Mike Bickle emphasizes the beauty of Christ as the beautiful King who desires to impart His beauty to the redeemed. He explains the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13, illustrating how different heart responses affect spiritual growth and fruitfulness. Bickle warns against obstacles such as hardness of heart, superficial faith, and distractions from worldly cares that hinder our relationship with God. He encourages believers to seek the beauty of the King, which leads to a fruitful life that glorifies God. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper commitment to understanding and responding to God's beauty in our lives.

In the Bible about our salvation is that we have a king. Our king is fully man and fully God and he's indescribably beautiful. The witness of those around the throne in heaven declare his beauty day and night. They're overwhelmed by it, they're fascinated by it. But the most remarkable thing for us is that the beauty he possesses is the very beauty he imparts into the life of the redeemed. And so part of the salvation message is that the beautiful king has a plan to beautify his people. Now that beauty is manifest internally in this age, but it's manifest fully, externally, internally, as well as the circumstances related to our dwelling and our reigning together. It's beauty all around. Everything is filled with radiant beauty. But that plan has begun when the day we received the free gift of salvation. Now in Matthew chapter 13, we're going to look at this very familiar parable. The parable of the sower and the seed. And it's Jesus, the great shepherd, the pastor. He's explaining in this parable how the human heart responds. He has such brilliant insight into the human design and human nature. And in this parable of the sower and the seed, he identifies the obstacles that his people will encounter. And one of the reasons he wants us to identify those obstacles is so that we're not tricked by them. We're alerted to them. These are obstacles that hinder the plan of God in our life. And the beautiful king is committed to seeing this plan unfold in our life. Now this parable, it both warns us and it encourages us. It warns us by giving us right expectations of what to avoid, what to not be tricked by, or seduced by, or distracted by. He lays them out very clear. But he also encourages us so we have a right expectation towards ministry. That in our attempt to minister to other people, to minister Christ to believers and unbelievers. I've heard it many times over the years. They say, people say, well I'm just not good at it. And obviously I failed. Look at the fruit of the people I minister to. And this parable encourages us that there are real adversaries that are operating in this fallen world. And it's not about the ability of the messenger, but it's the responsiveness of the listener. And the weakest messenger can be fruitful if the heart response is right. And so Jesus is saying, don't measure yourself by how the people that you minister to, how they are responding to the Lord. Because there's all kinds of responses that are happening and there's a real enemy, the devil that's at work. So sow the seed of the word and trust my leadership. Now this parable is very easy to follow. There's a man, a farmer, he's walking through the field and he's throwing seed out. And the seed falls on four types of soil. We'll look at it in a minute. But again, most of you are very familiar with it. First it falls on a hardened pathway, like a sidewalk. As hard as could be. And the seed just bounces on it. Doesn't germinate at all. This speaks of the person who rejects the Lord entirely. The seed of the word falls on a second type of soil which speaks of a heart response. It's called the stony, stony soil. This person receives the word for a while, but then after a season they fall away from the faith. The third type of soil, the seed, the farmer throws a seed. It's thorny soil. And this speaks of the one that receives the word. They don't fall away, but they don't bear any fruit. They go 10, 20, 30, 40 years preoccupied with themselves and they never ever get to the place where they're bearing fruit that remains that they bring with them to the age to come. And the fourth type of soil, which is the climatic part of the parable, the high point, is the good soil. The one that responds and they bear fruit. And the fruit is precious to God. It beautifies their life and it has reward in the age to come. There's a continuity to the simple things they do that bear fruit and the age to come. So that's a bit about the story of this very familiar parable. But what I want to point out is that in Matthew 13, there's seven parables. We're looking at the first parable. But at the very end of the chapter, Jesus gives us the key. The very end of Matthew 13, in parable number five and number six, he goes, let me tell you the key to being able to respond rightly so that you do bear fruit. And the fruit does beautify your life and the fruit lasts on to eternity. And he taught two parables that have the same message in them. And again, he's giving them the answer at the end of the chapter on how to respond rightly, which is the theme of the parable at the beginning of the chapter. But we're going to the end of it first. So we see the end of it, then we come back and tell the story in light of it. And that kid's good-looking. It's my grandson. Okay. The key that he tells us is seeing the beauty of the glorious King. Jesus is saying, I'm going to tell you later how to respond. So we go to the other chapter. He goes, there's a the kingdom of God. Let's read it. Chapter 13, verse 44. The kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure. Now Jesus is the hidden treasure. The king and the kingdom are the hidden treasure. It's hidden in a field. And a man finds the treasure. He stumbles over it. He's so excited by seeing the treasure that he sells everything. He fully invests everything he has into that treasure. He goes on in verse 45. He says the same thing, but in a different angle, a different way. He's talking again about himself, the king, and the kingdom. And remember, he's giving the key to how to respond right, which is the point of the first parable we're going to get to in a minute. Verse 45. He said the kingdom of God is like a merchant seeking for beautiful pearls. Now Jesus is the beautiful pearl. The kingdom is the beautiful pearl. He says, but the kingdom is like a man. He's looking for that which is beautiful, that which is remarkable, that which is stunning. And he found one pearl. This pearl is so unique. This pearl has such great value, such great beauty. And just like the man that found the hidden treasure, he's all in. The treasure and the pearl are worth giving everything to invest in it, to fully give themselves to it. Well, this king, most beautiful king, he is our creator. He's our Redeemer. He's the sovereign God, and he's the man that we will all stand before as judge at the end of our life. And Jesus is saying, in essence, he's telling them, my beauty, my value, if you see it, you'll be motivated to give your all. But you got to see it. Now the problem with his beauty and his value, the great treasure and the beautiful pearl, is it's hidden. It's not obvious. Many people walk by that same field, and they see nothing but an empty field. Most people can't imagine what lies in that field. But beloved, he's the ultimate treasure, the ultimate treasure, the most beautiful pearl. And the remarkable thing, he's not just our creator, he's our Redeemer. He says, I want relationship with you. And the beauty I possess, I'm going to impart in you. I'm going to beautify your life with my beauty, and I'm going to fascinate your heart with who I am. Now Psalm 45 catches this theme. It's a very favorite theme at IHOP, Psalm 45. You hear it sang all the time. The psalmist said, verse 1 and 2, my heart is overflowing. I'm thinking about the king, and I'm overflowing. He breaks out in verse 2, you are more beautiful than all the sons of men that have ever walked the earth. There is no other more lovely than you. There's no other more powerful or wonderful than you. What Jesus is really saying by the message of the hidden treasure and the great pearl, to the measure that you see my beauty and my value, but you've got to be intentional about it, to the measure that you see it, your heart will also overflow like the psalmist. I mean, what a glorious way to live with an overflowing heart. My heart overflows with the good theme concerning the king. Now I remind you, paragraph B, Psalm 27, David was intentional about searching out the beauty, because the beauty is hidden. The beauty is not obvious. The beauty can be found if it's searched for. And King David was intentional about it. He said, all the days of my life, though I've got much to do as king and commander of the army, I'm preoccupied with searching out this beauty. This is my primary life narrative, regardless what my assignment is at any given time. Paragraph C, Paul the Apostle, he fully agreed with David. Paul the Apostle was a tremendous picture of the man who saw the pearl and the treasure. He was fully invested. He said, I count everything lost. I gladly give up everything, because I've seen his beauty, and I've seen that he's worthy. Beloved, whatever we see, his value, it is obvious. He's worthy of our all. We're talking about fully God, Creator, Redeemer, Judge. And he wants you close to him, and he wants to impart his beauty and share with you. He wants relationship. This is stunning. This is just almost outside of human description, the value and the glory of this. But it's hidden. And one of the great tragedies in the body of Christ, and we find this tragedy in soil number two and soil number three. The one who received the Word and fell away, and the one who received the Word and didn't bear fruit. The tragedy of people who confess Christ. They confess relationship with him, but they don't see anything in Jesus that moves them to give their all to him. They appreciate the idea of going to heaven, but they don't see anything about him that moves them to give everything to him. It's like, well, you know, it's good. I'll see you on the other side. Thanks, and I love you. Catch up with you later. Paragraph D, very quickly. I just want you to see these verses. The beauty he possesses. He's very intentional about imparting it to his people. Isaiah 61. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, you know, to heal the sick, set the captive free, but to give beauty to people. It's one of his primary purposes of salvation, and this relationship to impart beauty. He will take the ash heap of our broken lives. He says, I'll give you my beauty forever. David agreed with this. Psalm 149. He goes, the point of salvation is to beautify people, to beautify them with salvation. Peter captured this theme, and he talked about the internal transformation of our heart. Even though it's slow, he says it's incorruptible beauty. It's internal. It's invisible. Most people can't see it growing in you in the way God does, but Peter says, don't be deceived. Don't be thrown off. The fact that others can't see it, the fact you can't see it in your own life, doesn't mean that God doesn't count it very precious to him. Beloved, there's a beauty that's operating in your life. You can't even hardly see it. You know, there's been a little change over the years, but we would all say, ah, not near enough. And that's good. We always want more, but we never want to lose sight of the fact that Peter talked about the general quiet spirit. That means that they're trusting God's sovereign leadership in their life. They're interacting with him. When anxieties and troubles and opportunities and temptations and pleasures and lusts come, they turn and realign their heart to the Lord. That's that gentle, quiet spirit. It's a humble spirit we're talking about. It's connecting with him instead of being captured and swayed by all the pressures and the whole narrative of life, that your life is all about how easy or how hard your life is right now. Peter said, the fact that you're interacting with God in this way, it's incorruptible beauty to him. It will never ever go away. When you die, you will bring this to the age to come with you. Now, I'll add another verse that's not here. Then we'll get on to the parable. We'll look at it just real briefly. Colossians chapter 3, verse 3. It's a really amazing passage. Paul said, the beauty that you have, the glory and beauty, you can use them interchangeably, it's hidden in your life right now. It's hidden in Christ, meaning you can't even see the measure of what God sees and calls precious in your life. But when Jesus appears, Paul said, the glory and the beauty that's been imparted to you will come to full light. But beloved, I don't want to wait till the resurrection to be encouraged that my life is in a trajectory under his leadership. Things are happening that are more important to God and more precious and beautiful that I can measure in my own life or that you can measure in your life or the people around you. But I'm not going to wait till then to really take hold of the narrative of my life. I'm in his hands. I'm interacting with him. I'm on a pathway. And it is good, no matter what men say or what happens externally in their evaluation, something amazing is taking place in my life and your life. Well, let's look at the parable here and let's apply this reality of salvation to the parable. Well, it begins, there's a man, a farmer, and he's walking in his field. It's a very familiar sight in Israel, in the ancient world. And he's got a big bag of seed on his back and he's walking up and down the aisles and he's casting seed, throwing it as he's cultivating his field. He's scattering the seed by hand. Paragraph A, as we said, the seed falls in four types of soil. And the soil, the four types of soil, describe four heart responses to his leadership. Now, a few verses later in Matthew 13, Jesus explains the parable. So he gives it, then he says a few more things, then he explains it. But what I'm doing today, I'm putting the detail of the parable and explanation together. So we'll look at each one of the four, what he said in the parable, and then how he explained it. First, when you read the whole chapter, it's clear, Jesus is the sower of the seed. He's the farmer in the story, casting the seed. It's interesting that even some of the seed that he cast fell upon soil that said no to him. Again, I talk to people, they think, oh, I'm so bad. I go, even Jesus cast seed that didn't bear fruit. It's his seed. The seed is the Word of God. Now, it says in verse 19 that the seed is the Word of the kingdom. The seed is more than the message of how to be forgiven and go to heaven. Some people read this parable, they think of it only as the initial response to being saved to go to heaven, and they kind of dismiss this parable. This is a really important parable for believers that want to move on to go deep in the Lord. This isn't a teaching you want to pass by. This is the great, the brilliant mind of Jesus, who understands human nature, identifying the obstacles and the challenges that we need to be alert for, and spelling out the opportunities that are there. I mean, we want to really take hold of this parable. We want to really be familiar with it. So, again, the seed is the Word of the kingdom. I'm sowing the Word of the kingdom right now to people. You're sowing the Word of the kingdom, whether you're speaking to believers or unbelievers, about Jesus's leadership, the nature of the kingdom of God. Now, the four types of soil, again, three of them are negative, negative responses. And of the good response, there's three responses there, 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold. So, three negative responses, three positive responses. Let's look at the first type of soil. Again, we'll just be very brief on each one of these. The soil is cast at the wayside. Many modern translations, they would say it was cast on the pathway, or the path, the walkway. In the ancient world, they didn't have, most places did not have fences, and so people would cross the land, travelers, foreigners, and they would have to cross the fields that were cultivated and had crops. So, it was really common in the ancient world that they would intentionally develop pathways, so that when people walk through the land, they didn't step on your crops, but they're, you know, every now and then there was a pathway that separated the fields. And those pathways were about three or four feet wide. They were very hard, because hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people walked on them over the years, and the sun outside of the rainy season was so, would bear down, it was like as hard as cement, like pavement. Jesus says here in verse 4, some of the seed, the Word of God, it hit this pavement, this pathway, this wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. He goes on in a minute to tell us, we'll see, in just a moment, in verse 19, that the birds represent Satan stealing the Word out of the heart of the people. This first person is completely unreceptive, unresponsive, unconcerned, indifferent to the Word of God. They go, I'm not, I'm not really into that Jesus thing. They have no idea of His glory, and His splendor, and His value, and what He wants, His relationship. I mean, what a glorious privilege that humans can have relationship with Him. Verse 19, Jesus explains, anyone that hears the Word of the kingdom, and he doesn't understand it, the wicked one. Mark 4 and Luke 8 tell the same parable. In Mark 4 and Luke 8, they say the devil, or Satan, the devil snatches the seed as it's sown by the wayside. Luke 8, verse 12, makes it clear. He says, this person does not believe in they're not saved. Makes it very clear in Luke chapter 8, verse 12. This person rejects the Word, and he's not saved. Now the point of this parable, one of the points, is we have a real enemy. When the Word of God is being cast, there's a real enemy. It's more than an intellectual problem that people have. You know, I can't really buy into this idea of a man at the right hand of the Father. It's not only a moral problem, but they don't want to let go of their sin. There's a spiritual adversary. 2 Corinthians 4, Paul called Satan the God of this world. And his focus is to blind minds. He creates this dark cloud on the mind, so the mind can't see it. It's energized by demonic power. Though the person may have a very intellectual presentation in a way, but their mind is clouded with a dark, if there's a spiritual energy behind it. And the one way this is helpful to us, we can pray, we can break the power of that deceptive spirit, and create a, that's not the best term, but a reprieve, so to speak, of that person's life, where that dark cloud lifts for a moment. I mean, maybe some hours or days. So the person has a chance to hear the gospel in a, with a much more clear mind. Matter of fact, we're gonna do that right now. We're gonna pray, just for a moment. I want you to name someone before the Lord, and your family or friends. In the name of Jesus, we take authority over the demonic deception. We take authority. Now name that person's name. We cancel your assignment. We break the power of this cloud of deception, that there would be a reprieve, so to speak, where they can hear the gospel without that negative energy, that dark cloud resting on them, in Jesus' name. Now how does Satan steal the word? Well, one way by that dark cloud that comes, and it just, they can't make sense of it. Another way is by false teachers that give wrong ideas about God and Jesus. Another way is by the fear of man. The guy says, you know, I'm gonna look like an idiot. I'm gonna be called a religious fanatic. Another way the devil steals it, the guy just doesn't want to let go of certain patterns of sin in his life. He goes, no, I just want these. I'd rather have these for 70 years on the earth and not have God forever. I'd, I just would rather have them. And that just makes sense to them. Paragraph C. Let's go to the second type of heart response. It's the stony places, is what he called it. Some of the seed of the word, it fell upon stony places. Now what Jesus is making reference to is not rock on the surface of the field, because the farmer would go in his own field, he would move that rock and clear that out of the way. But he's making reference to that limestone bedrock that is underneath the soil in much of the land of Israel, much like it is here in Missouri, like it's in Texas and a few other places. There's a limestone bedrock just under the surface. And in Israel, like other places, sometimes it would be on the surface. Other times six or twelve inches below the topsoil. Sometimes three or four feet below the topsoil. But the root system of various plants, they would reach five, six, seven feet down. You know, and if that limestone was a foot down or a couple feet down, the roots would hit it. I mean, it's like a big bedrock of limestone that might go for miles. So when the root hit it, it all had rock, it had nowhere to go. And sooner or later, all the nutrients of the soil right in the immediate area of that root was already taken by the plant. There's nutrients in the soil, there's oxygen in the soil, there's moisture in the soil. In a short amount of time, the root absorbed them all and there was nothing else but rock for miles in that bedrock underneath. And it had no root system. Couldn't go nowhere. Jesus said this artificial, superficial, I mean, response. It immediately sprang up. This guy's a real believer. He really said yes. But he didn't have a root system. He's using the physical root system of the plant and comparing it to a believer not having a spiritual root system in their life. And it goes on in verse 6 and it says, after a little bit of time, the plant withered. Luke 8, remember Mark 4, Luke 8, they are the other parallel passages. Luke 8 says, verse 13 says it's much stronger. The man fell away from the faith. He fell away. Down in verse 20, Jesus now gives an explanation. He further elaborates. He goes, this second kind of heart response, this second kind of soil, the stony places where the bedrock of limestone is just below the surface, that's what it means by the stony place. They receive, verse 20, they receive the word with joy. I mean, they're excited. But they got a fundamental problem. They don't, they don't develop a spiritual root system. So they endure for a while. They may walk with the Lord a few months or a few years. But a little time passes. When tribulation, that's difficulties and circumstances, any kind of pressures, life is hard, whether it's physically, financially, relationally, whatever. Things don't go well in the circumstances. Or a whole other problem that Jesus is saying, be alert to these two things. Persecution. People criticize you. You bear a stigma. You're called a religious fanatic. You're called crazy because you believe this stuff. And this kind of believer, it says he stumbles. He stumbles. Again, Luke 8, verse 13 says, falls away. Often the word stumbles, or the word offended, or fall away, they're used interchangeably in many different Bible translations. The idea is, this believer stumbled, was offended. It's the word, the Greek word, we get the word scandalized. They're scandalized. And they're offended at God. Because they were told, when they came into the kingdom, I get heaven, and my life will get easy. You know, I'm gonna get, I think you're gonna go good. And they get offended. Problems go, and they don't go away. And wait, I thought your word said, if you're really God, why did you let this happen to me, if you love me? How dare you claim to love me, and let this happen to me? I know you're the king, but hey, I've got rights, and this is how it's gonna be. And they stumble, or they get offended at God. Jesus is warning his people. He goes, this response to disappointment and setbacks will destroy your spiritual life. Then he goes on, he talks about persecution. And he says, persecution will arise. We need to let everyone know, when they come into this relationship with Jesus, Paul said in Timothy, that all who are godly will be persecuted. This idea that, can you believe they said that about me on Facebook? Of course I can believe it. Wake up and read the Bible, and quit reading all the Christian, the American magazines. Get into the Bible. It's gonna get way worse than a few people on the internet telling you you're stupid. How could they say this about me? Like, what are you talking about? All the prophets, all the apostles, all the leaders through history, it's what they said about. And they're gonna say it about everyone who's godly. Oh, I thought I was gonna go to heaven, my life is gonna get happy. You're gonna go to heaven, and your life will get happy. Really happy, really, when you get there. And you're gonna have some moments of some real breakthroughs between now and then. But you're gonna have difficulties and setbacks and persecutions, and you're gonna decide in those critical moments whether you're gonna trust his leadership and his promises, or you're gonna take the narrative of your life from how bad things are going in circumstances. They're the crisis moments of life. There's those key moments. You know, in a life of 70 or 80 years, most people have a few seasons. They may go a few months or a few years. Of the 70 or 80 years, they have a few, not their whole life, a few seasons that are more intense with pressures and problems than other seasons. And in those seasons, they're at a crossroads. They go one way or the other. The preacher said they get bitter or they get better. If their internal dialogue realigns to heaven, Jesus, you're beautiful. You're worthy of my all. Regardless, I'm yours. I trust you. I love you. You're worthy of me. That internal realignment is called developing a root system. Or we go the other way. How dare you let this happen to me? My life is so hard. How could they say this about me? And they have no root system. And they fall away. Now, their joy is real. It says they have joy. The joy is real. But their joy is the idea of, I'm gonna have heaven and life's gonna be good and everything's gonna get better. And sooner or later, when they come to the real issue that they don't have a spiritual root system, they don't have that regular times where they're realigning with God that I trust your leadership and I am yours no matter what. That is the root system he's talking about. You know, I've had, like every one of you, a few of those seasons in my life. A few seasons that stick out among all the others. And I have written here Romans 828. I mean, this is the passage I've lived on for 40 years. Over and over. I said it. It doesn't look good out there. What's happening? And I look up. I love you. You're worthy of my devotion. I love the way you treat me. Everything will work together for good. Everything. And I realign myself back into that. That's like working a spiritual muscle. I remember I was a brand new believer. 16 years old. High school. Never had a problem in my life. I mean, nothing has ever happened bad. Brand new believer. I have a football accident. High school. Just a few months after I'm saved. And I break my kidney splits open. For 30 days, I have internal bleeding. I'm laying in the hospital for 30 days. Incredible pain. And I remember people close to me came to me and they said, I've only been a believer three months. They go, where is your God now? And I never thought about that. I never thought about why I really said yes to him. But in that 30 days, I'm only three months older than the Lord. It was Romans 828. Never heard of Romans before. Some guy gave it to me. I go, wow. I laid in that bed by the hours and said all things. All things. People came around and said, where's your God? I mean, my friends and some of the family members. And I was developing a root system and didn't even know it. That's what the root system is. A lot of people, they have no idea the beauty of the King and the glory of the beauty that he's committed to put in their life. They're just into, I want heaven, I want life easy now or I'm out of here. They have no idea. No idea. That's why Jesus said the great treasure, the parable of the great treasure and the beautiful pearl. If you see that, you'll respond right. Well, let's look at down at the end of, near the top of page two. Jesus said, you've got to endure to the end to be saved. Look at this verse in Hebrews 10. Some people, a lot of really good Bible teachers. And I understand it because I held this position for some years. I really respect them. They say, nobody can ever fall away. I believe the Bible makes it clear you can. A true believer can fall away. And I respect the other position. Again, I held it for years and lots of friends that hold it. But we must endure to the end. We don't earn our salvation by enduring, but we prove that our faith was genuine when it's hard and we trust his leadership instead of bail out on the relationship. I'm in it for the relationship, not just an easy-go-lucky life right now. I want to be with him forever and him with me. There's a bigger storyline. Hebrews 10, for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, the seed of the Word has entered our heart and we received it. And we reject it and walk away from it. Doesn't mean we sin as a believer. Every believer sins as a believer. But I mean they just cast it away is what it's talking about. Cast away their faith. He says you can be sure there's a terrifying judgment coming your way. Verse 31. You can read the whole passage. It's a fearful thing for a believer to cast away their confidence in God, walk away from the faith, and stand before God on the last day. It's terrifying. It's a fearful thing for that to happen. Let's look at paragraph D, the third type of soil, the thorns. Now the thorns, very different from pressures, difficulties, circumstances, offended at God. The thorns, the third type of soil, is very, very different. This one Jesus warned about being preoccupied with your own self-gain in immediate happiness and pleasure right now. Very different than problems and persecution. It says it fell among thorns. Now the thorns, they're talking about thorn bushes. And the thorn bush could grow to be five or six feet tall. And the thorn bush, the root systems were aggressive. The root system of a thorn bush would go down five or six feet and maybe to the right or to the left, hundreds of feet. I mean, they were massive. And the aggressive nature of the root system of a thorn bush, it would sap and it would suck up all of the nutrients, the oxygen, the moisture down below. And plants that were by it, it was just, it was just, it's just the bully in the field. It just take it all. And all the plants are at it and die. Paragraph 22. I mean, paragraph D, verse 22. It says here, now he who received, Jesus is now interpreting it, he who received the seed among thorns, here's the issue. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word. Because he's picturing the aggressive root system down below of a thorn bush that's very powerful, very well known in Israel. Now Luke adds, cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, he adds the pleasures of life, the pleasures of life. Now what Jesus is talking about, the man, the woman, who is completely preoccupied with their personal gain right now. The idea that they're beckoned by the beautiful King into relationship that would beautify their life internally now and forever in the age to come, that's secondary. They want their stuff now. The cares of the world, they're really focused on their honor, their career, their house, their position, their wardrobe, their prestige, how they look, who's looking at them, their entertainment. This is what preoccupies, this is the narrative in them that dominates them. Their image on social media, having cutting-edge, knowing everything that's new, having every new gimmick. And the fact that there's a beautiful King extending his hand, they go, well, no, no, I love you, I love you Jesus, but I'll get to that later. Jesus said, this kind of person, the way they carry their heart, it sucks all the life out of their spiritual life, and they stay in the faith, but they're unfruitful. Paul describes this person in 1 Corinthians 3, when they stand before the Lord on the last day. Verse 15, they stand before the Lord, all their works are burned, they suffer loss, but they're saved, though it's by fire. This believer, they live 10, 20, 30, 40 years in the faith, always preoccupied by who likes them, who's treating them right, are they respected, do they get what is rightfully theirs, are they cool, do they look good, do people think this, do they think that, and Jesus is saying, hello, I'm the king, I want you and me to talk. Let that down, that will suck the life out of you, that will choke your life, it will take up all the space in your inner life, and you'll be unfruitful. Then we get to paragraph E, they come to the climax of the whole parable, the good ground, and this is pretty self-explanatory. This is the guy, or the lady, they responded, and they have fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold. Now this is the genuine believer, they bear fruit. Now notice in verse 23, the person with the good ground, Jesus identifies what makes them different, and there's one word, they have understanding. Understanding is the word he uses in verse 22, I was using the word, they see. They see the treasure and the beauty of the king. They see, because the more we see, but they cultivate seeing, they seek out seeing, they lay things aside so they can read the word and interact, they want to see more, because if they see more, their heart will overflow more, and it can be hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold. Now the Lord honors all those responses, but beloved, he's worthy of a hundredfold. The more we see he is, the more reasonable it is to sell all, everything. I mean, not necessarily sell all your property, do something with it, but in your heart, everything is his, your time, your schedule, your rights, your enemies will do this, but you'll bless them. You're not going to get caught up in all of these side battles and skirmishes of life. You're locked into him, he's worthy of a hundredfold. That's what Paul said, because of the excellency of him, I'll give everything, everything for the excellency of this man, everything. Lord, if I could see what Paul saw, I could respond like he responded. Beloved, it's not too late to shift from the soil with the stone, the limestone underneath, that never, can never ever grow a root system. It's never too late. If you're one of the soil of the rocky, I mean of the thorny, that you never ever grow, and that root system doesn't develop in that one as well. It's never too late, even today, to go from thirty or sixtyfold to a hundred. Someone says, what's that mean exactly? Who knows? But we know a hundred is a hundred percent, going all the way, holding back nothing. Time, money, ambition, energy, the way we carry our heart, the way that we go forward. Jesus said they'll bear fruit. Now fruit is godly character, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, and fruit is service to people. But much of that service, or sharing Christ with people, or serving people, much of it goes unnoticed. Jesus said even if you give a cup of cold water, I will remember it. It moves me. Everything you do, in secret, it's not about who applauds you, it's about me seeing it. Well, he lets us know, Paul, that in the, well Jesus as well, in the resurrection, though there's many that are fruitful, there will be a varying level, or measure, of the glory of God in everybody's experience of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says one star differs from another star in glory. The resurrection in every way is varying levels, from garments, to the glory that's in the resurrected body, to the houses, the dwellings, the reigning, the occupation, there's many things. I'm fascinated by the biblical study of eternal rewards. It, beloved, it's a real reality, and Jesus taught on it more than any other person in the Bible. It's real, but it's one of the most neglected subjects in the body of Christ. But it's, Jesus is saying, thirty, sixty, hundredfold, I'll take it all, but a hundredfold is what you want. Some of us in this room, if you're in the hard soil, ask God to plow it up and say, Lord, I want to come in all the way. If you're in the stony, I mean the thorny soil, and you're captured by cares and lusts and pleasures and desires. Beloved, this is the time. It's not too late to move over a decision, even in a meeting like this. A new resolve could set your life on a trajectory, say, you know, let yesterday be yesterday. I'm going a whole new way. It's not about just going to heaven and being happy. It's a beautiful King who imparts his beauty to my life. He is worthy of my all. I'm just, I'm lovesick and I'm awestruck by who he is. And he's worthy of it all. Worship team, go ahead and come on up. You know, as we read this parable, we're encouraged. We're encouraged that there is a responsiveness among weak people like us. We can be thirty, sixty, hundredfold. It's for weak people. There are no super saints. And God will see it. It's precious and valuable to them. But we're also warned. We're alerted not to be offended by difficulties in life and persecution, but to realign our heart with them. And we're alerted not to be captured and seduced by riches, lust, and pleasure that dominate our life and steal all of the space in our inner man or all of that space in our life that should be talking to him and interacting with him. Beloved, I want to seek for his beauty. I want to go after it. I know the key. That hidden treasure and that hidden beauty. I want to search it out like David all the days of my life. I want to search out the beauty. Because I know to the measure I see the beauty, my heart will overflow with a good theme. The theme concerning the King. Thou art more beautiful than the sons of man is the cry of the psalmist. Amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord. Lord, here we are. Lord, we want to go all the way. We want the hundredfold life. We want to start today. Beloved, today. Forget yesterday. Start today. Forget the failure of yesterday. I want to invite anybody to come forward that would like prayer. You're saying, I want to move forward in this. I got to get out of this soil into that one. I got to go all the way. Maybe there's some people in the room right now that you've never given your life to Christ. You don't understand that he died and rose from the dead and paid the price for your free salvation. But he wants more than to get you out of hell. He wants deep relationship to beautiful God to beautify your life. I want to invite you to come on up. When people pray with you, just tell them, hey how's this work? I don't understand it. I want this. I want this relationship. It's a free gift. You can have it today. Go ahead. Come on up. If you like prayer for healing in your body, come on up. You got an issue, a problem in your life. You want somebody to stand with you. Come on up. Come and stand on this front first line up here. Then the back line there. Go ahead. Beautiful God. Oh we love your leadership. Beloved our story is important. Oh I love your leadership Jesus. Beautiful God. It's not like you. This is for everyone. This is for everyone. Your mercies never cease. Your gentleness is great. Your faithful love endures. Your kindness and grace. You're beautiful. It's not like you. You're beautiful. Beautiful God. We love you Jesus. Treasure. Appear. And all that you do. Your mercies never cease. Your gentleness is great. Your faithful love endures. Your kindness and grace. You're beautiful. It's not like you. You're beautiful. Oh. It's not like you. You're so beautiful. Father I ask you for the spirit of liberty in their lives. Give us freedom. Give us joy. You've come to set candidates free. You came to set us free. We pronounce freedom over hearts and bodies right now. So open up my heart. Come and set us free. Lord I ask for the spirit of liberty. Let us be liberated from fear and offense. And worry and cares. Addictions and loss. And unforgiveness. Liberate our hearts Lord. Beautiful. Father. Father we pray. Liberate us. We pronounce it. We declare it now. Oh Father we pray. He's worthy. He's worthy of our all. Worthy is the Lamb. The beautiful God. The hidden treasure. The beautiful pearl. Christ. Oh we long to see it more clearly. Lord we want to search it out all the days of our life. Let's determine. We're going to search out the beauty of the Lord. In the world. In the word. All through the scriptures. We want to search it out. I'm not content. I want to see more of the Lord. You're worthy Lord. We will search you out. Oh that my eyes would see. There's nothing wiser. Than to search out the beauty of the Lord all of your days. Oh that my heart would overflow. My heart would overflow with the faith of the King. We give it all. You're worthy Lord. Oh we give it all Lord. Let us be found leaning on your heart. Hazing. Looking. Reaching. I want more. All the days of my life. I want to see more. Father of glory release. The revelation of the beauty of Jesus. Father of glory release. The revelation of the beauty of Jesus. How much you're worth. Open the eyes of our understanding. Open the eyes of our understanding. You can have it. Beautiful God. There is freedom. In the all. You can have it. Beautiful God. There is freedom in the arm You can have it all, beautiful heart You can have it all