Turn to Mark chapter 4. Often our Lord spoke in parables. He used simple, earthly illustrations
to convey heavenly truth. Illustrations that we could grasp,
get a hold of. He never complicated his message
by hard to understand words and phrases. And believe me, he could
have. He could have. Here stands the
wisdom of God. Here stands the embodiment of
knowledge. No scientist, no physician. Could ever speak
on the level he could speak on, but he didn't. You see, we usually
do that to show our intelligence, our knowledge, you know, to impress.
To impress. He's not here. He did not come
here to impress anyone of us. It says he did not commit himself
to men because he knew what was in man. He knows who we are. He knows that we know nothing,
really. What we know, he's enabled us
to know. You know, we kind of stand in
awe at times at the intelligence of these men who've had great
inventions. You know, they've come up with
a lot of medical knowledge now. And, I mean, we stand in awe
of it. But I tell you what, God gave them that knowledge. They
may not acknowledge God, but God gave them the knowledge that
they have, and all this that we enjoy right now, God has given
it. And you who believe, we who believe,
we recognize that, don't we? We recognize that. I tell you this, you don't, as
a believer, you don't feel yourself to be above no one, do you? I
mean, you don't. Well, you have to fight it anyway.
But you don't feel yourself, so you know who you are and what
you are. You know that. But at the same time, I do not
feel myself to be inferior to anybody in this. If I talk to
the president, God put him there. God put him there. And that man
is just a man. You know, when the Lord opened
that one man's eyes, he said, what do you see? He said, I see
men as trees walking. And that's the way we see men.
We see great men. We see, whether it be scientists
or athletes, we see great men. But then God touched his eyes
again and he said, well, what do you see? Men as men. It doesn't matter what position
they have in this life, what status they have. They're just
men that God is using. And when he's done with them,
they will be gone. And when you dig up their bones
100 years from now or 200 years from now, you can't tell which
one was a president and which one was a pauper. They all look
the same. Okay. Let me get back to the
message. We who preach. I was thinking
about this last night as I'm standing, as I was going to stand
here today. We who preach must strive to do the same. No one
should leave this place wondering what I preached, I said. Someone may leave mad about what
I preached, but not wondering about what I preached. You can
be mad about it or glad about it, but you shouldn't be confused
about it at all. I need to strive for clarity.
All the time. And who else stand here, Dale
and Eric and Frank? Strive for clarity. Brevity and
clarity I think is the best way to preach. Now this parable is
probably the most known parable of all the parables. Everyone
knows this parable of the sower. It's the most known. Its application
is the easiest to grasp. The truth of it applies to every
one of the Lord's local churches, all the local churches. The truth
of this applies to every one of them. All these types of hearers
may not be here at the same time, but they will all be here over
time. They will all be here. Sooner
or later, all these types of hearers will pass through this
place over the years as the time goes by. Now let's look at this. Now it says he began again to
teach by the seaside. I'm not going to go through all
of these verses here. But these first verses, he began again
to teach by the seaside. John Gill said this is the same
day and he leaves the house and he goes out by the seaside. The
multitude became too great. They were proud of the house.
They surrounded the house and it just became bigger and bigger.
So he leaves and he goes out by the seaside and there was
gathered unto him a great multitude so that he entered into a ship
and sat in the sea and the whole multitude was by the sea on the
land. Now usually we just, or I do
it, I've read that, read that, I can just pass it on up, but
think about this. There is a great multitude standing
there by the seaside. Now our Lord gets into a boat.
And he goes out into the water a little ways. He gets out of
where he can get away from the crowd being around touching him
and, you know, just crowding around him. And he gets out there. And he has no PA system. The
Word of God. I thought about this. I looked
at that and I thought the Word of God doesn't need one. Those
in the back of that crowd heard him just as plainly as those
standing up close to the boat. I need a PA system, but not the
Word of God. This is the Word of God speaking.
We don't realize what's going on right here. That multitude,
there might be a thousand, two thousand people there. And He's
not screaming. He's just speaking like I am
now. And everyone's hearing Him. Everyone. That's the Word of God. That's
the power of the Word of God. When He sends it forth, when
He sends it forth, now it goes forth. It goes forth. And he taught them many things
by parables. You know, every time our Lord
opened his mouth, he taught. And he gives them this parable
of the sower. And I read that to you. Now,
let's go over to verse 9. And he said to them, to this
multitude, this crowd, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Give heed now to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is very, very
important. Don't sit there this morning
and say, well, I've heard this message several times. I've heard
you preach this message. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't.
Maybe you have heard, maybe you have not. You might have heard a sermon
preached from it, but maybe you never really heard it. Give heed to what I'm saying.
It's very important. He knew that some of them would
forget what they heard in a very short period of time. As soon
as they turned to go home, there would be some of them that would
absolutely forget what they heard. There would be some of them who
would rejoice for a little while, and then because of persecution,
they'd just say, you know, I'm out of here. I didn't expect
this. Then there are some of them who
said, I've got, you know, I've got some land I've got to take
care of. I've got family I've got to take care of. I've got
to go to work. You know, you've got to die. That's what you and I have to
do. And we've got to face God. It didn't say this poor little
man wants to work and do this and this and this. It said this
poor little man wants to die. Now, do everything in light of
that. Everything. Do it in light of
that. And when he was alone, they that
were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. Here's a lesson for us. We need
to ask him all the time, Lord, open the scriptures right now.
You're sitting there listening to the word of God. You've got
it in your lap. We have read it. You're listening to me speak.
But it takes God to give us an understanding even of the most
simple truth. It takes God to enable us to
receive the most simple truth. They said, Lord, tell us, what
do you mean by this? And I asked this morning, Lord
reveal to us once again this truth. Speak to our hearts this
morning. And he said to them, and what
a blessing. Oh, Dale touched on it this morning.
Unto you is given to know the mystery, how blessed you are.
Simon Peter, God the Father has revealed this to you. Not everyone
knows what you know. I talked to a man here A couple
of weeks ago. Ultra, ultra religious. One of
the most ultra religious persons I've ever met in my life. And
every now and then I would try to interject some truth in a
conversation. And that was evident to me. It
was evident to me. This is just way off the wall. I mean, I'm not going to go into
ways. Some of the things he was telling me was just way off the
wall. And I'm sitting there, and I'm
listening, and I'm just thankful the Lord's
given me the knowledge of the truth. But to you it's given to know
the mystery, not mysteries. I say I read that. When I read
that, I read mysteries, but it's not mystery. It's mystery of
the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without,
all these things are done in parables. It's given to you to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God. Without a divine revelation,
we wouldn't know any more than the world knows, would we? We
wouldn't know it. And here's the real blessing
of it. It's given to you. It's like it's just... brought
to you and is given to you. You didn't earn it. You didn't
merit it. There's absolutely nothing about
me that would cause God to give me an understanding of the gospel
more than He would someone else. It's His royal prerogative to
give me an understanding of the gospel. And it's His royal prerogative
to just pass by. And, brother, that's a mystery.
Why this one and not this one? You know what? He knows what
he's doing. Infinite wisdom, infinite knowledge.
He knows what he's doing. It's given to you to know the
mystery. Who do men say that I am? How
many people know that? How many people on this earth,
seven billion people, know who Jesus Christ is? God incarnate. The Pharisees, the scribes, studied
the Scriptures. I mean, they could quote a lot
more than we can quote. And they missed Him. He came
unto His own and His own received Him? Not. Why did you receive Him? Because
it's given to you. That's why. How is you understand
something about how God saves sinners? Because it's given to
you. It's revealed to you. My Heavenly
Father has revealed these things to you. He has revealed that to everyone.
It's plainly taught in the Word of God. Why is it not given to some? Even so, Father. It's in good
and thy sight. Can we leave it there? I believe
we can. We can leave it there. That seeing they may see and
not perceive. In hearing they may hear and
not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and
their sins should be forgiven them. I'm just going to bow to
that. God saves whom He wills. He saves
whom He wills. We see this throughout the Word
of God. He does not owe anyone salvation. He's not indebted to his creation. And I don't understand all that.
There's a lot I don't understand. But I know that God Almighty is sovereign.
I know that if he had not chosen any, no one would be saved. Do we read anywhere of the fallen
angels asking for mercy? Do we? Well, if God had not chosen
any sinners out of Adam's race, we wouldn't ask for mercy either. By nature, it says we are enmity. The natural mind is enmity with
God. Hate God. That's what it means.
Hates it. Hates it. Despises it. It takes the work
of God for us to fall in love with Christ and bow to him. They didn't want him anyway,
did they? They said, he has a devil. He's a devil. They said, we see,
we don't need you. What did Bartimaeus say? Lord,
give me my sight. I cannot see. The Pharisees said, we see, we
don't need you. Well, you see, I know this. I know this. Lord, if you don't
reveal this to me, I'll never understand it. I will never understand
it. Give me an understanding of what
I read. Isn't that what that Ethiopian
eunuch said? Philip said, Do you understand
what you read? The Pharisee would have said,
Well, of course. What, do you think I'm a dummy? But that eunuch
said, How can I? Except some man Show me or teach
me. Lord, teach me. Teach me. You know, that's the work of
God for you to say that. I mean, say it and mean it. That's the
work of God. Now, he says here in verse 14,
let's get to this sower, this parable. The sower soweth the
word. The sower here at this time is
Christ and soon his apostles. And then it includes all his
ministers in all ages. I'm doing that now. I'm sowing
right now, casting the seed. I'm not just handing it to certain
individuals I believe are the elect. No, I'm casting it out
there. I don't know who they are. I don't know. He knows. I don't.
But I'm just casting the seed out there. And he soweth the Word, the Word
of God is the seed. It says in 1 Peter 1.23, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the Word of God. That's the seed. The Word of
God is the seed, which it says, that liveth and abideth forever.
It is a living seed. The Word of God is not dead seed,
it's living seed. Which liveth, he says. Life begins
with a seed. This seed's being planted. These
young children right now, right now, they're taught in the Bible classes.
They sit out here in this auditorium and listen to preaching. That
seed's being sown. Now, it may be falling on hard
ground, thorny ground, rocky ground, but it may be falling
on good ground. We don't know. One thing I've
learned after 57 years, time proves all things. Time proves
all things. And that seed being sown right
now, it may be going down into that, like we put it in the earth
and cover it over. And then in God's time, He gives
the increase. You see an interest. All of a
sudden you see an interest in Christ. You see an interest in
the gospel. Who knows when that seed was
sown? Who knows at what time that seed was sown? It may have
been sown ten years ago, or a year ago, or today. Today. And it's God's seed. It's the
Word of God. It's not opinions. Dale was talking
about we all have our opinions and they all smell alike too.
They're all about the same. But I'm not standing here giving
you my opinion. When we read the Word of God, that's not an
opinion. Truth is never an opinion. You mark that down. Truth is
never an opinion. It's truth. It's truth. And these are they,
he says, by the wayside, where the word is sown. But when they
have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that
was sown in their hearts. Here's the first one, the wayside
hearer. This one is like the hard ground.
You ever been out in the field? I grew up on a farm, so usually
there's a path around the field, whether it's where you've traveled,
the animals traveled. It's a hardened path. It's been
traveled. It's a hard path and nothing
penetrates it. You can throw a seed on it and
it'll lay there forever. It does not penetrate it. It's
hard. It's hard as a rock. Nothing
grows there. Nothing grows in this hard ground
like nothing of truth and spiritual life grows in a hard heart. It
doesn't do it. It doesn't do it. This here is
one who comes to the service. for whatever reason, hears the
word preached, and he says immediately, Satan, and he compares them to
fowls of the air, that fowl fiend, comes and he takes away the word
that was sown. I mean, it may be you got a golf
game you're going to feature one that you're interested in
getting in. You can't wait until this thing's over. You're thinking
about work, or it's just Something comes along or something's on
your mind and it's just like, it would be like me throwing
seed against that wall just bouncing off. And Satan comes and he takes
it away. He forgets, that person forgets
what he heard before he leaves the building. And doesn't even realize that
that's the work of Satan. Doesn't even realize. What he heard doesn't mean anything. There's been no penetration at
all. And he just goes on his merry
way until he meets God. Verse 16, And these are they
likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard
the word, immediately receive it with gladness. Gladness. Here's the second here, the stony
ground here. This one here is the gospel.
Gladly. That was a good message. That was a great message. He
even rejoices for a time, maybe even weeps at times. And he tells
you what a great sermon it was, and he's just taken up with it. But there's a problem. There's
a problem. He has no root. It says they
have no root in themselves. And so endure but for what? I
said time proves all things. Afterward, when the emotion has
died down, when he's come back to who he is, when afflictions
or persecutions arise for the word's sake, the gospel, immediately
they are offended. And the reason they're offended
is this, they have no root in themselves. They have not the work of the
Holy Spirit in them. They have not been born again.
It has been an emotional experience that they have had and not a
real work of grace in the heart. That's who this one is. No work
of grace in the heart at all. They do not have a new heart.
They have that same old heart, but what it is is stony ground.
You know the seed has fallen, here's some stone and you've
got about a half inch or inch maybe of dirt on top of it. Not
much, not much. You know the rain when it comes
down it hits it and of course it hits that stone underneath
it and just drains right off. Quickly. But that plant comes
up real quick. But when the sun is up and it
scores, when persecution comes because of the word, there's
no root. And listen, there is no root in Christ. He's not,
what it says over in Colossians, that you are rooted and built
up in what? In who? Jesus Christ. This one
is not rooted in Christ. It's rooted in emotion. I mean, you could play a sad song
and get the same response out of it. But when affliction rises over
the gospel, trials prove us, too. Time and trials prove us,
don't they? They are offended, and they are
offended at God. They are offended at God, and
they leave. You say, why did this? Over the
years, you say, well, this one left and that one left. Why did
they leave? Well, they are one of these hearers. That's why.
One of the three here, the fourth one stays. The fourth one stays. They leave because it's not what
they thought it would be. They did not sign up for trouble
over the gospel. They didn't sign up for this. You know, Paul told Timothy,
don't be ashamed of the gospel. He told him to bear the afflictions
of the gospel. It's almost like there was a point there where
Timothy might have been just a little bit timid. And Paul
says, don't, Timothy, trouble's going to come. You're in a war. You're a soldier. You know, you're
not going to be, you're not going to, you're not going to, this
is not a birthday thing. This is a war. And a war has
its casualties and it has its hardships and it has its Fighting
and fatigue. Now endure it. That's why I said
endure it. God said to Job, Job, get up
from your loins like a man. He didn't say, Job, I know it
hurts. I know what's been going on. I feel so sorry. No, he said,
Job, stand up like a man. You're in a battle here. It's
a fight. That's what it is. Quit whining and fight the good
fight of faith. And these are they which are
sown among thorns, such as hear the word. Here's the third hearer. And what a picture this is of
the cares of this world. Isn't it? I thought, my, what
a picture. Thorn bush. That's about what
it's like, isn't it? Or it's been pricked by some
kind of care. Oh, this one today and this one tomorrow. Five or
six of them today. I got this to do, this to do.
You know, just passing out. Satan is so subtle. So subtle. He'll send you five or six pazollas
in a day. And your mind is on that and
not on Christ. And I know we live in this world,
and I know we have to go to work, and I know what we do. I live
the same place you live. And I complain like you complain. I just try not to do it in front
of you. Since I'm the leader, I've got to act like I'm strong,
even when I'm not. How loud is this word? What is
a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Why shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? It's not worth it. All these
cares and all this gain is not worth losing my soul over. I had a man call me a couple
of weeks ago about some real trouble. Nobody you all know,
just somebody that knows me. And he's trying to figure out
how to handle all this trouble. And I gave him a sermon or two
to listen to Henry on the internet. He didn't even know what, he
didn't even have a Bible. I was telling him to play some
scripture. He had no idea that book was in the Bible. And then
I told him also to go over and listen to some of the sermons
I preach. And I told him, I said, you haven't lost, he was talking
about some of the losses he's had and some things that have been
going on. I said, you haven't lost anything until you've lost your life.
I said, then you really have a loss. You really got a loss on your
hands. And these are they which are
sown among thorns, such as hear the word and the cares of this
life. And they are many. They are many. And the deceitfulness of riches,
and they are deceitful. I bet everybody here secretly
would like to win the lottery. Wouldn't we? For one reason, we can have what
we can have without having to work for it. We can quit where
we're working and just go out and buy what we want to buy and
not have to worry about paying for it. Deceitfulness. Deceitfulness. Riches are deceitful. They make you think you have
favor with God. Believe me, that's very deceitful.
That's very deceitful. Christ, of course, never walked
on this earth. He had no place to lay his head. People sleeping
under the bridge have nothing on Him when it comes to poverty. But He's the Son of God. And if you have Him, if you have
Christ, you're the richest person walking on this earth. The richest. And the lust of
other things entering in chokes the Word and it becomes unfruitful. It appears that for a little
while there might have been some fruit. Remember our Lord looked
at that fig tree and it was all green, looked like it had some
fruit on it. He said, let's go over there and we'll get something
to eat off of that fig tree and went over there and it had nothing
on it. Nothing on it. It was unfruitful. Our Lord teaches us not to be
anxious about these things. He said, Your Heavenly Father
will provide. All the thorns on the thornbushes represent
the cares and lust of other things. Next time you look at a thornbush,
now you know what it represents. Don't think of it just, well,
there's a thornbush. You should look at all those prickly thorns
on there and say, well, that's the cares that I'm having to deal
with every day. It's just how you deal with them. I know that we want our children
to be successful. I'd much rather the Lord save
them even if they remain poor. Because in the end, they're going
to be rich. Rich beyond measure. Infinitely rich. Verse 20, These are they which
are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive
it, and they bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty,
some a hundred. The good ground. Here's the fourth
one. This is the good ground. This is ground that's been prepared. Plowed by Holy Spirit conviction. Cleared and planted by the farmer. And God's the farmer. God's the
sower. I'm sowing the seed, but now
He's the one who truly makes the good ground. And it's His
seed. He's the one who's burying it
in the heart. He has greatly cared for this
ground. Look over in verse 38 in this
same chapter. And he was in the hindered part
of the ship asleep on the pillow, and they wake him and say to
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? What do you think
I'm doing here? I'm here because I care. Oh, He's cared for the ground.
He made it good ground. You are good ground in Christ.
In Christ you are. And it's evident, the good ground
is evident by what? The fruit it bears. And that
fruit is the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
kindness, gentleness. That's the fruit. That's the
fruit that's of God. That's the work of His Spirit.
This here has heard the word, received it, deep into the heart. It entered into his soul and
love to Christ has sprung up, joy over the gospel, love to
one another has sprung up, peace with God, peace with one another,
longsuffering. All of this good ground is of
God, and it bears good fruit. Some thirtyfold, maybe not all
the same quantity, but you know what? It's not about quantity.
It has nothing to do with quantity. It has everything to do with
quality. It's the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit. We are one of these hearers. This group here this morning,
these hearers here, these four hearers fit. They'll fit us. One of them will.
One of them fits me. One of them fits you. I do pray
that I'm that good ground hearer, and you are too. that he makes us good ground.
It wasn't good ground. It was full of rocks and everything,
just like the rest of it, thorn bushes and rocks, but he removed
that. He's removed that by his work. He's given a new heart,
stony, stony heart. The stony heart cannot, will
not receive the word of God. But he says, I'll remove that
stony heart and give you a heart of flesh, and it will receive
the word of God. And when persecution and afflictions
come, you don't leave. You just draw up closer to Him,
don't you? It'll draw you up closer to Him.
And over time, you will learn to just submit. It's the Lord.
Let Him do as He will. Be still. Know that I'm God.
And over time, you start to learn that. You start to learn it's
the Lord. Let's see what happens. These hearers are found in every
congregation. Every congregation. He had the
multitude out there. And he said to them, there's
four types of hearers out here. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Apply it.