We've
found out that the seed is the Word of God, or the Word of
the Kingdom, and we have already covered three kinds of
hearers. Why should we deal with these simple parables?
Because Christ chose that means to teach the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and we find that there are deep truths hidden
within them.
We find
in them four kinds of soil that cover the four classes or
practically cover all humanity. We all fall in one of
these four classes; wayside hearers, thorny ground, stony
ground, or good ground hearers. We have already covered
three of these classes and will get Into good ground. Let
us start at the first verse.
"The
same day went Jesus out of the house." He went back
into the house before He preached the rest of the sermon,
and a great many people are going to be left outside
because they will not come in 'by the door.' That door is
Christ and for that reason they will not be able to find
out what is 'going on' in the house. Nobody knows what is
going on 'in the house.' Jesus came to bring us a
knowledge of salvation and every thing He came to do for
us will be made known. Many people theorize and surmise,
but theory is only good until you get knowledge, then you
can throw all theory away.
Let me
Illustrate. If your car breaks down on the way home and
you get out and see what's the matter with it. You don't
know what the trouble is, so you shake a few wires and
punch this and turn that and about that time your wife
gets out and says, "Maybe it is this and maybe
that." You are liable to tell her that she doesn't
really know a thing about it and is Just theorizing, when
that is just what you have been doing all the time
yourself. About that time, a mechanic comes along and
discovers the trouble and tells what is wrong with it and
fixes it. You get in and drive off and throw your own
theories 'out the window.'
Now the
same thing is true about the Word of God. He came to bring
us a knowledge of truth, not just a theory. If we are only
willing to wait, God will make it plain. Now, Christ went
out of the house and sat by the seaside and great
multitudes were gathered unto Him. He went in a ship and
sat, and the multitude sat on the shore. He spoke many
parables unto them and among them, this one. "Behold,
a sower went out to sow. And some seed fell by the
wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them; some fell
in stony places where they had not much earth and
forthwith they sprang up because there was no depth of
earth. When the sun was up they were scorched and withered
away because they had no root. Some fell among thorns and
the thorns sprang up and choked them. And others fell into
good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold,
some sixty, and some thirty. Who hath ears to hear let him
hear." We have found thus far, that those who
received the seed in the wayside experience went no deeper
with God. Those that received it in the stony ground went
no further in the Christian life and bore no fruit. Those
that received it among thorns bore fruit for a while, but
because of 'living after the flesh'…that should have
been crucified, they became unfruitful.
But, the
Word tells us that some fell on good ground, and brought
forth fruit, a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty,
I will refresh your minds with old truths, but I am a firm
believer in the fact that if the 'old truths' brought the
people out of confusion and kept them together, it will do
it today. True, God has a prophecy for today, but we do
not want to forget the old foundation of truths that
brought us out in 'this glorious way' and set our feet on
the solid rock.
We can
gather a people together with just a head knowledge, but
it takes the genuine message of truth to cause the love Of
God to be shed abroad and for all to be baptized into one
Body by one Spirit.
The same
seed was sown on all kinds of ground. The same Word of God
was sown In the stony places, and also in thorny places,
and in the good ground, Someone may say, that as long as
we have good seed, we may not have to worry. But we need
good ground too. Satan works on individual lives. We not
only need good seed, but we need good ground. The Church
cannot be built on wayside, stony, or thorny soil. She
cannot be built in a straw pile, or in a thorn bush, or
among stones, but it takes good ground to produce the
results we must have to produce the Church.
There is
just one word that distinguishes good ground from all the
rest, namely, the word, fruitful. Jesus mentioned in the
7th chapter of Matthew, a very familiar test that we enjoy
using. Matt. 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye
shall know them." Men hang things on the 'so called'
Christmas trees. But whoever saw a fir tree bear balls and
lights and icicles and stars, etc.? You can hang anything
on a tree, but for that tree to bear fruit of its own, is
another thing. If I should go to an orchard in winter, it
would be very easy to deceive me as to what kind of a
fruit tree was there. You might tell me that a peach tree
was a plum and be able to 'get by,' but when the fruit
comes on the tree in summer and the peaches and plums are
there; you can deceive me no longer, for by the fruit I
will surely know those trees, The false ministry of today
that are trying to preach to God's people are putting on
sheep's clothing, but if you will look, you will see a
wolf in sheep's clothing and a wolf's tracks under it. A
wolf does not make sheep's tracks.
The 'heat
of the truth' poured out in the 'fourth vial' of the
Revelation Gospel, is revealing what is in people. God
would have His Word preached under the power of the Holy
Spirit and then, it brings out what is in people. If you
have the love of God shed abroad in your heart, the
hearing of the Gospel warms the heart and inspires the
saint to leave that place a better man or woman. Moreover,
as the Gospel goes forth from day to day, the divine love
and fellowship among the people of God will grow more
precious, but if there is bitterness in their hearts, the
Gospel will reveal and bring conviction of the same to the
hearers and bring out the hatred and bitterness. John said
that there were many spirits out in the world and that we
were to try the spirits. But how shall we try them? By the
preaching of the true Word of God, the spirits are tried;
both good and bad. May God help us, as never before, to
declare His Eternal Truth.
The
wayside hearers wanted the truth and took it and hid it in
their hearts, but they failed to get an experience of
salvation. We must get down to business with God if we are
to have such an experience. God has ways of moving on
people and changing them from wayside hearers to the other
kind. I shall give you an illustration.
Recently,
I preached the funeral of an elderly woman who had died of
cancer. A large family had gathered in the funeral parlor.
My heart was touched as I looked upon them, for I was
quite certain that most of them were ignorant of the
things pertaining to Eternal Life. It just seemed that
day, that practically all of them would be wayside
hearers, for they were not paying one bit of attention to
the message.
I was
again called to the same place and found that a young man
of 35 years (a member of the family) had suddenly 'dropped
dead.' This time, they all sat still and listened. They
could 'lay away' an aged mother who was of the age to die
and not think too much about it…they were so surrounded
by the things of the world they could not forget them long
enough to let me deal a little with their souls, but when
God reached down and took a young athlete, 35 years old,
and seemingly in health, out of their midst, they were
shaken up a bit and ready to hear the Word. God blessed in
a wonderful way and the seed was sown in hearts. God has a
way of changing attitudes toward His Holy Word and causing
people to 'hear and understand' and decide for or against
the Word…somewhere along the pathway of life.
These
'hearers' were not those in stony places either. The
stones were quickly removed by obedience, making root for
the Word. The thorns were plucked up by the roots. In Luke
8:15 "The good ground are they who in an honest and
good heart…" Let us stop here a moment and say that
the first thing necessary is, that we have to be honest
with ourselves and God. "The good ground are they who
with a honest and good heart, having heard the Word,
receive it and keep it and bring forth fruit with
patience."
In the
morning dispensation or Gospel Day, we have Christ giving
a picture of the hundred fold Christian or the Morning
Church, or the Bride in her pristine glory… fully
yielding her increase to God and to Christ. Scripture says
that some seed fell in good ground and brought forth
fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty fold, and some
thirty fold. What is the meaning of hundred fold, sixty
fold and thirty fold? Recently, a man expressed an opinion
that because of the different situations of life some
people could bear no more than thirty fold and some could
(maybe) bear sixty fold, but he doubted if anybody was
bearing a hundredfold any more. But the Bible tells us
that they bore a hundred fold first in spite of the fact
that there are some who use this portion of scripture to
prove their theory of growing In grace. Saying, that we
begin with thirty, then on to sixty and finally develop to
where we can bring forth one hundred fold.
When we
get to the teaching of the evening light, we will see that
the Church started out on a hundred fold basis and when
they came down to thirty and sixty fold, you could not
even see the church and moreover the Church has never run
on less than a hundred fold basis. She was in her thirty
fold basis it Luthernism which is so aptly illustrated in
the words "First the blade, (thirty fold) then the
ear (sixty fold) and then the full corn in the ear, (a
hundred fold).
The
Church did not start out in 'cloudiness' and come later
into the 'full light,' but she started out in the 'full
light' and bore a hundred fold. She later fell to sixty
fold and then to thirty fold and so out of sight. God will
not put the Church out for the world to look upon in any
less than a hundred fold stage. The sixty and thirty fold
set in when she was falling away from the truth and light
of the Gospel as given her. In the 8th verse of the 8th
chapter of Luke He does not even mention the thirty and
the sixty fold. He simply said that the good ground
brought forth a hundred fold and it will bring it forth
today.
How many
sins can you have in your heart and still be holy?
Holiness is one hundred per cent. They bore a hundred fold
for God and because of it the Church was plainly visible
and had power.
Now, let
us go back to some types in the Word of God. Turn with me
to the chapter in Genesis, Chapter 26. Was Abraham a type
of God? Was Isaac a type of Christ? Was not Abraham's
servant a type of the Holy Spirit who he sent after
Rebecca, or the bride of Christ?
Let
us do away with excuses, for some will say, "I'll
never get over sixty fold." Be sure, my friend, that
you have scripture for that. What does the Bible say about
it?
