The Thorny Ground Hearer, Part 2

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the sober warning that people can be destroyed by things that are not inherently sinful: the cares of this age, riches, and legitimate desires. These things…

The feeling of cares and anxieties is contrasted with the indifference of a drunk or junkie, illustrating that cares are part of responsible living and not inherently sinful.

The cares of this age, the riches or the possession of the deceitfulness of riches, I am sorry, and the desires of other things entering in. Now let's look at these again in the light of this sober warning. What about the cares of this present age? In a very real sense, a person who feels the pressures of the cares, the anxieties of living in this age is simply a responsible person.

4:33 - 5:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Open lawlessness, immorality, thievery will destroy its thousands, but fruitless profession will destroy its thousands as well.

A lengthy quote from Benjamin Keech's exposition of the parables warns that the abuse of lawful things, not just unlawful ones, can choke the Word and keep men out of heaven, reinforcing the danger of innocent things.

Now listen, listen to this perspective as it is opened up and applied by a great preacher of another generation. Many of you perhaps never heard of him, but if you were living in the late 16 or middle and late 1600s and you were a Baptist or even a Presbyterian, you would have heard of Benjamin Teach and recently his expositions of the parables have been reprinted. And listen to the warning that he gives on this very point. Note, note, that not only unlawful things, but the abuse of the lawful shut men out of the kingdom of heaven.

12:30 - 13:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Open lawlessness, immorality, thievery will destroy its thousands, but fruitless profession will destroy its thousands as well.

Jesus' description of people eating, drinking, marrying, and building before the flood is used to show how lawful activities can be abused and become idols.

It is not only whoredom, adultery, drunkenness, swearing, murder, lying or stealing that tend to choke the word, but the abuse of lawful prophets, lawful cares, and lawful desires. The old world, as one observes, eat and drank. You remember Jesus said in the days before the flood they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. He's referring to that old world.

13:11 - 13:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Open lawlessness, immorality, thievery will destroy its thousands, but fruitless profession will destroy its thousands as well.

The excuses of those invited to the feast (buying a farm, oxen, marrying a wife) illustrate how lawful things can be prioritized over Christ.

They ate and drank, built and planted, married and were given in marriage. Why, all these things were lawful, but they abused these things. What's more lawful than to purchase a farm or a yoke of oxen or to marry a wife? But if men will in doing these things refuse to come to Christ or prefer them above a marriage with the Lord Jesus, the Lord saith, they shall never taste of my supper.

13:42 - 14:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Be aware of the danger of being damned by a preoccupation with innocent things that keep the Word from producing fruit.

Examples of young men flexing biceps or looking for whiskers, and young women experimenting with hairstyles, illustrate innocent preoccupations that can become soul-destroying if they eclipse spiritual concerns.

Let me get specific. Is there anything wrong with young people as they begin to come into puberty, into their teens, and begin to become, begin to be conscious of their emerging womanhood and manhood? For a fellow to be all the time, when he passes the mirror in the bathroom, flexing to see if he's got a little bump on his arm here, that he could begin to call a bisect? There's nothing wrong with that.

16:56 - 17:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your first concerns in the morning: is it to tune your heart with God or to focus on outward appearance?

The innocent foibles of teenagers are compared to the 'more weighty concerns' of adults (shopping for furniture, planning vacations), showing how the same mentality of worldly preoccupation can persist and choke the Word throughout life.

And you see, dear young people, listen. What we may laugh about as innocent teenage foibles now, ten years from now, it'll be that same mentality that'll have you totally wrapped up with shopping around for your newest living room set and shopping around for your newest dress and looking through the magazines to plan your next vacation. Anything wrong with a living room set? A new dress? A vacation? No!

20:06 - 20:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Bring into focus the great priorities of Jesus Christ and your soul over your body.

Listening to 50- and 60-year-old men talk only about retirement plans illustrates how worldly cares can choke the Word even in older age.

But it's the cares of this life, the cares of this age, that go from the innocent things of the teenage years into the more weighty concerns of those mature years. And then you sit on planes and in airports as I do and listen to fifty and sixty year old men talking about nothing about how they're going to spend so many hours on the golf links when they retire in three years and where they're going to go and what they're going to see. The cares of this age choking the world.

20:34 - 21:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider if you fit the description of the thorny ground hearer, who never fully gives their heart to Christ due to worldly preoccupations.

A lengthy quote from Bishop Ryle describes the characteristics of thorny ground hearers, emphasizing their apparent obedience and affection for the gospel, yet ultimate unfruitfulness due to worldly cares.

And what I say to the young people, I say to you adults as well. Could it be that I'm speaking to some adults who fit the description of old Bishop Rye? And I'm quoting from these men not because I'm looking for filler, but I'm doing it for two reasons. They've said some things better than I could say them, and then also I'm quoting from them so that you realize the position I've taken on this parable is not novel, it's not unique.

25:40 - 26:11 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are content with enough Christianity to pass the standard of fellow professing Christians and desire no more, you may be a thorny ground hearer.

The thorny ground hearer is likened to a 'fruitless stalk of grain' that looks similar to fruitful plants but lacks actual grain, illustrating their deceptive appearance.

But the thorny ground here, you see, here remains a fruitless stalk of grain in the field of God. And you say, is there going to be any grain at the head of that stalk? There's some grain in the stalk, but there's no grain in the head. Is it a living or a dead plant?

31:16 - 31:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Whatever impedes your fruitfulness and advancement in grace, no matter how innocent, is an enemy of your soul and must be dealt with like a thorn bush.

The personal anecdote of Pastor Nichols' addiction to pretzels illustrates how even an innocent thing can become an impediment to grace for an individual, requiring it to be treated as an enemy.

Whatever impedes your fruitfulness, your advancement in grace, is an enemy of your soul. No matter how innocent it may be in itself, and the thing that impedes you may not impede me. You remember Pastor Nichols and the pretzels illustration? You remember?

40:38 - 41:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Let nothing. This side. Of the world to come. Get. Within you.

A powerful quote from John Bunyan's Evangelist in Pilgrim's Progress, 'Let nothing this side of the world to come get within you,' is used as a central exhortation to guard the heart against all idols.

It soaks out the life of God in your soul. It is not innocent. I conclude with that wonderful word that John Bunyan put into the mouth of the evangelist. You remember along the way in Pilgrim's Progress, he had good counsel to give to Christians in his pilgrimage.

42:03 - 42:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't let your career get 'within you'; if it demands violate Christ's claims, be prepared to sacrifice it for Christ.

The human heart is compared to a garden that naturally grows weeds without effort, while fruit-bearing plants require diligent cultivation, illustrating the need for perpetual 'weed-pulling' in the spiritual life.

Christ, growing conformity to Christ, growing involvement in the kingdom and in the work of Christ. That's my exhortation, child of God. Though in principle the weeds, the thorns were extricated in your conversion, like any field the human heart will grow weeds, without any effort on your own. I marvel at that again and again when I sit in my study and look out on what once was my garden. But this past year I planted no garden. But I mean I had weeds that

46:29 - 47:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Be engaged in perpetual 'weed-pulling' and 'thorn-pulling' in your heart, determined to let nothing get within you that crowds out Jesus.

The image of something trying to get into the heart through the front door, chimney, or window cracks illustrates the persistent and varied ways worldly things attempt to crowd out Christ.

And unless you're determined to be engaged in a perpetual weed-pulling, thorn-pulling endeavor, you will not bear increasing fruit as a child of God. Let nothing. Let nothing this side of the world to come get within you. When it tries the front door and you bar it and say, no admission, this heart belongs to Jesus. Next thing you know, while you're telling

47:39 - 48:05 Read in full sermon