May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the gospel of Mark chapter four and we'll read verse
nine. The gospel of Mark chapter four
and reading verse nine. And he said unto them, He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear. This parable is recorded in Matthew,
Mark and Luke in very similar terms. It was clearly, and is
clearly, a very important consideration, this parable of the sower. It's a very simple illustration
the Lord used, and the descriptions that he gives of it are also
clear, and we need to be reminded of the importance of these truths
because as the lord said as he came to the end of that first
description he said these words he that has ears to hear let
him hear and that means if we have ears we all have natural
ears don't we we can hear naturally but the great important favor
and blessing is that god gives us spiritual ears And that means
if God gives us spiritual ears, then we hear and we understand
spiritual truths. It's not just a form of words. It's that which penetrates into
our heart and how very important it is. And so my words like this
enter in to our heart and have a real affect upon us. When the Apostle John was on
the Isle of Patmos when he was an old man, he was some 90 years
of age, and the Lord came and spoke to him, especially in the
second and third chapters in Revelation, of the message that
he was to give to the seven churches and there were seven messages
given and they were to be read to all the churches it wasn't
just as though one message was to be read to one church and
not the others they were all to be given to all the churches
so they were all to understand and in every case in every case
these words were written and he tells us this He that hath
an ear, let him hear. He that hath an ear, let him
hear. And he goes on to say, and this
is the sixth verse in the second chapter, and it was the first
letter that was written to the church at Ephesus. And the Lord
says, but he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. to him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the
paradise of God. So the Lord was graciously telling
those seven churches that they would receive spiritual food. And how necessary and important
that is for us today. We're humans. We need natural
food, don't we? And you know, sometimes we might
get very hungry. And perhaps if we haven't been
able to stop for any food during the day, we get to the evening,
we are very hungry and we really need some food. And we are probably quite outspoken
with the request that we are. hungry and we do need something
to eat. And also, of course, with regards
to drink, you know, how important it is that we have something
to satisfy our thirst. We don't drink all day. We can
become very thirsty and we need something to drink and we're
very satisfied with a very plain drink of the water of God allows
us to just drink water how satisfied we are so there is therefore
a natural need for us to eat and to drink well there is also
a spiritual need for us to eat and to drink and it's a great
blessing and favor if you and i are spiritually hungry you
know if you are if you're naturally hungry you get to the Just take
for instance a day, it could be several days, you'll be very
hungry then, but if it was just a day, say, and you came to the
end of the day and you were really hungry and somebody provided
you something to eat, you'd be very thankful I'm sure, and you'd
eat it with a very great pleasure. And I expect if the next day
came around and during the day you were perhaps asked, well,
Did you eat anything yesterday? You might say, well, I did, but
it was only at the end of the day and I was really hungry. And they might say, well, what
did you eat? And you know, you and I would be able to no doubt
describe it fairly accurately. And the same if we were really
thirsty. And again, someone might say
to you, well, did you drink anything yesterday? And you say, well,
yes, I did. And you might say, well, was
it a fancy drink or something good? You say, no, it was very
simple, but I so needed it. And I was so grateful. And I
was so thankful for that drink of water that I had. Well, now
we see the simplicity of the need you and I have in our natural
life. And yet, you know, we're only
satisfying that requirement, which will only be needed for
just a few years. But when we consider our spiritual
life, well, first of all, are we hungry for spiritual blessings? Secondly, are we thirsty for
spiritual drink? And you know, have we spiritual
ears? to hear the gospel being preached
and is it good news to us and it may be some time that we've
gone without hearing the gospel therefore we are we think perhaps
that we're hungry for it and we're thirsty for it and it's
good if we are but often you know you know we just take it
for granted and we eat and drink and What if it comes the next
day and perhaps somebody might say, well, how did you fare spiritually? Just take, for example, a Monday
after the Lord's Day. How did you fare yesterday? What
did you have to eat spiritually? Oh, you have to think, oh, just
hold a minute. I'm just trying to think what
it was. Come back to me, I think. and
what did you drink but what uh well yes i think i did drink
but uh well i just can't remember what it was at the moment you
see the difference you see the sad difference between natural
things and spiritual things and yet you see spiritual things
are those which are eternal which are a requirement our eternal
souls. Therefore what a blessing it
is when the Lord blesses us with that true spiritual hunger and
thirst so that we don't just partake and just forget or other
things take it away. Well that's really what this
parable of the psalm is about. It's describing to us the effect
or the lack of effect of the Word of God in our souls. And that's why the Lord tells
us, he begins and he says, hearken, it's for us to listen with our
spiritual ears. It's not for us to come and say,
well, here I am, I'm sat in chapel now, it's a nice comfortable
seat or wherever you may be at this time, sat at home, perhaps
in a nice arm chair, I'm just gonna settle down. and well it's
not too long to pass through and then before you know where
you are you've lost sight of what's being spoken and your
mind's wandered away and there you are perhaps until the end
of the service and if you were asked anything well what was
the message tonight and you might say oh well uh i just i just
can't remember well that's very sad and solemn situation because
you and I you see if that is so and we've been listening or
pretending to listen what it really means is solemnly before
God the Word of God has a word for that and it's this we are
classified as a hypocrite and that means we are pretending
to be what we're not and that is indeed a very very sad situation. And so the Lord therefore comes
and says, hearken, behold, behold, there went out a sower to sow. Well, the sower of course is
the servants of God and the seed is the glorious gospel, the glorious
gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, because we're told
the sower soweth the Word, the Gospel, the Word of God. And if we just stop for a moment
and think about that, it is a wonderful favour, a wonderful privilege
to be able to read God's Word and to hear God's Word preached.
There are in this world we might say billions of people who do
not have this privilege who've never had it who will never have
it and yet you see we are wonderfully blessed and wonderfully favored
and so when you and i come to stand before that judgment seat
on that great day of judgment none of us will have any excuse
to say well of course I never heard anything. I never knew
anything. I never heard about the gospel.
I never knew about the Bible. All of us are solemnly without
excuse. And yet what a privilege it is
for us to have the Word of God. It is really, this parable of
the psalm is a great warning to us. It's an example of all
those who did not hear the word of God for their soul's profit. And there are, of course, four
examples. Three of them did not profit. The last one did. And that was
in varying degrees. Nonetheless, we would be thankful
if we are amongst those who are classified as a good ground hearer. When I was pondering this today,
I was thinking of those words in a hymn written by Robert Murray
McShane. You may have heard of him. He
was a very eminent preacher in Scotland in the beginning of
the 19th century. That was in the 1820s and 30s
really. And he was a great preacher,
wonderfully blessed. He died when he was only 29 but
his ministry was blessed and he wrote some beautiful hymns
and one hymn starts like this and I just read the first verse
of that hymn because hopefully it describes what a true believer
is and what a true believer needs and this is what he says. I once
was a stranger to grace and to God, I knew not my danger, and
I felt not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, Jehovah saken you, and that means the
Lord our righteousness. Therefore it means the Lord my
righteousness was nothing to me. But you and I tonight, we
have to answer whether the Lord, our righteousness, the Lord,
my righteousness tonight is anything to us or whether it is not. No, really, our religion comes
down to our attitude to the Lord Jesus Christ. the Acts of the
Apostles there was that wonderful occasion when Stephen was up
before the important people and he gave a testimony of the things
of God, what they meant to him and how God had been with the
Lord's people and had blessed them indeed. And it's in the
seventh chapter of Acts and it's a long chapter and you can read
it because it's a very interesting account as he states what God
had done for his people and the great multitude there they listened
to what he had to say to them until he spoke about the Lord
Jesus Christ and when he spoke about that it was then that had
caused the Lord of Life to be crucified upon the cross at Calvary. And then what did they say? In
the 57th verse we read, then they cried out with a loud voice
and stopped their ears. They didn't hear. And stopped
their ears. They didn't want to hear. And
ran upon Him with one accord, and you may know they stoned
him to death. They did not want to hear about
the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not want to hear that
he had been crucified, and it was their sins that had caused
him to be crucified. Well, tonight, you know, are
we there? Are we crying out? Just like
those people crying out with a loud voice and stopping our
ears so that we don't hear we don't want to hear we don't want
to hear the good news of the gospel perhaps because it might
affect our lives it might affect the things that we want to do
we don't want to be fettered we don't want to be stopped therefore
we don't want to hear about a crucified saviour and it may be that we
therefore we turn off we turn off our ears we don't want to
listen we try and change our minds to bring into our heart
some poor things of the world well what tragic creatures we
are sometimes how sad it is But what a blessing it is that the
Holy Spirit comes upon us and applies his word to our very
hearts so we can indeed praise and thank God for what he's done. If he's opened our ears to hear
his word. David was a man of God. David tells us in the 40th Psalm
which starts off, I waited patiently for the Lord and it goes on and
in the sixth verse this is what David tells us this is God of
course speaking and David responding and he says sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire And then he says, my ears hast thou opened. Oh, what a blessing that is.
If you and I tonight can look back in our lives to
a time when God has opened our ears, that means that we have
heard the truth of God's word. and that we are condemned because
of what we've done and perhaps condemned because of what we
do and because we're condemned because of the way we listen
or the way we don't listen to God's Word. Yes, says David,
mine ears pass their open. He goes on to say, Burns offering
and sin offering hast thou not required. You see, it's not an
outward performance of religious actions. It is good to do right
things, but you see, in and of themselves, they are not saving. It's only when the Holy Spirit
opens our ears to hear his word when those ears are opened, we
stand, you know, condemned before a holy God. And what's the effect? Well, my friends, the effect
is very plain, and it's very unmistakable. This blessed work
of the Spirit, because what does it do? It results in our heart
and in our life, Yes, it does. And what does it show us? Well,
it makes this effect. Sin, which perhaps we weren't
concerned about. Sin will be truly hated. Be truly mourned over. We'll
be sorry for it. We will endeavor to resist it. And we will endeavor to renounce
it. This is the evidence for the
blessed work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in our souls. And not only so then, not only
will it affect us in that way, but the blessed Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, will be truly loved because of his love toward
us. As John says, not that we loved
God, but because he loved us. Yes, that's the gracious and
blessed evidence of life. And may we know it, may we rejoice
in it. It is so essential. These things are not just theory. They're those things which you
and I need of necessity. And so to have the wonderful
blessing of Christ revealed, then you see holiness. holiness of God will show itself
to us. We may have treated God just
as one of ourselves. We may have treated God as just
an ordinary person, instead of recognizing He is. And it will
always be a holy, holy, holy Lord God. Yes, the holiness will
show itself in all our life in this way. in humility, in spiritual
mindedness, patience, meekness and love. There will be something
that can be seen. That change will be observable. The work of the Holy Spirit cannot
be hidden because it's God's work. And what a blessing therefore
if you and I tonight have been blessed with those spiritual
ears to hear the Lord. And he said unto them, he that
hath ears to hear, let him hear. And so the Lord goes through the examples
in this parable very simply. He tells us, when there's one
that heareth the word of the kingdom, and understands it not. Then comes the wicked one and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. Yes, you see,
the devil comes. That which we may have heard,
you see, it's snatched away. And that's why we don't remember
it. It's had no real effect upon us. We may have sat and listened. We may have given the impression
that we were listening, but in actual fact, we weren't. You
know, our heart was in a different place. Our ears were not listening. We did not hear. Sometimes we
may turn off because we want to. Sometimes
the devil comes and turns us off because he wants us not to
listen. You know, we need much grace
in these situations to resist the devil. Don't forget the devil's
always active, always there to turn us away. And especially
when Christ and him crucified, spoken of. The devil hates that,
he can't stand it, because he knows that it was through the
glorious death of the Saviour, and when he rose again he was
a defeated foe. We will bless God for it, for
the wonderful truth, and then come with the wicked one and
catch you the way, that which was sown in his heart. Don't think that you and I have
got strength enough to withstand the devil. We need God to enable
us to remember the great truths of God. and anon with joy receiveth it. You know, you may hear people
come and say, oh, that was a good sermon this evening, or that
was a good sermon this morning. But you know, just weasel words. It's not true, really. Because
come tomorrow, they've completely forgotten what it was all about. And the Lord gives the reason
why that is. a very solemn reason. Yet hath
he no root in himself, but dureth for a while. But when tribulation
or persecution ariseth, when trouble comes or difficulties,
because of the word, by and by he is offended. Yes, it doesn't really have that
good and gracious effect. No, it's left them really unaffected. Sad, isn't it? And so they have
no root. And then thirdly, he also that
received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and
the care and then he gives the reasons and the care of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he
becometh unfruitful. No fruit, you see. So many things
rush in. So many things occupy our thoughts. There's no true fruit. There's no true blessing emanating
from the Word of God. We heard it. It's only with our
natural ear. We didn't hear it with our spiritual
ear. How sad that is. But thankfully
then he says this, but he that receiveth seed into the
good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it. It enters into our hearts. It
abides there. It's from almighty God. And the
effect of that is to make us fruitful in the things of God. Yes, and there's differences
of fruitfulness and the law tells us the psalm 100 fold, the psalm
60 and the psalm 30, but there has been that good and wonderful
and gracious effect of the hearing of the word. And we must come
back to this great truth that the apostle or rather the preacher
Robert Murray McShane says when he tells us, I once was a stranger
to grace and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Well, God knows whether you and
I are there tonight, whether you and I look back in our lives
and say, yes, I was there, but by the grace of God, now i am
what i am and i can testify of his love and his mercy to me
and so in those days those friends spoke in rapture of christ on
the tree jehovah said kidnew was nothing to me but oh bless
god tonight if when christ and him crucified is preached when
Christ and his glorious sacrifice is proclaimed our hearts are
drawn up to him in love and we praise and glorify him for what
he's done for us for giving us ears to hear that we've heard
the glorious truth of the gospel and we've rejoiced in it and
it's had a gracious and blessed and we might say eternal effect
upon us because it would have done if Christ and him crucified
is now precious to us it's because God has brought about a glorious
change a change which cannot be reversed and that change which
through his grace will bring us at last safe home to glory
will give us great cause to praise God from whom all blessings flow. Amen.