I rarely read things that I write. In fact, I never do unless someone
calls my attention to something once it's written. I leave it
to you to read it. I have other folks, but I don't
read what I write. Last night, when we laid down,
tired, Shelby commented on yesterday's reading and discovering Christ
day by day. And I had forgotten what it was,
but after she went to sleep, I read it carefully. and knew
immediately what the Lord would have me to preach to you tonight.
Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew chapter 13. I just told
you Bible's open here at Matthew the 13th chapter. As we look
at these 58 verses of scripture, marvelous instructive words from
our Redeemer are here given. I take for the title of my message
the question that our Lord gave when he had finished giving his
parables in verse 51, have you understood all these things? Do you understand these things?
Do you understand these things? Though our Lord's parables were
intended to be confusing to reprobate men, his parables were designed
to be confusing to folks who will not believe God and his
word. Understand that when you read
the book of God, there are things written in this book intended
by God to disturb and confuse people who will not bow to God
and to God's revelation. But for those who are taught
of God, instructed by the Spirit of God, born again by God the
Holy Ghost, these things are clearly understood, being inscribed
upon our hearts in the experience of God's grace. And chapter 11,
the Lord Jesus vindicated his servant John, John the Baptist,
who had been beheaded because of his faithfulness in preaching
the gospel even before powerful men. And the Lord said to these
scribes and Pharisees who were carping about John's ministry,
they were, typical religious crowd people When John the Baptist
came they said he's too strict and when the Lord Jesus came
they said he's too free He's too loose and that's just typical
folks who won't receive God's messengers yak about them So
our Lord is speaking about John the Baptist. He said what do
you think you went out to see? Did you think you were going
out to see a reed shaking in the wind? I Fellow with no spine
with no backbone somebody could just push you one way or the
other and he'd follow you Did you think you were going out
to see some? pampered man and fine Garments
that would be impressive to you and impressed by you Did you
think you were just going out to hear a man talk for God in
the name of God? He's all you're going to hear
a prophet but more than a prophet you're going to hear Elijah Elijah
Standing here before you this one who was Elijah the second
Elijah come to speak for God in days of great darkness And
then in chapter 12 our Savior describes his mighty operations
of grace in saving sinners Chosen redeemed sinners are saved by
the blessed violence of God's grace The only way you can overcome
the strong man is The only way to overcome one who is mighty
is to enter into his house, bind him, cast him out, and then you
can spoil his house. And so the Lord Jesus comes in
human flesh and enters into Satan's house. And while he's owned this
earth in our flesh, By his works in the wilderness of temptation,
in the garden of Gethsemane, and upon Calvary's cursed tree,
he's entered into Satan's house, binds Satan, casts him out, and
spoils him of his goods, takes all things he wants from the
hands of Satan, and makes it to bring forth fruit to his glory.
And so he does in the work of his grace. Not only has it bound
Satan and cast him out by redemption, but it comes in free grace into
the hearts of chosen sinners. And it binds Satan, sets himself
on the throne in the heart of a man, and spoils Satan of his
goods, taking that which Satan once held in captivity in the
blessed liberty of his grace. And then in chapter 13, our Lord
gives us seven parables. parables about salvation, parables
about his church, parables about his kingdom, parables about his
work of grace, earthly stories, common, mundane, very familiar
earthly stories by which he illustrates his gospel, his grace, and his
saving operations of grace in the hearts of men. Let's look
at them together and I will do very little more than just read
the parable to you as we go through these seven parables. First. In verses one through twenty
three, we had the parable of the soul. The gospel, the gospel
of God's free grace, the word of God is the seed of life. by which God gives life to dead
sinners. Now, there's lots of folks who
get upset with those terms, but the scriptures speak very plainly.
We're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God, which lives and abides forever. The gospel
I preach to you. The gospel declared from this
pulpit, the gospel faithful men preach through the generations
of time, is the seed of life, blessed of God the Holy Spirit,
planted in the hearts of sinners, bringing forth life in dead sinners,
creating life and faith in Jesus Christ. That means that there
is no salvation apart from the preaching of the gospel. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That, David,
makes what we're experiencing right now the most important
thing on this earth. The hearing of the Word of God. Our Lord speaks now of this parable
concerning the seed and the sower. Many hear the gospel without
benefit to their souls. But those whose hearts are prepared
by the grace of God to receive his word as seeds sown in good
ground. These have the gospel bring forth
fruit of life in their souls. Verse one. The same day went
Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside and great multitudes
were gathered together unto him so that he went into a ship and
sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many
things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went
forth to sow. Very common picture. A man goes
out and sows his field. This is not like planting rows
of corn, but rather broadcasting seed in the field. And when he
sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and
devoured them. Verse 5. Some fell upon stony
places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung
up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was
up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good
ground and brought forth fruit, some 100 fold, and some 60 fold,
some 30 fold, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Our Lord
says, if I understand the clear picture of the parable correctly,
and I'm certain that I do, that the gospel is preached like a
man casting seed. And some seed falls on just a
by pathway, just a hard place in Fouls come and take it away. Doesn't bring forth anything
at all. Others falls into stony ground. There's no depth of earth, but
it springs up quickly, and it looks like there's going to be
something there. But soon, it just withers away
when the sun rises. And other is in thorny ground,
where there's weeds and thorns and the cares of the world, deceitfulness
of riches. The influence of things in time
choke the word, so it brings forth no fruit. But other seed
falls on good ground. Ground that has been prepared
by God's grace, by God's spirit, by God's providence to receive
the word. And don't ever imagine that God
doesn't use everything in the life of a person to prepare him
to receive the word. No providence alone won't do
it. No trying circumstances alone
won't do it. No trouble alone won't do it. But God uses all things in the
life of a chosen sinner. to bring that sinner to the place
and the time and the appointed spot where he would sow the good
seed in the good ground made good by Holy Spirit conviction
by the power of his grace. He prepares the ground. It looks
as though our Lord is telling us that not one in four who hear
and profess to believe the word ever persevere in the faith.
And that seems to be a pretty good indication of things. The
fact is, Brother Mahan and I, you know, we traveled together
for so many years, spent a lot of time in the car. He said,
I'll tell you this, I remember him telling me just as a young
man, he said, either there's a whole lot more folks saved
than I think there are, or there's a whole lot less than most folks
think there are. The fact is, one in four receive
the seed that's sown in good ground in this parable. Read
on, verse 10. And the disciples came and said
unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? Why do you
talk to them in parables? Why do you tell them stories?
And he answered and said unto them, because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to
them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath
not from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. These Pharisees,
these scribes, these Sadducees, these religious zealots had much. And the Lord said they had much,
but no grace. And I'm going to take away from
them what they have, so they'll be left in utter darkness. Now
read on. Therefore, verse 13, speak I unto them in parables.
Because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither
do they understand. They think they see, so they
don't see. They think they hear, so they
don't hear. They think they understand, so they never understand. And
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing
ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall
not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have
they 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 I should heal them. This
is what Isaiah said was going to happen to this generation.
going to put blinders over their own eyes and I'll blind their
eyes. They're going to stop their ears and I'm going to stop their
ears. They're going to harden their
hearts and I'm going to harden their hearts so that they cannot
and will not see and hear and be converted and be healed by
me. Oh, when God sends judgment,
what judgment God sends. Verse sixteen, but what a word. Blessed are your eyes, for they
see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you,
that many prophets and righteous men had desired to see those
things which ye see, and had not seen them, and to hear those
things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore
the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received the seed by the wayside. But he that received
the seed in the stony places, the same is he that heareth the
word, and aiming with joy receiveth it. He just claps his head and
jumps up and down the first time he hears it. Yet hath he not
wrought in himself, but dureth for a while. For when tribulation
or persecution ariseth because of the word, when it cost him
something because of the word, when it cost him something because
of the gospel, by and by he's offended. He also that received
seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care
of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Choke the word. How Satan uses the care of the
world and the deceitfulness of riches. Bill is talking about
legitimate care. You've had the care of that young
man all his life. Care of Travis, care of Vicki.
And the temptation is to let that legitimate, lawful, rightful
care interfere with worshiping and serving God and you dare
not do it. The deceitfulness of riches,
the deceitfulness of gain. Well, if I can get this, look
what I could do. Don't get anything at cost to
your soul. It will do you no good and you
will do no good with it. These things choke the word and
become unfruitful. Verse 23, but he that received
seed into the good ground, the heart renewed by grace, convinced
by the spirit of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, that's he that
heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit
and bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some 60 and some 30. All right,
look at verses 24 through 30. Here's the second parable. the
parable of wheat and tares. In every local church, in every
local church, it has been so since the beginning. It is so
today and it will be so tomorrow. It is so in every local church,
be it large or small. In every local church where God
plants his wheat, Satan sows his tares. And it is impossible
For you and me, I should say impossible for either you or
me to distinguish the wheat from the tares. Can't do it. You can't do it. I, uh, I'm beginning
to learn. I'm a slow learner. I'm beginning
to learn something. Brother Harry Graham told me
when I was 19 years old, I was raised in the city and he knew
it. And I didn't know anything at all about rural life. He said,
uh, He said, Brother Don, you know how you can tell wheat from
tares? I said, I don't have any idea. He said, you can't until harvest
time. But at harvest time, the wheat
stands tall. I'm sorry, the tares stand tall
and the wheat bows its head. Our Lord says, let the two grow
together, leave them alone. Look at Matthew 13, verse 24.
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom
of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his
field. But when men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the
servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst
not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath
it these tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath
done this. Now the servant said unto him,
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said,
Nay. Oh, no. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. I can't tell you how often I've
had to point to others, no, don't do that. You'll make a mess if
you do, don't do that. Here at conference, some friends
from a small congregation having some difficulties, and I said
to them, we've got to go home and handle this, and asked my
thoughts concerning it. I said, you've never lived in
the city, have you? Or never lived in the country, have you?
And they said, no. I said, well, I've not spent much time cleaning
out chicken houses, but I've had to do it a few times. And
I'll tell you a little secret. If you'll let it crust over and
get dry, it won't stink near as bad." And they looked at me
a little bit, and then smiled and said, I get that, but if
I leave it alone, just leave it alone, you will make a mess
of it. You'll make a mess of it because you don't know wheat
from tares. Well, I can tell who's a believer
and who's not. Oh, no, you can't. Now, I can tell who knows God
and who doesn't. No, you don't. No, you don't. I know who's true
and who's not. No, you don't. No, you don't.
That's not possible because you can't see inside anybody. I can't see inside anybody. All we can go by are the things
that impress us, good or bad. And God forgive us. We too much
go by things that impress us, good or bad. We don't. Oh, no. Let both grow together. Lest
while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until
the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I
will say to the reapers, gather ye to gather first the tares
and bind them in bundles to burn them. bind them up for the burning,
but gather the wheat into my barn. Gospel preachers are the
reapers, angels of God sent in this time called the end of the
age for the gathering of God's elect. And as they gather God's
elect into his barn, they gather the tears and bundles for the
burning and the burning will take place in time. Look at verse
36, where our Lord begins to explain this parable. Then Jesus
sent the multitude away and went into the house and his disciples
came unto him and saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares
of the field. Verse 37, he answered and said
unto them, he that soweth good seed is the son of man. The field
is the world. The good seed are the children
of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked
one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is
the end of the world, this gospel age. And the reapers are the
angels, God's messengers. And as therefore the tares are
gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of
this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, his messengers,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend,
and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace
of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
father. Not till then. Not till then. Not all, but then
when God gets done, the righteous shall shine forth as the sun
in the kingdom of God. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. All right, back up to verse 31.
And hear the parable of the mustard seed. Another parable put he
forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain
of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
which indeed is the least of all seeds. I've looked at that
a good bit. What's he stressing here? It's
like the, it is the least of all seeds. That which you'd have
to strain real hard if you scratched around in the ground once you
put it in there to find it. You just have to scratch around
real hard to even find it. You can't hardly see it. Just
tiny little seed. The least of all seeds. Read
on now. But when it is grown, it's the
greatest among herbs and becometh a tree. so that the birds of
the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. And many things
could be said about that. Let me just say one thing. Faith
in Christ. Begins in the heart. As a small
seed. A very small seed. And though
the faith is planted in the heart by the grace of God, it's not
something that is openly manifest, particularly to the person who
possesses it. Faith in Christ is as the smallest
of seeds, but as that faith grows, as we grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Savior, as believers grow in the faith of God's elect,
Faith permeates the whole life of a man. And influences everything
about that person who is given faith. So that faith causes much
fruit. Not fruit that men brag about. Not fruit that men say, oh, look
at me, see what a fine fellow I am. Or look at me, let me see
what a fine fellow I am. faith, and hope, and love, and
joy, and peace, goodness, gentleness, meekness, things reflected in
our attitude toward God, toward one another, toward the world,
toward time, and toward eternity. Faith controls it all. Faith
influences it all. Faith is the rule by which God's
saints live. All right, here's the fourth
parable. Verse 33, the gospel of the grace of God, like a small
pinch of leaven, just a just a little pinch of leaven was
sent forth into the world by God, the Holy Spirit. The disciples
were scattered at Jerusalem and everywhere they went, everywhere
they went. They they had the same idea folks have today. Well,
we ought to stay right here all of us get together right here
Oh would do great things and the Lord scattered them. That's
not that's the order put you here for I put you here to be
scattered and Carry the word and establish gospel churches
everywhere and the word went everywhere. I'm talking about
in just a short little while. I From 12 to 120, the gospel
spread through all the known civilized world. I'm talking
about spread without cars, or radio, or television, or internet. Just people going here and there,
preaching the word as God scattered them. They carried the word with
them. The gospel is just that way. Look at this parable of
the leaven, verse 33. Another parable spake unto them,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which woman took
and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The gospel of God's grace, our
Lord said before the end of time, will be preached to all nations. It's going to spread through
all the earth. So that God calls out his elect
out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, wherever they
are scattered, he gathers them to his own and builds his kingdom
and spreads his kingdom through the whole world. Verse 44, here's
the fifth parable. Treasure hidden in the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to treasure hid in a field. To which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth
all that he hath, and buyeth that field. We believe, according
to the teaching of Holy Scripture, in particular effectual redemption,
limited atonement. The Lord Jesus died for and redeemed
his elect alone. There is absolutely no sense
in which Christ Jesus laid down his life to save all men. He
didn't die to redeem Esau. He didn't die to redeem the reprobate.
He didn't die to redeem goats. That's just ludicrous nonsense
and blasphemy. No, he did not. But our Lord
Jesus, as a man, bought the whole world that he might dispose of
it as he would. You've heard me tell you many
times There are different words translated redeem and bought
in the scriptures. If you buy a house, buy a piece
of property, you don't move it. You may not do anything even
to improve it or to change it. You just bought it and took possession
of it. As a man, Jesus Christ bought
the right to rule over and dispose of all things as he would. That's exactly what Peter refers
to when he says there are false prophets who come in the last
day denying the Lord who bought them. Not that he bought them
in the sense of paying their sin debt, not that he bought
them in the sense of redeeming them. Oh, no, he bought them
as a man so that as a man, he has the right to rule over and
dispose of them. This is precisely what the Lord
spoke of in Psalm eight or Psalm two, verse eight, the Savior
Here's God the father speak and says ask of me and I'll give
you the heathen for your inheritance Thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him God's Church God's elect is that treasure hid in
a field for which the Son of God sold everything Not to get
the earth Not to get the field, but to get the treasure. He gave
everything for the treasure because of the joy he has in the treasure. All right. Look at verse 45. Here's the parable of the pearl
of great price. Again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant
man seeking goodly pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl
of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought that
pearl. Christ is the pearl of great
price. If ever a sinner sees this great
pearl and rightly discerns his value, he will gladly part with
everything to have him. Christ is the pearl that makes
men rich, truly rich, rich toward God, everlastingly rich. Oh, God give you grace to see
the pearl and to purchase the pearl without money and without
price. Giving all, take up your cross
and follow him, giving all to have this pearl. Look at verse
47. Our Lord gives the parable of
the great net. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a great net that was cast into the sea and gathered
of every kind, which when it was full, they draw to the shore
and sat down and gathered the good into the vessels, but cast
the bad away. So shall it be in the end of
the world. The angels will come forth and
sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into
the furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. People sometimes ask, if you
believe in election and limited atonement predestination, you
know God's going to just save his elect, why preach the gospel
to everybody? Well, there's a good reason for that, because I don't
know who the elect are. I don't know who's been predestinated
to salvation. I don't know where they are.
What we do is we go everywhere and cast the net. And as we cast
the net, you say, well, if you're not careful, you'll get some
bad apples in. Well, you're going to get them
in. I don't care how careful you are. You're going to get some bad fish in
there. If you fish with a net, you're going to. And if you fish
with a hook, you will too. And you just have to throw them
away. What do you do? You gather the bad with the good
and wait for God to separate them. And separate them, he does.
After declaring these seven parables in one great sermon, our Lord
Jesus was asked, he asked a question of his disciples. He said in
verse 51, have you understood all these things? And the multitude
answered without hesitation. Well, of course. Yeah, Lord,
we understand. But few actually understood his
doctrine then just as few do now. But that gave our Lord an
occasion to give another brief word of instruction about God's
scribes, those men who are sent of God to speak for God in this
world. Look at verse 52. Then said he unto them, therefore,
every scribe, it's not talking about the Old Testament scribes,
it's talking about men who preach the gospel of God's grace. Every
scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, likened
to a man that isn't householder, which bringeth forth out of his
treasure things new and old. And it came to pass that that
when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come up into
his own country, he taught them in their synagogues in so much
that they were astonished and said, whence hath this wisdom
and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?
and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters. Are they not all with us? When
saith this man all these things? And they were offended at him.
But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in
his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty
works there because of their unbelief. because they wouldn't
receive his word. Many women look upon God's servants
with varying attitudes. Some give them no honor. Others
set them on pedestals and idolize them. But God's servants, faithful
men, wherever they're found, are men seeking God's honor,
devoted to the welfare of your soul. Men, fallen, falling, weak,
weakling flesh and blood, sinful, corrupt men, God's men. I talked to a fellow today who's
been, well, that's enough said. But
I said to him, this man taught you the gospel. And he's a faithful man. He's
a faithful man. His doctrine hadn't changed one
hair's breadth in 35 years I've known him. He's a faithful man.
He's a faithful man. And you ask me about what he
believes, I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to answer
your question. I'm not going to get involved
in denigrating any honor given to that man. I'm not going to
do it. Not going to do it. Whether I agree or whether I disagree
is totally irrelevant. He's a faithful man. He deserves
better than this from you. He deserves better than this
from you. You support that man by whom God speaks to your soul
and ministers your soul's needs. And not just that man, but every
other man who faithfully ministers to your souls and your soul's
needs. I've been around a while, and
I found out a long time ago that it's much easier, much easier
to be a fellow's pastor when he lives in California than it
is when he lives in Danville. He doesn't have to put up with
me all the time, and I'm not easy to put up with. He doesn't
have to be influenced all the time by all the stuff that I
do. But that's not how you build God's church and kingdom. You
build God's church and kingdom by putting your shoulders together.
Locking arms and locking hearts and letting nothing divide you.
That's how you build God's church. That's how you serve God and
you do so as one. Giving honor to the Redeemer
as you honor the labors of that man who brings forth out of God's
treasure, out of God's treasure, things new and old. Not new doctrine. No, no, no,
no. He brings forth things fresh
and new. Fresh and new. I read these parables
today and found things fresh and new to my soul and rejoice
in God's instruction by it. Not that there's anything changed
in the doctrine, but it's fresh and new and things old. Why do
you put it that way? He brings forth things new and
old. These things brought forth from the old treasure of God's
word and God's grace with fresh vitality and life. They bring
forth things new and old to your soul. I make you a promise. I make you a promise. And it's promised, which I've
stood good. I will never come to this place. without seeking
earnestly and preparing diligently God's message for your soul.
Not Sunday morning, not Sunday night, not Tuesday night, never,
never. I won't do it. I won't do it.
I want God to give me a fresh word for Mark and Regina Henson
every time I stand to preach to Mark and Regina Henson. a
fresh word of grace, fresh in my own soul, old from the treasure
of his word, old from the purpose of our God and the bounty of
his grace. Now, in the light of these 58
verses of Holy Scripture, I ask you, do you understand these
things? The gospel I preach is the seed
of life. Faith in Christ is like mustard
seed, penetrating and controlling our lives. Only God knows wheat
from tares and tares from wheat, and God alone separates the two.
We, God's elect, his church, are the treasure for which Christ
gave all. Christ is the pearl of great
price. The pearl of great price we must
have for which we must give all. Faithful scribes, faithful gospel
preachers, bring forth to your soul out of God's treasure things
new and old for your benefit. Happy, blessed of God are we
who by God's grace have been made partakers of such bounty
and such grace. Amen. Our Father.