We're turning to Mark chapter
4. Let's read verses 1 and 2 of
Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4. And he began
again. Again. The Lord was a teacher. Everywhere he went, he went preaching
and teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The gospel of
God. Salvation to sinners in Christ
Jesus. And he began again. again to
teach by the seaside. And there was gathered unto him
a great multitude, a great multitude, a mixed crowd, probably for the
most part Jews, for the most part very religious Jews, but
maybe even among these people were some Samaritans, maybe some
Gentiles, maybe even some sinners. Some of his elect, some of his
people, his sheep. There was a great multitude so
that he entered into a ship down by the seaside. They crowded
around him and they kind of crowded him out and he went out on a
ship. Launched out just a little bit
and they all came up to the seashore and were interested in hearing
the Master Teach. So that he entered into a ship
and he sat, he sat down, he sat in the sea, he sat down in the
ship, he entered into the ship and sat in the sea. And the whole
multitude was by the sea on the land and he taught them. He taught
them. Now I want a teachable spirit,
don't you? I want, just as we sang a moment
ago, to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and to learn
of him. And he taught them. And he taught
them by parables. Now a parable is an earthly story. He's going to give us an earthly
story of a farmer sowing seed. Now we've all experienced this.
It's a earthly illustration. That's what a parable is. It's
an earthly illustration that represents and is typical of
and represents a spiritual truth. The sower of the seed represents
somebody. The seed represents somebody. And these four types of hearers,
they all represent somebody. Somebody. He taught them many
things in parables, and we're going to see as we study through
the gospel written by Mark, many things that he teaches by these
earthly stories, an illustration. And sent unto them in his doctrine.
Now doctrine simply means teaching. And notice, he said unto them
his doctrine. It's always singular. Whenever
you read in Scripture about the doctrine of God, or the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's always found singular. One message. Whenever you read
about the doctrines of men, it's always in the plural. The Lord
Jesus Christ has one message. There's just one message. Salvation. in and by and through and because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His obedience, His righteousness,
His sacrifice unto death, His obedience unto death, His glorious
resurrection, His finished atonement, that is all one truth. One truth. One doctrine. Salvation in Christ and Christ
alone. Now he uses this very, very simple
illustration of sowing seed. And we've all done this. Much
seed is sown in the ground, but of all the seed that you planted
last spring, do you think every one of those seeds you planted
came up and had fruit? No. You planted a lot. You broadcast
a lot of seed in hope that some of that seed would bring forth
fruit. Isn't that what we do? That's
what I do when I plant cucumbers. I love to plant gardens. When
I plant cucumbers, I put more seed in that cucumber hill than
I should. Because I know some of them are
not going to germinate. Some of them are going to be
by the wayside and the birds may come and eat them up or the
worms may eat them up and not all of them will come up and
bear fruit. Some of them will. The ones that God determines
to give life. They will bring forth fruit. Fruit. Only some of the seed
that we plant brings forth fruit. His disciples asked Him a good
question in verse 10 of our text. When He was alone, they that
were about Him and with Him, and the twelve being with Him,
asked Him of this parable. Why do you teach by a parable?
Now, you hold your place there and put your bulletin there or
something there to mark your place because we are going to
come back, but turn to Matthew chapter 13. Now this parable
is given in Luke chapter 8 and in Matthew chapter 13 here in
Mark chapter 4. And sometimes you have to read
all three records to kind of get the full story of what's
being said. But here in Matthew 13, down
at verse 10, the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables? Now, they asked a good question.
Lord, why do you teach this way? Why are you doing this? Well,
he was patient with them. He could have said, well, you
don't need to know. I'm the Lord. You don't need to know. But the
Lord's long-suffering with the ignorance of His people, and
He tells them why. Verse 11, He answers them, because
it's given unto you to know. It's given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not given. For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, And he shall have more
abundance, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away,
even that that he does have. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand. And by seeing you shall see,
and shall not perceive. Now here's the problem, verse
15, this people's heart is waxed gross. Their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest at any time
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
should understand with their heart, and should be converted,
and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for
they see. And your ears, for they hear.
Now, Lord, why do you speak in parables? Well, he gives, I believe,
two reasons. Two-fold answer. Salvation, first
of all, is by the sovereign will of God. Salvation is by the sovereign
will of God. He said, Blessed are your eyes
for they see. It's given to you to know the
message of the Kingdom of God. He's declaring that salvation
is by the sovereign will of God Almighty. He said, I will have
mercy on whom I will. I will pardon whom I will have
pardoned. I will love whom I will. The
sovereignty of God in salvation. The same message that calls and
quickens the elect The sheep of Christ hardens the reprobate. Did you know that? It does. It
does, exactly. I want you to turn, turn if you
will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians, I believe it's
chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians
chapter 2, look at verse 14. The sovereignty of God in salvation,
the same message that melts The heart of God's elect is the same
message that hardens the hard-hearted, reprobate rebel against God.
Look what it says here. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, Now
thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ,
and make manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every
place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that
are saved, and in them that perish, to the one wear the savor of
death unto death, to the other a savor, a sweet smell of life
unto life. Who is sufficient for these things?
We are not as many which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity,
but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that message of Christ and
Him crucified to some, it's a stumbling block. To some, it's an offense.
But to them which are called, Christ crucified is the power
of God and the wisdom of God. He said, I preach unto them in
parables. that I might have mercy upon
whom I will." The second reason He gives is the fulfilling of
Scripture. The fulfilling of Scripture.
All these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
We see in this the fulfillment of what's spoken in Isaiah 6,
verses 9 and 10. The Jews were judicially blinded
for their willful rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
we read in John chapter 1, He came unto His own? His own nation,
His own people, and they received Him not. Remember what they said
when Pilate brought Him forth and said, Behold your King? Remember
what they said? We don't have a King, especially
not that one. We have no King but Caesar. Away
with Him. Crucify Him. They willfully rejected
what light they had. They said, Away with Him. And
in doing that, we see the fulfilling of Scripture. Someone said the
penalty of sin is to be left in sin. Those who refuse to see
are punished by being unable to see. You walk in what light
God gives you, and He'll give you more light. But if you rebel
and reject any light, even the light of nature, the light of
conscience, you refuse that witness of God, and He will blind you
completely. Now, let's look at this parable.
Hearken, verse 3. Mark chapter 4, verse 3. He said, now hearken. You hearken
to this. He says two times in this parable,
in verse 9, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And in
verse 23, if any man hath ears to hear, let's sit up and listen. Hearken. Let's straighten up
and unplug the ears a minute. Behold, behold this, there went
out a sower, and it came to pass as he sowed. Some fell by the
wayside, some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls, the birds,
the crows, they came and they devoured up the seed. Some fell
on a stony ground where it had not much earth, and it sprang
up, but because there was not much depth there, it was withered
away. But when the sun was up, it was
scorched. Because it had no root, it withered away. And some of
the seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and it
choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And others fell on good
ground and did yield fruit that did spring up, fruit given of
God, increased and brought forth, some thirty, sixty, a hundredfold.
Now, let's see what we can do with this. And we see here in
this story the effect of the Word had on these four different
hearers. And I believe this happens every
time the gospel is preached to a multitude of people. I believe
these four things happen. Now let's see. The sower of the
seed represents the gospel preacher. It says in Matthew chapter 13
that the sower is the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the teacher. He does
sow the seed. according to his purpose. So
the sower of the seed is that gospel preacher. The sower is
the servant of God, those who faithfully sow the seed of the
gospel of Christ in hope of a harvest. And we sow the seed, but I can't
give life. No more than you can sow the
seed in your garden. You can't give it life. God must
germinate. God must give life. But we sow
the seed in hope of a harvest. Now isn't that exactly what the
Apostle Paul said over here? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We sow the seed in hope of a
harvest. Paul called himself here in 1
Corinthians chapter 3. Verse 5, Who then is Apollos?
Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministered
by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have
planted, there is sown seed. You see that? Apollos, he came
along, he watered with the word of life. But God gives the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God. God must give the increase. So the sower of the seed is a
gospel preacher sent forth to preach the gospel. Now stay right
here in Corinthians and find 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. But is the sower anything in
and of himself? Is the gospel preacher anything
in himself? Does he have any power to germinate
or to give life? No, he simply distributes the
seed. Look what he says over here in
2 Corinthians 4. We sow the seed in hope of a harvest, looking
unto God to give life. 2 Corinthians 4, look at verse
5. But we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servant for his
sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light and the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in the person
of Jesus Christ. Now watch it, verse 7. We have
this treasure in an earthen vessel. That's all I am, an earthen vessel. That's all Paul was, an earthen
vessel. That the excellency of the power may be of God and not
of us. The sower of the seed, God has
ordained the means of the preaching of the gospel to effectively
call out his people. He said go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. So the sower of the
seed is that gospel minister sent forth to preach the gospel.
Now the second thing I want to point out is this. The seed here
is the word of God. The seed is the word of God.
God's servants are not just preachers. They are gospel preachers. Paul
said, God sent me to preach Christ and Him crucified. They're gospel
preachers. They preach the Word. As the
Apostle said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They're not just Preachers. They're
preachers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As my pastor
used to say, the woods are full of preachers. The hills are full
of preachers. There's few gospel preachers. And there's a heap of difference.
There's a big difference. They preach the Word. They preach
Christ crucified. Let me show you. It's a charge
of God. If you find 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy
chapter 3. They sow, they are sent to preach,
they are sent to preach Christ and Him crucified. 2 Timothy
3 verse 16, let's begin there. 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
All seed, the Word, is given of God. It's by God's inspiration. Preaching is simply repeating
what God has already said. That the man of God may be perfect,
mature, complete, throughly furnished unto all good works. Now read
on. Chapter 4, I charge thee before God and thee Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at the appearing
of his kingdom. Preach the Word. Scatter the
seed. The truth, the Word, Christ.
Preach Christ. Preach the word, be instant,
in season, out of season. When are we to sow the seed of
the word of life? I know in the springtime we sow
seed in the garden, but gospel preaching is always in season.
We are to spread the seed of the word all the time. Be instant,
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. So preach
the word. The apostle said, Woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. Now there must be a seed in order
to have life. Turn to James. James. There must be a seed planted.
Now if you didn't go out in your garden next spring and plant
any cucumber seeds, Would you have any cucumbers? No. My friend, God gives life with
the seed of life, the Word of God. There must be the planting
of the seed. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. James chapter 1, look at verse
18. Of His own will begat He us with
the Word of truth. There must be the preaching of
the Word. That we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creation. Now turn over here to 1 Peter
chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. The seed must be sown. That's
our responsibility. God called us as His servants,
as His people, to go and preach the gospel. It's our responsibility
to sow the seed. It's left up to God to give life
to whom He will. But we must sow the seed. 1 Peter. Chapter 1, look at verse 23,
being born again, not of a corruptible seed, now that's how I was born
the first time, but being born again of an incorruptible seed,
what is it? The Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. God uses truth of His own will
beget He us with the Word of Truth. So there must be a sower,
And there must be a seed, and so where is God's servant the
seed is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the results
are in His hand. The results are in His hand. He has salvation on whom He will. We go as the Lord has instructed
us, preach the gospel. We preach the gospel randomly
to all who will hear. To all who will hear. Someone
accused Charles Spurgeon one time, said, well if you believe
that God's going to just save the elect, why don't you just
go preach to the elect? And his response back to the
man was, well I don't know who they are, do you? If you go around
and mark them, I'll preach to the elect, but I don't know who
they are. Therefore I'm going to preach randomly to all who
will hear, and God will call out His people. We preach the
gospel randomly to all who will hear, but the results are not
random. Are they? Oh, they're not random. He'd
given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life
to as many as the Father had given him. All that the Father
had given to me, he said, they will come to me and I will not
cast them out. They have eternal life and they
shall never perish. Some are granted faith in Christ
Jesus. Faith is a gift of God. And some
are left to perish in their own willful rebellion, blindness,
and unbelief. And God just leaves them there.
He will have mercy on whom He will. That's what the book teaches.
Salvation. We say, well, every sinner has
a chance. My friends, salvation is not
by chance. Salvation is by the grace of God. We are dead in
sin. Unless God does something for
us, we'll stay right there. Dead, blind, deaf, and dead in
sin. Unless God is pleased to give
life. And He does this through the
means He's ordained. The preaching of the gospel,
the sowing of that seed. And we go and He gives life to
whom He will. Now, the Lord tells us what happens
when the word of truth in the gospel is preached. Here we see
the effect in these four healers. Now, verse 15 in Mark 4. Here's the first one. The sower
soweth the word. Now here's the first one. The
seeds sown by the wayside healer in that wayside ground. These are they which are by the
wayside. where the Word is sown, now notice
this carefully, the Word is sown. But when they have heard, they
did hear the Word, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the
Word that was sown in their heart. The Gospel, the Word, the seed
has been faithfully preached, but there's no fruit produced.
The Gospel preached had no effect. They came to the worship service
that morning, And they leave the worship service that morning
the same way they came, dead in sin, with no concern for their
spiritual welfare, no concern for salvation, no concern for
forgiveness. And Satan takes away any word,
any seed that's sown, immediately he comes and distracts you somehow. Now that's those who Receive
the seed by the wayside. The wayside hearer. The second
one that's mentioned in verse 16 and 17 in the explanation.
The stony ground hearer. These are they likewise which
are sown on stony ground. Who when they have heard the
word. Now there it is again. Each of
these hearers. The wayside hearer. The stony
ground hearer. The thorny ground hearer. They
all heard. They heard the same preacher.
The same word was preached, but yet it has a different effect.
God saves whom he will. These are they likewise which
are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word
immediately they receive it with gladness. But yet they have no
root, no root of grace in themselves. So they endure for a while, for
a time, but later on When hardship comes, when affliction comes,
and persecution comes, when that persecution and affliction comes
because of the Word, because of the Gospel, immediately they
are offended. And by and by, you know what
happens? They leave. They leave the preaching of the
Gospel. They go somewhere else. Now,
the seed sown on the stony ground, or the stony ground hearer. These
also hear the gospel message who immediately they receive
it with joy and for a time they rejoice in it. They profess to
believe for a while, they stand for a while, they endure for
a while, but when trouble and persecution rises over the gospel,
having no true root of grace and Christ in the heart, no anchor
of the soul that's sure and steadfast, no solid rock to rest upon, when
the heat of opposition arises, they will wilt like cut, fresh
cut flowers. They will not contend for the
faith. They melt away. Our Lord said
in Matthew 11, Blessed is he who is not offended in me. Ashamed of Jesus? Can it be? A mortal man ashamed of thee?
God forbid! His people will endure! But those stony ground hearers
For a while they endure. For a while they seem to rejoice
in the gospel of God's grace. But when they go out and go back
to their family or back to their friends and start telling them
of God's sovereign mercy and sovereign grace, and they begin
to be persecuted for the gospel and chastised for the way of
grace, chastised for the way of God's mercy in Christ, by
and by they're offended, they're ashamed. And they leave the gospel. God's people are not ashamed.
That's why the Lord said, blessed is that man who is not ashamed
of me. A couple of scriptures here. Find 2 Timothy chapter 1. Remember John said, they went
out from us because they were not of us. If they would have
been of us, they would have no doubt, they would have continued
with us. No matter how hot the persecution. The true saving faith does endure,
my friend, perseveres, because we are kept by the power of God.
Now you find 2 Timothy chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1, when
Paul writes back to young Timothy in verse 7, you remember Paul
is in prison and he is writing back to stir up this gift of
grace that God had given to young Timothy. And he says, for God,
verse 7, had not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed. Don't be ashamed, Timothy. Maybe
he was entertaining some thoughts of quitting the ministry. Paul,
his mentor, had been put in jail for the gospel. And maybe he
was entertaining thoughts of, well, maybe I ought to just back
up a little bit and maybe I'll end up in jail. And he said,
don't be ashamed of the gospel. God has not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore,
don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner,
but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to God's own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ, before the world began,
now read on a couple verses, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel, whereunto
I am appointed a preacher, an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles,
for the which cause I suffer, which cause I also suffer these
things, nevertheless, look what it says, I'm not ashamed, For
I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed.
Faith's not ignorant. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've
committed unto Him against that day. Therefore, hold fast to
form a sound word which thou hast heard of me in faith and
in love, which is in Christ Jesus. One other scripture. Roman chapter
1. You know this one by heart. Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony. You see, true
faith, when it's persecuted, shines brighter yet. Romans chapter 1, look at verse
15, For as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel
to you who are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. I am not ashamed. For it is the power of God and
the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek, the gospel of Christ. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, that just shall live by faith. They live by faith.
Now, back to the text. Here's the third one that's mentioned. The seed of the gospel that's
sown among the thorny ground, or among the thorns. In verse
18 and 19. These are they which are sown
among the thorns. As such, again, they hear the
word. Watch what happens. The cares
of this world. Four things. The deceitfulness
of riches. The lust of other things. Covetousness
is idolatry. The lust of other things. Entering
in, choke the word. and becomes unfruitful. Unfruitful. These appear to be more hopeful
than the other hearers. They seem to love and appreciate
the true gospel. They seem to honor and glorify
Christ for a while. They acknowledge the truth, may
even preach the truth. But other things claim their
affection. Other things claim their attention. They have not set their heart
on things above. He mentions four things, I'll
give them to you quickly. The cares of this world. They
may be legitimate things. Housing, work, health. They may be legitimate things,
but the cares of this world overwhelm the seed sown and choke out the
seed. Our Lord said of Demas, Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Deceitfulness
of riches. The love of money is a root of
all evil. Now there's nothing wrong with
riches. And by the world standard in some countries, we're all,
really when you get right down to it, we're all filthy rich. That's right. There's nothing
wrong with riches. The problem is, there's nothing
wrong with having riches. The problem comes in when riches
have us. The trust in those riches. You
see it says the deceitfulness of riches. A lot of people think
money buys happiness. The most miserable people on
topside of God's earth are those who are very wealthy. I bet if
you looked at some of those people that hit the big lottery, their
life is a life of misery after they become wealthy. The deceitfulness
of riches. Choke out the word. And then
he mentions the lust of other things entering in. The lust
of other things. Choke out the word! Choke out
the seed. Become unfruitful. I tell you
what this crowd is. The too busy crowd. The too busy
crowd. Too busy. Too busy for God, for
truth. Too busy for worship. It's too
busy! They choke out the word. Too busy for the cause of God
and truth. They have that old theology of Now listen to this. Get all you can, can all you
get, and sit on the can. The deceitfulness of riches.
Our Lord said this, If any man love this world, the love of
the Father is not in him. The things we have in this life,
my friend, are passing away. Let go of them now. and they
won't break your heart later. Let go of them. The deceitfulness
of riches. Choke the word, it becomes unfruitful.
Well, here's the last one. The seed of the gospel sown in
the good ground. You see verse 20. These are they
which are sown on the good ground. They hear the word, but something
happened here. Receive it, and they bring forth
fruit. The fruit of salvation. The fruit
of life. The fruit of spirit. Psalm 30
fold. Some sixty. Some even a hundredfold. We know
this, that there is none good in themselves. None good, no
not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. This good ground simply means the ground that's prepared.
The heart that's been prepared. The heart that's been plowed
up. Them old clods of works and those clods of self-righteousness
have been busted up. by the plow of God the Holy Spirit. He comes in and He does a work
of grace in the heart before the seed is even sown. And He
breaks up the heart, the fallow ground. He makes us of a broken
spirit and a contrite heart, a regenerated heart. This is
a good ground prepared, a heart prepared by God, regenerated,
brought forth from death to life, to receive the seed of life.
And when that work is done, it brings forth fruit. They're made willing to love
the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His power. Made willing
to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in salvation. Christ
is all and in all. Made willing to serve Him. Not
out of duty. Not out of fear. Out of love
for Him. He's my Master. I love Him. made
by His grace a new creature in Christ Jesus, made by the Spirit
to bear fruit unto the glory of God. Now notice this, it says
some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred. All don't bear the
same quantity, but all bear the same quality, the fruit of grace. Now, a question for each of us. The Scripture says examine yourself,
whether you be in the faith, Examine yourself. What kind of
hearer of the gospel are you? Am I? Think about that. I want you to think about that
today. Am I a wayside hearer? A stony ground hearer? A thorny ground hearer? Or has God done a work of grace
in the heart? Planted that seed in the heart,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well, I pray the Lord
will bless that parable. in our attempt to preach His
truth.