Turn to Mark chapter 4, the title
of the message, the parable of the mustard seed or the growth
of God's kingdom, the church, the growth of the church. Our
Lord spoke many parables. He never used hard to understand
words. He never used hard to understand
examples. They were very easy to grasp. Us who preach, we look at certain
men that impress us over the years and people we have read
after, and I know that we think, I'd like to be able to preach
like that. Spurgeon. Would you like to be able to
preach like Spurgeon? Henry. I'd like to be able to preach
like that. And other men. But the one that we really ought
to seek to preach be like in our preaching is Christ. He is
our greatest example when it comes to preaching and teaching.
I stand here and I preach, and you who teach these classes,
He's our example. He's our example. And He always,
He always used the simplest language and the simplest examples. And
I want to strive however long I stand in a pulpit I want to
strive to preach like my Lord preached. To preach like Him.
Easy to understand messages. I don't care, well I do care,
but a person can leave here and not believe what I say. But at
least I want them to understand what I said. I want them to understand
it, whether they believe it or not. Our Lord did not come into
this world to show off His knowledge. I've seen men in the pulpit,
I've seen them on television, trying to show off their knowledge,
and especially those that get into prophecy. They get into
areas that they don't know anything about, and they know the people
don't know anything about, so who's going to say you're wrong? Our Lord didn't come into this
world to show off His knowledge. Our Lord came into this world
to teach knowledge and understanding. Look over in Jeremiah 3. Jeremiah
chapter 3. In verse 15, and I will give
you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge
and understanding. Not show off knowledge, but feed
you with knowledge. Knowledge of Christ, as we heard
this morning. Knowledge of the love of God.
Knowledge of the person and work of Christ. Knowledge of who God
is. Out of the scriptures. Out of
the scriptures. I'll take the word of God and
feed you with knowledge. Now here, our Lord, in verse
30, He says, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God,
or with what comparison shall we compare him? It is like a
grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth,
it is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when
it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs,
and shooteth out great branches. so that the fowls of the air
may lodge under the shadow of it." Now, a couple of times in
the scriptures, the Lord used the mustard seed in reference
to faith. Let me show that to you over in Matthew chapter 17.
In Matthew chapter 17, our Lord uses the mustard seed in reference
to faith. Look in verse 14. And when they
were come to the multitude, There came to him a certain man, kneeling
down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he
is lunatic and sore-vexed, for oftentimes he falleth into the
fire and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples,
and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said,
O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you, O the patience of God? The patience
of God is amazing. Bring him hither to me. Bring
him to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil.
And he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that
very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus
apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said
to them, Here's why you could not cast him out. You're unbelief. You don't believe. For verily
I say unto you, If you have faith, as a grain of mustard seed. You
shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place,
and it shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible unto
you." Can you believe that? Look over in Luke 17. Over in
Luke 17, our Lord makes a reference again to this mustard seed. In verse 3, take heed to yourselves
in Luke 17. Take heed to yourselves," in
verse 3, "'if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and
if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to
thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.' And the apostle
said unto the Lord, Increase our faith, increase our faith,
give us more faith. And the Lord said, if you had
faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine
tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in
the seed, and it should obey you. Faith is the gift of God. That's what it tells us over
in Ephesians chapter 2. Faith is, for by grace are you
saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves. That saving
faith, that faith that he's talking about here, that if you had a
grain of it, A grain of a mustard seed. You could say to this mountain,
be moved. That faith is not of you. That faith is not something we
can conjure up. That faith is the gift of God. That faith that saves is the
work of God. And faith in its beginnings is
small. It's small. It's like last week
we looked at the grace in the heart, how it starts out small. It has a small beginning. And
here, faith in its beginning is small. And the more that one
learns of Christ, the more we are taught knowledge, true knowledge
and understanding, the more we have it, the more it's given
to us, the more we grow up in Christ, the greater the faith. The greater the faith. Now, the
power of faith here, he says, if you had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, or you said, I'd like to have this kind of faith,
where you can move a mountain. We have mountains of trouble
at times, don't we? I had that kind of faith as a
grain of mustard seed. I just had that kind of faith.
Well, let me tell you something. The power is not in the faith.
It's in the object of faith. It's in Christ. Christ is the
only one who can move my mountain of trouble. He's the only one
who can remove this mountain of ignorance that I was born
with. He's the only one that can do it. The power of faith,
let us never forget this, because if we don't remember this, we
start looking to faith. We start having faith in our
faith. We start making faith an issue. You know what, David
was making faith an issue. The issue here is believing God.
It's exercising. It's not how much faith I have
in a glass. It's the exercise of it in Christ.
That's what it is. If you had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, and that faith is exercised in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it will be if it's of God. If it's of God, it will
be. Mountains of troubles can be
removed because he's able. He's able. Our Lord said to two blind men
once, they wanted their sight. They wanted to see. And our Lord
asked them this question, do you believe that I am able to
do this? Do you believe I'm able to save
you? Do you believe I'm able to give
you sight? Do you believe that I am able
to deliver you? He didn't just say, do you believe
and leave it at that. He said, do you believe that
I am April? See, faith is exercised in Christ
and the power of faith is Christ. It's Christ. Look over in Mark chapter 9. This is pretty much that same
situation. He says here, Jesus said in verse
22, And oftentimes it cast him into the fire and into the water
to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, Have compassion
on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out and said
with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Lord, I do believe. I believe
that you are able to do this. And help my unbelief. Lord, help
me to believe that you're able. Help me to keep looking to you.
Help me to trust you. I know you've been there. I know
you've been there. Every believer's been there.
Lord, enable me to trust thee. Enable me to believe. With God,
nothing is impossible. Nothing's impossible. Lord, help
me to believe. Because I know that with you,
Nothing's impossible. That leper, over there in Matthew,
or here in Mark, it's in all the Gospels there. He said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me whole. I know you have the power. I know you have the power. But
if you will, you can make me whole. You can save me. I believe that. You believe that.
Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ can literally save
you from your sins, from the power of them, from the reigning
power of them, the dominion of them? Do you believe he's able
to do that? Oh, he said, believe ye that
I'm able to do this. And they said, yes, Lord. And the evidence that they believed
him, they received their sight. They received their sight. Now,
the opposite of faith is unbelief. It says over in Matthew 13, 58,
He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Unbelief. We try to catalog sins. You know, this sin is so much
worse than this sin. The worst of all of them is unbelief. The daddy of all of them is unbelief,
and every one of us is guilty of unbelief. Lord, why could
we not cast that devil out? He said, because of your unbelief. Because of that. But now let's
come to this parable back here in Mark. Whereunto shall we liken
the kingdom of God, or with what comparison shall we compare it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown
in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth.
But when it is sown, it grows up, and it becomes greater than
all herbs. Someone I was reading said that
it's about the size of a banana tree. I didn't know they grew
that big, but they said this particular one that he's speaking
of here grows about the size of a banana tree, which is, that's
pretty big. And it shooteth out great branches. so that the fowls of the air
may lodge under the shadow of it." This has to do with the
smallness of the church in her beginnings. The Lord's telling
us, and He's telling His disciples here, that the church, as we
know it, started out very small. Very small. They're in Palestine.
Very small. But it's going to end up the
greatest of all kingdoms. the greatest of all, none compared
to it. We start first with a tender
plant lying in a manger. Who would have thought, who would
have thought that that little child lying in that manger, that
in that child lay the whole kingdom of God, lay the whole church
of God. Who would have thought that?
Who would have thought that that despised man would become the
most well-known man across this earth? You can pretty much go
anywhere on this earth and the name Jesus Christ is known. At one time or another anyway,
at one time or another that name has went across this whole globe.
No other name. There is no other name that has
ever traveled this world like that name. Who would have thought that that
poor man, that Nazarene, would be the head of the greatest kingdom
ever? Who would have thought such a
thing? Such small beginnings. They looked at him and said,
we know you. You're the carpenter's son. We know your brothers and
your sisters. We know your family. You're poor.
A nobody. No credentials. So they thought. So they thought. Yet he is the
head of the greatest kingdom that will ever be. The head of
it. The church. This man that was despised and
rejected of men, this man that was looked upon as poor, looked
upon as a nobody is not just any man. This is God. This is the Creator. This is
our God in human flesh. This is who He is. He may have
looked at that time to them to be nothing, to be a nobody, but
He's God. He's God, and He's the head of
the greatest kingdom that will ever be. He's that grain of corn
that must fall into the ground and die in order to produce many
just like Him. He's that grain of corn that
must be buried. He said it must die. If there's going to be a harvest,
if there's going to be a heaven populated with people just like
me, I've got to die. I've got to die. And look what
came out of his death. Look what came out of it. Then
we have the twelve apostles. For the most part, they were
unlearned and ignorant men. If you are going to have a great
kingdom, would you start with unlearned and ignorant men? Would
you not start with Plato? Einstein? I mean, would you not
take those men and start the kingdom? Would
you not take the great scientists of the world and start the kingdom?
No, he takes fishermen. For the most part, they were
said to be unlearned and ignorant men. And those men turned this
world upside down. And from Jerusalem went out the
kingdom of God. Went out the kingdom of God.
It was like an ocean. You've seen the waves of an ocean
come crashing in to shore. It started here in Jerusalem.
You have this child in a manger. He grows up. He's crucified. He's buried. He's risen. He pulls
together twelve, he calls twelve apostles. And then he sends them
out. What influence are they going
to have? Under the power of God, under
the power of the Holy Spirit, they turn this world upside down.
They turn it upside down. On the day of Pentecost, 3,000,
3,000 are saved. And a few days after that, 5,000
are saved. There's 8,000 people within just
a few days. Can you see the ocean? Can you
see the waves starting to move? It's going to go across this
world. And from there the gospel went to Ephesus. Paul preached
in Ephesus. The church was raised up. He
goes to Philippi and the church is raised up. He goes to Corinth.
God says, I have much people in this city. And the church
is raised up. He goes to Rome in Europe. Asia Minor, Africa. And you know that the professed
religion at one time in Rome, in that heathen city, in that
heathen place, was Christianity? Who would have believed that?
Who would have believed from that babe in the manger, twelve
apostles, that the world would be just
taken over with it. It would sweep across the world. I know
you say, well, there are not many people that believe. I tell
you what, you're going to be amazed, we are going to be amazed
when this is all over, how populated heaven is with sinners saved
by the grace of God. And I do believe this, I believe
this, I believe that as far as population, I believe it would
far outweigh that in hell. I do. I do. Heaven is spoken of as
a country, spoken of as like a big city. It's not going to
be sparsely populated. He says ten thousands and thousands
and thousands. A number that no man can number. Not what we are about to see.
Our Lord, our Lord is a great Savior. He's a great Savior. He's going to save a multitude
of sinners. A multitude of them. Now that it has spread all over
the world, I want you to look up here in verse 32. But when it is sown, that little
old seed that looked so insignificant, it was so insignificant, it's
going to grow up. It's going to become greater
than all herbs. And it's not just going to shoot out branches.
It's not going to shoot out some little sprouts here and here.
He said great branches. It's going to reach throughout
the world. Great branches. And because of
the church in this world, because of the presence of the
church, God's church, this world is a better place to live. It says that all those fowls
of the air, they come and they what? Lodge under the shadow
of it. Right now, this world is lodged under the shadow of
the Lord's church, the kingdom of God. The reason they are not
scorched, the reason God has not burned this thing up yet,
is because He still has a people in it. His church is still here. And because the church is still
here, this world is better off for it. It rains on the just and the
unjust. But I tell you what, whenever the just is taken out,
then see what happens. It won't be a rain of blessing,
that's for sure, on the unjust. It'll be a rain of God's wrath. All you have to do is look at
history. Look at history where the gospel has been faithfully
preached. You'll find the human rights,
what we call human rights. are regarded. People's standard of living goes
up. You just check history. Where the gospel sweeps through, everything's better. Everything
in that community is better. I believe this. I do believe
this. I believe this community here. Over the years, you've
had some good industry in this town. I believe he has some good
industry for one good reason, that gospel's been here. And
that gospel that's been preached in this community for years and
went throughout the world and supported it, better off. This community will
never know, I'm telling you, they will never know the blessing
of the gospel being here for all these years. All these years. Notice here back in verse 32,
and it shoots out great branches so that the fowls of the air
may lodge under the shadow of it. What does a shadow represent? Well, it represents shelter from
the sun, doesn't it? The heat of the sun and shade
and rest, some rest. Oh, how blessed we are. And like
the mustard plant, And that mustard seed, or the plant here, all
types of sinners lodge under its shadows. You see how he talks
about the fowls? Well, there's all different types
of fowls, aren't there? All different types. The church is made up of sinners
saved by the grace of God. There's people who have been
just outwardly wicked, openly wicked, and there's others that
have just been self-righteous I mean, it's the whole gamut.
The whole gamut. But yet, we're all under this
mustard seed, under this mustard plant. We're all in here and
we're under the shadow. Under the shadow of it. You take
the church out of this world and it goes to hell. That's exactly
where it goes. Talk about men becoming more
enlightened. Take the church out of it. See
how much light there is. Take the church out of this world, and you will have nothing but
the rule of the devil. That's all you have. You say,
well, I have a good neighbor. That neighbor wouldn't be any
good. You take the church out. You take the church out, and
when you do that, you take away the restraining hand of God.
And when you take the restraint off human nature, and you have
nothing but devils, that's all you have. And then last of all, the church
shall never be defeated by Satan or this world. Even when it looks
like it's in its darkest hour, apostasy everywhere, the church,
the kingdom of God, will never, ever be defeated. Ever. Our Lord said the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. It won't do it. God's kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom. The kingdoms of this world are
not everlasting. You look at what we call the
superpowers. Look over history. Rome used
to rule about a quarter of this world at one time. What do they
rule now? They're about broke. about broke. You just go across this history
and you look at the powers that were. Powerful, powerful countries,
powerful nations, and now they're not. Now we call ourselves, and
rightly so, the most powerful nation on earth. And I tell you,
when we do that, honestly, I cringe. I cringe because I know that
Men take pride in that. We are the most powerful nation
on earth. Well, for a time, and you wait
and see, it'll be for a time. Because God's on the throne,
not men. God's on the throne and not any
one nation. He said the nations to Him were
nothing but a drop in the bucket. He raises up one and brings down
another. His kingdom, it says, ruleth
over all. Ruleth over all. And His kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom. There's no end to it. There's
no end to it. You know, I know somewhere down
the road, I know, I believe this. This thing of being the greatest
power in the world is going to cease. It will not last. and last and last. It's not going
to happen. It never has. History teaches us that. But
God's kingdom is everlasting and it will rule forever and
ever and ever. And that's the kingdom that every
believer belongs to. That's our kingdom. The kingdom
of heaven. There's no end to it. We don't
have to worry about someone taking it over. We don't have to worry
about somewhere down the road Satan rising up again That ain't
going to happen. That's not going to happen. An
everlasting kingdom. It says over in Isaiah 53, concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
His hand. No one's going to defeat Him.
No one's going to take it over. And the church, the church, when
all is said and done, will be the greatest kingdom ever. The greatest. And there will
be no end to it.