Thank you, Robin. Thank you,
John. Silently now, I wait for thee. That's what we all sang
there. Ready, my God, thy will to see. This parable is interesting,
but I hope and pray that it will be more than just interesting. I hope and pray it will be more
than just a Bible study. It does us no good just to learn
facts or learn the meaning of this parable. We need for the
Lord to open our hearts, open our eyes, open our ears. We need
for the Lord to take this seed that we're going to look at and
plant it in our heart. May each and every one of us
ask ourselves, am I good ground or a wayside here or a stony
ground here? We'd all need to ask, has the
Word of God been planted in my heart? One time he told his disciples,
let these sayings sink down deep in your heart. Listen to me now.
Because over and over again he says, there are people who have
ears, but they don't hear. They have eyes, but they don't
see. So, it does us no good if we
just learn some facts. If we just learn the meaning
of this parable. We need to find out if we're
one of these that the Lord is, if the root of the matter is
in us. Like Job. Job said, the root of the matter
is in man. He died in the faith. If the
root's not there, you won't endure. You won't last. You'll fall out. The Lord spake many parables.
Often, in this chapter, it says, without a parable spake He not
unto them. The disciples were puzzled. Disciples asked him, why are
you speaking in parables? One time he spoke in parables
and the disciples came to him and said, the Pharisees were
offended. He said, leave them alone. It's
not given to them. I'm not talking to them. Although
they heard it and they're accountable for what they heard. But a parable
is a simple, earthly story, everyday things, that illustrate spiritual
truth. So simple that the wise men,
like the Pharisees, they thought they were, didn't understand.
Because the fact of the matter is, no matter how simple, the
truth has to be revealed to you. It has to be revealed. You can't
figure it out. Scripture says no man must search, he can find
out God. He can't do it. He's revealed unto. So, that's
what I say as we listen to this and look at this. Look at verse
1. The same day went Jesus out of
the house. Now, everything's significant. Whose house was He in? It doesn't
say. But whosever house it was, my,
my, how blessed this person was. Did they ask him to come and
stay with them, perhaps? The fact is that house didn't
belong to them, it belonged to him. He gave it, he loaned it
to them. Well, they had him in their house and how blessed they
were. This little house, this church house, this house is not
the church. God's people are the church.
This church house, where the church meets, okay? But this
little house has been greatly blessed to the Lord in it. The
Lord has met with us many times over the years. It says he went
out of the house and sat by the seaside. This is significant. He was often, he spent, you know,
he spent, when he wasn't walking around all over Israel, thousands
of miles everywhere in search of his sheep, preaching, he spent
most of his time around the Sea of Galilee. stayed in the town
of Capernaum. In fact, it was called his city.
He wasn't born there, but he was born in Bethlehem, like Scripture
says the Messiah would be. He was raised in Nazareth, like
Scripture said he would. But he spent most of his time
around the Sea of Galilee. And there's a reason for that.
Most of those towns were little fishing villages, Capernaum,
Bethsaida, Magdalene. Does that ring a bell? Somebody
called Mary Magdalene. The disciples were fishermen
from Capernaum. This is where the Lord went.
This is who He came for. Not many wise men at the flesh.
Not many mighty, not many noble are called. But He came for these
poor people. The poor have the gospel preached
unto them, He said. And he spent his time either
by the sea or in the sea. You've read the story. The Lord
passing over through the sea, walking on. He showed his power
at the sea, didn't he? This is where Simon Peter first
found out who he was. He's not just a man. But Simon
Peter had been fishing all his life. He knows all about fishing. And the Lord came and said, let's
go out, go fishing. He got in his boat, didn't ask
him. He said, cast off. He said, teacher, I've been fishing
these waters all my life. And we fished all night last
night. But did you catch anything? No. He said, go out and cast
on the right side of the boat. And they couldn't take them all
in. And Simon Peter hit his knees and said, this is no mere man. He knows every fish in the sea.
He called these fish into the net. He knows every thought in
my head. He knows me. I didn't know him.
This is my God and my Creator. And he hit his knees and he called
Him Lord. He never called Him Jesus again.
He called Him Lord. Because that's who He is. So
he showed his power at the sea. Didn't the Lord show His power
with Moses and the children of Israel at the Red Sea? Moses
said, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And the Lord exerted His mighty
power over that Red Sea. Listen to this. Listen to this
psalm. Listen to this, Psalm 77, 19.
It says, Thy way is in the sea. Thy path in the great waters. and thy footsteps are not known."
Oh, he sat by the sea, and it says in verse 2, great multitudes
were gathered together unto him. Great multitudes. Many thousands
followed him and heard him and listened to him. And I thought
about this. Oh, what a multitude there will
be gathered unto him when all this is over. How about you? I want to be gathered,
don't you? When with the ransomed in glory
His face we at last shall see, to be my song through the ages,
to sing of His love for me, how marvelous, how wonderful. I want
to be with that ransomed throng in glory, don't you? Well, it
says He went into a ship, verse 2. He went into a ship. I don't know whose ship it was,
but how blessed they were that the Lord got in their ship. And
if you want to meet the Lord, he's with his people, his fellow
ship. He sat there, and a whole multitude
stood on the shore. In verse 3, he said, he spake
many things unto them in parables, saying... He opened his mouth. I wouldn't dare try to imitate
our Lord's voice. No man can. His enemies one time
sent some men to apprehend him. The Pharisees, the scribes said,
go get him. Bring him to us. We're going
to interrogate him. We're going to put a stop to
this. And those men that these Pharisees
sent to apprehend the Lord, they couldn't. They were mesmerized by his voice. And they went back and the man
that sent them said, well, where is he? All they could say was,
never a man spoke like this man. They couldn't take him. And it's
proof our Lord said, no man takes my life from me. He lays it down. This is not a mere man. This
is the God manifest in the flesh. But he opened his mouth and he
spake. Oh my, no one ever spoke with
more authority than him. They said that one time. He speaks
as one with authority. That's because he is. He is the
authority. He said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. He said, God has given me power
over all flesh. Did you hear that? Nobody has
any power, any authority except what the Lord of Lords and King
of Kings allows them to have, or gives them, or directs them
to have. He's not a figurehead. He is truly sovereign. The authority over, the one who
reigns and rules over everything. Old Brother Barnard used to say
that writhes or wriggles. Every germ. That's right. That's exactly right. And he
opened his mouth. Nobody spoke with more authority.
Nobody spoke with more clarity. It was very clear what he was
saying. Pharisees understood. It wasn't a problem that they
didn't understand some of the things he was saying. They just
didn't like it. Paul said, since we have this hope, we have one
hope, we use great plainness of speech. Paul said, I'm not
going to speak with wisdom of words or high-sounding oratory
or words that nobody can understand. Neither did our Lord. He spake
in simple parable. The common people heard Him gladly.
But the Pharisees were offended like He was talking down to them.
He's from above. Of course He's talking down to
us. But if he spoke, he could speak in a language that nobody
would understand. And these so-called high-muckety-buck intellectual
people, they wouldn't understand a word he was saying. But he hid it, the fact that
we're going to see he hides these things from the wise and the
prudent. But he spoke and nobody ever spoke with more authority,
more kindness. Men hated him, but yet no one
spoke with more mercy and grace and kindness. Oh, man. He opened his mouth. And he said,
verse 3, Behold, a sower went forth to settle. A sower of seed. A farmer. A husbandman. The seed
we're going to see, first of all, is the Word of God. The
seed. A sower is the preacher of the
word, okay? Christ himself was a preacher. Didn't he say that? He said,
let's go into these towns and preach, for thereunto am I sent. I'm sent to preach. What the
world calls foolishness, my vocation, what I'm doing right now, the
world calls foolishness. We don't need that. Well, God
had one son and he was a preacher. So that magnifies this office,
what I'm doing, the importance of it, the importance of it.
But Christ himself was a preacher and the word was what he spoke.
The word is the word of God. It's called seed, isn't it? And
God sent his son to preach the word. Christ, no man knoweth
the Father, no man knoweth the Son, but He that came down from
Heaven. Nobody knew anything until Christ came and revealed
the Word, okay? He was a preacher. What did He
preach? His Word. His Word. Alright, what is this Word? It's called seed. It's called
seed. It's an amazing, amazing thing,
seed. It's first mentioned in Genesis
1. Not too many verses go by until the Lord says He made,
the first things He made were grass and herbs yielding seed. And fruit trees with seed. And He keeps talking about seed,
seed, seed. That's the first mention of seed,
alright? What's the next mention of seed?
Genesis 3, the woman's seed. So Christ himself is this seed. He's not only the sower of it,
but he's the seed. The Word of God is Christ personified. The Word was made flesh, John
1 said, and dwelt among us. The seed. And one little seed. Look at verses 31 and 32. the
parable of the mustard seed. One time we looked at this and
I got some, went to the hardware store, Angle Hardware, and got
some mustard seed. Have you ever planted any mustard
seed? Well, try to plant one. It is so small. Anyway, I got
a bunch and I put them in envelopes and each one of you I gave, remember
that? And look at verse 31. The kingdom of heaven is like
to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. This world is God's field. All
right. Which indeed is the least of
all seeds, this little mustard seed. But when it is grown, it's
the greatest among herbs and becomes a what? A tree. What's this talking about? It's talking about Christ. Isaiah
53 says he'll grow up as a root out of dry ground, as a tender
plant. He'll grow up before the Lord.
A root out of dry ground. Seed. Seed of God. Christ Himself. Greatest. Become a tree. And it says the
birds of the air come and lodge in the branches there. The dwelling
place of God's people. Oh, one little seed. One little
seed will make a giant tree. Christ is the seed. Listen to
this. All things are by Him, for Him,
of Him, through Him, to Him. Everything. Everything comes
from Him. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Firstborn among many brethren. He's God to you. But yet the
Son of God, the seed of God. Look at verse 4. And when he
sowed some seeds, you notice it's in italics. All of God's
Word is one. It fell by the wayside, and the
fowls came and devoured them up. And some fell among stony
places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung
up. Because they had no deepness of earth, the sun was up, and
they were scorched, Because they had no root, they just withered
away. Keep reading. Some fell among thorns, and thorns
sprung up, choked them. Others fell unto good ground,
brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Who hath ears to hear? Let him hear. Did you hear that?
Do you understand? Do you understand what he said? Some of you are nodding. Blessed
are your ears. Blessed are your eyes. There
are very few people who understand it. All this multitude didn't
understand. They weren't asking, but the
disciples did. And they asked him, verse 10, why are you speaking
in a parable? Blessed are those who ask, they'll
receive. Seek and you'll find. Knock and
it'll be opened. And then verse 36, they said,
declare unto this this parable. And, you know, where's Mike and
Karen? Where are you? I saw you. There
you are. Karen asked me to speak on the tares and the wheat. Well, that's in this chapter,
and I started reading it, but I couldn't get past the first
one. So we're going to look at this one first. So the disciples said, Lord,
declare unto us. We don't know what you're talking
about. Declare unto us. That person who sincerely desires
to know and understand the truth will know. The Lord will reveal
it to them. Listen to that. Hosea chapter
6 says, We shall know if we follow on to know the Lord. We'll know
if we follow Him. We ask Him. We look and we seek
Him. His going forth is prepared as
the morning. He shall come unto us as the
rain, as the latter and former rain. And Isaiah said, as the
seed, as the bread from heaven, and on and on it goes. So those
who sincerely seek to know the truth shall know the truth. What
is the truth? Pilate one time asked that, didn't
he? It was a man standing in front
of him. He thought he was just a man. Jesus. He thought he had
power over this man. Our Lord was in chains. Who was
in chains? Pilate. Who had authority over
who? And he said, what is truth? Can
you hear Pilate's voice? What is truth? He didn't want
to know the truth. And the Lord is not going to
answer him. The truth is standing in front of him. The Lord doesn't
prove himself to human beings. He reveals himself. Not to the
wise and prudent. Babes. Sincere seekers. So, verse 11, our Lord said,
I preach in parables, speak in parables, because it's given
unto you. He's talking to Simon Peter,
talking to James and John Fisherman, Andrew Fisherman, Matthew Publica. Nobodies. From nowhere. Didn't know anything. All they
knew was fishing. Our Lord came for them. Chose
them. They didn't choose Him. They
weren't even seeking Him. He sought them. He chose them.
He called them. Didn't He? And He revealed the
truth to them, made preachers out of them. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, given unto you. Salvation is by grace in it.
What's grace mean? Gift. It's not an offer. It's a gift. It's not an offer. It's a gift bestowed. Not offer. Nowhere does it say that. Nowhere. Given. It says given to you.
It's given to you. Given to you to know. By grace
are you saved. By grace you know the truth.
By grace you understand the truth. It's not the human will. It's
not the human works. It's not the human intellect.
It's not human reasoning. It's by grace. It's by revelation. It's given to you. Do you see
that? Everywhere. In the Scripture.
Everywhere. Not offered. That's not in the
Bible. Given. It's given. Bestowed. Grace is
not an offer of God, it's an act of God. He says in verse
12, for whosoever hath, to him shall be given. He shall have
more abundant. But whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that he hath. And verse 11, I
didn't read all of that, it says, to them it's not given. It's
not given. So he says, if you have faith,
God gave it to you. If you have an understanding,
God gave it to you. Nobody can boast about anything.
We don't know God, we don't know ourselves, we don't know the
truth, we don't know the Bible, we don't know salvation, we don't
know who Jesus Christ really is, we don't know anything. But
by grace we do. To give. If we have anything. A man can receive nothing, John
the Baptist said, except it be what? Given. Where? From where? From above. from
God. So, if we have understanding,
it's a gift, isn't it? First John 5, 20, he said the
Son of God, we know the Son of God has come and given us an
understanding that we might know Him that is true, and we're in
Him that is true. This is the true God in eternal
life. Keep yourself from idols. I'm going to go ahead and say
this. No, I'm not. I'm out of time.
I'm not going to spend too much time. David Edmondson is going
to preach on it. Well, let me just tell you, I've
got you. There's a campaign that's being
run by, I think it's Jehovah's Witnesses, so-called Jehovah's
Witnesses. Big black sign that says, are you an idolater? Have
you seen that? They're everywhere, all over
North Carolina. Don't you guys look at the signs? Big black signs everywhere. It
says, are you an idolater? And underneath it says, God is
one, not three and one. Flat out denying the Trinity.
Flat out denying that Jesus Christ is God. If Jesus Christ is God,
and He is, I'm an idolater. I worship Him as God. He's not
just a man. This book is full of them. And
the reason that Jehovah's Witnesses don't know Him is because He
hasn't revealed Himself to them. They said, if you be the Christ,
tell us plainly. I said, I told you. And you believe not because
you're not my sheep. That's what He said there. The
sheep and the goats. There's the seed of our Lord
and the seed of Satan. Isn't that right? That's what
this book says. He says, you don't know. You're
not even asking because you're not interested. Jesus Christ is God. We worship
Him as God. He said, if you've seen me, you've
seen the Father, didn't you? He said in John 8, 24, I knew
I'd get off on Him. But it's a good place to get
off him. He said in John 8, 24, if you believe not that I am,
that's the name that Moses heard on Mount Sinai. Who shall I say
has sent me? He said, I am. And our Lord said
in John 8, 24, if you believe not that I am, you will die in
your sins. They said one time, who can forgive
sins but God? Christ forgave a man's sins,
says, your sins be forgiven. A woman, your sins be forgiven.
They said, who can forgive sins but God? That's right. That's
exactly right. Thomas hit his knees and called
Him, my Lord and my God. And he said, you call me Lord,
you say, well, that's what I am. He's God. Brother David is going
to preach on that. Look at Isaiah 6 real quickly.
Isaiah chapter 6. Our Lord quoted this in that
parable. Isaiah chapter 6. And how relevant
it is to what He's saying here. It's given unto you. It's not
given unto them. They don't know Me. You know
Me. Why does anybody know Him? Because He reveals Himself. He
said, My sheep hear My voice. I know them. I came for them. The Father gave them to Me. And
I came to save them. every one of them. And they know
me and they follow me. I reveal myself to them. In Isaiah
6, this is the Lord of glory. Have
you ever seen this? The year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. Who? Who's that? Jesus Christ. His train filled the temple and
Seraphims had six wings and covered their face and covered their
feet with two that would fly, and they cried unto another and
said, this is what they said of the Lord of lords. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory. The post of the door moved. The
house was filled with smoke. And here's what Isaiah said when
he met the true Lord Jesus Christ. Woe is me. Woe is me. This is a broken and a contrite
heart. I'm undone. He said, I'm a man
of unclean lips. I'm a sinner in the presence
of a holy God who knows my thoughts and looks on my heart. And I'm
undone. I'm a goner. That's what he said. And I dwell among people just
like me. We're all helpless and hopeless
before the mercy of this holy God. And then one of the seraphims
took a coal in his hand from the altar and came to me and
says he flew to me. The Lord sent an angel to Isaiah
to show him who the Lord was, to tell him the truth. And the
same thing has happened to you all. The preacher. And go down in verse 9, and it
says, Go tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not. See ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of these people fat, make their ears heavy, shut
their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand, and be converted, and be healed. Blind their mind, blind their
eyes, shut their ears, don't let them hear. That's strange,
isn't it? Go back to our text. That's strange,
isn't it? You know, in the story of Pharaoh
and the children of Israel, it says that the Lord hardened his
heart, didn't it? Didn't it say that? And in another
place it says Pharaoh hardened his heart. Didn't it say that?
Which is it? It's both. Pharaoh said, I'm
not going to hear this. So the Lord said, no, you're
not. I'm not going to let you. Isn't it? Okay. Okay. And people insist on a free will
and people insist on having a free choice and all that. Well, offer
one. Tell them who God really is, the God of the Bible. Tell
them who Christ is. Tell them what salvation is. Tell them
it's by grace. Not works. It offends them. I don't like
that, okay? And you're not going to hear
it, and you're not going to believe it, and I'm not going to give it to you. Right? So he said, blessed are your
ears and your eyes. They hear and they see. Why? Because he gives, he opens blind
eyes, he opens deaf ears. How many times, Johnny, did the
Lord heal blind men? How many times? How many times?
Did they make the decision to be healed? Oh, no. The Lord did. He gave them eyes. How many times
did he heal those that were deaf? How long were you deaf? How long
did you sit and listen to Rupert preach the Gospel and didn't
hear a blessed thing? How long, Tommy, did you sit
there? Just like me as a boy. Sat there and sat there and sat
there and didn't hear a thing. You know what the Lord should
have said? I'm never going to open his ears. He doesn't deserve
to hear this. I'm not going to open his ears.
Shouldn't he? Shouldn't he have said that?
And I can't preach the Gospel without these two words. But
God. I said, that boy's mine, just
like Thomas the Apostle, just like John the fisherman. He said,
that boy's mine. He's going to hear. I'm going
to open his ears. He's going to see my glory. Yes,
he is. I'm going to reveal to them,
these brothers, just like Simon and Andrew. Y'all are just as
blessed. Isn't that something? It said the Lord. Well, let's
look at this parable very briefly. I just have a few minutes. It
says in verse, the Lord revealed this parable to the disciples
in private. Verse 19, the very beginning. It says, When one hears the word
of the kingdom and understands it not, then comes the wicked
one, that's Satan, and catches away that which was sown in his
heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. By the wayside. By the wayside. Paul said this,
Have they not all heard Didn't he say that? There are more Bibles
in the world now than ever before. The Word of God. Psalm 68 says,
The Lord gave the Word, and great was the company that published
it. The Word of God has been preached for thousands of years. And Paul said, Have they not
all heard yet? The sound has gone to the end of the earth.
And people have Bibles in their houses. And everybody has heard something.
And they're without excuse. They're without excuse. So, by
the wayside. By the wayside. By the way. They're not in the way. That leadeth to life. How do
you get in the way? How do you get in Christ? How
do you get in the Kingdom? Do you put yourself in the Kingdom?
You must be born into the Kingdom. You must be chosen by Him. You
say, what's the use? Alright, I'll tell you what. Just stop everything you're doing.
Don't do anything. Don't do anything. Just stand
still and see the salvation. This is what the Lord uses, what
the world calls foolishness. Well, how are they going to do
anything if you don't invite them? The Lord never invited
anybody. He commanded them to come. He said, you will not come unto
me that you might have love. He said no man can come unto
me that he might have love, except the Father which has sent me
draw him. Bound to his evil will, his evil
nature to this world, the God of this world has us all captive.
We can't release ourselves. But God. He sends the truth to
make the captive free. They buy the wayside. They're
not in the way. The foul, the foul is Satan. He easily takes away the Word.
There's so many who come. And so many have gone. I've said
before, if all the people had come here, had stayed, we'd have
to rent out the Roanoke Civic Center. Satan easily takes away the Word. It's easy. We're easy pickings
for him. Mankind is easy pickings. Adam and Eve? Eve. He can easily tempt with earthly
pleasures and things and thoughts and quickly forgets, just quickly
is forgotten as soon as they hear it. Right. I remember a
preacher years ago praying this prayer after every time he preached. He prayed, Lord, don't let the
fowls come and take this away and don't let the thorns choke
it out. That'd be a good prayer, wouldn't
it? Lord, let me retain what I'm hearing. Let it take root
down deep within me. Let nothing and no one take this
away. This is the Word of Life. This is how we're born of God
and this is how we live. We need to die in the faith. 20. He that receives seed in stony
places, stony ground here, the same as here's the word, and
Anon with joy receives it. Over there in verse 5 it says,
sprung up. You've sown grass, haven't you?
Everybody's sown grass. Boy, I've been sowing a lot this
year. I've got a lot of hard pan everywhere. And man, I've
been trying to plow that, bringing in topsoil. But some of that
seed, you scatter that seed, and some of it is scattered on
hard ground. Hard ground. Well, if there's
enough rain and so on, it might spring up, and it will. It'll
be the first to pop up. Right? Little thin blades of
grass will be the first to pop up. But if that sun stays out
very long, It's going to be gone. It's going to dry up. Isn't it? And all flesh is ground. But
it had no root. Had no root. No root. The Word of God must be planted
deep in the heart. Salvation is a heart work. With
the heart, man believe it. Scripture said. Out of the heart
are the issues of life. The Lord has to put this word, this seed in our hearts
with the heart memory. But if there's no root, if it's
not planted deep, it may spring up briefly. It may spring up
briefly and may see some interest. A person goes through some kind
of trauma and our Lord said this. He said, tribulation arises because
of the word and by and by he's offended. People go through troubles
and traumas and sickness or have a car wreck or a near-death experience,
so to speak, or an addiction recovery or a death of a friend,
and they get religion. Everybody gets religion when
they get in trouble. But as soon as that trouble's over, so is
their religion. They're gone. My pastor used
to say, a faith that's born in a storm will be gone in the calm
when it's calm. Salvation comes through conviction
of sin, not trouble. Conviction of sin. We're going
to look at that in a minute. If there's no root, there'll be
no fruit. And it'll dry up and wither.
It won't last. What's the root? What's the root
of the matter? Christ is called the root of
Jesse. The root of the matter is Christ
in you. You know Him. Believe Him. He's your hope. He's your wisdom. He's your righteousness. He's
your sanctification. He's your redemption. He's your
salvation. He's your hope. He's your peace
with God. He's your everything. That's
the root. He's the root. No root, it won't
last. And it said this in verse 21.
I've got to hurry. It says, by the word of Fens. Brothers and sisters, from Matthew
10 to the next several chapters, our Lord began to speak about
being a sword. He said, you think I've come
to bring peace on the earth? Sword. He said, I've come to
break families up. Preach that to this modern world.
He said, I've come to set a man at variance against his father.
A woman against her mother. Didn't he? The truth offends man. And when
he reveals it to whom he will, and that's what he does. He reveals
it himself to whom he will. And passes by another member
of your family. Now you've got two different
people. And there's going to be a fallout.
There's going to be an offense. And buddy, that's where the rubber
meets the road. When you defend the truth of
God and the God of the Bible and the Christ of Scripture and
the truth to your family, and you say, this is the God we believe. This
is the truth we believe. This is the gospel we believe.
And your family says, well, I don't. What are you going to do? What
are you going to do? Any man love father or mother,
son or daughter, husband or wife more than me, Christ said, he's
not my disciple. Blessed are those that are not
offended in me. And what our family says, those that have
mere profession of faith, what they say is, if what you're saying
is so, I'm not saved. You're questioning my salvation.
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Our Lord
said that. For chapter, and chapter, and
chapter, and chapter. Blessed are those who are not
offended in me. So, look at verse 22. Then he says, some fell among
thorns. Some fell among thorns, received
a seat among thorns. They hear the Word and the care
of this world. Deceitfulness of riches choked the Word and
became unfruitful thorns. He said the cares of this world,
the daily life. These things are more important
to some people than Christ. And not God's people. He is their
life. God's people don't order their lives. order their religion around their
lives, they order their lives around their religion. Christ
is their life. He really is. The deceitfulness
of riches. Deceitfulness of riches. Riches
promise happiness and they don't deliver it. Promise security,
oh my, and don't deliver it. Christ is the true riches. And the God of this world, They're easy picking for them.
Alright, look at this good ground now. What is good ground? Well,
there's none good. You know that, don't you? You
know that? None good. Not one. None righteous. Not one. You know what the Scripture
says? Nobody born good, they're all
born in sin. What's good ground then? The
Scripture says, a broken and a contrite heart thou wilt not
despise. Good ground. How do you make
ground good? Does it make itself good? No,
no, no. What do you have to do to it? Plow it up. Tear it up. And buddy, when you
first hear the truth, if the Lord has purpose for you to hear
the truth, it tears you up. As my brother from Carolina says,
you get toe up from the flow up. And that's a fact. He tears up everything you thought
about God, everything you thought about yourself, everything you
thought about man, everything you thought. I thought. I thought. It ain't like you thought it
was. The truth is not what you think.
There is a way that seems right to man. What does the Lord say
about it? It ends in destruction. I thought. That's what old Naaman
the Syrian said when he came to Elijah. He said, I thought
he'd come out here and be glad to see me. Oh, no. When this
is over, you're going to tear it. You're going to be tore up. It's a fact, isn't it? It tears
up your religion. It takes your heart and breaks
it. Your proud heart. Man is proud,
so proud. I'm somebody. I know something.
I have something. You don't have anything. You
don't know anything. John read that in Galatians 6. If any man thinks he knows anything,
he knows nothing. If any man thinks he's something,
he's nothing. We're all a bunch of nothings.
Christ is the only one ever born on this earth that's worth anything. And He tears your heart up. Breaks
that proud heart. Stony ground. He said, I'm going
to take away that heart of stone and give you a new heart. Good ground. You don't make your
heart good, but He does. He plows it up. Notice in verse
23, it says, He that received seed into the good ground. Received it. We've looked at
this so many times. The difference between receive
and accept. The Bible doesn't say, accept
Jesus as your personal Savior. It's not in the Bible. Why? Because the salvation is not
you accepting Him. It's Him accepting you. It's not up to you accepting
Him. We're the ones that offended God. He's the judge. He doesn't
have to show mercy. Mercy is sovereign. It's His
will. It's His choice, not yours. It's not us accepting Him. Him
accepted us. Ephesians 1, 6, we're accepted. We're accepted. End of 11. Receive is for somebody to do
something to you, and you just receive it, not accept. I sure
wish I had... Every time I use this, I wish
I had a glass right now. This is an empty glass. That's
what we are, a bunch of empty vessels. Empty of grace, of faith,
of joy, of knowledge of God. Empty, empty, empty. The grace
of God, the water of life, Christ, the water of life, alright? He
chooses the vessel. Vessels of mercy, Romans 9. Vessels
of mercy. And He takes the water of life,
the word of life, which is Christ, which is the Bible, and chooses
whom He will, and pours that water of life into them. Wish
I had a glass. I'll go ahead and do it anyway. The vessel receives it. It had
nothing to do with it. It's the giver. You have received
grace. You've received mercy. John 1,
12 says, many have received Him, were given the right, the privilege
to become the sons of God. Which, can you quote the rest
of it? We're born, not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man, not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. God sent the seed, which is the
Word, which is Christ, which is the Gospel, and chose you,
an empty vessel, a worthless, empty vessel, nothing in you
that He needs, but He's got everything you need, and He takes this water
of life, and you receive it. I'm a receiver. He didn't accept it. He poured
it in there. Received. Have you received the
Spirit? Received. He breathed on it. That's a fact. That's salvation. Have you received it? It says
in closing, some received this seed and bore fruit. All of them
bear fruit. good ground, broken hearts, contrite
hearts, chosen vessels, empty vessels, receive the Word, Word
of God. Some bear a hundred, some sixty,
and some thirty. Well, the fruit, Galatians 5,
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Love, let me just tell you a
few of them. Love. If you love the truth,
you've received it. There was a time most in here
were in religion and you did not love the truth. You did not
love what I'm preaching tonight. You did not love this God that
we preach, did you? Isn't that right? Isn't that
right, Robin? You were a Methodist and you did not love this. And
you went home one time and said, I'm going to prove him wrong.
What happened? The Lord proved you wrong. He
said, I'm wrong. He broke her heart, plowed that
fallow ground up to receive the Word. Do you love the truth now? You've received a love of the
truth. A love for the God of the Bible.
Most people hate when they hear of this sovereign God. Most people
hate when they hear of Christ that's sovereign. Joy. Do you enjoy hearing? A man stands up and calls you
a worm and a dog and no good and empty, worthless, no good,
hell-deserving sinner, and you just smile and shake your head.
That's not natural. It's just not natural. God gives
you a new heart, doesn't He? He says, that's right, I'm nothing. Because if you're nothing, Christ
is all. Joy. There was a time I did not
enjoy sitting in here and preaching. Boy, I do now. Peace. Some a hundred. Some sixty. Some
thirty. Some have more. Some have less. They all have fruit. How does
fruit grow? How is it sown in the first place?
Huh? You sow to the flesh. Galatians
6 is what it is. You reap flesh. Sow to the Spirit. You grow. You grow. 160, 30. And I'll close with
an illustration. What if you only have one little fruit? Huh? So I don't have much food. I
don't have much love, joy, peace. I don't have much faith. I don't
know. Sometimes I don't think I have any. Is one life one fruit? I had a garden one time, and
we quit gardening because between the deer and droughts and all
that, we just couldn't grow anything. We had tomato plants. I went
out there one time, had five or six Better boy, beef steak,
something. And boy, I'd been nurturing them,
and it wasn't any tomatoes anywhere. So I was just ripping them up. And by the way, every tree that
our Heavenly Father hadn't planted was going to be rooted up. How
are these trees planted? He plants them. Well, I routinely
think that, and I started at, Johnny, I found, Melody, I found
one little green tomato on this one little skinny little plant.
Is that fruit? Is that fruit? So I don't have,
do you have any? Do you believe what you've been
hearing tonight? You have a little bit of fruit, that's life. And he's not going to root you
out. He's going to dung you. So I
dung that thing, and I watered that thing, and I mulched that
thing. You know what? You know how many
tomatoes it produced? One. But it's life. What I'm trying
to say to give you comfort is if you have any faith, the faith
of a grain of mustard seed, What's your faith? Christ. Is it? Is Christ your only hope? Is
Christ your peace with God? Is Christ everything to you? And you have that. You've been
a receiver of this seed. All right, stand with me.