The 13th chapter of Matthew.
Let's read a few of those verses there. Matthew chapter 13. That 8th verse of that 13th chapter
says, Then another fell on good ground, We'll read the rest of
it here, but I want to kind of set forth that verse there to
our attention here this evening. But I that fell into good ground,
and of a seed, and of a sow, and of a seed. Some fell here,
and some fell there, but this eighth verse says that some fell
into good ground. What is good ground? Good ground is ground that's
been prepared. That's what good ground is. It's
been prepared. The soil has been prepared. You
couldn't grow anything out here in the churchyard the way it
is. It's ground, but if you put seed out there, it wouldn't grow,
would it? Because though it might be good
ground, it's got to be prepared. In order for ground to be good,
the whole idea of good ground is incorporated the idea of digging
the ground versus the clods and so forth. Maybe even adding some
fertilizer. But the ground's got to be prepared.
Another fell into good ground. Fell into good ground, something
happens. It brought forth fruit. Some
a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold, the Scriptures
say. Who has ears to hear, let him
hear. Let him hear what? Let him hear what I've said.
Now, let's read here. Verse number one. It said, The
same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.
And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that and
went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on
the shore. The first thing I want you to remember here is that there was a great number of people
attending the ministry of the Lord Jesus at this particular
time. A great number of people. It wasn't just a small crowd.
It wasn't just a handful, ten or fifteen. A great number of
people. Multitudes were gathered together
unto him, so that he went into his ship and sat, and the whole
multitude stood on the shore. He didn't have any room on the
shore, so he thought it would be better for him to be out here
on a little boat in the water and just create multitudes of
people out there. Here, great multitudes of people, a lot of
them. Now, he spake many things of
them in parables. Parables, mysteries, that's what that word parable
pertains to, mysteries. He sang. Now, this is the parable
that he spake to them at this particular time. Remember, a
great whole lot of people. The whole floor went forth to
sow. And he sowed some seeds, and
when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside. And the fowls came, the birds
of the air. They came and they devoured them
up. They were doing good. Birds ate the seeds. So the seeds
didn't grow. There was no harvest, no fruit
there. Now some fell upon stony places where they had not much
earth. That is, kind of like an inch
or so of dirt on top of a rock. And full width they sprung up
because they had no deep to subvert. They come up real quick. There
was no deepness there. But when the sun was up, they
were scorched. And because they had no root,
they withered away. So there, no fruit again. No fruit again. The storm came
along soon. Some fell to the wayside. The
bowels of the air got it. And I showed someone some stony places. The storm wasn't
very deep. It came up real quick. The sun
came out and scorched it. It died. It had no root. Then
some fell among thorns. Some of the seed fell among thorns. But of course we know that the
seed is the Word of God. The sower is the Holy Spirit.
The sower is the Holy Spirit and the seed is the Word of God. Some fell among thorns and the
thorns sprung up and choked them. No fruit there. No fruit. But other fell into good ground,
ground that had been prepared to cultivate, ground of wheat
and seed. It fell into good ground and
it brought forth good fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. The disciples came and said unto him, Now these disciples
are the Chosen Twelve. I think that the disciples here
have reference to the Chosen Twelve. They came to Him and
they said unto the Savior, they said, Why speakest thou unto
them in parable? Why do you speak unto whom? A
small group of people, don't keep in mind a great multitude
of people. Why do you speak to them in parable?
Now this is the answer that he gave. He answered and said unto
them, because it is given unto you, the twelve disciples, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven. But to them it is not given. I'm reporting to one of the preachers
right now. Let me get that finished up. To them. Great multitude
of people now, Carl. It wasn't a half a dozen people. It was a great multitude
of them. And the disciples said, well, why didn't you speak with
those fellows in parable? And they don't know what you're talking
about. Well, the Lord said, it is given unto you, you twelve
disciples. It's given unto you to know the
kingdom, to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But
to them, them out there, it is not given. Not given. In other words, he explained
it to the disciples later on, but not to the outside world,
not to the outside unbelievers he didn't explain it to. Now,
the first thing I want you to know this, or I want you to learn
here this evening, is that to hear the outward Word of God
is a common privilege. That's a common privilege that
every man can have and enjoy. There's no excuse for anybody
Unless he's a moron or an imbecile or confined in the recesses of some insane
asylum that doesn't go straight up, apart from those people, everyone,
has the opportunity and the privilege to hear the Word of God. It's a common privilege. Churches
on every hand have a Bible. You can get a Bible in the 10
cent store. In fact, I think you can get
Bibles in the A&P store at certain times. You can get a Bible in
about any store that you go to, you can find the Bible. So it's
a common privilege. For everyone to hear the outward
word of God, but to know one, to know the mystery is a gift
of sovereign grace. That's a gift of sovereign grace.
We're all together can enjoy the common privilege of hearing
the word of God. All we've got to do is to shake
the lethargy from ourselves get up on a Sunday morning or a Sunday
evening or a Wednesday night or any other night, a church
of the Lord Jesus Christ engaged in preaching of the Word, we
can go and hear the Word of God. That's not, we can't do that.
We can go to a friend or a brother's house that does know something
about the Word of God and you'll be more than mighty tickled into
death to be able to study with. So it's a common privilege for
all of us here, the Word of God. But to know the mysteries, the
Scriptures say, is a gift of sovereign grace, sovereign grace. Now, there was no difference
between these people that were here on the seashore, this multitude
that the Lord said, It is given unto you, O sisters of the king,
but to them it's not given. There's no difference between
them and the twelve by nature. They're all the same. They're
all the same. But God is pleased. He's pleased in his sovereignty
to make known his will and his purpose to these twelve and to
hide it from the rest of them. You see, that's the problem.
Remember I told you a couple Sundays ago, I said the problem
in our day, or maybe it's always been the problem, is that people
really don't know what the issue is. The issue, or the soul-searching
question that man must face and answer is, who's on the throne?
Who's on the throne? Is God on the throne? Or is man
on the throne? Or is the devil on the throne?
Who's on the throne? Now, if we see that, if we see that God
Almighty's on the throne, then we're going to have to admit
that God can do as He pleases Him. And who are we to murmur
or complain as to what God does? Can the thing formed say to him
who formed it, why hast thou made thee thus? Paul said, Nay,
O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Hast thou the power
over the clays to fashion one lump into honor and another into
dishonor? Who's on the throne? God's on
the throne. God's on the throne. He has the right. He made us.
Where'd we come from? Where'd we come from? How far
back did we go? Our beginnings come from God. We come from God. God made us. He owns us. He can do with us
as it pleases Him. And if He wants to make all the
mysteries of the kingdom, To whomsoever leads Him, it will
be by sovereign grace. Now, salvation and the knowledge by which it
comes are given as the Lord wills. Turn with me to the book of Galatians. Book of Galatians, chapter one.
I'm going to read something to you in light of what we've said.
In light of what it says here now. Where he said, Because it's given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them it's not given. They don't understand. One reason the Lord
Jesus Christ spake in parables was, I think, probably answered
in that 15th verse where it says, "...for this people's heart is
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes
they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes," that's the disciples, "...blessed are your eyes, for
they see, and your ears, for they hear." That is this multitude
that the truth is hid from them. They couldn't understand spiritual
things. In fact, they could not see what
they saw, and they could not hear what they heard. They just
couldn't do it. They couldn't see what they saw,
they couldn't hear what they heard. And the plainer the teaching,
the more puzzling it became to them. Now, isn't that true with
most people outside of Christ? The plainer, the simpler the
language, the more confusing and puzzling it is to them. They hear what they cannot hear.
They see what they cannot see what they see. Can't do it. Why? Well, he said, these people's
hearts are waxed and gross, and their ears are dull at hearing,
and their eyes have been closed lest of any time they should
see with their ears, and hear with their eyes, and should understand
with their heart, and should be converted. They can't hear nothing. They
see, they look at you, they nod their head, but they can't see. Well, what I'm trying to say
is that God's on the throne. And He reveals His truth to His
people. There's some that knows it and
understands it and rejoices in it. And there's the multitude
that's over there, the Kennedy's and all of them. They don't see
it. They don't see it. It's hidden from them. And it's
all of God. It's all of God. Even to this
very day. There's the marvels of creation,
the works of grace, the deeds of providence, the ordinances
of religion. All these things are but voiceless
music to a multitude. They're painted sons to carnal
men. They do not hear their teaching
and they don't feel their power. Here in Galatians chapter one,
now you found that, chapter one, says this. Paul talks about himself. He talks about when he was converging. Talking about the gospel here.
That 8th verse, he said, 7th verse, he says, of which I marvel,
6th verse, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
calls you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. That there's
another gospel. Which is not another gospel,
verse number 7. but there be some that trouble
you that would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now listen, but though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
he hath received, let him be accursed. Blessed God, that's
what I preach, is Paul's gospel. That's what I preach. I preach
Paul's gospel. I don't preach a gospel after
man. I don't preach a gospel to pleased
men. I preach Paul's gospel. That's
the gospel I preach, Paul's gospel. And I'm careful about that. I'm
very, very, very careful that I preach Paul's gospel. I don't
preach another man's, Paul's gospel. Paul said, if any man
preach any other gospel unto you, then that be overseen. Let
him be a curse. Let him be damned. For do I now
persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I get to please men, I should not be a servant of Christ. Now,
but I certify you, brethren, let me first, that the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. That is, I didn't
learn it down at the university. Some man didn't teach it to me. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I part of it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ." That's the gift of solid praise. I didn't get it. I didn't get it from a man. I
didn't get it. He said, "...but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." That's how it comes. Salvation is by revelation. It's by revelation. God must
reveal his Son in a man's heart. He must show him. the suffering,
the agony of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is made to feel his guilt
and his rebellious attitude towards God's dear Son. God began to
work in his heart, works a work of grace in his heart by his
Spirit. That's called revelation. Now
listen, Paul said, for you've heard of my conversation in times
past, my conduct, that's what he's talking about, my conduct
in times past, In the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I personify
the Church of God, please. How mean I was towards the people
of the way. I thought I was doing God a favor
by killing people. But Paul really did. Paul is
doing God a favor. It says, and I profited in the
Jews' religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being
exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my fathers. I understood more
than most of the folks that were my equals in my contemporaries
of that day. I understood more than they did. I knew more of the law than they
did. I knew more of the writings of most of the prophets than
they did. And as far as being zealous,
I was far more zealous than they was. Now, this is that 15th verse
now. There's one I want you to see.
But when it pleased God, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me." That's
what I'm talking about. And that's just exactly what's
being said there in the 13th chapter of the book of Matthew
when it says, "...who have ears to hear, let him hear." They
said, Lord, why are you speaking parables to me? Why? Well, he
said, it's given unto you. It's given unto you to know mistress
of the kingdom of heaven, but for them it's not given." Well,
these people didn't have anything to boast or brag about. These
people that he said, it's given unto you to know, they didn't
have anything to brag about. Why? They knew it. How did they
know it? Because God revealed it to them.
God revealed it to them. All right, just a couple of things
here. Now, up there where it says,
and others fell onto good ground and brought forth the truth. Well, there's some things that
the Bible teaches that man will rebel against unless his heart's
prepared. If his heart is not prepared,
he'll rebel violently against the truth of the Word of God.
For instance, if you tell a man the truth about
himself, you tell a man the truth about himself, Tell him that he's as dumb as
an ass, and tell him that he has sores from the bottom of
his feet to the top of his head. Tell him that there's no soundness
in him. Tell him that he's lost before
God, whether he believes it or whether he doesn't. It doesn't
change the fact that he's lost before God. Tell him the truth
about himself. Tell him God's testimony concerning
him, that he's a ruined, lost sinner, and the only thing that
separates him from hell's fire is the next breath he breathes.
Tell him that. And tell him, unless God intervenes,
unless God comes where he is and does something for him, he'll
never turn from his sins and trust in the Lord. Now, unless
his heart has been prepared, he'll rebel against that. He
won't take that. He won't swallow that. That's
too hard for him. He can't take that. But, my soul, for every
man that's ever saved, his heart must be prepared, must be good
ground. The Holy Spirit must finger his
heart, must tickle his heart, must soften his heart, give him
a heart of flesh, take away that heart of stone. Yeah, you tell
him, you tell him the truth about himself. Tell him that his, tell
him the best, the best thing that he ever done, the best work
that he ever completed, accomplished, performed in his whole lifetime,
the very best. Pick them all out, tell him the
very best one. Tell him, say, that's filthy
right beside God. Tell him that. Say, your righteousness,
The best righteousness that you have that you can come up with
is nothing but filthy righteousness in the sight of God. It's rags. It's like oily, greasy, damp,
contaminated, polluted rags in God's sight. Tell him that. Unless
his heart's been prepared, he'll rebel against that. He won't
take that. A natural man won't take that
about himself. He won't take the truth about
himself. Why? Because he's got too much
pride. He's not that bad. In his own eyes, he's not that
bad. He's got to be taught that. He's got to be taught that. There's
not a man here who knows the truth as Dean Price does agree
with. He wouldn't stand up right now and say, that's right, Preacher,
there was a time, there was a time in my life, if you would have
told me that, I would have been offended by what you said. Because
I didn't at the time believe I was that bad. Is that right?
That's right. I felt the same way myself. I
would have been offended if someone would have told me prior to my
conversion that I was that rotten, that corrupt, that polluted,
that in my inner self, in my heart, there was a hatred towards
Almighty God. I would have told that fellow
he didn't know what he was talking about. You see, as for me and as for
you, the Lord God, the Holy Spirit, came along with the Word. He
prepared our hearts. He prepared our hearts. And when
the truth come along, it fell into good ground. No credit to
us. No credit to us. God did all
the work. He prepared the soil. He was
like the wise farmer. that went out in the clouds and
killed the ground, and furrowed the ground, and planted the seed,
and waited for the harvest. There's another fact that a heart will rebel against. That's
not the fact. That is when the man's confronted
with the awful strictness of God's law. When he's confronted
with that, that's the heart that will rebel against in one second.
What does God demand? God demands perfection, and you
haven't got it. And there ain't no way you're
going to get it in the flesh. But that's what God demands.
God demands that you be perfect, even as my Father in heaven is
perfect. You be perfect. You conform absolutely,
inwardly and outwardly to the absolute demands of God's holy
law. See? Now, man's heart's not prepared,
he's going to rebel against that. He's going to say, uh oh, that's
not my kind of religion. Oh no, no, I know that's not
my religion. Oh no. First thing you know,
he'll start pointing his finger at you. You tell him that, he'll
start saying, well you ain't religious. Yeah. He wants to get away from
that. He'll argue with you. He wants to quarrel with you.
You don't want to set him next to that. First thing he'll do,
invariably, the first thing he'll do after you tell him that, he'll
point the finger at you and say, well, you ain't perfect. You're
not perfect. Hey, you come around here telling
me you're not perfect. You know why he does that? You
don't want to talk to him anymore. Let's get off the subject. Let's
talk to you a little bit. Okay? Well, when we're confronted
with the strictness and the severity of the law of God, or we'll rebel
because man, he hates restriction. He just hates it. Well, but that's
the law of God. That's what the law demands.
You read the Ten Commandments. If you don't find in the Ten
Commandments the essence of the holiness of God and absolute
perfection, tell me about it. From the first to the last sets
forth the absolute perfection, right there. And that's a strict
law. That's a strict law. And Jesus
made it a whole lot stricter. He said, if a man hates his brother
without a cause, he said, well, he's guilty. And I wouldn't say
it, I'd say he's a murderer. He said, whosoever hateth his
brother without a cause is a murderer. Whosoever looketh upon a woman
with lust and heart hath committed adultery already. That's how
strict it is. That's how strict it is. And
there's no man or woman who can honestly before God say that
they haven't broken that law. See? You can't say that you haven't
broken that law. We've broken it. We've broken
it. Well, here's what I'm driving
at. Brethren, can you see that we need a substitute? Can you
see that we need a Savior? We need someone who who will
stand, who will bridge the gap, who will come between us and
God Almighty. That's what we need. We need
one who will, when confronted with the strictness of God's
law, will resign himself to it and obey it. Obey the law of
God, every jot, every kiddle, outwardly and inwardly. We'll
obey it. We need one to do that, Carl. Only can be found in Christ.
I was telling a fellow today, and this was, he was talking
about something along this line. And I said, whatever was said,
I forget what it was. I know that it was lacking in
my own life, I know that. But I said, thank God it's not
lacking in you. It's not lacking in you. See,
I'm not depending on what I've done, what I can do. I just depend
on my seed. He was confronted with the strictness
of the law. He obeyed it. Every precept and
every principle of that law, he obeyed it, and obeyed it perfectly. And listen, he did it so perfectly
that it pleased the Father in heaven, and they was there on
the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John, and the
Lord Jesus. And it was such bliss, such joy, such contentment that
Peter blurted out and he said, Lord, let's just build us a tavern
after here. Let's build a booth for you and
a booth for Peter and one for John and one for James. He said,
let's just stay up here forever and let's not go back. Let's
not go back. Let's don't go back down there to the bottom of the
mountain with the rest of the disciples and the rest of the
people. Let's stay up here. Well, who
wouldn't want to stay with Jesus all the time? I don't knock Peter
for that. But what about the other seven,
the other eight disciples down there? What about the rest of
the world? Anyhow, God stopped his babbling. He's a babbler. God stopped his babbling. And
I thank God that he does stop our babbling at times. Sometimes
we're running off the mouth babbling, don't know what we're talking
about. should be listening rather than talking. God stopped our
mouth. God stopped His babbling. And He said to Peter, He said,
This, my beloved son, right here, This is my beloved son, hear
ye Him. Another time He said, This is
my beloved son, in whom I am well. That's who we need. Take Christ. Well, there's several things
I can tell you here about the absolute strictness of the law
of God. We haven't got time for it this
evening. I just wanted to show you that
unless the heart was prepared, men can't take it. Their heart
needs to be prepared. The Holy Spirit prepares the
sod off. The seed's sown and springs into life eternal. Well,
let me read a couple more verses now. I read to you down here,
didn't I? Well, let's see. 13th verse, Therefore speak I
of them in parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing,
they hear not, neither do they understand. Who's talking to
this father, too? They see, but they see not. They
hear, but they hear not, and they don't understand. And in
them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, By hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive. Now I read the 15th verse. The 16th verse says, But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears will they hear.
And if you are this evening, you and I together, as we are
the recipient, the precipitants of God's sovereign grace by how
we ought to rejoice, how we ought to bless God every waking hour
of everything that God gave unto us, the understanding of the
mystery of the kingdom of God. We ought to bless His name forever.
We are indebted to Him. We are a file of debtors unto
God. Debtors unto God. Debtors unto the Gospel. Debtors
unto the Holy Spirit. Debtors unto the Word. debtors
unto good men that carried it to us, debtors unto the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're debtors unto all. He made known the gift of sovereign
grace to our hearts when He did it. I remember reading one time
where a man said he thanked God that he wasn't born as a dog. Oh, he said, I thanked God that
I wasn't born as a toad or a dog or a frog. or a fly, or a mosquito,
or a lion, or a tiger. I can know something about the
joy and the wells of salvation of Jesus Christ. That's right. He could have easily been the
blackest, darkest African with the cannibalistic nature found
in the jungles of Africa and New Guinea. Could have been.
but please God, he was born here, most of us in the state of West
Virginia, in the human race. That's right. Could have been over there, could
have been a jackass. For verily I say unto you, that
many prophets and righteous men, listen to this, have desired
to see those things which you see, and have not seen them,
and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard."
You read the rest of that chapter there and see what you think
about it. He goes on and explains just
what I've told you about it. It says, "...he," 37th verse,
"...he answered and said unto them, He that sought the good
seed is the son of man, the field is the world, the good seed are
the children of the king, and the terrors are the children
of the wicked one." And so forth. All right. or fascist workers.