Jan 11
28
Beware of religion without Christ! Mark 4:1-20 – The Parable of the Sower
You may think, “All is well with my soul. No one could ever feel what I feel and experience what I have experienced and yet be lost.” You ought to think again! False faith is a strong delusion, a delusion by which, in this parable, one in four who profess faith in Christ are dragged down to hell!
1. False faith may be greatly enlightened and knowledgeable of the gospel (Heb. 6:4).
2. False faith may greatly reform the outward life. – The Pharisees!
3. False faith may speak very well of Christ. – The Jews!
4. False faith may confess personal sins like Saul.
5. False faith may humble itself in sackcloth and ashes with Ahab.
6. False faith may repent in tears with Esau and Judas.
7. False faith may diligently perform religious works with the Jews.
8. False faith may be very generous and charitable, like Ananias and Sapphira.
9. False faith may tremble under the Word with Felix.
10. False faith may experience great things in religion (Heb. 6:1-4).
11. False faith may enjoy great religious privileges with Lot’s wife.
12. False faith may preach, perform miracles, and cast out devils, like those mentioned by our Lord. Mt 7:21-23
13. False faith may attain high office in the church like Diotrephes.
14. False faith may walk with great preachers like Demas.
15. May even be peaceful and carnally secure like the five foolish virgins.
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THE GREAT CALM “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Mark 6:50
“It is I” (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the original), “I AM! do not be afraid!” Jesus lives! His people may dispel their misgivings—Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at times to be otherwise—wayward accident and chance may appear to regulate human allotments; but not so: “The Lord’s voice is upon the waters”—He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and guiding it well.
How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight hour when all seems lost—”in the fourth watch of the night,”—when we least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, “The terrible storm raged unabated for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.”—how often just at that moment, is the “word of Jesus” heard floating over the billows!
Believer, are you in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, “Fear not, I AM.” That voice, like Joseph’s of old to his brethren, may seem rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. “It is I,” he seems to say; It was I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it has done its work, will calm it, and say, “Peace, be still.” Every wave rolls at My bidding—every trial is My appointment—all have some gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks, but to waft you nearer heaven. It is sickness? I am He who bore your sicknesses; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were sent by Me. Is it bereavement? I am “the Brother” born for adversity—the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it death? I am the “Abolisher of death,” seated by your side to calm the waves of ebbing life; it is I, about to fetch My pilgrims home—It is My voice that speaks, “The Master has come, and calls for you.” Reader, you will have reason yet to praise your God for every such storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager—”SO He brings them to their desired haven.” “So!” That word, in all its unknown and diversified meaning, is in His hand. He suits His dealings to every case. “So!” With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one buffeting wave. “So!” With others it is “mounting up to heaven, and going down again to the deep.” But whatever be the leading and the discipline, here is the grand consummation, “SO He brings them unto their desired haven.” It might have been with you the moanings of an eternal night-blast—no lull or pause in the storm. But soon the darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory! And what, then, should your attitude be? “Looking unto Jesus”—looking away from self, and sin, and human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Savior. Ah, how a real quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers of old were frightened, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women feared not; why? “I know that you seek Jesus!” Reader, let your weary spirit fold itself to rest under the composing “word” of a gracious Savior, saying—
“I wait for the lord, my soul does wait, and in HIS WORD do I hope.” John Mac Duff
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“BEHOLD, A SOWER WENT FORTH TO SOW.”
Matthew 13:1
The man who preaches the gospel is compared to a farmer who sows his fields with seed. As a farmer broadcasts the seed, some falls upon the hard, beaten path, some falls upon stony ground, and some falls among thorns. Of course, seed falling in such places never yields any real fruit. But some of the seed falls into the good soil. And that seed brings forth fruit. Even so, we preach the gospel earnestly to all men, broad-casting the precious seed. But only when the gospel is received “in an honest and good heart” does it bring forth fruit. In this parable of the sower our Lord tells us three things about all true believers:
1. The True Believer Receives The Word In An Honest And Good Heart. No man’s heart is honest by nature. It must be made honest by the grace of God. This is one of the first acts of divine grace in a man’s soul, his heart is renewed, and made to see things in their true light (Ezek. 36:26; John 3:19-21). We see who God is, what sin is, and what we are. A good heart is a broken and contrite heart. In order for soil to be good and ready to receive seed, it must be broken by the plow. Even so, a good heart is one that has been broken by God the Holy Spirit. Until the heart is broken, it is unfit to receive the seed of the gospel. It must be broken by the conviction of sin, the severity of the law, the sight of a crucified Christ, and the knowledge of Divine love. A good heart is one that has been made tender and soft. There the seed takes deep and permanent root.
2. The True Believer Not Only Receives The Word, He Keeps It. The gospel is kept in the heart of faith. Our Lord holds us, and we go on holding him. True faith is persevering faith. True grace is enduring grace. When God prepares the heart and sows the seed, the plant cannot die (Heb. 3:6; 10:23,38,39).
3. And The True Believer Brings Forth Fruit. He does not produce fruit, but brings it forth. The fruit is the produce of the Spirit of God. The fruit has not yet come to perfection, but it is real. Mark my words, There is no such thing as a fruitless believer. They all repent. They all believe. They all obey. (John 15:5,6,16). They bring forth heart fruit (Gal. 5:22-23). They bring forth lip fruit (Heb. 13:15). And they bring forth life fruit (Rom. 6:14-16).
Has God Almighty prepared your heart and caused you to receive the gospel of his Son? If so, you will surely keep the Word in your heart and bring forth fruit by his grace, even the fruit of Faith, Hope, and Love.
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“Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto those who are outside, all these things are said in parables.” Mark 4:11
By “the kingdom of God” is meant the same thing as “the kingdom of heaven,” that is, the internal kingdom set up in the heart by the power of the Spirit–that kingdom which shall stand forever and ever, and last when time shall be no more. This the Lord calls a mystery. And if it is a mystery, it will have these three marks–
it will be beyond nature, sense, and reason;
it will be hidden from the wise and prudent;
it will be revealed unto babes.
Let us see if we can find these marks belonging to the kingdom of heaven set up in the heart. It certainly is above nature, sense, and reason, that God should dwell in a man’s heart, as the Apostle says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory;” and again, “You are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (2 Cor. 6:16). That God should take up his abode in a man’s heart; that Christ should be in a man; and the Holy Spirit should make the body of his saints his temple; how can nature, sense, and reason understand such a mystery as this? When one of the ancient martyrs, I think it was Polycarp, was brought before Trajan, when the Emperor asked him his name, he answered, “I am Polycarp, the God-bearer, for I carry God in me!” At this answer the Emperor laughed, and said, “Let him be thrown to the wild beasts.” That was the only answer a persecuting tyrant could give. That a man frail and feeble, whom a lion could tear to pieces in a few moments, carried God in his bosom!–how could the wise and prudent Trajan believe a thing so unheard of? Yet it is a mystery revealed to babes; for they receive it in the love of it under divine teaching, as one of the mysteries that God the Spirit makes known in the heart. J.C. Philpot
“For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Mark 4:28
Faith, I believe, has in it always a measure of assurance. For what is assurance? It is merely the larger growth and fuller development of faith. The nature of assurance is much misunderstood. It is often considered something distinct from faith. This is not the case. It is merely faith in a fuller, larger development. The word “assurance” in the original has a very simple, yet beautiful meaning. It means literally “a full bearing;” and the word is applied sometimes to a large crop of corn or fruit, and sometimes to the tide coming in with a fuller wave. Now it is the same corn which grows in the fields, whether the crop be much or little; it is the same tide that comes up the river whether in a scanty or full flow. So it is with assurance and faith–it is the same faith, only increased, enlarged, bearing more abundant fruit, or flowing in a more abundant tide.
Assurance in Scripture is not confined to faith; there is “the full assurance of understanding” (Col. 2:2), that is, a fuller measure and amount, a greater enlargement of understanding to know the truth of God. The understanding is the same; but there is a larger measure of it. So there is the full assurance of hope, that is, a hope strengthened and enlarged, bearing more fruit and flowing in a fuller tide. But it is the same hope; the same in kind, though larger in degree; a stronger anchor, and yet an anchor still (Heb. 6:19). Similarly there is the full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22), that is, a larger, fuller measure of faith; a richer crop, a more abundant tide. Thus you have a measure of the assurance of faith if you have faith at all. In fact, if you have no assurance of the truth of these things, why do you follow after them? Why do you hang upon them, why do you hope in them, and why do you seek the power and experience of them in your soul? Have you not arrived at this point yet? “We have not followed cunningly devised fables; these things that I am following after are realities; these objects set before me are certainties.”
I grant that you may be much exercised about your saving interest in them. Still, unless you know that they are certainties, why do you believe them? Why are you anxious to know your saving interest in them? Why do you sink in doubt and fear for lack of clearer evidences of a saving interest in them? And why do you spring up in peace and joy the moment that a little light from them beams upon your soul, and a little sweetness out of them drops into your heart? Because you know that these things are realities. So far then you have an assurance that they are certainties, and in due time, as God is pleased, you will have the assurance in your own breast, not only that they are certainties, but that you have them in your own sure and certain possession. J.C.Philpot
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