I'm going to begin this message
tonight in the fourth chapter of Mark, but I'm not going to
begin with the text nor the parable itself, but I'm going to begin
by commenting on what our Lord had to say after he taught the
parable. Let's look at Mark 4, verse 23. It's a sharp warning here issued
by the Master. He taught this parable about
the sower and the seed, and then the disciples and some folks
came close to him and they said, declaring to us the meaning of
this parable. What are you talking about? Well,
then he declared the meaning. And then he said in verse 23,
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." Now, that's not just talking about
physical ears. That's not saying if you've got
good hearing, if you've got ears on the side of your head, if
you can cut the tones and you can understand words, then listen. He's talking here about spiritual
ears. If any man has been given by
God spiritual ears to hear, to understand, to comprehend the
mystery of the Kingdom of God. That's what he's talking about.
I thought while Mike was singing that song, I'd been to Calgary.
Well, by the grace of God, now, I've never been on an airplane
over to Israel. I've never been across the city
of what's Jerusalem now outside the wall to a place that they
claim is Golgotha and Calvary's Hill. I've never been there,
and I don't intend to go by God's grace. I'm not going. I'm not
going to fall into the superstition. I'm not going to fall into the
world's pattern of worshiping shrines and caves and mountains
I think it is really, rather than spiritually, being a blessing.
Listen to me, don't get offended. If a man is studying the setting
of the writing of the Word, if he wants to learn about where
the River Jordan is and how far it is from Dan to Beersheba,
and not be ignorant like the Sunday school teacher in class
one Sunday said, Brother Teacher said, How far
is it from Dan to Beersheba? He said, How far is it? I thought
there's husband and wife like Sodom and Gomorrah, you know.
But if you're studying the land and all the mountains, Sinai
and the journeys, go over there. But don't you go for spiritual
uplifting and refreshing. That may be Bible land, but that's
not holy land. That's what I'm saying. And I've
never been over there to view what they say is the burial place,
the birthplace, and the place of crucifixion where Christ died.
But I've been to Calvary. You see what I mean? I've been
to Calvary. I've been to where Christ suffered
and died for my sins, like Cecil prayed a moment ago. I, with
spiritual eyes, have seen the Lord. I've seen the Lord, I've
seen him in his willingness to save, in his power to save, in
his sacrifice which saves. That's what he's talking about
here. If you've got ears to hear, if
you've got eyes, spiritual eyes, to comprehend, to behold, if
you've got ears to hear, then let him hear, let him hear. Now, watch the next verse. Take
heed how you hear. Take heed what you hear. Now
watch it. With what measure you meet, it
shall be measured to you. And unto you that hear shall
more be given. This is what he's saying. Your
blessing is going to depend upon your attention. Your blessing is going to depend
upon how you hear. That's exactly right. When you sit to listen, and you
listen with interest, and you listen with attention, and you
listen as unto the Lord, and you listen with the determination
to receive a blessing, then you're going to be blessed. I've had
people come to services where the Gospels preached and go away
and say, well, I just didn't get anything. Well, the old adage
said, you didn't bring anything to put it in. You didn't bring
anything to put it in. You come with a hungry heart,
you'll be filled. I've gone to the table many times
to eat and gone away, you know, feeling as if I kind of wish
I hadn't gone. I really wasn't refreshed. I
didn't, I wasn't hungry. But I've gone other times to
the table And regardless of what was served, I was so hungry and
so needy, and I brought such an appetite, man, I wish, you
know I've said often times at the end of a meal, I wish I was
still hungry so I could start over. And you come, and that's
what he's saying here, unto you that hear, more will be given.
If you tune your ears to the word of God. And Paul said, don't
you listen to me as it's the word of me, and you receive it
as it is in truth the word of God. Like that verse there, if
a man have ears to hear, let him hear. I want to know what
that means. I want to know what Christ is saying. I want to know
what he has for me. I want to camp here until I get
something out of that. In this next verse, take heed
how you hear, what you hear, with what measure you meet, it
will be measured to you. And unto you that hear shall
more be given. He's saying this, walk in the
light you have and you'll get more light. That's exactly what
he's saying. You give attention to God's word
and you hear it as it is the word of God, and you open your
ears and heart to receive the word of God, not to argue with
it, not to debate, not to quarrel with it, not to sit in judgment
on it, not to to bring it to your wisdom or your doctrine
or your tradition, to be tried by it, but just, Lord, like a
little child, here I am, teach me. Teach me. I'm just a child. I want to learn. I want to know
Christ and the power of his resurrection. I want to win Christ and be found
in him. I'm not here to argue. I'm stupid,
ignorant. I want to learn. I want to be
taught. I guarantee you, you'll teach him. If you will to do
the will of God, you'll know the will of God. If you will
and desire to know the word of God, you'll know the word of
God. And you come that way, he'll give you more of it. Now watch
this. For he that hath, that is, he that hath been taught,
and he that hath been broken, and he that hath been brought
down, and he that hath been given hearing ears, and an open heart,
and a receptive heart, to him shall be given more. And he that
hath not He's never been given ears to hear, he's never been
given eyes to see, he's never been given an open heart, he's
never been given a receptive heart, he's never been given
a hungry heart. God will even take away from him that which
he hath. What's he saying? Those who refuse to hear will
lose even the common grace that they have already. That's exactly
what he's saying. Like it or not, that's what he's
saying. In other words, Christ said, you've got ears to hear,
you listen now, this is my word. And if you come with a hungry
heart and with a desire, according to the way you measure it out,
that's the way it's going to be measured to you. And if you come with
a hungry heart and a willing heart and an open ear and a desire
to learn, God will teach you and he'll give you more. You
walk in the light, he gives you, he'll give you more. But if you come
to the Word of God with indifference and with a critical spirit, you're
not going to hold what you have, you're going to lose it. Well,
I've come this far. It's like people encountering
what we call the doctrines of grace. It's like people encountering
any meat of the Word, any truth of the Word. They may, in their
early days, have learned this is the Word of God. There are
66 books, 39 and 27. It was written as the Holy Spirit
moved men to write it. And God determined to save a
people, and he sent his Son into the world to save them. His Son
lived a perfect life, died on the cross, buried and rose again.
And then we become what we call masters of theology. We get our
patterns set and our theology set and our so-called righteousness
built and all these things, and then we encounter scripture,
as God is pleased to bring us on, and we rebel against it.
And we refuse to receive it. It doesn't fit into our pattern.
Somebody says, well, we'll hold what we've got. No, you won't. No, you won't hold it. What you
have will be taken away. And in its place, watch it now,
strong delusions. Now, listen to what I'm saying.
Turn to 2 Thessalonians. I may be in a place here that
you're not familiar with, but now this is true. And so many
people think this. Our Lord warned, what's this
application? Our Lord warned, he said, you
compass sea and land to make a proselyte to your religion.
After you've given him that profession, you've given him that refuge,
you've made him a proselyte, you've given him something to
hold to, he's two-fold more the child of hell than you are. And what I'm saying is this.
A man gets religion and comes so far in religious illumination
or whatever, and he does not have the light of Christ and
does not lay hold upon Christ, that light which is in him becomes
greater darkness. Now watch this. In 2 Thessalonians
2, this is talking about religious people. 2 Thessalonians 2.10,
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions,
that they should believe a lie, and that they all might be damned,
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
I'm going to illustrate what I'm saying. Paul, we were talking
about this the other night. This is an illustration of what
I'm talking about. I have some friends who do not
worship God anywhere. They haven't been to church in
7 or 8 years, 9 or 10 years. Nice folks. Nice citizens. Pay their bills. Friendly people.
Entertain you in their home. Take off their jacket and give
it to you. But they came so far in religion, they learned some
religious truth. And they're not anti-religion
at all. Not anti-religion. In fact, they believe they're
saved. They believe they're going to heaven. That's exactly it. They believe that they're redeemed. But what they've come so far
in religion and learned some truth, And then as the Spirit
of God takes the Word and teaches in order to lay a right foundation
and a true foundation and a foundation of rock and a foundation on Christ
and meet a need, not with religion, but with a person, they stopped
right there. They didn't hear. They didn't
see. They didn't understand. You say,
well, they hold what they've got. Oh, no, they haven't held
what they've got. They've got strong delusions
thinking that they have something that they don't have. That's
exactly right. And God has sent those strong
delusions, and they'll be damned believing that lie. They'll never
hear the truth. That's exactly right. They'll
never hear the truth. Brethren, what he's saying here, if you've
got ears to hear, you better tune them in. You better tune
them in. Because he said, with what measure
you need, it's going to be measured to you. And he said, if you walk
in the light God gives you, he'll give you more light. That's exactly
what he said. Unto you that hear shall more
and more and more be given. But to those who do not hear
and those who come so far, God will take away from him that
which he has. They no longer have a hunger,
no longer have a desire and a hunger to hear. They go to church to
see the beauty of the building. They go to church to be seen
themselves. That's exactly right. You wonder, you say, I don't
even think like they think. I know because you've got hearing
ears. He said to you it's given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of God. To them it's not given. They have eyes and
they see, but they can't what? Perceive. They've got ears, but
they can't hear. They've got hearts, but they
can't understand. What's happened? Blind. Judicially blind. Deluded. Deceived. And the light
which is in them, which we would call really light, because, in
other words, to a pagan African, what they know would be light.
That's right, to a person over in Russia who's never heard the
Bible read, even what these people know would be light, but their
light to them is darkness. It's darkness, because it has
them deluded and deceived into resting in something other than
Christ. Now that's what our Lord is saying
there, and then back here, we have much emphasis on how to
hear. You know, we spend a lot of time
instructing men how to preach, how to teach, how to preach.
But our Lord gave some instructions on how to hear. Oh, if you've
got ears, listen. If you've got ears, listen. May
God give you interest. May God give you interest. But
let's look at this parable now. Go back here to Mark chapter
4, and the reason I brought that out is I want all of us to see
the importance, oh, the serious importance. importance of listening
to the Word, listening to the preaching, listening to the reading
of God's Word. Applier hearts, Lord, teach me,
teach me. I've not apprehended that for
which I've been apprehended. I'm not perfect. I haven't arrived.
I've got so much to learn, so far to go. And that ought to
be the prayer of every heart here. Now, let's look at the
parable. First of all, beginning with verse 14, he said, The sower
soweth the word. In other words, the sower is
the preacher of the gospel. He goes forth in his master's
vineyard. It's the master's vineyard. It's
the master's farm. And he goes forth to sow the
seed. But if he knew where the best ground was, as far as this
seed of the gospel is concerned, he might just go to that one
area, to that one person, or two people, or three, and hand
them the seed. And this is good ground, so I'll
just put it right here. This is good ground. But he doesn't
know. And so he scatters the seed indiscriminately. He preaches it to everybody.
He just throws it out there about on the ground. He throws it on
the He throws it on the hard ground, he throws it on the stony
ground, he throws it on the thorny ground, he throws it on the good
ground. Our Lord said, go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. So we preach it by television,
to this congregation, by tape. We just proclaim this gospel.
What gospel? The gospel of God's eternal grace,
the gospel of God's eternal Son, the gospel of God's eternal mercy,
the gospel of God's eternal grace and love. the gospel of Christ's
righteousness, the gospel of Christ's sacrifice, the gospel
of Christ's resurrection, the gospel of Christ's ascension,
the gospel of Christ's intercession. We preach the gospel of his Son.
It's concerning his Son. Let me show you one scripture
over here in Romans 1. Turn over there with me and let
me show you this. This is the gospel we preach. The sower is
the preacher. And the seed is the gospel, or
the word of God. Romans chapter 1, now watch this.
Paul, a servant, that is a bond slave of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. That's what
I'm separated to. And then he puts in parenthesis,
this is an eternal gospel, this is the old gospel which he promised
afore by his prophets in the Holy Scripture. It's the same
gospel, no new gospel. It's no new revelation. It's
the same gospel Moses preached and Abraham believed and Isaiah
preached. It's the same gospel. Substitution,
all right? And verse 3 says it's concerning
his son, his son. God incarnate, God in human flesh,
his Son Jesus, that's his name of humiliation, Christ, he's
the anointed Redeemer, our Lord, he's our King. Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. He became a man in the house and lineage of David, a
Jew, to fulfill every promise and promise of the Messiah. He
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, but he
was declared. He wasn't made the Son of God.
He was declared to be the Son of God with power, with a power
to raise the dead, with a power to heal the sick, with a power
to give sight to the blind, according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection of the dead. Now, that's our gospel. It's
a person. It's the person and work of Christ.
Now, the preacher is the sower. I'm going to tell everybody that.
Everybody who will listen to me, I'm going to tell them Jesus
Christ is God. This gospel I preach is not a
gospel of get religion, or get reform, or get indoctrinated,
or join the Seventh-day Adventists, or Jehovah Witness, or the Baptist
Church, or become a Catholic. It's no Christ. Seek Christ in
the Word, seek Christ in redemption, embrace Christ, find an interest
in Christ, love Christ, live and walk with Christ, a person. And this is the gospel, it's
an ancient gospel. Now, and this is the Word that
we sow. Now then, the sower must leave
the fate of the seed in the hands of the Lord of the harvest. That's
exactly, our responsibility is to preach it. Our responsibility
is to sow only good seed. There's a song about that, sow
only good seed. My responsibility, and I feel
this, I feel this so deeply as I sit there and wait to come
up here. Somebody says, what did you preach on this morning?
I'm so involved in this message tonight, I don't even remember
what I preached on this morning. What are you going to preach
on next Wednesday? I don't have the faintest notion, but I know what I'm preaching
on now. Wrapped up in it, completely convinced of it, so obsessed
with it, it's my responsibility to tell the truth. And I'm trying
to tell you the truth. And you say, well, you're kind
of hard on us, and you're hard on our friends, our religious
friends. I'm not hard on them, God's Word's
hard on them. It's not me at all, I'm just
telling you what I know to be so from the Scriptures. And the
harvest is in the hands of the Lord. He said this. Turn to Matthew 15. Let me read
you a scripture here. Matthew 15, verse 10 through
13. Listen to this. Matthew 15, 10
through 13. And he called the multitude together,
and he said, now you hear and understand. Here it is again.
You hear and you understand. It's not that which goeth into
the mouth that defileth a man, it's that which comes out of
the mouth of the man that defiles him. His disciples came and said,
the religious people are offended. You offended them when they heard
this? And he answered and said, listen to me, every plant which
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up, leave them
alone. So what I'm saying is this, we preach, and the planting,
the sowing, The growing of fruit and the harvest is in the hands
of the Lord. That's exactly right. He'll bring
forth. And all, I tell you, all of our
arguments and logic and tradition cannot give life. This gospel
that we preach is the word of life. It's the word of reconciliation. It's the word of truth. It is
the word of salvation. It is the word of faith. It is
the word of You take a seed. I hadn't planted
in my garden yet, but I plan to. And you take that seed, you
plow the ground, dig it up, put a little fertilizer there, you
know, and make the rows, and you got that seed right there
in your hand. And you know, I know that that
seed has in it life. It doesn't look like it, but
it does. Otherwise I wouldn't waste my
time. That's work plowing that garden. That's work weeding that
place. That's work digging up that place.
That's work. But I know I'll take that little
seed and I'll put it there in the ground and cover it up. I
believe that that seed is the seed of life. I do. Well, let
me tell you something. This seed right here is the seed
of life. It's the word of life. It is.
I don't care what anybody says, I'm holding in my hand spiritually
what in a week or so I'll be holding in my hand materially,
life-giving seed. Now then, here's where I come
to what our Lord is teaching. I can take that seed and lay
it here on this pulpit. And it is life-giving seed. It
has life. It has the potential of life.
It has the capability of life. It has the power of life. But
it will never give life laying on that pulpit. It will never
grow. Never will. And I can throw it
out here in the dirt where the kids play ball and it's not going
to grow. And I can take it and here's a place that's rocky and
stony and it has just about a half inch of soil and I can lay it
there and it'll grow up real quickly. But when the sun comes
out, it's got no depth, no root, it'll flop over. Or I can take
it out there in back of the church where those honeysuckle and weeds
and vines and thorns grow and throw it out there and it'll
spring up there. But those things will choke it up and I won't
get one one bit of broccoli, not one tomato. And that's what
our Lord is giving here. Now, here's what I want you to
see, and this is what you've got ears, here. And the way you hear determines
what you're going to get. And what you get, if you get
it and want more, God will give you more. But if you are brought
so far and it meets a snag, And it meets this stony ground, thorny
ground, all these things, and you reject and you rebel and
you plant your feet like a stubborn donkey, you're going to lose
what you do have. You're going to recede. You're going to be
given strong delusions. You're going to wind up like
so many people are. Not having grown and bore fruit,
you're going to wind up as a professing religionist. No love for Christ,
no concern for Christ, no saving interest in Christ, no desire
for Christ. You see, but religious. And that's
what most of the folks in this town are, they're religious.
They're religious, but they don't have, they study, but they deny the
power thereof. They deny the life thereof. Not
fair. So our Lord starts out here in
verse 4, Mark 4, and I'll try to be brief. Some he said in
verse 4, fell by the wayside. And now in teaching this, verse
15, and he said, these are they by the wayside where the word
is sown. Now these people are like a roadway. They never were meant to be a
cornfield. That's just it now, that's just
declared. It was a roadway, it was a path,
it was a thoroughfare, and it was never meant to be a cornfield. But they are, for some reason
or other, present where the Word is preached. That's what it says
here. Verse 15, look at it again. And these are they by the wayside
where the Word is sown. They were close by when the Word
was preached. It just means this, that when
they came to a service, maybe they came on Mother's Day. Maybe they came Easter. Maybe
they came Christmas. Maybe they turned in the television,
sat there and listened while the preacher preached. Well,
he said, that's the folks by the wayside. They were there
where the Word was preached. They were close at hand when
the Word was preached. They were there when the Word
was sung, when the fellow had the seed of life, that life-giving
seed, that truth about Christ and truth about his death and
truth about his blood. And when the fellow threw it,
some of it landed on them because they were nearby. And there are
people who are sitting right here tonight, sitting here Sunday
after Sunday, who are close by. But now, wait a minute. It says,
when they had heard, how did they hear? Well, they didn't
hear like Jacob, who said, I will not let you go, you bless me.
They didn't hear like the eunuch who inquired of Philip, of whom
does the prophet speak. They didn't hear like the Bereans
who searched the scriptures to see if these things are They
didn't hear like little Samuel who said, Speak, Lord, thy servant
heareth. They hear inattentively. They
hear carelessly. Often they're prejudiced, they're
foul of ground. And watch this. And Satan comes
immediately, immediately, and takes away the word that was
sown in their hearts. It's not so much, listen to this.
You say, well, does Satan just come, these poor people, these
poor people are sitting there and they hear the word, and then
Satan comes and just plucks it out of their ear or plucks it
out of their heart? Is that what you mean? No, I
don't think that's so much it as this. Not so much that he
removes it, but he replaces it with other things. He replaces
it. In other words, what is this
foul ground? It's a thoroughfare, and the
mind and heart is diverted elsewhere. There's too much traffic on that
road. There's too much traffic on that
road. It's a cluttered mind. This man,
his mind is so cluttered. And so, so much traffic, and
his attention is diverted elsewhere to the point where he could hear
a wagonload of sermons and not be blessed. He could hear a wagonload
and not be helped. It's like that place where our
Lord, when Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem, and they knocked
on the door of the inn. The inn. And the inn was a suitable
place. It was an attractive place. It
was a place where visitors stayed. They had rooms, they had food,
they had beds, they had all these things. It was designed for guests. But they knocked on the door
and the word was, we just don't have room for you. See what I
mean? We don't have room for you. And
our Lord said this in turn to John 8, see if this will help,
in John chapter 8. Let's read John 8, verse 37. Listen to this. And ears were
made to hear. And minds were made to think.
Isn't that correct? See, so minds were made to think.
And hearts were made to love. And most people, their ears hear.
And their minds think. And their hearts love. But not
God. They're hearing all these other things and they're thinking
about all their minds are cluttered. It's a thoroughfare. There's
all kind of trucks and buses and cars and bicycles and all
these things on that road. But the glorious carriage of
grace, there's no room for it. It'll have to get out somewhere
else. Somewhere else. Listen to John 8.37. Listen to
that. John chapter 8. Verse 37, and
I've got the wrong one, but here's what he's saying. I don't know
where my verse is. Oh, it's John 9, John 8, 37.
That's it, John 8, 37. Listen, I know you're Abraham's
seed, but you seek to kill me. Why? My word hath no place in
you. There's no room for it. So this
is what's happening. The sower is the preacher of
the gospel. The seed is the Word of God,
the gospel of Christ, that life-giving seed, that seed that has the
potential and the power to give life, spiritual life, to bear
the fruit of love, joy and faith and patience and meekness and
temperance and all these things, the life of Christ. And he goes
and preaches it and sows it. And here's a fellow over here
that's a regular roadway. Boy, I'm telling you, his mind
is so cluttered. He got a mind, got a good mind, good mind. He got good ears. He can hear
a whole lot better than I can. And he's got emotions like anybody
else. And I preach this gospel, or
somebody preaches this gospel, and he listens. He's there. He's
close by. He comes from somewhere, and
he listens, and he hears me say, Jesus died for sinners. He hears
me say, God is going to save some people and take them to
glory. He hears all those things, but he doesn't hear them, Tom,
because there's too much thing going on there, too cluttered,
too much diversion, too much traffic. And when he goes out,
Satan gives him something fresh to think about. That's why he
doesn't so much remove it as he replaces it. That's right. That's exactly right. Did you
get that? That's so. That's exactly right. There's
just no room for it. There's no, my word has no place
in your heart. Got room for everything else.
I got room for everything else. No room for the Lord Jesus Christ.
All right, let's look at the second group of people found
in verse 5 and 6. He said some fell on stony ground.
where it didn't have much earth, it sprang up, but it had no depth.
When the sun came out, it was scorched, because it had no root,
it withered away. You can see this, this picture,
I know you can see it in your mind. This little precious life-giving
seed drops here on a place with thin soil. And the rain comes,
a little puddle forms, and the seed germinates, and a little
plant shoots its head out of the ground, and it grows up pretty
fast. But then when it needs to reach down into the earth
and the root needs to reach down and tap that main source of food
from the earth, the saw, get the nitrogen and sodium and all
the other things, it can't go down. It has no root, and the
sun comes out and burns it up. It just falls over. Now look
at verse 16. He said, And these are likewise
they which These are they likewise which are sown on stony ground,
who when they hear the word, they hear it. They hear it. It's not philosophy and tradition
they hear. They hear the word. And watch
it now, and immediately they receive it. They receive the
word. They went further than just hearing it. They received
it. They didn't fight it. They didn't deny it. They didn't
rebel against it, but they received it. And they received it immediately. They didn't have to do any searching
or inquiring or wrestling with the mysteries of truth. They
didn't have any problem. They just received it. You see,
it's like the two men that built the houses. Both of them felt
a need for a house. And both of them went to the
trouble to build a house. But the first man just built
it right on the sand. He didn't go to any trouble of
digging, digging, digging down deep and finding the rock. He
didn't go to that trouble. He just built it and it didn't
last. The other man dug deep and found
the rock and built on that rock. And these people here where the
seed, the gospel was preached, the story of Christ, and they
heard it and they just received it immediately. Immediately. That sounds good. I'll take that.
I have no problem with that. It's like I see these religious
meetings on television. The evangelist just talks a little
bit, and then at the end he said, Well, believe on Jesus and be
saved. And here they come down the aisle, and I pray the sinner's
prayer, and I'll send you a book. That sounds good, you know. And
they receive it. And look at the next line. And
they receive it with gladness. It made them quite happy. And
they packed their bags and moved over to the hallelujah side immediately. They sprang up. But look at verse
17, but they have no root. They have no root. They have
no foundation. They have no grasp of Christ. They're not built on the rock,
and they have no root, and so they endure just for a little
while. They're all top and no root. They have no no foundation. And afterwards, watch this, when
affliction and persecution arises because of the sake of the Word
of God, the truth of the Word, immediately they are offended.
You know, if you'll turn to Matthew 7, I'll show you some of these
trials that come. Our Lord gave them over here
when he talked about these men that built a house, one on the
sand, one on the rock. He said, watch this now, down
here in verse 27. He said, And the rain descended,
and the flood came, and the wind blew, and beat on that house,
and it fell. Now then, this rain from heaven,
someone said, are trials from heaven, which God sends. God
chastens his people. He deals with us as sons, and
he sends things in our lives. That's trials from heaven. And
then someone said the flood were trials from earth. from things
about us, people about us. And then the wind is mysterious. The wind, that speaks of trials
from within. And these trials are going to
come And these dear people here, they hear the word, they receive
it with gladness, they spring up immediately, they get religion,
and then on down the road these trials come from heaven and trials
come from earth and trials come from within, and they are offended
and they fall away. All right, let's take the next
one now, quickly, in verse 7. He said, some fell among the
thorns. Here's the little life-giving
seed, and the man sows it. And this seed fell among the
thorns. Well, what happened to it? Verse
18. And these are they which are sown among the thorns, they
hear the word. They hear it, much like the stony
ground, they hear it. And it sounds good, and it has
some application. You know, you can't preach on
God and sin and salvation and death and judgment and heaven
and hell without making application to your hearers. It has some
application as far as they're concerned. And they hear it.
And not only do they hear it, but something happens. The thorns,
the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches and
the lust of other things. entering in, choke the word,
and it becomes unfruitful. You want to remember one thing,
these thorns were already there. They were already there. They
didn't come later. They were already there. When this person
heard the gospel or heard the word, these three things that
he mentions which choke the word were already there. What are
they? Let's look at them. Verse 19.
The cares of this world. What are the cares of this world?
Well, myself. Myself, I've got the cares of
my own flesh. I'm concerned about my health,
I'm concerned about my appearance, I'm concerned about my knowledge,
education, I'm concerned about what people think of me, the
cares of my family. Of course, they're grown now,
you know, and they're caring for themselves, and some of you have
got little children coming up, and you just have a lot of cares
about that family. You men trying to pay for a house,
trying to pay for a car, trying to pay for hospitalization, trying
to establish your retirement, you've got all these things,
your job. The steel mill is uncertain, the refinery is uncertain, all
of these things. The education of your children,
social interests. You've got friends that make
demands on you. Your ambition. These are cares
of the world. That's what they are. That's
what the cares of the world. And then he names something else.
I'm coming back to this in a minute. But he says the deceitfulness
of riches, material riches, are deceitful. How are they deceitful? Well, number one, they do not
give the joy that they promise. They do not give the pleasure
that they promised. Number two, riches deceive people into working
hard for them, into just giving themselves, almost body and soul,
working for the, that's deceitful. When the things of this world,
the material things of this world, so dominate my thinking and activities,
Then they've deceived me. They've deceived me. It's called the deceitfulness
of riches. Because they do not give the
joy or pleasure they promise, and because they deceive us into
working so hard to get them. And then thirdly, they deceive
people into living for them and neglecting other things. Now,
when I say riches, I'm talking to every one of us. Because compared
to people back 200 years ago, we are fabulously wealthy. That's
right. About all folks 200 years ago
had was an old square bed wagon with four wheels that wobbled,
you know, and brakes that you had to, you remember what you
put on the brakes, you know, to keep that thing when it went
down the hill to run away with you and the horses? Now we've
got air condition, total power automobiles, we've got finest
homes. We've got everything. And those riches deceive us into
giving all of our thought and time. Somebody says, well, I
work all day and I'm just too tired to study God's Word. They
got you. They got you. That's exactly
right. Now, whether it's right or wrong,
but they got you. They've deceived you into, well, I've got to live. No, but you've got to die. I
don't know whether you've got to live or not, but I do know
you've got to die. They're deceitful, and they deceive people into
hoarding them. Now, this Word, and I know I'm
just tearing us to pieces tonight, but this Word, this living Word,
is sown. The sower is the preacher, and
that living Word is this right here. It's the living Word. He said, "...of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth." He called it the living
word. This word has the power, if God
makes it applicable to your heart, to your ear, to yourself, to
make you like Christ. It has that kind of power. It's
the living word. It's the living word. And it's so. But it falls on
that old busy thoroughfare, cluttered mind. It falls on that place
out there where there's just too much going on. There's just
too much going on. And it doesn't bring forth any
fruit. And then it falls in that place where, boy, I'll take that.
I'll sign. Where do I sign? You know, where
do I sign? I'll take it. But then a little persecution
down the road, I quit. I quit. I'm not going there anymore.
I'm offended. I'm mad. I'm upset. And then
it falls among the thorns, and those thorns are cares. And I
know we have the cares of this world. Oh, there's so many of
them. And the longer I live, the more
The more complicated living becomes, and the deceitfulness of riches
and material things, and brethren, our Lord used that right word,
deceitfulness of riches. Have they deceived us? Yes, sir,
they're not worth what they claim. They don't bring us joy. They
don't bring happiness. Christ is happiness. They don't
bring peace. Well, I'm going to work all hard
all my life, I'm going to gain and get and strive and hoard,
and I'm going to take it easy. Christ is taking it easy. Christ
is peace, Christ is rest. They deceive you, they deceive
you. And look here, he said, the lust of other things, the
lust of other things. You know what those things are?
And the word lust, we always connect it with sex, but that's
not it at all. That's part of it, but that's
not it at all. The lust is desiring or having
a passion for anything that does not result in God's glory or
our good. The lady called me the other
day on the telephone and she said, could I ask you a question?
I said, well, yes. She said, what is adultery? I
said, well, I said a lot of definitions. Some people say fornication is
relationship between unmarried people. Adultery is relationship
between married people. out of marriage. And some people
say that adultery is just, the only time you commit adultery
is if you divorce your wife and she marries somebody else. I
said let me give you just a plain old everyday definition of adultery
that will suit you fine if you listen to it. Adultery is any
relationship between a man and a woman, not condoned by the
word of God or by the glory of God in marriage." He said, that's
covered about everything. I said, that's covered about
everything. In other words, God's blessed marriage, and he's blessed
a relationship between a man and a woman in marriage. Marriage
is honorable, the bed is undefiled, and God's blessed it. Anything,
no matter what it is, anything other than that is adultery.
She said, that's it. I said, that's it. And what I'm
saying right here on this thing here, the lust of other things,
any object, I don't care what it is, may be good. I'm talking
about sports, music. Some of you like to pick and
sing. Well, you go ahead and pick and sing. You can do it
for the glory of God. Politics. Some of you are Republicans or
Democrats. Education. One of our young men recently
elected to the Board of Education. Wonderful, if it can contribute
to your spiritual growth. If not, it's other things. Exactly
right. Arts, painting. I've known people,
now listen, I've known people to get interested in painting
and get disinterested in the book and worship. I've known
young men and young women to go into sports, basketball, football,
baseball, whatever, and neglect the Word of God, that's the lust
of other things. So I'm just telling you the way
it is. Our Lord said the seed, the life-giving
seed is sown, but it's sown there among thorns, and those thorns
are the cares of this world. Would you have me neglect my
children? No, sir, not for anything in the world. Would you have
me be less of a working father? Not for anything in the world.
But I'm telling you this, your relationship with God and your
children's relationship is the most important thing in the world.
Would you have me not go to college and get my education? Yes, sir,
if you can walk with Christ. If you can't, don't go. That's exactly right. All right,
last of all, and I'll quit. He said in verse 20, and the
seed fell on good ground. Good ground. Now, let me tell
you this. This ground was not good by nature. No, sir. In other words, this ground,
just like that old fallow ground, but it was plowed by the Holy
Spirit. It was busted up by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit came and tore up the ground. The Holy
Spirit came and removed the stumps. The Holy Spirit came and plowed
up the stones. The Holy Spirit came and broke
out and burned the thorns and got rid of these things. The
Holy Spirit came and broke up this pile of ground, broke up
this pile of ground and turned that person's eyes on Christ
and on his word and made it ready to receive the seed. I'd rather
have Christ than anything. I'd rather have Christ than anyone.
I'd rather have Christ than life itself. And when that thirst
and that hunger and that ground is broken up with the Spirit
of God and these other things are removed or put in their proper
place, then that seed is planted. And they receive it, listen,
it says, in this good ground are those that hear the word
and receive it. They receive it deep into their
hearts. They receive it deep into their
souls. And they bring forth fruit. What
is that fruit? Well, it has to be Galatians
5.22, doesn't it? Doesn't it have to be Galatians
5.22, the fruit of the Spirit? They found out what real love
is. They found out what real joy is. Real joy. I'm not talking about the joys
of this world, but real joy. They found out what real peace
is, resting in Christ. Find out what patience is and
gentleness and goodness and faith, what real faith is, meekness,
temperance. Find out. But now, there's something
I want you to notice before I close. He says they bring forth fruit.
Where there is the ground, good ground prepared by the Holy Spirit
to receive the good seed, the life-giving seed, there's always
fruit, but not to the same degree. Please understand that. He said
some thirtyfold, some sixty and some a hundred. God's people
are not all fruitful to the same degree. Don't expect them to
be. Don't you be discouraged because
you're not. God will cause it to bring forth
fruit as it pleases him. And it may be thirty-fold is
better than no-fold, though. Little faith is better than no
faith. But there's always where the Word of God is planted and
watered by the Spirit of God. It'll bring forth fruit. May
God bless that. I hope that rambling message
was of some help to you and give you some understanding of that
parable taught by our Lord. I hope that it will. Let's bow
and pray.