I'll send the Holy Spirit to do His work.
Because if He doesn't go away, there's no work for the Holy
Spirit to do. You see, sin demands death. Righteousness demands
life. Now what does the Holy Spirit
do in the new birth? He gives life, doesn't He? He
gives spiritual life and knowledge and understanding. Righteousness
demands life. Where there's no righteousness,
there's no life. Sin demands death. The wages of sin is death.
That's what we can earn. But righteousness demands life.
Now where are we going to find righteousness? In the work of
the Spirit? No. In the work of Christ on
the cross. He said, if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come. Where are we going to get our
righteousness from? From Christ on the cross. And this is what
He's saying now. He says, I'll send Him unto you,
verse 8, and when He's come, He will reprove or convict or
convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Of sin, because they believe not on Me. You know what that
means? That means if you don't believe on Christ, everything
you are and everything you do in the eyes of God is sin. Even
your best. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. What is faith? Looking to Christ.
Resting in Him. Without Christ, I'm nothing.
Isn't that right? The best of us, without Christ.
To die without Christ, You may have the longest obituary that
the Daily Independence ever printed, but to die without Christ, it
might as well be a big blank, just with three words in it,
S-I-N. Can you see that? Can I see it? of sin just because they believe
not on Him? You mean everything I do and
everything I am just because I don't have Christ? Exactly.
He's the only cure for sin. You know, there are people who
are sick, and for a little while they can do a lot of things.
Some of you healthy people right now, as we look, you could have
a cancer growing inside you right now, but you can still get up
and walk, you can eat, you can run, Someday that's going to
bring you down, isn't it? And that's the way it is
with man without Christ. He can do a lot of things. He
can be religious. He can give money. He can be
charitable. He can smile. He can be kind. But I'll tell
you what he can't do. He cannot produce the righteousness
that God requires for salvation. He can't do it. Look at verse
10. He'll convince us of righteousness
because I go to my Father and you see me no more. What does
that mean? That means Christ came and did
the work, established righteousness, and He goes unto the Father. He enters into the holiest of
all. In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to convince me
that I don't have any righteousness, I can't work out one, and the
only way I can have one is in Christ. And then verse 11, of
judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. What
I believe that means is that he's going to convince me that
Christ took care of all the judgment that stood against me on the
cross of Calvary. Satan's accusations. He accuses
the brethren. But Christ took all my punishment
for all my sins. And now who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn it? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again. That's what happens when the
Holy Spirit gives the new heart. Go back to Matthew 13. So, thirdly,
the new heart, the good ground, is the operation of the work
of the Spirit in us. Now, let me ask you this question
in self-examination. I ask it to myself, too. Do you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe on Him? And you
know what I mean by believe on Him. I'm not talking about do
you just say it, do you just think it, or you just fooled
yourself into thinking you do. I'm talking about do you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, now, if you do, if I do,
ask yourself this question. Why do I believe and somebody
else doesn't? I know there are people who don't.
I know one time I did. Why do I believe now and I didn't
believe before? Is it because that I have now
finally developed into a better person? Why do I believe in someone else?
Is it because I'm better than they are? How would you answer that question?
I'll tell you how it should be answered scripturally. Why do
I believe, and someone else doesn't? Well, look back. Look back at
verse 16 of Matthew 13. Here's the answer. But blessed are your eyes, for
they see, and your ears, for they hear. It's because I've
been blessed. Blessed with what? What have
we been blessed with? Well, look at verse 11. 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's not given." There's the answer. Somebody
says, well, I don't like that answer. That's too bad. Somebody says, well, I don't
understand that answer. That's not necessary. You're
the creature. You're the pot. God's the pot.
You're the clay. Somebody says, well, why didn't
God just give it to everybody? I don't know. You'll have to
take that up with Him. All I know is what this book
says. Now, if you believe and if I believe, we've been blessed. Now, let me tell you something
about that blessing. There's not a one of us in this building
who deserved to have it and who earned it. By nature, we were just like
them who have it not. We still aren't any better than
them. We're still not. We're still
not any better than them in ourselves. It's a gift of God. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. In other words, if I'm blessed, in the good ground with
a new heart. I don't have anything to brag
about in myself. The only thing I have to brag
about is Christ. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. Now let me tell you something.
Now you'll go to other preachers or other people who claim to
be Christian and you'll get all kinds of answers to that question
that I just asked. But you go to the Word of God,
you're not going to get any more than I just gave you this morning.
And I know it from Genesis to Revelation. It's not so. We're
blessed of God, beyond imagination. So it's the operation of the
work of the Spirit of God. Look at John chapter 1. This
new heart. Do you have a new heart? What is the new heart? It's the
heart that is receptive of the grace of God. It's the heart
that's receptive of the Word of God. It's an honest part. Look here in John chapter 1.
Look at verse 11. He says, Christ came unto His
own, and His own received Him not. Now, that's us by nature. Isn't that right? If God left
us to ourselves, we receive Him not. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Now,
that word power does not mean the ability. It means the right. It means the privilege. In other
words, believing and receiving Him shows that you have a right
and privilege that's been given to you. It's not because you've
been given an ability to save yourself or even to believe,
even though we do believe. He says, to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born.
This is the new birth. They're born not of blood. It
wasn't physical birth, nor the will of the flesh. It wasn't
by free will, nor of the will of man. It wasn't by the will
of others, but of God. They're born of God. Turn to
John chapter 3. Here's Christ speaking to one
of those chief rulers named Nicodemus. And Nicodemus recognized that
Jesus of Nazareth was a man sent of God. He said, a man couldn't
do what you're doing except he be sin of God. And look at what
Christ said to him in verse 3, Jesus answered, said to him,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, or
literally born from above, this is a spiritual birth, it's not
a natural birth, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
heaven. Now you remember what Christ
told the disciples, blessed are your eyes, for they see. That's
just another way of saying, you've been born again from above. And
so he says, unless you're born again, you can't see. That means
you can't understand it. Verse 4, Nicodemus saith unto
him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Now what Nicodemus is
revealing there is his inability to perceive a spiritual thing,
spiritual truth. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God. So he automatically goes back
to natural birth. And he says, well, now how can
that be done? How can I be born again? Well, Christ wasn't talking
about natural birth. He's talking about a spiritual
birth from above. And he says in verse 5, Jesus
answered, and he said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So don't
be amazed that I said unto you, you must be born again. Time
produces time. And that's why when we're born,
we're born in sin. James said it this way, he said,
we're begotten again by the Word of Truth. Look at Romans chapter
6. Look at this. Now he says here in verse 17
of Romans 6, he says, but God be thanked that you were the
servants of sin. Now, in the context, to be a
servant of sin means to be an unbeliever. In other words, an
unbeliever is one who is in bondage to sin. He's a slave to sin.
He's one of those described in John 16, 8. They believe not
because... convince them of sin because
they believe not on me. But he says, but you have obeyed
from the heart the good ground. That form of doctrine, that word
form there, is like a stamp, like a die. In other words, it's
a stamp upon your heart. That form of doctrine which was
delivered to you, preached to you, being then made free from
sin, you became the servant of righteousness. What is a servant
of righteousness? He's a servant of Christ. He's
a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the scripture
that I read in the opening, chapter 10, Look at verse 4. He says, For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. You want righteousness? Look
to Christ. He's where you're going to find
it. So he says in verse 9, That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, And with the mouth confession
is made. Now let me take you back to Ezekiel 36 just for a
moment, and I'll close it out there. He says in Ezekiel chapter 36
and verse 26, this is what God does for His people. He says,
a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you. And notice here now, he says,
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. That's going
to be taken away. And I will give you a heart of
flesh that's pliable. You remember, he said over Matthew
13, this people's heart is waxed gross, it's grown hard. And they've
shut their eyes and they've closed their ears, lest they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears and be converted.
Well, God says here, in the blessing of the new birth, He said, I'm
going to give you a new heart. And I've heard preachers go on
and on about this stuff now. Somebody says, well, now see
there, he's not going to change the old heart. He's going to
give you a completely new heart and all that stuff. And then
they talk about a new nature and an old nature. Well, now,
if you're going to use new nature and old nature, and listen, be
careful with that kind of language and understand that's all I tell
people. That's a slippery slope, man. You can get on some wild
things with that. I've got a new nature." Well,
what are you talking about? Some people say, well, it's a
sinlessly perfect nature that cannot be contaminated. And I
tell you what, I can't stand to be around those fellows. They're
better than me. I'm telling you the truth. They don't exist. But if you're going to use new
nature or old nature with this verse, then you'll have to say
the old nature is gone. So doesn't he say here, I'm going to take
away the stony heart out of your flesh? I'm going to take that
away. That's gone. Well, what's he talking about? He's talking
about the heart of faith. That's the new heart. And you
know, the heart is the mind, the affections, and the will.
Now, what is the heart of faith? Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. This
is the good ground. And this is the one through which
Christ divine produces the fruit. The fruit of love, the fruit
of grace, the fruit of worship, the fruit of obedience. Some
thirty, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Talking about
the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit
rather. But look at Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 19. He says,
"...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus." Now what is our confidence, our foundation,
our ground? Our boldness to enter into the
holiest. You say, well, I prayed three
hours last night. Or you say, well, I gave my money
to the church, or I was baptized, or I had an experience when I
was 12. Is that your boldness? Well, here's the boldness and
the confidence and the foundation and the assurance that the Bible
says that God lays on the new heart by the blood of Jesus. There's my confidence. You say,
Preacher, you don't know what I've been through. I've suffered
a lot. You may have, and I feel sorry for you. But my friend,
your suffering never can compare with the suffering of Christ
in His obedience unto death. My confidence is in His blood
alone, His finished work, His death. And he says in verse 20,
"...by a new and living way which He, Christ, hath consecrated."
Christ did it. Christ newly made it. "...for
us, for His people, through the veil," that is to say His flesh,
"...in His humanity He suffered, bled, and died as God made. And having an high priest over
the house of God," verse 22, "...let us draw near with a true
heart, an honest heart, honest about my sin and my depravity."
Convicted of sin. Honest about who God is. Who
He is. And honest about what I deserve. And honest about who Christ is
and what He accomplished on Calvary. In full assurance of faith. What
is the full assurance of faith? It's the assurance that I have
looking to Him who is the author and finisher of my faith. Looking
to His finished work. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. I told my Sunday school class
this morning, what's an evil conscience? It's a guilty legal
conscience. It condemns and excuses based
upon a wrong ground. And the only ground that we can
be excused and accepted and justified is the blood of Christ. So our
hearts have been sprinkled from an evil conscience as the Holy
Spirit has sprinkled that blood in our conscience, so to speak,
by showing us Christ and our bodies washed with pure water. Well, that's the new heart that's
being convinced of sin. That's the new heart that fights
against the flesh in a way that brings godly sorrow and obedience
motivated by love and grace and that loves Christ and loves the
bread.