Receiving the Word

Introduction

Jesus Parables were ingeniously simple word pictures with profound spiritual lessons. His teaching was full of these everyday stories. Some of them were no more than fleeting remarks about common place incidents, objects, or persons. In fact, the most compact of all Jesus’ short stories does not fill a complete verse of Scripture.

Jesus was the Master storyteller. There is not a truth so familiar or a doctrine so complex (according to John Maxwell.) These narratives epitomize the plain, powerful depth of His message and His teaching style.

Wrong thinking About Parables

Despite the popularity of the parables, both the method and the meaning behind Jesus’ use of parables is many times misunderstood and misrepresented, even by Bible scholars and experts in literary genre.

Many assume that parables are simply to make his teaching easy, accessible, and as comfortable as possible.

The parables were full of familiar features easily recognizable scenes, agricultural and pastoral metaphors, household items, and common people. It was without question a brilliant teaching method that many teachers and pastors seek to employ today.

Some suggest that Jesus’ use of parables prove storytelling is a better method for teaching spiritual truth.

Many have the idea that stories pack a better punch than the plain discourse of the reading of scripture. Tell a story, Jesus did. This has led to many pulpits that are devoid of the word of God. (I had one family tell me after sitting in our service that they heard more scripture in on message then they have heard spoken from the pulpit in a year.)

Some contend that the default form of preaching in the church should always be narrative as apposed to expository .

Therefore, the argument goes, storytelling should be every pastors go to method - if not the only style of preaching we ever use. Unfortunately this is the style of preaching that dominates the majority of megachurches pulpits. The key people on the Church staff are those whose whole job is to coordinate a service that make the service seem as modern day as possible and rewrite the text to fit the modern day mindset of its people.

We are told over and over again that preachers need to see themselves as storytellers, not expositors and teachers of doctrine.

Why Parables?

While parables illustrate and clarify truth for those with “ears to hear” - a phrase Jesus often repeats in His narratives - they have the opposite effect on those who oppose and reject Christ. The symbolism hides the truth from anyone without the discipline or desire to seek out Christ’s meaning. This is one of the reasons why jesus adopted this style of teaching. It was a divine judgment against those who met His teaching with scorn, unbelief, and apathy.

All the above views are wrong and dangerous. Because they take only part of the truth into account. Consider, for example, the common belief that the sole reason Jesus used parables was to make hard truths as clear, familiar, and easy to grasp as possible. When Jesus Himself explained why He spoke in parables, He gave practically the opposite reason:

“The disciples came to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them:

Matthew 13:10–15 ESV

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Twofold purpose of Jesus Parables

1) Parables hid the truth from the self-righteous who had no desire to seek truth.

2) Parables revealed truth to those eager to hear the truth.

Parable of the Sower

Jesus is continuing about the country side into villages and towns proclaiming the good news of the KINGDOM of GOD. There were twelve following along with Jesus along with some women who had been healed by Jesus of evil spirits and infirmities: such as Mary Magdalene, from whom 7 demons were cast out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and my others, who provided for them out of their means.

The clash with the Pharisees just prior to this scene had taken place in the home of a Pharisee close to the shore of Galilee.

Shortly after the dispute ended, Matthew 13:1-2 says, “on the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And a great multitude were gathered together to Him, so much that he had to get into a small fishing boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.” Luke, describing the same event, likewise stresses the size and diversity of the crowds that gathered: “They had come to Him from every city.”

Luke 8:4–15 ESV

4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Jesus had twice fed swarms of people numbering thousands. The typical tally would only include adult men, so the crowds could actually have been much larger. No matter how many heads were counted.

The safest way for him to teach such a crowd would have been from the boat. The crowds would then line the shore to get within earshot of Jesus as he taught. The hills overlooking the Galilean shore would form a natural amphitheater, and if there were even a slight onshore breeze, Jesus’ voice would carry so that thousands might hear Him clearly.

But from this point on, only those willing to listen faithfully would get the message.

America is still a "Christian nation," if the term simply means a majority of the population will claim the label when a pollster calls. But, as a new Pew Research report explains, the decline of Christianity in the United States "continues at a rapid pace." A bare 65 percent of Americans now say they're Christians, down from 78 percent as recently as 2007. The deconverted are mostly moving away from religion altogether, and the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated—the "nones"—have swelled from 16 to 26 percent over the same period. If this rate of change continues, the US will be majority non-Christian by about 2035, with the nones representing well over one third of the population.

In what remains of the American church, reactions to this decline will vary. Some will see it as a positive, revealing of what was always true. America was never really a Christian nation. What we're seeing is less mass deconversion than a belated honesty. Others will respond to this shift with sadness, alarm, or outright fear. If you believe that your religion communicates a necessary truth about God, the universe, humanity, the purpose of life, and how we should live it—well, then a precipitous decline in that religion is an inherently horrible thing with eternal implications for millions

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was mocked for saying that she hears Gods voice; why, I don’t hear His voice!” Joan replied, “Don’t you wish you did?”

Matthew 11:15 “He who has ears let Him hear”

Ears are the feature here, so, to not have ears would be unnatural to the human body so, when Jesus recognizes those who have ears He is referring to all of those who have been given his words not matter their age, ethnicity, language or social status.

There is a difference between having ears, and having ears to hear.

1. How is your Hearing?

Authentic believers intently observe God’s Word, move to learn the most they can from it, and are changed. This part of living the life of an authentic believer could be associated with our sense of sound. Let’s conduct an experiment:

Can young people hear sounds that adults cannot? We are told that young people can hear the frequencies more profoundly than adults.

Compare this observation to a young person’s willingness to remember what they heard and to actively change their ways because of their pliability, as opposed to the rigidity older adults often experience.

800hz - everyone should hear 1500hz - people over 40 should not hear 1700hz no one over 18 should hear this.

Matthew 18:3–4 ESV

3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Note: What does Jesus mean when he speaks of mysteries (NASB) (secrets ESV). This is not some sort of esoteric secret advanced stage of enlightenment teaching.

A biblical mystery was some spiritual truth that was obscure or totally hidden under the old Covenant but now has been fully revealed in the New Covenant of Grace. The fact that Gentiles would now be grafted in is a mystery, “which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.

The spirit was a mystery.

The gospel itself was a mystery.

The incarnation of Christ was a mystery.

A mystery in itself, it is also the one idea above all others that Satan will do his utmost to prevent from taking root in their hearts (see 8:12).

And when the matter is further complicated by the self-evident fact that many professions of salvation are not genuine confessions of faith, they are inclined to dismiss the whole thing as incomprehensible if not a delusion.

*Difficulty in understanding Salvation is to be Expected

God’s way is not our way, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8–9 ESV

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Note: So a “mystery (in the sense that Jesus is using the term) is something either partially or completely hidden at one time that has now been fully revealed. Our Lord is about to start taking the lid off everything the Old Testament kept shrouded in symbolism, and prophecies.

NOTE: Look earlier in Chapter 7 as John the Baptist sends his disciples to verify that Jesus is the Messiah. Even John struggled with the mystery of what Jesus was doing. John preached “you brood of vipers, one is coming and judgement and wrath are coming with Him. This appearing of Jesus brought Salvation and healing.

So, this difficulty in understanding Salvation is to be expected. God’s Salvation is a plan completely devised by God and revealed by God.

*The Secret of the kingdom is now an open Secret.

How has the Secret been decoded?

Revealed through His word.

Revealed through Christ and his apostles. (the eyewitness accounts)

People will never understand the secrets of the kingdom of God unless Christ first reveals it to them through speaking the living word of God into their hearts.

This does not mean that certain people are automatically forever excluded from the possibility of understanding Salvation; Consider what happened in the parable of the sower. This explains the process that is set in motion once the word of God is preached with all its living power to produce faith and with faith Salvation and the understanding of Salvation.

The disciples even struggled with understanding the parable like the rest of the crowd, the only difference is they came seeking the truth from Jesus. They had the honest and good heart.

2. How is your Heart?

Luke 7:36-49 Prior to Jesus telling of the following parable He goes to eat at the house of a pharisee. While he is there a woman comes in with an alabaster jar of ointment, typically used to anoint someones body for burial. She is weeping so that her tears begin to fall on Jesus feet so she wipes them with her hair. She kissed his feet and began to anoint them with the ointment.

Notice the story starts off by pointing out that this woman was a sinner. When the Pharisee who invited Jesus to his house saw this he became indignant exclaiming if this man really was a prophet sent from God He would know that the woman he is touching is a sinner.

Jesus asked the Pharisee to listen to a story about a money lender who had two people who owed debts. One owed 500 denarii and the second 50 denarii. Jesus asked the man who had been forgiven the greater debt. The Pharisee replied the one who owed more money.

Jesus pointed back to the woman. Do you see this woman, from the time she entered the room she has not ceased to kiss my feet, wiping them with her tears, and anointing them with ointment. He replied to the Pharisee you did no such thing to honor me here tonight. Yes, this women’s sin’s are many, therefore, I tell you her sins are forgiven because she has loved much.

NOTE: The whole point of this parable has to do with the soil. You cannot get the gist of the parable without understanding that the soil is a picture of the human heart. Specifically, the parable highlights four different kinds of hearts in varying degrees of receptivity to the word.

So, the parable is about the heart in various stages of preparedness. All four kinds of soils consist of the same minerals. They are organically and intrinsically built the same.

What makes them distinct from on another is whether they are in a suitable condition for producing fruit or not.

John MaCarthur “Book Parables”

NOTE: We must note that the point Jesus is making has nothing to do with the skill of the sower or the quality of the seed being cast.

The seed is perfect, and eternally unchanging. Any attempt to improve the harvest by using different seed will fail. The point of the activity is no merely to produce good dense but fruitless foliage. If that were the goal, he could sow dandelions or tumbleweeds. It’s true that those would germinate more easily and grow in shallow, hard, or already weedy places.

The unadulterated word of God is the only true and legitimate seed.

*A persons response to the Word of God is dependent on the condition of their heart.

NOTE: Fruit is the only evidence that one has heard the word appropriately.

John 15:5 “I am the the vine, you are the branches, whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit....”

ILLUSTRATION Scientist Exclaims the Wonder of a Tree's Roots

Science writer Hope Jahren shares an interesting fact about plants, especially how a tiny seed starts to put down roots—the most essential thing for a plant's survival. She writes,

No risk is more terrifying than that taken by the first root. A lucky root will eventually find water, but its first job is to anchor … Once the first root is extended, the plant will never again enjoy any hope of relocating to a place less cold, less dry, less dangerous. Indeed, it will face frost, drought, and greedy jaws without any possibility of flight.

She calls taking root a big "gamble," but if the seed takes root it can go down twelve, thirty, forty meters. The results are powerful. The tree's roots can "swell and split bedrock, and move gallons of water daily for years, much more efficiently than any pump yet invented by man." If the root takes root, then the plant becomes all but indestructible: "Tear apart everything above ground—everything—and most plants can still grow rebelliously back from just one intact root. More than once. More than twice."

Soil #1 A Hard Heart

The first soil is an immediate turning away without any affect at all led by Satan himself. This would be the person who might even ridicule or persecute the person bringing the message. Satan has gotten a hold of their heart and turned it into a heart of stone. This heart is marked by unbelief and a love of sin. Note: The Old Testament calls them stiff necked people.

A hard heart is blind to the precious value of the gospel and refuses to embrace Christ. Romans 11:8 Most precariously, a hard heart is synonymous with spiritual ignorance and alienation from God.

Ephesians 4:18 ESV

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

How does the Devil snatch the Word away from a Heart?

Satan has many way’s and methods and we should not be ignorant of them. If you think that Satan’s ways are always obvious and diabolical you are going to be defrauded by him. He uses deceit. “He is a liar and the father of lies,” he transforms himself and his servants as angels of light and ministers of righteousness.

He confuses people through false teachers (they twist the word)

He exploits sinful human passions

He appeals to the fallen hearts love for the pleasures of sin.

He knows that people love darkness more than light.

Has my heart been hardened?

Christians often ask this when facing spiritual numbness in their hearts. They don’t feel joy in God like they want, or like they did before. Their bible reading plan is not going they way they had planned. All believers lament seasons of this sort of callousness in their affections - but this feeling is not the same thing as a hard heart. A truly hard heart cannot feel or lament its own hardness. Hardness of heart leads the non-elect to feel increasing confident in their sin; hardness of heart in the redeemed makes us feel weak and needy.

Soil #2 A Shallow Heart

The second is the word that is superficially received, it is never allowed to take root and grow; and when temptation comes, it exposes the reception as having been shallow and rootless.

This would be the person who may accept Jesus because it seems like the right thing to do at the time, or needs something to take away all of the problems they are going through in life.

However, their faith becomes exposed when faced with difficulties that come their way. They may even end up blaming God for their problems and have a false sense of the gospel built into their life that cannot withstand troubles when they do come.

Note: Without deep roots, vegetation cannot live long in a dry climate. It grows green and leafy quickly, but dies just as quickly before reaching fruit-bearing maturity. Such growth is useless for any profitable purpose.

Psalm 129:6 ESV

6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

With a thin layer of dirt on a roof top grass or weeds may sprout and even look lush for a short season, but it is in a location that cannot sustain long term life. It is doomed as soon as it sprouts.

These people are the polar opposite of the hard hearted hearers. They seem receptive, They show a keen interest. Jesus says they “receive the word with joy.” They are exhilarated by it. But all that enthusiasm obscures the fact that there is no root. They believe for a while. Perhaps they believe intellectually, at least, they are receptive, affirmative even quite enthusiastic. It is not a question of “if” but “when” this persons faith will fail them.

Jesus said in John 8:31 “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” Hebrews 3:14 says, “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

Those whose faith is merely temporary or fleeting hear the gospel and respond, quickly and superficially it fades just as quick as it came into their life. This person does not truly count the cost for being a follower of Christ. There may even be tears of joy, embraces, high fives, and a lot of activity at first. This may tend to convince other believers that this is a true conversion, well rooted in genuine conviction. WE might even be inclined to think that this is a better response than the quiet restraint of some genuine believer who is so deeply convicted about his sin and unworthiness that all he feels is a profound sense of meekness and quiet gratitude.

Soil #3 A Worldly Heart

The third soil is that the word is listened to with some seriousness; but before the resolve to receive it and obey it can be acted upon, it is chocked out by the cares or the riches and pleasures of this life, and comes to nothing.

Note: Those in this soil like those that fell on the shallow soil may respond positively at first. Seed that falls among weeds will germinate.

These people, “when they have heard, go out” - meaning apparently, that they give every sign of pursuing the way of faith. Mark’s account seems to indicate that at first they have every sign of being fruitful, but then at some point the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter the picture and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

This is not the hard heart or the shallow emotional person.

This time the soil has ever appearance of being plowed and deep enough. But there are still all kinds of impurities present that are not dealt with at the time the seeds start to grow. Weeks that are native to that soil have already germinated under the surface.

Illustration:

When Diana and I moved to Killeen they were beginning to build houses on the East side of Bunny Trail. When we purchased our home, they were beginning to sod the yards with good grass. Now the grass was placed on the original soil that used to be pasture land full of weeds and all kinds of other bad grass. The first couple of years that we lived in our house we had to continually pull weeds out of the good grass so it could grow.

Many of our neighbors though ignored the weeds and just mowed them over causing the seeds to spread and produce more weeds. Eventually there was no good grass left in their yards only weeds.

Weeds that are native to that soil will always grow stronger and faster than the good seed. The Word of God is a foreigner in such a heart. Weeds and thorns are on their own ground.

Don’t miss the point. Material wealth is not inherently evil, neither is pleasure. When properly prioritized, wealth and pleasure should be received with thanksgiving as gracious gifts from the hand of God to be used for his glory and honor.

The question we come to, is it evil to love the gifts more than the giver, or to value the tangible and temporal benefits more highly than the spiritual blessings of God.

Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”

Classic example is the rich young ruler who came to Jesus eagerly seeking eternal life, but he was a materialist and a lover of the world - and Jesus knew it. Scripture says the young ruler “went away very sad, for he had great possessions” (Matt. 19:22).

NOTE: I wonder if these are the ones that Jesus talks about in Matthew who proclaimed that they preached and taught in his name, even holding Church positions, and Jesus gives them what should be the most frightening words in scripture, depart from me I never knew you.

James calls them Adulterers and adulteresses!

James 4:4 ESV

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

TRANSITION: Here is what the hard heart, shallow heart, and the wordly heart all have in common: They “Bring no fruit to Maturity.” The whole purpose of agriculture is to produce a harvest. Soil that fails to produce a crop is of no value. All three soils of fruitless soil are unbelievers.

How is your Fruit?

Luke 8:15 ESV

15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

There’s one type of image that pops up in Scripture repeatedly when describing the growth of Christians—farming or gardening. Perhaps we should think of our spiritual lives like gardening. “All farmers know that there is always more work to be done than there is time to do it; nevertheless, these same farmers also understand that much of what happens to the crops is beyond their control. There is much for the farmer to do, but the farmer cannot make the seed sprout, the sun shine or the rain fall. In fact, it is only because the farmer trusts that these good gifts will continue to be given that the challenging and risk-filled enterprise of farming is undertaken at all”. The same is true of our spiritual growth: there is much for us to do, but there is even more that is out of our control.

Soil #4 A Fruitful Heart

The fruitful hearer symbolizes those who have heard the word with a noble and good heart, keeping it and bearing fruit with patience. (Luke 8:15).

This is truly a prepared Heart to meet Jesus.

*The fruitful heart hears with true understanding and genuine faith.

Note: The expression that Luke gives is that they keep it and bear fruit with patience. They hear not just with their ears but also with their heart. There are those who hear in an intellectual curiosity sense but never truly internalize the message and experience the transforming power of Christ.

*Perseverance with fruit is a necessary sign of genuine Saving faith.

The Mark of authentic faith is endurance. Jesus said “If you abide in My word you are my disciples indeed.” (John 8:31). Temporary faith is not true faith at all. Notice Luke says that you hold it fast, to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of you. This requires patience, sacrifice, endurance.

The “fruit” spoken of in this parable includes.

The fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 Love, joy, peace,patience, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It encompasses all “the fruit of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the His glory, praise and Honor alone. All true believers must produce fruit. There is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. If someone does not exhibit fruit they lost and barren.

John 15:16 ESV

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

The fruit of Worship

A truly believing heart will naturally produce worship - “The fruit of .... lips, giving thanks to His name.” (Heb. 13:15). When the Apostle Paul spoke of people whom he had led to Christ as fruit of his ministry (Rom. 1:13).

Jesus said that the good soil represents those who “bear fruit with patience.”

The expectation is that they will also bear fruit abundantly. Matthew and Mark both say “some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Anything over tenfold would be an immense return on the farmers investment.

While Jesus is clearly teaching what we know from experience - not all Christian are bearing fruit equally. However he is also suggesting that an abundance of fruit is the expected result of faith.

The spiritual fruit in our lives should be obvious, not so scarce that we have to break out the microscope to try and find some fruit.

Eph. 2:10 “We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God “created in Christ beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Jesus said:

John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit the Father, who is the vinedresser takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Fruitfulness - bringing about an abundant harvest is the expected outcome of Saving Faith.

How many people have you shared Christ with since becoming a believer? How many people have you shared Christ with this year?

The fruit that we are given at the point of Salvation is meant to be multiplied, part of the multiplication process is not to keep it to yourself. You were not saved to be a closet Christian. “It’s time to come out of the closet my friends.”

Whose responsibility is it that you have a prepared heart?

A heart ready to “receive with meekness the implanted word of God.”

It is each persons responsibility to have their hearts ready to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

THE PROBLEM:

We are all hopelessly unclean. We are fallen, guilty sinners with shallow, weedy, and rebellious hearts. Left to ourselves we would just grow harder. Even exposure to the light would bake the harness in even more, until we become impervious to God’s word as a concrete walkway is to grass seed.

The carnal “unregenerate fleshly mind,” is at enmity with God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:7–8 ESV

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

*Only God can plow and prepare a Heart!

Only God can plow and prepare a heart to receive the word of God. He does it through the process of regeneration and the sanctifying work of the Holy spirit, who convicts the world “of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” For those who believe:

He awakens us spiritually

He enlightens our minds to the truth.

1 Corinthians 2:10 ESV

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

He removes the stony heart and gives us a new heart.

He indwells His people and motivates us to righteousness.

He engraves the truth of God on our hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:3 ESV

3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

He pours the love of God into our hearts.

Romans 5:5 ESV

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

“Those who are in Christ are hopelessly dependent on the indwelling Spirit’s work in our hearts to keep us tender, receptive, and ultimately fruitful.

John MaCarthur

Luke 8:16–18 ESV

16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

NOTE: We must be careful how we hear, nothing is secret in the economy of God’s kingdom, all will be revealed and exposed to the light. We are not brought to Christ to hide away from the world and horde the fruit that He has given us for ourselves.

CLOSING

“We must remain faithfully dependent on Him.

Like David who prayed,

Psalm 51:10 ESV

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

We must approach the throne of Grace with trust and submission, allowing Him to do the necessary work in our hearts that we cannot do ourselves.

Practicing Patience

Patience is hard work. Just consider your own driving practices—how it’s hard to wait for the slow person with their turn signal on to finally make that right turn, how we speed around cars in the slow lane, and how when we’re in our own cars we often give vent to rage, frustration, and indignation that others aren’t driving better. Patience doesn’t come naturally.

We are wired to only consider ourselves and our own desires. We live in a time when steady and slow spiritual growth is something for which we must practice patience. (Paul “run the raise set before you.” Jesus raise was to the cross.)

Big Idea: You take care of the sowing and God will take care of the Growing!

You keep casting the seeds and God will do the Rest.

When Jesus returns their will be only two kinds of people

Matthew 25:31–33 ESV

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Those who are dead in Adam or those who are in Christ the second Adam.

Which one will you be?