The parable which I read to you is repeated three times in the
Word of God. It's in Matthew, it's in Mark,
it's in the book of Luke. In its entirety, both the giving
of the parable and the interpretation of the parable by our Lord. It's
important. It's revealing. It's a teaching
parable. Our Lord said a certain farmer, a man who doesn't farm like we
farm today, but a certain farmer in an eastern country, arose
one morning and filled his basket or bucket with seed. And he went
out into the field to sow his seed. And he begins to scatter
the seed over the wide area. And there's a path. along the
edge of the field or perhaps a path through the center of
the field. A path that's well packed and
trodden down. A lot of folks have walked on
it. It's a main thoroughfare. And as the farmer sows the seed,
some of this precious seed falls along the path and it just lays
there on top of the ground. And the farmer moves along, sowing
his seed as this seed has fallen on that packed earth, on the
path, along the wayside. And up in the trees are some
crows and blackbirds, all kind of birds of prey, fowls of the
air. And as he goes on down the field,
these birds swoop down and they pick up the seed. And they eat
all of it that's laying there. out in the open on the packed
and well-trodden pathway. They pick up the seed and bear
it away, and of course nothing comes of it. And then he goes
on down the field, he's sowing the seed, and there's a part
of the field that's rocky. The rocks are close to the surface.
There's not much soil there, just a little bit of soil. The
plow has just skipped over the rocks. And as the farmer sows
the seed, The seed, some of it, falls on this thin layer of dirt
over the stones. And it lays there and gets some
moisture quickly and just springs up and gets right up growing
about an inch or two high. But it doesn't have any root.
It doesn't have any soil. It doesn't have any moisture.
It doesn't reach down into the ground. And when the sun comes
out, lively-looking plants that have grown so quickly, matured
so quickly, begin to wither and die, and after a while turn yellow. You've seen the grass where the
ground is very thin, has no moisture or depth, and it just dies when
the sun bakes it. All of it withers and dies. And
he goes on sowing, and as he sows the seed, there's a corner
of the field. And as I thought about this message,
I thought about back during the Depression in 1930 when we moved
to the farm. And there was a part of our field,
we had a little field to grow something to eat, and part of
that was real healthy and good, but over there in one part was
a honeysuckle patch. And my dad burned it and cut
it and dug it and everything else, but he couldn't get it
all out. And everything we planted there, it looked like the honeysuckles
were gone. But when the seed fell there
in that briar patch and among the thistles and honeysuckles
and all of these wild weeds and tares, it sprang up too, but
the weeds came up with it and the thorns and the honeysuckle.
After a while, they just choked out the plant, and it didn't
do any good at all. It was very unfruitful. The wild
briars and thistles took over and just choked alive. out of these little helpless
plants. But some of the seed, as the
farmer sowed some of it, fell on good ground. The plow had
dug deep, and it had turned over the ground and beat it up and
crushed it and pulverized it, and it was good ground, prepared
ground, broken up, prepared for the seed. And when the seed landed
on this good ground, it grew and And several weeks passed,
and farmer went out, and in some parts of the field he got a hundred
bushel to the acre, and some sixty bushel, and some thirty
bushel. Hundred, sixty, and thirty. Different degrees of... But it
all produced that fell on the good ground. Some produced better
than others. And some a hundredfold, some
sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. And when our Lord finished giving
this parable, about the seed. The farmer went out and sowed
his seed. Some fell on the path, and the birds ate it. Some fell
on stony ground and sprang up quickly, and then when the sun
came out, it died. And some fell among the thorns,
and when it grew, the thorns choked it to death. And some
fell on good ground and brought forth a hundred, sixty, thirty-fold. And when he was alone, according
to Luke, his disciples came to him, and some of the folks that
were close to them. And they said to him, Lord, what
does this mean? What is this seed that the farmer
was sowing? What is this wayside, this hard
ground? You're talking about the birds
ate the seed. What is this stony ground? What is this thorny ground?
What is this good ground? Declare unto us the parable.
Well, our Lord did. If you'll turn to Luke 8, I'm
going to ask you to turn to Luke 8. This is another... rendering or giving of the parable
by another one of the writers. If you look at Luke 8 verse 11,
our Lord explains the parable to these disciples and to these
who are interested. He says in verse 11, are you
with me? Verse 11 of Luke 8. Now the parable is this, the
seed is the Word of God. There it is. The seed is the
Word of God. Now the preacher is the sower. I'm sowing right now. This parable
is being fulfilled right here in your ears and in your presence. You're witnesses of this parable
being carried out. The sower is the preacher and
the seed is the Word of God. Now watch this. The farmer doesn't
make his own seed. When that farmer took his bucket
and went out and got seed out of the bin or wherever He didn't
make it. God made it. You see, if that
farmer had sat down with his wife and out of some synthetic
material had made some seed, it wouldn't have life in it.
There'd be no life in the seed he made. There'd be no life in
the seed that he constructed. And he'd put it in the ground
and it'd just lay there. But this seed that the farmer
sold was from God. It's seed that came from the
previous crops that had life in it. This seed had life. It
didn't look like it. It was just withered, dried up
little flakes of seed. It doesn't look like there's
any life in there, but there's a life in that seed. There's a full
stalk of corn in that little withered up grain of corn. There's a full stalk of wheat
in that little withered up grain of wheat. God put life in it. And the seed is the Word of God. And the preacher goes forth to
preach the Word of God. And the Word of God has life
in it. It's a life-giving seed. When we read this book, it's
a life-giving. You say, why do you read so much
Bible around here? Because this seed has life in
it. Our traditions, I could stand
up here and tell you about what all the Baptists were doing around
the world. and about the hospitals and the
orphanages and the good things that are being done and the numbers
we've had. There's no life in that. There's
no life in that. That's not sowing any seed. That's
just talking about traditions and customs and opinions. I could
give you my opinion, but it wouldn't be worth the time it would take
to give it to you, because there's no life in my opinion. The words
that God blesses to give life are His words. His words. Let me show you that. Hold Luke
8 there a minute and turn to James 1.18. James 1.18. I want you to see this with your
own eyes here. James 1.18. James 1.18. Of His
own will, Beget, begetting, you know what
begetting is, it's life giving, it's conception, it's the giving
of life, it's the beginning of life. Beget he us with the word
of truth. That's how it came about, with
the word of truth. My word will not return unto
me void. So what the minister has to do is to preach the word. Just preach the Word of God.
Scatter the seed. The preacher doesn't know what's
in the soil. He doesn't know what's in men's
hearts. I may be scattering the seed this morning on the well-trotten
thoroughfare where walks the feet of many men, and nothing
will be accomplished. I may be sowing seed on stony
ground with very thin layer of earth. I may be sowing among
thorns. I may be sowing on good ground,
but I don't know. I'm just to go and scatter the
seeds to all nations, to all the world. My responsibility
is to preach the Word. Preach what? Preach what happened
in the garden, what happened on the cross. I'm to preach the
Word of sin and the fall, the Word of God's purpose to save,
the Word of God's glory and attributes. the Word of Christ coming into
this world to die for sinners, the Word about His obedience
to the Lord, His justifying death, His burial, His resurrection.
I'm to preach the Word of repentance and the Word of faith. Paul said,
when I preach repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ,
I preach the Word. I'm to preach death and judgment
and heaven and hell and whatever is in God's book. I'm to preach
the Word. And I'm not responsible for the
harvest. Just as that farmer who sows the seed, you know,
Paul said, I have plowed, Apollos has planted, somebody else has
watered, God gives the increase. And when the farmer goes to sow
the seed, it may not rain a drop that year. He may lose every
seed he planted, but he's obligated to plant. The Lord of the harvest
will take care of the harvest. He'll send the rain. He'll make
the seed to grow. He'll make it to live. He'll
make it to germinate. It's in His hands. There's no
farmer that has the power to bring forth a harvest. And no
preacher does either, but He's to be responsible to preach the
Word, to declare the truth. All right? Look at verse 12. There are four places this seed
fell. Now, this is eye-opening. You'll
stay with me. First of all, he says in verse
12, some of it fell by the wayside. They're on the pathway. These
are they that hear. And then comes the devil and
takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe
and be saved. Now, these are people who hear
the gospel. They hear the gospel, some of
them accidentally. The farmer is sowing the seed,
and he throws the seed, he throws it at good ground, and some of
it scoots over on the path, on the wayside. The path just happened
to be near to the good ground. The path just happened to be
in the way where the farmer was sowing his seed. And a lot of
people happen to hear the gospel in many ways. First of all, he
just got in the way of the true gospel. First of all, here is
a parent, a man who loves the gospel. He loves the gospel,
or a woman. They love the gospel, love the
Word of God, feed on it, feast on it, grow on it, love it. Once
in a while, her husband will come to church with her. He's
really indifferent. He's really not very interested.
He's really mostly unconcerned about the things of God. Or the wife comes with the husband,
or a child comes with the father or mother who love the gospel.
And they sit there, and they hear. If the seed is planted,
if it's preached, and it's planted on that good ground, that mother
or father or husband or wife or that child, That ground next
to that person, sitting right next to him, you're sitting right
next to a person who loves the gospel. Your heart may be as
hard as this thing right here. It may be that old thoroughfare
where the things of this world control and dominate and walk,
but buddy, some seed falls on your ground. That's right. Or perhaps this boy dates a girl. I've had that happen here, a
girl who loves the gospel and she starts dating some old boy,
and he comes to church with her. He's courting her. Amazingly,
these girls get stars in their eyes, and some old boy dates
them, and they bring him to church, and they think just because he
comes to church with her that he's interested in the gospel.
But he comes, he sits there. She's listening to the gospel,
and some of it falls on him. He can't help but hear it. See,
it falls on him. Or perhaps a fellow attends a
funeral. I've had folks come hear me preach
at funerals, and I had a fellow one time sit about as close as
that chair, and I had a lot of liberty preaching that funeral.
I was preaching the funeral of a friend who had died, and I
believe he knew the gospel. And I laid out the gospel that
he knew, and this old boy sat there, you know, and he looked
at me and listened to me, and when I got through, he said,
man, he said, I heard some things I never heard before. He said,
I'm going to come hear you preach. Well, one night he came, and
that's the end of it. That's been ten years ago. He
hasn't been back since. But a little fell on him. A little
fell on him. A little seed or two fell on
him. Or perhaps, or perhaps a person, this has happened a lot of times,
a person's come here and heard the gospel and been saved. Come
to know the Lord. And they're going to be baptized.
And the night they're baptized, there's this mama and daddy and
brother and sister and uncle and aunt. They all come see them
baptized. Well, let me tell you this, a
little seed fell on them, Charlie, when they came. A little seed
fell. I don't care for what purpose
you're here this morning. You may be here just to please
somebody. You may be here just because
it's Sunday. You may be here because you ought
to be in church somewhere. But when you sit here, and I'm
telling you who God is, and what men are, and who Christ is, and
how to be a saint. We sang. Mike sang. I read the Bible, I'm preaching
the gospel, and you are like that wayside pad. You happen
to be near where the seed's being sowed. That's right, you happen
to be near. I don't know why you're there,
but you're there. You're there. And you'll give an account. But
here's what happens. The farmer goes on down the road.
Eleven-thirty, we'll be gone. You'll get up and leave here.
And the birds of the air. These old black, foul, dirty
birds led by Satan. Whatever seed fell on you, that
bird of pride, that bird of arrogance, that bird of worldliness, that
bird of rebellion against God, that bird of self-will, that
bird of haughtiness, that bird comes, that bird of other interests
takes away the seed. Two o'clock this afternoon, you
won't remember a thing I say. Two o'clock this afternoon, you'll
be right back just as hard, just as callous, just as fallow, just
as dead as you were at eleven-thirty. Because Satan will not permit
that seed to accomplish any purpose. The seed is gone now. Hardness
of heart comes back in. That's what he said there. These
are they that hear the word, and then comes the devil, the
fowls of the air, the beasts, the birds of prey, and takes
away the word, verse 12, lest they believe and be saved. Because there's no believing
or being saved without the word germinating in the heart. It
just lays on the ear. It's gone. Something takes it
away. All right, notice the next one.
Now, what about the stony ground? All right, turn to the book of
Mark. As I said, this parable is in three places, and everything
is not repeated the same way. And I'm reading the places where
it gives a little better revelation of what Christ is saying. In
Mark 4, you got it, Mark 4, verse 16. You see Mark 4, verse 14, the
sower sows the word. Verse 15, it falls by the wayside. Now verse 16, And these are they
likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard
the word, immediately receive it with gladness. But they have
no root. They have no depth. They have no root, and so endure
but for a little while. And afterwards, affliction and
persecution arise for the sake of that word or that profession, and immediately they are offended.
Now listen to me. I'm giving you the experience
of 32 years of pastoring and preaching. These people, the
stony ground heroes, just put words to preach, and they've
come in, and they've heard it. And they're interested. Really
interested. And they receive the Word. But
here's the problem. They receive it immediately.
They receive it immediately. There's no conflict. There's
no questioning. There's no wrestling. There's
no trouble. Why, they just like that thin,
shallow ground, you know, where you throw the seed doesn't have
to go down and be germinated and be fed with water and find
the root going deep down into the soil to reach the life-giving
stream that feeds it every day. It just gets a little moisture
out of the dew or the air, and it grows real quickly, real quickly. And I've seen people do this.
They're glad to hear about salvation. They're glad to hear about forgiveness
of sin. They're glad to hear about heaven.
They're glad to hear about being saved. Being saved. But there's no counting the cost. There's no study of what it means
to bow to Christ. There's no awareness of the bearing
of the cross. There's no awareness of the of
the depth of God's mercy in the heart and soul. It's just a gladness
to receive the benefits. It's fun being saved. They give
them a little pin here with a silly looking face on it. It's fun
being saved. And they make rapid progress.
They make a profession of faith one week, and the next week they're
witnessing, they're teaching, they're running around with a
Bible, telling everybody, everything's alright, I'm saved, I'm on the
road, I know the Lord, praise the Lord, hallelujah, all this
sort of thing. It's a whoop-dee-doo thing. And
to hear some old believer talk about doubting and fears and
struggles And they laugh. They say, Brother, don't look
in. Look out. Amen. Look to God. They get all the answers.
They grow real fast. I've seen them do this so many
times. Come down and make a profession. I've been saved. Praise the Lord.
I've been delivered from sin. I'm on the road. Hallelujah.
They become teachers, they become authorities, they read, they
read books, they become real well-versed in everything real
quick, and they'll set anybody straight. A fellow that's been
saved 30 years, they got the answer, they'll tell him all
about it, they'll argue with him. They got everything fixed
up. But then a trial comes. A little baby dies. Or maybe somebody attacks them
over the Word, the truth of the depths of God's grace and sovereignty. Or perhaps they lose their job,
or perhaps some trial because of the Word, a trial because
of what they profess, a trial because of where they stand,
or some trial comes, some tribulation. Listen, untried faith is not
faith. And because they had no root,
they had no depth, they weren't built on a rock, they were built
on the sand. And when the wind blew and the
rain fell and the floods came, the house fell because it was
built on shifting sand. They had no root. And listen,
he says here in verse 17, "...and immediately they were offended."
That word immediately occurs two times with the stony ground
hearers. Verse 16, they heard the word,
and immediately they received it. A trial came, and immediately
they were offended. They left just as quick as they
came. You see that? That's the way
it happens. They left just as soon as they
came. They blew in with the wind and stirred up a lot of dust,
and just as quickly as they came in, they were gone. Well, where's
so-and-so? He made a lot of noise there
for a while, you know. He made out like he knew everything
and had everything. And what happened to Olsen? Well,
he blew out as fast as he blew in. He had a little struggle,
a little trial. And listen to me, all trials
aren't bad. He might have had a trial of
prosperity. He might have had a trial of
suffering, but he might have had a trial of prosperity. He
might have had a trial of losing something, but he might have
had a trial of gaining something. But anyway, a trial came where
this Word was put to test, where his profession was put to test,
where his hope was put to test. He wasn't there. He got mad at
the preacher. Or he got mad at one of the deacons. Somebody
in the church didn't speak to him. Or somebody in the church
didn't do so-and-so. And he went out just as fast
as he came in. That's that stony ground. Stony ground. You see it fell there, and the
seed, the Word of God, the true Word of God there fell. The little
truth fell, and boy, he just grabbed hold of that and grew
up real quick. But no root. The root grows in
here, the depths of faith Confidence and love. Though he slay me,
Job said, I'll trust him. Though he slay me. Christ is
my Lord, whatever happens. All right, notice the third,
Mark 4 again, verse 18. And some fell among the thorns.
Now these, verse 18, are they which are sown among the thorns.
They hear the word. They hear the word. Now these
people, listen to me, they're not like the folks sitting out
there who just are sitting beside somebody that's listening. They're
not here by accident. These folks here, they came on
purpose. They came to hear the Word. They
hear the Word. And they're not like the stony
ground here. They got some soil under them. Anything that'll
grow honeysuckle will grow corn. Anything that'll grow a great
big stalk of briars and thistles will grow corn. There wasn't
any stones. There was plenty of place for
the root to establish itself. They're not like the indifferent
wayside here. They're not like the impulsive
stony ground here that has no depth, no understanding of the
weightiness of the issues, importance of commitment. These people here
hear the word and they study it. And they're interested in
it. And they're slow to make a profession. They're slow to make a commitment.
They grow just like the good ground. They know something about the
Redeemer and his claims. And they're interested. This
ground doesn't say it doesn't have depth. It has depth. It
has potential. It has possibilities. But there's
some problems. You see, our Lord said the thorns
and the thistles grow with the wheat, or with the grain, and
choke it. What are these thorns? What are
these thistles? What are these briars? See here,
look at verse 7, and some fell among the thorns, and the thorns
grew up along with the corn. He didn't say that the corn didn't
grow, it grew, but it got choked. All right, what are they? First,
look at it. The cares of this world. Want me to give you an
example or two? Here sits a young lady. She's brought up under the gospel. She's pretty. She's got good
personality. She's popular in school. Kind of hard to Oh, the other
kids aren't religious, you see. She knows. She knows this Bible
is the Word of God. She knows that Christ is the
only Savior. She knows the truth of God's
grace. She's heard that. She knows it.
But she's got to choose between standing for what she knows and
believes and being popular. You see, she's pretty, and the
boys that The boys that date her aren't believers. And the
places to which they go are places where believers don't go. And
the things they do are things believers don't do. And those
thorns and thistles just choke that word. And choke that life seed, that
seed that would give life. Because you see, when Christ
is in competition with the cares of this world, One's got to go,
Bob. That's what he's saying here.
All right, here's another. Here's a man. Here's a man. And he's
an intelligent man. And he belongs to a club. And
he holds office in that club. He's the only one in that club
that really knows the gospel, that really knows God's sovereign,
and Christ is the only Redeemer. He's got to choose. He holds
political office, or he's a community leader, or he's an important
person. And he's got to choose between
that and the gospel. That's pretty hard. Or, here's
a person in a family, a family now, they've grown up together. My family, you say, has always
been close. Well, my family, most families
are close. And you're the only one that
believes the gospel. Everybody else doesn't. How are you going
to hold them? How are you going to keep their
friendship? How are you going to keep their fellowship? The
people in my family and the people I associate with aren't interested
in the gospel, but I don't want to lose them. I don't want to
offend them. I don't want to offend my friends. I don't want to be
an art ball. I don't want to be a nonconformist. Here's a preacher. He's got to
get some credentials in order to preach to big crowds. You
see, he can't get a big church unless he goes to a seminary.
And down in a seminary, they deny the gospel, they deny Jesus
Christ, they deny the Word of God, and he goes down there and
sits in front of those professors. and listens to them lie, listens
to them say the Word of God is not inspired, God did not create
the world. Jesus Christ was the bastard
son of a German soldier. He was not virgin born, and on
and on and on. And they sit there and keep their
mouths shut in order to get a degree. There's something wrong with
that. There's something wrong with that. As one preacher told
me, I write down on my test papers things I know are not true. in
order to make a grave. Something wrong with that in
the bill. You see, that's the cares of
this world. That's what the seeds planted. You know the gospel.
And it's planted there in that ground with all here's that stuff
growing around it. And you're not willing to pay
the price. You're not willing for that stuff to be cut down
and dug up by the roots. And it'll choke it. Or about
the, he goes on, he gives something else, the cares of this world?
The cares of this world. I've got to keep them offending
my family and associates and friends and all this sort of
thing. Just keep my mouth shut. Compromise
the gospel. Well, the deceitfulness of riches.
I don't want to offend mother and dad. I don't want to be left
out of the wheel, you know. I got an Uncle Fred that hates
the grace of God, but I sure wouldn't want to be left out
of the will. That old boy is loaded. Wouldn't want to offend him.
Well, what shall I eat, drink, or wear? If I don't look out
for myself, who will? Well, God will. Well, preacher, I've got an opportunity
to make some money. I've got an opportunity to be
somebody. Well, be somebody. You go right ahead. But I'm asking
you this, will it hinder your spiritual life? Will it hinder
your relationship with the Lord? Will it make a contribution to
your relationship with Christ? The deceitfulness of riches,
riches are not all you think they are. You can't drive but
one car and you can't wear but one suit and you can't take but
one bite at a time. And you might have all these
things stacked around you, but they won't do one thing but choke
your spiritual life. Let them flow. Let them flow. Give them away. Use them for
God's glory. Preach the gospel with them.
All right, what about the lust, look at here, and the lust of
other things? He says that this seed is sown
and here is the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of
riches and the lust of other things. What other things? I've
had this happen so much and you young girls, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, listen to me, because you are going to do the same thing.
Somebody said one time, Brother Mann, are you disappointed in
so and so? I said, no, I don't expect much and I don't get disappointed
too much. That's pessimistic. But I hear
there's a young girl brought up in the church, brought up
under the gospel, gets to marriageable age, 18, 19, 20. Does she wait
for a young man who loves the gospel, who loves Christ? No. I know he's not a believer,
Brother Mann, but I love him and I'm going to marry him anyway.
I'm going to marry him anyway. That may be alright for somebody
that doesn't know better, but that ain't alright for somebody
that does. He's a young man. I've seen it happen too many
times. I know this club I'm getting into and this crowd I'm getting
to. I know they're wild and blasphemous, but preacher, everybody's going
there. Christ didn't go in there. His
people aren't going there. Oh, preacher, I know they don't
preach the gospel down there where I go to church, but they
have a good program. They have activities for the
young people. They're friendly. You see, all these things. We
can think of so many good reasons why we should do what we want
to do. And that's the lust of other
things. That's what he's talking about here. I preach the gospel. That's my business. That's what
God sent me to do. I sow the seed. The seed is the
Word of God. It's the truth. It's the truth. Whatever happens,
it's the truth. Christ is Lord. Christ is King. The gospel is the happy life.
It's the way of life. But all these cares of the world,
that press in upon us in the deceitfulness of riches and the
lust of other things. Other things. You know what these
other things are. Flesh, desire, passions, hunger. This is what I want. And they enter in and choke the
Word. That's what these things will
do. Oh, for the courage and the grace and the desire and the
will to walk with God. It won't be easy. I'm not telling
you to come out of the Word of the Lord Jesus. I'm not telling
you to quit your job. You've got to make a living.
I'm not telling you not to visit your family. I'm not telling
you not to communicate with unsaved people. I'm simply saying this.
Be a light. Be the salt. Just stand for what
you believe. Do it in a gracious manner, in
a compassionate manner. in a manner glorifying the Christ.
But be what you are, where you are. Don't compromise. Don't
give in. Don't surrender. Go your way. God will protect you. Christ
said, I don't pray that you take my people out of the world, but
that you keep them from the evil one. Don't let Satan get an advantage. Don't let him drive his stakes. Don't let him come in and sew
his tags. Don't let him get an advantage.
All right, some of it fell. Turn to Matthew 13, for the last
one. Some of it fell on good ground.
This is what I read a while ago. Matthew 13, verse 23. He that receives the seed into
the good ground. Now, my friend, the good ground
is not good by nature. I know that. It was made good
by the grace of God. It was prepared and broken up.
How does the Lord prepare the ground? The Holy Spirit comes
and convicts of sin. The Holy Spirit comes and convicts
of sin and makes us aware of our inability, our nothingness
without the seed. Lord, I'm not going to grow anything
or produce anything until you plant some seed. Shed abroad
your love in my heart. Send Christ into my life. We're made aware of our inability.
We're made aware of Christ's sufficiency and sacrifice. We're
brought to a total commitment to Christ. Sow the seed. We lose
interest in those things contrary to the Redeemer. He says they
receive the seed. They hear the Word. Verse 23,
they understand it and they bear fruit. What kind of fruit is
this? Well, one verse, turn to Galatians 5. Galatians 5. Galatians 5 verse 22. Galatians
5 verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Love for Christ. Love for one another. That's
the fruit. Joy. True joy, my friend. There's no joy in drunkenness. There's no lasting joy in promiscuity. There's no joy in drugs. There's
no joy in the material things of this world. There's joy in
the Lord, in having a saving relationship with God. There's
joy in communication with God, in fellowship with believers.
There's joy in establishing your home on principles of righteousness
and truth and happiness and love and trust and faith. There's
joy there. There's something permanent.
And it's peace. Be at peace with folks. I like
what a pastor said the other few weeks ago, met with his deacon
board, and they was arguing and quarreling and fussing. He got
up and said, man, brethren, I don't fight at home, and I'm not going
to fight in the house of God. He got him walked out. I like
that. I don't fight at home, and I'm
not going to fight here or anywhere else. Peace. There's no reason. Brothers and sisters are supposed
to fight. I don't think so. That's not so. Where is that
in God's Word? Where does it say in here, brothers and sisters
are supposed to fight? Well, you know, husband, wives
are supposed to fuss. Where is that? I'd love to read
that. I thought it was husbands, love your wives. I didn't know
it was husbands, fuss at your wives. I thought it said, wives,
be obedient to your husbands. I didn't know it said, wives,
buck up on every turn. You're preaching the gospel according
to somebody else. I believe it's love and peace. I believe a believer's home ought
to never have quarrels and arguments and fussing. Long-suffering,
that's patience. Gentleness, be gentle. Goodness,
faith, humility, temperance. Temperance in all things. Temperance
in meat and drink. Temperance, that's with control.
That's fruit. Now watch this. He said, the
good ground yields fruit. All of the good ground yields
fruit. But now some a hundred, some sixty, some thirtyfold.
Don't get discouraged. If you don't produce as much
fruit as you think you ought to, or as the next fellow does,
or you read in the biography of Horatio Bonar, and you found
out he was a hundredfold producer, and you're just a thirtyfold
producer, well, don't get upset. Oh, Horatio might not have produced
what you think he did. Somebody's writing that, you
know. But it's different degrees of faith and love, but all the
good ground produces it. Well, this is our Lord's parable,
and I gave it to you like He gave it, in your words. A sower
sowed the seed, and some fell. They just happened to be nearby
where it was being sown, providentially. Some fell on the stony ground.
Too quick, too quick. I get disturbed, and I see these
preachers preach one sermon, a fellow hears one sermon, he's
down the aisle making a profession. Before you build the walls of
Jerusalem, you've got to tear out the old walls, the old rubbish,
and dig down and find the stone, the rock, and build on it. I'm
not pushing you or rushing you. If God's dealing with you today,
He'll be dealing with you tomorrow. I'm worried most about those
thorns. I'm worried most in this day.
This is a day of too much activity, too much involvement, too much
entertainment, too much spreading out, too much of this, the day
of having a time alone, the day of courage, the day of standing,
the day of boldness, the day of believing something. Today's
religion is an umbrella that takes in under it anything, anything
at all. It's just an umbrella. No matter
what you do, say, believe, or what course of life or style
of life, get in under the umbrella. But that's not God's Word. It's
a good grant. Our Father bless this message. We make bold to pray that you
bless your Word. And, O Lord, deliver us from
being wayside healers, stony ground healers, thorny ground
healers. May we be, every one of us, good
ground healers. It doesn't matter how slow in
your providence we grow, just so we grow. It doesn't matter,
O Lord, whether it's a hundredfold or thirtyfold, but just so we
produce fruit for your glory. We'd like to be hundredfold producers.
We'd like to be greatly used for thy glory. O Lord, just in
any sense use us. Give us courage and boldness
and dedication to the things which thou hast taught us. Use
this word for whatever purpose it pleases thee, in Christ's
name. Amen.