Please be seated. Today we continue our exposition in the word of God in Mark chapter 4, verses 26 to 29. And I read this passage to you slowly, and I hope you look carefully at it, attend carefully to its meaning, because we are listening to the words of the Lord Jesus himself.
Mark chapter 4, verses 26 to 29: "And he" — that is, the Lord Jesus — "said, 'The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.'"
The Lord Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground. Well, you see, then he goes to bed, and he gets up the next morning, and he goes to bed again the following day, and he gets up another day, and he goes to bed again, and he gets up, and so on and so on through the summer. And so what happens? The seed comes up — there is a blade, there is a stalk, there are the ears, and finally there is fruit. And when the fruit comes, he cuts it down and he takes in the harvest. The seed grows by itself; he doesn't know how. His task is to sow it at the beginning, to reap it at the end. Well, that's the parable. Finished.
You see, what's there to expound in that? There doesn't seem to be much to say about a parable like this. Well, let me tell you, there are great riches in the words of the Lord Jesus. And now we are going to consider this together carefully. What is the Lord Jesus saying?
Now, we have been expounding the parable of the sower. And so having expounded the parable of the sower, our minds should be well prepared to understand what the Lord Jesus says to us here. There are many points where it is very similar to the sower, and many points where it is quite different. What, for example? You need to consider a number of things.
First then, who is the sower? And you will say, "Ah, that's the Lord Jesus, the sower. You remember the parable of the sower." Now there you'll be wrong. If you thought the Lord Jesus is the sower, you'll be wrong. Why would you be wrong? Well, consider this. He sows the seed, and he doesn't know how it grows. Do you think those words would apply to the Lord Jesus? You see those words there in verse 27? "He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow. He knows not how." Now every expositor who expounds this passage immediately sees that you can hardly apply this to the Lord Jesus. How can we say that the Lord Jesus doesn't know how the word of God grows? He is the creator. He is himself the very word of God. To say that he doesn't know how would make no sense at all.
Also, you will have noticed that there is some difference between here and Luke chapter 8, verse 5, where it says, "He sows his seed." It is his seed. But here the seed that is being sown by the sower is not said to be his own seed. He is simply sowing seed, not necessarily his own. When a preacher preaches the word of God, he does not preach his own words. He preaches God's words. It's not my seed; it is his seed that I am sowing. But if the Lord Jesus is sowing the seed, then it is his own seed. Now, so we can see that here the sower is not the Lord Jesus.
Well, if it is not the Lord Jesus, then who is the sower? Well, any person who is sowing God's word is a sower. This is very common in the New Testament. In the Bible, a sower is by no means always the Lord Jesus. He is the first one who sows. He is in the first place the sower, you might say, with a capital S. But we are all sowers, you might say, with a small s. We are his servants. We are his workers. So, in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 6 and 7, the apostle Paul speaks of himself as planting or sowing. Apollos waters the seed, but God gives the increase. But who sowed the seed? The apostle Paul sowed the seed. Who watered the seed? Apollos watered the seed. But who gives the growth? God gives the growth.
Now, that is exactly parallel to these words here in Mark. How the seed grows, the apostle Paul doesn't know. Apollos doesn't know. We don't know. But God knows. He is the one who gives the increase. The Lord Jesus knows. He gives the increase. The same thing we find in 2 Timothy 2, verse 6, where Timothy is spoken of as a good farmer, pictured as a good farmer, a hardworking farmer. What does a farmer do? A farmer sows the seed. Or again, in 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, Paul says to Timothy, "Preach the word in season and out of season." Notice — "in season and out of season" is agricultural language. He is combining two pictures. "Preach the word" is sowing the seed. But now you normally sow the seed at a certain time of year. You don't sow the seed in winter. But when it comes to the word of God, you sow at any time — in season or out of season. So you can see that Paul expects Timothy to understand that preaching the word of God is to be pictured as sowing the seed. The same picture again in James chapter 5 and verse 7, where Christians are pictured as farmers waiting for the harvest to come. So we can see that the notion of the sower being Christians, and especially those who minister, who preach the word of God, is a very common picture in the Bible.
The next thing we notice is that it says, "He sleeps and rises night and day." He sleeps at night, he rises during the day. He cannot do anything — the preacher can do nothing to cause, to make the seed grow. He can make the circumstances as good as possible for the seed to grow, but he cannot make it grow. The life is in the seed. The farmer cannot do anything about life. And he doesn't know how life works. So what can he do?
Now we must not get the notion that all he does as a farmer is sit back. I have looked at some commentators and they really do surprise me, because it seems to me that they obviously are not acquainted with farming life. Can you imagine a farmer who simply sows the seeds, and then what does he do? He goes to bed and sleeps. And then the next day he gets up, so what does he do? He twiddles his thumbs. And he is going to twiddle his thumbs until the harvest comes. Now this is the notion that some scholars seem to have, and that is very surprising. I think that when you expound the word of God, really, you should go and live with a farmer, and see whether he twiddles his thumbs and does nothing until the harvest comes.
What does he do? There are lots of things to do. The seed indeed is planted. He cannot make it grow, but he can see to it that no pests will come on the land. He has to see to it that the field is watered every day, especially in the Middle East, where you have an early rain and a late rain, but often not much rain in between. The farmer has to water the seed all the time. He has to try to irrigate his land. And those of us who have been to Israel know that much of the land depends on irrigation. You cannot just wait for the rain. The rain will come, but lots of times there is an early rain, there is a late rain, and those are most important to the seed. But you cannot depend only on that. The farmer has to work. He has to haul water. He waters the field. That is a big job — irrigation. Sowing the seed is a big job. Irrigation is a big job. Imagine therefore that this farmer does nothing in between. It is not to understand farming life at all.
He has to also see that the next-door neighbor's cows are not going to come and trample his field, or eat up the blades of grain when they come up, or eat the stalks away. He has to keep the pests away from his land as much as he can. He has to drive the birds away if possible. He sets up scarecrows. Whatever he can do, he is trying to protect the seeds that have been sown. Is that not what every preacher and every pastor does? There is no question of inactivity. But never is it more true here than anywhere else, that "unless Yahweh builds the temple, those who labor, who build it, labor in vain." Unless God causes the seed to grow, unless there is life in the seed, then all the effort of the farmer will be wasted. He cannot make it grow. He can only make the circumstances such that the seeds will grow. But he cannot force the seed to grow. Nothing he can do. And when he sees the green plant coming up, he can't make it grow any faster. He can pull it up, but that won't make it grow faster. There is nothing he can do as far as growth is concerned. But he can do something about protecting it and making the circumstances as ideal as possible — adding fertilizer, for example, as well as water and so forth.
Now, here we are going to see something very important. What does the Lord Jesus really want to say to us? Does he want to say that once the word of God is sown, that that's the end of the matter? That's finished? Nothing more to do? That when the word of God is sown into your life, that you just sit back and relax? Is that what he says? That it is all of grace and you have no responsibility? Now, last week I showed you something of the scriptural teaching of grace and responsibility — God's part and your part.
Now, today there is a tendency in the churches to preach grace in such a way that man is entirely freewheeling, entirely passive. He does absolutely nothing. Now, I want to tell you that that is not biblical teaching. I would also like to tell you that there are many things that sound very spiritual and are simply unbiblical and untrue. Be most careful about hyper-spiritual sounding things. More people have been misled by hyper-spiritual sounding things than by falsehood in the church. You see, a Christian is not going to be taken away by falsehood — not so easy. He should at least have some discernment as to what's false and what's true. But he has an inbuilt weakness for things that sound spiritual and which are not true.
Satan tried to use that very trick on the Lord Jesus when he quoted the scripture to him. He quoted Psalm 91. Remember? He says, "Jump off from the wing of the temple." And then he quotes Psalm 91 and says, "God will give his angels charge over you, that you do not dash your foot against a stone." Anything wrong with the quotation? Nothing wrong with the quotation. I have checked the quotation in the original. Word for word, correct. Satan did not quote one word out of line when he quoted the scripture. No, no. It is word for word in the Greek, following the Septuagint, down to the tenses, down to the last letter. Not one word is out of place. Satan is no fool. He doesn't misquote scripture to the Lord Jesus. He knows that if you're going to quote scripture, you quote it fully.
So what's wrong? What's wrong is the misplacement of that scripture. The misuse of scripture. Well, there in Psalm 91 it says that those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, God watches over them as the apple of his eye. He watches over them, so that they do not dash their foot against a stone. Yes, that is absolutely true. While you walk in the center of his will, walking in the shadow of the Most High, he will watch over you night and day. But that does not mean that therefore you can go out and do things outside of his will and hope that he will protect you. That you can just disobey his will and still hope that he will protect you. No, no. That is tempting God. And that is what the Lord Jesus says to Satan. "I walk in the center of my Father's will. And what you are telling me to do is not of my Father's will. What you quote of the scripture is correct. But it doesn't apply. Because what you are telling me to do — if I did it, I would no longer be dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. I would not be in the center of his will anymore." But don't you see that the temptation itself — the height of the spiritual — is appealing to the spiritual aspects of the man. "Your God will look after you. Don't you want to experience his care? Don't you want to experience how he can protect you? Well, take a step out. Take a jump and see." Watch out for spiritual-sounding phrases. Quoting the Bible out of its context. Watch for those things.
But today we have too much of it. How much of it sounds so spiritual? "Faith is a gift from God." How often you have heard that? How spiritual it sounds — and not one grain of truth in it. Does it shock you? There is no truth in it at all. If faith is a gift of God, as Sidlow Baxter in his very important recent book, "The New Call to Holiness," has said — if faith is a gift of God, then salvation is a cruel farce. A cruel farce. A cruel joke on mankind. Because you cannot be saved unless God gives you the gift. And therefore if he doesn't give you the gift, you are without hope, my friend. You can be a nice guy, you can be a good guy, but God is not going to give you the gift, so you go to hell. And then to go on to say that God does not desire that any should perish — to turn the whole thing into one ridiculous joke. As Sidlow Baxter so clearly sees. And we have analyzed this verse before. There is nowhere in scripture that you can see it says that faith is a gift of God. We saw there was one verse misquoted, and some weeks ago I showed you that this verse did not have this kind of sense at all. And the moment you look into the Greek you will see this. So you see, it sounds very spiritual to say "faith is a gift from God." It sounds so spiritual, hyper-spiritual. But what is the conclusion of the matter? First, it is not scriptural, and second, it turns salvation into a cruel joke of God. God one moment says he doesn't desire anybody to perish, and then he gives faith only to a handful of people — the majority cannot receive faith. Why? Because God doesn't give to them. So what are we saying? On the one hand, that God does not desire any should perish, and on the other hand, he sends the majority of mankind to hell. Here is the kind of hyper-spirituality that gets the gospel into a mess, and makes the gospel ridiculous in the eyes of every serious-minded person who seeks after the truth. So beware of spiritual-sounding phrases.
And this is nowhere so important as understanding the relationship of grace and responsibility. If faith is of grace, surely, the man has no part in it — then we might as well all sit back and wait for God to give us the grace. We are without hope, and without any possibility of searching after the truth, seeking for the truth, or anything like it. Because unless God does something, there is no way for you. You cannot even desire the truth. Beware of spiritual-sounding things. I am terrified of these things which sound so spiritual but which have no scriptural foundation at all.
Now the Lord Jesus — and I would like you to check this now in the Lord's teaching himself — look at this teaching of the Lord Jesus, and you will see the beauty of it. The sower, we see, is the preacher now, who sows the word of God. He cannot cause it to grow. Therefore what should he do? Does his responsibility end with the sowing of the seed? Is his work finished? If we take it such that the seed is going to grow by itself, there is nothing more that I can do, then my responsibility is finished the moment I sow the seed. Not so. Not so.
2 Timothy 2, verse 6: "The hardworking farmer." The hardworking farmer doesn't work hard only at the time of sowing. He works hard all around the year. And anyone who knows the life of a farmer knows how hard is the life of a farmer. Today in Canada there are fewer and fewer farmers, you know, because the work of a farmer is really that hard. There are easier jobs to do. The work of a farmer can go round the clock. It's hard work. Hardworking farmer.
The apostle Paul worked very hard. I always think of the words of the apostle Paul when he says, "I work harder than they all. But I do this by the grace of God," he says in Corinthians. He says, "I toil night and day." The apostle Paul was not a bunch of lazy Christians that we have in the churches today who say, "Everything is by the grace of God, I have nothing to do." Teaching would be more calculated to produce a bunch of slothful, indolent, lazy Christians than the wrong teaching of grace. Grace is never meant to be anything like this.
Consider Colossians chapter 1, verse 29, in this context. Most important. A verse which is very dear to my own heart. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 29. I would like you often to think about these words. He starts at verse 28. Paul plants the seed. What is the seed? Christ himself, the word of God. "Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ." I would like you to notice: he doesn't just want to save a person. Today's emphasis of the church is simply to get salvation, to get decisions, to raise your hands. That's all you want. That seems to be the end of it. The moment you are baptized, I'm finished with you. Paul is not that kind of a preacher. He doesn't just want to get a decision — write down your name on the decision card. What kind of Christianity have we got today? Paul says, "For this I toil." "Him we proclaim... that we may present every man" — how? As a convert? No. "As mature in Christ." Perfect — that's the word. Complete in Christ. Oh, God grant to us preachers like this today, who don't just look for salvation, who just look for decisions, but present every man perfect in Christ.
Now that's what Mark chapter 4 is about. Now the next verse — notice carefully: "For this I toil." Toil. Labor. The word is a very strong word. Hard work. "For this I toil, striving." Notice the word "striving." Do you notice any laziness? Any inaction? Anything you think, "Well, it's all of grace. Nothing for me to do"? "Striving with all the energy which he" — God — "mightily inspires in me." Oh, God give to us people like this in this generation. Let us stop talking simply saying, "It's all of grace, nothing to do with us." Sure it's grace. But remember last week what we studied? That grace is grace upon grace. Some people only have a little grace. Others have grace upon grace — abundance of grace. And we saw last week: "To him that gives shall more be given, and he shall have abundance." How do you have this abundance of grace that Paul has? Does God only inspire the apostle Paul? Is Paul the only person that God inspires in these twenty centuries? That he inspires mightily? This inspiration — what is it? But it's grace. But this grace — what does it do? It causes Paul to strive with all his might. Notice: Paul's concept of grace is very different from the concept of grace today, that this grace means I sit back and do nothing. Paul's concept of grace is grace that inspires me to do mighty things.
Consider Philippians: "I can do all things," Paul says, "through him who strengthens me." Where is this kind of Christianity gone to? The grace that inspires to mighty works. The grace that inspires to mighty things. Now that's biblical grace. I've already had enough of the kind of grace that we hear forever, that just says, "Don't do anything." That if you do anything, it's salvation by works. Who teaches salvation by works? It is salvation by grace that produces works. That Paul says, "Good works whereunto you were ordained." You were appointed to good works. God saved you to produce those works. How? By his grace. A grace that is dynamic, that is active. Now that is the difference. The grace of the Bible is a dynamic grace. The grace that we hear preached today is a static grace that does absolutely nothing.
So now notice carefully, as we turn back to Mark chapter 4. Here the Lord Jesus brings this point out so superbly. In what you might have thought there is nothing in this parable. Let me tell you there are enormous riches in this parable. Look at it again. Look carefully at verse 27. And look at the words: "the seed sprouts and grows." The seed sprouts and grows. Then verse 28: "The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." Do you see something there? I hope you read the word of God with eyes that are open. What do you see? The seed sprouts. Right? The life is in the seed. But then the next sentence, to our surprise, is — it doesn't go on to say, "The seed produces the blade, the ear, and the full grain." That's what we would have expected, no? But we don't see that there. It is the earth that produces. Now that's a surprise. Because if consistency was to be pursued, we should have expected in verse 28, going on to say, "And the seed produces of itself" — "of itself" would correspond to "he knows not how" in verse 27. And then the seed produces the blade. But no, we find "the earth produces." Now what does it say to us? Have we got ears to hear? What is the earth? What does it represent in the Lord's teaching? Do you know? If you study the parable of the sower, you should know. It refers to the heart. The heart of man. It refers to human beings into whom the seed is sown. Now that is the remarkable thing.
Let's think of it like this. The life is in the seed. The seed must grow. But — can it grow without the earth? If you put a seed on the table here, will it grow? The most wonderful seed, packed with life in it — will it grow if you put it there? It won't grow. The best seed in the world won't grow. Where is it going to grow? It will grow only in the earth. In the soil. In the mud. That's where it's going to grow. But before we get hyper-spiritual and get lost in the process, think carefully.
The word of God — if you put it here, will it grow? If I leave it here in my Bible and close it, will it grow? Of course it will not grow. But when I take this word and I sow it into your heart — and when it is sown into my heart — it will grow. In my heart. In your heart. It's the earth. It's the earth that is important to it. Do you see that? Now the seed being sown into your heart is a gift of God. It is a gift of grace. We saw last week, previous weeks, that we do not earn the seed. The life is in the seed. This life, the eternal life of God, is a gift to us. But this life must enter into my heart and must produce results. Now if it doesn't enter into my heart — this eternal life — it doesn't do anything. John 12: "A seed abides by itself. But when it is sown, when it dies, it brings forth much fruit." If it is not sown and it doesn't die, it produces no fruit. It has to be absorbed. When does it die? It's absorbed into the ground. The earth envelops it. And in that ground, it does a transforming work. It transforms the barren earth into a fruitful field. Isn't that wonderful?
Now, the earth by itself, without the seed, can it produce anything? Of course not. The earth can produce nothing without the seed. It would be barren. And so we need both the seed and the earth to have a harvest at the end. We need to have God's grace and man's response before we can have a harvest. Is it not so? Or have we become so spiritually blinded we cannot see even that anymore?
But when we speak of a human response, are we talking about salvation by works? How ridiculous. How ludicrous. Does not the whole Bible call us to respond? Did we not just sing a hymn — "Come unto me"? Come. What are we saying? "Come unto me." Is that not calling for a response? Or do people come automatically? That they stumble along being dragged by the neck? Does he not stand at the door and knock and call for a response — that if you don't open the door he doesn't come in? If we can understand these things, then do we not see that grace must have on our part responsibility — response?
Now if all this is plain to us, if all this is clear to us, do we not understand it? That grace in the Bible is not something static. It is something active, growing, alive, dynamic, and transforming. Now when I open my heart to the word, it begins to do amazing things to me. If I don't open my heart to the word, the word of God can do nothing to me. That powerful word of God can do nothing to my heart. I have got to open my heart. The Lord Jesus, creator of heaven and earth, doesn't smash the door of your heart down. He stands at the door and knocks. You don't open the door, he can't do anything to you — can't do anything for you. Do we not see then our responsibility in this matter?
But let us press forward and consider further. Consider the seed again. The seed has transforming power. It takes the barren land and produces a fruitful field out of it. But what important things has that got to say to us? Oh, most important things it has to say to us. What, for example? Consider carefully this: when a farmer sows a field, what does he look for? Does he look for some blades coming out of the ground? Does he look for some stalks growing on the field? Why does the farmer sow a field at all? He sows a field because he wants the keyword in this passage at the end — the harvest. That's what he wants. He doesn't sow it because he wants some grass. He doesn't sow it because he wants some stalks. He wants the fruit. That's what he's looking for.
But how do you get to the fruit? The fruit comes through the seed in its various stages of production, producing a harvest. Now I would like you to ponder carefully again the question: at what stage then are you going to be saved? At what stage does salvation come into this picture? Now, think carefully. The word of God is sown into somebody's heart. Is that the stage at which he is saved? He was saved when he received the word of God? You say, "Yes, that's it." Is it? When was he saved? When he began to produce a blade of green growth? Green growth. That's when he was saved? The seed got into his life and he produced a blade of green growth. That's when he was saved, right?
What's the biblical answer? Or — the seed was sown into his life and it produced a stalk. Quite a tall stalk. Green leaves, quite a growth there. That's when he was saved, right? Now I am sure that you are so accustomed to thinking of this that you will say, "He was saved at the moment that he received the word," right? I'm sure that's your answer. He was saved the moment he received the word of God.
Now look at this parable. "The kingdom of God is..." What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is paraphrased in John's gospel as eternal life. Now, how do we have this eternal life? That is the question here. It's a question concerning the kingdom of God. It's concerning salvation. It's concerning eternal life. At what stage do you have it? Think back to the parable of the sower again, that we understand the Lord's teaching. When was the person saved, according to your picture and understanding? When the seed was sown into the ground that fell upon the shallow ground, and it received the word of God with joy? And it produced the blade? There was a growth coming up? According to most Christians today, according to most preachers, that's when he is saved. He is saved, you see. He received the word of God.
What did the Lord Jesus say? That person died. He fell away. Why? Because when the sun came up, he withered. Withered means to die, dry up. He received the word of God with joy. He received the Lord Jesus into his heart, he might say in present-day language. The Lord Jesus is the living word of God. What happened? He withered. Well, was he saved or was he not saved? What is your answer? If he was saved when he received the word of God, then what happened to him? He withered and died. What about the other one that fell among the thorns? He also received the word of God. He also grew. But as time went on, he was choked by the thorns. Let me ask you again the question: was he saved when he received the word of God, or was he not saved?
Oh, we are good as Christians making our own little theories, aren't we? And then we don't know how to fit it in with the word of God. And then we are all confused. You know what the Lord Jesus tells us? There were only those in which the seed fell into the good ground and produced fruit — maybe only thirtyfold, others double, sixtyfold, others more than double, a hundredfold. Those were the ones that when they produced fruit, these are harvested into the kingdom of God. Are they not? Were the others harvested into the kingdom of God? No. So are they saved, even though they received the word of God? I leave you to think for it. You'll find the answer. Do I need to tell you the answer? Or is the word of God plain enough?
Let us press on forward. Our time is going speedily. We have to ask one more question. We come to verse 28, to verse 29, the last verse. "But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle." When does he put in the sickle? When the blade comes out? No. When the ear comes out? When then? When the grain is in the ear and it is ripe. Then he puts in the sickle. What is the sickle? The sickle is for reaping, of course. Reaping — where to? The harvest. What for? Into the kingdom of God.
Now what does this harvest refer to? Now if you said the harvest is the final judgment, you would be wrong again. In Matthew chapter 13, verse 30, we do see a harvest. And the harvest at the end of the age is brought in by the angels, not by any human preacher. That harvest at the end of the age is the harvest when the Lord Jesus comes again. But notice, from the point of exposition, how careful we have to be. "At once he puts in the sickle." Who puts in the sickle? The person who sowed. The Lord Jesus? No. He is the one who doesn't know how the seed grows. He is people like me, who doesn't know how the seed grows. Only God knows how the seed grows. So who puts in the sickle? The person who sowed. Is the same person who reaps here. You see, he is the one who puts in the sickle. So then, can this be at the end of the age? We see that at the end of the age it's the angels who reap, not any man at all. So we find that this harvest is not the eschatological harvest, not the harvest at the end of the age, but the harvest that goes on at the present time.
Do we see a harvest like this in the Bible? Certainly. We see that in John chapter 4, verses 35 and 36, which I need to read to you now. John chapter 4, verses 35 and 36. And what do we read here? The Lord Jesus is speaking to his disciples, and he says this: "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest. You don't have to wait till the end of the age. Right now there is something to harvest. He who reaps receives wages and gathers" — notice these words — "he who reaps gathers fruit for eternal life." What is the harvest? That is the harvest. The harvest is the fruit for eternal life. "So that sower and reaper may rejoice together." Now here then we see that the harvest is the fruit that is for eternal life. And what is the fruit? The fruit are these people that are being brought in to eternal life. The people who are already ripe, mature. They are brought in for eternal life.
Now I would like you to observe this point and bring it very carefully into mind. In this sense we are all reaping right now. We both sow and we reap in this present age. The preacher who preaches the word of God — a pastor, for example — he sows the word, but he also reaps. I have the joy of sowing the word. I also have the joy of reaping. When people come and are being baptized and who receive the word of God, whose lives are transformed — I reap. When I see that they are baptized, they are receiving the life of God into their soul. And then I see their lives being transformed. And I see they are producing fruits. And I see them growing into spiritual maturity. I can see that these are being brought into the kingdom of God, into eternal life.
Now we see here then something very important. Let us ask again the question: at what stage are they reaped for eternal life? At what stage are they brought into eternal life? At the moment that they receive the word of God? At the moment they produce the blade? At the moment they produce the stalk? Or is it not at the moment that they produce the fruit? What is the fruit? To change the picture, it is when the plant has reached maturity. It may produce thirtyfold, sixty, a hundred — it does not matter how much fruit there is, but it does produce some sort of fruit. That is the question. That is the point.
Now when we return to Colossians chapter 1, verse 29, you can understand why Paul is so concerned to present every man — notice the word — "mature." The word mature means ripe. A fruit that is ripe, ready for harvest. "To present every man mature in Christ." Little wonder, with the teaching that we have today that salvation is simply at the stage in which you receive the word of God, there is no incentive — in fact no need whatsoever — to see that each person goes on to maturity. Who concerns themselves about maturity? "I am saved. If I am saved, it does not matter whether I behave Christ-like or not, whether I have the fruit of the Spirit or not, whether I live a life that is glorifying to God or not. What does it matter? It does not matter. I am saved. What else do I want?" Well, this shows the danger of false teaching. The Bible warns us that you are not saved yet. You are not yet harvested into the kingdom of God at the moment that you receive the word of God. Not so fast.
Nor are you saved when a transforming process does begin to take place and you are beginning to produce a blade. Nor are you harvested into the kingdom of God yet when you are producing a stalk. Yes, thanks be to God for the blade and for the stalk. But you have got to press on towards the mark of the high calling. Now in today's teaching, pressing on to the mark of the high calling is a desirable but non-essential matter. Desirable, but does not matter if you do not. Isn't that true? What importance is there to press on to the mark? You are saved. If you do not run the race, it does not matter. You have enrolled and that is all that matters. If you never reach the other end, it does not matter. Well, you have got the scriptural teaching wrong, if that is what you think.
Remember the Lord's teaching so carefully. Then you will understand why Paul does what he does. He constantly aims as his purpose to present every man perfect in Christ. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23 these words: "May the God of peace sanctify you wholly in body, mind and spirit, to present you blameless in his presence." Why? What for? Why should we worry about that? "You are saved, you are saved. You are saved, you are saved." You may live a most ridiculous, a disgusting so-called Christian life. You are a disgrace to the church. But you are saved because you received the word. Is that Bible teaching? Is that scriptural teaching? Have you got ears to hear? Don't take it from me. I ask you to judge. I don't ask you to accept my word.
# Respond to God's Grace, Yield Fruit (Part 2)
You have not yet been harvested until you go on in the grace of God and the fruit is seen in your life. Now notice: as soon as the fruit appears, "at once he puts in the sickle." Why? Well, if you are a farmer, you know why. Once the fruit is ripe and you leave it there, it's going to rot. The rain comes upon it, it's going to rot. Or you leave it there and the birds will eat it. They also know how to enjoy ripe grain. Or the animals will come and eat it. Of course, immediately you put in the sickle, you harvest it into eternal life. And so we long — press on.
Now, this is maturity. This is not to say that any Christian becomes perfect in this life. Paul says in Philippians 3, "Those who are mature will think the same way as I do." He doesn't mean those who are sinlessly perfect. We don't become sinlessly perfect in this life. But maturity comes from a total consecration to Christ. A total commitment to Christ that produces the fruit of the Spirit. And again I say, by total commitment in the Bible is not meant that you have become a full-time servant of God. I don't know how many times I have to say that. It doesn't mean that you become a preacher. It doesn't mean you become a Bible teacher necessarily. Every one of us is commanded to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength" — every person in Israel. But it didn't mean that because they loved God with all their heart and mind and strength that they all became preachers. It is the quality of the life that you live that matters. A total commitment is the quality of your life. That's how you're going to produce the fruit.
So I beg of you to understand, for the sake of your salvation, for the sake of your eternal well-being — don't just receive the word of God. Thanks be to God that you have received it. Don't be just content to see some transformation in your life. Thanks be to God for that little transformation. But press on towards the mark. Or as Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 1 and 2, "Perfect holiness in the fear of God." Do you have to fear God? Yes. Perfect holiness. Or again in Philippians chapter 2, verse 12, "Work out your salvation which he works in you." Notice the dynamic grace. That grace that inspires you to work out your salvation.
So we can see that although this parable seems to be so simple, so small, almost insignificant — how important is the lesson the Lord teaches us in this parable. It is the lesson, let me say so as we close now, as we sum up. It is the lesson of this: that God's grace is the free gift of life to you. You don't earn it. But you have the responsibility to see that this free gift has a transforming effect and produces the fruit. Because unless you produce the fruit, you will find no place in the kingdom of God for you. That is the biblical teaching, not my teaching.
The Lord Jesus, for fear that you and I don't understand this point, has emphasized it by a whole series of parables. But today we are so ignorant, because few people ever study the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Most preachers like to select their own favorite verse, and they preach every Sunday on this handful of favorite verses, instead of preaching the whole counsel of God's word. Do you know the teaching of the Lord Jesus? Do you know Luke chapter 13, verses 6 to 9, for example? Read it when you go home. Luke 13:6 to 9. The parable of the barren fig tree. Do you know what happened to the fig tree that was barren? Read the parable. It got cut down. Was it a fig tree? Yes. But because it didn't produce fruit — was it planted? Sure it was planted. Did it have life? Yes. But because it did not produce fruit — cut down.
John chapter 15. You all think you know John 15, verse 1. Doesn't the Lord Jesus say, the branch that does not bring forth fruit — what happens to it? It is cut off. And as though that point is not understood well enough, it is thrown into the fire. It's the Lord's words, not my words. What it means, I leave it to you to think. The branch that does not bear fruit is cut off and thrown into fire. Well also, Matthew chapter 21, verses 33 to 43. The parable of the tenants, the wicked tenants, who did not produce fruit, who did not hand over their fruit. And what is the concluding word of that parable, you know? "Therefore," the Lord Jesus says to the sons of God — the children of Israel, who are also called sons of God in the Old Testament, you know, remember — he says to them, to Israel: "To Israel, because you did not produce the fruit, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that produces the fruit of it." Will be taken away from you, sons of God, children of Israel, the chosen people, the people of the covenant, and given to another people that produces the fruit. That's why we have a new covenant. Are our ears deaf? Are our eyes closed to the scripture? Draw your own conclusions. Do you understand what he is saying?
That is why, in speaking of the parable of the sower, the Lord concluded with those remarkable words: "He that has ears to hear, let him hear." He seemed to know that many people would hear and not understand. God help us to see. To press on towards maturity. To press on to fullness in Christ.
Being a Christian means to be changed. Do you know that? Nobody is saved who isn't changed. That's what the Bible says. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18: "We are being changed. We are being changed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory, by the Spirit of the Lord." That's what Christianity is about. Changed — from glory to glory, into the image of his dear Son. That's why he says, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the new man, created in the image of him that created it." Isn't that wonderful? That's what the Christian life is concerned about.
So I would like nobody in this church to sit back and say, "I am saved now. My seat is reserved for me. I can relax." Listen to Mark chapter 4, this parable of the Lord. He warns us that the harvest takes place only in relation to those who bring forth the fruit. These will be harvested into the kingdom of God. May God grant you ears to hear and to understand.
Let us be quiet before God in prayer.