The Stony Ground Hearer, Part 2

Introduction: The Perplexing Lack of Spiritual Harvest

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 25th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now let us turn together to the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark as we continue our consecutive expositions of this record of the life and ministry, teaching, and ultimately the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Follow, please, as I read Mark 4, verses 1 through 6, and verses 13 through 17. Speaking of our Lord, Mark writes, And again he began to teach by the seaside. And there is gathered unto him a very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat and sat in the sea, and all the multitude were by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things in parables, and said unto them in his teaching, Hearken, behold, the sower went forth to sow. And it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. And other fell upon the rocky ground, where it had not much earth.

1:29 And straightway it sprang up. Because it had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was risen, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away.

1:43 Verse 13, And he said unto them, Know you not this parable? And how shall you know all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are they by the wayside where the word is sown.

2:00 And when they have heard, Straightway comes Satan, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. And these in like manner are they that are sown upon the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, straightway receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while. Then, when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, Straightway.

2:33 They stumble. Now let us again bow in the presence of God and ask that the Holy Spirit will come and open to us the scriptures. Our Father, we have sung together that it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to breathe upon the word and bring its truth to the realm of our understanding. And we thank you for the promise of our Lord Jesus, that if we who are evil know how to give, how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will you, the Heavenly Father, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

3:16 And our Father, we are asking that the Spirit would be given to us in this hour, not that we might hear angelic sounding voices, not that we might be granted the privilege of direct revelation. For we know that to ask for such things is to ask for things for which we have no knowledge, no basis in scripture. But when we ask you to take away the dullness from our minds, to open our eyes, surely, Lord, we have both the example of men who prayed in this way and your promise that we would be granted the Spirit as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of yourself. Send then your Spirit upon our minds and hearts that we may...

4:06 may not only understand the teaching of this portion of your word, but that we may see its very personal relevance to each one of our hearts. May each of us leave, as it were, with the scriptures fastened upon us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Hear us, we plead, in Jesus' name. Amen. Have you ever wondered, as I have, why it is that for all of the effort that goes into the widespread proclamation of the word of God, there seems to be, relatively speaking, so little return in the way of a true spiritual harvest? Think of all the gospel seed that will be sown today in our own country. Think of all the gospel seed that will be sown today in our own country. Think of all the gospel seed that will be sown today in our own country. Think of all the gospel seed that will

5:10 gospel seed that will be sown in this place throughout the hours of this day, and yet when we look for the harvest in terms of the fruit of repentance and faith initially exercised, repentance and faith deepened and increased, the fruits of righteousness and holiness, any accurate perception of reality leads to the conclusion that in terms of the tremendous output of seed, there is relatively little return in the way of a spiritual harvest. Why? Well, the answer to this perplexing question lies in great measure in the very parable that is before us. The parable of the seed and its differing, differing reactions when it comes in contact with various kinds of soil, the section that we often call the parable of the sower, but which is in reality a parable of the various kinds of soils. And in our three previous studies of this parable, as it has come to us in our consecutive expositions of the gospel of Mark, we have discovered together, first of all, the precise

Review of the Parable's Elements and the Wayside Soil

6:35 identity of the major elements in the parable. The seed is the word of God. Our Lord tells us this in Mark chapter 13 and Mark chapter 4, I'm sorry, in verse 14, the sower soweth the word or the message of the kingdom, as it is called in the parallel passages. The seed is the word of God.

7:05 The sower is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. The sower is anyone who disseminates that message. In this immediate context, it was the Lord Jesus himself sitting in a boat, speaking to multitudes upon the shore, proclaiming the word of God. And the soil is the people, the various kinds of people, to whom the word comes, but especially the state or condition of the heart into which the word comes. And we learn that particularly from the parallel passage in Luke chapter 8. And the great principle then that comes out of this identification of the major elements of the parable is this,

7:52 that it is the state of the heart which determines the fate of the seed. The state of the heart determines the fate of the seed. In all things, the state of the heart determines the fate of the seed. In all four instances, it was identical seed, but it was the different conditions of the soil that determined the fate of that seed. We then proceeded to study together the meaning of the wayside or the footpath soil. And according to our Lord, this is a picture of the careless, indifferent, non-comprehending hearer of the gospel, the person to whom the word of God is given. From the message of God's grace in Christ, the message announcing God's mercy through a mediator, the message demanding repentance and faith falls upon an ear and a heart that sees no congruity, no suitability between that message and the real issues of his own life. He understands it not.

The Stony Ground Hearer: Initial Joy, No Root

9:00 And the scripture tells us, Then comes Satan, the adversary, and snatches away the seed that was sown in his heart that he should not be saved. Then we began to contemplate together this second kind of soil, that which is called the stony or rocky ground soil. Now the facts of the parable are very straightforward and clear. Once we understand that our Lord is not saying this was soil in which there were some rocks or stones, but he's speaking of a thin layer of soil on the top of a shelf of rock, which made root penetration down into the depths of the soil utterly impossible. The seed germinates in that shallow shelf of soil, and then when the burning Palestinian sun rises and sucks away the moisture existing in the soil, because there is no root system, penetrating into the deep soil where the sun is not sucked out all of the moisture, that plant withers and dies.

10:14 And in our Lord's interpretation of this, he says, this is a picture of the person who hears the message of the kingdom. And unlike the footpath soil, this person seems to find in that message such perfect suitability between the message and his deepest felt needs that he receives. The word with joy marked 460. However, he has been a careless, thoughtless embracer of the message.

10:46 And when tribulation and persecution arise because of the words straightway, they stumble. And after opening up those simple facts, we then concentrated upon one fundamental observation from the passage. And it was this, that not all joyful response to the gospel is a saving response to the gospel. They received the message with joy, but as we say using the language of Job, the root of the matter was never in them.

11:21 There was a response that touched the intellect, that focused upon the emotions, but never laid hold of the will. It was not the response of a heart thoroughly plowed up, and made fit soil for the deep rooting of the message. Not all joyful response to the gospel is necessarily a saving response to the gospel. Now today, we press on to consider a second aspect of the abiding message of this part of the parable.

Tribulation and Persecution as Revealers of the Heart

11:55 And it is this, according to verse 17, tribulation and persecution, are effective revealers of the true state of the heart of a professing Christian. Tribulation and persecution are effective revealers of the true state of the heart of a professing Christian. Now let's go back to the facts of the parable. The thin layer of soil received the seed.

12:32 It sprang up quickly. However, what the human eye could not see, namely, that there was no root system to the plant, verse 5, other fell upon the rocky ground where it had not much earth, straightway it sprang up because it had no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, when the sun was risen, the condition that was out of sight to the observer, the condition that was out of sight to the observer, now became evident. When the sun was risen, it was scorched and because it had no root, that which lay outside the pale of human observation prior to the rising of the sun but is now made manifest, it withered away. The rootless plant withered and died under the influence of the sun. Now, go back to our Lord's interpretation. Now, go back to our Lord's interpretation.

13:35 Verses 16 and 17. The agent which caused the revelation of this condition was the Palestinian sun. The agent which caused the revelation of this condition was the Palestinian sun. But when the, I'm sorry, verse 16, And these in like manner are they that are sown upon the rocky places, who when they have heard the word, straightway receive it with joy, and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while, when tribulation or persecution arises.

14:03 You see, You see, our Lord makes a parallel between the Son, which became the agent to reveal the rootless plan for what it was, and he says in like manner, it is the Son of tribulation and persecution which shows the joyful but rootless believer for what he really is. And the Son is none other than the combined influence of tribulation and persecution. Luke says that in the time of testing, they fall away. Now what's essential for our understanding of the passage is this. The Son created no new conditions apart from sucking the moisture out of the soil. It simply revealed the true condition of the plant. It had no root system. That was not discerned until the Son did its work. Until the Son did its work, it was a promising plant like every other seed that had germinated.

15:17 The farmer would have had every reason to expect that from that little seedling would come a harvest of wheat or grain or barley or whatever kind of seed it was. However, from the very germination period, it was doomed to wither. But it took the Son to reveal the condition that existed from the very outset. It was sown, not transplanted upon rocky soil. It was sown upon such soil, and it was doomed from its very sowing to end up a withered plant.

15:55 However, it was the rising of the sun. It was the rising of the sun which became the occasion of the revelation of its true state. Now if our Lord says that the rising of the sun is to be understood in terms of the sustained influence of tribulation or persecution because of the word, it is vital for us to understand precisely what he meant by those words. So we're going to engage in a little word study.

Defining 'Tribulation' (Flipsis)

16:26 He said, first of all, when tribulation... Tribulation arises because of the word.

16:32 Now, what is tribulation? Well, the verb itself from which the noun comes literally means to press upon or to crowd in upon someone. It's the verb found in chapter 3. You'll remember the picture of our Lord by the seashore and the multitudes pressing around him.

16:54 Well, that very word is used in its verb form. Verse 9 of chapter...

16:58 Chapter 3. He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd lest they should tribulate him. Lest they should press in upon him. So the verb literally means, and we have it in its literal usage here, to press upon or to crowd in upon someone.

17:24 And then it becomes by its expanded use... To describe pressure or oppression or affliction coming upon someone.

17:35 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 4. When we were with you, we told you beforehand we are to suffer affliction, pressured circumstances, even as it came to pass, and you know. Now, the word...

17:58 The word for affliction in its noun form is used in a variety of ways that give us a good feel for its significance as we see it in the New Testament. In John 16, 21, it's the word used to describe the anguish of childbirth. What does a woman go through when her labor pains come upon her? She enters a period of affliction, of unusual pressure.

18:26 She is in a pressured state. Circumstance. It's used in Acts 7, 12 to describe Joseph's trials. Now, think back of the life of Joseph.

18:36 Falsely accused of immoral intentions towards Potiphar's wife, and he is unjustly thrown into prison. Prior to that, he is sold into slavery by his brothers. He underwent many adverse, pressured circumstances. God describes them by this word, affliction.

18:56 In 1 Corinthians 7, 21... Paul says that's what a married man will experience in his flesh, as opposed to the single person.

19:03 He will experience afflictions, troubles, pressured circumstances because of the married state. And everyone who's a married person knows that. We also know that those of us who are happily married, we far rather have those pressures in the state of marriage than the non-pressured circumstances of our singleness. However, that's the word used in 1 Corinthians 7.

19:28 It's the word used to describe the peculiar pressures of a widow in James 1, 27. Pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. Now, think of the peculiar circumstances of widows, particularly in New Testament times. The pressure of being destitute.

19:49 No social security. No welfare programs. That woman we saw in the text this morning. When she threw in what for us would be two or three pounds.

19:58 It was the beginning, middle, and end of all that she possessed. Affliction. The pressured circumstances. The vulnerability.

20:07 The impending, or if not actual, poverty of the widowed state. That's the word that's used. It's the word John uses in Revelation 1, 9 when he writes to the seven churches. John, in exile for the testimony of Christ, describes himself as a companion in affliction.

20:24 Now, do you get a feel for the word? The pressured circumstances. Circumstance of a woman in childbirth. Of Joseph in all of his trials.

20:33 The peculiar aggravating pressures of the married state. Caring for the concerns of a wife and a household. The peculiar pressures of widowhood. The peculiar pressures of outward persecution, banishment, loneliness that John was experiencing.

20:52 All of those circumstances come under the major heading of this word, flipsis.

20:59 Tribulation. Affliction. Pressured circumstances. So then, according to our Lord, the Palestinian sun, which sucked away the moisture from the earth and revealed this rootless plant for what it was, was first of all the influence of tribulation.

21:22 Tribulation. Pressured circumstances contrary to the inclination and natural disposition. No woman in her right mind ever revels in her birth pangs. She has joy when the child is born and relatively, Scripture says, forgets the pain of her delivery.

21:45 But no woman in her right mind looks forward to the actual trauma of her birth pangs. No one in his right mind finds delight in the peculiar aggravating circumstances. Such as Joseph experienced. All of those things have as the common denominator those pressured circumstances run counter to the natural disposition of the human soul.

22:14 We have a love of a painless, easy state. And afflictions run counter to that love. And furthermore, Scripture tells us that tribulation or afflictions are, are a necessary and an inevitable accompaniment of discipleship. A man cannot embrace the message of the kingdom with its wonderful promises of mercy and its demands of repentance and faith and attachment to Christ and avoid affliction or tribulation.

22:51 Jesus said in John 16, 33, In the world you shall have, and here's our word, tribulation. As long as you, my disciples, are in this present world order, you shall have pressured circumstances coming upon you in virtue of your attachment to me. And furthermore, this was the message that Paul and his companion preached to all the young churches in Acts 14, 22. They went back through to the churches and they told them that with purpose of heart they should cleave to the Lord and that, through much, here's our word, flipsis, through much tribulation, much affliction, we shall enter the kingdom of God. So tribulation, affliction, pressured circumstances running contrary to the natural inclinations of the flesh and of human desire are part and parcel of attachment to Jesus Christ. Now remember the picture. Here's someone who received the word with joy.

Defining 'Persecution' and its Inevitability

23:59 Here's someone who received the word with joy. Make some kind of visible commitment of attachment to Christ. And with that, inevitably, will come affliction, tribulation. Now what about this second word, persecution?

24:13 Well, the verb form means literally to pursue or to track down. That's why it can be used of that well-known verse in Hebrews 12, 14. Follow after holiness. Literally, track it down.

24:25 Pursue it. Persecute it. Same verb. Pursue holiness.

24:31 Mark it out. Track it down with diligence. We're to covet or desire or pursue love and yet to desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14.1 The major usage of the verb in the New Testament is to describe the actual act of pursuing with a view to opposing and or inflicting punishment upon the one pursued. So Paul could say in 1 Corinthians, 15.9, I persecuted the church of God. And so its noun form refers to this abusive treatment at the hand of men who oppose the message and its fruits in the life of one who receives that message and seeks to obey it.

25:17 We find it used again in Mark's gospel, chapter 10 and verse 30. Mark 10 and verse 30. Of the person who leaves houses and brothers and sisters and mothers, and fathers and children and land for his sake shall receive a hundredfold now in this time houses, brothers, sisters, mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life. So the sun which rises upon all who receive the word is comprised not only of pressured circumstances but from abusive treatment.

26:00 From men in the form of opposition, persecution. Now just as scripture makes it clear that tribulation or affliction is an inevitable accompaniment of discipleship, so it makes equally clear that persecution is an inevitable accompaniment of discipleship. When Jesus is describing the disciples in terms of those blessings of Matthew 5, he concludes in verse 11 with this. Blessed are you not if but when.

26:37 When. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. When Paul writes to the Romans, he assumes persecution will be their lot. So he says in Romans 12, 14, we are to show blessing and kindness to those who persecute us.

27:00 And 2 Timothy 3, 12 puts it beyond dispute. All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now it doesn't say they'll have stones thrown at them when they walk down this street in their local neighborhood. It doesn't say that they will necessarily lose their job.

27:18 It doesn't say that they will be brought into the open square and put into stocks and have people mock at them and spit upon them. But it does say, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

27:34 All without exception, who for any length of time truly live a godly life in union with Christ shall suffer one form or another of persecution. Now then, notice in the text that this little phrase occurs after tribulation or affliction and persecution. Our Lord says, these come on account, account of, the word. Persecution arises, verse 17, because of the word.

Tribulation and Persecution 'Because of the Word' and as 'Time of Temptation'

28:09 Now the little phrase, because of the word, could refer to both realities. It could refer to tribulation which arises because of the word, or the word tribulation could be general and the persecution could be such as arises because of the word. or on account of the word. Grammatically, either one is possible.

28:34 Probably, the meaning is this. The afflictions come in the way of righteousness demanded by the word. Get the picture. Who's described here?

28:44 The person who hears the message of the kingdom. He receives it with joy. He begins to have his life framed by that message. So his lifestyle is being dictated by the word he has received.

28:58 And on account of that, he enters into pressured circumstances where there is brought to bear upon him pressure of one kind or another because he is professedly determined to walk in the way of righteousness demanded by the word. And furthermore, as he clings to that way of righteousness, there is opposition coming to him from men. He experiences persecution. Now, either of these commodities, separately or in concurrent and combined influence, constitute what Luke calls, and I want you to turn to Luke chapter 8. And then I think you'll see all of this coming together. Verse 13. A time of temptation.

29:53 Luke 8, 13. Those on the rock are they who, when they have heard, receive the word with joy, these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. Now, this word for temptation can mean an inducement to sin. I was tempted to lie.

30:15 That is, I felt an inducement to tell an untruth. But it's also the word that can mean testing, trial, putting something to the test. Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into diverse, many kinds of trials, testing. In circumstances, and I'm convinced that's its meaning here.

30:34 In time of trial, they fall away. Now, what constituted the time of trial? It was the sun of affliction and persecution beating down upon them that constituted the trial, the test of whether or not they had a root system. You see it?

30:54 The sun was testing the plant on this issue. Does it have...

31:02 The sun put it to the test. And after the sun had issued its test,

31:10 the results were no root. It withered away. No moisture, because no root. No moisture, no root.

31:20 It withers and it dies. And so tribulation and persecution, separately or in their combined influence, constitute God's time, time of testing to see if indeed the root of the matter is in us. Now, can you pull it all together and see why I have stated what I stated at the outset of our exposition? That the great principle contained in this passage that we need to come to grips with is not only the first that we looked at last week.

31:57 Not all joyful response to the Word is a saving response to the Word, but, that tribulation and persecution constitute an effective revealer of whether or not our professed faith is indeed real faith. Now, let's try to descend to particulars as we examine that principle.

The Stony Ground Hearer's Stumbling and Falling Away

32:26 Is there a true spiritual root system in my experience? Am I truly united to the Christ, to my professed, to have received as Saviour and Lord?

32:39 My outward profession seems to manifest that the living Word of God has germinated and there is something that looks like a plant that should bear fruit. So what does God do? God allows the sun of affliction, pressured circumstances, and persecution, opposition from men, to beat down upon my profession, and if there is true roots, if there are true roots, if there is vital union with Christ, according to Scripture, affliction and persecution become the very instrument to strengthen one's life in Christ, but where there is only apparent life in Christ, the plant withers and it dies. This is the way it works. Here a person is heard in the message of the kingdom. God so loved the world that he gave his own life, gave his only begotten son.

33:37 The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand in the person of the King of grace. He is here in all the plenitude of his mercy to sinners. We have heard that he says that God is love and that God in his love is provided a way whereby sinners may have the burden of their sin removed.

33:56 We've heard it reported that he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, think of it, rest from all burdens, and pressures. And the person with joy said, this is exactly what I want. And they've received the message. Then what happens?

34:12 This God of love, this God of grace, this God of forgiving mercy, then in his inscrutable providence begins to let the sun of affliction beat down upon this professed disciple. And now his providence begins to say in dark, jagged letters, not that God is love, God is merciful, God is kind, God is gracious, but his providence seems to say, God is harsh, God is calloused, God is cruel, God is tight-fisted, God is narrow-spirited. He allows me to lie day after day under this pressure of poverty, this pressure of sin, of physical illness, this pressure of unresolved questions about my future, this pressure of my singleness, this pressure of the prolonged sickness of my child, my husband, my wife. I must stand and watch the darling of my heart wither away to nothing and die under the cruel, lingering, painful death of cancer. And all of his providence seems to say, God is harsh, God is cruel, God is indifferent. And this person cries, and weeps,

35:41 and prays, and fasts, and the heavens seem silent, and afflicted circumstances have become like one universal vice, pressing, pressing, pressing, pressing, and they have a finger that seems to write in steel with all of its harshness and its coldness, God is indifferent, God is harsh, God is unconcerned. Now you see, the person who has no vital union with Christ, who has never really seen by spiritual illumination that his greatest problem is that of his sin, and that the greatest mystery of the universe is how God would, in love, cause his own son to become the sinner's substitute, and God has written in characters of blood the blood of the incarnate God himself, that he is love, that he is merciful, that he is holy, and that he is just. Now the person is called upon to believe one of two things about God, that which seems to be written by his providence in afflictive circumstances, or that which is written in the revelation made of himself in Christ and embodied in the Holy Scriptures. And which will he believe? Well, you see, the stony ground hearer,

37:08 in time of affliction, is caused to stumble. Affliction becomes the trap over which he stumbles, and when he rises up, he walks clean away from this God. Because of affliction, he is caused to stumble. And because of persecution, God allows men to unleash their opposition to him, by directing that opposition to us who follow him.

37:43 And Christ predicted that, if they've hated me, they'll hate you. And one reaction will be, this is not fair, rather than what a privilege to be partaker of the fellowship of his sufferings. What a privilege to be in the company of prophets and righteous men before me, as Jesus said, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. What a privilege to have confirmed that I'm not a worldling.

38:09 Jesus said in John 15, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. So that persecution to the one who has a root system embedded in Jesus Christ in a true work of grace, becomes the very means by which that life is confirmed and developed as he reacts biblically. But not so the stony ground hearer.

38:36 The stony ground hearer says, wait a minute, this is more than I bargained for. I thought the gospel promised me peace, and now there's a sword. I thought it promised me joy, but now there's the bitterness of losing my dearest friends. And according to 1 Corinthians 7, sometimes it means losing wife or husband.

38:54 If the unbelieving depart, let him depart. And the person says, wait a minute, this is not what I bargained for. I received this message with joy because I thought it would bring to me the answer to my deepest heart needs. Now it brings me not only this vice-like drip of affliction, but it brings me this opposition from my fellow human beings.

39:17 It disrupts the deepest ties of human bonds, father and mother, brother, sister, and my own husband or wife. No, this is more than I bargained for. I want no more of this. And according to Luke, they fall away, a stronger word used.

39:31 They're not only caused to stumble, they fall away. The very word used by Paul in Timothy when he says, men shall fall away from the faith. Now that's the truth that our Lord is teaching in this passage, that tribulation and persecution are effective revealers of the true state of the soul of a professed Christian. Now that's the teaching.

Application: Comfort for the Tried Believer

39:57 I've tried to explain the meaning of the words, illustrate it. Now let me try to bring it home by way of personal application. First of all, for the comfort of not a few of you here. Some of you sit here this morning with a faith that has been severely tried.

40:15 The sun has beaten down upon your professed faith, not for a day, not for a week, not for a month, not for a year, but some of you, perhaps for many years. In the form of some sustained affliction, some pressured circumstance, and you've come to grips with the fact that in all likelihood, you will live all your days under that afflictive dispensation of God. And though you do not begin to understand all that God has purposed in it, you do not dare call God to make an account of himself to you. And you've learned what it is to bow in love and reverence before the God of infinite wisdom and say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Your faith has been tried under the intense heat of a sustained and prolonged affliction. My friend, take comfort.

41:26 God has put your faith to the test. And you know in your heart of hearts that though at times you've been tempted to read God's heart in his providences, you have refused that. You've rejected it as of the very essence of blasphemy and said, no, I will read his heart in the cross of his Son. And the God who can give his Son to die for the likes of me is perfectly at liberty to do whatever he will with me in terms of my circumstances.

41:59 And he's not accountable to me. But I will read in characters of blood that he loves me. He sent his Son to die for me. And having not spared his Son, he will not withhold from me anything that is in my best interest.

42:18 And your faith has been tested by affliction. My friend, take encouragement this morning. And when at times you ask, O Lord, am I truly yours? Look at the testing that God has put you through that you might answer that question without any hesitation.

42:38 Yes, nothing but being embedded and rooted in Christ and drawing from him the grace to bless the very hand that smites me, would have ever kept me. Some of you have known the heat, the burning heat of the sun of persecution. It's cut into some of the deepest ties in whatever internal agony you've experienced. You've not turned away from Christ to keep a mate.

43:07 You've not turned away from Christ to have a mate. You've not turned away from Christ to keep a job, to keep standing in any social circle. You've been prepared to feel that form of subtle persecution such as comes in our own society when people withdraw from you all semblance of delight and desire to be with you in general social interaction. You've experienced some of that intense sun of persecution and yet, the last thing from your mind is repudiating Christ.

43:40 Take comfort, child of God, that God has mercifully put your faith to the test and shown it to be to you and to others the real thing. There is a root system. There's no other explanation for your standing today but that the root of the matter is in you. Not only does this word come as a word of comfort, it should come as a word of explanation for others.

Application: Explanation for Those Who Have Fallen Away

44:05 Maybe this explains for some of you your own spiritual history. Maybe you've been wondering what in the world is wrong with me. I made a decision. I made a profession.

44:16 I experienced what I thought was the joy of forgiveness, but if I'm honest with myself, I have to acknowledge that for too long a period of time there's been nothing that I can call biblical fruit. Why? Well, think back. Think back.

44:33 Think back to that set of circumstances which became God's burning sun. Afflictions. And you began to have hard thoughts of God. And when the enemy of your soul whispered those thoughts in your ear, rather than refuse them and reject them, you entertained them and you began to embrace them as though they were true.

44:53 And sitting here this morning, perhaps your heart is like an echo chamber with some of the most blasphemous thoughts about God imaginable. Not as fiery darts from the wicked one that you're seeking to withstand with the shield of faith, but you've welcomed them. And you're having an internal pity party. Pity me.

45:12 Woe is me. When I tried it, this all came down upon me and that came down upon me and this came in upon me. And it wasn't worth it. My friend, listen.

45:22 If you've ever seen what the real issues are, you'll say, if becoming a Christian meant from the moment I professed faith in Christ, I had to have all of my fingers put in thumb screws and I had to be on a torture rack for the next 50 years to go to heaven when I die and to look upon Christ with joy, it would be worth it. If you ever really saw what the issues were, what is a little affliction? Paul said, our light affliction which is but for a moment. That's a Christian talking.

45:53 Light affliction? You read his light affliction. Beaten with rods, beaten with leather thongs, cast as a common criminal, outside of the city, stoned, left for dead, haunted, hunted, tracked down, and yet he says our light affliction which is but for a moment. That's a Christian talking.

46:17 Because his eyes have been opened to see what the real issues are. And he doesn't act as though affliction is not there, but he views it in its proper perspective. Maybe the problem with some of you is you never got beyond thinking the gospel was a way to present peace and present success and present ease and present comfort. Could it be that that explains to some of you where you're really at?

46:39 Could it be it helps some of you to understand where some of your friends are? You say, I can't figure out. It seemed like what they had was real. I mean, they sang hymns with me.

46:49 They prayed with me. I saw them stand and testify with tears coming down their cheeks. They tasted something. I can't believe that was all fake and phony and sham and histrionic.

47:01 Yes, they did receive the word of joy, but what happened? God brought the sun up, and when it beat down upon them, it revealed something you didn't know. There was no root system. No root system.

Application: Prophecy and Clarion Call for All

47:16 No root system. So this should be a word of comfort, but for others, it ought to be a word of explanation. For yet others, it ought to be a prophecy. I'm going to prophesy this morning, and my prophecy is this.

47:32 You profess to receive the word. Sooner or later, the sun's going to come up, and it's not going to come up just five degrees off the eastern coast or the eastern horizon. It's going to get dead overhead and burn straight down on you. But when?

47:50 When? Not if. When? The sun rose.

47:54 When? Tribulation and persecution come. They'll come. They'll come, God says.

48:01 Now you don't need to go out and help the sun up. You don't need to go out and be a sun nudger. God will bring it in his own time and in his own way, and I speak especially to some of you new in the faith. Isn't it interesting in 1822 that Paul and his companions gave this message?

48:21 They said, look, if you didn't understand it when you got in, understand it now because it's coming. Cleave. If you're in him, be rooted in him. Why?

48:33 Because through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. The sun is coming up, and if you don't have roots in Christ, sooner or later it's going to be manifest. I speak to some of you new in the faith, and right now you say, oh, my love for Christ and his love to me is such I could conquer a thought. My friend, don't speak hastily.

48:53 Walk softly and cry to God that your roots will be deeply embedded in Christ, that when the sun arises and the surface moisture is sucked away, it'll be evident you've got something more than a surface response to the gospel. Tribulation, afflictive circumstances will come, and sometimes they drop down upon us like a thunderbolt out of a clear blue sky. That's what happened to Job. You remember?

49:24 One day he arose like every other day, and by that day's end everything had been taken away. And in a few more days everything but life itself taken from him. You talk about a man coming under the burning heat of the sun of affliction, but it says in all of this, Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. God was God though he couldn't understand his providence.

49:43 He knew his heart. God is God, and he has a right to do it. He has a right to do it. He has a right to do it.

49:53 And he has a right to be God with reference to me. And then, finally, this passage and what we've sought to concentrate upon this morning not only should be a word of comfort to some, a word of explanation to others, a word of prophecy to yet others, but it should be a clarion call to every one of us. And the clarion call is this, be satisfied with nothing less than vital union with Christ. The phrase that has come back to me again and again when I studied this passage is these have no root.

50:29 These have no root who for a while believe, that's the language of Mark and the language of Luke, the language of Mark is they have no root in themselves but endure for a while. They are bunions, Mr. Temporary. Bunions saw them.

50:47 He had a character in his Pilgrim's Progress called Temporary. And the very Greek word here, they endure for a while. They are temporary for a time. Bunions saw them in his pastoral ministry.

50:59 And the clarion call to every one of us is this, be sure that you are rooted in Jesus Christ. You have something more than a mere surface acquaintance with the overtures of his mercy in the Gospel. Be certain that you are rooted in Christ in the language of Colossians 2. Rooted and crowned and nourished and built up in union with the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

51:28 Our Lord observed as he preached that in spite of all of his earnest preaching, his simple plain preaching, and though he had the spirit upon him in a way no other sower ever did, that there were many in his day who heard the word, received it with joy. But when the sun of persecution and affliction arose, they were caused to stumble and they fell away. It's not a pleasant thing to face reality, is it? I was forced to face it in a way that I hadn't anticipated on Thanksgiving Day. When we gathered for our family reunion, the family took occasion to celebrate my 50th birthday six months after the fact. And as the sister who's next down from me and the ten of us was sketching a picture of her son, she reminded all of us of something that greatly humbled me. In fact, it broke me and brought me to tears.

52:44 She reminded me that in that movement of the Spirit of God when God saved me in 1952, there were about a half a dozen other young people who at that time gave every evidence of being vitally evil. But they actually knew and they learned that the first thing is to be someone who loves the world and can do anything to save the world. We all know that the idea of being good wonder if those of us who are now in the oversight are privileged to live for another ten years. Who of you sitting here this morning, who seems to have all the signs of life, will

54:03 have withered up and fallen away? You see, don't be buoyed up by the faith of others. Don't be satisfied with being carried along by the joy and the devotion and the self-denial of others. Oh, be certain, my dear people, that you personally are rooted in Christ, that you're drawing your sustenance from Christ Himself in true communion with Him, fellowship with Him in the place of prayer, keeping a clear conscience before Him. May God grant that we'll be satisfied with nothing less than being rooted and grounded in the in Him. So we have two great lessons set before us from the parable. Not all joyful response to the gospel is a saving response to the gospel. Secondly, tribulation and persecution are effective revealers of the true state of the professed Christian. And God willing,

55:14 next week we'll study the frightening teaching of this passage, that there is such a thing as a temporary. Who, for a while, believe? May God grant that the words of our Lord Jesus will come home to our hearts with power. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for our Lord Jesus, not only as our great high priest and savior, but as our teacher and instructor. We pray that his words, upon which we have focused our minds this morning, may be words of light, and salvation, words of warning and comfort to everyone seated in this place. We plead with you that the word preached today will not fall only upon wayside soil, or upon stony ground or thorny ground, but may it fall upon good soil and bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Lord, so deal with us.

56:32 That we will be content with nothing less than being rooted in your dear Son, united to him by faith, and sustained by his own life-giving power. We plead these mercies in his name. Amen.