Good Ground Hearers Hearers Part 1

Review of the Parable of the Sower and the First Three Soils

0:03 Let us turn again this evening to the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew as we continue our studies in this first parable of our Lord, first in this large series of parables recorded in the 13th of Matthew. Someone pointed out to me the other night that when I sought to correct your thinking about the parable, that we ought to regard it more as the parable of the soil than the parable of the sower, that I sort of ran counter to the word of our Lord in verse 18 where he said, Hear ye the parable of the sower. He called it the parable of the sower, and I certainly don't want to run into that kind of business of setting myself up above him, but I still contend that in our thinking we should regard it primarily as the parable of the soil. For as we have seen, and this is just briefly by way of review for the sake of our visitors to sort of understand the parable of the sower, to sort of bring you up to where we are tonight, that this parable, which according to the account in Mark 4, is a key to other parables, has as its main ingredients the sower, the seed, and the soil. Three S's, not because I'm clever at alliteration, but because that's what's here. The sower went forth to sow.

1:21 It fell upon different kinds of soil, and what he sowed was seed. And so you have those three things. The sower, who is essentially, and primarily, the Lord Jesus, as we find in one of the later parables, he that sows the seed is the Son of Man. But anyone who dispenses his word is a sower.

1:41 And the second great ingredient, of course, is seed, which is the word of God generally, and specifically in Matthew it's called the message of the kingdom. The soil is the human heart. We have a number of references when our Lord interprets this parable to the fact that the different soils were the different kinds of hearts into which the Word of God was born. And so we have a number of references when our Lord interprets this parable to the fact that the different soils were the different kinds of hearts into which the seed of the Word fell when it was dispensed by the sower.

2:05 And so the main thought, the main principle of this entire parable is summarized in this little statement that the state of the soil determines the fate of the seed.

2:20 The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. The sower was the same in every case. The seed was the same in every case. The seed was the same in every case.

2:32 But four different responses to the seed. And that difference was to be found in the state of the soil. So the state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. We have covered in our studies the first three kinds of soil.

2:51 There is that kind of soil which is pictured by our Lord as the hard, beaten path which runs through the cornfield. So hard because it's been touched by the seed. It's been trampled underfoot of men so long and so often that the seed never even penetrates and as it lays there it isn't long before the birds of the air come and pluck up the seed. And that's a picture according to our Lord of the thoughtless, careless hearer who hears the Word of God and because he does not see any fitness of that message to his own heart and life he throws it off as a thing unworthy of serious and sober thought and so the enemy then, unlike the fowls of the air, plucks away that gospel seed.

3:36 And then the second kind of soil is what our Lord called rocky soil. Not good soil with rocks in it but a thin layer of soil over the top of a large shale of rock so that when it is sown it looks like it's been sown into good soil. And it immediately springs up and seems to be a fair and flourishing little plant. And the farmer comes by and says my, I'm going to get a lot of corn off that.

4:01 But a few days later the rain stops and the clouds recede and the burning sun comes up in all of its brightness and when Farmer Jones walks by that poor little stalk five o'clock at night after it's spent a whole day out in front of the burning sun it's just withered over and it's dead. And Jesus said this is the person who hears the Word. He receives it with joy and he looks for all the world like a marvelous, tremendous convert the kind you'd want to parade around. And give his testimony three times a week.

4:36 But the whole problem was Jesus said he had no root. The problem with that plant is because of the stone that lay beneath that shallow layer of soil it could not sink a root and so these have no root. Their response to the gospel is emotional, intellectual but it never lays hold of the will and brings them captive to Jesus Christ. And so when the son of persecution tribulation and temptation again I'm giving you what our Lord gives us his interpretation of this when that sun arises this plant is withered and the sun that should make the plant flourish for tribulation and persecution and temptation are the instruments by which a true Christian flourishes.

5:19 Instead of making him flourish he withers up and he dies. He's a temporary believer. He is a spurious believer. He is one that has all the marks of a true Christian for a period of time.

5:32 But ultimately he proves that he had no root in himself. And then the third class is what we studied two Lord's Day evenings ago. Those who are like the soil has some roots of thorn bushes in it and when the seed is sown the thorns grow up with the seed and they ultimately choke out that seed so it brings forth no fruit. And this is a picture of the man who responds to the gospel has some apparent evidences of life but his repentance has been incensed and incompletion and roots, stubbornness or covetousness as the case of Judas ultimately the sins they spare at their response to the gospel ultimately grow up and utterly choke out the gospel and they prove themselves to be something other than true converts to Jesus Christ. And I would remind our hearers tonight that every time the gospel is preached you've got those first three responses. Our Lord had it. No man was a sinner.

6:43 He would be so full of the Spirit that all he ministers to is good soil. Our Lord had these and you see them in the gospels. There were those who when they heard his message when he promised spiritual deliverance in John 8 they said, what in the world are you talking about? You tell us we'll be free if we follow you.

7:00 We don't need freedom. We were never in bondage to any man. And so they threw off the word as something that didn't suit their need. And then you see so many stony ground here.

7:11 Look at those great multitudes in John 6. Man, they just clapped. Ever after Christ until he began to talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and then it says this, and many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Oh, this was wonderful when the carpenter out of Nazareth came speaking the gospel of his grace and kingdom and they responded with great enthusiasm.

7:34 But when the truth of God began to make demands Jesus said, by and by they are offended by the word. They fall away. Many examples of this in the word. Many examples of those whose repentance is insincere and incomplete and ultimately the very thing they spare ruins them.

7:53 Judas, his sin of covetousness ultimately rose up and utterly choked out any semblance of spiritual life and he became a betrayer of Christ. Demas, a fellow worker of Christ and yet Paul had to say he's forsaken me having loved this present age. And he's gone back to his old haunts of iniquity. And so I remind you, my hearers tonight, don't get all excited when you see the first sprigs of spiritual life.

8:23 Time is the great prover of the reality of that response. Time is the great tester. And let's just hold some rejoicing in reserve until we see a full blade in the ear. As we're going to see tonight, only God can produce that.

8:41 The flesh, emotion, psychology, anything. A number of things can produce temporary responses to the Word. But only God the Holy Ghost as we're going to see tonight can produce that response which is abiding and which bears fruit. So we come now tonight to the fourth class of soil which is what our Lord calls good soil.

The Narrative of the Good Ground

9:04 I shall read the account in the Gospel according to Matthew and then we'll follow the same outline as we followed the other nights. I've got an erupt and it works for me so I hope it's not tedious to you. We'll read the passage then we'll look at the narrative. What does it say?

9:19 Then secondly, our Lord's interpretation of the narrative. What did He say these facts meant? And then thirdly, we'll look at some application and some explanation that I trust will be practical and helpful to us in our own lives. All right then, in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 8.

9:38 But, into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Now there's the facts. According to Matthew, let me read quickly from the Gospel of Mark. And other fell on good ground, Mark 4, 8, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth some thirty and some sixty, some a hundred.

10:08 Now let me read from the Gospel according to Luke.

10:14 But they, let me see now, Luke chapter 8 and verse 8.

10:21 And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit a hundredfold. All right, so putting Matthew, Mark, and Luke together, what do we have as the actual facts of what happened? As the sower went forth, and you forgive me for not going forth tonight with this bum leg of mine, I'm going to stay put. But the sower is going forth now.

10:39 And as he goes forth, he's casting his seed. Some has fell on the wayside on that hard path. Some upon the stone, the soil, which is just laying over the top of that great plateau of stone. Some, some has fallen where their roots have weaved.

10:53 But now some falls upon what Jesus calls here good ground. Now what would good ground be to the farmer? Well, it would be ground that's well plowed. It's soft.

11:03 It's pliable. The plow share has gone straight through sparing nothing. All the clods have been broken up, turned over. It's well plowed.

11:12 It's deep earth. It doesn't just go down for an inch and then solid rock. But it goes down into sufficient depth that there might be a retention of soil. There might be a retention of soil.

11:21 There might be a retention of moisture even in dry times so that the roots of whatever's planted in it can draw up that moisture and sustain life. There are no foreign roots there in that place. They've been rooted out as the farmers come through and plowed up. Where he's seen any foreign roots, he's taken time to pull them out.

11:39 And so here's the good soil. Well plowed, deep, no foreign roots there. And the seed falls upon it and what happens? Well, we read that it springs up and it continues to grow until according to our Lord it bears fruit.

11:56 Some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. Now there's the narrative itself. Those are the facts as you have them taking Matthew, Mark, and Luke together. Now what are our Lord's interpretation or what is our Lord's interpretation of these facts?

Our Lord's Interpretation of the Good Ground

12:13 Putting them all together, I shall read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, our Lord's interpretation and then we'll try to line them up in some kind of a logbook. Now this takes time but this is the way you ought to study your Bible. Don't come to conclusions until you get the facts. So we're taking about fifteen minutes to do some hard thinking to get the facts and then we'll be able to go into something that perhaps will be a little more interesting.

12:36 Getting the facts isn't interesting but it's necessary. Alright? What are the facts of our Lord's interpretation? Well, in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 20, these are they which are sown upon the good ground such as hear the word and hear the word receive it and bring forth fruit some thirtyfold some sixty some a hundred.

12:59 Here are the key words. Hear, receive, bring forth.

13:07 Receive, bring forth. That's Matthew. Oh, I'm sorry, that's Mark. Did I read from Mark then?

13:13 Was that Matthew? That was Mark. I'm sorry, that was Mark chapter 4 and verse 20. Now Matthew chapter 13 Matthew chapter 13 and verse 20 and verse 23.

13:26 But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, understandeth it, beareth fruit, and bringeth forth. Hear, understands, bears fruit, ate, and verse 15, but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit. Here's a key word. With patience.

13:56 Now putting all these things together, what do we have? Here's what our Lord says. When you watch the farmer go out to sow and you see some seed fall upon well-plowed, deep, thornless earth and you see a beautiful stalk come up and fruit is born, some of it 30, some 60, some 100-fold, varying degrees of fruit, but positive, sure enough, fruit nonetheless. He said, this is the picture of the man who hears the word of God, who understands that message, who embraces it, who keeps it, who bears fruit with continuance.

14:38 That's our Lord's interpretation. Whenever a man hears the word of God and not only hears it, understands it, sees its suitableness to his own need, understands that message, not fully comprehends. I can never comprehend how an infinitely holy God could love the likes of me. I can't comprehend that.

15:00 But that, that He did love me in Christ, I understand. See the difference? No full comprehension, but understanding the fact of His love, yes.

15:12 Understanding the message that sets forth the provisions of God in Christ, that sets forth the demands of God in Christ, that I repent, throw down the weapons of my rebellion, that I submit to Jesus Christ as my Sovereign as well as my Savior, that I not only come and throw down at His feet the burden of sin, but I bow to the yoke of His will and His purpose for my life. And so this man hearing the message understands it, but he not only understands, Jesus said, he receives it. That's not said of anyone else. Even of the seed that fell on the stony ground and sprang up, it does not say that that person truly received it.

15:53 Even the soil where there was some measure of fruit but the thorns choked it out, nowhere does it say that the message was received. It says, they believed for a while but this reception is the reception of that soil that reaches out and enfolds the seed and it takes deep root and then they keep it and then he says they bear fruit with or continuance or perseverance. The word used here in the original is the word used continually in the New Testament for perseverance, for continuance in the face of any kind of difficulty. For no doubt there were perhaps some very heavy rainstorms flattened out some of the weak plants but this one it continued to stand and bear fruit. No doubt there were some dry times when some of those that had shallow roots withered up and dried away but not this one. It continued to bear fruit. It continued to bear fruit with patience, with perseverance.

16:58 Now why is it that these people hear, understand, and receive, keep, and bear fruit from the message they have heard? Well, it's all summarized according to the Gospel of Luke by the fact that they have received the word into a good and an honest heart. These are they, Luke tells us in chapter 8 and in verse 15 who receive the word in a good and an honest heart. Now it doesn't say by whom it is made good and honest.

17:31 That's another message. That's next week, Lord willing. But that the word was received into a good and honest heart was the necessary prerequisite for understanding, for keeping, for bringing forth fruit is obvious from the text. Now what is the meaning of this to us in a very practical way?

Application: Continuance in Fruit-Bearing as the Only Proof of Saving Response

17:51 What would God say to us from this parable? May I suggest one and probably half of a second thing tonight as time permits. Number one,

18:02 the only proof you and I have is that we have that our response to the gospel has been a saving response is that we continue to bear fruit.

18:17 The only is continuance in bearing for you will know no matter what the other three soils produce. The first one, absolutely nothing. The birds plucked up the seed it never even germinated. But in the other two there was some measure of germination and some measure of apparent life.

18:42 There was that seed received in the first into the stony ground. It germinated. It sent up a little shoot but the sun came it withered and died. The other one germinated sent up a little weak shoot but it wasn't long before the thorns with its deep root system and its stronger plants utterly choked out that particular thing and it says it yielded no fruit to perfection.

19:03 The thing that's completely unique about good soil in this parable is that it's only the good soil that brought forth fruit with contentment in you in it. That's the whole teaching here. No matter what else the other soil produced it did not have ability to produce thirty, sixty and a hundredfold with patience. Now what is the fruit?

19:29 Well in the gospel sense the fruit of the word rightly received is repentance toward God faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first fruit of the gospel understood received and taking root repentance toward God faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and repentance and faith are not the acts of a moment they are the acquisition of lifetime attitudes. Let me repeat faith and repentance are not the acts of a moment they are the acquisition of attitudes that will bear fruit through a lifetime.

20:13 If you want to know whether you've repented and believed don't look back and conjure up in your memory something that's not from touching scene in a meeting somewhere. No. Look in tonight and see if you're turning from what you know to be sin. Sorrowing and grieving for what you know to be displeasing to God.

20:29 Fleeing to Christ day by day saying with Paul I have no ambition but to be found in Him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of God by faith. Don't you look back for a tender memory. Look in for a living demonstration of repentance and faith. For repentance to be sincere must be perpetual and faith wherever genuine is continuous.

20:56 That's why Paul said in Romans 1.17 having mentioned that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation he says for therein is revealed the righteousness of God from faith unto faith.

21:10 That's the first fruit of the gospel. If your heart has been made good soil by the Holy Spirit here's the proof. There will be fruit with patience with continuous the continual fruit of repentance and faith. The other fruit to summarize it briefly would be what we would call gospel graces.

Fruit is Not Optional and Must Be Continual

21:33 The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness self-control holiness of life Hebrews 12.14 follow after that holiness without which no man will see the Lord love to the bread of God to the brethren hereby do we know that we've passed from death and to life because we love the brethren this is fruit dear ones this is fruit not how much how many facts you've packed into your noggin not how many feelings flick through your spirit not how much evidence of that innate which only God the Holy Ghost can produce that's fruit that's fruit that's fruit the only proof of a saving response is the continuance of the bearing of that fruit now I'd remind you that such fruit is not optional for we read in the word of God Matthew 7.19 every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire it's fruit or the fire no middle ground every tree Jesus said without exception regardless of profession every tree that bringeth not forth present tense that bringeth not forth and is cast into the fire

22:58 God that were to bring forth fruits meat or answering to repentance and so such fruit is not optional it's fruit or the fire and such fruit must be continual stony ground I received the gospel I sure felt good and felt nice and believed God forgave me and read my Bible for a week but I've been backslidden ever since no no no no no dear one listen almighty God does a better job of saving people than that don't you insult my God by saying all he could do was make you feel good for a week trying to read his word for a week and then leave his workmanship to be at the mercy of old Adam's nature never never never not my God my God has said that wherever he begins a good work he's going to carry it on to completion my Bible says of my God that whom he did foreknow he did predestinate or predetermined to be conformed to the image of his son he's determined to make us like his son and so he drags us through the fire and he beats the flesh out of us and he tries us and he proves us because he's determined to see the likeness of his son in us and so that fruit is not only optional but it must be continual not the stony ground fruit that is the burst of a moment's enthusiasm emotional intellectual

24:27 not the thorny ground fruit see some of you and this is what grieves me because I see so many people that I've preached to in my lifetime passing before my eyes there seems to be some kind of a stalk in the ground and I see but you never found a full ear of corn in that stalk something was choking it from bearing fruit and it was those thorn bushes they never really severed themselves from their darling sins the young woman it may be her attachment and her determination to have a husband that root has never died you'll see her cut corners on her testimony cut corners on her profession why? because she's determined she's going to have a husband and she's going to have a husband she's going to have a husband and she's going to have a husband the young man it may be a determination he's going to have a certain occupation and he's going to succeed and he's never said from the depths of his heart Lord what will thou have me to do? he's like the rich young ruler he's got interest in heaven but he's got his heart set on a personal ambition and Jesus Christ said go on out and take your personal ambition by the root tear it out and cast it away and the young man said no Lord I can't do that I want heaven but not that way if you don't have that enough then Jesus said you don't want it bad enough and you let him go you let him go

25:56 you let him go oh beloved I urge you tonight you better be something more than insincere and incomplete in your repentance for at best you'll be a thorny ground here who has some semblance of spiritual life but there's no fruit and remember fruit is not optional if the tree doesn't bear good fruit it doesn't say if it doesn't have good leaves some of you got good leaves but there's no fruit the influence of the God gospel and Christian standards can give you the leaves of a Christian profession but only God the Holy Ghost can produce real fruit repentance faith holiness godliness passion after God love for his kingdom interest in his work so that fruit that is not optional must be continual for it says of the true or the good ground here that he brought forth fruit with patience or with continuance isn't this the teaching of John chapter 15 it's amazing how many theological battles have been fought over John 15 beloved we don't want to start a theological battle I want it to drive us down in our faces crying to God because listen to what Christ said I am the true vine my father is the caretaker what's a caretaker out to get he's out to get fruit out of his vine he's going to have fruit he's not doing this because he's retired he likes to have a little bit of occupation to keep him busy

27:24 so he doesn't get bored he could play solitaire he could play solitaire he could play solitaire

27:29 Jesus said I'm a vine and my father's a caretaker and like any caretaker he's determined to have fruit born from his vine now look at what he says every branch in me that bears fruit bears not fruit he takes it away and every branch that bears fruit he continually prunes it that it may bring forth more fruit there's the picture the husband then comes by and there's a branch no fruit born on it and he says it's dead cuts it off throws it away all you say but if he's joined to Christ that means you can be Satan now listen listen don't bring in issues like that get the point of what he's saying get the point of what he's saying now ye are clean or purged through the word which I've spoken unto you speaking to his disciples every true disciple is being pruned by the word because Christ is praying Father cleans them by the word and the Holy Ghost in answer to the prayer of the Son works in the life of the true Christian to prune him abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing and if a man abide not in me he's cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned you see it's either fruit or the fire

28:57 why? well a lot of reasons but also ultimately the reasons found in verse 60 because Jesus said ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain or abide the eternal purpose of the Father is that in all those that he draws to his Son there shall be the production of fruit and that purpose of the Father is going to be realized whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son and so fruit is not optional fruit must be continual repentance faith holiness obedience seeking after God when you begin to understand this dear ones you won't be troubled when you find verses like this he that endureth to the end shall be saved you won't see any contradiction between Matthew 24 14 and John 3 36 he that believeth on the Son hath life he that endureth to the end shall be saved well am I saved by my enduring or saved by my believing? contradiction no blessed complimentary truths for he that believes and has life that life will produce fruit and the fruit is endurance to the end just that simple if there's no endurance

30:26 there's no life isn't that simple? what have you got? you've got people over here say he that believe it that's all it means I can live like the devil and turn my back upon Christ but because I've nodded to Jesus I'm saved eternally secure in him and a plague on anybody try to tell me differently he that believeth when you come up with verses like this he that endureth oh that's for the Jews well what about Hebrews 4 14 we are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast oh that was for Jewish Christians oh yes well what about John that's for us isn't it oh yes John 8 says if ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples well that must be different in the Greek in other words they're all the time shifting at these verses on the other hand you've got those who dishonor my Lord by saying he begins a true work of grace actually joins people to himself and then cuts them off and damns them I think this is dishonoring to my Lord to teach that he has no more power than to leave millions of people half saved and ultimately end up in hell what's the truth of the Bible the truth of the Bible is not either of these the truth is that we are saved by grace and as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and joins us to Christ and we lay hold of him in faith the Holy Spirit makes us new creatures the Spirit within Christ at the right hand of the Father praying the eternal purpose

31:55 of the Father behind it all determining the Father's eternal purpose the Son's intercession and the Spirit's application of the prayers and power of the Son we do persevere not to be saved but because that's part of his salvation that he purchased with his blood I'm so glad that Jesus said in John 6 I'm come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him that sent me then he interprets that will and he says this is the will of him that sent me that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but raise them up at the last day now is he going to do the Father's will to fail in doing the Father's will would be sin right anything less than the will of God is sin he says this is the Father's will that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing hallelujah but raise them up at the last day but part of that salvation which he purchased is the keeping of his people not in spite of the way they live but keeping them in the way they live perfecting in them his own likeness oh yes degrees there'll be some thirty fold Christians some sixty fold some hundred fold but there's some fold but there's some fold it is thirty only thirty but it is thirty it's visible fruit visible fruit of repentance

Personal Application: Self-Examination and Assurance

33:25 of faith and of a holy life and so the first lesson that we learn from this passage this fourth kind of soil is that the only proof of a saving response to truth is continuance in bearing fruit now do you see how practical this is in its application to ourselves personally you watch what happens I've seen this people begin who seem to be true Christians God alone knows their heart I don't but they begin to have a controversy with God God begins to press a duty and they're balking they're like a Jonah the Lord's saying this way and they've got their back turned about to buy a ticket and go that way you know what happens the minute they do they begin to say but the Bible teaches that if we're really saved he keeps us forever you know what the Bible says and they begin to try to suck comfort from the doctrine of the preservation of God's people you ever see this you ever see him do this dear Dr. Tozer told a story I don't think I've told it here I could go back through all those tapes and find out but I'm not about to do that but it's worth repeating because if I'd forgotten maybe you have there was a young preacher that came to him one day all aglow and said oh Dr. Tozer Dr. Tozer he says let's get a new Bible he said on every page I read I find the security of God's people the security of the believers on every single page and Tozer turned to him and said son

34:51 what sin are you covering in your life you're not willing to deal with you know the fellow began to dodge and hedge but he hit the nail right smack on the head this guy had a controversy with God he wasn't persevering so he began to grab those verses that talk about God's preserving see oh don't you rest the scriptures to your own destruction the way God deals with a true Christian when he isn't persevering and he isn't bearing fruit he begins to lose his assurance because he sees that a Christian is one who bears fruit and if I'm not bearing fruit am I really his? and this is what drives the child of God on his knees not asking God to save him all over again but saying Lord I've lost my evidences like Christian lost his role which was his assurance and he sought it three days a night without eating until he found it and the true Christian will cry out with David oh God have mercy upon me renew in me a right spirit take not thy spirit from me he's not talking there theologically he knew that if the spirit indwelt him or if he didn't know it it was true whether he knew it or whether he knew it or not he was indwelt forever but he knew that he had lost the present operations of the spirit and you have a controversy with God and that book becomes a closed book and you won't know the operation of the Holy Spirit illuminating that book right? you won't know the spirit's quickening when you pray the worst hell this side of hell is a brassy heavens for a Christian

36:20 isn't it? to have the heavens brass not be able to sense the presence of God when you pray the application to ourselves is obvious beloved only as we're bearing fruit 30, 60, 100 fold do we have reason to believe we've received the word into good soil now you can say well I don't agree with this part of what the preacher said and I don't agree with that part well that's your privilege beloved but do you agree with the Lord that only those who are bearing fruit have received the word into good soil you believe that don't you? well if you're not bearing fruit you better cry to God to begin to make your heart good soil because you're not regardless of which end of the theological pole you're on that much is clear and then it not only has an application to ourselves personally but oh it should have a tremendous application to us in terms of those for whom we're concerned how are we going to pray for our loved ones who once were as that man in Pilgrim's Progress was found in the cage and they ask him what are you doing here? he said I once was a fair and flourishing professor I am not now what I once was he said I was a fair and a flourishing professor not of math or biology but a professor of Christianity now he was locked

Application to Loved Ones: Praying in Light of God's Word

37:48 in the iron cage of despair and they asked him is there no hope? he said I feel no hope he felt he had sinned that sin for which there is no forgiveness beloved what do you do with loved ones who once were fair and flourishing professors?

38:07 are you going to do like the woman that I heard of recently who when she began to see some of these aspects of truth she dug her heels in and she got downright angry because she's got three relatives who way back in the dim murky past made a decision and went to church for a few weeks and from that time until now there's been no evidence of a continued repentance of a continued faith of holiness obedience love to God and Christ and his people and you know what she's doing? she's clinging to that little wispy shriveled up dried up stalk that's been laying on the ground for twenty years the product of a stony ground response and she's hoping that all is well and she knew if what she was seeing in the bible was true she'd have to start believing as best she could she wasn't God but on the basis of the evidence that they'd never really been born again and she didn't want to do it and so she stuffed her fingers in her ears and said I'll just go on believing the verses that I want to believe she'd be shocked if she knew that's what she was doing but that's exactly what she's doing and she's going to do it and she's going to do it and she's going to do it and she's going to do it and she's going to do it dear ones it's not easy to think that some of those with whom we've prayed I can right now think of them they come before my eye I was brought to the Lord in the midst of a moving of the spirit a spontaneous outpouring of the spirit and wherever there's that kind of a moving that we call revival

39:35 where God breaks in sovereignly and moves upon a given community there's always a greater tendency for people to be stony ground hearers in the excitement of a moving of God people will respond and quickly many times embrace the word without counting the cost and I can think of a young woman who had a beautiful voice I've never heard a girl her age who could sing so beautifully and I remember standing in the meeting one night and singing a song it was to be a Bible study and God so owned that message that one person broke down right there and fell on his or her knees and began to call on God for mercy before the Bible was ever taught I remember praying with that young woman seeing her weep tears for the souls of men that one for three years but the burning sun of persecution from her own family rose and you know it did and for the past eleven years there's been absolutely no use whatsoever for God as revealed in the Bible for Christ and for the gospel of the glorious God and see I think of others who preached with fervency it's hard to believe that they're probably on their way to hell isn't it

41:01 but the only measure of my evaluation of anybody or anything is that book that book and I can't go any farther than it goes God alone sees the heart but he said to us by their fruits you shall know them isn't that what he said not with an infallible knowledge but with a generally reliable knowledge oh I could still hope against hope if I hear that that girl died that perhaps that girl died that perhaps the seeds of faith were yet there I could hope that but I'd be a fool to believe it and take any comfort and some of you are fools taking comfort for some of your loved ones because you've got no Bible evidence whatsoever that they've ever had good soil that has understood received kept and brought forth fruit with what not with perfection but with patience there's a difference pretty practical application is it not and that's the first and primary one I'd like to make tonight the only proof of a saving response to truth is continuance in bearing fruit but you say pastor what about the degrees well they're there aren't they thirty sixty a hundredfold could it be that this is essentially what John is talking about in first John chapter two

Degrees of Fruit and the Source of Good Ground

42:29 let's look at this for a moment first John chapter two notice what he says beginning with verse twelve I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake there we have little children I write unto you fathers because you've known him that is from the beginning fathers I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one where am I now I've dropped down I write unto you young men because you've overcome the wicked one then verse fourteen I've written unto you fathers I'm sorry I switched the two verses so you have born ones the little ones in verse twelve fathers fathers in verse thirteen young men and then fathers again in verse fourteen so you have this threefold division and I don't believe he's talking about physical fathers and children and young men for he says that there are spiritual indications of their development in these areas the father is marked by one thing the son and the young men by another and so perhaps this is what our Lord is referring to or there's a parallel here differences in degree of fruit oh the repentance of some men is so much more marked than the repentance of others but in every true child of God there's going to be some evidence of real repentance sorrow for sin

43:59 a continual turning from sin some will have a greater sensitivity because sometimes of the very temperament God has given them most of the time because they spend more time before that source of light and exposure the word of God which reveals sin they spend more time at the foot of the cross where the penitent heart is brought broken again and again when it views its sins in the light of the agonies of Golgotha and the terrible sufferings of Gethsemane but in every true Christian there's going to be the fruit of repentance some may have little children some may have young men some may have father repentance but it'll be there and degrees of faith according many times to the background where there's been greater exposure to truth the kind of teaching to which one is exposed which genders faith and feeds faith for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word and some of God's children are so starved for any solid biblical teaching it's no wonder that their faith is weak but if he's a true child of God there's going to be that fruit of faith maybe only thirty but it'll be there and the holiness and the obedience and the passion and longing to do the will of God degrees yes but in God's name don't say there's a stalk that is rooted in good soil that simply stands there fruitless for this is a contradiction of the teaching of our Lord for these are they

45:28 which receive the word into good soil who having heard bear fruit with continuance well I'd hope to get to the second principle we'll let that go for next week the Lord willing the only source of the saving response to truth is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in which the Lord willing I want to show you from the word or that we might discover together from the word that understanding receiving and fruit bearing is the only way that we can are the supernatural work of God the Spirit and that a good and honest heart is the production not of Adam but of the second Adam Christ Jesus so that if we have any hope that we will be good ground hearers we're shut up to God's infinite grace and as we pray that others may be made good ground that the seed may bear fruit we'll be shut up primarily in pleading with God for men before God before we ever plead with men for God and our greatest ministry then will not be horizontal but vertical and I trust to amplify and develop that next week but some of you will not be here God in his providence may take some of you off the scene if he does I trust you'll not go to his judgment bar fruitless for it's fruit or the fire every tree that bears not good fruit is hewn down

46:56 and I would urge you this very night to flee to Christ ask him to take of your hard and lifeless and cold and unresponsive heart and make it good soil that it might respond to the message of his grace and bear fruit to his glory I trust that some of you will do what we talked about this morning think on your ways how have you been evaluating yourself you feel your good ground because you look way back to the dim past and remember with warm glowing affection some kind of love some kind of response you made to truth would to God that he'd utterly blot out of your memory everything that leads up till today and you look in tonight and say what is there within me this very hour that testifies that God has made me good soil what fruit is there of repentance faith holiness obedience and all of these other fruits let us think upon our ways as we saw this morning and then turn our feet to the testimonies of God as you pray for your loved ones your friends will you begin to pray for them in the light of the word don't argue with God don't you pray and beg God to do something for you when you're stuffing your ears to what he said for the Bible says he that turns away his ear from hearing the law even his prayer shall be an abomination that's a hard thing to say but the prayers that some of you have been uttering for your loved ones are an abomination as you've been praying oh Lord bless Susie she's been backslidden for 85 years

48:25 but God I know she's yours because I remember when she made the decision don't turn your ear from the law of God and then pray you say Lord in the light of your word I'm not God but I see no fruit and you've said if there's no fruit there's no life Lord bring Susie to see she's a helpless hopeless deceived sinner and bring her bowing to your feet in brokenness so may God help us not only to hear and assent to but apply his truth to our own hearts our own lives our own praying our own witnessing may we unite in prayer