Reid, Doug: Fruit With Patience Luke 8

Now, will you turn with me, please, to the Gospel according to Luke and chapter eight, please. Gospel according to Luke and chapter eight and verse four. And when much people were gathered together and were come to him, that is, unto the Lord Jesus, out of every city. He spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. Some of the gospels use the phrase stony places or stony ground. Verse seven: and some fell among thorns, the thorns sprang up with, with it and choked. Another fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit and hunted pole. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. His disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear. Then cometh the devil. I noticed that in Matthew's gospel it says they hear and he understands it not. Then cometh the devil and taketh away the word of God out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy. These have no root, which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. That which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring forth no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, Matthew says, and understandeth it, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. May the Lord add his richest blessing to the public reading of his word with that which we have already listened to. Now, I suppose that the most of us here are quite familiar with the parable of our Lord here. It appears in the gospel. It has to do with the receptivity of the word of God and response to it, or lack of response to it, as we see in three cases out of the four. Now, as verse twelve tells us that it mainly has to do with the gospel and the response thereto that souls might be saved. I want as well to at least apply it this afternoon to the salvation of a life, recovery of lives of those that are wandering as well. But our subject has to do with the receptivity of the word and response thereto. I wish especially to just meditate for a few minutes on the last three words of our reading. Fruit with patience. And, uh, our Spanish Bible says, fruit with perseverance. And, uh, this afternoon I would like to leave a little word of encouragement to some of the dear people of God, first of all, who have loved ones that you've been seeking to reach with the gospel and see them saved. And they've been hearing the word. The sowed, the, the seed of the word has been sown in their minds and in their hearts, and as yet they haven't responded, they're not saved, and there's a burden upon their heart. Wives that have accepted Christ as their Savior, earnestly desiring now for months, perhaps for years, the salvation of a husband, not yet saved. Heavy burden. It seems like the heart is hard. It seems there's an indifference there. Perhaps it's the other way around, perhaps it's a wife not saved. Some that have heard the gospel as children. You are parents are concerned and burdened about them. Maybe a son or a daughter out in the world, and you wonder, is my boy, is my daughter, are they going to be in hell? It's a concern. It's a burden upon the heart. Perhaps it's a brother or a sister. Perhaps it may be one who has recently reached with the gospel. Maybe it's a father, your mother and your father, and your brothers and sisters, not yet saved. I want to speak a little word of encouragement to you this afternoon. I want to think as well of parents, and, uh, perhaps the, perhaps your children have professed faith in Christ. Perhaps they may be even baptized. Perhaps they've taken their place in the assembly, and they're not going on for God as they once were. They're getting away, and perhaps you've spoken to them, you invite them along to the meetings, and the word of God is not being received. They're not responding to it, as you'd like to see. Wandering Christians needing restoration. And of course, whether it's salvation or whether it's restoration, it comes through the word of God, of course, and response to it, as the seed of the word of God is again sown in their minds and in their hearts. I want to think a little as well of elders who have the burden of the assembly, and it's not, uh, perhaps the fruit in the gospel, that may be so. I was thinking of fruit in the assembly as God's husbandry. Desire for a fruitful assembly. And we know that we're living in a day of departure and deterioration. It is upon your heart that the word of God should be bearing more fruit and have greater effect in the assembly of God. And you have a burdened heart too, as far as the assembly, God's husbandry, being fruitful. And finally, I want to think a little of some of our pioneer evangelists. They're taking the gospel, and I'm glad we're going to hear a little about that tonight on the home sphere. Remember, remember the only missionaries aren't just foreign missionaries. The home missionaries are every bit as important, and they should every bit be upon our hearts. But you know, it can be discouraging, taking the gospel into new areas, visiting from house to house, and speaking, uh, seeking to sow the word of the wor- the word of God. And, uh, oftentimes the ground seems hard, and the response seems very little. I want to speak a little word to encourage your heart this afternoon as well. Now, fruit with patience, fruit with perseverance. Let's just consider for a few moments the, uh, various types of soil here that are mentioned. First of all, the, the wayside hearer. And the result is that there has been a treading down, and the hearer has become hardened. Whether it be in those that are saved or those that are not saved, of course, which is the primary application here, but, uh, where they got to, they were too near to the highway. The ground was too near to the broad way, where there was a lot of heavy traffic, people going along, walking over the ground, the ground got hard. When the seed was sown, it stayed on the surface and then got trodden down some more, and the birds took it away. Now, we know that people, when they get into the world, we know that there is a hardening influence upon the heart. So there's the hardened hearer, the hard ground. And, uh, perhaps as you, uh, think of, uh, your children outside of Christ that are getting away, or perhaps ones that have professed faith and they're not going on, perhaps this is the problem. Perhaps they'd be getting too near the broad way, too much under the influence of the, those that are trafficked in the broad way, and it has had its influence in hardening them against the word of God. Then we find the stony ground. And uh, he tell- the Lord speaks of these who have no, uh, no root. There's no depth of conviction, no response to the word of God. There, there is, oh, pardon me, I should say there is a response, there is a recognition, there is a certain recognition there, and even a joy, but there isn't a real depth of conviction. And so the result is that up to the moment, the response to the word of God i- is, uh, is negative. And he says that this lack of depth of conviction is because there's too many stones, and also because there's too little moisture. Now, the third type of ground is the one that is given over to weeds, to thorns. And when the word of God, uh, is sown in the mind and in the heart, the cares of the world, riches, pleasures of this life, it springs up, it chokes out the effect of the word of God, and it does not bring forth truth unto perfection. Well, now then, we have the good ground, and the good ground, when the seed is sown, it produces. They receive in a good and honest heart, they understand it, they keep it, and they bring forth fruit, and this attracted my attention, fruit with patience, fruit with perseverance. Now, uh, I just want to leave a very simple thought with you, not very profound, just very simple. But I want to, us to ask ourselves, bearing in mind what is the burden of the message, in seeing a responsiveness in our unsaved loved ones, uh, and a response in the saved loved ones that aren't going on as well as they they should. A response to elders in the assembly, response to the pioneer who's seeking to preach the gospel in hard places. I want to ask the question, what is the difference between these three unproductive types of ground, and the good ground that produces fruit. Would you allow me to suggest to you the difference between the two types of ground, the rocky ground, the s- the rather the hardened ground, the stony ground lacking moisture, and the ground given over to weeds and thorns, the difference between that and the good ground that is productive is preparation, it's cultivation, and it's irrigation. I just want you to think that over. The difference between this unproductive ground and the good ground is preparation, it's cultivation, and it's irrigation. Now, we have seen farmland that is planted right up near the road, and it has become trodden down, and has become hardened. But you know, you can put up a fence, and you can get out the plow, and you can seek to see some of that hardened ground softened, broken down, and softened up again. And seed can be sown, and it can bring forth fruit. And as I think of the stony ground, I recall an area that we passed through when we're traveling to the western coast of Costa Rica, and there are large, large areas, and uh, they're cultivated fields, and they're surrounded, as farmland often is, with fences, but they're n- they're very unusual fences. These fences aren't made of fence posts and barbed wire. These fence are, are really, they're really walls. And the walls are made up of hundreds of thousands of stones. And you know where they got the stones to put on, to put around the fields? They got them off the land. The land was stony ground, too stony to produce. When the seed would land on, it would land on the stony ground. And so that was the land that was at the disposal. That was the land that they wanted to see bear fruit. So very carefully, they stooped down and they began to load the, load the stones into a cart and to take them away to the side of the field, and they build up the s- they built up the walls, and they left the ground free of stones, and then they irrigated it, and they, uh, sowed the seed anew, and it sprang up, and it bore fruit. Now there's a third ground, is the ground that's given over to weeds and given over to thorns. Well, if it's given over to weeds and thorns, can't we get a little herbicide, if you like? Or can't we get down on our knees and try to get some of those weeds and thorns out? And make the ground into ground that will be receptive to the word of God. Now, I, I hope I can encourage some of you that with a, are with a burdened heart tonight or this afternoon concerning loved ones who are not responding as they should to the word of God. They seem that their hearts have become hardened. There seems to be an indifference. There seems to be a lack of conviction concerning the gospel or concerning the things of God. It seems that they're getting away and they're up too occupied with the cares of this world and with its riches and with its pleasures and other things. I want to say, dear brethren and sisters, let us be encouraged. Let us seek by the grace of God to get down and see if we can't repair the soil again and cultivate it again and get rid of the stones and get rid of the rocks and to seek to go again and to sow the word of God. You know, I was thinking as I was meditating upon this with the, I was thinking of, of Elijah in the first book of Kings, chapter eight and how that there the ground was dried and it was parched. It had been three and a half years, a long time, it had been unproductive. But you know, I read there that Elijah prayed again. Elijah prayed again. Are we discouraged and cast down because the word of God hasn't been productive in the hearts of these souls that are upon our hearts? Well, let us, brethren, let us pray again, and let us seek to remove the obstacles. And, uh, as, uh, we read there concerning in First Kings chapter eighteen concerning the servant Elijah said, for he was to go, and when he went, he s- came back with the news. He says, there's nothing. But he said, go again, go again. And he says, uh, go again seven times. Don't give up. Keep on going. And so I want to suggest, dear brethren and sisters, about that hard ground, and uh, that seems so unresponsive, and it seems when the message is given that it is just sloughed off, and and well, we read there that they they don't understand. Really, they don't. If they really understood, they would flee to Christ tonight. And if those that are saved really understood, and they're away from God, and if they understood that they're really wasting their lives, they're losing out so much in view of the coming kingdom and glory, that which is going to come out of the judgment seat of Christ. It's the fact that they don't understand. So let's seek to see the ground softened again. Can we seek to show a little more love and a little more kindness? Others have trodden down the soil, and the world has come in, and it's made them hard. I wonder, can we show them a little more love, a little more kindness, and seek to see the soil broken up again? And if they don't understand, I wonder if perhaps we can seek to get on our faces before God and to take the word of God afresh to them and seek to explain the word of God that they might understand. Go again, pray again, go again. May the fruit the, and may the result be that the, uh, unproductive ground will become good ground, and it will be, will see fruit with per- patience, with perseverance. I think about the stony ground, well, perhaps we can't do much about the stony ground where the stones are hurled into the field by those that are not saved. Maybe we can't do too much about that, but, uh, I trust we're not hurling the stones into the, into the ground. Mm. I trust the, uh, we're not throwing stones at them. You know, when you throw the stones at them, why then, uh, then it falls and it becomes an impediment to their hearing. I trust we're not throwing stones at the Christians. And the stone may be that, may be that word of criticism against the children of God, uh, it falls into their minds, falls into their hearts, becomes a stumbling block and a hindrance. I trust we're not throwing stones at the assembly of God and turning our children, those that profess to be saved, turning them against God's gathering center. I trust we're not hurling stones against the elders. It'll be an impediment to the pro- to pro- pro- productivity of the word of God in their hearts. But if stones have been thrown, and if injury has been done, and an impediment to the word of God has been there, I trust we'll have the grace to be honest and to maybe stoop down and pick up some of those stones. It'll take a lot of tact. It'll take honesty. But let's try to see if we can't, with the help of God, stoop down and take away some of those stones and some of those obstacles. What about the lack of moisture? Better to shed a few tears now, but after they've died and left not a ray of hope. Better to see a- see a few, shed a few tears now, provide the moisture, than to see them waste their lives, even though they have professed to be saved. Water, the moisture, the water of the word, the water of our prayers, the water of our tears, and perhaps we'll be able to see that stony ground turned into good ground that will bring forth fruit with patience. And the weeds, the thorns, the cares of this world, if the cares of the world are too great, maybe we can lead a meet a helping hand. Maybe we can help to alleviate some of those cares. And maybe with a little tact and a little spiritual herbicide, we can get them away and wean them away from the, the ideal or the idol of riches and the world's pleasure. It'll take tact. Perhaps we'll need to get down on our knees to do the weeding, but, uh, it'll be worthwhile if we can see the unproductive ground cultivated, and the stones removed, and the hardness taken away, and the weeds taken away, and the seeds sown and watered again with our prayers, that the Lord might give us to see in the hearts of these dear ones that are so much upon our heart, that up to the moment have seen not- have seemed unresponsive, whether in salvation or whether in in going on for God, we might see them, see the word of God sown afresh. I leave the word with you, brethren, though the ground be hard and dry, Elias prayed again, pray again, and go again, and sow again. Lord, help us. The Lord help you that we might see fruit with patience, fruit with perseverance. The Lord blesses word.