Let's turn together Luke chapter
8 verses 4 through 18. We have before us in this passage
the parable of the sower. Now of all the parables spoken
by our Lord during his earthly ministry, none is so widely known
and so little heeded as the parable of the sower. The parable is
easy to comprehend. There's nothing difficult about
it. As a matter of fact, it is the one parable that our Lord
very carefully explains. Everyone is familiar with the
work of a farmer. He plows his fields, sows his
crops, tends his plants, and gathers his harvest. Every farmer
knows that much of the seed sown is lost forever. Every farmer
knows that. He doesn't expect to get produce
out of every piece of grain he puts in the ground. It bears
no fruit. It's profitable for nothing.
It just goes to the ground and is gone. And yet very, very few
people seem to understand the spiritual implications of this
well-known parable. It is a parable of universal
application. So long as the kingdom of God
is in this world, So long as there are assemblies of saints
like this one, so long as sinners gather to worship God in the
hope of grace and eternal life in Christ, this parable will
have application. Let's read it together. Beginning
at Luke chapter eight and verse four. When much people were gathered
together and were come to him out of every city, he spoke by
a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed,
and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and was trodden
down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon
a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away,
because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell
on good ground, and sprang up, and bear fruit an hundredfold.
And when he said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Has God given you ears to hear?
Blessed are your ears if they hear. He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. Verse 9. And his disciples asked
him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, unto
you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to
others in parables, that they seeing, and notice the language,
this is the reason he spoke to them in parables. This is the
reason the word of God is written as it is written. This is the
reason scripture is couched in phrases that confuse unbelieving
men. The only way anyone will ever
understand this book is if he bows to God Almighty and believes
Him. Faith understands everything.
Unbelief understands nothing. To them, in parables for this
purpose, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might
not understand. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they
that hear. Then comes the devil and takes
away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved. They on the rock are they which,
when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root. which for a while believe and
in time of temptation fall away. Now lest I forget to say it later,
make note somewhere, anyone who believes for a while never has
believed. Temporary faith is only a delusion,
it's no faith at all. They for a while believe and
in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns
Are they, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with
the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring forth
no fruit to perfection, but that on the good ground are they which
in an honest and good heart. Oh God, give me such a heart. with an honest and good heart. Having heard the word, keep it. They guard it and they hold it. And bring forth fruit with patience. Verse 16. No man, when he has lighted a
candle, covers it with a vessel. or puts it under a bed, but sets
it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall
not be made manifest, neither anything hid. that shall
not be known and come abroad. Sooner or later, sooner or later,
God's going to make everything stand in the light of his glory
and everything will be made manifest. And in the light of these things,
here are words admonition. Take heed, therefore, how you
hear. Take heed what you hear, and
take heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear. For whosoever
has, to him shall be given. And whosoever has not, from him
shall be taken, even that which he seems to have. In this parable,
our Lord Jesus teaches us plainly and clearly that the vast majority
I've chosen my words deliberately. The vast majority, the vast majority
of those who hear the gospel of the grace of God preached.
Now I'm not talking about the vast majority of folks in those
churches where you grew up. That's not what I'm talking about.
That's not even spoken of here. I'm not talking about the vast
majority of the Papists or the Buddhists or the Hindus. Those
don't even enter into the picture. The vast majority of those who
walk through doors, like those right there, and sit in places,
like where you're sitting right now, and hear a man preach the
gospel of God's free grace as you hear it here three times
a week. The vast majority, even among those who profess faith
in him after hearing the gospel, are unregenerate, lost, and perish
under the wrath of God. Again, I say, he that has ears
to hear, let him hear the parable of the sower. There are seven
things clearly revealed in this parable. I'll give them to you
as plainly, as briefly, and as bluntly as I possibly can. Number one, the sower is the
gospel preacher. Gospel preachers are like farmers
sowing their wheat. They broadcast the Word of God.
You go out here in the fields and sow wheat. You don't even
plant it in a row like you do corn. You just take it out and
throw it out. Just broadcast it. Not carelessly. Not nonchalantly. Not without
thought and preparation. But what you do with the seed
is you just take and broadcast it. Just throw it out. Everywhere. And the preacher of the gospel
cast out the good seed of the word of God upon the hearts of
eternity bound men and women. Now again, this is not a careless,
thoughtless process. The preacher, if he is indeed
a faithful gospel preacher, has his heart in the work. He's not
indifferent to those to whom he preaches. He's not indifferent
to their response. Sometimes I hear men say, I don't
care whether you believe me or not. Oh, I do. I do. I want you to believe every word
I'm speaking to you. God's servants care deeply for
the souls of men. They sow in hope of harvest. I prepared this message because
I want to bring forth fruit in your soul. I'm preaching this
message because I want to bring forth fruit in you unto the glory
of God. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy, the psalmist said. The Lord God commands us by the
wise men, cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find
it after many days. Therefore we're told, our labor
is not in vain in the Lord, so let us be steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord. Turn now to Isaiah
51, or 55 rather, and hold your hands right here and look eight.
Isaiah 55. Listen to what God's word is
to you and I. I call on you to devote yourselves
as a congregation, as individuals, and call on myself to devote
myself as an individual. Call on my wife to devote herself
as an individual. Call on myself as a gospel preacher.
I call on us to give ourselves diligently to the blessed labor
of preaching the gospel in this generation. Let us by the grace
of God leave no stone unturned which lies before us. Let us
leave no opportunity unseized which God puts in our path. Let
us give ourselves to this work and use everything God puts in
our hands to do it. How come? Look what it says,
Isaiah 55 verse 11. So shall my word be that goes
forth out of my mouth. Now hang on till you see, I'm
going to tell you something. This assembly is God's mouthpiece. God speaks to the world through
his church by the word of the gospel. Now this is his word
of promise. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not Under any circumstance,
at any time, for any reason, by any power of opposition, it
shall not return unto me void. Bless God. But it shall accomplish
that which I please. We sometimes cast our bread upon
the waters and wonder where it went. We sometimes preach the
word and wonder what's God doing? What's happening? Most of the
time we don't know. We don't need to know. We ought
not seek to know. Exactly right. We sow in faith. as God's servants. And our obedience
to our God is not determined by our observing the response
that comes to it. But rather, our obedience is
determined by faith in Him and faithfulness to Him. We are commanded
to cast the bread out, to sow the word. And God says, it shall
not return to me void. It shall accomplish that which
I please. And when all the chips are in, this is how it's going
to turn out. It shall prosper in the thing
where to I send it. We cast out the word. God speaks
through His church. Oh, God Almighty condescend to speak
through these lips of clay, through this assembly of your people
to this generation. Just stand back and wait. He
will accomplish His purpose by His word. All right, the gospel
preacher then. He's the servant who sows the
word of God. The seed of the gospel in hope
of great harvest. The church of God is the servant
of God sowing the word of the gospel in hope of great harvest. Here's the second thing. The
seed. The seed we sow. Now I'd like
to spend a long time here, but I won't give way to my likes. The seed we sow. is the Word
of God. The gospel of the grace of God
revealed in the Word of God. There are lots of religious causes
in this world. Lots of them. I get mail. It comes in my mailbox nearly
every day. I get email. I get correspondence
wherever I travel. I get folks wanting me to get
engaged in this activity or that. I have friends who are engaged
in fighting abortion and fighting pornography and trying to close
down their abortion clinics and pornography shops. And man, it
would be wonderful. That would be great. That would
be fantastic. Close them all down. Close them
all down. That would be great. But I'm not about to get involved
in it. Not about to. Well, don't you think that's
a worthwhile cause? Find me somewhere in the New
Testament where one of God's servants did. Find me somewhere,
anywhere in the New Testament, anywhere. Find me anywhere in
the Old Testament. No sir, no sir. But what do we
do? We preach the word! We preach
the gospel! And if the gospel gets hold of
the hearts of men, it'll shut down the abortion clinic in their
heart. It'll shut down the porno shop in their heart. And that'll
take care of things. And if it doesn't, shutting down
the abortion clinics and shutting down the porno shops and shutting
down the bars and the honky-tonks and all that stuff won't do one
bit of good for the souls of men. Not only that, but we recognize
that this Word of the Gospel is God's means of grace to sinners. Look at verse 11. Now the parable
is this. The seed is the word of God. Hold your hands here again and
turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. Now we recognize, I preach and
rejoice in and rejoice to preach the glorious sovereignty of our
God. I think I can say safely I take a back seat to no one
in the country I've ever known in preaching God's absolute sovereignty
in all things, especially in the business of saving sinners.
Salvation is of the Lord. Yet we also recognize that God
Almighty has chosen to use specific means for the accomplishment
of His specific purpose. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. Now those are not theological
or doctrinal conclusions that I have made from the things I've
studied and put together. Those are the very words of God. So I don't see, I don't understand
how you can preach God's sovereignty and preach that God saves sinners
by the word. Those are contradictory. You
take that up with God. But that's what he says in his
word. That's what he says in his word. The Bible plainly declares
that God Almighty saves sinners in this gospel age through the
utility of the word and in no other way. Listen to this. Of
his own will begat he us, that's God's sovereignty. He has mercy
on whom he will have mercy. He has compassion on whom he
will have compassion. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures. All right, look here in 1 Peter
1, 23. being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God which lives and abides forever. Now that
word seed is the word, if it were written out in an English
transliteration it would be written out sperm. That's what the word
is. My daughter is about to give birth to their second child because
her husband planted his seed in her womb and it is now about
to bring forth life. That's exactly the analogy that's
used here. Being born again not of corruptible
seed. Being born again not by what's
passed on through flesh. Not by fleshly energy, not by
fleshly means, not by fleshly connection. but of incorruptible
seed by the word of God which lives and abides forever. For
all flesh is grass and all the glory of man is the flower of
grass. The grass withers, the flower thereof falls away, but
the word of the Lord endures forever. Now listen. Pick up
your Bible. Just pick it up. And let me give
you the next line. And this is the word. which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Do you understand what he is
saying? This book is not preached in any part of it. This book
is not expounded in any aspect of it except as the gospel is
preached. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. Now this is what it means. If
you take the laws given by God to the children of Israel and
use them just to teach morality and moral uprightness and moral
principles, all you have done is taught men and women morality,
uprightness, and moral principles just like the mere pagan philosopher
does so. You haven't preached the word.
If you take the Scriptures and you simply teach people the historic
facts revealed in Scripture, you have not taught the Word
of God, you've just given folks facts. If you take the scriptures
and tell men and women the factual stories of the miracles and the
accounts of the various miracles that took place in the Old Testament
and in the New, you have not preached the Word. You have not
been faithful in preaching the Word. You have not been faithful
to the Word of God. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. So that whenever you stand to
preach, whenever you stand with this book in your hand and seek
to speak to men in the name of God Almighty, it is our responsibility
as preachers, our responsibility as a congregation, our responsibility
as those who teach the gospel to show men and women the gospel
of Jesus Christ in the word. Roland Hill was exactly right. He said, any sermon that does
not contain the three R's, ruined by the fall, redemption by the
blood, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, ought never to have
been preached. Never. In preaching the word
of God we declare to sinners how it is that God Almighty saves
sinners by His free grace through Jesus Christ the Lord. And we
go to all the scriptures and declare those things. I often
sit down and listen to men preach. Men who have got the doctrines
right. Ron, Lindsay, Don, don't let this happen. Don't let this
happen. Got the doctrines right. Everything
they say is right. Everything they say is right.
And I sit and listen. And I don't listen with a critical
ear. When I have the rare opportunity of getting to sit down and listen
to a man preach the gospel, I go and I cry, God, oh God, my soul's
thirsty. My soul's hungry. I want to hear
from You. And I go with that attitude.
But I sit down and listen. And so often I think to myself,
if I had walked in here, As a man who didn't know God from a gourd,
when I walked out the door I still wouldn't know God from a gourd.
That ought never to happen. That ought never to happen. This
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. God saves
sinners only by means of the faithful exposition of the scriptures. And the faithful exposition of
the scriptures is performed and accomplished only when the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ is plainly set
forth. God's servants are not just preachers. We got the woods plumbed full
of preachers. We don't need any more, we could do with a whole
lot less. God's servants are gospel preachers. They don't
just preach, they preach the gospel. The sower is the gospel
preacher. The seed sown is the word of
God, the gospel of Christ. Number three, the results of
gospel preaching, now listen, the results of gospel preaching,
are always. Have you got it? Always. Capital A-L-W-A-Y-S. Always. Exactly according to
the purpose of God. Always. We randomly preach the gospel
to all. Lindsay dealt with that this
morning. Our Lord commands us to preach the gospel to every
creature. We preach the gospel randomly to anyone who will hear
us. Give me your ear and I'll give you the word. But the results
are never random. This is not a crapshoot. This
is not a lottery. Things are accomplished according
to God's purpose. When God Almighty sends forth
His Word, His Word always accomplishes His purpose. It either produces
life and faith in Christ, or it produces judicial blindness
and hardness of heart. Exactly according to his purpose.
In God's appointed time, the word you hear here tonight, the
word you've been hearing here these 20 years I've been preaching
to you, in God's appointed time, it will either bring forth fruit
to the saving of your soul, or it will just be like binding
up tares for the birds. for the hardening of your heart.
Look at verse 10. He said unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. You won't mind me telling this
Merle. Forgive me if you do. I've already gone too far. You
didn't finish high school did you? Such a man back there understands
the mysteries of the kingdom of God. He understands them as
well as any theologian I've ever met. He knows them. He knows
them. He knows that God Almighty came
here in human flesh. He knows that Jesus Christ is
God Himself. He knows that God Almighty chose
the people, sent His Son here as a covenant surety to redeem
them. And He did the job. He knows that salvation by God's
free grace I know folks who have spent their lives reading the
Bible, studying theology, studying history, studying philosophy.
I'm not talking off the top of my head, Merle. I know men who
have doctorates from different universities who have no idea
the things you know. They don't understand. They can't
get it. Can't figure it out? Just can't?
Can't put it together? How come? Unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to others... Let me give you a fortnight paraphrase.
This is all a bunch of confusing nonsense. That's exactly what our Lord
says. To others in parables. So that they read it and they
hear it. I can't see that. How come? That seeing they might not see,
and hearing they might not understand. The Lord God Almighty is here
quoting His own word from the prophecy of Isaiah. You want
to turn back to Isaiah 6 and look at it? Our Lord Jesus who
gave us this word is the one whom Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter
6. He said so in John 12. And this is the word that he
gave to Isaiah, his prophet, and gives to all who have seen
him in his glory. Verse 9. Go and tell this people. Go tell
them. Go tell them. Every day we go
tell this people. Every day. Every day. We preach the gospel. This assembly
is blessed of God to preach the gospel. Literally around the
world every single day. Every day in this town the word
goes forth. Every day. Every day. Every day
we send out tapes, literature around the world. Every single
day. Every day. Every day we're on
the internet around the world. Every day I hear from folks who've
heard the message. Go tell these people. Go tell them. Tell this
generation. Tell them. Hear ye indeed. but understand not. And see ye
indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people
fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and be healed. Paul said much the
same thing. He said, what if some did not
believe? Shall their unbelief make The faith of God or the
faithfulness of God without effect? Oh no, oh no. The willful unbelief
of man is as much the accomplishment of God's purpose as is the belief
of chosen sinners. God forbid. Yea, let God be true
in every man a liar as it is written that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.
Faith in Christ is the gift of God. Blessed are your eyes, for
they see. To those who will not believe,
the word of the gospel is both blinding and binding. None are so blind as those who
will not see. None are so hard as those who
are gospel hardened. When men and women willfully
despise the gospel, willfully reject the truth of God, willfully
turn their nose against the Son of God, snub their nose at His
authority, willfully walk away from Him, the gospel becomes
to them a matter of judgment, binding them unto damnation. It would be wise for every one
of us particularly for you who yet know not our God. Every time
you walk through those doors, while you're getting ready in
the mornings, while you're washing your face and shaving, while
you're putting your clothes on, cry out to God in your heart,
Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. I want to tell you
something. He's passing this way right now.
And if he passes you by, you're gone. Gone. Oh God, don't let me hear without
hearing. Don't let me see without seeing. Nothing more sure to damn a man's
soul. Nothing. We lived over in Junction City
for nine years, just a couple of blocks from that railroad
track over there. When I first moved in, man, that thing bothered
me. It bothered me. I just, I couldn't sleep at night,
and I can sleep through cannon fire. It just, it bothered me. Now, to Brother Punxer, that
sounds like sweet music. That sounds like somebody playing
a harp, but it, I didn't like to hear that clack, clack, clack
on those tracks. But you know, it wasn't a couple
of weeks, I never heard it. The fellow had to blow his whistle,
come around the bend. I wouldn't even hear that most of the time
unless it was outside. How come? I got familiar with it. I'm happy I got familiar with
that noise from that train. Oh God don't ever let me become
familiar with the sound of your voice and your word. Understand
what I'm saying? Fourthly, some who hear the word
Receive it like seed, sown by the wayside. Verse 12. Those
by the wayside are they that hear, and then comes the devil
and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should
believe and be saved. Some of you come listen to me
preach, because you have to. All my daddy say you got to,
you wouldn't be here otherwise. Some perhaps come because it's
a respectable thing to do. It's just expected. Maybe you
come because you feel like, well, that's my duty. I've got to come.
But you really have no interest in what's going on. Don't want
to hear. Don't want to hear. I've been
there. I've sat right where you're sitting
and tried my best not to hear what preachers say. I didn't
want anything to get in I had to deal with. And you think about
everything in the world. And you hear the word and as
soon as you walk out the door it's over, that's done. Satan,
the black crow of hell has snatched the word from your heart. Some
are described as stony ground hearers. Verse 13, they on the
rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy. And these, look at it now, have
no root. which for a while believe, and
in time of temptation fall away. Oh, I've seen a lot of stony
ground hearers. I've seen a lot of stony ground hearers. The preaching of the gospel makes
a quick, oh, quick impression. But it's only temporary. Their
religion's all superficial. Just as a flash in a pan, nothing
else. Like burning briars in a fire,
they make a lot of crackle and noise and pop, but there's nothing
produced. They appear enthusiastic. They
talk a good game. They're sometimes moved to tears.
They may even speak about inward conflicts and struggles and hopes
and desires and fears. But one thing's lacking. The
root of the matter is not in them. The root of the matter is that
Christ isn't in them. They have no conviction. That is, they
are unconvinced of the things of God in their hearts. They're
always yakking, but not convinced. They have no repentance. They've
never turned from their dead works to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They have no faith. They're unbelieving. These stony
ground hearers endure for a while, but they don't last. Their religion
is like Jonah's gourd. It springs up in the morning
and dies in the night. They're like flowers, cut flowers. I like to look at them. I'm bothered
by things enough now that I don't like to smell them much, but
you cut them and they're fresh and they smell pretty for a few days.
And after a while, they wither and if you leave them long enough,
they stink. That's just the way their religion is. A little trial,
a little affliction, a little temptation. It's all it takes
to get these folks to walk away from the gospel. Any persecution
or opposition because of the offense of the gospel will destroy
them. And then sixthly, others are
described in this parable as thorny ground hearers. Look at
verse 14. They which fell among thorns
are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked
with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring
forth no fruit to perfection. The wayside hearer has no interest
at all in the things of God. He could care less who Christ
is or what he did. The stony ground hearer is somewhat
impressed. He makes a big splash because
he's impressed, but it doesn't last very long. The thorny ground
hearer is something else. The thorny ground hearer assents
to the gospel. He approves of it. He's moved
by it. He makes a good start and goes
a long way in religion. He feels much, experiences much. He may even do much that appears
to be truly spiritual. But he has a basic fundamental
underlying problem. I'll tell you what it is. He
still loves the world. And if any man loved the world,
The love of the Father is not in him. Some of you have said
to me, I just can't believe that. I've heard him preach as good
as anybody. Now he's gone. I don't understand
that. You've seen folks come and go. Here's the problem. The world
still holds their hearts and their hearts still hold the world.
Oh, my friend, beware of religion without Christ. Don't be satisfied. Don't be
satisfied with just something that impresses me. Don't be satisfied
with something men look at and say, now there's a sincere fellow.
Don't be satisfied with something that just changes your outward
conduct. Make certain, make certain, make certain the root of the
matter is in you. And the root of the matter is
Christ himself. Say, how can I make certain of
that? Believe Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. What causes these
thorny ground heroes to fall by the wayside? Sooner or later,
those who love the world will choose the world. The sad fact
is, though they willfully choose the world and deliberately turn
away from Christ, his worship, and his gospel, they are so thoroughly
justified in their own minds of what they're doing that they
never realize they've done it till they wake up in hell. I could take you to men and women
who never darken the doorhouse of a gospel church. Who once,
Bob, were just like you, they were here every service. Do anything
need be done, they're sitting right there. anxious, anxious,
and now never darken the door. And should you ask them about
their state of their souls? Oh, well, you know, things aren't
exactly right, but yeah, I'm all right. I know the Lord. I
know the Lord. And they're convinced. There's
no point in you arguing with them. They're convinced. But
the world has taken them, and they're going to hell. Unless
God stops them. What about the world? The cares,
I think. The care of the world. That's
not talking about politics, that kind of stuff. David, that's
talking about feeding those kids. Legitimate care, that's talking
about educating those kids. That's talking about taking care
of your wife. The care of the world. Care of the world. God puts responsibilities on
you. And God puts responsibilities
on me. And sometimes the responsibilities He puts on us are only to test
us. Don't let the care of this world
take away the Word of God. Don't you do it. The riches of
the world. Oh, the deceitfulness of riches.
I know a man who said to his pastor friend, he said, I'm going
to go do this. I know I can become a millionaire
in a little while. And what I'm going to do is I'm
going to buy a plane. I'm going to fly you all over the country,
all around the world, preach the gospel. He hasn't done it
yet. But he's abandoned everything. And the pleasures of the world. I won't. This is what I need. This will make me feel better.
Well, I just want to. Just want to. Don't let your wants to take
you to hell. The true believer is that person,
eighthly, who receives, or seventhly rather, who receives the gospel
as seed sown in a good heart. Verse 15, that on the good ground
are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the
word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. The good ground is the regenerate
heart, a heart prepared by God to receive the word of grace. I have been around long enough,
I can't say that it was always so. I used to try to make things
happen. But I've learned to just wait.
Just wait. Just wait. I don't try to push
anybody into a profession of faith. Especially children. Especially children. They can
be manipulated easily. I don't try to push anybody into
making a decision. Never. What do you do? You preach
the word and wait. God prepares the heart. And the
heart that receives the word has been prepared. That ground
out there, a few weeks ago, Bobby went out there and stuck a plow
in that ground. I wasn't here. I came back and
saw it all broke up. And every time I see it, I think about
this parable. If that ground could speak, when
he drove across there with that big John Deere and let down that
hydraulic and that edge of that plow started cutting that ground,
it would scream, don't! What are you doing? do that,
but the ground is useless until it's broken. And the fallow ground
of our hard hearts must be broken up by the convicting power of
God the Holy Spirit. The clods have to be melted by
the heavy harrow of conviction, beaten to pieces by the thunders
of God's wrath, and at last softened by the sweet dew of heaven. And
the word of God in the regenerate heart, the heart prepared by
the grace and power of God to receive it, brings forth fruit. Always does. Always does. I don't badger you and beat you
to death by what you ought to be. I'll tell you what you are
if you hear this. If God's done a work of grace
in West Roseboom Don Fortner, it brings forth fruit. And if
it doesn't bring forth fruit, God didn't do the work. It's
that simple. It brings forth fruit. Some more
rapidly, some more slowly, some more bountifully, some lesser
while we live in this world. But all who hear the word and
receive it in a good heart bring forth fruit. It's the fruit of
the Spirit. It's not what we produce, it's
what God produces in us. It's called love, joy, peace. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness. Now, hear this next word. Verse 18. Take heed how you hear. Take heed that you hear. Take
heed that you hear the gospel. And take heed that you hear the
gospel. as an eternity-bound sinner,
standing on the brink of eternity, trusting the Son of God.