Good Ground Hearers Hearers Part 3

Driving home: The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed …

The basic ingredients of the parable are explained: the sower is Christ or anyone dispensing truth, the seed is God's Word, and the soil represents the different conditions of the human heart.

And here we have the parable with its basic ingredients. The sower who sows. The sower in this case being primarily the Lord Jesus, but anyone who dispenses his truth. You have the second ingredient, the seed that is sown, which is the message of God, the word of God, according to Luke chapter 8, the parallel passage.

1:56 - 2:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed …

The analogy of soil determining the seed's fate is used to illustrate that the heart's pre-existing condition dictates the response to the Word, not the Word creating the condition.

And if you miss that, you've missed the purpose of the parable. The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed was sown.

2:50 - 3:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed …

The four types of soil are presented as a picture of four different kinds of hearers and their responses to the faithfully expounded Word of God.

And so our Lord is giving us a picture of four different kinds of hearers. Whenever the word of God is faithfully expounded and preached or read or dispensed over the radio or by whatever means this is done, it will always find these four different soils, these four different conditions of heart, and consequently four different kinds of response to that sowing of the seed. That one depicted by our Lord in terms of the wayside, the hard path, the footpath that goes through the field, is the thought. The thoughtless, careless hearer of the truth.

3:15 - 3:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed …

The hard path (wayside) is an analogy for the thoughtless, careless hearer who dismisses the message, which Satan then snatches away.

He hears the message of God, and seeing no fitness in that message in terms of any need that he has, he throws it out of his mind as a thing unworthy of serious reflection. And then the fowls of the air, whom our Lord said are a picture of the wicked one. Satan himself will snatch away that word, and this thoughtless, careless hearer goes on his way unconcerned about the things of God. Then there was the shallow surface response of the stony ground here.

3:52 - 4:29 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed …

The stony ground, with a shallow layer of earth over rock, illustrates a shallow, emotional response that withers under tribulation and persecution due to lack of root.

The one who liked that little seed that was dropped into the soil and immediately germinated because there was a shelf of hard rock an inch or two beneath the soil. It had no root system, and as soon as the sun came, it withered and it died. The sun, which should have helped to sustain and develop its life, instead utterly destroyed, destroyed its life. And Jesus said the sun is persecution and tribulation.

4:29 - 4:54 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed …

The soil with thorns illustrates a person who receives the word with insincere repentance, sparing darling lusts that eventually choke out any apparent fruit of the gospel, with Judas as a classic example.

And then the third class are pictured in what our Lord called the soil in which there were thorn bushes. This is a picture of the person who receives the word, and there is some apparent life from that word, but there has been an insincere repentance. He has spared some darling lusts, and eventually what was spared in his response to the gospel chokes out any seeming evidence of the fruit of the gospel. Judas is a classic example.

5:20 - 5:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Bow in the presence of God and acknowledge that the only reason you know Him is because He first opened your eyes and unstopped your ears.

The examples of Jesus blessing children and priests blessing the congregation are used to illustrate that being 'blessed' means being a passive recipient of something conferred by another, not an active agent.

He says they've been blessed. When something blessed, it's passive. It has received something from another. When our Lord blessed the little children, they were passive.

10:28 - 10:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Bow in the presence of God and acknowledge that the only reason you know Him is because He first opened your eyes and unstopped your ears.

The analogy of 'cleverly manipulating a few verses until we get them to nod to some facts' is used to critique superficial evangelistic methods that do not rely on God's supernatural work.

It brings the child of God to that place where he bows in the presence of his God and acknowledges, Oh God, the only reason I know you is because you have first visited me to open my eyes, and unstopped my deafened ears. It will have tremendous practical implications as we deal with others. We won't think that getting a person saved is simply cleverly manipulating a few verses until we get them to nod to some facts stated in the Bible. That's the quickest way to send people to hell I know.

11:09 - 11:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Employ God-honoring methods in communicating the gospel, avoiding psychological gimmicks and tricks that manipulate men into false professions of faith.

The use of 'every kind of psychological gimmick and trick' to manipulate professions of faith is cited as a negative example stemming from a defective theology of man's ability.

And it will shut us up to God-honoring methods as we seek to communicate the gospel. All of the dishonoring, God-dishonoring methods of communicating the gospel in our day have their roots in a defective understanding of this principle. That's why every kind of psychological gimmick and trick is being used to manipulate men into making a profession of faith based upon a few verses in the Bible. It's because we have been cursed with a theology that says men have ability of themselves to savingly understand and embrace the truth of God.

12:04 - 12:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Employ God-honoring methods in communicating the gospel, avoiding psychological gimmicks and tricks that manipulate men into false professions of faith.

Martin shares his experience at two youth camps where young people glibly talked about Christ but showed no beauty in Christ, terror in God's holiness, or sobriety about wrath, illustrating the fruit of defective theology.

And we're living with the fruit of it. And our churches are filled with it. Joyce mentioned her Sunday school class up in Canada is filled with it. I've just come from two camps and conferences with young people.

12:39 - 12:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The Bible teaches, first of all, that God preserves his saints, but that his saints persevere in holiness, obedience, and faith.

Time is described as 'the great prover and revealer of a genuine work of grace,' akin to how time reveals whether a seed on stony ground truly has life.

What is fruit? Well, I think in the most general sense we can say fruit is first of all conversion, which involves repentance and faith, turning from sin unto God, turning unto God through Jesus Christ, turning away from sin, turning unto God in Christ, resting the weight of our souls upon him. That seed received on the stony ground, it sprang up and you think, my, look at that. There seems to be some real life.

16:37 - 17:10 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If I believed that, I'd be embarrassed at some of these passages. Listen to me. Listen to me. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 22, He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

The idea of being 'secure in Christ and now live like the devil and chase around and neglect God and the church and you're still all safe in Jesus' is presented as a heresy that would embarrass him if he believed it.

I won't make any comment on them. But again, I would be terribly embarrassed at these passages if I believed the doctrine that's common in our day that if you simply nodded to the fact that Christ died on the cross and raised your hand and are going forward to the meeting, you're secure in Christ and now live like the devil and chase around and neglect God and the church and you're still all safe in Jesus. That's heresy. If I believed that, I'd be embarrassed at some of these passages.

19:34 - 20:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And the second great principle is this, that his preserving of me comes to light in my persevering. How do I know God's preserving me? ... His preserving comes to my recognition in my persevering.

The analogy of sitting on a log with electrodes to 'get in tune with the infinite' is used to dismiss mystical or subjective ways of knowing God's preservation, contrasting it with the objective evidence of perseverance.

Do I go out somewhere and sit in a log and meditate and put some electrodes on my temple or on my heart and somehow try to get in tune with the infinite? No, this isn't what I do. How do I know he's preserving me? His preserving comes to my recognition in my persevering.

24:38 - 24:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Be filled with a humbling sense of gratitude, recognizing that your ability to persevere in the Christian life is solely due to God's preserving grace.

Martin shares his personal reflection on his own perseverance over fourteen years, acknowledging times he was on the 'abyss of apostasy' and attributing his continuance solely to God's preserving grace.

I'm ashamed at how low has been the stream of grace. When there should be at times a mighty river a mighty torrent rushing upward in devotion to God sort of just a little trickling stream. But by the grace of God I do discern some of those things that God says are the fruit of the work of his grace. When you look back and you say how in the world have I been able in the midst of a wicked world with a wicked devil going around like a roaring lion and with the remains of my own wicked corruption how have I been enabled to persevere?

32:36 - 33:10 Read in full sermon

The point: If there is no evidence of continuous fruit in your life, settle it: you have no biblical grounds to claim you are a Christian.

Martin recounts a story from a camp where a girl realized she was not saved despite a past profession, illustrating the desired effect of the sermon's message on those with false assurance.

That's the only reason dear one that's the only reason. So it sends you down in your face crying grace grace nobody gets to heaven without perseverance and nobody's found in heaven on the back because we know that just as much as the beginning of that salvation is all the work of God so the continuance and the completion is all of him so the redeemed who've overcome are not going around polishing their crowns and hanging a sign and saying look at my crown I overcame this terrible concept that only some super duper Christians are going to overcome and get a crown so big they'll go around with a...

34:36 - 36:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for a thorough work of repentance, crying to God to clear your heart of all roots of pride, lust, and rebellion so the gospel seed can take deep root and bear continuous fruit.

Martin reflects on friends who started the Christian race with him in 1952 but later became 'utter apostates,' highlighting the humbling truth that his own perseverance is due to God's grace, not his own superiority.

for the most blessed night and oh dear child of God I trust in your study tonight you'll be filled with a humbling sense of gratitude have you been enabled to make it along the way what about those friends who started the Christian race the same time you did think of them now can you think of some I can think of them their names come to my mind right now back in 1952 when God in his grace laid hold of me there were others I prayed with them I can remember some of them weeping in prayer I preached on the street corner with them and today from all evidences they're utter apostates utter apostate...

37:32 - 39:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for a thorough work of repentance, crying to God to clear your heart of all roots of pride, lust, and rebellion so the gospel seed can take deep root and bear continuous fruit.

The analogy of 'outrunning in my persevering God's preserving' is used to assure believers that their striving is never in vain or independent of God's work, but rather a manifestation of it.

now abide and you say well pastor will I ever outrun in my persevering God's preserving you never need worry about that people will sit back so afraid that maybe they'll strive and struggle a little bit too hard and get in the realm of the flesh that's not our problem every time you strive and struggle and fight and wrestle and those are all biblical words you work out with fear and trembling your working out is never going to outstrip God's working in it'll be but the manifestation of what he's working in as your perseverance brings to life his mighty preserve and I believe that's the second ...

39:02 - 40:31 Read in full sermon