May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter eight, and we'll read verse eight. The
Gospel of Luke, chapter eight, and reading verse eight. he that hath ears to hear, let
him hear well we read together this evening
in this chapter what we term the parable of the sower and
I expect you know that of course this same parable is recorded
in Matthew and Mark and in this Gospel Luke. It's not in John. And there are some variations
in it, but basically it has exactly the same theme. And the theme
is that the seed, the Word of God, which is sown because the
Word tells us, now the parable is this, the seed is, the Word
of God, that is sown and it's divided really into four parts. Three parts are not profitable
and it's just the last part refers to which falls into good ground
and that produces a benefit. And it is very significant really
in this particular account, slightly different to the other two, but
it only refers in this account to the fruit being a hundredfold. That means really there's the
one, as it were, grain of seed sown into the ground and the
production is a hundredfold, a hundred grains. The other accounts
do say thirty and sixty and a hundred, but this gives us just one straight,
direct and hundredfold. And we can think of that naturally,
especially at this time of the year. As we see the harvest come
into fruition and you can see the grains of corn in the ears. And I think there are probably
very few with actually a hundred grains. I may be wrong, but a
hundred is a tremendous number to actually be produced from
just one single grain. The relevance, of course, is
this, that as the Word of God is sown, and sown in our hearts
that it may produce fruit a hundredfold. That means really a hundred good
effects, a hundred blessings in our lives. Now, the Word of
God is a wonderful blessing. And we are wonderfully privileged
to have the Word of God to be able to read and to hear preached. But these parables, this parable
of the sower, is really a very searching and a very important
one so that we consider our own spiritual lives alongside it. Because the three examples that
the Lord gives, He tells us, the sower went forth to sow,
and some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and
the fowls of the air devoured it. 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 sprung up with it and choked it. But other fell on
good ground and sprung up and bear fruit. and hundredfold,
and when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. We do read this statement on
a number of occasions, especially in the Revelation, when the Spirit
spoke to the seven churches. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. So that means that we're not
to come and sit under the preaching of the Gospel with deaf ears. The great blessing is that as
we hear the truth of God preached, we do hear it and we retain it. And well, the disciples, of course,
were told this parable and it was strange to them and they
didn't understand it. And therefore they said, what
might this parable be? They wanted to have it explained
to them. Well, wonderfully, the Lord,
of course, knew exactly what this parable was and exactly
what it represented and exactly what it meant. And so, therefore,
he was able and so gloriously willing to tell them what it
meant. And he says, first of all, those
by the wayside are they that hear. Well, all of us this evening,
we hear the word of God read. We hear the word of God preached
and we've all heard it a good number of times. a good number
of times, and as we just run through these three sections,
just to think how it refers to us in our spiritual life. And one thing is that we can
so easily find that our heart is prejudiced, and therefore
we don't receive God's Word, and that's a very sad and solemn
position to find ourselves in. Well, the Lord tells us here
in these parables, He says, Those for 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. Let us
be very aware that the devil does not want us to hear and
to retain the truth of God. He will do all he can to make
sure that we forget what we've heard. And perhaps we just pause
for a moment and think. Most of us have heard many, many
sermons. Many, many sermons. And yet how
very little of those sermons do we truly remember. Truly remember, we can just go
back, perhaps to last Sunday when Paul preached here. And
if you were asked, well now, write down please what Paul preached
about. And you would probably find it
a struggle. I hope not, but you may well
do. And some of you may not be able to write anything down.
He might have said, well, I've really forgotten everything that
was said. Well, you've just heard it, and
that was all. It didn't have any effect upon
you whatsoever. And so therefore, what happened? The devil came and took away
the word out of your hearts, lest you should believe and be
saved. You see, the devil doesn't want
you or me to listen He doesn't want us to believe the truth
of God, he doesn't want us to be saved, and therefore he does
all that he can to distract us and to cause us to quickly forget
that which was spoken. So there we have the first of
these four examples. The seed fell by the wayside,
and the devil came and took it away. Secondly, we're told, 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. Well, again it's a very relevant
description because there are people and sometimes people who
almost constantly say, oh that was a good sermon as they go
out the door and yet they get down the road and they've forgotten
what it was about. Really, it's just a mockery,
isn't it? You see, if we've received the
Word of God, we don't want to be like these and find that we
have no root. There's no substance. It's just
an act. We come and pretend to worship.
and then we go away and the trouble is sometimes you see there can
be prejudice in our minds and therefore the word becomes unprofitable
and it is not beneficial. The word's good, the seed's good,
it's good seed, but it hasn't had any good effect upon us. So, this description, and they
receive it with joy, and yet they have no root, and of course
I'm sure we realize, naturally, for corn to grow, it must have
a root. It won't just spring up and grow
with no root. It needs a root which goes down
into the ground. And it's that root which receives
nourishment from the soil. So if there's no root, that means
if there's no true religion in our life, if it's just a mere
acting, there's no true religion, then we have no root. And therefore,
it's there for a time, which for a while, believe, yes, while
it just sticks in our mind, we just remember, we say, oh, well,
yes, I can remember that. But when difficulties come into
our life, times of opposition, we forget. And the Word tells
us here, and in the time of temptation we fall away. That means we don't
remember. It hasn't really done us any
true good. The Lord has placed these parables
on records to encourage us to examine ourselves. We are to
examine ourselves. And we're not to place the blame
anywhere else. We're only to blame ourselves.
And I remember I've told you, I think before, years ago, I
was preaching and after the service, the deacon, I walked home with
him and he said to me now, he said, Stephen, if you If you
had to sit down after you stood up for five minutes because you'd
run out of what to say, he said, I wouldn't blame you. He said,
I'll blame myself. Well, that was a gracious statement,
wasn't it? He knew where the fault lay. It's very easy, isn't
it, to blame the preacher rather than blaming ourselves. And so
here we have this statement, which for a while believe, but
in time of temptation, they fall away. And then thirdly, 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. Perhaps this is the most relevant
statement today, because we live today in a very materialistic
world, a world which has many things to distract us, many things
to drive us away from the things of God, many things to occupy
our time, rather than allowing our hearts to be taken up with
godly things and true things. And so it's a very simple statement,
isn't it? We know what it would be like
if there is the corn, the good seed thrown amongst thorns. Thorns are very strong and rampant
and they grow up and therefore there's no room for the corn
to grow it's choked just the same in true religion or perhaps
I should say in false religion no room to grow it's choked with
all the things of time and yet you see how we forget to realise
the things of time vanish away they won't be here forever and
we won't live on this earth forever but our soul will live forever
and therefore how important and how relevant it is that we are
concerned about feeding that the good seed falls into our
heart and is prosperous and grows and lastly then the Lord speaks
and he says this but All the rest, but that on the good ground
are they which in an honest and good heart. And again, it's wonderful
if God gives you and me an honest and a good heart to not pretend
falsely about the things of God, just to try and impress people.
God looks at the heart. God looks at the heart. You and
I cannot look at other people's hearts, but God does. And he knows. Therefore, if we
do have an honest and good heart, because if we do. This is what the Lord says, having
heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. Again, that's a wonderful statement
really because sometimes we can very easily become impatient. We want things to occur now.
We want the blessing to occur now. We don't want to wait patiently
for it. God has a time in the lives of
all his people. And God has a perfect time. And
God has a time when his name will be honoured and glorified. God doesn't work to our timescale. God works to his timescale. And therefore it's a wonderful
blessing if God gives us patience. So therefore if we don't receive
perhaps the blessing that we think we ought to, We should then come to our Lord
and cast all our care upon Him and plead with Him that He will
come and that He will bless. And the Lord knows perhaps, or
the Lord does know, what needs to be accomplished in our lives. You see, we can easily think
that we're a perfect Christian and everything on our side of
the fence is good and right and proper, and therefore we should
receive the blessing. And why aren't we receiving the
blessing? It may be because we have a wrong attitude. It may
be because we're not examining ourselves. We're examining others. It's a great blessing therefore
if we see and understand and know the blessed work of the
Holy Spirit within us. It's a very humbling thing. to
be under the mighty hand of God. And God's hand is a mighty hand. And you and I won't be able to
overcome that. If the Lord's hand is upon us,
we need to realise it's there for a purpose and a benefit. And we should, as I've said already,
examine ourselves before God. to see the reason for it. There
will be a reason. It may not be evident initially. We may not want to see the reason.
But you know, God will, if we are his children, show us the
reason. He will bring us into that time
of correction. He will bring us into that time
of favour in his time. I said God has a perfect time. Now then, this word here, an
hundredfold. This is the word which really
fell upon my spirit. An hundredfold. An hundredfold. How far short we come, don't
we? Of being blessed in this way.
You know, we can very easily settle down with just very small
things. I'm not saying we should despise
very small things, but we should always realize we have a great
God. A great God who's able to do
far more exceedingly abundantly than we can ask or even think. And so may we find this seed
from God falling into our hearts and our hearts are prepared to
receive the word of God. God can and God does prepare
our hearts. What a mercy we have such a God
who is compassionate, He knows all about us. He knows our condition. He knows our situation. And yet
how difficult it is sometimes to be patient and to wait for
His time. The benefit of doing that is
that in His time, God's name will be lifted up and God's name
honoured and glorified. and central to that will be the
blessing and the union and the favour of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy it is to know that
we have such a God who is kind and gracious and merciful. Well, we have this testimony
here of a hundredfold. When the apostle wrote to the
Galatians you may remember he gave that list of fruitfulness
it's a very comprehensive list really he lists first of all
the works of the flesh and the works of the flesh don't produce
any spiritual benefit and the works of the flesh which he lists
are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like. So if anything has been missed
out from that list, it's concluded like this, and such like, of
the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God. That's a very straight statement,
isn't it? It's a very powerful statement. it's a very necessary
statement because I'm sure we all want to inherit the Kingdom
of God and therefore we want to be delivered from the works
of the flesh and now the Spirit directs us this way but He says
and it's not, notice, it's not the works of the Spirit it's
the fruit of the Spirit the fruit which comes forth from this seed
being sown in good ground the fruit and what a mercy it is
if you and I look into our lives and into our hearts to see what
fruit there is and we shouldn't settle down and say well I don't
think I'm very fruitful we should be very concerned if we're not
fruitful we should be concerned to be fruitful and so the Word
of God tells us here but the fruit of the Spirit is love love
to God and as we spoke this morning of course it's not that we loved
God but that He loved us And if therefore we have received
His love into our hearts, there will be then the exchange, the
result of our love towards Him. It will not be the other way
round, but it is a blessed evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, love. Love to the Saviour, love to
the brethren, love to the Church of God. Love is a very comprehensive
statement and how important it is that it is evident in our
lives. Love one to another and especially
love to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the fruit of
the Spirit is Joy. Joy. There is joy in believing. Because God gives us the blessed
ability to believe. He gives us faith to believe. And as we receive that, and as
we have the evidence of it in our hearts, there is that joy. That thankfulness to Almighty
God that he's blessed us with this wonderful favour. Joy. We don't have to go around with
a long face. Some people think that a long
face evidences godliness. Well, there's nothing in the
Word of God to encourage us in such a statement. It's what a
mercy when the Lord has blessed our soul so that we are joyful
in it because we have the wonderful evidence. The Lord God has looked
upon us. Joy. Spiritual joy. It's not the joy of a carnal
things. It's a spiritual joy. It's a
God given joy. The fruit of the spirit is peace,
peace. Well, we live in a world where
there's not much peace. We could almost say there isn't
any peace. But true peace is to be found in the things of
God. And surely true peace is found
when our eyes of faith are directed to the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And there, by faith, we behold
the Lamb of God suffering and dying on our behalf. There's the place of peace. Peace by His cross has Jesus
made. And that's a glorious place.
to be found. That's a blessed place to be
found. And it is indeed the fruit of
the Spirit. Peace. Not something which is
found naturally. You'll find, we find in the things
of time, we might think we're in a place of peace, but there's
something which will spoil that peace. but you see in the things
of God there is perfect peace and we might say it's an eternal
peace the fruit of the Spirit then is long-suffering long-suffering
as the seed fall into this good ground of our heart so that we're
long-suffering to one another God is long-suffering to us,
is he not? He hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserve. Are we therefore long-suffering
to one another? We read of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he was reviled, he reviled not again. It's not easy, you
know, when we're reviled. People say bitter things. hard
things, spiteful things. You know what a mercy it is to
be long-suffering? What is it? The fruit of the
Spirit. It means the good seed has fallen
into good ground and there is that growing which is fruitful
and showing forth the wonderful work of the Spirit in our hearts. The fruit of the Spirit then,
gentleness, gentleness. Some of us don't have a very
gentle nature, do we? We can perhaps have a hard-hearted
nature, perhaps a rebellious nature. What a blessing it is
then when God comes and makes us gentle in the things of God
towards one another. The things that we say, how easily
the tongue is an unruly member, James tells us. What a mercy
when the Lord gives us this spirit of gentleness. So as the good
seed has fallen into our hearts and we received it, And we desire
to truly be gentle in the way we act and the things that we
say. The fruit of the Spirit then
is goodness, not evil, goodness. To be found doing good, not evil. Seeing the good in one another. There's plenty of evil, isn't
there, in all of us? Well, if this seed from Almighty
God has sunk into good ground, this is one of the effects. Goodness. It's a great blessing,
isn't it? If God gives us this gift of
goodness. And then, faith. The fruit of the Spirit is faith. We read a lot about faith, don't
we? In the 11th chapter to the Hebrews, Paul lists faith given
to all those worthies. And they needed faith because
they had often very difficult consignments to carry out. And they needed faith in the
Lord that he would help them, that he would sustain them, that
he would go before them. Their confidence through faith
was in the Lord. Now what a mercy if that's so
today in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is faith. Again, it's God given faith. It's not something that we produce
ourselves. Indeed, as we read in the Ephesians,
the second chapter and the eighth verse, it's a familiar verse,
but very, very relevant. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. What a mercy then if God has
given us this fruit of faith. Faith to believe the Lord will
appear. Faith to be able to cast all
our care upon the Lord. Faith to trust Him for everything. Even when the future appears
to be dark. Perhaps the future appears to
be black. Perhaps there appears to be no way. Have faith in God. Have faith
in God. That's the wonderful evidence
of the fruit of the Spirit. What a mercy then to be able
to observe that the good seed has fallen into the good ground
of our heart and it's had and having a good effect in my spiritual
life. For the honour and glory of God,
not for self-gratification, not for pride, but to acknowledge
this is the blessing and gracious and glorious work of my Redeemer
in my soul." All the work, the blessedness, the fruit of the
Spirit is then faith. And then he says, the fruit of
the Spirit is meekness. Meekness. Well, it's really very
similar, isn't it, to gentleness. To be meek. You know, we read
of Moses, don't we? Moses was the most meek man. And you follow the life of Moses. You follow the difficulties he
had to face with the children of Israel. day after day, week
after week and yet you see he didn't retaliate he had a meek
spirit most meek what a blessing what was set forth the fruit
of the spirit in Moses life what a wonderful blessing to observe
that meekness and then temperance to be temperate in all things. That means to have a good balance,
not to be unbalanced in our attitude. It's the fruit of the Spirit,
temperance. God gives us a balance on what
a mercy it is. And then the Lord concludes this
verse with, against such there is no law. This is the life of
being fruitful in the things of God. But the fruit of the
Spirit is. Well, that list is so relevant. And then the Apostle goes on. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Well, I
expect you know what that means. Crucifixion of the flesh means
to put it to death. And crucifixion was and is the
most painful death. Therefore to crucify our flesh
is not an easy thing. It's a very difficult thing.
It's a very painful thing. It means self-sacrifice. It's
not easy, but it is a fruit of the Spirit. Because here it says,
and they that are Christ's have. It doesn't say, well, they may
be in the future, they may think about it. No, it doesn't say
that. And they that are Christ's. It's worth thinking about, isn't
it? They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. Well, what a blessing that is.
If God gives us grace, so to do. By nature, we don't crucify
the flesh. What a mercy if God gives us
this wonderful ability, so to do. Another fell on good ground and
sprang up and bear fruit a hundredfold. And then he says, if we live
in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Yes, there's a
walk in these things out. They're not just kept in our
minds. They're something we ought to do. They're things which are
done. if we live in the Spirit the
evidence of that is that we walk in the Spirit see how clear the
Word of God is how potent we might say it is how correct it
is and how direct it is and so he tells us finally in this fifth
chapter let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another,
envying one another. Let us not follow a false path. Let us follow a good path. Let us follow that which brings
forth the blessing of God and fruit in our spiritual lives. And so, the 15th verse of this
8th chapter, the Lord says, as He explains this to the disciples,
but That's on the good ground. The seed that falls on the good
ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard
the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. I'm sure our desire is that we
are a true follower of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. If we think of those examples
of spiritualness this evening, we will see how they were all
exemplified in the life of the Saviour. Everything there was
beautifully set before us. The Lord Jesus Christ followed
His Father's will. What He endured, no time can
tell. What He endured, for you and
me, if we are amongst his children, is a wonderful, wonderful blessing. And so may we be thankful to
God that he's given us this great and glorious example of himself
and that it's spelt out in the Word of God. And obviously, it
is important because it's recorded this Parable of the Sower these
three times so that we're not to just ignore it and think oh
well that's the Parable of the Sower yes it is the Parable of
the Sower but my friends it has a relevance to me it has a relevance
to each one of us here tonight may we therefore be truly concerned
that we are amongst a good ground hearer. And not amongst the other
three. We may be, but my friends, if
we are, may we be truly sorry and truly seek that we may be
healthy in the things of God. You know, we can sometimes fool
ourselves by thinking we are healthy, when in actual fact
we're not. Here we have set before us that
which is good and that which is right and surely our concern
is to be found living nearer and more like our Saviour, a
true disciple, not a false disciple, a true disciple. one that brings
honour and glory to Almighty God. Our lives are for that very
purpose, to bring honour and glory to God, and we won't bring
it by pleasing ourselves. And may we therefore be concerned
to follow the gracious precepts set before us in His Word, for
His honour and glory, and for the blessing of our own souls. another fell on good ground,
and sprang up, and bare fruit, and hundredfold. When he had
said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let
him