This is one of 10 parables in
which the Lord tells us what his kingdom is like. And this passage in Mark chapter
four is the only time this parable is mentioned. It's not in Matthew,
Luke, or John. And he says in verse six, so
is the kingdom of God. Now, I love to think about the
kingdom of God. What a kingdom. It's a kingdom
where the king is all powerful and absolutely sovereign, whose
will is always done. And all of the subjects of this
kingdom love that. You love that? There's no balance of powers
in this kingdom. All power is given to him. The jurisdiction of this king's
kingdom is infinite. There are no borders. There are
no boundaries. And I love the way the Lord said,
my kingdom is not of this world. It's nothing a natural man would
ever understand. But he said, my kingdom is not
of this world. And you know, The world hates,
and I'm not using too strong a language, the world hates the
kingship of Christ. They're okay with him being a
healer and someone to help them, someone who performed miracles,
but what was written over his head? What was the accusation? And that's what the scripture
uses, the accusation that was written over his head Jesus of
Nazareth, the king of the Jews. And when we're talking about
king, we're talking about the one whose will is always done.
You know, we've been watching, Lynn and I have been watching
Crown, and it's about the British crown, and there's no authority
with it. Well, there's all authority with
this crown. I mean, in the biblical sense of the kingdom, Whether
you lived or died was up to the king. Whatever happened to you
is up to the king. Now, this is the kingdom of God. Now, he says, so is the kingdom
of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground. Now, this man casting seed into
the ground represents the preaching of the gospel. The emphasis is
not on the preacher. anybody that emphasizes on the
seed. The seed is the word of God.
The seed is the gospel message, the life-giving gospel message. And I know that it's talking
about a preacher because notice how it says, this one who sows
the seed into the ground should sleep and rise up day and night,
and the seed should spring and grow up, and he knoweth not how.
That's certainly not talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He never slumbers, he never sleeps, and he knows how. Me and you
may not, but he does. And I'm so perfectly fine with
that. I don't need to understand everything.
He does. And I rest in who he is and what he did. But the seed
sown is the word of God. It's the life-giving gospel message. Now, in this chapter, we've already
had the parable of the sower, and there the seed is the word
of God. It's the gospel message. And last week, we considered
that light on a candlestick. That is the gospel message once
again. Christ, the light of the world.
And here we once again have the gospel message. Now, I love what
Paul said in Romans 1 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. You know, I'm not. I'm proud
of the gospel. It's a gospel worthy of the glory
of God. I love the gospel. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. For it, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation. The gospel, the seed, the light
is the power of God unto salvation. That means the power of God is
in this message. It's not just an academic lecture.
The power of God is in this message. Turn with me to John chapter
6 for just a moment. Verse 59, these things said he
in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum, and you would do
well and I would do well to go back and see what it was he said.
We don't really have time in this message, but what a message
he brought in the sixth chapter of John. And after the message,
these people that he'd fed left him. 5,000 people left him. These
things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum, many
therefore of his disciples, when they had heard said, this is
a hard saying. This is a harsh. Now what that
means is harsh. This is not sympathetic to humanity. We find fault with this message.
We don't like what's being said. It doesn't sit well with us.
It's a hard message. Who can hear it? Who can be? Expected to listen to such teaching,
is what they're saying. When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said, doth this offend you? Are you offended by what I have
said? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? And you know what
he means by that? If you're offended now, you'll
really be offended when you see me in my position of exaltation.
You'll really, you're offended now, you'll be really offended
then. Now look what he says, verse 63. It is the spirit that
quickeneth. Now that word quickeneth is gives
life. It's the spirit that gives spiritual
life. If you have spiritual life, God
the Holy Spirit gave it to you. He birthed you into his kingdom. That's why you have spiritual
life. It's not something you decided for. I think I'm going
to be a Christian. It doesn't work that way. God
births you into his kingdom, the supernatural work of God. It is the spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profits nothing. The flesh doesn't profit anything
in this thing of quickening, spiritual life. You're not saved
because you did anything. This is the work of God. Now
look what he says next. The words that I speak unto you,
that you call harsh sayings, the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. These very words are spirit,
they're life. There's no life apart from these
words. This is the living, life-giving
word. That's the seed that is sown.
James chapter one, verse 18 says, of his own will begat he us,
birthed he us through the word of truth. Hebrews 4.12 says the
word of God is quick. That means living. The word of
God is living. Now, you have to have life to
see that. Somebody says, well, I think it's boring. It doesn't
say anything to me. Well, that's because you don't
have life. If you have life, it's living. The Word of God
is living and powerful. Oh, how powerful this is. It's
all powerful, spoken by God, sharper than any two-edged sword. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. This
is the seed that's sown. I mean, the preacher doesn't
know what's going on. preaching it, telling the truth, and he
throws it out there, but he doesn't have anything to do with the
giving of life. This is the work of God. This message has power
in and of itself. I've heard people say, do you
believe in gospel generation? Well, I reckon I do. I reckon
I do. It's not apart from the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit
taking the word and begetting life. There's no life apart from
hearing the word. You're not just walking around
and all of a sudden, pop, you're born again. Doesn't work that
way. No, you hear the word of truth. You hear the gospel of
your salvation, and God the Holy Spirit blesses that and creates
life. Now, look here in 1 Peter 1. Verse 23, being born again. Now, how much did you have to
do with your first birth? Were you consulted? Anybody ask
you about it? No, you were born. You were birthed. I remember
hearing a preacher once say, if you can't remember when you
were born again, you probably were never born again. He said,
if I broke my leg, I'd remember it. Well, I don't remember being
born the first time, so I can't tell you when that was. When
were you born again? I don't know. I am though. I
am though, I can't remember when I was born the first time and
I can't tell you for sure when I was born the second time, but
I know it was this, I know this, it was when I heard the gospel
and believed. Whenever that was, that's when I was born again.
Now he's talking about being born again, born from above. This is a spiritual, supernatural
birth. When you hear the gospel, it's
words of life to you. Now this is the work of God,
the Holy Spirit. Being born again. Not of corruptible seed. It doesn't have anything to do
with man. Oh, a man preaches the gospel
and you hear the gospel, but this birth doesn't have anything
to do with man. This is God's work. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, the word, the message, the seed from the
written word, the scriptures, the inspired word of God that
revealed the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's
go on reading. He quotes a passage of scripture
in Isaiah chapter 40, for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower
thereof falleth away. It's gone, but the word of the
Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Now, if you hear the gospel,
this is what you hear. Now, let's look at this quotation
from Isaiah 40. Turn back there if you would.
Isaiah chapter 40. Verse 6, the voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry?
Well, it's a good question, isn't it? The Lord says, cry. What
do I cry? What am I supposed to say? Well,
he tells him. And this is this quotation from
1 Peter chapter 1. All flesh is grass and all the
goodliness thereof is of the flower of the field. The grass
withers, the flower fades because the spirit of the Lord bloweth
upon it. Surely the people is grass. Now what that's talking about
is my own and your own personal sinfulness and inability to please
God in any way. What do we do with grass? We
put it in the herby, get rid of it. It does not affect salvation. All flesh, my flesh, your flesh,
there's nothing to it. You believe that? There's nothing
to it. I like what Isaiah said, our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And that's what God says
about our flesh. It's as grass. What's he say next? The grass withers, verse eight,
the flower thereof fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand
Forever. Now, this standing is talking
about judgment day. Now, is your grass, is your flesh
going to have any standing before God on judgment day? What about
the things I've done? They're going to fade away as
grass. They're going to be seen to fade
away and be nothing. Would you want anything that
you've done to stand before God in judgment? Any prayer, any
gift, any thought, any motive, would you want anything to stand
before God in judgment? Not if you believe your flesh
is grass. Now, what is the one thing that stands? The word of
our God shall stand forever. Now listen. Here's all the counts on judgment
day. In Christ or out of Christ. That's it. In Christ, you'll
be accepted. Out of Christ, you will not be
accepted. You will be condemned. Only what he has done will abide
on Judgment Day. What's that mean to you? Only. I wish I could say this as strongly
as it ought to be said. Only. What he has done will abide
judgment day. Go back to 1 Peter. Verse 24, for all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass
withers. The flower thereof falls away. There's nothing permanent
to it. It won't stand. But the word
of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Now, the earth where this man
is throwing the seed, if it doesn't have the seed thrown, what's
it going to grow? Nothing but weeds. Nothing but weeds. It's only through the seed of
this message that the earth bears this fruit. I turn back to our
text in Mark chapter four. Verse 26, so is the kingdom of
God as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep. and rise night and day, and the
seed should spring and grow up. And he knoweth not how. Well,
I can relate with that. I preach the gospel. I've seen
life come into people. I don't know how it happened.
I love that song we sing, I know not how the spirit moves, convincing
men of sin, revealing Jesus in the word, creating faith within. I don't understand how all that
works, but all I do is preach the gospel and the Lord does
it. The Lord does it. I don't understand. Look what
it says in verse 28, for the earth bringeth forth fruit of
herself. That seed is cast into the ground
and the earth brings forth fruit of itself. Man has no part nor
contribution in this thing of life. The flesh, the Lord said,
profits nothing. Now I want you to listen real
carefully. Every aspect of our salvation is Christ and it is independent of anything
that we do to make it work. You're saying you don't have
to believe? No, I'm not saying that. You have to believe. You
have to repent. You have to bow the knee to Christ. You have
to call on his name. I realize all that. But that's his work
in you. It's not, your salvation is not dependent upon you doing
anything. Now just forget doing for just
a moment. Forget doing. Don't I need to? Forget it. Forget
it. How much did you have to do with
being united to Christ before time began? You didn't have anything to do
with that, did you? Now, if you're a believer, you've always been
united to him. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. For the witch cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. I love what Greg Elmquist said.
I've thought about this many times. He said, when we get to
heaven, we're going to find out we've always been there. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, eternally united to him. Now this is mysterious.
I can't explain how it is, but it's so. How much did you have
to do with that? How much did you have to do with
Christ standing as your surety before time began and guaranteeing
your salvation? Saying, I'm going to take full
responsibility for them. Did he ask you about that? No.
You were not yet physically created. How much did you have to do with
being elected? To the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works. Now, that's the purpose of God.
Not of works. You didn't have anything to do
with your election, did you? Well, what about the working
out of your righteousness? How much did you have to do with
that? The righteousness that makes you stand justified before
God. How much hand did you have in the working out of this righteousness?
You see, it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's the righteousness
he worked out That's my righteousness before God. That's my personal
righteousness before God. That's my life before God. How
much did you have to do with that? What about how much did
you pay in your sin payment? Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself
purged our sins. You didn't have any part in this.
He by himself purged our sins. I love that. Because if he didn't
do it by himself, that means there's something I need to do.
But thank God, he by himself purged, put away our sins. What did you have to do with
the new creation? You see, the earth brings forth food for herself.
That life comes out of the seed. It doesn't have anything to do
with man's work. How much did you have to do with being born
again? Well, you had the same thing you had to do with the
first birth. You didn't have anything to do with the first birth. You don't
have anything to do with the second birth. How much have you contributed
in your preservation, the fact that you've been preserved up
to this point and haven't fallen away? Is it because of anything
good in you? Is it because of something you've
done? You're here now. You believe the gospel. You haven't
left. Why? I can answer that question
for you. Now unto him that's able to keep
you from falling. That's the only reason you haven't
fell away. He has kept you from falling.
What about faith and repentance? They're both called gifts of
God. You didn't decide to believe. You didn't decide to repent.
You found yourself believing. You found yourself repenting
because God worked this in you. What contribution are you going
to make in the resurrection when you're raised from the dead?
What contribution did you make in being glorified, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ? Now, the point I'm making is
the earth brings forth fruit of herself. It's not human works. This is the work of the seed
in you that causes this to take place. Talk about the fruit of
the Spirit. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not the fruit of your works. It's the fruit of the Spirit. Love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
It's the work of the Spirit. It's His work. If you're poor
in spirit, how come? If you mourn over your sin, how
come? If you're meek before God and
you believe whatever He brings your way is right, how come?
If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, how come? If you're merciful, how come? If you're pure in heart, that's
talking about the new heart, how come? Did you do anything
to achieve this? If you're a peacemaker, how come?
If you're persecuted for righteousness, how come? The point is, the earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself. We're not dependent upon human
works to cause these things to happen. Remember, the gospel
is not due. The gospel is done. Now let's
go on reading, verse 28. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest
is come." Now, he gives the history of what happens with this seed.
Comes out a little weak blade. Doesn't have any strength. You
wonder how it can even survive coming up out of the ground.
And then it turns into the full ear or the ear. This is talking
about wheat. The ear comes up and then it
becomes the full ear and it bends down. And then the harvest is
come. Now what this corresponds to,
turn with me to first John chapter two. The blade, the ear, and the full
ear are the differences of growth in the believer. And the Bible
does say, grow in grace, doesn't it? Grow in grace. And in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now look in 1 John 2, verse 12. John says, I write unto you little
children, there's the blade, because your sins are forgiven
you for His name's sake. I tell you, this child needs
to hear that. My sins are not forgiven me because of anything
I've done, because I've asked Him to, because I've been sorry,
because I... His name's sake, for Christ's sake. I ride into you, young men, because
you've overcome the wicked one. What's that mean? Does that mean
through hand-to-hand combat you've whipped the devil through the
strength you've been given? I hope everybody knows better
than that. Look in 1 John chapter 5, verse 4. For whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world. You hear that? Whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world. Nothing else but that which is
born of God. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? Do you believe he's the creator? Do you believe
he's Lord of all? You believe that's the victory
that overcomes the world. You know, when people say, well,
I'm just growing and getting more strong. No, you're growing
in self-righteousness is what you're doing. You're not growing
in faith. You're not growing. You're not
reaching this level of this young man who overcomes the world.
He overcomes the world by faith. And he says, I write in you little
children because you've known the father. You know something
about little children? They know the father. They recognize
when they hear him. They know when it's not the father. They know when they're hearing
of another God that's not the God of the Bible. This is one
thing all God's people have in common. They know the father.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.
Another voice they will, a stranger they will not follow. They know
the father. He says, I've written unto you
fathers. because you've known him that
is from the beginning. Spiritual maturity, and I suppose children can have
this too, but spiritual maturity has something about knowing him
that's from the beginning. See, he's eternal. His salvation
is eternal. He never began to be. He never
had a starting point. He's always been. He's the eternal
I am that I am and everything He is, He's eternal. And that's
why we hope what He did was accomplished in eternity. Known unto God are
all of His works from the foundation of the world. And you can get
some confidence when you realize that salvation was accomplished
outside of your experience. It's accomplished in eternity. And that's what the Father knows.
You've known Him that is from the beginning. I've written to
you young men because you're strong and the word of God abides
in you. You look to Christ only and you've
overcome the wicked one and we've seen how he did that. Now, here
we have the blade, the young man that is a believer, somebody
that God has saved. Now the blade, I believe that
probably some believers never leave this stage. They're weak,
filled with fear, looking to themselves far too much, but
it's still the life of God in their soul. They have life, just
as much life as the father, but they're immature. I know this
from experience. They're quick to judge. And since
or others, because they don't have enough of a view of their
own personal sinfulness. So they're quick to correct. They don't have a view of enough
of a view, uh, that they're little children. Now, let me tell you
something about these little children. Their sins are forgiven
for his namesake and they do know the father. And then you
have the ear of wheat, that's the young man. There's been growth
in grace, growth in, what is growth in grace? Well, first
of all, I grow in my understanding of grace. Now, I understand grace
better than I did when the Lord first saved me. You do too. You
grow in the sense of your need of grace. I need grace more than
I ever have. You grow in your love of grace. Do you love grace? The grace
of God, the way he saves all by grace. And you grow in graciousness,
which is seen more in humility. That's where growth is seen.
Humility. Not look how much I've grown. That's not growth. You've grown
in humility. You know how I want to grow?
I want to grow in a lower view of myself and a higher view of
you and the highest view of Him. That's where I want to grow.
That's where every believer wants to grow. And then you have the Father. He's known him that is from the
beginning. Back to our text in Mark chapter
4. Verse 28, when the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself, this is God's work. All the bringing
forth of fruit is God's work. It first manifests itself in
the blade, the young man or the child, then the ear, the young
man, and after that, the full ear of corn, the father. But
when the fruit is brought forth, Immediately he putteth in the
sickle because the harvest is come. Now let me tell you what
that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean you become so holy that
it's time to bring him to heaven. Doesn't mean that. What does it mean? Well, it means
it's time. You know that full ear of corn,
what does it do? Gets lower, doesn't it? It bows
down. You stand straight up, but now
it's bowed down under a sense of its own need of grace, its
own need of Christ. It bows down and then the Lord
takes him. Now here is what you and I have
to look forward to. This is when life begins, this
harvest. This is when life begins. I love
when the Lord says when you enter life, this isn't life. Not like
that life is, no. When you enter life. No more sin. No more sorrow. No more conflict. No more sickness. No more misunderstanding. No
more guilt. No more hurt feelings. No more
insecurities. No more doubts, no more fears,
but perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Just like him. Beholding his face in righteousness
with the satisfaction of awaking in his likeness. It won't be long that you're
going to be in the very presence of Christ, perfectly conformed
to his image. You're not going to have to deal
with sin anymore. That wicked nature that you have right now,
it'll be gone. And you won't even remember what
it's like to be a sinner. And you're going to know that
the only reason you're in heaven when you see the scars in his
hands and in his feet, and you'll know that is the only reason
you're there. So here the Lord gives us the
history of life. It comes from the word sown.
It bears fruit of itself, no human contribution. First the
blade, then the ear, then the full ear, then harvest. when believers are brought into
the very presence of Jesus Christ, seeing His face, worshiping Him
forever. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank You for the
Word of God, how we thank You for the Word placed in us by
your spirit that gives life. Lord, we confess
our life is the life you have put in us. And Lord, how this
life rejoices that Christ is our life before God. Lord, take
your word and cause it to bear fruit in each one of us. Thank
you for your gospel. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for your son. Thank you for his precious blood
that makes us clean in your sight. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.