1 00:00:01,716 --> 00:00:05,673 Well, Paul says in Philippians 2, 2 00:00:05,673 --> 00:00:09,321 "work out your salvation 3 00:00:09,321 --> 00:00:12,762 with fear and trembling. 4 00:00:12,762 --> 00:00:15,881 For it is God who works in you, 5 00:00:15,881 --> 00:00:19,065 both to will and to work (or to do) 6 00:00:19,065 --> 00:00:21,795 of His good pleasure." 7 00:00:21,795 --> 00:00:24,147 And so, on the one hand, he says to us 8 00:00:24,147 --> 00:00:27,063 work out our salvation. 9 00:00:27,063 --> 00:00:28,445 On the other hand, he says 10 00:00:28,445 --> 00:00:30,662 God is working in you 11 00:00:30,662 --> 00:00:33,042 to cause you to want to do what's right 12 00:00:33,042 --> 00:00:36,949 and to enable you to do what's right. 13 00:00:36,949 --> 00:00:40,322 So which is it? 14 00:00:40,322 --> 00:00:42,296 Is it man's responsibility 15 00:00:42,296 --> 00:00:45,506 or is it God working in us? 16 00:00:45,506 --> 00:00:47,705 And it's both, isn't it? 17 00:00:47,705 --> 00:00:49,626 And it's not like a yoke of oxen 18 00:00:49,626 --> 00:00:50,783 where you do your part 19 00:00:50,783 --> 00:00:54,060 and God does His part like this. 20 00:00:54,060 --> 00:00:56,467 But it's more like two cups 21 00:00:56,467 --> 00:00:59,364 that one fits inside the other one. 22 00:00:59,364 --> 00:01:02,437 And God is the one moving everything forward, 23 00:01:02,437 --> 00:01:07,260 but He does it through our willing and doing 24 00:01:07,260 --> 00:01:10,845 what He's worked in us to will and do. 25 00:01:10,845 --> 00:01:12,242 So we've heard this morning, 26 00:01:12,242 --> 00:01:15,304 a little bit of exhortation 27 00:01:15,304 --> 00:01:19,466 about the necessity for us 28 00:01:19,466 --> 00:01:22,741 to work out our salvation. 29 00:01:22,741 --> 00:01:25,881 And beloved, if you don't spend time in the Word, 30 00:01:25,881 --> 00:01:27,833 and you don't spend time in prayer, 31 00:01:27,833 --> 00:01:30,141 and you don't spend time with the people of God, 32 00:01:30,141 --> 00:01:32,469 you're not going to make it. 33 00:01:32,469 --> 00:01:33,641 But on the other hand, 34 00:01:33,641 --> 00:01:36,976 God is the one that works in us 35 00:01:36,976 --> 00:01:39,667 to cause us to want to open that Bible 36 00:01:39,667 --> 00:01:43,015 and to actually get it open. 37 00:01:43,015 --> 00:01:46,151 And so we're going to get both barrels today, I trust. 38 00:01:46,151 --> 00:01:49,503 The first one: those exhortations 39 00:01:49,503 --> 00:01:51,687 of our responsibility. 40 00:01:51,687 --> 00:01:54,127 But what we're going to look at this morning 41 00:01:54,127 --> 00:01:55,825 is a parable of the Lord Jesus 42 00:01:55,825 --> 00:01:58,374 where He emphasizes what's going on 43 00:01:58,374 --> 00:02:00,710 behind the scenes. 44 00:02:00,710 --> 00:02:12,602 And so let's turn to Mark 4. 45 00:02:12,602 --> 00:02:18,706 And we'll read four verses. 46 00:02:18,706 --> 00:02:23,596 Mark 4:26 47 00:02:23,596 --> 00:02:26,627 "And He was saying, 48 00:02:26,627 --> 00:02:30,993 'The Kingdom of God is like 49 00:02:30,993 --> 00:02:34,526 a man who casts seed upon the ground.'" 50 00:02:34,526 --> 00:02:36,596 Now, He's going to tell us something; 51 00:02:36,596 --> 00:02:39,928 a fact about spiritual reality 52 00:02:39,928 --> 00:02:42,739 of what the kingdom is like. 53 00:02:42,739 --> 00:02:44,803 "'The kingdom of God is like a man 54 00:02:44,803 --> 00:02:47,680 who casts seed upon the ground, 55 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,410 and goes to bed at night 56 00:02:49,410 --> 00:02:51,237 and gets up by day and the seed 57 00:02:51,237 --> 00:02:54,089 sprouts up and grows. 58 00:02:54,089 --> 00:02:57,856 How he himself does not know. 59 00:02:57,856 --> 00:03:01,354 The earth produces crops by itself. 60 00:03:01,354 --> 00:03:05,125 First the blade, then the head, 61 00:03:05,125 --> 00:03:08,848 then the mature grain in the head. 62 00:03:08,848 --> 00:03:10,572 But when the crop permits, 63 00:03:10,572 --> 00:03:13,226 he immediately puts in the sickle 64 00:03:13,226 --> 00:03:17,249 because the harvest has come.'" 65 00:03:17,249 --> 00:03:20,679 If you're a Christian here this morning, 66 00:03:20,679 --> 00:03:21,998 you already realize 67 00:03:21,998 --> 00:03:24,055 that the greatest Teacher who ever lived 68 00:03:24,055 --> 00:03:27,548 was the Lord Jesus Christ. 69 00:03:27,548 --> 00:03:32,404 His emphasis was never lopsided. 70 00:03:32,404 --> 00:03:35,732 He never had a bump on the tire. 71 00:03:35,732 --> 00:03:37,196 Everything that He said - 72 00:03:37,196 --> 00:03:38,882 His manner, His methods 73 00:03:38,882 --> 00:03:41,464 were always perfect. 74 00:03:41,464 --> 00:03:44,618 It says in John 3 that He whom God has sent 75 00:03:44,618 --> 00:03:47,876 speaks the very words of God, 76 00:03:47,876 --> 00:03:51,712 for He gives the Spirit without measure unto Him. 77 00:03:51,712 --> 00:03:54,674 So everything: perfect. 78 00:03:54,674 --> 00:03:56,385 Every response. 79 00:03:56,385 --> 00:03:59,708 Every emphasis. 80 00:03:59,708 --> 00:04:02,037 Every manner. Every method. 81 00:04:02,037 --> 00:04:03,792 And one of His favorite methods 82 00:04:03,792 --> 00:04:06,743 was the parable. 83 00:04:06,743 --> 00:04:08,400 There's a special beauty 84 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:10,216 and special wonder 85 00:04:10,216 --> 00:04:13,684 about these parables, isn't there? 86 00:04:13,684 --> 00:04:17,202 They're so earthy. 87 00:04:17,202 --> 00:04:21,273 I mean, seeds and farmers and what-have-you. 88 00:04:21,273 --> 00:04:23,450 And they're so heavenly. 89 00:04:23,450 --> 00:04:25,419 In four verses, the Lord Jesus 90 00:04:25,419 --> 00:04:28,870 can say more than all the wise men 91 00:04:28,870 --> 00:04:31,281 of the ages. 92 00:04:31,281 --> 00:04:36,170 And He often opened His mouth in parables. 93 00:04:36,170 --> 00:04:39,968 We read here a little later in v. 33-34, 94 00:04:39,968 --> 00:04:41,880 "with many such parables, He was 95 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,818 speaking the Word to them as they were 96 00:04:43,818 --> 00:04:45,750 able to hear it. 97 00:04:45,750 --> 00:04:47,277 And He was not speaking to them 98 00:04:47,277 --> 00:04:49,967 without parables. 99 00:04:49,967 --> 00:04:52,805 He was explaining everything privately 100 00:04:52,805 --> 00:04:55,145 to His own disciples." 101 00:04:55,145 --> 00:04:57,766 And in Matthew, we're told 102 00:04:57,766 --> 00:05:00,671 that one of the psalms alluded to this 103 00:05:00,671 --> 00:05:02,154 about the Messiah. 104 00:05:02,154 --> 00:05:06,218 It says, "I will open my mouth in parables. 105 00:05:06,218 --> 00:05:11,073 I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world." 106 00:05:11,073 --> 00:05:13,381 And so the Lord Jesus Christ 107 00:05:13,381 --> 00:05:16,319 was speaking in these parables 108 00:05:16,319 --> 00:05:18,593 things that nobody had ever heard; 109 00:05:18,593 --> 00:05:20,052 that had never been said 110 00:05:20,052 --> 00:05:21,715 since the foundation of the world. 111 00:05:21,715 --> 00:05:24,471 He said, "blessed are your ears," 112 00:05:24,471 --> 00:05:28,264 to hear such words as we've just read, 113 00:05:28,264 --> 00:05:31,775 because many prophets and righteous men - 114 00:05:31,775 --> 00:05:34,889 even kings - desired to hear the things 115 00:05:34,889 --> 00:05:36,087 that you hear. 116 00:05:36,087 --> 00:05:38,309 They didn't get to hear them. 117 00:05:38,309 --> 00:05:40,405 What a privilege we have 118 00:05:40,405 --> 00:05:43,439 to be able to even study this parable. 119 00:05:43,439 --> 00:05:44,856 He's telling us some things 120 00:05:44,856 --> 00:05:47,173 about the nature of the kingdom. 121 00:05:47,173 --> 00:05:49,638 Very different than the ideas 122 00:05:49,638 --> 00:05:51,876 that the Jews had at that time 123 00:05:51,876 --> 00:05:54,619 about the nature of the kingdom. 124 00:05:54,619 --> 00:05:58,456 And many of those parables are of that sort. 125 00:05:58,456 --> 00:06:03,595 But today, we want to look at this parable in Mark 4. 126 00:06:03,595 --> 00:06:06,655 And what a wonderful parable it is, 127 00:06:06,655 --> 00:06:08,249 and how thankful we should be 128 00:06:08,249 --> 00:06:11,081 for the truth that it contains. 129 00:06:11,081 --> 00:06:13,327 Before we begin, 130 00:06:13,327 --> 00:06:15,002 I just want to remind you again 131 00:06:15,002 --> 00:06:17,627 that these parables are 132 00:06:17,627 --> 00:06:21,986 speaking truth about invisible reality. 133 00:06:21,986 --> 00:06:23,888 They're telling us something about 134 00:06:23,888 --> 00:06:27,007 the nature of things in the kingdom. 135 00:06:27,007 --> 00:06:28,535 And so the Lord Jesus said, 136 00:06:28,535 --> 00:06:30,943 now there's a realm here that you can't see; 137 00:06:30,943 --> 00:06:33,220 that you can't understand. 138 00:06:33,220 --> 00:06:35,478 But I want to tell you something about it. 139 00:06:35,478 --> 00:06:36,706 This is what it's like - 140 00:06:36,706 --> 00:06:39,719 the kingdom of God is like this. 141 00:06:39,719 --> 00:06:43,272 It's like a man who casts seed on the ground, 142 00:06:43,272 --> 00:06:44,601 and goes to bed at night 143 00:06:44,601 --> 00:06:47,128 and gets up by day. 144 00:06:47,128 --> 00:06:48,672 Out of all the Gospels, 145 00:06:48,672 --> 00:06:50,152 only found here in Mark. 146 00:06:50,152 --> 00:06:51,688 It's kind of a buried treasure 147 00:06:51,688 --> 00:06:53,692 you come upon; you stumble upon it 148 00:06:53,692 --> 00:06:56,082 in the field as you're going through 149 00:06:56,082 --> 00:06:58,858 the Gospel of Mark. 150 00:06:58,858 --> 00:07:00,838 So the first question we should ask is 151 00:07:00,838 --> 00:07:03,492 what is the theme or overall subject 152 00:07:03,492 --> 00:07:05,927 of this parable? 153 00:07:05,927 --> 00:07:07,756 Before we get to the details, 154 00:07:07,756 --> 00:07:09,806 you say what's He talking about here? 155 00:07:09,806 --> 00:07:11,132 And I think the answer is 156 00:07:11,132 --> 00:07:13,614 He's talking about growth. 157 00:07:13,614 --> 00:07:15,772 V. 27 "He goes to bed at night, 158 00:07:15,772 --> 00:07:20,858 gets up by day, the seed sprouts up and grows." 159 00:07:20,858 --> 00:07:24,451 V. 28 "The earth produces crops by itself. 160 00:07:24,451 --> 00:07:27,050 First the blade, then the head, 161 00:07:27,050 --> 00:07:29,673 then the mature grain in the head." 162 00:07:29,673 --> 00:07:32,351 So we know right off, 163 00:07:32,351 --> 00:07:34,129 the Lord is unfolding to us 164 00:07:34,129 --> 00:07:36,882 some of the mysteries about growth 165 00:07:36,882 --> 00:07:40,595 in the kingdom; 166 00:07:40,595 --> 00:07:42,536 growth of the kingdom of God as a whole 167 00:07:42,536 --> 00:07:44,927 down through church history. 168 00:07:44,927 --> 00:07:47,755 He said this is the way it's going to be. 169 00:07:47,755 --> 00:07:50,365 And growth in our individual lives 170 00:07:50,365 --> 00:07:54,693 and in the lives of other Christians. 171 00:07:54,693 --> 00:07:56,011 This is the reality. 172 00:07:56,011 --> 00:08:00,372 He says this is the way it happens. 173 00:08:00,372 --> 00:08:02,453 So, with that in mind, 174 00:08:02,453 --> 00:08:03,789 let's look at the details. 175 00:08:03,789 --> 00:08:07,192 First of all, v. 26, He was saying, 176 00:08:07,192 --> 00:08:09,067 "the kingdom of God is like a man 177 00:08:09,067 --> 00:08:11,271 who casts seed upon the ground." 178 00:08:11,271 --> 00:08:14,877 So the first thing is the prerequisite of growth, 179 00:08:14,877 --> 00:08:16,907 which is planting. 180 00:08:16,907 --> 00:08:19,278 You can't have a crop; 181 00:08:19,278 --> 00:08:22,518 you can't have growth without planting. 182 00:08:22,518 --> 00:08:24,966 And that is a big emphasis, you remember, 183 00:08:24,966 --> 00:08:27,034 in the parables. 184 00:08:27,034 --> 00:08:30,160 It comes up again and again. 185 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:35,553 You have a man, a sower, sowing seed. 186 00:08:35,553 --> 00:08:37,786 And you have that picture; that illustration 187 00:08:37,786 --> 00:08:41,215 where the seed is the Word of God. 188 00:08:41,215 --> 00:08:43,460 And then you have this man who 189 00:08:43,460 --> 00:08:46,639 plants good seed in the field. 190 00:08:46,639 --> 00:08:48,936 And these plants come up. 191 00:08:48,936 --> 00:08:51,318 It has to do with God Himself planting. 192 00:08:51,318 --> 00:08:53,880 Ultimately, the man is God. 193 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:58,561 He represents God. 194 00:08:58,561 --> 00:09:02,160 And God is the one that plants 195 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,198 the seed in the ground of the Christian. 196 00:09:05,198 --> 00:09:06,845 You remember what Jesus said? 197 00:09:06,845 --> 00:09:08,862 Every plant that My Heavenly Father 198 00:09:08,862 --> 00:09:11,485 has not planted shall be rooted up. 199 00:09:11,485 --> 00:09:13,318 Isn't this a wonderful thing to think 200 00:09:13,318 --> 00:09:15,951 that God is in the business 201 00:09:15,951 --> 00:09:20,341 of planting good seed that springs up 202 00:09:20,341 --> 00:09:26,780 and becomes a wheat harvest? 203 00:09:26,780 --> 00:09:29,184 God does that. 204 00:09:29,184 --> 00:09:32,049 So the seeds are men sown by God; 205 00:09:32,049 --> 00:09:33,562 converts. 206 00:09:33,562 --> 00:09:35,641 But then if you go back a little further, 207 00:09:35,641 --> 00:09:39,215 Jesus uses this matter of the seed 208 00:09:39,215 --> 00:09:41,453 being the Word of God. 209 00:09:41,453 --> 00:09:43,021 And you have that aspect of it 210 00:09:43,021 --> 00:09:44,681 which has to do with, of course, 211 00:09:44,681 --> 00:09:46,824 this is the way God does save people. 212 00:09:46,824 --> 00:09:49,147 He plants people and saves people 213 00:09:49,147 --> 00:09:51,339 through us sowing the seed 214 00:09:51,339 --> 00:09:53,292 of the Word of God. 215 00:09:53,292 --> 00:09:54,945 And so both of these, I think, 216 00:09:54,945 --> 00:09:56,727 are involved here when He talks about 217 00:09:56,727 --> 00:09:58,990 growth in the kingdom. 218 00:09:58,990 --> 00:10:02,555 Remember, Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 says, 219 00:10:02,555 --> 00:10:04,515 "I planted." 220 00:10:04,515 --> 00:10:05,736 I planted. 221 00:10:05,736 --> 00:10:09,206 So God uses men to plant the seed of the Word. 222 00:10:09,206 --> 00:10:11,872 And He uses that seed to save people 223 00:10:11,872 --> 00:10:15,675 and plant true converts. 224 00:10:15,675 --> 00:10:20,044 So do we see ourselves as sowers 225 00:10:20,044 --> 00:10:22,563 planting seed? 226 00:10:22,563 --> 00:10:25,433 We have seed. 227 00:10:25,433 --> 00:10:28,696 We've been given the seed. 228 00:10:28,696 --> 00:10:29,801 And isn't it something? 229 00:10:29,801 --> 00:10:35,340 The seed looks so insignificant. 230 00:10:35,340 --> 00:10:38,792 Vance Havner said when he was young - 231 00:10:38,792 --> 00:10:41,878 I don't know; do they still do this? 232 00:10:41,878 --> 00:10:44,087 You get your garden seeds in a little package 233 00:10:44,087 --> 00:10:47,361 and it has a beautiful picture on there? 234 00:10:47,361 --> 00:10:52,189 And you know it's a promise of what could be. 235 00:10:52,189 --> 00:10:53,935 But you look inside - 236 00:10:53,935 --> 00:10:56,242 I mean, lettuce is really the one, 237 00:10:56,242 --> 00:10:57,592 when you look inside, 238 00:10:57,592 --> 00:10:59,688 it looks like you're planting pepper 239 00:10:59,688 --> 00:11:01,155 in the ground. 240 00:11:01,155 --> 00:11:03,131 It's like how can this possibly 241 00:11:03,131 --> 00:11:05,844 bring forth a crop? 242 00:11:05,844 --> 00:11:07,407 Well, you think of Paul standing 243 00:11:07,407 --> 00:11:11,777 on Mars Hill among the scoffers. 244 00:11:11,777 --> 00:11:13,670 This is what we are. 245 00:11:13,670 --> 00:11:16,533 We're in a heathen society 246 00:11:16,533 --> 00:11:18,543 that hates the Word, 247 00:11:18,543 --> 00:11:21,067 and it looks like those seeds are so small 248 00:11:21,067 --> 00:11:24,922 and there's a step of faith involved in that; 249 00:11:24,922 --> 00:11:29,176 in just planting that seed. 250 00:11:29,176 --> 00:11:33,380 The promise of what can be is on the cover, 251 00:11:33,380 --> 00:11:35,732 but it requires a step of faith. 252 00:11:35,732 --> 00:11:38,556 The giant sunflowers, you know, 253 00:11:38,556 --> 00:11:41,106 that is almost like a tree - 254 00:11:41,106 --> 00:11:45,142 that starts out from one seed. 255 00:11:45,142 --> 00:11:48,247 And so are we sowing? 256 00:11:48,247 --> 00:11:51,497 Brother Kurt Daniel, a pastor there in Illinois, 257 00:11:51,497 --> 00:11:53,595 you call his number - if you don't get him, 258 00:11:53,595 --> 00:11:55,056 you get the answering machine, 259 00:11:55,056 --> 00:11:57,791 and at the end he'll say, 260 00:11:57,791 --> 00:12:00,230 "and remember the words of the Lord Jesus," 261 00:12:00,230 --> 00:12:02,532 and then he quotes a verse of Scripture. 262 00:12:02,532 --> 00:12:05,429 What's that? Planting a seed. 263 00:12:05,429 --> 00:12:07,019 Well, that won't do any good. 264 00:12:07,019 --> 00:12:10,283 Well, God says the opposite, doesn't He? 265 00:12:10,283 --> 00:12:12,411 Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 266 00:12:12,411 --> 00:12:15,616 "He who watches the wind will not sow, 267 00:12:15,616 --> 00:12:17,412 and he who looks at the clouds 268 00:12:17,412 --> 00:12:19,132 will not reap. 269 00:12:19,132 --> 00:12:23,243 Just as you do not know the path of the wind, 270 00:12:23,243 --> 00:12:25,335 and how bones are formed in the womb 271 00:12:25,335 --> 00:12:26,963 of a pregnant woman, 272 00:12:26,963 --> 00:12:29,953 so you do not know the activity of God 273 00:12:29,953 --> 00:12:32,826 who makes all things. 274 00:12:32,826 --> 00:12:35,737 Sow your seed in the morning, 275 00:12:35,737 --> 00:12:38,939 and do not be idle in the evening. 276 00:12:38,939 --> 00:12:42,614 For you do not know whether morning 277 00:12:42,614 --> 00:12:45,448 or evening sowing will succeed 278 00:12:45,448 --> 00:12:50,084 or whether both of them alike will be good." 279 00:12:50,084 --> 00:12:52,824 Now, the devil tells you the opposite, doesn't he? 280 00:12:52,824 --> 00:12:53,746 You don't know. 281 00:12:53,746 --> 00:12:55,777 Nothing will happen in the morning. 282 00:12:55,777 --> 00:12:56,835 You don't even know, 283 00:12:56,835 --> 00:12:59,356 maybe nothing will happen in either one of them. 284 00:12:59,356 --> 00:13:02,577 God says just the other way around. 285 00:13:02,577 --> 00:13:04,283 He says sow in the morning; 286 00:13:04,283 --> 00:13:05,403 sow it in the evening. 287 00:13:05,403 --> 00:13:07,508 You don't know what I might do. 288 00:13:07,508 --> 00:13:10,344 I might do something with both of them. 289 00:13:10,344 --> 00:13:11,783 And it's happened, hasn't it, 290 00:13:11,783 --> 00:13:14,328 again and again in the most unlikely cases 291 00:13:14,328 --> 00:13:17,169 where God has taken some seed 292 00:13:17,169 --> 00:13:19,504 through the instrumentality of man 293 00:13:19,504 --> 00:13:21,597 planting some little insignificant seed; 294 00:13:21,597 --> 00:13:26,395 God has planted a real, true Christian. 295 00:13:26,395 --> 00:13:28,301 And lo and behold, they spring up 296 00:13:28,301 --> 00:13:31,123 out of dry ground. 297 00:13:31,123 --> 00:13:35,323 And they're sustained by God. 298 00:13:35,323 --> 00:13:38,004 So the prerequisite of growth is planted. 299 00:13:38,004 --> 00:13:39,234 And that has to be. 300 00:13:39,234 --> 00:13:40,736 God has to plant the person 301 00:13:40,736 --> 00:13:42,850 and He does it through the instrumentality 302 00:13:42,850 --> 00:13:46,003 of us planting the seed. 303 00:13:46,003 --> 00:13:48,074 Secondly, what else is true 304 00:13:48,074 --> 00:13:53,013 about the kingdom of God? 305 00:13:53,013 --> 00:13:55,767 Are you listening to this? 306 00:13:55,767 --> 00:13:59,334 There is a time element involved. 307 00:13:59,334 --> 00:14:02,390 There is a process involved. 308 00:14:02,390 --> 00:14:03,774 He goes to bed at night; 309 00:14:03,774 --> 00:14:04,883 he gets up by day. 310 00:14:04,883 --> 00:14:06,075 He goes to bed at night; 311 00:14:06,075 --> 00:14:08,149 he gets up by day. 312 00:14:08,149 --> 00:14:09,382 What's Jesus saying? 313 00:14:09,382 --> 00:14:13,013 He's saying there is a time element involved 314 00:14:13,013 --> 00:14:15,717 in this matter of growth. 315 00:14:15,717 --> 00:14:20,925 One of the things that a farmer has to have is patience. 316 00:14:20,925 --> 00:14:24,670 And actually, as I see the weather patterns and what-have-you, 317 00:14:24,670 --> 00:14:26,231 I think well, you now, 318 00:14:26,231 --> 00:14:28,575 I really don't want to be a farmer. 319 00:14:28,575 --> 00:14:30,724 I mean, think of it. 320 00:14:30,724 --> 00:14:34,691 James specifically brings this out. 321 00:14:34,691 --> 00:14:36,452 "Be patient therefore, brethren, 322 00:14:36,452 --> 00:14:37,847 until the coming of the Lord. 323 00:14:37,847 --> 00:14:40,831 Behold the farmer waits 324 00:14:40,831 --> 00:14:42,783 for the precious produce of the soil 325 00:14:42,783 --> 00:14:45,425 being patient about it 326 00:14:45,425 --> 00:14:47,649 until it gets the early and late rains. 327 00:14:47,649 --> 00:14:50,261 You too be patient. 328 00:14:50,261 --> 00:14:52,500 Strengthen your hearts 329 00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:54,421 for the coming of the Lord is at hand." 330 00:14:54,421 --> 00:14:59,670 We don't like to think in these terms. 331 00:14:59,670 --> 00:15:02,350 But, the Lord is telling us something here, isn't He? 332 00:15:02,350 --> 00:15:04,558 You just picture a farmer 333 00:15:04,558 --> 00:15:06,791 sitting dejectedly on this tractor 334 00:15:06,791 --> 00:15:08,153 at the end of the day, 335 00:15:08,153 --> 00:15:09,611 and you say, "what's wrong?" 336 00:15:09,611 --> 00:15:12,298 And he says, "I don't have any crops." 337 00:15:12,298 --> 00:15:13,358 "When did you plant?" 338 00:15:13,358 --> 00:15:15,430 "This morning." 339 00:15:15,430 --> 00:15:17,880 It's absurd isn't it? 340 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,747 That's exactly the way we are. 341 00:15:20,747 --> 00:15:22,473 Instant. 342 00:15:22,473 --> 00:15:24,866 I read my Bible every day this week 343 00:15:24,866 --> 00:15:27,340 and I don't see any growth. 344 00:15:27,340 --> 00:15:33,837 You know? 345 00:15:33,837 --> 00:15:35,263 In the area of witnessing; 346 00:15:35,263 --> 00:15:36,642 in the area of Bible study; 347 00:15:36,642 --> 00:15:38,269 in the area of prayer, 348 00:15:38,269 --> 00:15:41,101 this instant mentality. 349 00:15:41,101 --> 00:15:43,158 Miles Stanford said, "when God 350 00:15:43,158 --> 00:15:45,362 wants to make a squash, 351 00:15:45,362 --> 00:15:47,821 He takes just a short time. 352 00:15:47,821 --> 00:15:49,846 But when He wants to make an oak tree, 353 00:15:49,846 --> 00:15:54,675 it might take a hundred years." 354 00:15:54,675 --> 00:16:00,121 There's a time element involved. 355 00:16:00,121 --> 00:16:04,114 Prime Minister Disraeli there in England 356 00:16:04,114 --> 00:16:06,434 at one point, the story is 357 00:16:06,434 --> 00:16:11,574 that he stood up and gave an extemporaneous speech. 358 00:16:11,574 --> 00:16:14,456 And later in the day, 359 00:16:14,456 --> 00:16:18,773 they were having some kind of 360 00:16:18,773 --> 00:16:20,126 state function, 361 00:16:20,126 --> 00:16:21,608 and one of the ladies of state 362 00:16:21,608 --> 00:16:22,836 came up to him and said, 363 00:16:22,836 --> 00:16:24,653 "I want to tell you how much I enjoyed 364 00:16:24,653 --> 00:16:26,093 that extemporaneous speech." 365 00:16:26,093 --> 00:16:29,813 She said, "it's been on my mind all day." 366 00:16:29,813 --> 00:16:31,615 He said, "Madam, that speech has 367 00:16:31,615 --> 00:16:35,383 been on my mind for twenty years." 368 00:16:35,383 --> 00:16:36,830 That's the time element. 369 00:16:36,830 --> 00:16:39,071 You hear one of these brothers get up 370 00:16:39,071 --> 00:16:42,323 and give an extemporaneous word. 371 00:16:42,323 --> 00:16:44,870 That's been there a long time. 372 00:16:44,870 --> 00:16:46,945 That doesn't just happen. 373 00:16:46,945 --> 00:16:48,178 It takes time. 374 00:16:48,178 --> 00:16:56,685 God works gradually. 375 00:16:56,685 --> 00:16:59,859 There's a time element involved with true growth. 376 00:16:59,859 --> 00:17:02,870 Let me say it another way. 377 00:17:02,870 --> 00:17:07,020 Growth is imperceptible. 378 00:17:07,020 --> 00:17:09,234 That's another way of saying it. 379 00:17:09,234 --> 00:17:12,210 Growth is imperceptible. 380 00:17:12,210 --> 00:17:15,976 You think of corn plants. 381 00:17:15,976 --> 00:17:18,696 Just sit; go out in the field. 382 00:17:18,696 --> 00:17:20,285 I don't know - you all don't have 383 00:17:20,285 --> 00:17:21,438 much corn down here. 384 00:17:21,438 --> 00:17:24,050 But you go out and look at a corn plant. 385 00:17:24,050 --> 00:17:26,206 Just stare at it really hard. 386 00:17:26,206 --> 00:17:28,693 Keep an eye on it. 387 00:17:28,693 --> 00:17:31,099 Watch it grow. 388 00:17:31,099 --> 00:17:37,675 You won't see anything whatsoever. 389 00:17:37,675 --> 00:17:39,803 You look at your own life really hard. 390 00:17:39,803 --> 00:17:41,852 Stare at it really hard 391 00:17:41,852 --> 00:17:43,790 to detect a trace of growth. 392 00:17:43,790 --> 00:17:47,713 You're not going to see anything. 393 00:17:47,713 --> 00:17:49,831 That's encouraging, isn't it? 394 00:17:49,831 --> 00:17:52,901 I mean, you parents - 395 00:17:52,901 --> 00:17:54,077 you know, this morning, 396 00:17:54,077 --> 00:17:55,544 your kids walked into the room 397 00:17:55,544 --> 00:17:58,134 and you said, "My, how you've grown 398 00:17:58,134 --> 00:17:59,338 during the night." 399 00:17:59,338 --> 00:18:02,336 No. 400 00:18:02,336 --> 00:18:04,959 But somebody that hasn't seen them for a while, 401 00:18:04,959 --> 00:18:07,684 they come in - it's amazing. 402 00:18:07,684 --> 00:18:10,342 And we forget. 403 00:18:10,342 --> 00:18:12,225 And the quickest way to get discouraged 404 00:18:12,225 --> 00:18:14,021 is to look inside all the time 405 00:18:14,021 --> 00:18:15,879 and keep a real good eye on yourself 406 00:18:15,879 --> 00:18:24,571 and see whether you're growing. 407 00:18:24,571 --> 00:18:27,015 We forget how different people are now 408 00:18:27,015 --> 00:18:30,545 from what they were ten years ago. 409 00:18:30,545 --> 00:18:32,364 And growth is like that. 410 00:18:32,364 --> 00:18:33,612 It's imperceptible. 411 00:18:33,612 --> 00:18:34,951 It's slow. 412 00:18:34,951 --> 00:18:39,187 It's mysteriously slow. 413 00:18:39,187 --> 00:18:42,809 There's an apparent slowness about it. 414 00:18:42,809 --> 00:18:44,858 What is does Jesus tell us? 415 00:18:44,858 --> 00:18:50,086 Well, He talks about the mystery of growth in v. 27. 416 00:18:50,086 --> 00:18:51,483 "He goes to bed at night; 417 00:18:51,483 --> 00:18:52,437 gets up by day." 418 00:18:52,437 --> 00:18:54,738 There's this time element. 419 00:18:54,738 --> 00:18:57,424 Time element. 420 00:18:57,424 --> 00:18:59,242 My mother used to say that she thought 421 00:18:59,242 --> 00:19:02,212 she could hear corn growing in the night. 422 00:19:02,212 --> 00:19:03,805 I don't think so. 423 00:19:03,805 --> 00:19:09,296 I think she could hear the leaves rustling. 424 00:19:09,296 --> 00:19:11,111 There's a time element. 425 00:19:11,111 --> 00:19:14,800 But then He says, 426 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,795 "the seed sprouts up and grows. 427 00:19:17,795 --> 00:19:21,450 How he himself does not know." 428 00:19:21,450 --> 00:19:24,116 There's a mystery. 429 00:19:24,116 --> 00:19:27,230 Now listen to this, 430 00:19:27,230 --> 00:19:28,558 Jesus said this is the way 431 00:19:28,558 --> 00:19:31,809 the kingdom of heaven is. 432 00:19:31,809 --> 00:19:35,600 You do not know how growth takes place. 433 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:36,645 That's the way it is. 434 00:19:36,645 --> 00:19:38,370 You don't know how it takes place. 435 00:19:38,370 --> 00:19:39,956 That's what He's already said. 436 00:19:39,956 --> 00:19:41,086 It's mysterious. 437 00:19:41,086 --> 00:19:43,451 The Gospel takes root in your life, 438 00:19:43,451 --> 00:19:45,649 and in other's life, 439 00:19:45,649 --> 00:19:47,167 and you see things happen that 440 00:19:47,167 --> 00:19:49,585 you cannot figure out. 441 00:19:49,585 --> 00:19:51,598 It fills you with amazement and wonder. 442 00:19:51,598 --> 00:19:54,125 And you're not going to have the slightest idea how. 443 00:19:54,125 --> 00:19:56,522 Jesus said the wind blows where it wishes. 444 00:19:56,522 --> 00:19:57,869 You hear the sound of it. 445 00:19:57,869 --> 00:19:59,561 You don't know where it comes from 446 00:19:59,561 --> 00:20:00,520 or where it's going. 447 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,949 So is everyone who's born of the Spirit. 448 00:20:04,949 --> 00:20:07,520 I've never understood growth in myself 449 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:08,717 or anyone else. 450 00:20:08,717 --> 00:20:11,279 We know, like we've heard this morning, 451 00:20:11,279 --> 00:20:13,038 we know it has to do with 452 00:20:13,038 --> 00:20:14,444 spending time in the Word; 453 00:20:14,444 --> 00:20:15,770 it has to do with prayer; 454 00:20:15,770 --> 00:20:17,358 it has to do with fellowship. 455 00:20:17,358 --> 00:20:20,749 All those things are the context. 456 00:20:20,749 --> 00:20:22,785 So how many of you have just decided 457 00:20:22,785 --> 00:20:25,739 I'm going to read my Bible every day this week? 458 00:20:25,739 --> 00:20:28,963 How'd you do on that? 459 00:20:28,963 --> 00:20:30,576 See what I'm saying? 460 00:20:30,576 --> 00:20:32,138 Underneath it all, 461 00:20:32,138 --> 00:20:34,941 there's a mysterious working 462 00:20:34,941 --> 00:20:37,506 of the power of God 463 00:20:37,506 --> 00:20:39,886 underneath; sustaining everything. 464 00:20:39,886 --> 00:20:42,955 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling 465 00:20:42,955 --> 00:20:45,282 for God is working inside of you 466 00:20:45,282 --> 00:20:49,369 supernaturally, or you're not going to make it. 467 00:20:49,369 --> 00:20:51,783 You're not going to make it. 468 00:20:51,783 --> 00:20:54,472 But He is working inside of you 469 00:20:54,472 --> 00:20:55,624 if you're a Christian. 470 00:20:55,624 --> 00:20:57,239 And you are going to make it. 471 00:20:57,239 --> 00:21:01,835 See? 472 00:21:01,835 --> 00:21:05,001 It's mysterious. 473 00:21:05,001 --> 00:21:06,965 I've never understood growth in myself 474 00:21:06,965 --> 00:21:07,963 or anybody else. 475 00:21:07,963 --> 00:21:09,697 If it's something where you can say, 476 00:21:09,697 --> 00:21:13,492 I did this, and I did this, and I did this, 477 00:21:13,492 --> 00:21:15,744 you've probably got some kind 478 00:21:15,744 --> 00:21:18,113 of Pharisaical counterfeit. 479 00:21:18,113 --> 00:21:22,322 That's what you've got. 480 00:21:22,322 --> 00:21:29,449 I've never liked how-to's. 481 00:21:29,449 --> 00:21:32,434 There's books out on that - 482 00:21:32,434 --> 00:21:35,132 how to win souls; 483 00:21:35,132 --> 00:21:40,248 how to have church growth. 484 00:21:40,248 --> 00:21:42,870 The Lord Jesus said right here there's no "how-to." 485 00:21:42,870 --> 00:21:45,448 He said you don't know how. 486 00:21:45,448 --> 00:21:50,976 That just did away with a bunch of conferences. 487 00:21:50,976 --> 00:21:52,662 You don't need to waste your time. 488 00:21:52,662 --> 00:21:55,008 I've seen people taking notes on how-to. 489 00:21:55,008 --> 00:21:56,479 They fill up 20 pages. 490 00:21:56,479 --> 00:21:59,185 A year later, they're coming back to the same conference; 491 00:21:59,185 --> 00:22:00,373 filling up 20 more pages. 492 00:22:00,373 --> 00:22:03,178 Nothing ever changes. 493 00:22:03,178 --> 00:22:05,080 You've got to be cast upon God 494 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:06,713 like Brother Merle used to say. 495 00:22:06,713 --> 00:22:08,861 The Bible's not a how-to book, 496 00:22:08,861 --> 00:22:11,055 it's a what-to book. 497 00:22:11,055 --> 00:22:13,612 A lot of the stuff Nathan was saying to us today, 498 00:22:13,612 --> 00:22:17,257 that's what-to, you know? 499 00:22:17,257 --> 00:22:19,258 You be strong; you be stable. 500 00:22:19,258 --> 00:22:21,647 How in the world am I going to do that? 501 00:22:21,647 --> 00:22:25,707 Well, you've got to go to God. 502 00:22:25,707 --> 00:22:29,816 Usually what happens in true growth 503 00:22:29,816 --> 00:22:32,073 is you're crying out to God for change. 504 00:22:32,073 --> 00:22:33,848 You've tried this. You've tried that. 505 00:22:33,848 --> 00:22:35,375 You've gone to this conference. 506 00:22:35,375 --> 00:22:36,855 You've gone to that conference. 507 00:22:36,855 --> 00:22:39,071 You've tried squinting your eyes harder 508 00:22:39,071 --> 00:22:42,718 when you repented. 509 00:22:42,718 --> 00:22:46,161 And none of it worked. 510 00:22:46,161 --> 00:22:47,382 And then, lo and behold, 511 00:22:47,382 --> 00:22:50,968 you look back and it's: God has changed me; 512 00:22:50,968 --> 00:22:53,373 set me free from this. 513 00:22:53,373 --> 00:22:56,729 He's working in my life. 514 00:22:56,729 --> 00:22:58,872 Isn't it wonderful? 515 00:22:58,872 --> 00:23:00,509 He says it happens - 516 00:23:00,509 --> 00:23:02,505 it happens how? You don't know. 517 00:23:02,505 --> 00:23:05,117 I don't know how this happened. 518 00:23:05,117 --> 00:23:08,558 But I know, yes, I had to spend time 519 00:23:08,558 --> 00:23:09,871 in the Word. 520 00:23:09,871 --> 00:23:12,344 Yes, I had to cry out to God. 521 00:23:12,344 --> 00:23:13,807 Yes, on all that, 522 00:23:13,807 --> 00:23:15,666 but in the end you look back. 523 00:23:15,666 --> 00:23:17,131 You know I used to think 524 00:23:17,131 --> 00:23:18,784 that victory over sin would be - 525 00:23:18,784 --> 00:23:21,252 I'd be standing there like these hunters 526 00:23:21,252 --> 00:23:23,457 in Africa, you know, 527 00:23:23,457 --> 00:23:29,258 with my rifle and my foot on the head of the lion. 528 00:23:29,258 --> 00:23:35,681 This is Charles with victory over sin. 529 00:23:35,681 --> 00:23:37,825 It's more like you're shaking your head 530 00:23:37,825 --> 00:23:40,442 saying I can't figure out how in the world 531 00:23:40,442 --> 00:23:42,594 God ever set me free from that, 532 00:23:42,594 --> 00:23:47,134 but it sure is good to be free from that. 533 00:23:47,134 --> 00:23:49,138 And now I see how bad it was. 534 00:23:49,138 --> 00:23:52,147 I couldn't even see how bad it was before. 535 00:23:52,147 --> 00:24:00,940 Isn't that true? 536 00:24:00,940 --> 00:24:03,661 It's mysterious. 537 00:24:03,661 --> 00:24:05,300 The mistake that people make 538 00:24:05,300 --> 00:24:07,029 is to take their own experiences 539 00:24:07,029 --> 00:24:09,003 and try to get a formula that you can 540 00:24:09,003 --> 00:24:10,276 give to everybody else, 541 00:24:10,276 --> 00:24:12,637 and if they do that it'll work. 542 00:24:12,637 --> 00:24:14,936 It won't. 543 00:24:14,936 --> 00:24:18,715 God uses things in one person's life 544 00:24:18,715 --> 00:24:21,278 and the next person reads that same book or whatever 545 00:24:21,278 --> 00:24:24,581 and they don't get a thing out of it. 546 00:24:24,581 --> 00:24:26,614 You remember with the ark. 547 00:24:26,614 --> 00:24:28,093 They said, well, take that, 548 00:24:28,093 --> 00:24:29,550 it will work for us. 549 00:24:29,550 --> 00:24:33,547 No, it won't. 550 00:24:33,547 --> 00:24:35,437 Well, what else does He teach us? 551 00:24:35,437 --> 00:24:39,822 Growth is miraculous - v. 28. 552 00:24:39,822 --> 00:24:42,883 "The earth produces crops by itself." 553 00:24:42,883 --> 00:24:48,803 Presto! They just pop out of it. 554 00:24:48,803 --> 00:24:50,493 That's what Jesus said. 555 00:24:50,493 --> 00:24:51,851 In other words, He's saying 556 00:24:51,851 --> 00:24:55,056 there's something supernatural about this. 557 00:24:55,056 --> 00:24:56,780 You can't explain this on your own. 558 00:24:56,780 --> 00:24:58,745 "The earth produces crops by itself." 559 00:24:58,745 --> 00:25:02,563 It's beyond man's power totally. 560 00:25:02,563 --> 00:25:05,022 And it's incredible how it happens. 561 00:25:05,022 --> 00:25:08,778 There's a power there outside of us. 562 00:25:08,778 --> 00:25:11,008 And we don't know. 563 00:25:11,008 --> 00:25:14,795 We're not the one that grows the seed. 564 00:25:14,795 --> 00:25:16,261 God is the one that does that. 565 00:25:16,261 --> 00:25:19,081 All we do is put the seed into the ground. 566 00:25:19,081 --> 00:25:22,701 And so there's a miraculous aspect about growth. 567 00:25:22,701 --> 00:25:27,754 There's power and vitality in the seed itself. 568 00:25:27,754 --> 00:25:29,855 Peter talks about being born again, 569 00:25:29,855 --> 00:25:32,324 not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible 570 00:25:32,324 --> 00:25:34,405 by the Word of God 571 00:25:34,405 --> 00:25:37,785 that lives and abides forever. 572 00:25:37,785 --> 00:25:40,226 Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the Gospel. 573 00:25:40,226 --> 00:25:44,558 It is the power of God unto salvation..." 574 00:25:44,558 --> 00:25:46,528 1 Thessalonians 2:13 575 00:25:46,528 --> 00:25:50,261 "The Word of God which performs its work 576 00:25:50,261 --> 00:25:52,012 in you who believe." 577 00:25:52,012 --> 00:25:53,651 And I like that where Paul says 578 00:25:53,651 --> 00:25:56,252 in Acts 20 - he says I commend you to God. 579 00:25:56,252 --> 00:25:57,831 We've done this often with people 580 00:25:57,831 --> 00:25:59,719 leaving the church and going back 581 00:25:59,719 --> 00:26:01,041 to China or wherever. 582 00:26:01,041 --> 00:26:02,359 I commend you to God 583 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,215 and to the word of His grace 584 00:26:05,215 --> 00:26:08,198 which is able to build you up 585 00:26:08,198 --> 00:26:10,520 and give you an inheritance. 586 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,189 It's just wonderful, isn't it? 587 00:26:14,189 --> 00:26:17,370 There's life in the seed itself. 588 00:26:17,370 --> 00:26:18,906 The very idea of seed - 589 00:26:18,906 --> 00:26:22,030 it's the Greek word semen. 590 00:26:22,030 --> 00:26:27,336 1 John - "God's seed remains in him." 591 00:26:27,336 --> 00:26:29,676 So there's something miraculous about the seed, 592 00:26:29,676 --> 00:26:32,247 but there's something miraculous also 593 00:26:32,247 --> 00:26:34,491 about the earth. 594 00:26:34,491 --> 00:26:39,705 The earth brings forth fruit of itself. 595 00:26:39,705 --> 00:26:42,781 Isaiah 61 says this: 596 00:26:42,781 --> 00:26:45,197 "I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. 597 00:26:45,197 --> 00:26:47,436 My soul will exult in my God, 598 00:26:47,436 --> 00:26:49,558 for He has clothed me with garments 599 00:26:49,558 --> 00:26:51,603 of salvation; 600 00:26:51,603 --> 00:26:54,244 He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness 601 00:26:54,244 --> 00:26:56,124 as a bridegroom decks himself 602 00:26:56,124 --> 00:26:57,699 with a garland, 603 00:26:57,699 --> 00:27:01,295 and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 604 00:27:01,295 --> 00:27:05,415 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, 605 00:27:05,415 --> 00:27:09,402 and as a garden causes the things 606 00:27:09,402 --> 00:27:13,055 sown in it to spring up, 607 00:27:13,055 --> 00:27:15,579 so the Lord God..." 608 00:27:15,579 --> 00:27:17,934 He's the Garden here, see? 609 00:27:17,934 --> 00:27:20,831 The garden causes the things sown in it 610 00:27:20,831 --> 00:27:22,018 to spring up. 611 00:27:22,018 --> 00:27:26,435 "So the Lord God will cause 612 00:27:26,435 --> 00:27:30,563 righteousness and praise to spring up 613 00:27:30,563 --> 00:27:31,962 before all the nations." 614 00:27:31,962 --> 00:27:35,421 Now that's what we're talking about here. 615 00:27:35,421 --> 00:27:36,872 What Jesus is saying is 616 00:27:36,872 --> 00:27:40,029 God is at work underneath the surface 617 00:27:40,029 --> 00:27:43,890 to make things spring up supernaturally 618 00:27:43,890 --> 00:27:46,785 that could not otherwise happen. 619 00:27:46,785 --> 00:27:49,573 You remember in 1 Corinthians 3, 620 00:27:49,573 --> 00:27:52,302 "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? 621 00:27:52,302 --> 00:27:54,342 Servants through whom you believed 622 00:27:54,342 --> 00:27:57,119 even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 623 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,535 I planted. Apollos watered. 624 00:28:00,535 --> 00:28:05,070 But God was causing the growth." 625 00:28:05,070 --> 00:28:06,593 You know, if you think about it, 626 00:28:06,593 --> 00:28:09,396 what are you really doing when you put a seed in the ground? 627 00:28:09,396 --> 00:28:11,657 You're not doing anything. 628 00:28:11,657 --> 00:28:13,745 You put water on it. 629 00:28:13,745 --> 00:28:18,631 God is the one making that germinate and grow. 630 00:28:18,631 --> 00:28:22,348 Are you listening to me? 631 00:28:22,348 --> 00:28:26,245 God causes growth. 632 00:28:26,245 --> 00:28:28,567 The only way you're ever going to grow 633 00:28:28,567 --> 00:28:32,996 is if God causes you to grow. 634 00:28:32,996 --> 00:28:35,541 That's the only way. 635 00:28:35,541 --> 00:28:37,603 The only way you're ever going to change; 636 00:28:37,603 --> 00:28:39,409 the only way you're ever going to be 637 00:28:39,409 --> 00:28:41,572 more Christlike is if God causes you 638 00:28:41,572 --> 00:28:45,762 to become more Christlike. 639 00:28:45,762 --> 00:28:49,823 And that's what He's promised to do. 640 00:28:49,823 --> 00:28:57,751 That's what He's promised to do in you. 641 00:28:57,751 --> 00:28:59,512 What a glorious thing! 642 00:28:59,512 --> 00:29:02,177 The only hope anybody has - 643 00:29:02,177 --> 00:29:05,177 none of us will ever rise any higher 644 00:29:05,177 --> 00:29:07,279 than God lifts us by His grace. 645 00:29:07,279 --> 00:29:11,292 You're not going to do it. 646 00:29:11,292 --> 00:29:12,875 But He will do it. 647 00:29:12,875 --> 00:29:17,557 He will do it. 648 00:29:17,557 --> 00:29:20,420 The Lord God will cause righteousness 649 00:29:20,420 --> 00:29:22,788 and praise to spring up 650 00:29:22,788 --> 00:29:25,599 before all nations. 651 00:29:25,599 --> 00:29:27,146 That's the only hope we have. 652 00:29:27,146 --> 00:29:31,229 God working in us to will and do 653 00:29:31,229 --> 00:29:32,627 of His good pleasure; 654 00:29:32,627 --> 00:29:35,211 causing growth. 655 00:29:35,211 --> 00:29:37,146 He causes you to will. 656 00:29:37,146 --> 00:29:38,595 He gives you that desire, 657 00:29:38,595 --> 00:29:40,602 and then it's a long ways from the time 658 00:29:40,602 --> 00:29:42,564 you start thinking I want to be more holy 659 00:29:42,564 --> 00:29:44,118 in this or that; 660 00:29:44,118 --> 00:29:47,071 it's a long ways before you're actually there. 661 00:29:47,071 --> 00:29:50,745 He works in you both to will and to work 662 00:29:50,745 --> 00:29:53,921 for His good pleasure. 663 00:29:53,921 --> 00:29:55,878 So if our Christianity can be explained 664 00:29:55,878 --> 00:29:57,315 by human psychology 665 00:29:57,315 --> 00:29:58,663 or turning over a new leaf 666 00:29:58,663 --> 00:30:00,237 or trying to be better or so on; 667 00:30:00,237 --> 00:30:02,220 there's no miracle, 668 00:30:02,220 --> 00:30:03,850 there's no outside power, 669 00:30:03,850 --> 00:30:09,577 then you're not a Christian. 670 00:30:09,577 --> 00:30:13,541 What an encouragement this is God's work, 671 00:30:13,541 --> 00:30:16,857 and He will accomplish what concerns us. 672 00:30:16,857 --> 00:30:20,033 Alright, number five. 673 00:30:20,033 --> 00:30:23,854 The progressiveness of growth. 674 00:30:23,854 --> 00:30:26,245 You see it in v. 27, it sprouts up. 675 00:30:26,245 --> 00:30:28,082 First of all, it has to sprout up 676 00:30:28,082 --> 00:30:29,781 and it grows. 677 00:30:29,781 --> 00:30:33,340 V. 28, "First the blade, 678 00:30:33,340 --> 00:30:35,683 then the head, 679 00:30:35,683 --> 00:30:39,335 then the mature grain in the head." 680 00:30:39,335 --> 00:30:40,467 Progressive. 681 00:30:40,467 --> 00:30:42,211 Now that's simple, isn't it? 682 00:30:42,211 --> 00:30:44,590 This and then this and then this. 683 00:30:44,590 --> 00:30:46,715 We don't want that. 684 00:30:46,715 --> 00:30:48,876 What we want is: 685 00:30:48,876 --> 00:30:51,531 go from here over to there. 686 00:30:51,531 --> 00:30:54,819 You know, you could have such-and-such experience. 687 00:30:54,819 --> 00:30:58,008 That puts you clear over here. 688 00:30:58,008 --> 00:31:01,176 You could enter into entire sanctification. 689 00:31:01,176 --> 00:31:03,114 Just have this happen. 690 00:31:03,114 --> 00:31:05,297 Skip over all that stuff. 691 00:31:05,297 --> 00:31:07,028 It's kind of hard going through 692 00:31:07,028 --> 00:31:12,673 all that stuff anyway. 693 00:31:12,673 --> 00:31:14,379 A lot of teaching is like that. 694 00:31:14,379 --> 00:31:16,606 Anything that is held out to you 695 00:31:16,606 --> 00:31:17,762 that makes you think: 696 00:31:17,762 --> 00:31:20,463 if I could just have such-and-such, 697 00:31:20,463 --> 00:31:22,885 I could skip over these stages. 698 00:31:22,885 --> 00:31:25,745 That's a false teaching. 699 00:31:25,745 --> 00:31:29,601 And you may have people say 700 00:31:29,601 --> 00:31:31,484 that they've entered in and they have; 701 00:31:31,484 --> 00:31:33,393 there's been some special thing 702 00:31:33,393 --> 00:31:34,740 happen in their life where 703 00:31:34,740 --> 00:31:36,695 they're in a different plane; 704 00:31:36,695 --> 00:31:38,571 a higher plane than they were before. 705 00:31:38,571 --> 00:31:40,612 That happens. 706 00:31:40,612 --> 00:31:42,479 But beloved, I'll guarantee you this, 707 00:31:42,479 --> 00:31:44,382 they're still going through the stages 708 00:31:44,382 --> 00:31:47,808 just like you are. 709 00:31:47,808 --> 00:31:49,971 First the blade, then the head, 710 00:31:49,971 --> 00:31:52,751 then the mature grain. 711 00:31:52,751 --> 00:31:58,398 That's always the way it is. 712 00:31:58,398 --> 00:32:01,706 You see somebody that's entirely sanctified, 713 00:32:01,706 --> 00:32:03,966 you're looking at Jesus. 714 00:32:03,966 --> 00:32:06,763 And He's the only one - 715 00:32:06,763 --> 00:32:12,641 until heaven. 716 00:32:12,641 --> 00:32:15,994 The holiest man in the world today 717 00:32:15,994 --> 00:32:18,064 has so much sin, he'd be in hell. 718 00:32:18,064 --> 00:32:20,791 (incomplete thought) 719 00:32:20,791 --> 00:32:22,909 Can you imagine the way Jesus 720 00:32:22,909 --> 00:32:25,010 handled a towel? 721 00:32:25,010 --> 00:32:26,839 There's nobody in the world 722 00:32:26,839 --> 00:32:29,726 that could hold a towel the way Jesus did 723 00:32:29,726 --> 00:32:32,238 and wash somebody's feet. 724 00:32:32,238 --> 00:32:37,016 You can't begin to be like Him in that sense. 725 00:32:37,016 --> 00:32:43,390 But we can walk in His steps. 726 00:32:43,390 --> 00:32:45,132 Growth is progressive. 727 00:32:45,132 --> 00:32:47,226 And you see here the utter stupidity 728 00:32:47,226 --> 00:32:49,581 of the professing church in this. 729 00:32:49,581 --> 00:32:52,687 There's some former football player 730 00:32:52,687 --> 00:32:54,486 or singer or whatever; 731 00:32:54,486 --> 00:32:56,624 they get converted and two weeks later, 732 00:32:56,624 --> 00:32:59,263 they're speaking to a crowd of 1,000 people. 733 00:32:59,263 --> 00:33:03,562 Or 10,000. More like 20,000 people. 734 00:33:03,562 --> 00:33:06,778 You take some little immature plant, 735 00:33:06,778 --> 00:33:09,703 at best, and stick them out there. 736 00:33:09,703 --> 00:33:13,706 That's not the way it is. 737 00:33:13,706 --> 00:33:14,791 That's folly. 738 00:33:14,791 --> 00:33:16,646 There's a process involved. 739 00:33:16,646 --> 00:33:18,934 Hudson Taylor, before he became 740 00:33:18,934 --> 00:33:20,745 the head of the China Inland Mission 741 00:33:20,745 --> 00:33:22,625 had to spend years in obscurity 742 00:33:22,625 --> 00:33:26,802 as a nobody learning things from God. 743 00:33:26,802 --> 00:33:28,975 And I like that two volume set 744 00:33:28,975 --> 00:33:30,612 on the life of Hudson Taylor. 745 00:33:30,612 --> 00:33:33,451 Volume 1: The Growth of a Soul. 746 00:33:33,451 --> 00:33:37,582 Volume 2: The Growth of a Work of God. 747 00:33:37,582 --> 00:33:39,592 This tells my age, 748 00:33:39,592 --> 00:33:41,790 but back when I was young, 749 00:33:41,790 --> 00:33:42,886 we always talked about 750 00:33:42,886 --> 00:33:44,419 the Empire State Building. 751 00:33:44,419 --> 00:33:48,665 Boy, this is the tallest building in the world. 752 00:33:48,665 --> 00:33:50,799 Well, anyway, they said it took as long 753 00:33:50,799 --> 00:33:52,344 to put that foundation in, 754 00:33:52,344 --> 00:33:54,104 and there's as much in the foundation 755 00:33:54,104 --> 00:33:57,576 as there is in the rest of the building. 756 00:33:57,576 --> 00:34:00,765 Picture building some of these 757 00:34:00,765 --> 00:34:04,164 massive things that they've got now 758 00:34:04,164 --> 00:34:07,220 on a five-foot foundation. 759 00:34:07,220 --> 00:34:10,315 How long would that last? 760 00:34:10,315 --> 00:34:12,765 I think it's the Washington Cathedral 761 00:34:12,765 --> 00:34:14,740 I saw years ago with my mother. 762 00:34:14,740 --> 00:34:16,503 And in one way, it's impressive 763 00:34:16,503 --> 00:34:18,232 looking at those top spires 764 00:34:18,232 --> 00:34:19,396 and everything up there, 765 00:34:19,396 --> 00:34:21,186 but to me, the most impressive thing 766 00:34:21,186 --> 00:34:23,500 was when they took us down into the basement. 767 00:34:23,500 --> 00:34:26,239 And they said, now this rounded wall here 768 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:28,710 is part of one of the pillars 769 00:34:28,710 --> 00:34:30,707 that supports this building. 770 00:34:30,707 --> 00:34:32,906 And you could barely see the curve in it 771 00:34:32,906 --> 00:34:37,780 it was so big. 772 00:34:37,780 --> 00:34:42,106 Any life that is real 773 00:34:42,106 --> 00:34:46,120 has as much underground or more underground 774 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:49,634 as there is above the surface. 775 00:34:49,634 --> 00:34:53,184 It's always that way. 776 00:34:53,184 --> 00:34:57,476 (incomplete thought) 777 00:34:57,476 --> 00:34:59,602 You're looking up there at those spires 778 00:34:59,602 --> 00:35:01,592 of the building, 779 00:35:01,592 --> 00:35:04,928 when God is driving foundation piling 780 00:35:04,928 --> 00:35:07,838 in your life that is much harder - 781 00:35:07,838 --> 00:35:12,506 hard stuff that you've got to learn. 782 00:35:12,506 --> 00:35:18,571 I was talking about the hymn the other night. 783 00:35:18,571 --> 00:35:21,122 I like that hymn, I think Vance Havner 784 00:35:21,122 --> 00:35:22,011 quoted it: 785 00:35:22,011 --> 00:35:24,363 "Many a rapturous minstrel 786 00:35:24,363 --> 00:35:25,903 among the sons of light 787 00:35:25,903 --> 00:35:28,111 will say of his sweetest music 788 00:35:28,111 --> 00:35:31,392 'I learned it in the night.' 789 00:35:31,392 --> 00:35:33,093 And many a rolling anthem 790 00:35:33,093 --> 00:35:35,791 that fills the Father's throne, 791 00:35:35,791 --> 00:35:37,867 sobbed at his first rehearsal 792 00:35:37,867 --> 00:35:41,484 in the shroud of a darkened room." 793 00:35:41,484 --> 00:35:43,878 That's God putting the foundation 794 00:35:43,878 --> 00:35:45,855 down under the building. 795 00:35:45,855 --> 00:35:48,284 There is a slowness involved. 796 00:35:48,284 --> 00:35:53,068 There is a process involved. 797 00:35:53,068 --> 00:35:54,367 Don't let anybody trick you 798 00:35:54,367 --> 00:35:55,863 into the idea that you can jump 799 00:35:55,863 --> 00:35:56,755 from here to here. 800 00:35:56,755 --> 00:35:59,869 You're not going to shortchange anything. 801 00:35:59,869 --> 00:36:02,640 You might say, well, I'm going to 802 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,340 memorize the whole New Testament. 803 00:36:04,340 --> 00:36:05,302 Well, that's great, 804 00:36:05,302 --> 00:36:06,981 but it's not going to make you 805 00:36:06,981 --> 00:36:09,745 a spiritual giant. 806 00:36:09,745 --> 00:36:16,914 I mean, it's stages. 807 00:36:16,914 --> 00:36:20,423 Well, the progressiveness of growth. 808 00:36:20,423 --> 00:36:23,730 Then, the certainty of growth. 809 00:36:23,730 --> 00:36:25,570 Now remember, the Lord is describing 810 00:36:25,570 --> 00:36:31,648 the way things are in the kingdom. 811 00:36:31,648 --> 00:36:35,211 It's like a man who plants seed in the ground. 812 00:36:35,211 --> 00:36:36,933 And he goes to bed at night. 813 00:36:36,933 --> 00:36:38,791 This comes up. It grows. 814 00:36:38,791 --> 00:36:40,671 It grows. It grows. 815 00:36:40,671 --> 00:36:42,730 And then it dies and withers. 816 00:36:42,730 --> 00:36:44,230 That's not what He says. 817 00:36:44,230 --> 00:36:45,804 That's not the way it is when God 818 00:36:45,804 --> 00:36:47,401 is involved in this. 819 00:36:47,401 --> 00:36:51,079 It is going to make it. 820 00:36:51,079 --> 00:36:53,254 It's certain. 821 00:36:53,254 --> 00:36:57,966 It's going to grow. 822 00:36:57,966 --> 00:36:59,325 When men plant things, 823 00:36:59,325 --> 00:37:00,300 they often die. 824 00:37:00,300 --> 00:37:01,120 Not so with God. 825 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:02,293 And you can look at that 826 00:37:02,293 --> 00:37:05,016 in relation to church history as a whole. 827 00:37:05,016 --> 00:37:06,765 That little seed that was planted 828 00:37:06,765 --> 00:37:07,642 at the beginning, 829 00:37:07,642 --> 00:37:12,095 it becomes a great tree. 830 00:37:12,095 --> 00:37:13,856 And God's not going to fail. 831 00:37:13,856 --> 00:37:15,469 The church is not going to fail. 832 00:37:15,469 --> 00:37:17,049 He's advancing His kingdom. 833 00:37:17,049 --> 00:37:18,790 He's going to do it. He will do it. 834 00:37:18,790 --> 00:37:20,570 It will bring forth a crop. 835 00:37:20,570 --> 00:37:22,947 It will grow. 836 00:37:22,947 --> 00:37:26,438 It's a certainty. 837 00:37:26,438 --> 00:37:28,231 Colossians - Paul talks about this. 838 00:37:28,231 --> 00:37:29,723 He says "you previously heard 839 00:37:29,723 --> 00:37:31,452 in the Word of truth - the Gospel 840 00:37:31,452 --> 00:37:33,631 which has come to you, 841 00:37:33,631 --> 00:37:35,358 just as in all the world also, 842 00:37:35,358 --> 00:37:39,917 it's constantly bearing fruit and increasing, 843 00:37:39,917 --> 00:37:42,243 even as it has been doing in you also 844 00:37:42,243 --> 00:37:44,732 since the day you heard of it 845 00:37:44,732 --> 00:37:46,840 and understood the grace of God in truth." 846 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,649 So growth is certain. 847 00:37:49,649 --> 00:37:51,935 The church isn't going to fail. 848 00:37:51,935 --> 00:37:53,671 And growth is also certain 849 00:37:53,671 --> 00:37:58,148 in the life of every true believer. 850 00:37:58,148 --> 00:38:01,347 Why? Because it's not dependent upon man. 851 00:38:01,347 --> 00:38:03,234 "Being confident of this very thing, 852 00:38:03,234 --> 00:38:05,206 that He who began a good work in you" - 853 00:38:05,206 --> 00:38:07,266 God did it. 854 00:38:07,266 --> 00:38:10,214 "...Will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 855 00:38:10,214 --> 00:38:12,959 We're confident of that. He's the one. 856 00:38:12,959 --> 00:38:15,739 He'll do it. 857 00:38:15,739 --> 00:38:17,343 God says in the New Covenant 858 00:38:17,343 --> 00:38:18,724 there in Ezekiel 36, 859 00:38:18,724 --> 00:38:21,771 "I will cleanse you of all your filthiness 860 00:38:21,771 --> 00:38:22,990 and all your idols. 861 00:38:22,990 --> 00:38:25,997 I will put My Spirit in you and cause you 862 00:38:25,997 --> 00:38:27,520 to walk in My statutes." 863 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:29,655 I'm so thankful. 864 00:38:29,655 --> 00:38:32,126 He's saying I'm not going to quit on you. 865 00:38:32,126 --> 00:38:33,755 You may fight this. 866 00:38:33,755 --> 00:38:36,258 You either fight it or embrace it, 867 00:38:36,258 --> 00:38:37,336 but if you fight it, 868 00:38:37,336 --> 00:38:39,532 eventually you're going to embrace it 869 00:38:39,532 --> 00:38:43,617 if you're a child of God. 870 00:38:43,617 --> 00:38:46,760 I will cleanse you. I'll cause you to walk... 871 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,028 It's a hard way though sometimes 872 00:38:50,028 --> 00:39:00,190 if we resist what God's doing in our lives. 873 00:39:00,190 --> 00:39:05,247 Jesus said, "blessed is everyone who has; 874 00:39:05,247 --> 00:39:08,347 to him more shall be given. 875 00:39:08,347 --> 00:39:10,950 And he shall have an abundance." 876 00:39:10,950 --> 00:39:12,440 And that's a wonderful thing. 877 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,225 If you have anything that's real, 878 00:39:14,225 --> 00:39:16,312 it'd be better to be the weakest Christian 879 00:39:16,312 --> 00:39:17,925 in the world today, 880 00:39:17,925 --> 00:39:20,823 if you have just a little grain that's real, 881 00:39:20,823 --> 00:39:23,355 because you're going to get more. 882 00:39:23,355 --> 00:39:26,750 And eventually, you're going to have a lot. 883 00:39:26,750 --> 00:39:28,344 Isn't that wonderful? 884 00:39:28,344 --> 00:39:30,937 This little tiny thing of grace in the life 885 00:39:30,937 --> 00:39:32,766 of a true Christian; 886 00:39:32,766 --> 00:39:34,376 He says blessed are you. 887 00:39:34,376 --> 00:39:35,827 Now him that does not have, 888 00:39:35,827 --> 00:39:37,064 even what he thinks he has 889 00:39:37,064 --> 00:39:38,722 shall be taken away. 890 00:39:38,722 --> 00:39:40,383 Better to be the weakest Christian 891 00:39:40,383 --> 00:39:43,735 in the world, than the strongest looking 892 00:39:43,735 --> 00:39:48,783 false professor. 893 00:39:48,783 --> 00:39:51,608 Every branch in Me that bears fruit, 894 00:39:51,608 --> 00:39:53,103 He purges it; He cleanses it 895 00:39:53,103 --> 00:39:55,235 that it might bring forth more fruit. 896 00:39:55,235 --> 00:39:57,331 (incomplete thought) 897 00:39:57,331 --> 00:39:58,865 "Herein is My Father glorified, 898 00:39:58,865 --> 00:40:00,873 that you bear much fruit 899 00:40:00,873 --> 00:40:07,105 and so prove to be My disciples." 900 00:40:07,105 --> 00:40:10,740 Some 100, some 60, some 30, 901 00:40:10,740 --> 00:40:11,927 but all have fruit. 902 00:40:11,927 --> 00:40:12,933 They're all growing. 903 00:40:12,933 --> 00:40:14,586 They're all producing fruit. 904 00:40:14,586 --> 00:40:16,967 Alright, last point. 905 00:40:16,967 --> 00:40:23,860 Final outcome of growth is harvest time. 906 00:40:23,860 --> 00:40:26,231 And He tells us that here. 907 00:40:26,231 --> 00:40:29,603 V. 29 "When the crop permits, 908 00:40:29,603 --> 00:40:33,327 he immediately puts in the sickle 909 00:40:33,327 --> 00:40:37,360 because the harvest has come." 910 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,823 Why do you plant seed? 911 00:40:39,823 --> 00:40:44,178 You plant them in order to get a harvest. 912 00:40:44,178 --> 00:40:46,680 God is going to have a harvest, beloved. 913 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:48,656 He's going to have a harvest. 914 00:40:48,656 --> 00:40:51,933 There's not going to be one missing. 915 00:40:51,933 --> 00:40:54,430 Think of this. 916 00:40:54,430 --> 00:40:58,136 Jesus says everyone that the Father's given Me 917 00:40:58,136 --> 00:41:00,108 will come to Me. 918 00:41:00,108 --> 00:41:01,424 And He that comes to Me, 919 00:41:01,424 --> 00:41:04,844 I will certainly not cast out. 920 00:41:04,844 --> 00:41:05,828 Why not? 921 00:41:05,828 --> 00:41:07,035 Why won't He cast us out? 922 00:41:07,035 --> 00:41:08,714 Well, because He says, I came down 923 00:41:08,714 --> 00:41:12,174 from Heaven to accomplish a specific purpose. 924 00:41:12,174 --> 00:41:13,505 I came down from Heaven 925 00:41:13,505 --> 00:41:14,757 not to do My own will, 926 00:41:14,757 --> 00:41:16,453 but the will of Him who sent Me. 927 00:41:16,453 --> 00:41:19,319 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, 928 00:41:19,319 --> 00:41:21,637 that of all that He has given Me, 929 00:41:21,637 --> 00:41:24,319 I lose only a few and then I raise up the rest 930 00:41:24,319 --> 00:41:25,626 at the last day. 931 00:41:25,626 --> 00:41:29,712 No, that's not what He said, is it? 932 00:41:29,712 --> 00:41:31,558 That of all that He has given Me, 933 00:41:31,558 --> 00:41:35,795 I lose not one! 934 00:41:35,795 --> 00:41:37,606 Think of this. 935 00:41:37,606 --> 00:41:39,396 Every plant that My Heavenly Father 936 00:41:39,396 --> 00:41:41,716 has not planted, shall be rooted up; 937 00:41:41,716 --> 00:41:44,609 but every plant that My Heavenly Father plants 938 00:41:44,609 --> 00:41:48,017 is going to make it all the way to the harvest. 939 00:41:48,017 --> 00:41:49,367 And there is a day coming - 940 00:41:49,367 --> 00:41:51,812 I think of it whenever we're together like this. 941 00:41:51,812 --> 00:41:54,477 Do you realize the hilarious joy 942 00:41:54,477 --> 00:41:56,025 we're going to have in seeing 943 00:41:56,025 --> 00:41:58,081 one another in heaven? 944 00:41:58,081 --> 00:42:00,089 What a day of rejoicing that will be! 945 00:42:00,089 --> 00:42:03,829 Why? Because it's the rejoicing of harvest. 946 00:42:03,829 --> 00:42:04,837 The crop's in. 947 00:42:04,837 --> 00:42:05,758 Up until that time, 948 00:42:05,758 --> 00:42:07,539 you're kind of gritting your teeth. 949 00:42:07,539 --> 00:42:10,137 I don't know if so-and-so's going to make it or not. 950 00:42:10,137 --> 00:42:11,848 I hope they're real. 951 00:42:11,848 --> 00:42:13,773 And there they are! 952 00:42:13,773 --> 00:42:14,828 You see them there - 953 00:42:14,828 --> 00:42:16,192 they're shining like the sun 954 00:42:16,192 --> 00:42:19,243 in the kingdom of their Father. 955 00:42:19,243 --> 00:42:23,521 What a day of rejoicing that will be! 956 00:42:23,521 --> 00:42:27,044 When the harvest is in. 957 00:42:27,044 --> 00:42:28,248 And we'll look back 958 00:42:28,248 --> 00:42:31,318 and it will be 10,000 times 959 00:42:31,318 --> 00:42:34,632 more wonderful than we ever thought 960 00:42:34,632 --> 00:42:36,390 as we see the providence of God 961 00:42:36,390 --> 00:42:41,415 in keeping His people and so on. 962 00:42:41,415 --> 00:42:44,279 There is a harvest coming. 963 00:42:44,279 --> 00:42:46,813 And it's going to be a great ingathering 964 00:42:46,813 --> 00:42:55,055 and a time of rejoicing. 965 00:42:55,055 --> 00:42:56,948 Another angel came out of the temple 966 00:42:56,948 --> 00:42:58,608 crying out with a loud voice 967 00:42:58,608 --> 00:43:00,144 to Him who sat on the cloud. 968 00:43:00,144 --> 00:43:01,628 Put in your sickel and reap 969 00:43:01,628 --> 00:43:04,273 because the hour to reap has come, 970 00:43:04,273 --> 00:43:07,191 because the harvest of the earth is ripe, 971 00:43:07,191 --> 00:43:10,393 and He who sat on the cloud 972 00:43:10,393 --> 00:43:12,788 (capital 'H' He) who sat on the cloud 973 00:43:12,788 --> 00:43:14,722 swung His sickle over the earth 974 00:43:14,722 --> 00:43:24,050 and the earth was reaped. 975 00:43:24,050 --> 00:43:25,847 Jesus is telling us the nature 976 00:43:25,847 --> 00:43:28,825 of the kingdom of God. 977 00:43:28,825 --> 00:43:30,347 And He's taking us back 978 00:43:30,347 --> 00:43:34,186 behind the scenes, 979 00:43:34,186 --> 00:43:38,307 and showing us how growth takes place. 980 00:43:38,307 --> 00:43:39,806 It takes place supernaturally 981 00:43:39,806 --> 00:43:42,877 by the power of God. 982 00:43:42,877 --> 00:43:46,446 And He will not have a crop failure. 983 00:43:46,446 --> 00:43:48,328 But He's going to take every one of us 984 00:43:48,328 --> 00:43:50,632 through all the stages necessary 985 00:43:50,632 --> 00:43:52,442 to get there. 986 00:43:52,442 --> 00:43:53,893 Amen.