Matthew chapter 13. I'm glad
that the Lord speaks to us in simple terms that we can, at
least in our mind, get a hold of. We all understand the principle
of taking a seed, whether it's a corn seed or bean seed or some
kind of seed, and putting it in fertile ground, and then you
stand back and you watch it grow. You watch it grow. I remember
when I was in fourth or fifth grade, we had a project, and
the teacher was teaching us something about growing plants, and we
all took a little shriveled up seed that looked like it was
just dead. And she said, there's life in that seed. And we took
that little seed and put it in a little cup. And then we watered
it, and then we washed it, and washed it, and sure enough, life came out of that little
shriveled, dried up seed. Now in Matthew chapter 13, we
have this parable of a sower. The Lord Jesus Christ gives in
this chapter eight different parables. Eight different parables,
and each one Each of these parables, they teach one lesson. And that
one lesson is that salvation is of the Lord. That one lesson
is a grand and glorious thought that God saves sinners on purpose
by his grace and his grace alone. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Alpha, the Omega. That means he's the author and
finisher. That means he's beginning and
the end of all salvation. He's the author of faith. He's
the author of repentance. He gives repentance unto Israel.
He is the Lord our righteousness. He is our redemption. He has
delivered us from all our sin. And he is the one that gives
us the new birth, makes us new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That leads us to this conclusion, all things are of God. All our
salvation is the doing of God. We have no part in it other than
we receive the seed. and he gives life. He gives life
unto his people. Now, someone might ask, what
is a parable? Well, it's a story. It's a story. What is a parable? The Lord gave
many of them Here's a good definition of a parable. A parable is an
earthly story that teaches us a spiritual lesson, a spiritual
gospel lesson, so that we might see our need of Christ and find
rest and comfort only in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
all these parables are about, is to teach us the gospel in
a very very simple way. Even a small child can grasp
the meaning of putting a seed in the ground, watering it, and
watching it grow. Now the disciples came to the
Lord and asked him a question there in verse 10. His disciples
came and said to him, why do you speak unto them in parables? Why do you use these earthly
illustrations? The Lord, you think about this,
here is God Almighty manifest in the flesh. He could preach
like no one else could preach. He could talk about things that
would be so high and infinite that we'd never understand in
our finite mind. But He uses simple earthly stories
that we might in some way, by His grace and the revelation
of God the Holy Spirit, understand the meaning of the Gospel. Now
he answered that question in verse 11 down through verse 16.
Verse 11, he answered and said unto them, now this is his apostles.
This is Peter and John, James, the inner circle. Because it's
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to
them it's not given. You see right there that we see
the sovereign revelation of God. To hear the preaching of the
gospel is a great privilege, is it not? But to see and to
hear and understand and believe the mysteries of the gospel is
the sovereign gift of God. And he gives that to whom he
will. Now hold your place there and turn back just a couple pages.
Remember we studied in Matthew 11 verse 25. Matthew 11 verse
25. 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 revealed
them unto babes. There's the key word, revealed
unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Look at verse 27. All things
are delivered unto me and my Father, and no man knows the
Son. But the Father, neither knoweth
any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal Him. Salvation comes by revelation,
seeing the glory of God in the person and work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's hid these things from some
and revealed it to others as it seems good in His sovereign,
wise will and purpose. John writes this in 1 John chapter
5, we know the Son of God has come, and He's given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, and that we're in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God,
and this is eternal life. He gives us an understanding
to see all of our salvation in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Again, look over just across
the page at verse 16. He says to his inner circle,
blessed are your eyes for they see. They see more than just
with the natural eye. They see with an eye of faith,
an eye of understanding. And your ears, for they really
hear the Word of God. Can you imagine hearing God speak
through His Word to your heart? That's what He does for His people.
It's still true today. The Gospel is revealed by the
sovereign revelation of God the Holy Spirit to our heart. Now
look at verse 12. Matthew 13 verse 12. He said, for whosoever hath to
him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, and whosoever
hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath, or that
he says he hath. The preaching of the gospel of
Christ is a blessing to the elect of God. It's been given to them,
and they want to hear more. from the word of the Lord, more
about the Lord Jesus Christ, more about his saving mercy in
the Lord Jesus Christ. To those who have an appetite,
those who are hungering and thirsting after the word of truth, that
have a desire to hear more of Christ, more of his person and
work. But to those who have no appetite,
Those who are not blessed with the gift of faith, the gospel
will only be a burden to the natural man. It will only serve
to harden, further harden that heart, that heart. We know the
carnal mind is enmity against God. We know the natural man
doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. Now look at
verse 13. Therefore I speak, I speak, God
Almighty speaks. What a blessing. God Almighty
speaks to them in parable. Now that's a, you just think
about that for a moment. The Almighty God speaks to his
people through his word by his servants. Because I speak to
them in parable because they seeing, they do not see, and
hearing, they hear not, neither do they have any understanding. Although the natural man has
eyes to see, you're looking at me, and I'm looking at you, and
you're hearing my words, and I hear your words. The natural
man has eyes to see and ears to hear, but he has no eyes of
faith. The natural man I'm talking about,
that depraved sinner, had no eyes of faith to see the beauty
and glory of Christ to you who believe he is precious. He's
altogether lovely. to those who have no heart of
understanding and no love for the gospel of Christ, they have
no ears to hear the gospel of Christ, and they have no eye
to see his glory. Now that's just by nature. We
read this in the book of Ephesians, Paul writing, having their understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Now
that's us by nature. We're all, and I know to call
someone ignorant, that's pretty offensive, isn't it? But the
word of God says we're all ignorant sinners until God is pleased
to reveal himself to us. He must do that to us. You see,
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Remember, we've read many times in 1 Corinthians. Let me just
read it to you again. The Jews require a sign. The
Greeks seek after wisdom. The religious Jews, they say,
show us a sign. The Greeks, they are intellectual. They want some kind of intellectual
wisdom. But Paul said, we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness,
but to them that are called, Christ crucified is the power
of God and the wisdom of God. The believer sees in Christ and
him crucified how God can be just and the justifier of them
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now look at verse
14 and verse 15. And here is the fulfillment of
scripture. Everything our Lord did in His day, He died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, how that He died for our sins
according to the Scripture, how that He was buried, how He was
raised again according to the Scripture. Everything our Lord
was doing in His earthly ministry, He was doing to fulfill Old Testament
Scripture. And in those religious Jews who
hated him and rejected him and said away with him, crucify him,
we have no one as a king but Caesar. And in them is fulfilled
the prophecy which saith, by hearing you shall hear and shall
not understand, and seeing you shall see. And shall not perceive. You remember our Lord said, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. God must
enlighten our mind and give us life that we might see. And in
them is fulfilled the scripture that says that people's heart
is wax gross. And this is a description of
what we are in Adam. In Adam we died. In Adam we sinned. Our heart is waxed gross. It's
hardened against the gospel. Our ears are, we don't want to
hear about God who was sovereign, God who was almighty. Now the
believer does. But the natural man doesn't wanna
hear about God who is God. Their eyes, they'd close their
eyes. They don't wanna see anything about the glory and majesty of
Christ, His beauty. Left 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 would heal them.
What a miracle of grace. But verse 16, I love that word
B-U-T, but. God who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he loved them, even when they were dead
in sin. Blessed are your eyes for they
see. What do we see? We see our ugliness,
like you remember what, when Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up, and the messenger from heaven said, holy, holy,
holy. You remember what he said? Woe is me, I'm undone. When we
have eyes that are blessed to see, we see the ugliness of ourselves,
the sinfulness of ourself, and we see the beauty and glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified all your salvation, all your hope
of salvation? And your ears, for they hear.
Oh, to have ears to hear, to hear the word of the Lord. The elect of God are blessed
to hear the gospel and to see the gospel. They are blessed
to believe the gospel by the sovereign almighty power of God. Who made you to differ from another?
What do you have that you didn't receive? Can't you say with Paul,
I am what I am? By the sovereign grace of God
Almighty alone. It's the grace of God. The difference
wasn't found in us. We don't merit anything but His
wrath. The difference is found in God. Our salvation is because He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now, look at verse
17. Matthew 13, for verily, and that
word verily means truly, I say to you, many prophets, prophets
of the past, we talked about that in our Bible study this
morning from Hebrews chapter 11, many prophets and many righteous
men have desired to see those things that you see right now
and have not seen them. That is, they didn't see the
fulfillment of it in their day. They talked about the coming
Messiah, and they believed in the coming Messiah, but they
didn't see those things fulfilled in their day like John and Peter
and Paul did. And I'm not seeing them, and
to hear those things which you hear, and they didn't hear that,
that is the fulfillment of that promise. They were strong in
faith, though, like Abraham, giving glory to God, being persuaded
that all that God promised, he was able to perform. The prophets
of the past saw the gospel by faith. Remember our Lord said
of Abraham, you remember our Lord said to those Pharisees,
before Abraham was, I am. And they said, wait a minute,
you're not yet 50 years old. How can you be before Abraham?
Before Abraham was, I am. Abraham, he said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. How did he see
it? By faith, by faith. Moses, our Lord said, had you
believed Moses, you would have believed me. Moses wrote about
the Lord Jesus Christ. All those first five books of
the Bible, It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the rest
of the books of the Old Testament, all the Old Testament prophets
said, someone's coming, someone's coming to him. Give all the prophets,
all the prophets witness. Now, let's look at this parable. That kind of set the table for
the story here. In verse 18, hear you the parable
of the sower. Oh, may God give us ears to hear
the words of this parable. Now, and we'll read back down
through this in just a minute. One of the most important lessons
we learn in this parable is the importance and necessity of preaching
the word of God. The sower went forth and he sowed
seed. Now there's going to be no harvest
without the seed being sown. I have a little garden back here
that I plow up and I plant some seed. But I guarantee you if
I don't plant it, if I don't plow it, and if I don't sow some
seed out there, you know what's going to be out there all summer?
Thorns, weeds, no fruit. No fruit. The seed that is sown
is the Word of God. There has to be seed sown. And the seed that is sown is
the Word of God. The Word of God. Of his own will
begat he us with the Word of truth. There is no birth without
the Word of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the Word of truth. Being born again, not of a corruptible
seed, but of an incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, and the Word of the Lord endureth forever,
and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword. The word of God, the gospel of
God, is the power of God unto salvation. So there has to be
the seed, it says in Luke 8 verse 11, the seed is the word of God,
when that parable is given in Luke chapter 8. Now let's establish at least
three things before we look at these verses. Who is the one
that sows the seed? Well, that's the preacher that's
sent of God. Gospel preachers are sent of God to declare the
word of truth. That's why he said the risen
Lord said, go and preach the gospel to every creature. Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
We place a high premium upon preaching the gospel because
our Lord does. He was a preacher of the gospel. You remember Paul charged young
Timothy, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
to preach the word. Don't entertain folks. My soul,
we have enough entertainment, don't we? The computer, the iPhone, the
iPad, my soul. We have enough entertainment.
We don't need entertainment. What we need is preaching the
truth. God has ordained a means of preaching to call out His
sheep, to quicken them and to feed them through the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said,
I'm determined not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Now, what is the seed that we
are to sow? And I've already said this, but
I'll repeat it. The seed here is the Word of
God. The Word of God, which is quick and powerful. Did you notice
how many times here that talks about hearing the Word. Look
at verse 19. When anyone heareth the Word,
the Word, the Word. Down, look at verse 20. He that
received seed in a stony place, the same as he that heareth the
Word. Again, in verse 22. He also received
seed among thorns, as he that heareth the Word, the Word. In verse 23, He that receiveth
seed into the good ground, is he that heareth the Word. There's
got to be the preaching of the Word of God. God has ordained,
through the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. God
has ordained us to go and preach the Gospel to His people, and
He will, and He has promised to bless His Word. He said, My
Word will not return unto me void. Not at all. And we know
that Word, that what you hold in your hand there, That book
we call the Bible, 66 books, all 66 books have one message. They have one message. It's Jesus
Christ and Him crucified is all our salvation. All of our salvation
alone has one message and all this scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And it's good for us to teach
us, correct us. Now the third thing, who gives
the increase? It's the Lord of the Harvest.
You remember back here, turn a few pages back, you remember
back in Matthew chapter 9? It's the Lord that gives the
increase. I don't give any increase. I get literature all the time
in the mail and with regular mail and email about how to build
a successful ministry. I throw it all away. I put it
all in the garbage. The only thing that God will
bless and the only thing that you can call a successful ministry
is not by numbers. It's by the message. The message,
who is preached there? The Lord Jesus Christ must be
preached there alone. The Lord gives increase. I told
you to turn to Matthew 9, didn't I? Verse 37. The harvest truly
is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into
his harvest. He's the Lord of the harvest.
Now going back to my garden illustration, I can plow and plow and fertilize
and plant and water. I cannot do one thing to make
that little seed grow. God must give the harvest. That's
the same thing he does with the word being preached. That's why
we're always preaching Christ, preaching Christ. Now, it's my
responsibility as a preacher called and sent of God to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the result and the
fruits of the preaching is not in my hand. It's in his hand. It's in his hand, not mine. You
remember what the apostle said this. He said, I have planted,
Apollos watered, God gave the increase. So then, neither is
he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, God gives the
increase. What is a successful ministry?
It's not in numbers. is preaching Christ, is preaching
Christ. Whether we preach to five or
six, or five or six hundred, or five or six thousand. I'm
not interested in filling this building up. I can do that in
one week. Guarantee you. I can fill this
place, have it running over in one week. I'm not interested
in that. I'm interested in preaching Christ.
And he'll call out his people. He said, if I be lifted up, I'll
draw my people to me. And that's what we do, lift up
Christ. It's a sovereign will of God that determines who believes
the gospel and who does not. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. There are four kinds of hearers
mentioned in this parable. The Lord tells us what happens
when the gospel is preached. Every one of us here fall into
one of these four groups. Each one of us here are described
in one of the categories. The first thing he mentions here
is the wayside hearer. You remember back at verse four
when he sowed some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls,
the birds of the air, they came down as soon as they saw that
seed falling upon the hard ground, they came down and they ate it
up. And then when he gives us the
interpretation in verse 19, hear the parable of a sower, when
anyone hearth the word of the kingdom, the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of his grace, and understandeth it not, then comes
the wicked one, and we know that it's Satan, the accuser of the
brethren, the wicked one, and he catches away that which is
sown in his heart. It's he that received the seed
by the wayside. There is the casting of the seed
and the preaching of the gospel. This is the careless and thoughtless
hearer of the word of God. They hear the word but have no
interest. They have no spiritual understanding
and no spiritual interest in the gospel of God. And immediately
the fowl of the air or the fowls of the air or the fowls of the
wicked one, Satan comes and quickly divert our attention to someone
else or something else and the word preached has no lasting
effect It does not bear any fruit unto the glory of God. The second
group he mentions here is the stony ground here. He says in
verse five, some of this seed, is the word of God, fell among
stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith
they sprang up, but because they had no deepness, no soil of the
earth. And then he gives the interpretation
here down in verse 20 and 21. He that received the seed into
stony places is the same that again, they hear the word, they
hear the word of the Lord, the gospel of God, and anon, and
that word means immediately or at once they receive it with
joy, yet they have no root. They're not rooted and grounded
in Christ. They endure for just a little
while, But when tribulation comes because of the gospel, or persecution
arises because of the word, that is because of the gospel, by
and by they're offended. They become ashamed. Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power
of God unto salvation. Now these people here, they hear
the sermon, and immediately they receive it. They say, well, that's
so, that's true. And they even joy in it for just
a little bit. They even profess to say, well,
I believe that. I believe those five points,
depravity, election, unconditional election, perseverance, limited
atonement. I believe those things. yet not
rooted and grounded in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when trials are sent of God, and the heat of persecution comes
over the gospel, by and by they're offended, and they're ashamed
of the truth, the sovereign grace of God, and eventually they have
no use for the gospel, and they depart from the preaching of
the word. I've seen it happen more than
one time. over the 40 years I've been in
the ministry. While true believers are never
ashamed, never embarrassed over the gospel, and they persevere
in the gospel because they're kept by the power of God. We
studied in Hebrews chapter 10, remember, the just shall live
by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But Paul said, we're not of them
that draw back unto perdition, but to them that believe to the
saving of our soul. Saving faith perseveres in the
gospel. As Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Therefore, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. For as much as in me is, I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome. For I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew and
also to the Gentile. Now, here's the third one that's
mentioned. The thorny ground hearer, verse
7. And some fell, some of this seed
that was sown fell among thorns. And the thorns sprung up and
the thorns just choked out the plant. Now when I plant my garden
back here, I have to weed it all the time. And if I don't
weed it, those weeds just, I don't know why they grow so fast, but
they just grow up so fast around the corn and the beans, whatever,
if you don't keep them, it'll choke out that little plant.
You've got to take out the weeds. The thorny ground here, now verse
22. Is he also that received seed
among the thorns? Is he that hears the word again?
He hears the word, the truth. But the cares of this world and
the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word, choke out the influence
of the word, and they become unfruitful. unfruitful, the thorny
ground here. These people receive the seed,
the seed of the word, but the cares of this world, the deceitfulness
of riches of this world, the love of money choke out and crowd
out the gospel influence upon them, and the gospel influence
becomes, the gospel becomes of no effect unto them, and they
become unfruitful. Unfruitful in a way. If you look
back at Matthew chapter 6, we'll see something of that. Look back
at Matthew chapter 6 verse 19. He said, lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where
thieves break through and steal. This is Matthew 6 verse 20. But lay up for yourselves treasure
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where
thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure
is, that's where your heart is. No man can serve two masters,
verse 24, for you either hate the one and love the other, hold
the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom
of God, Matthew 6, 33, and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you. Seek first Christ and His gospel. Christ in his gospel sets your
affection on things above. John writes this in 1 John 2,
love not the world, These are the things that are in the world.
For any man who loved the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. All that is in this world is the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but
of the world. And this world passes away. And
the lust thereof, that he that doeth the will of God abides
forever. Now, wherever that is, doing
the will of God, I want to do it. What is principally doing
the will of God? Believing the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Trusting Him. Now, I saved the
best for last. The fourth group that he mentions
here. The good ground here, verse 8.
Matthew 13 verse 8, But other fell into good ground, and brought
forth fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty. They brought forth fruit. Now
the good ground hearer, verse 23, But he that receiveth the
seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understands it, and bears fruit. Notice it's singular, fruit,
not fruits, fruit, fruit. Now we know that no man's heart
is naturally good, right? There's none righteous, no, not
one. God must give us a new heart. God must give us and make us
a new creature, a new creation in Christ. Because no man naturally,
we hear people all the time say, well, He had a good heart. You've heard that statement.
Well, I know what he's saying. He was a good old guy. I mean,
he was just one of the boys. And I know what they mean, but
speaking from the scriptural standpoint, there's none good,
no, not one. If God is pleased to do a work
in our heart and to quicken us and to give us a hunger and an
appetite for the word of the Lord, that's all He is doing. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will perform it, He will perfect it. God must do
a work in us that we might hear and see and receive the gospel
by faith. Those who have this heart prepared
of God are those who are convicted of their sin. We realize that
we are guilty before God, that we have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. These who have their heart prepared
by God are convinced that they are sinners, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death. I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. They're convinced that their
only hope of salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Christ is all our salvation.
He's not some of it. He's all of it. And they're given
an understanding about the things of the Gospel revealed in Christ. He gives us an understanding
of who He is, and who we are, and what the Lord Jesus Christ
in His person, God Almighty, manifests in the flesh, and what
He's accomplished for us. They're no longer going about
to establish a righteousness of their own, but rather these
good ground hearers who've had their heart prepared by God have
submitted unto the righteousness of God that's revealed in the
gospel. We've submitted to Christ as
all our salvation. And they bear fruit. Notice it's
not fruits plural. They all bear fruit. Some more,
some less, but they all bear fruit. They all bear fruit. You
remember this scripture? Galatians chapter 5. But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. That's the fruit of the Spirit
of God. Some a hundredfold, some sixty,
some thirty. They all bear fruit, the fruit
of the Holy Spirit in their heart and their life. Not the same
quantity, but the same quality. The same quality. We are His
workmanship in Christ Jesus created. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Our Lord said this in John 15,
hearing as my father glorified that you bear much fruit, so
shall you be my disciples. He said again in John 15, you
have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that
you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should
remain and whatsoever shall ask of the Father in my name, I'll
give it to you. Now upon which ground do you
hear the gospel? Think of it in your mind. Upon
which ground do you hear the gospel? We all fall into one
of these four groups. And I think, just being honest,
I think I see myself in all four of these groups from time to
time. I see myself in all of these
groups. we all fall into these different
categories. Pray that the Lord will prepare
our heart to receive his word and to trust the Lord Jesus Christ
for all of our salvation and give us a good hope through grace
revealed in Christ. And that's what our hope is.
I thought about this scripture in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2,
when Paul says, for this cause also we give thanks without ceasing,
because when you receive the word of God, which you heard
of us, you received it not as a word of men, but as it is in
truth the word of God, which effectually worketh in you that
believe. You see, this word of God, being
preached and blessed with the Holy Spirit has a positive effect
upon God's elect. They want to hear more. Tell
me more. Tell me more about our blessed
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.