Cuba Sutter Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda. The text of my sermon today is
taken from Luke chapter 8, verses 4 through 15. Let's read it together. And when much people were gathered
together and were come to him out of every city, he spake a
parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by
the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air
devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and
as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked
moisture. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. and other fell
on good ground, and sprang up and bear fruit a hundredfold.
And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him,
saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it
is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to
others in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing
they might not understand. Now, the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside, are they
that hear? Then cometh the devil, and taketh
away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive
the word with joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And
that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have
heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures
of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the
good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having
heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. This
parable is also given in Matthew chapter 13 and in Mark chapter
4. The title of my sermon today
is One Seed for Hearers. Jesus taught by parables. In
this parable there is one type of seed that is sown on four
different types of ground. Jesus explained the parable.
The seed in the parable is the word of God. 1 Peter 1.25 says
that this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. We are only saved by hearing
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The sower in the parable is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Sowing represents preaching.
The Lord sends his preachers throughout the world with the
gospel seed. When that gospel is preached,
it produces fruit. But it does not produce fruit
in all hearers, because there is no such thing as universal
salvation. Now there are four lessons that
we must keep in mind as we look at this scripture. First, God
is sovereign in salvation. Some have ears, some do not. Second, all men by nature are
described by the first three hearers. Therefore, God alone
makes the difference in salvation and that difference is the gospel
believed in the heart. Third, the gospel is only good
news to sinners. Only those who hear the gospel
as sinners are fruit to God and bear fruit as they glorify God
for His mercy in Christ. And fourth, fruit is the work
of the Spirit of God. It is never the byproduct of
man's nature or efforts. Consider first the sovereignty
of God in salvation. Christ revealed His parable to
His disciples. He did not reveal it to everybody.
In the same way, God has mercy on whom He will. Exodus 33, 19. Not all men have faith. 2 Thessalonians
3, 2. Faith is the gift of God. Ephesians
2, 8. And He gives it only because
of His free and sovereign grace. Ephesians 2, 9. Jonah learned
a hard lesson when he was in the whale's belly because of
his disobedience. He cried in his prayer, salvation
is of the Lord. While he was in the whale's belly
because of his sin, when he was utterly unable to deliver himself,
there and then God saved him. God always saves that way because
salvation is of the Lord. When the Bible says that salvation
is of the Lord, it means that salvation is by our triune God. God the Father chose whom he
would save before the world began and gave them to Christ. Ephesians
1.4 says, He, God the Father, has chosen us in Him, in Christ,
before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. And salvation is of
the Lord means that Jesus died on the cross to redeem, to save
all those the Father gave to Him. John 10, 15, Jesus said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. And in John 17, 2, He says to
His Father in prayer, Thou hast given Him, Himself, power over
all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given Him. And salvation is of the Lord
means that Christ, from His exalted throne in glory, sends His Spirit
to give life to those sinners that God purposed to save from
eternity and for whom He laid down His life. All of these,
chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, in time are raised to spiritual
life and given faith in Christ. At the end of time, the Lord
will raise their bodies and bring them to behold himself in glory
and to be with him where he is. The second thing we learn in
this parable is that the first three grounds represent all men
by nature. In ourselves, apart from saving
grace, we will not hear the gospel as good news. Yet the fourth
ground teaches us that God makes a difference by causing some
to look to Christ alone. Consider first the wayside hearer. In Matthew 13, verse 19, it says
he has no understanding. His heart is hard. When the gospel
is preached, he just does not understand it. Now, never think
that you and I are not included in the picture of the wayside
ground. According to Psalm 14, 2-3, the Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that
did understand and seek God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become filthy. There is none that do
with good, no, not one. Has this truth ever come home
to your heart? Has this thought ever pressed
your conscience that God searched your heart and found nothing
good in you? Note well what God says here. He did not find any that did
understand. Therefore, all of us, by nature,
are wayside ground. We cannot retain what we do not
understand. If we do not understand it, it
makes no impact. Now, I used to be an engineer.
Technical things were frequently discussed. But when I did not
understand, I could scarcely remember what was said. And it
is certain that I was unable to make use of what I did not
understand. To believe Christ, we must understand
the message of the gospel, the truth of it. But the wayside
hearer does not understand. Jesus asked the blind man in
John 9, Do you believe on the Son of God? He answered and said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
to him, You have both seen him, and it is he that is talking
with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Christ
must make known to me the evil of my sin, God's judgment, his
holy character, and himself, or I will never have a need or
interest for the gospel. The gospel is not intellectually
difficult to understand. The problem is that I don't see
a need for it when I hear it. Unless I am a sinner, I will
see no need for Christ. I will find no beauty in Him.
Nothing about grace will be amazing. Our guilt and filth before God
must be the issue, or God's saving grace in Christ will mean nothing
to us. The gospel is only good news to sinners. We must hear
the gospel as a sinner. If we understand this all-important
point, we will understand the parable of the sower. Jesus said
in Matthew 9.13, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. I cannot make you know your sin. That is God's work alone. Jesus
said that the Spirit of God convinces the world of sin because they
do not believe Him. Therefore, before a sinner can
believe on Christ, he must be convinced of his sin. By nature,
I do not believe Christ. I must be convinced of that.
That sin must be the issue in my conscience or the gospel will
be nothing to me. Now the devil takes away the
ministry of the gospel when any do not understand it. He cannot
take away the grace of faith that God puts in a man's heart.
That can never be taken away. But if God does not first give
understanding, he can take away the effects of the ministry of
the word. Now Jesus said that the seed
that fell on the rock pictures one who, when the gospel is preached,
hears it and immediately rejoices. But when trouble comes because
of the gospel, the stony ground hearer just leaves. Understand
first that temporary faith is not saving faith. When God gives
faith, He maintains it and preserves it. Numbers 23.19 says, God is
not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he
should repent. Jesus told Peter, Satan has desired
to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed
for thee that your faith fail not. Christ did not let Peter's
faith fail because he would not lose one sheep for whom he laid
down his life. All who see Christ and believe
Christ have everlasting life. Everlasting life is eternal.
The Gospel never penetrates the heart of a stony ground hearer.
He hears it academically, and he hears it generally, but not
spiritually and not personally. Because the Gospel has no deep
root in him, he leaves when things get tough. He has other options. Now, you and I will never hear
the gospel with any profit to our souls if we only hear academically. Moreover, the gospel must be
personal. I must be guilty. I must be helpless
in sin and unbelief. It must be good news to me that
Christ has done all to bring me to God. A shallow gospel will
never be worth fighting for. I will have only a shallow appreciation
for it and a shallow tolerance for trials on account of it.
Let me illustrate this point by an endearing example I once
read. There was once a poor huckster
named Jack. One day Jack heard a woman singing
a simple song. The song went like this, I am
a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all
in all. Now this poor man turned the
lyrics of that simple song over and over in his mind. God used
it to teach him that he was a great sinner and that Christ is great
because he came to save sinners. The song helped strip away from
Jack all that he previously trusted so that he might understand how
sinners come to Christ and are accepted by him. This little
song answered all of Jack's questions. What was his confidence before
God? It was not found in himself, for he himself was a great sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ was his all in all. After
a time, Jack asked to join the church. The pastor told Jack
that the deacons would ask him some questions. One deacon said,
Jack, please state your experience, to which Jack kindly replied,
I am a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all in all. Another deacon asked Jack, is
that all you have to say? Yes, says Jack, that's all. So
one says, Brother Jack, have you not many doubts and fears?
No, said Jack. I never can doubt but that I
am a poor sinner and nothing at all, for I know I am. And
I cannot doubt that Jesus Christ is my all in all, for he says
he is. And how can I doubt that? Well,
said another, but sometimes I lose my evidences and my graces and
then I get very sad. Oh, said Jack, I never lose anything,
for in the first place, I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all, no
one can rob me if I'm nothing at all. And in the second place,
Jesus Christ is my all in all, and who can rob Him? He is in
heaven. I never get richer or poorer,
for I am always nothing, but in Him I always have everything. Then another began to question
him thus, but my dear friend Jack, don't you sometimes doubt
whether you are a child of God? Well, said he, I don't quite
understand you, but I can tell you I never doubt but that I
am a poor sinner and nothing at all, and that Jesus Christ
is my all in all. You see, when God convinces us
of our sin and by His grace convinces us that Jesus Christ and Him
crucified is all of our standing and the only ground of all of
our hope before God, then we have nowhere else to go. Many
of Jesus' disciples in John 6 heard Him say that unless a man eat
his flesh and drink his blood, he had no spiritual life. that
they were offended by this. They did not understand that
eating and drinking meant to live in dependence and satisfaction
on Christ alone for the cleansing of all my sin and as all my righteousness
and life and acceptance before God. So the offended disciples
departed. They had no root in themselves.
When they left, Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them,
will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. The root of the gospel had gone
deep into Peter's heart. He was a great sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ was his all in all. Christ had the
words of eternal life. Peter staked his eternity on
Christ and his word alone. The stony ground hearer cannot
tolerate trouble and uncertainty because the gospel has not penetrated
his heart. Therefore he has no rock on which
to stand when the storm is high. But take warning, the one speaking
to you now and the one to whom I am now speaking are all included
here. By nature we have a heart of
stone. God must remove our stony heart
and give us a heart of flesh. God commanded Israel to circumcise
their heart, to cut it off. Yet He promised to do it for
them. In Deuteronomy 30 verse 6, God
requires that our heart be circumcised, to be cut off, therefore it must
be evil. And because God promised to circumcise
the hearts of His people, we must be utterly incapable of
changing our own heart. Does the trouble of your sin
and your heart drive you to Christ? Or does it drive you from Him
as Adam hid in the Garden of Eden? Do persecutions and afflictions
cause you to cry out to Him and seek His salvation more earnestly?
Or do they cause you to leave Him? Psalm 106 verse 4, Remember
me, O Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people,
O visit me with Thy salvation. Now, the thorn-choked hearer
also describes all of us by nature. The world and its cares dominate
the pursuits and provide satisfaction to the natural heart of man.
In this heart, the gospel is just another accoutrement, an
addition, like diversity in an investment portfolio, another
egg in my basket, something else to trust, something to add alongside
other things for peace and rest. But it is not the only thing.
When stressed and in trouble, the gospel seems more important.
But when trouble subsides, the things of the world become more
interesting and important. Things choke the word. Saving
faith never makes itself known. The third hearer, the thorn-choked
hearer, lives by sight, not by faith. The struggle of sin never
drives him to Christ, never causes him to cry for deliverance. It
never causes him to take God's promises in prayer and plead
Christ as his only hope. Christ promised, sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under
grace. Romans 6.14. But that promise is never seized.
in prayer by this thorn-choked hearer. He never cries with Paul,
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And with the psalmist he never
cries, Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away. Psalm 65 verse 3. And he never
cries with Paul, I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may
win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness.
Things in this world are substitutes for satisfaction in Christ and
his righteousness and the riches of God's grace. The common lesson
then and the essential truth from the first three hearers
is now come into clear focus. Our common lack by nature and
our great need is to hear the gospel of the grace of God as
sinners. God must plow our hearts so that
we see ourselves as nothing but sin and in that fallow ground
He must sow the seed of Christ and Him crucified. Money, music,
and friends give pleasure and confidence in this world. But
where can a sinner find refuge in his conscience from the heat
of God's wrath against his sin? What goods compare to the debt
Christ remitted by His blood? What can give peace and joy and
satisfy my conscience, but knowing that Christ is my answer and
my advocate, and that His obedience unto death is all my standing
before God? What can enable me to endure
every trial, even the trial of death and judgment, but knowing
that in Christ God receives me as Him? The third hearer never
talks about how Christ is precious to his soul and conscience. Everything
but Christ is the subject of his conversation. There is no
struggle with sin, no fear that finds all of its comfort in Christ. There is no rejoicing in Christ's
triumph as my triumph over sin. There is no longing for the day
of deliverance from this sinful body. There is no interest in
growing in grace. The wretchedness of my person
and the preciousness of Christ has not made everything else
a distraction that gets in the way of knowing Him. The cares
of this world all find priority in time and in heart over the
gospel. and yet our heart is corrupt.
Faith in Christ is impossible for us. Can the Ethiopian change
his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. A new heart must be given. Our
souls must be resurrected. Christ and Him crucified must
become our only trust and desire. Finally, let's look at the honest
and good heart. What is an honest and good heart?
Surely it is not our natural heart. Our natural heart is deceitful
above all things. Deceit is the opposite of honest. our natural heart is desperately
wicked. Desperately wicked is the opposite of good. Scripture
is full of examples that describe an honest and good heart. Psalm
3418 says, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. A broken heart is a man
that knows his heart doesn't work in spiritual things. The
man with a broken heart is soft and ready to hear the gospel
that Christ has done all and is all for me. The most concise
example I can give from scripture of an honest and good heart is
the publican in Luke chapter 18. He cried, God, Be merciful
to me, thee sinner. Jesus said that he went down
to his house justified. He was a saved man. Therefore
we know his heart was honest and good. First, the publican
was honest. He was convinced that he was
a sinner. Be merciful to me, thee sinner, he said. He could find no one worse than
himself. He therefore had only one plea, that God would have
mercy upon him in Christ, for Christ's sake alone, and not
for anything in himself, not now, not ever. He was honest
in this, he was convinced of it, and his heart was good. How was his heart good? He understood
and was persuaded, that is, he believed, that God, unlike men,
in order for him to be merciful to a sinner like him, must satisfy
his own justice and glorify his own righteousness in his salvation. As Daniel prayed, O Lord, according
to all thy righteousness I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy
fury be turned away. Daniel 9, 16. The truth is this. As a sinner, I cannot have peace
in my conscience until I know that God is at peace with me
in His justice. The publican had a good heart
because he asked God to look upon the sacrifice of Christ
and receive Christ's offering as full compensation and satisfaction
for his sin. This is what the word merciful
means in Luke 18.13. It means propitious, that is,
to be gracious on the ground of justice satisfied. The good
heart, therefore, is a heart that looks to Christ alone. Abel
had a good heart. He offered a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. If God accepted his sacrifice,
God accepted him. Now, no man offered Christ. Christ
offered himself to God. But he offered himself for his
people. And God commands us to look to him and come to him by
his blood. Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. God said to Moses
concerning the Passover, when I see the blood, I will pass
over you. You see, it's what God thinks
of Christ that saves, and what he thinks of Christ alone. My
sincerity, my experience, my works, and all else that has
to do with me is worth less than nothing. The publican's prayer
is the prayer of an honest and good heart. This is what faith
is. Faith looks only to Christ and
comes to God by Him. Faith excludes itself. A good
heart believes that only by the death and burial and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ will I ever be pleasing and acceptable
to God. The gospel is about God providing
and working out all that is necessary to save a hell-deserving sinner
like me, and accepting me in His Son and in His offering. The only issue in salvation is
this, did God accept the sacrifice? Romans 4.25 gives the answer. He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Christ made atonement
on that day. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He rose from the dead. God is satisfied with Him. By His resurrection, God justified
Him and all for whom He died, because God saw His blood. and
was satisfied. God received His Son from the
dead and received all for whom He died with Him. Christ now
sits on His Father's right hand. He rules over heaven and earth
on heaven's throne. He is now bringing those whom
He justified by His blood to see their justification and to
receive it by faith. Christ has died. God is satisfied. all Christ died to save are justified. The faith that He gives His people
looks to His glorious achievements for sinners, and receives in
its conscience what is true of them in heaven. Faith is the
deep root that grows in an honest and good heart. Finally, what
is the fruit that is produced by this root of faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ? First, believers themselves are
fruit to God. In the gospel ministry, God's
word always accomplishes His purpose, Isaiah 55, 11. And Colossians
1, verse 5 and 6 says that the word of the truth of the gospel
is come to you and brings forth fruit since the day you heard
of it and knew the grace of God in truth. When we know the grace
of God in truth, in Christ, as revealed in the Gospel, we ourselves
are fruit to God. And second, believers also bear
fruit to God. They don't produce it. The Spirit
of God produces it as they look to Christ. It says in 2nd Corinthians
3.18, "...we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The glass is the
Gospel. The image we see is Christ in
the Gospel. As we look at Christ in the Gospel,
we are changed into the same image that we see in the Gospel
from glory to glory, and that work is the Spirit of the Lord.
The root produced by the gospel in the heart of a believer is
faith, and faith works by love. Faith expresses its love as love
to God and love to others, especially believers. We love Him because
He first loved us, 1 John 4,19. Believers love because their
sins are forgiven them for Christ's sake. Psalm 116 says, I love
the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplication,
because He has inclined His ear unto me. Therefore I will call
upon Him as long as I live. The woman in Luke 7, 47 loved
much because she had been forgiven much. But to whom little is given,
the same loves little. God forgives all the sins of
His people. It costs Him the blood of His
Son. If Christ must die to take away your sin, how evil must
be your sin, and how great must be your debt. Such a payment
could only be demanded where there is a great debt. Therefore,
if you have been forgiven little, you have not been forgiven at
all. Faith loves Christ for bearing my sins in his own body on the
tree, and love is in proportion to our faith. It says in the
other Gospels, some seed produced a hundred, some sixty, and some
thirty-fold. Every believer is given a measure
of faith. Romans 12.3 and Ephesians 4.7. In terms of quantity, we have
a different measure of faith. But in terms of quality, we all
believe the same thing. There is one Lord, one faith,
one Christ. Ephesians 4. As the father of the devil possessed
boy said, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, Mark 9.24. And in 1 Timothy 1.5 it says,
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart,
and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Lord, increase
our faith. You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our website
at YSGraceChurch.com