If I please Almighty God this
evening, I will speak to you on the parable of the sower.
So I think we will read in chapter 4 of the Gospel of Mark, and
we'll read from verse 14 to verse 20. The Gospel of Mark, chapter
4, and reading from verse 14 to verse 20. The sower soweth
the word. And these are they by the wayside,
where the word is sown. But when they have heard, Satan
cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts. And these are they likewise,
which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the
word, immediately receive it with gladness and have no root
in themselves. and so endure but for a time,
afterward when affliction or persecution ariseth, for the
word's sake immediately they are offended. These are they
which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and
the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful. These are they which are sown
on good ground, such as hear the word, and receive it, and
bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. it's interesting to read that
the Lord taught many things in parables and he taught them many
things by parables and yet on this occasion there was only
just this one parable which the Holy Spirit saw fit to record
and so we must recognise that it is very relevant and very
important and so it is for all of us Because what is spoken
about is the word which is preached. The sower represents the preacher. And the word is the word of God. And as we have read, we know
there are four types of hearers. And all of us here tonight fall
into one of those categories. Perhaps more than one. But nonetheless,
there are four categories. And three, of course, are spoken
against, and only one is spoken well of, and that's where the
seed fell into good ground. But it's relevant to recognize
that that which fell upon good ground, there was the evidence
of it. Because as we read, such as hear the word and receive
it and bring forth fruit. some 30 fold, some 60, and some
100. So the very clear conclusion
is, if there is no fruit, there's no evidence that the seed, the
preached word, has fallen into good ground. So these things
are written, and of course it's recorded here, in Mark and also
in the Gospel of Matthew. And it's relevant therefore for
us tonight to realise that we need to know that we are indeed
fruitful in the things of God, and we'll come on to that later.
But first of all, let us go through these other three types. And the Lord said, firstly, and
the first one was, of course, where he said, some fell by the
wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And the analogy of that is very
clear. And these are they by the wayside,
where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan cometh
immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. So it's a very solemn consideration
to realise we can sit in the pews, we can sit and listen to
the preaching of the Gospel and yet by the time we get outside
the door we can't remember what we've heard. If anybody said
Could you write down an essay of the things you've heard this
morning? And in some cases there would be zero. Perhaps in other
cases there might be just a mere word here, a word there. What
a sad thing, isn't it, if you and I come under such a condition
of really condemnation. Because the law tells us these
are they by the wayside where the word is sown, When they have
heard it, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that
was sown in their hearts. The devil, Satan is a great adversary
and he doesn't want us to hear the word and if we do hear it,
he doesn't want us to remember it. He wants us to forget it. And how often, of course, that
is very true. Yes, we forget what the Word
has spoken. Sometimes I think, well, what
was preached last Sunday? And I dare say, if you were asked
to write down what was preached last Sunday, you might have a
struggle. You might not be able to. You
might have to confess, well, I've just forgotten about it.
I don't know anything that was preached last Sunday. Does that
indicate that Satan's come and taken away the Word? It wasn't profitable, it may
have been at the time, but it quickly vanished. Well, it's
a sad condition and yet it's spoken of here as one of those
ways that the devil does to stop us from profiting under the Word. So that's the first type and
it's classified as by the wayside and of course we know what the
wayside is like it's usually a place where there's not much
ground and not much ability to grow well and perhaps that's
just the case in our hearts I don't know but perhaps we haven't prayed
for the blessing we've just come by mere tradition we've just
come and realised it's Sunday evening and it's time to come
to chapel to hear the gospel preached and that's the extent
of it. And there hasn't been really any true prayer. And so we can imagine, surely,
can we not? We are like those where the seed
sown fell by the wayside and the fowls of the air came and
devoured it up. It did not profit us. we should always realise that
we're at fault. God's not at fault, we're at
fault. We've just let other things crowd
in and therefore the Word has not been profitable to us. And then secondly, the Lord said,
and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who,
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness,
and have no root in themselves, and so endure for a time afterward,
when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately
they are offended. And again, we need to just pause
and think what this really means. It relates to those who have
heard the Word of God and may say, well that was a wonderful
sermon, that was a really good sermon this morning. But what
effect does it have? It just disappears. And there's no real, as you might
say, staying power. It's just gone. What is it? It's stony ground. It's just
stony ground. And what is there? Well, there's
a lack of root. There's lack of root. True religion
has a root. True religion has a time of conversion. and when that conversion occurs
a root is formed and a root goes down into the ground to draw
goodness from the ground to draw moisture from the ground well
we don't want to be found those who have no root just on the
surface the effect has just been on the surface it hasn't touched
our heart it hasn't touched our soul it's just been something
which we may have appreciated, we may have heard something which
tickled our fancy, we may have heard some anecdote which we
thought was very interesting and then have lost the relevance
of it. It's very easy to be taken up
with anecdotes and little stories which might please our minds
but don't really profit our soul. The great meaning to hear the
Word of God is to benefit our soul, not to benefit our mind,
not to satisfy our natural understanding, but to enter in to our very soul
and therefore to be an eternal blessing and not something like
this, which is just sewn on stony ground. And the Lord says, who,
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness,
and have no root in themselves, and so endure, but for a time. And afterward, when affliction
or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they
are offended. No profit, you see. No lasting
profit. Just something which may be said
to perhaps impress people, perhaps to impress the preacher. They
were listening well, but it didn't enter into their hearts. So we
have there the second case. And then the third case, which
perhaps is very relevant in the day and age in which we live.
And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear
the word, Well, we do hear the Word. All of us hear the Word. But then the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things,
entering in, choke the Word, and it becometh unprofitable. You see, we may hear the Word,
we may hear the Word with our natural ear, but it doesn't profit
us. It's of no real benefit. And
we're sat in chapel listening and we hear the word, but other
thoughts come into our mind, crowd into our mind. thoughts
of what we did yesterday and thoughts of what we're going
to do tomorrow and perhaps farther on in our life and our mind wanders
all around and we just don't really receive the truth of God. It's a sad condition but it's
a condition which exists and I suppose in the day and age
in which we live it's perhaps a prevalent condition The devil
knows how to attract our minds. The devil knows how to turn us
away from the things of God. You see, we have an evil heart,
we have a wicked heart, and we have a heart which is easily
sidetracked onto trivial things. And the reality is that we lose
sight of the fact that we're hearing about eternal realities. We're hearing about things which
are relevant to our soul's eternal good. And we sit and waste our
time thinking about the things of time, the things which have
no true benefit and no true profit. Well, it's one of Satan's greatest
tools to deceive us so that we do not benefit from the preaching
of the gospel. Well, these things are very true
and the analogy comes back to this truth. Some fell among thorns
and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no fruit. We can be choked, can't we, with
the things of time. Choked with the things of time
when we're sitting, listening to the preaching of the gospel.
and choke with the things of time perhaps as soon as we leave
the chapel and perhaps when we get home instead of thinking
about the things which we've heard all we think about is the
things which are going to come the things of this vain world
well we should be thankful that the Lord in his love and mercy
alerts us to these conditions and if we're honest we will find
that we do fall into these categories, perhaps into all the categories
and therefore we find the Word is not profitable and sometimes
people complain because the Word isn't profitable and perhaps
it's because they're not in the right state of mind perhaps they're
not in a healthy state and therefore they don't receive the Word and
it either comes and disappears or it's choked or one of the
these three times remember then there's three times and how sad
it is if you and i fall into these categories and i'm not
concerned about it we will fall into these categories but are
we concerned about it we might say well do we do we mourn about
it are we sorry before god and do we confess our failings and
have to come to God and say how barren is my soul today I've
been to chapel and I don't remember what's been spoken I've wasted
valuable time you know the Lord has provided valuable time in
our little lives to hear the gospel and what a mercy it is
you think of the billions of people that do not enjoy this
privilege. They don't have Bibles, they
can't hear the Gospel, they don't hear it, and they know nothing
about the things of God. And yet, you see, we are highly
favoured. But the Word of God warns us,
to whom much is given, much shall be required. The solemnity is,
you and I won't be able to stand before the judgment seat of God.
and be questioned about things that we heard and never received. Or if we did, they vanished away. And we should have to realize
that then we are without excuse. You see, we might make excuses
to people, we might even try and make excuses to God while
we're on the earth. When we stand before that judgment
seat, we should not be able to make any excuses. We'll have
to realise solemnly perhaps much of our time which God gave us
to hear the gospel preached was wasted. Wasted. As it were, we threw it away.
It was not profitable. Well then, the fourth type is
of course a blessed type. And these are they which are
sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it. Hear the word and receive it.
They don't cast it away. They don't say, oh, I don't accept
that. They receive it. Receive it as the word of God. Not as a word of man. And we
should always remember that preachers are just servants of God. Preachers desire, I'm sure a
true preacher desires, just to be the mouthpiece of God. He
doesn't want to speak his words. He wants to speak God's words. and therefore to realise this
word is true then. These are they which are sown
on good ground such as hear the word and receive it. It's very easy to go to hear
the word with a critical mind and really not prepared to receive
the word. to try and find out what's wrong,
not what's good and not what's right. What a mercy then if the
Holy Spirit comes and gives us grace to receive God's word,
not man's word. Remember that. And these are
they which are sown in good ground, such as hear the word and receive
it. And then there's a tremendous
benefit. The benefit is spelled out like
this. Bring forth fruit some thirtyfold. That means thirty
times of benefit, sixty times, and some an hundredfold. Well, it would be a good thing,
wouldn't it, if we benefit from the preaching of the Word, and
we have. Something then to go home and take with us We have
the analogy In the book of Ruth, which is a very simple analogy,
but it's very good. You know, she gleaned ears of
corn she went to the cornfield and there was the the corn being
cut and there were ears of corn which fell to the ground and
she was allowed to pick them up and and to put them in a bag
and then to take them home. And what did she do when she
got home? Did she chuck them in a corner
and say, well, there we are, that's that done? No, she took
them home and she beat them out so that there was then the corn,
the grain, which was necessary to feed upon. and not to have
the husk that was blown away but to have the true Word of
God the seed which had been sown to fall into that good ground
and there was a beating out there was perhaps an examining the
truth of God there was a desire to understand what had been spoken
and so therefore to the Good hearer, to the true believer,
there will be a desire to go home and to think upon the things
which were spoken, and not then to just pass on to the poor things
of time. You know, we must always recognise
the devil is very, very active. And He doesn't want you and me
to listen. He doesn't want you and me to
hear. He doesn't want us to receive
the Word. He doesn't want us to carry it
home. He doesn't want us to meditate upon it. In actual fact, He wants
us to lose it completely. And that's why the Lord very
graciously has given us this parable, as we term it, the parable
of the sower. so that we may be able to examine
ourselves and to test our religion and to see whether it stands
up against a cross-examination under these conditions. But what
a mercy then, if we are found as those good ground hearers.
And if we're good ground hearers, we will have been blessed with
a gracious preparation. to receive the Word. God would
have prepared our hearts to receive the Word so that we've come to
hear the Gospel preached and we've come with a real true desire
to hear for the profit of our souls. Not to just look at the
clock and wish the time was going a bit faster. so that soon it
would end and we could get on our way and forget all about
the truths which are being preached. What a wonderful mercy it is
then to realize that we have a kind and gracious God. who does grant this blessing
that the seed is sown into good ground prepared by God and such
as hear the word, receive it. It's a vast difference, isn't
there? Between receiving the word and not receiving it. No doubt all of us are guilty
of not receiving God's word on many occasions. No, perhaps we
may have said, well, I wanted to receive the Word. But what
condition were we in? Well, we were in that condition
where we were told the cares of the world, and deceitfulness
of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the
Word, and it becometh unprofitable. So, as we've just thought very
briefly about these things this evening, to realise that they
are relevant. It's not old fashioned language
which we can't understand. It's a parable and God graciously
has given us to understand what the parable means. Many times
his disciples and the multitudes heard parables and they weren't
explained to them. Went over their heads. But here
you see the Lord graciously explained this parable and what a mercy
therefore it is for us and then when we when we think of course
those who were fruitful in the things of God and the Apostle
Paul tells us a little of what fruitfulness is it's just worthwhile
just thinking upon some of these points because as he comes down
towards the end of the fifth chapter in the epistle of Paul
to the Galatians. And it's interesting again that
the Apostle speaks about the works of the flesh, on the one
hand, and the fruit of the Spirit on the other." The works of the
flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. We won't go through the list
of the works of the flesh, it's quite extensive. I'm sure if
you go home and read it, you'll recognize that you're guilty
of those works very often. But what a blessing if you're
also blessed with the fruit of the Spirit. And so the Apostle
tells us, but The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law, and they that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the
Spirit, Let us also walk in the Spirit. Well, it's quite an extensive
list, but it's a list of things, I'm sure, which you and I can
appreciate are benefits. And they show forth the grace
of God. They show forth His favour toward
us, in enabling us. to follow and to walk in this
way. And so he says, the fruit of
the Spirit is love. Well, why do we know that? If we know something of God's
love toward us. And if we understand how utterly
unworthy we are of receiving any love from Almighty God, why
should God love us? Someone who's spent hours in
chapel not listening, hours in chapel wasting their time. Why
should God love such people? And yet, you see, the glory of
the gospel is God loves those who were his enemies. Yes, the fruit of the Spirit
is love and therefore We see the benefit of God's love to
us when we are shown his love to such an extent, when we realise
what great and terrible, vile and ungodly sinners we are, deserving
endless punishment. And yet God has brought us to
that condition, to repent of our sins, as we spoke about this
morning, the great need of repentance. What a blessing it is when God
grants us, by His Spirit, repentance. And why is it? It's because of
His love toward us. And then you see, if we realise
that God has indeed loved us with an everlasting love, and
with loving kindness has drawn us, that means the things of
God, the things of the Saviour, have become attracted to us.
At one time they weren't. But the blessed work of the Holy
Spirit has come into our hearts so that we do truly recognise
God's amazing love for such unworthy sinners. And then you see, in
return, we love God. The Apostle John says, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us. It's a great and glorious truth. And it's an amazing truth to
think that God should love utterly unworthy sinners. And that love
has been demonstrated to us. He hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserve. So the fruit of the Spirit is
love. Because you see, as we receive
love from God, there is then that return of love to the Saviour. We love Him because He first
loved us. Well, my friends, the evidence
of it, and what is this? A fruit of the spirit. What does
it mean? It means then that, and they
are they, and these are they which are sown on good ground,
such as hear the word and receive it. Yes, we receive the grand
and glorious truth of God, especially as it relates to our salvation.
especially as it relates to our unworthiness to hear the voice
of the Saviour, to receive any forgiveness. And He hasn't dealt
with us as we deserved, otherwise we wouldn't be on this earth.
We would have been cast out. Well, what a mercy, even tonight,
to realise that God has not cast us out. He hasn't cast us off. Well, love, my friends, the fruit,
it's the evidence of life in the soul. Love. Well, again,
it's good to examine ourselves as to whether God has loved us,
as we think of what we deserve and what he's been gracious to
us with. and therefore we love Him. Well, it's the evidence of the
fruit of the Spirit. And it's the first evidence which
is written here. For the fruit of the Spirit is
love. And then joy. Joy in believing. Joy in believing. You see, if
we come and hear the Gospel preached, and the pattern of salvation
is traced out. And we're able to set alongside
that pattern our own little testimony and therefore have the evidence
that we are amongst those whom God has had mercy. You know,
the result will be a humble joy in our hearts to realise God
hasn't passed us by He hasn't gone and said, well, this person's
not worth looking at. We'll forget about him or her.
No, it's a wonderful mercy if God has looked upon us. And as
we read, it's in Leviticus, he looked and said, live. Yes, if
God says live to you and me, Surely it will bring joy, heavenly
joy, to realise that our gracious God has heard our cry. Perhaps we've been brought by
the mercy of God to pray for mercy. Perhaps to cry for mercy. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And then to have the revelation
that God has heard our prayer and God is answering our prayer.
What does it produce? Joy in our heart. To realise
that unworthy as we are, The Blessed Saviour has looked upon
us. Well, it's the fruit of the Spirit. Joy. And then it goes on. The Apostle says, peace. The
peace of God. And we're told, the hymn writer
says, peace by His cross. And that's the wonder of it.
As you and I are brought to that position, to look to a suffering Saviour upon that
cross at Calvary and had given faith to believe that Jesus Christ
and Him crucified gave His life, died upon that cross at Calvary
in order to redeem our souls. Peace by His cross. as Jesus
made. What a mercy that'll be. That's
a wonderful fruit of the Spirit. How good it is and how wonderful
to know in our hearts the Lord has been gracious to us. He has
been mindful of us. And so we have these three very
positive evidences. Love, joy, peace. And then the apostle goes on
and says, long-suffering. That means that you and I are
to be long-suffering with those that oppose us. And you may say,
well, why? Very clearly because think of
the Lord Jesus, how long-suffering He's been with you and me. As
we've gone through this evening, those other three times, To realise
that we've been there and the Lord's been long-suffering toward
us. Yes, we've sat in chapel, wasting
our time. The Lord hasn't cut us off. Long-suffering. And because He's long-suffering
to us, you see, then the effect should be that we should be long-suffering
to others. Yes, it's a grace of God. It's a favour of God to be blessed
with this spirit of long-suffering. And it's evident, it shows forth. Indeed, all of these fruits,
they are evident. They're not things which hide
themselves. They show forth in the life of
a true believer. And what do the fruits show? They show God's goodness and
mercy. And it's to be demonstrated. And people will acknowledge it
and see it in our lives. Long suffering. And then he says,
gentleness. He asks where to be gentle. What
a mercy it is when God deals gently with us. Well, however
harsh it may seem, in recognition of our sins, the Lord's been
very gracious. and dealt with us very gently.
Yes, we could have had such hard things, but what a mercy it is
that God has dealt gently and does deal gently with us. What
a mercy then if we deal gently with other people. A gentle spirit
is a very pleasing spirit to observe, gentleness. And so the fruit of the spirit
is gentleness. Goodness. Goodness. Well, goodness
in our actions. Goodness in our speech. Goodness
in how we respond. Do we seek the goodness of people? Do we look for the good points? Or do we look for the bad points?
We've all got bad points. It's good if we can see the good
in one another. and rejoice in it, because we
can recognize that that goodness emanates from what God has done. Yes, the fruit of the Spirit
is goodness. And so we're told, and these
are they which are sown on good grounds, such as hear the word
and receive it. Bring forth fruit. The evidence
of receiving God's Word is fruitfulness. It is the great testimony of
the life of God in the soul to be fruitful. It's very clear.
If there's no fruit, there's no evidence of God's love and
mercy and grace toward us. Faith. Faith. The fruit of the
Spirit is faith. That means to believe in God,
to trust in God. Yes, to cast all our care upon
God. And you know, faith is given. God gives faith to believe. He gives faith to do those things
which are right. And we are told we walk by faith,
not by sight. Sometimes we want things very
tangible. that we can as it were grasp
and actually physically get hold of but my friends the things
of God are different we walk by faith and not by sight and
it's God that gives that faith and as we commented recently
on the 11th chapter in the Hebrews we have all those wonderful evidences
of all those saints of old how God gave them faith to trust
in God, to believe in God, to cast all their care upon God.
You see, God never failed them. God was with them, God strengthened
them, God encouraged them. What a mercy then it is for us
to realise this faith. And then he goes on and he says,
meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And then
just finally, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts the fruit of the Spirit very
clearly shows that we are not those who please ourselves but
we crucify the flesh that means we put to death those things
which are not good those things which are wrong we put to death
and Crucifixion is a most painful death naturally and spiritually. To put to death some things perhaps
which we are very fond of naturally is painful. But you see, what
is it? It's the evidence of God's work
in our heart. It's the evidence that the Word
of God has fallen to good ground and that we have, by the grace
of God, received it. And as we received it, there's
been that fruit bringing forth, not for our honour and glory,
but for the honour and glory of God. Because it's a lovely
sight to see believers walking in the fear of God and bearing
these spiritual fruits, which evidence so clearly that God
has loved them with everlasting love. And they are brothers and
sisters in the Lord. And there is, therefore, that
spiritual union with one another and the Saviour. What a mercy. Well, my friends, just a few
comments really tonight on this great subject. A very relevant
subject. Don't forget then, four types
of ground where the seed was sown. Only one type. was that where true blessing
occurred. And then the evidence of that
blessing was by the fruitfulness which was exhibited. Well, may
we truly humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and seek
that he may have all the honour and all the glory. Amen.