Thorny Ground Hearers

Introduction: The Parable of the Soils and Previous Lessons

0:02 Will you turn, please, to the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter thirteen. Tonight is the fourth message in a series seeking to lay hold of some of the great principles of truth embodied in this first in a long series of parables given by our Lord Jesus Christ and commonly called the parable of the sword. I guess it's because I've somewhere along the line picked up some of Martin Luther's blood and have a little bit of the reformer in me that I don't like to just do things or say things because they've been done or said.

0:47 And without any, I trust, sinful desire for novelty, I would like to suggest that the thought and the teaching of this parable could be better embodied if we called it the parable of the soils. For the whole truth of this parable is embodied in the concept. That the condition of the soil determined the issue of the seed. For you remember that when our Lord Jesus gave this parable, the seed was exactly the same in every case, the result was different in every case, and the different result was determined not by the seed or by the sower, but by the soil.

1:27 And so it is really a parable of the soil. And we're going to look at it again tonight. And so, because we have a number of questions, we're going to look at it again tonight. We've got a number of visitors, perhaps, just to refresh our minds, and it certainly won't harm us who've heard it read for three weeks to have it read to us again.

1:43 This parable is found in the fourth of Mark and in the eighth of Luke as well, and we could consider it from any of those passages, but for the sake of convenience, we'll stick with the first book in the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew. 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 seeds 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 depth of earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth.

2:25 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 sprung up and choked. Then but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Now what does the parable mean?

2:48 Well, as we've mentioned each night, we're so glad the Lord interprets it for us, for then we have no doubt as to the accuracy of that interpretation. And so when he drew his disciples alone, they asked him the meaning of this parable, and he told them, as we have recorded in Mark, if ye know not this parable...

3:05 Well, how shall ye know all parables? Indicating that this is a key parable in the understanding of other parables and other aspects of divine truth. And so we have in verse 18 our Lord's interpretation of his parable. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

3:23 When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, Luke says, when anyone hears the word of God, and understands it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in it. This is he that receiveth seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth 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.

3:51 For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended or caused to stumble. He also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world. And the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth 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, some thirty.

4:26 In our studies we have already covered the first two kinds of soil. We saw that the wayside here, according to our Lord, is the man who hears the message of the gospel. He hears the provisions and the claims of Jesus Christ, and because he does not see a suitableness of that message to his own need, he doesn't understand it, it's talking about things about which he has no interest or concern. Forgiveness of sin, justification, eternal life.

4:58 If you're talking to him about money, how to increase his stock investments, why his ears would just stretch out until he looked like a junior doctor. And he would be right with you. But because he's talking about forgiveness, peace with God, reconciliation of the guilty sinner with an offended God, he doesn't understand this. It doesn't speak to him in the area of his interest.

5:20 So his heart, like a hard beaten footpath which does not absorb and enfold the seed, his heart throws off the seed of the word, and immediately Satan comes like the birds of the air, snatches away that seed. And it never bears fruit in his mind or in his conscience. The second kind of soil is what's called stony ground. It was soil that looked soft and pliable, but just an inch or two beneath the top of that soil was a great shelf of rock, so that when that seed began to germinate, it could not send any root downward from which to draw up moisture and sustain its life, so all of

6:02 its life went above the ground, and it looked like a fair and flourishing plant. Until the sun came, and the sun revealed a condition that was not revealed until the sun rose. And when the sun came up, that poor little plant just went over and died. It just keeled right over, and that was the end of it.

6:21 And Jesus said, this is the person who receives the word with joy. My, he hears the message of the gospel and said, that's what I've been looking for all my life. And he has a great emotional surge in response to the word. But there is no deep root.

6:36 Of a genuine work of God's grace and tribulation and persecution and temptation, according to Luke, are like the rising burning sun. And when he enters his first situation where there's a test between his commitment to a life of holiness and the passions of his own nature, he shows that there was no root for temptation like the burning sun. It only withers him, and he casts off his profession of faith and goes back to the world. Or it may be tribulation.

7:08 A loved one doesn't understand. A husband, a wife, or a son, a daughter, a mother, a father begins to put pressure upon that individual, and immediately he withers up and is gone. Or, as Luke says, temptation, tribulation, persecution. It's the picture of the man who has a joyful response to the gospel, but he doesn't count the cost of what's involved.

7:34 There is no true root of repentance and faith. There is no true root of repentance and faith. There is no true root of repentance and faith. His involvement is emotional, psychological, but it is not rooted in a true work of grace.

7:43 And so we learn four great principles from that parable. First of all, that all joyful response to the gospel is not a saving response to the gospel. We've seen some joyful response to the gospel this past week. I've had several people come to me and tell me that after the meetings they went home or on the way home and God met them and they're filled with joy, and I have a little leisure of rejoicing.

8:07 But I have a little leisure of rejoicing. But I have a little leisure of rejoicing. But I have a little leisure of rejoicing. But I have a little leisure of rejoicing.

8:08 But I have to wait, because the sun's going to come up on that little tender plant, the sun of persecution, tribulation, temptation, and it's going to show whether or not this was simply an emotional response to the word or whether their emotions are the whipped cream of a deep-rooted work of grace in the soul. And all that we could learn, that all joyful response to the word is not a saving response. That's the lesson our Lord is teaching. He says, wherever the word's preached, that's going to happen, no matter how faithfully you preach it.

8:41 You can never preach it so faithfully that there aren't some people who are like the stony ground here. Well, this happened with our Lord himself.

8:50 The second great principle we learned was that tribulation, persecution, and temptation are the great revealers of the state of the soul. They never make anything. That sun didn't make any condition in that plant. It just revealed the condition that was there.

9:04 Tribulation, persecution, and temptation are the great proving laboratories of Almighty God. To reveal the state of the soul. The third great principle, time, is the great tester of the genuineness of a work of grace. It says they endure for a while, for a time, but by and by.

9:26 And then last week we spent the whole message on the fourth great principle of this parable, this second aspect, that there is such a thing as a temporary believer. I did not say a temporary true Christian. But Luke says they believe for a while. They have the semblance of faith.

9:43 But true faith is not the spurt of a moment or the fit of an hour, but it is a principle implanted in a man's heart by the Holy Spirit that will continue to abide until the day of Jesus Christ. For he that begins a good work in us will carry it on until the day of Christ. Now, we come tonight to the thorny ground here. What is the narrative itself?

The Narrative of the Thorny Ground

10:07 We'll follow the same outline we have each night. When I find a...

10:10 harness that works, why, I just sort of stay with it. And the outline we followed is to look at the narrative itself, our Lord's interpretation of the narrative, and then some explanation and expansion of that interpretation. Now, get the narrative itself. We read in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 8, but of 7, And some fell, now notice carefully, some fell among thorns.

10:35 The seed was sown, and wherever it fell, there were already thorns present. Now, I've done some background reading to try to understand what was our Lord talking about. Apparently, this was a condition that was very familiar to his ears. And I've come up with some things that have helped me.

10:56 One writer, who spent a good bit of time in the area of Palestine and Syria, says that there are these thorn bushes which grow adjoining the corn fields and the wheat fields. And many times, the farmers allow these thorns to grow. Because, apparently, they made good substance for burning. And so, in the evening, when they wanted to have a fire, why, they would take some of these thorn bushes, apparently, and break them off and use them for fire.

11:24 So, it was not an uncommon thing to find these thorn bushes growing in abundance adjacent to the fields. Now, no doubt, they reproduced themselves, and occasionally, some of them would begin to grow up right in the field. And when the plow would come through and disturb the ground, it would leave some of the thorns. Some of these thorn bushes, in their incipient stages, in their first stages of growth, undisturbed and unpulled.

11:51 They would be there in the field. The ground was loose enough that it could receive that wheat seed or that corn seed. But the root of that thorn bush was also alongside of it. And here's the picture.

12:04 As the sower goes out to sow, some of that seed fell on the footpath that goes through. Some of it fell on those areas where there was just an inch or two of soil. And beneath it, there was a shelf of rock. Some of it fell upon soil that was very tender, pliable, productive.

12:20 But right there where the seed fell, there were two or three little roots of these thorn bushes. And there's the picture. The seed fell in the midst of thorns. You'll miss the whole point if you picture the thorns as something that came in after the sowing of the seed.

12:36 No, the seed fell among the thorns. And what happened? Verse 7. And the thorns sprung up and choked them.

12:47 In other words, as the seed began to germinate, along with its germination, there was the development of the thorn bush. Its root system began to strangle the root system of this seed of grain, of corn, let's call it, for the sake of consistency. And its root system would sap away moisture that should have gone into that tender young plant. Until eventually, as the two grew together, it wasn't a survival of the fittest, but a survival of the strongest.

13:20 And ultimately, those three little thorn bushes that surrounded that tender little stalk of corn utterly choked it so that it never came to a fruit-bearing stage. There was apparently a stalk that began to come up out of the ground, but it never came to the place where there was a full ear of corn in the stalk. Its life was choked. Choked out before it became fruitful.

Christ's Interpretation of the Thorny Ground Hearer

13:47 Now there's the narrative by our Lord. Now what's the interpretation that he gives? How is this related to the reception of the word of God? We have seen how there are so many who hear the message of the kingdom.

14:01 This past week, it was a great grief to me to see it again. In those meetings where we were so conscious of the presence of God, there was hardly a meeting, but what I did not see, one or two people sitting there looking. Absolutely bored to death, arms folded, looking out under the flap of the tent, admiring the pretty hills and the grass.

14:25 They saw nothing in what we were trying to communicate that, in any way, was answerable to their need. Oh, you say, impossible. No, I saw it with my own eyes, even this afternoon again.

14:36 That's the kind of person who's always present when the word is preached.

14:42 We've seen that person who responds joyfully to the word, but doesn't count the cost, who has no root of true repentance. Now, what is this business of receiving the word into thorny soil? Well, listen to our Lord's interpretation, beginning with verse 22. He that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word.

15:06 He is exposed to the message of the gospel. He is exposed to the provisions and demands of the Lord Jesus. And not only is he exposed to it, but apparently he receives it. He's not like the bipath here.

15:20 He throws the word off and the birds pluck up the seed. There's actually some germination. You can't choke nothing. You've got to choke something.

15:28 But he has no sooner begun to receive the word and give some evidences of spiritual life than what happens. Those three weeds, those three thorny plants, the care of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, and tying in the commentary of Mark and of Luke, we get these two other things, the...

15:50 Let me get it exactly now. I don't want to quote the word wrong here. Let me see. In Mark chapter 4, we have, These are they that are sown among the thorns.

16:00 Hear the word, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches. Here it is. And the lust of other things entering in. You've got the three thorn bushes.

16:12 The cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in. Luke calls them...

16:22 The pleasures and cares of life and the love of money. These are the things that Luke tells us are those three weeds. So these things acting as weeds, as these thorn bushes, as that tender plant begins to emerge into its full development, utterly choke it so that it yields no fruit whatsoever. It's the picture of the man who's been exposed to the gospel, has apparently embraced...

16:52 The gospel. But there's something that always is lacking in his experience. He never seems to come to the place of bearing that positive fruit that would let you know that the word has truly taken root. And the Greek word is emphatic here.

Relationship to Other Soils and the Progression of Hindrance

17:10 He brings forth no fruit. There's the key to it. Now, what is the application and expansion and explanation of this in terms of our own hearts, in terms of our own lives, in terms of those about us? Well, notice first of all the relationship of this kind of soil to the two others.

17:31 They have one thing in common.

17:34 The by-path here, the stony ground here, and the thorny ground here have one thing in common. None of them bring forth fruit to perfection.

17:45 And that's the only proof of spiritual life, is the production of fruit.

17:53 I mentioned to you that I felt constrained to bring a study on this parable because of what we had just come through, in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7. You see how one throws light in the other? Jesus said, Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire. Jesus said, If a man abide in me and I in him, he brings forth much fruit.

18:16 If a stalk does not bring forth fruit, it is cut off, and men gather them and they're cast into the fire and burned. There's the dead, lifeless professor of Christianity, who does not bring fruit. It's the presence of fruit that is the positive evidence that we are his. And so the thing that this soil has in common with the two others is that it brings forth.

18:40 It does not bring forth that which is the positive evidence of grace. Notice the relationship here in terms of a progression. The first soil, there was a hindrance at the very outset. It was so hard and packed, it never received the word.

18:53 The second soil, there was a hindrance soon after the germination of the seed. For it had no sooner germinated and begun to spring up that the sun came up and straightway it withered and it died. Here, someone apparently receives the word, not only begins to germinate, there's actually a stalk that begins to grow up. There's a longer period of time involved, but ultimately it also is choked and falls short of fruit.

19:22 And this should be instructive to us as we seek to rightly receive the word, as we seek to understand what happens when we communicate the word to others. We will see this continually going on before our eyes. Some that you witness to, what happens? That don't bother me.

19:42 You've gotten that, haven't you? Why, this is what I've been looking for all my life. And boy, you just feel blessed to the high heaven and you come home and you tell your wife or your husband or the people at the church, I was talking with so-and-so on the bus and began to witness, and my, their hearts, just opened up like a flower and they received the word and you're on cloud nine and three weeks later, you look like the Lord had died and the kingdom of God had come to naught. And what happened?

20:10 Why, you tried to talk to that person about the Lord and they said, look, I've had all I want. I went home and tried to speak to my mother and father or my husband or my wife and they told me, if you don't throw over that religion business, that's it. And I'm not going to have discord in my home, so I'm just forgetting the whole business. You've seen that happen, haven't you?

20:28 Wherever the word's preached, that's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen. And what we have here is going to happen too. Where that word seems to be received and a period of time goes by and there's the emergence of some signs of life, but there's never those positive fruits of new life.

The Principle: Profession Without Deep Repentance

20:52 Now let's consider another great principle and warning that our Lord has given to us here in this section. It's the picture of a man who begins and continues a Christian profession without, listen carefully, without a deep work of repentance.

21:12 The thorns were already there. The thorns ultimately choked life. There's the teaching. What was there at the inception of apparent life ultimately choked the last semblance of life and crowded it out.

21:30 The weeds were there in perhaps just their root form. They weren't obvious to the eye. And all you saw at first was that nice little corn stalk beginning to grow up. But it wasn't long before that which was there when it was sown grew up with it and utterly choked it.

21:48 What went unchallenged at the generation or germination of the seed was ultimately the cause of the killing of the seed.

21:58 Our Lord recognized this principle when he dealt with men. Behold him dealing with a rich young ruler. He came and said, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord Jesus began to deal with this man.

22:11 And in his dealing he came to this place where he said, look, you lack one thing. One thing you lack. Your heart is like a field.

22:20 And you've come that I might sow the seeds of truth that will spring up to eternal life. You want to know from me what you must do to have eternal life. You want that there should fall from my lips the seeds of divine truth, which taking root in your heart will spring up. Into everlasting life.

22:36 Isn't this what you want? Yes, that's what I want. He said, young man, as I look into your heart, I see a weed, a thorn that is going to utterly choke the seed. Young man, you know what that thorn bush is?

22:50 It's the thorn bush of a covetous, idolatrous attachment to money. Now what you've got to do is to take that thorn bush and tear it up by the roots and cast it out. Then the seed of my faith. And that truth will germinate and bear fruit.

23:09 That's what he was saying when he said, Sell that thou hast, give to the poor, come follow me. He looked into his heart and he saw a thorn bush. And he said, young man, I can't plant the seeds of my grace that will spring up into eternal life until that thorn bush is rooted out. What did the young man do?

23:28 He says he turned away because he loved this thorn bush. He had great possessions. What did Jesus do to him? Did he run down the road and say, look, I was hoping to get you on the first approach, but since I failed, let me try a second approach.

23:49 You just start following me and maybe after a while the seeds of grace will so multiply that they'll choke the thorn bush. No, he didn't do that. It says Jesus loved him. But when the young man went away sorrowfully, he turned to his disciples.

24:01 And what did he say? He said, how hardly shall they that are rich enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? Do you see the parallel?

24:09 Because it's the deceitfulness of riches. It acts like a thorn bush to choke the word. And the Lord Jesus refused to deliberately make a thorny ground here.

24:24 Notice with the woman at the well. Jesus was talking about physical water. And then he moved to spiritual water. And you remember what happened?

24:34 He put out the little minnow of gospel bait. And she nibbled. And then she bit. And then she took the hook.

24:39 And she said, oh, sir, give me this water that I never need come and draw again. He said, oh, sir, give me this water that I never need come and draw again. He said, oh, I'm talking about different water. The water that I shall give you shall be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

24:52 She said, oh, that's what I want. I want that water. And then what was his next word to her? Remember?

24:59 Go call thy husband.

25:03 Now, that's a kind of a strange turn of conversation. You're talking about water of life. And all of a sudden he says, call your husband. Why?

25:13 I hope you see. Do you see why? He looked into that woman's heart. And he saw a thorn bush.

25:20 And what was it? It was the lust of other things entering in. It was her passionate weed. That's what it was.

25:32 Or the weed of a passionate immoral practice. He said, that's right. And the man you're now living with isn't your husband. This is in your practice.

25:39 And he says, you'll never know the wells of my salvation springing up and bubbling to everlasting life until you're willing to face your sin. If he had sown the gospel seed in that heart without, first of all, disposing that woman to deal with that weed, it never would have sprung forth into fruit. And as you watch the Lord Jesus in his dealings with men, you'll see this again and again. Look at Luke chapter 9.

26:08 Let's look at it together. Because this is such a vital principle in our personal work, in our praying for others, in the preaching of the gospel here and wherever it's preached.

26:23 Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, beginning with verse 57.

26:30 And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I'll follow you wherever you go. Boy, if you and I met somebody who'd come up to us and said out of the clear blue sky, look, I want to be a Christian and I'll do whatever Jesus Christ wants me. Well, we'd have him on his knees in two seconds. We just don't meet people like that.

26:49 What'd the Lord do? He said, young man, I appreciate your fair sounding words, but listen. See little foxes running? When the sun begins to go down out there in the fields, when the sun begins to go down at night, they've got a little hole in the ground and they can say, that's my hole in the ground.

27:06 See little sparrows flitting through the air? When the sun begins to go down, they've got a little nest and they can call that their own. You see me, creator of heaven and earth, the son of man, doesn't have a place to lay his head. He says, young man, to follow me means that I give you absolutely no promise of anything but myself.

27:27 What was he doing? He was encouraging this. Young man, to tear out that weed of the cares of this life. That's what he was doing.

27:37 He says, young man, you're going to follow me? You want my word to take root and bear fruit? Then you've got to tear out that thorn bush of the cares of this life and be willing that seeking first my kingdom, you can trust me to take care of all other things.

27:54 Look at the next man.

27:57 He said to another, follow me. He said, Lord, just let me first go and bury my father. Nothing wrong with that. We're to honor father and mother.

28:08 Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury the dead, but go thou and preach the gospel.

28:13 Cares of this life. See what he was saying? He said, young man, if you're to follow me, my claims, my demands must take precedence even over all other earthly affections, social niceties. Another said, Lord, I'll follow you, but let me first go say goodbye to those who are at home.

28:34 Jesus said, no man. Having put his hand to the plow and having this thorn bush of inordinate attachment to his loved ones and to his old life is fit for the kingdom of heaven. He says, young man, it's not the picture of a man who puts two hands in the plow. That's the way I read it for years.

28:52 It's not the picture of a man who puts two hands in the plow and starts to plow as he follows the beast and looks back. No, no. It's the picture of a man. Notice what he says.

29:00 No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back. He's got his hand on the plow. To go that way. And he's got his head and his heart that way.

29:09 He's not fit for the kingdom. He's double-minded. He can't come into the kingdom that way, for his head is in the direction of his heart and his hand is in another direction. Jesus said, he's not fit for the kingdom.

29:22 Though both hands have been turned to plow in the direction of the will of God. And he's fit.

29:31 And our Lord, in dealing with men, recognized the principle that he himself enunciates, that anyone who begins and carries on with the will of God, on a Christian profession without a deep work of repentance, will ultimately find that the thorns that were unchallenged at the apparent germination of gospel seed will ultimately cause the killing of the seed. That's what happened to Judas.

29:57 He was probably enthusiastic,

30:01 right second to no one in his enthusiasm at the Messiah, this miracle worker who came out of Galilee and became one of the great multitudes who followed Christ and then, as a result, after that, was chosen out of the larger multitude to be one of the twelve. But all of his response to the message of the kingdom and the power of the kingdom manifested in Christ, there was that thorn bush of covetousness that had never been torn out by the roots. And what did it ultimately do? It led him to sell Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver.

30:35 Do you think Judas had any idea, when he made his initial responses to Christ, that he would one day actually betray Christ for 30 hunks of silver? A precious matter. If he had told Judas that, he probably would have looked at you with horror and said, No, no, never! But he tolerated the thorn bush that ultimately choked the word.

30:58 Look at Demas. One place Paul calls him his fellow worker. Then he had to say those sad words, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved, what? This present age.

31:10 The cares of this life or the cares of this age, as you have it in your margin. And in his initial response, which seemed so growing and so flourishing to the place where he even made a companion of the apostle, but ultimately that thorn bush of a heart that was enmeshed in this world system blew up, choked the word. In fact, he went to this present evil world and proved that there had never been a deep, basic, saving response to the word of God. What you and I spare, will ultimately, will ultimately destroy us.

Illustration: The New Guinea Missionary and the Demon Weed

31:55 That's pretty serious, isn't it?

31:58 But I believe that's the lesson here. Not only do we have a picture of the man who begins and carries on profession without a deep work of repentance that tears it out by the roots.

32:11 Before I move on to that, I forgot an illustration I wanted to use. I think it will help you. The story was told to me by a missionary who ministered in New Guinea for some 30 years. Arthur Mao.

32:24 Any of you ever hear Arthur Mao?

32:26 Wonderfully used of God in ministry. He was a great ministering to these Stone Age people. And he told the story of how one day one of the young believers came to him, greatly disturbed him, called him by the name that they did, to whom he said, Back in my days before the Lord saved me, I was a demon worshipper, and out there in the woods I planted a weed in memorial to a certain demon, to a certain spirit. And he said every time I get on my knees to pray now, and talk to my Heavenly Father, I see that weed.

32:59 Every time I try, I try to communicate with my Lord. That weed comes before me and says to one, I've got to go out and I've got to destroy that weed. And so the day came when they went out together, made their way out into that dense, thick, tropical jungle there in New Guinea. They came into a place where everything looked the same to the missionary.

33:20 The young man walked right over to the spot. He knew the weed that he had planted in honour to this certain demon power, this certain spirit. And he stood there and he looked at the missionary, and the missionary looked at him, after this exchange of glances for some time, he asked the missionary to pray. And then he prayed, and here was the struggle going on within his soul.

33:40 Until finally the missionary says, this young man, given courage and grace by the Lord, reached down and very carefully grabbed that weed right down at its base, where it met the ground. And then he pulled it up very carefully, that he wouldn't leave any of the root system in the ground by tearing it off above ground. And he pulled it out from the roots, and then he stood there and he shook it, and he shook it, and he shook it until every last bit of dirt is gone. For in that dense jungle, anything that's just laid there on top of the ground will soon again take root and begin to grow and flourish again.

34:15 And he took and shook and shook until every last bit of dirt was out of those roots and they were perfectly dry, no soil around them. And then he looked until he found a little patch where the sun broke through the dense foliage and beat down upon the ground. And he looked down upon the green velvet floor of that jungle and he very carefully took that weed and spread it out and put all of the roots as far away from each other as possible so that as that hot tropical sun beat down upon that weed, it soon shriveled up that plant from the roots so that it could never take root again. You see the application, don't you?

34:57 You and I have got to do it. Take those thorn bushes, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in and grabbing them by the base, tear them up by the roots and in the power of the Spirit shake them until every last possibility of their finding root in us again is dealt with and then expose them continually to the light of God's presence and to the burning fire of His Spirit lest they take root again in our hearts. I believe that's the message of this parable. A picture of the man who fails to do this.

Warning: Damned by Innocent Things

35:41 And then the second great lesson is it's a warning about the danger of being damned by innocent things. It's a warning about the danger of being damned by innocent things. Notice what the three thorn bushes are. The cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in.

36:07 The cares of this life, same word used in Matthew, Matthew 6, 25, 31, and 34 where Jesus said, Be not anxious concerning your life. It's anxiety about the temporal, physical necessities of life. It's the kind of care that will so occupy the mind, capture the affections, and ensnare one's time that the word is choked. You see, divine truth must be held in the mind with thoughtful reflection before it can mold the life.

36:42 Divine truth must hold the mind before it molds the life. The God-blessed man in Psalm 1, the righteous man, how is he described? He's described as the man who meditates in the law of God day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the water.

36:58 Who'll bring it forth fruit? You see, the divine truth grips the mind and what grips the mind molds the life. And here's the picture of the man who hears the word and in some measure and somehow seems to respond to it. But his mind is so continually occupied with this world of sense and of time that there can never be fruit produced in his life.

37:23 And he's ensnared, and the word is choked, not by something that's evil in itself, but by the innocent cares of the life. And oh, how many I fear right in this congregation that I face week by week, who are exhorted week by week to seek the Lord, to reflect upon your relationship to Him, to take your Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day, and use it as a day of spiritual reflection and meditation and prayer. How often I fear this is not done. Why?

37:57 Not because you go down on the avenue and end up in a beer hall. Simply the cares of this life. Just get so busy cooking and cleaning up after the afternoon dinner and then getting that little nap and then preparing for the evening snack and cleaning up and rushing to church. The cares of life took the word.

38:17 Choked the word. You don't meditate upon it. And so it produces no fruit. See, being damned by the innocent.

38:28 Or as a Christian, being strifled in my growth by the choking influence of the cares of this life. Preparing and eating meals. Innocent in itself, but choking the word. Then the deceitfulness of riches.

38:49 Nothing wrong with riches. The socialistic tendencies of our government, notwithstanding, it is the good pleasure of God to make some men wealthy and allow some men to be like the rest of us. That's his business. When God says, Thou shall not steal, that not only applies to individuals, that applies to governments.

39:08 And we've got a government that is stealing from the industrious and those who've used wisely in their investments and is stealing from them to give many times to indolent, lazy people who have no desire whatsoever to help themselves. That's not true in every case, but it's true in great measure. When you've been as I have been in places, where you see people collecting their welfare checks and going down to the local booze halls and drinking it up and standing around lazy and indolent and not going out and even looking in a paper for a job, turning down jobs because it doesn't quite suit them, your heart begins to burn with holy anger when you realize the money that's putting beer in their bellies was earned by some industrious person who was willing to go out and put in his 40 hours a week.

39:51 So there's nothing wrong with riches, but it's the deceitfulness of riches that choke the word. How are riches deceitful? Well, they promise what they can't give. How many of us here tonight, be honest now, you say, boy, if I could just have right now about $500 to get a few payments ahead on my car and to clear off my account at Sears and to put a little nest egg away here, boy, life would just be wonderful.

40:22 You think it would be? There's only one thing to spoil it. You'd still be there living. And as long as you're around, as long as I'm around, as long as there's a problem of flesh and sin and the devil in the world, happiness isn't found in being financially solvent.

40:40 It just isn't. You ask the people who are that way, and they're some of the most miserable people in all the world. But riches are deceitful. They promise what they can't give.

40:50 Riches stands there and says, possess me and you'll have happiness. Deceit. Riches are deceitful because they appear to be what they are not. They appear to be abiding and enduring.

41:02 I get tickled every time I listen to the 8 o'clock news. And the whole pitch, and you excuse us for making this reference, we have someone who works in the bank with us tonight, a mother whose daughter works there, but the whole pitch of the banks that advertise and promote the 8 o'clock news over WOR is, you get your money with us and it's really safe. You get it with us, never miss the payment in so many years. That's the deceitfulness of riches.

41:33 Riches appear to be what they are not. They appear to be abiding and enduring. They aren't. Some of you were around in 1929.

41:42 Some of us were born during that time and mom and dad have told us about it. Just one button pushed in one central complex of nuclear strategy somewhere in Siberia. But you see, it's the deceitfulness of riches. If we really believe that riches were not abiding and not enduring, then we wouldn't be scheming and planning and tithing as to how to lay hold of them.

42:26 For it's not the possession of riches alone which chokes the word, but it's the desire to possess what we don't have. That's why we read in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 9, But they that would be rich fall into many hurtful snares which drown many in perdition. Oh, how often I've seen young couples willing to make sacrifices and scrimp and save because they've got in their mind's eyes that little dream. There it is.

42:56 And they picture the Thunderbird there, the little Volkswagen for a second car out in the driveway. And before long they begin to picture that nice swimming pool in the backyard and because they've got that thing there, all their energies, their spare time, their interest, their planning is all moving toward that accumulation of things. So they stop skipping prayer meetings because they're just so tired. And then they begin to cut corners on Sunday night service.

43:31 And then before long they come to Sunday morning just as a perfunctory duty to ease the conscience and the deceitfulness of riches which choke the word. How often have I seen this happen? Because the cares of this life that sap mental energies and then the physical sapping or the sapping of physical energies that is found when we're determined that we're going to accumulate more than God has been pleased in his providence to give us. This chokes the word.

44:04 No time to read. No time to pray. No time to meditate. No time to get one's perspective heavenward.

44:11 Something as perfectly innocent as money becomes a deceitful, snaring thorn bush. And then the third thing, the pleasures of this life or what we read in one of the other gospels, the lust of other things entering in. God has given us a capacity for pleasure. At times I can't help but sneak out of my study and I go over to the little window down there and just watch my kids out in the backyard.

44:40 I just enjoy watching them. I don't dare go out and get with them. I know I won't get away. Now who gave that?

44:47 The devil? No. That's a gift from God. The pleasure that our children bring to us.

44:53 The pleasure, the pure joy to exist in a Christian couple in their spiritual life. The pleasure that our children bring to us. The pleasure the pure joy to exist in a Christian couple in their spiritual life. The pleasure that our children bring to us in a Christian couple in their marital relationships.

45:10 This is given of God. Good food. When you thank God for that food and going down it just makes you salivate real good and taste good on those taste palates. That's of God.

45:21 He could have made everything taste like well you think of the thing you dislike the most. God could have made everything like that. God could have made you so you see like the animals in all grays, tones of gray. He didn't.

45:34 He gave you capacity for beauty. But oh, when the desires for these things, the pleasures of this life begins to so absorb our interest, our time, our energies, that the word of God can't germinate and come to full fruition and fruitage. Then that which is innocent has become damning in our lives. I want to make a statement that I trust you remember as we close tonight. Dear child of God, person

Application: Beware of Anything that Draws Your Heart from God

46:08 outside of Christ, the principle is the same in either case. Beware of anything, no matter how innocent it may appear, which draws your heart away from God. Beware of anything, no matter how innocent it may appear, if it draws your heart away from God.

46:42 Beware of anything, no matter how innocent it may appear, if it draws your heart away from God. away. And generally it will, if it is doing that, fall under one of those three categories. It'll fall under the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, or the lust or pleasures of other things entering in.

47:15 If it draws your heart away from God, remember it's a thorn bush that'll choke you right. Free from it if you value your soul.

47:29 Free from it if you long by the grace of God to be one of those who is described in the next kind of soil that we'll consider the Lord willing two weeks from tonight, who'll bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold. So often when I'm involved in summer camp ministry with young people, and I think adults think this way, but they're maybe just not quite as honest as the young people. There's a wholesome honesty and frankness about young people. They say, well, what's wrong with this thing, or what's wrong with that thing? Well, here's a good

48:06 gauge. Anything wrong with playing golf? Not a thing.

48:12 If I said there were, I'd have one of my elders right on my neck real quick like. If there's something wrong with golf for me, as a regular sport,

48:28 I can indulge in it as a regular thing. I can go out once or twice a year,

48:35 but the one time I did it two or three times within the space of a month, you know what happened? Every time I get down to pray, that's right. I find myself working on my swing.

48:51 That's out for me. That's out for you. That's for me. Perfectly innocent.

49:00 But it began to draw my heart away from my God.

49:05 Now I'm swinging on myself because I can do that. Now you be honest with yourself. What is that innocent thing with you? It can be a relationship with a fellow, with a girl.

49:20 Perfectly innocent, pure and holy. But you begin to cut corners on your time with God to spend time with that person. One of the first questions I ask the young men and women who come to me believing that God may be leading them together. They come for counsel. I ask them this question.

49:40 Has this relationship between you and this young woman or young man deepened your relationship to Jesus Christ? Or has it sacked off affection from you and redirected it to her? If they hedge and dodge there, I say beware. Because when God brings a young man and a young woman together in His will, one of the acid tests that He's in that relationship and that they are walking in the light of His will for that relationship is that there will be a mutual strengthening, one of the other, in the direction of God, the truth of holiness, obedience, world evangelization, the rule of God, and the purpose of Christ for their life.

50:25 That's a good test to apply.

50:32 It can be a romantic involvement. It can be a sport. It can be an innocent diversion. But whatever care of this life, whatever lust of another thing entering in, begins to make the word unproductive.

50:47 And in God's name do like the little fellow in New Guinea. Take that thorn bush by the roots. Care it out for the health of your soul and for the glory of your Savior. Let us pray.