Matthew 13:5-7
Stony Ground Hearers Part 1
In 'Stony Ground Hearers Part 1,' Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Matthew 13:5-7, 20-21, Mark 4:16-17, and Luke 8:13, focusing on the 'stony ground' in the Parable of the Sower. He details how some hearers receive the Word with immediate joy but lack deep spiritual root, causing them to wither under tribulation, persecution, and temptation. Martin provides crucial instruction, warning that not all joyful responses are saving, and that trials and time reveal the true condition of the soul, critiquing modern evangelism and children's ministry for potentially producing such superficial conversions.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 10 sections · 54 min
- Introduction: The Parable of the Soil and Review of Wayside Hearers 0:02
- The Narrative of the Stony Ground 10:48
- Our Lord's Interpretation of the Stony Ground Hearer 15:09
- Instruction 1: Not All Joyful Response is Saving Response 19:25
- Biblical Illustrations of Stony Ground Hearers 22:34
- Reasons for Stony Ground Hearers: Haste and Superficiality 29:55
- Critique of Modern Evangelism and Children's Ministry 31:23
- Instruction 2: Trials as Revealers of the Soul's State 38:43
- Instruction 3: Time as the Great Revealer of Grace 47:36
- Conclusion and Prayer for Deep Roots 53:29
Key Quotes
“For the key teaching in this parable is that the condition of the soil determines the issue of the seed.”
“The seed created nothing. It merely revealed what was already there. And when you hear the Word of God, this is a revelation of the state of your heart.”
“Jesus said this is the person then who though he received the message with joy and had some manifestations of life when temptation tribulation and persecution arise he utterly repudiates his faith in Jesus Christ and casts off his profession and becomes as one who'd never heard the message of the kingdom.”
“All joyful response to the word of God is not saving response to the word of God.”
“So anxious to cash in on the blessings of the kingdom they had no time to consider the cost of entering the kingdom”
“modern evangelism beloved is geared to produce stony ground”
“tribulation persecution and temptation are the great revealers of the state of the soul”
“time is the great revealer of a work of grace”
Applications
Parents & families
- Don't forget that only God can tell you when He gives you a new heart.
- Let's be instructed from the words of our Lord. Let's be instructed.
All listeners
- Remember that whenever the message comes, it must be perceived before it can be embraced unto salvation. There must be an inward revelation of truth before there can be a heart response and embrace of the truth.
- Remember whenever the word is preached, there's a present activity of the devil.
- By prayer, we must prepare our hearts that they be not found beaten paths when we come to receive the word. Then we must meditate upon the word that there might be understanding and perception. Then we must resist the enemy that he will not, in any way, intrude into our assembly.
- Don't make a hasty commitment to discipleship; count the cost. Don't be so anxious to press into the benefits of my kingdom before you face honestly and squarely the implications and demands of involvement in my kingdom.
- Cry to God that God will return to this nation and to his church saying biblical scriptural evangelism that'll tell people count the cost, don't run before you're called, don't be so hasty to embrace the blessings of the kingdom that you don't count the cost of involvement in the demands of the king.
- As parents, don't help the devil in damning the souls of your children. Pray for them, tell them of the Savior, instruct them, catechize them. Anytime they want to get on their knees and pray and ask the Lord to save them, encourage it, but in God's name don't play God and tell them that that response has automatically gotten them into the kingdom.
- If you're that way by temperament (sweet, bubbly, enthusiastic, ready to latch on anything), then you beware lest you become stony ground hearer.
- Ask God to plow up that rock that was two inches beneath the surface of your apparent interest in the Bible. Ask God to break it up by his own power and make of your heart and mind a good soil to embrace the word so that when these testings come they reveal a deep root in God himself.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 84 paragraphs, roughly 54 minutes.
Introduction: The Parable of the Soil and Review of Wayside Hearers
Let us turn in our Bibles to the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. I announced last Lord's Day evening that we would be conducting a series of studies in the parable of our Lord concerning the sower. We usually say the parable of the sower. Really, it's a parable of the soil.
For the key teaching in this parable is that the condition of the soil determines the issue of the seed. Matthew chapter 13, and just to refresh our minds, I will read the parable, then our Lord's interpretation, spend a few minutes reviewing the high points of last week's study, and then begin our study tonight. Now, when you read books on how to teach and preach the Word of God, you're told again and again that your opening sentence should be a scintillating, ear-catching statement that will just capture your audience. Well, I believe, perhaps, if I worked hard enough, I could produce something.
Something like that. But I don't believe it's in the interest of truth. The reason you're here tonight is because you want to learn from the Lord. I believe that's why you're here.
And so you don't need to be captured. You're already a captured audience. I assume that when I stand to preach to you people, that you are a captured audience. We've not baited you with anything fleshy.
We've just announced that we're going to meet to sing the praises of God and hear the Word of God. So in adopting this method of teaching, I do so purposely. It would be easy, perhaps, to put a little bit of the embellishment of rhetorical devices on the ministry of the Word. But I remind you, the Apostle Paul said he used none of those devices.
He came not with enticing words of men's wisdom, lest men should respond to his wisdom rather than to the power of God. And so we follow that old, worn path of looking at the Word, reviewing the principles that we've considered, and then seeking, by the help of the Spirit, to mine out some more precious truths of the Book of God. Matthew chapter 13, beginning with verse 3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.
And when he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured them up. Some seed fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched.
And because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
You find the same parable in Mark chapter 4, and in Luke chapter 8. Now, what is the basic significance of the parable? Unlike some of the parables where we have to use God-given judgment and some of the principles that we find in this parable to interpret them, this parable is interpreted by our Lord Himself. When the disciples drew aside with our Lord in a place of privacy away from the multitudes, our Lord expounded the parable, beginning with verse 18 of the same chapter.
Hear ye therefore, the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receives seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it.
Yet hath he no root in himself, but dureth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, he that heareth the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receiveth the seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choked the word, and it becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth the seed into good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
May we ask God, the Spirit, to be our teacher as we seek to understand his truth.
Lord, we come again with eagerness to this parable that you gave in the days of your flesh, and we pray that as you expounded it to those disciples, that by your Spirit you may open it to us tonight. O Lord, be our teacher. Give us hearing ears and seeing eyes, and grant that each one of us may hear what the Spirit would say to our own individual hearts. We trust you for this.
Amen.
Last week, as we began our study in this parable of our Lord, we looked first of all at the tremendous importance of the parable. Jesus said in the parallel passage in Mark 4 and verse 13, If ye know not this parable, how shall ye know all parables? Indicating that this parable stands, as it were, in a relationship of a key to the opening up of the other parables. Now, we looked at the basic ingredients.
You have the sower. The sower is our Lord, and anyone who proclaims the Word of God. You have the seed, and the seed is the Word of God. Here in Matthew, in verse 19, it's called the Word of the Kingdom.
Luke 8, 4, it's called the Word of God, generally. So, wherever the Word of God is preached or disseminated by a gospel tract or a meeting like this, this parable is being enacted before our very eyes. What is the soil? Matthew 13, 19 again tells us, The wicked one catches away that which was sown in his heart.
The soil is the human heart, the seat of the affections and the will and the understanding and the perception. This is the soil. So, this is a parable on being careful how you hear. Now, the basic similarities we considered briefly.
Every one of these were exposed to the Word. All four. All four kinds of soil received or were exposed to identically the same quality of seed. All had some reaction to that seed.
The stony path didn't receive it, threw it off. Others enfolded it, brought forth a various amount or various natures of response, but all of the soil had some response. Each time you hear the Word of God, there is some response to that Word. And the third thing that we saw, and this was common to all, of four kinds of soil, is that what happened to the seed was determined by the condition of the soil when the seed came.
The seed created nothing. It merely revealed what was already there. And when you hear the Word of God, this is a revelation of the state of your heart. What you do with that Word and what happens reveals the condition of your heart.
Then we began by studying the wayside hearers. Those that received the Word of God, as a footpath through a field. And we observed, according to our Lord, that these are those who hear the Word, but there's no perception, there's no understanding, they see no suitableness of the message to their own need. And seeing no suitableness to it, they don't count it an object worthy of sober reflection.
Follow me now. The only things you soberly reflect upon are those things that you consider worthy of serious reflection. Sober reflection. And these people, when they hear a message that talks about forgiveness of sin, justification, a new heart, a new record, eternal life, doesn't say anything about a bigger bank book, doesn't say anything about the solving of one's psychological tensions.
The person said, that's all pie in the sky. Not relevant to me and my need. He doesn't think it a matter worthy of his serious meditation and immediately, as the birds of the sky, as the birds of the sky, as the air followed the plow. And some of you have seen this.
And when grubs are turned up, they're there to pick it up. And when they follow the sower who would scatter his seed, so the moment he passed and the soil did not envelop the seed, they were there to pluck it. So Satan is presently active to snatch away that word which the individual considered unworthy of serious reflection. So in the light of that principle, I exhorted you, as I exhort myself, to remember that whenever the message comes, it must be perceived before it can be embraced unto salvation.
There must be an inward revelation of truth before there can be a heart response and embrace of the truth. We must remember whenever the word is preached, there's a present activity of the devil. And we looked at some of the birds. We looked at the bird of wandering thoughts, dullness of mind, distracting interest, trivial talk, unwise humor.
And may I say, one of the birds tonight, you know what it will be? A sinful preoccupation with the heat. That's right. That can be a bird to snatch away the word.
Now the devil's here. There is a present activity whenever the word is preached.
And if you're warm just sitting, I'm twice as warm preaching. Right? So if I don't complain, you won't complain. And we refuse to give the devil ground tonight.
It's just that practical. Whenever I hear the word, the birds are hovering. What bird will seek to snatch away the seed from you tonight? Will it be the bird of wandering thoughts, distracting interest, trivial talk, unwise, misplaced humor?
What will it be? The enemy will be active tonight. And so by prayer, we must prepare our hearts that they be not found beaten paths when we come to receive the word. Then we must meditate upon the word that there might be understanding and perception.
The Narrative of the Stony Ground
Then we must resist the enemy that he will not, in any way, intrude into our assembly. Now we come tonight to the second type of soil. Let's look at it in Matthew chapter 13, beginning with verse 5. And some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth.
And when the sun was up, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. Let me read, let me read the parallel passages in the other two Gospels. We read in the Gospel according to Mark. And these are they, likewise, who are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness.
And they have no root in themselves and so endure for a little time. And afterwards, when persecution arises for the word's sake, they are offended. Now in Luke we read, they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy. These have no root, but for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.
Now as we study this section of the word of God, we'll follow the same format as we did last week. Look at the narrative itself. What does the parable say? Then our Lord's interpretation of the narrative and then some very practical instruction and application derived from our Lord's, interpretation.
So you follow our pattern of study tonight. The narrative, we're going to get the facts, our Lord's interpretation of the facts, then some application and some instruction which emerge from our Lord's interpretation. Now the facts are very easy to grasp. First of all, the sower's seed fell upon soil that was called stony soil.
Now it is not the picture of soil that has a lot of rocks in it, for if this were true, the roots would work themselves around the rocks and down into the deep earth. But we read in one of the Gospels here that it had not much depth. We read in verse 5 of Matthew 13, because they had no deepness of earth. There was a strata of rock and on top of that strata of rock there was an inch or two of soil or maybe three inches.
It's the picture of soil that on the surface was soft and pliable. It was able to receive the seed. It was able to germinate. There was enough soil there to make it germinate quickly.
Seed does not germinate quickly on hard, crusty soil. This was soft, pliable soil, but the problem was immediately beneath it there was a hard layer of rock and nowhere for the root to go. So the seed fell upon that kind of soil. What happened?
Well, we read immediately the soil enfolded that seed and it brought forth some visible fruit. There was a shoot that began to come up out of the ground in fact very quickly. We read, they received the word with joy immediately and began to spring up. But there was no root system developed for as it began to develop a root system it hit that rock and it couldn't and so all of its life went into the stalk above ground and this was fine.
Had it gone on perhaps for two or three or four weeks with no sun breaking through the clouds and occasional rain why you would have thought this was a right flourishing plant. But it says, the sun came up and when the sun came up verse 6 of Matthew 13 they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away and it became a dead plant just as though the seed had never been sown. And as far as the farmer being able to harvest anything from the seed that fell on that kind of soil he would come back just as empty as though the birds of the air had plucked up that seed and it had fallen and it had never taken any kind of root at all. So the end result was exactly the same as the first. There was no abiding issue of fruitage from the seed sown. No crop. Now these are the facts.
Our Lord's Interpretation of the Stony Ground Hearer
Now what interpretation does our Lord put upon those facts? Well let's look at it in some detail. In Matthew 13 and verse 20. But he that received the seed into stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receives it.
Here's a picture of the man who hears the message of the kingdom and unlike the first type of soil that utterly rejects it as something unworthy of thought this fellow says man this is the best thing I've ever heard in my life. This is tremendous. This is what I've been looking for. Why this is what my heart's been hungering for.
Why this is the answer to life. And with joy he reaches out and says ah the message of the kingdom. That's for me. Forgiveness just what I need.
Promise of eternal life when I die. God knows that's what I need. Boy I go to bed at night wondering what would happen if I die and I've been troubled. And this message says that I can face death with confidence.
Ah I want that message. That's for me. That meets my need. This message promises an almighty savior and God knows that's what I need.
I'm beset with problems and bound by sins that I can't bring myself out of. Deliverance. That I can't effect by my own power. Ah this is just the message that I want.
He hears the message of the kingdom. The word of God. And he embraces that message with joy. How does he embrace it?
Luke 8 13 says for a while he believes. He believes that message. Believes it. Not only does he believe it he actually brings forth something that is a manifestation of life.
When you watch that little seed that fell upon that soil where it was soft and pliable but not too deep you go out in a couple of days and you would actually see what appeared to be a manifestation of life.
And so our Lord says here's the man who hears the message of the gospel embraces it and there seems to be some positive manifestation of life.
In fact if six feet away there were an identical seed sown on deep earth this would be this little thing would be completely outstripping it in its immediate growth because the other one was taking some of its strength and substance to send the root down. Whereas this fellow could send all his life up.
So there's real manifestation of life. He receives that word with joy and he takes off like a rocket. Witnessing everybody under the sun coming out to prayer meeting wanting to start six more services in the church. Why he's just going like a ball of fire.
He receives that word with joy and he springs up.
But then the Lord said the sun rises. What is the sun in the parable? Remember the Lord said the sun rises and it's scorched. What is the sun?
Our Lord gives us the interpretation. We're not left to speculation. Notice carefully now verse 21. Yet hath he no root in himself but dureth for a while for when tribulation or persecution Luke adds a third thing.
He says temptation. So you've got three things. When temptation tribulation and persecution come like the burning sun that rises on a cloudless day and it begins to send its rays down upon that little sprig of life what happens? He says it's scorched.
It has no root that goes down into the moist part of the earth and the intertube of earth is so quickly dried out and it dries up from the roots and it dies. Jesus said this is the person then who though he received the message with joy and had some manifestations of life when temptation tribulation and persecution arise he utterly repudiates his faith in Jesus Christ and casts off his profession and becomes as one who'd never heard the message of the kingdom.
Instruction 1: Not All Joyful Response is Saving Response
Now so much for our Lord's interpretation of this passage and I want us to consider by way of explanation and application two things. I don't know if we'll get to the second one tonight. I've got a sneaking suspicion I may be preaching on this again. Next Lord's Day evening there are some necessary words of instruction to be found in this passage and then secondly some sobering words of warning.
Now what are the words of instruction which our Lord would give us? He said if you don't understand this parable how shall you understand all other parables? Now may I just digress for a moment and say that there are probably dozens of times I believe that would be accurate to say that that there are literally dozens of times when I could have wished in a given situation I could have sat a preacher friend of mine down or a congregation or a group of laymen and said look I want you to sit down right there and open your Bible to Matthew 13 and I want you to study the section about the stony ground here. The utter confusion in the church of Jesus Christ here in America today and it's being spread like wildfire in many of our mission fields. I've got letters on my files bearing witness to this because we have failed to extract these necessary words of instruction which our Lord is trying to give us here. Now what are they? Here's the first one.
All joyful response to the word of God is not saving response to the word of God.
And to repeat all joyful response to the word of God is not saving response to the word of God. In each case it says this is the man who received the message with joy. He wasn't someone who said oh well I guess you've got to admit it I'm going to die someday and you say the only way to be fit to die is to be right with God so even though I don't want to and grudgingly no no this is not the picture of the person brought up in a Christian home who's kind of sick up to here with mom and dad's Christ and their religion and just grudgingly makes a profession to get them off his back no no this is not the picture of that person whatsoever it's the picture of the person who hears that message and just reaches out and you and I standing on the sidelines say look at that God's prepared that man for years he's all ready for that now not all immediate response to the word is stony ground response not all some immediate response to the word is genuine look at that Ethiopian eunuch he got saved so simply as far as the actual birth time it's kind of hard for us to understand how it could happen that way he's riding along his chair reading his bible comes along says you know what you're talking about he says of course not you've got to teach me so he taught him and he said my that's wonderful I believe that well he was made from being baptized
Biblical Illustrations of Stony Ground Hearers
down into the water every indication he probably had the real thing look at the woman at the well look at Zacchaeus so there are times when men hear the word of God but there is an immediate response and a joyful response that is the same saving response but I'll listen to the warning of our Lord all joyful response to the word is not saving response to the word those who sometimes embrace the word and take off like a rocket often come down just as quick and with just as dull a thud want to see some clear illustrations of this in the word turn to John chapter 6 for a moment if you will please here's a clear illustration of this right from the scriptures John chapter 6 in verse 6 many therefore of his disciples when they heard this said this is a hard saying who can hear it he was talking about spiritual things now he was talking about eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood having deep inner heart acquaintance with himself feeding upon him with the soul and Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it he said unto them does this offend you what an if you see the son of man
ascend up where he was before it's the spirit that quickens the flesh profits nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life but there are some of you that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him and he said therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given him of my father from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him they were offended by the word when he began to expound the spiritual nature of his kingdom when he began to talk about the fact that salvation was in the hands of God not in the hands of man no man comes except it were given of the father they said this is jarring to our adamic convictions we can't take it anymore they turned their backs and they walked away now up until that point they were his disciples you and I looking on would have said my isn't that wonderful look at all those people who have embraced the Lord no they didn't they were stony ground hearers you have another example of this in Acts chapter 8 let's look at this for a moment others in the word but these two I trust will be specimen cases
give us insight into others as we encounter them in our own study Acts chapter 8 preaching on to the anointing of the spirit has seen the great moving of God in Samaria and a well-known man in that area whose name was Simon came to a profession of faith in Christ verse 13 of Acts 8 and Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done now if you and I had been a citizen in that town or a member of that newly born church think about that think about that what this would have meant to you here's a man who's known in the whole area throughout the entire city because of his sorcery verse 9 says a man named Simon who used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria giving out that himself was some great one everybody knew about him and word gets out that Simon's believed and is baptized can you imagine the rejoicing this probably brought to people they said what a trophy of grace what a trophy of grace and if they were living in our day they would have had that on the front page of every religious periodical from Christianity of the day to the prairie overcomer and they'd have had it splashed all the way across the marvelous striking conversion of Simon Meeks
wait a minute the Holy Ghost doesn't stop there he tells us that something happened some apostles came down from Jerusalem and there was this peculiar and special outpouring of the Holy Spirit with a manifestation that was visible demonstrable and it was a and Simon watching this said in verse 19 verse 18 and when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given he offered the money saying give me also this power that in whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost Peter said unto him thy money perish with thee he says you're on the way to perishing and your money perish with you because you thought the gift of God might be purchased with money thou mayest neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God repent thereof or this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee for I perceive that thou art in the goal of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity then answered Simon and said pray ye to the Lord for me not that he might forgive me for my wickedness not that he might cleanse me of this terrible sin of seeking to buy spiritual power no no listen what his prayer is he says pray to the Lord for me that none of those things that you've spoken come upon me
he was still only concerned about his own net he had no inner perception of what sin was in its true nature Peter saw through this facade and this veneer but listen friends listen tonight if this situation had developed where there was an opportunity for what Simon really was to come to the surface he might have gone on for months and years fooling that whole crowd that all was well he was a stony ground here he was a stony ground here and not only are they found with the scriptures they are found again and again in the word of God why do they become such why would a man receive the word with joy and then when tribulation or temptation or persecution arises fall away what produces a stony ground here may I suggest several things for your own warning for your own instruction for help as you speak and deal and pray with and for others one of the main problems is they were in such a hurry to get all the blessings of the kingdom they had no time to count the cost of involvement in the kingdom so anxious to cash in on the blessings of the kingdom they had no time to consider the cost of entering the kingdom and our Lord has given us a passage which forever cuts through the nerve of that folly for you remember it's recorded
Reasons for Stony Ground Hearers: Haste and Superficiality
in Luke chapter 14 first sermon I ever preached in this book long before I was ever called here some of you remember back four years ago in April when I came to preach for one Sunday morning I stood up and announced my text Luke 14 25 the cost of being a true Christian for it says when Jesus saw the multitudes he turned and he said unto them if any man come to me and then he laid out the terms of disciples he would be and then he gave two illustrations a builder who doesn't build before he takes a slate of his materials and sees what his capital is and sees if he has enough to begin to build and carry it on to completion then he takes the illustration of a king who does not go out to war until he's made calculation of his men and his possibilities of victory and Jesus saying in these illustrations don't make a hasty commitment to discipleship count the cost don't be so anxious on the cross all of you multitudes to press in to the benefits of my kingdom before you face honestly and squarely the implications and demands of involvement in my kingdom and the stony ground here is often the person whose heart is so touched by the thought of forgiveness and eternal life and escape from hell and the side blessings of the gospel peace and joy he's got no time to consider the great and weighty issues of eternity and make God have mercy on him upon the techniques
Critique of Modern Evangelism and Children's Ministry
of modern evangelism that don't even have the decency to at least tell the man he ought to modern evangelism beloved is geared to produce stony ground yes for with the singing of mass choirs in great multitudes which somehow plow up the emotional roots of any normal human being I can't even go to a ball game where there's fifty or twenty thousand people goose flesh runs up and down my spine when I get around that many people I can't even go to an army game and hear them saying oh army beat me oh that just gets me all I can do anything just if you're a naturally emotionally sensitive person that does something to you and so the pressure and psychological involvement of great crowds and the singing of great choirs and the mass involvement of coming down to the front of the building or the front of the tent or something else where we're caught up in this mass pressure what is it doing it's capitalizing on producing stony ground here if ever there's a time when we need to drive men back and say don't run before you've counted the cost it's when there's the pressure of mass movement that's when Jesus gave that message
on counting the cost it says great multitudes went out he didn't do that when he was talking to individuals always he didn't do that with the woman at the well he didn't do it with Nicodemus that's significant isn't it that the passage dealing with the necessity of counting the cost is set in the context of masses and you know something I never saw that but right now preaching it that's significant isn't it significant but modern evangelism uses all the psychological and emotional pressures and involvements to produce the very thing that our Lord is talking about here oh dear ones cry to God will you that God will return to this nation and to his church saying biblical scriptural evangelism that'll tell people count the cost don't run before you're called don't be so hasty to embrace the blessings of the kingdom that you don't count the cost of involvement in the demands of the king and I say this with pain beloved but I feel as a pastor I must say it the great majority of children's work in our day
specific groups here is to get children saved are producing stony ground here because you see there is a natural guilelessness in a child that must never be mistaken for a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit within its heart I can tell my son almost anything God's given us a good relationship and that relationship of confidence has very little of the threads or fibers of skepticism if I told my son the moon was made of cheese if he came with a six foot long spoon he could take a hunk out of it tonight and the moon is up full he'd be waiting for the six foot long spoon but when we mistake that quick easy guileless response of a child to the message of the gospel for a deep supernatural work of the Holy Ghost we're filling the church with stony ground here and what proves it when they begin to know what tribulation is or persecution or the demands of the word and get up into their teens what happens they're gone lost to the church and to Christ and the kingdom why because somebody capitalized on their childish guilelessness and led them to believe that that was a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit beloved I'm not cruel when I say this
but I want you as parents not to help the devil in damning the souls of your children pray for them tell them of the Savior instruct them catechize them anytime they want to get on their knees and pray and ask the Lord to save them encourage it but in God's name don't play God and tell them that that response has automatically gotten them into the kingdom as my son Joel said and I'll repeat it probably many times before the Lord takes me to himself and he said Daddy you can't tell me when God gives me a new heart can you I said no I can't son but he said God will let me know won't he and I said that's right son and he's the only one that can tell you don't you forget that don't you forget it you young ladies don't you forget it doing children's work teaching Bible classes you Sunday school teachers let's be instructed from the words of our Lord let's be instructed they don't count the cost second reason why there's stony ground here is there are people who embrace the message who don't see the true spiritual nature of the message that was the problem in John 6 you see they embraced the message and became his disciples but when he began to dig beneath the surface and he began to talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and no man can come to me except it were
given of my father you see this began to get down into the realm of spiritual things he said no you're thinking fleshy thoughts it's the spirit that quicken it the flesh profit it's nothing man doesn't need the Holy Spirit to convince him that he's done some bad things that somebody died in history called Jesus Christ and he rose again you don't need any illumination of the Holy Spirit to accept those facts if you've just got an honesty with the facts of history you'll accept that and on that basis to get a man to say now if you'll believe that and trust in it you're all fixed up a man can do all of that and not see the spiritual nature of divine truth that fear is not a word it's a foul moral disease that has penetrated every fiber of my being something so ugly and heinous that a holy God had to turn his back upon his own beloved son and bring the stroke of his wrath upon him until he cowered in agony and cried out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me the spiritual nature of the message can only be given by revelation and stony ground hearers are those who embrace the surface benefits of the message and the side effects and the fringe benefits to use modern labor terminology and they've never seen the core of it a third reason
Instruction 2: Trials as Revealers of the Soul's State
it's just plain temper there's some people that would buy the Brooklyn Bridge thirty times in a lifetime if they had the money somebody came up with a good deal they just aren't skeptical about anything they're just plain nice guy-less people and they just believe anything and some people become stony ground here simply because of their temperament simply because of their temperament they're just sweet bubbly enthusiastic people who are ready to latch on anything if you're that way by temperament then you beware lest you become stony ground here now I've got to hurry on to the second factor of instruction all joyful response to the word is not a saving response may I submit to you a second great lesson in our passage tonight tribulation persecution and temptation are the great revealers of the state of the soul now remember the parable that little sprig began to come up and everything was fine until the sun rose now what did the sun do the sun didn't create anything the presence of the sun in this setting there's the soil one or two inches of it underneath by hard rock and there's a little plant an inch or two high now what did the sun do when it came into that setting it came into the sun it came into the sun it didn't create a thing it became the instrument to reveal what you couldn't see with your eyes that there was no deepness according to Matthew there was no deepness in that earth and underneath
that apparently good soil there was a hard shelf of rock and when the sun rose and it sapped out what little moisture was there in that inch or two of soil and that little old plant just began to wither and fold over and die like some of you probably feel like doing tonight and just plain wilted nothing left all the sun was in this setting was the instrument to reveal the condition of the plant and subsequently of the soil because that's what it finally revealed that plant would have tried in this soil now what is the sun Jesus said the sun according to his own word is tribulation persecution Mark says Luke says in Luke 8 it's temptation and it's tribulation persecution persecution and temptation which are the great revealers of the state of the soul when trials come they don't create anything they reveal what's there when persecution comes opposition from friends when temptation comes allurement to sin it simply reveals what you really made of that's all it does you find this in the book of Hebrews great multitudes were embracing the gospel in that first flush of the cross the Pentecostal outpouring of the spirit
but it wasn't long before persecution arose you remember it's recorded in Acts chapter 8 the great persecution arose after the death of Stephen they were scattered abroad a while later many began to turn their back upon Christ and go on back to temple worship and the writer to the Hebrews writes a letter the express purpose of which was to check people who had embraced the gospel joyfully and were now contemplating turning away from the gospel why because tribulation and persecution had arisen church history teaches us many things and this is one of the lessons that church history teaches us if you read the history of the first two or three centuries of Christianity it's interesting you see a definite cycle God would bring to the throne of the emperorship in Rome men who were opposed to the gospel and they would come to the throne determined to exterminate Christianity and coming to the throne they came with a sword and no sooner got to the throne than they dipped that sword in the blood of the saints and what happened the church was virile strong multiplied with strength then God would raise up a ruler who was sympathetic to the Christians you know what happened to their ranks they would swell multiply by the thousands people were just pressing into we'd say the walls of the church had to bust out the walls and go into building programs they hadn't too many buildings then it was just before the time
when they began to do that then after 30-40 years they were able to do that and they were able to do that and they were able to do that and they were able to do that you know what God would do once or twice this happened in a cycle he would raise up an emperor who once again unsheathed the sword and you know what happened to the walls of the church they suddenly shrunk again and people went out by the thousands just as quick as they came in it was a reveal of the condition of the people you see a religion that can't stand the test the burning sun of persecution and tribulation and persecution and temptation is absolutely worthless go back to the planet where there was a healthy condition of soil with plenty of depth of earth as we'll see later in the good soil the same sun that scorched and shriveled up that plant that was there on the shallow earth caused the other one to thrive and to flourish and that's exactly what temptation tribulation and persecution does in its two-fold effect what does tribulation do for a true Christian read about it in James 1 my brethren count it all joy when ye fall into many kinds of temptations why knowing that the trial of your faith worketh patience but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire lacking nothing Romans 5
tribulation worketh what patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who's given unto us and the love of God those two passages say that when the sun of tribulation and temptation and persecution arise upon the true child of God they can do only one thing make him thrive make him thrive oh he may stumble for a minute like Peter did but even his stumbling turns out to his thriving for the Lord said when thou art turned again strengthened thy brethren and so later on Peter hears that the Christians of the dispersion are suffering and he can pen a letter to suffering saints who may be tempted to turn back with an understanding that he never could have if he hadn't denied his Lord in the moment of weakness we're always tempted to say well everything was going fine in my life until this circumstance arose and then it jarred me spiritually no it just revealed how shallow you were spiritually all along you just didn't know it how often have I heard parents say well I know my child was saved I know they were saved when they were six years old they accepted Jesus and used to memorize verses and go to church and sing the songs but the pressure of the world came when they were 14
and they went away from the Lord and now they're married out of the will of God and they've got three kids and don't go to church and they're 35 and don't want to talk about the Lord but I know they're saved now that they got him the bad crowd created something no they didn't they revealed what was there all along and you didn't know it that's all the crowd did the temptation of that crowd beckoning them common the whoring after us with the road and the flesh and the devil all it did was reveal that that youngster of yours had a spiritually adulterous heart that was covered up under a facade of religious acting it's all it reveals it's all but the sun didn't create any condition in the soil it simply revealed what was there child of God child of God there's no greater proof to how vital your spiritual experience is than those three things temptation tribulation persecution you hear people who say well I gave my heart to the Lord and everything was fine but then my business went kaput and this went and if God treats me that way I say what's the use anybody talks that way has never seen the Lord
Instruction 3: Time as the Great Revealer of Grace
the Holy Ghost has ever let you gaze a little bit upon your own rotten heart and upon the glory of Jesus you say God if you let me rot in a man pile as long as I'm this hell I've gotten far more than I ever deserved and that's your testimony if you're a child of God it is and these fair weather Christians are always striking bargains with God and stony ground here that's all third principle and I'll just mention it time is the great revealer of a work of grace you notice again and again in the parable the Lord says they endure for a while for a while for a while for a while for a while for a while for a while the word while is the word of time I'll come and see you after a while that's a period of time it says they endure for a while we read in Luke 8 that they believe for a while time is the great revealer of a work of grace this is so hard for us to learn isn't it we see someone take hold of the word with joy and we see so few take hold that anybody even taking hold anyway gets us so blessed we just want to go around and tell the town don't we we see so few
even caring about the word let alone receiving it with joy when someone receives it with joy why we just about split our spiritual sides and we just can't hold it I don't want to put a worm in the gourd of your joy but hold off a little bit and wait will you what did John say listen he said I have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth I believe John had some joy when he saw people born by the truth but he said I know a greater joy when I see them walking by the truth you've got to learn to discipline your joy someone comes to me and says you know God's spoken to me and I believe he's enabled me to bow before him turn to my sin and embrace him I don't believe I should look at him with a long face and say hmm I'll believe it when I see it no I believe we ought to have a little measure of joy and say well I'm so glad that you believe God has spoken I'll pray that you'll continue on following him serving him then you do pray for them and then you look and when you see them begin to be identified with the house of God and begin to know something about what it is to be taught of the spirit of God and their religion has something more than externals you sense that they're having time with God and the way they talk and pray
you know that somehow God's teaching them through the word and you begin to see a sensitivity for sin then each new evidence that the root is going down into Christ you begin to enjoy enjoy more enjoy more and then after a while when you see those positive evidences of a work of grace and you watch a trial come and they teeter and totter and you wonder Lord which way are they going and you see them come through strengthened because of that trial you see some seductive temptation of the enemy maybe it's a job that would lead them out of the will of God maybe it's a romance out of the will of God and maybe it's a and you see them in the throes of that conflict and they pray it through and they readily choose the will of God and they come out the other side of it stable and steadfast I tell you beloved I'm giving you a little peek into a pastor's heart I have no greater joy than to see my children walk in the truth because each time they face temptation persecution or tribulation and they don't forsake their Lord that's one more indication that there's some deepness of earth and there's some and see I can't see the earth see the earth is the heart the soil is the heart I can't see it but I can see the plant is on the outside any more than I could see that rock underneath that soil but when I saw that little plant just wither over and die it told me something there's rock under there and when tribulation
and persecution and temptation come and then wither and die and turn away from the Lord it's telling me that's why Peter said I perceive how by what you've said I perceive your heart's not right he said I can't see your heart for what you've done is a revelation of your heart time is the great proof of the work of grace within the soul of the man and may God grant that time will prove that you and I are savingly joined to him for as we'll see in our study of the fourth kind of soil only the one who brings forth food with patience is the one who has savingly embraced the word aren't these very necessary words of instruction aren't they necessary aren't they necessary not all joyful response to the word is a saving response to the word second great lesson necessary lesson tribulation persecution temptation are great revealers of the state of the soul and time is the great proof of the genuineness of the work of grace may the Lord help us to be instructed may he help us to determine that we shall not be stony ground hearers you ask God to plow up that rock that was two inches beneath the surface of your apparent interest in the Bible ask God to break it up by his own power and make of your heart and mind a good soil to embrace the word
Conclusion and Prayer for Deep Roots
so that when these testings come they reveal a deep root in God himself let us pray
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage describes the 'stony ground' where seed quickly sprouts but withers due to lack of root, forming the narrative basis for the sermon.
This passage provides Jesus' interpretation of the stony ground hearer, explaining their initial joy and subsequent falling away under tribulation, which is the core doctrinal point of the sermon.
This parallel passage reinforces the description and interpretation of the stony ground hearer, emphasizing the lack of root and falling away during persecution.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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