Now this morning I'm going to
take my text from Matthew chapter 13. But before we go to that
passage, Matthew 13, I want you to first turn to John 15. John
chapter 15. Now this is the third message
in a series of messages that I've entitled, The Planting of
the Lord. When God used by His revelation
to his prophets and his preachers, his apostles, the analogy, the
symbol of planting concerning the issue of salvation. And I
have four messages. This is the third. Next week
we'll conclude it. Two weeks ago, I began with the
first planting of the Lord. That is, Christ himself planted
in death. That is, his actual death is
considered and described in John chapter 12 as a planting. He
said to his disciples, he said, accept a seed of wheat, fall
into the ground and die. It will not bring fruit. And
later on it says he spoke these words signifying the kind of
death that he should die. When Christ died on the cross,
it was not a defeat. It was not a frustration. It
wasn't even a contingency plan or plan B. It was the determination,
the determinate purpose, counsel, and foreknowledge of God. That's
what Peter said in Acts chapter 2. He said, you with wicked hands,
evil hands, have taken him and crucified him, but you did no
more than what God had predetermined and foreordained to be done.
And I'll tell you, that's a marvelous, comforting truth to God's people.
But when Christ died on the cross, it was a planting that was going
to yield some fruit. It was a victory. It was the
death of sin and the establishment of righteousness. And the planting
of Christ in His death is the foundation for all these other
plantings that I'm talking about. Christ planted in death. He put
away the sins of His sheep. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He shed His precious blood. for
sins not his own, but only that were charged to him. They became
his own by amputation. They were charged to him. And
he died for those sins. He suffered. He bled. He died. A real suffering. A real bleeding. A real dying. Soul suffering that we cannot
describe and explain, but it's so. And in that planting came
forth his resurrection. And the Bible says that his resurrection
is the firstfruits of his people. And he carries on that analogy
of planting. That is, if Christ was raised
from the dead, then all for whom he died shall be raised from
the dead. That's what that means. You're
back in the Old Testament when they had the feast of first fruits.
That is, when the harvest came in, the first, the best of the
crop was to be dedicated and given to the service of the Lord.
It was given to the priest of the tabernacle. And it was always
said that if the first fruits were good, then the whole crop
that followed would be good. And that's the analogy. When
Christ was raised from the dead, he was raised because he had
finished the work, and we were justified on the cross of Calvary
in him. Now, out of his death, burial,
and resurrection, out of that planting and that great harvest
of his resurrection, come these other three plantings. And last
week, on the second one, I dealt with Christ's people planted
in Him. And from Romans chapter 6, that
Brother Jim read from the last part of this this morning. In
Romans 6, it teaches this, that when Christ died on the cross,
when He suffered and bled and died, was buried and raised again
the third day, He did not do that for himself personally and
privately. He did it for his people. He
was a representative. He was a substitute. He was a
surety. He was a sin-bearer. So much
so that in the eyes of God's law and justice, when Christ
obeyed the law, his people in him, by representation, by substitution,
are considered to have obeyed the law. When he suffered, we
suffered. When he bled, we bled. Not in
ourselves now, but in him. That's what the Bible means when
it says in him. In him. Ephesians 1 says that
over and over again. In him. And when he died, we
died. That is our planting in Christ
as our substitute. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose again the third day, we arose in him. And we
confess that in believer's baptism. That's what believer's baptism
is all about. When we are immersed into the
water and we come out, we identify with Christ. We're saying publicly
in that confession, in that ordinance, that when Christ died, I died.
When He was buried, I was buried. When He was raised again the
third day, I was raised in Him. And that's what the first part
of Romans chapter 6 teaches. Here's the next fruit and result
of the death of Christ, and that is the planting of God's Word. Now, where does God plant His
Word? He plants His Word in the hearts of His people. And that's
what He's talking about. Look at John 15, verse 1. I read a little bit of this.
He says, I am the true vine. This is Christ. Christ is the
vine. The life comes from the vine.
Christ is our life. We studied last Wednesday night
about Leviticus 17. Life in the blood of Christ. From His death comes life. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. And Christ is the true vine.
He is our righteousness. He is our life. And we have life
from Him. Spiritual life. Everlasting life. Eternal life. And He says, My
Father is the husbandman, the vine grower, the vine dresser.
And he says in verse 2, every branch in me that beareth not
fruit. Now if we are in Him, if we are
in Christ, how are we in Christ? Well, the first place we have
to go to in the Scripture is by God's sovereign electing grace. When He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And then we have to go back to
the cross, that planting of Christ in death. Again, when He died,
I died. I was in Him, represented by
Him. He was my substitute, my Savior,
my Redeemer, my surety, my sin-bearer, sin-offering. When He was buried,
I was buried. When He arose, I arose. I was
in Him back then in the eyes of God's law, even before I was
born. See, that has nothing to do with
any work done in me now. I wasn't even born then. You
weren't either. That's all totally the work of
Christ for us. Listen, the ground of our salvation
is totally wrapped up in what Christ did for us on the cross. Why is that important? I'll tell
you why. It says in Colossians chapter
1, that in all things, He might have the preeminence. That's
right. He's the exalted Savior. And
then, this next one, I'm in Him. by God's gracious operation to
bring me to saving faith and repentance in the new birth.
Now, that's my experience. That's when I first experienced
within myself what God has done for me in Christ, when I'm born
again by the Spirit of God. And in that experience, what
God does, He gives spiritual life and He plants the Word of
God, His precious Word in Christ. into our hearts, into our minds. It has to be through our minds
now. Now, that doesn't mean you have to be an Einstein to understand
it. Einstein probably didn't. It
doesn't mean you have to be a genius. But it does mean you have to
be taught of God. And I'll tell you what, there's
no person on earth that's beyond the powerful teaching of God. He can teach anybody. That's
right. He can teach the unteachable.
Because you see what he does, he makes them teachable. That's
right. Some of you are teachers. You
ever had anybody in your class that was unteachable? I used
to be a teacher and I had a few of them. You just want to get
at them. But God is a better teacher than
I am. He's a better teacher than you.
He can teach the unteachable. You see, you had students in
your classroom, and you students listened to me. And I mean listen
to me. You graduates listened to me.
You've got ears, and I know you hear what I'm saying. But do
you really hear? Now that's the thing. I mean,
I know you're looking at me. And sometimes you may even nod
your head. You might be trying to keep them nodding off. I don't
know. But you listen to what I'm telling you now. Do you have
ears to hear? Now, if you have ears to hear,
that is, do you understand and believe and rejoice in and love
what you're hearing when we preach Christ? That's a gift from God. It's the fruit and the result
of what Christ did on the cross. All the work of the Holy Spirit
within us, in our minds, in our affections, in our wills, in
our inner man, what the Scripture says. is the fruit, the effect,
the result of what Christ did on the cross. And it's the planting
of the Lord. It's the work of God. And he
says in verse 2 of John 15, every branch in me that beareth not
fruit he taketh away. Now, I believe what he's talking
about there basically refers to the Jewish nation who had
the Word of God, who were the people of God under that old
covenant for nearly 1,500 years in a national ceremonial way,
but they didn't believe it. They didn't see Christ. You know,
Christ told the Pharisees, you have the Scriptures. You search
the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. But He said, they are they which testify of Me.
You didn't see Christ. You didn't see salvation by God's
grace. It didn't become a part of you. It wasn't planted in your heart
and grow. And He said, all you have is
a profession of faith. There are millions of people
who have just a profession of faith. But no heart faith, no
work of the Spirit, no planting of the Lord. And he said, the
way you know them, they don't bear fruit. And he said, if they
don't bear fruit, he takes them away. And it says in verse 2,
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. That means he
prunes it. Just like you people who are
into plants and bushes and stuff and flowers, you go out and you'll
prune that plant and it'll have more growth. That's why you prune
it. Now, how does God prune his plants,
His people. Well, He does it by His Word.
He teaches us by His Word. He does it by trials. Do you know that when you go
through a trial, and we all complain about it when we go through one,
do you know that's the Lord purging one of His plants? He's pruning
you. Pruning me. That's what He's
doing. And what will come out of that, you see, trials don't
produce faith. Trials reveal faith. And out
of that trial that God sends, which is not sent to damn you
or to confuse you or to cause you to despair. You know what
a trial is sent for you to do? It's to cause you, to refresh
you, to look to Christ even more. That's what a trial is for. Look
to Him even more. Wean you away from this old world
and draw you nearer to Christ and God's Word. That's what trials
are for. And that's God's purpose. And
then He does it. in a harder way. Sometimes He does it through
chastisement. And that's when God's people
need a good spanking. That's what that is. That's when
the Father who loves His children disciplines them and corrects
them and loves them because we often need that, don't we? And
that's how God prunes it. And He said He purges it that
it may bring forth more fruit, you see. Now that's the analogy.
Now look over at Matthew chapter 13. Here in this passage, We
have the parable of the sower and the seed. And I've preached
on that before. You've seen it before. I want
to direct your attention mainly to one verse in this parable,
verse 23. But now leading up to this, Christ
spoke this parable. He said, a sower went forth to
sow, and he sowed seed. And some of the seed fell by
the wayside. Some of it fell on stony ground,
ground that was crowded with stone. Some of it fell on ground
and then thorns sprung up and choked it out. And then some
of it fell on good ground. Well, our Lord taught the reason
for this parable. Look at verse 18. He taught the
meaning of it. He says, Hear ye therefore the
parable of the sword. Now, let me say this before I
read this. Everybody in this room today
falls in one of these categories. And it's not a bad thing for
you to sit there and say, well, I need to examine myself. I want
to know which category I'm in. Look at it. He says, verse 19,
when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, now that's the
gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the gospel
of God's grace. The word of the kingdom. How
God is just to justify the ungodly. And he said, and understandeth
it not. Now, understanding means there
that they believe it. You see, a person can understand
what you're saying and hate what you're saying. You parents, when
you get after your kids, you often say in anger, you say,
do you understand what I'm saying? Well, they understand it. They
just don't want it. They just don't agree with you. And that's
the way it is here. This person, this wayside here,
they understand it not. They don't believe it. They don't
love it. Then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which
was sown in his heart, in his mind." That's what that's talking
about. That doesn't mean he believed it and then lost it. You can't
really believe it by the power of God and then lose it. But
the context determines the meaning here. And it says, this is he
which received the seed by the wayside. The word of God was
preached. Christ was preached. God's way of salvation was preached.
And that person, it didn't even affect them. That's what that's
talking about. They just walk away, just like they came in,
without any thought, without any consideration, without any
love for the truth. And then verse 20, he says, "...he
that receiveth the seed in the stony places, the same as he
that heareth the word, and anon..." That word, anon, means now. It
means immediately. with joy receiveth it." Now,
he says he received it joyfully. But verse 21 says, yet hath he
not root in himself. Now, it wasn't planted by the
Lord. That's what he's saying. There's no root there. You know,
if you go out and you're going to plant a flower, you've got
to plant it down in the ground. I understand myself. I told you all the other day,
I don't have a green thumb. But you've got to plant it. You
can't just go out there and throw it on top of the ground. It's
got to be planted. And he says, but dureth for a
while, he has no root in it, but he dureth for a while, for
when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word by
and by, he is offended. Which means that he's offended
by the word, not by the persecution, and he leaves it. So this is
like the shooting star. The shooting star, you know,
a star shines bright night after night after night and keeps on
shining, but the shooting star, it has a brilliant flash of light
and then it's gone. And that's what this is like,
the stony ground here. He's happy to receive it for
a little while. He's infatuated with it. He's
just happy to go along with it. But when the persecution, by
the way, the persecution is a promise from God. It's coming. If you
believe this Word and identify with Christ and His people, the
persecution is coming. It's going to come from without.
It's going to come from within. It's coming. We've had it. We're
going to have more. Now, that's true. And it's by
the grace of God that we continue it, or we'd all leave it. Now,
I told somebody a couple of years ago, I said, we're living in
the most trying of times, I believe, in the history of the church.
And we're not even threatened of our very lives. And I think
that's what's most trying about it. You think about believers
in the early days who were threatened with death, threatened with losing
their families. And by the grace of God, They
continued and would not deny Christ. And what does it take
for us to deny Christ? Just the displeasure of a family
member or a friend? Something like that? Well, that's
nothing compared to what our forefathers had to go through,
isn't it? But you see, not being threatened with death, it makes
us complacent and lazy. And we have a tendency to just
Just slough it off like it's really nothing. Well, it's not
that important. Oh, yes, it is. It's very important. It's life and death still. Whether
they've got a gun to your head or whether they just frown at
you, it's still life and death. Remember that. And that's what's
happening here, this stony ground here. No root. It's not the planning
of the Lord. And when persecution, tribulation
comes, He runs. He leaves it. But then look at
verse 22. He said, He also that receives
seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word. And look at
this one now. The cares of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful.
This is the person who has better things to do than hear the word
of God and worship the Lord. He's got he's too busy. He's
got too much to do. He's got too much to gain, too
much to get, too much to accumulate. And the riches of this world
choke the Word out. He just doesn't have time for
the Word of God. That's what he's saying. The
planting here is not the planting of the Lord. But now look at
verse 23. Now here's where I want to stay with it. But he that
receives seed into the good ground, is he that heareth the word,
and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth
some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Now there's
the good ground here. There's the planting of the Lord.
There's a person who's been born again by the Spirit of God, and
the Word of God has been planted in their heart. And the reason
he says hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirty, I believe what he's
talking about there is there are different degrees of growth.
Well, they're going to grow. Every one of them is going to
grow. Some will grow faster. Some will grow more. But there
will be growth. It's growth in grace, in the
gifts of the Spirit, the graces of the Spirit, growth in love,
growth in humility, growth in all the areas that Paul mentions
in Galatians 5, and then there's growth in knowledge. In other
words, that person who's growing is not going to get spiritually
dumber. He's not going to get spiritually duller. Now, that
doesn't mean that everybody's going to have the same degree
of knowledge. Some thirty, some sixty, but some a hundredfold. And they're going to grow in
grace and knowledge of Christ. Where there's life, there's growth.
If a child is born into this world and that child is healthy
and has physical life, that child is going to grow. And that child
is going to grow because it's going to be fed the nourishing
food that brings about physical growth. And it's the same way
spiritually. When God plants the Word of God,
His Word of Christ in the hearts of His people, they're going
to grow and they're going to feed upon the nourishing Word
of God and grow thereby. Look over at Luke chapter 8. Here's Luke's version of this. this word here, the parable of
the sower and the seed. Luke chapter 8 and verse 15.
Luke is pretty much the same as Matthew's version, but he
says a little bit more here about the good ground here that I want
you to notice. Luke 8 and verse 15. He says,
but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good
heart, having heard the word, keep it. They won't let go of
it. and bring forth fruit with patience."
Patience has more to do than just waiting. Patience has to
do with trusting God. So they bring it forth with patience.
Now, Luke says here that it's an honest and good heart. This
good ground. It's an honest and good heart.
Problem is, we know by scriptural revelation that no man by nature
has a good and honest heart. Isn't that right? None of us
by nature have a good and honest heart. We're not born that way
physically. We're born in sin. We're born
in depravity, spiritually dead. We don't have a heart that desires
God and the things of God by nature. That's why the scriptures
say you must be born again. But look back at Matthew 13 one
more time. Listen to what the Lord says.
The disciples, when He started this parable, they asked Him
the question, why are you speaking in parables? You know what a
parable is. It's a spiritual lesson that
is told in a story using earthly, physical things to symbolize
spiritual things. The sower, like a farmer, that's
the preacher of the gospel. The seed, that's the Word of
God, that's the gospel preached. The ground, that's the hearts
of men and women. By nature, those hearts are like
the wayside, the thorny ground, the stony ground. So if there's
any good ground here this morning, from the pulpit all the way to
the back, if there's any good ground this morning, I'm going
to tell you what that is. That is a miracle of God's grace. Isn't that right? Because we
didn't have it by nature. We weren't born with it. We didn't
get it from our daddy all the way back to Adam. What we got
is a hard, cold, stony heart that has no desire, no love,
and no faith. All of it is an evil heart of
unbelief, the scripture calls it. You say, well, are you saying
that everybody's out here trying to murder everybody and trying
to steal from everybody? No, sir, I'm not saying that
at all. A religious heart can be an evil heart of unbelief,
friend. The one who receives the key
to the city for his moral accomplishments can have an evil heart of unbelief,
because an evil heart of unbelief is any heart that is not drawn
towards Christ and Him crucified. That's right. So they ask him,
why do you speak in parables? Look at verse 11. He answered
and said unto them, this is Matthew 13. Because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to
them it's not given. Now that seems strange, doesn't
it? In other words, you understand the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, that's a gift from God. It's given to you. You didn't earn it, you didn't
have it by nature. That's a gift of a sovereign God through Christ. So if you understand these things
savingly, lovingly, and you trust Him, And the word of God has
been planted in your heart. It's a gift from God. You didn't
deserve it. You didn't earn it. Neither did
I. And he goes on, he says, for
whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance. Now that's growth in grace. If
God's given you this, you'll have more in abundance. And he
says, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away
even that he hath. Now he's putting the accountability
on men here. You're sitting here under the
preaching of the gospel. If you don't believe it and love
it, you'll be held accountable by God. He that believeth not
shall be damned. You're to seek the Lord. You
say, well, how do you get faith? You get it from God. How do you
get repentance? You get it from God. They're
both the gifts of God. Seek them in Him. So he says
in verse 13, Therefore speak I to them in parables, because
they see and see not, hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing you shall hear, and
shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not
perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross." Now that word
waxed means grown. And that word gross means hard.
Their heart has grown hard. A hard heart. In other words,
they're even more incensed against the preaching of the gospel of
God's grace than they were before, because they hate it. And he
goes on, he said, "...and their eyes they've closed, lest at
any time they should see with their eyes." They don't want
to see the truth. You know, that's man by nature.
You know, Christ said, the truth will set you free. Isn't that
right? But some people don't want to
be free. The ones he was talking to thought they were free. But
they weren't. I'll show you that in just a
second. But he says, "...and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal." They don't
want to be converted. Now the reason they don't want to be
converted, now listen to me now. People have a false refuge. Now,
you know, I made this statement one time, and I'm saying it's
true as I go along. You know, everybody thinks they're
saved before they're saved. until they're saved. Now, think about that. Let me
say it again. Everybody thinks they're saved
before they're saved, until they're saved. And what that is, everybody
says, well, I'm okay. I've got it all together. I may
not know everything, but I'm doing enough. I mean, this ought
to be enough. I'm here this morning, aren't
I? Isn't that enough? And even when I'm not, I want
to be, son. Isn't that enough? Well, let
me tell you something. First of all, you can't ever
do enough for salvation. That's why we have Christ. That's
why God's grace is our salvation. Somebody said, have I believed
enough? Enough for what? You see, it's not how much you
believe, it's in whom you believe. I believe in one who did enough.
His name is Jesus Christ, and he was crucified for my sins.
And that's my hope, my assurance, my stay. But you see, by nature,
we think we're okay. We think, you know, I'm religious.
I was raised in a religious home. I go to this church, that church,
every other church. And here some preacher comes
along and tells me that I'm lost. I'm lost. Well, I don't want
that kind of conversion. And that's what these here, he
said, lest they should be converted. These Pharisees, these Jews who
thought that they had been worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, they did not want to face the truth that they were actually
idolaters and false religious legalists. They didn't want to
face that. Even though facing that is salvation.
Ears to hear. Eyes to see. They don't want
to face the truth. They want to believe what they
want to believe. And so he says in verse 16, now look what he
says to the disciples, he says, But blessed are your eyes, for
they see, and your ears, for they hear. You've seen what a
sinner you are, and how much you need a Savior who can save
you from your sin. You've seen what a mercy beggar
you are. and that your only hope of salvation
is Christ and Him crucified, His blood and righteousness alone.
You've seen that and you've heard it and you've latched on to it.
The planting of the Word of God. Well, what's the difference?
Well, look at John chapter 3. Here's the difference. In John
chapter 3, Christ said, speaking to a religious man here, who
at this time didn't want to face the truth. He had eyes, but he
couldn't see. He had ears, but he couldn't
hear. He had a heart and a mind, but
he couldn't understand and receive the Word of God. Christ said
to him in verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, that is, born
from above, literally, born of God, spiritually, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. Just like a baby, before that
baby is born, conceived in the womb, and before that baby is
born, it can't see. But when it's born, brought forth
from the womb, it sees physically. And that's the way it is with
us spiritually. We have to be born from above, born of the
Spirit of God. We have to be given eyes to see. And then he says in verse 4,
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is
old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and
be born? Nicodemus was supposed to be a religious leader. a teacher,
and he didn't understand what Christ was speaking of. Because,
you know, the natural man cannot know and understand the things
of the Spirit of God. And Christ told him, verse 5,
he says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. Now, what I believe that's teaching
is water there is the Word of God. That's the symbol of the
Word of God in the Bible. It's the water of the Word. In
Titus, it's called the washing of regeneration by the water
of the Word. And then it says of the Spirit,
it is the Word of God by the power of the Spirit of God who
gives life from Christ and gives us eyes to see and ears to hear,
minds and hearts and affections to understand. And he said the
reason is, verse 6, he said, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. All
flesh can produce is more flesh, but it takes the Spirit of God
to produce the Spirit in man to love Christ and to believe
in Him and trust Him. It's the Spirit of God who plants
the Word of God in our hearts. James 1.18 says it this way,
"...of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creation." Look at Romans
chapter 6 with me. Brother Jim read, you must be
born again. And you must be born again by
the truth. The Spirit of God does not apply what Christ has
for His people under the preaching of a lie. We're begotten again
by the Word of Truth, empowered by the Spirit in the new birth.
Here in Romans chapter 6, The first part of this verse teaches
our planting in Christ at his death. I preached that last week.
Christ dying for me, redeeming me, justifying me on the cross. As a result of that, the Spirit
comes, sent of the Father and the Son to implant that word
in my heart in the new birth. And this is what he's talking
about. Look at verse 12. He says, let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body. Now, the mortal body is this
physical body that's going to die. He says that you should
obey it in the lust there and its unlawful desires. You still
have unlawful desires. I still have unlawful desires.
They're with us every day, every second. You know it. Admit it.
Don't deny it. They cloud everything we do.
They cloud everything we do. They contaminate everything we
do and everything we think and everything we say. That's why
we need a Savior continually. Just as much today as I ever
needed. The grace of God. I need a continual cleansing
by the blood of Christ. And so I've got to fight. He
says in verse 13, now listen to this verse. He says, neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God, Not in order to be alive, not
in order to get life or to get salvation, but, listen to it,
as those that are alive from the dead. Do this because you've
already been saved. Do this because you already are
alive. You're not trying to earn life, you see. Christ did that. He earned it. He finished the
work. But because of His grace, He
said, Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. Now, here's the picture here of this verse. Here's what
Paul's saying. It's like a soldier. This word instruments there,
you may have it in your concordance there, it means arms or weapons.
And what he's talking about, your instruments, like your hands,
your arms, your eyes, your ears, and this body. What he's saying
is you are to be equipped as a warrior against sin, not in
the service of sin, but in service of righteousness. In other words,
you're to try your best to use your hands, your arms, your eyes,
your ears, your mouth, your tongue, your feet, as instruments of
the glory of God in Christ. Obedience of righteousness, not
in order to be righteous, but because you already are in Christ.
Not in order to be saved, but because you already are saved
by the grace of God in Christ. Not in order to get what you
can out of God, but because He's already blessed you with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Blessings
that you don't even know about yet. See, do it because you love
Him. Don't let wages constrain you,
because you're not a wage earner in the Kingdom of God. You're
a recipient of God's grace. That's what you are in the kingdom
of God. You're not trying to earn your mansion. Christ said
this. He said, I go to prepare the
mansion. He did that. He said, now you start getting
your stuff together down here because you're going to have
to paint it up and furnish it. No, sir. No, that's false religion. You do it because you love Him.
And that's what He's talking about. He says in verse 14, for
sin shall not have dominion over you. You're not under the law,
but under grace. Now, jump across the page to
Romans 7.14. The same man who wrote by inspiration
of the Spirit, Romans 6.14, wrote Romans 7.14. He says, For we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, over in Romans 6.14, he
says, Sin shall not have dominion over you. Then in Romans 7.14,
he says, I'm carnal, that means fleshly, sold under sin. I'm a slave to sin. That's what
he means. How can he be both? Well, he's talking about two
different things here. In Romans 6.14, he's talking about what
we are in Christ. Now, that's the simplest way
to explain it. In Christ, I'm not under the dominion of sin.
I've been set free. Back up in Romans 6 and verse
7, for he that is dead is freed, meaning justified from sin. Sin
cannot condemn me. That's what he means. Christ
took my sins. He bore them away. I'm no longer
charged with those sins in the view of God's law and justice.
That's what Romans... He says it right there. You're
not under the law. The law cannot condemn you. The law can only
condemn where sin is charged. And I have no sins charged to
me, though I am a sinner. How can that be? Christ took
them. Two thousand years ago on the cross, he bore them away. He was made sin. He was charged
and legally responsible for my sins, and he suffered and bled
and died under that condemnation for me. So I'm not under law. I'm under grace. I'm in Christ.
In Romans 7, 14, he's talking about what we are now in this
life, even yet in ourselves. I'm still a slave to sin. It
affects everything I do. I want to obey God perfectly,
but not only can I not do it, I don't even know how to do it.
Paul says, read the rest of Romans 7. He says, I don't even know
how to do it. Listen to me. Try in yourself the best you
can to have one sinlessly perfect thought. Now, you really try
that, you'll drive yourself nuts. You can't do it. We can read
the Word of God, and something comes along and takes our attention,
doesn't it? We can listen to a message. Something comes along.
And it may be the infirmities of the body. It may be a sneeze,
a cough. It may be anything like that.
We don't know. It may be a pain. Anything can
take us away. It's all what we are in ourselves. But look on. Verse 16 of Romans
6, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin
unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin. You were slaves of sin under
the law. That's what he's talking about
there. Under the law that condemned you. But ye have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. That
word form there is like an indelible stamp that cannot be removed. In other words, when the Spirit
of God gave you life and stamped that Word of God or implanted
that Word of God in your heart, that form of doctrine, that doctrine
of Christ which was delivered to you, verse 18, being then
made free from sin. Now that word free there is different
from the word free in verse 7. The word free in verse 7 means
justified. The word free in verse 18 means
liberated. The truth will liberate you.
It set you free from sin and you became the servants of righteousness.
Now, how did it set you free from sin? It caused you to look
to Christ for all your salvation. I was justified at Calvary long
before I was born and before I even knew it. But then the
Spirit of God came along and planted the Word of God in my
heart, showed me my sins, and showed me Christ, and He liberated
me in my heart to look to Him and to Him alone. That's the
new birth. That's the good and honest heart
prepared by God. It's a heart, it's a regenerate
heart. prepared by God to receive the
Word, plowed up and broken up by the law under conviction of
sin, a broken and a contrite heart over sin. It's a heart
purified by faith. When the Word of God is sown,
it drives us to Christ, seeking mercy and finding in Him and
His blood and righteousness alone. It's a repentant heart, a heart
repenting from dead works and idolatry, looking only to Christ.
It's an honest heart, honest about God, who God is. Honest
about ourselves, who I am. I'm a sinner. Honest about Christ
and how God saves sinners by His grace through Him. It's an
assured heart, coming boldly to the throne of grace, not because
I'm so good, but because God is good and Christ has done the
work. He's finished it. It's a loving
heart. It loves Christ. It loves His
Word. Loves His people, though not perfectly, but that love
is there and it'll grow. It's an obedient heart. A heart
that desires to obey God in all things. It's a continually repentant
heart. It doesn't just repent one time.
It says, I'm not what I should be. That's right. It doesn't
even, you know, somebody says, well, I'm not what I should be.
John said it doesn't even appear what we shall be. Well, what
we shall be is what we should be. So it doesn't even appear
yet what we should be. But we know this will be like
him. It's a continually faithful heart. It's a heart that keeps
coming back to Christ and saying, Lord, here I am again. Here I
am again. Here I am again. Here I am again. All right.