Well, I want you to turn back
to Luke's Gospel, Chapter 8. I know it's a very familiar passage,
but I think it's good to be reminded of these things. We read in the
first verse, it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout
every city and village afterward. After the things that we've been
reading about before, the healing of the centurion's servant, if
I can remind you of that, the healing of the widow's son at
the funeral, John the Baptist's disciples, and all of the discussion
about John the Baptist and his disciples being sent to see who
he really was. And then Simon the Pharisee,
who invited him to go and eat at his house, and Simon was hard
of heart, but yet there was that woman who heard that he was there,
and she came, and she washed his feet with her tears and wiped
them with the hairs of her head, and he said, to those He said,
her sins are many, are forgiven. She loved much, but to whom little
is forgiven, the same loveth little, is what he was saying
to Simon the Pharisee. After these things, we then read
that he, Jesus, went throughout every city and village, preaching
and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the
12 were with him and certain women. He went preaching. the Word in every city and every
village. He went wherever he could go. This is a good example to us,
isn't it? This is a good example. He went
preaching everywhere, wherever he could. This is an example
of him working to do the work of the Kingdom of God in preaching
the Gospel. of doing what he could. As the
man, he went wherever he could. He was confined to one place
as a man, but he went wherever he could, in every city and every
village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom
of God. And our Lord saved us, absolutely saved us, sovereignly,
without any work of our own. He came and He saved us, and
we rejoice in that, but He also gave us an example of what to
do. And He went preaching. the glad
tidings of the kingdom of God. What are those glad tidings of
the kingdom of God? The glad tidings of the kingdom
of God are the glad tidings of salvation accomplished for the
elect of God. The kingdom of God is the people
of God, the citizenship of God. He went preaching and showing
the glad tidings. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Your warfare is accomplished,
your sins are pardoned. It's dealt with. Redemption is
accomplished. This is what he went preaching.
He went preaching the glad tidings. How should a man be just with
God? There is redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Messiah
who would come, and He is that Messiah who has come. He went
preaching and teaching and showing. Showing, what does that mean?
Showing. Showing from the Scriptures. I'm sure that's what He did.
He showed from the Scriptures. The glad tidings of the kingdom
of God that he preached were exactly in accordance with the
Old Testament Scriptures, and that's why it says he showed
the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. He preached the Old Testament
Scriptures, and he preached salvation accomplished. Not an offer made,
but salvation accomplished for the elect of God. This is the
preaching of the gospel, it's the declaration of the promises
of God. so that the people of God might
hear. And under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who gives
ears to hear, as we'll see later, him that has ears to hear, let
him hear. The Holy Spirit gives ears to
hear. And under that gift of the hearing, to hear these things
when others don't hear it, you hear those promises, and they're
glad tidings. They're glad tidings. Peace,
goodwill toward men, glad tidings. So we have an example to emulate.
In 1st John chapter 2 and verse 6 we read, he that saith he abideth
in him, he that says he's one of his disciples ought himself
also so to walk, even as he walked." Isn't that clear? The scripture
tells us. Christ gave us an example, and
we ought to follow that example. And the example is this, to preach
the gospel to all who will listen, wherever we get the opportunity.
But you would say immediately, not all are preachers, are they?
No, they're not. They're not. Elsewhere in the
scriptures, Corinthians and other places, The church, the people
of God, are likened to a body. And not everybody is the eyes,
and not everybody's the ears, and not everybody's the hands,
and the fingers, and the legs. Each has different parts to do. And there are those who support,
and there are those who minister to those who preach. And so there
were these that came with him. The twelve were with him. The
disciples were with him, supporting him. at where he went. They were
there supporting him. You say, well, I don't do anything
apart from just go and sit and listen. Support, support. Preach to all who will listen,
and not all are preachers, but whatever you can do, do it. Support,
minister. The disciples were there, and
also certain women. Note this before we get into
the parable itself. Certain women, which had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene. out of
whom seven devils were cast by the Lord Jesus Christ. Joanna,
look at this one, Joanna, the wife of Tuzor, Herod's steward. I wonder if while John the Baptist
was in prison, she had come across the message that he had preached,
and she had followed Christ. This Tuzor who was Herod's steward
was an important guy at the court of Herod. He was an important
guy and it was his wife ministered to Jesus. And other women, Susanna
and many others which ministered unto him of their substance.
In those days it would have been regarded as a shameful thing
for a woman to be seen with someone who wasn't her husband. And yet
these women withstood the shame, they bore the shame of that in
society, that they might be there to minister to Christ, that he
might go throughout every city and village preaching and showing
the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. But here's a question. Why did he preach throughout
every city and village? Why did he do that? Does it puzzle
you why he did that? It does me at first sight. Why
did he go to every city and village? We've just been reading in Romans
chapter 9 about the sovereignty of God, about the purpose of
God according to election. And who is our Lord Jesus Christ
other than who it says in Romans 9 verse 5? Christ, who is God
over all. He's God over all, he's sovereign
over all. Why did he not just go where
the elect were and preach to them? Why did he not just, as
so many like to do, just close the doors around their little
huddle and just share the gospel amongst themselves and not take
it out? The reason is this. The reason
is this. It is God's way. It is God's
way to sow the word of God and the gospel of God widely in this
world. Ecclesiastes 11 verse 1 says,
cast thy bread upon the waters. Throw it out. Throw it out on
the waters. for thou shalt find it after
many days. In Mark's gospel chapter 16 and
verse 15, Jesus said, Go ye into all the world, go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature, to all types
of people without distinction. Some will believe, the majority
will not. And those that will not believe,
under the preaching of the gospel of God's grace, it counts to
their condemnation. For John 3, 18, he that believeth
not is condemned already. That's one reason for it. One
reason why we preach, two reasons why we preach. We preach to pronounce
the promises of God to the elect of God, that they might believe
the gospel and be saved. And preaching is also as a mark
of condemnation to those who reject. The gospel is preached
as life to some and death to others. 2 Corinthians chapter
2 verse 16, Paul says, to the one we are the saver of death
unto death. They hear this gospel preached
and it's nothing other than a smell of death about it. It's just,
I don't want to hear that. Just go away from me, leave me
alone. I don't want to hear about this
thing. But to the other, a savour of life unto life, a sweet savour
of life unto life. And he says in verse 8, he says, to some it is granted to have
ears to hear. To some it is granted. He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear. If you have ears to hear, then
take heed. To hear, look at verse 18. Take
heed, therefore, how ye hear, for whosoever hath, to him shall
be given. Have you heard something? To
him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken
away, even that which he seemeth to have. Take heed how you hear. To some it is given to have ears
to hear. So listen carefully. Take note. Act in accordance with what you
learn about the ways of God, about the ways of salvation.
And he teaches us in this parable of the sower, if they've been
thinking, why is he, if he's sovereign God, why is he preaching
to everybody? Why does he not just go and target
the ones that will believe? Well, the parable of the sower
tells us why. The parable of the sower is illustrated revelation
of heavenly light to God's people. Verse 10, unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. This parable
is illustrated revelation of heavenly light to God's people.
Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom,
but to the rest It's just a story, perhaps with some moral teaching
in it. Think of other parables. Think of the parable of the Good
Samaritan. What do the people of God get from it? The Good
Samaritan is Christ. What does the world get from
it? Moral lessons about being kind to one another. So the parable
then. the parable. The sower goes out
to sow. He sows his seed and it falls
on four different types of ground. It falls by the wayside, it falls
on stony ground, it falls on thorny ground, it falls on good
ground. Four different types of ground.
What I want to do is just quite straightforwardly take a look
at each of these. The sower and the seed then,
first of all. Verse 11, because the first part
of the parable, Jesus tells the parable, and then the disciples
say, what is this parable? Verse nine, what might this parable
be? What's the true meaning of this
parable? And to you it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom, but to others in parables, that seeing they might not see,
and hearing they might not understand. Did you know it's God that said
that? God said that. Quoting Isaiah chapter 6, that
seeing they might not see. There is the doctrine, the corollary
of the doctrine of election of God's sovereign grace is the
doctrine of reprobation. And that's the way it is. And
God is just in all things. And he's declared it to us. Do
you know why I believe he's declared these things to us? It's all
tied up with particular redemption. And the reason he's told us when
so many say that this is something which is just a secret that we
keep to ourselves and not something to declare, it's part and parcel
of effectual atonement accomplished. Without it, Your atonement, the
atonement of the religious world, as we saw a few weeks ago, is
totally ineffectual. But because it's particular redemption,
and God has declared it clearly that it's particular redemption,
and he's declared everything that goes with that, including
reprobation, then it's atonement that is accomplished effectually.
And God's people can rejoice in it. God's people can rejoice
in it because we know that salvation is sure because of the way that
God has ordained things to be. So then he goes on in the second
part from verse 11 onwards to explain what the symbolism of
the parable means. Verse 11, the parable is this,
the seed is the word of God. the seed, the sower goes out
to sow, and he just, you know, like a sower does, we don't see
them do it now, machines do it, but you can imagine those pictures,
I'm sure in certain parts of the world they do, they break
up the ground, and then they just scatter the seed, and where
it lands, that's where it will take root, it will germinate,
and it will grow. It just flies randomly out onto
the different types of ground. And the sower is the preacher
of the word of God. The ground represents the world
and the people in it, the different types. And Christ is our example,
preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of God everywhere
he went, it seems, without distinction. And so must we. We don't try
to work out who are the elect amongst these people. We don't
know. We don't know where God has his elect. You know, you
look down the history of the church, And there are some people
who you would never think, if you did some human psychology
on them, would never become believers. Think of John Newton. You couldn't
think of a man that you would less likely say, here's a man
who's going to believe the gospel of God's grace. But in God's
sovereign purpose, he did. He did. And somebody preached
the gospel to him. different types of people. And
what was preached was not moral lessons. He didn't go out preaching
moral lessons, it was the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.
That was the seed that was sown, the glad tidings of the kingdom
of God. And every time the gospel is preached, every time the word
of God is preached, Christ must be at the center of it, and the
gospel of his grace must be at the center of it. The utter ruin
of man under the fall must be at the center of it. The redemption of man by Christ
at the cross must be at the center of it. The regeneration of the
Holy Spirit must be absolutely at the center of it. This is
what is preached. We don't stand up just to give
moral lessons from the scriptures. It must be Christ, and that's
what must be preached, and that's what's wrong. If you were to
say what's wrong with preaching today, in those churches that
call themselves evangelical, even reformed, even Calvinistic,
there's no Christ-centered preaching. And you know it, you go and listen
to it. There's no Christ in it. It looked like the young man,
I think, I forget the story exactly, I think it might have been one
of Spurgeon's stories, about a young man who was aspiring
to preach. And he preached a message and there was an old preacher
in the congregation. And at the end of the service,
the young man asks the old man, what did you think of my sermon?
And the old man said, I didn't like your sermon one little bit.
And he said, why not? He said, because there was no
Christ in the sermon. And the young man said, there
was no Christ in the text. And he said, young man, there's
Christ in every text. He's in all the scriptures. And
like that illustration of every little village has got a signpost
that leads to London, and a road that leads to London, and you
find that road and get on it, Christ must be in every sermon. Every time the seed is sowed,
the word of God is sowed, it must be Christ-centered. It must
be about the ruin of the fall. It must be about the redemption
that Christ has accomplished. Absolutely, he's put away the
sins of his people. It must be about the regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit who comes and gives life where there
was nothing other than a dead corpse. Those things must be
there. Salvation accomplished, and therefore
particular redemption accomplished for a particular people. And
it's not kept secret for believers only. It's declared to all who
will listen. declared to all who will listen.
Oh, I daren't preach that. I'll empty my church. Well, I
think half the churches in this country would be emptied if you
preached that, but that doesn't mean we're not to do it. We're
to do it. We're to declare what God has promised to his people.
He's promised effectual salvation accomplished, and we declare
it to all who will listen. in the hope and the confidence
that some will have ears to hear, because God says he gives some
ears to hear. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. By the foolishness. To the Greeks
it's a foolish message, this message of substitutionary atonement. It's a foolish message. It's
a foolish method. Why would God choose to use such
old dirty earthen vessels as fallen sinful man in which is
the treasure of the kingdom of God to preach the gospel of his
grace. Why would he do that? In his
sovereign purposes that's what he's declared to do. By the foolishness
of preaching it pleased God to save those who believe. Faith
comes by hearing Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
Word of God preached. Faith is God's gift to God's
elect. Verse 10, to you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. To you it is
given to know. It's sovereign. It's of God's
grace that he gives the gift to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of God. But this message goes out and
it lands on all types of land. The seed lands on all types of
ground. and the preaching of the Word
of God must go out to all, without distinction. It's not practically
possible to preach to all without exception, but to all without
distinction. And when a congregation is gathered,
we preach this truth, the truth of God, that if He's declared
it, it's to be preached. It's to be preached, His sovereign
purposes, because in that is the promise of God. In that is
the confidence of salvation. In that is the message that his
people, his elect, will hear and will rejoice in. So, you
and I, and everybody else listening, were one of the four types of
ground upon which this preached word will land. Verse 12, those
by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil and
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe
and be saved by the wayside. You know, on a field, any field,
any piece of ground, you've got the bit around the edge which
is hard trodden. It's where the people walk. You
can wander around the fields around here and you can wander
down the paths that go down the edge of the field. And it's rock
hard because people have walked on it and it's compacted. And
the seed just bounces off. It doesn't penetrate the ground.
It just lies there on the surface and the birds of the air come
down and go, well that's good, thank you, we'll have some of
that. and they take it away. And what Christ is telling us
is there are those who hear when that seed of the word is broadcast
and the gospel will just bounce off them. It doesn't penetrate
their minds even. They're here with utter indifference.
They're there listening because of some sort of compulsion or
some sort of accident has put them there. They have no interest
in eternity. They have no interest in divine
justice. They have no concern about judgment
to come. Salvation is a concept that they
have no need of at all. And as soon as that word is preached,
as soon as that seed is sown, the devil snatches it away. to
keep them in the condition he wants them in, which is lost
and in his bondage. And this is what we see around
us all the time. All around the world, especially
in this country in these days, the vast, vast majority are in
this category of if the gospel ever comes near them, they're
like wayside hearers. their hard, hard, rocky ground,
the footpath. It just lies there and the devil
plucks it away. You can see it everywhere. You
see it in our media, in our politics, in everything. It has no effect
whatsoever, it doesn't even penetrate the mind. It is regarded as foolish,
as ridiculous. Wayside hearers, there will be
such. Christ himself, when he went
about every city and village preaching and showing the glad
tidings of the kingdom of God, there were many amongst those
who heard him who were wayside believers. Wait, sorry, wayside
hearers, who heard the words that fell from his lips, but
it didn't penetrate their minds one bit. But then there's a second
sort, the stony ground believers, sorry, stony ground hearers.
Verse 13, they on the rock are they which when they hear receive
the word with joy and these have no root. which for a while believe
and in time of temptation fall away. They seem to accept the
message of the gospel gladly. Don't they? They receive it with
joy, it says. They seem to accept it gladly. But their belief is a mere mental
assent to the propositions that are put in the preaching. The
propositions of the gospel are put in preaching, and they go,
hmm, that sounds reasonable, free grace, liberty, heaven,
heaven, eternal life, and freely, freely, because somebody's died
on a, that sounds good, there's a receipt of it with joy. But
what is wrong with them? The verse tells us. These have
no root. And if they have no root, it's
because there's no work of God's Spirit within. It's because there's
no new birth. Unless, said Jesus to Nicodemus,
a man is born again, he cannot see the things of the kingdom
of God. He can't... No point talking to you about
the things of the kingdom of God, Nicodemus. Unless a man is born
again, you cannot see them. There's no new creature. There
must be a new creature. There must be a new man within.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5
and verse 17 therefore if any man
be in Christ he is a new creature are you in Christ? you're a new
creature old things are passed away behold all things have become
new Galatians chapter 6 and verse 15 For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision. What matters
then, if you're a new creature? Who makes you a new creature?
The Spirit of God makes you a new creature. No, they have no root
because there's no new creature. There's no new man of the Spirit
of God there. It's only mental ascent. It's
mental belief based on fleshly reason only. And you know what? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
2.14 that the natural man The man who only has the flesh,
who only has natural reason, receives not the things of the
Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
for they're spiritually discerned. How do you spiritually discern
things? You must have that new creature
of the Spirit of God. You must have that new birth,
you must have that new man, that root. When there's that root
there, then there's the understanding of the gospel. And these, to
change the analogy, another one including rocks but positively
this time, they're not anchored on the rock which is Christ.
And every little storm arises, doubts, hard doctrine, some of
the stuff we were thinking about in Romans 9, fleshly temptation,
and the mental belief, the mental ascent evaporates. They seem
to start well, they receive it with joy, but in time of temptation
they fall away. As we preach the Gospel of Grace,
whether it's to people sitting in this room or to people on
the internet who come and pass by our website, as people do
all of the time, if they're stony ground believers they may hear
some of the things that are said but if there's no root there'll
be no belief and then the next type are the thorny ground believers,
verse fourteen that which fell among thorns are they which when
they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches
and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. These are people who appear to
believe. These are people who appear to
repent, to trust Christ, to look like they're growing healthily.
They do. This is what they look like.
They look like they're being real believers. But they've got
a problem. And the problem is a very, very
common one. especially in these days, I know
it's always been the case, but especially in this materialistic
age in which we live, in this age of possessions and acquisitions,
it's a love of the world is the problem. The thorns and the briars
that spring up and choke the plant, it looks like it's growing
but the weeds get going, you know I'm a little bit of a gardener
and now is the time of year when I try to get everything going.
And you look from a distance and there are different types
of land, they all look the same from a distance, but it's only
when you get close that you find that which is compacted and hard
and is basically the wayside, and then you find other which
is very, very stony. I've got two borders, one that
I spent ages and nearly broke my back several years ago, riddling
all the stones out of it, so it's really good, fine soil,
and you can just lean on a spade and it goes straight in, but
from a distance, It looks exactly the same as the other one where
I haven't done that. And that one is full of stones.
It's very hard for plants to get going in that one because
it's got so many stones in it. Different types of ground, but
they look superficially the same, but you do work on them. And
you make them into the sort of ground that you want. And the
other thing that happens this time of year is that I put my,
I get my little plants going in their little plugs and I put
them in the ground and they look so nice on their own. And guess
what two or three days later? weeds. And the weeds didn't need
to have their seeds sown by me, and they didn't need looking
after in a propagator, and they just come up, and if I don't
do something about it, in no time the weeds strangle the plants
which are meant to be there growing. It's a fact. It's the truth. It's clear. It works in practice. These people who are thorny ground
hearers of the word, their problem is love of the world. Their problem
is love of the world. Christ hasn't enraptured their
hearts. Because when Christ does enrapture
the hearts of his people, of his believing people, to them
he is precious. It's the world that remains precious
to them, not Christ who is precious to them. Their treasures are
not in heaven. They're not laying up treasure
in heaven. Their treasure is still on this earth. How many
are thorny ground Christians in this day? It's so many. You
know, it's such a dangerous place to be. Listen to what Paul says
in Hebrews 6, verses 4 and 5. For it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened, seem to set off right, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
seemed as if they understood what they were hearing. and have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away by being strangled, I'm putting these
words in, by being strangled by the thorns and the briars
of this world, it's impossible if they shall fall away to renew
them again to repentance. John tells those to whom he wrote,
1 John chapter 2, verses 15 and 16, he's writing to little children,
to believers, and this is his admonition, Love not the world. Simple. Love not the world, neither
the things in the world. Enjoy, I'll just put in an aside,
enjoy all things that God gives us freely to enjoy. He gives
us, there are things to enjoy in this life, there are things
to see and do that are beautiful to see, to taste, to experience,
but love not the world. nor the things in this world.
Don't love them in a way where they take the place that is truly
Christ's. No. If any man loved the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. serious for all that
is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the
pride of life is not of the father but is of the world now listen
to what james says james 4 verse 4 even more blunt ye adulterers
and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God. That's not saying we're to be
unpleasant to those in the world around us. That's not saying
that we're to be uncivil. That's not saying that we're
not even to be sociable at work, in the work situation, or with
neighbours. Try and get on with people as well as you can. Try
not to be an offence to any of them. but whosoever will be a
friend in the sense of hearts knit together, that you want
to do things together, that you want to spend lots of time in
one another's company, whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God. It's one thing to seek earnestly
the conversion of those who are lost that are around us. It's
quite another thing to be totally enraptured with the things of
the world. False faith and Christless religion
is this sort of thing. Thorny ground hearers. People
who hear but the things of the world entangle them. The things
of the world take them up. The things of the world take
them away. You can think of many, many examples. You can think
of Dreadful examples. Esau, for example, sold his birthright
for a mess of pottage, just for something on his stomach, the
things of the world. Judas Iscariot, who walked with Christ for three
years, who heard those gracious words from his lips, betrayed
him for a trivial, trivial amount of money. Ananias and Savira
thought that they could fool the apostles and deceive God
by appearing to be very, very generous, yet in actual fact
their hearts were bound up with the love of the things of the
world. Felix, that one to whom Paul came and preached when he
was making his defense before being sent to Rome. Felix said,
you almost persuade me to be a Christian, but do you know
it would have been the things of this world and the things of
his position that kept him from that situation? Think of Lot's
wife. who enjoyed all the privileges
of two angels coming and taking them out of Sodom before the
judgment of God fell on that place. And they were told to
go and to flee to the mountains and to not look back. And why
did Lot's wife look back? Was she turned to a pillar of
salt just for turning her head round? No, she was turned to
a pillar of salt because her heart was still there in Sodom
with all the things of this life that she loved and cherished.
Diotrephes, Demas, we could give other examples. If you love the
world, eventually it will show. There will be, as it says, no
fruit to perfection. The fruit of God is the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, fruit of the
new man, under the constraint of Christ, for the love of Christ
constrains us. So we're not to be surprised
when we see these things, these different types of hearing. And
then fourthly, Fourthly, verse 15, but that on the good ground
are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the
word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. Many fold
fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because this is a heart
regenerated by God's spirit. You know, I said about the different
types of ground in my garden, and there are some bits that
have had some hard work done on them. and they're now nice,
easy, rich. Where I plant my vegetables,
I've got two plots. One has been there for about
10 years, and it's been worked, and it's been weeded, and it's
been manured, and had compost dug into it, and the stones,
every time I dig it over, I pick all the big stones out, and it's
really good soil now. And there's a newer one that
I've only just done this year. That's much harder work. There's
a lot more to go on. What does the Holy Spirit do
on the good ground? He breaks it up. He breaks it
up. He prepares it. He breaks it
up with the law. He comes with the law. He digs
it over to receive the word of the gospel of grace. He brings
it to a fine tilth. He waters it with his Holy Spirit
conviction. He drives us to Christ by the
law, and he causes us to bear the fruit, because the fruit
is the fruit of the Spirit. This is the fruit of the Spirit,
Galatians 5.22, love, joy, peace, patience, self-control. This
is the fruit that is brought forth awaiting and are looking
for eternity. They keep it, they wait, they
look for eternity. This is how it is when the gospel
is preached. The word needs to be sown. The
word, the good tidings, the glad tidings of the kingdom of God
needs to be preached from the Scriptures to all without distinction
who will listen, because amongst them there will be stony ground
hearers, there will be wayside hearers, there will be thorny
ground hearers, but bless God, by His Spirit, there will be
good ground hearers. This is what we see all around
us. What sort of ground are you regarding the gospel? Have you
got the ears to hear that verse eight says? He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear. God's people believe God's word. When God's word says it, they
say, thus says the Lord, I must do it. God's people believe. There are no people who are supposedly
Christians who pick and choose which doctrine they want to believe.
They believe God's word. Have you got ears to hear? If
you have, let him hear. You need to hear. And you need
to take heed how you hear. So make sure that you take heed. Take heed therefore how you hear.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given. And whosoever hath
not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to
have.