The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Introduction and Prayer for Understanding

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 17th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now will you turn with me in your own Bibles to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark and follow as I read in your hearing verses 30-32. Mark chapter 4, verses 30-32. And he said,

1:14 So that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer that God himself, by the Spirit, would give us understanding in his word. Let us pray.

1:39 Our Father, we thank you for the reminder of the psalm we have just sung, that you are committed that the entire earth should hear, the message of your dear Son. We thank you for this parable which fell from the lips of our Lord Jesus, in which he has set before us an imagery that may be strange to us at first, but imagery that we trust will open up and become clear to us in the ministry of the word, the glorious reality that all ends of the earth shall hear and that all the earth shall hear. And all for whom the Savior shed his blood in every kindred, tribe, and tongue and nation shall be brought home at last to him. O Lord, teach us by the Spirit, and by that teaching may we be encouraged, filled with hope, may we have new zeal poured into our hearts, and where we need to be rebuked for our unbelief and for our narrow vision, O Lord, may the rebukes and the consolations of your word be our portion this morning. We plead through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Preparatory Questions: Engaging the Hearers

3:08 Now, last Lord's Day, as we began our study of verses 26 through 29 in this fourth chapter of Mark, I had occasion to remark in your hearing that it was a great delight as a preacher to be able to bring springtime, summer, and harvest, this time, into the assembly of God's people at a time when the earth outside of us was covered with snow and when all of us are yet very conscious that we are held in the icy grip of this rather lengthy and severe winter. Well, I have a similar privilege this morning for once again the matters of sowing seed and the growth of that seed continuing on into the summer months of Palestine, will be central to our thinking as we study together what is commonly and rightfully called the parable of the mustard seed. Now, I would remind you before we actually dig into the parable itself that the words spoken by our Lord on this occasion were most likely spoken while the multitudes, including the disciples and the inner circle of his adherents, were seated on the seashore of the Sea of Galilee while our Lord himself was found sitting in a boat a little way off from the shore

4:34 teaching and preaching to these multitudes. Those circumstances, you'll remember, are clearly described in verses 1 and 2 of this fourth chapter. And in that situation, the Lord Jesus spoke the words recorded by Mark in verses 30 through 32. And as we, as we take up our study, I would ask you to note, first of all, in verse 30, the preparatory questions raised by our Lord.

5:05 The preparatory questions raised by our Lord. And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or in what parable shall we set it forth? Note as we examine these preparatory questions raised by our Lord, the essence of the questions and then secondly, the issues underscored by these questions.

5:35 First of all then, the essence of these questions. In the only recorded instance of this kind in all of the gospel records, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Lord Jesus introduces a parable by asking, questions not in the first person, how shall I liken the kingdom of God? Or in what parable shall I set it forth? But your Bibles have properly translated the original.

6:09 In what parable shall we set it forth? How shall we make a likeness of the kingdom of God? Now when we compare Mark 4 with Matthew 13, it becomes clear that on this occasion, the Lord had given several parables relative to the kingdom of God. He had said the kingdom of God is like, the kingdom of God is like, and then apparently after a pause, the Lord then gave these two questions.

6:45 How shall we make a likeness of the kingdom of God? That is, how shall you, my listeners, and I who speak to you, take the great realities of the kingdom of God of which I have already been speaking in other parables, and how shall we find another likeness which will bring into focus another aspect and another dimension of this kingdom? Either its origin, its nature, its method of propagation, its principles of operation, how shall we make a likeness of the kingdom of God? Or, the second question, in what parable shall we set it forth? That is, in what more extended analogy shall we wrap up the kingdom of God and set it before men? The parable, you see, became like a wrapping over some dimension of the essence, the nature, the constitution, the principles, the principles of the kingdom, and our Lord was setting forth the kingdom wrapped up in parables. And now He asks the question, how shall we make a likeness?

8:05 Where shall we find a simple simile so that we can say the kingdom of God is like this or like that? Or, in what additional parable shall we wrap up the kingdom and set forth the kingdom and say the kingdom is like this and then, give a simple story, a parabolic illustration of the kingdom? In other words, at this point, the Lord Jesus is, as it were, thinking out loud. And He includes His hearers in His thinking.

Issues Underscored by the Questions: Kingdom and Engagement

8:42 He invites them to engage their minds in a present, diligent, active, mental search for similes, and parables that will set forth a new aspect of the kingdom of God. Now, that's the essence of His questions. Now, what are the issues underscored by those two questions? Well, there are two.

9:10 Number one, first of all, these questions inform us as to the central concern of the following parable. Jesus has raised the questions which pertain to the question, which pertain exclusively to one issue. Look at the text. How shall we liken the kingdom of God?

9:32 How shall we make a likeness of this great reality, the kingdom of God? Or in what parable shall we set it, that is, the kingdom of God? In what parable shall we set the kingdom of God forth? So the issue underscored, is the question, what is the central concern of the parable that follows?

9:57 And the answer is, that the central concern of the parable that follows is this issue of the kingdom of God. Some aspect of God's rule of grace and power which has now come before men in the person and work of the King Himself. Now, if we remember that this is the central concern of the parable that follows, we will not get hung up by its central concern of the parable that follows. We will not get hung up by its central concern of the parable that follows.

10:29 And yet, our Lord has been wetting our hearts with this special reason. We are not expecting that our Lord would deliver on this occasion a technical classroom lecture in botany, horticulture, or a treatise on the flora of Palestine that could substitute for lecture as though our Lord were giving a classical, technical lecture in horticulture, in botany, or, as I have said, in the flora of Palestine. He is doing no such thing. He is speaking to common Palestinians sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, most of whom have what we would call a home garden, and they have an exposure to gardening and to horticulture that is not technical, but that is practical, personal, and very limited in terms of their understanding of the whole scope of the plants that were then in existence throughout the entirety of Palestine or of the world. So keeping that in mind, that his central concern is the kingdom, will help us in our understanding of the parable. But the issues underscored by these questions are not only the central concern,

11:57 namely to teach some aspect of the kingdom of God, but these questions also set before us a picture of our Lord's genuine desire to engage the minds of his hearers concerning these great issues. The very method he adopts, it indicated that Jesus was not content simply to dump out some information whether or not his hearers were glassy-eyed, distracted, half, three-quarters, or totally asleep. Could it be, could it be, that because he had already uttered several parables And you remember, for those who were being given up to judicial blindness, the parables bailed the truth from them, Could it be that some of them were already beginning to be weary because they couldn't make any sense of these parables and were beginning to be distracted? Could it be that perhaps even some of the inner circle who did have spiritual insight, who were beginning to grasp the significance of some of the previous parables, were so engaged with trying to trace out those lines of thought that the Lord Jesus was losing them as a congregation?

13:17 And he sensed, as he looked at the vast multitudes, that their minds needed to be captured afresh. And so the Lord, as it were, throws out these two hooks, these two questions, to capture the minds of his listeners and to engage their minds. For you see, that's the very function of a question in speaking. The moment a speaker raises a question which includes you, if you're half listening, it should get you completely listening.

13:46 For example, For example, if I were to say, now children, how can we describe, what can we use that is a picture of the love that you have to your mommy and daddy?

14:01 Well, if you're listening to me, you're thinking, well, how can I say, my love to mommy and daddy is like what? You see, if I ask you a question, that makes the wheels of your mind start turning faster. Or if I were to say, now, you children that have a pet, a pet bird, a pet dog, a pet cat, a pet cockroach, a pet something. How do you feel? How can you describe what you feel when your pet dies?

14:29 The minute I ask that question, it makes you start thinking, if you've had a pet, what you felt when that pet died. Or if your pet has not died, what you think you'd feel like. You see, the very function of a question in public speaking is to secure the present engagement of the mind of the one to whom the question is addressed. So as our Lord, to raise these questions, he was not only concerned to underscore the central issue that would follow in the parable, but he manifested his genuine, his earnest desire to engage the minds of his listeners on this great issue of the kingdom of God.

15:12 How should we make a likeness of the kingdom? In what parable shall we set it forth? Now, with all of their twists, with all of their twisted notions, with all of their misconceptions, their crass materialism with reference to the kingdom, one can only imagine what thoughts may have begun to flood into the minds of those who listened and received the question. When Jesus said, How shall we make a likeness of the kingdom of God?

15:46 Those two words, kingdom of God. Now, could it be that in the minds of, some, as our Lord paused, and I cannot imagine that he did not pause. It would have lost all of its impact if he simply raced right on and said, It is as. I can imagine there was a dramatic and almost electrifying pause.

16:08 He cries out, How shall we make a likeness of the kingdom? In what parable shall we set it forth? And people who are following him begin to think, The kingdom of God. Kingdom.

16:22 Kingdom. Speaks of might. Speaks of power. Speaks of vast influence.

16:28 Speaks of expansiveness. The kingdom of God must speak of power, of might, of expansiveness, equal to the infinite majestic God of Israel. And so perhaps the imagery of a great and mighty and influential city, of a vast and powerful and well-equipped army, of a well-organized, well-structured, disciplined nation, perhaps these were some of the images that began to flash into their minds as valid likenesses of the kingdom, and perhaps parables of a mighty king going forth to war, or of the governor of an influential city going forth to spread abroad the influence of that city. Perhaps those were the thoughts that began to flood into the mind. Then as we come to verses 31 and 32, we see the parable, chosen and set forth by our Lord.

The Parable Chosen: The Mustard Seed's Facts

17:27 Having raised the questions, the preparatory or the preparatory questions, we now consider in the second place the parable set forth by our Lord. Verses 31 and 32. It is like a grain of mustard seed. And I can almost hear the wind, as it were, going out of the balloons in the thinking of those people who heard him that day.

17:57 It is like, and then he does not say a king, a great kingdom, a vast army, a mighty influential city. He says a grain of mustard seed. Now as we attempt to understand this parable, consider with me first of all the facts contained in the parable itself, and then the primary lesson of the parable. Now in the experience of the average, the average Palestinian who did any gardening, the seed from a mustard plant or a mustard bush was generally the smallest seed that would have come within the scope of his gardening experience.

18:41 Now that is vital to grasp. When Jesus said, it is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth, Jesus is not making a text, ethnical, botanical, or horticultural statement. And anyone who treats the word of God that way deserves to be given up to blindness.

19:08 What he is saying to his listeners is this, in the realm of your experience, you know that for most of you the smallest seed you ever handle is the seed that comes from your herbal plant, your mustard seed. Now that this, this was true is underscored in other passages of scripture. When you wanted to speak proverbially about something being tiny, we say of someone, well that little kid, he is no bigger than a minute. We use that term as a proverbial expression to speak of someone very small.

19:45 Sometimes I say of some of the little ones here, well they are only as big as half a minute. They are really small. Well when you wanted to describe something small in Jesus' day, you described it under the likeness of the mustard seed. Matthew, Matthew 17 and verse 20 is an example of this.

20:02 Matthew 17 and verse 20. He said unto them, because of your little faith, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, if you have the smallest quantity of real faith, that real faith will accomplish great things. And you find a similar usage in Luke 17 and verse 17. Now let me try to give you a parallel.

20:32 And I checked this out with Mr. Van Wingerton this morning. I tried yesterday and couldn't get hold of him.

20:38 It's my conclusion, and he's confirmed me in this, that most of us who've had any experience in home gardening, for us, the smallest seeds we see are lettuce seeds and carrot seeds with carrot probably winning the day. Just a little bit smaller than the lettuce seeds. So, if I were speaking to you in terms of your garden experience, I would say, for most of us, the lettuce seed or the carrot seed is the smallest seed upon the earth. That is the smallest seed with which we have any practical dealings.

21:13 And that relates and speaks to us. Now notice what Jesus says then about this mustard seed. He says, though it be the smallest seed, yet when it is sown, what happens? It grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.

21:42 And here's the heart of the facts of the parable. He says it is less, verse 31, than all the seeds upon the earth, yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes greater. The less becomes the greater than all other herbs that you have sown. And in the understanding and experience of the ordinary Palestinian, they would have known exactly what our Lord was referring to.

22:14 The greatest discrepancy that they knew between the size of a seed and the ultimate size of the plant that came forth from that seed was in the case of the mustard seed. For though it was the smallest seed, it grew up into the greatest of all its herbal plants so that Matthew in the parallel passage says it actually becomes a tree. Now again, he's not speaking in terms of technical classification that we find in horticulture. No, he's saying for all intents and purposes it grows so large and puts forth such strength of branches that you look at it and say, oh, that's a small tree.

22:57 And many who have traveled in Palestine have recorded, how they were struck with this when they saw these mustard bushes, these little mustard trees, tall enough so that a man sitting upon a horse in his saddle could not see above the top of it. In other words, it was about 10 feet tall. And some writers on plants of the Bible indicate that they have seen these plants, these mustard herbal plants, grow as high as 10 to 15 feet. And our Lord simply underscores the reality of that great growth by saying it actually puts out branches, branches strong enough that the very birds of heaven can tent under the shadow thereof. The verb used means to tent or to dwell. It may mean they not only roost for shade, but may even build their nests in the branches. So those are the facts contained in the parable.

23:59 Jesus said in answer to his own question, how shall we find a likeness to the kingdom of God? In what parable shall we wrap it up and set it before men? He said it is like a mustard seed, less than all seeds as to its size when sown, yet becomes greater than all other plants in its full development. It becomes a tree, the birds of the heaven nest under its shadow.

The Primary Lesson: Small Beginnings to Great Results

24:34 Now those are the facts contained in the parable. Now, what is the primary lesson of the parable? Well, I've already indicated the key words are less and greater. From such a small beginning comes this growth which is greater than all others of its kind.

24:55 And that and that alone is the fundamental principle of the parable. It is the comparison between the small beginning and the ultimate largeness of the mustard tree that becomes the point of comparison with the kingdom of God. Now, one writer has very accurately stated this, and I quote him. This is Taylor on his commentary on the parables of our Savior.

25:28 A great result, from the parable of our Savior, is the coming of Christ. from a small beginning, a large growth from a little seed. This is the one thought of the parable. And of that, the Lord declares, the kingdom of heaven upon earth is an example.

25:47 It is simply absurd, therefore, to endeavor to find a hidden meaning in the field in which the seed was planted, or in the man who planted it, in the pungency of the taste of the mustard, or in the little birds that seek shelter beneath its leaves. You say, well, who would be crazy enough to try to find a hidden meaning in all of that? Well, I will not weary you with all the pages of commentary I have read in the past week in which people try to find some very hidden, exotic, and marvelous significance in all of those details of the parable. Mr. Taylor says to us, it is absurd to try to find a hidden meaning in all of these details. All of these are over-refinements, and irrelevant, tending only to withdraw attention from the main point for the bringing out of which the parable was employed, and which in these later days needs only to be stated to be recognized. The kingdom of heaven on the earth had a beginning, which, when compared to its present condition, is as the mustard seed is to the herbal plant that grows from it. So the primary, the central issue, the primary lesson of the parable is this.

27:08 The kingdom is established and grows by a principle of small beginnings to unexpected and marvelous increase and great results, totally out of proportion to those small beginnings. That's the heart. That's the pith. That's the heart.

27:30 That's the pith. That's the pith. That's the pith. That's the pith.

27:30 That's the pith. That's the pith. That's the pulse beat of the parable. Now, having considered with you the preparatory questions raised by our Lord, the parable as set forth by our Lord, the facts of it, the central significance, now we come in the third place to what is the heart of our study this morning, some of the manifold applications of this parable.

Application to Our Lord Jesus Christ

27:54 As we sit here in 1985 in this congregation, in this building, what does this parable say to us? What are we to learn from it with reference to our present involvement in the kingdom of God? Well, let me trace out at least three lines of application with you this morning.

28:18 Consider, first of all, its application to our Lord Himself. Its application to our Lord Himself. We read and studied together in the opening chapter of Mark that when the Lord Jesus came preaching in Galilee, this was His message. The kingdom of God is at hand.

28:41 Repent ye and believe the gospel. The kingdom drew near in the person of the king. The kingdom could not be at hand as long as the king was afar off. But when the king came and was formally recognized in the waters of Jordan by the induced, human to the Spirit as God's anointed prophet, priest, and king, from that time forth He goes forward to preach the kingdom of God is at hand.

29:15 And it was at hand in the presence, person, and work of the king. You remember He said, if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then has the kingdom of God come among you. So the kingdom comes in the presence, in the person of the king. So the principle of the operation of the kingdom from the mustard seed in all of its insignificance and smallness to its surprising growth and development, surely if it will be manifested anywhere, that principle will be manifested in the king himself.

29:56 And surely it is. We read this morning that though there was a heavenly announcement, to a little group of humble shepherds on the Galilean hillside, on the Judean hillside, there was not at the birth of our Lord any trumpets announcing to the world His coming. He was not manifested in His incarnation found in the royal crib of some great place of influence. God, as it were, buried the mustard seed in Mary's womb for nine months and allowed His only begotten Son to pass through every stage of prenatal development. I know a few thoughts that cause my own mind to stagger and feel as though it will either split into a thousand pieces or be paralyzed than to think of the wonder of the incarnation that God Himself taking His own life, taking His own life, giving to Himself a true humanity in Mary's womb, pass through every stage from conception, implantation upon her womb, and then the multiplication of the cells that constituted that holy body in which He would live out

31:23 His life of obedience and die upon the cross. The formation of that human soul in all of its mystery. Here God buried the seed, as it were, in Mary's womb, so that as she passed into the stage where it became evident to all that she was pregnant, I don't mean to be irreverent. There was not a halo around the front of her maternity dress.

31:50 It didn't come within 20 feet and feel a zapping of marvelous electric vibrations.

31:58 There was nothing about Mary's pregnancy that was different from any other Palestinian woman. At eight months, she began to waddle like the rest of you do. And she had her stretch marks. And she had all the discomfort.

32:13 And probably had all the nausea in the empty early months. Here was just a mustard you would never have suspected in this world.

32:28 Who would bind to himself as he has this day untold millions in bonds of faith and love to the four corners of the earth. Just a little Hebrew maid who's pregnant and carries over her the shadow. That she may have conceived that child out of wedlock. That's all there was.

32:49 A mustard seed. A mustard seed.

32:53 When he was born, he was born in a context in which very quickly his swaddling cloths were impregnated with the smell of stale urine and the awful of a cow barn. Don't romanticize the stable. Even the lovely, pretty mechanized ones that I've been in still stink. Of stale urine and the dung of the fruit beast.

33:25 That's the mustard seed. So that when those shepherds came in if they had not been told this was Christ the Lord what would they have seen? Again, no halo. Nothing going forth from that one who was wrapped in swaddling clothes that would have neutralized the pungent smells of that stable.

33:46 Not a thing. It was a mustard. Then as he grew to manhood the scripture tells as he was like a root out of a dry ground. There was nothing in his form that was unusual.

34:03 He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. This notion that Christ was strikingly handsome finds absolutely no foundation in scripture. One of the reasons some of us abominate pictures of Christ is right here.

34:19 Where did you ever see people draw an ugly Christ?

34:23 I'm not saying he was positively ugly but I know the prophet said there is no form nor comeliness. And when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.

34:35 And exegetically I think one would be hard pressed to say that refers only to the period when he was beaten and bruised. It seems to be a generic statement.

34:46 A mustard seed. An ordinary man. An ordinary man who when he came to full years of manhood and began his public ministry ended up with a little handful of followers and in the hour of his greatest triumph one of them betrayed him another one cursed and denied that he knew him all the rest forsook him and then the last public sight they had of him was hanging dead on an instrument of execution reserved for the basest of criminals.

35:21 You're going to start a world-wide religion with that?

35:25 Begins in a car stable ends up on a cross come on how shall we find a likeness for the kingdom? There it is. The mustard seed at Mary's womb. The mustard seed of the stable.

35:47 The mustard seed of that ordinary looking man. The mustard seed of the shame and reproach and agony and ignominy of the cross. What has come from that seed? Well Jesus used this very imagery in John 12 23 and 4.

36:05 He said except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but it abideth to die. It brings forth much fruit and then he went on to interpret his own words in verse 34 of that very chapter 32 and 33. As he says if I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me this spake he signifying by what death he should die. Under the imagery of the seed going into the ground and dying Jesus was speaking of his being lifted up to die upon a cross and he says in that death I become the seed buried and when I am buried and it seems as though it's the end of me out of that burial as with the mustard seed it dies in the earth it's out of sight out of mind it's as though it were gone forever but out of it comes this greater than all earths in terms of the size of that tree so the Lord Jesus comes forth for us. From that borrowed tomb and brings with him as it were in his loins the whole new humanity in himself and from that day until this he the great mustard seed has been extending his kingdom of grace his kingdom of power in the hearts of his own

37:34 so that this very day and I thrilled to take my globe down and in preparation I sat and looked at it again in the early hours of this morning that now where once there in the middle of the Middle East a little speck of light this little mustard seed of Jesus and his little handful of followers a hundred and twenty of them left in the upper room when he went back to his father from that little mustard seed what is grown? A mighty mighty mustard tree and all over the face of the middle east of the earth in every continent untold millions are bound to him in this very hour in bonds of faith and love that if necessary they would spill their very life's blood for love of Jesus what is the kingdom of heaven like? what is the kingdom of God like? it is like a mustard seed it is like that insignificant seed that has grown up and spread out its branches and now multitudes find rest under the shade of that grace that is offered in the Lord Jesus may I say to you my dear sinner friend boy, girl, man or woman

39:03 who's never known one day of having a conscience cleansed in the blood of Christ you've never known one day of what it is to walk in conscious joyful communion with God because you've been brought nigh to God through the Lord Jesus may I say it reverently though that branch holds many birds who find rest under it there's room for more the mustard seed has grown and you may come and find in the Lord Jesus refuge from the burning son of an accusing conscience refuge from the burning anger of an incensed God who will judge you for every sin sin, I plead with you, flee to him. You see, the unbelief of our Lord's contemporaries was inexcusable, but yours is more inexcusable yet, because you see, his external form and bearing has so little to speak of anything other than a mustard seed, that you and I live at this point in the history of redemption where the mustard seed has sprouted and the tree has grown. Our culpability for unbelief is much greater in the light of the expansion

Application to the Growth of His Kingdom: Prophecy and Promise

40:26 of the church over the centuries. Well, this I say is the first legitimate line of application. Consider the application to our Lord himself, but secondly, consider the application to the growth of his kingdom, to the growth of his kingdom. In this sense, the parable is at the one and the same time a prophecy.

40:53 And a promise. It is a prophecy to those who heard it in its initial utterance that the kingdom of God shall indeed increase and grow far beyond the immediate expectation of all who behold it in its present form. The kingdom is being formed in the presence of the king. And he says that kingdom, contrary to your expectations, you're thinking carnally.

41:20 All you know of kingdoms is this. Kingdom is raised to power. When another that can be raised to a greater level of power can squash it, then it squashes that kingdom and then it takes the place of ascendance until by internal decay or the external pressure of a mightier kingdom, it sinks into oblivion. You see, their whole concept of the evolution and the rising and falling of kingdoms was so carnal. And Jesus cuts right across the grain and says, Don't expect my kingdom to begin in some grandiose, impressive way. It'll be no more impressive than the smallest of seeds buried in your backyard out of sight, out of mind.

42:07 You see, the world went on as usual after Jesus died and was buried in Joseph's tomb.

42:14 In all the halls of Roman government, no one put on the agenda, let us now discuss the implications of Joseph's empty tomb. No, they had more. Important things to discuss. But what happened? Within 40 years, there was no place in the Roman Empire where you could not ignore, or where, yes, no place where you could ignore the fact that the mustard seed had sprouted. In the space of 40 years after the descent of the Spirit, that gospel went out and touched the entire Roman Empire. So Paul can say in Colossians 1.6, that this gospel message preached to you, Colossians, has gone out under all the heavens.

43:04 What a marvelous prophecy concerning, first of all, a promise and a prophecy, the prophecy that the kingdom will grow, and then a promise that in that task, they are not laboring in vain. Remember, this was the crowd who later on, in secret, said, Lord, what's the meaning of the parables? And we read in the next verses that privately, he expounded to his own disciples all of these things. This was the group, you'll remember, that later on, after his resurrection, he stayed with them for 40 days, expounding the things pertaining to the kingdom. What did they need to understand? They needed to understand that though there would be but 120 of them gathered in an upper room, with a worldwide mission laid upon them, make disciples of all the nations, witnesses unto me, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost part of the earth, 120 in a little room, and a worldwide mission laid upon them. What did they need? Not only a certain word of prophecy that that kingdom would grow, but a promise that as they took on the world, they would not be shown to be fools. No man in his right mind goes forth energetically and fervently to accomplish a fool's task.

44:30 But a man will go. And a woman in the vigor of her womanhood to engage all of his or her faculties in that which he or she knows is marked inevitably for success and triumph. And so this little band understood the prophecy, and they believed the promise. And we read in the book of the Acts that they went forth to the ends of the earth and made disciples of all the nations.

44:59 And though God had to discipline the nations and made the scrolls, did He have the power to teach them? No. The only way to catch them back was by the trials of Jesus Christ. That's what this is all about.

45:06 And so we read in the book of Acts verse 3 says that God had clear the promise and He had table-s 1700. So what's the purpose? To free the nations of the world. What's the purpose?

45:11 Well, to have the nations of the world be free from trouble. And I'm going to give you my own example of that. And I will tell you about the first one. We have a prophet named Saul of Tarsus .

45:15 It says, Saul of Tarsus once broke the ground . And he said, Saul of Tarsus . And he said, Saul of Tarsus . So Saul of Tarsus had not yet breathed his last breath.

45:19 to keep lopping and lopping and lopping until I get the main trunk, and I want this tree destroyed. It says he was making havoc of the church, the church which at that time had only grown into those immediate areas around Palestine. So what did God do? God takes his most bitter enemy, and he turns him into his most honored saint. And then before he died, he could say, I have no more parts here. And he writes to the church at Rome and says, I hope to use you as my base to push back a new frontier into Spain. All of this area of the Roman Empire, the gospel has been fully preached. He did not mean that every person was saved, that every last individual had been witnessed to, but what he meant was this, that in principle all of those centers of population in the Roman Empire had had a gospel witness. What had happened? God caused the siege.

Application to Ourselves as a Congregation: Hope and Zeal

46:19 God caused the siege to grow by taking the very man determined to cut it down to the ground and make him one of his greatest cultivators, the irony of God. So you see, when Jesus uttered this parable, it was indeed a parable which spoke of the growth of his kingdom, both as prophecy and as promise. And then, thirdly and finally, consider the application of this parable and its great and central principle to ourselves as a congregation. Few things should be of greater encouragement to us and productive of hope and expectancy and zeal than the truth of this parable. You remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, be ye therefore steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You see, the relationship

47:27 between steadfastness, immovableness, abounding, and the confidence that we're not on a fool's errand. Knowing that your labor is not in vain, well, how can I know that my labors are not in vain? Many times they seem no more significant to me than if I buried a carrot seed in my backyard. What can come from a carrot seed? You see, nothing but a carrot and a little fringe on the ground. That's where the carrot seed, you see, analogy doesn't hold. But from that little mustard seed, small as a carrot seed, grows something so large you can call it a tree. From the less to the greater. You and I, as the people of God, must capture the principle of this

48:20 parable. If we are to give ourselves to untiring witness to our loved ones, to our neighbors, to our work associates. We must recognize that the kingdom of God is like unto a mustard seed. What is my witness?

48:37 I know so little of the Scripture. I seem to get so tongue-tied, and I come away from every opportunity feeling, oh, I blew it. If only I said that. Only if I said that.

48:48 My friend, listen, don't torture yourself like that. Just, if only you could sit with us as elders and listen to the testimony of the people whom God brings into this fellowship. Very few of them were one to Christ. By an eloquent, forceful, perfectly logical presentation of the Gospel, God took the mustard seed of someone's altered life, of someone's stumbling efforts to speak of Christ, of someone's feeble endeavor to stretch forth a hand and a heart of kindness and compassion in the name of Christ. And whereas perhaps they had heard sermons all their life, what did God do? God took the most inconsequential thing, that little seed, and gave it to the people of God. What did God do? God took the most inconsequential thing, that little seed, and gave it to the people of God. What did God do? God took the most inconsequential thing, that little seed, of that little, oblique contact, that insignificant and apparently inconsequential effort. And what did God do with it? He made it germinate! Until it sprang forth in the fruits of repentance and faith and the full-blown transformation of grace.

49:48 O' dear people of God, take hope from this parable. The great principle of God's kingdom is, from the little and the insignificant comes the unexpected and theị. great. What is true in our individual witness is true in our corporate endeavors. What joy I've had this week meditating on this parable as I think of our brother Jeff Lee down in Savannah. The mayor didn't come out and greet him when he came there with his family. There was no official welcoming committee from the great ones of that historic city, and this morning there's a little handful of a dozen people meeting. Of what significance can that be? Oh, my friend, if it's God's mustard seed, it may be the very thing through which God

50:34 will shake that city to its very foundations. That's what God can do. Take the mustard seed of a man of God whose heart is full of the burden of the Lord, who's determined to preach and be faithful in labor. From it, God can bring something totally disproportionate to the seed. Think of our dear brother and faithful witness for twenty years. He's been a pastor for twenty-one years in Sweden, Pastor Ritter, meeting today with twenty-five people. All he has to show for twenty-one years of labor, twenty-five people. Yes, hundreds of thousands of pages of literature that have scattered all over Sweden, yes, thank God for that, and tapes and other influences, but oh, it's as though there's just a mustard seed. We must labor our way through.

51:34 We must labor on with him in the confidence that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. And when it pleases God to cause that seed to germinate from that apparently inconsequential, out-of-the-way little pocket of influence, God can shake that entire complex in the Onur Eid area. God can shake the city of Gothenburg. Apply that to the Hoffmeyers and the Pope.

52:06 God spiritualizing the Palagins. Getting rid of the great Roman ́ people. Man, His kingdom isή the best growing among worksheet in the center of the Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek God hath chosen the what? The foolish things of the world to confound the mighty.

52:43 And the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. And those of you who've been a part of this work over the years, surely you must believe this parable. It's part of your experience. It's part of your experience.

53:02 Think back over the years. It hardly seems 18 years ago, when hardly knowing what we'd do, we staggered as it were under the disillusionment of the high-handed treatment of the denomination to go out and meet we knew not where.

53:21 A handful met in a women's club. And if you had asked me at that time, do you believe that 18 years hence, what comes over that pulpit will be heard in 90 countries of the world? I said, you're crazy. If you had said that from that ministry, there will be men going out to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel, I'd say you're crazy.

53:44 All we knew is that God had caused us to love His truth and to want to obey it. And we were willing in that sense to be buried with it.

53:56 The principle of the kingdom, the kingdom of heavens like a mustard's, when buried, when placed in the earth, sprouts up and becomes a great tree. Oh, dear people, how we need, to be encouraged as the Lord's saints this morning. And perhaps the best way I can try to bring all of these strands of application together is to read a quotation from Bishop Ryle, who commenting on this passage, and I read this after I had done my preparation, and it was a wonderful confirmation of the lines that I've drawn out in your hearing. I've only traced out three lines of application.

Conclusion: Never Despise Small Beginnings

54:36 The application to our Lord Himself, the application to the growth of His kingdom, and the application to ourselves and our labors. But now listen to the old bishop as he brings his summary paragraph commenting on this parable and his expository thoughts on the gospel. Let us leave the parable with a resolution, never to despise any movement or instrumentality in the church of Christ, because at first it is weak and small. Let us remember the manger of Bethlehem, and learn wisdom.

55:14 The name of Him who lay there, a helpless infant, is now known all over the globe. The little seed which was planted in the day when Jesus was born has become a great tree, and we ourselves are rejoicing under its shadow.

55:32 Let it be a settled principle in our religion never to despise the day of small things. Zechariah 4.10 One child, may be the beginning of a flourishing school. One conversion, the beginning of a mighty church.

55:49 One word, the beginning of some blessed Christian enterprise. One seed, the beginning of a rich harvest of saved souls. Jesus asked you the question this morning as He asks the question of me, as He asked it of those who sat on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in that day, how shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or in what parable shall we set it forth?

56:20 I hope in answer to that question you would say, Lord, surely, the imagery of a mustard seed, less than all the seeds upon the earth that grows greater than all other herbs. Surely, Lord, that's a fitting parable with which to wrap up the nature and the principles and the destiny of your kingdom. It is like unto a mustard, you see. May we believe the prophecy of which we are a part fulfillment.

56:50 May we believe in its complete fulfillment until every last soul for whom the Savior has shed His blood will be drawn in and comprise that multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. And may we be nourished by the promise that the tree will grow and all will come to rest. And may we rest under it that the Savior's purposes shall rest under it. May God grant that the encouragement and consolation of this parable will come to us again and again in our times of discouragement and prod us on to remember that the kingdom of God comes not with observation.

57:32 It doesn't come as the kingdoms of this world in violent volcanic revolutions. It is like mustard seed that grows under the blessing of God. It is like mustard seed that grows under the blessing of God. Let us pray.

57:55 Our Father, we rejoice before You this morning that You have condescended to us in our earthiness and weakness and You have given us the likenesses of Your kingdom. And we praise You for this parable recorded for us for our edification. We thank You that its prophecy has in great measure been fulfilled and must of a certainty find its complete fulfillment. For You have said that Your Son would see of the travail of his soul and be fully satisfied.

58:36 We thank You for the promise by which our hearts are nourished in faith and hope and confidence. And, O Lord, we ask that in mercy You would bring this parable and its meaning to our remembrance again and again when we most need it and are most likely to forget it. We plead for any who sit here this morning who are not in the kingdom. O Lord, as they cannot help but see the manifestation of the growth of that seed and see themselves surrounded with those who love and know the Savior more in this building than were gathered in that upper room through whom this whole process has found its tremendous expression and expansion, O God, smite their consciences and draw them to Yourself, we pray. Seal then Your word to every heart. We ask these mercies through Him who loved us and was willing to be the grain of seed that should be buried in death, that we might rise to life in Him and with Him, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.