Turn with me, if you will, to
Luke chapter 13 and verse 18. Luke chapter 13 and verse 18. Then said he, Unto what is the
kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like
a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his
garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of
the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereunto
shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which
a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened." Now, immediately as you read this parable, there
are some things that need to be understood and ought to be
striking as you read it. The first is this, the church
and kingdom of God is indeed a kingdom. The church of God
is the kingdom of God. the kingdom of heaven. He is
the king. He owns and possesses the kingdom,
and he alone is authoritative in the kingdom. Faith in Jesus
Christ is bowing in submission to the king. You who are yet without faith, you who yet believe not, I assure you, I assure you, the
things that perhaps cause struggle in your soul and difficulty is
not that you can't believe the Bible is the Word of God and
the Bible is true. It's not that you can't believe
that Jesus Christ actually by his blood atonement has put away
sin, satisfied the justice of God and fixed it so that God
can be just and the justifier of the ungodly. It is not that
you don't want to be saved in the end. That's not the difficulty. The issue between your soul and
God Almighty is his right to be God. That's the issue. The issue between your soul and
Jesus Christ the Lord is his right to be Lord. You see, unbelief
in its essence is rebellion and enmity expressed continually
against Jesus Christ the Lord. Faith in Christ is bowing to
him, bowing to his dominion, giving over your life to the
rule of Jesus Christ because he is rightfully your Lord. because he is rightfully the
king. Surrendering to him, depending
on him as your king, because he is worthy of faith and confidence. I bid you then, I urge you, for
Christ's sake and for your soul's sake, quit fighting God. You're going to lose. Quit fighting
God. Quit your rebellion. Cease from
your enmity. Lay down your weapons of warfare
against the throne of heaven and bow to the Son of God. Surrender to Him and live forever. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That believing is a trust that
involves the trust of my being to him. I trust him as my Lord,
the Lord my righteousness. I trust him as my Lord, the Lord
my Redeemer, my Deliverer. I trust him as my Lord, the Lord
my guide and protector. I trust him as my Lord, the Lord
my shepherd who cares for my soul. I trust him as my Lord,
the Lord who does all things for me." So the Church of God
is a kingdom, and the Church of God is a kingdom of which
Christ is the King. And you who bow to him as the Lord. But in this parable, we see clearly
that our Lord Jesus was a great storyteller. He constantly used
parables, he constantly told stories to illustrate and enforce
his doctrine. I want us to look at several
related passages. Turn over to Matthew 13 for a
moment. Whenever we think about the parables of the kingdom,
our minds immediately generally go to Matthew 13, because that's
where the Lord Jesus gave us these great parables, one in
succession to another as they were recorded by Matthew. Here
in Matthew 13, verse 35, we're told all these things speak Jesus
unto the multitude in parables. And without a parable, spake
he not unto them. And the reason is this, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, saying,
I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things which have
been hid, or have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Our Master never endeavored to exercise spellbinding oratory. He never displayed great intellectual
prowess of argument. He never stood before men and
gave theological recitations, but rather he deliberately spoke
in plain, simple, everyday language. He did so to clearly set forth
and illustrate his doctrine, the gospel of God's free grace.
And that kind of preaching ought to be constantly cultivated by
his servants. Look in Mark chapter 4, Mark
4, verse 33. Mark is telling us about our
Lord teaching in parables. Mark 4, 33. And with many such
parables spake he the word unto them. as they were able to bear
it, or to hear it. But without a parable spake he
not unto them, and when they were alone he expounded all things
to his disciples." When the Lord Jesus preached, he never once
referred to the original language, he never once defined a word. He never once used a word in
his preaching that required defining. When he spoke, he used language
and words and stories that everybody who heard him could easily grasp
and understand. I don't mean by that that they
could understand things spiritually, that's not the case. I preach
to you, and I can't make you understand spiritually, I can't
give you a believing heart, a hearing ear, a seeing eye. But as I preach,
it is my responsibility, as these other men preach and teach the
Word, it is our responsibility to make the Word of God so plain
and clear that our language cannot possibly be misunderstood except
it be deliberately misunderstood. Did you hear that? When our Lord
spoke, nobody had to scratch his head and say, Boy, I wonder
what he meant by that. I wonder what he was talking
about. But rather, he spoke plainly. He never preached anything, never
taught anything that he couldn't illustrate with a story. Never. Everything is so simple,
so clear. And our Lord, teaching with this
great plainness and simplicity. Talk to people with knowledge
and understanding. Come back to Jeremiah chapter
3. I make no pretense of being a
a theologian, a learned scholar, any of those things. But I labor earnestly, seeking
from God the message that's needed for your soul every time I stand
in this place. Our Lord says here in Jeremiah
3.15, I will give you pastors, shepherds, according to mine
heart. And here they are. They are men
which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Feed you with
knowledge, that is, they will not stand up and talk to you
about speculative theories. They won't stand and debate issues.
They will feed you with knowledge, with knowledge. Knowledge of
God's Word, knowledge of God's ways, knowledge of God himself. They'll feed you with knowledge. Brother Larry was talking to
me the other day. Someone had asked him about,
when he was preaching, said, you know, we like to just raise
our hands and ask questions. Do what? I'm not here to offer
speculative opinions to you about anything. We'll discuss those
back in the office or riding down the road. I'm here to deliver
a message. A message with clear knowledge
and understanding. Understanding? Understanding
where you are, what you need, what you experience, what you're
going through right now. That's what's involved in seeking
a message from God. I want to know the truth, but
I want to know the truth that's needed for your soul this hour,
at this time, and come and speak to you with knowledge and understanding. And I can't do that, lest that
doesn't lie within the realm of my ability or any other man's. The only way on this earth I
can come here with a message from God to meet your soul's
needs this hour, and again, Tuesday night, to meet your soul's needs
that hour, is if God the Holy Spirit will direct me by his
supernatural power and grace. And then the scriptures tell
us that the Son of God, back there in that passage we looked
at in Mark, in chapter 4, the Son of God expounded all things
to his disciples. He kept back nothing from them. He expounded to them all the
word of God, and faithful men followed his example. God's servants
hide nothing. Nothing. I get a little testy. I hear preachers try to excuse
themselves from not preaching the gospel with clarity, not
declaring to men the doctrines of Holy Scripture, because, well,
our folks, they wouldn't understand. They'd get upset. That'd cause
difficulty in the church. They can't take it yet. When
the scripture says, Our Lord taught them as they could hear,
or as they could bear it, it doesn't mean that he kept something
back here and didn't tell them about it. That's not it. He taught
them with such language as they could understand it. You understand
that? And when we preach the gospel,
we come to men and open to them the Word of God, hiding nothing. Now, this word, parable, is the
same word that's commonly translated proverb. Solomon's wise sayings,
his instructive similitudes, are called proverbs, or parables,
by which he taught us wisdom. And so he who is greater than
Solomon uses a parable, a proverb, to teach us wisdom. And in doing
so, our Lord fulfilled the prophecies. The scripture tells us in Psalm
78, I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of
old. So the Lord Jesus came here and
spoke to his disciples in parables to teach them. Now, as the matter,
the subject theme of the parables, Matthew tells us that there were
things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
And I think something needs to be said concerning that. In these
days when folks are trying to figure out things that God hasn't
revealed, they'll point to different things like this and say, you
see, God has some things that were hidden. And we have to dig
and decode the Bible so we can understand what God's saying.
When he speaks of things that were hidden from the foundation
of the world, he's not talking about things that were absolutely
hidden. The Lord's purpose and grace toward the Gentile world,
His purpose and grace involving the salvation of His elect scattered
among all the nations of the world, were clearly set out in
types and shadows, and yet they were hidden from the eyes of
unbelieving men. David spoke plainly about the
Lord's kingdom, including the Gentiles, spoke plainly about
God saving His people scattered in all nations of the world.
And so these things weren't absolutely hidden, they were put in such
a way that only believing men and believing women could understand
them. You see, God has written His
word in such a way as to deliberately deceive those who will not believe. Let us sink in. He has written
his word in such a way as to deliberately deceive, to confuse
those who will not believe. Because they receive not by faith
the love of the truth, he sends a strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. Our Lord clearly identifies this
as one reason why he spoke in parables. Turn back to Matthew
13 again. In verse 9, the Lord Jesus says, Who hath
ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came and said
to him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Why do you
do this? Why do you speak in this manner? And the Lord answers in verse
11, Because it is given to you. to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven. But to them it is not given. The Lord God Almighty always
displays his sovereignty in his works of grace. Always. Always. Our Lord Jesus on one
occasion in Matthew 11 lifted his heart to heaven and said,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank thee because thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight." You see, grace is God's. He gives it to
whom he will. He hath mercy on whom he will
have mercy. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
Now, let's look at this parable. In Luke 13, verses 18-21. First, we'll look at the parable
of the mustard seed, and we'll spend the bulk of our time with
this, simply because the two parables are very, very similar. In this parable of the mustard
seed, the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, Under what is
the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast
into his garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the
fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. Now, this was
a very common proverbial saying among the Jews. When they speak
of something, they say it's like a grain of mustard seed. Small,
insignificant. Now, the first thing I want you
to see is this. This parable demonstrates clearly the veracity
of Holy Scripture. Our Lord Jesus uses this distinct
parable, but ignorant men who think themselves wise, and reprobate
men who think themselves spiritual, dare to pass judgment upon the
Word of God by their puny brains. Many claim to be Christians,
claim to be people of faith, claim to believe God, claim to
honor Christ, and yet they deny the veracity of this book. Let
me give you an example. Some time ago I saw an interview
on ABC News. It was shortly after the 9-11
attack on our nation. And a man made this statement,
a man who claimed to be a preacher. He said, I believe the Bible,
but I don't take it word for word. I believe the Bible. Oh, this
is God's Word, but I don't take it word for word. And then a
woman who claimed to be a preacher showed up there to watch out
for that. She said, I believe the Bible is the inspired word
of God, but I don't think you have to take it all literally.
In other words, God's given us some things here that are pretty
good, and it's up to you and me to decide what's good and
what's not. It's up to you and me to decide
what's really important and what's not. It's up to you and me to
decide how this book is to be read and understood. In this
day of spiritual darkness and perversion, there is almost a
universal abandonment in the belief that this book is indeed
the book of God. The only, the only, the only
revelation of God written down is this And it is absolutely inspired,
absolutely true, verbally, plenary inspired, in all its parts, it
is the written word of the living God by which he has revealed
himself and his will and his purpose and his truth to us,
and this book alone. is able to make you and me wise
unto salvation. But in this generation, religious
people, people who claim to be Christian, claim to believe the
book. Yeah, I love my Bible. But rather than bowing to the
authority of scripture, because once you have rejected the inspiration
of scripture, Once you have rejected that this is indeed the word
of God, then you say, well, this is sort of like Aesop's Fables. It's got some good things to
teach us, but we'll pick and choose. It has no authority. This is sort of like the opinions
of men passed down in time. They may be good, but we have
to kindly judge these things for ourselves, and they really
have no authority. So they look somewhere else for authority.
Brilliant men. smart men, educated men, and
they find their authority in necromancy, trying to communicate
with the dead. They find their authority in
astrological charts, and find their authority in witches and
soothsayers and palm readers and fortune tellers, and they,
oh, Now, I don't really believe in those things, you know. I
just come to test the waters to see. If you find authority here, listen
to me. If you find authority here for
what you believe, for whom you believe, for how you behave,
you don't need authority anywhere else. And you won't look for
it anywhere else. Frequently, those who think they're
smarter than God point to this parable, and they try to show
that our Savior was either ignorant or misinformed, because he spoke
of the mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds, and in reality
the mustard plant is a tree. You can't take that literally. When our Lord spoke of the mustard
seed as the smallest of all seeds in the earth, He wasn't saying
that it is absolutely the smallest of all seeds found in the world. He was saying it's the smallest
seed a fellow sows in his garden. The man takes and sows it in
his garden. The mustard's the smallest one. And though we usually
think of mustard plants, especially in our day and in our society
in this part of the world, we think of them as bushy, leafy
plants. There is a variety of mustard
that grows into a pretty good-sized plant, about the size of a banana
tree. So we must never allow puny men
with their imaginary great brilliance and their proofs against the
authority and inspiration of Scripture to shake our faith
and confidence in the Word of God. All right, enough of that.
Secondly, the mustard seed was used by our Lord frequently as
an illustration of faith. It's never mentioned in the Old
Testament at all, and the only person who mentions it in the
New Testament is the Lord Jesus. Twice he compares it to faith.
Look at Matthew 17. Matthew 17, verse 20. This man comes and brings his
son to the Lord Jesus, brought him to his disciples, and the
disciples couldn't cast out the devil, and the Lord Jesus spoke
of their faithlessness. And then in verse 20, he said
unto them, Because of your unbelief, That's the reason you couldn't
cast him out. For verily I say unto you, if you have faith as
a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove
hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall
be impossible unto you." Now, lest I forget, when Mark relates
the same incident, he says, with God, nothing shall be impossible. Not a contradiction, but a greater
explanation. Luke 17, verse 6. Our Lord is talking to his disciples
about forgiveness. He said, If your brother trespasses
against you and he repents, forgive him. And if he trespasses against
you again, seven times in a day and he repents, forgive him.
Isn't it interesting, the disciples said, Oh Lord, increase our faith.
That takes some faith. What? There's a direct connection. But then in verse 6, the Lord
Jesus said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
might say to this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root,
and be thou planted in the sea, and it shall obey you. Now in
both these places, Our Lord describes faith by comparing it to mustard
seed, and thereby teaches us some things about faith. Number
one, true saving faith is a very small thing. That's where it
begins, a grain of mustard seed. You see, the fact is, true believers
always recognize that their faith is small. When a man struggles
somewhat under the conviction of sin, Satan often suggests
that you can't possibly be a believer. Why, look how little your faith
is. True believers always recognize that. I've had folks on occasion come
up to me And say, you know, you'd be astounded at my faith. Yeah, I would be. I really would
be. Folks who think their faith is
great probably don't have any faith at all. Never knew anything
at all about the knowledge of God. But faith begins as a small
thing. As a small thing. Almost imperceivable. Learn this, it is not the greatness
of our faith, but the greatness of God our Savior, the object
of our faith, that gives merit and power and efficacy to faith. Did any of you fellows see, or
women either, did you see that movie with James Garner and Mel
Gibson, Maverick? deck of cards. And finally, the crucial point
in the movie, he's betting everything that
he's going to draw an ace. There it was. And he said, my
pappy always told me, if I believed enough, If I just believed enough
that when I drew the card it was going to be an ace, it would
be an ace every time. And that's the concept most folks have of
faith. They have the idea that somehow it's magical. Somehow
it's a mysterious, magical force, like waving a magical wand and
saying abracadabra and it's done. Such faith is not faith at all. It is rather faith in yourself.
It is rather confidence in yourself. It is, at best, at best, it is
a belief in luck, in fate, and in chance. At worst, it is just
idolatry. Faith, the power of it, the efficacy
of it, the merit of it, is its object. Remember what I mentioned
earlier? Our Lord, when he spoke of this
same work of God, in performing this miracle of healing this
man's son, Mark says that this is what he said, with God nothing
shall be impossible. The question is not how much
do I believe, or how much faith do I have. The only issue to
be settled is who do I believe, who do I trust. I do not I do
not trust my God and Savior as I want to trust Him or as I ought
to trust Him. My faith is so mixed with unbelief
that my faith itself could hardly be called faith. Does that make
any sense to you? But the only one I trust the
only one on whom I depend, the only hope of my soul, the solitary
object of my faith is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now, I say to
the mountain of my sins, goodbye. And I say to the sycamore tree
of my troubles, I want you out of my way. in that city, buried. And he's gone. He's gone. You see, with God, nothing shall
be impossible. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said,
if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Nothing can stand in the way
Nothing can hinder, nothing can defeat that man and those people
who, being called of God, believe him. How on this earth? How on this earth is Moses going
to overthrow the throne of Egypt and the powers of Egypt? How's
he going to do it? He's got no means to do it. He's
got no ability to do it. Oh, yes he does. He comes in
the name of God to Egypt Falls. How on this earth is that raging
Red Sea, that sea which stood between Israel and salvation,
how on this earth are they going to cross that sea? They've got
no boats, they can't get over there. Oh yes they can. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. How are we going to
take Jericho? We don't have any cannons. How
are we going to cause those walls to fall? The Lord God will fight
for you. And Joshua said, Believe God.
Blow the trumpet and watch the walls fall. David goes out against the giant
Goliath. His brother is mocking him. You
old brats, you've just come out here to see what's going on and
nose into other folks' business. The king said, what? He said,
if any man goes out there and takes that giant, he can have
his daughter for a wife. That's what he said. I'll go. Bunch of trembling cowards. I'll
go. Why, you little boy, you got
no business in here? How can you be so arrogant? He
said, is there not a cause? The cause of God's glory. the
cause of God's kingdom, the cause of God's people is at stake.
I'll go out." And they bring him some armor and put it on.
And he fell to the ground. He couldn't carry that armor.
He said, I can't wear this. And he goes out with a little
shepherd's sling and five smooth stones in the name of the God
of Israel, puts a rock in that sling and cuts off the giant's
head. How come? He believed God. That's all. You mean that little
shepherd boy who couldn't even pick up a sword and tote it killed
this great giant that made everybody in armies before him tremble?
He couldn't do that. No, he couldn't. No, he couldn't. His God can. And our Savior did. Our Lord said to the centurion,
If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."
And he says to us, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the
glory of God. Oh God, teach me to believe. Teach me to trust you. Teach me to lean on you. I like that chorus. Learning
to lean. Learning to lean. I'm learning
to lean on Jesus. I haven't learned yet, but I'm
learning. Every day and every way, I'm learning to lean on
Jesus. You see, Nothing is more abominably
wretched than the paralyzing effect of unbelief. When our Lord came to his own
land among his own people, he says in Matthew 13.58, he did
not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. I often wonder what God might have done if I
had just believed him. I often wonder what he might
have accomplished if I just believed him. I often wonder how things
might have been different had I believed him. The old preacher,
I thought you believed in God's sovereignty. You thought right.
But I understand that God Almighty requires of us that we believe
him. And just in proportion as we
believe God, we experience his power and his grace. Just in
proportion as we believe God, we see his glory. No wonder we see so little. Nothing is so costly as unbelief. Nothing. Nothing will cause you
more distress, nothing will cause you more anxiety, nothing will
cause you more fretfulness, nothing will cause you more uneasiness
than unbelief. Turn to Isaiah 48 for a moment.
Isaiah 48. Come ye near unto me, hear ye
this. Verse I have not spoken in secret from
the beginning, from the time that it was. There am I, and
now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Verse 17. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God which teacheth
thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go. Now hear what he says. This is
not Isaiah speaking, this is not Don Fortner speaking, this
is the Lord your Redeemer, Bobby. Oh, that thou hast hearkened
to my commandments. Then had thy peace been as a
river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. Oh,
if you'd have just lived better. This is his commandment, that
we should believe on his Son whom he has sent, and that we
should love one another as he gave us commandment. He's talking
about faith. Verse 19. If you'd just believe
me, if you'd just believe me, thy seed also had been as the
sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof. His name should not have been
cut off nor destroyed from before me." Of all the sad words of tongue
and pen, the saddest of these, what might have been? Our Father, our God, our Savior, we thank you for the blessed
gift of faith in your Son. And we acknowledge the horrid, horrid unbelief that yet causes us such distress
and anxiety and uneasiness. Lord God, will you teach us by
your grace, by your providence, and cause
us by your Spirit to believe our God. You have said you do all things
well. Give us grace to believe you.
You have said that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to your purpose.
Give us grace to believe you. You have said, our Father, that
no evil shall befall us. Give us grace to believe you. And let us in all things, in all the blessings of your
free grace in Christ, and in all the troubles that
weigh heavy on our hearts, and all the massive confusion
that surrounds our day-by-day experience. Let us, our Father,
believing our God, see the glory of God. Make us useful in this generation
for Christ's sake.