Mark chapter 4. As we read this, you'll see that
it is a very familiar passage of Scripture to us all. It is
the parable of the sower and the seed. I've entitled this
message, The Sovereign Sower. sower. Now this parable, before we get
into it, I want us to give us the background of this. Jesus
was preaching in the previous chapter in Capernaum, and there
were multitudes of people gathered around a house that he was preaching
in, and his mother and his brethren came to him trying to press in. They were trying to get into
him, and it was so packed that they could not get in. And so
they sent men in and said, Thy mother and thy brother seek thee,
that are without, they seek thee. And verse 34 of chapter 3 says,
And he looked about on them that sat about him and said, Behold,
my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will
of God, the same is my brother, my sister, and my mother." Oh,
what myths the Lord dispelled concerning His earthly mother,
Mary, and His physical brethren in the flesh. Those Jesus cared about. He cared about His mother. She
was one of His sheep. She was one of His elect. But
I tell you that Jesus Christ makes this statement, all who
do the will of God, those are my mother, my sister, my brethren. Those are the ones I care about.
Those are the ones that I love. Those who do the will of God. Now what is the will of God? What did He mean by that? He's
obviously not talking about the law of God because none of us
have done the will of God according to the law. By the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in the sight. Why? The law is
the knowledge of sin. The law cannot justify us. We've
already failed it. What did He mean by doing the
will of God? It is this, to believe on Him. to believe on Him, on His blood
and righteousness as all your standing and acceptance with
God. That is what it is to do the
will of God. Jesus said in John 6, He said,
this is the will of God, that everyone that seeth the
Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. and I
will raise him up again at the last day." Now that is the will
of God, that everyone that seeth the Son, have you seen the Son? The Son of God is only revealed
by the power of the Holy Spirit. And those who see the Son, it
is the will of God that they should believe on Him. They should
believe on Him. So those who believe on Him,
listen, you have done the will of God. And you are in the heart
and love of Christ. You're in His affectionate care. And He has given you everlasting
life. And listen, it was always your
Father's good pleasure to do it. Jesus said, in that day when
the sheep shall be gathered, He said, My Father shall say
unto them, Come, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. good pleasure, it is the good pleasure of God Almighty
to give His chosen and redeemed people, all those He determined
to save, it is His good pleasure to give them the kingdom. But
this is the evidence of all His children. They will come to Him. All of them. Every one of them. Jesus said in that same passage
in John 6, He said, "...all that the Father giveth Me shall come
to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."
Friends, it is self-evident in Scripture, plainly revealed,
that God has chosen and elect people. that He purposed to save
them from before the foundation of the world. He had chosen them
in Christ, given them to Christ, and by Christ's purpose that
He alone should save them. And here is the surety of our
salvation. This is the surety, the confidence
of all our salvation. Over in Titus chapter 1, I'll
just read it to you. I'm just going to read one verse. Titus 1, Paul says this, Paul,
a servant of God and the apostle of Jesus Christ according to
the faith of God's elect. and to the acknowledging of the
truth which is after godliness in hope of eternal life here's
the surety of it which god that cannot live promised before the
world began my hope of eternal life is not based in anything
i have done or will do it is based solely in what god decreed
to do on my behalf what God decreed and purposed and what Jesus Christ
has accomplished and fulfilled and performed. Therefore, God
who cannot lie promised eternal life will also perform what He
promised. He's going to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave
Christ." Now, what Jesus said in John 17, He said, Father,
I've glorified You in the earth. I've done the work that You've
given Me to do for this purpose, that all those You have given
Me, that I should give eternal life to them. That's the purpose. Give eternal life to all His
people. And none of them shall be lost.
All of them will come to faith and repentance and all of them
will endure unto the end. God has done this and it is marvelous
in our eyes. Is it not marvelous to you that
out of all the sea of humanity God chose you? Now, to religion, they think
they deserve to be chosen. They think that, well, God made
me. He owes me. No. No, He owes you
nothing but hell. All you've done is rebel. All
you've done is sin. That's what God owes you. See,
listen, I'm getting something that I did not deserve. God,
in grace, chose to save us. There was nothing that God saw
in me There was no good, no righteousness. Foolish, ignorant religion think
that election is nothing more than God looking down the portal
of time to see what you would do. That's not my God. Why? My God is in the heavens and
had done whatsoever He had pleased. My God says I'm God and there
is none else, declaring the end from the beginning from ancient
times of things that were not yet done, saying my counsel shall
stand and I will do all my pleasure. That's God. That's my God. This is the God that chose me.
This is the God that purposed to save me and accomplish my
salvation. Now, with that in mind, I want you to keep that
in mind as we go through this parable. It's necessary for us
to know that God is sovereign in salvation. He is sovereign. He does all things for His own
glory. And that God by His mercy has
chose some and passed by others. And that by the Word of God He
declares that He is sovereign in this matter of salvation.
And He says this, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And whom
He will, He hardeneth. This same God that ordained the
end also ordained the means by which He should save His people.
He ordained to save us. He purposed to save us. He gave
us to Christ. Christ came into the world and
accomplished His salvation. But how then should He draw His
people? How then should they obey the will of God, do the
will of God, which is to believe? The only means that God has chosen
is through the preaching of the Gospel. Paul said, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
shall they believe in Him in whom they have not what? Heard.
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? This is the means that God has
chosen, the preaching of the gospel. The only means by which
He reveals Himself and sinners come to faith and believe on
Him. Now this brings me to the text.
Look at the text with me. Mark chapter 4. Now this parable
is vitally important. You can see this because it's
mentioned in three of the four Gospels. In three of the four
Gospels, this parable is mentioned. It is a vital parable. And so
by grace of God, let's see it. mark chapter four verse one he
said he began to teach by the seaside and there was gathered
in him great multitude so that he entered into a ship and sat
in the sea in the whole multitude by the sea on land and he taught
them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine
hearken there went out a sower to sow. Now what is a sower? A sower
is a farmer. A farmer. As a person goes out
into the field in this day, he would go out with a bag of seed.
We farm kind of differently. We go out and we plant a row,
and we put the seed gently into the plowed soil, and then we
cover it over. That's not how this is to be
done. This kind of farming was wheat, and it would be cast at
a venture. The sower would go out and cast
the seed. Now this was very familiar to
this generation. They knew all about this. They
did this. Most of them were of this type
of occupation. And so Jesus, using this parable,
He does so in order to hide His message. You hear that? Jesus is speaking to them in
a parable in order to hide His message in plain sight. Now,
every word of this parable is easily understood. You're going
to see that this is an easy thing to understand. You can see it
physically. You can actually visualize the
man out there throwing the seed. You can imagine the soil that
it lands on. You can imagine the plant coming
up and the fruit and all of that. It's a very visual effect. but he does this in order to
hide his meaning and most of these people would take this
parable as some kind of philosophical statement as a teaching concerning
physical life but it is a very concrete story yet it has a very
spiritual meaning a very spiritual meaning this is my first point
is that god is sovereign in salvation therefore He is sovereign in
the matter of the Word. The Word. You come to church,
people come to church Sunday after Sunday, hear the preacher
again and again and again, and yet the Word doesn't stick. They hear it, they understand
it. If you were to give them a catechism,
and they could answer every question of it, Yet, really, it doesn't
have any meaning to them, any care. And this is why. Because God has not applied it
to their hearts. The Jews, Jesus said this, He
said to the Jews, Why do you not understand my speech? They
hated him. They didn't like his message.
They didn't like what he said. And he said, don't you hear my
speech? Of course they understand his
speech. But this is what he said, even
because you cannot hear my word. Why do people don't like this
message? Why does it not affect them? Because they cannot hear
this word. They cannot hear this word. The
reason Jesus used parables on these people because it was not given for
them to understand. These people were dull of hearing,
their heart was wax gross. These men did not come to repent
of their sins or turn to Christ. They only saw Him as a novelty,
as a healer. That's all they wanted, most
of them. And so, in this chapter, the
disciples, they go along, and after this parable is given,
they say, Lord, why are you talking to them in parables? Matthew
said this, he said, Why speakest thou in parables? Jesus answered,
Because it is given unto you to know the mystery of the kingdom,
but unto them it is not given. Don't you see the sovereignty
in this? Salvation is completely in the
hand of God. That you cannot, by all your
strength, understand His Word. Except He reveal it to you. These people, their eyes were...
They had eyes, they couldn't see. They had ears, they couldn't
hear. Because God did not give it to
them. What a wonderful truth this is
that does not puff us up to pride, but causes us who have heard
Him to fall in humility. Why was I made to hear His voice
and enter while there's room? Why was I made a guest? while thousands make a wretched
choice and rather starve than come." This truth of sovereignty
abases us. It shows us our helplessness
and our utter dependence upon God to reveal the Word to us. God is sovereign in this matter
of hearing the Word, and no one will hear the Word without Him.
He doesn't open it to you. This morning, if you do not hear,
is because of this. Your heart is wax gross. Your
eyes are blind. And God, unless He opens it to
you, you won't ever hear it. You won't ever hear the Word. Now our Lord, by this parable,
He shows us what takes place What takes place in the lives
and hearts of men when this gospel is preached? Look at verse 3.
"...And he spake unto them many things in parables, saying..."
I'm sorry, that's... Verse 2. "...He taught many things
in parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken, behold,
there went a sower to sow." The sower. The sower. What is meant
by the sower? Jesus is speaking about the preacher
of the gospel. That is the sower intended here. Now Jesus Christ himself was
a sower. He was the perfect sower. Was
he not? He was the perfect preacher.
He was the prophet of God, sin of God, received his message
directly from God. He was a sower, but this is not
just speaking of Christ, but all his preachers. All the men
that God places in the ministry to speak his truth in love, these are the sowers. Now listen,
not everybody stands in a pulpit, or wears a robe, or wears garments
of religion, is a preacher. I don't care what they say. I don't care what they call themselves.
Tia sent me an email AARP was putting out a list of jobs for
55 and over. They were the best jobs for those
55 and older. Preacher. Preacher was a good
career choice for 55 and older. this is why john said try the
spirits see whether be of god could you've got some fools out
there that think preaching is nothing more than a job that
men can choose you work at mcdonald's or be a preacher as though it's
some choice when god calls a man he goes god sends a man he goes
and god gives that man one message One message. The gospel of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That is the message. Try the spirits and see whether
they be of God or not. Any man that does not preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is a charlatan and a fool if
you hear him. You're a fool if you hear him. You should try the preachers.
You should try me. You should test to see what I'm
telling you is true. You shouldn't take me in my word.
I love you, but don't take me in my word. You try these things
and see if they're not so according to the Word of God. I'm not sent
to give my own message. This is true in the parable.
The sower went forth to sow what? Seed. His seed. Listen, I'm not here to make
up the seed. I'm not here to produce my own message. I'm here to declare the message
that God hath said. Thus saith the Lord. There's
my authority. You want my authority? Thus saith
the Lord. Well, I don't like it. Deal with
Him. Deal with Him. We come to sow
the seed, the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not here to preach
my opinion to you, but the gospel. And now we preach the gospel
of God's grace, God's seed. Are we to preach it to only certain
people? Now listen, I'm telling you,
this is true in many churches today. They divide their congregation
into groups. You have the divorce group. You
have the singles group. You've got the drug addict group. You've got the Alcoholics Anonymous
group. You've got a bunch of different
groups and they divide them and then they tailor their message
specifically for that group. How does this? Look at this sower.
He went to sow his seed. Now this word, sower went to
sow, this has a connotation here in the original. It's to cast
the seed. It's to throw the seed. Not plant
one at a time. He is to recklessly throw the
seed at a venture. In other words, I know God has
an elect. I know Christ died for them. I know they'll all
come. But I don't know who they are. So what do I do? I throw
the seed. The sower is meant to just throw
the seed. I'm not to try to plant it. I'm
not to try to make it grow. I know many preachers try that.
That's a very tempting thing, isn't it? To meddle. We want
to meddle. We throw the gospel and then
we want to take you aside. We want to try to tweak it. We
want to try to make sure. No, it's not our business. We
throw the seed. We cast it at a venture. Why? Because we know this. God will
plant it where he pleases. He said, my word goeth forth
out of my mouth and it shall prosper in the thing wherein
to listen. I send it. I send it. Some preachers try to stir up
your emotions. They try to make you make decisions
to be baptized, to take the Lord's Supper, to join the church. Listen,
if a man needs mercy, he won't ask for me how to ask for it. Example is this publican. Remember
the publican, how he cried for mercy? Now that man knew something
about sin. Somebody warned him about sin. Somebody told him about a sacrifice. And yet when that word came together
in his heart, that man could do nothing but beg for mercy.
And when God comes to you, you'll do nothing but beg for mercy.
I can show you that Christ is the water of life. I can tell
you it's free. But when you're thirsty, I don't
have to tell you how to drink it. You just drink it. I don't tell
you how to believe, you just believe. That's the work of God. Therefore, He hath mercy on whom
He will, and whom He will, He hardeneth." Now, in this parable,
as we see this parable, I want you to see that there are certain
types of ground upon which this seed fall. There are four types.
There's the wayside. There is the stony ground. There's
the thorny ground. And then there's the good ground.
What I want you to see about this is three out of four are
wrong. Three out of four perish in their sins. There is a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof is death. Broad is the way, wide is the
gate that leadeth unto destruction, and many there be that enter
in thereat. Great is the gate and narrow
is the way that leadeth unto life. What does this mean? It
means there's one way. There's only one hope. There's
only one Savior. Jesus Christ. Now keep this in mind that the
ground here is referring to is the heart. How do we know this?
Look at verse 15. Jesus explains what's going on
here to his disciples. He said in verse 14, the sower
that soweth, what does he sow? He sows the word. It's what I
told you, isn't it? He sows the gospel. In verse
15, and these, that they be the wayside, where the word is sown
but when they have heard satan cometh immediately and taketh
away the word which is sown in their hearts now the wayside
was a hard ground it was a highway it was one that was tread over
and over and over by donkeys and mules and horses they went
up and down this road so many times that even the water would
roll off of these highways these were like highways And so then
you take a piece of seed, you throw it on a highway, what is
it going to do? It'll sit on the surface right
there, or it'll bounce off. But it won't grow anything. And
Jesus said this is the seed that lands on a man's heart that is
hard and cold and indifferent to the things of God. This wayside hearer, is one where
the seed lands, it stays on the surface, and soon the fowl of
the air, Satan, comes and steals it away. Now listen, I want you
to understand, if you go away the same way you came in, it's
because this is you. This is your heart. It's cold,
it's dead, and the Word of God will not penetrate. As soon as you leave, everything that was said is gone. I know this as a child when I
was lost. Sitting in church was the most
miserable thing in the world. and every moment i sat there
my mind was thinking of so many and the word of god never had
any affect on me at all that was my heart The second kind of ground is
a little different. It's called the stony ground,
verse 5. It says, And some fell on stony ground, where it had
not much earth, and immediately 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. These
are people who have a softer surface. Something's going on. Something miserable's happened
in their life. You know, they've gone through
some kind of difficulty. Though the topsoil's a little
bit scratched up. And when the Word of God comes
in, they receive it. They like it. It sounds wonderful.
This is the answer to all my trouble. This is the answer to
all my problems. And they take it in. They like
it. And immediately they get this zeal. I know you've seen
them. Boy, that which springs up like
that, and you see a man, he's so passionate about the gospel,
he's so interested in the things of God. And then trouble doesn't
go away, more trouble comes. Isn't that what happened when
you were a believer, that your troubles didn't go away, more troubles
came? Listen, I'm going to tell you this, if you believe in Christ
right now, you're going to suffer. Does that sound like a good sales
pitch? I'm not a used car salesman,
I'm just here to tell you the truth. If you are to believe on Christ,
your life will be turned upside down and backwards. You'll suffer. But these people, they hear the
gospel, they like all the good stuff, but when suffering comes,
what happens? Jesus said, when the sun arises,
when persecution comes because of the Word, by and by, they
wither away. They wither away. I'll give you a great example.
It was my brother. My brother was a very wicked
man. Very evil man. He was addicted to drugs for
many, many, many years. Alcoholic. Hated the gospel. Despised it. His life got so
miserable. One day he was in a parking lot
and what he said to me, he said, I saw a light. I saw a light. And I fell down
in the parking lot and I began to cry. I began to confess my
sins. And he said, right then, right
then, I trusted in Jesus. And I mean his whole whirlwind.
He was a whirlwind of religion then. He couldn't stop him from
coming in. He loved to hear the gospel at
that point. What happened? By and by, troubles
and afflictions, troubles and afflictions, and pretty soon
his last state was worse than his first. Why? Because he had the stones
of his sin still abiding in his heart. He trusted in Christ to
fulfill his physical needs, but yet he continued to cling to
the things of the world. His sin! And so when temptations rise,
they're going away. John said that, didn't he? He
said, they went out from us. Why? They were not of us. If
they were of us, they would have no doubt continued with us. The
third ground is the thorny ground here. Verse 7, it says, And some fell
among thorns, and grew up and choked it, and it yielded not
fruit. The fulfillment of this is found
in verse 18. He said, "...and these which are among the thorns,
such as hear the word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness
of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, choke the
word, and it become unfruitful." These are the ones who hear the
Word of God, it falls on the soil of their hearts, and it
grows like every other believer. These abide for a long time. These are tares among the wheat.
These are tares among the wheat. But how can you know them? How
do you know if you're a true child of God or one of these? These... have thorns among the
soil. What are these thorns? They are
the cares of this life. Now, most people think it's just
riches. Now, none of us in this room are rich. So, throw that
out of your mind. It's not that. It's not just
earthly wealth that removes them and chokes the Word. How about
this? Family. Doesn't that keep men from Christ? Friends, the enjoyments of this world. These things choke the Word. And the result is, look, they've
got the stalk, they've got the leaves, but what's wrong? They
don't have any fruit. There's no real love for Christ. They say it, but when His people meet, where
are they? When His Word is preached, where
do they go? What is more important? These people are the ones who
fit Christ in to their lives and not Christ as their life. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. Christ is my life. He's not part of my life. He
is my life. And everything else is put out. That's a true believer. These
people, they're like demons. Eventually, the cares of this
world will by and by take them away and they won't stay. They won't continue. But this last one. I'm so thankful
that he didn't stop there, did you? I'm thankful that there
is hope, that some are good ground hearers. Look at verse 8. He
says, "...and others fell on good ground, and did yield fruit
that sprang up, and increased, and brought forth some thirty,
some sixty, and some one hundred." This is explained in verse 20. He said, "...and these which
are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive
it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some
an hundredfold." This is the one that hears the
Word of God and falls on good ground. And what I want you to
understand about this is, this good ground is not natural. Good ground is not natural. All
three of the others are natural. In order for the ground to be
good, what do you have to do? You have to remove the stones. You have to remove the thorns.
You have to break up the hard ground. This is something that
the Holy Spirit does in preparation for planting the seed. If God is ever going to put the
seed of the Word in your heart, He must break up the soil of
your heart. He must expose your sin. He must show you the vanity of
this world and your religion. Only then will He plant the seed
of the Word in the heart of the sinner. In Jeremiah, He said,
For he shall be as a tree planted, by the rivers of water." Who does the planting? The preacher? No, we're just throwing it. God
does the planting. But before He plants, He must
break up the soil of your heart. Have you heard the Word of God? Do you have any care or concern
for the things of God? Have you heard of the gospel
of Jesus Christ? That God chose a people. That Christ died for them and
they will come to Him. But here's a good point. Everyone
that cometh to Him, He will in no wise cast out. Is that not
a wonderful... Listen, if you go to hell, it
will be your fault. It will be your fault. All but if you come to God by
Jesus Christ, God then is the cause of that. The cause of that. and He is to receive all glory.
Have you repented of your sin? Have you turned to Christ? Now
listen, if you haven't, why? Why would you not? It is only because of the hardness
of your own heart. And I'll tell you, if you know
your heart to be hard, seek God to break it up. Ask God to be
gracious, to plant this seed, to take out whatever wicked root
that's grown up inside of you and throw it away. You remember Newton. He said,
"'Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not?" He said,
If I've never loved at all, let me love today. Look, if I'm one
of these other grounds, please, Lord, do it today. Open my heart. Plant the Word in my heart. And listen, everyone who is born
of God will yield fruit. And what is this fruit? It is
the fruit of the Spirit. What is this? Faith. Faith is
the fruit of the Spirit. Do you believe? Guess what? That's a fruit. Love? Do you love Him? Do you
serve Him? Do you abide in Him? Are you
in union with Him? Is His blood and righteousness
sufficient for all your need? That's a fruit. And listen, some
bear 30, some 60, and some 100. This means that, yes, there are
variations concerning how much fruit we yield. But one thing
about a truly planted child of God is they all yield fruit.
All of them. And they're accepted of God.
And Jesus said this, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. May God even now sow His Word. And I pray we would give Him
thanks if God has sovereignly saved us. Sent us a preacher
with His seed, prepared our hearts, planted that Word, nourished
that seed to life and grow out these fruits of the Spirit. All
praise belongs to God. All praise. You know what? I belong to God. All of me. Not just part of me. You know
I can't partially abide in Christ. You can't be half in and half
out. It's all or nothing. Friends, I'm all in. I'm all
in. It's all on Him. That's someone who's been planted
of God. Is that you? Pray it is. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.