Good morning, let's all stand
together and we'll sing hymn number 449. 449. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
Who yielded His life and atonement for sin and open the life gate
that all may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice, O come to the Father, Through Jesus
the Son, And give Him the glory, Great things He hath done. O perfect redemption, the purchase
of blood To every believer the promise of God The vilest offender
who truly believes That moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice, O God. to the Father, through Jesus
the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. Great things He hath taught us,
great things He hath done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus
the Son. But purer and higher and greater
will be our wonder, our transport, with Jesus we sing. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ O come to the Father ♪ Through Jesus
the Son ♪ And give him the glory ♪ Great things he hath done Thank
you and be seated. Hymn number 314, 314. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard
thy voice, and in tone I love to be. But I long to rise in
the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer,
nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Consecrate me now to Thy service,
Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast
hope, and my will be lost in Thine. Draw me nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord To Thy precious bleeding side Oh, the pure delight
of a single hour That before Thy throne I spent When I kneel
in prayer and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer,
nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. There are depths of love that
I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights
of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer,
nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter
4. Last week when I was gone, I
preached on, Father forgive them that know not what they do. And Cody told me that's what
he preached on here last Sunday. It's amazing, ain't it, how God
does things? It's amazing. Now our Lord was
speaking in parables, using earthly things to tell spiritual truths. And in verse 34 here in Mark
chapter four, it says this, but without a parable spake he not
unto them, And when they were alone, that's what God does for
His people. When they were alone, He expounded
all things unto His disciples. He makes His people to understand
things that nobody else can do. But now I'm going to start reading
here in verse 26 and down to verse 29. That'll be my message
today. Mark chapter 4, verse 26. And he said, So is the kingdom
of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and it
should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring
up and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, and after that
the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest
is come." Our blessed, blessed, blessed,
blessed Lord and God of heaven and earth. Oh Lord, we are so
blessed, so blessed. You're so full of grace and so
full of truth, delights to show mercy. You're the Father of mercies
and the God of all comfort. So what a blessing, what a privilege,
what an honor, what a glory awaits us. And even we get a taste of
it here on this earth occasionally. And Lord, we're so thankful that
we can approach you. And Father, we Thank you for
giving us this day, this day. Lord, you gave us another day
with the health to come and the desire to come and the will to
come. And I know that there are some
who would be here today, but their bodies are frail, their
bodies are weak. And Lord, we know that that's
providential. that you keep some people from
coming through sickness and ill health. And Lord, we thank you
for them and thank you for their will and their desire. But Lord,
we know and understand that when you cause someone to be sick, to
be weak and frail in their body, that they are not able to come.
But Lord, we pray for those who have not been here in a while,
Pray for them that you'd open their hearts, open their understanding,
make them see their need to come hear the gospel, come hear the
grace of God, to come to hear about our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Father, we pray for the lost among us, those who don't know
Christ. Oh, Lord, cause the gospel to
run well here today. Oh, cause the gospel to run well. And Lord, please bless the message
to your glory and our good. Have mercy upon our children,
our grandchildren, our lost loved ones. Lord, we all have people
that we love that don't know Christ. We ask, please, for Christ's
sake, to send and make them understand their need. And we ask these
things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 235, 235. ♪ Ask me
not, O gentle Savior ♪ While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others thou art calling, Do not pass me by Let me at a
throne of mercy Find a sweet relief Kneeling there in deep
contrition my unbelief hear my do not pass me by. Trusting only in thy merit would
I seek thy face. my wounded broken spirit. Save me by thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. On others Thou art calling, do
not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me. Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in heaven but Thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
prayer Let's all stand together, we'll sing the
hymn in the book. Father of mercies, in thy word,
on endless glory shines forever be. Thy name adored for these
celestial eyes. Here may the wretched sons of
water Riches above what earth can grant,
as lasting as the mind. Hear the Redeemer's welcome voice
Spreads heavenly peace around Oh, may these heavenly pages
be my ever dear delight. And still new beauties may I
see, And still increasing light. Divine instructor, gracious Lord,
be thou forever near teach me to love thy sacred word have
you my saint I'm going to get my subject or my title for my message out
of verse 28 here of Mark chapter 4. For the earth bringeth fruit
of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn
in the ear. That's my subject, the blade,
the ear, the full corn, and the ear. Now, go back up here and
start with me in verse 26, and we'll go down through these verses
together. And he 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 up
and grow up, he knoweth not how. He knoweth not how. First of
all, it says the Kingdom of God. You know wherever there is a
Kingdom is, there is a King, and a Kingdom is where the King
is. Christ often talks about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom
of Heaven. Well, the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom that God
Himself set up. He said He set His King on the
holy hill of Zion, and a Kingdom is where the King is. And the
King is all-powerful. And the King is absolutely sovereign.
When we talk about our Lord, He's altogether sovereign. He's
all-powerful. And here's something I'll tell
you about in this kingdom. All the subjects in this kingdom
of God, where the King sits on His throne, all of the subjects
like it, just like that. like him to be all-powerful and
to be sovereign. You know, our Lord said, All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And so that means
if all power is given unto Him, that means nobody else has got
any, nobody else got any. And the kingdom of God is infinite.
I mean, it s infinite. You know, we talk about the borders. There s no borders in this kingdom.
There s no borders here. You know, God's got no borders,
you know. He don't set up borders. You know, you can't come across
here, you can't come across there, oh no. There's no borders in
this kingdom. They come out of every nation,
country, tongue, and people, and every race. They come out
of them. In all the kingdom, there's no
border. And the kingdom's not of this
world. Now you keep Mark chapter four, and look in John 18 with
me. I want you to see this in John 18 about the kingdoms, not
of this earth, and not of this world. John 18, 36, look at this with
me. Talking about the kingdom. Pilate asked if he was a king. And our Lord Jesus Christ answered
him in verse 36, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should
not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not for
this. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born. And for
this cause came I unto the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth, and I love this right here, for every one that is of
the truth, here is my word, here is my word. But he said, my kingdom's
not of this world. It s not of this world, and I
m so thankful for that. And then he says, The kingdom
of God. Oh, we are in a kingdom where we have a king. It s all-powerful
and all-sovereign. And he said it s as if a man,
now this is a parable, as if a man should cast seed into the
ground. You remember that was the parable
of the seed being sown. You know, four types of soil
in the You know, the seed is the Word of God cast into four
different types of soil. But our Lord here says casting
seed into the ground. And what this casting seed into
the ground is preaching the gospel. That s where the seed is sown
in the preaching of the gospel. And I tell you, the Word is the
seed. The Word s the seed. This morning I m sowing seed.
I'm casting seed into the ground, that's what we're doing. And
you know, the Word is the seed, and in the seed, there's life-giving
power in the seed. There's life-giving power in
the message of the gospel. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel, for it is, it is the gospel. That's
the power of God. That's where the power of God's
at, in giving people life, in giving people salvation, in giving
people grace. And you know He called it the
Seed, and then our Lord Jesus Christ talked about the Light
under a bushel, so the Gospel is the Seed, Christ is the Light,
Christ is the Seed, and the Gospel is the power of God. Now look
again, I want you to look again in John 6, talking about what
the preaching of the Gospel does and what it does for people.
In John chapter 6, look what it says here in verse 36, Oh my, the Gospel is seed, is
the Word of God. It s God s blessed message, the
life-giving message. And I tell you, you know, I know
that God, that there s a lot of people that ain t heard the
Gospel yet, but if they re one for whom Christ died, we re casting
seed into the ground. And I tell you, look what He
goes on to say here in John 6, 63. Our Lord says, IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENS,
THAT GIVES LIFE. THE FLESH PROFITETH NOTHING. THIS FLESH ABSOLUTELY HAS NOTHING
TO DO WITH SALVATION. IT ABSOLUTELY HAS NOTHING TO
DO WITH WHAT GOD DOES FOR A MAN. THE FLESH PROFITS ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING. AND THEN HE GOES ON TO SAY THIS,
THE WORDS, THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU, LISTEN TO THIS, THEY
ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE. Oh, the flesh profits nothing,
but the words that I speak, they are spirit and they are alive.
And it says, by his own will, begat he us with what? The word
of truth. Now I want you, I know I'm having
you turn, but now go with me to 1 Peter. Go with me to 1 Peter
1. This is where we're talking about
the gospel. We're talking about casting seed into the ground. 1 Peter 1. And this is what we're talking
about here. He said in verse 23, or verse
22, start of verse 22, seeing you have purified your souls,
and here we go again, obeying the truth through the Spirit,
you know, the Spirit quickeneth, unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another pure heart fervently. Now listen
to this, being born again. Now here we re talking about
the new birth, being born again, that s the new birth. Well, how
are you born again? What gives you this new life?
Where do you get this new life at? Where does it come from?
He says this, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, the
flesh profits nothing. And then he goes on to say, But
of incorruptible seed, incorruptible, by the Word of God. That s what
we re talking about, that Word of God, the Gospel. And the Word
of God which liveth and abideth forever. And this is one thing
about the Gospel. You know what it says about man?
And this is what it says, For all flesh is as grass. That s
what the Gospel says. God said, Go out and cry. Why
shall I cry? First thing you tell them, Man
is nothing. The glory of man. Oh, let man
in all of his glory. Let man in all of his will. Let
man in all of his power. Let man in all of his rights
and all that. Let man, you want to talk about
his glory? God said it's grass. Grass. Just grass. Oh, man in his glory. Man gets up and acts like he's
somebody and pops his galluses and acts like he's got some power
and got some rights and got some authority. Wants to be independent,
and God says, you're nothing but grass. You're just grass. What about your glory, grass?
Well, I'm somebody, grass. You don't know my accomplishments,
grass. You don't know what I'm worth,
grass. You don't know how powerful I am, grass. That's the glory of man. That's
the glory of man. And oh, what he says. Then he
says that grass, it just withers away. Just withers away. It's withering right now. It's
withering. It just withers, that's what
it does. And the flower, oh my, that beautiful flower that looks
like it's gonna really blossom and do something, it just falls
away. It just falls away. But oh, listen, he goes on to
say this. He talks about the word of the
Lord endureth forever. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. You know, the one thing, the
one thing, the one thing that stands and abides forever is
not man in his glory, Not man and his power. The one thing
that stands and abides forever is the Word of God. That'll stand
and abide forever. Ain't that what it says? The
Word of the Lord endures forever. And that's what it means. The
Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know, here's what I say
about the Word of God. Christ is the living Word. Christ
is the living Word. And you can't know the living
Word apart from the written Word. But the living Word, the Spirit
of God, Christ, has to make this written Word real and true. And that's why the Word of God
stands and abides forever. Because Christ is the living
Word. The Word, the Word was God. The Word was with God. And that
Word came down into this world And we, we, the only thing we
can see is say, God, I see His glory. Thank God, man's glory
is not, but oh, to see the glory of Christ. Oh, that's what this,
that's what we're talking about. The new birth, and that's what
happens. And then it goes back over in
our text. Now go back over to Mark chapter four. Men cast seed
into the ground. Men cast seed into the ground. Oh my, the seed's sown. There
in verse... In verse 26, men cast seed into
the ground. The seed is sown. And the seed
is sown. Now I want you to sow something.
Here's the powerlessness of the preacher. The powerlessness of the preacher.
Look what it says. And as she's sleepin' rise, time
passes. She's sleepin' rise, night and
day. And the seed grows up, he don't know how. The seed, the
seed is sown. Fella goes about his business,
I get up, go on, we go on about our business. And I tell you
that seed is already sown, it's in the ground. But now, who can
only give life to that seed? Huh? I can't give life to the,
preacher's powerless. Huh? The seed produces life. And I tell you, God's the only
one that can give life. The preacher can't give life.
You know, people talk about winning souls and people talk about leading
people to the Lord and all that. Listen, Man cannot produce life. I'm telling you, you go out and
plant a garden, and unless God blesses that seed, that seed
will lay in the ground and rot. I've raised too many gardens
over too many times, and I've seen too many seed right in the
garden, right in the ground. And that's what he says, we cannot
give life. Man cannot give life. The preacher
can't give life. Church can't give life. Only
God can give life. And it says here, he knows not
how. The seed springs up in verse 27, and he sleeps and rise night
and day. get up, go about, and then, you
know, and then the seed springs up, seed springs up. He said he don t know how that
happens. That s why I said the new birth is. He said the wind
blows where it listed. You don t know where it s blowing.
You don t know who it s blowing on. It blows wherever it will. He said, oh my, only God can
cause that seed to spring up, only God can cause it to give
life. And look what it says there in
verse 28, for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself or of
itself. And the earth bringeth forth
fruit of itself. Now let me tell you something,
man has no part and given this life. Man has no part, he has
no contribution to do with this spiritual life we're talking
about, this new life. That's what he means. The flesh
profits nothing. You cannot contribute anything
to that seed producing life. You don't even know sometimes
where the seed's sown. And I certainly don't. That's
why I said the preacher's powerless. I ain't got nothing to do with
this. That seed's there. Who's gonna give life to it?
Who's gonna make it spring up? Only God can do that. Only Christ
can do that. Oh my, the flesh profits nothing.
And all of our salvation. Bless Christ Holy, and all of
our salvation is of Christ. And without us doing something
to make it happen. That's what people, people want
something to make, they want something to be happening. They
want to make things happen. But oh my. If I could make something
happen, I would. But I can't. If I had my will,
this place would be running over with people. But I can't do that,
only God can do that. But here's the thing about it.
With our salvation, all of it, all of it, is of Christ and we
cannot do anything to make something happen. We cannot produce life
in ourselves. We can't do it. Now let me ask
you some questions. What did you do to eternally
be united to the Lord Jesus Christ? What did you do to be eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you get in Christ? The
scriptures tells us in 1 Corinthians 1.30, of him, of God, are you
in Christ Jesus? How do you get there? God has
to put you there. Where do you get the life? God
has to give it. God hath put us in Christ and
made Christ, made Christ unto us wisdom. How are you gonna
understand anything about the Bible without Christ? That's
why Christ is our wisdom. We ain't got no sense without
Christ. We ain't got no spiritual sense.
We ain't got no spiritual understanding without Christ. He's made unto
us wisdom, and then He's made unto us righteousness. He's made
unto us holiness. He's made unto us our redemption,
the redemption of our body. Oh, what did you do to eternally
be united with Christ? Let me ask you this, talking
about the seed springing up, what did you do to become one
of God's elect? What did you do to become one
of God's elect, huh? He said over in Romans 9 and
11, He says this, The children, not being yet born, having done
nothing good or nothing evil, not yet being born, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand. God loved Jacob and hated Esau. What did you do to become one
of God s elect? What did you have to do to be
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world? Huh? What did you do to do that? It's
not of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Oh, and let me ask you, what
did you do for the son to make the payment to pay off your sin
debt? What did you contribute to that? What did you have to
do with that? What did you have to do with
the blood, with the payment, with the debt being paid off
of our sins? What did you have to do with
that? The scripture said, he by himself, he by himself purged
our sins and sat down at the right hand of God. He by himself
done that. By himself, by himself. What did you have to do with
the new creation, being made a new creature in Christ? What
did you have to do with that? What made the old things,
the old law, and the old works, and the old righteousness, and
all self-confidence, and the free will, what happened to all
those old things, all those old things that passed away? What
made everything become new? Did you have anything to do with
that? For the old things passing away and things becoming new.
The earth bringeth forth fruit of itself. What did we have to
do with it? Oh my, here's your question. What do you contribute to your
preservation being preserved? What do you have to do with that? Do you preserve yourself? Do
you keep yourself? Once you're saved, do you have
to keep yourself saved? You got to preserve yourself?
Oh, Jude said it like this, unto him that's able to keep you from
falling, and not only keep you from falling, but to present
you. Faultless, faultless, before
Him with glory. Faultless. Able to keep you from
falling. You know, if I was left to myself,
you know how many times I would have fallen? I would have fallen. Just like this book here. It's
like that book. I'm holding that up. Gotta be
held up. This book cannot stand up of
its own. Gotta be held up by somebody else. And that's the
way we are. If God don't hold us up. If I drop this book, you know
what it's gonna do? It's gonna make a loud noise. And that's
what's gonna happen. If you and I fall, we'll make
a loud noise. But you reckon God's gonna let us fall? You reckon God's gonna take his
hand out from under us? Huh? I got two hands on it. That's what God said He's got
on us. He said, no man will pluck them out of my father's hand,
nobody will pluck them out of my hand. He got two hands on
it. As long as I got two hands on that, that book's good. And that's the way God is. And as
long as God's got His hands on us, we are safe. Christ said, I'll hold you up. I'll hold you up, and that's
what has to happen. God got a hold of, He got a hold
of us with both hands. Ain't you glad He's got hands
big enough to hold us all at the same time? You know, I can't, I can't, you
know, Shirley will tell you, my sweet wife will tell you,
people talk about, you know, multitasking. I can't do that. I don't have the ability. I can
only deal with one thing at a time. My poor brain can only look at
one thing at a time, can only do one thing at a time. Now you
may be able to do this and do that and do everything else all
at the same time, but I can't. And I'm thankful that Christ,
Christ is focused on one thing, has one thing in view, and that's
His people. Huh? He's not multitasking. No,
no. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. He saved us once and for all
by His blood. He has perfected us forever.
I'm telling you what, He put away our sin once and all, once
for all by the sacrifice of Himself. I mean, our Lord Jesus Christ,
here's how glorious and powerful our Lord is. He can take all
of His elect, all of His people, even the ones that He hasn't
saved, yet He can take care of all of them, and He's got hands
big enough to hold every single one of them at the same time, and knows where every one of
them's at, knows what every one of them's doing, knows everything goes through
their mind, and still holds them up. How can He hold all of us
up at one time? When I've only got one hand,
I can only put one thing in it, and I've got another hand to
put two things in. God can put a multitude that no man can number
in His hands. Oh, why don't you contribute
to your preservation? Under him, under him, under him
it's able to keep you from falling. Under him it's able to keep you
from falling. Oh my, talking about the earth
springing up, life springing up, a preacher can't do it, you
can't do it, the church, and oh my, what did you have to do
with the faith you possess? What did you have to do with
the faith that you have right now? Where'd it come from? How did
you get it? When did it spring up? Huh? Do you even remember when
you believed? You just listen and you listen
and you listen and all of a sudden the seed springs up? The seed
springs up? What'd you have to do with it?
Where'd the faith, where did you get that faith you possess? Oh, for by grace are you saved
through faith. He didn't have nothing to do
with it. The flesh profits nothing. Oh, if we got faith, these are
the things I'm talking about. All this stuff just springs up. Springs up, how do you get it?
Where's it all come from? Just springs up. Oh, my. Oh, my, let me ask you this.
about this seed springing up. We catch that seed and the seed
springs up. What contribution will you make
in the final resurrection? When you finally resurrected
and you're coming out of the grave and you're coming out of
the ground, you're coming out of your casket or wherever you
be buried, what contribution will you make to your final resurrection? Huh? Huh? The only way you d ever
get out of the ground unless Christ brings you out is somebody
dig you up. But what about the final resurrection? When Christ resurrects us? When
Christ comes and He raises us up? Brings the first of those
who are dead in Christ and died in Christ, they rise first? Oh,
I'd love to be standing in a graveyard when that happens. What if we
was out there having a funeral for somebody, and we was out
there standing over the grave, and they was getting ready to
put them in the ground, and we had prayer with them, and we
sung a hymn, and all of a sudden, that casket busts open, the ground
starts busting open, and graves start bursting open, people start
coming out of the ground. and they was dust, and all of
a sudden they got bodies. He's dead, now they're alive.
Oh, I'd love to be standing in the
graveyard when that happens. But I know one thing, that the
dead in Christ shall rise first, then we, which are alive, living
on this earth shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, and caught up to meet them in the air, so shall we
ever be with the Lord. Now you think about that. What
do you contribute to that? Oh, what a blessed, blessed hope
we have. What I'm trying to tell you is
that the seed, I have nothing to do, the seed, we cast it into
the ground. We sleep, we rise up, we go about
our business. You did that. You slept and you
rose, you slept and you rose, you slept and you rose, and all
of a sudden, something sprung up. Something sprung up. Faith sprung
up. Life sprung up. The gospel came
and gave you life. Caused that seed to come to life. Oh my. I don't know how it happens. God the only one knows how it
happens. God only knows where he's given life. And oh my, but
now look down here with me. It says there in verse 27, should
sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed shall spring up,"
and listen, grow up, grow up, starts growing, starts growing,
He knoweth not how, and then He says, I talked to you about
all the things that the earth brings forth fruit of herself.
God's the only one that can cause that to happen. Now there's three
types of believers here in this, look what He says, first the
blade, then the ear, And after that, the full corn in the ear.
Three types of believers. First, there's the blade. That's
that little bitty thing that springs up first. Shows you that
there's life coming out of the ground. Just a little old thing sticking
up. Just a little old blade sticking up. That's a new believer. That's a baby in Christ. That's
a baby, and it's got life. That seed had life in it, but
it comes up just a little bit. Just enough to know that there's
life there coming up. There's life there coming. And
that's like a baby in Christ. And let me tell you, some people
never get past this stage, and I'll tell you why. Because first
of all, there was life there, and it's manifested by that little
blade coming up. And you know, there's a lot of
folks, and then a baby, you know, he doubts, he's fearful, He said
he doubts whether he's a believer or not. He doubts whether I understand
anything. He questions himself all the
time. He's just fearful that he's gonna fall away. He's just
fearful of his own self and he's afraid of himself and he's scared
to death, you know, and he just never has assurance, hardly at
all. Hardly at all. He's a baby, just barely growing
up. Oh my, I understand very, very
little at the verse beginning, but it shows that there's life
there. It shows there's life there.
And you know, I don't know how many times I've seen this happen
over the years. I'd be preaching, and after a
year, you know, preaching, preaching, and then all of a sudden, there's
people that's come, and they absolutely didn't seem to have
any interest at all. They just was there. And then
one day, they started looking at you. They're not looking down,
they're not looking around, and they look at you. And then they
start paying attention. And then next thing you know,
when you start, you know, you're saying, they get a hymn book
and start singing with you. They had never done that before.
And then they sat there and they listen and they listen and they
listen and they listen. And then, you know, that's the
first, I've seen that happen so many times, that folks just
totally disinterested, and then all of a sudden, one time, they
look at you and start paying attention to what you're saying.
Huh? And that's exactly the way you
was one time. Somebody's making a lot of noise,
you said, boy, that's good preaching, just making noise. But now, you
know, you realize, I'm hearing something. What's
that I'm hearing? Boy, I'm gonna start paying attention
to that preacher. He might have something to tell
me. He might have something to say. And oh my, but there's some
folks that never grow up. They stay a baby all the time,
always fearful, doubtful. Scared of scared that they're
gonna fall away, you know, and they just They just never having
much assurance and then here's the next one. He says Then the
ear Then the ear that's the beginning of fruit, you know, our Lord
said they bring forth fruit And here's here's fruit the ear the
beginning of fruit. That's the ear, you know, it
comes up there and a little ear in it little ear And oh my, that's
the beginning of fruit. You say, boy, there's gonna be
fruit on this thing. It's grown up a little bit of blade, now
it's grown up and now it's got an ear on it. And oh my, let
me tell you what this is. This is growth in grace is what
this is talking about. Growing in grace. Growing in
grace. Growing in the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when I talk about growing
in grace, we grow in our understanding of grace. Oh my, when you first
was a believer, you didn't understand much of grace. We thought, how
many times when I first started believing that I thought that
I would think, boy, I need to do this, I need to do that in
order to get this done, that done. And oh my, I'd catch myself
and I'd just, oh, what are you thinking like that? But oh, listen,
my growth in our understanding of grace. Oh my, don't you understand
more of grace now? And let me ask you this, don't
you want to understand more of grace? And let me tell you, when
you grow in grace, you understand your need of grace. I need grace. That's why we're talking about
that here. I need grace. I don't just want it, I need
it. And the more you understand it, the more you understand how
much you need it. I need it. And oh, and I tell you, growing
in grace is not only understanding and showing you need of grace,
but you actually fall in love with grace. You love it. You don't just like it. You don't
just understand it, but you say, I love that message of grace.
I love grace. I love to hear about grace. I'm
just delighted in grace. That's that fruit we're talking
about. That's that fruit we're talking about. And oh my, here's
another one. Look what, here's another. The
believer's that baby, he's the baby. Got that blade. But the life was in the seed,
it shows that there's life there. Shows there's life there. And
then, and then after that, the ear, then after that, the full
corn in the ear. It gets ripe, gets full. Full corn in the ear. Oh my. You know what full corn does
when it gets in the air? When it gets ripe? Falls over. Falls over. And that's what we
do. We start hanging down. You know where it's going toward?
It's going toward the earth. Bound down toward the earth.
And you know what real spiritual growth is? When you get some
spiritual growth when that full corn comes in the air? It's going
down in your own estimate. You realize that you're nothing. You realize that without Christ,
you're absolutely nothing. No matter what anybody else says
about you, you know what you are. You have the true estimate
of yourself. Oh my, humility. We sang that
song, Hear My Humble Cry. I don't know if I've ever had
a humble cry before God or not, but I do know this, that every
cry I've ever made toward Him is very feeble. And that's how
I sang it. Hear my feeble cry. And oh my. You know, when we, when we grow
in grace, we start thinking, boy, how in the world, what do
I amount to? What do I amount to? What in
the world am I, what, What do I amount to in this world? How does God actually see me?
How can anybody have anything to do with me? Oh my, I used
to tell when I first started preaching, learned about the
grace of God, I felt so awful about myself, felt so sinful,
felt so wretched and so awful and rich. I mean, just poor. And I thought to myself, folks
all the time said, if you really know what I am and what I'm like,
you'd never ask me in your house ever again. You'd never ask me
to your table, eat at your table. Oh my. And I tell you, Nick,
here's another thing about growing. We grow downward. We grow downward. We don't get any better. Are
you better now than you was? Huh? Are you improving? Are you improving? Are you getting better? Huh? And I'll tell you what, the older
we get, The more that cord hangs down, the more these days, and
we'll deal with that here in a minute, but listen to what
it says, more assurance, and here's what I'm talking about,
more assurance of being utterly and absolutely dependent on God
for everything that we have. That's what this full ear in
the corn means. Assurance, more assurance of our utterly, absolutely
dependency upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not getting any better.
You know what Paul said? Though I be nothing, though I
be nothing. Very few of us can be nothing,
can be nothing. And then look what it says, verse
29. But when the fruit is brought
forth, and then the margin says it's
ripe. When we get ripe, some of us
get ripe, look what it says, when the fruit is brought forth,
ripe, immediately, when you just exactly where you're supposed
to, you know, when you get ripe, when it's time, Look what he said, ìImmediately
he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.î When we
get the way God wills us to be, oh my, when that cornís hanging
down enough and itís just exactly ripe enough. We donít know when
weíre ripe, but God does. We don't know when that harvest
is coming, but God does, and he puts in that sickle. Huh? Oh, my. There's a ripen. There's a ripen. There's another
ripen. Huh? Well, wouldn't it be wonderful
for the Lord to come put the sickle in right now? Huh? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wonderful. Our Father, oh, our Lord Jesus
Christ, our great God, our Savior, God blessed over all, to you
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Thank you for allowing
us to meet here today. Thank you for the gospel. Thank
you for the truth. And Lord, the seed and what fruit
it brings forth is in your hands. We can do nothing. But, O Lord,
you said that you is the one that gives the increase. Nobody
can give increase but you. So, O Lord, give increase, as
seemeth good in your sight. And, O Father, bring glory to
yourself through us here. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich and free. I love free, rich and
free. Amen. See you tonight, God willing.