We are looking at what is also
a very common parable. Most people know, even people
that don't know God have heard of the parable of what is called
the sower and the seed because it's one of those agricultural
parables that is so common to the life of mankind that you
don't need to be born again to understand the implications of
what is a labor-intensive occupation, being a sower. Now, the title
of our message today is called the sower's parable. The sower's
parable. It's not the parable of the sower
and the seed. It's the sower's parable. And
I say that because if I were dealing with the parable of the
sower and the seed, particularly, I would talk to us about where
the seed first comes from. And then I would talk to us about
how the sower receiving that seed must prepare both the seed
and the soil so that that seed might be sown and sown in a profitable
way. We would talk at length if we
were dealing with the sower himself about the wisdom and discretion
that God calls sowers to. So the parable is about the parable
of the soar the one who is yielding forth the message here is the
soar and The soar here is speaking to us out of extreme concern
of the events that are taking place in his life and in Luke's
own inimitable way his own unique way what he did in the opening
verses of chapter 8 I don't know if you noticed it, but he says
and it came to pass afterwards now warned you about this last
week and When Luke speaks in his narrative, he gives a running
commentary about events that take place, and he uses this
little clause, this conjunction, and it came to pass during this
time. And what he's doing is establishing
a centerpiece around which the events are transpiring, even
so it is here. He wants you and I to know that
our Lord is in the middle of his ministry, that he is at the
height of his popularity and he has been doing things in terms
of his manifestation as Messiah that is affirming his call. He
is healing the sick. He is raising the dead. Multitudes
are coming to him. Mark verses 1 and 2 as we get
prepared to deal with his parable. And it came to pass afterwards
that he went throughout every city and village. That's called
an itinerant preacher. He went through every city and
village Preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom
of God and the twelve were with him And so the disciples of whom
you and I met last week in our Lord's calling some of them from
being fishermen Remember that and others from different occupations.
They're all together with him as he goes about his itinerant
ministry but mark what Luke says in verse 2 and certain women
are which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's steward,
and Susanna, and many other women, which ministered to him out of
their substance. Listen to what the text does.
In our Lord's discourse, in his excursion, Luke makes sure that
he paints the picture of what our master is doing in such a
way that he gives us the full eclectic account of all of the
people that were participating in ministry. Now, I appreciate
this. because what it demonstrates is that our Lord Jesus Christ
was not merely bound up with the 12 exclusively, but that
there were a number of people participating in this ministry. And more particularly, the text
says it was the women who supported Christ and the disciples. They actually supported these
men. Watch this, ladies and gentlemen,
out of their finances and their resources. women who have been
touched by the master, blessed by the master, saved by the master,
and therefore compelled to enter into service for the master,
manifesting their faith, which works by love, by supporting
the cause of the ministry. Luke wants us to understand that.
See, these women here are with Christ in the shadows all through
his ministry. I mean, you know, a lot of practical
things go on in ministry of which you and I may not pay attention
to. And I often say it all the time,
angels don't come into this place and straighten out the chairs
and set the hymnals and get things in order. I mean, one day they
will be angels, but right now it's human beings who do this.
And you might not consider who they are because all you get
to do is enjoy the ministry of the word. But somebody has to
come in and do the hard work of preparation. Luke has determined
to let us know that our Lord Jesus had Someone who bankrolled
the ministry and among those who bankrolled the ministry Was
this woman called Mary Magdalene now, you know, she's famous,
isn't she? Mary Magdalene has got the bad rap just like the
Lord Jesus and and Peter as well. But this sister loved the Lord
Jesus Christ passionately She'll show up at the end of his journey
when he's about to be crucified and she'll be there on Sunday
morning when he rises again from the dead. Isn't that right? Unfortunately,
she'll go around talking about somebody stole his body, but
I mean she'll get her theology straight one day. What I'm talking
about, however, as we get ready to get into our account is how
that God uses people of various gifts in order to support the
ministry. And it's not always the upfront
ministry. It's not always I'm called to
preach. I'm called to teach. Somebody
got to put the gas in the van. Right. And so and these things
are important to Christ. They're important to Christ.
They're important to God. I thank God for these women now
you think about it if you had Mary Magdalene's background and
You were possessed with seven devils. Do you know your what
your life is toe up? I mean messed up and Christ comes
along and deliver you from all of your bondage I mean all of
it wouldn't you love him like this when you love him like this
wouldn't you be on his tail everywhere he went and You know, people
would be whispering, who is that sister? Every time Jesus shows
up, a sister's over there and all she's doing is smiling, happy
as can be, totally liberated by the power of the gospel, and
more than willing to serve in the back, fixing sandwiches to
make sure everybody is fed. Powerful! And so it was with
Joanna, and so it was with Susanna, and so it was with all the other
ladies, Christ's family included down the line. And so Luke has
us to understand Christ has this eclectic group of people who
most people don't pay attention to because we get caught up so
much in the limelight, which becomes the context for what
he's about to do. So we read in verse four, and
when much people were gathered together, much people gathered
together. What are you talking about? Thousands,
thousands upon thousands upon thousands. And the way Luke puts
it is they came out of every city. And when they gather together
around Jesus, it doesn't matter where, sometimes it was at homes,
sometimes it was in the public, sometimes it was in the synagogue.
Wherever Jesus went during this part of his ministry, he was
so popular, he had drawn so much attention that multitudes came
from everywhere. After all, sinners have need
of Christ. And as he is preaching and teaching,
remember, a gospel minister comes giving, giving, giving. And when you have need, you go
to people who give. I'm talking authentic need. And
so they're coming to Jesus. And at this time, he is compelled
to speak to them on a very important subject relative to their eternal
destiny. I want you to understand this.
And this is hard for religious folk to get. Christ has never
ever once been impressed by the multitudes. He has never once
talked about the way you can determine the presence and movement
of the Spirit of God is because of how many people show up at
the ministry. He has never once even hinted
to his disciples that they are to gauge the approval or the
favor or the blessing of Christ on a ministry because of how
many people showed up. And on this day, Christ is operating
again in a very Unpolitically correct or politically incorrect
way. He's about to offend virtually
everybody here as he's preaching he's thinking about how these
people are crowding together and he's compelled now to set
forth a parable and as he sets forth the parable he speaks to
them and Pointedly about the nature of the ministry of the
gospel and he says in verse 5 and a sower Went out to sow his seed. Do you see that? He did this
once he's looked upon the audience. And in fact, in Matthew's account,
you know what it says? He's on the seashore again. And
because there are masses there, he has to get into a boat and
drift out a little ways in order to get an echo effect, a chamber
effect for them to hear. So he's using that method once
again, climbing in the boat to speak to these people. And he's
broadcasting loudly, a soar went forth to soar. He's got their
attention. Because all the people in Israel
know about sowing seed. They were raised up by God as
an agricultural nation. God actually integrated the whole
concept of worship and a prophetic calendar inside their agricultural
system. This is the book of Leviticus.
So they know that they're being told something that's extremely
familiar with them. A sower went forth to sow. Now the first thing I want to
call your attention to is the sower. Be very careful to know
that the sower in the first sense and in the most important sense
Is the lord jesus christ himself Christ is the sower of the seed
Matthews 13 verse 37. You don't have to go there. Jesus
said it himself and the sower is the son of man Why do you
say that preacher? Because I want you to understand
that if you are ever saved, if you ever come to a real saving
knowledge of Christ, are you hearing me? Christ is the one
who has to sow the word in your heart. If Christ doesn't sow
the word in your heart, you will never be saved. If you ever come
to church to just listen to a man, you'll never be saved. If you
say a man saved you, then I guarantee you your salvation is a temporal
salvation and will have no eternal efficacy. When a man or woman
is really born of God, it's because Christ came down from glory,
took on a human nature and became the word made flesh and placed
that word in your heart and gave you life and faith in Jesus Christ.
The sower is the son of man. So what he wants the audience
to know is I am doing something presently And you are part of
that process. And it's important for you who
are part of that process to understand where you are. So the soar is
going to explain this strange dynamic called hearing. Called hearing. A soar went forth
to sow. Now we know also that the soar
are individuals who are called to what? Preach the gospel. You
remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, as he is speaking
to the church at Corinth, who had no problem, apparently, of
committing what we call man worship. The idolatry of, I am of Paul,
I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, he says, listen, did Cephas die for you? Did Apollos
rise again from the dead for you? What do you mean you are
taking your identity and connecting it to a sinful man just like
you are? I say this also to a whole bunch
of Christians who love to tout their denominations. Whoopee
for your denomination. Who cares about your denomination?
Listen, the person who started that denomination wished no one
had ever put their name on that denomination. I remember Martin
Luther making it very clear before they put his warm rotting body
in the grave. He says, please do not use my
name after anything. If you want to know what Luther's
name is, Luther's name is Worm. That's his name. My goodness. Here he let the whole religious
world know, don't start a denomination after my name. What did they
do? And so you got the Methodists.
And so you got the Baptists, and so you got the Presbyterians,
and so you got the Pentecostals, and you got all these peoples
whose names will never leave this terra firma. You will never
see in glory any denominational titles. Ever! Ever! A denomination can't save you.
The source Christ, but he uses the preaching of the gospel and
he uses men Paul said in first Corinthians chapter 3 it is true
It is true that one souls, right? Another what waters but it's
God that gives the increase in that, right? It's true that God
uses the vehicle and instrumentality of men to sow the seed but once
you start worshiping the instrumentality you have missed the source and
Once you have started worshiping the instrumentality, you have
missed the source. And in fact, you know what Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 3? Who is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believe. That's all they are. Love them,
but don't worship them. Don't ever eclipse the glory
of God in Christ by bowing down to the instrument that he uses
to bless you. Don't ever do it. So as we understand
the parable of the sower and the seed, the sower here is Christ. And in the context, the lessons
are important. The lessons are important because
he's preaching to thousands about the kingdom of God. And do you
know what he knows? According to the symbolic ratio
that we have in front of us, only one out of four people will
even pay attention to what he's talking about. So as he, I don't
need to, that's right, as we are preaching, as we are preaching,
listen to me, as he's preaching, he wants the audience to know
that you're not saved because you're in a crowd. Watch how
this works. He's expounding the parable of
the sower and the seed. And the first thing that he says
in the midst of his preaching, look over verse eight with me.
I want to talk about this for a moment. Watch this. And he
said, and other fell on good ground and sprang up and bear
fruit a hundred fold. We'll talk about that. And when
he had said these things, he shouted. Do you hear it? So he had gone along in a normal
monotone voice, setting forth the parable. And in the midst
of the conclusion of that parable, he felt compelled to cry. Now that particular word, their
cry, doesn't mean to weep or to whimper. It means to shout. It means to shout. You hear this
verb used in the book of Revelation concerning the mighty angels.
And a mighty angel cried out loud. It was such that it shook
the whole earth. Our Lord felt compelled at this
point of the exposition of this parable that he's laid on the
people to turn and to warn them. He's warning them. he's warning
you. Here's what he says, the individual
among us today who actually has ears, you better hear what I'm
saying. That's the actual literal translation
of that task. It's in the singular present
imperative verb form. It's a command. And he wasn't
speaking to everybody. He was speaking to everyone individually. You is in the singular. Pastor,
who are you talking about? You. You who have ears, let him
hear. You know why he sets that forth?
Because you could be sitting under the preaching all your
life and never, ever actually hear the truth. So we got to
work with that a little bit. Do you remember the day God actually
opens your ears and you found yourself wide awake to the reality
of biblical truth that had penetrated your soul in such a way as it
had never done before? You were just going through the
motions. And the preaching was, as I've told you before, Charlie
Brown's teacher. And you had learned all of the
religious rhetoric. And then one day it was crystal
clear. the entrance of your word giveth
life, it giveth understanding unto the simple. When the word
of God penetrates in a powerful way, the first thing that God
does is open the ears of your heart. So he says, you who have
ears, let him hear. This is so critically important.
And so I'm going to share with you three kinds of hearing that
you must avoid three kinds of hearing that you must avoid.
And we will see logically that there is only one kind of hearing
that is essential to this thing called preaching and listening. The first kind of hearing that
I want to call your attention to that you must avoid is the
group hearing, the cultural consensus hearing, where men and women
hear or listen or assess the preaching of the word based upon
cultural norms or cultural ideas or the consensus of the crowd,
where when you listen to the preaching, hear me now, you judge
it through the prism of what is commonly interpreted in our
culture. When you listen to the preaching,
you ask yourself, this is tacitly, this is without audible expression,
but inside, here's what you're saying. Watch this. I wonder
what everybody else thinks about what he just said. I wonder what the vast majority
of our present culture thinks about what he just taught. I
wonder what my mama thinks about what he just taught. I wonder
about the group that I hang out with, my teenage group, my peers. I wonder what would be their
thoughts if they heard the same message. You know what that's
called? That's called cultural hearing, cultural conditioning.
It's the idea that people cannot listen objectively and critique
and discern independently what's being said without it running
through the filter of the multitude. I told you this on Friday, and
I'll say it to you now. When the Lord God, Jehovah, brought
Israel out of Egypt, that polygamous, that polytheistic culture of
pagan idol worshippers, he knew what Israel was, and he brought
them into the wilderness for 40 years to teach them how to
worship God. immediately after he had given
them the law in Exodus chapter 23 You know what he told his
people and I'm gonna tell it again to you again. Here's what
he said you I'm talking about you Who I know only out of all
the nations of the world you shall not follow a multitude
to do evil Got it. See that's called cultural hearing
Well, if the vast majority are doing it or believing it or thinking
that way, it must be right. You know what God was teaching
his people? How to think independently. How to critique and assess and
determine the rightness or the wrongness of a thing, not based
upon whether it's approved by the society, but on its own merits. Does it constitute truth? Listen,
if the whole world rejects it, it doesn't matter. If it's God's
word, it's right. Who cares what the world thinks?
that's hard though because you got to go home with those knucklehead
worldlings come on am I telling the truth you might say hallelujah
today that's why I say don't don't don't go that's right because
you see and that's right right now but when you leave and go
hang out with these other group folks you shut your mouth because
you know that the culture does not buy what the Bible teaches
today now all of us now say that's right among them Now, if you can say that's right
among them, you can say that's right among us too. I don't mind
you going amen to the truth, but don't just be religious around
it. Let this thing settle in. There are implications and consequences
to saying amen to God. Do you know some people are going
to be held accountable on the day of judgment when they go,
amen, amen. You better hold your amens until you are willing to pay
the price. Telling the truth to a generation
of people who hate biblical truth Are you hearing? So critically
important the the context tells us that the seed that our Lord
cast Which is the Word of God was cast upon what is called
the wayside verse 5 so or went out to sow his seed and as he
sowed some fail by the what and Wayside and and literally it's
the path upon which the people traveled the common path upon
which the multitude Traveled it was the street. It was the
road. It was the place where there
was no soil at all There there was no possible way for the seed
to actually take root Germinate and spring up and bear fruit
on the footpath. Are you hearing me? And isn't
that remarkable? Because if you read your text
carefully, all four people were hearing people, hearing, hearing.
And they that heard on the wayside are such as, are you hearing
me? The seed fell on the footpath,
it fell on the concrete, it fell on the dirt road where everybody
trod upon it. The carts, the wagons, the donkeys,
the dogs, the cats, the chicken, everything goes down that road.
Now, you know what he's describing? He's describing the hearts of
men who are so far outside of the kingdom of God that what's
in their heart is the world. The whole world. The whole world. Now some people's
hearts are so full of the world that they can't even begin to
hear God. Now here's what's going on with
the seed being sown on the wayside, or on the concrete, or on the
side of the road. Listen to what the text says.
And because some fell by the wayside, it was trodden down. Do you see that? Trodden down. That's the first thing that happened
to the seed. It was trodden down. And then the second thing is,
and the fowls of the air, what? So two things take place with
people whose hearts are so filled with this present world system. Two things take place. There's
an automatic degrading, an automatic diminishing, disregarding, rejecting,
trotting underfoot of the Word of God in the heart of these
people. The natural man, the natural man naturally opposes
biblical truth. The natural heart naturally seeks
to defy the propositions of the Word of God. The heart that exists
and lives in the world and finds its comfort with all of the philosophies
and ideologies and worldviews of its present culture is always
seeking ways to deny the clear teaching of Scripture. Are you
hearing me? The goal of the unregenerate man is to trod the truth underfoot. That's what he does. What do
you mean, Pastor? What I mean is when your heart
is not prepared to hear direct, bold, plain proclamation of the
truth, you are always seeking a way out. And you look to the
world to give you an excuse not to hear God's word. Are you hearing
me? And then the wayside hearer,
because they are naturally predisposed to not hearing God's word, they
have a door on their heart which the devil looks for that gives
him access to enter into the heart and actually take the word
out so that it doesn't ever have any chance of bearing any fruit.
Isn't that what the text said? Isn't that how our master explained
it? And the devil comes and snatches the seed away. We got multitudes
of people who profess to be Christians today. who are so encumbered
with this world that there is no room in their heart for the
Word of God to even abide. Am I making some sense? That's
why you have in your pastor's commentary the 5%ers that I talked
about last Monday. Are you part of the 5%ers or
are you part of the 95%ers? Is the world so engrossed in
your life? Is the philosophy of this world
so foistered upon your thinking that you can't actually receive
the Word of God? that is a burden for you to even
think about biblical truth. One of the things that fascinates
me all the time is how religious folks try to make a distinction
between the preaching and proclamation of the Word of God and what they
call worship. Isn't that wild? Well, you know,
man, we really appreciate how you explain that word, but I'm
looking to worship God. How are you going to worship
God? Apart from the Word of God, how's the heart gonna be lifted
up without a revelation of Christ? How are you going to be moved
to worship him who is invisible? It must be made manifest through
the preaching of his word See so we have a delusional worship.
That's not worship at all It's nothing but distraction and paganism
and it's designed to keep you from hearing the Word of God
by the way, if you ever worship God a right and It'll be first
by going down, not standing up and running around. If God ever
penetrates your heart with the power of His Word, you will go
down. There will be an inward worship,
an inward contemplation, an inward woe, an inward sorrow, an inward
thankfulness, an inward gratitude, an inward bubbling up that might
manifest itself outwardly after the Word of God has cleaned you
up. Am I making some sense? all of this extemporaneous outburst
of worship before the Word of God has broken the center. It's
nothing but a facade. Nothing but a facade. We want
Christ, but we don't want the Word. Are you kidding? Christ
is the Word. Am I making some sense? Christ
is, in fact, I have never ever once in my life worshiped God. Except it been under the powerful
influence of the preaching of the Word of God I have never
experienced the beautiful prostration of my soul before this infinite
glorious being if it wasn't for the Instrumentality of preaching
by which the Spirit of God laid me low at the foot of the cross
and showed me his glorious feet Which died for me never ever
have I worshiped God apart from the preaching of the Word of
God I don't know what this folly is, but our master says The fowls
of the air devour the word and what that means is while as yet
you are pretending to be a Christian You have given the devil full
access to come into your heart anytime. He wants to to snatch
the seed up Can I be playing with you today? It happens it
happens And it's so practical You don't have one promise you
can hang on. You don't remember one solid
biblical truth upon which you can hang your eternity-bound
soul. For you, the Word of God is just like Jet Magazine, Ebony,
everything else, of which probably you read more
of that than you do the Bible. Our master says they by the wayside
are such as have this consensus hearing, this cultural hearing.
Well, what does the multitude say? Well, what does the majority
say? How does the majority operate? And see, it's packaged in a narrative
that's rooted in a faulty assumption. I want you to hear the assumptions.
Here are some of the humanistic, secular, ideological constructs
by which we all, unless God gives us a love for the truth, embrace
it to the rejection of biblical doctrine. Are you ready? Here's
the first truth. Here's the first lie or faulty
assumption that people hold to. Every way of man is right in
his own eyes. Did you hear what I just said?
Now watch this. Follow me now. When you finally came to the
truth of the gospel, didn't God blow you away with a knowledge
of the utter, desperate, total corruption of the human heart?
You have been told all your life long by the humanist and the
secularist, your teachers, that man is basically good and that
given the most favorable and auspicious circumstances, he
will rise to heights of nobility and success. Now, your experience
was contrary to that. As you grew up, your first years
in elementary school, your first day at school, you remember how
that girl kicked you in your butt and the other one pulled
your hair? You remember that? You remember that when you went
to school, it was a war zone? Come on, am I telling the truth?
You're like, mama, what you doing sending me to school? I'm in
here with beasts. And it only went from bad to
worse as you got older. And then in order for you to
survive, you had to become a beast just like them. So you had to
learn how to take on the narrative of lying and cheating and manipulating
and dog-eat-dog and beating down the oppressed yourself in order
to survive. Now there you have the Darwinian
theory of the survival of the fittest, but it's rooted in a
depraved heart. a depraved heart. And when God
showed you that glorious truth, you said, thank God somebody
showed me the truth that my fellow man is vain, arrogant, and deceived. And I am too by nature. I hate
God. I hate true. Do you know what
the Bible says men love darkness rather than light? That's John
chapter 3 verse 19. Watch this ladies and gentlemen
This is how you know, you're not saved because when you hear
the kind of preaching that I'm doing it disturbs you in a bad
way You really would get up and leave but something's keeping
you in your seat right now You won't be back next week, though.
I know that. I know you won't be back. I know you won't be
back. Unless the Holy Ghost gets ahold of you. If the Spirit of
God gets ahold of you, if he's dealing with you, he'll allow
you to walk in the enmity of your natural heart so long as
is necessary to help you understand that you are the only sinner
on planet Earth. See, when God's saving you, it's
not about everybody else. It's about you. Am I making some
sense? See, when we get the gospel right,
we stop talking about how bad they are. It's my problem when you get
a revelation of the glory of God that he shows you the corruption
of your own fallen nature. And when you look inside of you,
which is a scary thing to do without the help of God, to look
in your own heart. I mean, that's like going to
the worst movie The assumptions, the faulty assumptions
of this present world system is every way is right in a man's
eyes. We got to fight that battle of every way is right. Ladies
and gentlemen, every way cannot be right. Every way, every way
cannot be right. Your way, my way, their way,
our way cannot be right. There can only be one right way. Am I making some sense? And so
we got to fight this battle of everybody's view is right. We
call that pluralism in ideological constructs, right? Your view,
my view, everybody's view is true. Well, that's the great
lie that will send you to hell. Broad is the road that leads
to destruction. Many there be that go therein.
Narrow is the way. Few there be that find it. Have
you found the narrow way? Have you found the narrow way?
This is that group of hearers who don't know how to distinguish
Biblical truth from the lies of the consensus everywhere right
a man is right in his own eyes now watch this Here's another
assumption that's flawed on the part of men and you might have
fallen pray for this too. Are you ready? Men are actually
in pursuit of the truth. I Hear pastors talk like this
The only problem with man is he hasn't discovered God yet.
He's looking He's looking feverishly He's turning over every rock
he possibly can, but he hasn't found God yet. God, would you
help the man find you? See, the assumption is we got
this God-sized vacuum in our heart that can only be filled
with God. Remember that? This God-sized
vacuum. The only problem with that God-sized
vacuum in your heart is it's not biblical. No man seeks after God. There's none that pursues God. There's none that desire the
true and the living God. And in fact, I would assert that
every one of us by nature are running from God. We are hiding
from God. We are denying God's glory. Am
I making some sense? There's none that seeks after
God. How do you know? Because when God shows up and
knock on your door, you don't let him in. What do you mean? Well, we'll see that as we work
through some of the other characteristics of hearing. There's a hearing
that's rooted in consensus, rooted in culture, rooted in group therapy. It's the multitude hearing. It's
the idea that I'm safe as long as I'm part of the majority.
It's the assumption that every way of right is right in man's
eyes, that men are actually in pursuit of the truth. Here's
another one. This one here has has arisen
in the 21st century and it's part of your sort of your your
neo-pagan New Age movement. Are you ready? That men have
the ability to interpret the truth internally without a paraclete
without God Wisdom is with us as the men in the book of Job
says, you know There's this attitude that people have that I can understand
truth for myself Haven't you heard that watch this that I
know the truth because the truth is on the inside. I heard a comedian
Last week now, I don't listen to comedians because comedians
are some of the vilest human beings on planet Earth if you're
talking about a model of absolute debauchery and corruption Comedians
are some of the most vivid devil honorers on planet Earth. The
only people worse than the comedians are the people sitting in the
audience laughing at the comedians. When you look and observe that
kind of demonically controlled festivity of absolute perversion
and profanity running everywhere without any kind of mitigation,
you understand how depraved men are. Am I making some sense?
Nothing is more vile than the nightclub comedian talking to
ten or tens of thousands about nothing but utter and total perversion. And yet they are prophesying
and yet they are teaching and yet they are shaping culture
because they often say things that have a scintilla of truth.
This fool who was talking this occasion said this, I don't need
the Bible. See, the truth is in my essence. I said to myself when I heard
him say that, that fool doesn't even know what essence is. In
fact, that's why he used the word essence. You know how people
use terms that sounds eloquent and unique? They use those terms because
they don't know what it means. I said, I wish I was right there. I'd
ask that knucklehead, what does essence mean? The truth is in
my essence. No, listen to me. The truth is
not in your essence The truth is not in your it's not in your
essence. This is not it's not in my essence The truth is in
the essence of God God is true and until truth is imputed to
you given to you Communicated to you you and I are nothing
but darkness There's no truth in our essence. Am I making some
sense? And so what that man did was he taught people not only
to ridicule because that's what he did not only to contend Because
that's what he did not only to mock because that's what he did
not only to blaspheme the word of God But to reject it as an
agency by which men and women might come to Christ This is
what I mean about people laughing their way to hell laughing on their way to hell.
Don't let me catch one of you GBC folks at one of these clubs.
Don't let me catch one of you over there. Group hearing, consensus hearing,
cultural hearing, the assumption that every way of man is right
in his own eyes and that somehow that we can determine the truth
without the Word of God, without the work of the Holy Ghost. If
we buy into these, what we will draw the conclusion of is that
you and I are basically all right as we are. I want to drop this
one before I go to my next point. The world feverishly sets forth
its theses and its worldviews prolifically everywhere in every
discipline and culture of life. It's the same narrative. Are
you ready? You are all right, just like you are. Are you hearing
me? That's what they teach. I want
you to hear me now. They teach that you are alright
just like you are. Now if that is true for even
a nanosecond, are you ready? God is a liar. Point number two in our outline,
if you are all right, just like you are, because you hear that
from there, you know, you are right, man. You are just like
you are. No, you're not. Ladies and gentlemen, you are not. All
right. You are not. All right. Like you are. You
and I, are you ready? Need help. Point number two, the second
kind of hearing to avoid, are you ready? Is emotional hearing,
emotional hearing, emotional hearing. this is verse 6 in Luke
8 and some fell upon a rock and as soon as it was sprung up it
withered away because it lacked moisture and this is where our
Lord speaking in Luke chapter 8 as he explains that over in
verse 13 watch it they on the rock are they when they hear
now watch this receive the word with what see this is why I tell
religious folks you better stop rejoicing until you actually
receive the truth because you're perpetrating a fraud. God don't
want you to just get happy just because you received the truth.
He wants you to first think about the truth. Contemplate the truth. Consider the truth. Mold over
the truth. Weigh the truth out. Penetrate
that truth. Think about that truth's implications
and consequences in your life. He doesn't want you to just give
him the reward of rejoicing. Oh, that was a good word. And
you still end up in hell. God does not need you to rejoice.
He needs you to think. In fact, that's what propositions
are all about, to penetrate the brain, to shed light on the mind,
to bring you and I to bear upon the consequences of our life.
And so it says here, and they on the rock are they which when
they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no what?
Root. Remember the agricultural analogy
is that of wheat or some kind of plant. When the seed is sown,
it springs up a little bit because it's on the rock. Now the rock
is little more than the wayside, the concrete, the ground. It's the area off the wayside
of which a little dirt is on the top of it, of which if the
seed goes in it, the seed now can break up and begin a process
of germination, but it has nowhere for the roots to go down and
get grounded. And so what it is, it's like
the individual who can endure coming to church, maybe even
grow up in the church, and actually learn Bible verses. Don't you
know a lot of people like that? They can quote Bible verses for
days. Remarkable, isn't it? And yet
their lives are so radically contrary to the truth they quote. And see here, this is our text.
Jesus is speaking to the audience because in his audience are these
kinds of people. There are people who know how
to intellectually with their cranium as it were store a bible
verses so they can impress people We call these religious folks
Religious folks. This is called emotional hearing.
Can I talk to you a minute? Emotional hearing this here is
the individual who comes to church to feel good You know when I
go to church, it makes me feel so good Now, you know, that's
not the truth when you come to church to hear the truth. The
truth don't always make you feel good, does it? And yet, if there
are people who are coming to church to be, as it were, made
to feel good, they are the emotional hearers. Now, emotional hearing
people, they interpret the scriptures according to how it makes them
feel. If it grates against them, then
it's a wrong interpretation. If it causes guilt or shame,
the exposure of hypocrisy, that is, if it exposes the truth of
what we really are, of which you and I are covering up constantly,
even with our emotions, then it can't be the truth. I'm in
the wrong church, I'm among the wrong people, I'm either reading
the wrong Bible, or something's wrong because the way he's talking
doesn't make me feel good. Now I want you to hear me for
a moment. The moment you determine the
right and wrong of biblical truth based on how it makes you feel,
listen to me, then the authority for what's right and wrong is
your feeling and not true. The moment you say, I just don't
agree with him because it just grates me to, I don't even know
what's wrong. I just don't like what he's saying. Don't you know
you could be all messed up? You could be totally wrong and
you're trying to determine the rightness of the teaching based
on how you feel Rather than determining objectively whether or not that
man is simply telling the truth and I don't like it Can I ask
a question? Is there one time in your life? Where you heard
something? That you didn't like But it was
right Is there one time in your life where someone says something
to you now watch this and It was so contrary to your thinking
that you didn't even have a reference point by which you could even
determine the plausibility of it being right. You just rejected
it out of here because it wasn't even in the framework of your
thinking, right? And secondly, it cut you. You didn't like being
cut. And you said, I'm automatically
rejecting that. We call that emotional hearing.
That's what dominates the vast majority of our culture today.
This is why those kind of emotional preachers, which lots of people
love, can fill up auditoriums to the tens and twenty and thirty
thousands of people. Are you guys hearing me? Because
they can make you feel very good. Only problem is, according to
our text, watch this, when you and I are exposed to biblical
truth, And it enters into our mind and heart and therefore
we have a knowledge of what it says That biblical truth is going
to do two things. Once you receive it. Are you
ready? It's going to try you It's going to test you Biblical
truth is going to test you as to whether or not you understand
it and actually agree with it Biblical truth is going to try
you and test you as to whether or not you understand it and
Actually agree with it watch what the text says in verse 13.
Are you there and they on the rock? Are they which when they
hear the word receive the word with joy and these having no
root? Here it is which for a while
believe You see that particular cost. I want you to I want to
help you with that because in religion this happens often people
go through what is called a superficial a non-substantive conversion
where the church knows how to get people to come up to the
front of the altar. Pray, make a decision for Jesus. The music
is jamming. People are emotionally moved.
They ain't never cried so much in their life. Come to the altar
and the preacher leads them in the sinner's prayer. Group salvation,
right? Group salvation. Take pictures
and everything, right? And they go away saying they're
saved. And then a trial hits their life.
That's what our word is, trial. The word temptation is trial,
purismus, and it's the word of testing to determine the validity
of your profession of faith. What God does when you say you
are a believer is take your profession and put it in the crucible of
testing to see if it's gold or fool's gold. And what he does
is bring trials in your life, trials. to determine whether
or not you will make a public allegiance to Jesus Christ over
against the world or not. And when the world starts pressing
in on you and starts challenging your assumptions and starts challenging
your exclusivity to Christ, starts challenging the Bible and starts
challenging what we believe to be true, now all of a sudden
you have to ask the question, is it Christ or is it them? And
then you get mad at God. And you know what you do? you
start shrinking away. The text said, and they fell
away. In Mark's gospel, it's the Greek term scandalized. And you know what it means? They
were really mad at God because they thought that God was here
to not only make them feel good, but to give them a better life.
And when they found the opposite, not only does God not primarily
make you feel good, But also, you might, after coming to Christ,
experience more trials than you did before you came to Christ.
You come running home telling folk you love the Lord, you didn't
receive free grace, God didn't pardon your sins, and you know
how eloquent some of y'all get, I'm saved, I'm sanctified, filled
with the Holy Ghost. And you come home and your loved
ones start going to war with you because there are two kingdoms
in the home. the kingdom of darkness and the
kingdom of light. And because your profession was a sham, it
was nothing but a sham, the next thing you know, you back living
like hell like you always did. Can I get one witness? And our
Lord is talking about that here with the emotional hearers. The
emotional hearers are the ones who dictate to Christ what they
should hear. This is called the ego affirming
theology that dominates our culture. And I want you to mark this now.
An ego affirming theology wages war against God. It denies. I
want you to hear this. Watch this. An ego affirming
theology, which is emotional hearing, wages war against God
because it denies the necessity of first being slain before you
can live. being humbled before you can
be exalted, being broken before you can be fixed, the necessity
of a resurrection life before you can truly live. Am I making
some sense? Watch this now just in case you
missed it. You need to actually be saved. See that term doesn't
resonate in this present generation because it has been resigned
to mere religious rhetoric. You need to be rescued. You are dead in your trespasses
and sins. You are under the wrath of God. You are on your way to hell.
If you die today without Christ, you will perish under the wrath
of God. You need to be rescued. You need God to come and rescue
you. That's what it means to be saved.
God has to rescue you. He has to rescue you from your
sin. He has to rescue you from your addiction. He has to rescue
you from your ideology. God has to snatch you out of
the jaws of death and hell. God has to deliver you in a mighty
way from your bondage. Or you're going to hell. Are
you hearing me? Saved people. Saved people are
rescued from the bondage of sin, from the curse of the law, from
the tyranny of the devil, from the darkness of life, from the
paganism of this world, from false religion, from fig leaf
religion. When God saves you, he delivers your soul from hell.
I'm here to tell you, and when he saves you, things are radically
different in your understanding and in your affections. A change! has to take place when God saves
you. Otherwise, you are just as you always are and you continue
that way. Molding and shaping the word
of God and your religious experiences according to your convenience.
Am I making some sense? I know it hurts, it's so important.
This is why our Lord cried out, you who have ears, please hear
me. Please hear me. You must be saved. Please hear me now. Don't play
church. You can go to hell from the doors
of the church. They used to talk like this long
ago. And we had the holy silence that
we're experiencing now, where the spirit of God now can start
communing with the soul As the soul now is being brought to
life from the dead, and it's starting to feel the pain of
his depravity, and the lights are being cut on, and the conscious
now is starting to show that individual where they really
are with God, that they have been lying all along, that they
are not walking with God, that they are not communing with God,
that they are not fellowshipping with God. They have just learned
to do church. When God saves you, he delivers you from those
lies. Are you hearing me? When he saves
you, he delivers you from those lies. And where we are in our
present generation, and the church is guilty of it too, the church
is nothing but a prostitute, her whole job today is to satisfy
people's emotional needs. And all that does is create more
addictive behavior patterns. Are you hearing me? It just creates
a greater, more religious sense of addiction. This is listen
if all you're experiencing is another form of addiction by
virtue of religion You are in a greater and more desperate
need than you were before you came to church Because now you
need God to endorse your addictive behavior patterns. And this is
why you need exciting religion exciting religion I mean, exciting
religion, where folks are not only making a bunch of noise,
they're jumping up and running everywhere. You got flags and
trumpets. I mean, how loud are you going
to get after a while? How loud are you going to get after a
while? Are you hearing what I'm saying? See, and if anybody knows
about addictions, it goes from bad to worse, and there is no
limit. For those who are on dope, you
know what I'm talking about. Well, I'm going to stop with
this. No, you're not. There is an abyss in the soul when you're
an addict. that has to be shut up. That
pit has to be shut by the power of God. Only the power of God
that can stop that pit. Well, I'm falling. I'm hoping
he hit the bottom. Unless God puts a bottom under
you, you'll go all the way to hell. God has to put a bottom
under you. God has to put a bottom under
you. And you're not going to find it in your average church
because they'll tell you you're all right. You're not all right. The preacher is not all right.
We're not all right. Christ is all right, but you're
not all right. Oh, this is tough, but we need to hear it. Emotional
hearing. Our Lord warned about that. Then
here's the last one before we go to the one that's most important.
This is called the half-hearted hearing of busy people. The half-hearted hearing of busy
people. Look at verse 14. your text and
it's the same as verse 7 verse 7 and some fell among thorns
you guys see that and the thorn sprang up with it that's the
seed and choked it verse 14 puts it this way and that which fell
among thorns are they which when they have heard there it is see
they heard go forth and are choked with the cares and riches and
pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection the other
gospel account it is they bring no fruit at all now can I help
you with that a little bit it's very important the half-hearted
hearing of busy people are the folk listen to me carefully now
these are the folks who live among the thorns they have their
life Among the thorns Jeremiah chapter 3 God told Jeremiah to
tell the people do not any longer sow Among the thorn now, why
would you sow good seed among thorns? Do you understand how? inconvenient and pokey and prickly
and poisonous thorns are you guys understand that right and
so when our Lord says They some of the seed was sown among thorns
and the seed grew and the thorns grew together Eventually the
thorns choked the seed. Let me help you the thorns are
the cares of this life Now watch this watch this Everybody needs
to make a living Everybody needs to pay the rent. Everybody needs
to have a decent life as much as they can possibly acquire
for themselves. No one is going to ever tell
you, be careful about working too much. No one is going to
ever tell you, be careful about storing up too much wealth. No
one is going to ever tell you, be careful about taking on that
second job. No one is going to ever tell
you to be careful about how you manage your time, how you manage
your gifts, how you manage your goals. No one's going to tell
you that. Everybody's going to thank you
and praise you for being able to work two jobs, have two cars,
have two homes and have a stable bank account. But you know what
Jesus calls that? The cares of this life. And literally
in the Greek is called the pursuit, the pursuit of life. I want you
to mark it now. Somebody's going to be blessed
by this today. Now watch it. It's the word pursuit, pursuit. You and I are under the tyranny
every day of paying the bills. I talk to my brother and all
the time about it. You know, man, sometimes I just want to
get out of California because to live here, boy, you got to
be a hustler. Am I telling the truth? If you're going to survive
in this California condition, you gotta be a hustler. You gotta
work. You gotta be diligent. You gotta
labor. Because they're not only getting
you coming, they're getting you going. Am I telling the truth?
It's a lot of hard work. And people get tempted to want
to cheat. They want to do other things.
All this is, is the nature of this world, listen to me ladies
and gentlemen, that's designed to distract you from your priority. How many people will end up in
hell because they work too long an hour? In fact, it says, and
the seed fell among the thorns. The way that I have it is this
way. The half-hearted hearing of busy
people is that they live, they have their lifestyle, their existence
among the thorns, they work, watch this, they play, they converse
with you and God while being among the trees. Remember what
happened to our first parents Adam and Eve when they were in
the garden where it was just them and God. And the tenure
that God had given them was a wonderful tenure. And what I mean by that
is God did not tell Adam and Eve to start that business from
scratch. They didn't have to work up the
ladder to become managers of God's company. He had provided
for them a wonderful atmosphere of work of which all they had
to do was till it and keep it. It would have never gotten in
the way of worship. It would have never gotten in
the way of devotion. It would have never gotten in
the way of personal study of the Word of God. It would have
never gotten in the way of fellowship. It would have never gotten in
the way of ministry. It would have never hindered evangelism.
It would have never hindered them going to visit the poor
and the sick and the needy. It would have never actually
gotten in the way, hear me now, of the priority of the Kingdom
of God. God will never set you up on
a practical level where what you do on a practical level for
Him contradicts the objective of the Kingdom of God. Are you
hearing me? but you can heap to yourself
so much busyness that while you are talking to God at the same
time, you got your iPod, your iPad, your cell phone, your laptop
going all at the same time. Can I keep talking to you? Yeah,
God, how you doing? Just a second. I've got this
text. I'm good. That's how people are. That's how people are. See, Adam and Eve, when they
fell into sin and disgrace, they ran from the voice of God, hiding
among the trees. And God said, where are you,
Adam? And he says, I'm naked and I'm ashamed. And when I heard
your voice, I ran to hide. That's what a lot of people do
in the church. You know what it's called? Half-hearted hearing
of busy people. You know what they say when you
meet? What are you doing? Well, child, I'm busy. Busy. Doing what? Nothing. Just busy. Do you know what the
Bible teaches? That we are to be still and know
that he is God. Be still and know that I am God. God has to stop you and get your
undivided attention. God has to rest your soul in
one place so he can speak to you face to face one-on-one.
He has to remove everything that would vie for or contend with
your time. God is disgraced when you think
you can talk with God with one ear and have a cell phone in
the other ear. And your answer is I'm busy.
You're on your way to hell yet according to our parable. Are
you hearing me? You are on your way to hell right
now. According to our parable, you
are not saved. You're not saved. Serious stuff,
isn't it? You will never accidentally go
to heaven. Woo, I made it. Woo. That's a
trip, man. Man, I made it. Goodness. Man, I tried. You know, I tried
to juggle all these balls. Done it, I made it. Wonder what
I'm gonna tell people how I got here. You will never inadvertently,
accidentally make it to glory. You will perish with your busyness. Listen to it. In that which fell
among thorns are they which when they heard go forth and are choked
with the cares and riches and pleasures. Mark it. Anxieties,
wealth, and pleasures this physical life you know when you meet people
that are encumbered by all this isn't it aren't they anxious
people aren't they always talking about money and aren't they dominated
by self-pleasure there's no way you can serve God and money I'm
just gonna lay it out to you you are lost if you don't master
your time you are lost You can pretend all you want to that
you're right with God. You're not. God is a fancy in
your thought. You are governed by the dictates
of the idol of your time clock, of your agenda, of your calendar,
of that business meeting, of that group of people that you
weary yourself hanging out with. But man, I don't hardly get any
sleep. Well, God didn't put you on that schedule. You put yourself
on that schedule and you're going to hell. that schedule. You don't know God at all. You
don't know God. You're on your way to hell. That's
the half-hearted hearing of busy people. Now, there's only one
kind of hearing that constitutes salvation and I want to say this
succinctly and finish cuz I want you to meditate on what we talked
about today. The text tells us in verse fifteen,
which also corresponds to verse eight, and others fell on good
ground and it sprang up and it bear fruit. How much, ladies
and gentlemen? Isn't that crazy? God have mercy. Do that to me. Do that to me. Do that to me. Do that to me. I have never borne hundredfold
anything in my life. Are you hearing me? I've been
ever with all my labors and arduous endeavors to do anything. I've
never seen a hundredfold. Have you? Have you seen anybody
do anything that produced a hundredfold? And yet the scripture says there
is promise of the man or the woman who hears God's word right
of bearing fruit to a hundredfold. I remember a couple of years
ago when I made that proposition, somebody argued it can't happen.
We're sinners. It can't happen. But I'm here to tell you, Isaac
did it. Didn't I teach that in the book of Genesis? How Isaac
took up after his father Abraham's business and he went forth and
bore fruit a hundredfold? God made that happen? Hundredfold! Hundredfold! And in Matthew's
gospel, Mark's gospel, you know what it says? Hundredfold, sixtyfold,
thirtyfold. I don't care if I do thirtyfold.
I want to bear fruit for the glory of God, don't you? I want
to bear fruit. But the Word tells me it's possible
that if the Word of God is received in the light, It is capable of
causing you to be the vehicle by which God is glorified a hundred
fold. I believe God. Do you believe
God? I totally believe God. I told I haven't experienced
it yet, but I totally believe that God can cause a man or a
woman to be such a blessing to the sin-cursed world that he
gets so much glory out of their life because they have received
the Word of God with meekness. the engrafted Word of God which
is able to save their soul. I believe that. I just believe
that with all my heart. I have too many models in the
scripture. The Apostle Paul teaches me that. The disciples teach
me that. My master teaches me that. These
women teach me that. that God can use his people in
such a way that he brings forth fruit in their life that redounds
to his glory. Watch this over and over and
over and over and over and over again, from one generation to
the next generation, in my generation, in my children's generation,
in my children's children generation. When I'm gone, my life will be
such that after I die, my works will follow me. Are you hearing
me? Where the Spirit of God is pleased
to take the labors which He labored in my life to bless this generation
and the next generation and the next generation until Christ
comes. After all, there have been missionaries
who have gone to the missionary field and their lives were sown
into the soil of that culture and in their own present generation
didn't bear any fruit. Next generation, thousands came
to Christ. Next generation, thousands came
to Christ because of their labors and the Word of God. You see,
the seed has to be sown into the ground and it has to die
in order for it to do what? Bear fruit. It has to go into
the ground and die in order for it to bear fruit. And our Lord
Jesus in his passion is simply saying to the crowd, that's you
and me. I'm sorry. It's you and me. You
may not like this, but it's you and me. Take heed how you hear. Verse 18, line one. 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 seems to have. Are you in the takeaway mode
today? Don't answer that to me. Spirit of God is talking to you.
Are you in the takeaway mode? Has God taken the scriptures
out of your lips? Has God taken the word of God
out of your mind? Have you left off delighting
in God's precepts? Have you left off a hunger and
thirst for righteousness? Have you found yourself so dry
that you don't care anymore whether or not you open your Bible? Have
you left off with the ability to talk to unbelievers about
the glorious Savior Jesus Christ? Are you unable to stand up to
the challenges that comes to you from this culture with many
women who want to make Jesus on a par with all the other pagan
gods of this world? And you just have no readiness,
no preparedness, no capability at all to stand up and say Christ
is the truth. If you are in that kind of place,
God has taken away from you the word. He's taken it away. He's warned us he gives it to
us for a season and if we're not doing what's right with it
It gets taken away what you don't use you what? Yeah, what you
don't use you lose. I'm just telling you the truth
and it doesn't happen by accident either The seed that's sown on
good ground. Listen to what it said. This
is remarkable verse 15 But that which is sown on good ground
are they? Which in a here's the first line. Are you ready? What's
the word? What's the word? Y'all ain't said that in a long
time. What's the word? Yes. Yes. Yes. Honest. The Greek term there
is honest. And here's what it means. You
just don't seek to lie to God. You don't lie to God. You don't lie about your condition. You don't say you're something
that you're not. You don't pretend that you're
this when you're that. An honest heart hears the word
of God, which rises up as a mirror and shows that man, shows that
woman precisely what they are. And they say, are you ready?
You're right. You're right. God, I'm just like
you said I am. You're right. You're right. I'm not fudging. I'm not hedging.
I'm not docking. I'm not dodging. God, you are
right. If it's what you're saying is
so right, it doesn't even need commentary. That's a good heart.
That's a good heart. Are you hearing me? That's an
honest heart. Listen to what it says. An honest and a good
heart. That term good there means made
right with God. made right with God. It's the
heart that says you're right, God, and it's the heart that's
made right with God, which is this. The seed that's sown into
the honest and good heart is a heart that has been prepared
by God. The soil has been broken up. The rocks have been removed.
The soil has been prepared. to receive the seed and not reject
the seed or cause the seed to be choked up. It's a good and
honest heart. You know, you meet very few people
like that. A good and honest heart says this, create in me
a right heart, renew in me a right spirit, create in me a clean
heart. And Lord, if you see any evil,
any wickedness, any vileness in me, Remove it far away from
me. I want your presence. I want
your truth. I want your spirit. I want your
favor in my life. I want to abide with you. I want
you to abide with me. I need you, God. Are you hearing
me? I need you. And I know the problem
is my heart. My heart is deceitful and desperately
wicked above everything. No one can know it but God I
don't even know how deceitful my heart is, but I believe God's
word I know that unless God changes my heart, I will not receive
his truth. I won't I won't I won't I will have reservations I will
lead my own idolatrous life and God at best is a bellhop to my
agenda Am I telling the truth And this
is this is when the heart is like this you want you here's
what you're thinking there's no power but i'm here to give
you five promises four promises one two in our outline point
number four the seed it's not in our text to be developed but
i just want to share share this with you as a as a word of promise
are you are you there do you have that in your outline the
seed you got that in your outline i didn't want to make sure because
my outline is often different than yours I'll send in the notes
and then the day later and lord give me another revelation You
don't get it the seed Mark 4 14 says the seed is the word of
god You believe that? Now there are four things about
the word of god. I said this before i'm going to say it to
you right now This is important for you to know when the word
of god is depicted as the seed the seed What is telling us is
that it has potential? Potential like any seed has potential
but that potential does not come to reality until it goes through
a process Are you hearing me? Just because a person hears the
Word of God doesn't automatically mean that it's going to go through
the process The sower sows the seed and unless that seed goes
through the process. Nothing will occur. I But without
the seed, there's no hope, no possibility. Am I making some
sense? This is why you and I must stay under the hearing of God.
Here's the reality of the seed of God. It has potential to save
you. The Word of God has potential
to save us. Isn't that what the Bible says?
Isaiah chapter 55, verse 10, as the rain from heaven, as the
rain falls down and the snow from heaven, He says, it comes
to the earth and it waters the earth. Listen, and it does not
return until it gives what? Bud to the earth, seed to the
sower and bread to the eater. So is my word that goes out of
my mouth. It shall not return void. It
will prosper where unto I what? Send it. God says the Word of
God has the capacity to bring life to sinners. The Bible tells
us in Romans chapter 1 that the gospel is the power of God unto
what? Salvation. Unto everyone that
believes. To the Jew first and also to
the Gentiles. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching. to save those who would believe.
Why do we come to church to hear the word? Because the word has
the power, it has the potential, and it has the promise to save.
You know what the promise is? Watch this. He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and will never ever come into condemnation, but will have passed
from death to life. What's required? Hearing! Faith
comes by what? And hearing by what? It's in
the present indicative. Faith continues to come as we
continue to hear. But you know what? You and I
need ears. God has to give you ears to hear. God give us ears
to hear. Proverbs 20, 12, that's for some
of you. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made
both of them. Today, may God grant us to hear
His Word. In fact, to comprehend His Word
in such a way that what is manifested in the preaching of the Word
is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. I'm talking about the
God-man Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the only one
who lived a perfectly, holy, spotless, sinless life. The only one. I'm talking about
the invisible God made manifest in the person of Christ who became
watch this now the only Mediator between God and man the man Christ
Jesus when the Word of God is preached faithfully What you
and I have an opportunity to see watch this now is that we
are all wrong and he's the only white person Watch this now and
he was manifested in order to take away our sin. I Need a Savior, don't you? I
need someone who is mighty to save. I need someone who is not
only mighty to save, but qualified to save. Someone who has lived
perfectly according to God's law and justice. And then one
who was able to bear the eternal wrath of God that was due to
my sins. That's what I need. I need a
savior who died and was buried and rose again the third day,
able to say, it is finished. I need a savior who can impute
to me his righteousness so that when God looks at me, hear me
now, all he sees is spotless, perfect righteousness. I need
a Savior who not only imputes to me a robe of righteousness
by which I am made acceptable to God, but I need a Savior who
imparts to me His Spirit, which is able to change my life, change
my mind, change my thinking, and therefore change my ways. I need to experience the power
of God's Word. You and I need that too. So as
we close, please listen. will be sown into the hearts
of his people. And they will know the power
of his redeeming grace. My encouragement to you is when
you go away from the preaching, get with the master in the quiet
of your soul and ask him to make it plain to you that it may bear
fruit which is the aim of the Word of God. Amen.