From the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us today as we spend time around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all his fullness to men and women in all their need. ♪ And the reaper's work must soon be done ♪ ♪ Let her seeds be many with regard her ♪ ♪ Many for the carrying of the harvest home ♪ ♪ Are you sowing the seed of a given brother ♪ ♪ In the still and solemn night ♪ ♪ Are you sowing the seed of a given brother ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner Let's seek the Lord together in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we still our hearts before Thee in prayer in the name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. We thank Thee we can draw near to Thee and even ask for Thy blessing upon us and especially upon the reading and the preaching of Thy Word. We pray that Thou will bless Thy servant who has the responsibility of preaching thy word tonight, that he will know that help even from thyself, that thou will speak through him to every individual who will hear the word proclaimed, that each one who is saved will be led on with thee. And we pray that there may be those that are out of Christ that will be convicted of sin, convinced of their need, of the Savior and even brought to know him personally and savingly. So hear and answer prayer and glorify thy name, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Our scripture reading is found in Luke chapter 8 and the verses 4 to 12. The Lord Jesus was speaking We read, "'And when much people were gathered together "'and were come to him 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. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bear fruit a hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And 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 and taketh away the word out of their hearts. lest they should believe and be saved. Amen, and God will bless the reading of his word to our hearts. Our second hymn is the hymn, Come Ye Thankful People, Come Raise the Song of Harvest Home. All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. All our labor doth provide, all our wants to be supplied. Come to the light. Praise that glorious name. I want to thank the Reverend Woods for leading the meeting thus far, and say that it is a wonderful privilege to be able to preach the Gospel today. I want to take as my text the words of verse 12 from Luke chapter 8, that portion of Scripture that was read a little earlier. And verse 12 reads like this. Those by the wayside, are they that hear? Then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. And I want to speak to you on the enemy of the harvest. The portion of Scripture that was read to us records one of the parables of the kingdom. These parables that Jesus told teach us something about the course of the visible kingdom of God on earth between the first and the second coming of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the parable before us, the Savior described a sower, really in layman's terms, a farmer, one who would go out in ancient time with his bag of seed. He would go into the field that had been plowed and made ready for the seed. And he would begin to sow the seed far and wide until he emptied his seed bag. and the seed was sown throughout the field. But as the sower sowed the seed, the Lord Jesus in the parable taught us and instructed us that some fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came down and ate it up. Some seed fell on stony ground. It shot up for a little season and then died away because it had no root thereof, no depth of soil to take root in. Some seed fell among thorns and as it grew it was choked by the thorns. And then there was another type of ground and the seed fell on the good ground. The seed went into the ground, and because the ground was good and fertile, the seed grew and produced fruit, some 30, some 60, and some 100 fold. There are various general lessons that this parable teaches us in relation to the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It teaches us that the gospel is to be preached to all sorts of men. The ground in the parable depicts four different type of men, or four different types of the hearts of men, and yet the seed was to be sown far and wide, and it fell upon all sorts of ground. And it reminds us that with the Word of God, the seed We who are the servants of the Lord, we are to spread and sow the seed. We're to make known the gospel, preach the word of God to all sorts and types of men. The parable also teaches us that sadly many will reject the gospel. Three types of ground where there was no fruit brought forth. The seed could not germinate and grow and produce fruit. Those types of ground indicate that there will be many who will reject the gospel. They hear it. They hear the word of God, but they do not take it to heart. They do not believe, and they will not be saved. They reject the gospel message. Furthermore, the parable teaches us that some will receive the gospel. There was a good ground in the parable, and the seed that was sown on that good ground brought forth fruit. And there are those who receive the Word of God within their hearts and bring forth fruit unto repentance and salvation. I wonder, today, can we pose the question, which groan describes you. Have you received the word of God? Has it brought forth fruit unto life eternal? However, there is another lesson that this parable teaches us. And it is the fact and the reality that there is an enemy of the gospel. One who is opposed to the sowing of the seed, the spreading of the word, the declaration of the gospel. And you have it for you there in verse 12. Those by the wayside are those that hear. Then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. If the good ground pictures the spiritual harvest of men and women being saved, brought into the kingdom of God, then surely we have in this parable the picture and the reality taught that there is an enemy who opposes the spiritual harvest. And from this verse, I want to say a number of things, or from the parable, I want to say a number of things about the enemy of the harvest. This verse 12 reveals the identity off the enemy. We're left in no doubt as to who the enemy of Christ, the enemy of the gospel, and the enemy of the harvest is. It is the devil. Then cometh the devil. He is the enemy of God, the enemy of Christ, the enemy of the church, the enemy of the gospel. And he is identified as the devil. We do well to ask ourselves the question, who is this individual that the Bible identifies and speaks of as the devil? Well, the Bible tells us in a number of places something about him. Let me refer to three portions of Scripture. In Ezekiel chapter 28, verses 11 to 19, we have a prophecy about the devil. And I'm particularly noting verse 14, 15, and 17. We're told that he was the anointed cherub. He was in the holy mountain. We're told in verse 13, he was in the Garden of Eden. So he was The anointed cherub, he was an angel created by God. He was the anointed cherub. We believe he was the chief angel. He was in the Garden of Eden. Verse 15 tells us, he was created perfect. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created. He was created without sin. He was created perfect, as all God's creation was made very good. But there came a day, sin was found in him. Verse 15, till iniquity was found in thee. And verse 17 tells us what that sin was. Thine heart was lifted up because of thine beauty. And thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. It was pride in his heart. His heart was lifted up at his beauty. And if then, if we consider another portion of Scripture, Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 to 15, it tells us a little more about the devil. We've learned he was the anointed angel. He was created by God perfect. But he had sin in his heart. And in Isaiah 14, verses 12 to 15, the question is asked, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou fallen? How didst thou sin? How were you cut down? Well, we're given the answer in Isaiah 14, in verse 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. And so as desire was to dethrone God, to rule above God, to be like the Most High, and to take his place, to ascend into the heights of heaven, and dethrone the Lord, because his heart was lifted up in pride. And in Revelation 12, verses 7 to 9, we're told there was war in heaven. The devil and his angels were defeated. They were cast out of heaven, and they were cast down to the earth. And that's when he came to Eden to tempt our first parents. He was cast out even unto the earth and he was cast there to deceive and to deceive the whole world. That's the identity. That's who the enemy of God's spiritual harvest is. The devil, the chief angel, whose heart was lifted up in pride, who thought he would dethrone God and take his place and rule over creation. But in his sin, God cast him down. And he was cast down to this earth, and one day he'll be cast into hell. But for this season, he was cast down even to the earth. That's the identity of the enemy. He's your enemy. He's my enemy. He's the enemy of the gospel and the enemy of the gospel preacher. Because if you look again at our text, Luke chapter 8 and verse 12, you'll see not only the identity of the enemy, but you'll see the activity of the enemy. I'm drawing your attention to that word cometh. Then cometh the devil. I was taught in school the difference between nouns and verbs, and a verb was a doing word, it's an action word. And this is a verb, it's telling us that he's doing something, he's coming from one place to another. And it tells us where he's coming to. It's coming to the place where the Word of God is preached. It's coming to the very hearts. He's coming to the very hearts of those who have heard the Word of the Lord. He is active. He is busy. Let me stress, he is not bound. No, Peter tells us in his epistle, That the devil, your adversary, walketh about as a roaring lion. There's the depiction of the enemy. The lion would devour. He will devour the lamb. He'll devour any other animal that stands in his way. He will slay them. And that's the devil. He's the enemy of your soul. And he wants to devour and slay you and bring your soul down to a lost sinner's hell. And he's busy and he's active in this world. He's going about. And he's going about, the Savior tells us, to the very place where the Word of God is preached. And we're told, when he's active, you'll notice it says, then cometh the devil and taketh away the Word, as soon as the Word of the Lord is preached, as soon as the seed is sown. Have you ever heard the Word of God preached? And then the thought comes to your mind, Oh, I don't need to believe this word or this message or this truth that's being taught. No, the seeds that the devil plants in man's mind, he cometh when the word of God is proclaimed. Why does he come? Well, the answer is given again in our text. Then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. The devil wants to come and steal away the good seed, lest you believe. And there you have for you in the words of our Savior, the way of salvation so simply taught. When the gospel is proclaimed that Jesus Christ is God's Son. That he was born of the Virgin Mary without sin. That he lived a perfect, complete and sinless life. That he died upon the cross of Calvary and shed his life's blood. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. When the word is preached and souls believe, they're saved. The Lord Jesus used that word saved. Souls are saved from sin. They're saved from the devil. They're saved from an eternal condemnation and destruction. And how are they saved? They're not saved by works of righteousness that they do. They're not saved by their church attendance or their charitable donations. They're not saved by living by the golden rule or the law of the Lord, for men can never keep the golden rule or the law of the Lord. They'll feel, and you will feel, how is a man saved? by believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ when it's preached to your heart. That was the message of the Apostle Paul to the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16. The jailer asked the question, what must I do to be saved? The answer came ringing back, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Have you heard the Word of God? Maybe you heard it at your mother's knee. She taught it to you as a little child. You heard it in the Sabbath school when you were taken aside by the teacher in the little class and taught the stories of the Bible and the message of Jesus. Have you heard it in the gospel mission or in the house of the Lord? Have you believed? That's the only way your soul will be saved. A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. And if you believe the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. And yet it's the enemy's strategy. It is His aim and His actions and His activity that you will not believe the gospel, and He is the enemy of your soul. But I want to say finally, not only in this parable do we learn the identity of the enemy and the activity of the enemy, we learn and we see that there is victory over the enemy. For in Luke chapter 8 and verse 15, the Lord Jesus explains what the parable means. And in verse 15 he says, but that on good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word and keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. They that hear the word In an honest and sincere heart, they hear it, they believe, they keep it, and they bring forth fruit unto eternal life. John the Baptist cried unto the people of his day, bring forth fruits made for repentance. What is spiritual fruit? Fruit in your life unto God. Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance toward God, a new heart that lives in obedience to the Savior, seeks to walk in His ways and fulfill His will. And if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, receive His Word, And follow him and live out the word of God in your life. You will know victory over the enemy of your soul. The Savior will enter into your heart by faith. Greater is he then that will be within you, the Lord Jesus, than he that is in the world. And you will know victory over Satan, victory over sin, and in the world to come, you'll have eternal life with the blessed Lord and Savior. Are you saved? Have you believed the gospel? May the Lord bring you to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Let us bow our heads in prayer as we conclude our time today around the word. Our gracious God and our loving and eternal Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Lord of the harvest. We thank you that he is sending laborers into his harvest field to sow the good seed of the gospel, to preach the word of God, to make known the way of salvation. We pray for every servant of thine, for every gospel preacher, that as they sow the seed, May there be seed that will fall on good ground. Men and women receive the good news of the gospel. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be born again of the Spirit and be saved for all eternity. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today around the Word of God. For further information visit our website at ltbs.tv. We look forward to joining with you next time as we seek to let the Bible speak once again.