Matthew chapter 13. This is such a delightful passage
of Scripture. We should always delight in the
Word of God. I know that. But some parts of
Scripture are just more delightful to talk about than others. And
this is one of those ones that I've looked forward to. It's
just such clear teaching of our Lord. I love the way that He sets forth truth so beautifully
and so simply. Let's read the first part of
chapter 13. 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." You can picture this
easily in your mind, can't you? There's a great crowd of people.
And the only way they could all see Him is if He distanced Himself
some and went into a ship as they sat or stood on the shore. And He spoke many things unto
them in parables. And here is one of them. He said
this, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. That's because of God's
grace. A sower went forth to sow. That's
the mercy of God. And when he sowed, Some seeds
fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up. It's
a simple story that's easy for us to picture. We've seen this
kind of thing. Birds swoop down and peck seeds
off the ground. Some fell on 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." How many times in Scripture
is God's mercy seen following this little simple word, but?
But. Other fell into good ground and
brought forth fruit. Some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. This is why the sower went forth, because he knew that some
would fall on good ground. He didn't go out there to feed
the birds. He went out there to sow seed, to grow a crop. And the disciples came and said
unto our Lord, why speakest thou unto them in parables? 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. Therefore
speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not,
and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." This reminds
us of another place where our Lord said, blessed are your ears,
for they hear. And they didn't understand this
parable any more than anybody else did, did they? Our Lord
had to explain it to them. We're not any smarter than anybody
else. We're just as stupid or stupider.
In fact, it's the wise of this world that reject the gospel.
It's idiots like us that receive. We read that back as the men
met. You fools understand knowledge,
Solomon said. You fools understand. Not smart
people. You don't have to be smart to
be wise. In fact, it's a disadvantage. It's clearly taught in God's
word. It's a disadvantage. to be smart in the things and
ways of this world. And in them, verse 14, is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing, you shall
hear and shall not understand. And seeing, you shall see. They're
going to say, I don't understand. Yeah, that makes, yeah, okay.
Seeds and birds and thorn. Yeah, I get that. No, you don't. No, you don't. And this shall
not, seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive, for this
people's heart is waxed gross." That's the problem, you see.
It's not that the Lord's being unclear. It's there's something
wrong with your heart. I like the way Brother Ken prayed.
I don't like to analyze somebody's prayer, but I rejoiced when he
prayed, Lord, give us a heart to believe. That's the Scripture
right there. God doesn't give faith to our
old heart. He gives us a new heart, and
that new heart believes. Isn't that right? There's something
wrong with your heart, that's why you can't hear God's clear
truth. Your heart's waxed gross, and
your 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 I should heal them. And notice, it's not just,
it's not a, an innocent blindness that they're victims of. It's
a willful blindness. They're blind, but why? Because
they've closed their eyes. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. There's your problem. Your problem
is your will. And I guarantee you, the solution
to your problem is not your will. You know that, don't you? Verse
16, but blessed are your eyes, for they see in your ears, for
they hear For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see those things which you see, and have
not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have
not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower." Listen to his explanation, his revelation of
it. the word of the kingdom, and
understandeth it not. Then cometh the wicked one. The seed is the word of God. Catcheth away that which was
sown in his heart. This is he which received seed
by the wayside. But he that received the seed
into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and
anon with joy receiveth it. He springs up and there's an
appearance. There's a religious show. There's
an outward appearance of life. There's an excitement, but it's
a fleshly excitement. We've seen this in religion,
haven't we? We've seen it in those we love,
sadly. Yet he hath not root, key words here, in himself. There's
nothing in yourself. If God doesn't give you root,
you're not going to have root. You don't have root in yourself.
but dureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that
receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word,
and the care of this world, the concerns of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. Well, you know, that's a Christian
that just doesn't really bear much fruit. No. The Lord said,
if you don't bear fruit, you're not worth anything but to throw
in the fire and burn up. That's not a believer. The sower
didn't go out there to sow seed to have pretty green plants. He wanted some fruit. That's
why he sowed it. But he that received seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it.
Did you think of any scripture When I just read that, how about
this one? Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. You see what good
ground is? Scripture talks about Lydia and
describes her this way. We don't know much about her
except this, whose heart the Lord opened. He understandeth it. which also
beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some sixty,
and some thirty. Now in this parable, there's
just one sower and just one seed. And there are four different
types of ground. The seed, as he clearly sets
forth, is the word of God. The sower is primarily the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He is the word. He is the one
who teaches and preaches the word. And Christ has sent forth
some sowers, but they're still just one sower. You remember
in the same context of this, he said, pray ye the Lord of
the harvest that he'd send forth some laborers. Some laborers
into the field. There's some sowing that needs
to be done. And He does send forth those who sow the Word
of God. Anyone who broadcasts the Word
of God is a sower. But there's just one in the parable.
Why? Because all true preachers of the Gospel are one in this.
One. They may have different personalities,
different opinions on lesser matters, and may be very different
in their delivery of the Word. But in the one thing that matters
concerning what they do, They are exactly the same. They don't
manufacture or manipulate seeds. Seed companies can produce seeds
that are not natural, don't they? They can produce insect resistant
seeds. Or I imagine if you wanted a
purple tomato with yellow polka dots on it, they could probably
come up with one for you. God's sowers don't do that. God's
preachers get their seed from God. And just like it is, they
cast it around to the ground. And God made the seed, and we
don't change it. There's life in the seed. There's
nothing wrong with the seed. If nothing is produced, it's
not because the seed was bad, it's because there's something
wrong with the ground. Peter said to the Lord, when
our Lord said to all the disciples, as many who had pretended to
be disciples, who I guess were stony ground hearers or maybe
thorny ground hearers. They weren't good ground because
they heard the word of God and they went away sorrowful. They
walked away and walked no more with Him. And then He said to
the twelve, were you going with them? And Peter said, Lord, we're
not going anywhere. Your words are the words of eternal
life. There's the seed right there.
There's life in the seed. Paul said to Timothy, this gospel,
Timothy, that you've heard from a child, is able to make you
wise unto salvation. He said in Romans 1, I'm not
ashamed of this gospel because it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. This is the seed. The preacher
doesn't determine the success of the garden. The preacher is
not creditable with how much or if anything is produced. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 3 with me. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 5. There were some that were talking
about how much better their preacher was than somebody else's preacher.
I can't believe you listen to him. I listen to Paul. I'm a disciple of Paul. I'm a
disciple of Apollos. And Paul said, who then is Paul?
You're a disciple of who? You're a disciple of a fool.
If you're a disciple of Paul, who then is Paul? Who is a Paulist,
but ministers by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every
man. The Lord gave you faith. We didn't give you faith. You
believed by means of a preacher, but it was the Lord that gave
you that faith. I have planted, Apollos watered, God sends us
forth and gives us the privilege of his commission. Go and preach. And he said, I'll save and I'll
ban. You go and preach. But God gave the inquiry. God,
if there's going to be any fruit, it's going to come from God.
It's going to be because of His power. It's going to be because
of the greatness of the life that's in His seed, His Word,
His Gospel, His power unto salvation. So then, neither is He that planteth
anything. Don't even compare a bunch of
nothings to one another. How can you compare nothing with
nothing? Neither He that watereth but God. The glory belongs to
God. He gives the increase. Now, He
that planteth And he that watereth are what? That's why they're
just one sower now. There's a bunch of different
kinds of preachers and different personalities, but everybody
that preaches the true gospel, everybody that broadcasts the
seed, they're just one. They're one. He that planteth
and he that watereth are one. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. Now the word reward there
is pay. You're a laborer. It has nothing
to do with how much is produced. Verse nine, for we are laborers
together with God. The workman is worthy of his
hire, he said in another place. God will sustain you and provide
for you as you're sowing. But you're getting paid in that
sense, but that has nothing to do with how much increase there
is. See, that's twisted by some and perverted. that some are
going to produce more results than others. No, that's just
you pay for laboring. God will sustain you as you labor. He'll give you what you need
as you labor, but the increase is God's to determine, and He
gets the glory for it. So we are laborers together with
God. You're God's husbandry. You're God's building. Can anything
be any clearer than that? Now this doesn't mean that the
farmer, the sower, is indifferent concerning the results. Nobody
plants a garden and watches it wither and says, well, well,
your heart went into that. A lot of sweat went into that.
Your heart is in it. You know, I haven't been able
to think about the preaching of the gospel the same way since
I was taught this by, through a preacher, by the word of God,
but through Cody Groover. preached on this one time. We
don't just throw out facts and you know somebody believes and
somebody doesn't and we're indifferent to that. Paul said, we beseech
you. Paul said of King Agrippa, I
would to God that you were like me except these chains. So what does he do? If he has
no control over how much is produced, what does he do? He prays and
with all of his heart he desires to see fruit. But he's very aware
of his utter dependence upon God. You can plant, you can water,
you can toil, you can labor. Whether there's going to be fruit
or not is up to God. God made the seed, God made the
water, and gives it to whom he will, when he will. God made
the sunshine, and I'll tell you something else, God made the
ground. Just as God, Paul said in Romans
9, of the same lump of clay made one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor, even so there's just one earth. But God has made
some good ground to receive the seed, and he's done everything
necessary that the ground bring forth fruit to the glory of his
Father. He said, herein is my Father
glorified, that you bear fruit. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I do always those things that please the Father. Everything
he did was for the glory of the Father. And he said, herein is
the Father glorified. You bring fruit. Without me,
you can do nothing, he said. But he that abideth in me, the
same bringeth forth much fruit. If the seed is the word of God,
then broadcasting the seed is to preach the truth, the gospel
of God. concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. It's to preach the truth of the
Sovereign God. David said, My God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Where's your God? Where's your
God? The God of religion is waiting
in a corner for you to do something so He can react. David said,
My God ain't... That's not Him. That's not Him. Mine neither. He's in heaven and you're upon
the earth. Let your words be few before Him. He'll do as he
pleases. He giveth not account of any
of his matters. The God of religion, the God
that I hear about sometimes on television when I'm foolish enough
to listen a while, he does not do as he pleases. He just doesn't,
does he? He just doesn't. He wants to
do some things, but he can't do them. That's a different God
than David testified of, just as clear as it could be. The
God of the Bible is holy, holy. He must and shall punish sin. A decision from man will not
satisfy this God. I don't care what you decide.
It's not going to make things right between you and God. He
requires sinless perfection. And if the seed is the word of
God, Then broadcasting the seed is telling the truth about this
holy, sovereign God who does as he pleases, when he pleases,
with whom he pleases. And will, must, shall, punish
sin, all sin, every sin, wherever it's found. And it's to broadcast
the truth also about man, which truth is that we're totally depraved. And you see here the problem,
the dilemma. Why the question is asked, how
can man that is born of a woman be pure in the sight of God? How can man be just with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? We're totally depraved, completely
corrupt, sinful in nature, sinful in practice, unable to do anything
but sin, and unable to do anything about it. Like a leopard cannot
change his spots, we can't do good. Jeremiah 13, 23, our nature
is our problem. Why can't the leopard change
his spots? Because leopards have spots. Why can't I do good? Because sinners sin. That's all
they do, is sin. We drink iniquity like water.
With both hands, earnestly, we commit evil. But broadcasting
the Word of God also means telling the truth about the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's when the sower can't hardly help but put a smile
on his face and a gleam in his eye to tell of the glories of
the Redeemer who came down here to do the will of that sovereign
Holy Father. to satisfy that God, the God's
justice, to fulfill His law in every jot and tittle, to obey
Him as a man, as representative for a people. He came down here
to redeem those people under God. He died the just for the
unjust, that He might reconcile them to God. And we must tell
the truth about Him. How can a sinner be justified
before God if we're totally depraved and he's absolutely holy? How can there be a happy outcome
in this for me? By the Lord Jesus Christ, the
last Adam, and his sin-atoning sacrifice for wretched sinners
like me. He represented me as my father
Adam did, only he did so in righteousness. As in Adam all died, so in Christ
the righteous shall all whom he represents be made alive.
I like telling about that. I hope it shows. I like to talk
about him. We sing that song. I love to
tell the story. I can sing that, honestly. It's to declare, Paul said, his
righteousness for the remission of sins. Romans 3 20. To declare this gospel is to
declare the righteousness of God in Christ for the remission
of our sins. We who cannot, have not, never
will keep God's law. Romans 3 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. The law can show you how sinful
you are, but can't do anything about it. What the law could
not do, in that it was weak through your flesh. Because you're sinful,
the law can't save you. All the law can do is show you
how evil you are. But now the righteousness of
God without the law. Not which compromises the law,
not which does away with the law. He said, I didn't come to
abolish the law, I came to fulfill it. And that's the truth of the
gospel now. It's not without the keeping
of the law, it's without you keeping the law. It's righteousness
for you without you obeying the law, because you can't never
have, never will obey the law. But there is righteousness without
you keeping the law, and it's manifested. How? The prophets
have been talking about it from the beginning. What have they
been talking about? Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. You look up
that word faith right there. He's fixing to talk about our
faith in the end of chapter 20 verse 22 here in chapter 3 of
Romans. But he's not talking about your
faith there. He's talking about the faith of Jesus Christ. And that
word is faithfulness. It means literally this, the
character of one who can be relied upon. That's not you, that's
Christ. God relied upon his son to keep
his law, not you. He didn't give the law for you
to keep it. He's not an idiot like we are. He's not naive. He didn't expect you to keep
his law. He gave the law as a schoolmaster to bring you to his son. The law leaves us all guilty
before God, but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them. Now here comes faith. He's not
going to save you apart from faith. He's going to give you
faith in his son if he saves you. That is salvation. Unto
all them that believe. There's not any difference. There's
no difference in sinners. The difference is made when God
gives faith in His Son. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God being justified freely. If you're going to be justified
now, it's not going to be by the deeds of the law, because
you haven't kept the law. It's going to be freely. without
a cause. That doesn't mean God didn't
have a reason to save you. It means there was no reason
in you for him to save you. Freely, without a cause, by his
grace, God is gracious. That's why you're saved. But
God can't just arbitrarily have mercy and show grace toward a
sinner without his law being satisfied. So how's he going
to do it? By grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. That's how God can be just and
justify you because the Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious
blood for you. And God has set forth to be a propitiation, a sin offering. through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this
time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. There's the seed. There's life
now in the gospel by God's power There's life. They're the words
of life. Redemption, justification, salvation
is by the righteousness and blood redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not by good works, for by
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's
not by a decision of man's will. Paul said in Romans 9.15, he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then,
quit talking about your free will decision. So then, it is
not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
That word runneth there means to spend one's strength in performing
or attaining something. You're not gonna be saved that
way. How then? It's of God that shows mercy. He just shows mercy on whom He
will. God has mercy on sinners only
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, He that believeth
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. He said, Whosoever
believeth on Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Peter
preached, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sins. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.23,
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called.
Who are they? Whom he foreknew, he also did
predestinate. And whom he predestinated, he
also called. Both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, And Christ, the wisdom of God. So there's
a sower. Wherever the Lord of the harvest intends to have a
garden, wherever he has purposed to raise up a crop, he'll send
forth a laborer, a sower, and he'll send him with good seed. First Peter 1.23, he said, we're
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God. which liveth and abideth forever.
It's the living word. And there's life for sinners
in the preaching of it by God's grace and power. Now let's look
at the four different situations with the ground in this parable.
You know, I can't tell good ground from bad ground. Did you know
that? But Christ tells us what happens when the seed is sown.
I know what's going to happen this morning. No, I can't tell
good from bad. I know what's going to happen
in general because our Lord tells us what happens when the God...
Isn't that interesting? He says here's what's going to
happen when the Word is preached. There's going to be about four
different cases here. First of all, some fell by the
wayside, He said. These are ones our Lord said
that understandeth not. In verse 19 of our text, He said
they understand not. And we know what it means for
seed to fall by the wayside. There's a specific identified
and defined garden that's been plowed and prepared. And then
there's just the field. The wayside is not in the garden. And these are they which do not
understand. The word never gets into the
heart. It never sinks down into the soil. But it's snatched away
without ever getting into the ground. Because It's not the
right ground. 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. It never
gets in there. For they are foolishness unto
him. The two reasons, as I said so many times from this verse,
there are two reasons he doesn't understand. Because they're foolishness
to him. He doesn't want to hear it. He's
not going to bow to the truth because it's nonsense to him.
That's the kind of ground he is. When he hears the truth,
it's foolishness. And then, number two, neither
can he know them. And that word know there is understand.
As our Lord said in verse 19 of our text, they understand
not. And this is them. Why don't they understand? Because
they're natural men. They're not spiritual men. There's
been no difference made. He can't know them because they're
spiritually discerned. It's impossible. He hasn't been
born again of the spirit, and so he can't see or enter the
kingdom. This is the hard ground that
is the human heart. There's been no plowing, no breaking
up of the natural soil. The way the soil is found naturally,
if the seed goes by the wayside, there's been some soil that something's
been done to. Not by the sower, by the Lord
of the harvest. And then there's the wayside.
That's ground as it naturally exists. Nothing's been done to
it. It can't receive the seed. The
natural man receiveth not. And then there's stony ground.
Sometimes the Word seems to be received and there's some result.
There's a springing up. There's a temporary joy. There
seems to be life, but the Lord said here's the problem. There's
no root in them. They have no root. in themselves. They don't have that in themselves
that's necessary to bring forth life. What they do in reaction
to the word, they're doing in themselves. But what they don't
have in themselves is any root. A true believer has no strength
in himself. John 15 5, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I'm the vine. and you're the branches. He that
abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
You see, being able to bring forth fruit doesn't have anything
to do with you. It has to do with him. If you're
in him, you'll bring forth fruit. If you're not in him, you won't.
What does that say about you? If you're not in him, you can
do nothing. If you're in him, there's going
to be fruit. So where's the fruit coming from? You or him? That's
pretty clear, isn't it? One plus one still equals two,
where I come from. For without me, you can do nothing. That'd be a pretty good thing
to remember every day, don't you imagine? As you wake up,
without me, you can do nothing. 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're burned. What are the
roots looking for? If you have root, what's that
root looking for? Water. The water carries the nutrients
and releases the nutrients that are prepared within the soil
that give life. Turn to Psalm 1, Psalms, Chapter 1. That's why he said, when the
sun comes up, You see, the sun dries up the water, and so the
roots go down seeking water. But the one that don't have any
root, not going to find any water, and wither and die. The roots are looking for water.
Look at Psalm 1, 1 through 3. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. And here's what he's like. He's
smarter than everybody else because he's smart enough not to walk
in the counsel of the ungodly. No, here's the description of
him. Somebody planted him somewhere.
He didn't walk over to the river and sink some roots down. He
didn't just spring up naturally there. He shall be like a tree
planted. We planted a tree in our backyard. That tree wouldn't be there if
we hadn't planted it there. And I'll tell you this, I wouldn't
have life if it weren't for God Almighty. And the truth is just
simple, isn't it? He didn't offer me life. He gave
me life. He planted me. He plants His
garden by the rivers of water. that bringeth forth fruit in
his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and everything he does will prosper. Why? Because God planted him
by the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, that
flows from the throne of God. That's Christ. There is a river. Christ is the river. The one with no root in himself,
he's trying to sustain life in himself. He's not looking to
and drinking the water. He has no way to do so. There's
no way he can seek water. And so when persecution arises,
he withers. When his faith is tried, it proves
to be false faith. It was worked up in himself.
And he's offended. I've seen this. Have you? Where'd they go? They were offended.
What happened? You just read it. You just read
it. And then there's ground that
has thorns, brambles. We've all seen ground like this.
Thorny weeds. These hear the word, but the
cares of this world choke them. Our Lord here is showing reasons
why those who are not blessed of the Lord to hear and know
do not receive the word and bear fruit. This is why. It's not because the seed wasn't
broadcast, is it? The problem is with the ground,
the conditions of the soil. All of these are true of all
people. They're not three different,
four different kinds of people. People are all the same, aren't
they? These are four different conditions that exist that are
reasons why, or three different that are reasons why the word
is not received, and one that is reason why it is. And all
of these are true of all sinners, aren't they? It is true of every
sinner who does not know Christ that he cannot receive the things
of Christ. He cannot. He does not understand. They are spiritually discerned.
That's true of everybody. Unless God gives a heart of understanding. Unless He opens their understanding
that they might understand His Word. It's true of every unregenerate
sinner that they have no root in themselves. You can't produce
roots. Everybody's religious and puts
on a show they spring up and on with joy clicking their heels
saying Things that I don't even want to repeat They think it's
praising God to say things like thank you Jesus that's repulsive
the way that they say that Talk about him like he's their
imaginary friend or something They put on a show that they're
a live plant that will bear fruit, that they're fit for nothing
according to our Lord but the fire. This is true of all of
us by nature. And every sinner who knows not
Christ is going to be taken up with the cares, the things of
this world. Isn't that right? That's true of all of us apart
from Him. There's a reason why the Lord
Jesus Christ said, you cannot serve God and mammon, material
things, the things of this world. That's because you will serve
one or the other. That's why he said that. Some
sinners may manifest one or the other of these conditions more
than others. Demas was a thorny ground here,
don't you think? Because Paul said, Demas hath
forsaken me, why? Having loved this present world. the concerns, the cares, the
interests of this world." Choked the word. The word care in our
text, the cares of this world, it means to be drawn in different
directions. The concerns of this world draw
people away from the truth of God. That, he said, there are
three things given in Mark 4.19, which is a companion passage,
we won't turn there, but it's the same story told in the book
of Mark, and three things are given that choke the word. The cares of this world, concerns,
interests of this world, to be drawn by it, the deceitfulness
of riches, and the lusts of other things are what choke out the
word. Judas was a stony ground hearer. He seemed to have faith, didn't
he? But when it was dry, when the sun came out, he withered. Felix reminds us of the seed
that fell by the wayside. He said, go thy way for this
time. When I have a convenient season, I'll call for thee. Paul
preached to him. You read that text. He preached
the gospel to them. And he said, I'll call for you
some other time when I've got, when it's more convenient for
me. But you can see how all of these
are true of all ground that's not good ground. There's good
ground and there's bad ground. And these three things exist
where there's bad ground. But then, bless God, there is
the good ground. Where does good ground come from?
How does it get to be good ground? Well, the bad ground didn't have
to be made bad, did it? It's just naturally that way.
All of the things that describe the bad ground are natural conditions
existing in the earth. Existing by God's eternal providence,
no question about that. Nothing exists without God. He's
the first cause of all things. But this picture is the natural
man. These are natural conditions
that exist in this sin-cursed earth. Why do we have to fight
the birds away in order to have a harvest? They'd eat every one
of my tomatoes if I didn't put a net over my garden. And they
figure out ways under and through and around that net. I've still
got to run out there once in a while and shoo them off. And
they still get some of my tomatoes. Do you know why that is? Why
is Satan able to do anything to harm us? It says of those
ones that the birds came and snatched away the seed, that's
Satan doing that. Why is there stony ground? Was
there any stony ground in the Garden of Eden? You reckon? Did God's ground that He created
bring forth plants that withered and died? Why are there thorns
and briars? You know why? Genesis 3.17, and
unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground
for thy sake. Now this is an earthly picture
of a spiritual truth. The ground pictures us. We're
cursed of God. The ground is cursed for your
sake and sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life.
You're going to have to fight the birds off of it. You're going
to have to fight those worms off of it. There's going to be
times when there's no water and it'll die. And sorrow shall you
eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee. Why? Because it's cursed. And
that's why there's bad ground. just naturally because of the
fall, the curse. And thou shalt eat of the herb
of the field, and the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken,
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return again. This
is an earthly illustration of our spiritual condition. We will
labor and toil and sweat and still the end result will be
death and not life. That's our natural spiritual
condition. We're going to sweat and toil
and try to produce, and we're still going in the ground where
we came from. There's one hope. There's one door back into paradise,
and not the same paradise that Adam was banished from, but the
paradise that our Lord Jesus Christ ascribed to the thief
on the cross when he said, today thou shalt be in paradise. Where's that? With me. Thou shalt
be with me in paradise. That's what paradise is. Man
sinned and fell, and the very earth is cursed as a result of
our sin, and that pictures us. But God in this sin-cursed earth
has a garden. Song of Solomon, chapter 4. Turn and look at it with me. Song of Solomon chapter 4 verse
12. This is our Lord Jesus Christ
speaking of His church. A garden enclosed, enclosed,
surrounded, protected, is my sister, my spouse. Usually you wouldn't say that
about the same person, would you? My sister, my spouse. You
know what it reminds me of? We just saw in the book of Matthew
in our study, didn't we? He said, whoever does the will
of my father, whoever's my disciple, whoever follows me, believes
me, knows me, they're my sister, my brother, my mother. It transcends
all earthly relationships, doesn't it? As we talked about. Every
one of the earthly relationships that are dear and precious are
just pictures of this one. And so he says, my sister, my
spouse, not only related by blood, born of God, you're not ashamed
to call us brethren, but also chosen. Like Ken chose Amy. Said that she's, she'll be mine. That's my wife. My sister, my
spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, a garden and a fountain,
a spring. That's a good combination, isn't
it? Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant
fruits, campfire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus
and cinnamon with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes
with all the chief spices. A fountain of gardens, a well
of living waters and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north
wind, and come, thyself, blow upon my garden, that the spices
thereof may flow out, that my beloved come into his garden
and eat his pleasant fruits. Sounds like he delights in his
garden, the way he describes it. He rejoices in the garden. Isaiah 58, 11 says this, and
the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought,
and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. A watered garden. That's our Lord's church. In
this world of bad ground, our Lord has a garden. And we keep
throwing out the seed and we do so with joy and expectation.
We know that some seed will fall. He didn't say some of it might
fall on good ground. He said some fell on good ground.
It still does by God's grace. We know that God's word will
not return unto him void, but it will prosper in the thing
where to he sent it. And so we cast out seed by his
grace. What a privilege. What an honor
it is to sow. And may God, by His grace and
power, give increase to His glory, that fruit may be produced unto
His glory. Let's bow in prayer.