The Stony Ground Hearer, Part 3

The point: Take the gospel seriously, allowing the truths of accountability, judgment, and hell to plow up your hard heart.

The physical description of the rocky ground (thin soil on a rock shelf with no deepness or moisture) is used as an analogy for the spiritual condition of the stony ground hearer, who lacks depth and sustenance for true faith.

And because we do have visitors, let me just say for their sake, our Lord is not speaking of soil that had some rocks or even some boulders in it. But he's speaking of soil that lay on the top of a shelf of rock. A thin layer of soil on the top of a ledge or shelf of rock. In one of the accounts it is said, there was no deepness of earth.

10:18 - 10:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the gospel seriously, allowing the truths of accountability, judgment, and hell to plow up your hard heart.

The enthusiastic but ultimately temporary response of the stony ground hearer is likened to a 'rocket' taking off, highlighting the initial burst of zeal that lacks lasting power.

Luke says, there was no moisture. Luke says, there was no moisture. could be none because the rock could not hold it and the soil soon evaporated the moisture it had it is the picture of a thin layer of soil on the top of rock and as we studied the facts of the parable in our lord's interpretation we came to understand at least these two things i trust we've come to understand them first of all not all joyful reception of the word is necessarily a saving reception of the word that seed germinated quickly and sprang up but no sooner did it spring up than when it encountered the burning palestin...

10:42 - 12:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the gospel seriously, allowing the truths of accountability, judgment, and hell to plow up your hard heart.

The sun in the parable is a metaphor for tribulation and persecution, which effectively 'reveals' the true, rootless state of the professing Christian's heart, causing the spurious to wither while the true grow.

Secondly, tribulation and persecution are effective revealers of the true state of the heart of a professing Christian. The sun in this parable is likened unto the effect of sustained tribulation, pressured circumstances, and persecution arising on account of the word. And tribulation and persecution, just as the sun, reveal the true state. It was the true condition of that plant. It had no roots. That was the condition that already existed. But it was not seen by the farmer. It was known by deduction when the sun in its burning heat sent its rays upon that plant. Instead of causing its life t...

12:01 - 12:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin establishes from Scripture that temporary believers, who receive the word with joy and believe 'for a while,' will always constitute a class of gospel hearers, citing…

The withered plant from the rocky ground is described as 'wasted seed' that would never produce a morsel of wheat or barley, illustrating that the temporary believer's 'faith' yields no lasting spiritual fruit.

and died and was no more. As far as the farmer was concerned, it was wasted seed. As far as anyone ever thought, it was wasted seed. If you were ever biting into a loaf of bread which had a few grains of barley or wheat from that stalk, forget it. No one would ever taste a morsel of wheat or barley from that particular plant.

15:12 - 15:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He poses the crucial question of whether such individuals were ever truly saved, answering with a resounding 'no' based on the parable's emphasis on rootlessness and the analogy…

Peter's imagery of a dog returning to its vomit and a sow to its wallowing in the mire is used to illustrate that temporary believers, despite outward ethical changes, never had their sinful nature truly transformed.

It's better for them than for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. Now here's the key. It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog turning to his own vomit again and the sow that had been washed to her wallowing in the mire. The dog goes and eats up his vomit because it is inbred in his dog genes to eat his vomit.

31:15 - 31:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine yourself with all the earnestness of judgment day shadows over your own mind.

Martin describes a man in moral turpitude who embraces the gospel with joy, experiences outward changes, but is then given a false doctrine of eternal security, leading to his eventual backsliding and delusive hope.

Here is a man who hears the message. He may be in the depths of moral turpitude and filthiness. And when he hears the message in the sense of his frustration with his own lifestyle and his own life and family and everything coming apart at the seams, he reaches out in desperation and says, here's a message of hope, a message that promises cleansing and deliverance. That's what I need.

34:51 - 35:16 Read in full sermon

The point: If you've been taught the false doctrine of 'once saved, always saved, no matter what you do,' recognize it as a lie calculated to damn you and send you to hell asleep. Examine yourself whether you are in the faith, look…

The 'once-a-weeker' is an example of a temporary believer whose spiritual life has withered to mere attendance, satisfying conscience without genuine pursuit of holiness or communion with Christ.

It starts to be a once a weeker. You know what a once a weeker is? The person who comes to church Sunday morning just enough to satisfy his conscience. And he can't go to a liberal church because he knows enough of his Bible to know that that hogwash leads people straight to hell, so he goes in a more sophisticated way.

37:44 - 38:00 Read in full sermon

The point: If you've been taught the false doctrine of 'once saved, always saved, no matter what you do,' recognize it as a lie calculated to damn you and send you to hell asleep. Examine yourself whether you are in the faith, look…

Martin references John Bunyan's character 'Temporary' from Pilgrim's Progress, noting that Bunyan understood and depicted this class of believer, reinforcing the biblical concept.

But not everyone has a right to claim to be one of his sheep. He describes them. He says, my sheep are hearing my voice, present tense verb, and I know them and they are following me, present tense verb, and I give to them eternal life, not to those who believe for a while, not for the temporary, now you know where Bunyan got that character temporary, don't you? He knew his Bible.

39:24 - 39:53 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are using a temporary believer as an excuse for your ongoing impenitence and unbelief, recognize that this excuse will not hold water before the Lord Jesus.

He describes the popular but false doctrine of three categories of mankind (natural, spiritual, carnal), arguing that the 'carnal Christian' category is a creation of the liar to damn souls.

He is told this doctrine that's been popular in Christian circles for the past 75 years, that there are really three major categories of mankind. Natural men, lost on their way to hell without Christ, without any profession of faith in the gospel. And then there are spiritual people, those who really take Christ and the Bible and God and the ways of righteousness seriously, and they have positive, undeniable, continual evidences that they belong to Christ, because they're increasingly becoming like Him. They love Him more and more.

42:05 - 42:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The Bible knows of only two categories of people, the saved and the lost. The unrighteous and the righteous. The just and the unjust. The heirs of heaven and the heirs of hell.

The idea of 'rewards' in heaven is satirically illustrated with 'bags of yo-yos,' highlighting the trivialization of eternal rewards and the spiritual indifference fostered by a false doctrine of the Christian life.

And then he says, and furthermore he's told that when the Lord comes those who really live for Christ and became more and more like Christ and were attached to the word and law of Christ well, they'll get just one big old bag of yo-yos busting at the seams. And all they'll get is maybe a little uh a little baggie with one or two. But so what? Just a matter of rewards.

45:32 - 45:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third tragic reality is that temporary believers become an excuse for the continued impenitence and unbelief of those who witness their initial zeal and subsequent falling…

The temporary believer is often a 'noisy, joyful receiver' who gets a lot of attention and talks much about Jesus, but lacks the deep root system for genuine, lasting faith.

Because this one had no root system, it was springing up quickly. And this noisy, joyful receiver of the gospel almost invariably receives a lot of attention and has a lot of religion in his mouth. Almost invariably. He gets a lot of attention and a lot of his religion is on his mouth.

49:01 - 49:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third tragic reality is that temporary believers become an excuse for the continued impenitence and unbelief of those who witness their initial zeal and subsequent falling…

A man who brings religion into his office 'like a whirlwind,' rebuking others and discarding 'girly magazines,' but then withers under pressure, is used to illustrate how temporary believers harden others in their impenitence.

He comes into office on a Monday morning, and he's witnessing up and down, right, left, and center. Goes into his locker and takes all of his girly magazines and tells guys, look at that stuff, and you'll go to hell. And he tells them to get rid of theirs. Every time someone cusses and swears, he's rebuking them.

49:42 - 50:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Look at those who sprang up and bore fruit, whose consistent walk with God you have witnessed for many years, as evidence of true religion.

True believers are likened to a 'modern Job' who cling to their Redeemer even when the 'sun of affliction' burns mercilessly, demonstrating their deep roots and perseverance.

And like a modern Job they cling to their blessed redeemer and say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. To whom else can I go? He alone has life. If I forsake him because he's brought some heat upon me, where shall I find another hill in a...

53:37 - 54:06 Read in full sermon