Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. We'll look today
at the parable of the sower. Parable of the sower. Luke chapter 8. We'll read the
context of it. So we'll read verses 1 to 8. And then later on we'll look
a little further down in the message. And it came to pass
afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching
and showing the glad titans of the kingdom of God, and the twelve
were with him. And certain women, which had
been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene,
out of whom went seven devils, and Jonah the wife of Sheza,
Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered
unto him of their substance. And when much people were gathered
together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by
a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by
the wayside. Some fell by the wayside, and
it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, And
as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked
moisture. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorn sprang up with it and choked it. And others fell on
good ground and sprang up and bear fruit and hundredfold. And when he said these things,
he cried, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we see
in verse 1, went through every city and village in Galilee,
preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.
His chosen apostles were with Him, and many others accompanied
Him, as we see in verses 2 and 3. Many who traveled with our
Lord were true believers. Many who traveled with our Lord
were true believers, and there were men and women who had been
granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust
in him as the promised Messiah, the eternal Son of God, God incarnate
in flesh. But there were some who traveled
with Jesus who were not true believers. One prominent one
was Judas Iscariot. Now, from an outward appearance,
everyone thought he was was just like everyone else, but he wasn't. He wasn't a true believer. And
there were others who followed him who were sign seekers, and
some followed him because of the miracles he performed, and
some followed him because of daily provision. Turn, if you
would, to John chapter six. John chapter six. We're looking at a portion where
the Lord had just told them he was the bread of life, and by
faith we eat and drink him, who is the bread of life, who is
our heavenly manna. And look at what it says in John
chapter six, verses 61 to 71. When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, dot this offend
you. What and if ye shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. These words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are
some of you that believe not. So there's wheat and tares mixed
together. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. from
the beginning that Judas wouldn't betray him. He knew that. He knew that those who walk away
from him were gonna walk away from him. He knew that. He knew
that. They weren't his sheep. He knows
who his own are. He knows. We don't know, but
he knows. He knows. And he said, therefore
I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
him of my father. That's a hard saying for these
folks. And it's a hard saying for folks nowadays, isn't it?
Because they say, well, I chose Jesus. I came to him. Well, according
to the Lord here, no man can even come to the Father except
through him. And no man will, left in their own natural state.
No one. But praise be to God, it's given
of the Father for some to come to him. From that time, many
of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. They
couldn't handle that. They couldn't handle that God's
absolutely suffering. And left to ourselves, we couldn't
either. Except by the grace of God, right? We believe on Christ
because God's given us faith to believe on Him. I remember
when someone, in my lost natural state, when someone told me about
election, you've heard me say this, I told the person they
were crazy. I was like, what? You mean I don't decide on my
own? Well, I came to Christ now, but
only because he made me willing, because he chose me. And I marvel
in that, I marvel in that. And then look what he says, then
said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? Now he's not
asking this for information. He already knows they're his
sheep. Now this is for us too. But look what Peter says. Then
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Is this
not the cry of every believer? Where will we go, Lord? We have no hope but him, do we?
No hope but him. To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. If we believe and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, this is the cry of a true believer, isn't
it? This is what we say as believers. Where will we go, Lord? You have
the words of eternal life. Thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. And look what the Lord says to
him. Jesus answered him, Have not I chosen you twelve, and
one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, that he should betray him, being one of the
12. And we know that it's only God
who has revealed to Peter that Christ is who he proclaimed him
to be. We know that. So note in our text in Luke that
the Lord was not idle. He came about to do the Father's
work, didn't he? He was going around preaching
and teaching in villages. He wasn't idle. He was going
out, teaching and preaching, doing the Father's business and
showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. This is what
he came to do. He came to save his people from their sins. He
came to preach of himself, who he
is. Oh, my. And it came to pass,
look at verse one, and it came to pass after that he went throughout
every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God. Where are the glad tidings of
the kingdom of God found? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. And the 12 were with him. So
he's got his sheep with him and there's one there with him who's
not a sheep. But this was his delight. And
our Lord was patient with His sheep, just as He is with us.
He is long-suffering with His sheep, gentle, kind, just like
He is with us. He knew who His true disciples
were, and it's the same today. He knows who His people are.
He knows. He knows. Many who profess to
be Christians just go along with the crowd. They're not Bereans.
They don't search the Scripture to see if it's so. They just
say, well, the preacher said that. And you know that I and other
grace preachers say, don't just take our word for it, search
the scriptures to see if it's so. Search the scriptures. Be a Berean. Don't just believe
it because someone else said it. And Peter, we know, Peter
made that proclamation because he's born again in the Holy Spirit
of God. He's born again. We're to be Bereans, study the
word. Pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate the scriptures
for you, that he teach you the things of Christ. Because that's
the only way we're going to learn. As Brother Tim said, otherwise,
words are just words, the preacher says. But the Holy Spirit illuminates
the word for us, teaches us, and we go, wow, there's Christ. This speaks of my King. And we
are warned based. And we are dearer all things
for the elect's sake. Wheat and tares grow together,
but we are to be patient, gentle, and kind, just as our master
was. We don't know who the elect of God are, but he does. He does. He knows. And this is why it's
important that every time a man steps in this pulpit or teaches
Sunday school, that we proclaim Christ. That we proclaim him
alone. Christ crucified. the truth of
the scriptures, that Christ was about the father's business.
He came to save his people from their sins. And we know that
it's God who gives the increase, isn't it? It's him who builds
us up. It's him who adds to the church
as he's pleased. It's him. It's all his work.
So this brings us today to our lesson, which will be the parable
of the sower. Our Lord spoke to the multitude
by parables. Further down in this chapter,
the disciples asked him, one day, why do you teach in parables?
And he said, because they have eyes that they do not see, and
ears, but they do not hear, and hearts, but they do not understand. And then he told them, blessed
are your eyes. Blessed are your eyes. They see. If you're a believer, and you
see Christ, Through the scriptures, you're blessed. You're blessed,
because not everyone has eyes to see Christ. If you have ears
to hear the shepherd's voice through the preaching of the
gospel, and through the reading of the scripture, you're blessed.
You're blessed. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and your ears, they hear, and your hearts, they understand. Praise God for a regenerated
heart, eh? To understand the things of Scripture. But I speak
to the multitude in parables. Now He spoke many parables, and
unless He reveals the truth of the parable, we will never understand
it. We'll never understand it. Let's
look at our text again and read verses 8 to 15 this time. 8 to 15. And take note of the
verse 10, in light of the parable, God has made no one to his people.
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. And this ties in with
what Paul wrote over in Ephesians chapter one, where he penned
this. God has made known unto us the mystery of his will. He's
given us, like one commentator said, he's let us in on a secret. He's made known, we read that,
he's let us know a secret, and it's his secret. God hath made
known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. Paul penned that
over in Ephesians chapter one. Let's look at verses four to
15 now in Luke chapter eight. And when much people were gathered
together and were come to him out of every city he spake by
a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed
some fell by the wayside and it was trodden down and the fowls
of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and
as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked
moisture. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And others fell
on good ground and sprang up and bear fruit and hundredfold.
And when he had said these things, he cried, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. Then look at verse 9 to 15. And
his disciples asked him, what might this parable be? And he
said, unto you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God. Unto his people, it's been given
for us to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. He doesn't reveal this to everyone.
But he reveals this to his sheep. But to others in parables, that
seeing they might not see, and that hearing they might not understand. But we've been given hearing
ears and seeing eyes, we who believe, and a heart that understands. Now the parable is this, the
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they
that hear, then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out
of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on
the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with
joy, and those have no root, for which for a while believe,
in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns
are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked
with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit
to perfection. But that on the good ground are
they which in an honest and good heart having heard the word keep
it and bring forth fruit with patience. Now an honest student
of the scriptures We'll have to admit that the word of God
clearly brings forth and teaches the sovereign distinguishing
grace of God in Christ. It's all through scripture. It's
all through scripture. God's grace is distinguishing
grace. He gives it to whom he pleases.
It's sovereign. Because he's the one who gives
it. So it's sovereign distinguishing grace, and it's freely given
by God. And He's free to give it to whomever
He pleases. Whomever He pleases. And it only
comes to the believer in Christ alone. Our Lord, the Word of
God, the second person of the Trinity, brings this forth right
here before us very plainly and easy to understand language.
The truth concerning God's distinguishing grace is not obscure. People
just don't believe it. They just don't believe it. They
don't have eyes to see and ears to hear. They don't believe it.
And that's the root problem when I know when I'm talking to people,
and it's funny because they always want to talk about election,
and they always want to talk about certain things. And when
I give them the scriptures, because I don't give them my own opinion,
I'll give them scripture. That's the way. When people ask
you questions, give them scripture. You know what happens? They don't
believe. I don't believe that. Some of
them outright say that. Well, are you calling God a liar
then? Because it's God who said it. But that's the problem. People
don't believe what the Word of God says. Even religious people,
mostly religious people. You present precious truths to
them and they just recoil. I know, I was there. It happens all the time, until
God gives you grace to see Him, and to see His sovereignty, and
to see what He's done, and see that salvation is a gift of God,
and that salvation is of the Lord, man recoils from that.
Natural man recoils from that. Oh, God's distinguishing grace
and mercy is right before us in Scripture. Turn, if you would,
over to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. People would
rather believe a lie than believe the truth. Matthew 11, 25 to
27, we see these truths must be revealed. And they're hid
from the wise and the prudent, beloved. They're not given to
the wise and prudent. They're given to babes. It's
wonderful. Why? Why are they hid from the
wise and prudent and given to babes? Because it's God's will. Matthew 11, 25 and 27. At that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Look
at verse 26. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in Thy sights. The believer can sit and say,
God has granted me faith to believe. I'm regenerated by the power
of the Holy Spirit of God. I'm saved by the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the shedding of His precious blood, because it seemed good
in the sight of God. Oh my, isn't that wonderful?
I went back, you all know I went back from my mom's funeral, and
I met a lot of people that I grew up with, a lot of them. And as
I'm in that room, and there was a lot of people that came, and
I'm thinking, Lord, you saved me. You saved me. And if it hadn't been for his
grace, I'd be doing the same thing that all of them are doing.
So I could say, there go I, but for the grace of God. I didn't
look down on them. It made me realize just how precious, and
I told you all that when I came back, how precious what we have
is. How wonderful what we have is,
that the grace of God has been given to we who believe in Christ. It's so precious. And then look
at verse 27. All things are delivered unto
me and my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father.
Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him. In our natural state, we do not
know who Christ is. We do not know who God is. As
Calvin said, our minds are idol factories and our hearts are
idol factories producing who we think God is in our natural
state. But it's not the God of the Bible. And when He reveals
Himself, oh, do we not see what we believed before was so wrong? Oh, our God is a great God, the
one true God. And right here before us, when
we see, all things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no
man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man.
The Father saved the Son, and whomsoever He will reveal Him,
that's God's distinguishing grace. The believer can say, God revealed
Christ to me again because it seemed good in the Father's sight. This is distinguishing grace
and it's wonderful and it's marvelous. Now, are these words hard to
understand that we read here? They really aren't, aren't they?
The Lord spoke in one and two syllable words. But the God of
glory, they're not they're not hard to understand, but people
just don't believe them. And people don't believe him
because Christ is not revealed. And each one of us who are born
again and who are saved can look back at a time when we didn't
believe these words. When we didn't care about the
things of God. Again, people would rather believe
a lie than the truth. And the only way we believe this
truth is by God's distinguishing grace. We're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. We are granted faith to believe,
and this is pure, unmerited favor and mercy from God. Again, our Lord asked his disciples
over in Matthew 16, 15, but whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter
answered, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Our
master replied to him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. This is God's distinguishing
grace again on both display. God's distinguishing grace. Think
of this. It was hid from the Pharisees.
It was hid from the Pharisees, who are the wise and the prudent,
right? and it was revealed to a fisherman, who they later on called, who
are these unlearned men? Oh my. God's wisdom makes the
wisdom of the world look, it's foolishness, isn't it? He confounds the wise, doesn't
he? He does. Oh my. And the scripture proclaims
the glorious truth of God's eternal love for his people, for his
elect. The scriptures proclaim God's
electing love, his redeeming grace for a particular people.
How he's bought them out of darkness. They're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. They're given a new heart to believe. on the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're translated from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of light. The kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's all by the power of
God. And that's why Jonah proclaims
salvations of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord. Turn
if you would quickly to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and then put your finger
back in Luke chapter 8. But look at this in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Salvations of the Lord. It's
all by his doing. We'd never seek Christ unless
He sought us out. You know, the shepherd seeks
the lost sheep, doesn't he? Look at this in 2 Corinthians
4, verses 6 and 7. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. When did He do that? When I believed. He commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. And if you're a believer, He
did that for you too. Isn't it wonderful? And look, it's God
who commanded that. It's his salvation to give, it's
his grace to give, isn't it? For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He must be revealed to us. But
we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. He gets all the glory. It's all by his power, it's not
by ours. I got no power to save myself. None of us do. But man
thinks that, don't they? Well, if I only if I only do
this and I finally do that and the list is endless But the believer
says all my hope and all my rest is in Christ He did it all for
me, and I'm just gonna rest in him. I'm gonna trust my eternal
soul to him Who is the lover of my soul? Oh? And it's all
by his power that the power may be of God and not of us It's
wonderful So now this parable cannot be rightly understood
by natural man, and this is why our Lord proclaimed in verse
8, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let's go back to
our text there. Now some proclaim that it does
not matter what you hear or believe, that they do this to their own
destruction, because the apostle Paul penned in Ephesians 1.13,
In whom also ye have trusted, after that ye have heard the
word of truth. The believers heard the word of truth. The
gospel of your salvation, your salvation. So if there's a word
of truth, then we know there's a word of error, too. I was thinking
about this as I was walking up and remember, the Lord says,
I don't know the exact verse, I can't quote it right here,
but remember when the Lord said there'll be people who say that
Christ is here and Christ is there, right? That's false religion.
That's false religion. There's only one place we go,
the one true. Christ, Jesus the Lord, the Son
of God, God incarnate in the flesh. So the word of truth,
who does it center upon? The word of error, what does
it center upon? It centers upon what you do. Tells you you've
got to do this and you've got to do that, doesn't it? But what
does the word of truth center on? What does the word of truth
proclaim? Look what Christ has done. Look who he is. God incarnate
in the flesh. Look what he's done. He's redeemed
his people from all their sins. And look where he is. He's glorified
and in heaven right now, reigning. He died and he's risen. He's
risen, beloved. This is what the word of truth
claims. It centers around Christ, who he is, what he's done, where
he is now. And the word of error centers
around self telling you, well, you can work your way and do
this and do that to earn your salvation and even to keep it.
It's a lie. It's an absolute lie. The word
of truth tells us what's being done, what Christ has accomplished
and how he saves his people and how he keeps his people. And
the word of error will only lead to your destruction. Trusting
in yourself will only lead to your own destruction. But trusting
in Christ, oh, oh, it's eternal life in Him. Good news. The word of truth speaks of a
good news. Finished, accomplished redemption in Christ Jesus our
Lord. So what a man hears is very important. No one's going
to be saved if they don't hear the truth. No one's going to
be saved unless God, by his sovereign almighty power, makes his truth
effectual. You must be born again. So let's look at verse five in
our chapter here, Luke chapter eight. A sower went out to sow
his seed and he sowed and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside
and it was trodden down and the fowls of the air devoured it.
Now the Lord brings forth a picture that they would have seen many
times in biblical times. A certain farmer in the eastern
country one morning gathered his seed together, put it in
the sack, and went out into the field. He began to sow the seed. He began to scatter the seed
in every direction. And the sower went forth the
seed, he just scattered it. In this parable, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the sower who went out to sow his seed. All of God's
preachers sow this seed. We proclaim it. All God's faithful
witnesses sow the seed of the gospel, but it's the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the sower in this picture. The seed is his seed,
which is the word of God, the gospel of salvation, the word
of truth. And it's in Christ, in Christ
alone, by grace alone, to the glory of God alone. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel reveals the holiness
of God and the righteousness of God. To those who are given
faith to believe upon Christ, it's the ministry of the Holy
Spirit to reveal Christ. He will not speak of himself.
He reveals Christ to us. To God's lost sheep, to those
whom he died for on Calvary's cross. We'll see in this parable,
of course, that many hear the gospel, many hear the gospel,
but only the seed which falls upon good ground, which is prepared
ground, prepared ground, takes root and brings forth fruit.
Look at verse 15, but that on the good ground are they which
in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it
and bring forth fruit with patience. So let's consider the first ground
here brought before us, which the seed fell upon. It's called
the wayside. It's hard ground. It's hard ground. This has reference to a road
or a path by the side of the field. where people walked, the
ground would be hard packed, hard packed. I was thinking of
this yesterday morning. When I was a kid, we had a North
Hill and a South Hill. And in between was the valley. And down in the valley, there
was a ballpark there and the downtown of our town growing
up. And I lived on the South Hill. And so in order to go play
baseball and go down, I had to go down. down the hill. Now you could either go down
the hill by the highway or we all took the quick way though.
What had happened was on these hills were paths where people
had walked. And the ground there was a clear,
hard path. Nothing grew on that path. Now
all around it stuff grew, but the path was so worn by people
walking. And the ground was so hard that
nothing grew. And if something did grow, it
just got stomped on. I remember this clear as day.
And you may remember that too in places you grew up where there's
a hard path that you walked. And nothing grew on that. And
we'd walk these paths to cut time when we travel from the
valley, from South Hill to the valley or the North Hill. And
these paths, again, were hard-packed paths where nothing grew. And
also, consider the farmer's field, too. There was a hard path around
the field, around the field. And sometimes when we walked
on these paths, someone would be coming the other way, and
you'd be walking up or down, and somebody coming the other
way. And the path was wide enough that you could both pass each
other. Sometimes you stepped over on the ground, but it was
a wide path. And like I said, the ground was
just packed hard, just packed hard. And it says here, a sower
went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the
wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the earth devoured
it. So the sower, he sows the seed, and it lands on this hard
ground. It lands on this hard ground.
And he's just sowing the seed, isn't he? And it lands on this
hard ground and lays there upon it. It doesn't take root at all
because the ground is packed hard. It's like cement almost,
right? It's just packed down hard. And the fowls of the air,
they come down and they just devour it. They just devour this
seed. The wayside refers to people
who hear the gospel, but their hearts are hearts of stone. Just
hearts of stone. These are people who have never
received a new heart. And their heart is like that
hard ground. Just like that hard ground. And
they're set against the gospel. They're set against the gospel.
And the wayside ground is pressed down and packed. And the seed
just lays there. Just lays on top of that ground.
And those birds were sitting up in the tree watching as the
farmer moved on. They just swooped down and picked
up the seed. They just swooped down and picked
up the seed. What did our Lord say about wayside ground? He
said, those by the wayside they hear, then come at the devil
and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should
believe and be saved. Look at verse 12 of Luke chapter
8. These by the wayside are they that hear, then come at the devil
and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should
believe and be saved. The wayside ground is ground
that's hard, baked, beaten soil. And these are people who are
exposed to the preaching of the word. They hear the word when
it's preached to them, but they have no interest. They have no
interest. They're totally indifferent.
Totally indifferent. They don't care about what's
being proclaimed. They're unconcerned. They're
just like this hardened ground. They may be hardened in sin.
They may be hardened in tradition. They may be hardened in religion. They have no concern for their
souls. No interest in the gospel. Unconcerned for their eternal
soul. The gospel has no effect upon
them, and it's easy for Satan to catch away that which was
sown. And he does so by causing them to forget what they heard.
Because they have no concern for what they've heard. None. We have such examples as Agrippa
and Paul. When Agrippa heard Paul, his
heart was hardened by ambition and pride. Felix heard Paul and
even trembled. But the word bore no fruit. No
fruit. Look at verse six. and some fell
upon a rock. As soon as it was sprung up it
withered away because it lacked moisture. Here's the next ground,
rocky ground. This is part of the field where
the plow had not turned over the dirt and the dirt was just
a thin layer on top of the rocks. Some of the seed which the sower
had sown fell there upon this rocky soil and it fell there
where the soil was so thin that right next to the rock the seed
took root and sprang up It sprang up quickly as a little tender
plant, but it soon withered away because it lacked moisture. It
lacked water. And our Lord gives us an interpretation
of this in verse 13. Look at this. They on the rock
are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and
they have no root, which for a while believe, in time of temptation,
fall away. Fall away. I'll read the text
again. And some fell upon a rock, And
as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked
moisture. Now, A.W. Pink brings forth that
there are some who are professors, but not possessors. They hear the word. They hear the gospel and they
profess to believe it, but they're not born again in the Holy Spirit.
They're not born again. They have no roots in Christ.
His brother, Henry Mahan, brings forth. They have no real conviction
of sin, no real conviction of sin. They have no true repentance,
no godly sorrow. They have no conflict or struggle.
Now, now, believers, we have a civil war within us, don't
we? Continuously until the Lord takes us home to glory. They
don't have that. They don't have that. They have
no genuine love for Christ, no saving faith in Christ. They
have no awareness of what it means to be saved, what it means
to know God, what it means to be separated into the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know the living God in Christ. They do not know what it means
to express gladness over salvation in Christ alone. They receive
the word immediately, gladly, and show a lot of interest, but
their interest is not in the person of Christ. Their interest
is in the benefits of Christ," end quote. They're interested more in the
benefits that they can receive. Sounds a lot like word of faith
people, doesn't it? But remember now, these are people
who come and hear the true gospel. Some of them may get baptized
and join the church and they give expressions of joy, but
they have never been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. They
have no root. When tribulation or persecution
arises, and that comes for every believer, they fall away. They fall away. They cannot endure
persecution from those who hate the gospel because they're not
born again. They're not born again. And persecution can come
from many places for the believer. It can come from family members
who are steeped in religion. It can come from friends who
we once socialized with and who now want to have nothing to do
with us at all. It can come from fellow workers
at work. They can persecute you. It can come from all different
places. It comes from places you don't even think it'll come
from. And it comes. Persecution comes for God's people.
Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
root, beloved. We who believe are rooted and
grounded in Christ. The ones spoken of here in Luke
chapter 8 have no root. No root. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 10.
In that day there shall be a root of Jesse. This is Christ, which
shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles
seek. In the rest, in his rest shall
be what? Glorious. Oh, the rest we have
in Christ is glorious. But notice he's the root, Jesse.
He's our root, beloved. We're rooted, we who believe
are rooted and grounded in Christ and in Christ alone. We stand firm in him. We seek
him. To it shall the Gentile seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. And God's people say, oh my,
what a rest we have in Christ. Now let's consider verse 7 in
our text. Luke chapter 8, verse 7. The
next type of ground. This seed fell upon thorny ground.
And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it
and choked it. So the seed here falls upon thorny
ground. Now it grew, just like the thorns
in the briars grew, but the little tender plant was soon choked
out by the big briars. and by the thorns which were
there. And our Lord Jesus said, these
are people who hear the word, they hear the truth of the word,
they hear the gospel, they make a profession of faith too as
well, and they endure for a while, but when three things come, the
cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other
things, they choke out the word. They choke out the word. They
become unfaithful. They drift away with the cares
of this world. Look what our Lord proclaims
in verse 14. And that which fell among the
thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are
choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and
bring no fruit to perfection. They're carried away with the
cares of this world. They're influenced by these things.
Their trust is in the cares of the world instead of Christ.
Their trust is in the cares of the world instead of Christ.
And this causes them to worry and fret to the point where the
gospel is choked out of their minds by the things of the world.
Now, I'm not saying we don't fret and worry, because we do.
As believers, right? We do. We struggle with sin all
the time. But these folks, it chokes out.
They have no hope. It chokes out. It chokes out
the word of truth. Choked out of their minds by
the things of the world. And then they say, well, I don't
have time for worship. I don't have time for worship.
I don't have time to fellowship. Those things are too consuming.
My, oh my. Now none of these three grounds
which we've looked at are true believers. None of them are born
again. But now let us consider the last
ground. Let us consider that God, now
let us consider this too. God owns all the grounds, doesn't
he? Let's remember that he's a creator, right? Because the
grounds here represents the soil of our hearts and who we are.
He owns all the ground. It's all his as creator. These are the grounds of man's
soul. But this last ground is called good ground. Good ground. that has been prepared for the
planting of the gospel, of the planting of the gospel seed.
And again, it's God, the sower, who has prepared this soil to
receive the word. Look at verse 8. And other fell
on good ground and sprang up and bear fruit and hundredfold
And when he had said these things, he cried, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. Now this ground by nature wasn't
good ground. It started out just like all
the other ground. Think of that when you meet people
who you used to, you grew up with and things. This ground
started out no different. than all the other ground. What made this good ground? Well, it had been plowed. It had been broken up. It had
been prepared by the farmer. It had been prepared by the sower.
It had been dissed and plowed and broken and torn apart. until
it was ready to receive the seed. It's good ground. It's prepared
ground. It's prepared ground. And other fell on good ground. Can the ground make itself good
ground? Brother here. Can any of your land make itself
good ground? You have to make it. You have
to plow it. You have to disk it. You have to work it. The Lord is the one who prepares
this ground. He prepares this ground. And
it's only good ground because he's prepared it to be good ground. Before the seeds of gospel truth
will produce any fruit for the glory of God, it must fall upon
good ground, ye must be born again. What comes first? Faith and regeneration. Well,
of course, it's regeneration. You must be born again. And then
you believe, you see, prepared ground to receive that word. And when the preacher preaches
that, that the gospel, oh, the regenerated believer goes, oh,
I love Christ. I love him. He's all I want and
all I need. The ground has been prepared.
The Holy Spirit prepares the heart to receive God's word.
He breaks it up. He breaks the stony heart with
Holy Spirit conviction. He breaks the old callous heart,
the old indifferent heart, the unconcerned heart. And when we're
born again, oh, we look to Christ and we run
to Christ because the ground has been prepared by the Holy
Spirit of God. Oh my, but that on the good ground,
look at verse 15, but that on the good ground are they which
in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it
and bring forth fruit with patience. The heart speaks of the inner
man, our innermost being. Salvation is a heart manner.
The Lord can save you without you moving a muscle. You don't
have to walk no aisle. No, you have to pray no prayer,
because the believer cries out to Christ, because he's born
again of the Holy Spirit of God. It's wondrous. It's a wondrous
salvation. You must be born again, and the
Holy Spirit regenerates the lost sheep of Christ, the ones for
whom Christ has died. And it's God who's made it so.
It's God who's made it so. Again, the ground could not prepare
itself. God must make it good ground. He must do this, and
this is His wonderful work. He gives us a new heart, a new
heart which seeks Him. We're born again, a heart to
trust Him, a heart to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
plowed the ground of our hearts to the innermost parts of His
people, convicting us of our sin and making us to see our
need of Christ. And then we run to Him. We seek
He who is the only Savior of sinners. It is He who has given
us the gift of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is He who has made us will in a day of His power to come to
Christ. It is He who has delivered us
from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. It's all His work. It's all His.
He's done it all. He's the Alpha and the Omega
of our salvation. And the believer who is pictured
here as good ground has been given hearing ears to rejoice
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about him. It's all
about his perfect, complete, atoning sacrifice for his people. And God's people rejoice in this. We rejoice in this. The Lord
Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses, for our sins. It's
for my sins that he died on Calvary's cross. And the believer says,
yeah, it's for my sins too. And he was raised from the dead
for our justification, for we who believe upon him. And we
have heard and do believe that Jesus Christ has purged our sins,
that he's paid our sin debt in full. in full. And we rejoice to hear this wonderful
truth proclaimed again and again and again. And we know that nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. And we keep coming to where the
truth is proclaimed because we love to hear it. We love to hear
it. We love it. And we know that
all things are under His feet and that all power has been given
to Him in heaven and earth and that we are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation. And we love to hear these precious
truths proclaimed over and over and over again. So let us remember this. That it's God who's made us to
differ. The only difference between all that ground. Was what the
sower did to that ground. If you're saved, it's God who
made you to do it. It's his distinguishing, wonderful,
matchless grace. And you've obtained mercy, just
like I've obtained mercy. And it's only God who's revealed
these truths to us, all by his wonderful, distinguishing grace,
which is only found in Christ Jesus our Lord. Praise his mighty
name. Heavenly Father, we thank thee
for this time. where we can look at this wonderful parable. And
we who believe know that the ground of our hearts, there's
only good ground because of what you've done, Lord. You've done
it all. You plowed and broke up our stony
hearts, gave us a new heart to believe. Oh Lord, we pray that
you would make the truth of your word effectual to one of your
lost sheep, if it's your will, that you draw them in, and show
them their need for Christ just as you've done for we who believe.
May we leave here rejoicing in the wonderful truths which we've
looked at today, in Jesus' name, amen.