Good Ground Hearers Hearers Part 3

Introduction: Review of the Parable of the Sower and the Soils

0:04 Come with me, please, to the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew. As we continue, and I trust, time permitting, conclude our studies in this key parable of the parables given by our Lord, the parable of the sower, Matthew chapter 13.

0:37 I shall read the parable and then briefly review the different states of soil that we have covered in our studies and the significance of those kinds of soil as told to us by our Lord, and then focus upon certain aspects of the good soil that I trust will be helpful to us tonight. 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.

1:14 And when he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside. And the fowls 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.

1:29 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 them.

1:41 But other fell into good ground. And brought forth. And brought forth some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

1:56 And here we have the parable with its basic ingredients. The sower who sows. The sower in this case being primarily the Lord Jesus, but anyone who dispenses his truth. You have the second ingredient, the seed that is sown, which is the message of God, the word of God, according to Luke chapter 8, the parallel passage.

2:18 And then you have the soil, which are the different conditions of heart into which the word of God falls. For when our Lord interprets this parable, as he does in all three of the Gospels, here in Matthew, beginning with verse 18, likewise in Mark 4 and Luke 8, he says that the soil is a certain state of heart. And so you have the sower, the seed, and the soil. And the main thrust of this whole parable is that the state of the soil determines the fate of the seed.

2:50 And if you miss that, you've missed the purpose of the parable. The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. When the seed was dropped, it created no conditions in the soil. What happened to the seed simply revealed the condition already existing in that soil when the seed was sown.

3:15 And so our Lord is giving us a picture of four different kinds of hearers. Whenever the word of God is faithfully expounded and preached or read or dispensed over the radio or by whatever means this is done, it will always find these four different soils, these four different conditions of heart, and consequently four different kinds of response to that sowing of the seed. That one depicted by our Lord in terms of the wayside, the hard path, the footpath that goes through the field, is the thought. The thoughtless, careless hearer of the truth.

3:52 He hears the message of God, and seeing no fitness in that message in terms of any need that he has, he throws it out of his mind as a thing unworthy of serious reflection. And then the fowls of the air, whom our Lord said are a picture of the wicked one. Satan himself will snatch away that word, and this thoughtless, careless hearer goes on his way unconcerned about the things of God. Then there was the shallow surface response of the stony ground here.

4:29 The one who liked that little seed that was dropped into the soil and immediately germinated because there was a shelf of hard rock an inch or two beneath the soil. It had no root system, and as soon as the sun came, it withered and it died. The sun, which should have helped to sustain and develop its life, instead utterly destroyed, destroyed its life. And Jesus said the sun is persecution and tribulation.

4:54 This is not my interpretation, it's his. He said when tribulation and persecution arise because of the word, this person, who apparently responded with great joy and abandonment and had what to us would seem to be obvious fruits of grace, suddenly is revealed for what he is. A surface, shallow, emotional response to the gospel is all that he had, and he falls away. There was no saving response.

5:20 And then the third class are pictured in what our Lord called the soil in which there were thorn bushes. This is a picture of the person who receives the word, and there is some apparent life from that word, but there has been an insincere repentance. He has spared some darling lusts, and eventually what was spared in his response to the gospel chokes out any seeming evidence of the fruit of the gospel. Judas is a classic example.

5:51 Just as those thorns grew up with the seed and ultimately choked it and there was no bearing of fruit. Now for two weeks we have been looking at the fourth class of hearer, the one that our Lord calls the good soil hearer. And as we've studied this passage we have tried to bring into focus several great principles. The second one we've just touched on we're going to expand it tonight, but let me for the sake of emphasis.

Principle 1: The Only Source of a Saving Response is a Supernatural Work of the Holy Spirit

6:20 and because we have a number of visitors here, just take a moment to review the first one. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 23, He that receives 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. And the first great principle that we have seen in our study of this matter of the good soil is that the only source, now follow me closely, the only source of a saving response to truth is a direct, supernatural, personal work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of the man. This is called by the theologians the effectual calling of God. For notice carefully, Jesus said the one who receives seed into good ground is the man who hears, who understands, and who bears fruit. And we spent a whole hour asking and seeking to answer this simple question.

7:30 Can fallen man, man as he now is as a result of the fall,

7:38 can he savingly understand and savingly embrace truth apart from a direct, supernatural, personal, distinguishing work of the Holy Spirit in his heart? Some would answer yes, that all men have the ability when once they hear the gospel to embrace it. We have gone to the scriptures and seen that this is not the teaching of the Bible. For the scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2.14 the natural man cannot, and that's a word of ability, he cannot perceive the truth of God. That's why Jesus said except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot know, see, perceive. John 3 and verse 3. He cannot perceive the kingdom of God.

8:26 The first work in bringing a person to conversion is a supernatural work of illumination. That's why when God commissioned his servant Paul, he said, Paul, I'm sending you to the Gentiles, Acts 26 and verse 18, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin. There is no receiving of forgiveness by union with Christ until there is first of all spiritual illumination. We find that right here in this passage.

9:02 Notice carefully in verse 15 of Matthew 13. For this people's heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and be converted. Notice conversion, does not precede illumination. It follows.

9:25 There must be spiritual sight, there must be spiritual hearing, spiritual perception, then and only then will there be a saving response to the truth of God. And so we have sought to come to some understanding of this tremendous truth of the Scripture that the only source of a saving response to truth is a direct, supernatural and personal work of God. Of the Holy Spirit. You say, Pastor, why fight for a principle like this?

Practical Implications of the First Principle: Humility and God-Honoring Evangelism

9:57 Because it has tremendous practical implications.

10:02 If you have been given to savingly perceive truth so that Jesus Christ and His Gospel is not just a bunch of words but it has become the power of God unto salvation, it's only because as our Lord says here in verse 16, but blessed are your eyes for they see. And blessed are your eyes for they see. And blessed are your ears for they hear. He didn't say wise are your eyes or powerful.

10:28 He says they've been blessed. When something blessed, it's passive. It has received something from another. When our Lord blessed the little children, they were passive.

10:37 He conferred something upon them. When the priest would come out in the old covenant and lift his hands and bless the congregation, they were the passive recipients of His blessing. Jesus said to His disciples, You see and your ears hear and you understand, but the only reason is that you have been the recipients of the blessing of God which has opened the eyes and unstopped the ears and has given you understanding in divine truth. And so the practical implications of a recognition of this truth are tremendous.

11:09 It brings the child of God to that place where he bows in the presence of his God and acknowledges, Oh God, the only reason I know you is because you have first visited me to open my eyes, and unstopped my deafened ears. It will have tremendous practical implications as we deal with others. We won't think that getting a person saved is simply cleverly manipulating a few verses until we get them to nod to some facts stated in the Bible. That's the quickest way to send people to hell I know.

11:42 And just to get them to nod their head to a few facts in the Bible. But we will speak to men. And we will witness to men. But with the recognition, God, you've got to open their eyes.

11:54 You must unstop the ears. You must give them an inner ear and an inner eye. And you must open the understanding. And it will shut us up to prayer.

12:04 And it will shut us up to God-honoring methods as we seek to communicate the gospel. All of the dishonoring, God-dishonoring methods of communicating the gospel in our day have their roots in a defective understanding of this principle. That's why every kind of psychological gimmick and trick is being used to manipulate men into making a profession of faith based upon a few verses in the Bible. It's because we have been cursed with a theology that says men have ability of themselves to savingly understand and embrace the truth of God.

12:39 And we're living with the fruit of it. And our churches are filled with it. Joyce mentioned her Sunday school class up in Canada is filled with it. I've just come from two camps and conferences with young people.

12:51 Whew! Whew! People who say they see no beauty in Christ that has ravished their hearts. They see no terror in the holiness of God that causes them to tremble.

13:06 They see no awfulness in the impending wrath of God upon sinners that moves them to be sober about life. And yet they glibly talk about receiving Christ. They've never seen Him. They've never had their eyes opened.

13:18 And they're the products of a defective view in this very area of truth which we're touching. Now I don't want to re-preach what I preached three weeks ago. I want to move to the second great principle that's found here in the good soil. The only source of the saving response to truth, a direct work of the Spirit, the second great principle, the only proof of a saving response to the Gospel, is continuance in fruit bearing.

Principle 2: The Only Proof of a Saving Response is Continuance in Fruit Bearing

13:52 You got it? The only source, a direct work of the Spirit, the only proof of a saving response, a continuance in fruit bearing. Notice the wording in verse 23. He that receives seed into good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

14:18 And then there is in the parallel passage a very helpful little commentary or additional word in Luke chapter 8 and verse 15. Here we have the parallel passage. Notice what is said here. Luke 8 and verse 15.

14:34 But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, and I trust now you realize how it becomes an honest and good heart, by that direct and supernatural work of the Spirit, Acts 16, 14 says of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened so that she attended to the things that were spoken of Paul. It's only this sovereign work of the Spirit that makes a good and honest heart. That is able to savingly embrace the truth. Now notice what he says in verse 15.

15:10 Which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. Continuous endurance. That's the word. So what proof do I have that I have savingly responded to the message of the gospel?

15:32 Here's the only proof I can have. That I am bringing forth fruit with patience. For of none of the other is it said they brought forth fruit. Now I said last week something I've got to take back.

15:44 I said of none of the other did it say they received the word. And it does say of the stony ground person that he did receive the word. So I have to take that back. But I've been a bit more careful this time.

15:53 Check this out. And none of the others yielded fruit. That was the whole problem. They had some semblance of life.

16:01 The stony ground here, there was a little bit of life that came up out of the ground. The sun came in it with it. With the thorny ground here, there was that stalk that grew up, but ere long it was choked and it brought forth no fruit to perfection, the scripture says. But the distinguishing mark of the soil that was good, of the soil that is a picture of a saving response to the gospel is this.

16:24 There was a continuance in fruit bearing. I want to ask and answer this question. What is fruit? In all three of the gospels it says these are they who having received the word bring forth fruit.

Defining 'Fruit' and the Interplay of Preservation and Perseverance

16:37 What is fruit? Well, I think in the most general sense we can say fruit is first of all conversion, which involves repentance and faith, turning from sin unto God, turning unto God through Jesus Christ, turning away from sin, turning unto God in Christ, resting the weight of our souls upon him. That seed received on the stony ground, it sprang up and you think, my, look at that. There seems to be some real life.

17:10 Ah, but time proved that it didn't have life, for time's the great prover and revealer of a genuine work of grace. And so the continuance in this course of fruit bearing is the proof of a saving response. To understand it, we've got to be able to put together certain truths that many Christians have been unable to put together. And it takes grace from God to try to communicate this.

17:36 It takes the illumination of the Holy Spirit to enable us to grasp it. Let me share several principles that I trust will help us. The Bible teaches, first of all, that God preserves his saints, but that his saints persevere in holiness, obedience, and faith. The Bible teaches both the preservation of the people of God and the perseverance of the people of God.

18:00 Now, I did not say the Bible teaches God is preserving for his kingdom those who simply make a decision. No. He's preserving his saints, those who have been supernaturally joined to his Son by this special, distinguishing, powerful work of the Holy Spirit of which we spoke earlier. And the Bible is full of passages that I would be terribly embarrassed at did I believe that Jesus Christ lost any of those whom he had joined to himself.

18:29 He says in John 6, 39, This is the will of my Father, that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing, nothing but raise it up at the last day. He says in John chapter 10, I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. That classic passage in Romans 8, the Scripture says whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Moreover, whom he foreknow, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

19:06 He didn't lose one. All that he calls he justifies. All that he justifies he'll glorify. God is preserving his people.

19:14 Now that's not my message tonight, but we've got to see that to tie some things together. But the same Bible that teaches God preserves his saints also teaches that the saints whom he's preserving persevere. They continue to bring forth fruit with patience. Now let me give you some passages.

Biblical Evidence for Perseverance of the Saints

19:34 I won't make any comment on them. But again, I would be terribly embarrassed at these passages if I believed the doctrine that's common in our day that if you simply nodded to the fact that Christ died on the cross and raised your hand and are going forward to the meeting, you're secure in Christ and now live like the devil and chase around and neglect God and the church and you're still all safe in Jesus. That's heresy. If I believed that, I'd be embarrassed at some of these passages.

20:01 Listen to me. Listen to me. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 22, He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. He said the same in Matthew 24, 13.

20:12 He that endureth to the end shall be saved. John 8, 32. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Jesus said in John 15, I am the vine, ye are the branches.

20:29 If anyone abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and men gather them and they are cast into the fire. The fire to be burned. Romans 2, 7 says, Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality. Hebrews 3, verses 12 to 14.

20:51 Let us exhort one another daily while it is called a day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we continue steadfast unto the end. Colossians chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. Speaking of the glorious inheritance that is the portion of God's people.

21:16 We read, If we continue rooted in steadfast and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. You take Revelation chapter 2 and 3. The seven letters to the seven churches. I want you to turn to them.

21:29 And I can't quote those from memory. So I need to turn to them too. Revelation chapter 2. Notice.

21:37 The close of every single message to the churches. Revelation 2, verse 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

22:00 Now is that some special blessing? Is there a group of overcomers and then not overcomers? Some will eat of the tree and some will sit there and drool? No.

22:10 You notice as we read on that the overcomers, the man who overcomes, he who makes it and all others don't. Notice. To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life. Verse 11.

22:20 He that hath an ear, let him hear. He that overcometh shall not be heard at the second death. Indicating you don't overcome, the second death will sting you which is hell according to Revelation 20 and verse 15. So the overcomers are not some special class.

22:37 It's this same truth that though God is preserving all who are His saints, those who are His saints are persevering, bearing fruit with continuance. They are overcoming. We read down. Verse 17.

22:51 To him that overcometh. The middle of the verse. I will give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone and a new name written which no man knoweth. We find the same thing all the way through these passages.

23:04 To him that overcometh. Verse 26. I will give power over the nations. Chapter 3.

23:11 Verse 5. He that overcometh. The shame shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but will confess his name before my Father. The only one he's going to confess before his Father.

23:22 The overcomers. The overcomers. Seven times. Seven times.

23:26 Now I'd be terribly embarrassed if I believed this doctrine that's popular in our day. Once saved, always saved no matter how you live. Because that puts together two things that are utter impossibilities. For one thing, it's not possible for you to be saved if you don't believe in this doctrine that's popular in our day.

23:42 Once saved, always saved. For if I am saved, I'm saved. From what? Not just from hell to come.

23:49 But I'm saved as part of a total purpose of God which involves saving me not only from the penalty of sin but from the power of sin and increasingly from the defilement of sin and one day from the very presence of sin. So God preserves his saints. The Bible teaches that his sheep will never perish. All that the Father's given him shall come to him and he won't lose any.

God's Preserving Manifested in Our Persevering

24:15 And the same Bible teaches that all his saints are those who persevere in holiness and obedience and in faith. And we've got to see that principle found in those two propositions. And the second great principle is this, that his preserving of me comes to light in my persevering. How do I know God's preserving me?

24:38 Do I go out somewhere and sit in a log and meditate and put some electrodes on my temple or on my heart and somehow try to get in tune with the infinite? No, this isn't what I do. How do I know he's preserving me? His preserving comes to my recognition in my persevering.

24:55 You say, I don't follow you yet, Pastor. Well, stick with me. Stick with me. I want you to turn to Philippians.

25:02 I think we can see this in two wonderful passages here. Philippians chapter one, beginning with verse three. Philippians chapter one, beginning with verse three. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with God and making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from this first day until now, being confident of this very thing.

25:34 He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, even as it's meet or right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ and I pray that your love may abound, et cetera. You see what Paul says? He says, I'm confident that he who's begun a good work is going to carry it on.

26:09 I'm confident that you're being preserved with God because I see the manifestations of your perseverance in the will of God. I see you standing with me in my concern for the spread of the gospel. I see you identified with me in my longing to propagate the message and so if he sees the Philippians persevering, he rejoices that God is with him. Look at Philippians 2.

26:32 You see the same thing. Two principles put back to back in a wonderful way. Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

26:53 That's persevering, isn't it? You work it out for God who worketh in you both to will and to do this good pleasure. How do I know God's working in me to will and to do? As I see the evidence of my working out with fear and trembling.

27:12 You see? And God's inworking is manifested in my outworking. I can't read you tonight. I don't know whether the bells are flashing.

27:25 Turn to 1 Peter. Maybe another passage will help. 1 Peter chapter 1. Trying to grasp and preserve it in His grace comes to light in my persevering in holiness, obedience and righteousness.

27:39 1 Peter chapter 1. Notice verses 3 through 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We are kept by His power.

28:16 We are kept through faith. We are kept unto the consummation of redemption. Now, how do I know God is keeping? Well, I know because of the promise of His word.

28:30 But how do I know I am one of those included in the commandments as I am unable to continue to go on in faith? As the act of faith has become the disposition of faith and I find that I am going from glory unto glory, His keeping is manifested in my believing. His preserving comes to light in my persevering. Now, this will likewise have some practical effects once we understand this and the Lord makes it real to us.

Practical Effects: Self-Examination and Humility

29:05 Now, if I am not persevering in holiness, obedience, faith, fruits, the graces of the Spirit, humility, hunger for God, hatred for sin, pursuit of holiness, if I am not persevering, I have no grounds to claim that I have ever had a saving response to the truth. For Jesus said, These are they which receive the seed into good ground, who, receiving the word in a good and honest way, have the fruit with patience, continuous. Is there evidence of continuous fruit in your life? I don't mean every single hour of every single day of every single week, but as you look back now, look back over the past six months, look back over the past year, look back over the past two years, can you honestly, as honestly now as you must in the day of judgment, face yourself and face what the Bible says are the fruits in response to the gospel and say that there's been some evidence of these things in your life? John says, Hereby do we know that we know him if we are keeping his commandments. Have those two years been marked in their general drift and bent in direction in a seeking to know and do the commandments of the living God? If not, don't you talk anymore about being saved?

30:33 You're resting the scriptures to your own destruction. For Jesus said, Those who receive the fruit with continuance, with patience, with perseverance. It's absolute folly to believe we're saved when there's no evidence that the saving work of God is going on in our hearts. For all whom God saves, he purposes to save with a salvation that is not static, something that is done here and dropped until the day of the resurrection.

31:04 No. He that begins the good work carries it on and the carrying on is the process of sanctification. Then there's the regeneration. Then there's repentance and faith and sanctification and one day glorification.

31:19 And the only proof I have in the present moment that he's become the good work is that I see manifested in my life the fruit of sanctification, holiness, hunger for God, tenderness to sin, humility. And so one of the practical effects that this ought to have to some of you tonight is to utterly cut out from underneath you the ground upon which you've been resting in the presence of the almighty God that he would do whatever must be done to make your heart a fit recipient of his word that you might bear fruit to his praise and to his glory. The scripture says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works and until he is pleased to do a supernatural work in your heart there'll never be the good works. There'll never be the fruit with continuance. Cannot be. But when we're his workmanship there must be.

32:14 There must be. It should have a negative effect tonight. It should cause some of you to despair and send you down before God in brokenness crying to him for mercy. And it ought to have an effect upon those who can say by the grace of God yes, as I look back I'm ashamed at how nubby and hard and small the fruit has been at times.

32:36 I'm ashamed at how low has been the stream of grace. When there should be at times a mighty river a mighty torrent rushing upward in devotion to God sort of just a little trickling stream. But by the grace of God I do discern some of those things that God says are the fruit of the work of his grace. When you look back and you say how in the world have I been able in the midst of a wicked world with a wicked devil going around like a roaring lion and with the remains of my own wicked corruption how have I been enabled to persevere?

33:10 Beloved, when I look back fourteen years and I see all the times where I've been as I look back now on the very abyss of unapostasy and giving myself over to the flesh or to pride or to the world or the devil I say oh God how is it that I've just come to the precipice and been turned away time after time so that now fourteen years after you began a work I stand and I'm not an apostate. So Lord there's only one answer you're preserving me by your grace. Only one answer that he's praying for me. As he said to Peter Satan hath desired thee to sift thee as wheat but I have prayed for thee. When I read John 17 where he prays Father keep them from the evil one sanctify them by the truth and then I love that prayer I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am well he says only the overcomers are going to be with him and I say Lord there's no hope for me to overcome with a wicked world and a wicked devil that remains of a wicked heart. Lord Jesus in the hour of trial Jesus plead for me lest by base denial I would turn from thee. Oh what a humbling thing to realize if I've been unable to persevere it's only because he's been preserving me.

Conclusion: Call to Repentance and Continued Faith

34:36 That's the only reason dear one that's the only reason. So it sends you down in your face crying grace grace nobody gets to heaven without perseverance and nobody's found in heaven on the back because we know that just as much as the beginning of that salvation is all the work of God so the continuance and the completion is all of him so the redeemed who've overcome are not going around polishing their crowns and hanging a sign and saying look at my crown I overcame this terrible concept that only some super duper Christians are going to overcome and get a crown so big they'll go around with a backache for the ages of eternity dear ones it's unscriptural and it dishonors my God all who make it are overcomers and they're overcomers because he preserved them that's why they brought forth fruit with patience continuance and so tonight if you're here and there is no evidence of fruit being born with continuance in your life settle it my dear friend you have no grounds to claim you're a Christian none whatsoever no Bible grounds to claim you're a Christian one of the most wonderful things happened this week at this camp where I was ministering I told one of the preachers I said if God could only get about 30 of these kids lost good and hopelessly lost I would feel the week

36:04 had been worthwhile been worthwhile if only a half a dozen or a dozen or 20, 30 kids would get hopelessly lost then the Lord might save them oh they're lost but they didn't know but they made a trip down an aisle in the dim murky past and living like the devil ever since the girls going around looking like little miniature Brigid Bardot's and the fellas falling all over them all the rest and yet talking about knowing Christ and the last night I'll never forget when one of the girls stood up sister to one of the pastor's wives and she said what I'm going to say is different from what others have said she said I'm convinced the result of this week of ministry I'm not saved and the thought of going to hell isn't a pleasant one I want you to pray for me that's the best thing that could happen to some of you here tonight to say if that's true if the only person who has savingly responded to the word is the one who brings forth fruit with patience I've got no grounds to claim that I've ever savingly responded to the word and that despair if it would drive you down in your face and begin to cry to God that he would so work in your heart that you might be enabled to embrace his truth and see his son and see the glory that beams from the crucified Lord until your heart is ravished by his love

37:32 for the most blessed night and oh dear child of God I trust in your study tonight you'll be filled with a humbling sense of gratitude have you been enabled to make it along the way what about those friends who started the Christian race the same time you did think of them now can you think of some I can think of them their names come to my mind right now back in 1952 when God in his grace laid hold of me there were others I prayed with them I can remember some of them weeping in prayer I preached on the street corner with them and today from all evidences they're utter apostates utter apostates they've gone back to the hog pens into the world and they want nothing to do with the Savior and I say God why the potential is in me as much as them and I have no explanation but with my Savior who bore me on his heart from eternity who bears me on his heart in the Father's presence and so I can't go around and say I'm better than them I have to fall and say Lord I am what I am the grace of God and so it fills with a sense of humility and then it gives you a grounds of faith how in the world can you continue to bear fruit because God's purpose that you should

39:02 now abide and you say well pastor will I ever outrun in my persevering God's preserving you never need worry about that people will sit back so afraid that maybe they'll strive and struggle a little bit too hard and get in the realm of the flesh that's not our problem every time you strive and struggle and fight and wrestle and those are all biblical words you work out with fear and trembling your working out is never going to outstrip God's working in it'll be but the manifestation of what he's working in as your perseverance brings to life his mighty preserve and I believe that's the second great principle found in the good soil here the first principle only a supernatural work of God can produce a saving response to the truth the second great principle the only proof of a saving response to the truth is the continuance in the bearing of God may the Lord himself apply this word with power to our hearts be we saint or sinner in Christ or out of Christ and may we not leave and prove that we were stony ground hearers who because we could not immediately see the relevance of this truth to us said ah too much bother to think about it too much bother to try to fit it all together persevering preserving to understand that you think it unworthy of serious meditation the enemy will snatch

40:31 that seed away others of you may be tempted to say ah this is wonderful tremendous and before you face the real implications you'll be tempted to respond simply on the heat of emotion no you stop count the cost to persevere in a way of holiness and obedience and righteousness in a wicked world will cost you something Jesus said it will mean plucking out right eyes and cutting off right hands you'll be tempted to say ah yes I realize there isn't the evidence and fruit of new life and I want to embrace the savior don't you leave some thorns there don't you leave some roots of the thorns of pride and lust and rebellion against God or whatever else it is that you cry to God for a thorough work of repentance so that the heart will be cleared of all those roots that the seed of the gospel may take deep root and spring forth into the fruit that will continue to abide may the Lord help us in this life and in the life of this world amen