Mark chapter 4, verse 2, from Mark 4, it says,
Now he taught them many things by parables. Mark chapter 4, verse 2. He taught them many things by
parables. I don't know what It says, look
at verse 34. Look over verse 34. It says,
"...without a parable spake he not unto men." Everything he spoke was in parables.
Without a parable, he spoke not unto men. Now, why is that? Why did our Lord speak in parables? Now, a parable. A parable is
an ultimate story. a very common illustration of
things on this earth, but the parable has a spiritual meaning
behind it. He uses earthly things to illustrate
truth, all right? That's what a parable is. Why
did our Lord speak in parables? Well, he said, what, verses 10
through 12, he said this, They asked him that, verse 10, when
he was alone, they asked him of the parable. In another gospel
it is written that they asked him, Lord, why are you speaking
in parables? And he said unto them, look at
verse 11 and 12, he said unto them, unto you it is given to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God. In other words, he's
going to tell them, they didn't know what the parable was, They
didn't know. Those doctors and lawyers, they
didn't know. And these fishermen sure didn't
know. But he said, so there. And he
said, unto you it is given. But unto them that are without. All these things are done in
parables. That. Quoting Isaiah 6, See ye, and
they may see, and not perceive, and hear ye, and they may hear,
and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted,
and their sins should be forgiven them. So, our Lord is saying here that
the truth is hidden from everyone until He reveals it. You see that? Even the apostles
didn't know until he told them. Salvation, you see, is by God's
electing grace and revealing grace. God Almighty reveals the
truth, reveals himself, who God is. Reveals us, Isaac. Reveals Christ, who he is, the
gospel. So then he will. Now, this is
just the truth, see? It chooses who we with to reveal
the truth to who we with. This is the truth, because the
Scripture says, it's not by might, intellectual power. It's not by power, but by my
Spirit taking it. And 1 Corinthians says the same
thing. It says, the natural man receives
it not, the things of God. You can't know it. It says, the
world by wisdom knew not God, the wisest man. And God did this on purpose to
compound the wise, he said. And aren't you glad that it's
like this, huh? What if only the wise and the
intellectual could understand God? That'd leave me out. Wouldn't it, yeah? It'd leave
out the common man. And the wise and the intellectual
could glory in the fact that they know, and they understand,
and you don't. There's no place you're going
to glory. So God gets out of the way. You see why? That's
important. Everything's important. All right, so he spoke in parables.
Now, verse 13, he said this. Now, look at this. This is very
important. He said, No, you're not this
terrible. Terrible? Well, you know, I'm
terrible. If you don't know this terrible, How are you going to know any
parable? Sounds like this one's pretty
important to me. You ever noticed that before? I haven't. First
time I've really noticed him saying that. How then will you
know the rest of the parables? So this is very important. All
right. Now listen to this. Not only
must we know and understand this parable, the meaning of it, to have any
understanding of anything else. But we need to examine ourselves. When you hear this parable, explain
it. Okay? We need to examine ourselves. May everyone in here, young and
old, examine your own heart to see Well, you say it in this
parable, because everyone under the sound of this word, this
morning, fits in this parable. All right? Everyone in here fits
in this parable. He's dealing with every person
that's in here. You're in this parable. All right. Now, let's look at verse 14,
is where he begins to explain the parable to his people. He said, Behold a sower that
went out of sower to sow, like seed. You've sown grass seed,
haven't you? This sower that he's talking
about is someone who sows the Word, the Word of God. Now, the
Sower, capital S, the Sower is Christ himself. He's even called
the Word. Now, it's His Word. He's the
seed, brothers and all. He is the seed, and He's the
sower. Spirit of God. The seed that
He sows is His own Word, His own voice. He said, My people
are going to hear My voice, which is the Word, the Gospel, Peter
said. This is the Word, the Gospel.
Peter called it the incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. He said, this is how you're born
spiritually, by the seed that is sown. This is how you're born
of God. You're not born of the will of
the flesh or the will of man, but you're born of God, and you're
born by this Word, and it's God himself who must plant it. Men don't plant the word in the
hearts of people. They can't do it. It's not in
man's power. All right? You must be born from
above, Christ said. Born of God. Christ himself must
place his seed within you. Now again, this gives him all
the glory, doesn't it? It gives him all the glory. No
man can take credit, not one bit of credit, for one human
being that ends up in heaven. But now, listen to this. When
our Lord in Ephesians said, when he ascended up on high, he gave
gifts unto men. He gave some apostles, prophets,
apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers, for the ministry of
the Lord, for the sowing of the Word. And Paul, in his epistle,
said, I plant and polish waters. We're in this ministry, he said,
and we've got this seed that the Lord has, Paul said, committed
to my trust, this seed, this gospel. And he said, that's what
I'm doing. So in a way, so in a way. Now
again, no man, I can't put one word in anybody's heart, can't
do it. Neither could Paul. When he said
plant, he didn't mean that he actually could give salvation. No, sir. He's talking about sowing,
you see. All right? And our Lord, now
listen. Our Lord said this about preachers
of the Word. I'm sowing. That's what I'm doing
this morning. I'm sowing the Word. The Word. Now, our Lord
said this. He that heareth you, He said
this to His preachers. He that heareth you, heareth
me. If they don't, and I'm going
to hear from me, you might say, here are two of you. That's what
he said, didn't he? All right. So I say the word
this morning, all right? The seed is being sown. I'm throwing
this word out here. You hear, you hear that? Throwing
the seed, the word of God. Throwing it out there in the
air. Where's it going to land? That's what this prayer was about.
Where does it land? Every person in here lands on
it. You're under it. You're left here to hear it.
Everybody in here's got two on their head. But not everybody
in here's got one right here. Now the seed, you have the gardener,
the man, you've sown grass on. Whether or not that seed grows
depends on what? Soil. in some sort, a type of
ground, a pendulum. This is what our Lord is saying.
Now, the ground that he's dealing with here, upon which the seed
is sown, is his heart, or the inner man. Like this. A lot of things go in right here.
If you go fingers a little bit, you go right there. This ground is the inner man,
the heart. The condition of the heart is
the whole issue in salvation. Our Lord said that. He said,
out of the heart are the issues of life. All right. And now here again,
the Lord gets all the glory because the preparation of the heart
is of the Lord. He's the one that prepares the
heart. And the irony of it is that he uses this Word to prepare
the heart. This Word is what works on the
heart. All right? So God gets all the
glory for preparation of the heart, whether or not the heart
receives the Word or not, and we're to be blamed if it was at my heart. We know that. There
are four types of hearers, and I've said that everyone in here
is in this parable. The Lord gives four types of
ground here, upon which the seed departs. And it's four hearts,
or four hearers, four types of hearers, upon which the Word
of God falls. And all four are in here at this
moment, I'm certain of that. Verse 3, let's look at it. Verse
3, he says, Listen! Listen up! Behold! Listen and look! Behold! There went out a sword
to show. Thus spoke. And it came to pass,
as he showed, some fell by the wayside. And the fowls of the
air came and devoured it up." Verse 15, he explains this. These are they by the wayside,
where the word is sung. By the wayside, by the wayside. These are they by the wayside,
not in the way. They're very near the way, but
not in the way. You see, they're by the wayside,
just outside. They're near, but not, they're
close, but not far. Now, these This word landed,
this seed landed on that ground, didn't it? That's because they
were very close, he was very close. The word did land, the
seed did land. The seed did land on that ground,
didn't it? But it had no effect on him. Everybody in here is
hearing this message. All right? Now, I don't know,
I don't know who's in Christ and who's not. Pretty good idea
of some, and pretty good idea of others who are not, but I
don't know. But you either are in Christ
or you're not. You can't straddle the spiritual
fence. You can believe you don't, you
can believe Christ you don't, you can love the gospel you don't,
You need mercy to know, you need a sinner you're not, you need
a worship god of your own. There's just no gray area there. All right, look at it. Well,
by the way, that's important. Verse 4 says, And the fowls of the air
came and devoured it. That fell on his ground, and
the fowls, the birds, came and devoured it. Picked it. Picked at it. Take it away. Verse 15, he says, "...when they
heard Satan come up immediately, and take up away the word that
was sound in their heart." The Scriptures talk so much about
Satan. And I know that these modern
preachers have said so much about him that the modern world Cuckoos
all talk of the devil and Satan and all that. They think it's
the ignorant superstitions of religious, uneducated religious,
hillbilly preachers. Satan. It's just the Son of God
talking. And this person is real. And
being raised in so-called a power, probably the wisest and smartest
man to ever live on this planet other than Christ himself, Paul.
That includes Sodom. Paul said, we're not wrestling
with flesh and blood. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood, but with principalities of power, spiritual wickedness
in higher places, rulers of the darkness of this world. That's
what he said. There are forces at work right
now. I know that sounds like that of some science fiction
book, but it's not. This is not science fiction. It's the truth, the whole truth. It never looks true. And he said
there are forces at work when the gospel is being preached. And Paul said in 2 Corinthians
4, he said, Satan, I fear, Satan beguiled Eve, but he should beguile
you in the simplicity that's in prayer. As Satan blinded me. Now, Satan comes in many forms
and tricks away the Word. Tricks away the Word. Because
there's nothing he... He knows. He knows. He's seen
what the Word of God does. This is the power of God. He
has seen the Word of God, just the preaching of the gospel,
take many people from him. His captives, Paul talks about
captives of Satan, that all by nature are, and says Christ is
captain of their salvation, comes and rescues them. A greater,
remember? He binds them, Paul chapter 6.
Remember that? Huh? He comes and he, no, they're
not yours, they're mine, Christ said. I haven't taken them. And
what does he do with them, Sam? What does he take them with?
Right here. Sir! The sword of His Spirit. The cords of His Word. He takes them from him. Satan
knows, he knows his principal work is not in Billy Bob's bondage. In that devilish fire water called
whiskey, he's got a man. That's not it. That's not where
he does his principal work. It's sitting in the pew, because
this is where the power of God is. In the pew, where the Word
of God is being put. He knows that. And so he uses
everything within his power and his craft and his wiles to keep
folks from hearing that gospel. The only way he can is if God
allows him to do so. But now, if God Almighty is there to reduce
me, I mean, he's going to work on a heart, there's nothing,
there's nothing, come hell or high water, that's going to stop
that worry from working. Nothing Satan does is going to
remove that worry. Right now, it's a struggle for
you to listen to what I'm saying. If I was standing up here right
now, singing a bluegrass song, you would absolutely, well, maybe,
most of you, most of you, if you don't like bluegrass, let's
put it that way, you would be an edgy, if I was good, if I
was good, you'd be an edgy, sweet, and you'd give me your heart
and do something, oh, I'd love it. Oh, that song's good to me. Oh, chills be running up your
spine if I was real good. Look, I was dealing with whatever,
whatever it is that everybody's all caught up with. Everybody
would be listening in rapture, and there would be no problem.
You wouldn't be thinking about other things. Nothing would be
interfering. You'd be on note yourself. You know how it is, reading a
book, a magazine, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be
a comic book, and you would go, absolutely. engrossed in a Parks
catalog. Say it in, say it in, say it
in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say
it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in,
say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it
in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in,
say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in,
say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in,
say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it
in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in, say it in have
a judgmental justification. It's the hardest thing one ever
has to do. That sound, by God's grace, I
hear it. I hear it. Let me ask you now,
if you, up to this point, have heard preaching, you've heard And you think, if you examine
yourself and say, you know, this gospel, well, it hasn't had an
effect on me. I see it had an effect on everybody
else, and I've heard it over and over again, but it really
hasn't touched my heart. Well, let me give you some real
good advice, okay? If you'd like to listen, you'd better be asking someone But put that word in your heart. Well, if there's only one that
can do it, I can't do it. But he can. He must. He must. He must apply that word. You look at so-and-so and they
always seem so touched by it, but I'm not touched by it. Who
touched him? There was a time when he wasn't
touched. There was a time when he sat there and heard message
after message and he left that. And he left and he forgot everything
he heard. But now, who did it? He didn't do it.
Somebody else did it. If he did it for him, it'll go
for you. That's good. Now here's the next
ground that fell on, verse 5. Some fell on stony ground. where
it had not much earth. It had a little bit, and immediately
it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. Stony ground. All right? Have you had any of
this where you live, Stoney? That's funny, isn't it? That's
why they call this Rocky Mounds. Stony ground. You go out there
and you're mad, or I was putting up a fence over here. There's
a rock every square inch of this place. Isn't there? You stick your shovel anywhere
you can get a rock in it. Well, it's only ground now. It
doesn't have much earth. It'll be a rock. It can be a
huge rock area and a little bit of earth on top of it. An inch of soil on top of it.
And, uh, It's the right conditions and all. You can throw some seed
out there, get a little moisture, a little sunshine, and poof!
It's the first to come up. And you can spring up quickly. Why? Because you have not much
time. Now this is a lesson. The Word of God, now. It's not Now, when God works
on somebody, it's known. Whenever the Word actually touches
somebody, it's known. But it's not the first time they
hear it, or maybe even the second time, or even the third time,
that that seed is sown. It goes down in there, according
to God's wisdom. cost to count, and so forth and
so on. But it's not one of these fly-by-night,
overnight professions of faith under emotional appeal. See what I'm saying? That you
see so much of. Look at those six. It says when
the sun was up, it was scorched because it had no roots. sun
came up. Now, it sprung up, that's how
you do it. It grew, but not very tall. And when the sun came out,
it burnt it up and withered away, because there was no root in
it. Now, look at verse 16. He explains
here. Verse 16, "'These are they likewise
which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the
word, immediately receive it with gladness, for they have
no root in themselves.'" What's root? It's Christ, Christ
the Lamb, divine. The roots are vacant. Huh? They don't. And they have
no root, so they're on stony ground, and endure for a time. Afterward, when affliction or
persecution arises, for the Word's sake, immediately they are offended. Affliction, that's what the sun
represents, affliction and persecution arises. Now, I've seen many,
many of these healers, many. Countless persons I've seen who
hear the true preaching and say, and I've heard them, I've had
them say this to me, and I've heard them say this to me on
the way out the door after it was over. That's the greatest
message I ever heard. I remember one woman came and
sat and she was all smiles and listening and wrapped me and
he kept me, just seemed to enjoy what she was hearing, rejoice
in it, and let me at the door and she just was, goodness, that's
the greatest message I ever heard. I have never seen her again.
It must not have been that great. If you ate at some food and it
was the greatest food you ever tasted, I'm gonna ask you, would
you go back to that restaurant? Would you go tell other people
about it? I ain't got to come to the Sam's Bar and the Sam's
Club. It's wonderful. Man, I'm going
back there. You wanna come with me? It's the greatest food. It's
what I've been looking for. Countless persons have heard
that, really, especially funerals. There were a lot of funerals.
You know, when people attend a sovereign grace funeral, when
people go to a funeral of a believer and they hear a man stand up
and proclaim the truth, and see that God's people, his family
or her family, not weeping and wailing in sorrow as those who
have no hope, but actually smiling and rejoicing and amening like
it's a worship service. The world goes, what's going
on here? It's supposed to be a funeral. Now, they're praising
God here. The man up there is not trying
to get anybody saved. He's just, what is this all about? I've heard theater directors
say to my pastor, I'm coming to your service next Sunday.
Because they've seen these idiot, tear-jerking fellows, you know,
and all the wailing and weeping and all that stuff going on. But then when a man stands up
and declares the truth and the people aren't, you know, carrying
on like fools and everybody, they can't help but say there's
something different here. Something to this. Something
silent, something real. Something true about this. I've
seen this facade on this religion, but something about this. And
I've heard them say, Burt Baden. That's the best guy I've ever
heard. I've heard even more people,
you know, seem to be really excited over the doctrines of grace. Doctrines of grace. Like a new toy, somebody comes
along. Somebody comes across. A new toy. Doctrines of grace.
I never heard that. Ooh, I like that. The people,
it's not excitement, it's not enthusiasm, it's a doctrine. This is what needs to happen. Humility. You see, what the truth
does first to a person is not open their mouth, but shuts it. The truth doesn't first lift
the head and the hands and all that, but it mounts the head. The truth does not first heal
the heart with joy and praise and gladness. It does, but not
first. The truth does not at first make
a person feel good, but the truth at first makes them feel real
rotten and real bad. And it doesn't fill a person
with yip, yah, yah, yip, yah, Jesus all the way. That's a stony
ground here. Roots, you know, roots go deep,
don't they? Roots go deep. And this thing
of salvation goes deep, half off, to the inner man. That's
where it starts. Roots go first, don't they? If the root's there, it will
spring up. It will come out. If the root's there, this will
open. Eventually, it's got to. If it's in the heart, out of
the bonnet of the heart, it's got to say it. And, you know, the head will
come up. It will come out. Yes, it will. And the heart,
that broken heart, will be healed. It will start rejoicing. Now, I don't look for that excitement,
enthusiasm, over-doctrine and all that. I look for humility,
brokenness, shut-mouthedness. Is that a word, shut-mouthedness?
Contrition, contrite heart, heart touched by the Word of God, a
guilty center. That's what I'm looking for,
a guilty center. And so, O wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Then I've
got good news for them. In chapter 8, it goes on, "...as
therefore now." No condemnation. It's only God's ears when it
lasts. This affliction and persecution,
son, and I've had many verses to look at. I don't have time.
Our Lord said many things. Now, look at it. Just don't do
what you see, though. Verse 17, look at it. It said,
Affliction or persecution arises for the Word's sake. You see
that? The Word's sake. The Word's sake. God's Word's sake. Truth's sake. This is the affliction and the
persecution. This is not talking about trials
and sickness and trouble. This is talking about affliction
and persecution for the truth, sir. You see that? And we dealt
with this a little bit this morning about family. The Word, sir. All right? There
are many things, and I was going to read through it, but just
let me paraphrase it. Open Gospel of John, chapter
6, chapter 8, chapter 10. I have a lot of verses written.
Our Lord said many things, things like this, you're from beneath,
I'm from above. That which is flesh is flesh.
He said, if you believe not that I am, you're going to die in
your sins. I am the Father alone. No man can come unto me except
the Father which has sent me. No man, said the Lord. He said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me. He said, The Son, you are of
your father, the devil. I thought everybody was the Son
of God. I thought everybody was God's children. No sir. Jesus
Christ said, The Son, you are of your father, the devil, and
the works of your father, that's what you do. They go with God. He said a marked difference there.
Devil's children and God's children. They go with God, with God's
words. He says, Why can't you hear us?
what I'm saying. He said to the son, why is it
that you cannot understand my speech? It's because you cannot
hear my word, he said. And that's why I said, no man
can come unto me except the Father which has sent me to draw him.
It's my sovereign grace. That's what he said. And you
know it says in that very chapter, chapter 8, that many said, we
can't hear this. We don't like what you're saying.
Well, that's the way it is. But they said, we don't like
it, we're not going to work any more with you. And they turned
from it. Why? See, the Word says. He didn't
like the Word. Look at John 17. I do want you
to go there. John 17. The Word of God that
speaks of His holiness, His justice, His sovereignty, His sovereign
mercy, His sovereign grace, electing grace, his predestinating grace,
his particular discriminating grace. This is the Word of God
from start to finish. And it's offensive. It's offensive to the natural
man, to the proud man. It's offensive in all who believe,
all who believe the truth. All who just say the Word. We'll have people hate him forever.
Every prophet was killed. Why? The truth is the Word says. Every apostle, except John, was
killed, and he was put on an island to keep his mouth shut. The early church fathers, and
they blackmail the preachers of truth now. They don't want
anybody here then. John 17, our Lord said this in
verse 2. He's praying to the Father, verse
2, "...as thou hast given him power over our flesh." Oh, I
wish I had another hour to preach. I'll preach right here for an
hour. God has given Christ power over
our flesh, that He, Christ, should give eternal life, that He does
the giving. Eternal life, salvation, truth,
truth. Whoever lets it, no sir, to as
many as God has given him. I don't like that. That's the
Word of God. And if you just say that, like I
just said it, somebody will hate you for it. We'll be offended. But we don't. I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do." Now, they say out there, Jesus has done all
he can do. Now it's up to him. He said, I have finished, didn't he? I can't say it loud enough. The
Word of God, Jesus, God said it's finished. That means there's
nothing left to do. I don't like that. Then you're
not of God. He who is of God hears God's
Word. There are some people sitting
here right now, listen, that was smiles on your face. That's
all you can do to keep from saying, I don't know how you can keep
from saying it. I can't, and I'm screaming. But
there are some people out there that
hear this very thing, grinning their teeth and saying, oh, I
hate that. What's that? It's going on here. They're offended. Persecution,
affliction, people, you know, people are coming here and so
forth, and they go home, oh, I've heard
this, and they tell what, here's a tape, and their relatives and
their friends hear it and say, do you know what you're about
to say? He said God elected a people
so that all of them can. That's what you... Well, yeah,
I mean, that's what the Bible says, doesn't it? Well, no, we
don't believe that. Your grandmother never believed
that. We didn't teach you that. Well,
that's what it said. But, but, but, but, but, but...
Right, well, uh... You believe that, Jeannie? You
believe that? Right. No, I don't think so. Right. I didn't know she was back there.
He's telling a lie. He better says so. He better
know he says so. It's a lie. It's all a lie. He said, what's
in it? Well, it's a lie. OK, he said. Nobody believes that. I mean,
nobody anywhere believes what that preacher said. Persecution and affliction. That's
the truth, son. Go look at the next time, verse
18 and 19 in our text. Verse 18 and 19. These
are they, the son of men, thorns, such as heal the world. And the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, these
are thorns, and the lust of other things, desire for other things,
enter in and choke the world, and it depends on the cares of
this world. I once said this about a man
named Demas one time. A fellow named Demas, who followed
him around a good bit. He was a member of a so-called
church. He said, Paul finally said, this
is Demas. He said, Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. Demas has forsaken the gospel
because he's got a better job in another city. There's no gospel
there. He thinks he's going to find
it, but it's not there. You see, you've got to go where
the gospel is. Demas has forsaken me. He loves
this present world. His wife doesn't like this gospel. In order to keep the peace at
home, he stays at home. He himself forsaken me, having
left this present world, but he got a promotion. There was
a young man in this congregation, and I got to use the illustration.
I'd like to use it. I wish he was sitting here right
now. He attended here for some time,
and in the space of just a few weeks, He got a new car, a new
house, a new job, and he left the ground. On the ground. There. He heard
message after message. I believe he made it in the middle
of a professional fight. I believe he did. Where is he? He left this room. That's where
he is. He's moving up the ladder. But
it ain't Jacob's Ladder. It's not Jacob's Ladder. Well, it's bound to be that time
for you this morning. Now, read on. Here's the last.
Here's the last round. But, he said, verse 20. These are they which are sown
on good ground, such as hear the word, they hear it, and receive
it, and bring forth fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, some hundred. They
hear it, I mean they hear it. Now what is good ground? Well,
I had a good heart, so I heard. Oh, come on. That's bad ground. Anybody says, I got a good heart,
that's bad ground. That's not a good heart. Here's
a good heart. I've got a bad heart. You know what good brown is?
Powerful brown is? You know what real good brown
is? Black. A black little soil above it.
And give me plowed earth. Give me plowed, just corn, little
pieces. That's the best way it is. Black,
the blacker it is, the better, and the more torn up it is, the
better it is. Am I right? It's a good healer. There ain't
no good in me. Hey, you're hearing something,
aren't you? I'm a sinner. I need mercy. Well,
you heard something. In my flesh, brother, there's
no good thing. Well, that's exactly what the
Word says. I can't seem to do anything. I mean, great! It sounds like deceit being shown
to me. If God doesn't have mercy on
me, I'm a goner. I sound like a tore-up heart
to me. Only God can power me like that. That's what good ground
is, a broken heart. A broken heart, broken by the
world, and receives it. You see, plowed up ground, hard
ground, it can rain, I've got soil, I've got ground out there
at the pond now that's hard ground, and it can rain all it wants,
all it wants. And not a drop of it's going to penetrate it.
Right? And the stony ground out there,
the way it'll spring up if the sun comes out and it won't last,
it'll be gone. thorny ground out there, weeds
are choking away, there's no grass there, but we're on good
ground, it just soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks
it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it,
soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it,
soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks
it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks
it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it,
soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks
it, soaks it, soaks it, soaks Receives it. Receives it. I like
that. I like that. I like that. Oh, I like that.
Keep going. More! Receives it. Receives it. And
it says, brings it. Now, here's a good word, folks.
This fruit here, verse 20. This fruit is, well, many things. Love, faith and spirit. Galatians 5.22. Love, joy, love. This good heart loves God as
God. When man stands up and declares
God as God with a good heart, just keep going preacher. You
can't declare God holy enough and sovereign enough for a good
heart. You cannot declare God sovereign
enough for a good, prepared heart. Can't you? You can't declare man low enough
and no good enough for a prepared heart. God loves His people, loves the
gospel, joy, love, joy, peace. Whenever Christ finally reveals
to a sinner, but if it's not you, it's nothing in you, then
I've done it all for you. I've done life for you. I've
forgiven you everything. I will forgive everything. I've
done everything for you, and you don't need to be ashamed.
What? Man, that peace, that's a peace
that Christ gives you, nobody's going to take away from it. Nobody. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, and the wild-ass is cold and the gentleman, and on and on it goes. and faith, and he said in different
degrees. You notice how it said some 30,
some 60, some 100. That means that we're all, we're
not the same, that God doesn't give the same amount of grace
or faith. He gives the same kind of faith.
You understand? He gives the same kind of faith.
It's in the same truth, it's in the same Christ, but not the
same degree. A young plant doesn't have, you
know, as much fruit as an older one does. A young believer's
not going to have the understanding and so forth that an older one
has. Not going to do it. There are degrees of it. So don't
despair if you can just find one in your car and that'll stop
it. Don't despair. Because it will
grow and increase, he said. It will increase. If life is
there, it's got to grow. It's got to grow. And here's
a good word, too. Growth and grace, like an old
stock of corn. What does corn do when it's heavier
than ears of corn do? A day of wind can come along.
You ever seen a whole field of corn and high winds come along?
It can be laid flat on the ground. And it's dead. It burns right
down. No sir. Some 30, some 60, some 100. Four types of heathers, which are
you? Which are you? Which are you? All right. Hope the Lord plants
the seed and makes good ground. All right, 168. Let's sing in
closing. Number 168. I want everybody
here who's got a bulletin to take it and read it, okay? Now, 168, let's sing verses 1,
3, and 5. 168, stand with me. And 1st,
3rd, and 5th verses. Okay, here. Lord, I hear of showers
of blessings Thou art scattering full and
free Showers of thirsty land refreshing,
let sun drops now fall on me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Ask me not, O mighty Spirit,
how canst make the blind to see. Witness, sir, of Jesus' man,
speak the word of God to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Last verse. Pass me not thy lost
one free, bind my heart over to thee. Let the blessing fall on me.