Now we're turning in our Bible
once again to Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter
4 at verse 26. Mark chapter 4 at
verse 26. The title of this message I have
given, Growing in Grace. Growing in Grace or spiritual
growth. Believers do grow in grace. They do mature in grace. And my text is taken from Mark
4 verse 26 down through verse 29. Just four verses and this
message has four points. I'll give them to you in just
a minute. In this short parable that's set forth is the history
of the work of divine grace, sovereign grace in the heart
of the believer by Almighty God. One old writer of the past, J.C.
Ryle, said, it summons us to give an examination of our own
experience in divine things before God Almighty. The apostle put
it this way in 2 Corinthians 13.5, examine yourselves, whether
you make it personal, Don't examine me. Examine yourself, whether
you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be a castaway, except you be a reprobate. Now in this story
here, of this seed, look at verse 26. So the kingdom is God. So
is the kingdom of God. And he said, He said, so is the
kingdom of God as if a man should cast a seed into the ground. Now that's simple, isn't it?
Take a seed, put it in the ground. And what's going to happen? What's
going to happen? The Lord uses this parable, this
tiny seed of corn, being planted in the ground, germinating, growing,
Producing fruit and at the time appointed there comes a harvest
So is the kingdom of God and same as saying is This so is
salvation of the Lord the kingdom of God Salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ now. Here's the four four points I'm
going to give them to you like like my My pastor used to do,
he'd give the points and then he'd go back over them. Here's
the four points. Number one, as corn, as the growth of corn
requires someone to sow the seed, in God's work of grace, in the
kingdom of grace, there must be a sower of seed. Number one. Number two, in the growing of
corn, and in the work of grace, There is much that is beyond
our comprehension and our control. You put that seed in the ground
and you plant it, what goes on in there? It's kind of mysterious,
isn't it? We don't really know much about
it. We know something about it. Thirdly,
in the development of corn and in the work of grace, life is
made manifest gradually by degrees. It shoots up that little green
thing, and then it grows up. And then there's an ear of corn,
and then there's full corn. It's a slow process, but it does
grow. Fourthly, both in the cultivation
of corn and in the kingdom of God and salvation, there is both
a time to plant and there's a time to harvest. That which is planted. As we
read in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, there is a time to be born,
and there is a time to die. There is a time to plant, and
there is a time to pluck up. That which has been planted.
Now number one, point number one found in verse 26. As growth
of corn requires someone to sow seed in the ground, In God's
work of grace, and in the kingdom of grace, there must be a sower
of seed, which is the gospel, the word of truth, the Lord Jesus
Christ. As it says in verse 26, look
at verse 26 again. So is the kingdom of God as if
a man should cast seed into the ground. Now we all know and understand
that ground, the earth, that red clay, dirt, Ground left to
itself is the mother of what? Weeds. Weeds. Thorns and thistles. Since sin
entered in, that's what God said would happen. Thorns and thistles.
The hard ground must be plowed under. Must be broken up. The
good seed must be planted with careful purpose or what would
happen in the harvest? What would happen in the fall?
Well, we wouldn't have a harvest. We wouldn't have a crop. Even
so, likewise, it is with the heart of the sinner. All that
naturally grows in us, vile, wretched weeds of sin that must
be plucked out. There is a time to pluck. For
out of the heart, our Lord said, Matthew 15, 19, for out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication,
theft, false witness, and evil speaking. That's the weed of
sin that grows in our heart naturally. No sinner, with emphasis upon
no, No sinner left to himself would ever turn to God in true
repentance, in true genuine saving faith, and believe and trust
the true Christ for all of salvation except God do something for us. A dead sinner can do nothing
of himself and for himself because he's dead in his sin. You say, well, how dead? Dead
and stinking. dead, graveyard dead, and Adam
all died. His condition before God, spiritually
speaking, he's totally helpless in himself. He's like that barren
ground. He's barren of grace. There's no goodness in us, no,
not one. Man at his best state, he is
altogether vanity, vanity, vanity. Our Lord said clearly in John
6, verse 44, no man can come to Me, no man can come to Me
except the Father which sent Me. Draw him and I'll raise him
up. at the last day. The Lord Jesus
Christ must do a work of grace in the heart. He must plow the
hard-hearted heart of sin and plant in the seed of truth and
grace, or we'll never see a harvest of souls. Never see a harvest
of grace. Grace in the heart is an exotic
plant. And I mean by that, it's a foreign
plant. It doesn't bloom in the heart
naturally. It's altogether a new thing,
implanted in us by the sovereign purpose of God, and blooms to
life by His will, His design, His decree. We read in Acts 13,
remember? As many as were ordained to eternal
life, those are the ones who really believe the gospel. Yet
in this parable, And throughout the record of Scripture, the
Lord teaches us that in communicating grace, the grace of God, to His
covenant people, He works by His appointed means. Someone
has to sow that seed. And that's the preaching of the
Gospel. That's God's appointed means. Now, not just preaching.
I mean the preaching of the truth. the preaching of salvation in
Christ alone. Those who despise the appointed
means of grace and yet hope to see sinners believe the gospel
might as well expect to see a lush cornfield in a remote, uncultivated
jungle in Africa. Don't despise the means that
God has ordained to the calling out of his people. What is it?
It pleads God through preaching, preaching, preaching, trying
to call out his people. Now, four things on this first
point quickly. The man in the parable is a gospel
preacher, one who was sent by God bearing precious seed. No wonder the Lord said, His
last words of instruction to his church was to go into all
the world and preach the gospel, THE gospel to everyone. Don't leave one stone unturned. Go and preach this word, my truth,
to every sinner that will hear it. Second, the seed sown is
the precious truth of the gospel, the word of God, the gospel of
Christ. It is the incorruptible seed by which we are born of
God. We are born the first time by
what kind of seed? A corruptible seed, tainted with
sin, tainted with all the depravity that flows from Adam's loin,
that rotten, vile nature. We are born again the second
time with an incorruptible seed. The Word of God that lives and
abides forever. That's the Gospel of Christ.
That's the Word of God. That is the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Born of God. Born of God. The casting of the seed into
the earth is the faithful Gospel preacher. And the ground into which the
seed is sown is the hearer of the Gospel. You remember that
parable we had a few weeks ago. about the parable of the sower
that went forth to sow the seed. And he sowed some seed by the
wayside, and the stony ground, and the thorny ground. But some,
by His grace, that seed was sown into the good ground, made good
and made ready to receive the seed by the power and grace of
Almighty God. Point number two, found in verse
27. Mark chapter 4, verse 27. In
growing of corn, In the growing of corn and in the work of grace
there is much that is beyond our comprehension and our control. It's out of control. But under
His control. Totally. Look at verse 27. And should sleep the farmer when
he plants the seed, he should sleep, rise night and day, and
the seed should spring and grow up. But he doesn't really understand
What's going on? There's much mystery when that
seed is planted in the earth and it's covered over. What's
going on in there? Something's going on. The wisest
farmer, the dirt farmer, cannot explain all that takes place
when the seed is sown in the earth, can he? You know he's
really not interested. He just plants the seed and then
he waits. He knows a broad fact that unless
he sows a seed in the ground there will be no harvest. Yet
no farmer causes or commands a seed to germinate, does he?
Does he stand out there and say, now seeds! He doesn't, does he? Yet he knows
if he doesn't sow the seeds there will be no harvest. Yet no farmer
causes or commands a seed to germinate or grow. He must leave
the result in the hand of Almighty God. He knows that God must give
the increase. God must. So it is in the work
of grace in the hearts of God's chosen people. Now listen to
me. The greatest abilities and the most powerful preaching,
the most diligent labors of any God-called, God-sent minister
cannot command success or give spiritual life. It's not my ability,
my speaking ability, that's the power of God unto salvation.
Although we must speak the gospel clearly, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ itself is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes it. You see, my friend, God must
speak. God must speak. If my voice,
my pastor used to say this all the time, if my voice is the
only voice you hear, It won't do you a whole lot of
good. You must hear from God Almighty. He speaks through His
servants, but He must speak to your heart. God must speak. We read in Ezekiel 16. You remember that cast out infant
that was cast out into the field, totally helpless, polluted in
its blood, just cast out, waiting to die? And that's a picture
of what we are. But God says this in Ezekiel
16, When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy blood,
I said unto thee, When thou was in your blood, I said unto thee,
Live! Live! And when He speaks, life comes
forth. God must give life. Just as He does in the germination
of that seed, God must give life. He must speak and He must give
life. God alone must give the increase. You remember what the apostles
said to those there in Corinth? When they were dividing up and
splitting up over preachers and saying, well, I'm of this one,
I'm of that one. He said, well, who are we? Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? The minister
by whom you believe. Even as the Lord gave to every
man, I planted, Apollos watered, God must give the increase. We wait upon God. I preach the
gospel. I sow the seed. And you know
what? I'm going to leave you alone.
I won't leave you alone. I'm not going to buttonhole you, pin you in a corner, make you
confess something, make you walk down here, browbeat you, pressure
you. Not at all! I'm going to preach
the word and leave you in the hands of Almighty God. And when
He causes that seed of life to germinate in your heart, God
who starts the work, He'll finish it. He'll finish it. He'll finish
it. Now three things are mentioned
in verse 27 that are common to both farmer and preacher. Farmer
and preacher. I'm a farmer at heart. I tell
my wife all the time when she gets aggravated at me. I tell
her my daddy was a farmer. A dirt farmer. And my granddaddy
was a dirt farmer. And my great granddaddy was a
dirt farmer. They made their living in the
dirt. But there is much in common both
with farmers and preachers. Three things that are mentioned
there in verse 27. You see it? Sleep. Rise up night and day, and then
they know not how. Competent sleep, resting in the
good providence of God to bless the labors, knowing we do not
labor in vain. The Apostle said this in 1 Corinthians
15, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that
our labor is not in vain. It's not. He's promised to bless
His Word. And then secondly, diligent watchfulness. Diligent watchfulness. Like diligent
farmers, faithful pastors rise night and day. They're always
about their master's business. They're always about the master's
work. They labor in the Word. It's always on their mind. It
weighs heavily on their heart. It never leaves them at all. They rise up night and day. And
you know what they think about? I think about the gospel, the
preaching of the gospel, and those to whom they preach. The third thing is God's divine
sovereignty. It says there in the text, He
knoweth not how. He knoweth not how. Oh, my friends,
the mystery of the new birth. The new birth. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creation. There's a new creation. work
in the heart of the sinner. God who command the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In the new birth, there is a
creation of a new man created in Christ Jesus that's implanted
in your soul and in your life. How does that happen? I tell
you, it's by the sovereign power of Almighty God. It's a marvelous,
glorious thing. It's a mysterious thing. Remember
what the Lord said in John chapter 3 to that educated religious
ruler named Nicodemus? He said, Marvel not that I said
unto you, you must be born again. You must be born again. Except
the man is born again, he's not going to enter into the kingdom
of God. He cannot see. He cannot believe unless he's
born again. And then our Lord said this,
the wind blows where it will, you hear the sound thereof, but
you cannot tell from which it cometh nor where it goeth. So
is everyone that's born of the Spirit of God. Born of the Spirit
of God. It's a mysterious thing. You
look out there at that tree, and there it blows. There's the
wind. You can't really see the wind,
can you? You see the effect of the wind,
you feel the force of the wind, But it's a mysterious thing.
So is everyone that's born of the Spirit that wind blows sovereignly
as he will. They had a big hurricane down
there yonder in Texas. It didn't blow any up here. You
see it blows where he will. Nicodemus answered and said,
How can these things be? How can these things be? With men it's impossible, but
not with God. With God all things are possible. Nothing too hard for the Lord.
Thirdly is this, in verse 28, look at verse 28. For the wind,
excuse me, for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself. First
the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn, the full
corn in the ear. In both the development of the
corn and in the work of grace, life is made manifest gradually
by degrees. Now two things are given here.
Two things are given here in verse 28. The first one is this,
for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself. Now once the seed is sown in
the ground, the farmer's job As far as the planting is concerned,
it's done. It's over. Once the seed of the
word is sown, once the gospel is preached and received in the
good ground prepared by God Almighty, the minister's work is done as
far as preaching the gospel. The fruitfulness of the word
is totally a production by God's sovereign grace alone. Now turn,
if you will, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Totally a work of grace alone. As far as the production goes.
As far as the germination goes. As far as the growth is concerned. Colossians chapter 1, look at
verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father.
We give thanks unto the Father who has made us meet fit. to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saint in Christ who delivered us from the power of darkness
and had translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now who did that? Who made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saint in Christ? Well,
it's by His sovereign power. His sovereign power. Pastor Mahan,
when he was here back in July, gave me some bulletins from 1954
through 1958. Bulletins around the time of
those conferences that were held from 1954 through 1958. And I
found this statement in that bulletin. It's by an old preacher. And the statement goes this way,
the whole of the work Whereby men are saved from the natural
state of sin and ruin, and are translated into the kingdom of
God, made heirs of eternal life, and happiness is of God and of
him only." The work of God. Sinners, now listen to me, sinners
are not the cause of God giving salvation. It is strictly by
His purpose and His grace given through the means that He has
ordained. He has ordained. Faith, without
faith, is impossible to please God. Is that what it says? Where
did you get that faith? Faith is a gift of God. Our Lord
said of repentance, except you repent, you'll perish. You'll perish in your sin except
you repent. And yet we read in scripture
that repentance is the what? Repentance is the goodness of
God that leads you to repentance. He is exalted to the right hand
of God to grant or to give repentance unto his people. Love. How about love? Our Lord said,
If I love not, I'm nothing. It prompteth me nothing. Yet
love is the fruit of the Spirit. You see what I'm saying? The
work of God, the work of grace. How about peace in the heart?
Peace in the heart before God. It's all a work of grace. Peace
is a product of grace. Being justified by His grace,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. He wrought peace with His own
blood. You see, it's all of grace and
grace alone. Sanctification. Our Lord said,
without holiness, without holiness, no man will see the Lord. And
yet in myself, I'm a wretched sinner. But in the Lord Jesus
Christ, I have perfect holiness. As a matter of fact, He is my
holiness before God. We're accepted in the Beloved.
Here's the second part of that. Yet we see the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself by the command and decree of God. The
second part, we see there's a gradual growth. First, the blade. then
the ear, and after that the full corn. The full corn in the ear. We see and learn God's work of
grace is a gradual process. The strongest man, the strongest
man was once a weak, helpless child. Is that right? There had
to be a beginning. Is that right? The biggest oak
tree, was once nothing but a small little acorn about the size of
the end of your thumb. Even so in the kingdom of grace,
none of the Lord's children are born full grown. Are we? Now we're fully redeemed. We're fully redeemed by His power.
fully redeemed. He delivered us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. We're completely justified
by His grace. Completely fully redeemed. Completely
justified by His grace. We're fully forgiven because
Christ paid our sin debt. But there is a growth in grace
and a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do grow in grace. I like to think I love a little
more now than I did 25 years ago. I like to hope that I believe
a little stronger now than I did 25 years ago. 30 years ago, we
grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
does that happen? Listen to what the Lord says.
1 Peter 2. Don't turn, let me just quote it to you. As newborn
babe, desire the sincere milk of the word that you might grow
thereby. There is a growth in grace. I
tell you, this thing of growing in grace is not It's not upward. It's a growth downward in humility. Our Lord said this in 2 Peter
3.18, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. There is a growth in grace. I'd
take alarm. if you see no progress and growth
in grace. The last point is this, in verse
29. But when the fruit is brought
forth, immediately you put in the sickle. Now sickle is a cutting instrument. because the harvest is coming,
getting ready to reap the harvest. Now here lastly, both in the
cultivation of the corn and in the kingdom of God, there is
both a time to plant and a time to grow. There is a time to harvest
and a time to grow and a time to harvest that which is planted.
There is an appointed time for the harvest. Now no wise farmer
would ever consider harvesting his crop before the designated
day when the fruit is mature. Would he go out there and cut
it down early? No. And things are exactly the same
in the kingdom of grace, in the kingdom of God. Our departing
time and the time of our departure is of the Lord. I'm talking about
when the Lord says, come here, when He calls us to Himself. The Apostle said this, the time
of my departure is at hand. For me to live is Christ, to
die is gain. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. But the time of my departure,
who determines that? The harvest of my soul to eternal
glory, who determines that? We read in Ecclesiastes 3, there
is a time to be born and there is a time to die. Almighty God,
our wise Heavenly Father, He never takes His chosen home to
glory until by marvelous grace He has made them fit for His
presence to present us faultless before His glory, His presence
with exceeding joy. God's people always die at the
appointed time, precisely at the right time, because God is
too wise to err, He's too strong to fail. He's too good to ever
do the wrong thing. Whatever he does, whenever he
does it, it's right. It's right. You remember what
Abraham said in Genesis 18, 25, Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And whatever he does, my friend,
it is right. There's no accidents with God.
No believer's life is ever cut short. There's no accidents with God.
He said, I'm the Lord, I kill, I make alive, I the Lord do all
these things. And I thought of this. In 1969,
a young man left Ashland, Kentucky and went to Vietnam. 19 years
old. He wasn't there but just a few
days, and God took him home. You say, well his life was cut
short! No, it wasn't. God gave him 19 years, and God
took him home. And that young man's name was
Pastor Mayhem's firstborn, Robbie Mayhem. Was his life cut short? No, it was the time of harvest.
God took him home to glory. See, no accidents with God. Do
you remember what Job said? Naked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Remember the words of Eli. Eli,
that prophet of God, that priest of God, had two rebellious sons. You can read about it in 1 Samuel.
And God told Samuel to go tell Eli that I'm going to kill both
your two boys. They're rebels against God. And Samuel told him every wit
and hid nothing from him. And he said, here's what Eli
said, It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth good in his sight. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Well, here's the second part
of this in closing. The time when the Lord returns
to gather all of His elect. When will that be? I don't have a clue. He said
the times and seasons, brethren, you don't need to know. And that's
enough for me. I'm not looking to a time of
day. I'm looking unto Him who is coming. The time when the
Lord returns together all of His elect, when all things are
ready, when everything has been fulfilled, when all the elect
of God have been called and justified in Christ Jesus and called by
faith, called in Christ to faith in Christ, then the Lord will
return together in His harvest. Our Lord said this in Matthew
24, and this gospel This gospel now, not another, this gospel. This gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then, the end. The end. When he comes again,
the end shall come. When all the last elect of God
has heard the word and been given grace to believe the gospel.
Whenever that is, then the Lord will return. And so we shall
ever be with the Lord. In Revelation chapter 1 verse
7 we read these words. Behold, He cometh. He's on His way. He cometh. He cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all the
kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him. The Lord will
come. You know, these are comforting
words to the believer. In closing, let's read this.
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And when he closes this portion
of Scripture, he uses these words. Comfort one another with these
words. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. But I would not have you to
be ignorant. Do you see it? Verse 13. First
Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. Concerning them which are
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Him, there rest in Him. God will bring
with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not precede them which have gone
before, which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. We which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Ever
be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another. Comfort one another with these
words. There is a time of harvest. There
is a time to plant. There is a time of growing. and
there is a time of harvest. In all things, God does work
for His glory and for the good of His people.