Testing the Soil
Notes
Transcript
What is the point of praying for personal renewal and renewal for UABC? The point is, if we ever think for one minute that we have somehow arrived, we are doomed. Personal, daily renewal is commanded in Scripture in Romans 12:2.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
I want to encourage you to keep working through the 40 days. You see, we don’t want to become like King David who was ready to execute the man the Prophet Nathan spoke of until he realized, by Nathan’s words when he said, “You are the man.” Then David was cut to the heart because he was made aware of His great sin toward God. He penned the words of Psalm 51 from that moment of realization.
You see, the problem is always the heart. For David, he was not in the right place where he should have been as king. With 2020 being a difficult year for so many, we need to understand that renewal doesn’t come from a new year.
Voddie Baucham is quoted as saying, “We are not seeing terrible things in our culture because we vote the wrong way. We are seeing terrible things in our culture because men love darkness rather than light.”
The Bible doesn’t fulfill its promises with the turn of the calendar but rather with the turning of our hearts back to God. Repent and believe is what the Bible teachers. Believing and placing your hope for peace in institutions, governments, and mankind will only ever bring disappointment.
Let’s look this morning at one of the Parables that Jesus taught to the crowds. If you’re following along in the 40 days of prayer, then you read this today so it will be familiar to you, but don’t let it be so familiar that you tune out the words of Jesus as He invites you in verse 9 that if you have ears…listen...
1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.
2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying, “Consider the sower who went out to sow.
4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep.
6 But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it.
8 Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown.
9 Let anyone who has ears listen.”
Jesus teaches this parable on the different responses from the heart of man by using a simple agricultural picture. We need to think agriculturally, not industrially. Sorry for those who are engineers or in some other trade, but today, we must think like farmers. Think gardens, not laboratories.
The Soils
The Soils
Jesus describes for us how the crowds heard and responded to His teaching, including the parables.
His first parable in this series is the Parable of the Sower, but the soil is the key variable to the story. The Sower and the Seed do not change.
The Sower - Jesus, either directly while He was on earth or indirectly through His disciples. That messages is the seed...
The Seed - The message of salvation, the Preaching of the Word. The good news of the Kingdom, that God will save and redeem sinners through Christ.
A farmer is going to sow some seed. Today, farmers use trackers to sow seeds and even so they’ll use GPS to make sure they are planted at the right depth, location, spacing, etc.
In this day, there were two common practices of sowing. Either the farmer would plow the soil first, then sow the seed, OR, he would sow the seed and then plow the seed under so that it would take hold. Both were common.
The seed fell in four different places which of course will have different results.
The Soils —> The Human Heart
Now of course the Scripture isn’t talking about the cardiac muscle, but rather the Hebrew defines the heart as the seat of emotion, desire, thought, and decision. The Greek word is Kardia which covers a wide range of meanings which relate to the inner being - thinking, grieving, rejoicing, desire, understanding, and decision-making, and the will.
Now sin resides in our hearts (Romans 1:21).
21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
But Jesus knows our hearts. In fact, before Jesus our heart is an open book. He knows our hearts, he tests our hearts, searches them, strengthens them, convicts the heart, and can reveal our motives.
So I’d say Jesus is uniquely qualified to teach this parable about the kind of heart this crowd had, because He had first hand knowledge. The same is true today.
The Path/Hard Places - The Hard/Calloused Heart
This person isn’t hostile to the message…but he/she fails to act upon the message given. Eventually the heart is hardened after much reproof.
Consequence - The birds came and ate it up.
Paths ran through the fields as people would travel through the fields to get where they were going.
Of the path was worn, much like you see on our numerous hiking trails. You understand that…on either side of the trail is lush vegetation, but in that trail is mud, muck, or rock depending on where you are hiking. Not much can or will grow there.
Here though, the seed fell and was easily picked up by the birds. You know when you see your neighbor mowing their yard, what is always around? Birds, they’re opportunists. Its easy pickin’.
Who is this referring to?
You hear the parable, the truth, but don’t perceive the spiritual truth of the parable. Thus satan jumps in and snatches away what has been sown into the hearer’s heart. Matthew 13:19
The hardened heart is one that is faithless and opposed to God and His ways.
Proverbs 28:14
14 Happy is the one who is always reverent, but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
Zechariah 7:12
12 They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the Lord of Armies.
The heart hardened by rejecting the Word is a rejection of God’s will, and a rejection of His desire to extend grace to you.
Romans 2:5
5 Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.
Ephesians 4:17-19
17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts.
18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.
19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
Those with a hard heart are ultimately rejected in the end.
Key to change the hardened heart? Ephesians 4:20-24 - Knowing Jesus Christ
20 But that is not how you came to know Christ,
21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus,
22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,
23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
Why trust Christ Jesus? Because HE is TRUTH.
This is why we must pray and seek the Lord…we need that renewal, daily renewal, so that our hearts are not hardened to the truth of grace and mercy.
Rocky Ground - The Superficial Heart - Little to no soil. It grew up but lacked the essential nutrients of the soil, it was shallow in its roots, and couldn’t survive the blazing heat. I might equate this kind of soil to what we find here. I see it around Diamond Head…a little bit of rain and it turns green quickly, but then it doesn’t stay green very long once the rain stops.
Sounds a little better here because this seed begins to grow, quickly too.
In fact, the reception of the seed is one of excitement, interest, and joy!
But interest and excitement are insufficient unless you truly come to Jesus.
Last week Pastor Brent spoke from Colossians 2:6-7.
6 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him,
7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.
What is the difference between this heart in Colossians and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd heart in Jesus’ parable?
THE ROOT!
The layer of soil here was thin, the seed had no root, and when the heat from the sun came down it couldn’t withstand it, and it withered.
The Sun - distress, persecution because of the Word.
We might use the term “easy-believism” here.
We know someone, perhaps even prayed with them, and a year or two later, they are no were to be found. Difficulty came and they walked away.
This is the heart that fails to submit to the rule and reign of Christ. This is the person that says, “I want the Savior Jesus but you can keep the Lord Jesus.”
It’s like drinking Coke Zero, all the flavor of the real thing but none of the sugary consequences.
The Key to changing this heart - Read Hebrews 10:32-39 —> Hebrews 10:35-39
35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.
37 For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.
The Thorns - The Distracted Heart Thorns choked the life out of any growth of the seed.
This divided heart hears the Word but there is no room for it because the cares of this life, the wealth of this world will consume you and eat you alive.
There is danger here for the quasi christian. The quasi Christian succumbs to the pressures of life. This doesn’t happen as fast as the seed which fell along the path, but rather at a seemingly much slower pace.
Priorities are bank accounts, status amongst the community, and the pleasures of life. These will seduce and pull them away from walking with the Lord.
Another illustration - Frog illustration - Drop a frog in boiling water he’ll jump out, slowly turn the heat up and you’ll be eating frog legs for dinner.
The Key - Jesus had something to say about the worries of this world - Matthew 6:25-34 - Matthew 6:33
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
Jesus also asked this important question, “What does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life?” Mark 8:36-37
4. The Good Ground - The Fruitful Heart -Produced fruit, the roots took hold, the nutrients and moisture were just right and they produced 100, 60, or 30 times.
The fruitful heart is the heart full of faith. He/She hears the Word, understands the Word, and bears fruit because of faithful obedience.
This is what happens when surrendered hearts rule the day. Surrendered areas of our life to Christ and surrendered to being used of God and the gracious gifts He’s provided to glorify Him.
John 15:5 -Abide in Jesus and bear much fruit.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
Phil 1:9-11
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
Colossians 1:5b-6 - but read into it from 1:3
5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel
6 that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace.
This kind of heart is evidenced by a person completely sold out for Jesus and living to fulfill the mission and purposes of God for God’s glory.
APPLICATION
The question is, what kind of heart do YOU have?
Are you rejecting the message of the Gospel?
Did you pray years ago, but have seen little fruit?
2020 was hard for many, and a turn of the calendar hasn’t changed anything. Are you calloused toward the Word of God, are you shallow with no root/foundation in Christ, are you distracted, or productive? I pray that if you hear His voice today, do not harden your heart, but may it be softened to the Lord Jesus.
There is one more point of application here:
The Sower was Jesus, but then it becomes the apostles, now it is the Church. Yes…don’t stop sowing the Seed. This time last year we worked through “Who’s Your One?” and then Covid came on like a bird snatching the seed from the hard ground.
It isn’t our job to make that seed grow. But it is our job to sow it. Don’t stop sowing the seeds of God’s grace and mercy.
Hope, pray, and trust the Lord will bring the harvest.