The Stony Ground Hearer, Part 3

Introduction and Review of the Parable's Elements

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, December 2nd, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 For several Lord's Day mornings, I would ask you to turn to Mark chapter 4 and follow as I read verses 1 through 9. And then I shall drop down in the reading to verses 16 and 17. And then we will read just one verse from the parallel passage in Luke's Gospel, chapter 8, Mark chapter 4.

1:07 He says in his teaching, It withered away, and other fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing, and brought forth thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. And he said, Who has ears to hear? Let him hear. Verse 16.

2:07 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 they stumble. And now Luke chapter 8 and verse 13.

2:36 Luke 8. Luke 8. Luke 8. Luke 8.

2:37 And those on the rock are they who, when they have heard, receive the word with joy. And these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of temptation, or in a time of testing, fall away. Now let us cry to God to give us light and understanding. What?

3:11 What is one of the most vital elements of biblical truth that we shall consider in our study of this very crucial parable of the Lord Jesus? Let us again seek his face. Our Father, we bow again in your presence. We trust not out of habit or form or empty ritual, but because we know that unless you give us ears to hear, we will have none with which to hear.

3:47 We would not have it said of us, having ears, they do not hear. O Lord, grant us hearing ears this morning. Give us seeing eyes. Give us good soil in our hearts.

4:07 That the word studied and preached and applied in this coming hour may not be in vain. O God, accomplish in us. Your saving designs, we pray, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

4:29 In this parable that I have chosen to call not the parable of the sower, but the parable of the seed and of the soils, our Lord has set before us for all time some of the most vital and the most essential elements of true and saving religion. If sitting here this morning you have any genuine concern for the salvation of your own never-dying soul, and if you have any concern for the salvation of the never-dying souls of your fellow mortals, then you cannot afford the luxury either of indifference or ignorance with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. With respect to the teaching contained in this parable, I would say to you in the language of the Lord Jesus, these issues are so vital, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. And if you have not hitherto had such ears, pray even now that God will give them to you. In our previous studies of this parable, we have established several things as we have considered the parable itself and our Lord's own interpretation of it.

5:46 We have established, first of all, the identity of the major elements of the parable. The seed, according to our Lord himself, is the word of God. Verse 14 of Mark 4, The sower sows the word. And no fewer than four or five times in the interpretation we find the language, the word, the word, the word, the word.

6:12 So the seed is the message of God. The word of the gospel. The proclamation of the coming of the kingdom of grace in the person and work of the king of grace himself, the Lord Jesus. The sower, in this context, it is the Lord Jesus.

6:32 He is the sower. He, even now as he speaks from the boat to those seated on the shore, is sending forth the message of his kingdom. But all who in any place, at any time and under any circumstances proclaim that message, they become lesser sowers. And then the soil we have seen is men and women, but especially the hearts of men and women.

7:02 These are they that are sown. He is pointing to classes and categories of human beings who come in contact with the word of God, but in a special way, he is describing the, the contact which that word makes with their hearts. And it's particularly in Luke's account that the word heart is brought before us. And then we establish not only the identity of the major elements of the parable, but the fundamental or central message of the parable.

7:37 The message of this parable is basically one message. And it is this, the state of the soil, determines the fate of the seed. In every instance, the differing fates of fate of the seed was determined by the condition of the soil. The climatic conditions were identical.

8:01 The seed was identical. The sower's activity was identical. That which made the difference was the state of the soil upon which or into which the seed fell. And so, the message of the parable comes through loud and clear.

8:19 It is the state of the heart to which the word of God comes that determines the response to that word and the ultimate destiny of that word with respect to that individual. And then in recent weeks, we've been establishing in the third place, the meaning and significance of the first two kinds of soil. We dealt with the footpath, or the wayside soil. And in this particular description of that soil, our Lord is giving us a graphic description of a careless, unconcerned, unenlightened hearer of the gospel.

Characteristics of the Stony Ground Hearer

9:00 According to Matthew, he understands not the message, then comes the devil and takes away that which is sown in his heart. The person who sees no suitability between the great, the facts pronounced in the gospel, and his own deepest needs as a fallen sinner in Adam, who needs the message of God's grace and favor in the Lord Jesus. Luke says, that which is sown in them is taken away, that they may not believe and be saved. And the clear indication is, you will never come to the faith which is unto salvation until you take the gospel, until you take the gospel, until you take the gospel, seriously. And you'll never take the gospel seriously as long as your heart is like a hard, well-packed footpath. Until the truth of your accountability to God and the standard of His holy law, until the great truths of judgment in hell begin to plow up your hard heart, the gospel will continue to be preached to you in vain. And now we've been examining the second soil, that which we are calling, the rocky ground soil.

10:18 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.

10:42 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 palestinian sun it withered and it died these our lord says are a picture of those who receive the word with joy they're they're they're they're they're they're The response to the gospel is not one of indifference. It's one of enthusiasm. They take off as it were like a rocket in their enthusiastic response to the message. But when God brings the sun of persecution and tribulation upon them, they wither and they die. Not all joyful response is a saving response.

12:01 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 to flourish, it caused it to die.

12:53 The very tribulation and persecution that become the occasion of the growth of one who is oppressed. The true child of God caused the withering of the spurious Christian. Now, as we conclude this morning our consideration of this particular kind of soil, the shallow soil upon a rocky shelf, I want us to face, honestly, the third unavoidable truth that it sets before us. It teaches us that not all joyful response to the word is a saving response.

Temporary Believers: A Class of Gospel Hearers

13:29 That tribulation and persecution, are great revealers of the true state of the heart. But the passage also teaches us that temporary believers will always constitute a class of gospel hearers. Temporary believers will always constitute a class of gospel hearers. Now, what I want to do, first of all, is establish that fact from the parable and its inspired interpretation.

14:11 What fact? The fact that temporary believers will always constitute a class of gospel hearers. This is, directly in the abyss of spiritual Adventism. glass of gospel hearers. We read in Mark 4 and verse 5 that straightway, that is the seed sown upon the rocky soil, straightway it sprang up because it had no deepness of earth. The soil seemed to embrace the seed. There was germination. But verse 6 tells us when the sun was risen, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. Though it germinated, it eventually withered

15:12 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.

15:38 It had all the appearances of a promising plant, but its end was death. It withered away. It died and was no more. And our Lord says, this is a picture of those, verse 16, who hear the gospel and receive it. And they do not receive it in a matter of facts, in different way. They receive it with enthusiasm, with joy, and they endure. They endure. This is not just a momentary thing. Some time passes in which the reception of the word has all the appearances of genuineness. They, but it is

16:27 only. For a while. The literal rendering of the original is, they are temporary or temporal. It's the very word used in 2 Corinthians 4.18, while we look not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are for a while, temporal. Precisely the same word in the original. It's the word used in Hebrews 11 and verse 25, speaking of Moses and the great Israel. The writer says this, choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin temporarily for a season. For a season. They are temporary. Now, listen

17:18 carefully. In what are they temporary? Well, they are temporary in their endurance or adherence to the perfection made. Yes?

17:29 But what is the root of that profession? What do they profess when they receive the word with joy? Well, you say they make a profession of what? Faith. Because the word comes making announcements that are to be believed. The message of the gospel is, God has done something in his Son that answers to the deepest need of sinners. Believe and you will be saved. And so, when it says that they receive the word with joy, we would say they make a profession of faith. And in that profession, they endure for a while. And this is not just a deduction. It is the

18:17 explicit testimony of Luke's account of this same passage. And that's why I read it. Verse 13 of Luke 8. It is said of them that they for a while are...

18:32 Believing. Well, you say, uh, maybe that's a different word in the Greek for believe. Uh-uh. It's the standard word in the New Testament for the act of believing. And Luke says, for a time they are... It is the word that is used throughout the New Testament for that faith which is unto life and salvation, that faith which when God truly regenerates the sinner, is the fruit of his own internal mighty work of grace, producing faith and repentance. It is the very faith that is commanded in the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the word that's used. And it says they believe for a while. And this is not the only passage. There are eight or nine

19:28 other passages in the New Testament where the verb believe is used. The same Greek word, bistuo, with reference to people, or in James with reference to demons, with reference to people and creatures who are utter strangers to a true work of grace. They are believers but lost. I didn't conduct the doctrine, it's there in the Bible. Who for a while, or goes forth to sow, and the seed scattered indiscriminately, one class of hearers will be those who receive the word with joy, who for a while endure, that is, for a while they believe, and then they fall away. Temporary believers will always constitute a class of gospel hearers. Our Lord had them. Now, if anyone could preach the gospel with such accuracy, with such convincingness, with such penetration to the citadel of the soul, with the Holy Ghost not given by measure, it was our Lord Jesus.

20:54 I'm personally convinced if any one of us had heard him preach, we'd never preach. I often wonder what God had to do in the disciples, probably just the constraint of obedience that they could ever preach after having heard him preach. But with all of his accuracy, with all of his penetrating, incisive applications of the conscience laying bare the hearts, Jesus had temporary believers among those to whom he preached. Many went back and walked with him no more.

21:31 John 6. John chapter 8. Jews who believed on him, and by the time Jesus gets done pressing the word to their conscience, they're accusing him of having a devil. And he turns around and says, no, you're of your father the devil.

21:47 You see, our Lord had temporary believers. The apostles had them. Under the preaching of Peter, he had them. Paul had them.

21:58 And the best and most widely used creatures throughout the history of the church have had them. And in none of these cases is the fault with the sower or with the seed. The fault is not with the messenger or his message, or even...

22:13 But it is the state of the heart which determines the fate of the seed. You see, as long as the Bible contains the names of Judas, Simon Magus, Demas, Hymenaeus, Philetus, and others, this doctrine will remain established by all who take the Bible seriously. There is such a class of gospel hearers as temporary. There are temporary believers who, for a while, believe.

Were Temporary Believers Ever Truly Converted?

22:51 Now, do you see the doctrine in Scripture?

22:53 I'm not asking you to have all your questions answered. Do you see the doctrine in Scripture? We don't take Scripture and say, well, let's see if it fits into this slot and if it doesn't throw the Bible out. We adjust our slots.

23:05 But we don't adjust the Bible.

23:08 Do you see it? There is such a thing as temporary believers. Now, that brings us in the second place to the crucial question which arises from this fact.

23:19 And all who have any concern for true and vital religion cannot avoid this question. It presses itself upon our consciousness inevitably. And the question is this. Was such a person ever really converted?

23:35 Ever truly justified? Ever truly saved? Since the same word for believe is used here, as is used in Acts 16.31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, since in its other form it's the same word.

23:54 By grace you are saved through faith, its noun form, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Was such a temporary believer ever saved? To put it more critically, in terms of our own contemporary situation, are such temporary believers truly saved? Have they ever been saved?

24:17 Well, from the parable itself, and from comparison, of scripture with scripture, I say the answer of the Bible is a resounding, unequivocal no. They never were partakers of grace. Now, how do we learn this, first of all, from the parable itself? Well, look at the parable.

24:37 Look at the language. There is one part that our Lord is very careful to emphasize. Verse 4.

24:46 I'm sorry, verse 5 of Mark chapter 4. And other fell on the rocky ground where it had not much, earth 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 was a rootless plant. Verse 17.

25:10 And they have no root in themselves, that is their abiding condition from the very beginning, but endure, for a while. It is the rootlessness of this plant that forms the fundamental defect in its condition, not subsequent to the rising of the sun, but prior to the rising of the sun. They have no root in themselves. It was temporary because it was rootless.

25:48 Luke says it had no moisture from the very beginning, it was impossible for that seed ever to bear fruit.

25:59 Because from the very beginning there was no possibility of a root system. The seed was destined to a brief history from its very germination. The condition of the soil predetermined that there would never be a handful of grain from that seed sown on a rocky shelf. So our Lord, our Lord makes it clear that he's talking about someone who though his response is enthusiastic and joyful and who manifests for a while the apparent fruits of faith, all of this was without the root of the matter ever being in it.

26:42 And then from the analogy of Scripture, that is from the general overall teaching of Scripture, what is given here in parabolic or pictorial language is addressed in straight, straightforward language in Hebrews chapter 6, a passage that God in his goodness has set before us through his servant, Professor Martin, in recent weeks, where the writer to the Hebrews describes those, verse 4, who were enlightened, who tasted of the heavenly gift, Hebrews 6, 4, were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come and then fell away. And in all of that condition, the apostle can go on to say in verse 9, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that belong to salvation. In other words, all that is described in verses 4 to 6 falls short of a true work of grace. But to our eyes, while this is going on, it has all this of a full work of grace.

28:06 They are the word of God, and according to the Lord Jesus, they say, it tastes delicious.

28:17 It's wonderful. Just what I've been waiting for. And the canonizers don't share their enthusiasm.

28:31 But it isn't long before all the zeal and the enthusiasm is gone, and they fall away. They have, at all of this, but nothing that truly accompanied salvation. Peter sets it forth under different imagery in 2 Peter 2. We're letting Scripture interpret Scripture.

28:57 What our Lord gives us under the imagery of a plant that germinates but then dies, Peter uses very, very graphic imagery. In 2 Peter 2, verses, 20 to 22, for if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they've heard the word of God, and they have received it to the point where they've undergone a temporary ethical and moral tradition. We say, look at that person, why he's been completely turned around. Isn't that what it says?

29:41 It has come to pass that they've escaped the defilement of the world, and what was the instrument? Not that they were whisked away to a monastery. Not that they were placed in some barbed wire camp. It was on account of coming to the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

30:04 They heard the message of the kingdom,

30:07 and there was a sufficient response to manifest itself at the ethical and moral level. They escaped the defilement of the world. People saw them and said, what in the world has happened to him?

30:20 And he, if you asked him, said, I've come to know the Lord. Christ has produced this change, should Peter say. But now notice, they are again entangled therein and overcome. You see, a true child of God may be entangled in this area or that, but the principle of grace will ultimately triumph, but not in this.

30:46 In this case, they are again entangled therein and overcome. The last stage has become worse with them than the first, for it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. The message of the kingdom, promising an imputed righteousness, demanding a practical righteousness is the fruit of faith. The Christian faith is called the way of righteousness.

31:15 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.

31:47 No matter what you do with him, given the opportunity to be true to his dog nature, he'll eat his vomit. No matter what you do to have a lovely little group of trained pigs who may for some period of time appear to be very much at home in all the finery of an elegant upper class boudoir, give them a chance to make their way out to the nearest mud hole and the sow has an affinity for the mud. And to the mud it will go. The sow was always a sow and the dog was a dog.

32:25 And Peter says these people never had their dog nature and sow nature transformed, though it had all the appearances of a transformation, ethically and morally, through the gospel. But what they really were ultimately shows itself.

32:42 You see, temporary believers will always constitute a class of gossipers and gospel hearers. They did under our Lord. They did under the apostles. They have done so in every age of the church.

32:59 And some of them are here in this building today.

Tragic Reality 1: False Doctrine of Eternal Security

33:13 That's why you better listen with all the earnestness of judgment day shadows over your own mind this morning. Having established from the word of God the parable itself and the parallel between the fact that there is such a thing as a temporary believer and that temporary believers will always constitute a class of gospel hearers. This now brings me to what I'm calling some tragic realities arising from this fact. Some of the tragic realities arising from this fact that temporary believers always constitute a class of gospel hearers.

33:57 Here's the first one. And I have reason to believe from the people I've already seen face to face in this building this morning, some of you visitors, and I know a little of your spiritual history. No one who attends upon this ministry has any grounds for falling into this category. But you may still believe it having heard it in other circles and it's this.

34:20 The first tragic reality is this. Such a person is often given a false doctrine of eternal security which seals him in a delusive hope of heaven. Such a person, that is a temporary believer, is often given a false doctrine of eternal security which seals him in a delusive hope of heaven. Let me illustrate how it happens.

34:51 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.

35:16 And with joy, he embraces the message. And apparently, many of his chains drop off. He seems to be a new man. And people are so astounded at the chains that they talk to him and they say, Brother, God's obviously saved you and done a wonderful work in your life.

35:33 Doesn't it ever trouble you when you think of all that you were and all that you've done? What do you do when you remind yourself or are reminded by the accuser of your past? You say, well, I look to Christ and to His cross and to the blood of forgiveness. They say, good, now, what will happen if you happen to fall back into any of those things?

35:51 Well, I don't know. Well, brother, let me tell you this. The Bible that says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved also. It says, once saved, always saved, no matter what you do.

36:05 And brother, your salvation so rests upon the work of Christ that no matter if you went back to all the sins you once committed, you can't mar your standing before God. You've trusted Jesus. Your sins are blotted out. You are forgiven.

36:21 Brother, never forget it. Once saved, always saved, no matter what you do and no matter what happens. If you have any doubts, doubts are from the devil. Reject them.

36:30 Resist them. You are saved having trusted in Jesus.

36:37 Now, at the time,

36:40 he manifests many fruits of being saved. He has tasted the good word of God, the powers of the world to come. He has escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But then, then, the sun begins to rise in God's providence.

37:01 It may not rise in a week, a month, six months, a year, but sooner or later, God brings the sun up to test his root system. And the sun of tribulation begins to burn down upon this plant. And the sun of affliction, tribulation, persecution begins to go to work on the soil of his heart. You know what happens?

37:30 It begins to wither. It's first manifested by giving, by giving up secret prayer, secret Bible reading. Then he gives up prayer meeting. He gives up seeking out the most spiritually minded people.

37:44 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.

38:01 He wants to go where there's pure gospel. If he's going to go to hell, he wants to go to hell with a numb tongue. And he may have already fallen away, though he's still a once a weeker.

38:15 As far as the pursuit of holiness, as far as any living communion with Christ, as far as anything that indicates that he has a root system embedded in Jesus Christ so that Christ is his life, there's nothing about him that you can't explain apart from a little religion. And the tragedy is whenever his conscience begins to work on him, he says, oh, but wait a minute, wait a minute, I was told once saved, always saved, no matter what I do. And he goes down into hell, clinging to the horrible antinomian doctrine of eternal security. My friend, the truth of the Bible is not once saved, always saved, no matter what you do. The truth of the Bible is once saved, always saved, and what you do proves that you are saved. That's the teaching of the Bible. Oh, yes, Jesus said, I have my sheep in my hand and no one can pluck them.

39:24 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.

39:53 And when Christian and faithful are talking along their journey, I almost thought of bringing Bunyan and reading that whole section, but I said it'd be too long, but it's in there. And Bunyan has three pages describing this man temporary. But thank God, Bunyan didn't believe this doctrine and he didn't teach it. The only evidence that anyone really came through the gate was that they made it across the river and through the other gate.

40:18 And their faces were always set there all along the way. If you've been taught this false doctrine, my friend, the kindest thing I can do to you is tell you that's a lie calculated to damn you and to send you to hell asleep. If you've got to look back a year ago for positive evidences that you're in a state of grace, you're a year too late. Examine yourself whether you will be here and in the faith.

Tragic Reality 2: False Doctrine of the Christian Life and Rewards

40:54 The only proof that any faith you once had is real is that that faith here and now today leads you to continue to abide in Christ, in his word, in his truth, amongst his people, in his ways, and resting solely upon his grace as your only hope of salvation. You see, that's one of the tragedies that grows out of this biblical doctrine, that while someone is a temporary believer, he is often given in our day a false doctrine, of eternal security. Are you one of those people? My friend, if you go on in that lie, my hands are clean of your blood in the day of judgment. Second problem that arises is this. He is often given a false doctrine of the Christian life now and of rewards hereafter. He is often given a false doctrine of the Christian life now and of rewards hereafter, which locks him, into spiritual indifference.

42:05 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.

42:40 They serve Him with more and more zeal and alacrity and joy. But then the vast majority of those who aren't here fall in this category. They're carnal people. They've, quote, accepted Jesus.

42:53 They've believed on Christ under the forgiveness of their sins. But either they've never taken Him as Lord, or if they took Him as Lord, they're not obeying Him as Lord. They are justified, but there's no evidence they are sanctified. No evidence that there's been a radical cleavage with the love of and attachment to sin in the world.

43:15 But you see, since we dare not question the sincerity of their professed trust in Christ, they are, quote, carnal Christians. They're on their way to heaven, though they live like the sons and daughters of hell. They have heaven as their destiny, though heaven is not the place of their affection. Christ is their Savior from what?

43:37 I don't know. Because He's obviously not their Savior from sin. Though the Bible says that's what He came to save us from. I guess He supposedly is going to save them from hell in the world to come.

43:47 Though there's no evidence He's taken the hell out of their hearts here and now. The lawlessness of hell is the basis on which they live. They pick and choose what they'll take out of the Bible. A promise here, a promise there, a little word of guidance and counsel here or there.

44:03 But if anything, of what they have, they'll take. But if anything, of what the old writers call universal submission to the Word of God, they know nothing. They conveniently categorize. My business life and my business ethics are one thing.

44:15 Success is what matters. The law of God and honesty and uprightness and having the cutting edge of a consistent testimony not on your life might jeopardize my almighty career. Totally different set of ethics in this area and that area from the religion they profess on Sunday. And the tragedy is, you know, I don't know.

44:35 They say, well, I don't know. I am aibanese, I am a Christian. Well, I've been a fierce Christian for seven years. But I'm a Christian and I'm not.

44:40 I'm not a Christian. I'm not a Christian. But what I think, what I've done is I've done nothing. I'm a Christian.

44:44 I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian and I am into the doer. I've done three things. But the reason me and my others let me be a Christian is if there's no law you put on the begins of the process, you can't go on.

44:50 That's one of the things as I say. The first is that the choice of the law is being a law. The choice of the law is what you make the law stand for. The choice of the law to be a law is in the law.

44:54 state until he comes to the conviction that whole category created for this mass of temporary believers is a creation of the liar himself who's out to damn the souls of men. The Bible knows of only two categories of people, the saved and the lost. The unrighteous and the righteous. The just and the unjust.

45:16 The heirs of heaven and the heirs of hell. And then there is coupled to that a false doctrine of rewards in the hereafter. He thinks right now, well, I'm a carnal Christian so I'm not up at the front of the class but I'm still in the school. So what?

45:32 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.

45:59 As long as I've made it to the place where all is light and peace and joy yes, there'll be a few tears, he's been told that he'll be ashamed when the Lord comes and he'll shed a few tears when he thinks of all the yo-yos he could have had but after a while the tears will dry and he'll still walk streets of gold and all will be well. Listen, my friend.

46:22 The issue is not more or less yo-yos.

46:27 The issue is this. Of holiness no man shall see the Lord.

46:33 Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. The temporary believer the one who gave some initial and at times almost overwhelming evidences of having received the word that joy becomes the mother as it were very productive of temporary zeal in witnessing and zeal in reading and zeal in running to meetings but alas it's been a long time since there's been anything that approaches the solid stable, continuous fruit of an ongoing repentance and faith and obedience and the tragedy is that he's often given a false doctrine of the Christian life that says there's a category for him and then a false doctrine of rewards which lock him into spiritual indifference. Am I describing anyone here this morning? If so, God have mercy on you, friend. I take no pleasure in describing these things and I'm not creating caricatures.

Tragic Reality 3: Excuse for Impenitence and Unbelief

47:44 What I say grows out of the painful experience of sitting down with real flesh and blood people who were even unashamed to acknowledge that there was precious little if any present evidence of grace who took upon themselves to be my teacher and show me I didn't understand the doctrine of eternal security. If only I did, I wouldn't be so concerned. I wouldn't be so worried about them. And then third tragic result of this is that he's often used, this temporary believer, as an excuse for the continued impenitence and unbelief of those who see him sprouting and then see him withering. That's the tragedy of a temporary believer. He is often used as an excuse for the continued impenitence and unbelief of those who see him withering. You see him sprouting and then see him withering.

48:46 See what I'm driving at? You see that seed that germinated so quickly, immediately it sprang up. That's not even said of the seed received into the good soil. It couldn't spring up so quickly because it was developing a root system.

49:01 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.

49:24 He's so busy yakking about Jesus, he's got no time to really establish whether or not he's in Jesus. And what happens? People see him. And they stand back and say, yeah, we'll see.

49:35 We'll see. We'll see. You say you've left the pollutions of this world? We'll see.

49:42 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.

50:00 And I mean, he's brought religion into his office and his shop like a whirlwind. People stand back and say, we'll see. And they do see. God begins to put the heat on him.

50:13 And the sun rises. And it isn't long before they find him going into the men's room, snitching one of their girly magazines to take a peek. It isn't long before they find him under pressure, mumbling the same words he rebuked six months before. And when they see that plant that sprouts and then withers, then they content themselves, saying, see, I knew there was nothing real in religion anyway.

50:43 He's living proof of it. They're hardened in their impenitence, because of that temporary believer. Now am I speaking to someone this morning whose very excuse for going on in sin is that excuse? You say, I saw that relative, that husband, that wife, that son, daughter, cousin, that person that came to Trinity and spoke so fervently and frequently about Christ.

51:11 I've seen them. I know where they are. Are you using as an excuse for your ongoing impenitence the fact that you've seen a temporary believer? Listen to me.

51:21 Listen to me, my friend. Listen carefully. Listen carefully. Do you think that excuse will hold water when you stand before the Lord Jesus?

51:31 And he says to you, you heard my gospel. You heard the message of my grace and favor to every sinner who would repent and believe. And you heard the gracious overtures of my mercy. And you heard the entreaties to repent of sin and believe the gospel.

51:48 Why do you come before me unconverted and impenitent? You think you'll hold any water when you say, well, Lord Jesus, I saw a temporary believer. I saw two. I saw three.

52:02 I saw ten. I saw twenty. I saw a thousand. And I saw them wither and die.

52:13 And I concluded there was nothing real. You know what the Lord Jesus is likely to say to you? Why did you not look at those who sprang up and who bore fruit? And whose consistent walk with God you witnessed for five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years?

52:36 You willfully turned your eyes away from the plantings of his grace to look at the false plants of mere religious enthusiasm. Why did you not look at those plants that sprang up and bore fruit thirty, sixty, a hundred in the morning? And say, Lord Jesus, the real thing you've done in them? Though it's tragic that the temporary believer becomes the occasion for the ongoing impenitence and unbelief of those who see him, I say to those of you who are going on in your impenitence and unbelief because you've seen that, that impenitence and unbelief is inexcusable. Because you've also seen reality. You've seen people in the circle of your own relatives. Upon whom the sun of affliction has burned week after week, year after year.

53:37 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...

54:06 Where is another redeemer who says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden? If I forsake him because in embracing him he's brought some heat upon me, where will I go? Life's ultimate issues. The forgiveness of sin.

54:31 Preparation for death. Preparation for judgment. Where can I go? That's the language of a true believer.

Encouragement to True Believers

54:43 As I conclude this morning, I want to say first of all a word by way of encouragement to some. And then a final word of exhortation. The word of encouragement derives from our study last week. Some of you have wondered, why in the world does everything seem to so turn in upon me?

55:06 The first year, two, five, ten of my Christian experience. I had fewer trials in the totality of those years. And I've known in the past three months. Why does the sun so mercilessly beat down upon my poor exposed head?

55:27 The Lord Jesus wants to make it evident to you and to all that you are a planting of the Lord. For God says of all his plants they shall flourish in the house of God to show that Jehovah is righteous. My friend, the Christ who drew you is even now. Giving you the added affirmations and confirmations of the validity of the grace you profess to receive.

55:59 Claim to him. Continue to trust him. Be encouraged that God is testing your root system. And the test till this moment gives you every reason to believe that you're not a temporary believer.

Exhortation: Be Rooted in Vital Union with Christ

56:17 Then my concluding word of exhortation is this. And as I wrestled with how to do it. How to bring it to a statement that was simple. I came to this.

56:32 There may be a simpler way to state it. But this is the best I have. I say to you children, young people, adults. Be content with nothing less than being rooted in vital union with Christ.

56:46 Jesus said in John 15, 4. Without me you can do nothing. Therefore you must abide in me. But as one author has said.

56:56 You cannot abide in Christ. Until you're grafted into Christ. When you're grafted into Christ. Then you can abide in Christ.

57:06 And abiding in him he says. You will continue to bear fruit. You see the temporary believer. Was so taken up.

57:16 With the joy of thinking his sins were forgiven. With almost a giddy hilarity of thinking life now has come to a resolution. All of its enigmas are solved. And its problems resolved.

57:30 I have found the answer. He's so irresponsibly taken up with his joy. And his so called new found faith. That he never pauses to ask the question.

57:41 Am I truly grafted into Christ? Have I come to Christ on his terms? Am I prepared to follow him? Allowing him to dictate.

57:55 How much in what manner. And for how long. The sun of affliction and tribulation will beat down upon my head. With no intervening cloud of a kind providence.

58:08 Am I willing to spend the rest of my days. Under that burning sun. And go to my grave a monument. Not of my perseverance.

58:23 But of his grace to sustain his own. Oh my professing Christian friend. Be content with nothing less than being rooted in Christ. Nothing less than drawing sustenance from Christ.

58:40 He is our life Paul says. He and he alone is our life. And it is only in union with him that you will persevere. But in union with him you shall persevere.

58:53 You must and you shall. It's one of the things that when you think about it. Makes a man say Lord. There must be a different way that I can make a living.

59:09 If it's true. That temporary believers. Always constitute a class of gospel hearers. You know what that means?

59:18 That means that I, Albert N. Martin. Am preaching this morning. In all likelihood.

59:24 To some temporary believers. And if God lets me live out my three score and ten. And more so if he gives me a bonus ten to four score. I said this morning Lord who will it be.

59:39 That will wither. And fall away. You mean Lord I'm going to have to live and witness people. That I addressed his brother.

59:50 As sister. For whom I entertain solid hopes. That they're in Christ. And Lord I'm going to have to watch them wither.

60:00 And die. It's a horrible thing. It's a horrible thing. And my dear friend my pastoral entreaty is this.

60:12 Determine. That if the whole world. That if the whole congregation. Should prove to be such.

60:19 You'll be the blessed exception. By the grace of God. If everyone else is content to ride along. On the crest of the enthusiasm.

60:28 Of this church. If everyone else is content to be swept along. With its standards. Its goals.

60:34 Fine. But Lord. Then wait. To be a speck in my spiritual eye.

60:51 That will keep me from beholding. With fixed gaze. His glory. I'll allow nothing.

60:58 In the pursuit of holiness. But I shall lay aside. Every weight. In the sin that does so easily be set.

61:06 If everyone else proves to be a temporary believer. Of Lord Jesus. Make me to your praise. A monument.

61:10 Of the fact. That you sustain in life. Those whom you truly bring. To life.

61:14 In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer for Fruitfulness and Mercy

61:18 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:22 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:27 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:31 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:35 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:39 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:43 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:47 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:51 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

61:55 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

62:00 Amen. and bring forth fruit with patience even unto everlasting life. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, as we have sat before the words of our Lord Jesus, who for a while believe what frightening words, and, O God, as we have sought to take them seriously and to apply them to the consciences of our hearers, we now cry to you, Do, Lord, what only you can do in making that word a fruitful word. We know that even now, as the birds hover above the sower, waiting for the seed that falls upon the packed ground so the devil hovers, as it were, over this congregation, just waiting to see the person who will walk out the doors and throw all this off as just more religious talk, just the rantings of a religious enthusiast. O Lord, have mercy upon such. Overcome their own native inclination to dismiss all of this with a wave of the hand and track them down in your grace and mercy.

63:28 Thank you, Lord, for the many whose root system has been tested, for those who even now are undergoing the testing of some rays of the sun of your presence, providence, bringing unusual affliction, a concentrated pressure of persecution. We pray, O God, that as they draw life and sustenance from the Lord Jesus, it will become abundantly evident to them and all who behold them that they are indeed rooted and grounded in him who is our life. Seal then your word to the encouragement of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the support of your true people, to the prodding of those who may be in a no-man's land and rightly so because of the pattern of their lives, and for those who've been recipients of this false teaching that has deluded multitudes, O God, have mercy upon every class and category of man, woman, boy or girl in this place that none shall leave feeling that this word was for them. This word is for someone else. Hear our prayer and answer us, we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.