Well, let us turn to God's words,
turning back to the chapter that we were considering last Lord's
Day, Mark. The Gospel according to Saint
Mark, chapter 4. And I want to read the passage
from verse 26 through to 29. Mark 4, 26 through to 29. And he said, so is the kingdom
of God. If a man should cast seed into
the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear,
after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth immediately, he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest
is come. The parable of the blade, the
ear, and the full horn. Some of you might be familiar
with the letters of that godly man, John Newton. And some years
ago, the Banner of Truth did publish, as a little paperback,
a selection of his letters, principally from the work, Cardiphonia, but
also from other sources. And I would recommend Newton's
letters to you, full of what one might term good Christian
common sense, very practical letters. But the first three
letters in this book, this Banner of Truth publication, the letters
of John Newton, the first three letters are really an exposition
of these verses that I've just read. Grace in the blade, race
in the ear and the full corn in the ear is the subject matter
that good John Newton deals with in those letters. I would recommend
that book to you and certainly the reading of those particular
letters. Well last time of course we were
in this chapter we sought to say something initially with
regards to Christ's parabolic teachings. We looked at the words
of verses 11 and 12 in particular, where he speaks of the mystery
of the kingdom of God, and it's that that's being set before
us in the parables. And then last Lord's Day evening
we did consider that particular parable that's spoken of in the
passage from verse 1 to verse 20, the parable of the sower,
his seed and the soil. And we remember that the seed
is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. There is spiritual significance
in what the Lord is saying here even as he speaks of common everyday
things such as the sower and his seed. And here in the passage
before us today What is the result of that that is sown in the ground? How that there will in due time,
under God's good hand, be a rich harvest. It's the growth of the
seed then that is being spoken of, as we see in verse 28. The earth bringeth forth fruit
of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear. the growth of the seed, but really
it is the growth of grace that is being spoken of. The Thessalonians,
the Apostle Paul could say, your faith groweth exceedingly. If we have faith, saving faith,
it is something that is living and growing. And again we have
those words of Peter in 2 Peter 3.18, growing grace. He says,
the exhortation of the Apostle, grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here then we have that
growing of the seeds and the teaching of the parable, as I
say, really concerns the matter of the soul. Remember how James
says we are to receive with meekness the engrafted or the implanted
word, as it is, in the implanted word that is able to save the
soul. And here, first we have grace
in the blades, spoken of in the middle of verse 28. Grace in
the blades. And the first verse of the passage
that we're looking at, verse 26, he says, so is the kingdom
of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground. But before all else, of course,
that ground must be properly prepared. It must be ploughed
up, it must be furrowed. The prophet Jeremiah says, break
up your fallow ground. And so not among thorns. And we read that passage in Isaiah
28 and you will have observed and there at the end of that
portion in verse 24, the questions are put, does not the plowman
plow all day to sow? Does he open and break the clods
of his ground? When he has made plain the face
thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cumming?
It seems to be a reference to certain spices that would be
used in cooking. And then he speaks of the principal
wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place. The ploughman prepares the ground
that it might receive his seeds. And back in verse 14 of this
fourth chapter in Mark, we're told how the sower soweth the
word. I think it's in Luke at account
that it says that seed is the word of God. When the seed is sown it must
die and it must germinate in the ground in order that there might be growth and the
blades might be produced in the appointed time. Verse 28 earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself first the blade it says first
the blade but in order for that as i say there must be that germinating
of what was cast into into the ground and we have the words
again of the lord jesus in the course of his ministry In John
12, 24, verily, verily, says Christ, except the corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. All this dying then of the seed
that is cast into the ground there. In John 12, the Lord is
speaking of himself and his own death and the fruit of that death.
And then again in 1 Corinthians 15, the same figure. There at
verse 36, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. And in that chapter of course
he's speaking of the great doctrine of the resurrection. But this
is an interesting figure that is used several times then here
in Holy Scripture concerning that seed that is cast as it
were into the ground and it must die. before ever there can be
any real fruits. Well, we might ask the question
with regards to the spiritual significance of these things.
What is this dying? The lesson that's being taught
in this parable concerns growth in grace. But how is there any
grace in the first instance? Well, the Lord comes to us in
the first place, of course, with a message that will really bring
death into the soul. There's that ministration of
the law. And that law, Paul says, is the ministration of condemnation
and the ministration of death. And there the apostle Paul certainly
knew that in his own soul's experience. He was the Pharisees. He was the son of a Pharisee.
He lived the life of a Pharisee. He was the most religious man.
He knew the Lord of God. And yet, he never really experienced
anything of that true ministration of the Lord until the Lord took
that man in hand. And he says it there in Romans
7, 14, we know that the Lord is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under saying, oh how the law must come and there must
be that death that comes into the soul of the sinner. Again
it's Paul who writes there in Romans 3, what things so ever
the Lord it saith, it saith to them who are under the law. And those under the law then
they have brought in guilty every mouth he stopped. There is no
salvation in the Lord of God. It brings condemnation into the
soul of the sinner. Again, writing to the Galatians,
Paul can say, before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut
up, to the faith which would afterward be revealed. The point
we're making is simply that there must be this dying, the beginning
of the grace of God in the soul of the sinner. He's shut up,
as it were, to what he is. He feels the deadness of his
sins. He feels his complete and utter
inability. He feels his spiritual impotence. And we see it in the testimony
of the godly, so often in the book of Psalms, Psalm 88, for
example. And there at verse 8, I am shut
up and I cannot come forth. Or there is that ministration
of death, but then there is some evidence of spiritual life. And
how does it appear when it's first obliged? And we might say,
going back to the parable and the image that's set before us
here, that the beginning is barely discernible. The beginning is
barely discernible. And it's like that with us sometimes
when we contemplate how God has dealt with us, how God began
with us. I find comfort in those words
that we have in Job 8, 7, though thy beginning was small, yet
thy latter end shall greatly increase. Some who have remarkable
beginnings, great convictions of sin. You can think of the
experience of a man like John Bunyan if you've ever read His
Grace Avowing to the Chief of Sinners. But Bunyan was called
to do a particular work He was being prepared to write that
Christian classic, The Pilgrim's Progress. We're not all going
to have those sorts of experiences. Or John Newton, who we spoke
of at the beginning, and something of Newton's experience, as he
recalls it in those series of letters entitled Out of the Depths.
The Lord's dealings with that man were quite profound. But
often you see the beginning is small. But I am persuaded of
this, that at the beginning we will all be brought to feel something
of what we are as sinners. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
has come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The whole have no need of the
physician, but they let us see. The Lord will show us in something
of our sinful inability, the impossibility of us being able
to do anything to produce grace or faith in our own souls. And
yet, when it comes to it, that beginning so often is barely
discernible, hardly to be perceived at all. It is first, the blind. But then, in the second place,
we see that there is grace in the ear. This is the language
that we have here in the middle of verse 28. the earth being the fourth of
herself, first the blade, then the ear. And now the type of
seed will become much more apparent. Again, look at the language that
we have from the Apostle in that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
There in 1 Corinthians 15.37, Paul writes that which thou sowest,
Thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain. Give
my chance of wheat or some other grain. But God giveth it a body,
as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. For when the deer appears, now
we become aware of what that seed is. It's betrayed by what begins
to develop and what begins to grow. But how does it grow? Well,
there's the need, of course, naturally speaking, of summertime,
the sunshine, the long days, that season of the year when
there are no sharp frosts. And how do we need that in the
soul? There must come that period of summer into the soul of the
sinner. Oh yes, God might begin with
some real conviction of sin and some sense of our complete inability,
our total depravity becomes such a reality to us. But then when
summer comes, we sang in our opening hymn that lovely, all
those lovely verses of Charles Wesley concerning the dawning
of the dark. When we think of the words of
Malachi chapter 4, unto you that fear my name shall the son of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings. When we see the
sunshine as we do this morning, it's so comforting to us. But does it not serve to remind
us how we need to know what it is for Christ to arise with healing
in his beings? all that season when the Lord
dealt with us graciously. And remember the children of
Israel are reminded by the prophet Jeremiah, the voice of God there
in Jeremiah 2 verse 2, they are reminded of their beginnings
when they went after the war. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, says Jeremiah, saying, Go and cry in the ears
of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the
kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when they
went just after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown.
Israel was holding us unto the Lord and the firstfruits of his
increase, and so forth. For that time, the time of the
first love, When the Lord sends that letter to the church at
Ephesus at the beginning of Revelation chapter 2, how they are reminded
of that time they'd lost their first love. It is a precious
time. It is a precious time. When we know something of those
gracious smilings of the Lord, when first we come to experience
the wonders of the salvation of God. And we have it of course
in the In the lines of William Cooper's hymn 958, where is the
blessedness I do? When first I saw the Lord, where
is the sole refreshing view of Jesus and his Word? Are we sometimes
long after those days? But you see the seed, as it grows,
so there's the blade, then there's the ear, and then in the third
place here we have the fulcrum. the full corn in the ear at the end of this
28th verse and again in verse 29 it says but when the fruit
is brought forth or as the margin says when the fruit is ripe or
now the ear has filled out and the head has become much heavier
and the stalk that holds it begins to bow and to bend. And we've seen it, have we not,
sometimes in late summer when we see a field of corn or some
other grain. And obviously now it's very much
ripening for that time of harvest. Oh, what a time it is. These
various seasons that we have in the year, and all of them,
of course, appointed by God. We sang that hymn. It was a harvest hymn, I suppose,
really. I seconded him this morning, 1152. And it reminds us, of course, of the
promise of God after the universal flood, back in Genesis chapter
8. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and
heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. The Lord God, in His wisdom,
has appointed all the various seasons of the year again. We
see it there in the words of the psalmist in Psalm 74. Verse
16, the day is thine, the night also
is thine. Thou hast prepared the light
and the sun, Thou hast set all the borders of the earth. Thou
hast made summer and winter. And as there are seasons in nature,
so there are seasons in grace. There are seasons in grace. And
one's reminded of that quite remarkable sermon by J.C. Philpott, Entitled Winter for
Harvest. He bases it on rather obscure
words that we have, again in the book of the prophet Isaiah,
and there at the end of chapter 18. Verse five, before the harvest,
when the body's perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the
flower, ye shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks
and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left
together unto the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of
the earth and the fowl shall summer upon them, and all the
beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. Now those are the
words of the text and he takes those words and he spiritualizes
them in terms of the Lord's dealings with his people. And he makes
a point out that in grace the seasons of the soul are somewhat
different in order to what we observe in nature. Here of course
we We have the seasons, we have springtime, and then we have
summer and autumn, and then we come into the season of winter.
But what Mr. Philpott says there is that in
the soul there is another season, there's a winter that comes just
before harvest. Normally we would say it is spring
that leads into autumn and the harvest. But Philpott makes the
point from those verses in Isaiah 18 that there is another season
of winter that comes into the soul and it's part and parcel
of that that is necessary to the soul's growth in Christ. And what is that winter? Well,
it's when God deals with us in contrary ways. When God points,
as it were, some some nipping frost to come into the soul,
some trial, some trouble. Think of the words again of scripture
in Acts 14, 22, we must through much tribulation enter into the
kingdom of God. And how necessary that is in
order to this growth in grace, this maturing of the believer. We're going to conclude with
one of Newton's hymns this morning, the Hymn 295, that remarkable
hymn. I ask the Lord that I might grow
in faith and love and every grace, might more of his salvation know
and seek more earnestly his face. And I won't read it through,
but just to highlight some of the verses, he says here at verse
3, I hoped that in some favoured hour, that once he'd answer my
request, and by his love's constraining power, subdue my sins and give
me rest instead of this. He made me feel the hidden evils
of my heart, and let the angry powers of hell assault my soul
in every part. And in the last verse, these
inward trials I employ, from self and pride to set thee free,
and break thy schemes of earthly joy, that thou mayest seek thy
all in me. Lord, that's the point and purpose
of the cross. God ever brings us to the end
of ourselves and teaches us more and more our right to dependence
upon himself. It's growing in grace and growing
in the knowledge, the experimental knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. And when we think of a The field's
full of wheat and we see how the stalks are weighed down because
now we have the full corn in the ear. The board's to bow down. It's a picture, is it not, of
that real humility, how we need that, that real humility, the
end of self. And I'm looking more and more
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, there is then this growing
and this growing in grace. What does Paul say? Let us not
be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we
faint not. There in that passage that we
read at the end of Isaiah 28 we have the sowing, the reaping,
the threshing, the milling. What does it say at the very
end of that Chapter. Red corn is bruised, because
he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel
of his cart, nor bruise it with his horseman. This also cometh
forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working. Now think of those words at the
end, how that God is wonderful in his counsel, so excellent
in his working, too wise to be mistaken, too good to be unkind. Well, hear then in this parable
what he said before us. So is the kingdom of God, as
if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep
and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up,
he knows not how. For the earth bringeth fruit
of herself, first the blight and the ear, after that the full
corn and the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth immediately, he put it in the sickle, because the harvest
is come. The parable. What is the spiritual
lesson that's set before us here? Well, the old Puritans would
preach their sermons and often at the end of the sermon you'd
have a great list of uses. The uses, the practical application
of the Word of God. And as we come to close this
morning, I want to mention four truths concerning the doctrine
of the grace of God. Four truths concerning that grace
of God, that growth in grace that is set before us in this
passage. First of all, are we not here
reminded of the sovereignty of grace? The sovereignty of grace. Verse 28, the earth bringeth
forth fruits of herself. What does the plowman do? He
plows his field, the farmer sows his seeds, and then he has to
watch and wait and look to God to send the various seasons. It doesn't really bring forth
fruit of itself in a sense. It's what God himself has appointed
and ordained. It's nature. We think of the words again of
the Lord Jesus when he speaks to Nicodemus concerning the new
birth. In John 3, the wind, he says,
bloweth where he listeth. Hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. God is sovereign in nature, God
is sovereign in the earth, God is sovereign in the winds. And
so what do we read here? So is the kingdom of God. As
if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep,
and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up,
he knoweth not how. Oh, it's all divine sovereignty. It's God's power, the kingdom
of God. The kingdom of God is not in
word only, says Paul, but in power. Now we have to bow to
that, the sovereignty of God in grace, in salvation. With
regards to our natural state, our condition, which of you,
by taking thought, says Christ, can add one cubit to its in statute. We cannot make ourselves taller
or shorter. We are what we are. None can
keep alive his own soul, says the Psalmist. Divine sovereignty
in all these things. The Lord Jesus says to his own
disciples, without me ye can do nothing. And from me is thy
fruit found. or that we might be those who
recognize in our utter dependence upon that sovereign grace of
God. And thus God's grace is sovereign. So in the second place, that
grace is sure and it's certain. And Paul, Paul brings that out
right into those Corinthians who were so given to party spirits
And some wanted to identify with one person, some with another.
Where does Paul say, rebuking the bear in 1 Corinthians 3,
I have planted. Apollos watered, but God gave
the increase. Therefore neither he that planteth
is anything, neither he that watereth. But God's, that's give
us the increase. It is God's. And it is only God
who can give the increase he says so shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth he shall not return unto me void
but shall accomplish that that pleases me oh it's God's word
and God's word comes and God's word is a mighty word a powerful
word And how we should desire that that word might come and
take hold of us. As the prophet Zechariah said,
as God's mouthpiece again, my words and my statutes, which
I commanded my servants, the prophets, did they not take hold
of your fathers? Well, what do we know for God's
word to come in that fashion? And as he were to take hold,
to take hold of our minds, to be in the grip of that word of
God, to feel the power of that word of God. It is a mighty word
that we have here in the Gospel. And as I said last week how the
Lord is continually here emphasizing the importance of hearing. Verse 9, He said unto them, He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Again at verse 23, If any
man hath ears to hear, let him hear. Again at verse 24, Take
heed, watch it here or that God's word then might be that that
comes that sure that certain word of God again look at the
language of the prophet we've already referred to Zachariah
and there in Zachariah chapter 4 verse 6 this is the word of the
Lord unto Zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by
by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, who art thou, O great
mountain, before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth a headstone thereof, which shalt he, crying
grace, grace, unto it. In the context, the historical
context, it's speaking of the rebuilding of the temple of the
Lord in the days of the scribe Ezra, but this Zerubbabel is
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and he's speaking of Christ building
his spiritual kingdom. All the sureness, the certainty
then of the grace of God. Christ is the sea of the travel
of his soul and he shall be satisfied. But then the third truth that
we see here with regards to this grace of God and that is what
I sought to say something about at the beginning the smallness
of grass again if we had gone on there
in Zechariah we would have read those words in verse 10 of chapter
4 who hath despised the day of small things who hath despised
the day of small things let us not despise small things small
beginnings but that's what we have here in verse 28 The earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself first of life, then the ear,
after that the full corn in the ear. The beginning might be small,
insignificant we might also say, but what call we small things?
Or think of the language of the hymn writer there in 778, what
call we small things? Since whole cancelled sum, which
is greater than all things except those to come." If God is doing
a work of grace and it's a small beginning, do not despise Him.
If there's something of life in your soul, what a mercy! But
ask that the Lord would, as He has begun that work, so complete
that work. Being confident of this very
thing, Paul says to the Philippians, it is that if you've got a good
work in you, you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Here then we see the sovereignty
of grace. The certainty, the sureness of
the grace of God, the smallness sometimes of that grace, and
we like to despise it. And then finally, we might say
the slowness of grace. the slowness of grace. Thinking
of the figure that we have, if we turn to the epistle of James,
and there in chapter 5, in James chapter 5, look at the language
that we have at verse 7. He says, Be patient therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience
for until you receive the early and latter rain. Be also patient,
establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Or can we not understand this
coming of the Lord in terms of His coming in grace, His coming
in salvation? Those of you who say, well, I
sought the Lord for many years, I prayed to Him that He would
come and visit my soul and bless me with His salvation. and give
me an assurance of the forgiveness of sins, and yet still I feel
so unsure. I have so many doubts and fears. Ah, well, here is a lesson you
see. Behold the husbandman. That is the farmer, the arable
farmer, with his crops. He has long patience
until he receives the earlier letter And we are also to be
patient. Again, Paul says to the Hebrews,
you have need of patience. That after you have done the
will of God, you might receive the promises. Or to be those
then who would look and wait and call and cry. And that the
Lord might be pleased to come and grind those tokens of his
goodness, his blessing, his salvation. Even as we see it here, in this
parable of the growing seed, that growth in grace. Oh God's
grant that each of us might know that grace of God's and what
it is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Well God be pleased to bless
his truth to us today.