If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. Our text this morning is Matthew 13 verses 1 to 23. When you find your place, you would stand for the reading of God's word. That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. And large crowds gathered to him. So he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And he spoke many things to them in parables saying. Behold, the sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. he who has ears, let him hear. And the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in perils? Jesus answered them, to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has to him more shall be given and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have even what Therefore I speak in parables because while seeing they do not see and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says you will keep on hearing, but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they would see with their eyes here with their ears and understand with their heart and return and I would heal him. But blessed are your eyes because they see in your ears because they hear. For truly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. Gracious Father, we come into your presence We give you thanks as we contemplate on what it what this passage is revealing to us. You granted to us salvation. You granted to us the privilege of knowing you, the privilege of serving you. You granted. The forgiveness of sins. That we may come to you. With contrite hearts. we may cling to the Lord Jesus Christ through faith. What God is there like you? Holy and majestic and merciful and gracious to sinners. Father, we pray that today you would help us to understand this passage, that you would illuminate it in our hearts. Father, give us a greater appreciation of what you have done for us in Christ. understanding your grace, and that we will be more courageous as we tell others of the good news of Christ, that we will be bold, faithful servants of the Most High. Teach us this morning, bless the preaching of your word, and let your word go forth and accomplish all you set it forth to do. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, and all of God's children say, amen. Well, it has been Quite a few weeks since we have been in Matthew. Probably a good two months, actually. And here we begin in some of the most rich chapters of the Gospels, specifically chapter 13, which is one of my favorites, dealing with the kingdom parables. This is a fascinating study. And I pray that in the coming weeks, although we will all be benefited from it, Now, there are some things that we need to look at as we start into chapter 13, because chapter 13 is a pivotal point here. Actually, chapter 12 is, which leads into chapter 13. Something dramatic happens in chapter 12, which leads then to the change in the ministry of Christ in chapter 13. Now, if we remember, as we were working our way through those chapters previously, responding to the King was our series, and we looked at a number of different ones of how they responded to the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it was John the Baptist or others, the Pharisees. On this day, this is the same day Jesus began teaching in parables, on this same day in chapter 12, you had the questions on the Sabbath. Jesus is walking through the fields with His disciples. You remember this. He starts picking the heads of grain and the religious leaders are like, you can't do that. I mean, that's against the law. And then He healed the man on the Sabbath. That was against the law as well. You know, Jesus makes an astounding statement. He says, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. And He was telling the religious leaders at this moment Your laws, your regulations on the Sabbath are not even grounded in Scripture, basically. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. I'll decide what I do on the Sabbath. That's basically what Jesus is saying. Now, He begins healing people on the Sabbath, other demon-possessed folks, and then they start saying among themselves, the crowds, Can this man be the son of David? So they start contemplating among themselves, is this the son of David? Is this the Christ? So the religious leaders hear it. And this is what they said, that this man cast out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Now Jesus begins to explain why this was such a ridiculous statement that they are making, a ridiculous charge, Just to recap a little, this is what Jesus said to them. Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, Then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strongman's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strongman and then he will plunder his house? Jesus is saying to them, this is a ridiculous statement, a ridiculous charge. If Satan casts out Satan, his kingdom is divided. It ain't going to stand. But then Jesus says something even more profound, a very terrifying statement, if you will, that the religious leaders should have heeded. He says in verse 30 of chapter 12, he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Therefore, I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Jesus looks at the religious leaders who just blasphemed against the Spirit of God. They see the Son of God performing miracles by the power of the Spirit, and they look and they say, this man is doing this by Satan. This miracle is not from heaven, it's from hell. And Jesus looks at them and says, basically, your fate's sealed now, because what you just did will never be forgiven. You blasphemed against the Spirit of God, and now your fate is sealed." What a terrifying statement that Christ made. Chapter 12 continues as they desire signs and etc. No sign is going to be given except the sign of Jonah. And then at the very end of chapter 12, of course, we have his mother and his brothers, sisters out among them wanting to see him. And he says, those that do the will of his Father in heaven, these are his brothers and these are his sisters and his mother. And then chapter 13 begins. Now, all of a sudden, he begins speaking in parables. And we're going to learn why he spoke in parables. It may not be the reason you think. There is a growing trend today in preaching that They people will emphasize the need for the preacher to be a storyteller. We need to be telling stories because Jesus told stories and Jesus was the master storyteller and we need to do like him. And so instead of declaring doctrinal truths. Instead, we need to tell a story because that's what Jesus did. But as we're going to see. Jesus didn't tell these stories or these parables. just to educate people or to astound them. In fact, the reason why Jesus spoke in parables was a judgment. And we'll see that in a moment. But what is a parable? Let's explain this really quick. There are a number of parables within the Gospels. A parable is a story, a metaphor, a simile to come alongside a doctrinal truth. Parable is a compound word, para meaning to come alongside, and bole, which means to throw. It's a story thrown alongside a doctrinal truth to illustrate it. Now, parables have one main point. You hear all the time people trying to go through parables, and they're saying, well, this represents this, this represents this, this represents this. And in some cases, you can make some correlations. But there is one main point to a parable, and that's the focus of it. It's not to try to figure out who this person is representing compared to this person. It has one main point, and that one main point is illustrating whatever it is that Jesus just got done saying, or what He's getting ready to say. So we need to keep that in mind when it comes to parables. They come alongside a doctrinal truth. There is a spiritual truth in them. one main point that it's for us to try to understand and to figure out. Some are very, very easy to understand. And in fact, let me just throw this out, too, that every parable is teaching something about the gospel and salvation. And as you come to know the gospel and salvation to a greater extent, when you approach the parables, things are going to start clicking in your mind. I understand because I'm understanding the gospel and salvation as a whole even more. So keep those things in mind. As we work our way through here, We're going to look at the parable, verses 1-9, the purpose of the parable, verses 10-17, and then the explanation of the parable, verses 18-23. So let's jump in here. This same day, the author here, Matthew, is making it very clear, that day Jesus went out of the house, the house He was just insulted in, where the religious leaders just attributed the works He did to Satan. That same day, He was sitting by the sea. Large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach." Now, you can imagine this, right? You've got the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the One who's doing all of these miracles, all these wonderful, amazing things. He's standing in a boat, and you have a massive crowd before Him. I mean, what would most people do at this time? They would say something in order to charge up the crowd, to teach them something profound. And what does Jesus do? A sower went out to sow. He cast down some seeds here and there. What? You've got this massive crowd in front of you. You're going to talk about farming? He's using an illustration, of course, something that the people would have understood. Of course, in Israel, a farmer goes out. He's casting the seeds. He's scattering. They would have understood then. They would have understood that some seeds fall in the ground and they don't have firm root. Other seeds are picked up by the birds. They would have got all that. But just think of what he's saying and why he would say that. See, that's the mystery of why he began to speak in parables, but he does give the explanation as to why. So he gives this parable to come alongside this doctrinal truth. He spoke many things in parables. Behold, the sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell among the road, and the birds came and ate them up. I want you to pay attention to something in this parable. The sower is the same man. The seed is the same kind of seed. It is only the soil that is in view here. There is a difference in the soil, not the seed, and not the sower. Birds came and ate it up. Okay, we can understand that. Following along the road, it's beaten down, it's hard, the seed isn't gonna take any root there. Birds come, they eat it. Others fall among the rocky places where they didn't have much soil. Immediately they spring up, they had no depth. When the sun had risen, they were scorched, they had no firm root. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. This is a gradual thing that happens. and others fell on good soil and yielded a crop some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty, and then he adds this at the end, he who has ears let him hear. He's purposely saying something to the crowd. That is in a form of being a mystery as it were, a secretive type of statements here. Not even the disciples got it. Disciples are But the last statement that Jesus makes, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And what happens, you see the response of those who would believe in Christ, those who are trusting in Christ. What do they do? The disciples come to him afterwards and say, can you explain this to us? This parable is vital to understanding. Gospel of salvation. It is vital in understanding the types of people that we see. I mean, how often do we reference this parable to give us more understanding of the type of people that we see in the church and in the world? So we have the parable. It's to come alongside a doctrinal truth. There is spiritual truth here. But the only way you're going to get this spiritual truth is if you come and inquire, what does this mean? Because that's what the disciples did. And Jesus gives them the purpose of it. You can hear in the disciples' voices here, I mean, just them coming up and saying, why are you talking in parables? You have this massive crowd here. No other teacher in Israel, perhaps, had a crowd as much as you. And you're speaking to them in parables. Why are you doing that? Why? in His response as to why He does that may shock us in a sense. Because we're not expecting this. Especially concerning the mindset of most Christians today. Why did Jesus speak to them in parables? This is the question they're asking and here is His answer. To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been granted. There you go. This is the reason Jesus spoke in parables. To you, those who believe, it has been granted to know the mysteries, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. But to them, it has not been granted. That kind of makes us maybe step back for a moment and consider to ourselves, wait a minute. You mean that Jesus is hiding truths from other people? And the answer to that is yes. But what about Jesus being for all people, etc., etc.? He just got done telling the religious leaders, your fate is sealed. Your condemnation is sure. This is unforgivable. And not only to them, but to the crowd themselves of those who would mock Him and scorn Him. You know why Jesus spoke in parables? It was a judgment. Judgment against the unbelieving. to you, to you, disciples, to you, the people of God. It has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom. Now, parables, for those who believe, do reveal truths about the kingdom. And the kingdom of heaven is an amazing study, by the way, when you consider the realities of the kingdom. Remember what John the Baptist preached? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. It is at hand. What did Jesus preach? The kingdom of heaven is near. It is at hand. What did Jesus just get done telling the religious leaders in chapter 12? If I cast out demons by the power of God, then surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. It is here, he says. Remember what he says to Nicodemus? You can't even see the kingdom with eyes of faith. You can't enter the kingdom. You must first be born again. What does he tell Pilate? My kingdom is not of this world. If it were of this world, then my servants would fight. It's a spiritual kingdom, a reality that is being expounded throughout these parables, for one, and through the other teachings of Christ, that there is a present element of the kingdom of God here and now. We look for the kingdom to be something that is yet future. The kingdom of heaven will come at a later time. And there is absolutely the truth of that. The full manifestation of the kingdom is yet to come. But the reality of the kingdom is here and now. Our King is in heaven sitting next to the right hand of God the Father and He is ruling over His creation and His gospel is going forth and it is accomplishing all He sends it forth to do. People all over the globe are being converted to Christ and submitting themselves to the authority of Christ their King. The reality of the Kingdom is now. And actually we'll see that in some of the parables that are yet to come such as the tares and the wheat. When the kingdom of heaven is compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, while men were sleeping, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." And then he explains this, that the field is the world. The wheat are the believing ones, the tares are the unbelieving, and they're dwelling together. If this is some future thing that is yet to come in the new heavens and the new earth, or even in this millennial kingdom that people propagate, how is there wheat and tares there together? That doesn't make any sense. But it only makes sense if we understand the reality of the kingdom of heaven being here and now, the full manifestation yet to come. So to them, to you, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, the people of God, it has been granted to know these mysteries, these secrets that were hidden before but are now being revealed. Understand that. To you it has been granted. For those who have the privilege of coming to faith in Christ, this privilege of understanding the things that were once hidden but now being made manifest. To them it has not been granted. He goes on, for whoever has, to him more shall be given. To you who have Christ, more of him shall be given. More of the light of the gospel shall be given to you. Whoever does not have, doesn't have Christ, even what He has shall be taken away from Him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Now listen to this. This is a reference made in Isaiah 6, verses 14 and following there. In their case, this generation that He is speaking to at this moment that have rejected Him, that are scorning Him, that only want to be around just to see these amazing things He's doing, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says, you will keep on hearing, but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and I would heal them." So the purpose of parables is to conceal truths from those it is not granted to be revealed to, and it is to reveal truth to those who are in Christ. Now, this is a judgment, by the way. This is taken from Isaiah. This is when Isaiah has his commission after he has this magnificent vision of the Lord sitting high and lifted up. And the Lord says, Whom shall we send and who will go for us? Isaiah says, Here am I. And then the Lord commands Isaiah. this very thing that we're reading. Because the people of Israel in that day have rejected Him, have scorned Him, have began serving other gods, and the Lord says to Isaiah, you go give them this message of judgment. And Isaiah says, well, how long am I going to do that? And you keep doing it until the judgment comes. And then this generation as well during the time of Christ. Christ is saying they're going to stay in their ignorance. These truths are not going to be revealed to them. So seeing they will not see, and hearing they will not hear, nor will they understand. A judgment. Now, there is something to say about this though. That even in the midst of a judgment given by Christ, to conceal truths to the unbelieving, to hide it from them, to keep them in their ignorance, Yet this judgment is still tempered with mercy. Remember what Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, to whom much is given, much is required, right? This is speaking of the unfaithful slave. He was disobeying his master, and so when the master come and he hadn't done anything, he was going to receive a number of lashes because of it. And what does he say? To whom much is given, much is required, right? The more knowledge of God that you have, the more knowledge of the Gospel that you have, and rejecting it, the greater your condemnation will be. The greater your judgment will be before God. So what is Jesus doing here? Judgment, but yet tempered with mercy, because He will keep them in their ignorance that they cannot understand clearly and fully, and their judgment be greater." Their judgment is yet to come and it's going to happen, but it won't be as severe as if they continue to hear the clear teachings of Christ and continue to scorn Him. This is a reality that we must understand, that if you continue to reject Christ and reject the gospel, the greater your judgment will be. But, but, here's the good news. Here's what Jesus says. to those it has been granted to. Those who do come to Christ and cling to Christ. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. This is one of the great blessings of being in Christ and one of the blessings of being this side of the cross. is that there is a fuller revelation of the redemption that was foretold all the way back in Genesis 3.15. All the prophets that came before and the righteous persons waiting on God, waiting on the Messiah, they desired to hear the things that Jesus is teaching. They desired to see the things that He is doing. But they didn't get to see it. They didn't get to hear it. But blessed are your ears and your eyes. Church, do you realize that? Do you understand how blessed that we are to be in Christ and to be granted this privilege of knowing what He did? Of knowing of the promises that He grants to those whom He reveals Himself to? Do you see that? Do you know that? Many desire to see and to hear what you hear. And they didn't get to hear it. But you do. You get to read it every time you open your scriptures. How blessed are the people of God. Now, I do want to make a reference here to some of these things about the parables, specifically this one. I wanted you to pay attention to the fact of the sower being the same man and the seed being the same seed. Only the soils were different. Because there is a growing trend today as well, and it has been for a number of decades now, in order to manipulate, change, compromise the gospel for different people. This person over here, maybe I need to try to work it up or work it in some way here to diminish whatever it is that would be offensive to them. But this person over here, I might be able to do a little bit more. This person over here. The gospel is the same across the board. The seed represents the gospel. It is the same across the board. You do not change or compromise the gospel of Christ. We are commanded to scatter it, and God will put it in the soul that He deems fit for. Did you notice that? There's no compromising here. There's no changing it here. There's no diminishing the need of repentance or whatever else we can try to conjure up in our day. Because that's a big one today. We want to tell people how much Jesus loves them and how much He has this great plan for their life. But we don't ever give them the bad news first. You're a sinner before a holy God and you can have peace with God through Christ if you repent. We don't want to tell them that. We tell them what they want to hear. You know how much God loves you? That's amazing! I love me too! God has a wonderful plan for your life. Ah! I've got a wonderful plan for my life too! How amazing! To tell people that God loves them in this way, or to tell them that God has a plan for their life, is not the gospel. The gospel is Christ, Him crucified and raised from the dead. You can have peace with God if you believe these truths, commit your life to it, and repent of your sin. That's the gospel. Any alterations to that to make it more appealing is not the gospel. We are called to scatter it. It's the same seed, the same gospel. If we can't take our gospel that we preach here to another part of the world and preach the same exact message, And we need to start analyzing what kind of gospel we have, because the gospel transcends cultures, it transcends countries. Now, we looked at the parable, the purpose of the parables, to conceal truths, to reveal truths, and now the explanation of the parable. Here then, the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sowed beside the road." This is one that cares nothing for the things of God whatsoever. They don't care. They don't care to hear preaching. They don't care to be reading. They don't care to hear the gospel. They don't care anything about Christ God, salvation. They don't care. Which makes them even more susceptible for the fact that God is not changing their hearts, but God is going to leave them in their hardened heart for Satan to come and to steal away whatever has been sown. Whatever understanding they may have gathered. They remain in the hardness of their hearts. We know people like that. You try to mention anything about the gospel or salvation, I don't want to hear it. I'm just not interested. And sometimes we may even think, well, perhaps it's because they've been taught one thing and maybe we can enter into a dialogue with them and show them the truth of Christianity and the truth of the gospel. I was talking to a young man once. I was working with him, and we were in the car one day, and we were going to go dump some trash or whatever, some scraps, carpet scraps. And I asked him, I said, you know, so have you given any thought to our last conversation about the gospel and Christ or whatever? He's like, no, I really haven't. I haven't really thought much of it. I said, well, is it because maybe you have any objections that are maybe hindering you from looking at these more intently? He's like, no. I don't really care to know. I said, so it's no objections or nothing like that. You just don't care to know. He said, right. I just don't care. I don't really care to know. I don't really want to know. I'm not interested. Okay. Well, that's the way some people are. In the hardness of their heart, having their conscience seared, they don't care. And they don't want to hear it. So when you give the gospel, even to those, and we are commanded to give the gospel to all people. But that seed may indeed fall beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. We could look at this and maybe put it under a heading of those who embrace easy-believism. These are the ones who may get worked up in a service, who may feel guilty over something that they've done, and so maybe they come down to the front, and the pastor wants to lead them in a prayer, or they sign a card, or a number of different scenarios. And so they receive it with joy. It looks like indeed that they have become believers. And this, dear friends, is one of the great dangers of churches that like to brag, I guess, of all the people that were saved at their service or whatever. You'll see that on Facebook. I had 10 make a decision today. I had 5 make a decision. You know, George Whitefield was asked about the number of people that were saved under his ministry. And he said that will be revealed in the coming years. Whitefield never said I had 10 or 20 to make a decision today. He said it's going to be demonstrated in the coming years. Because the truth of your profession will be evident in your life. We just heard last week about faith without works is dead, being by itself, right? If there is no fruit, which Jesus makes clear that on the good soil there will be, if there is no fruit, it's because there is no firm foundation. But this person looks like a believer, talks like a believer, perhaps says all the right things, when affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he falls away. These are the type of people that we could look at perhaps in Hebrews chapter 6, for those who were once enlightened, who have tasted of the heaven, the gift, who have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, having fallen away. They never had genuine salvation, but they were within the assembly of believers, being blessed by being in the assembly of believers, and yet they still rejected and scorned it. impossible to renew them again to repentance, Jesus, or what the writer of Hebrews says. We don't call for decisions. We call for commitments. Repent and commit your life to Christ. Don't make a decision about Christ. You commit your life to Christ. Don't just think it's a good idea to want to be a believer or somehow you're going to miss hell. You commit your life to Christ. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. This is the divided man. You see, the one that doesn't want anything to do with it. The one who is just superficial. And now you have the one who is divided in his heart or her heart. This was the seed among the thorns. You realize thorns are coming up and it's a gradual thing that happens as it chokes it out. The worry of the world, the deceitfulness of wealth, take their attention. Their heart is not given completely over to Christ. Perhaps they started out as one who embraced it with joy, but being lured out by the world and deceitfulness of sin, These are unfruitful. These are only deceiving themselves, thinking that they can have Christ and have the world, having divided hearts. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6. You can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and wealth. You can put in there anything. You can't serve God and the pleasures of the world. It's all or nothing. You have to understand that. It is all or nothing. Seeing believers, supposed believers, who would speak of how much they love Jesus, how much they care for the things of God, and yet their attention, their heart is in the things of the world and the way of the world. It's a very sad reality. It's something that we should be guarding ourselves from because we are not, you realize something here, any genuine believer can fall into terrible sin. and we must keep ourselves on guard that we wouldn't be lured away by the pleasures of the world either. So you have the divided man. But then the fourth. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. These are the true, genuine believers. These are the ones whom God had predestined from all eternity to bring to Himself, and He opens their heart that they can receive the Word. You read of that in Acts 16, when Paul is preaching and the text says that the Lord opened Lydia's heart, that she could receive the things that Paul was saying. That it is the Lord who grants us to come to Christ. This is what Jesus Himself said. You can't come to Me unless it is granted to you. You can't come to Me unless the Father draws you. The very same thing that Jesus has been saying, He will say in John. To you it has been granted. That in and of ourselves, if our salvation was only left up to us, none would come. None. Something had to take place first, a heart transplant. And then as God changed our hearts and gave us faith to believe in Christ, then we exercised faith in Christ. And we had the privilege of coming to Him and receiving mercy and receiving grace. This is the good soil. This is our privilege, friends. You know how privileged that you are who are in Christ? You know, one of the biggest questions that we have, especially when looking at the doctrine of election and predestination, is why me? You know you better than you. You know you better than anybody else. I know me better than anybody else. And that question comes to mind often. Why would you even fool with me? Because the fact is, None of us deserve salvation whatsoever. Not a one of us. But for some reason, in the sovereign will of God, according to His purpose and pleasure, He said, I want you, and I want you, and I want you. And so as the seed was scattered, when you heard the gospel, that the Lord opened your heart and that you were able to receive it, and it took firm root in you. And the evidence of that is that you're yielding a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. This is also an indication of the differences of sanctification. Some may only produce 30. Some may produce 60. Some may produce 100. But the fact of the matter is, is that fruit is present. And this privilege, beloved, and I say beloved because if you are in Christ, you are beloved of the Lord. This has been granted to you. God saw fit. For those in this church that are saved, for those in every place that are in Christ, God saw fit to prepare your hearts to receive the implanted Word. Does that bring you any joy? Consider that. I don't know why. You saw fit to save me, and for that I am eternally grateful. That should be our response. And then the boldness in declaring the gospel to others. I don't have to change it. I don't have to manipulate it. Christ is a stumbling block. He's a rock of offense. Scripture makes it very clear. What I say isn't going to temper it any. What I am commanded to do is to give the gospel faithfully and clearly. And let that be an encouragement to us as well. Not only being so appreciative of the fact of being granted salvation, but in our declaration of the gospel. God will take care of the results, friends. We just need to be faithful in helping to scatter. Committing our lives to the one who saw fit to save us for no other reason than his sovereignty will. Let our hearts be encouraged with that this morning. We will stop there. And next time we will continue on to the parable of the tears. Let's stand if you would. Let's pray together. Gracious God and our father. We are. Indeed humbled. As we reflect once again on your mercy, your grace, none of us here deserve salvation. None of us here deserve to be the good soil because we know in and of ourselves we're not good and that we are sinful. We are by nature children of wrath, but you saw fit to send the Lord Jesus Christ into this world to live the life that we couldn't, to die the death, to pay for our sins, to raise Him from the dead, to give us the promise of eternal life, that in Christ we could be called children of God, those who are beloved of the Lord, that we are now something in your eyes instead of an object of wrath. We are now your children. You have made us priests and kings in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is your doing. Father, we are so grateful. Thank you for having mercy. Thank you for revealing these truths to us by the Spirit of God that you have sent to us. to change us, to guide us. Thank you. How grateful we are. And I pray for those who have not committed themselves to you, Father, if there be any here. They would heed the warnings. And Father, they would not allow trials, suffering to turn them away from you, but to turn towards you. that they wouldn't be lured out by the deceitfulness of sin, but that You would be the object of their desire. Father, we love You because You first loved us. In Jesus' name we pray, and all of God's children said, Amen.