Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke, chapter eight. Luke, chapter
eight. My memory serves me. Brother
Mark, did you read out of this passage? Yeah. I'm going to look at really verses
4 through 18, but my text is going to be verse 18. Let's read
Luke chapter 8, verse 18. Take heed, therefore, how ye
hear. For whosoever hath to him shall
be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even
that which he seemeth or thinks that he hath. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we call upon you
this evening, we thank you for the blessed privilege to be able
to assemble ourselves together. Lord, as your body Thank you
for the precious promise, Lord, of your assembled saints. Lord,
where two or three have been gathered by you, you're in the
midst. Thank you for the privilege of
this public worship. I ask you this evening, Lord,
bless this word to our hearts, comfort us by your spirit, For
Christ's sake, we ask these things. Amen. Our Lord has given a very
weighty warning. A warning to a large group of
people that had assembled themselves and said just what we just read,
verse 18, He said, Therefore, that is, look, beware,
and note how you hear. In what manner you hear. That it be not in a careless
or negligent way. Now Mark's account of this very
event right here. The Spirit of God moved upon
Mark to write these words. Take heed what you hear. Take heed that you are hearing
the Gospel. That it is the Gospel of God. That it is the message from God
to His people. Now I'm going to just stop for
just a moment, and I'm going to remind us all, as I've said
so many times, and you know this is true. If you ask the average
person, do you believe the gospel? This is going to be their answer.
Yes. And then ask them to tell you
what the gospel is. You tell me what it is. You believe
it, you tell me what it is. And I promise you the average
person that attends a place where the gospel is not preached, they
will not be able to tell you what the gospel is. Because they
don't know what it is. I'm going to tell us again what
it is. The gospel is the report. from heaven who have believed
our report. It is a message from heaven concerning
the Lord God triune, Father, Son, and Spirit. It is concerning
the Lord Jehovah, God's will and purpose according to His
everlasting covenant of grace to redeem and save a people by
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to whom the Father chose
and placed within a people, a chosen people before the foundation
of the world that He would be their surety and representative
and federal head and represent them before God and answer every
demand of the law for righteousness, for justice, and judgment that
He would magnify the law and satisfy God for all of the broken
rebellion against God Almighty by His people. He would save
His people, rescue His people from their sins. The gospel is
the declaration how God Almighty has saved His people without
any works on their part. It's saving them now and will
save them in the day of judgment. That's the gospel. It's the message
of how God has satisfied Himself. And I promise you, not one person
that's not sitting under the gospel would be able to tell
you that. And as many times as we've heard it, and you sit there
and think, okay, I know this answer. But when you hear it
explained, you said, that's what I believe right there. That's
exactly what I believe. The scripture sets forth that
the Lord had warned some people, you take heed therefore. How you hear, Mark says under
the inspiration of God's spirit, what you hear. For, back here
in Luke 8, for. Whosoever hath, whosoever possesses
a heart of knowledge for what God has declared, whoever hath,
to him shall be given, more shall be given. He'll grow. He'll grow in grace. Whoever
has, God's going to give more. He's going to teach more through
the preaching of the gospel. He's going to teach it from him. And whosoever hath not, whoever
has no true knowledge of the gospel, who has heard it but
has no true knowledge of it, from him shall be taken eventually
that which he seemeth, that which he thinks that he has, that which
he thinks he possesses. All is going to be proven eventually
to be nothing more than a show. Now this warning came at the
end of a parable. A parable that we've heard many
times. It was the parable of the sower.
And this is what the Lord said. I'm going to read what the Lord
said in Luke chapter 8 verse 4. 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. Some fell among thorns, and the
thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell on
good ground, sprang up, bare fruit and hundredfold. And when
he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. And his disciples asked him,
saying, What might this parable be? Lord, what were you saying? And he said, Unto you it's given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others
it's just a parable. It's just a mystery. That seeing
they might not see and hearing they might not understand. Now,
the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside, or 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 these have no root, which for a while believe, and
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 have heard the word, keep
it, bring forth fruit with patience. Now, in the explanation of this
parable, we realize that there is a sower. The sower is ultimately,
firstly, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's prophet. But the way in which the sower
goes forth to sow, the way, the means that he's been pleased
to sow the seed is through preachers. God calls preachers to preach. Every preacher that God has called
preaches the gospel. Every preacher that God calls
preaches the gospel. Every man that stands in a pulpit
and does not preach this gospel, God has not called him. Because
when God calls a preacher to preach, God teaches him the gospel. God gifts him to preach, God
gives him a heart to study, and He keeps that man faithful. That
is the sower. The sower, the scripture declares,
went forth to sow. And what he was sowing was said
to be the seed of the Word of God. He preaches the Gospel. God's sowers faithfully proclaim
God's Word to eternity-bound men and women, and they are careful
to preach the specific, exact Word of God. We're going to say
just what I'm going to preach tonight. I'm going to take this
Scripture right here, And I'm going to start in this scripture
right here, and I'm going to stay with this scripture right here,
and I'm going to preach this word right here. I want to tell you exactly
what the Lord has to say. I want to stay with exactly His
glorious truth. The truth of God's sovereign
saving grace. Now, the sower went forth to
sow, and he sowed the seed. The Word of God is preached to
all men. We preach to everybody. Mr. Spurgeon said this, if you want
me to preach only to the elect, go and mark every one of them
with an E. Put it on his forehead and I'll just preach to them.
I won't preach to anybody else, but I don't know who they are.
So therefore, the Lord told us, you go into all the world and
you preach the gospel to every creature. To everybody. Tell everybody. You tell your
neighbor. Invite them to come. Tell your
brother. Tell your sister. Tell your mom and daddy. Tell
them, come. I want you to come. I want you
to come and hear the gospel. Because we're going to leave
this world. And this is the only message
that God's going to bless. This is the only message the
Spirit of God blesses. The one that honors the Son. He that hath the Son has life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. So the sower goes and
he's sowing some seed. Now, he says in this parable,
that some of the seed fell on different places. There were
some that scripture says that were wayside hearers. Some of it fell by the wayside. Verse 12, it says that 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. Now, here's the thing that I
know. When the Lord tells the sower to go forth to sow, and
he faithfully preaches the gospel to all. I don't know the hearts
of all you people. I don't. You don't know my heart.
I don't know my heart, really. I don't. But I can tell you this. I need to hear the gospel. I
know that. But if the Lord is pleased to hide the message from
the wise and the prudent and to reveal this glorious message
to the babes in Christ, That's according to the Lord's good
pleasure to do that which He willed in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. It is not my place,
it's not my ability to say I know who is this and who is that.
I am to preach the gospel. I am absolutely commanded to
preach the gospel. The Lord commanded you take heed
what you hear. You take heed. I want you to,
as I've told you before, you take your Bible and you check
up what I'm saying. And if I'm saying something that's
inconsistent with these scriptures right here, show it to me. And
if I've erred, I'm going to just tell you I made a mistake. But
if I haven't, then that's what the Lord has said. And that's
the way it is. Some of this seed fell by the
wayside. Now some hear the gospel. Now there's only four categories. And everybody in this world is
in one of them. Maybe multiple, but at least there's four different
kinds of hearers. Everybody hears at least one
of these four ways. Some of the hearers are wayside
hearers. Now, they hear the gospel preached. But they hear it with no concern
for their eternal soul. They hear it with no concern
for God's glory. They possess a total indifference
to the truth. A total indifference to the Word
of God. And they hear the Word of God
very carelessly. And they absolutely have no understanding
of what's being said, there's no concern. It is a take it or
leave it situation. I mean, okay, well, you know,
Easter and Christmas, okay, I guess we need to do church, you know.
But there is absolutely no concern. The scripture declares that when
these hear the gospel, As soon as they hear the gospel, then
cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts,
lest they should believe and be saved. Now, I'm going to tell
you something. Satan knows that the gospel is
the power of God and salvation. You think he doesn't know that?
He knows that. He knows what God has to say.
And so therefore, what he does is immediately, when someone
hears the gospel and is said to be a wayside hearer, he snatches
it away. How does he do that? With any
kind of distraction. Any kind of distraction. Something
you heard somebody say, as soon as the message is over, ah, let's
talk about this over here. I don't want to talk about this
glorious gospel. I want to talk about this. Let
me hear, did you hear what so and so said? And he snatches
it away. Before you know it, there's a
complete diversion from their mind into other things and immediately
they forget what they just heard. Lest they should believe and
be saved. This is what the scripture says
in 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4, but if our gospel be hid, It
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. Satan, who is God's devil, by
permission, works upon the dead hearts of lost sinners and stirs
up their error and pride and ignorance toward God, bombarding
them with absolutely nothing more than repeated lies and influences
to ignore what they have been hearing. They listen and they
forget it. It has no impression Now let
me tell you, if you would like to behold this spiritual forgetfulness
of the old man, consider what we've all heard and how quickly
we forget it. It happens so quickly. Thanks be unto God that God would
not leave us to that characteristic, to that nature only. Because
I'm telling you, I can definitely see it in me. How often have
I preached? Someone came up to me the other
day and said, Marvin, the message last Wednesday was such a blessing
to me. Thank you so much. And you know
what? I couldn't even remember what
I preached, Carl. I couldn't even remember. I'm
thinking, okay. I'm like Maurice. Maurice told
me, he said, it was out of the Bible, I know, but I just don't
remember. How quickly is that nature beheld in all of us? Oh, Lord, keep me from that. Keep me from being a wayside
hearer and being taken up with nothing more than things and
mess and stuff. But for the grace of God, we'd
be totally given over to that. Some of it, the scripture says,
fell on stony ground. Now look at verse 13. They on
the rock, or they which when they hear, they receive the word
with joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. Now, here's the ones that are
said. Mark says they immediately. receive the Word
with gladness. They hear the Gospel. Now this
is another, this is another. Some hear it, wayside hearer,
take it or leave it. When I can, I'll hear it. It's
not that important. I just, you know, it's gone. Gone. These, they hear the Word
of God and they receive it, the Scripture says, with joy. Now, the message has, according
to these scriptures, it has an immediate effect upon them, but
it's an effect that does not endure. It's superficial. Because they continue for a while,
but in a time of temptation, they fall away. They're like
shooting stars. I mean, all of a sudden, you
know, you're just out there at night, you've been out there
at night, And it was gone before you really realized it was almost
there. You saw it, you realized what
it was, but it just shines so brightly for just a moment. That's
just like shining for a moment as God's saints do. They do have
an appearance. of enthusiasm and they have an
appearance of being enthusiastic for the gospel sake like God's
saints really do. And they do talk of life in Christ
as God's people certainly do. But it seems as quickly as they
came on the scene, they're gone. They seem for a while to be so
pleased with the message and seem to delight in the fellowship
of God's saints. The Word of God reveals this
fatal flaw. They have no root. The Word of God is not rooted
in their heart. The root of God's grace, and
the way that we know that stony ground here, is here's what will
happen. This is what Scripture says will
happen. When persecution for the sake of the Gospel, When it comes because of the
truth, this will be the attitude. It's not worth this. I'm not
saying I didn't enjoy the message. I had someone tell me one time,
they said, I know what you're saying is in the Bible. Because
I've read it. I've read the scriptures that
you pointed out. I've read 2 Thessalonians 2.13. And I know that the scripture
does talk about elect and talks about predestination. I understand
all that. I understand it. But I've been
going over here for all these years. I was raised over here.
And my grandma and grandpa started that assembly. And I've been
there all my life. And I see what you're saying,
but it's not worth it. It's not worth me losing everything. They have no root. There is no
root of grace in their heart. They are stony ground hearers. They endure for a while. This
is what Mark 4.17 says. They endure but for a while afterward
when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake. Immediately, they are offended. They hear the truth, they seem
to grasp hold of it as being the Word of God, they seem to
rejoice in what they can see, it's actually there, but they're
strangers to the cost of discipleship. They're strangers to the weight
What is it going to cost me? Let me ask you something. If
your wife or your husband or something told you, forsake going
there or I'm leaving. I'm not staying here anymore.
What would you do? If they were to tell you, if
you go back and hear that message one more time, I'm not going
to be here when you come back. I know someone that, his wife
told him that. She said, you go tonight, I won't
be here when you get back. And he said, well, you just got
to do what you got to do. And she wasn't there. What would you be willing to
pay to faithfulness to Christ? Any man that loves father, mother,
brother, sister, anything more than me. They're not worthy. I'm telling you, the moment trouble,
persecution, adversity comes from false professors in this
world's religion, the moment they're faced with the reality
that believing this gospel is going to cost me everything,
they stumble at the things that they, for a moment, for a while,
seemed to hold so dear. Now to have to give these things
up, that's too much to bear. They liked that group of his
disciples that followed him and heard him preach. And when they
heard him say, no man can come to me except it were given unto
him of my father. They said, that's a hard saying.
Who can hear that? And they followed Him no more.
That's when He asked His disciples, will you go away too? This is
a stony ground hearer. They come and they're here and
they just, I mean buddy, this is it. This is what I've always
wanted to hear all of my life. Well that's way too far over
the top. You may want to withhold on that
statement right there. This is not what you wanted all
your life. This is what I'm going to, I'm going to hang on here.
I'll be right here with you. And the first time something
comes up, and they're offended because of the sake of the gospel,
of what God has to say. And they see what God has to
say and they say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa. Now wait a minute. I can go along with a lot of
this other stuff, but I can't go along with that. You'll leave. You'll leave. Verse 14, 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. Now this here right here is to
me, the one that to me is the most fearful to me of being deceived. This is one that, you know, I
think to myself, okay, I do believe that I've heard. And I do believe
that there's been some things that has come up against me for
the sake of the gospel, that by the grace of God I'm still
standing here, I'm thankful for that. But now this right here,
a thorny ground hearer, is one that seems to be able for years,
maybe years and years and years to resist the frowns of the world
and its religion. because of what he believes.
He says, I'm not going to leave, I'm not leaving. He stands fast
and where the gospel is preached and he'll declare, I'm ready
to suffer whatever persecution might come my way. The scripture
says he goes forth. That which fell among thorns
are they which when they have heard go forth. They hear the
gospel preached and they go forth. They're going on their way. and
continuing to hear the gospel. And it may be found to be consistent
for years and years, but there's a great problem within that no
one but maybe the Lord is only the one that sees it, maybe not
even the person himself. And those around him may not
see it, but he's said to be a thorny ground hearer, and the thorny
ground hearer possesses a heart that loves the things and cares
of the world more than God. How do you know a thorny ground
hearer? Mark says this, 419, and the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and
the lust of other things entering in, choke the word and it becometh
unfruitful. Here is a man, a woman, that's
tried to convince himself that they can love God and the world
equally. That he's able to balance, there's
enough leeway to make all things work in harmony. You know, I
understand, I understand that hearing the gospel is important.
But I got some other stuff. It's like trying to mix oil and
water, light and darkness. The scripture declares that which
shall be when we try to serve God in this world. This is what
will happen. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness
of riches, the lust of other things entering in, choke it
and it becomes unfruitful. In time, this is what happens. Things become more important. than hearing the gospel. Now I do understand, you know,
I like to get away too. I like to take time and just
get away and stuff like this, but consistency, everything for a
believer must revolve around the hearing of the gospel. Nothing
else takes a precedent over that. Nothing else takes The gospel
plays second fiddle to nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Christ is our
life. A thorny ground hearer is one
and he can stay right in the same assembly the rest of his
life. But the Lord is revealing something
in his heart that no one else may know. He's not once said to fall away. He's not like the stony ground
here that left. He didn't come back. He left.
I'm not sitting there. He keeps up his Christian name
all the way to the end and may be a very influential person
in the church and respected for all of his qualities, but his
heart is far from faithfulness to Christ, to the Word of God. And that word is being suffocated
by stuff that's out there that just bombards him. I see that
characteristic in me, where things are just bombarding me. You find
yourself crying out, Lord, don't let me, especially when I find
myself trying to pray. cares and things that just want
to come in and just suffocate, choke out the Word. You know,
you that believe, you know what I'm talking about. The Word is
choked out. It just, and you say, Lord, help
me. Lord, I can't, I don't even know,
I can't pray. Lord, I don't know what to say.
I don't even know how to say it. I don't know what to say.
I don't have a right spirit about it. Lord, help me. And but for
the grace of God, if God does not deliver us from that body
of death that Paul said, Oh wretched man that I am. I see the wayside
here and the stony ground here and the thorny ground. I see
the temptations of all of that in me. Lord keep me from having
sin dominate. Sin shall not have dominion over.
It's there. It's there. And I'll tell you
how I know it's there. Because of the last ground. Verse
15, but that on the good ground are they which, I'm so glad the
Spirit of God put this in here, which in an honest and good heart. Let me tell you about a man who
is said to be a good ground hero. is honest. He's honest about
himself. He's got an honest heart. He's
honest that he is a sinner, saved by the grace of God. He sees
the presence and the characteristics and the propensities of each
of those other types of hearers. He's not looking at others. He
wandered, he's tempted to say when somebody's preaching the
gospel, he said, man, I tell you what, I wish so and so would
have been here to hear that one. I wish so and so would have heard
that. I ain't talking to so and so. I'm talking to us. I'm talking
to us. We all, every believer has got,
every believer has got all four of these characteristics in him.
Every one of them. And anybody that says he don't
is deceived. Don't tell me that there's not
an old man in there that doesn't care anything about this gospel.
He's there. Don't tell me that there's not an old man right
there that's not offended at the truth of this gospel and
says, I ain't coming back. Jeremiah says, I'm not going
to preach anymore. I'm done. But his word was in
me like fire in my bones and I couldn't restrain. God just
didn't leave him to it. Don't tell me that the cares
of this world don't tempt every one of us to leave. Don't tell
me that the deceitfulness of riches is not there. Don't tell
me. You can say, I'll tell you what,
money doesn't tempt me. I'll tell you what, it does me.
Don't tell me it doesn't. Yes, it does. Oh, but that good
ground here. They, when they heard, in an
honest and good heart, What kind of heart? What do you mean a
good heart? I thought there's none good in any man. Scripture says
God's going to remove that heart of stone. I'm going to give you
a new heart. That's a good heart. Virtuous heart. That heart that
sins not. There's a new heart and it's
honest before God. And these, they hear the Word
of God. The Word says they keep it. They keep it. That Word has been
sown in them by the Spirit of God and by grace. And by the
grace of God, they hold fast the Word of Truth. And it brings
forth fruit with patience. It brings forth fruit by God's
grace that endures. It stays there, kept by the power
of God. This is the fruit. The fruit
that is brought forth. Not produced by, but the fruit
that is brought forth by the Spirit of God and found in every
believer. This is the fruit. Galatians
5, 22, 23. The fruit of the Spirit. Love. Love. Love for God. Love for God's Word. and love
for God's people. By this shall all men know you're
my disciple. You have love one for another.
Love, joy, joy, joy in the Lord, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. God's Word is sown in power in
these good ground hearers, and they're honest. They're honest
men. They say, but for the grace of God, I'd be right there in
total captivity to sin. The Lord said in closing, verses
16 and 17, No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it
with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed, but setteth it on
a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light, for
nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither
anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad." Now here's
the thing I know, the Lord declares that there is a gospel, there
is a seed, and that seed has power in it. There is a sower. The Lord Himself sows through
His preachers. This is a message. There's a
gospel. And God has said this gospel is going to be preached
throughout all the world. This gospel is going to be preached.
This is the life. This is life. This is the message
of God's Word. Now no man, when he's lighted
a candle, ultimately, I was looking at this, no man when he has lighted
a candle, I'm talking about no man, the God-man himself. When
He has lit a candle, when He's put life and light somewhere,
doesn't cover it with a vessel or put it under a bed, sets it
on a candlestick. But in light of the context that
we're preaching here, no man, when God sends him with the gospel,
the light of the gospel of Christ, it's not hid. We don't hide this
gospel. If it's hid, it's hid to those
that are lost, blinded. But God Almighty has a gospel
to be preached, and we preach it. We preach it to all men.
We're going to be honest and say this is what God has said
to the types of hearers. And but for the grace of God
we'd be found in those first three. Nothing's secret. It's not going to be made manifest.
God's Word, God's purpose, God's will is going to be made manifest.
He said there's wayside hearers, there's stony ground hearers,
there's thorny ground hearers, and there's good ground hearers.
They're all hearers. And he said then, take heed,
verse 18, therefore, how you hear. For whosoever hath, to
him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken,
even that which he seemeth to have. Lord, I ask you, Lord,
give me ears to hear. Lord, give me a heart to believe.
Give me eyes to see. Lord, I don't want to be deceived. I don't want the thought of standing
before God and beginning to plead my own case. Lord, I pastored
Katie Baptist Church. Lord, I tried to be there all
the time. Lord, I was trying to study and
I preached and I did this and I did that to hear Him say, Marvin,
I never knew you. I'm gone. I'm gone. I have no hope. If Almighty God
doesn't save me by His grace, I'm lost. Lord, give me, I pray,
ears to hear. For Christ's sake, amen. Okay, Gary.