Let us turn to God's Word in
Mark chapter 4 and reading again at verses 26 to 29. Mark chapter 4 verses 26 to 29. And he said, 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. 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. Here we have another of Christ's
parables and it is the parable of the growing seed. Now last Lord's Day evening we
were considering another parable, the same parable that's recorded
here in the earlier part of this fourth chapter of Mark, but we
considered the account as it's given there in Luke chapter 8
verses 11 to 15. parable of the sower and his
seeds and we considered something of that parable in terms of the
gospel seed bed, the gospel seed bed, where Christ speaks of the
various types of ground, the various types of soil that receive
that seed. Remember how Christ, as he interprets
the parable, says, now the parable is this, the seed is the words
of God. And we remark now that with the
parables the important thing is that we see the particular
truth that Christ is bringing forth. We're not to lose ourselves
in the detail. There's some significance, there's
some instruction in the detail of the parables, but we're to
understand the general thrust of what Christ is saying in this
form of teaching. And I remarked last time that
with that parable of the sower and his seed, The truth that
stands forth is the importance of a right hearing of the Word
of God. And we have the context here.
It is reckoned that Luke is the one who sets forth the events
of Christ's life in a chronological order, more so than the other
evangelists in the other Gospels. Remember how in that preamble
to Theophilus he speaks of setting forth these things in order.
There is a certain order. And there in Luke 8, remember
the opening words of the chapter, it came to pass afterward that
he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing
the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. Here is Christ exercising
his ministry as that preacher sent from God, that great prophet.
He is preaching and showing the glad tidings, the gospel. That's what glad tidings is,
really, it's good news. The glad tidings of the kingdom
of God. And we see quite clearly there
in Luke's account that there is a certain emphasis being placed
upon the importance of a right hearing of that message. That's
the point of the parable of the sower. In verse 8 there, he cried,
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Again, remember verse
18, take heed therefore how you hear. All the importance of hearing,
and yet again in verse 21, he says, My mother and my brethren
are these which hear the word of God. Oh friends, how necessary
it is then that we be those who are careful hearers, spiritual
hearers, faithful hearers, fruitful hearers of the words of God. Well, those were some of the
things that we were considering last Lord's Day evening, but
I thought we would continue the theme in a sense tonight by turning
now to another parable And the particular truth that stands
before us in these words that we've just read in Mark's account,
this that follows on the parable of the sower, here in verses
26 to 29, we have the parable of the growing seed. And what
does it set before us? Is it not that very simple basic
truth of the necessity of growth? Growth in grace. Growth in grace. Look at verse
28. The earth bringeth forth fruit
of herself, first the blind, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear. Here is growth. And with those
who hear the word of God there is to be a growing. Grow in grace. and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ to whom be glory now and forever says
Peter. We are to grow. When Paul writes
to the church of the Thessalonians there in his second epistle in
chapter 1 and verse 3 he can say to them your faith groweth
exceedingly or do we not stand in in needs of growth, increase
of faith. The disciples on one occasion
said to Christ in the Gospel, Lord increase our faith. There
needs to be that growth in grace. Well let us as we turn to these
words in verses 26 to 29 consider the various aspects of this growth,
this growth in grace. In terms of the figure that Christ
uses in the parable. Verse 28, for the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear. Three aspects to this particular
growth. First the blade, first the blade. And now, when we think of this
parable and the figure behind it, the beginning is barely discernible. there's hardly anything to be
seen. We know that first of all the field must be ploughed and
furrowed and prepared in order that the casting of the seed
might prove to be a fruitful casting. In the parable of the
sower we see that there were those different types of soil,
some fell by the wayside, some fell on stony ground, some fell
among thorns, some of it fell on good ground, the good ground
was that ground that was thoroughly prepared to receive the good
seeds. And so here you see, verse 26
he said so is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed
into the ground that ground that has been properly prepared there
is to that breaking up of the ground the prophet Jeremiah says break
up your fallow ground sow not among thorns or the breaking
up of that ground either sow a is to sow the word into ground
that is prepared. Our hearts, which by nature of
course are such hard hearts, how the hard heart needs to be
broken in order that it might receive the good seed of the
gospel, the good seed of the word of God. There is to be that
ministry then, that ministry of the law of God, that that
breaks the sin. that brings conviction into his
soul we're told by the Apostle in Romans chapter 5 concerning
that law that the law entered that the offense might abound
for the law comes you see to show us what we are comes to
show us our sins in the mirror of that Holy Lord of God that
law which is but a revelation of God in all His holiness and
all His righteousness and all His justice and man who is created
in the image and the likeness of God and when we come to that
Lord of God Lord does it not cause us to see how far we've
fallen short of the glory of God We know, says Paul, that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. I am carnal. He feels himself to be a sinner.
This man who was once so self-righteous, a man when he was a Pharisee,
sold on the sin he was. sold unto sin, utterly, completely
undone. That's the ministry of the Lord.
He breaks up the brown, as it were. Breaks up the hard heart
of the sinner. Causes the sinner to be speechless.
He has nothing to say, nothing to plead. He's undone. What thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, says Paul. And all the world become guilty.
before God, for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. How necessary this is, you see. And this is part and parcel of
that ministry of God in the soul of the sinner. That word that
is to be broadcast that word that is to be sowed, the sower
soweth the word it's the word of God and the word of God is
law and gospel aren't those the two principal parts that we find
when we come to Holy Scripture there's law and there's gospel
and how the law is made to serve the gospel and he does serve
the gospel the sinner has to be brought to the end of himself
The seed must die. You must germinate in order to
produce the blade. That's so, is it not, in nature
when the sower sows his seed it enters into the soil and it
appears to die. But it's germinating. And then
in due time the blade will appear. Think of the words again of the
Lord Jesus himself in John chapter 12, except that corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abides alone, but if it die
it bringeth forth much fruit, says Christ. This is a figure
that we have repeated several times when the Apostle is writing
to the Corinthians there in that 15th chapter of the first epistle,
again he speaks of that which is so, which must die. In verse 36 of that chapter he
says, "...for that which thou sowest is not quickened, except
it die." Strange! They must come into the soul
of that person in whom God's good Word has been sown, there
must come death in the soul. There must be that sense of complete
and utter inability to learn the sad truth concerning ourselves. Before faith comes, we are kept
under the law, are we not? Shut up to the faith which should
thereafter be reveal. This is the beginning of the
work. The beginning of that work of God in the soul of a man.
And in some ways the beginning seems to be a small beginning.
What evidence is there of any life here? All the strange working
of God and the spirit of God in the heart of a man. And yet,
this is a beginning. When we think of the farmer's
field and the ground has been thoroughly prepared and the seed
has been sown and we look And you can barely see life, and
then the blade begins to appear. That's the beginning. But then
that is only the beginning, because there's another stage that we
read off here, in this 28th verse. First the blade, it says, then
the ear. Then the ear. Now, how important
this is, because The type of seed that had been sown in that
field now becomes very apparent. When the ear appears we know.
Is it wheat? Is it barley? What sort of seed
was it that was sown in the field? Again we can think of the words
of the apostle there in 1 Corinthians 15 Verse 37, we referred just now
to verse 36. See what follows, he says in
verse 36, Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened,
except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but their grime. It may chance of wheat. or of some other grain, but God
giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own
body." It's when the ear appears now that it becomes so evident
as to just what it was that was sown in that field. And so too
in the experience of that person that God is dealing with. But
what is necessary? What is necessary here? The work
begins, I say, with the breaking up of the soil. There must be
that preparation, there must be that ministry of the law. But there must also, of course,
be that ministry of the gospel. And when we think of the figure
behind the parable here, what is it that's so necessary for
the ear to begin to appear? Why there's a need of sunshine.
or the precious warmth of the sun. And think of the soul, that
time in the soul when it's summertime, when the days are long days,
and when there's no frost. It's a precious time, is it not?
When the blade now develops and it becomes apparent, that that
is transpiring. unto the good and gracious hand
of God think of those words in Malachi that lovely verse Malachi
4 verse 2 unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings healing in his bleeds oh in the
son of righteousness that's the Lord Jesus Christ when he shines
into his soul, when God is pleased to lift up the light of his countenance
upon the soul. Oh, what growth! What a precious
season it is! That beginning you see. Not the
first beginning, but it's when things become more evident. And
often times we might sing those lines of the hymn writer William
Cooper, how true they are. Where is the blessedness I know,
when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing
view of Jesus and his works? A precious time, is it not? When
it is summertime in the soul, our beginnings. And the scripture
bears us out in that. Remember God's word through His
servant, the Prophet Jeremiah, there in the second chapter of
Jeremiah's book. And the second verse, this is
the word of the Lord, as we see from the opening words of the
chapter. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, 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 thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in
a land that was not sown, Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and
the first fruits of his increase and so on." All that time of
youth in the soul, that beginning, when it becomes so evident that
this is the work of God that is transpiring, first of life,
then the ear. That is the time of first love,
that's the rebuke that is given to the church at Ephesus, there
in Revelation chapter 2, God says to them, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the
firstfruits, the beginnings. But then you see there's a further
development spoken of in the text. It's first the blade, then
the ear. After that, the fulcrum. The fulcrum in the ear. At the end of verse 29 we see, or
rather the beginning of verse 29, the fruit is brought forth. Or as the margin says, the fruit
is ripe. When the fruit is ripe, immediately
he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." This is
the whole purpose of the exercise, the sowing of the seeds, that
they might come that time, the harvest, when the corn can be
gathered in. But here in the 28th verse we
have this figure, the full corn, the full corn in the ear. Here now the ear is filled up,
it's filled up. And what is the evidence of that? Well, the farmer, the arable
farmer, he knows what he's about and he knows from the color of
the crop and he looks and he sees certain things, he sees
the head is full now. Why? The head is so much heavier
and it begins to show its weight and the stalk begins to bow and
to bend. And can we not bring that figure
over to that that is transpiring in the soul of that man in whom
God is doing his own gracious work? It's a humbling experience
you see. Oh, the man you see, now he bows,
he bends. Just as that scorn will bend
to the blowing wind, so this man is susceptible to the movement
of God, and the ways of God, and the works of the Spirit of
God. He's susceptible to all of these things. And now we have
to recognize, of course, that God in His wisdom has appointed
every season of the year, in order that the corn might be
brought to its fruition in this fashion. It's not just summertime,
there is summertime. There is a summertime in the
soul, but there are other seasons besides the summer. There's also that season which
we're in now, that season which we call winter, and all of these,
of course, are under God's hand, under God's sovereign hand. and
how the psalmist speaks of that, recognizes that 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 there must be these different
seasons in order that there might be that full crop in the appointed
time of harvest. These things cannot be avoided,
and God has given His word. He gave that great word of promise,
of course, back in Genesis chapter 8 after that dreadful flood and
the destruction of the old world. In the days of Noah, we were
thinking of Noah this morning, and how God preserved those eight,
then we shut up into the ark. But after that, God gives promise,
does He not? When the dry land appears, and
they depart out of the ark. And we have that kind word in
Genesis 8.22, while the earth remains. See time and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. shall not cease. This is what God has appointed.
There must be those various seasons in order that the earth might
be fruitful and so it is also with regards to the experience
of those whom God is dealing with in order that there might
be that proper, that right growth in grace. There's that a remarkable sermon. It is a remarkable sermon. It's
one of the most remarkable sermons ever preached. Certainly one
of the most remarkable sermons I've ever read and I would imagine
I've read a goodly number of sermons. I'm thinking of that
sermon of Mr. Philpotts on Isaiah 18 and verses
5 and 6. It's his famous sermon, one of
his most famous sermons and he bears that title, Winter of Four
Harvests. Winter afore Harvest, but it
has a subtitle. The Souls Grows in Grace is the
subtitle. But the title is Winter afore
Harvest. It's a strange text. And I know
some would say that the exegesis of the verse, the interpretation
of the verse, they say, is not really sound. It's not a sound interpretation
and yet whilst one might in a measure acknowledge that criticism, yet
the truth that he brings out in the sermon is most profound. The words are there in Isaiah
18, for before the harvest, before the harvest, before the harvest,
when the body is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, He 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 fowls shall summer upon them, and all the
beasts of the earth shall winter upon them." Now the point that
is made in the sermon is this, that in nature the normal order
of events of course is that we have springtime, and then the summer, and then
we come to the harvest. And then after the harvest, the
winter season. And then spring comes again.
That's the order in nature. The springtime, the summer, the
autumn, the harvest time, and the winter. But what he says
in that particular sermon is that in grace, the season of
Winter comes in before the harvest. Winter before harvest. A little winter season, you see,
which could be unexpected. It's a different order when we
think of the way in which God is dealing with his people. Now,
why so? Well, there is a need. There's
a need for that winter. There's a need for those nipping
frost sometimes. when it comes to the experiences
of the people of God. We must, through much tribulation,
enter into the kingdom of God, says the Apostle. To have a right
entrance, there must be seasons of trials and troubles and tribulations,
difficulties in the way, the trying of faith, you see. And
all that trying of faith in order to the growing in grace, to the
growth of faith itself. Now, I did wonder whether we
should sing our concluding hymn. I can never quite work out with
this remarkable hymn of John Newton's whether it is altogether
suitable for the public worship of God. It's certainly a hymn
worth our careful reading and pondering and meditating upon.
It's a hymn that speaks to us clearly of growth in grace. In 295, and you're familiar I'm sure with
the words of the 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. But look at what he says, in verses 3 and 4, I hoped that
in some favoured hour at once he'd answer my request and by
his love's constraining power subdue my sins and give me rest. That's the sort of growth you
see he wants. He wants God to come and so favour his soul and
so constrain him by his grace that all his sins might be subdued
that there might be that crucifying of the deeds of the body. This
is what he wants. This is what he expects God to
do. This is a way in which he longs that God will answer his
prayer for growth. I ask the Lord that I might grow.
Verse 4, instead of this. 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. That's winter. That's the winter
you see. We will sing the hymn presently,
if the Lord will. But that's how God deals, is
He not? That's how God deals with His people, to make them
grow, that there might be ultimately that full corn in the ear, and
then the fruit is brought forth. There's real growth in growth.
And we're not to be weary, friends, in this. Let us not be weary
in well-doing. We shall reap in due season if
we faint not. We're not to faint. In the midst
of the trials that God brings across our path, we're not to
faint. We bring forth fruit with patience,
remember. That's what we read of that good
ground hearer in Luke's account, is it not? They bring forth fruit
with patience, with endurance. How are they fruitful? They are
fruitful because God deals with them in contrary ways. What does
Christ say there in John 15 concerning the vine and the branches? Every
branch that bears a fruit he purges it, that he might bring
forth more fruit. Change in the figure you see,
think of a vine. Here of course we have to think of the crops
sown in the field. be it wheat, be it barley, whatever
crop and the husbandman of course is looking for his harvest but
think of the vine dresser and he wants to make his vine a fruitful
vine, what does he do? I'm told that the best way to
make the vine fruitful is to be ruthless and to cut it back
and to cut it back and to cut it back every branch that beareth
fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more for all God's
cutting ways, God's ways that are so contrary to his people
and yet so necessary in order to growth in grace. Here then
we have these three stages set before us the growing seed, the
precious truth of growth in grace. But as we conclude I just want
to mention some four particular truths that we can deduce from
this particular parable. And first of all, what we see
here, of course, is the sovereignty of God in grace. The sovereignty
of God in grace. Verse 28. The earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself, he says. The earth bringeth forth fruit
of herself. Does it not remind us of those
words of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 3 concerning the new
birth? And there Christ uses the figure
of the wind and he says the wind bloweth where it listeth and
thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it
cometh nor whither it goeth. How those circuits are mysterious
and they are sovereign. Man cannot control them. And so here you see, the earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself. It's not what the husbandman
does, it's what God himself has appointed. Verse 26, 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 seeds should
spring and grow up, He knoweth not how." It's a sovereignty of God. It's
a sovereignty of God. And it's a sovereignty of God
in the soul of any man, of every man. The Lord Jesus says, which
of you by taking thought can add one cubic to His statue? We can't make ourselves taller
or shorter. We can't keep ourselves alive,
none can keep alive his own soul, says the Psalmist, or the sovereignty
of God ingraciously. Christ says, without me ye can
do nothing. Complete dependence, utter dependence
upon the grace of God. If we're going to know anything
of God's It must all come from Him. A man can receive nothing
except it be given him from heaven. And that's true at every stage
of our growth in Christ. We cannot make ourselves grow
naturally. We cannot make ourselves grow
spiritually. From me is thy fruit found is
the language of Scripture. It all comes from God. And we
have to learn that our utter dependence upon the sovereignty
of God in grace, but also another precious truth here is the sureness,
oh the sureness of God in His grace. Paul says, I have planted,
Apollos watered, but God gave us the increase. Neither he that planteth his anything It's all of God, and it's all
by and through the sovereign grace of God. It's the sure and
certain grace of God. "...much as not who plants or
who waters, all the increase must come from God, and from
God alone." And what does God say? "...so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void,
that shall prosper in that whereto I shall send it." It's God who
makes His words to prosper, makes His word to be such a fruitful
word in the souls of His people. Again, we have the word of Zachariah
the prophet. He says this, My words and My
statutes which I commanded My servants, the prophets, did they
not take hold of your fathers? how God makes His Word, you see,
to take hold. And that's what we should desire,
is it not? That God would so cause His Word to take hold of
us, and to take hold of our hearts, and to take hold of our lives.
Again, words in that same prophet, Zechariah chapter 4, The last but one book in the
Old Testament Scriptures, the book of the Prophet Zachariah,
chapter 4, verse 6. This is the word of
the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Do art thou, O great
mountain, before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain, And
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, scrying,
Grace, Grace unto me. All the sureness, the certainty
of the ways of God with regards to his grace. He is sovereign
in grace. And that work of grace, because
of God's sovereignty, is so sure a work, he cannot be frustrated.
The work that God begins is not an aborted work, but God accomplishes
that that He commences. But then we also have to recognize
sometimes the smallness, the smallness of that work of grace.
Do I despise the day of small things? asks the Prophet. Oh,
we're not to despise small things. What call we small things? Sins hold cancelled some. It
is greater than all things except things to come, says the hymn
writer. We're not to despise small things. We live in a day
of small things. Don't despise it. It might be small, but is
the work real? That's the vital question, is
it not? Reality. The real work of God. The real work of God's grace.
As I said, At the beginning, you see, things are barely discernible. First of light. And yet, there
has to be a beginning. There must be a beginning. If
there's no beginning, there can be no middle and no end. How
important is a beginning? How important is a right beginning?
As I said, that's a vital thing, a real beginning. And that is
the work of God. God must do the work. Now let
us not despise small things, but let us look to God that small
things might yet become greater things. And not only are we to
be careful that we despise not the small work, we're also to
recognize that sometimes God's ways, as far as we're concerned,
are slow. The work is a slow work. And
we are to be patient therefore, and we are to be observant, like
the husbandman. James speaks of that husbandman,
does he not? There in the last chapter of
his general epistle, verse 7 of chapter 5, 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 it. until you receive the early and
latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish
your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Ought to be patient you see. That's precious grace of the
Holy Spirit Himself that He would work patience in our hearts to
be those who are prepared to wait upon the Lord. And yet,
as we wait, not to be passive, but to have this blessed confidence
in our hearts, that he which hath begun a good work will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. What God begins, as I said, is
not aborted. God accomplishes his own gracious
purpose. He fulfills the end that he himself
has decreed. Dear we are, friends, we are
to desire that we might know something of what it is to grow
and to grow in grace. And what is that growth in grace?
It's growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. It's learning more of Him. It's
learning more of our complete and utter dependence upon Him.
It's not growing in self-confidence. It's not growing in self-righteousness. It's growing in that realization.
that Christ Himself is the only Saviour and Christ is a great
Saviour and we want to know more of Him, we want to plumb something
of the depths of that grace of God demonstrated in the gift
of His only begotten and His well-beloved Son. Oh God grant
then that we might know what it is to have this parable of
Christ fulfilled, accomplished in our souls to be those who
do indeed grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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 for the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself first of light 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. Amen.