Handle with Care Part 2

which I forgot to do last week.
If God’s people would take their Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter
13. Matthew chapter 13, and we are
gonna jump right in this morning. We began looking at this parable
last week, which occurs in what is known as the Lord’s busy day
in Capernaum. where he not only does healings
but he preaches sermons, he defends his ministry as Mark records. The crowd begins to gather and
it’s so great that Jesus has to get into a boat and teach.
Matthew records this parable, Mark records two additional parables. It was indeed a busy day and
even though there was this great crowd gathered It was a rather
mixed bunch. There were these ardent lovers
of Christ. There were those that were hostile
to Christ. There were those that were curious
but not really interested enough to do anything about it. And
there were those that really were somewhat indifferent, not
really ready to make any kind of formal commitment to Christ. We turn in Matthew 13 to one
of the most frequently quoted passages in the New Testament
as Matthew records Jesus’ words, and we’ll take it in its entirety,
this parable, and return just by way of a brief review to those
recorded words. Matthew chapter 13, and we pick
it up in verse one. That day, Jesus went out of the
house and was sitting by the sea, and large crowds gathered
to him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd
was standing on the beach. And he spoke many things to them
in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow, and
as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds
came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places
where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang
up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had
risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they
withered away. Others fell among the thorns,
and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on
the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some 60,
and some 30. He who has ears to hear, let
him hear.” The disciples came to him and said, why do you speak
to them in parables? Jesus answered them, to you it
has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but
to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more
shall be given, and he will have an abundance, but whoever does
not have even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore,
I speak to them in parables, because while seeing, they do
not see, and while hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case, the prophecy of
Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, you will keep on hearing,
but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but
will not perceive. For the heart of this people
has become dull. with their ears they scarcely
hear and they have closed their eyes otherwise they would see
with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with
their heart and return and I would heal them. But blessed are your
eyes because they see and your ears because they hear for truly
I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to
see what you see but did not see it. and to hear what you
hear and did not hear it. Hear then the parable of the
sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does
not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what
has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed
was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown
on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and
immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no firm root
in himself, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution
arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on
whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears
the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of
wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. And the one
on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who
hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and
brings forth some a hundredfold, some 60 and some 30. As I began to share with God’s
people last week, this is the third most quoted passage in
all the New Testament. It’s Isaiah 6, 9, and 10. And there it’s Judah that’s in
view who has already spurned the counsel of the Lord. And
Isaiah is told to go and tell the people, keep on listening,
but do not perceive. And the passage goes. It’s in
that same context that Jesus quotes it in Matthew, Mark, and
Luke, all recorded in context of the parable of the soils.
We also saw that the gospel of John also has this quotation. John quotes Isaiah as a commentary
on his overall response to Jesus’ ministry. And then Paul himself
quotes this passage spoken of the diversity of those who were
rejecting his message, and he quotes it at the very end of
the book of Acts. Not only the gospel writers,
but even Paul himself. And we picked up that essentially
this is a characterization of those who are responding to the
gospel. And we saw last week that there
is a sovereignty That there is God’s sovereignty woven into
that response. Matthew records it like this.
To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom,
but to them it has not been granted. And we saw that there is a limit
to God’s mercy. And then he gives this prophetic
explanation. And we see that in verses 14
and 15. Glance down at those verses if
you would. Verses 14 and 15. In their case, those who are
rejecting the gospel, those that are treating it indiscriminately,
those who really don’t care about spiritual things, in their case,
the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled. Now in a very real
sense, the prophecy was already fulfilled, but here it’s just
being fulfilled all over again. And it would continue to be so. This is a timeless truth that
those who reject God’s Word are essentially a fulfillment of
Isaiah 6, 9, and 10. Keep on hearing, you will not
understand. Keep on seeing, but you will not perceive. The heart
of this people has become dull. With their ears, they scarcely
hear. They have closed their eyes, lest they should see with
their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their
hearts and return and I should heal them. Well, we saw last
week that there are some noteworthy differences in the accounts. Mark includes the very promise
of forgiveness. When it says that they return
and I should heal them, Mark says that it’s forgiveness that’s
at stake. This is the gospel message that
is being dealt with. we saw one noteworthy difference
in John’s gospel. John’s gospel says that they
would not see with their eyes. They would not be converted to
Christ. They would not repent of their
sins. There’s an identical purpose
in all of these citations. In Matthew, in Mark, Luke, John,
Acts, even in Isaiah. It’s unbelief. And the common
thread there is that there are limits to God’s mercy, and that’s
exactly what’s being declared in those truths. God does judge,
and we would all agree that. Everyone would tend to agree
that God ultimately has the prerogative to be a judge. But most people
don’t believe that God acts as a judge in this life. They would
believe that His mercy is perpetual and unending. But God not only
acts as a judge at the end of life, God is a judge in this
life. And there comes a point where
eventually the will not becomes cannot. Where after refusing
the gospel for lengthy seasons, the refusal to do so becomes
an absolute inability to do so. Which makes this, what we’re
doing this morning, the hearing of God’s word. That’s why I said
last week, it’s the most blessed hour of the week, but it’s also
the most dangerous hour of the week. Because what we do with
the word of God counts, it matters. As one wise old pastor said,
if the Word of God does not quicken, if it does not enliven, if it
is not received and brought down into the soul and made to do
what the Word of God was designed to do, if the Word of God does
not quicken, it must deaden. That’s why I said this is the
most dangerous hour of the week. Because if you listen passively
and you treat the Word of God Indiscriminately, it has a mighty
price. There’s also another element
to the quoting of this passage, and it’s beautiful. Jesus said to you, it has been
granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom. What precious
words those are. For those of you who have placed
your faith in Christ, to know that your eyes by God’s grace
were opened to the truth. Verse 16 picks up that thought. Blessed are your eyes because
they see. And your ears because you hear.
And please note, it isn’t because of anything in these followers
of Christ. It isn’t anything in us that
because we believed, Jesus is merely here stating a fact that
those who embrace and possess the knowledge of the gospel are
blessed. They are infinitely happy. It’s
not that they did anything. It’s a fact, not a motivating
factor. It’s a very happy thing if you
have been granted the eyes to see, if you have been given by
God the ears to hear. And then Jesus says this, for
truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired
to see what you see and did not see it. And to hear what you
hear and did not hear it. What is it that they long to
see? And it’s obviously talking about
Old Testament saints. Others who heard of these truths
that we now know commonly as the gospel. Verse 11 states it
very plainly, it’s the mysteries of the kingdom. There were many
mysteries. They knew that there was going
to be a Messiah, but they didn’t know what he was going to be
like. They certainly were told that he would be a suffering
servant, but they didn’t have that picture fixed in their mind. They didn’t know that a Savior
would come and die a horrible death on the cross. They didn’t
know, they didn’t have justification by faith completely figured out. Verse 11 tells us it’s the mysteries
of the kingdom that is in view here. It’s the good news of Jesus
Christ. It’s justification by faith in
Him alone that saints and angels have longed to see. They wanted
to see this gospel, the mysteries of God. Hebrews 11, a great chapter
on the hall of faith. So many Old Testament saints
are brought before our eyes, paraded, if you will, as so many
faithful believers throughout the centuries. Verse 13 summarizes
that all these died in faith without receiving the promises. But having seen them and having
welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they
were strangers and exiles on the earth. They saw God’s plan
generally. They didn’t have the specifics,
but they had enough to walk with God in faith. Paul, writing to
the Corinthians, speaks likewise. He says, we speak wisdom among
those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age or of
the rulers of this age who are passing away, but we speak God’s
wisdom in a mystery. The hidden wisdom of God, which
God predestined before the ages to our glory. The wisdom which
none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had
understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But just as it is written, things which the eye has not seen and
the ear has not heard and which have not entered into the heart
of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. We see
now, we see the mysteries that others have longed to see. Jesus
Christ, having paid our penalty on the cross in full, and that
we can be justified, we can be qualified to stand before a holy
God simply because of our faith in Jesus Christ. It was a mystery
that was heretofore unclear to the Old Testament saints. Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2. He also said it in Ephesians
6. In Ephesians 6 he speaks of the
mystery with all prayer and petition. Pray at all times in the spirit
and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance
and petition for all the saints and pray on my behalf that the
utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to
make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. for which I am an ambassador
in chains, that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak.” It’s the gospel. It’s the complete and total gospel
that Paul is speaking about here that there were others in times
past that longed to hear and to know what we have heard and
seen and know. And note the value. Note the value attributed to
this message, to this mystery, to this gospel. Look at it. It says many prophets and righteous
men desired to see and did not see it and to hear and did not
hear it. The gospel of Jesus Christ, this salvation by faith
in him alone, it’s irresistible. And so it is utterly shocking
to Isaiah, to Christ himself, to the apostle John, to Paul,
that this gospel should ever be spurned. It’s unbelievable. Listen to John’s commentary in
his passage in Isaiah. Remember, we read through all
of these last Lord’s Day. In verse 41, John just records
these things Isaiah said because he saw His glory and he spoke
of Him. In other words, as Isaiah is
preaching these obtuse words, he had God’s glory in view. this Savior, the Messiah, in
view. He saw Christ’s glory and He
spoke of Him. But Christ isn’t valuable to
everyone. The Gospel isn’t precious to
everyone. And remember, that’s exactly
what’s in view here. They’re trying to, all of these
writers inciting this view are attempting to reconcile this
varied reception of the Gospel. Why are so many turning away? Why are so many rejecting the
Gospel of Christ? One writer said it well when
he said, as Christ is to some a tried cornerstone choice and
precious, the rock of their salvation, to others He is a stone of offense.
The gospel and its preachers are the cause of life to some
and death to others. And to all, they are either one
or the other. The word of God is quick and
powerful either to save or to destroy. It cannot be neutral.
If it does not save, it destroys. If a man rejects the gospel,
it had been far better for him never to have heard it. Well,
2 Corinthians 5 echoes that sentiment. We are a fragrance of Christ
to God. We, as we walk about and we live
by God’s grace, as we tell others about Christ, we are a fragrant
aroma of Christ. To others, they hear that message
and it’s precious. We are a fragrance of Christ
to God among those who are being saved and among those who are
perishing. The one an aroma from death to
death, the other an aroma for life to life. In other words,
you don’t smell funny. It’s the gospel. It’s the gospel
that as others come around you, they are repulsed, not by your
perfume or not by your particular aroma. They’re repulsed by the
odor of Christ. It’s not precious to everyone. Paul said the same thing in the
opening chapter of 1 Corinthians. The word of the cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved,
it is the power of God. It’s variously received. So they attempt, by God’s stewardship
here, to explain this very reception of the gospel. One pastor said,
the imagery of the triumphal procession is still before the
apostles. Some of those who took part of
it were destined to rewards and honors. Others were doomed to
perpetual imprisonment. Christ and his servants are a
saver of life to them who are on the path of salvation. They
are a saver of death to those who are not on the path of salvation.
This whole thing. This whole thing is God playing
out. God carrying forth this great
plan of redemption. And none of this rejection comes
as a surprise to God. And so the Lord responds first
to the apostles with this instruction, really. And he tells them not
to be alarmed, that this varied reception that they are receiving
isn’t anything new. that it fits perfectly within
God’s plan of redemption. It doesn’t catch God off guard. They don’t need to redo their
efforts, their ministry efforts. They don’t need to change their
message. But it’s in a very real way, it’s a rebuke to these apostles. Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples
comes as he turns to explain His disciples had begun questioning
him and they want to know why Jesus speaks in these parables.
But neither this analogy nor the approach were entirely new. The Old Testament has abundant
references to this analogy of physical life and spiritual life.
These weren’t new images to any of them. And so for Jesus to
tell a parable about a sower who went out to sow, that wasn’t
entirely new. Isaiah 55, 9 through 11, as the rain and the snow come
down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth
and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower
and bread to the eater, so shall my word be. He uses a metaphor.
And he uses the exact same metaphor. The word stands for the seed,
the gospel, if you will. Furnishing seed to the sower,
bread to the eater, so shall my words be which goes forth
from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty
without accomplishing what I desire, without succeeding in the matter
for which I sent it. So Jesus’ use of these agricultural
analogies to what God had done on behalf of Israel, they weren’t
new. Jeremiah 2.21, I planted you a choice vine. Isaiah 5,
let me sing now for my well beloved a song of my beloved concerning
his vineyard. Those images weren’t new. And so Jesus lays this illustration,
this parable before them. And he rebukes him for the lack
of the knowledge of scripture that things aren’t off course,
things aren’t off track, things have not gone haywire with regards
to the gospel. And then he turns to patiently
explain this parable. Verse 18. Hear then the parable
of the sower. Luke says it very directly. Now the parable is this, the
seed is the word of God. Very plainly, the seed is the
word, the seed is the gospel if you will, it’s the word of
God, it’s the good news of Jesus Christ, the plan of redemption.
There’s no problem with the seed. There’s no problem with the seed.
Even in your most basic and bumbling presentation of the gospel, if
you mention the Lord Jesus Christ and that he died for sinners, that all who place their faith
in him are saved. You’ve done your job. There’s
nothing wrong with the seed. Saints know that I love to garden
and if there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the years is
that you don’t buy cheap seed. You buy the best. You buy good
quality seed. And then when your garden fails,
you know that it’s not the seed. And in this particular case,
if the gospel is being sown, and it’s being sown with faithfulness,
it’s not the seed. Parable is a parable about not
seed, but soil. It’s a parable describing four
different hearts, each in a different condition. There is no problem
with the seed, the problem is with the soil. Now that presupposes that the
Christian represented here, whether it’s a pastor, or a missionary,
or an evangelist, or the Christian himself without any role or title,
it’s the common role of sharing one’s faith, the gospel, that
is in view. No gimmicks, no shortcuts, no
man-made, feel-good, fluff, or filler, it’s the gospel. That
man is dead in sin, in desperate need of a Savior, which God Himself
has already sent. It’s good seed that we bring.
Casting good seed. But we need to analyze the soil
first. As I said, I love to garden. One of the One of the things
that I was slow in learning is the crucial importance of soil. Did you know that soil is said
to have a not only texture, which talks about the size of the particles
in it, but it’s also said to have a structure that’s an arrangement
of those particles. You see, there are four elements
of soil. I’m not trying to get overly
creative here. I’m not speaking metaphorically
here. I’m saying if you go out and you dig up a handful of dirt,
I don’t care where you go, you’re going to have four basic elements
in that dirt, that soil. You’re going to have organic
matter, dead plants, weeds, and you want that. You want to include
that in your garden material. You’re going to have organisms.
You’re going to have insects and worms and all kinds of things
in that dirt. That’s a good thing, generally. You’re gonna have, did you know
this? Air. You want air. You want air in
your soil because if there is no air there will be no life
and growth. And there’s also water. Now if
there’s too much water what you end up with is mud and if there’s
not enough air you end up with clay And so there’s different
kinds of soil. There’s sizes of particles, and
you can have sandy soil, you can have loam, and that’s what
you want. If you want to go home and Google
it yourself, that’s your goal is loamy soil. You can have silt,
you can have clay, you don’t want that, but that’s what we
have. So you’ve got to fix your soil. You have to amend your
soil before you can even grow anything, at least here in Fort
Collins. And then on top of that, your
soil has a pH. It can be either acidic or basic.
In your soil, there are nutrients. There’s nitrogen. There’s phosphorus.
There’s potassium. The nitrogen makes things green,
we know. Phosphorus makes it grow. Potassium
gives it strength and vigor. All of those things. Just talking
about dirt. We’ve already noted back to our
parable that the sower is any Christian who takes and shares
the gospel of Jesus Christ and it’s represented by that scattered
seed. I told you last week that back
in that day the agricultural method was not a combine driving
through the field planting seeds in some perfect fashion. The
sower would dig into a bag of seed next to his waist and he
would take a handful and he would cast it to the wind. Well, it’s an interesting image,
isn’t it, in our day and age? Because the soil clearly points
here to the different hearts which react and respond and receive
the word of God, the seed, in different fashions. Some people are so hardened or
so utterly unable to sustain any kind of a spiritual life.
Some are shallow. Some are able to just kind of
banter in those things, interact with them on a very surface level
for a very short period of time. Others’ lives are so crowded
out with different things. One faithful pastor said it this
way, it is continually verified under our own eyes. We see this
parable play out If you went out and preached the gospel today,
you would see this parable play out. Wherever the word of God is preached
or expounded and people are assembled to hear it, the sayings of our
Lord in this parable are found to be true. Do you know that
it will be true even today in this service? The idea of the
parable as a whole is that as the same grain yielded variously
according to the character and preparation of the soil, I can
plant the same seed in four different parts of my garden and essentially
get the varied results that are spoken of here. Let’s look at
the first soil. Verse 19. When anyone hears the
word of the kingdom, Luke calls it the word of God, and does
not understand it, he does not comprehend it, he doesn’t take
it in. On some people the word of God
makes absolutely no impression. I was mindful of that this last
year when I stood and I listened in the store. Joy to the world.
The Lord is come. Let earth receive her king. And
for the great majority of the people in that store, you could
tell there was absolutely no recognition of that truth. They’re
unresponsive. They’re dull. They’re callous.
They’re hardened by indifference. They’re malignant in their heart. Because of that, they don’t act
on it. As one said, they’re careless, thoughtless, unconcerned. Christ
crucified may be affectionately set before us and we may hear
of his sufferings with utter indifference as a subject in
which we have no interest. Truth seems to have no more effect
on their hearts than water on a stone. You know that, don’t
you? You can share the same message with different people and you’re
always going to have these people. And that’s exactly why All of
the gospel writers quote that verse, Paul included. The evil
one. The evil one comes and snatches
it away and make no mistake because Mark refers to him as Satan and
Luke calls him plainly the devil. It’s the devil that’s lurking
and comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart so
that they may not believe and be saved. Do you hear how frightening
that is? That’s why I call this the most
dangerous hour of the week. You’re going to hear truth. Unbelievers
in our midst would hear truth and not deal with it, not take
it in, not ponder its meaning and significance. Leave it lie
on the surface. and in due time the devil takes
it away. The word is graphic. That word
snatches. It has a suddenness. It’s a violent
seizing and taking away completely. It’s not the playground kind
of teasing that takes it and dangles it only for you to grab
if you really, really want it. It’s gone and it’s gone for good.
Frightening. And so this first heart considered
is the one compared to the seed that fell on a footpath. It’s
not going to grow anything. This is a hard hearted individual.
They hear the message and Matthew even says that the word is sown
in their heart. They heard it. But they don’t
even care enough to consider the truth of the gospel. They
don’t understand it. They don’t comprehend it. They
don’t take it in. And because they neglect it,
Satan comes and snatches it. Whether it’s because of their
inattention, whether it’s because they just don’t, they’re not
used to thinking spiritually, whether they’re just flat unwilling,
whether they’re opposed to Christ, whatever the case may be, this
gospel, this truth cannot be of any help to them now. Satan
has literally stolen their opportunity away. They squandered it. Is that your heart? How do you
handle God’s Word? How do you embrace the truth
when it’s given to you, when it’s laid out to you? What have
you done with Christ? What have you done with the Gospel
of Christ? What have you done with the truth
of justification by faith? There’s a second soil. And that
first soil is not a Christian. Not a believer. And not a believer for eternity.
Lost. There’s a second soil, it’s called
the rocky places. I would call this the impetuous
heart. Verse 20, the one on whom seed
was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the
word. And immediately he receives it with joy. And you would say,
oh, he’s a believer. Don’t, not so fast. Yet he has
no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. How many of
us have known people that in their initial response, we rejoiced
along with what we believed was heaven itself. Only to find out that in due
time they fell away. They really, they didn’t sustain
over time. They didn’t persevere with Christ.
Their response was superficial. Their response was impetuous.
It was driven by feelings. It was rash. It’s a picture,
as one said, of happy enthusiasm. I would call it spiritual bipolar
people, where they hear this thing, and the next thing you
know, they’re gonna be the greatest saints that have ever walked
the face of the earth. And a week later, they’re right
back where they were. One pastor said the gospel will
produce some impression on such persons sooner than elsewhere
and the effect will look extremely promising for a time. But when
persecution or any severe test of principle occurs, it is at
once seen that the thing was not deeply rooted for it perishes
without having produced any real results. You watch a professing
Christian and how they deal with trial and difficulty in their
lives. Many times that is the point of departure. Lord, why
are you doing this to me? Why me? This individual just proves himself
as volatile and flighty. Another pastor said, our hearts
may yield a plentiful crop of warm feelings. And this is for
us. A plentiful crop of warm feelings and good resolutions,
but all this time there may be no deeply rooted work in our
souls. The first cold blast of opposition
or temptation may cause our seeming spirituality to wither away. The mere love of sermons is no
sign of grace. And you get people. You get people,
and this is why I’ve said before, people listen to too many sermons. And I say it just like that for
effect. People listen to too many sermons that they don’t
apply. People listen to too many sermons that they listen to just
as entertainment. Intellectual entertainment. Spiritual
entertainment. But it’s entertainment nonetheless.
Because they don’t do anything with it. And this superficial,
flighty response produces this joy, almost boisterous at first,
exuberant, and then it begins to fade. MacArthur, in his book, Gospel
According to Jesus, twenty years ago it was controversial, now
most Self-respecting folks just see what he was talking about
as the gospel. It’s the response to the gospel.
He said then, the superficial response is epidemic in the 20th
century Christianity. Why? Because the gospel is usually
presented with the promise of joy, warmth, fellowship, and
good feeling, but without the hard demand to take up one’s
cross and follow Christ. Converts aren’t quote-unquote
converts, aren’t confronted with the real issues of sin and repentance,
instead they’re urged to jump on the Jesus bandwagon for the
good things that they are promised. No wonder Luke says that when
temptation comes, when persecution arises, because of the word,
he immediately falls away. It’s the hasty heart, the impulsive
thoughtless heart. They not only receive it and
they do it with joy, but they have no root. They’re content
to wallow in the shallows. When there are depths available
to them, the depths of God’s Word that would lead them to
the knowledge of the truth. And so they simply fall away.
They stop coming to church. They stop coming to retreats.
They stop hanging around with their churchy friends. And most
of all, they fall away from the Lord. By the way, it’s a fascinating
observation here. The word here for fall away is
scandalizo, from where we get our word scandal. When they fall,
it’s scandalous. The Lord, we know, even had disciples
like this, didn’t he? John 666 said, as a result of this, that
is his difficult message that he was preaching, Many of his
disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. There’s
a third kind of soil. Verse 22, the one on whom seed
was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word
and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke
the word and it becomes unfruitful. Mark says it plainly, it’s the
desire for other things. the desire for the things of
the world, the absorbing care that the world dangles in front
of us. And we tend to think of the poor
as being the victims here, where they just desire something better,
something more. But I think equally at risk here
are those with riches. Riches brings about plenty of
problems. Number one, watching over your riches. And as one
suggested, Riches, a lot of times, is like drinking salt water.
The more you have and the more you consume, the more you want.
It’s the desire, it’s that preoccupation, it’s the worry over what you
have and the anxiousness of what you don’t. J.C. Ryle, in his great commentary
on the Gospels, said, we may listen to a sermon and approve
of every word it contains. and yet get no good from it in
consequence of the absorbing influence of this world. Our
hearts may be choked with a rank crop of cares, pleasures, and
worldly plans, allowing other things to fill a place in our
affections. That’s why I said again, this
is the most dangerous hour of the week. If your mind and your
heart are somewhere else, plug your ears or don’t come. But to come, we have to come
and we have to be ready. Another said, it is possibly
to be so taken up with the contemplation of the threats and opportunities
of life that the word of God that we receive and welcome does
not get sufficient attention. We just don’t give it first place
as it ought. And our hearts are choked with
the worry of the world. We’re worried about All of our
other priorities, and as my dear friend said, if you have too
many priorities, you don’t have any priorities. Listening to
the word of God ought to be your number one. Should be. There’s a fourth soil that Jesus
presents. It’s the good soil. If we’re planting a garden, we
would call this the loamy soil. It would have a mixture of not
only clay, but organic matter, bugs and insects, and good things,
good nutrients. Since we’re speaking about the
human heart, and that’s what it’s representing here, it’s
the receptive heart. It’s the heart that takes seriously
the things of God. It’s the heart that ponders the
deep truths of God’s Word and mulls them over and takes them
in. The bottom line that Jesus points
here, that was first given to Isaiah, quoted by all three of
the synoptics in the same exact context, the parable of the soils,
quoted by John in the face of great rejection, quoted by Paul
in the face of Great rejection. The bottom line is that there
is going to be a variety of responses to the gospel. Look at verse
23, the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil. This is
the man who hears the word and understand it. He takes it in.
He meditates upon it. He thinks it over. He evaluates
his life in light of that word. who indeed bears fruit and brings
forth some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. There’s
going to be a variety of fruitfulness. There’s a variety of giftedness.
If you come to Christ, you’re going to have a different gift
package than the rest. The fruit that he’s talking about
here, as one said, is none other than the fruit of the Spirit.
It’s repentance toward God, faith in Christ, holiness of life and
character, prayerfulness, humility, love, spiritual mindedness. These
are the only satisfactory proofs that the seed of God’s Word is
doing its proper work in our souls. And we’re going to bear
fruit. That’s what a Christian is. That’s
what a Christian does. None of these other seeds that
fell in these soils None of the other three bear fruit. Thanks to God, there are those
who hear. There are ones who are compared
to seed that lands on the good soil. They have eager, sensitive
hearts. They hear. They accept the things
of God. Luke says that they hold on to
this truth. And all three, Matthew, Mark,
and Luke all quote the Lord as pointing out that this seed that
falls on good soil grows up and it bears fruit. It produces.
It produces changed lives, and it starts with repentance and
faith, but it grows from there. Some are very productive. Others
are less productive, but they’re believers nonetheless. They all
bear fruit. They’re all proofs to their claims
of being a Christian. And so I would ask each one of
you sitting in our midst this morning, Which soil represents your own
heart? Are you hard and indifferent
to the things of God, especially to the gospel? Are you flippant,
casual with regards to those things? Responding whimsically
almost? Are you so concerned about the
things of this life that you don’t have time for God and for
those priorities? I know that so many of you have
hearts of good soil. You receive the things of God
and you take it down and you have interacted with it on a
completely different level. Let’s go before Him to examine
our hearts. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your midst and we thank you that you have preserved
this precious parable for us. No doubt it was spoken that day to clearly point out to others
the dangerous hour in which they were facing, interacting with
divine truth. But Father, we know that it was
spoken for us as well, and it’s just as true today. This is precious. truth we’re
dealing with. This is a very dangerous hour,
the most dangerous hour of the week. The gospel has been presented
that Jesus Christ is the only way for salvation. Lord, how can we respond casually? How can we be indifferent? How
can we think about anything else? We cannot be indifferent to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We pray all of these things in
His name. Amen.