Now the first thing that I want
to call to your attention this evening is not the parable itself
recorded in Mark chapter 4, but I want you to notice first of
all what our Lord said to the people concerning this parable. If you look first of all at verse
21, He said this unto them, verse 21 of Mark 4. Is a candle brought to be put
under a bushel? And we're talking about back
there when they used candles to light the house. They didn't
have electric lights and gas lights and things like that,
but he's referring to the source of light. A candle is brought
into the house to give light unto all who are in the house.
And he said, you don't bring a candle and put it under a bushel,
or you don't put it under the bed, but you put it on a candlestick
in a very prominent central location. And what he's saying here is
this parable that he just gave to them is a universal message
to all men and all women. This is a universal message.
This needs to be heard and heeded. and examined by all men, so long
as there is a person to listen, he'll fit somewhere in this parable.
So long as there's a person to listen, he'll fit somewhere in
this parable. This preacher, these elders and
deacons, folks that have been here a long time and folks that
have been here a short time, folks that have just dropped
in, but there's something here for everybody in this congregation.
That's the reason our Lord is saying, put it out there for
everybody to see. Everybody fits this somewhere. And then secondly, he says this
in verse 23. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. Now, he's not speaking here of
physical ears. He's not speaking even of good
hearing. But what our Lord is talking
about here, if a man or a woman, a young person, has discerning
ears, has anointed ears, if you have interested ears, I know
there's not much being preached. A lot of people accuse me sometimes
in preaching services of turning my hearing aids down, and they
are pretty close to the truth. I do it a lot of times. I just
get weary of what I have to listen to. Just turn it off. But there
is some good preaching going on. There's some true preaching. There's some men who are standing
in the pulpit in sincerity, solemnity, in the power of the Spirit telling
the truth about Jesus Christ. We don't do it as effectively
as we ought to. We don't do it probably as affectionately
as we ought to. But nevertheless, it's true.
And what our Lord is saying, if you've got ears, if God has
given you ears to hear, then hear, listen, listen, take in
what's being said. And then in verse 24, our Lord's
still speaking, and He said to them again, take heed what you
hear. Now, He's saying here, take heed
how you hear, how you hear. Turn with me to Luke 8. I'm going
to show you why I believe this. Luke, the eighth chapter, verse
18. Luke 8, verse 18. This is the same parable over
here in Luke, chapter 8, verse 16. Let's begin with verse 16.
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a
vessel, or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a candlestick,
that they which enter in may see the light. See, preaching
is communication. That's what we're doing this
for. We're doing this that men may learn. To me, preaching is not grabbing
your ear and hollering. Preaching is not barking like
a dog and acting like a fool. Preaching is communicating. It's
speaking so that people can understand. Communicating with them. And
then he says in verse 17, for nothing is secret that shall
not be made manifest, neither anything here that shall not
be known and come abroad. And I know most people when they
hear that say, well, he means that that which is done in secret
shall be shouted from the housetop. Well, that's true too, but he's
speaking here of all that's been hid in types and shadows and
patterns and pictures in the Old Testament. It's clearly revealed
in the gospel. It's made manifest. All these
things that have been hid, all these things that have been secret,
all these things that angels desire to look into. that prophets
desire to look into, we see that I'm preaching tonight what Moses
wanted to know. We're living in the best day
in which a man can live. The full canon, the full scriptures
of the Manifest Christ has performed all that God promised, purposed,
pictured, and all that He showed us by types. Verse 18, take heed
therefore how you hear. How do you hear it? For whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away, even that which he seems to have." That's what he thinks he has.
If a man really has life, he'll never be taken away. If a man
really has a knowledge of Christ, he'll never deny it. If a man
really has an understanding of the gospel, he'll never lose
it. But take heed how you hear. Now listen. Take heed how you
hear. For how we hear is equally important
to what we hear. You say, now, what a man hears
is more important than how he hears it. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. If a man preaches the
true gospel of the Son of God and you don't hear it, it would
have been better if you hadn't heard it to begin with. It's
how you hear. Hear with attention, hear with interest, hear with
discernment. Be careful you don't hear carelessly. If you hear carelessly and indifferently,
he said, that which you seem to have, you'll lose. That which
you think you have will be taken away. Now he says here, look
back at our text in Mark 4. In Mark chapter 4, take heed,
verse 24, how you hear. With what measure you mean, it'll
be measured to you. How you approach the Word, that's
the way it'll be measured to you. According to your interest
will be your revelation. According to your interest will
be your illumination. If you come to the Word, if any
man will to know his will, he'll know it. That's what he's saying.
If you come to the service, if you come to the message, If you
come to the sermon, if you come to the Word of God with a genuine
interest, with a sincere interest, with a will to know God's will,
he said he'll give you a revelation. That's what he's saying here.
He that hath, he said, unto you that hear shall more be given. Walk in the light you have and
get more life. That's exactly what he said.
Walk in the light you have. God didn't put this candle up
here. to be hid. He put it up here
to give light to everybody in the house. Now take heed. Take
heed. If you've got ears to hear, hear.
But take heed how you hear. If you hear flippantly and carelessly
and indifferently, even that which you seem to have, which
you profess to have, will be taken from you. But if you can
hear with an interested ear, with an attentive heart, with
Lord, I don't know everything. I don't claim to know everything.
I don't have to know everything. But I do want to know Christ.
I do want to know the Word. I'm a willing vessel. I'm an
empty vessel. I'm a hungry vessel. I'm a yearning
vessel. I want to know. Teach me, and
I'll be taught. But he said, you'll have more
life. You walk in the light God gives you. Now, here's a great
danger. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. Now,
I try to bring this out every once in a while, I think it should
be. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He says, if we hear carelessly
and flippantly and indifferently, our light will eventually be
turned to darkness. And he said, if that light which
be in you, that religious light, that religious knowledge, that
religious profession, that religious zeal and enthusiasm, if that
light which be in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. You
see what I'm saying? How great is that darkness. Do
you know that when men are unwilling to hear the word, unwilling to
receive the truth, unwilling to receive the gospel, and prefer
instead to continue at whatever cost in their rebellion, against
the truth of God, that they'll even be brought by God Almighty's
will to the place where they think they got the truth. They'll
think, actually, I've heard people say to me, do you think some
of these preachers that are preaching error, that they're sincere?
I definitely do. I definitely do. I think they're
blind men who are judicially blinded because of their unwillingness
to receive the truth. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. He's talking in verse 8. And
then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with
the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth." They received not the love of the
truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, it didn't
say they never heard the truth. It didn't say they didn't have
some kind of knowledge of the truth, or awareness of the truth. It said they didn't love it.
They wouldn't receive the love of it. And so God, who sends
them strong delusions? God sends them strong delusions.
There's no man going to be deceived or deluded without God's permission. That's exactly right. God sends
them strong delusions, and they'll believe a lie. Actually believe
it with sincerity and sobriety. They'll believe a lie, and they'll
be damned who believe not the truth. but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
That's religious people, he's talking about. You see, this
is what our Lord's saying here in chapter four of Mark. He's
saying, this thing of the gospel of Christ, the gospel of His
sovereign mercy and grace, the gospel of His incarnation, Christ
left heaven and came to this earth and clothed Himself in
human flesh and walked among us and met God's law and fulfilled
it and died on the cross for sinners, was buried rose again,
ascended to heaven as our great high priest, interceding for
us at the right hand of God. God has a purpose to save. He
has grace to save. He has mercy for the miserable.
He has grace for the guilty. He has cleansing for sinners.
And it's in His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, He said, that's to be preached.
And if you've got ears to hear, hear it. Hear it. Hear it. And you be careful how
you hear it. You be careful how you hear it.
The man who hears it with attention, with a desire to know, and how
dangerous it is to approach the gospel with a prejudiced mind.
How dangerous it is to approach the gospel of God's grace with
preconceived notions of freewillism and Arminianism. I don't believe
that. Why? Because it's not in God's
word? No, I just don't believe it.
I think every man ought to have a chance. Well, there's a sense in which every
man has a chance. He lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. That's what it says in the book.
It says in God's Word that every man is warned by conscience that
there's a God. It says in the Word of God that
nature itself reveals the power and existence of God, but you
will not come to me that you might have life. I'm glad that
salvation's not by chance, because I'd turn down every chance God
offered. I'm glad it's by choice. I'll
tell you, if he didn't compel me to come in, I wouldn't come.
If he didn't seek me, I'd never seek him. And he said, you take
heed how you hear, because how you hear is the way truth's going
to be measured to you. If you hear with interest and
attention and a submission, a submission. One of the most fearful things
that you can fall into is approaching this Bible, thinking you know
something. Now, we just don't know anything. But he said, he that hath to
him shall be given, and he that hath not from him shall be taken
away that which he seems to have. So what an awesome task is that
of the preacher. who preaches the word of God.
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. But oh, what an awesome
responsibility is laid upon every person who encounters, who encounters
in some measure, or to some degree, this gospel. He encounters the
gospel. And that's what we're preaching,
is the gospel. And you once again tonight are
going to encounter the gospel, or meet it. Here it is. Actually, Mike delivered it in
song. On a rugged hill stood a rugged
cross, where the Prince of Glory died in shame. God's beloved
Son, Christ the lovely One, who in His body took our blame.
That's the gospel. How'd you hear it? How'd you
hear it? All right, now this parable here
is recorded in the Word of God three times. It's given in detail. Detail three times. Now that alone seems to emphasize
the importance of it. But here's the beauty of this
parable. Our Lord gives the parable and then He interprets it. Look
at verse 14. He says, The sower, the sower,
soweth the Word of God. Well, who is the sower? Well,
the sower is the man who sows the word of God, that's the preacher.
Christ in one of these accounts called himself the sower. The
sower is the son of man. The sower is the son of man or
whomever he is pleased to use to sow. The sower is the preacher
of the gospel. Now, he goes forth into the fields
of this world to sow the seed. The seed, look at this, the seed
is the word of God. That's to say, it's the word
of God. Now, if this sower knew where the good sower was, Spurgeon
said this so effectively. Somebody said, why don't you
just preach to the elect, since you believe the elect are going
to be saved, why don't you just preach to the elect? He said,
well, if you'll go around and put a mark on them, I will. But
since I don't know who they are, I'm going to preach to everybody.
And if the sower knew right where the good soil was, only the good
soil, he could put the seed there. But he doesn't know where the
good soil is, not knowing the hearts of men, so he takes the
word and scatters it. See that, Charlie? Here it is. Here's the gospel. And so often,
I'll tell you, what I think is good ground turns out to be bad
ground. That's how blind I am. And what
I think, boy, he or she's not interested, they're the ones
who turn out to be interested. I'm a whole lot like Jesse, David's
father. I used to send God's elect out
to tend the sheep and spend my time witnessing to the other
fellows, you know. Thank God he knows where the
good ground is. The seed he sows is the gospel
of Christ. The sower doesn't invent the
seed, or make the seed, or make up the seed. God fills his basket. Everything he says is second-hand.
And he goes out with the life-giving gospel of the Son of God, the
gospel of God, the gospel of His glory, the gospel of His
grace, and the gospel of His blessed Son. He goes out with
that gospel. And I try to tell preachers today
when I get an opportunity to speak to them, and I get an opportunity
pretty often. And this is a temptation. It's
a temptation to want to be different. It's a temptation that causes
us to want to be clever. It's a temptation that causes
us to want to bring something new. But I'll tell you this. You can't improve on the gospel
of Jesus Christ. God will bless it. He will bless
the gospel. Paul said, I'm determined not
to know anything among you say Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
There's such a temptation, though, when we get up here, oh, they've
heard that before. But I'll tell you this, all of
them hadn't heard it. And I promise you, those that have heard it
will rejoice to hear it again. And those who haven't heard it
need to hear it. So when you think that you have to change
your message, don't do it. When you think you have to get
something original, or something clever, or something intellectual,
or something unique, or something people haven't heard, don't preach
anything to me I haven't heard. I don't want to hear it. I want to hear Christ. That's
enough. And the seed is the word of God.
And I say this, only the word of God can give life. You know, when the angel came
to Mary and told her she would have a son, she said, that's
not possible. I cannot have a son because I
do not have a seed. You cannot have life in a womb
without seed. And you cannot have life in the
heart of a sinner without a seed. And the holy, spiritual, life-giving
seed is the Word of God. You say it's the living Word.
You can't separate it. Christ is the living Word, and
Christ is the incarnate Word, and Christ is the written Word.
Say what you want to, He's the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Listen to this scripture. Of
His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. We are born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Ephesians 1,
in whom you trusted after you, what, heard the Word of Truth,
the gospel of your salvation. If I preach here another ten
or fifteen years, I'm going to preach the same thing I preached
the last ten or fifteen years. I'm going to preach the cross.
I'm going to preach Christ. I'm going to preach sovereignty,
election, particular redemption, effectual call, perseverance.
I'm going to preach the death of Christ, the burial of Christ,
the resurrection of Christ, because I know this. If anybody, under
the sound of my voice now or later, or in the past, walks
into glory, it will be because he's heard, believed, and received
The gospel of the blood of Christ. That's exactly right. And for
no other reason. This seed is called the Word
of Life. It's called the Word of Life.
It's called the Word of Salvation. It's called the Word of Reconciliation. It's called the Word of Faith.
That's what it's called, the Word. God said, I'll bless my
Word. I'll bless my word, and I'll
tell you this, one thing you'll note about the young men whom
God has raised up here, and I'm going to have to quit using that
young men, because all of them are so young. Some of them are
white-headed. Some of them are getting white-headed. But anyway, you notice every
one of them make much of the Word of God. They'll wear you out with scripture.
But that's what I think God blessed him. I don't think I know he
blessed him. He said, my word will not return unto me, Lord.
Just preach the word of God. Well, where will the gospel fall?
All right, let's look at the parable now. Verse 4 says, look at verse 4. Mark 4, verse 4. Came to pass
as he sowed. Now, this is what takes place
when this gospel is sown. came to pass as he sowed, some
fell by the wayside, and a thousand there came and devoured it up."
What's the wayside? Well, look at verse 16. These
are they likewise which... Oh, I beg your pardon. Look at
verse 15. These are they by the wayside
where the word is sown. When they have heard, Satan cometh
immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Now, here's the picture. It says they heard. This, you
know, this is kind of hard to divide and separate. Now, I'm
preaching here in front of all these people, and everybody here
is hearing, but everybody is not hearing. It's not, oh, John, way back
in the day, you hear me, don't you? All the way on the back
row. You hear me on the back row back
in the day? You hear my voice. Ed, you hear me way back there
in Powell. You hear me. You hear me. Everybody here hears
me. But everybody doesn't perceive. They hear with these ears, but
they don't hear with understanding. They don't hear with wisdom. They don't hear with faith. And
what he's saying here is that this seed, as the teller goes
out and sows the seed, over here along the field is a path where
people have been walking. It's fallow ground. It's hard
ground. It's a roadway. It's a wagon
bed. It's where the wagons have been
rolling by. And when the seed falls, it just
falls on that hard ground. It just lays there. It doesn't
penetrate. It doesn't go into the heart.
It doesn't probe into the soul. It doesn't work on the conscience.
It doesn't convict a sin. It just lays there. Do you hear me? Yeah, I hear
you. I hear you." And then they get up and they walk out. They're
there. They're there in body, just like
that roadway, that walkway is there, and the seed falls on
it, and they hear it. And when it says, Satan comes
and takes it away, he doesn't really have to take it away.
He just replaces it with something else. They walk right out of here,
down the road. Somebody said, Scripture did
the pastor use tonight? I don't know. I don't know. I really didn't hear
it. I heard it, oh, I beg your pardon,
I heard it, but I didn't hear it. Here's what it is. Turn to
John 8. This is hard to explain, but
it's the natural flesh. It's the natural man. A fellow can sit down out on a lake fishing. And he could know all about how
deep to fish, what kind of bait to use, what time of day to fish. He can read all the different
fishing almanacs or books. He's interested in that. A fella
can study a sport about soccer or hockey or baseball or something,
and he can be an umpire. And without referring to a rules
book, he can tell you every sign, everything that they do. He can tell you whether if a
man is off second and the runner comes in, he can tell you automatically.
He doesn't have to look up any of that. But when it comes to
spiritual matters, you can tell him the same thing 1,400 times,
and then say, now what does justification mean? That's the fella that's
memorized the baseball rule book. That's the fella that knows every
lake in the United States and how deep to finish. That's the
fella that can, he can, he can build, he can plumb a house without
opening a book. He can wire a house without opening
a book. He can build a building without looking at a blueprint.
But he can't tell you what he's heard fourteen hundred times
about justification and how God can be just in justifying. Do
you see what I'm saying? It's just like that seed laying
on that hard ground. It ain't gonna bear any fruit
because it can't penetrate. There's no interest. Look at
John 8.20. Let me read this scripture. He
says, these words speak Jesus. It's John 8.37. John 8.37. I know, he said, you're Abraham
Seed, I know you're religious, I know you're Baptist, I know
you got a background, I know your mother and father were Christians,
I know all these things, but you seek to kill me. Cecil, it's
that question you asked last night in the study. How could
these fellas do that? Here's the answer. My word has
no place in you. You got room for everything else,
but not my word. It just has no place. And I tell
you, you'll amaze you about our children, our little children. They know a lot. They're sharp
little cookies. Secular, learning, education,
history, math. They don't know as much as you'd
like for them to know, Ron. You're trying to make them. But
they know a lot. But you can get them in a Sunday school class,
and these ladies will for this to teach these children. And
you can say the same thing over and over and over again. You
can teach them over and over again, and then ask them a question.
Now, who is it that came to redeem us, and who is it that gave His
life for us? God? Ever answer when you ask children,
God? Who is it that went to the Gentiles
and preached to God? I tell you, it's just, there's no interest. It's the
power of grace. Now let's go back to Mark 4. That's just it. Some fail by the wayside. And
Satan comes, and you know, some of you, I've got, I've raised
children, some of you are raising some, and they've sat here for
years and they haven't heard anything. There's grown folks
that have sat here for years and haven't heard anything. They'd
heard, but they hadn't heard. You understand what I'm saying?
The seed was sown, but nothing happened. Nothing. All right? Now watch this, verse 5 and 6.
And some fell on stony ground. Stony ground, where it didn't
have much earth. And immediately it sprang up.
It was real shallow ground. And immediately it just sprang
up. But then the sun had no depth of earth, had no root, and then
the sun was up, and it was scorched because it had no root, and it
withered away. Well, our Lord explains that
in verse 16, and these are they likewise, where the gospel's
sown on stony ground. They hear the word, and they
immediately receive it with gladness. I've had folks come here from
other places, just get tired of what they're not hearing,
and they come sit here. And I get up and preach one sermon, and
they say, That's it! That's the Word! That's good!
I believe that! I like that! They receive it
with gladness. They spring up too fast. Too
fast. He said in verse 17, They have
no root, and so they endure but a little time, but a time. And then afterwards, when affliction
or persecution arises for the Word's sake, Immediately they're
offended. In other words, they heard the
word, heard the gospel. They received. They didn't fight
it, deny it, rebel against it. They received it. They said,
that's the word. That's the word. And they received
it with gladness. They were quite happy with what
they heard. And they sprang up. They made a profession. They
joined the church. They started coming. But then
along came a real trial. A real trial. That old hot sun
came out. Persecution for the sake of the
gospel. Persecution for the Word. You
know, a lot of our young people have this peer pressure. It's
tough. It's tough out there. It's tough. And some of the men
and women on the job, you have that peer pressure. You have
that pressure from relatives, and pressure from neighbors,
and pressure from friends, and everything doesn't go your way,
and affliction comes, and persecution comes. and they just drift away,
they're gone. What happened? Well, it was all
froth, it was all top growth, it was all profession, it was
all sugar. There wasn't any roots down into
the ground that reached into the water of Christ Jesus. They shall be planted by rivers
of living water with that root that reaches down and gets the
water, which bring forth those fruits in their season. And that
accounts for a lot of folks who, first of all, they hear, but
nothing's accomplished because it's hard ground. Others hear
and they rejoice for a time, but then there's some affliction
or persecution comes and they can't take it because they had
no root. I tell you, it would be far better for a man to have
a deep root and base on the rock Christ Jesus,
and a little less up here, a little less show. I'd rather have more
root and less show than a lot of show and less root. Because
I tell you, that old tree that's got the root, the wind's not
going to blow it down. But I see those palm trees down
in Florida, they blow them down all the time. They've got roots
about that deep some of them, just little old round gobs. All right,
then thirdly, watch this now. Verse 7, And some fell among
the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked him. And he yielded
no fruit. You notice here that the thorns
were already there, didn't you? The seed fell among the thorns.
The thorns didn't grow up after the seed was planted. The seed
fell among the thorns. But what does that mean? Well,
let's go to verse 18 and 19. These are they which are sown
among the thorns. It's the people that hear the
gospel. And we're talking about hearing the word, we're talking about
hearing the gospel. I'm not just talking about hearing religion,
I'm talking about hearing the gospel of the grace of God. I'm talking
about hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about hearing
the gospel of substitution. I'm talking about hearing the
gospel of redemption through Christ. And these people hear
it. Verse 19, and the cares of this
world. What are the cares of this world?
Well, they're what they are, they're chariots. Now, I'll tell
you, I've just come to the conclusion
that as far as any kind of happiness and satisfaction, it's just not
to be found in this world. There's just not much here. I
know there's some temporary delights and there's some temporary oasis
and some temporary stopping points and some temporary pleasures. But Brethren, I'll tell you,
this life in general is a very difficult existence. In this
world you'll have tribulation. And these cares, the cares of
life, are the common, ordinary cares of life. Families, children,
jobs, Your young man takes a wife, and he's got to furnish an automobile,
and insurance, and taxes, and license, and a house, and gas,
and lights, and water, and food, and clothes, and clothes for
children, and education. He's got some cares laid on his
back. Men have cares, and women have cares. They carry the family,
they carry the home, they carry the children. They're never away
from them. They're with them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
They're carers. They're carers of the family
and friends and carers of social interest and carers of health.
And just this world has carers. And carers for everyone. But
where the problem is, that when these things get out of their
plates, now that's when they choke the world. You're going
to have cares. But when these cares of the world
become anxious cares and dominating cares, when these things mean
more to you and are more important to you than this gospel, that's
when they choke the word. He says the deceitfulness of
riches, deceitfulness of material things. Why are they called deceitful? Why are material things called
deceitful? They can be profitable. You know,
you people here, you give a lot of money comes through this church.
Almost a third of a million dollars a year. But you know, the television
is a thousand dollars a Sunday. Missionary salary is a little
more than a thousand dollars a Sunday. The tape ministry and
the book ministry and all these other things are expensive. And
this is called a rich church. We've got a lot of material,
thank God, given us. But material things, you see,
money's not evil, it's the love of money that's evil. It's the
wrong use of money that produces the evil. You can enjoy things,
God may bless you with much, and if you know how to use it
for His glory, it's a blessing. But if you don't know how to
use it for His glory, it's a curse. God may bless you with little,
or a whole lot, or much, or whatever, and if you know how to use it
for His glory, it can be a blessing. But where material things are
deceitful is this, material things in themselves don't give the
joy they promise. Material things do not give the
joy that they promise. They don't do it. They don't
give the pleasure that they promise. And then material things deceive
people. How do they deceive people? They
deceive people into working too hard for them. We've got to give some time to
work. God, I got an article in the
Bulletin next week about the honorableness of hard work, working
with the hands. It's not disgraceful to work
hard and work with your hands. God honors it. But when a person
is deceived by the return of material things into working
too hard for them, that's when they deceive him. And then they
deceive people into living for these things and neglecting the
Word of God. They deceive people into hoarding
them. When we begin to hoard material
things, that's when we're deceived. He said the canker of your goal
will stand up in judgment against you to judgment. In other words,
if I'm a wealthy person and I hoard it up, keep stacking it up, when
I can use it for the glory of God, when I die and all that
stuff is saved up, it's going to come out against me as a witness
in the judgment. That's deceived, to be deceived.
And then watch this, and the lust of other things. The lust
of other things. Now, as I said, when this seed
is sown, these things are there, the cares of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things. And
that seed is sown, and the person seems to hear it, seems to rejoice
in it, and it grows up, but he never did. He never was able
to handle those thorns. He never got them out of the
way. They were never cut down. They just kept choking the Word.
And after a while, they choked it out. I know this. that bad company will never be influenced by good
company, but good company will be influenced by bad company.
In other words, you can take a good apple and put it in a
barrel of rotten apples, and after a while the good apple
will be rotten. But you can take a rotten apple and put it in
a barrel of good apples, and it won't change that rotten apple
one bit. In fact, he'll change the others. And these things
right here, these, we just, for the glory of God, For the glory
of the gospel, for the glory of the church, for our relationship
with Christ, we're going to have to learn to handle these things
and put them in their proper place. Oh, how many folks have I seen
where the deceitfulness of these things, cares and riches and
lust of other things, overwhelm the gospel. All right, but let's
look at something else and then quit. Here's the good ground.
Thank God. You know, if you just stayed
here and some fell by the wayside and nothing happened, some fell
among the stones and didn't have any depth, no root, and they
just faded away, and then some fell among the thorns and the
folks got a better job and a bigger home and social interest, and
after a while they weren't interested in the gospel anymore. And I've
seen all that take place right here in 35 years. I've watched
this very thing. I've watched people come and
say it and hear this gospel. And it's a free gospel. It's
a gracious gospel. It's a good gospel. It's a gospel
that's saved. And I've just seen them disappear.
It didn't have any effect. And I've seen others come and
just get excited and join the church and even make offers out
of them. But they couldn't stand it. They couldn't stand We had one
young man came here, and he was over in Liberty Baptist College,
and he said he saw the gospel. And he quit school, came over
here. But he couldn't take it. That's
exactly what happened, Paul. He couldn't take the pressure.
He couldn't take what was involved in the gospel of God's grace.
He couldn't stand family pressure, peer pressure, school pressure.
ambition and all these things. But he sounded like he had something.
He was really enthusiastic. But he's gone now. He's back
over there with them. That's like the dog returning
to his vomit and the pig to the water in the mud. And then I've seen others come
and hear the gospel and say, it looked like they heard it.
And then something or someone come along or opportunity or
something like that. It had more pull than the gospel.
Has anything got more pull on you than the gospel? Pull on
you than Christ. That's what these, that's it,
thorns. Thorns. But then, thank God, verse 8,
he said, And some fell on good ground. Now, my friends, there's
no ground of the human heart that's good by nature. I know
that. But God makes it good. God makes it good. And it receives
the seed. It's plowed by the Holy Ghost.
The thorns and the stones are removed by the Spirit of God.
It's prepared. It's prepared for the Word, and
the Word comes along. You know there's grace before
grace? There's grace before grace. God crosses your path and prepares
your heart to receive His Word. He does. He prepares your heart.
And I know this, and I'll say this, I've learned this more
all the time. When that seed is sown on that
good ground, and it takes root, and it brings forth life, and
it bears fruit, thirty, sixty, a hundred fold, it's every bit
of the Lord. It's every bit. I stand here
right now. I love the Word, and it's God
who gave me a love for that Word. I hear it, and I see the wisdom
and grace of God in Christ. I see how God can be just and
justified, but God enabled me to see that. I believe I love Christ more
than I love anyone else in the world or anything, but if I do,
it's not I. It's God's grace that enables
me to love Him. I believe I'll continue in the
faith. I hope to. I have every intention of continuing
in the faith. But if I do, it'll be by His
grace. That's right. And when you see someone leave,
don't you get too rough on him, because you may be next. That's
what it says. If a brother be overtaken in
a fault, you which are spiritual, or say you are, restore him in
the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou be tempted. I wouldn't ask for a show of
hands, but this auditorium has always been reasonably filled. But how many people were here
15 years ago and not here right now? Do you know there are men
who stood right here in this pulpit and preached that worshiped
God nowhere? Nowhere anymore. I mean, they
were just faithful as you are, or I am. They were here ever
since. They gave their money. They supported the gospel. But
now they'd have no interest. You say, are they interested
in other things? Oh, quite definitely. Very definitely. Everybody's interested in something. Everybody's going to glory in
something. And I tell you, if you can glory in the Lord, it's
only by His grace. And we'll continue by His grace.
I'll leave if I can. I'm no match for Satan. I'm no
match for the thorns. I'm no match for the deceitfulness
of riches. But I tell you, He is. And He's my strength and
my stay. And I tell you, it's all of grace.
It's all of grace. And that's the reason that I
have no interest at all or in the, what to call it, rewards
in heaven. I think it's utter foolishness.
Christ is our reward. He's our reward. There's nothing
better than Christ. But not only that, I've got nothing
coming to me. I've got nothing coming to me.
All the glory is His. I'm here by His grace. I'll be
here tomorrow by His grace. If I'm not here tomorrow, I didn't
have His grace. I'm standing on my own. That's
right. And it's a clear indication.
John said, if they'd been of us, they would have stayed with
us. But they weren't of us. Of whom? Of grace. Of God. Of the gospel. So I tell you,
we got no room to be high and mighty. Who makes a theater different? What do you have you didn't receive?
You did receive it. Don't boast as if you didn't.
The good ground. Good ground. Good seed.