Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to Mark chapter 4. The first 20 verses
of Mark chapter 4 is a parable that our Lord gave of the sower. Our Lord preached to a multitude
of people this parable of the sower. And then he said to them
in verse nine, Mark chapter four, verse nine, he said unto them,
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Well, they all had ears. I'm
sure everyone there had two ears, but that's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about the ear of the heart. To truly hear
and to truly understand and believe, that has to be given by God. It has to be. Verse 10 says,
and when he was alone, they that were about him with the 12 asked
of him the parable. They said, you gave this parable,
Lord, what does it mean? And Matthew's account says, they
asked him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? Why are
you preaching to them in parables? Verse 11, and he said unto them,
unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God. That ear to hear, that mind to
understand, that heart to believe, that's a gift from God. unto
you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto
them that are without, standing without, without Christ,
without the gift of God, unto them that are without, all these
things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and
not perceive. They open this word and they
don't see it. They read the words but they
don't see the mystery of the kingdom of God. Verse 12 says, and hearing they
may hear and not understand. They sit there in the pew and
they hear the preacher's words They have no idea what it's all
about. No idea what salvation really is. Verse 12, he went on to say,
lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should
be forgiven them. And then he said something in
verse 13 that really ought to get our attention. Verse 13,
he said unto them, know ye not this parable? And how then will
you know all parables? What he's saying is, this parable
is the key that unlocks every parable. And I'm just gonna tell you what
it is. Verse 14 says, the sower soweth the word. The word. This Word of God, the Bible,
is called the Word. The preaching of the gospel is
the Word. But what is that? When we say
the Word, the Word of God, what is that? John said, in the beginning was
the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. This parable is all about Jesus
Christ. It's all about Jesus Christ.
They are all, all about Jesus Christ, all of them. Down in
verse 21 of this chapter, he's gonna tell them about a candle.
That candle is Christ. On down in verses 30 and 31,
he starts talking about a mustard seed. That mustard seed is Christ. If we don't see Christ in it,
then the mystery of the kingdom of God is still hidden to us. This is all about Christ. The gospel is all about Christ. All about Christ. Now look with
me at verse one here in Mark chapter four. It says, and he
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. Now it struck me that our Lord
went to the people. He brought the gospel to the
people where they were. He didn't stay hidden in the
synagogues. He went down where they were, by the seaside. Verse two says, and he taught
them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine. The word doctrine means words. That's what it means, teaching,
speaking. It does not mean deep philosophy. It does not mean hard to understand
methods. It just means words. This is
what he said. Verse three, he said, hearken.
And that's what I wanna do. And that's what I wanna encourage
all of us to do. Let's listen to what he has to
say. He said in verse three, hearken.
Behold, there went out a sower to sow. And we've already read
verse 14 which says, the sower soweth the word. He's talking
about a preacher and the gospel. The preacher and the gospel.
He's using a physical illustration of a man reaching into a bag
of seed and slinging it to represent a preacher and his message of
Christ. And verse three, he said, hearken,
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. Some fell by the wayside. The
part that people don't pay much attention to. the part that loses
people's attention. He threw this seed, God's preacher
threw out the word and some of it fell by the wayside and the
fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And then he said in verse
five, some fell on stony ground. where it had not much earth.
There was not much dirt there. It's just rocks. Hard ground,
just hard. Some fell on stony ground where
it had not much earth and immediately it sprang up because it had no
depth of earth. It had nowhere else to go. Verse six says, 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 and some sixty and some and hundred. And he
said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. In our Lord's parable,
this seed is the gospel of Christ, the preached word. And these
four types of ground represent the hearers of the gospel, the
hearers of the word. Every soul on this earth is one
of these types of ground when it comes to the gospel being
preached. And every hearer who is listening to this right now,
you and me, I'm preaching this, but I'm listening to this. Every
hearer who is listening to this right now is represented by one
of these types of ground. And I'm going to tell you which
ground I am. I'm going to be honest with you
this morning. I always want to be honest with
you. But this morning I'm gonna be very honest with you and I'm
gonna tell you which ground I am. And then you can listen in your
own heart and you can examine yourself and you can see what
type of ground you are. Our Lord said in verse 14, the
sower soweth the word. 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. He said, these are those by the
wayside. That word is sown to them. But
as soon as they hear it, the enemy, the adversary comes and
steals it away. Just gone. That ground right there. is me. That's the one. That's the one that I am. The precious words of life are
right here in the pages of this book. And I can read them, and I can
hear them preached, and sometimes I ask myself, sometimes I wonder,
where am I? Where's my mind? Where is my heart? Where is the
effect? Where is the burn? Where is the
cry? Wayside. Can you say the same thing? Can
you say that with me? I'm just baring my heart. This is me. The hymn writer wrote the line
in this precious song. He wrote, prone to wander, Lord,
I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Let's be honest.
Let's be honest. Is that you, like it is me? Most of the time, It's hard for me to pray without
wandering off in my mind, wandering off to the wayside. Is that you? My heart wanders, my mind wanders. I don't see anything in my flesh,
and I'm talking about the flesh of this man that I was born with.
The flesh of Adam that I carry around with me everywhere I go,
I don't see anything in my flesh that is truly fervent for Christ
and his gospel, I don't. When it comes to this flesh, it's almost like whatever faith
he gives, it keeps getting taken away. Whatever comfort, whatever
rest, I get all of that through His Word. We get comfort through
His Word. But then as soon as I go on about
my business, it's like it all gets taken away. And I'm troubled
all over again. All my struggles and all my worries,
they start up all over again. That one is me. That one is me. Verse 16, He said, 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 affliction or
persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. That stony ground right there,
that one is me. That one is me. This flesh is so hard. It's just so hard. This flesh is so easily offended. If you were to take God's grace
out of the equation, take God's grace out of the equation and
leave us in our flesh, leave all of us in our flesh, we would find out very quickly
and very clearly how we would all respond to affliction and
persecution and defense. We wouldn't take it gracefully.
We would clench our fists, we would grit our teeth, and we'd be offended. We would
be offended. And as sad as it is to say, that
ground, as I am in this flesh, that stony ground right there,
that's me. Verse 18, he said, 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 lust of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becometh
unfruitful." That thorny ground right there, that one is me. That's me. All this flesh has
ever done is hurt. That's it. All this flesh has
ever done is hurt. Hurt myself, hurt others, because of my sin. The cares of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things, it's all
sin. It's all sin. You know, as ground,
if he's comparing us to ground, if we're supposed to be ground,
we're supposed to bear fruit. Isn't that right? We're supposed
to bear fruit. But when the fruit is covered
in thorns, every time you try to reach in and lay hold of that
fruit, it hurts. You get pricked. Every supposedly good thing that
I've ever done has been tainted by sin. Everything, it's all
pricked. One old writer wrote this, and
boy, this man was being honest, and I agree with him. I say right
along with him. He said, I cannot read. He was
talking about reading the Word of God. He said, I cannot read,
but I sin. He said, I cannot pray, but I
sin. He said, I cannot preach, but I
sin. Everything, all of it, it's all
tainted with sin. Somebody will say, well, come
on now, you've done a lot of good things for people. I know
you have. You're being hard on yourself.
You're being modest, and I know you're trying to be humble, and
I appreciate that, but you've done a lot of good things for
people. Yeah, but it's all tainted. It's all tainted with sin. It's all tainted with self. It's
all tainted with pride, and it chokes everything out. It just
chokes everything out. I am that thorny ground. How about you? Do you experience
the same thing? Verse 20 says, 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 an hundred. Thanks be to God Almighty. I
believe with all of my heart that that good ground right there
is me. I believe that with all of my
heart. That's me. And that's what I'm here to tell
you this morning. That's the reason I'm on the radio this
morning. I'm here to tell you that right there is me. And here's
what I mean by that. I'm gonna give you a little illustration
to explain what I mean by that. My wife wanted to plant a garden. So I looked at my backyard and
we were trying to figure out where to put the garden. And we looked around and it was
all the same. The ground was all the same.
It was all wayside, every bit of it. None of it was ready to
take seed, none of it. There was not one spot that was
good and ready to plant seed. So we chose a spot. of our own will. We chose a spot,
a spot that wasn't ready, a spot that was not good, but we chose
it. And I got a shovel out, and that
ground was so hard. It was so hard. It had rocks
in it. And I dug around in a few spots
and it was all exactly the same. No spot was better than another.
It was all hard, stony, wayside ground. And it was just covered
in crabgrass. That stuff takes over. It would have choked out whatever
fruit came up. It was just all bad ground. All
bad ground. But we chose a spot and we purposed
for it to no longer be wayside ground. We said this ground is
gonna receive seed and bear fruit. And we said this particular spot
right here, this one spot is not gonna be stony ground anymore. So I put a shovel in that ground
and I started busting that ground up. It had these big clods of
dirt. I started busting those clods
up. I gathered up the rocks out of that ground. I threw them
out. And all that crabgrass that would
have choked out my precious fruit, I dug it all up. I got every
bit of it out. And then I made some boxes. We
did a raised bed garden and I made some boxes and I hedged my spot
about. I sanctified it. I set it apart
for holy use. And I brought in new dirt. I
brought in good ground, ground that was not there before. It
was dirt that I bought. I purchased it. It was living,
composted ground. It actually had a bunch of worms
in it. It was good ground that had a bunch of worms in it. And
I'll tell you, that's a picture of Christ and his people. I love how the Lord said, fear
not thou worm, Jacob. But that composted ground, that
good ground, that was ground that had to be tried, it had
to be turned. And along with that, I put nutrients
in there, and I gave it everything it needed to bear fruit. I made
it to be what it is today. I broke it, I tilled it, I gave
to it, and then I planted a seed in
it. and bless the God of heaven, that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did for me. That's exactly what Christ did
for me. Let me read you a verse of scripture
here in Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16, verse 4, it says,
As for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, thy navel was
not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou
was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all, none I pitied thee to
do any of these unto thee, to have compassion on thee, but
thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy
person in the day that thou was born." That was me. That was
me, cast out, wayside. And verse eight says, now when
I passed by thee and looked upon thee, thy time was the time of
love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. I did something for you. And
He went on to say there, I decked you with ornaments, I put jewels
on you, I gave you new clothes. I made you to be what you are. You were made perfect. He said
in that portion, through my comeliness. Our Lord said that He was gonna
take out the stony heart that's in His people and put in a heart
of flesh, isn't that what He said? He said, I will even gather
you from the people, assemble you out of the countries where
you've been, and I'll give you the land of Israel. They shall
come thither, they shall take away all the detestable things
thereof, all the abominations from thence, and I'll give them
one new heart. I'll put a new spirit within
you. I'll take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them
a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep
my ordinances and do them. And they shall be my people and
I'll be their God. I gathered you from the wayside.
I took out that heart of stone. I put in a heart of flesh, one
that loves God, one that loves his people. one that believes,
one that believes on. I made you ready. I made you
ready to walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances. Somebody
will say, yeah, but what about my sin? The thorns of my sin
have tainted and pricked every good fruit I've ever touched.
What about my thorns? Well, over in John 19, John 19
verse 1 says, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him,
and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. He bore our thorns. And now they're gone. They're
gone. In Christ, we are not wayside. And in Christ, we are not stony. And in Christ, we are not thorny
anymore. God made us to be good ground. And His seed in us, Christ in
us, will bear fruit. It will. And just as our Lord said, he
that hath ears to hear, let him hear. All of us, this is all
we are. We can't take any credit for
it. There's nothing to be proud of. This is all we are. We're
just ground made ready. That's it. He broke us, he tilled
us, he gave to us, he planted a seed in us, and he will water
us. He will make His fruit to grow,
some 30 fold, some 60, some 100. But He is the one who will give
the increase. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening
to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.