Let me read our text here again. This is a parable
that I have never ever considered before. I've read it, I've read through
the Gospels, but I've never really considered this parable before. And it's only recorded once here
in Mark chapter 4, so it's easily overlooked, but once is enough,
enough for us to pay heed to. Verse 26, Mark chapter 4. And Christ said, So is the kingdom
of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should
sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and
grow up, and he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear. After that, the
full corn in the ear, but when the fruit is brought forth immediately,
he put it in the sickle, because the harvest has come. I believe
I have a very useful message for many of us tonight, and I
ask you to pay special attention. It's another one of those studies. diligent studies on Wednesday
night. Most of the people that attend
here are believers. I give every evidence of being
a believer. And I prepare long and hard for
this night, and a little bit deeper and a little more personal
things, things that apply to believers, I prepare for. on
Wednesday night. But I believe I have a very useful
message for many of us. It was born partly out of a conversation
I had with somebody the other day. I need it both as a believing
sinner and as a preacher of the gospel. And I have found that
whatever I need, you need, because there's not one bit of difference
between us. Even though I stand here and
you sit there, we have the same needs. What I need, you need.
Now, we all struggle with this thing of spiritual growth. That's
what we were talking about. Spiritual growth, or our lack
of it. That's what we struggle with. And if you are a true believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you mourn your lack of progress in
the faith. You mourn your lack of Christ-likeness,
and you long to believe more fully, and long to be more like
Christ, more like him, more of a true Christian, more like a
Christian. If you're a true—now, if you're
not, if you don't long to be like Christ, very plainly put,
you're not a disciple of Christ, because this is As a little child,
as it's a mark of a true child, a natural child of somebody,
to emulate its parent, so it is with the child of God. He
wants to be like his elder brother, his savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's evidence, and that's an assuring, should be an assuring
thing to your heart. If you long to be like Christ,
that's the work of the Holy Spirit. But you mourn the fact that you're
not, that you're not more like Christ, if like him at all. Now,
it is just as I have been saying from the very outset, that the
chief means that God uses for the salvation and preservation
of his people is this right here, the preaching of the gospel.
I've been saying this from day one. saying it from day one and
will continue to say it over and over again until people realize
the importance of it. And I believe most of you here
realize the importance of it and value it above most things,
above all things, principally in your heart. That's the reason
you're here on Wednesday night. You've made a special effort
to be here. But this is part of the scope of this parable,
I believe, part of what the Lord is saying here. He's saying here
that there's a great blessing to be had in the faithful attendance
of the preaching of the gospel. Faithful attendance. And he's
saying this also, that the preacher needs not worry and fret nor
resort to any means to try for success in his preaching. Boy,
that's a real tendency there. We'll get into that in a minute. And he's also saying this, that
when all is said and done, the whole work is up to the Holy
Spirit. The whole work and success of the preaching and for spiritual
growth, our spiritual growth, it's up to the Holy Spirit. And he's saying this also, that
there are different degrees, different degrees in spiritual
growth and we're not to totally despair of our own. because there's
different degrees. We'll see this a little more
clearly in a moment. Now look at the text here, beginning
with verse 26. And Christ said, you know, those three words there,
and he said, boy, I tell you, we ought to slap ourselves in
the face and sit up straight, shouldn't we? Perk our ears,
close our mouths, whenever we read something like that. Who
said it? Not me. He, to whom the angels and the
cherubims and the seraphims serve and praise day and night in that
holy place. He said, so is the kingdom of
God. He's not necessarily comparing
the kingdom of God to something that was previous to it, but
I believe he's saying here, because it's the start of a new paragraph,
the kingdom of God is just so. See what I'm saying? Sometimes
the translation is a little bit difficult to read in that respect.
But he says, the kingdom of God is this way. The kingdom of God. What he means by the kingdom
of God here, and it's basically the same meaning everywhere,
and that is the gospel. He means the preaching of the
gospel of Christ's dominion. as Lord and as King. There is
no other gospel than that gospel which speaks of the dominion
of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. That gospel which gives all glory
to God our King and his Prince and our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the gospel of his Kingdom, the dominion of the
King. And this gospel tells of his
reign and his rule. It tells of his coming and his
conquering. It tells of his ransom and his
redemption. It tells of our ruin and his
righteousness. The gospel is the story of the
Lord Jesus Christ's dominion over all things, his power, his
rule, his reign over flesh, sin, Satan, and his final enthronement
and crowning victory in heaven. That's what the gospel of the
kingdom is. I love to think about the king. We're not very familiar. for
this thing of a monarchy, of a king. We don't have kings in
our day. There's a queen in England. She's
really just a figurehead. She really doesn't have that
much power. But back in these days, or back in the old days,
a king was absolute monarch and authority, absolute power. And
it calls him the king of kings. Even the kings are under his
rule. And this gospel of the kingdom
is all about this king's dominion, how he secured the salvation
of all those captive peasants in sin, and chose them by his
grace. So, he says the preaching of
the kingdom of God is like this. Look at it. It's as if a man
should cast seed into the ground. It's like a man casting seed
into the ground. Now, that seed there, as you've
probably guessed, is God's word. It's called in the scriptures,
the incorruptible seed of his word. And this man here, I don't
believe is the Lord Jesus Christ, because it talks about him sleeping,
should sleep and rise day and night and doesn't know when it
comes up. That's not the Lord. I think
this is talking about, I believe, it's talking about the gospel
preacher. And this seed is God's word.
And the ground, as you probably guessed, means man's heart. It
means the ears and into the hearts of men and women. And you know,
just as the parable of the sower stated, we looked over that parable
one night, the parable of the sower. Some seed fell on stony
ground, and so forth, and among thorn. Well, just as the parable
of the sower stated, the ground of man's heart lies hollow. It
lies unprepared, and God the Holy Spirit must prepare it for
the receiving of his seed, the seed of God's Word. Well, all
a preacher is, he says, just like a man who casts seed. All
a preacher is, and this is hard to get through these thick heads,
all a preacher is is a sower of the word. Nothing else. Nothing else. Just a sower of
the word. He's a word farmer. A word farmer. A sower of God's word. And really,
you're the same thing. You're a You sow the word wherever
you go and whoever you come in contact with that you may speak
a word in season. You're a sower of the world.
And we're continually throwing out or casting out seed. We can't apply it personally.
I try. Oh, how I try. Look somebody
straight in the eye and I think, oh, I wish that I could apply
this myself. But it's not in my hand. All
I can do and all you can do is just cast it out there and hope.
for the best. Hope for the Lord of harvest
and the Holy Spirit, the one who causes it to grow. Hope for his power upon it. A sower of God's Word, continually
throwing out the seed upon the ears of the hearer, and hoping
some of it sinks down. Hope it doesn't just lodge right
here, but hope it just kind of worms its way down into here,
into the heart. Now, this man who casts seed
into the ground, or the preacher of the gospel, who is preaching
the word, or the believer who is casting out the word, says
verse 27, "...should sleep, if the kingdom of God is like a
man casting seed into the ground, and he should sleep and rise
night and day." Sleeping and rising. Now, none of the writers
that I read said this. I say this, because it helped
me. It came to my mind. I believe
this means going about your business day in and day out, just like
Paul told Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season,
preaching the same message over and over and over again. in season
and out of season, preaching the same message, determined
not to know anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Day
in and day out, sleeping and rising, go preach again, go back
to sleep. And believe me, these Wednesdays
and Sundays just seem like they just roll by to me. And right
after Wednesday night, I'm thinking, where am I going to preach for
Sunday? Right after Sunday night, where am I going to preach for Wednesday? And over
and over again, like that, day and night, rising and sleeping,
preaching again. And in season and out of season. Now, let me
say this before I go on to the next poem. Beware of anything
new. Beware of any new doctrine or
new revelation that you hear from somebody. What you need,
what I need, is the same thing, the same old, old story, day
in, day out, day in, day out, here a little, there a little,
of the same thing, the gospel of the sovereign grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But this is what I think it also
means. I believe it means losing sleep over the work of the ministry. Rising, and I've lost some sleep,
and perhaps you have, too, over somebody else. But I'll be honest
with you, I've lost some sleep over this thing, over some people.
And I believe every true gospel preacher goes through the same
thing. Verse 27, continue. It says, He should sleep and
rise night and day. and the speeches spring up and
grow up, he knoweth not how." Now, they didn't say this either.
I'm not saying something new, but I believe it applies. It
says, it should spring and grow up, he knows not how. Now, this could mean that after
repeated attempts at preaching to someone, or witnessing someone,
The gospel should touch the heart. After somebody sits on the sound
of the gospel for any length of time, you think, you ought
to believe it the first time you hear it. But certainly over
and over and over again hear it and refuse to believe it or
act upon it. It should touch the heart. It
should change lives. It's the power of God. Yet, although
a man keeps preaching over and over again, he doesn't know how
or what it's going to take. for some people to hear. I think
he could possibly mean that. And he doesn't know, you know,
it's like throwing your hands up and saying, I don't know what
else to say. Like that. Preach it just as plain as possible.
Make pointed illustrations, things that apply directly to somebody. They have to take it to heart,
and yet it doesn't seem to make any any progress, and you don't
know how or what it's going to take to get somebody to hear
it. It's going to take the fire of
the Holy Spirit. And this is the reaction of every
preacher I've ever talked to, so I'm not alone in thinking
this to be the meaning here. Every preacher I've talked to,
and that they can't understand how people remain unmoved, and
they wonder what it's going to take to get certain people to
understand the gospel. You have experienced the same
thing. I know you have, and people that you talk to out there on
the job or in the world, you've experienced the same thing within
your sins. You think the same thing about
yourselves. You think, I know this ought to have an effect
on me. I know this is the power of God and salvation. I know
this is the story that's able to make me wise unto salvation.
I know this is This is at the very heart of God Almighty, and
it ought to affect my puny little heart. And it doesn't? And you
think, how? What's it going to take to move
me, finally? You think that about yourself,
and then you think that when you speak to other people. You
talk to your blue in the face, and you think, what's it going
to take to get this guy to understand what I'm saying? You know what
I mean? Well, look at verse 27. Let's
continue here. And his feet should spring and
grow up, and he knoweth not how." Now, this is the second bifold
meaning, I believe, that he's saying here. I believe he's saying
this, that this is also speaking of the success of the gospel.
In the hearts of men and women, it's a mystery of the Holy Spirit.
It's a mystery of God's Spirit. And just as it's a mystery how
a grain of corn, how you can go out there and Ever since I
got here and saw this red soil around here, I thought nothing
can grow in that stuff. You know, I'm used to dark, black
soil, as black as Terry's beard there. Black Kentucky Huma soil,
you know, you stick me in it and I'd grow. But I came down
here to this red soil and I'm like, oh, ain't nothing gonna
grow in that stuff. But you take one of these dry
kernels of corn, you know, a little small, dry kernel of corn that
you get at Southern States or whatever, it looks dead. It doesn't
look very big, it doesn't look like there's any life in it.
And you cast it into that old red soil and you cover it up
and the soil may be dry and big clots. And that little tender
grain of corn laying under those big heavy clods of dirt, you
think, how? How is this thing going to come
up? How? Yeah. In a little while. It sticks
up there, doesn't it? The same person made that little
grain of corn stick up that has to sow the seed or to bring about
life in the heart of a hearer. And it's the same mystery how
the preaching of this old, old story, I mean a 2,000-year-old
story, seemingly small and insignificant in the eyes of the world it is,
how that this preaching of the old, old story can penetrate
the hardest of hearts, just like mine. I mean, you're looking
at a—I'm still a rebel. You think I'm a rebel now, or
you should have known me before. Now, how it could pierce an old
hard heart like this and bring forth fruit unto life, it's a
mystery. It's a mystery of the work of
the Holy Spirit. That's what it is. Well, it's
always the case, too. It's always the case that it's
one you never expected. It's one you never expected.
You know, you could probably, Henry, you could go out there
and you plant your garden and you could choose the best kernels
of corn you could possibly choose, and put them in and rake the
soil just as fine as you can, water and water and water, do
everything you can. And you think, and you look over
them, you think, now that one's going to grow, that's the best
seed I've got, and it's got to grow. It might not prop up, might
not. And even the weakest little sprout
that comes up, he may think, well, that one won't last, and
this big strawman over here, that will. But that's not always
the case. It's always the case, seemingly
always the case with the preaching of the gospel. Well, that's what
the Lord said, wasn't it? Or what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
1, God has chosen the weak things. The weak things. And it seems
to be the case that the ones who never expected, like me.
like me, are the ones that God saves. And this preaching of
the gospel, it always seems to work this way. I'll let you in
on what I go through. I try not to prepare messages
for certain people. When you have somebody on your
mind, and they're going through certain things, and you think,
boy, they actually used this. This will sure be a help to them.
And you think, well, they probably won't be there. But you think,
well, then again, they might. Well, go ahead and prepare the
message, and maybe they'll be there. And you hope that they're
there. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that person won't
be there. 99 times. I don't know how many
preachers I've talked to, it's the same with them too. You got
a message from somebody like, boy, they need that, and if they
just hear this, it'll really help them. And they're not there.
Well, how it was, it was intended all along for somebody else.
And you didn't know. All you can do is cast a seed
out there. Like last Sunday morning's message,
I geared that toward young people, teenagers. And I found out that
we've got a whole bunch of 40 and 50 and 50-year-old teenagers.
People I approached said that some of the older folks with
tears in their eyes, thinking, boy, I really needed that. And
I thought, well, you know, I thought y'all were just sitting in on
that. And I was speaking to the young kids, young people. Well,
that's the way the Lord works. I'll give you an illustration,
too, an interesting illustration. an autobiography, one of my favorites,
by John Warburton, an old preacher way back long ago in England. He was a real rounder, and the
Lord saved him, and he didn't have any education, but the Lord
used him, touched him mightily, made him a mighty preacher of
the gospel. But how he began preaching was he was in a chapel
one time, and the preacher didn't show
up or something like that. And somebody asked, you know,
John was real zealous for the gospel when the Lord saved him,
real zealous. He was talking to everybody about
what the Lord had done for him. And somebody said, John, won't
you get up and preach to us? Oh, no, no, I can't do that.
Yeah, come on, a preacher, nobody else can give you that. And she
said, well, okay. And he got up and the Lord really
blessed him, opened his mouth and blessed the people through
his preaching. Well, as all young preachers, He got
puffed up. He got puffed up, thinking, well,
maybe I am a good preacher. And he didn't write the prayer
like he should, didn't pray like he should, and wasn't leaning
on the Lord, on the Holy Spirit like he should. And he got up
the next time they asked him in the flesh. They asked him
to preach, and it said in that book, I don't mean to ramble
like this, but it said that he faked humility and said, oh no,
I really can't preach. But all the while he thought,
yeah, I can too. Let me up there. So they said,
come on, preach. He said, oh, I really can't.
Okay. And he got up and he said, he stood up and he fumbled through
the words, just fumbled through, and he said he felt like he was
just mumbling words. And I know right where he's been.
I've done that. I've done the same thing. I felt like I was
down in a tunnel or something. And he mumbled through his little
notes and whatever, and he said he got through it, and he was
so ashamed. And he said he didn't even bother
to greet anybody after. He stepped down from the pulpit
and ran outside and started walking home. He said on the way home,
he heard footsteps behind him. He thought that some deacon or
some man was going to chew me out. They're going to tail me
off and I deserve it. So he picked up his pace and
the footsteps got louder behind him. So he started running. And
this person was chasing him. He thought they were going to
kick me out and everything for presumption. But anyway, this
woman caught up with him. She said, Brother Warburton,
Brother Warburton, the Lord has spoken to my heart this evening. And he said they both fell down
right in the middle of the road there, weeping, and thanking
God for it. You don't know where he is. You
don't know what message. And I've gone through the same
thing, just so ashamed, and somebody come up and say, uh, boy, I needed
that. And you think, where did that
come from? The same place every message has to come from, the
Holy Spirit. And this seed, this small seed
of the preaching of the gospel that's despised by this world,
is a marvelous mystery of God's power, and it's no telling who or where. 4. The earth brings
forth fruit of herself, that is, without any further help
of the farmer. us bringing forth fruit of ourselves. Not at all, he's talking, he's
using this illustration of the earth, bringing forth fruit without
any further work by the farmer, or help of the farmer, although
it takes the sun and the rain falling upon that, upon that
seed to make it to grow. And this is the principal meaning
of this, that just as the earth without human power, but under
the influence of heaven, brings forth fruit. So without human
power, without the preacher, without the soul winner, without
gimmicks and tricks and all kinds of pleadings and beggings and
this and that and the other and 142 altar calls, without all
of that, but under the sun of righteousness, under the reign
of his grace, the seed rises. The soul rises up and brings
forth fruit. unto life, eternal life, everlasting
life. And this is why I say this, I
believe this firmly, and I had a good teacher that taught me
this. This is why the gospel preacher needs not cajole, beg,
plead, and keep diligent track of every single member at all
times. It's out of his hands, isn't
it? It's out of his hands. It's the work of God the Holy
Spirit. And the preacher needs to concern
himself chiefly with the preaching, with seeking the message from
God, because that's the power of God. And all I can say, and
any man can say, is come hear the gospel. Come hear the gospel. And I hear old experienced saints
say this all the time, that very rarely does any one-on-one conversation
really, really helped anybody. It's the preaching of the gospel.
That's what God has chosen, the foolishness of preaching. And
your job is to bring people here to preach in the gospel. Yes,
to preach the gospel as much as you can, but this right here
is where God blesses. This is, that's what the scripture
says. He blesses the preaching of the
gospel. So the ministry of a true preacher is to primarily be taken
up with seeking a message from God and praying that the Lord
of the harvest will bring forth fruit. That's what the disciples
say. That's the reason for the deacons. That's the reason they
came up with deacons in the book of Acts. It says, it's not right
that we should wait on tables, but we should give ourselves
to prayer and to study. Isn't it? That's what they said. The gospel is preached, and then
the Holy Spirit, in his good time, waters the word in the
heart, and it springs up unto everlasting life. Now listen,
this will be a comfort to you. Look at verse 28 again. For the
earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, that is, without the
help of the farmer, and even so the soul brings forth fruit
without human means, but solely by the power of the Holy Spirit.
First, just as it is with a little grain of corn, first the blade. First the blade, like a little
tender green shoot or sprat that comes out of the grain. Not much
to it. Nobody pays much attention to it, you know. Don't expect
much of it. It's very weak. It's easily crushed. easily crushed, and even so,
an awakened sinner is a very weak and very tender thing. And
this is why we need to be careful not to use our liberty that might
offend these weak believers. They just don't know. They're
weak. They don't have the understanding that an older believer may have,
but they're weak and very tender. They have new desires, though.
There is life there, however small it may appear. There is
life there, though. And it begins this way, that
new desires begin to crop forth. New desires. Whereas once the
preaching was a real chore to sit under. I like that. I like that. New desires begin
to be manifested where they were not before. Hearing the gospel,
the Word, a man begins to look in, you know, this is an interesting
book I'm drawing. Yeah, there's more to this than
I thought. Yeah, the Word, and in prayer,
a person begins to call upon God like I love to illustrate
with the birth of children, you know, when that child first comes
out. And then that child desires the
milk. his mother's milk, and the new
child of God desires his sincere milk with the word and loves
to hear it. New thoughts and principles begin to set in. New
thoughts and principles set in. A hatred of sin, a love for righteousness,
a hatred of self. A person begins to hate themselves
more once they love themselves. That's a whole new principle. That's repentance. turning from
yourself to God, turning from yourself. You know, to turn from one love, only a better love,
only a fuller love will replace another love. And what I'm trying
to say is, when you see somebody more lovely, somebody that you
are taken up with more than yourself, only then will you turn from
yourself. And this love for self ceases, and you have a love for
God, for Christ and his gospel, and a tenderness of the heart
and the spirit to the priest's word. I remember, and how I long
for it, even now, that Barger called it a sweetheart love for
Jesus. How, uh, do you remember at first, maybe some people are,
I believe there's people like this now, but when you first
start hearing the gospel, how it seemed like every single message
just touched you. Old Mr. Wet-Eyes said he never
ever missed it. He sat right beside me and never
missed it. And, you know, the weakest of
messages, uh, and I got a Article in this week's bulletin by Todd
Nyruth says no message is, if it's exalting to Christ and abasing
the man and instructive, no message is a bad message. It's just that
we may not be listening very well, or he may not have the
liberty, but it's not a bad message, but it bears paying attention
to. But, you know, the young, tender
believer is touched by the Word, most of it. And then there's
a little bit of knowledge of God, very little knowledge of
Christ and the gospel. Before I tell you, I think back
on some of the things I said, and some of the things I thought
I knew, and the conversations I got in with older saints and
all, and first starting to preach, and I'm so ashamed, you know,
I feel like, I wish I could erase my past, you know, erase that
part of it. You're so ignorant concerning
the Scriptures, and little faith, very little faith, you have a
weak believer, new believer, is just a really, just a small
glimmer, a small view of Christ. See, when you grow older, you
grow up in the knowledge of Him. At first, you don't know Christ
like you do later on, in later years. You don't know Christ
at first. You know Him. Just like a little baby that is born
knows that her mother doesn't know much about her, but she
knows that she's her mother. That's about all she knows, that
she's my mother. She's the one I need. But as
she grows older, you know, the love begins to grow and the understanding
of the mother and her ways and her attitude and her, what's
the word I'm looking for, her different moods and so forth,
and even so with the believer. Faith in a young believer is
kind of like—and this is the way the Lord dealt with me—it's
kind of like that blind man that was healed. When the Lord healed
that blind man, He didn't heal him completely at first. He spat,
I believe, and put it on his eye. And the man says, He saw
a man walking in those trees. He saw some things, but not very
clearly. There was a whole lot more than
he was before. He was stone-blind before. But then the Lord worked
on him a little further and opened his eyes, and he saw very clearly.
And we see very dimly at first. We see very dimly now, really,
but even more so at first. And faith in a young, tender
believer is more of a venture on Christ than a firm persuasion. You know what I'm saying? It's
more of a venture. Well, I don't know if you'll have me or not.
I feel so unworthy, so sinful. I sure need Him. And I believe. Do you believe? I asked somebody
that joined the church, do you believe? And they said, well,
Debbie. I asked Debbie, do you know the
Lord Jesus Christ and love Him? She said, yes. But I'm learning."
That's a good answer. That's a real good answer. I
said, well, that's all of us. We're still learning. But the
young believer is kind of a venture at first. Boy, I knew him. I
warned him. Now, see, he's the only Savior.
I sure hope he'll save me. I believe. Do you? Well, yeah,
I think so. Well, you want to be baptized?
That's what I'm supposed to do? Yeah, okay. You know, as a venture. Then, it says, the ear. The ear. And under the constant
rain and sunshine, the young shoot, that little young shoot
of corn becomes a fairly hardy stalk. Grows up four or five
feet tall, maybe. A fairly hardy stalk, and then
there's a tender young ear of corn that comes out on that.
Very slight. Very slight. But it's corn. It's
fruit. It's bearing some fruit. And
you think, hey, there's a stalk of corn. Fine. Everybody else
sees it, you know. And sometimes, though, he may
look fully ripe. You peel the shuck. You shuck
that thing, you know. And some of them are undeveloped
and very small. And there aren't very many on
there. And that's the same way it is with a middle age or an
adolescent believer. Under the preaching of the word,
the young disciple begins to mature in faith, and from a mere
venture, from a mere venture, I hope, I hope it'll happen,
from a mere venture, it comes to some confidence in Christ,
from hearing the gospel. He is a saint, and I'm a sinner,
and he's promised to save sinners for me. All right. I believe
that. I hope so. I hope so. Fruits vary. It's varied, but
it's small. And here's Galatians 5 talking
about these fruits, and here's a fruit in a young believer,
the fruit of love. It's so very slight, that love
for for Christ is both so very slight. And I remember being
there, and I'm still there to this day, and I remember hearing
old believers, old saints, talk about Christ in a personal fashion.
Like Solomon does, you know, in the song Solomon? My beloved is mine, and I'm his. And talk about him in a personal
fashion, oh, you know. And like Spurgeon said on his
deathbed to his wife, he said, oh, the Lord and I have had such
a sweet time together here on this earth. And I remember reading
things like that and hearing people talk like that, and I
think, boy, wish I had that. And I remember them asking me
point-blank something about my relationship to Christ, and I'd
get kind of embarrassed, you know. I would rub socks on the
clothes and get out of your stomach, run back to the doctor real fast,
change the subject, you know. That love, that... personal union. Like Peter. Peter, do you love
me? Yes. You know. You know. Yeah, I do. It's the right thing to say.
But you know. You know. That's my hope. And
that's the young believer. That love, that fruit of love
is very slight, but it's there. It's there. Joy. the young believer's joy is very
easily dampened, very easily dampened. Peace, quickly disturbed
young believer's peace. Yeah, whenever he looks down,
he loses his peace. Whenever he looks within, he
despairs of himself, despairs of himself. You know, an older
believer looks in at times too, and he despairs of himself, but
he looks up very quickly. He doesn't despair of him. Him. He looks up. But the fruit of
peace is very quickly disturbed, but it's there. Long suffering. Long suffering doesn't last long. It's short suffering in a young
believer. Not very patient, you know. Lord,
won't you do something? Do something. Get me out of this.
Be patient, wait on the Lord, be of good courage. Gentleness,
the fruit of gentleness. Boy, that old man can make you
lose that real fast as a young person. Quickly, the old man
can quickly anger an adolescent believer. You know, I'm not saying,
I'm not drawing attention to myself at all, but I hope I've
made some strides in this area, and I hope you have too, some
of you older believers. I hope you've made some strides
where you just don't flare up and just run off the handle and
just lose it over the least little thing. I hope there's some of
the attitude of Christ fitting in, where you can forbear a little
bit and be gentle unto people and not ready to rip their head
off in a Well, goodness, the fruit of goodness. The young
believer still has some seemingly overpowering cravings after sin. Then the fruit of faith. It's there, but it's weak. But it's growing, but it's But
it's weak, and it quickly—oh, how quickly—forgets to look to
Christ. You know, some trial comes up,
some test of the faith, whatever it may be. And instead of immediate,
like an old believer saying, well, even an old believer, you
know, makes—but then they'll think quickly of the Lord. But a young one, you know, makes
fret and fuss and fume and cry and— and have a hard time and
all, and then finally, what was I so worried about? About David.
When David was down at Ziklag, he was either in his twenties
or early thirties. And boy, he was all torn up about everything,
and finally, though, he looked up. He looked up and encouraged
himself in his God. Meekness, the fruit of meekness.
prone to pride. You know, you think the young
believer is so very prone to pride because you think you're
making some progress. You know four scriptures, and
quote four scriptures. So you think, you know, you've
got two memorized. And you think, boy, I'm ready.
I'm ready. But, and that's pride, and the
Lord will quickly bring you down and show you where very, very
little you know. And boy, we still go through
that, don't we? Temperance, the fruit of temperance.
Sometimes the believer, the young believer, gets kind of bold in
his liberties and doesn't take thought of, well he ought to
understand that, you know, I've got liberty here, but he ain't
know nothing, you know, that's a young, ignorant, that's a stalk
of corn just in the ear, just in the ear. not being patient
and understanding with somebody else,
and temperate in all things. Such, after that, verse 28, the
full ear, or the full corn in the ear. Now, there aren't many.
There aren't many, but there are some. I know some. And like
the ripe ears of corn that that are full of fruit. The mature
believer who's full of fruit, one evidence of that is he's
bowed down, bowed down. You know, when that big stalk
of corn begins to really get loaded down, he'll start bowing
down, bowing down, bowing down at his head. He usually hangs
low, you know, doesn't have much to say. There's a sign of maturity. Not so quick to talk. And they
go from venture, well I hope so, to some assurance, well I
think so, to, I know so. I know so. Confidence. Now I
didn't say, the understanding of the self was even greater
at that point. The understanding of the weakness
of self is so much greater, then you realize, I'm just as bad
as I was, maybe even worse, when I started out. Him, all. Confidence is not in
self. Have less and less confidence
in self, but more confidence in Him as you come to know Him. Come to know Him. Know whom you
have believed. Know whom you ventured upon at
first. Know whom that you began to trust
a little more at first. And know whom, finally, until
you've just rested your soul on Him. And based upon that, that rest,
or that firm persuasion that he's able, not able, he's able,
that person is calm and at peace, and trusts in his kind, merciful,
gracious master that he's come to know. And that's the reason,
I hope as I grow older, that I, as a preacher, that I dwell
more on the person of Christ rather than his doctrine. I don't think I have to clarify
myself, but I will. You can't separate Christ and
his doctrine. What he says is who he is and how he is and how
he works and so forth. And how he works and his doctrine,
it reveals how he is. But I'm not trusting so much
the sovereignty of God. I'm not trusting so much the
imputed righteousness of Christ as I am the God who is sovereign,
and as I am the Christ who loves to impute that righteousness.
looking at him, trusting his kind, merciful, gracious person. I know it all rides on his finished
work and the application of his blood to my soul. I know it all
rides on that. But he's a person. He's not some concept. He's not
a doctor. He's not Tula. That explains
how he does things, and it kind of reveals his character. But
he is a somebody, not a thing, a someone. And just as my wife
is kind and tender and compassionate and a good cook and all that,
I love her. She's the one I think about.
I don't sit around and dwell on her cooking. I don't at all. I dwell on her. I dwell on her."
Well, but the believer does look to Christ's blood and righteousness
as the grounds of his hope. And that strong believer, by
faith, he puts that blood on the door of his heart. He does.
There is a sense in which we do that. And then in time, verse
29, then in time the Lord of harvest comes. When the Lord of harvest sees
fit, he comes. When the fruit is brought forth,
to full maturity, when the time has come, immediately, immediately,
that Lord of the harvest puts in the sickle, because the harvest
has come. It's time. It's time. It's time. And it's just like some of you
all going out there when that corn's ready, and you know. If you've been farming a while,
if you've been growing corn a while, you know. You know. You can tell. And you don't want to leave it
any longer than necessary. You're right there. Cut her down. Take her in. Put her on the table. And the Lord of Harvest comes,
and death calls, and he calls us home to be seated at his table.
And then give a few parting words to probably many little blades,
little blades. You'll bring forth fruit in good
time. There's life there. There is.
But be patient. The coming of the Lord draws
nigh, and you'll bring forth fruit, and you'll be with the
Master by and by. Here he is. He put the seed there
first. Be confident of that. and he'll
cause it to grow and bring forth fruit unto eternal life. you