Matthew's Gospel chapter 13.
If you'd like to check the parallel passage to our text this morning,
it's in Mark chapter 4 and in Luke chapter 8. And I'll be referring
to those passages in the message. But I want to read the first
23 verses in Matthew chapter 13 if you want to follow along
with me. Begin reading in verse 1, Matthew chapter 13. In verse
1, The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the
seaside. And great multitudes were gathered
together unto Him, so that He went unto His ship, and sat,
and the whole congregation stood on the shore. We're going to
try this sometime. I'm going to get me a chair and
sit down, or you're going to stand up while I preach. 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. Some fell upon stony places,
where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up,
because they had no depthness 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. But others fell unto good
ground and brought forth fruit, some nine hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
and some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, My speakest thou 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.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundantly. But whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak
I to them in parables, because they see and see not, and hear
and they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, By hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and be converted. and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
Well, verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see the things which you see, and have not seen
them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not
heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sword. When
any one 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. This is he which receiveth seed
by the wayside. But he that receiveth the seed
unto stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and
immediately, annoying with joy, receiveth it. Yet hath he no
root in himself, but endeareth for a while. For when tribulation
and persecution arise because of the word, by and by he is
offended. He also that receiveth seed among
the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the cures of this
world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and
he becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth seed unto
the good ground is he that heareth the word, and he understands
it, which also bringeth fruit, and bringeth forth some. He beareth fruit, and bringeth
forth some nine hundredfold, some sixty. and some thirty. I have often said this, that
when we read the Bible, you and I are entered into mysteries.
Mysteries. Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mysteries that you and I cannot know apart from the Holy Spirit. Mysteries that have to be revealed
openly to our faith and to our understanding. The Scripture
says this, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest
in the flesh. Now that's a mystery of mysteries,
isn't it? And you and I would be in the dark. We'd be at a
loss to understand how God could be made manifest in the flesh
except it was written on the pages of God's Word. That's a
mystery, but it's a mystery that's revealed. We're told how it happens. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son." How in the world did that happen? The Holy Ghost
came upon you, and the power of the High shall overshadow
you, and that holy thing which shall be born of you is the Son
of God. She begot a child of the Holy
Ghost. What a mystery, but it's revealed. And in our text we have another
mystery that the Lord Jesus makes known to us. What takes place
in the dark recesses of the heart when we preach the gospel? Something
is happening to you this morning. I can't see it and you can't
see it. But something is taking place
in the heart. Every heart here this morning
that is under the sound of my voice, there is something taking
place in your heart. And it's a mystery that's going
on there. But the Lord Jesus is going to
tell us here in this text what it is. What happens when the
heart is exposed to the preaching of God's Word? When it's taught? when it's quoted, when it's read. Our eyes can't see that, can
they? Oh, it's deep. It goes deeper than our natural
eyes can see. But the Son of God sees it. He
knows what's going on. The heart is open and naked in
His sight. And He tells us here on the pages
of this Word that I just read to you. And we can see it. We can see it. Here in Matthew
chapter 13 in verse 3, he says, The sower went out to sow. Now, I've did that. When I was
raised on a farm and my dad had me sowing grass seed and corn
and things like that, I did this all my life. I know something
about sowing seed. I just sowed seed this past week.
Took big handfuls and this is the way they did it in the Old
Testament. They'd sling the seed out of their hand onto the ground.
I've got a little hand help sower now and I fill it full and pull
the trigger and I sow those seed. That's what the Lord Jesus is
talking about here. What is the seed? Well, he tells
us in Luke's account of this, he said the seed is the Word
of God. That's what it is. And who can
tell all the means by which the Word of God is sung? The chief
means may be by preaching. But who can tell all the means?
Sometimes the Lord may take His Word to a heart through a song.
I've heard men pray and quote the Scriptures in their prayer,
and it went home to my heart. Sometimes in reading the Word,
all the means that God is pleased with to use, He can open the
heart to His Word. But here's the thing. It's the
Word. It's the Word. The seed is the
Word. If it's preached, if it's taught,
if it's sung, it's the Word. I put an article in a bulletin
a couple of weeks ago, you may remember it. This preacher, there
was a man of somewhat reputation that was dying and he felt somewhat
intimidated to go there and try to talk to him about the Lord.
So he purposed in his heart, all he would do is read the Bible
to him. And several times before this
man died, that's all he did, he read the last few chapters
of the book of John, just a few verses at a time. And just doing
that, the Lord opened that man's heart. And before he died, he
became a believer. The seed is the Word of God. Listen, this is not about the
sower. It has nothing to do with the
sower. It's the seed. It's the seed. I love what the
Scripture says over in Genesis when the Lord made these fruit
trees and He made vegetables and so on. He said the fruit
is in the seed. It's in the seed. When you eat an apple, you know
you can take that seed out of that apple and let it dry and
plant it and an apple tree will come up. Unless it's some sort
of these silly hybrids they come up with today. I just went out
in the garden this week and I cut some potatoes, some seed potatoes,
and I cut them up and I threw it down in the ground and I covered
them up. And I had nothing to do with them coming up. It wasn't
the way I handled them. The fruit, the life was in that
seed. And that's what the Lord Jesus
is talking about here. The seed is the Word of God. And it is sowed in the heart.
And it is not the sower, but it is the seed. The seed is the
Word of God. And we are told also what the
ground is. The seed is the Word of God and
in verse 19 I read unto you that the ground is the heart. It is
the heart. There in verse 19, When any 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. And he tells us the same thing
in verse 23. The good ground is the honest and good heart. Here is my first point. Our Lord
gives us four grounds where these seeds were sown. And I want to
consider these just for a few minutes because it's going on
in here this morning. Right here is what's taking place
in these four hearts this morning. He says in verse 19, when one
hears, then cometh the wicked one. Mark says, then cometh Satan. And Luke says, then cometh the
devil. Then cometh the devil. And Mark
said, ìThen cometh Satan immediately, and catcheth away, or steals
away, or takes away that word that was sown in his heart.î
Now, brothers and sisters, as you and I read the Bible, one
of the things we realize, that it not only reveals God, a triune
God, that rules and reigns in heaven and in earth, but it reveals
another character to us, doesnít it? It reveals Satan. The Bible calls him the devil,
Lucifer, the wicked one. He's a foul, cruel, dangerous,
fallen spirit. And the Lord Jesus is going to
tell us something about him every time this seed is sown. He's
right there. He must run so swiftly. The Bible
says He goes to and fro through the earth, seeking whom He may
devour. And He's working here this morning, running to and
fro into men's hearts. And the first thing I want us
to see is this, His punctuality. Mark tells us then, Then cometh
Satan immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in
their heart, lest they should believe and be saved. You know,
a lesson that you and I have to learn is to value time. The
Bible says so much about us redeeming the time. Now it's high time
to wake out of sleep. Our salvation is nearer than
when we believe. And it tells you young people
to remember the Lord in the days of your youth before the evil
days come. We can't buy back time, can we? We should use our time. We should
be sober and vigilant. But you know the devil has already
learned this. He never sleeps day or night.
He is always running to and fro. And as soon as this seed here
was sown, immediately he was there to take that seed from
the heart. Immediately. Down on the farm
when we had an animal to die or something, we would take my
dad's old horse or take the old tractor that he finally got.
We'd pull a cow or a pig way down on the other side of the
field or off in the woods, and there wouldn't be a buzzard in
the sky. It would be just as clear as it could be. Before
we got back home, the sky was speckled with buzzards. They
were there going for their prey, wanting to devour that flesh.
And you know it's the same way with the devil. As soon as we
begin to preach the Word of God, there he is, him and his fowl. ready to devour the Word of God
from the heart. That's Satan. He's nobody's friend,
is he? He's not God's friend. He's not
the friend of Christ. He's not your friend, and he's
not my friend. And what he's about is not about
a bank account. It's not about good jobs. It's
not about fame and fortune. He's about one thing, and that's
this, being where the gospel is preached and see if he can
rob the soul of the precious Word of God. That's the first
thing, His punctuality. The second thing about Him is
this. The Lord tells us these three
things. Look at His power. In verse 19, He catcheth away
that which was sown in His heart, and Luke says He taketh away
the Word out of the heart. Now, I don't believe for a minute,
and I hope you don't Interpret what I'm saying this
morning and perceive that I'm saying that Satan is sovereign.
There is but one sovereign. But you know, the Lord tells
us that when God gives this spirit, this evil spirit leave, I'm telling
you, he's no match for the preacher. And he's no match for you, the
hearer. He's known as the God of this world. The Scriptures
wouldn't call Him that if some power hadn't been invested in
Him. He's called the Prince of Darkness, the Ruler of Darkness,
a Lion. I don't want to face a Lion,
do you? He's the King of Beasts, isn't He? And that's why they
call Him this. And I'm telling you, if the Holy Spirit doesn't
drive Him away from the heart like Abraham drew those sacrifices
away, vultures away from the sacrifice, I tell you what He'll
do. He'll rob every word that comes
to our hearts. He has the power to do that.
But note this about this. Satan wasn't working against
the will of the hearer. Listen to how Luke says this.
The seed by the wayside is those that hear, and the word is trodden
down. It's trampled under their feet.
I doubt if Satan could do it if they weren't complicit in
it. When a man hears the Word of God, if he tramples it under
his feet, then he can't complain when Satan robs it of him, can
he? He always works with man's sinful
heart. If the heart wasn't sinful and
complicit in Satan and with Satan, he could never do what he did
and what he does. Thirdly, see this about Him,
His purpose. And I think this lets us in on
everything right here. In Luke chapter 8 and verse 12,
in this parallel passage, this is what He says, "...He taketh
away the word out of their heart, lest they should believe and
be saved." Oh, that's His purpose, isn't it? That's His purpose. lest they should believe and
be saved." His purpose is to hinder the salvation of the soul. His purpose is to secure their
damnation. And how does He do that? By taking
away the Word. See, He knows something that
you and I know, but He knows it so much better than we do.
He knows if the Gospel comes into contact with a man's heart
and stays there. It's out to produce faith. That's
what the Gospel does, isn't it? If it gets in the heart and stays
there and gets implanted there, it produces faith. A man will
eventually believe and be saved. And what does he do to make sure
that doesn't happen? He snatches the Word out, lest
they should believe and be saved. Satan isn't concerned when he
sees men turn over a new leaf. That doesn't bother him. Reformation
doesn't bother him. But let a man sit under the gospel
and begin to hear the gospel. He becomes anxious then, boy.
He becomes afraid then. Because he knows that's the only
way he can lose that person, if that person believes the gospel.
And this tells us something else here, doesn't it? A heart-faith
in Jesus, the Son of God, will do what nothing else can do.
It will save you. You may be here this morning
and you may be lost in sin. I've got the best news you could
ever hear between the eternities. There is an instant salvation. As soon as you look to the Son
of God, as soon as you believe with all your heart in Jesus
Christ the Savior, you're saved. You don't have to lift another
finger to be saved and to be justified before God. As soon
as you believe, you're saved. And Satan knows it. He knows
it. And that's his purpose, to take
that faith, that Word out, so faith cannot be produced. Satan
robs the Word from the believers so often. Has he ever robbed
it from your heart, dear child of God? How many times have you
and I been in trouble? And we went looking in the Scriptures
for help. We didn't believe it. Or we read
over it. And we got no help out of it.
And it's because He got in there and due to our slothfulness and
unbelief, He robbed us from the comfort and assurance of the
Word of God. He does believers that way all
the time, doesn't He? That's the first ground. Stony
hearers or wayside hearers. Satan comes and robs them. Secondly, verses 20 and verse
21, we have the stony ground hearers. Look what he said in
verse 20. But he that receiveth the seed
unto stone he placeth it, the same is he that heareth the word,
and immediately with joy receiveth it. And yet he hath no root in
himself, but endureth for a while, when tribulation and persecutions
arise because of the word. Thine by he is offended. Luke says this. Some fell upon
a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered because
it lacked moisture. Now isn't it easy to see what
was wrong with this heart? It had never been broken. It
was a rock. I've sowed enough seed to know
that there's no use to sowing seed upon a rock. It may come
up, it may germinate because life is in the seed, but you
know it's got to have moisture. It's got to have moisture or
it'll dry up, it'll swivel up and die. The Bible says here
they received the Word with joy, but it wasn't the joy of the
Holy Spirit. It was a natural joy. It was
said here that they believed, but it wasn't the faith that
Jesus is the author and finisher of because they quit believing.
If it had been the faith of God's elect, they'd have still believed,
wouldn't they? When a man quits believing, there's a problem.
And here's the problem. It was a man-made faith. And
the whole problem was he had this old hard heart that had
never been broken. And the seed landed there on
the top of his heart, and it sprang up. And at first you thought,
boy, he's going to be something. He's going to be on fire. He's
going to be a tree. And then trouble come and persecution
come. And he withered away. He withered
away. An old deacon friend of mine
used to say when someone professed to the Lord, I've heard him say
this so often, I think maybe he said it to me, when somebody
go up and said, the Lord saved me. And you know what he said?
Time will tell. Time will tell. And that's it,
isn't it? Time will tell. If your heart
has never been broken, time will tell. If Christ and His redeeming
love has not been planted deep in your heart, time will tell.
If the moisture of God's grace is not there in your heart to
water that seed when test and time has come, it will tell.
When tribulations and sorrows come, it will tell. That person
will fall away from their profession, and their whole trouble to start
with was an old, hard heart. Today, if you will hear His voice,
harden not your heart. It shows us the necessity of
the heart being broken, doesn't it? But let's go on. Let's not
get bogged down on any of these that I want to do. I'm always
doing that. Let's go to the third one. It's
this in verse 7. Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns sprang up and choked them." And verse 22, he
says this, this is the thorns, "...the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches." Mark says, "...the lust of other
things," and Luke says, "...the pleasures of this life." So it's
the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the
lust of other things, and the pleasures of this life. And they
choked the Word. Have you noticed a pattern? I
bet you haven't noticed this pattern. But there's a pattern
here that these first three fields hearts go through. And we began
with Satan robbing the seed. And then we went secondly to
the hardness of the heart. And now we've come here to the
world and the things of the world. You have Satan opposed to a man's
salvation. You have a man's own heart opposed
to his salvation, and now you have the world opposed to his
salvation. Isn't it a wonder, brothers and
sisters, that anybody is saved? That's a miracle, is it not?
Everything is against a man's salvation. If God isn't for that
man, I'm telling you what, he's a goner. He's a goner. There's
too much against him. There's absolutely too much against
Him. If salvation is not of God, if
He doesn't secure salvation in the heart, if He doesn't break
it, if He doesn't make it effectual, if He doesn't implant the graces
of the Holy Spirit in the heart, if He doesn't do it, nobody will
ever be saved. Satan will see to it. Man's own
heart will see to it, and the world with all its appeal and
its attraction will see to it. There was a man I was reading
about last night, and he had been a church member for years.
And he was on his dying bed, and he called for his pastor. And he said, and he said, Sir,
I have sat under your ministry for years. And I have never heard
one thing you said. I have never heard one message.
And he told him why. He said, as soon as you take
your text, I start thinking about last week's business and what
I'm going to do next week. Every time, he said, I did that. And I sat there for years and
never heard your message. Is that possible? Yes. Yes. the things of this world, the
pleasures, the deceitfulness of riches. It fills our hearts. That's why the Lord said, break
up this fallow ground and sow not among the thorns. Because if you sow the Word of
God among the pleasures and the desires and the love of this
world, it chokes the Word. Something is going to be choked
out. That's going to choke the Word, or the Word's going to
come and plow up the ground and choke those brars and thorns
out. They can't abide there in the heart at the same time. Paul said, Demas has forsaken
me. Why, Paul? Having loved. Having loved. He loved these
pleasures, these brars, these thorns. The lust of other things
got into his heart. Oh, brothers and sisters, it
happens to us as believers, does it not? It happened to dear Martha. Martha, Martha, you're cumbered. You're so anxious about all these
things. And it's robbing you of the blessings
of My Word. Look where Mary was sitting,
at His feet, hearing His Word. If we think this can't happen
to us as believers, we've not had much experience. It can happen.
I've got my heart so bogged down with cares and pleasures of this
world that I was so cold and indifferent. I didn't even want
to pick up my Bible and read. I didn't even want to pray. It'll
do it. It'll do it. Fourthly and lastly is this.
You're in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 23. I want to read
you all two parallel passages. In verse 23, he said, But he
that receiveth seed unto the good ground is that which heareth
the word. He hears it, and he understands
it, and he brings forth fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, and
some thirty. And Luke says it like this. I
thought this was interesting. He said, Which in an honest and
good heart Having heard the Word, he keeps it. He keeps it. And Mark says he hears it and
he receives it. So we've got this good heart
that hears and he understands. He's honest. It's a good heart. And he receives it and he keeps
it. Now you can study these things.
I'm just hitting the high places of them this morning. But what's
the difference between this heart and the other three hearts? Well,
the first thing, he said, this is a good heart. This is a good
heart. And you know what he's saying?
All those other hearts weren't good. But you say, Bruce, don't
the Bible say there's none good? Don't the Bible say the heart's
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? It does.
Then where did this good heart come from? The Lord must have
given it. And what He gives, He can call
good. When He spoke everything into
being back down in the beginning, and He finished all the work,
and He looked at it, and He said, very good. And when He gives
a heart, as He's promised to do in His covenant of grace,
I will give them a new heart. I'll take out the stony heart
out of their flesh, and I'll give them a heart of flesh, a
tender heart, a pliable heart, and when I put My Word in it,
It can penetrate all the way down deep into that heart. This
is called a good heart because the Lord gave the heart. Do you remember when the Lord
first saved you? Do you remember that? I can remember when the
Lord first saved me. And I tell you, my heart was
so tender. If I thought I was doing anything
that was contrary to the Word of the Lord, I'm telling you,
it worried me to death. And I was quick to repent. I
just wanted to love the Lord and follow Him. When the Lord
saved me, I was so tender. It was snowing. It was cold.
The river had flooded its banks. And I went to the pastor and
I said, I want to confess Christ in water baptism. He said, now?
Now, he said. Yeah, now. And he took me and
my wife both and baptized us. Confess Christ in water baptism.
But I just didn't want to do anything. Why? He'd give me a tender heart.
A new heart that was tender. Did you feel that way? I'd never want to leave my first
love to you. Oh, I never want to leave. I want to stay, Greg,
I want to stay tender towards Him. Keep my conscience tender.
Because I tell you this much, it takes Him to break the heart.
And if we let our hearts get hard, Then he has to come and
re-break them. And the second thing was said
about this, in an honest heart. Oh, that's something. In an honest
heart. In a good heart. And the Word
was sown in an honest heart. That's the trouble with so many
people. I had a man to tell me not long ago, he said he's talking
about he'd been seeking the Lord and the Lord wouldn't save him
and all of this. Well, I knew something about
his life. I'd watched him. I know how he was. He loved his
sin. And I told him, I said, you know
your whole problem, my friend? You're not honest. You're not
honest when you come to the Lord. You're just not honest. And because
you're not honest, He won't hear you. You remember that woman that
had an issue of blood and she pressed behind the Lord Jesus
and she touched the hem of His garment and was made whole? You
remember what happened? The Lord said, Who touched me?
And Peter said, Lord, everybody is touching you. What do you
mean? He said, Somebody has really touched me. They touched me savingly
because virtue has gone out of me. And that woman couldn't be
hid. And the Scripture says she came
and fell down at His feet and told Him all the truth. I tell you, when we come to the
Lord, we're going to have to be honest. We're going to have
to be honest. That rich young ruler will come
to Him and say, Lord, all the law have I kept from my youth
up. That's not being honest. He hadn't
kept it from his youth up. His heart was full of covetousness
at that very time. And the Lord showed him, didn't
He? You think you're holy? Your heart is full of the pleasures
of riches. Give them up and come and follow
Me. He never would be honest, would he? Those Pharisees that
came to the Lord Jesus said, We have no sin. That's not being
honest. Your heart's full of sin. And
until you confess it, you'll never be saved. Because a good
heart is an honest heart. You know there's no dishonest
people in hell. There ain't one honest person
in hell this morning. Everybody in hell went there
because they were dishonest. They wouldn't be truthful with
the Lord. If you'll come to Him and you'll be truthful with Him
and you'll tell Him how ungodly you are, and how you send away
any claims you've had upon Him, and for the sake of His dear
Son have mercy upon you and save you from your sin, I bet you
He'd receive you in a minute. But if a man goes about lying
to himself and lying to God, I'm telling you he's not within
a spitting distance of the Kingdom of God. This man was honest in
an honest heart. He knows. He knows. But he wants us to come clean,
don't he? He tells us to come clean. That old publican beat
upon his chest and said, God be merciful to me a sinner. There's
an honest man. There's an honest man. It ain't
difficult to come to Christ. You know what makes it difficult?
We won't be honest. We just won't be honest. And
you know what being honest is? Judging ourselves as He judges
us. When He says, You're a dog. Truth,
Lord. Have mercy upon me. I'm a dog.
And you agree with Him, what He says about Himself. He's the
Lord. And salvation is of the Lord.
And you agree with Him. Honesty. Lord, be merciful to
me, a sinner. Be perpetuous to me, a sinner.
And the Bible says He went down to His house saved. Justify. And he sought to live the rest
of his life bringing forth fruit to God's glory and praising the
Lord and living in his thanksgiving. The Bible says, ìThanks be unto
God that giveth us the victory.î Over what? Satan. Our old hard
hearts. And this world has given us the
victory. Bless His holy name. So something's
went on here this morning, hasn't it? I feel my utter weakness,
and I just stumble along, and anymore I can't hardly think.
I have to confine myself to my notes. But that don't make any
difference. This is the Word. And the Word has went out this
morning, and it'll never return void. It's done something. Satan snatched it. It's fell
on some hard heart. It's fell among a bunch of thorns.
Or it's fell in good souls. And that ain't up to me to determine
that. It's up to the Lord. Bless His name. Let's pray.