Sixth Meeting
(February 5, 1964 P.M.)
We are
going to read the Word of God in the Gospel by Matthew,
chapter thirteen, verses one to seventeen:
"The same day went Jesus out of the house, and
sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered
together unto Him, so that He went into a ship, and sat;
and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And He spake
many things unto them in parables, saying, 'Behold, a
sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds
fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured
them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not
much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they
had no deepness of earth: and when the
sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no
root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and
the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but others fell
into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an
hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath
ears to hear, let him hear.'
And
the disciples came, and said unto Him, 'Why speakest Thou
unto them in parables?' He answered and said unto them,
'Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore
speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not;
and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias,
which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not
perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and
their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and
I should heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, for they
see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto
you, 'That many prophets and righteous men have desired
to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them;
and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not
heard them.'"
And then
verses fifty-one and fifty-two:
"Jesus
saith unto them, 'Have ye understood all these things?'
They said unto Him, 'Yea, Lord.' Then said He unto them,
'Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that
is an householder, which bringeth forth out of
his treasure things new and old.'"
For some
weeks before I knew that I was coming to Manila, the Lord
was speaking to me about a certain matter. And then when
I knew that I was coming, the Lord indicated that that
was the matter about which He wanted me to speak to you.
I feel that it is the most important matter in the
Christian life. I hope that you will take note of that
statement. What is the most important thing in the life
of a Christian? It is: "SPIRITUAL
UNDERSTANDING." I do not think that there is
anything more important for us than spiritual
understanding. Perhaps you noticed that that is the
matter around which this thirteenth chapter of the Book
of Matthew circles. Everything centers in and focuses
upon this matter of SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING!
The Lord
Jesus is here speaking about the Kingdom of God. That is
the great subject with which He was occupied. It is the
all inclusive matter, the Kingdom of God. Everything is
gathered into this matter of the Kingdom of God. We must
understand that the Kingdom of God is an eternal matter.
It goes right back into the past eternity. It comes
through all the ages of time; and then it is completed in the
eternity which is to come. And all that we have in the Bible
is gathered into this one matter: the Kingdom of God. The
Kingdom of God is God's Sovereign Rule. The Government of
God is over all things in the universe, and especially in
this world. That Kingdom was given by the Father to His
Son as the Son's inheritance. In the beginning of the
Letter to the Hebrews, we have these words about God's
Son. It says, "Whom He appointed heir of all
things." That must have taken place before this
world was created. God, the Father, appointed His Son
heir of all things. In other words, He gave to the Son
the Kingdom. God's Kingdom is God's Son's eternal right.
The Son of God is appointed to reign over all things.
The next
thing that is revealed to us in Scripture is that man was
created in order to be a joint heir with Jesus Christ in
the Kingdom of God. God created man in order that man
should reign together with His Son. Again, in the same
letter to the Hebrews, the question is taken up: "What
is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" "Thou
madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy
hands." "Thou hast put all things under His
feet." So we have these three things to begin
with; (1) God the Father over all things. The Kingdom
belongs to God, the Divine rule over all things. (2) The
Son is given a place beside the Father in the Throne. The
Father says to the Son, "Sit Thou on My right hand,
until I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy
feet." (3) And then man is created in order to share
the Kingdom with the Son. Those are the first three
things, the first three things in the Bible.
Then we
begin again. The next thing is that man handed over that
Kingdom to Satan. Man gave his inheritance into the hands
of the devil. So that Satan became the prince of this
world. And the Kingdom of this world was taken away from
God's Son. There was this other usurper who came into the place
of the Son of God. The Apostle John says, "the
whole world lieth in the wicked one" (1 John
5:19b). That is number (4).
Now
number (5). The Son cannot be eternally deprived of His
inheritance, but He has to come to win it back again. So the
Son of God left the Father's side and came down into this
world. He came to redeem the Kingdom unto Himself and
unto His Father. The Son of God was manifested to destroy
the works of the devil. So He came to preach the Kingdom
of God, and to redeem the Kingdom unto Himself and unto
God, and to redeem man as the instrument of the Son for
reigning with Him in the Kingdom. So that in and through
Christ Jesus, we are called back into the eternal
Kingdom, into the Kingdom of God.
Now you
notice that this Gospel by Matthew is all about the
Kingdom of God. And this chapter thirteen is a particular
chapter in relation to the Kingdom of God. But we
come back to where we began. The Kingdom of God can be
lost because of one thing. We may miss our inheritance in
Christ because of one thing. We may miss our inheritance in Christ because of one thing. All that the wonderful eternal kingdom means may be missed because of this one thing. The Lord Jesus focuses the whole of the Kingdom of God
upon this matter of SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. And
He proceeds to illustrate this matter of
spiritual understanding with these parables. He makes this
matter of spiritual understanding the most terrible thing
on the one side. He says if you have not got
spiritual understanding, you may miss it all. And He says
on the other side, if you have spiritual understanding,
that is the way into the Kingdom. So we come to this
parable, as it is called, of the sower. It is a simple
explanation of the meaning of spiritual understanding.
Now the
Lord Jesus gave that parable to a great multitude of
people. They were perhaps all Jews, that is, they had all
the history of the Old Testament behind them. They knew
all that the Old Testament contained. They knew all that
Moses had written. They knew all that the prophets had
spoken and written. They had that wonderful possession of
the Old Testament. And yet the Lord Jesus spoke to them
about the Kingdom, just like little children. In a sense,
any little child can understand the parable of the sower.
It is a very pretty little story for children: 'A sower
went forth to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell by
the way side; and some seeds fell on the rocky ground;
and some seeds fell among thorns; and then some
fell on the good ground.' Who cannot understand that? If
Jesus had said to the multitude, 'Do you understand?'
they would have said, 'Of course we understand.' What do you
understand? Well, the sower went forth to sow, and this
is what happened to his seeds. But Jesus said, 'You don't understand at all. You don't understand a little
child's story.' And even the disciples didn't
understand. Think of the disciples of Jesus not
understanding that!
If I
were to ask anybody here tonight, if they understood the
parable of the sower, they would say, 'Of course we
understand.' Anybody could understand a sower going forth
to sow. Really that doesn't want much understanding, you can see it every day. But even the disciples of Jesus did not understand. And
they came to Him and they said, "Explain to us the
parable of the sower." What they really meant was,
'You mean something more than You are saying. There is
something behind Your story, and we don't get what it
is. Now will You explain it to us?' So He gave them an
explanation. Then He asks them, "Have you
understood?" "Oh, yes, we understand." But it is quite
evident that for the rest of their life until Jesus was
crucified, they did not understand. They were among that
great crowd of people who live today, who think they
understand the truth, but they do not. They have got all
the words of Christian teaching. They have got all the
doctrines of the New Testament. They have got the Book
itself, and the Book is well in their heads. They can
quote the Scripture from anywhere and still they have not
spiritual understanding. That is possible, dear friends.
It is possible to have all the teaching without having
the understanding. And all the trouble in
Christianity today is because of this absence of
spiritual understanding.
Now, I am
not going to spend time on all the details of this
parable. You know what the Lord Jesus said about the seed
and the various results. But before we come to those details,
let us note one of two general truths.
First of
all, the sower is the Lord Jesus Himself. It is from the
Lord Himself that the Word must come. What we receive of
the Word of God must come to us directly from the Lord
Jesus. So it is said, the sower is the Son of God. What
is the seed? Now note, Jesus calls it the Word of the
Kingdom. If any man receives or when a man receives the
Word of the Kingdom, the Word of the Lord Jesus is
intended to bring us into the Kingdom. That is the all
inclusive purpose of the Word of God. Not that we should
know the Bible, although it is a very good thing to know
the Bible. Not that we should commit the Bible to memory,
and have it all in our heads. That is a very good thing, but God's object is that the Word of God should bring us
into the Kingdom.
Now
notice the different kinds of ground upon which the Word
fell. How many kinds of ground are there here? I know what you would say, you would say there are four kinds of ground. Is that what you'd say? Not many of you are nodding your heads, you're afraid of something! You're afraid that I'm going to catch you out, and if you say there are four, I'm going to say you're wrong! There are six. We will come to that presently. We will say for the moment there are four, or there are six.
These different kinds of ground represent different kinds
of people.
Now I
want you to notice this: The same Lord comes with the
same Word to every kind of person. The Lord Jesus knew
that some people would be like the way-side ground, but
He did not say, 'Oh, I know they are no good; I am
not going to give them My Word. I know quite well that
they will not bear much fruit, so I shall not waste My
Word on them. Leave them where they are.' And, then, what
about these rocky ground people? Well, I know quite well
how they will respond. I know that of course, that they will
be very pleased to have it. They say, 'Oh, this is very
good. I see that I am going to get something from this.'
And then after a little while, things begin to get
difficult, persecution and suffering arises and they are
not interested in it any longer. That is the end of them. Jesus
knew all about them before He started. But He did not
say, 'I'll just be wasting My time, if I give them My Word. I
will leave them alone.' And what about these thorny
ground people? Well, they're the people who are very
much occupied with the business of this world, commercialism
is their great concern, how to make the most money and
how to make it quickly. Their business is everything to
them, and then their profession is taking up all their
time. And others, well they are altogether concerned about
the pleasures of this life. 'I know quite well that their
business and their profession and their pleasures will
just choke the Word if I give it to them. So I don't waste My
time on them.' Jesus never said anything like that. And
He did not say, 'Now I know that this is good ground. I
will concentrate all My attention upon these. I know that
they will give Me what I want, so they are the only
people that I am interested in.' No, He never said anything
like that.
Jesus
brought His Word and brings His Word to all kinds of
people. Why does He do that? Now all you business men
here tonight would not do that. And you very spiritual
people would not do that. You would say, 'That is not
common sense. That is not good business. It is not
good judgment to do that. Let us concentrate only upon
what we are sure of. It is bad business to take any
notice of those other unreliable people.' But you see the
sense of Jesus is different from our sense. And that is
where SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING comes in, as
different from natural understanding.
Why did
Jesus do this thing which the men of the world would call
foolish? He did it for one reason. He puts the
responsibility for His Word upon everybody. The reaction
to the Word of God is our responsibility when once He has
given it. When once the Lord has brought to us His Word,
He has put the responsibility away from Himself onto us.
He says to the way-side man, 'You can have just as much
as the good ground man if you like.' He says to the rocky
ground man, 'This Word of Mine can do in you just as much
as it can do in anybody else.' He says to the thorny
ground people, 'My Word is just as powerful for you as it
is for anybody.'
Now what
would you really say if God's Son had come into this
world only to save the good people, those people of fine
character, those people who had everything in themselves?
And if He had left everybody else aside, I know what you
would say. You would say, "That is not fair; that is not
righteous. Here am I a poor kind of creature. My makeup
is of the poor kind. I am just like a way-side creature.
My heart is a very stony ground heart. I know that I have
a great love for this world. Does that mean that I have
no chance to get into the Kingdom?" It would not be right,
would it?
So Jesus
comes with His Word and He says, 'This Word has in it the same
power for all kinds of people.' What you are naturally is
not the point. Now He comes to the point. Do you notice
one word that repeatedly occurs in these parables? It is
the word: "HEART." Heart, a good heart,
IT IS A MATTER OF THE HEART, it is not a matter of your
poor kind of humanity. It is altogether a matter of
where your heart is. Have you got a heart for the Lord?
Have you got a heart for the Kingdom of God? Really, is this
a heart matter? The Lord says that if you really have
a heart, that is going to mean SPIRITUAL
UNDERSTANDING. So He takes this terrible
passage from the prophecies of Isaiah, which saith,
"By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise
perceive; for this people's heart is waxed gross, and
their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have
closed." The prophet had given the Word of God to
these people. The Word of God was read in their hearing
every day and every week. But they had not got a heart
for the Word of God. They did not respond from their
heart. So the Lord brought a judgment upon them. He
says, 'You have closed your eyes; I will close them. You
have closed your ears; I will close them. When you want
to see, you will not be able to see. When you want to
hear, you will not be able to hear. I will take away from
you the power of spiritual understanding.' There is a
warning for us here. I am afraid we sometimes do meet
Christians like this.
May I
say this very solemn word to some young Christians? It
may be that you have been brought up in a Christian home.
You know what your parents have taught you about the
Lord. It may be that you have been taken to the meetings;
perhaps you were in Sunday school. You know all about it.
Yes, you know about the Lord Jesus. You know what is in
the Bible. But you are not going on with the Lord.
Perhaps you are breaking the heart of your parents. You
are not just rejoicing in the Word of God. You are not
really a living Christian, taking your place amongst the
people of God, coming to the help of the Lord against the
mighty evil forces. If you are a Christian at all, you
are only a Christian in name. Something happens to you,
or something is happening to you, that which you had is
being taken away. You are losing the power of spiritual
understanding. You are losing the power of spiritual
sight and spiritual hearing. You see all that is going on
amongst the Lord's people, but it does not interest you
very much. You can hear all that is said in the meeting, or
in the home, but it does not matter to you.
There
are a lot of young Christians like that. And this very thing is
happening to them. They are in danger of losing all SPIRITUAL
UNDERSTANDING and, therefore, of losing all
the wonderful meaning of the Kingdom of God, of sharing
the Kingdom with God's Son, of reigning together with Him
in glory. You are in danger of missing it. Spiritual
understanding is the necessity. And SPIRITUAL
UNDERSTANDING COMES FROM HAVING A HEART FOR THE LORD. Not
being way-side Christians, people who really do not have
a mind for the Lord. Here comes the Word with all its
mighty possibilities, but because you have not got a mind for
the Lord, it means nothing.
Or you
may be of the rocky ground kind; superficial nature, living
only on the surface of things, showing that that is true by a
quick response. Oh, it's a lovely thing to see young
people make a quick response to the Lord, but if you have
lived as long as I have, you will know that many of those
who jump at it very quickly and say, 'Oh, here is
something for me', do not last very long. They come to
see that the Kingdom of God is not just for their
blessing, but for the Lord's glory. You see, there is a
wrong idea of Christianity, that it is something all for
our good, so we want the blessing, we want the good. We
say like Peter said at one time, 'not my feet only, but my
head and my hands.' He said that because he wanted
everything that he could get for himself. Later on, he came to
see that everything was to be for the Lord. And he did
not lose anything when he came to see that. When his
heart was changed, and he now had a heart only for the
Lord, then he came into the fullness of the
Kingdom.
Oh, what
about the thorny ground? These are the people that have
all these wonderful occupations in this life, business
and profession and pleasure. And these things take first
place with them. Their hearts are divided hearts. A bit
of their heart wants the Lord, but the larger bit wants
this world. Their heart is not wholly set upon the Lord.
They are in danger of missing the Kingdom. It is not
until the Lord has our whole heart that we come into the
real meaning of the Kingdom. Paul prayed for the
believers of Ephesus, that the Lord would give them a
spirit of wisdom and revelation; that the eyes of their
heart might be enlightened. What is your reaction to the
Lord? Is it really a whole hearted reaction?
Now I have five minutes and I am
coming back to that disputed point on how many different
kinds of ground there are. You said four: way-side, the
rocky, the thorny, and the good. Is that all? But what
about the three different kinds of good ground? The Lord says
that even the good ground brought forth, some a hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty. So that even good
ground can be different. It can produce three different
degrees of the Kingdom. We can leave the hundredfold
people. That is quite all right. But what about the sixty
and the thirty? There must be something wrong even with
the good people. Why are not all the good people a
hundredfold?
Oh, yes,
there are people whose good hearts are not rebellious to the
Lord. They are not the people who say, 'I will not have
the Lord's Words.' They make a response to the Lord, and it
comes from their hearts. But some good people have
reservations. Some very good people say, 'Now if I go all
out for the Lord, you know what my friends will think of
me? Do you know what the people in my church would say about
me? And you know, perhaps my position in business will
be interfered with. I must be very careful. I must not
lose my influence with others. I must think about what
other people will think and say. Now, my committee expects
this of me. If I really go all out for the Lord, my
committee will be very angry. Perhaps they will ask me to
resign.' Do you see what I mean? Very good people, but they
are influenced by policy.
I was
talking to a man once, and as I talked to him, he saw
what I was meaning. And when I was finished, this is what he
said. 'Yes, Mr. Sparks, you are quite right. I quite
agree with you. But if I was to go the way that you are
going, I should offend all my friends. And in my work for
the Lord, people would begin to withdraw their support with
money. So I must think about my people and about the
Lord's work.' Very good people, very devoted to
the Lord. There is no doubt about it that they love the
Lord, but you see these reservations. It says about Caleb of
the Old Testament, that he had another spirit, and he
wholly followed the Lord. He, with one other man, Joshua,
of that whole generation came into the Kingdom. That is
what we mean by SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.
I say to
you: HAVE YOU UNDERSTOOD ALL THESE THINGS? I have
much more to say to you about spiritual understanding.
But, oh, how important it is that I should have eyes to
see, to see behind the things that are said and done, and
see the meaning of the Lord. These people only heard His
Words, and saw His works, but they did not understand the
meaning. And they lost so much. Ask the Lord to give
you spiritual understanding. And if you
don't understand, don't say, 'I don't understand.' Go
to the Lord and say, 'Lord, make me understand. Open the eyes of my heart.' That will show
that you mean business with the Lord, and if you mean
business with the Lord, the Lord will mean business with
you.