Sowing

I want to read a few verses with you, first of all, in Matthew chapter 13. Matthew 13, verse number 1, said, The same day when Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so he went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables.

Verse 18. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.

This is he that received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received the seed among thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold and some sixty and some thirty. Now turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 15.

I think it's verse 38. I'm going to read verse 35. But some man will say, How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance of wheat or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Now it's so I don't take much time. We're going to just stop reading there. As they say in the courthouse, ye may be seated.

I was thinking, I have some strange thoughts. When our brother was speaking about that parrot in Arizona, I was in a house and they had a parrot in Arizona, a house in Arizona. They had a parrot that squawked all day long.

I went right up to a cage and looked it straight in the eye and I said, Did you ever hear a shake and bake? Well, it still squawked, but the woman at least put a cover over it. But anyhow, that's not my subject and I'm not going to preach the gospel. Usually we read the scriptures, Matthew 13, to preach the gospel.

But I was thinking about the gospel. You know, there's two main ways in our Bible that they preach the gospel, or illustrations of preaching of the gospel. And one, you know, is letting down the net.

And the net is to be let down into the sea. And the Lord told the disciples, let the net down into the deep. So it doesn't matter how deeply a person is in sin.

God in his grace can reach them. And the sea, in some ways, is a picture of the world. And God allows the gospel to go out that people might be delivered out of this world.

And some people are saved, brought up in the net. And some, while they're brought, saved out of the world, they don't seem to make maybe too much progress in the things of God. But when it comes to the gospel of Matthew here, what we have read together, I think you can see that the way the gospel goes forth here is the sowing of the seed.

So the seed is sown. And that's something that we all can be occupied with in some way or another. Some do it in public, like a place conference and gospel meetings, and we sow the good seed of the Word of God.

We're not sure where to let the net down into the sea. And we're maybe not sure where we're going to sow the seed. But that's not our responsibility.

Our responsibility is to scatter the good seed of the Word of God. So that's what we have here in the parable. Now you say, what is the seed that we scatter? And that gives various answers that could be correct.

But I always look at the answer in John 12 and 24. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground. How does it go? It bears fruit.

And die, it beareth not fruit. So the gospel really is a story of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. And we sow that seed, and some of it we read together there.

Some was snatched away by Satan, and other seed is starved. Maybe that refers to the flesh or other enemy. And then the world, the thorns, the curse of this world, the seed is strangled, and it doesn't bear fruit.

But then of course there's a successful seed. And we're glad of that. And here in the gospel of Matthew, it produces results a hundred and sixty and thirty.

It's a deteriorates, it goes along. And that's because Matthew, as we usually say, is the gospel of the dispensation. So when things are put into the hands of men, things deteriorate.

Now you might wonder why when we come into the gospel of Mark, the seed is thirty, sixty, and a hundred. It's just reversed the other way. And I think the answer is, the one that I can get anyhow, is that Mark was a man that was restored.

So he looks at it in a different way. And then of course Luke, if you read the gospel of Luke, it's all a hundredfold. You say, how can these things be? Well, these men were inspired by God, by what they wrote, and they had heard of these things, and some witnessed them.

And what is the main thing that stuck in their mind was, for Luke of course, was the grace of God. That's the gospel of the grace of God. So he looks at it in that way.

So the seed is the Lord Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection. Now I thought, what would that seed produce after it's scattered? If the seed is the Lord Jesus Christ, and it brings forth fruit, wouldn't that mean that those of us who are saved by the grace of God, that are part of that fruit, we should be like Christ? When the seed is sown as Christ, what comes up in the harvest should be like him. We know there's a mixed audience here in the gospel of Matthew.

There's tares among the wheat, and so on. But when we preach the gospel, we're looking for definite results. And we should be looking for results, not just that people will be saved from the penalty of their sins.

I hope we've gotten a little farther than that. But we're saved for a purpose, to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God wants.

He wants men and women, boys and girls, like his Son. And then I look at myself, and I say, well, what have the results produced in me? Am I becoming any more like the Lord Jesus Christ? And of course, if we can enter into the gospel, and to me, I think I maybe mentioned it yesterday, but anyhow, the gospel is so important. And it's so important that we preach a clear, simple gospel.

And that the love of the Lord Jesus touches our heart. We need to be brought the fact before us that we're sinners. And it's not just easy believism.

There's a lot of that in the world. And what does it produce? It produces sinners, or people that are saved, but they don't really appreciate how much they're saved, because they don't recognize their sin. Well, I don't have any trouble recognizing the sins in my life.

It's something I don't like to look back on at all. Some of you know I was 33 when God saved me, so I know a little bit about the things that are in the world. And I knew there was no satisfaction in them, but I'll tell you, I'm satisfied now.

I found the Lord Jesus, and he found me, and I found him. The disciples said, we have found him of whom the Moses and the Lord, the prophets did write, Jesus. And I'm thankful that I ever found him.

Now, you see, when we sow the good seed of the Word of God in the gospel, there are things that keep it from germinating and from bearing fruit. And that's why we read about the three enemies. I mentioned them a little bit.

Satan, first of all, here, the devil, and then the flesh, and the world. They're the enemies of those, of all of us, but of those that aren't saved. And, you know, the seed is sown and snatched away because of the ground that hasn't been plowed up.

It's the pathway, the heavy trodden way, and the birds snatch away the seed. And, of course, we likely know that the birds would be representative of the emissaries of Satan, his servants. He sows, you know, as well as the Lord sowing.

I don't want to get into that right now. But anyhow, the seed is sown and it's snatched away. Too busy in this life to consider the things of God.

And then the seed that fell in stony places, a layer of rock underneath, and the roots can't get down, and the people will receive it quickly, but pretty soon it all dies away. Sad, isn't it? There's a lot of gospel preaching. It goes on.

One of the elders that helped me when I was first saved, he used to say, you know, the day of Pentecost, there was one sermon, he called it, one message, and about 3,000 souls were saved. He says, today we preach about 3,000 times and maybe we'll see one soul saved. But we're still going to scatter the seed.

Doesn't matter. The souls can still be saved. And some receive it, you know, and they don't last.

And then there's a strangle seed, falls among the thorns, the curse of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, Luke says, as well. And you see, that's what keeps people from being saved. We're too affluent today.

Years ago when we didn't have so much, there were more people seemed to be reached and saved. But I was thinking, I hope I'm thinking okay so far. I think I'm okay.

But anyhow, these things that deterred unsafe people, sinners, from getting saved can deter us as well. So, you see, maybe I'm too busy in my life. Maybe you're too busy in your occupation.

We all need to have a job and we all need to provide for our families. But that shouldn't be the number one thing in our lives. And we can be like that.

So busy. Are you at all the meetings? You know, I noticed that a lot of times when some men that are professors and doctors and quite a good education, and when they were studying in the university, they still got out to the meetings. And I think God helped them because he did.

Today they say, oh, I have to study. It's not actually comes first. Well, it shouldn't.

If we're too busy to get out to the meetings, we're too busy. And of course, I'm saying that, but education didn't hinder me. You probably could tell that right away.

But anyhow, that's one thing that hurts people. What about the stony places? Heart's not really receptive. Salvation is artwork, isn't it? If we really love the one that suffered and bled and died to save us, and how could we not? We should love them more now than we did even when God saved us.

But if we keep going back to our salvation and what we saw then, nothing else was important but the Lord Jesus. He was the only one that was important. And we wanted to be like Paul or Saul of Tarsus.

He wanted to know, oh Lord, what would I have me to do? And God gave him the answer. And we've heard that already, to present your body a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So these things should not deter us from learning more and more and producing food and becoming more and more like Christ.

That's the object of salvation. God wants us and he's going to make us like him. But anyhow, we better go on.

The next one, the strangle seed we mentioned, and then the successful seed. Well, there's some maybe make more progress than others, but I would just love to make a little more progress every day. And I hope by coming to the conference I have, and I will, and I've got lots of things to think about, don't you? Take these things home with you.

Meditate upon them. Don't just forget them. We only know what we put into practice, so we need to put these, what we learn into practice.

And if we do that, I tell you, we'll be more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said that I may know him. He knew him as a savior, but he wanted to know him in a greater way.

And he didn't want to reach his resurrection by an easy pathway. He said the Lord reached his resurrection through suffering. And I want to be like him.

And he didn't seek the easy way. It's easy for us to drift along. And the world says you have to go with the flow.

No, you don't have to go with the flow. We have to take a stand for the things of God and enjoy these things. Now, that's a little word of counsel, but what about a word of comfort? Now, we speak—we have another resurrection here and another sowing in 1 Corinthians 15.

And a while back, I just, in my lone little mind, put these things together. And of course, this chapter—the Bible wasn't written in chapters, but it begins with the gospel. And the gospel produced fruit here.

And there were saints that were passing out into eternity. And there were people wondering, has the resurrection passed already? Some were teaching that. And the Lord said, no, there's a resurrection coming.

And if you have buried a loved one recently, you can take heart that the resurrection's coming. You say, how do you know? Are you absolutely sure? Well, I am because it has already commenced. It commenced with the Lord Christ, the first fruit, after the day that is coming.

So, there's a resurrection. And when we put souls back into the earth, sometimes we might think, and maybe the world would think, that's the end of them. They're gone.

No, no, that's only the beginning. There's something that's wonderful that we can look forward to. And even some of us that are getting old, if the Lord doesn't come, we're going to die.

But I hope when I'm dying, I'm thinking more about the resurrection than my death. I don't know how it will be. We don't know our circumstances.

We're not going to brag about anything like that. But they said, how are they going to be raised again? How can this happen? Well, if through the gospel, the seed produces fruit, and it should produce fruit that's going to be like Christ, it's going to be the same with this resurrection. They're going to be marvelous.

There's going to be no seed that doesn't produce in this sowing. We're all going to produce fruit. And do you know what's going to take place at the resurrection? Well, a lot of things.

But one thing, we're all going to be like Christ. There's going to be something to look forward to. And loved ones that have gone, they're looking forward to that as well.

They're enjoying the Lord now. We know that. But they're going to enjoy Him in full in the future.

For there is a resurrection that's coming. And we read in Philippians chapter three, that we're going to have a different body. A body like unto his glorious body.

It's not a vile body. Our body's indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So it can't be a vile body.

But it's a body that's going to be raised like the Lord's body. Going to be like Him. And then John, I asked John, what are you going to say about this? Well, he'll tell you that the same thing.

We're going to be like Him. We're going to see Him as He is. And there's going to be no failure.

I know there will be degrees of rewards and so on and all that. But I'm just giving a general little picture. And I hope it will be an encouragement to us.

And first of all, a challenge. Am I really like Christ? That's the seed that was sown. Am I getting more like Him day by day? None of us are going to brag or boast.

But it'd be wonderful just to make a little change. It's going to be a tremendous change. But I would like the change to be a little more, I mean, take place today.

And I'd be a little more like the Lord Jesus Christ day by day. And then when the end comes, and when we think of loved ones that we've put down into the ground, I'm not calling up Mother Earth. It's not Mother Earth.

But we put them down into the ground. Dust we are, the dust will return. Yet there's going to be a glorious resurrection.

And we're all going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. So may God encourage His heart, our hearts, for His name's sake.