THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF THE GOSPEL IN REGENERATION

    THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

"A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. {6} And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. {7} And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. {8} And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Luke 8:5-8)

"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." (Luke 8:11)

"But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." (Luke 8:15)

    The Lord in His brief ministry on the earth went from village to city, and from city to village, "Preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God" (Luke 8:1). And to many of His hearers He spake "The parable of the sower," wherein the "seed" with a general application was sown. Some of the seed fell by the wayside, and was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. Some fell upon a rock, and being without moisture, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and it was choked out by the thorns. But that is not the end of the parable, for the Divine agrarian, says: "And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold ... And His disciples ask Him, saying, What might this parable be? And He said ... the seed is the word of God."
    Parabolic teaching is no stranger to the Bible, and that for the simple reason, parables are an efficient means of conveying and communicating much of the mind of God to His people. A parable is a comparison, an illustration, or analogy. A parable is a means of explaining something that is unknown by comparing it with something that is known. Much of the preacher's homiletical time is spent in looking for a good analogy or parable with sufficient parallel to clearly show his meaning and emphasize his point. No preacher or public speaker can in any wise compare with Christ in the art of parabolic teaching, for HE ALONE has infallible proficiency. May God the Holy Spirit be pleased to simplify the parable of the sower, so as we may understand it, and profit therefrom.
    It is my aim in considering the parable of the sower, to compare Scripture with Scripture, and thereby show how graphically the parable teaches the instrumentality of the gospel in regeneration. And he that hath eyes to see, let him see.
    Two things we know with absolute certainty is, the "seed" in this parable, is the gospel of God, and secondly, the "hundredfold fruit" was the result of the broadcast preaching of the gospel (Luke 8:8). But the remonstrant objects, saying: "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience, they had an 'honest and good heart', and were regenerate before they ever heard the gospel." The problem with this contention is one of great import, for it has people with honest and good hearts that know nothing about the gospel of Christ. This is not merely an absurdity, but a most dangerous one, for it has to do with the eternal destiny of the soul, and makes the "good ground" the product of human nature.
    Jeremiah metaphorically refers to fallen man's nature as "fallow ground" (Jeremiah 4:3). Fallow ground is cultivated ground that is left idle during the growing season. So it is with man's native intellect, many a gospel furrow has been plowed across it, but it has not and cannot ever be planted with the seed of regeneration. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). Every teaching of the Bible is rank foolishness to the natural man, and he can never by the power of his old nature know anything about the word of God as he ought to know it (I Corinthians 2:14).
    Man in his fallen nature is utterly depraved, his heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) There has not been one among the multiplied millions of Adam's fallen posterity that ever sought after God (Romans 3:11), and the Scriptures declare that there is no way for the Adamic nature to please God (Romans 8:8). But the gospel of Christ is not defeated, for it is God's power unto the salvation of His people, and it is through the Holy Spirit's application of the gospel that man is given a new nature. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away behold, all things are become new." (II Corinthians 5:17).
    God has never been without a people, yea, His host is so exceeding great, that it defies enumeration; but there is not one among this grand and glorious host that did not come the gospel route, for when the Divinely appointed time of regeneration comes, so comes the corresponding power of the gospel, and God's people are made willing; for it is "the power of God unto salvation" (Psalms 110:3; Romans 1:16). The gospel of regeneration is underwritten by the grace of God. Paul knowing this grand truth, said: "... I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24).
THE GOOD GROUND
    "And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold ..." (Luke 8:8). The "good ground" cannot be the result or effect of the natural man's labor, for his work is not good, but perverse (Psalms 125:5; Acts 20:30). According to the Divine plumb line, all their "ways are crooked" (Psalms 2:15). Spiritually speaking, no offspring of human nature has ever ploughed a straight furrow, for "They all are gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12). The word "good" according to Heaven's definition of the term, is utterly alien to the Adamic vocabulary. So then, we are irrevocably driven to the conclusion that the natural man had nothing whatsoever to do with making the ground "good". However, from the loose and conventional use of the term, we learn (?) that there is a lot of good in the very worst of people.
    Good ground is consistently productive, and is highly valued. But the question which perplexes so many honest and searching minds, is: 'Whence cometh this 'good ground' the Lord spoke of?" Indulge me please to once again answer the question in the negative, and in so doing we MUST go to the word of the unerring God. And we find those blessed pages replete with the doctrine of the total depravity of human nature. The Lord speaking inclusively of the original progenitor and his last and furthest descendent, said: "The flesh profit nothing" (John 6:63). The Apostle Paul, who was as much a perfect example of Christ, as any man who ever lived, after diligently searching his own heart, said: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). The most dedicated saint, after a brief moment in the study of God's word, reflecting thereon, and looking introspectively at his thoughts and experience, will cry out like the God fearing Prophet Isaiah, saying: "Woe is me! I am undone" (Isaiah 6:5).
    Seeing then that the omniscient God finds no "good ground" in the whole realm of human nature, and yet the Holy Spirit inspired word refers to "good ground" in all three accounts of the parable (Matthew 13:8; Mark 4:8; Luke 8:15). The Lord did not speak this parable to confuse His disciples, for He said unto them concerning this parable: "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God" (Mark 4:11). Parables are often used as comprehensive aids, or as teaching instruments, to facilitate understanding. When His disciples were confused by any of His parables, their confusion was soon erased; "For He expounded all things to His disciples" (Mark 4:34). To the contemporary saint, the Scripture says: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God ... and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering" (James 1:5-6).
    The Adamic man being utterly devoid of spiritual life, desperately needs to be regenerated, or as the Lord said: "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7), and this second birth or regeneration is the Divine imperative, which without there can be no "good ground" or "honest hearts". The parable plainly says that the "good ground" and "honest heart" is the result of hearing the word and keeping it. They did not merely hear the word with their carnal faculty, but the word was implanted in their hearts, beyond the uprooting power of Satan. James refers to this same "word", admonishing his readers to "... Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21).
    So as not to be misunderstood, I repeat, "It is the Holy Spirit of God that regenerates." The "word" unquickened by the Spirit is destined for deaf ears or stony ground, but when the "word" is made alive by the Spirit "It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth" (Romans 1:16). The doctrine of sovereign election and the glorious gospel are eternal parts of the infinite counsel of God, and it is the invariable pleasure of the everlasting Father to use the gospel to regenerate all whom He gave the Son in the everlasting covenant (John 6:37; Hebrews 13:20). Thus it is, Paul with great joy tells the Thessalonians saints: "... Because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (I Thessalonians 2:13).
    In his second letter to the same church Paul accentuates this faith uplifting and God exalting truth, by saying: "We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thessalonians 2:13-14). Any and all effort to separate the work of the gospel from regeneration is an exercise in absolute futility, and borders on blasphemy, for it is to say; the unregenerate heart is more powerful than the word of God.
    The Holy Spirit is the Author and effectual force in regeneration, but in the calling of God's elect unto salvation it has pleased the Holy Spirit to use the gospel of the Son of God as an instrument of quickening grace, whereby all whom Jesus represented on the cross are regenerated. The appointment of instrumentalities, such as the gospel and all who are called of God to declare it, does not take anything away from the exclusive power of God in salvation, nay, the very opposite is truth; it demonstrates the absolute sovereignty of God over the means as well as the subject. The Lord asks: "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" (Matthew 20:15). The gospel and the Holy Spirit called preacher are instruments of God's sovereign pleasure, and it has pleased the Lord to make His preachers advocates of the gospel of grace. Paul said that he was "a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God" (Romans 1:1). And he said: "... I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:19). With Paul, the gospel was of primary importance, and that for many reasons, two of which are,
        1.) He knew that God used the gospel in calling out His elect,
        2.) He knew there would be some who would pervert the gospel (Galatians 1:7).
    Evil so fully permeates the nature of the unregenerate man that he never has one right thought about God (Psalms 10:4). His mind is enmity against God, and he thinks that God is altogether such a one as himself (Psalms 50:21). He trusts in his own heart, and is therefore a fool (Proverbs 28:26). Paul, in summoning up his old nature, said: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). And Peter being deceived by his old nature, said: "I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). According to the Divine yardstick, Adam and all of his posterity have come fatally short of that glory which without, no man shall see God, and cannot by his native will do anything that is pleasing unto God.
    Peter asks: "... What shall the end of them be that obey not the gospel of God?" (I Peter 4:17). Peter did not ask this question because he did not know the answer, but he asked it to appraise his readers of the terrible judgment appointed unto them that obey not the gospel. Speaking of the gospel, the Lord said: "... He that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16). But let us not despair, for "many" hear the word, and believe (Acts 4:4). "Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

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