Mark chapter four, and we're
going to read from verse 30. They're relatively short readings
today. We're not going to spend too
long reading the scriptures today. On another day that might change,
but we're going to read Mark chapter four and verse 30. This Lord Jesus Christ who's
speaking, he's continuing in these Psalms that he has been
teaching his disciples, and this is what he says. And he said,
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 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. And with many such parables spake
he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without
a parable spake he not unto them, And when they were alone, he
expounded all things to his disciples. Amen. May God bless this reading
of his word. Our Lord Jesus Christ was a teacher,
and that's an honourable profession. The gospel accounts of the Saviour's
ministry often speak of him teaching those who came to him. He was a preacher of righteousness,
he was a preacher of truth, but he was a teacher as well. He
taught sitting in a boat. He taught on a mountaintop. He
taught in synagogues and in the temple. He taught in the highways
and the byways. He taught crowds. He taught individuals. He taught on the Sabbath day.
He taught in the weekdays. In high days, in holy days. He
taught multitudes in the towns and villages and cities. He preached
to multitudes in Jerusalem. and he spoke individually to
a single woman at a well. In fact, the Lord was always
teaching someone. And his reputation as a teacher
grew during the years of his ministry. Both his message and
his miracles lent to that increase of knowledge of the teacher that
Jesus was. People were amazed at his doctrine
because we're told he taught them as one that had authority. And you remember the man Nicodemus
himself, a leader and a teacher of the Jews, who came and said
to the Lord Jesus Christ, Master, he confessed him as a teacher. He said, we know that you have
come from God. John chapter 3 verse 2 says,
The same that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said unto
him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God,
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be
with him. And that's interesting because
Nicodemus was a Pharisee And it was those same scribes and
Pharisees that had come down from Jerusalem that accused Jesus
of casting out devils by the prince of the devils. They had
done that that very day. The very day that the Lord had
taught all of these parables to the multitude and specifically
revealed them to his disciples was the day that these Jews had
called Jesus effectively a devil working for the devils. They
had blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet here was Nicodemus
saying, we know that you're a teacher sent from God. Never underestimate
the wickedness and the duplicity of Christ's enemies. But the
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was a teacher begs a question. What are we going to do with
the Lord's teaching? What will you and I do with the
things that the Lord has taught? And I say that because men and
women imagine that they know intuitively about these matters
of righteousness and faith, about God and belief, about heaven
and hell. They believe that they know,
really without thinking too much about it, what matters and what's
important. Also, they think that what they
know, what their opinions are, are of some relevance. They imagine
that their opinions matter and what they feel and what they
think is important. Well, I hate to pop your balloon,
but what you think doesn't matter a bit. What matters is what the Lord
Jesus Christ taught. And yes, there is a simplicity
in the gospel, but that neither makes it easy to believe, nor
straightforward to understand. In fact, that's the whole point
about this chapter four of Mark, that the Lord was teaching in
parables that the people didn't understand. That's why he said
to Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. And it's this kingdom of God
that the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching his disciples all about. What is the kingdom of God like?
What can we compare the kingdom of God to? Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And there's two very
important points flow from this. The first one is this, that in
these parables that the Lord Jesus Christ is using to teach
about the kingdom of God, the new birth is a prerequisite for
any knowledge of the kingdom of God whatsoever. We will know
nothing of the kingdom of God until the Lord Jesus Christ teaches
us. by the giving of spiritual life. Remember what he said to the
disciples in these previous verses. Unto you it is given to know
the mysteries of the countenance of God. It was a gift, it was
given. It wasn't intuitively known.
It wasn't gleaned from the experiences of life. It wasn't what you picked
up in your school religious education. if you were listening at all.
It wasn't what the noise of the popular religious activities
teach about faith and God and heaven and hell. It is about
the kingdom of God and it is about the grace of God in revealing
these things to those who are born again. And what you believe
doesn't matter. One wit, until and except the
Lord has given it to you to understand the kingdom of God. Here's the
second thing in this respect. Having been born again, we never
stop learning about the kingdom of God. To learn anything about
the kingdom of God, we must be born again. It must be revealed
to us and given to us as a gift. a gift of grace. But having had
that gift given to us, we never stop learning. And what better
teacher could the disciples have? What better teacher could we
have than he who rules that kingdom, whose kingdom it is? The God
of that kingdom, who builds that kingdom, who preserves that kingdom,
who protects that kingdom and defends it. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our teacher. What will we do with him and
his teaching? Let us learn at his footstool. Let us hear what the Lord Jesus
Christ has to say. May God give us ears to hear
and teachable spirits that we might so learn Christ, the power
of his blood and the comfort of his righteousness. So here
the Lord Jesus Christ's teaching continues. He's gathered his
disciples around them and he teaches them the meaning of these
parables, thereby revealing the kingdom of God to them. He has
already spoken three parables in their hearing on this same
day it would appear, educating and illuminating his disciples
as to the nature of the gospel and its rule in the lives of
God's elect people, his church. And now comes this fourth parable,
this parable about the mustard seed. And I want you to notice
something about all of these parables, and I trust we've stressed
it in the previous occasions, but let me just say this again.
The Lord speaks of success in each of these parables. And I
want us to realise something about that. Here is the Lord. He's just beginning his ministry. He's got perhaps a three-year
ministry ahead of him, before he goes to the cross. He knows
that he's going to the cross. He knows why he has come into
the world and he knows what he is going to suffer. He knows
what he's going to endure and he knows what he is going to
win. He knows that he is going to
succeed and while there is much to be bored, while there is much
prayer to go up to his father for help, He knows that he is
going to win. He has faith in God that God
will lead him through this experience. He was ready to take that cup
of suffering and to drink it to the end. but he believed that
he would be successful in the covenant purpose of God and that
he would win his people, that he would see of the travail of
his soul, as Isaiah says, and be satisfied. So the Lord was
anticipating his own success when he speaks to his disciples
about their success. He is speaking initially of the
success of his own redemptive work on the cross and that he
would pay for the sins of his people, that he would buy his
people as it were, redeem his people out from under that debt
of sin, that judgment of the law and he would liberate and
free them having paid the ransom that was required. He anticipated
that by telling his disciples that their own ministries would
also be successful because their success was founded upon his
success on the cross. So it's the successful gathering
in of the church as the kingdom of God as a success of the sin
bearer bearing away, carrying away our sins and our redemption
being secured by his blood. His atonement being acceptable
to God and his resurrection following that. And that's why the Lord
says, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. It is speaking of his own confidence
and the success that would flow from the work on the cross. Now gospel success assured. The fact that this was going
to happen, the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to
die and save his church and win his people and establish his
kingdom and that the disciples would then go out and bring in
the individual members of that kingdom. Nevertheless, does not
prevent the disciples from feeling the weight of their own weakness
and inadequacy, and it doesn't stop them from fretting. Nor
does it us. We have promises given to us
by God. The Word of God is full of promises. The covenant of grace is established
and sure. David knew that. It was settled
in all things unsure. And yet we still fret, we still
worry, we still panic and we still become distracted by the
things that go on around about us. Our success is assured. The success of the church is
assured. The success of preaching is assured. And I think we're very blessed
with a saviour who foresees our fears, and is patient and long-suffering
with us despite the multiple reassurances that he gives and
our lack of trust and dependence upon them. And that's why there
are multiple parables. That's why he repeats in so many
different ways the same principles over and over again. The parable
of the sower cautioned the disciples that there would be different
reactions to the gospel that they preached as the seed fell
into different ground types. But it would find good ground
and it would be fruitful. The disciples were being taught
that. The parable of the candle highlighted
the fullness of the message that was to be preached, but it confirmed
also that that message would light up the whole world. Why are we tempted to alter the
message of free sovereign grace to make it acceptable, to make
it palatable to what we perceive as the men and women of this
world who have utter and complete ignorance about the kingdom of
God. When God taught his disciples
that preaching the whole counsel of God, preaching the sovereign
grace gospel was the means by which he would gather his church.
The parable of the root and the shoot and the fruit taught the
disciples that their task ends with the sowing of the seed and
that spiritual life and spiritual growth and spiritual fruitfulness
is a spiritual work of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ and of
God the Holy Spirit. Let us note again the emphasis
on success. Despite all opposition, the work
and ministry of the disciples would succeed. It is not when,
or it is, I'm sorry, when, it is when and not if the fruit
is brought forth. And you, who believe today, you
who are listening to my voice, who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the evidence,
you are the fruit. After 2,000 years, you are the
living testimony to the truth of the fulfilment of the Lord's
guarantee to his disciples, that they would sow that seed and
they would leave it and the Lord would bring that seed to spiritual
fruition. And this is the pattern that
is maintained in this fourth parable also. The Lord's church
and his people, as his disciples and apostles and as all preachers
of the gospel, are assured of victory and their ministry's
success even before they start. Now what free willer, what Arminian
free willer can claim that promise? The Lord Jesus Christ says my
success is yours because I've won my people, I've redeemed
my people, my people will be saved and your task is to declare
that message and know that the kingdom of God will be established,
will be gathered, will be built. That whole building that whole
kingdom will be brought together. How reassuring is that? How gracious
of our Lord to do that for us, to give us all of these confirming
testimonies. The apostles, they must have
looked at the world in all of its darkness. The Jews steeped
in their contrary legalism. The Gentile heathen immersed
in idolatry. Men and women all over the world
doing that which is right in their own eyes and convinced
that they were doing right in their own eyes. And the disciples,
the apostles must have wondered, what can we do? What are we in
the face of all of this? What can we do? And then they
remembered what the Lord had told them. Preach the word, plant
a seed, and I will make it grow, and I will bring it to success. So let me show you a few things
that this parable tells us about the sovereign grace preaching
of the gospel. and of the Kingdom of God that
Christ is gathering. And I want to do this in two
parts as it were. I want to just show you collectively as a church
what we might see in this and also personally as individuals. So let me just think collectively,
first of all, if you'll bear with me. What is it that we see
from this little parable of the mustard seed that speaks to us
as the people of God and speaks to us as the kingdom of God collectively? Well, here's one thing, that
size doesn't matter to the Lord. How little is a grain of mustard
seed? How little? Yet from that small
seed, a great plant grows. That's the parable. It's hardly
anything. It's almost just two or three
sentences and that's it over. But a dozen apostles, a dozen
preachers, turned the world upside down. And that's not my phrase,
that's the enemies of the gospel's phrase. They turned the world
upside down. What is it James says? Behold
how great a matter a little fire kindleth. I think it's James. The Lord Jesus Christ sent his
gospel all round the world to gather his elect. It's as simple as that. The Lord's
elect were scattered all around the world that he has sent his
gospel to gather them in. Where are they? Where are they
spread? In what country? In what family?
In what tribe? In what city? How are they hidden? How can I look at any individual
and say he's one of the Lord's people or he's not? What has
become of the Lord's lost sheep? He calls them by the gospel preached. It's as simple as that. The seed
is sown, it's caught in the wind, it falls, who knows where? The Lord knows where. And He
has prepared that ground. And He has sent that preacher. And He has taken that seed. And
He has buried it deep. And He nurtures its growth. And
He promises spiritual harvest. And that's the Kingdom of God.
And these are the effects of the true Gospel. And Christ's
glory is assured. Because he was successful on
the cross, we will be successful in the preaching of his word. And here's another collective
evidence of the success of the gospel. That is how it's always
been. The true church of Jesus Christ
is not a national power or an international movement. It's
a few individuals. It's a few congregations strewn
here and there. A small group that worships together,
isolated and fragile. By all human criteria, it ought
to vanish and disappear. But by all human thought, it
can't persist. It won't last a generation. It'll fold. It'll fail. And yet here we are. And here
is the gospel still in 2021 going forth. Here is the evidence of
grace. Here is a seed that springs up. Here is a shoot that grows. We
know not how. So it has been and so it always
shall be. You know, people in churches
and their denominations and their congregations, they pray for
revival and they call for national reformation and they hearken
back to times of great awakenings and they ask for God to move
and empower and bring the multitudes under the sound of his word.
And yet the Lord says, When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find
faith on the earth? And the implication of that question
is, yes, but it will be small. There are many denominations,
there are many churches, there are many parachurch organisations. There's so much energy, there's
so much activity, there's so much done in the name of religion. But faith? True faith, the grace
of faith. Where will we find that? May
the Lord keep us faithful, because without grace, not one of us
could stand in that evil day. And yet the kingdom of God endures,
despite the opposition. and it persists under the protection
of her Lord and King. And she grows in harsh environments
and she prospers in the truth. Okay, those were the couple of
points that I wanted to make regarding the collective work
of the gospel and the collective success of the gospel within
the kingdom of God. Let's think for a moment or two
about some personal consequences and what that actually means
to you and me individually. For we are the Lord's precious
people. We are the individuals who comprise
the kingdom of God. We read together in the psalm about the grain of mustard seed
that is sown. When it is sown, it groweth up
and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great
branches, listen, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under
the shadow of it. Okay, so we've thought about
the fact that the Lord prospers it. but he prospers it to an
end. What is that end? That the fowls
of the air may lodge under the shadow of it. Who are these little
birds that we find lodging under the shadow of this gospel? Well, these are the Lord's little
ones. These are the elect of God. These are his numbered sparrows. Oh, I guess you probably saw
yourself as, I don't know, a rainbow lorikeet or a bird of paradise
or something. But you're just a little sparrow. The Lord says in Luke chapter
12, verse six, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And not
one of them is forgotten before God. If you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ today, you're
one of these little sparrows, one of these little birds, one
of the fowls of the air that lodge under the shadow of the
gospel and the kingdom of God. God doesn't forget his own, but
in the kingdom of God, he provides for his little ones and he supplies
their needs. In the Kingdom of God, He provides
for His little ones and He supplies their needs. We lodge under the
shadow of the Gospel. We lodge under the shadow of
the Kingdom of God that is successfully being gathered together by the
means that God has appointed. Our fellowship, our union, perhaps
our church affiliations, perhaps it's the blessings of those things
that the Lord has given to us in that fellowship of his people. It's the shelter that we have
from our enemies. It's the comfort that we have.
in knowing that the Lord's people are praying for us. It's knowing
that we have a usefulness in the family of God as we pray
for one another, and care for one another, and intercede for
one another, and support one another, and provide for one
another. Here the blessings of grace and gospel provision are
real and solid and nurturing as the Lord causes that little
seed to grow and causes the benefits of that growing seed to nurture
and support and protect the little birds. The gospel gives many
personal blessings. Now don't panic here, okay? Because
I've chosen five that I'm going to enumerate, but they're quick,
so don't worry, all right? We're gonna get there. Those
who lodge under the shadow of the gospel, they have forgiveness
of sin. How we have sinned against God. How we have sinned against each
other. How we have corrupted our minds
and our bodies and our souls and our spirits. How we've sold
ourselves for the vanities of this life and got nothing for
it in return that pleases us or satisfies us. But here is
a blessing for those who lodge under the shadow of the kingdom
of God and the gospel of God. In Christ our sins are gone. Christ our substitute stands
in our place. In Christ we have a sin-bearer
who has borne our grief and carried our sorrow. And he has brought
in that soul-cleansing blood and he has brought in our forgiveness
from our sin. That is a blessing, that is a
protection that comes to those individuals, those little birds
who lodge under the shadow of the gospel. Here's the second
one. Not only have we forgiveness of sins, we have peace of conscience. Guilt is a terrible companion. We look back on our failures,
we look back on our betrayals, we look back on our compromises
and we look with shame. But God in bringing forgiveness
also applies a peace of conscience for guilty hearts and guilty
minds. Justice finds no sin when Christ
has taken it away. And God sees no sin in the people
that he has cleansed. And Satan's accusations, they
no longer land the heavy blows that they once did because Christ
is our substitute and Christ has taken our place. If the Lord
Jesus Christ died for you, your sin is gone, carried away upon
his shoulders, never to be remembered against you again, eternally
forgiven and everlastingly forgotten. And that's a blessing that comes
to those who lodge under the shadow of the gospel, peace of
conscience coupled with forgiveness of sins. Here's the third one. Acceptable righteousness. Not
only are our sins removed, but we have a justifying righteousness
and an acceptable holiness with God. And it is an acceptance
that is all we shall ever need. God himself supplies the righteousness
of God in Christ and it is the only righteousness acceptable
with God and the only one we shall ever require. To be cleansed
by the blood of Christ and clothed in the righteousness of God is
to rest under the shadow of gospel truth. Works cannot earn this
righteousness. Money can't buy it. It must be
the free gift of God and it must be provided by Him to be acceptable
to Him. Christ Jesus is of God made unto
us wisdom. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. This is the gospel gift of God's
grace. This is sovereign grace, and
this is the grace, and this is the righteousness that makes
the difference. We have in Christ the forgiveness
of sins, peace of conscience, and acceptable righteousness.
And those who lodge under the shadow of the gospel have promised
joys. The knowledge of these things
brings joy to all who believe. Joy despite hardship. Joy that is founded on trusting
God's faithfulness and his promises in the gospel. Grace sufficient
now and glory untold to come. The elect of God can endure much
in this life, can endure much in this world under the shadow
of gospel promises guaranteed by God himself. This is what
it is to lodge under the shadow of the kingdom of God. And finally
we have grounds for hope. The final blessing of resting
under the shadow of the cross, under the shadow of Christ, is
that we may take our burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Are you burdened for your soul? Take it to the Lord. Are you
burdened for your children's souls? Take it to the Lord. Are you anxious for your health?
Take it to the Lord. Are you fearful for the future?
Take it to the Lord. Peter. who was sitting here having
these things explained to him by the greatest teacher of all
time, says, casting all your care upon him, for he careth
for you. What a privilege to be able to
take our cares to the sovereign God, who is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us. Okay, one more thought and then
I'm done. Despite all that I have said
about the blessings that flow to the little birds that lodge
under the shadow of the gospel, I acknowledge that the actual
experience of the Lord's people seems different. But I want to
stress that word, seems, because it is not as it appears. You remember what the Lord has
been teaching us about spiritual growth? We could get up day and
night and never see this happening. We never see that growth in grace
because it happens secretly. The gifts that the Lord gives
to these little birds, the gifts that he gives to his elect in
the kingdom of God, the gifts of forgiveness of sin and peace
of conscience and righteousness with God, and the joy of the
Lord and hope in the promises of God, they rarely announce
themselves to our consciousness. What we feel is our immediate
need of help, often long before we discern the hand of God in
our circumstances. But let us be assured that these
blessings and this growth in grace and this help and all of
these blessings are the real and tangible effect of the presence
of God in our lives and our inclusion in the Kingdom of God. These
blessings will be revealed through faith under the preaching of
the Gospel and in the fellowship of the Lord's people and of the
Lord himself. The Lord is a teacher, that's
where we began, and he teaches these truths to his people, and
he comforts us, and he strengthens us, and he equips us by these
truths to labour in his kingdom and to be of service to one another. Mark writes, when they were alone,
he expounded all things to his disciples. Let us get alone with
Christ. Let us get alone with the Lord's
people. Let us get alone together with
the saints of God underneath the preaching of the gospel and
in the kingdom of God. And may the Lord Jesus Christ
expound these truths to our hearts. And may he illuminate our minds. And may he teach us his way that
we may walk in it. And if the Lord will be our teacher,
then we shall be well taught in the Scriptures of the things
concerning himself. Amen. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us.