All right, read with me verses
31 and 32. Another parable put he forth,
that is, our Lord, unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed
in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, But when
it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree,
so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof." Another parable. Our Lord spoke in parables. And it says, without a parable
spake he not unto them. A parable is an earthly story. that illustrates heavenly things. Things that are seen are used
to tell us of unseen things. A parable is a very simple story,
yet profound. A parable is like a riddle. A parable is like a mystery. It must be revealed in order
to understand it. Our Lord spoke of a kingdom,
the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven it's called, the kingdom
of His dear Son. That's different ways in which
a kingdom is described. The kingdom of heaven, it's an
eternal kingdom. It's an unseen kingdom. Men can't see it. It's the kingdom
of God. It belongs to Him. He's the author
of it, the creator of it, and it's the kingdom of His dear
Son. God has made his Son to be the
Lord over this whole kingdom. And everyone in the kingdom is
there by three ways. Appointment, election, is there
she or he is there by birth, born into this kingdom. Not natural
birth, but supernatural, spiritual birth. And then you're there
by call. He calls you unto himself. There
are not many kingdoms left these days. In fact, well, let's see,
there's an Arab kingdom that's called that, but we know the
UK, the United Kingdom. That's one of the few that we
know. Strange, isn't it? They don't have a king. It's
called the United Kingdom. But they don't have a king. And
if they did have one, he'd be just a figurehead. He doesn't
reign over anybody. That's a good picture of modern
religion. They're going to have a king.
They're trying to decide who will be such a mess. But the
fact of the matter, and I brought that up Because even in earthly
kingdoms like the UK, you don't just decide to become a member
or a citizen of the UK. You couldn't go over there and
say, well, I've decided to be a citizen of this kingdom. Oh,
no, no, no, no. You have to be granted permission
to be a member or a citizen of that kingdom. And they will give
you a fancy certificate saying that by order of the king, you
are now a citizen of this great kingdom. Well, this kingdom of
God is made up of people of his choice, his elect. They are born
into the kingdom, born of God, and they are called into that
kingdom. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to
approach. He said this kingdom is like
the grain of a mustard seed. A mustard seed. It's an herb.
He said it's the least of all seed, but when it's grown, it's
the greatest of all herbs. The Lord made herbs, didn't He,
in the garden and made by God for man's use, for God's glory.
Mustard seed. It represents several things. Mustard seed represents none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, preeminently. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the seed. The mustard seed represents the
Word of God, God's Word. The mustard seed represents the
Church of God, which is His Kingdom, and it represents the grace of
God. Christ first. Christ is the mustard
seed. Scripture says that He is the
seed. Not seeds, but seed. He is the
King. He is the Kingdom. He is the
seed. He is eternal life. He is our dwelling place. He
is the seed. He is the firstborn among many
brethren. He is the seed, the mustard seed. It says in verse 31, a man took
and sowed in his field. Christ is that plant whom God
planted from whom all other of His people come. The mustard
seed. It says it's the least in the
beginning. It is the least. I remember years
ago we looked at this, and I actually passed out mustard seeds to everyone. Do you remember that? I had to
put them in a little envelope, and they're so small. You know,
if I didn't put them in something, you'd lose them. They're so small. The least of all seeds. And our
Lord, this is how His life on this earth, anyway, began. The
least of seed. A seed was promised way back
in the garden. The Garden of Eden, one. In a
garden. A seed. That's where you plant
seeds, isn't it? And the seed of His prophecy
of Christ. The seed was sown. The seed of
the Gospel. Way back there in a garden. Amazingly,
our Lord was buried in a garden. The seed was buried in a garden.
He said that, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. But if it dies, oh my, it grows
into a great tree. But he was made of a woman, made
of a woman, born in a barn, talking about Little beginning. Poorest
of the poor. Lowest of the low. None lower. That's why the Lord came, as
He did, to fulfill Scripture. The least. The very least. Root
out of dry ground. Because when we see Him, there's
no beauty that we should desire in Him. He has no form or comeliness. Nothing remarkable about His
beginning at all. He was very, very despised, very
lowly, rejected, no reputation. He began with no reputation. He made himself of no reputation. But it didn't take long for him
to become the greatest and to grow into the greatest, the greatest
of all. From a seed sown unto us a child
is born, but the son is given. And he grew to become the wonderful
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace, the government on his shoulders, until he was sitting
on the throne of the Most High God, where he reigns forever,
from the least to the greatest. Planted by God, says every plant
whom the heavenly Father planteth, and it began with Christ, the
seed. Planted by God in His field. See that, verse 31? His field.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. This is His
world. His field. This is my Father's
world. Always has been. Always will
be. He reigns. He rules. It belongs
to Him. His field. And the Lord Jesus
Christ was planted in this earth. God was manifest in the flesh. And then he grew. And this is
an amazing thing. And I'm not sure I understand
this, but it says he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor
with God and man. How could he who is wisdom grow
in wisdom? I don't know, but it says he
did. It says he learned obedience
by and large. when it was his meat to do the
Father's will. But he learned obedience by the
things he suffered. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He grew in wisdom and stature
of favor with God and man. When he was born, he was a child, a babe, and then
grew into a young boy, twelve years old, Oh my. And he was in that temple
that day, amazing, astounding, the doctors and the lawyers and
so forth, asking questions and being asked. He grew in favor
with God. God beheld him as he grew. And God finally, when he became
a 30-year-old young man, God could not contain himself. He
hadn't spoken for many, many, many years until finally God
said from heaven itself, this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased, in favor with God and man. Though most despise
and reject him, he has a people that admire him and receive him. He has a people who call him
the fairest among ten thousand. Yes, he's the greatest in their
eyes. He grew in favor with his people
until they say of him, like the people did of David, they said,
thou art worth ten thousand of us, the bright and morning star. Oh, he grew until he became the
greatest to be admired of all his people. the greatest of the
great, until he became a tree. It says that this mustard seed,
planted by someone in a field, least of all, but when it is
grown, greatest among herbs, and became a tree where even
the fowls of the birds can lodge in his branches. Who could that
be other than the Lord Jesus Christ? A tree of life. In the
garden, there was a tree. And in the Revelation, it says,
there is a tree for all to see, the leaves of which are for the
healing of the nation, the fruit thereof, a lodging place, a dwelling
place, a refuge, a shelter, a nest where we can lay our young. Christ
Himself. Who can this seed be more than
the Lord Jesus Christ? Christ is that mustard seed.
The Church of God is the mustard seed. The Kingdom of God is His
people, His Church. As He is, so are we in this earth. The Kingdom of God, the Church
of God is a people of His planting, a people whom He causes to grow
until they finally grow into a great people, very little in
their beginning. The kingdom of God, the church
of God began with one man and one woman in a garden. One man
and one woman. Until now, the kingdom is made
up of a people which no man can number as the stars of the sky
and the sands of the seashore from one man and one woman. Amazingly, from the least to
the greatest. Abel, I thought about this. In
the end, the church of God is going to be gathered and it's
going to be like a sea of people. A sea of people. It's going to
be that silly game played today, you know, and you're going to
look at that stadium and you look at it from afar, it's going
to be a sea of people, a sea of faces. in glory. Oh, much, much more. Like the
star, like the sun. I thought about this. In heaven,
at one time in heaven, there was one man, Abel. Ever thought about that? It began,
the kingdom in heaven, one man, Abel. He was it. One human being
singing at the top of his lungs. Yes, yes, that's how it began,
didn't it? Oh, I know the angels were there
and the cherubs and the seraphs and all that, but human beings
redeemed by the blood of Christ, there was one man. Amen. And oh, my, was he ever thankful. And praise the Lord. Until in
the end, Jacob, the Lord began with Abraham. Remember, Abraham, the Lord brought
him out of Ur of the Chaldees until he brought him into Canaan,
and then he had 72 descendants. In no time at all, 72 descendants. And then our Lord said, you just
wait. I'm going to make your seed.
Just cover this earth. One man, Abraham, until it grew
into a great people, Israel. Jacob. Remember, Jacob journeyed. God sent Joseph, the head of
it, into Egypt. And he finally came to Egypt.
And there was Jacob and his sons. And when they left Egypt, there
were two million. Two million. And then you've
got to Moses, the kingdom of heaven, the church of God, one man in a basket, one child
in a basket, an arch, until he led a people too big and strong.
Christ, the seed, he began with twelve apostles, didn't he? Twelve apostles. When he left,
there were 120 in the upper room. Now, if you would visit all the
rooms all over the world where his people meet, it would be
a vast number of people. The church of God. Little, least
in number. He said, I didn't set my love
on you, Jacob, because you were more than any people. You were
least. But he shall have the victory, our Lord. I believe
there are going to be more people saved than perish. And that can only be by him having
mercy upon and redeeming babies. Right? Well, at any rate, the
church is not only least in number in the beginning, but it's little
in the eyes of the world. It's the least thing considered
to be nothing, despite, like their Lord, The church is despised
and rejected by a big religion, by the world's religion then,
back then, and now. And how did the church spread? How was the seed, or that is
the mustard seed, the church of God, how was it spread all
over the world until it became a great church? Church of God
in heaven and earth and all over in every kindred, nation, tongue,
and people. How was it spread? by persecution. Well, the word was preached.
The word is the seed. And then the church suffered
persecution and it was scattered. The church at Jerusalem, where
it was many thousands of people by virtue of our Lord's death
on Calvary and his prayer on Calvary's tree, where he said,
Father, forgive them. There were thousands of people
around that cross. And our Lord said, Father, forgive
them. And God did. And a little while later at Pentecost,
as a man named Peter stood up to preach and preach that seed,
so that seed, God planted it in the hearts of 3,000 people, souls. Alright? And a little later, how many
were there? A little later in chapter 4? 5,000, wasn't it?
5,000? That's 8,000 people in Jerusalem. The Lord had raised up 12 apostles
and 70 more. 82, counting Paul, preachers
of the Gospel in one town. Of all these thousands of people,
ok? But it can't stay there. So the
Lord sent persecution. It wasn't a bad thing. It was
a good thing. It has to spread. And that's
how it spread. You wouldn't want to leave either
if you were a part of it. I don't want to leave here, this
little number. But the way the Lord did it, man, at the time
they thought, why is the Lord doing this? Why is this persecution
happening? Why are we suffering all this
trouble? Why is He killing? They killed
James, you know. Blood was shed. This is how the
gospel spread. Persecution. Scattered all over,
like a milkweed. I love to use the illustration
of a milkweed, you know. People have gardens or farms. Oh my! If one of those bursts
open, it goes everywhere. The wind will take that seed
and scatter it to the four corners of your farm, all over. And plant it where a bird will
take it. A little bird will take the seed and plant it somewhere.
A gem bird or a bird of some sort will take that seed and
it's the least in the world's eyes, the least despised, rejected,
called a cult. Well, you just wait until it's
all over. You wait. And the martyrdom of so many
spread to every continent, every island. till it's in every kindred
nation tongue and grown great, vast, vast. And it's a dwelling
place like that tree, a dwelling place for the saints, a haven
of rest, a city of refuge where Christ is, that is. Wherever
Christ is, his people gather, that's a city, New Jerusalem,
a city of refuge and nest for our young. And then the word
is the mustard seed. The Word of God is the mustard
seed. Being born again, Peter wrote,
born of God, he plants the seed. Though he uses preaching, it's
he that plants it. It's not a corruptible seed,
but an incorruptible, the Word of God which liveth and abideth
forever. And this is the Word, Peter said.
It's not just preaching the Bible, but it's preaching the Gospel.
or more accurately to say, Christ the Word, who is the Gospel. This is the Word, Peter said,
which by the Gospel is preached unto you. God's Word is the seed,
which is Jesus Christ, which is life, which is salvation. It began little. The Word of
God began very small, like creation. In Psalm 19, the Lord He talks
about two books, doesn't he? The book of creation, and both
redound to the glory of God, the book of creation and the
book of salvation. And he said the book of creation,
the line has gone throughout the earth. Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge, who God is,
clearly saying the things that are made, his eternal power and
Godhead, hidden to the world. But it began little when God
said, how did it all begin? How did creation begin? With
a word. With a word. Four words. This vast and glorious and marvelous
creation that's called the planet Earth and the universe began
with four words. Let there be light. It's a small beginning. And then, look at it now. Look
at this vast creation. Amazing. The earth was made into
something grand and glorious. God spoke the word. In the beginning,
God. Four words. This book begins
with four words. In the beginning, God. 783,100 and some odd words later. That's how many words are in
this book. It ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Amen. And everything in between is
of Him. Christ to see. God's Word like a small mustard
seed. In the beginning God spoke unto
the fathers by the prophets. Okay? Holy men were spoken to
by God. There was a man named Job, the
oldest book in the Bible. It began this way. There was
a man named Job, and in the end of that book, God said, now gird
up your loins. I'm going to give you some light.
Let there be light. The Word of God began that way. Moses, take off your shoes. I'm going to talk to you. The
Word of God began that way. Samuel, hear my, Lord. Listen to me. And write this
down. David, write this down. Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Paul, Peter, James, write this down. The Lord gave the Word, Psalm
68 says, and great was the company of those that published it. Oh,
this book, God's Word. How glorious. No greater proof
of man's utter depravity and foolishness than that the greatest
book ever written, the most glorious thing ever penned, men don't
even read it. They don't care. They don't look
at it. Like the creation itself. They
look at all this. They're blind. Look at all this
and don't see. And say, God, there is no God.
And look in this. Oh, blessed are your eyes, they
say. Blessed are your ears, they hear. Blessed is he that readeth
the words of this book. Blessed is he that heareth the
words of this book. And oh, even more blessed is
he that understands. Oh, it has a little beginning,
doesn't it? The Word of God. The Lord gave the Word, and then
great was the company of them that published it. Prophets,
apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers and witnesses all over
the world of this Word until Acts 12 says the Word of God
grew and multiplied. Until Acts 19 says the mightily
grew the Word of God. Mightily grew the Word of God.
And how it grew was persecution. Men tried to stop it and all
they did was spread it. And I like the rest of this verse.
so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. And prevailed. Which brings me
to this final point, that mustard seed represents the grace of
God. The grace of God. This mustard seed is the kingdom
of God, is the Christ of God, is the church of God, is the
word of God, is the grace of God. And this word is called
the word of His grace. And Christ is His grace. It's
all synonymous. You know that? You can use these
words synonymously all the time in every word, in every phrase
in Scripture. Wherever you see the word, you
can replace it with Christ. Whenever you see the word, you
can replace it with grace. Or vice versa. When you see grace,
say Christ. When you say word, say grace.
It's the word of His grace. It's all the same. These three
are one. These three are one, the Word, the grace, the Christ
of God. Grace is an act of God, not an
offer of God. God didn't ask anybody if He
could create planet Earth, and He doesn't ask anybody if He
can create salvation. God did the planting. He does
the planting. It all begins with His will and
His purpose. Grace is an act of God, not an
offer of God. It's an implantation of grace. God puts grace, what? The Word, the Christ of God in
His people. Grace in us. Grace is not only
an act for us, by God for us, by Christ for us, but an act
of God in us. Christ in you, the hope of God,
the seed, the Word planted in, the Gospel, Christ, the grace
of God in you. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with what? Grace. What? The Word. What? Christ. Grace of God is this
mustard seed. It has small beginnings. God
sends the Word to someone. They don't know anything. They
don't see anything. They haven't heard a thing. They
don't have a clue. They're dead. How much does it
take to give life? One word. That's what Ezekiel's story,
he said, of the little child in the field. When I passed by
thee. Who? Christ. Word. Grace of God. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood. You didn't say yourself polluted
until I said one word. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own word. I said unto thee, when thou wast
polluted in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast polluted in thine own blood, live. Which comes first, faith or life?
Live. That's where it begins. God says,
let there be light. And God says, open his eyes. God says, open her ears. Look. And one word saying, oh yeah.
But does he leave it at that? Oh no. Oh no. It has little beginnings. Christ. Grace. By grace are you saved. I venture
to say nearly everyone heard the gospel for the first time,
that's the verse that they learned. Ephesians 2.8. Wasn't it? That's
the verse. You memorize one verse. Before that, you didn't know
anything, unless you were in a religion. But you memorize
one verse. By grace are you saved. By Christ
are you saved. By the Word are you saved. By
an act of God are you saved. By grace are you saved. One word.
Until it grows, until we grow in what? Grace. And in the what? Knowledge of
Christ Jesus, our Lord. We never grow out of that. We
grow into it. Grow more in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Grow into the measure and the
stature of the fullness of Him. Grow in grace. It has small beginnings,
this growth in grace. This grace of God, this implantation
of a seed, like a mustard seed, has small beginnings. Repentance. Repentance is evidence of life. It's not the cause of it. It's
not the cause of it. It's evidence of it. Repentance. The goodness of God. The grace
of God leads us to repentance. Gives us repentance. The Spirit
of God grants us repentance. And we grow in that grace. In
the beginning, we repent. We don't know much about it,
but we just know we're real sorry for what we are and what we've
done. And that grows. You know that? You never stop repenting. In
fact, you repent more and more and more until your whole attitude,
the attitude of your heart, the feeling of your heart, your mind,
your whole soul is one of repentance against thee and thee only. that
all I am, O wretched man, until you conclude in your heart, your
mind, and your soul, the whole, all your confession before God
is this, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's it. Repentance. And then there's
faith. Faith begins little. It begins
little. Little faith is saving faith. Little faith It's saving faith. What is faith? It's to trust Christ. Repentance
toward God. Paul said this to the Ephesians,
I fully preach the whole counsel of God. This is it. I kept back
nothing profitable from you. Preaching day and night. Two
things. Repentance toward God against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
and faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is an object. Faith is
a person. It's not what you believe, it's
who. What you believe is determined
by who you believe. Christ is the object of our faith. Christ is our faith. Little faith
is saving faith. Little faith is saving faith.
The grace of faith. In fact, our Lord only called
two people, only said of two people that they had great faith.
Remember who it was? The Roman centurion and then
the Syrophoenician woman. And both of them said, we're
not worthy. The woman said, I'm a dog. He said, oh, that's great
faith. He said, you're my master. I'm
a dog. I'm nothing. You're everything.
I can do nothing. It's up to you. It's totally
up to you. He said, that's great faith.
And then the centurion said, I'm not worthy for you to come
under my roof. I'm not worthy for you to come into my house.
And all you have to do, though, is speak the word. And our Lord
said, great faith. Great faith. See, great faith
is in the object of the faith. It begins little. That is, it
seems little, but it's actually great. If you trust Christ, cry
it. It takes a great miracle for
you to just look to Christ alone. A great miracle. Great grace
to turn your eyes away from yourself to cry. Great grace for you to
renounce all that you've ever done, all the religion, all the
knowledge, all the works, all that you've ever done in this
life as done to trust Christ alone. That takes a great act
of God. a miracle of God. I was writing
to my mother's sister who is 85 years old. She first of all wrote to me
and said how thankful she was that the Lord revealed Himself
to such a great sinner as she was. And she went on to talk
about how she was in religion but lost. A good, obedient daughter,
but lost. And that did me so much good
to hear that. I wrote her back and I said, well, I said, that
just blessed me to hear you say that. And I said, but I know
you knew the Gospel before I was even born. She wrote me back
real quick to correct me. She said, no, I didn't. She didn't claim any seniority
or any goodness or anything. Here's this old woman ready to
die. and renounces everything in her
past, trusting Christ alone, the grace
of God alone. Oh, that did me good to hear
that. May I grow old like that. May I grow in grace like that. How do you grow in grace? Same
way you do physically. Milk. Milk. It begins little. Desire the
sincere milk of the Word. And you never quit drinking milk. I don't anyway. I still like
it. But grow in grace by desiring the sincere milk of the Word.
You never leave that, the milk, the milk of the Word, but you
grow to where you eat meat, strong meat and so forth. But you never
leave the milk. You desire the sincere miracle
of the Word and you grow. How do you grow? In grace and
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The more we know of Him, the
more we see of Him in Scripture, the more we know it's all Him.
It's all Him. The more we know of Him, the
more we see of ourselves. We grow smaller in our own estimation. We grow smaller in our own opinion
of ourselves. He grows greater. This is growth.
This is growth. The grace of God gives us humility. We grow in humility and meekness
like Him. There are many fruits of the
Spirit, but they all are in every person whom God puts this grace
of God, puts Christ in them, the grace or the fruit of love. Love. Love. Many speak of love,
but the first love, first love? What's the first love? This act
of grace God puts in the hearts and minds of His people. What
is the first fruit? Love. For who? God. Christ. Christ. And in one another. Oh my. And it grows. Joy. Joy. Peace. Peace. Long suffering. Oh my. How do you grow? The sincere milk of the Word.
But it's not just reading the Bible. It's not just reading
the Bible. Because you can strive to grow
all you want, and you won't. You can read this morning, noon,
and night. That doesn't mean you'll grow. God has to show us Christ in
the Word. The Spirit of God is that wind
that blows and causes the seed to be sown and the fruit to come
out. And the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ who takes
the things of Christ and shows them unto you. And accordingly,
as we see Christ, is how we grow. Honestly, we don't grow like
Christ except by seeing Him. We see His mercy, He'll make
us merciful. We see His grace, He'll make
us gracious. Not by striving. When I was young, I was small.
I still am. I was little and, you know, all
of us boys played and my sister played athletics. And it's a
real disadvantage to be small in some sports. You either have
to be faster than everybody else or meaner or something. But I was very small. And I sent off for everything
that I could find in every magazine to try to help me grow. Pills. I was an easy pickings. Grow. One time they sent me.
I wanted to grow taller. And honestly, Mike, you had nothing
to do with your size. I mean, that's a fact. That's
an absolute fact. This was God's purpose. One time
they sent me a bar, okay? And they said, what you do is
you hang this bar between a doorway and you hang from it every day.
And hopefully you'll stretch. Now I have one of these benches
that, don't we, John, that stretches you. And I'll have you know that
I'm almost, well, I'm just 58 years old. I haven't grown an inch since
I was about 18. Not an inch. This way I am. But in fact, I'm shorter. I'm shorter. I used to be able
to say I'm 5'7". Now I say I'm 5'6 and 5'8". This is a good illustration actually.
Silly, but no, it's good. The inward man, the outward man
perishes. This outward man is perishing,
but the inward man that we can't see is growing. And there's nothing you can do
to make him grow. No special thing, nothing that
man can provide you, not by stretching, by no stretch of the imagination
can you make yourself grow in grace. It's the work of God. It's the
fruit of the Spirit. You can't make your fruit grow.
I'm going to love this person. How do you do it? Of His grace.
It says, we all behold Him as in a glass, the face of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and we grow into His image. We become grace like
Him. That's the only way. Not by striving. We grow. So, the Kingdom of God,
the Kingdom of Heaven, the King of His Son is like a grain of
mustard seed. At least it grows into the greatest.
Until, you know, someday, it does not yet appear what we shall
be. We're nothing. We're a bunch of nothings. Nobody. Worms. Jacob, worm. Oh, just wait. I can't wait till
my change comes. Someday he's going to make me
into that blessed image of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That's
all he's working. All right.