Alright, let's turn to Mark chapter
4. Mark chapter 4, and our text is going to be verses 1 through
20, but I want to open up with the first 9 verses. First 9 verses,
so Mark 4 verses 1 through 9. And Christ began again to teach by
the seaside. And there was gathered unto him
a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat
in the sea. And the whole multitude was by
the sea on the land. And he taught them many things
by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine. Now here's what
this mixed multitude heard. This is exactly what they heard. This is how Christ spoke it to
them. Verses three through nine. Harken,
behold, there went out a sower to sow. And it came to pass,
as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the
air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground,
where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up,
because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was
scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And
some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it,
and it yielded no fruit. and other fell on good ground,
and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased, and brought
forth some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said
unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." So Christ
here is speaking to, he's preaching to a mixed multitude of people. It's a great multitude of many
people of Jews and likely even of Gentiles that were there to
hear him and Matthew tells us that it was on the same day,
on the same day as what we were looking at last week where we
saw how many were coming to Christ for all sorts of reasons so that
this is the same day in which Christ had to get into a ship
earlier that day and push out a little ways because so many
people were just coming upon him and thronging him and just
trying to touch him that they might be healed. They just wanted
to get to him that they might be healed. This is that same
day where Christ cast out a demon from a possessed man and then
was accused by the Pharisees that he did that by an unclean
spirit himself. And this is that same day when
his family appeared at the house where he was teaching, in the
house, wanting to see him and take him away because they were
concerned that he was overreaching himself, that he wasn't getting
enough rest and wasn't eating enough and taking care of himself,
that it was overwhelming to him. But now we read that he goes
out again to the seaside. Again, note in verse 1 there,
and he began again to teach by the seaside, no doubt being wearied
from a long day, and yet, even though I'm sure he was wearied
in the flesh, he knew that his ministry here on earth was brief,
it was short, there wasn't much time, and so he pushed himself
even further and preached to them even more. He spoke to them
in parables. It says in verse 2, and he taught
them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine. And that's what we find. Christ
is always preaching and always speaking according to what the
Father was revealing to him. He said in John 7, 16, my doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me. So we're going to look at
this parable today, and it's as relevant today as it was then. And what our Lord is teaching
here, one of the things that we see in the Lord speaking in
parables, and this parable in particular, is that there's many,
there's a multitude of people, many people that hear the gospel,
and yet it doesn't profit them one bit. There's many that hear,
even those that profess to believe in Christ, even profess to have
faith in Christ, and it doesn't profit them at all. They are yet in their sins, they're
unregenerate, they're lost, and they perish under the wrath of
God, even though they were sitting and hearing the gospel of Christ. Our title is In His Doctrine,
and we'll just have two divisions. First, we're going to look at
why in parables. Why did the Lord speak in parables?
And then we'll look at this parable of the sower. So why in parables? Look in Mark 4, verse 10. 10 through 13. And when he was alone, they that
were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And
he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without,
all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may
see, and not perceive. He's doing this for this reason.
He's speaking of parables that seeing they may see, and not
perceive, and hearing they may hear, and not understand, lest
at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven
them. And he said unto them, Know ye
not this parable? And how then will you know all
parables? So these disciples here are representative
of all disciples throughout the ages, even us to our day, that
we must be taught by Christ. If Christ doesn't reveal it to
us, we'll be left in our flesh. We'll only hear it with the ear
of flesh, and it will do us no good. We'll be like the abundance
of people who see and see, but don't perceive, and hear and
hear, but they don't understand so we must have his spirit given
to us to teach us these things because that's why he sends the
spirit to give us life and light and to teach us what he means
in his word. In John 14, 26, he said, But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. He is speaking
to his disciples, because to his disciples he reveals the
truth of the gospel in them. Christ purposely spoke in parables
to the masses, but to his disciples, he revealed the truth to them
in power by his spirit. In Luke 10, it's pretty amazing
how the Lord words it in this prayer that he spoke in Luke
10, verses 21 and 22. It says, in that hour, Jesus
rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. It pleased the Father
to hide these things from them. And he went on to say, All things
are delivered to me of my Father. Christ has the authority and
the power And he says, no man knoweth who the Son is. And actually,
we're dead in trespasses and sins. We don't know who the Son
is, but the Father knows Him. And who the Father is, but the
Son. And He to whom the Son will reveal Him. So if the Son is
willing to reveal the Father to us, we shall know Him. If the Son doesn't reveal the
Father to us, we won't know Him. Everything that we hear will
be what they heard in parable. it won't profit us at all. It'll
just come forth and we won't perceive what's being said, we
won't understand what's being said, it won't profit us, it
won't bear fruit at all. by the spirit that children are
taught, so that they're given a spiritual ear. They're not
left to themselves as the rest of this world is left to themselves
in their own darkness and deadness. It's not that men are refusing
to believe what the spirit is spiritually teaching them. They're
not hearing anything spiritual. The spirit isn't teaching them
the Spirit. He hasn't given them life to
hear what's being revealed in God's Word. That's why he said,
all these things are done in parables that seeing they may
see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand
lest at any time they should be converted and their sin should
be forgiven them. He's leaving them in a spirit
of of heaviness and in blindness and in darkness. He's leaving
them there to themselves because it reveals to the children of
God that if they were left to themselves, they would be just
like them. That's how dead the flesh is.
That's how desperate our situation is that except God do something
for the sinner, we're dead. We're going to hell. We're going
to go right on down there because We can't save ourselves. The
flesh can't receive these things. He showed us in demonstration.
I'm leaving them to themselves. Do they believe? No. He said
in John 5.39, And ye will not believe on me that ye might have
eternal life. Because they were left to themselves,
and being left to themselves, every man's heart is that he
will not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we
are naturally. We will refuse to hear because we're just dead
in trespasses and in sins. He said that Paul wrote in Ephesians
2.8, for by grace are ye saved through faith. So faith is necessary,
but that, not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. So it's
a gift that Christ must give to his people. And as Paul said,
not all men have faith. Not all have received that gift
of God. And like Peter said in 2 Peter
1. that because these things are necessary, because we must
believe on Christ and have our hope fixed in Him and not in
our own works, Peter says, it's according as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. So that He gives everything that's
necessary for our salvation, He's provided it in Christ. Because all the blessings of
God come to us in Christ. Outside of Christ, no blessings.
in Christ all spiritual blessings. That's the power of Christ. It's
what he accomplished in his death. Through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue. So the Son will reveal
the Father to his people, and they shall hear it." The scriptures
are full of examples where it says, I will and ye shall. So if God wills something, the
people shall receive it. They shall do it. It says in
Exodus 6-7, for example, he says, and I will take you to me for
a people, and I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that
I am the Lord your God. If God wills it, we shall. We shall hear his voice. If he
wills for us to hear it, we shall hear his voice. And that's why
it says in 1 Corinthians 1, 29 through 31, the reason why it's
not left to the flesh of man. Well, one, because man can't
save himself, but he's also showing us it's so that no flesh may
glory in his presence. And that's why Paul wrote to
the Corinthians saying, but of God, of him, are we in Christ
Jesus, who is made unto us. That's not a natural thing. Christ
has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That according as it's written,
he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. We're not going
to glory in what we've done for the Lord. We're going to glory
in what Christ has done for us. In John 6.37, Christ said, all
that the Father giveth to me shall come to me. So if God gives
a person to his son, they shall come. Either God is ineffectual
and impotent and unable to do it, or he's able to do it, like
he says in his word. Christ isn't lying to us. If
God gives someone to the son, then they shall come to him.
It's a result of God's doing his work in And him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. So that there's no maybes,
ands, ifs, or buts about it, but those given his spirit and
given the heart to see him, to hear his word, and to believe
on him, they shall come. They're not going to be left
to their own works and their own blindness and darkness. All
right, now second, the parable of the sower. Let's look together
there at the beginning there, Mark 4, 14. This is where Christ
now is speaking to the disciples in the house, apart from everyone
else. And he says, the sower soweth
the word. So we're to understand, well,
we know that Christ himself is the chief sower, right? So that
if he effectually works his power, if he effectually works that
word in our hearts, giving us a heart to receive it and enabling
us to hear it, if he does that work, then we'll receive it,
we'll hear it. He's the chief sower. But what
he's saying here in this passage is he uses preachers and pastors. He raises them up and he sends
them forth as sowers with the word of God, with the gospel
of Jesus Christ. That's the seed that's being
sown so that The preacher is sent to the Lord to preach his
word. As he says in John 17 verse 18, our Lord prayed, as thou
hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them
into the world. And they speak and preach the
gospel. They preach the word so that
the seed being sown, it's the gospel of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And you'll notice that they're
being directed by Christ to just cast that seed forth. They're
to broadcast that seed forth. on all the different types of
ground, it doesn't matter because we don't know who are the elect
of God. We don't know who are going to
hear it, who are going to receive it, who are going to believe
it. It's of the will of God who will hear it and believe it and
receive it. We don't know, so we just send
it out to everyone that he sends through those doors to come and
to hear it, we just preach it. And you'll also notice that it's
the same word no matter who's sitting there. It doesn't matter
what I think or if I think someone's going to hear it or receive it,
it doesn't matter. I'm to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ. I don't know who are his and
who aren't his. I believe that you brethren here
are brethren and that you believe the gospel. I don't know. God
knows. So I just preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ because that's how he feeds us, nourishes us, strengthens
us, keeps us in him. He does all that. And he says,
preach that word. So they hear the same word, but
how they hear it is very different. how one hears that word is very
different so that it takes the spirit of God to cause us to
hear it. When he said in John chapter
three, verse three, that you must be born again, except the
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. What
we learn from that is it's not because of a person's decision
and their choice to believe on Christ that then they're born
again. That's not what the Word says. The Word says, except ye
be born again, except you are given the Spirit and given life
by the Spirit of God, you can't even see the Kingdom of God.
Everything you hear will be in parables. It will just come and
it won't profit you at all. You're going to hear it like
the first three hearers, it's not going to profit you. It's
just going to be in the flesh. So except you're born again by
the Spirit, then you'll hear the Word rightly. then you'll
understand it'll go into good ground because it's been prepared
of the Spirit to receive it and you'll believe and bring forth
fruit unto God, which is fruit that is, we're not boasting and
talking about what we've done for the Lord. So many people,
you know, in many churches around here, they talk about what they've
done for the Lord, that they've made a decision to follow Jesus,
that they've given their heart to Jesus or walked an aisle and
gave their heart to Jesus or were baptized or joined the church,
that's trusting in your work, what you've done for Christ. You're not trusting in Christ,
you're trusting in your decision. You're trusting in you giving
your heart to Jesus. You're trusting in your baptism
or signing up for church membership, but it's not trusting that Christ
is your Savior. And as we go through this, you'll
see how It's the work of God in the sinner. It's Christ who
does the salvation. It's Christ who brings it home
to our heart because he gives us life first to even hear what
he's done and how he's our salvation, that there's nothing we've contributed
to this thing. To have a hope in one's decision
is the same thing as the Pharisees having a hope in their righteousness
and keeping the law. It's the same thing. Both are
trusting in a work that they've done not in the one who is salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So the difference is that it's of
God. That's why he says in Ephesians
2 verse 4 and 5, he said, but God, but God who is rich in mercy,
He had just said in Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, how he says,
we were dead in trespasses and sins. All of us, even we who
believe today, were dead in trespasses and sins. We walked according
to the course of this world. We walked according to the spirit
of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
works in the children of disobedience. That's where we were as well,
as all men. All fell in Adam and all died
in Adam, but those whom God loved from eternity and gave to the
Son, they had to be saved. And so Christ came. And so the
difference maker isn't something I've done, for me, that I've
done. The difference maker is God himself. But God, who is
rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace,
are you saved? So you see that the initiator
is God, not man. Man didn't initiate his salvation,
God did. All right, now, let's look at
these. The first one, the seed is stolen
by birds. It says in verse 14 that the
sower soweth the word, verse 15, and these are they by the
wayside where the word is sown but when they have heard satan
cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts so we see here that there's so many that hear the
gospel that hear the word preached but it doesn't profit them it
doesn't do them any good because They may come and sit for a few
messages. They may come for a message or
two once in a while and they hear it and they say, oh, that
was a good message, thank you very much. And as soon as they
exit those doors, they forget everything that they've heard.
It just, it goes away because Christ isn't important to them.
He's not necessary. They don't feel their need of
a savior. Just like we sang in that hymn,
that second verse there, they don't have that need that Christ
creates in the heart to show them I've offended God, I've
sinned against the righteousness of God, I've broken His law and
there's nothing I can do now to save myself or to make myself
righteous or to reconcile myself to God. I'm an undone sinner. so that he shows us our need
so that then when we hear the gospel we see Christ is a perfect
salvation. He's the sufficient Savior. He's
the successful Savior. He's done all the work and He's
all my hope and all my rejoicing so that we look and rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone. So, they go out for a
time, the seed is taken from them, and when they return, there's
not a single difference in them. They've heard nothing, it didn't
profit them at all, it didn't change them at all, it doesn't
do anything for them. There's no fruit, and they don't
care for Christ. And he says there in verse 15,
but they that have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh
away the word that was sown in their hearts. And Matthew added,
they understand it not. There's nothing there to receive
it. There's no spirit there. They can't hear it. They just
don't understand it. So, and again, it's because all
men naturally are dead in trespasses and in sin. So it's got to be,
we must be born again. We must be given a new birth
even to, for the word to profit us and for us to hear it. And
if we are born again, we're going to hear it, it's going to go
into the ground prepared of the spirit. Christ said to the Jews
in John 6, 63 and 64, he said, it's the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing, right? We're not looking to the
flesh to understand. If we say that a man first hears
it in the flesh and believes, then we're saying that the flesh
has some power and has some ability. And yet the scriptures teach
that the flesh has no ability to please God. They that are
in the flesh can't please God. So it's got to be a spiritual
work. And he said, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life, but
there are some of you that believe not. Right, because no man in
the flesh believes Christ. All right, then we see the stony
ground here. It says, The sower soweth the word, in verse 16,
and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who,
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness,
and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time.
Afterward, when the affliction or persecution ariseth for the
word's sake, immediately they are offended. So here are some,
they hear the word, right, and before it's stolen away, something
happens, something springs up, they get excited, there's a zeal,
there's an emotional response, and they're excited, they think
they've heard the gospel and that they trust and believe the
Lord Jesus Christ. So they continue to come for
a time, but then as soon as afflictions start coming up, as soon as some
persecution, they tie it back to, they relate it to, wait a
minute, everything was fine before I trusted Christ. Everything
was fine before I confessed that I believed this gospel. Everything
was going well. they then begin to backtrack
and get things back down to where it's all settled again and everything's
peaceful again. I remember in New Jersey, it
was about five, six, maybe even seven years ago, there was a
girl who was living up there and I guess a friend had come
up from Florida from Greg's church and had preached the gospel to
her, shared the gospel, and this girl was excited. She was zealous
and she started coming every week and she invited her mom
and her brothers, and they started coming in support of her. They
didn't believe, but they were coming in support of her regularly
with her. And she was baptized pretty quickly.
Within four or six months, she was baptized, and she was coming
very regularly. And then she got into a car accident,
a pretty bad car accident. No one died, but it was a very
bad one. She was hurt, and now she had no... It was her car,
so she had no car to get around in. And then she lost her job,
I think it was, and she had sicknesses, and just all these things started
piling up, these afflictions. And she tied it back to, this
didn't happen to me before I heard the gospel and believed. But
now that I heard the gospel, all this stuff is happening to
me. What's going on? And then she slowly decreased
the amount of time that she came, and within a few weeks, she just
stopped coming altogether. We haven't seen her. since then.
It was just that affliction that arose, that persecution that
came up, and she was offended. She was offended by what was
happening to her, so she stopped coming. So some people will endure
the first season because of what they expect should happen. They
have an idea that everything now is going to be great and
wonderful, but the reality is afflictions will come. As we
saw this morning, but I'll read one passage in John 16, 1 through
4. He said, These things have I
spoken unto you that ye should not be offended. I'm letting
you know now that you're not offended. He said, They shall
put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And these
things will they do unto you because they have not known the
Father nor me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I
told you of them." So he's saying there's no root in themselves.
They're not connected to Christ. It's just a zeal of the flesh
that has them motivated for a time. But as soon as that sun of affliction
and persecution arose, it scorched it. And because they had no root
in themselves, it withered and died. Christ said in John 15,
he said, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For
without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." Right? If he doesn't
abide in Christ, that sun's going to scorch him, he's going to
dry up, and what are the men doing with dead branches? They
gather them up and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
All right, so it must be a work of Christ's that were rooted
in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the third, thorny ground
hearers, says, the sower soweth the word, in verse 18, and these
are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word.
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word,
and it becometh unfruitful. So these are those that hear
the word and endure for a long time. They usually stick around
for a long time. And, you know, we count them
brethren. We look at them and think they're
our brethren. They're better than even I am.
I'm such a sinner and this one's so good and righteous. And they
likely think themselves to be brethren and that their hope
is fixed in the Lord. Eventually, the cares of this
life just grow up around it and just choke out the worst so that
it doesn't profit them. There's no fruit that's born.
in them. There's nothing that's going
on. And he says it's because of the
cares of this world, right? And we know what that is because
we all have to live in this world. And we all have responsibilities.
We have jobs to do. We have to provide for our families. There's things that we want to
accomplish in this life, or at least that we think that we want
to accomplish. And there's purchases that we have to make. But the
reality is these things just have a way of creeping up. you
know, be careful what you encourage your children to do and where
you allow yourself to go. For example, what I'm thinking
is that, you know, a lot of people, as their kids get older, they
start having them look to go to colleges, for example, and
they're looking to go to places and they're like, you know what,
this is a really good college for you, and this is a really
good college for you, and this is just an example I'm giving. But,
you know, even though there's no gospel church anywhere around
there and their kid's not going to hear the gospel at all, they
encourage them because they want them to get a good job. And they
think that that's so important, that they've got to get a good
six-figure job, so they need to go to the right colleges and
get in with the right things, because they think that's going
to help them. But that's such a betrayal, though, of where
our hope is in the Lord, that we ought to be encouraging our
kids to find a place that's near where the gospel is being preached,
where a gospel church is. There's not a lot of gospel churches
out there. There's a lot of what man can do to save himself, but
there's not a lot of true gospel being preached. And the same
thing with us, that sometimes we have our eyes set on a house.
And it always seems that everywhere we live, the prices of housing
and property is always just out of reach. So we start looking
further and further and further out from from the church, and
we tell ourselves, I'll drive an hour and 45 minutes one way
to go to the services. No, you won't. Eventually, it's
going to wear on you and become a burden. I remember we had brethren
in the church, and they did. They moved away. I think it was
over an hour and a half away, and they really tried to come,
and it got tough on them. The Lord broke them and brought
them right back. They were delivered out of it.
The Lord broke them and brought them right back and they were
so thankful that the Lord caused the job to fall through. Things
went bad with his boss and they left the house. They got out
of it and everything fell apart and they came right back to the
gospel. So the Lord is able to provide,
but we set ourselves up for these things and think, you know, it'll
work out. You know, I'm going to take this job because this
is a job I always wanted. I'll sit on the couch and just
listen to the gospel. I'll listen to, you know, Fortner
on my couch. It's just not the same. It's
not the same thing. Sheep need to be with sheep,
and it's important for us to be with one another. So don't
be deceived by the cares of this world or the deceitfulness of
riches, which is materialism. And again, I remember another
guy who came with us for a long time. He met with us for over
a year, and he was there faithfully every time we met, midweek and
Sundays, while he had no job. And then one day he got a job.
He was working really hard to get a job and he got a good,
high-paying, six-figure job. And he stopped coming on Wednesdays. And I believe the pastor spoke
with him about it to just find out what was going on and try
and encourage him. And he got offended. And he said, look,
I'm going to do good. When I retire in five or six
years, then I'll come and I'll hear. the gospel, you know, I'll
do a lot of good for the church. But we see how much good he would
have done because he got offended and he stopped coming all together
and we never saw him again. And so you just see how that
deceitfulness of riches just works in our heart and you can
just see how it all just comes in and chokes out the word. And
he says, the lust of other things entering in, right? That desire
that we have in our flesh for fame or for recognition or for
influence or for power or for sensuality and pleasures. All
these things have a way of just creeping in. and working on our
heart. That's why Peter said, because
it's true, it's even in our flesh as believers, Peter said in 1
Peter 2.11, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims
in this world, abstain from fleshly lusts. Why, Peter? Because they
war against the soul. They just war against you. They
wear away that which is profitable and helpful for us. We're not
saved by what we do or don't do. Our salvation is the Lord
Jesus Christ. But why do we set ourselves up
for pain and suffering? If we're going to suffer affliction
in trials, let it be for Christ's sake, not because we're putting
ourselves in the path of having to go through a trial that the
Lord needs to deliver us out of. So consider that. We look at the good ground hearers,
and the thing is that most religious people count themselves to be
in the good ground. Religious people are always like,
yeah, that's me. I believe that's me. That's where my hope is.
It's in Christ. So they're never concerned that
maybe their hope and what they're really trusting is the work of
their own flesh. They're never really concerned
about that. the Lord's people are usually very concerned because
they know the wild nature of this flesh. They know the enemy
that's right here in our own hearts and how foolish we are,
how deceitful this flesh is, how quick we are to listen to
another voice and that we see that our salvation really is
of the Lord. It's got to be of Him. So they're
usually the ones worried, but the ones who are self-righteous
Pharisees They're usually content in their works. They have no
fears whatsoever. They're fine in what's going
on with them. The grace of our God, though,
we see here, it's never unprofitable. In 2 Corinthians 2, 14 through
16, Paul teaches us that no matter how they that hear the word respond
to it, it's still profitable. It's still working the Lord's
will in his going out and doing that for which he purposed descended.
He said in 2 Corinthians 2 verses 14 through 16, Now thanks be
unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every
place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that
are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour
of death unto death. and to the other the saver of
life unto life, and who is sufficient for these things." So the only
reason why anyone falls away is because they never were Christ.
If they fall away, if they walk away, if they prove to be one
of those three grounds, it's because they never were in Christ. They weren't saved and they weren't
rooted in Christ. 1 John 2.19 says, They went out
from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us,
they would have no doubt have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.
So it makes manifest to us that there are some that just don't
believe, they don't hear, and it looks good, but They don't
continue with us. And Christ himself said, my sheep
hear my voice. The goats won't hear, but my
sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave
them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. He knows who his sheep are. He
said in another place, why do you not hear my voice? Because
you're not my sheep. That's why you don't hear my
voice. So he knows who his sheep are. They hear his voice and
they follow him. It's effectual in their hearts.
So with the word, and then verse 20, here's the word attended
to by the Holy Ghost having prepared that heart, verse 20, and these
are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word
and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some
sixty, and some in hundred. And as Peter, or rather as Matthew
worded it, and they understand it. They hear it and understand
it. That's a work that only the Spirit can give to a person. Because we know that we died
in trespasses and in sins. So we can't understand anything. It all comes to us as parables,
except the Holy Spirit gives us a heart, gives us faith and
life in Christ. Then we'll hear that word and
we'll understand that word. So because God has, the reason
is because God's revealed it to us. In 1 Corinthians 2, verses
10 through 16, Paul worded it this way. But God hath revealed
them unto us by a Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of man, sayeth the Spirit of man which is in him.
Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received, not the
Spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
We're given the Spirit, right? So that we might know the salvation
that God has accomplished and provided in His Son, Jesus Christ. The works were finished from
before the foundation of the world. He says that in His Word.
It's already done. So He's bringing us, He gives
us the Spirit so we might know and enter into what he's provided
for us. Because it pleases God to make
it known to us that salvation is done. It's not waiting or
hinging on you to do something. It's not waiting for your decision
and your choice to be made because we'll never make that choice.
We'll never make that decision for Christ. He gives us a spirit
and by faith, he gives us faith so that we, oh, that's what God
did. That's how he saves his people.
He provided salvation in his son and they testify that they
are His because they hear it and receive it and they believe
and walk in the truth now because He's revealed it to them. All
right, verse 13, which things also we speak not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth. All right, and that's what you
hear in so many churches on every corner. They're saying, oh, there's
something you got to do. Except you believe and make a
decision for Christ, you won't hear this because they're trying
to make it come across in man's wisdom. They're trying to make
it understandable to the flesh, because the spirit isn't there
teaching them and putting it in their heart. So it's not according
to what man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct them? But thanks
be to God, we have the mind of Christ. I just want to give one
illustration of just how the different people hear this word.
Turn over to 1 John 5, 11. 1 John 5, 11. I was looking at this when I
was looking at Darwin's Bolton this morning. And you know how every You know,
the churches, they have a verse that they put on the front of
their bolts, and usually it's there repeated. And this is Darwin's,
the church there in Taylor, Arkansas. It's the verse in 1 John 5, 11,
and it says, and this is the record that God hath given to
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, Jesus Christ. So, what, the way the flesh hears
it, the way that so many teach and preach that what God is saying
there is that they read it in this way, and this is the record
that God has given to us. Eternal life. Go get it. Make
a decision for Jesus. He's given eternal life, now
go get it. You gotta go and do something
to get that eternal life. So they're putting the work of
salvation in the hands of a sinner. And yet we know that no sinner
can do a work to save themselves. But here's how the sheep hear
it. This is the way it comes through. This is the record. This is the record. That God
hath given to us eternal life. and this life is in His Son.
So that the Spirit is testifying to us, when we hear that word,
He's testifying to us, God has provided everything in His Son
for His people, for the sinner. The salvation is done, you are
saved. Christ said, it is finished.
And that faith is necessary, but He gives it to the sinner
and helps them and enables them, gives them by power to hear that
word and to receive it and to believe it. To say, Lord, thank
you. You saved me. So that now they
go forth rejoicing that God provided all salvation and he gave me
faith to hear it and to believe it. Whereas in the other way,
it comes across as a work for the flesh. That if they don't
do something, they're going to die and perish in their sins.
You see how one is grace given and one is a work given to the
flesh to do. And that's why It's a work when
we look to something we've done. And that's how so many hear that
word and why they're in that camp of the hearers that it doesn't
profit them anything, because they're just hearing it in the
flesh. They're just hearing it as a work that they must do to
save themselves. So I pray the Lord will bless
that word and help us to hear and to rejoice in the salvation
that He's provided for us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Let's
pray. Our gracious Lord, We thank you, Lord, that you left nothing
for us to do in the flesh. There's nothing for us to do
to save ourselves, Lord, but that you've provided salvation
and that our salvation is sure and definite in Christ because
he's a successful Savior and he does not fail. And we thank
you, Lord, for that. We rejoice in your salvation.
We pray, Lord, that you would help each of us here and our
children and friends and family that We invite here, and that
will come throughout the years, Lord, help us to be hearers of
the good ground, that you would give us your spirit and prepare
our hearts, prepare that ground to hear the word and to receive
it. Lord, that you would receive all the praise and the glory
and the honor for our salvation. It's in Christ's name we pray
these things, amen.