Let's read the first 20 verses
of Mark chapter 4 together. And he, our Lord Jesus Christ,
began again to teach 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. And he taught them many things
by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, hearken, Behold,
there went out a sower to sow. And it came to pass, as he sowed,
some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and
devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground
where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up,
because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was
scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away, And
some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked
it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground,
and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased, and brought
forth some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said
unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when
he was alone, They that were about him, with the twelve, asked
of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you
it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto
them it is not given. But unto them which are without,
all these things are done in parables. that seeing they may
see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should
be forgiven them. And he said unto them, Know ye
not this parable? And how then will you know all
parables? This is not in my notes because
I just realized what he said right there. If you know this
parable, you know all of the parables he spoke, because they're
all the same truth, the same gospel. The sower soweth the word, and
these are they 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. And these are they likewise which
are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word,
immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves,
and so endure but for a time. Afterward, when affliction or
persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are
sown among the thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares
of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other
things, enter in yin, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And these are they which are
sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it
and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred."
How simple, how clear, how wonderful the teaching of our Lord Jesus
Christ, these simple stories, these parables that he taught,
He's not trying to impress anybody with his knowledge. I imagine
he could have done that if he had wanted to. He's not using
words of man's wisdom. Men who don't know anything will
use big words to try to hide the fact that they don't know
anything. And men who do have some earthly wisdom and knowledge
are just about useless when it comes to preaching the gospel.
Just about completely useless. It's a great disadvantage. I'm pretty sure that's one reason
why our Lord chose the apostles that he did. Fishermen, tax collector, uneducated men. He can use anybody. He did use
the apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, who was well-educated and a brilliant
man. But Paul knew that that was a
disadvantage. He said, I count all of it but
loss. Everything I was before I met him is loss. He said, I
determined not to know anything among you, but Christ and Him
crucified. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, when
I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. That
was harder for him than it is for me. It's easy for me to come without
the wisdom of man's words. But I'll tell you this, you see,
I would be the other guy if not for God's grace. I would be the
idiot trying to sound smart if it wasn't for his grace. I don't
want to be that. But our Lord, in whom are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, dispensed that wisdom
and that knowledge in simple, plain stories, parables, pictures,
illustrations that even children can understand in their minds.
We know that the Lord must reveal truth to the heart, but the Lord
doesn't go over anybody's head with his gospel. And God help us seeing that we
have such hope. May we use great plainness of
speech. I've had several tell me over
the years, my young son or daughter commented to me after the preaching
that they liked your preaching because they could understand
it. You know that's the greatest compliment anybody's ever paid
me regarding the preaching of the gospel. I'd rather hear that
than anything else. If some Bible scholar told me
after I preached that was a brilliant message, I'd say I failed. I
failed then. I've wasted everybody's time.
I don't want to preach brilliant messages. I couldn't even if
I wanted to. I just want to tell the truth
simply and plainly, determining to know nothing save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. May God make that so. The picture
that our Lord paints for us here, this scene that unfolds in this
parable, we see this same scene played out right here over the
years in our very midst. We've seen it in other places,
everywhere the gospel is preached, everywhere there's seed sown.
The same scene plays out. The seed is sown here and it
falls upon the different types of soil and the circumstances
described in the story unfold. And we see the result. And by
the way, that's the title of the message. Seed, Soil, and
Circumstances. He said, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. And we saw this, the account
in Matthew. You may have noticed that I automatically,
I misquoted part of Mark because I was quoting the Matthew version
of it, of this, because I remember that so well. Under them, under
you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,
but under them, it's not given. He didn't use those exact words
in the latter part of that sentence in this book, but he did in Matthew.
Under them, it is not given. It's not given. But I'm glad that we're looking
at this again in Mark. It gives me a chance to say some
of the things that it would have taken me three hours if I'd have
said everything before. If the Lord gave us light to
see everything he's teaching here as it is, we just stay right
here. It's the same, just like he said.
How are you gonna understand any parable if you don't understand
this one because it's the same gospel. It's the same truth he
preached in another place in Matthew when he talked about
the Lord of the harvest. And we'll talk about that again in
a minute, a little bit. But what a picture here. He that
hath ears to hear. He's saying a couple of things
when he says that. First of all, he's saying, do you have ears
this morning? Use them. You recognize what he's saying?
Does anybody have ears here? Use them this morning. Hear with
them. Harken. Did you notice that word?
He said, harken. Listen to me. Take heed how you
hear. Be careful that you do hear.
The sound waves falling on your ears and you hearing are two
different things. I proved that when I was in school.
The sound waves were hitting my ears, but I wasn't hearing
a whole lot. He's also saying this, he who
has spiritual ears to hear, let him hear. And everybody else? Our Lord wasn't trying to get
everyone to understand what he was saying and failing. That's
not what happened here. He preached so plainly that they
had no excuse for not understanding him. But he said, listen to this
in Matthew 13, 13, therefore speak out to them in parables
because seeing they see not. The parable is simple. They can,
they know what a sower is. They know what, what seed are.
They know what ground is and what happens when seed goes into
the ground and what happens when it don't. Now they see, but they
don't see. And hearing they hear not, neither
do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing you shall hear. You're
going to hear the same thing everybody else heard, and you're
going to hear it. You're going to know what he's
talking about. But you're not going to have any spiritual understanding.
You won't perceive it. You won't perceive the truth,
for this people's heart is waxed gross. It's their fault. Is that just the simple truth
of it? Why won't they hear? Because
their heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes, they have closed, lest at any time they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart, and should be converted and not heal them.
That's how he does it, by the hearing, by the understanding
of the gospel. But blessed are your eyes. Your eyes are just like their
eyes except for this, they're blessed of God. And your ears,
for they hear. Even seeing they're not going
to see. That's why our Lord told the Pharisees in John 9 41. He
said unto them, if you were blind, you would have no seeing. He
healed that blind man. In John 9, had mercy on him,
revealed himself to him. And the Pharisees said, are we
blind too? They were mocking him. And he said, if you were,
you'd have no sin. But you now say we see. That's your problem. You say
you see, but you don't see. And therefore your sin remaineth.
So do you have ears this morning? Hear. And may God Bless our ears
that we may hear. Notice how the disciples asked
him in verse 10. It says, and when he was alone,
they that were about him with the 12 asked of him the parable. We didn't talk about this before.
We didn't talk about a lot of this before, and that's why I'm
so glad that we have this time to look at this again in a different
account of it. Even the plainest truth We need for the Lord to give
it to us, to know it. It is given unto you to know.
And so they said, Lord, we don't understand it. You know, that
takes grace. You remember the Ethiopian eunuch
Philip asked him, do you understand what you're reading? He was reading
Isaiah 53 in the word of God. And Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? And he said, how can I? Except
some man should guide me. I don't know if Isaiah is talking
about himself or somebody else. I don't understand. And I don't
think I'm going to unless somebody helps me. You know, that's grace
from God already. That's grace before grace. You
know what a Pharisee would have said if you had said, do you
understand the Bible? He'd say, what do you mean? Of course I
understand. But not these disciples. You see, the Lord had revealed
something to them. They said, we don't, Lord, tell
us reveal to us what you're talking about they inquired unto you it is given he said
to them in verse 11 unto you it is given to know the mystery
and they understood that lord give it to us give it to us unto
them it is not given. There's the difference now. Not
that the disciples were smarter. He deliberately chose people
that weren't smart. He's still doing that, by the
way. You're looking at one of them. They didn't understand
it either. They didn't understand it any
more than the others did there to whom it wasn't given. In fact,
there may have been some there who understood the parable better
than they did, but didn't have spiritual understanding. And those who had to say, Lord,
what meaneth this parable? As the disciples said a few times,
to them it was given. They weren't smart, but did you
notice where they were when the multitude had gone away? And this is the grace of God
now. Did you notice that in verse
10? Look at verse 10 again, Mark 4. And when he was alone, it's interesting
language, isn't it? He was alone, but there were
some people about him. What in the world does that mean?
He was either alone or he wasn't alone. He was alone, but they
were alone with him. There's the ones to whom it's
given right there. Everybody else, the multitude
had all gone on their way, probably saying, well, that was a good
message, you know. But there were some that didn't
go home. And he said to them, to you,
it's given. There is no coincidence now. No coincidence. He is the difference. He is the
difference. Not intellect, not capacity,
mental capacity. He is the difference. They were
with him. And those to whom it is given
to know the mystery of the kingdom are going to be with him. Now the parable itself, the Lord,
I pray he'll teach it. Let's pray together in our hearts.
Lord, give it to us. He just said, it's got to be
given to you if you're going to understand it. So I reckon
we ought to be praying, Lord, give it to us. Give it to us.
You said, Lord, that you, if we would ask, you'd give it,
we'd receive. And so we ask him, we're asking. I pray with sincere hearts this
morning. We're asking, Lord, give it to
us. Notice that the seed was just
sown everywhere. Doesn't sound like, you know,
the way to do it, does it? When I plant my seed, I don't
just go in my backyard and throw it out there. We have to have
some spiritual understanding here now. We have gardens, and
we're very particular about exactly where we plant. You don't see
that here, though. Why not? Well, our Lord is planting
a garden. He is planting a particular garden.
The scripture says he's going to hedge it about. He has hedged
it about. It's a secret, hedged, safe garden. No birds are going to come down
like they do on our, not on his garden. When there's seed cast
by the wayside, the bird will come and get it. Well, I don't
cast mine by the wayside. They still come and get it. But
that's my garden, his garden, uh-uh. Not gonna be that way.
But see, he's planting a garden, he's hedging it, and he has his
particular garden. But this is talking about us
sowing the seed. You see, this is parable. We
need to understand what he's talking about here. The way our
Lord plants his garden is by sending us out to cast seed everywhere. We don't know good ground from
bad. Do you? Well, it's just planting the
good ground. If the other put stuff's a waste of time, that's
not the Lord's way. We don't know good ground from bad. And
this is important now. In the parable in Matthew 13,
we won't turn there because I want to be as concise as I can this
morning. But in Matthew 13, there's a
parable where there's good seed and bad seed. That's not true
in this one. There's one seed. It's the word
of God. But in that parable where there's good seed and bad seed,
there's wheat and there's tares. There's weed seeds. And our Lord
said that the wheat is his church. The world is his garden. That's
why it says God so loved the world because he loves his garden.
He loves his church. He loves his elect. And he said,
this world is my garden and I've planted my seed in it. And the
enemy came while we were asleep and planted some weeds. The Lord
never loved them. He said, I never knew you. You
don't believe because you're not mine. You're not my sheep.
The enemy sows tares among the wheat. And the Lord said there
to us, you don't know a wheat from a tare. The servant said,
Lord, we'll go pull up the tares. He said, no, you won't. You don't
know the difference. You'll pull up some wheat. He's teaching
the same thing here. Here, the seed is the word. There's
just good seed, but there's good ground and bad ground. The elect
and the reprobate are different types of soil pictured here.
And here, we are pictured sowing everywhere for the same reason,
because we don't know good ground from bad ground. We're just casting
seed. Soil of Tarsus would have looked
like stony ground to me. How about you? I wouldn't have
planted anything there. You know what I would have done?
I would have said, look at old Judas Iscariot. He preaches the
gospel. He's the treasurer of the 12
apostles. I'm going to plant some seed
in there. That's the wayside there. You
see, that's why we just cast and see. The Lord will determine
where it falls and what the results are. I'm thankful for that. It's not up to me. He just used
it. He just let me in on it. Thank God. He's letting me in
on it. In both scenarios, the ultimate
result will be the same. The Lord of the harvest will
receive fruit under his everlasting glory. It'll all happen just
exactly like he determined that it would. And this is a picture
of how that comes about here in this parable. So the seed
is cast about seemingly at random. And it falls on various types
of ground and it is incorruptible seed. The seed is good. If nothing
grows, it's not a problem with the seed. First Peter 1.23, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. He said
to them right there when he was explaining to his disciples,
he said, the seed is the word. And it's incorruptible seed,
it's living seed. It's seed which liveth and abideth
forever. It's seed that never loses its
power to bring forth life. And it's heirloom seed, isn't
it? It's passed down from generation to generation without any contamination
or any alteration. The Word of God. And sometimes
it takes a while for it to spring up. If it falls on stony ground,
it'll spring up quickly, but if it falls on good ground, not
necessarily. Not necessarily quickly, but
that's not a flaw in the seed, that's just God's good providence.
Sometimes a seed that's sown in youth will spring up in old
age. Sometimes, like with the thief
on the cross, the seed germinates almost immediately. That's God's business. Now we're
just sowing the seed. And we know this. We know this
now. When God's good seed meets up with good ground that he has
chosen and prepared and plowed and fertilized and watered and
worked, there will be life. There will be eternal life because
the seed is eternal. It's incorruptible seed. Now
how will we know? We're throwing out seed and we
don't know good ground from bad. How will we know if the seed
has fallen on good ground or on rocky ground? How will we
know? One word, time. Time will tell us as much as
we can ever know. We never can know for sure in
this life. We don't need to, the Lord knows.
The Lord knows. And I don't just mean when I
say time, I don't just mean we have to wait to see if something
springs up, even if something springs up. Our Lord said time
is important here. And I'm not making this up. Look
at verses 16 and 17. Look at what he said. Chapter four,
verse 16. These are they, likewise, which
are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word,
immediately receiveth it with gladness and have no root in
themselves, and so endure. You see those next words? But
for a time. How are you going to know if
the ground was good or bad? Time. Time. They endure, but for a time,
Jesus, Our Lord Jesus Christ said that now, not me. John 8,
31, listen to this. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then, then is a chronological word,
isn't it? Then are you my disciples indeed,
if you continue in my word. And you shall know the truth.
And the truth shall make you free. The seed by the wayside. It never even seems to make it
into the ground at all. It just, it's cast and it falls
upon perhaps a path. Instead of on any ground. It
falls on top. But immediately it says, immediately. the fowls of the air, and our
Lord said that's Satan. That's Satan. The fact that it's
plural there is not significant. A lot of times people take parables
and they like to make every little detail. It's the gospel. It's
a picture of the gospel. And only what our Lord specifically
teaches by it is to be learned. We're not to make something out
of everything. He said fowls. Well, what are the fowls? It's
Satan. That's who it is. He said it
was. Sometimes we get hung up on plural or singular. The fowls
are Satan, he said. He may send one of his fallen angels or one of his servants
on this earth to to do it, but it's Satan doing it. He comes
and takes immediately, he takes the word away. He takes away
the one thing. This is the business that Satan's
in now. He doesn't care if you smoke or drink. I'm telling you
the truth now. You may not hear the truth very
many places, but I pray God you're going to hear it here. He doesn't
care if you smoke or drink or go see R-rated movies. the truth
of Christ, the gospel, he knows he's got to stop it from coming
to you. He's got to take it away from you if he can, if he's going
to win. And this, of course, manifests
itself in a lot of different ways. He'll take the word away
any way that he can, that the Lord allows him to do it. He
may have you counting the light bulbs this morning and just not
caring. He may have you thinking about the ball game or what you're
going to eat this afternoon. He may have you so bowed up about
something that's happened that you can't hear with any real
consideration. A word that I say this morning. The word will have no effect
upon you at all. Now let me ask you this, do you
suppose that the Son of God If he chose you from eternity, loved
you, he said he chose his people from eternity now. You're going
to have to throw this book away if you don't believe in that.
And just be honest with yourself and go read something else. Believe
the Koran or something. Because this book says God chose
his people from eternity. Can you imagine he did that and
sent his son down here to redeem them? He said, I gave my life
for my sheep. The ones that the Father giveth
me, that's the ones I'm interceding for, John chapter 17. Okay, do you imagine that he
did that chose and loved from eternity and gave his precious,
shed his precious blood to redeem them and he's gonna let Satan
snatch the Word of God away from them? No. These are the same ones that
are in the other parable. It's the same story. There, there
was good seed and bad seed. Here, there's good seed and good
ground and bad ground. But it's the same gospel truth. He said every plant that my Heavenly
Father hasn't planted will be rooted up. He wasn't trying to
keep that from happening. He was accomplishing it. For a little while, Satan may
snatch the seed away from you. But let's keep this perspective
on all that's said here. God is sovereign over all of
this. His people are going to be saved. He's using Satan to
do it, not fighting him. We need to understand it. God
is not fighting Satan. He's using him. Satan is accomplishing the will
of God. Others here, he said, they fall
on stony ground. It's ground that maybe there's
a little, maybe an inch or two of soil on top of it. There's
some of that around here, isn't there? You try planting on some
of that. You don't realize there's a rock
down there. You'll find it when you start tilling. I found a
few biggins and I'm going to either get rid of that rock or
I'm going to plant somewhere else because you plant on the stony
ground, it'll spring up. But when it starts getting hot
and they don't have any root and it can't abide, it can't
continue, they get excited about it now. He said, he said, they
receive the word with joy. I'll tell you this. And you may
think I ought not to say things like this, but let me tell you
something. We're just here for a little while now. And this
is too important to mince words. I can think of two examples in
this church, and I don't want you sitting there speculating
about it. You may not even know who they are. But this is important
now. I can think of two examples of
this church who are probably the two people who were most
excited about what they heard when they came here. And neither
one of them are here this morning. This is what the Lord is teaching
us now. The two most seemingly favorable reactions to the message
preached here that I can recall. They both just gushed about what
a blessing it was to have a place to hear the gospel. And neither
one of the two will likely ever come back here. If the Lord brings
them back, I'll rejoice with them. But I doubt it. You see, we're watching this
play out here. This is not just a nice story that our Lord told.
We're living it now. And this is a warning. It's an
exhortation. It's the truth of God. He said,
Harken. Did you notice that? When he
was out on that little ship and they were standing on the seashore,
he said, Harken! This is life and death. And he emphasizes their emotion
in this one, doesn't he? With joy, with passion. There
was passion, but no perseverance. No endurance. 2nd Timothy chapter 2. I don't
want to go long this morning, but I want to say what needs
to be said if I can. 2nd Timothy chapter 2. Look at what Paul said to young
Timothy here. Thou therefore my son be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Be strong. He starts out
saying that be strong. And you remember now in the parable,
there was no perseverance, there was no endurance, there was a
fence, and they just couldn't, they couldn't continue. That's
why Paul is saying here, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. Thou therefore endure hardness.
When opposition came, those ones on stony ground, they couldn't
endure. They couldn't take the heat.
And so Paul is saying to Timothy there, endure hardness. This
is not a game. This is war. You're going to
face trouble. You're going to face want. You're
going to face opposition. And all of you are too. Endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Is there not a cause? No man
that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life,
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. He
chose you to be a soldier. And if a man also, listen to
these examples. He's talking about warfare. Here
he talks about masteries. If a man also strived for masteries,
yet he's not crowned except he strived lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth
must be first partaker of the fruits. The husbandman that laboreth,
that works for it, that does what it takes. Consider what
I say and the Lord give the understanding in all things. In battle, there
are losses and pain and fear and there's got to be violent
determination. In masteries, you know what that
is? Sports. In football. I know a little
bit about football. There are no shortcuts to the
end zone. You're going to have to go through some people to
get there. That's what Paul's talking about here. On a farm, there's no sleeping
in. The husbandman don't sleep in, he labors. You know what
that word means? The word labor there, the one
word he used to describe the husbandman. In this context,
it means to exhaust yourself. That'll be the one thing that
brings in the first fruits that you'll enjoy. Exhaust yourself.
Leave every bit of it. But these stony ground here,
some little something comes up, and they're offended. Things don't go exactly the way
they think things ought to go, and because they have no root
in themselves, they're gone. Nobody has any root in themselves,
and being left to themselves, they're goners. Can we hear? He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. There may be some like that here
this morning. I may be one of them. Our Lord's talking to all of
us now. I guarantee he would not have any of us dismiss this
and say, well, that's not me. He's talking to the other ones
now. Oh, be careful. Others have said that. Ephesians
3.14, listen to this, Paul said, For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I bow my knees, for this
is why, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to
be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man.
Paul knew it was going to take some strength. It's going to
take some endurance. You're going to have to be able
to withstand some heat. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. That's what it takes right there.
If you're going to have strength in the inner man, you're not
going to wake up with it. You're not going to work it up. It's
going to be because Christ is in you. I can do all things through
Christ which what? Strengtheneth me. That ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth
and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Oh, I
pray, I bow my knees to the Father that he would strengthen us with
might And then the thorny ground here
shows signs of life for some time, maybe for a long time. He said, these are they which
are sown among thorns, such as hear the word and the cares of
this world. Three things, the cares of this
world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things
entering in, choke the word and it becometh unfruitful. Some
say that these are believers. They're just unfruitful Christians.
Let me tell you what our Lord said about them. John 15, 5,
he said, I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For
without me, you can do nothing. You'll be fruitless, like these
ones he's talking about here. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them
and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Does that sound
like an unfruitful Christian to you? If you abide in me and
my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will. It shall be
done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. Oh, God. Whoever abides in Christ
shall bear fruit. He's ordained it now into his
own glory. It can't fail. It ain't up to
you. You're going to bear it. That's not in question here.
But these thorny ground hearers are unfruitful because the word
is choked by three things, the cares, that is, the concerns,
the considerations, and anxieties of this world. You're worried
about the wrong thing. Your priorities are in this world
and not in the things of God. The deceitfulness of riches. What shall it profit a man if
he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Riches can make you think that
you have everything when you have absolutely nothing. That's
deceitfulness. A man who has nothing but Christ
has everything. Riches won't teach us that. What are the other things in
this world that are more important to you than Christ and His ministry? Might as well be honest and just
name them. What are you so taken up with in this life that will
keep you from worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. What are they? The lusts of other things, the
desire, the affection for other things. Now understand this too, believers
have to deal with thorns too. He's not teaching here that on
the good ground there's never any thorns. We know better than
that. But rather than choking the word,
There's a different effect when it's good ground that the Lord
has prepared. Paul said, by God's grace, most gladly, therefore,
will I rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Do you know what you call that?
That's good ground, that's what that is. He had a thorn in his
flesh, and it didn't choke the word. It said, I glory in whatever
the Lord sends me, as long as his power is upon me. If it's
evidence of His power, then I rejoice in it, whatever it is. That's good ground now. That's
a heart opened by God, to whom it is given to know His truth.
Do you know what the mystery is? He said to you, it is given
to know the mystery. Do you know what the mystery
is? We saw this in our study in Matthew
too, didn't we? Our Lord said to His disciples,
whom do men say that I am? And they said, well, some are
saying this, some are saying that, and then he said, who do you
say I am? And Peter said, you're the Christ, the son of the living
God. And our Lord said, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, because
flesh and blood have not revealed this unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven. You know the mystery. The mystery
is Him. It's Christ and Him crucified.
The word lives in the good ground because these ones abide in Christ. where He's the source of life.
We abide in Him as the branches. He's the vine. And so there's
life. He is life and He's the source
of all life and they bear fruit because they abide in Him. And
God is glorified in that they bear much fruit. Good ground
is blood-drenched ground under the blood of Jesus. Paul said
that Christ is our propitiation through faith in His blood. And though this seed is sown
randomly from the perspective of the sower here, when the seed
falls on good ground, it's God who planted it. It wasn't me. That's why I remember what I
quoted a while ago. It was Matthew 15, 13 is where it is. He answered
and said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted
shall be rooted up. We're sowing seed. We can say
we planted. Paul said, I've planted in the
Paulist water, but God gave the increase. But who really planted
it, if it fell on good ground, was God. Otherwise, it's going
to be rooted up, he said. That's pretty clear. He may use thorns and birds,
but he does the planting and he does the rooting up. All things
are of God. Good ground. Good ground. We weren't born that way, were
we? You remember when he said, there's none good but one, that's
God. If I am good ground, then it
is because I am in Him. Paul said, of Him, of God, are
you in Christ Jesus, who has made unto us everything we need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. What is the fruit that we bear
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance. The fruit of the Spirit, not
the fruit of the flesh. The fruit of the flesh in Galatians
5 is all manner of sin that we, by nature, are full of. But the
fruit of the Spirit is what we bear unto His glory. Do you know
who bears this fruit? Listen to Galatians 5.24, after
our Lord there by the Apostle Paul to the church in Galatia
listed the fruit of the Spirit. By the way, that is an important
singular there because you don't have some and not others. It's
fruit. It manifests in all those different ways. But he said right after that,
the next verse, and they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts. Who bears the fruit of
the spirit? They that are his. They that were chosen by him
from the foundation of the world, redeemed by him, represented
by him as their high priest, redeemed by him with his precious
blood. They that are Christ's, apostrophe
S. He that hath ears to hear this
morning, let him hear. I pray that you are Christ's. And I pray that I am too. And that by His grace and providence
and power, we'll bear much fruit unto His glory. I know this,
if there's any fruit born at all, He's gonna get the glory. The fruit of His Spirit. Let's
pray together.