In Matthew's Gospel, chapter
13, and I want to begin reading in verse 1. The same day went
Jesus out of the house and set by the seaside. And great multitudes
were gathered together unto Him, so that He went unto a ship and
set, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And He spake
many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went
forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside,
and the fowls came and devoured them up. And some fell upon stony
places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprang
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 sprang up and choked them. And others fell into good
ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
and some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why do you speak 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. And then over in verse 18, here's
the Lord's interpretation of this parable. Hear ye therefore
the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of
the kingdom and understands it not, Then comes the wicked one,
and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the wayside. And he that received
the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word,
and immediately, anointing with joy, he receiveth it. Yet hath
he not root in himself, but he endeareth for a while. When tribulation
and persecutions arise because of the Word, by and by he is
offended. He also that receives seed among
the thorns is he that hears the Word. And the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and it becometh
unfruitful. But he that receiveth seed unto
the good ground is he that hears the Word and understands it not. and understands it, which also
beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some than hundredfold, some sixty,
and some thirty." Here in this thirteenth chapter,
I want to look this morning at the sowing of the seeds. And if you will study the twelfth
chapter of Matthew, our Lord Jesus Christ had just suffered
great opposition in His preaching. The Pharisees withstood Him.
They called Him Belzebub, said, You cast out devils through the
prince of the devils. They interrupted His messages.
They fussed and fued with Him. But yet, He says here in verse
13, the same day, The Lord Jesus went out of the house by the
seashore and began to teach them many things. The Lord Jesus was
never discouraged in preaching His Word. The Scripture says
that plainly, that He shall never fail nor be discouraged. He never failed when He went
to the cross to redeem His people. And when he was here, he never
failed or grew discouraged in preaching of the Word of God.
What an example he is to you and me as we go about ourselves
to witness and preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What
an example. It's easy to get discouraged,
is it not? Sometimes you and I preach. Sometimes
we teach. We hand out tracts. Sometimes
we hand out CDs, we witness it to people, but we see such little
fruit. We see such little evidence in
our labors. And sometimes we're apt to say,
I've labored in vain, and I've spent my strength for naught. The Lord Jesus gives us two things
here in these parables to keep us from getting discouraged and
to encourage us. He says something here to keep
us from getting discouraged. And the first thing is this,
not everyone that you and I witness to, not everyone that you hand
a message to or give a tract to is going to be saved. Now, dear Brother Spurgeon, I
love Brother Spurgeon and I think the Prince of Preachers is a
good title for him. But he said when we preach to
people, we should believe that God is going to save everybody
that we preach to. I'd love to believe that. But
I know Brother Spurgeon was greatly blessed. But all men are blessed
that way. All churches are not blessed
that way. What will you do when it comes that you preach to many
and you teach to many and they're not converted? Brother Spurgeon
had up to 6,000 people in his congregation. I prefer the faith
of Abraham. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but being fully persuaded that
what God had promised, he was able to provide. I have no idea, brothers and
sisters, if God is going to be pleased to save anybody this
morning under this message. But I know He is able. I know
He is able. And I know He will fulfill His
promises. And His promises is this, Thy
Word shall not return until You void. It shall accomplish that
wherein You sent it. And I know this promise is true.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
he hath everlasting life. That's true. He that believeth
and is baptized, the same shall be saved. I believe those promises. I believe those promises. But
here in chapter 13, in verses 4 through 8, our Lord gives us
an illustration of what naturally takes place in the sowing of
seeds. And He tells us this so we won't
be discouraged in sowing. Not every seed is going to come
up. Not everybody that you preach to and witness to is going to
be saved. And you need to know that. that
you may not be discouraged. In each of these instances here
that our Lord Jesus gave us, nothing is wrong with the sower,
and nothing is wrong with the seed. The fault is in the ground. Now look at this in verse 4.
Look at this first ground, what our Lord says. He went forth
to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and
the fowls came and devoured them up." You can get a picture of
this naturally sowing. They had paths through the field. They walked through those paths,
and they scattered the seed on each side of the paths. But the
paths were hard, and some seeds fell on those hard paths, and
they just trampled it under their feet. You get a picture of that.
And our Lord said that seed will not come up. The fowls fly down
and they land and they quickly peck that seed. And it's all
gone. They eat it. It's devoured. Nothing wrong with a sower. Nothing
wrong with a seed. But seed will not come up by
the wayside on hard ground. And then in verse 5 and verse
6, he tells us of another type of soil. Stony places, he says. There's not much earth. So these
seeds, they sprang up because they had no depthness of earth. Mark and Luke tells us about
this parable in a parallel passage that it was a stone, a rock,
So obviously, there was a rock and just a little layer of dirt
across the top of it, and these seeds fell on that dirt. But
it couldn't get down deep to take root. So when the sun came
up, it had no moisture. And what happened? It just withered
away. But it wasn't the fault of the
seed sower. It wasn't the fault of the seed.
It was the ground. It was the ground. And then verse
7 he tells us this, and you can get a picture of this. The next
ground the seed was sown and it was a thorny ground. And the thorns sprang up with
the seed and the Lord said it choked the seed. It choked the
seed. And it didn't bring forth any
fruit. The worm could not grow. The seed could not grow because
the thorns had taken the top of the ground. Moisture could
not get through. Everything was choked out. See
these three grounds? Up until now, there is no success
in sowing. These seeds never germinated. They never brought forth life.
They never brought forth fruit. But the Lord Jesus tells us here,
we should not be discouraged. Why? That's just the nature of
sowing. You're going to sow a lot of
seeds that will not come up. I have seen through the years
where I live, driving back through the country and driving down
the roads, I know several fields that I just about know, every
other year, that you're going to have some flooding in these
fields. And the crops are just gone. The field floods and the
crops are burned up. Or some of the places are too
rocky. For some reason or another, it just will not grow much fruit. But you know, every spring, there's
that farmer right back in there again. And he's planting the
same place. He's planning the same thing.
Why does he keep, why is he not discouraged? He knows that's
the nature of planning. All the seeds don't germinate.
They all don't reach maturity and bring forth fruit. This seems
to be the nature of our Lord's discourse here in natural things. And I tell you, it's the nature
of spiritual so and to. It's the nature of spiritual
sowing. You and I are not responsible
for preparing the ground which we sow seed in. We're not responsible for that.
We're just responsible to be faithful to sow. Just be faithful
to sow. Don't get discouraged because
all the seed that you sow Does it spring up into life everlasting? That's just the nature of things. There's the first thing the Lord
tells us. Only one out of these four seeds brought forth life
and brought forth fruit. Only one of them. The last one
that He sowed brought forth life. The rest of it was sowed in vain
as far as the sower is concerned. Now, secondly, our Lord gives
us something here to encourage us as we sow. And it's found
here in verse 8. Look at this. We've had the wayside
where the pathway was hard, no seed come up. We've had the rock,
the stony ground, no earth, no seed came up. We've had the thorny
places that choke the Word. Bore no fruit? But notice this, and the Lord
Jesus tells us something here. If you sow enough seed, it's
naturally going to come up. If you sow enough, some of it
has got to come up. So He says you're the last ground
The seed fell unto good ground and brought forth fruit." Now
that's encouragement A. What if you witnessed, what if
you handed out a message, what if you handed out a tract to
99 people and no one was converted by it? And you was ready to get discouraged
and you thought within yourself, I have labored in vain. Nothing
I've done, not a seed I've sown has come up. But what if that one hundredth
tract that you handed out, what if that one hundredth message
that you give to that one hundredth people was heard in a man's heart
and they believed it and were saved by it? Would it be worth
it? What if it was your child? Would
it be worth it? What if it was your spouse, or
your brother, or your sister, or your friend? Would it be worth
it? That's what the Lord Jesus is
saying. You sow enough seed, and I'm telling you, some of
it is going to come up. Be encouraged by this. In nature, if enough
seeds are sown, some are sure to land on good ground. In this
spiritual kingdom, it's the same way. When you sow, some are surely
going to land on a heart that will receive them and bring forth
fruit. Ain't that encouraging, brothers
and sisters? This, the law of outreach, is going to make that
to be so. How much more the God of heaven
that rules these things. But he tells us something else
here that I found very encouraging as I was looking at this text.
This is encouraging to we who sow seeds. The nature and the
description of the seeds themselves. Just the nature and description
of the seed that's sown. Now what is this seed? He goes
forth and he sows these seeds. What is this seed? Well, look
over here at the parallel passage, if you would. If you'll hold
Matthew chapter 13, if you'll look in Luke's Gospel, chapter
8, look at the nature of these seeds,
and I'm sure that you and I will be encouraged to sow more seeds. In Luke chapter 8 and verses
5, Here's the parallel passage, I want you to see that. Luke
chapter 8 and verse 5, the sower went out to sow his seed. He
went out to sow his seed. And look in verse 11, it tells
us what that seed is. Now the parable is this, the
seed is the Word of God. What's the nature of God's Word
then? I'll tell you what the Scripture says about it. It's
powerful. It's quick and powerful. That word quick means it has
life in it. It means it's life-giving. That's
the nature of God's Word. It pierces to the divide and
the sunder of the joints and marrow and the soul and the spirit.
It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is a
powerful thing. It's something that comes and
brings life with it. Peter says this about it, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, there it is, but of the
incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth. What's the
nature of God's Word? It's alive. It liveth. The Lord Jesus says the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. It's the nature of God's Word,
brothers and sisters. When the Holy Spirit yields it,
when the Holy Spirit takes it home to the heart, it's the nature
of that Word to give life to that soul in which it lodges. Receive the engrafted Word which
is able to save your soul. See the nature of this Word.
Don't that encourage you? You can't place the seed in a
person's heart. You're not responsible for that.
You're just a soul. You're just a soul. In every
case, the sower never changed the method of his sowing. Every
time he just cast the seed and he let it go land where it will.
He never changed his technique. He never said, I've got to change
my methods, I've got to change this or that. No, he just sowed
his seed. And I'm telling you, it's the nature of this seed,
God's Word. When it gets in this good heart,
it gives life. It gives life. Paul said this about it, and
I love this passage. In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13,
listen to this. Paul was thanking God for this.
He said, I thank God because when you heard the Word of God,
you received it, not as the words of men, but as it is in truth,
the Word of God, and listen to this, which effectually worketh
in you that believe. It works. It works. It gets in the heart, and it
works. Paul said, I have sowed, and
Apollos watered, but God gives the increase. It's working. That's the nature of it. Look
here in another parallel passage in Mark chapter 4. Look in Mark
chapter 4 and verse 26. Look at this. Just the nature
of this seed that we sow. It's got life in it. Look in
verse 26, and this is the parallel passage. You'll see that there
in verse 11 where the Lord is beginning to preach these parables.
But look here in verse 26. Mark chapter 4 and verse 26. So is the kingdom of God, as
if a man should cast seed unto the ground. There's the sower.
He's just scattering his seed. And he should sleep. He sows
his seed and goes home to sleep. Go home and sleep. And he rises
day and night. And the seed should spring and
grow up. He knoweth not how. See, the seed's underground.
It's taken root underground. He can't even see it. And he
rises night and he rises of the day. And he goes out and he looks. And he says, I have no idea what's
taking place. What's going on though underground
where he can't see it with his eyes? It's germinating. The roots
are going down. He doesn't know how it's happening.
But it's not up to him. This life is in this seed. It's
God's Word. Verse 28, "...the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear." What happens when we put a seed
in the ground? The life is in that seed. It's
in the seed itself. And the rain comes down from
the sky and germinates the seed, makes the ground soft, and then
the sun comes up and warms the ground and gives light, and what
happens? That seed springs up. It springs
up. When a seed is planted in a person's
heart, and this rain of grace comes down and gives moisture
to that seed that's sown, and the Son of Righteousness, our
true Son, Jesus our Lord, He rises upon that, what happens? Life. Life. And Glenn, you never done a thing
but sow. That's all you did. You sowed, you went on your way.
You had no idea of what was taking place. That's encouraging then. That'll encourage you to sow
besides all water. Just sow. The nature of this seed. Look
back over at chapter 13 again and look at the description.
Look at the description of this seed. Look what's said about
it. Look how it's described. In Matthew
chapter 13 and verse 19. I thought this was very interesting
as I read this. Matthew chapter 13 and verse
19. Here's the seed that we sow. In verse 19. When anyone heareth
the word of the kingdom. The word of the kingdom. That's the way it's described.
It's the word of the kingdom. It's the word of the king of
that kingdom. He calls it a kingdom in verse
11, and he calls it the kingdom of heaven as opposed to the kingdoms
of this world. There's many kingdoms. We used
to call countries kingdoms. We call them states now countries.
But this is a heavenly kingdom. We're not talking about earthly
kingdoms. This is about a heavenly kingdom.
It's called the kingdom of God as opposed to the kingdom of
man. And it's also called the kingdom
of God's dear Son. Because He has turned it over.
He has given it to His Son to set it up, to establish it, and
rule in it, and to protect it until the end. This is the kingdom
of God's dear Son. And the Lord Jesus Christ calls
it an everlasting kingdom. Listen to this passage in Psalm
145. David said, Thy kingdom, O Lord,
is an everlasting kingdom. My goodness, an everlasting kingdom? Some people talk about our nation,
our kingdom, not going to stand much longer. That may be so.
It stood longer than most kingdoms ever stood now. But I tell you,
there is a kingdom that's going to stand forever. And that's
the kingdom of God's dear Son. That's the kingdom of heaven.
Thy kingdom, O Lord, is an everlasting kingdom." And he told Daniel
this. He said, My kingdom is going
to break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms and shall
stand forever. This is a kingdom which cannot
be shaken. which cannot be destroyed, the
kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a mystery
this is! The mystery of this kingdom! How could it be the kingdom of
God's Son, and then Jesus Christ the man, by virtue of His death
upon the cross of Calvary, entered that kingdom Himself? What a
mystery that is. Oh Lord, remember me when you
come unto your kingdom. But that's the words that we
have. The words of the kingdom of God. And listen, this kingdom
is described as a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy. Now you show me a kingdom on
this earth that's that way. The best kingdoms that have ever
been upon this earth, even David's kingdom and Solomon's kingdom,
had some sin involved in it. And there was some turmoil involved
in it. And this quietness involved in
it. But this kingdom here is said this, Paul said, the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy and the Holy Ghost. It's a righteous kingdom. And I tell you, the subjects
of this kingdom are righteous people. They're called the Holy
Nation. The righteousness they have is
not a righteousness of their own. It's the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a righteousness that He
gave to them. That's why it's called a righteousness
that's clean and white and pure as linen. The Lord Jesus said, Except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. You cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven. Those who are in this righteous kingdom, they have
a righteousness given to them. And it is the righteousness of
God's own, dear son. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. A holy kingdom. A righteous kingdom. and a peaceful
kingdom. Didn't you find peace when you
found this kingdom? And isn't that peace keeping
your hearts and your minds? The kingdom. The kingdom. And
something else about this kingdom, it makes it a mysterious thing,
but we talk about it all the time. The words of the kingdom.
This is the way people get into this kingdom. It's by new birth. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. We get into this earthly world
by birth. How do we get into that heavenly
kingdom? By new birth. We're born into
it. And those in this kingdom, we're
told, are preserved until the day and the time that it will
be revealed in its indescribable glory. Brother Larry talked about
it this morning. This Kingdom is going to be revealed. Paul said, the Lord shall deliver
me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly
Kingdom. This Kingdom is coming. Here's
the mystery of it. We're in it now. And it's in
us. Ain't that a wonderful thing?
The Lord Jesus said, you can't see this Kingdom. You can't say,
lo, over there it is. Or, lo, over there it is. It
comes not with observation. You can't see it. He said, the
kingdom is within you. It's within us. And we're in
it. The mysteries of the kingdom.
And Paul said this, The sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed. The glory which shall be revealed. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of heaven, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. How are we to get into this kingdom? How are we going to get in? Paul
said those who are dead and their bodies have decayed, they're
going to be raised. And that corruptible will put
on incorruption and they'll enter this kingdom. with their whole
humanity. Not only their souls, but their
bodies will enter. Those who are alive and remain,
those mortals, will be changed and put on Him or God, and they'll
enter that kingdom and glory. The manifestation, the glory
that will be revealed. The kingdom. The kingdom. And
here's what's said of them. Listen to this. The righteous shall shine as
the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Can you imagine that? I was looking at a picture of
Scott and I showed it to one of the little grandbabies the
other day and it scared them. They looked at that and they screamed. Can you imagine Scott shining
as the sun? Can you imagine that old swiveled
up man that got so weak he could hardly get off of his couch?
Can you imagine somebody like him shining as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father? That's what we're talking about,
ain't it? They're going to come from the north, south, east,
west, and they're going to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. I want to be among them, don't
you? Oh, I want to shine. Boy, now we're getting old and
feeble and weak. We're dying. But oh, when the
kingdom is revealed in this indescribable glory, the honor and the privilege
of being in this kingdom, the saints will shine. They'll shine
in the kingdom. of their Father, shine. Thy kingdom come. That's why
we pray that in. Come, you blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom. So now entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior. The sower went out to sow. And
what did he sow? What did he say? He talked about this kingdom.
He talked about the kingdom. Who's over this kingdom? Who
is the king? What did he do to get up on that
throne where he sets and rules? He got there by Calvary's tree.
Who's the subjects in this kingdom? Those he calls. Those he gives
a new birth to. Those he washes and regenerates. And I tell you, these are mysterious
things. And that's what we talk about. That's all we talk about. I love the way the book of Acts
closes. It says that Paul, a prisoner of Rome, they let him stay in
his own hired house, and he received everybody that went there. He
had congregations that would go there, and he had preached
to them for two whole years. He preached every day. He preached.
And you know what he preached for two years? The things concerning
the Kingdom of God. I mean to tell you, it must be
pretty broad. There must be a lot to say about
this Kingdom, if a wise apostle can talk about it for two years.
That's a big subject, ain't it? That's a glorious subject. That's
a glorious subject. I tell you, I'm thankful. I'm
thankful to be a citizen of this country. I love this country.
I love this because this is my country. This is our country.
And I still get teary-eyed when I sing about it. But I tell you,
this place is nothing compared to this kingdom. Nothing. Now, let's quickly, I want you
to do something quickly. I want you to turn back over
here to my text in Matthew 13. I just want now to look at the
Lord Jesus' interpretation in the light of what we've been
saying. Look here in verse 19. Now this is very amazing to me.
Don't be discouraged, brothers and sisters. Remember the nature. Remember the description of this
seed. Don't be discouraged and so on. But here is an amazing
thing. Here in verse 19, when anyone
heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, Then
cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his
heart." Now, ain't this a amazing thing? When we consider the preciousness
of this seed, the nature of it, the description of it, and here
somebody is, and their heart is so wretched and indifferent
to it that they have no use of it. It's just like sowing on that
hard pathway. to sow in some people's hearts.
I don't understand that. I don't want anything to do with
it. I don't want to hear it anymore. Ain't that amazing? Ain't that
a mystery in itself? That here you are, you're in
bondage. The prince of your country has put you in the dungeon and
won't let you out, and here somebody is preaching to you through your
bars, your cage, telling you of this heavenly kingdom, and
what do you say? I don't want to hear anything
about that. I've got other fish to fry, other things to do. Why would a person say that?
Why would a person be of that attitude? Well, I tell you, it
ain't just him. There's somebody else behind
it too. You see these things going on here this morning that
you and I can't see with our naked eye. There's spirits in
here. Pentecostals always talking about
casting out these spirits and everything. I tell you, there's
spirits all over this place. And they're evil spirits. And
while the preacher is talking about these things, there is
somebody who sits here and says, I don't want anything to do with
you. I wish you'd hurry and shut his mouth. I've got to go. There's
a game on TV for crying out loud. Shut up and let us out. I'm hungry.
I'm tired of this foolishness. And what does the devil do? He
comes and snatches that word away. See, he's not allowed to
do it. He's not allowed to do that.
Until the heart says, I don't want to do this. Get it out of
here. Then God gives him the leave
and liberty. He runs and snatches it like
a fowl eating the seeds. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, here's what he says. He says, we have received this
ministry, this wonderful ministry, and therefore we don't faint.
We just keep preaching. We keep sowing the seeds. But
if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, and whom
the God of this world hath blinded their minds, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of God, of Christ, should shine through
unto them." We got a wonderful message, a life-giving message,
but it ain't for everybody. They don't want it. Secondly, look at this in verse
20 and verse 21. The Lord interprets this parable
to us. He that receives the seed unto stony places, the same is
he which heareth the word, and immediately with joy he receives
it. But he don't have root in himself.
But he endures for a while when tribulations and troubles and
persecutions come because of the word. By and by he is offended. What's the problem here? Well,
the heart is still hard, ain't it? The heart is still hard. It's like a stone. It has no
ground to receive the seed in it. That's its whole problem.
The Lord is near them of a broken heart, and He saveth such as
be of a contrast spirit. But that's not so with this case.
Still has an old hard heart. The Word doesn't penetrate. I
will take out the stony heart, and I'll give them a heart of
flesh. But He's not given these a heart of flesh. Their hearts
still are. And what happens? What happens? Well, when they begin to suffer
for the gospel's sake, they say, I don't want anything
to do with this. Man, I don't want anything to do with this.
What about you folks believe that ole election? You believe
election? Man, I didn't know it was that bad. I've not suffered
for that. You guys believe in that old blood redemption? Well,
I never thought it was that bad. I ain't going to suffer for that.
He won't suffer for Christ's sake. He won't suffer for conscience
sake. He won't suffer for righteousness
sake. He don't have a heart to suffer for the gospel. Why? Because the gospel ain't got
in his heart. It's hard. It's hard. And here
in verse 22, the Lord Jesus interprets the seed that was sown among
these thorns. And he says this, verse 22, "...he received seed
among the thorns as he which sheareth the word. And the cares
of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and
he becometh unfruitful." There are four things that are said
about this in our parallel passages. It is mentioned here, the cares
of this world. He's overwhelmed with the cares
of this world. He's not concerned about the
cares of another world. But it's this world. Deceitfulness
of riches. Riches has deceived him. He gives
his heart to him. He goes after him. He works to
get him. He covets after him. Not the riches of Christ. Not
the riches of wisdom and knowledge. But the riches of this world.
And Mark says this, the lust of other things. Boy, that's
a thorn, ain't it? Not things above, but things
below. And Luke says this, here's another
thorn that Luke mentions, the pleasures of this life. The pleasures of this life. At
thy right hand there's pleasures forevermore. But he said, wait,
I'm hung up on these pleasures. Here's where I find my pleasure.
And what's the problem with this heart? It's overwhelmed. It's overwhelmed. You've seen
vines, you've seen briars and weeds overtake a field, and it
chokes everything else out. That's what happens to this heart.
It's choked out. The Word is choked out by these
things. Does a true believer have a problem
with these things? You better bet he does. You better
bet he does. He's not exempt from these things.
You think a believer has no thorns? You think he has no hard places
in his heart? He struggles with these things.
But here's the difference between the believer and the unbeliever.
The believer, he overcomes these things. Oh, they cost him some
fruit. They do. But he struggles against
them. He recognizes. And what he says
is, these things are in opposition to my Lord. They're in opposition
to His Word. They're hindering me. And he
struggles against them. And he overcomes them. Who is
he that overcometh this world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. This is the faith that overcomes. Boy, I tell you, brothers and
sisters, it is necessary for the heart to be broken and weaned
from the things that oppose the setting up and the progress of
the Kingdom of Christ in our souls. We must be weaned from this world
and its pleasures and its riches and its lust. If we are not,
I tell you what it will do. It will overcome us. It will
overcome us, and it will choke the Word that is being sown in
the heart. We may brag and say, well, I'm
not as bad off as those on the wayside. I'm not as bad off as
those that had those hard, stony hearts. I'm not as bad off as
they are. But if I have so many thorns
and bras in my heart that it's choking the Word of God, that
it does not bring forth any fruit, then I'm no better off in the
end than they are. Are we? In verse 25 and in closing, this
one, look at this. Notice the difference here. Notice
the difference. And notice where the difference
is. It's not in the sword, it's not in the seed, but it's in
the heart. But he that receiveth the seed
into the good ground. The good ground. That's the difference. Luke says this. He says it's
a good heart and an honest heart. There's the key right there.
There it is. There it is. An honest heart. as opposed to a wicked heart. That's the kind of heart we come
into this world with, is a wicked heart. A wicked heart can't be
converted. The Lord doesn't even try to
convert it. He gives a good heart. He gives a good heart. And this
good heart as opposed to that wicked heart. And this honest
heart as opposed to the deceitful heart. An honest and good heart. You know what our problem is,
brothers and sisters. You know what our whole problem
is. This is the whole problem. If you're here this morning and
you're lost, and you leave here lost, I tell you what your whole
problem is. You're just not honest. If you're
here and you're a stony heart hearer, if you're here and your
heart's full of thorns that chokes the Word, I tell you what your
problem is. You're not honest. You're not honest. You're content
to put up a front. You're content to put on a show.
You lie to God. You lie to yourself. You lie
to everybody around you. You're an actor. You're a hypocrite.
And you'll never be saved until God gives you an honest heart. Now, that's man's problem. And
that's why this heart brought forth fruit. It was an honest
heart. And verse 23 here tells us something
else about this heart. It wasn't an intelligent heart.
He that received the seed in good ground is he that hears
the word, and look at this, he understood it. He understood
it. And when he says here he understood
it, he means that he understands how it applies to him. When he hears it, he says, now
I see. Now I get it. I never did get
it before, but I get it now. When I say to you this morning,
the whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. You say,
I understand that. Don't you understand that? You
say, I'm sick. I understand that I'm sick. I'm
sin sick. What do you need? A physician.
You understand that, don't you? The Father sent me to heal the
broken and hearted. Oh, and you say, Bruce, that's
me. I'm broke. I'm not able to go
on. Oh, I need the Lord Jesus to heal me. Lord, heal me. I
know what I need. I understand what I need. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. Don't you understand that? Don't
you really understand how that applies to you? You're sick. You're sin sick. And here's the
healing balm. Here's the medicine. His stripes. His stripes. And you understand
that. And you say, Lord Jesus, You're
just what I need. Heal me. Heal me. I will take
out the stony heart and I'll give them a heart of flesh. I'll
give them a new heart and a new spirit. Lord, I understand that. That's just what I need. That's
just what I need. Give me a new heart. Give me
a new spirit. And he says this, they keep it.
In Luke chapter 8 he says they keep it. That means they hold
it fast. They ain't going to let it go.
Somebody's trying to take it away from them. Somebody's trying
to steal it out of their heart. But Luke said they keep it. Boy,
they got a hold of it. They tell Satan, you ain't getting
it. They tell the world, you ain't getting it. They tell the
old lust of the flesh, you ain't getting this. This is my treasure.
This is my life. They keep it. They guard it. J.C. Philpott had this to say.
He says, here's the difference in these groups of people. He
says, let a man receive the truth into his heart, and he may let
it go. But let a man receive the love
of the truth in his heart, and both the truth and his heart
are secured. That's it, ain't it? It's the
love of it. You're not going to let her go,
are you? Just try to leave him. You're not going to get away.
Why? He loves you. You're his. That's
the way it is. That's the difference, ain't
it? Well, I've received the truth and still in love with the world.
I've received the truth and still in love with yourself and sin?
Uh-uh. No. Dear soul, be honest. Be honest before you lose your
precious soul. Be honest. And they bring forth
fruit with patience, endurance. They just don't give up. Whatever
comes, they keep on going. They keep on enduring a joyful
endurance. Let us pray.