Sower and the Soil

Welcome to a redemption hill podcast for more

information about redemption so go to redemption hill

dot com.

It's good to be here

with you. It's good to see

believe I can't see very well. But I

think you still all have your hands after

fourth of July. That's

that's classic. That's good. But

I'm glad you're here. We're gonna jump into,

Luke chapter

Luke 8 · chapter mention

8.

We're gonna read it. We're gonna pray for

help, to be honest. This is a text

that

is I dig into it for Sermon and

prep, I think it's 1 that we all

approach are, like, yeah, I know what that

means.

Then you look deeper. Like, I don't really

know what that means.

And so we're we're gonna read it and

ask the lord

that he would help us,

and then he would be glorified and made

much of and draw near to us through

his word.

He says doesn't return to wood. It's always

doing something.

And so it's it's read, and pray and

ask for help and we'll dig into it.

Luke chapter 8 starting in verse 1, we're

Luke 8 · chapter mention

gonna read through 18.

Soon after already went on through cities and

villages,

proclaiming and bringing the good news of the

kingdom of god. This is Jesus that it's

talking about. And the 12 were with him

and also some women who had been healed

of evil spirits and firm,

Mary called Mag,

from whom 7 demons and got out and

Joanna, the wife of Chu,

harriet house told manager and Susanna and many

others provided for them out of their means.

And when a great crowd was gathering.

And people from town,

and people town after town came to him,

he said in a parable.

A sow went out to sow his seed.

And as he sow, some fell along the

path and was tram under foot, and the

birds of the air devoured it, and some

fell on the rock, and it as it

grew with her away because it had no

moisture.

Some fell among the thorn of the thorn

grew up with it and choked it. And

some fell into good soil and grew and

yielded a hundred fold,

and he said these things and he called

out, he who has ears to hear,

let him here.

And as when his disciples asked him, what

the parable

meant? Right? That's that part Talking about before.

Know what this means. I I don't know

if I know what it means Even the

disciples didn't know.

He said to you, it has been given

to know the secrets to the kingdom of

God, but for others,

they are in parable, so that seeing they

may not see.

In hearing they may not understand.

Now the parable is this, the seed is

the word of God. The ones among the

path of those who have heard them,

and the devil comes and takes away the

word from their hearts. The tour praying does

not happen.

So that they may not believe and be

saved and the ones

on the rock or 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 they fall away.

And ask for what fell among the thorn,

they are those who hear, but as they

go on their way, they're choked by the

cares and the riches and the pleasures of

life

and their fruit

does not mature.

It's a heavy line.

As for that, in the good soil, there

are those who hear the word hold it

fast in an honest and good heart and

bear fruit with patience.

Verse 16. No 1 after lighting a lamp

covers it with a jar puts it under

a bed, but puts it on a stand

so that those who enter may see the

light. For nothing is hidden that will not

be made manifest nor is anything seeker that

will not be known and come to light,

take care then how you hear.

For the 1 who has more will be

given.

And for the 1 who has not even

what he thinks that he has will be

taken away. This is the word of the

lord.

Father we just asked for your help.

Let's just confess.

I, I'm I'm weary in and body and

and spirit.

In a heavy text before, so he just

asked for your help. Holy spirit come.

Shows us the beauty of,

the word honor your promise that it doesn't

return void.

May it shows the beauty of who you

are, may it reach the depths of our

heart and the ways that it has meant

to come and do your work? We we

pray for that and we ask you your

help.

Pray this in your name more.

Amen.

So so kinda jumping in, as I was

thinking through this text this week, my my

family, I'm lucky lucky enough that we have

some

land in

New Franklin. It's where my great grandparents lived

before they passed.

Away. It's where my grandpa and my great

aunts grew up. My grandpa actually helped his

father dig the the basement of this house

by hand.

In the middle of a flood. Right? Just

some crazy stuff around this land. So I...

I've grown to really love this land, and

I picked up hunting

there, again, over the last few years. I

grew up hunting on the land, but now

I'm doing it a little bit of a

different method.

I haven't used a gun out there for

hunting since I was probably 19

or 20. Now I've switched into,

I take a bow in arrows, and I

hang from trees from ropes and saddle and

hope I don't die to try get a

deer with a a bow. That's my my

thing. There's something about it.

The challenge, the prep, the ability to fire

a bow,

a bow and an arrow is not like

a bike. It's not like, once you get

it. It's just there. It deteriorate quite quickly.

So you gotta kinda stay sharp. Got a

lot to do a prep work. And the

more I go.

The more I enjoy it, Garrett, and Harrison

will tell you, we get this because I'm

always sending them dear pictures. I'd, I love

it.

But here's the thing as much as I

enjoy Bow hunting, I want to be successful

at it. Right? I'm not gonna be the

guy who would go out during a season,

all year long, I'm like I'm just so

happy I was in the woods. Now I

would be angry. Like, I want to go,

but I wanna go and do well.

And I wanna get the biggest buck around.

If if I would tell you the truth

of my heart. I wanna get a bigger

deer than my dad has ever gotten, I

wanna be able fling an arrow at the

mythical 30 pointer, I I wanna be successful.

With the problem with that is,

that doesn't happen very much in in bop

hunting because you have to get really close

to a deer, like, really, really, really close.

My

my dad,

he will post up on a creek side

and look over an open field. You can

really shoot a hundred, a hundred and 5202

hundred 50 yards. Just as much as your

skill will allow,

gunpowder and lead is a powerful combination to

reach out a long, long ways.

But for a bow,

in Missouri terrain, you gotta get a deer,

like, 20 to 30 yards.

Away. So you've gotta get them close. And

not only they have to be close. There

has to be nothing in the way.

I went bow hunting when I was, I

think, 15 or 16 and I remember

what I thought was a big buck at

at the time. It could've have been a

spike now. I don't know, But it it

came down a hill and I was so

excited, and I I pulled back and I

let Loose an air of, like, yes.

And it hit a tree branch and Do

its feet and her ran away. So you

gotta get it close.

You gotta have nothing in your way. Then

you gotta pull a bow back with a

deer close without seeing or hearing you. And

then with your heart beating a million miles

now, you gotta... Yeah. Shoot the thing.

There's a lot that goes into

bow hunting and becoming successful. So

as of late, I've been trying to do

what I can to kind of tip the

scale into my favor so I'm successful. I've

spent

12 or 15 hours with a weed eater

cutting trails into the woods. Which if you

could see me I'm in the middle nowhere.

But if you could see me like, why

is that weird dude with a weed eater

in the woods? I'm I'm trying to cut

trails to get deer to come through I've

been cutting down a bunch of trees to

to make room. And then recently, I've been

doing this, research and what is called a

a food plot, year, eat, like, 5 to

6 times a day.

Right? You think they eat or you eat

a lot they eat more. So a lot

of their movement is determined by where do

I get my food? So the idea is

if you can bring good food to your

hunting area? There's a good chance you can

bring big deer to your hunting area. So

now hunters will try and make food plots

appear in the middle of the woods.

They'll try and get clover and rye and

other things that won't die in October and

November,

to grow in the middle of the woods.

And again, the idea is if I can

bring food, The deer will come in when

I'm trying to, and I'll be more successful.

So try to explain this to my wife.

I am out there trying to draw deer

in.

And I I'll show her pictures, look at

the 1 I got. She's like, okay. So

you

do a lot of work in the woods

to make, like a cozy living room dining

room so that the deer will enjoy it.

Yes.

And then you try and shoot them in

it.

Also, yes. That's a hundred percent, what I'm

trying to do. It should look at me

like, Think you're a little messed up. I'm

like, cool. Right? And

and and and so that's what what I'm

doing, but the difficulty with this food plot

idea is it's not very easy to get

crops to grow in the middle of the

woods.

Like, in in theory, it's easy, but

it takes a little bit of work, especially

if you can't get, like, big equipment or

a tiller back there or things like that.

So if

hold hold with me. I, I've done some

research, and they basically tell you in order

to get a food plot in the middle

of the woods, you gotta clear some some

dead trees.

Do a little bit of of raking to

expose just a little bit of the soil.

And then after that, you basically go out

and you just throw seed, like a wild

man

everywhere.

And you scatter it all over the place

hoping that it will find good soil, but

knowing full well that a large large amount

of it will not.

The reality is you cannot tend to all

the soil. You cannot make the woods perfect

for growing crops, but you can throw a

ton of seed out knowing some will grow.

Some will find sunlight.

Some will end up having a root that

that is deep enough that it won't get

scorched out when when that we're in the

blazing heat of

of late July and in August, and and

then some of it,

we'll never hit the ground because as odd

as is add as it is the the

deer that you're trying to attract will eat

it before it ever takes root.

Why why am I giving this deep dive

into bow hunting and food plots

probably because it's on my mind, but

the biggest part is really this this way

of starting things

reminded me exactly the terrible to seed in

the soil. This is exactly what Jesus was

talking about and the thing that I was

trying to do. And he taught us this

interesting thing. If you throw all the way

stuff away from deer hunting,

scatter seed will yield hitting different soils.

The different soils that it hits will yield

a different result. This is this is what

Jesus wants to to tell us. You throw

out seed, hits different ground. We'll do different

things based on it. And then Jesus said

this really

interesting and profound thing. This is part of

what what I think, we're like, yeah, I

think I know is what this means and

then you dig a little deeper. Not I'm

not fully sure if I know what it

means.

He who has ears to hear let him

hear.

We'll dig into that more, but I think

we can agree ahead of time that the

prayer and hope for us is that we

would have ears to hear. Lord give us

ears to hear us.

Would you bring a harvest? Would you let

it lead

to to to something

good for your glory and and and for

our good?

Now this first parable in this text is

is likely the most well known parable in

the new testament. It's kind of

the parable, if you will, It comes up

a lot. It's in more than 1 of

the gospel, and it even comes with an

explanation, which is odd for parable.

A most are short and sweet and either

get it or you don't, and there's no

explanation that comes with it. But,

this one's not like that. So the the

the parable of the foundations that was earlier

in Luke. I believe that was 1 that

Garrett did a a killer job with taught

that building our life upon the rock of

god's

word

is better than building it on the shifting

sands of our desire or cultural opinion. So

it's leading believers build your life on God's

word and not just hearing them, but obeying

it, and you have a solid foundation underneath

of you. If you do. And and then

the parable about the debts being canceled from

last week, it it's not hard to see

if the holy spirit has given you the

ability to to be saved,

that that text was about forgiveness, Uncharted favor.

You have been forgiven out of something that

you could not have worked your way out

of, and that should stir in you a

love for for Jesus and others. The those

didn't need a whole lot of explanation, but

this 1, it's a little different.

It still holds a a message about the

kingdom of God or as this text says,

it literally holds some of the secrets of

heaven.

But it also So teaches us more about

why Jesus was using these parable

in in general? Well, why Jesus using parable,

and what are they for and and what

are they they doing

to begin to look at that and and

and ask what are these parable doing? We

need to maybe back up and and see

why did luke put this parable here?

And,

why did Jesus give this parable when he

did?

So not only we have a parable, Jesus

just tell us why you uses the parable,

but why is this parable here? In in

context of what's going on, Jesus was getting

a fairly large

crowd. In a Texas said people were coming

from all kinds of cities all over we're

coming. There's a large crowd coming. Some are

coming from miracles,

some were coming for teaching.

Some were c... Coming hoping that they would

have some sort of need or desire met

or something would be given to them.

Some were coming just to see what all

the buzz was about. Some were coming to

try and challenge,

Jesus, some were coming genuinely to find salvation

in Jesus. The motives were all over the

place.

Then contextual, the... Jesus also was having these

kind of encounters or tu with the ph

season in that time. And the ph,

were were the ones

who were religious people. They knew the the

scriptures

and yet despite their familiarity with the scriptures,

they had rejected who God had sent to

be they're redeem. So there's different types of

people, from different places

with different motives and different hearts and different

ideas and different wants. There's this mass group

and there's crazy different amount of reasons why

they're there. So this text is there to

help us so that we can weed out

maybe true believers from fake believers.

And this Text is here to maybe help

us see how to tell the difference between

a ph and a true believer and and

even more so because we're not just supposed

to use this to judge other people. This

text is is here to help show us

if we're on the right path.

How do we know if we're following Jesus

rightly if we are healthy if the preferred

result is kinda happening in our life? This

this text actually speaks into that, which is

helpful.

This parable begins to answer some of those

questions, but we may still ask okay, why

do we need this

differentiation?

Why do we need to know good soil

from bad. Why do we need to to

understand the results that hit different soils will

will differ. Why why do we need to

pay attention to how we hear and what

happens afterwards. Well, again, contextual, it stated that

a lot of people were around?

Now.

But what about later?

See, the crowds are are huge. People from

all over are are coming and and they

seem to be super into Jesus, but what

we know if we if we know a

little bit more about the bible is in

not too much time, those crowds are gonna

d to be about nonexistent existent.

Massive crowds

following Jesus and listening

to, like, crickets and nobody

around.

When that happens when the followers of Jesus

shrink and number, the common human response will

be to blame the message

or the messenger.

It's it's a try and use the the

number drop as evidence well that Christianity was

a failed experiment.

We live in a pro pragmatic world that

kind of says anything healthy,

we'll grow. All a sudden if something's not

growing, People are gonna try and throw it

out... It's not healthy.

It's not good. Something must be wrong with

it yet This parable explains

that not all people accept the gospel.

And then further, it it explains that

some will seem to,

accept it

and yet they won't stick with it.

They won't grow. They won't produce fruit. They

won't find maturity and they'll fall

away, and that line was heavy. Some will

never find maturity.

And some will hear it a lot, and

it'll actually harden them.

There's this interesting thing that's in this text

the gospel to seed. It's always doing something.

It'll either harden you, produce something fake and

then harden you or produce something good.

It's always

doing

something. What we need to know here.

Is when people reject the truth,

will people walk away from the truth. When

people walk away, from Jesus that doesn't mean

that the message of the messenger is broken.

This would have been extremely helpful for the

early church

for what coming for them, and it's still

helpful today when the tides of culture change,

which historically, though we think we're always in

a new time. The the the the tides

have always kind of done this, when all

of a sudden, a lot less people claim

Christianity,

1 that's not new,

Jesus told us there's gonna be a lot

of people who walk away.

And again, it doesn't mean that we need

to change the gospel give up on on

Jesus.

As we look at the text, we see

the setup

already unfolding.

We hear that there's a great crowd.

This isn't a few people, this is thousands

and Jesus opens up this parable. So you

you've gotta kinda put yourself there and understanding.

A lot of people are coming,

mixed motives,

different reasoning. There there's a buzz. There's an

excitement. They're all coming. Let's see what this

Jesus guy gonna. He's done some crazy stuff.

I heard. Let let's see hear what he

has to say. And they gather around.

And jesus opens up the parable the... Of

the seed and the soils.

Big crowd.

A sow went out to sow seed.

He's throwing it all around the land and

some fell on the path, and it was

tram and the birds devoured it.

Some fell on the rock and it started

to grow and then it end up s

because it had no root.

Some fell among the thorn but the thorn

grew and they They choked it out,

and some fell on good soil and yield

at a hundred fold,

and Jesus says emphatic those who have ears.

Hear, let them here

the end.

I don't know about you, But if I

came from a long distance to hear that,

I I would have been confused if not

irritated.

Why did I come so far off for

this guy to talk about a

a farmer throwing seed out and.

I don't I don't understand.

I imagine the disciples were also

in an an interesting situation. I I imagine

maybe James looks at his brother John. It

says, hey, bro,

You understand what that's about. Right? And John's

like, yeah, totally.

You you know what it's about right? Yeah,

Totally knowing that neither of them have a

clue

on what Jesus has just said. And we

know that they're confused because it actually says

that they have to go to Jesus and

ask for an explanation. Again, we don't know

what that explanation looks like, but my kind

of dull Adhd mind likes to pretend. I

know what it looks like.

Maybe Peter throws Thomas under the bus at

dinner. Is was like, hey, geez. It's Thomas

is a little confused.

You gonna, like,

help him out I get it, But you

wanna help him out and explain to him

what this parable is about, I think it

would help him. And we have no idea

how it happened.

I think that would have been funny.

But reality is even there confused.

And they ask Jesus for help and in

his kindness he is

content to shed more light on the parable

about what it means we hear this. Before

he explains the parable,

he speaks to them in general about why

he's using parable and why they're ramping up.

But that that's a that's a big deal.

I'm not just gonna tell you what this

is about

I'm gonna tell you you the methodology of

why I'm giving parable.

He says to you it has been given

to know the secrets of the kingdom of

God.

But for others,

they are parable so that seeing they may

not see

and hearing they may not understand.

We we may normally assume that the point

of parable is to make something clear.

It takes a concept about the kingdom of

God and puts it on the low shelf

for everyone to grab, but But Jesus laid

out here that the parable actually have a

dual purpose

for those who have ears to hear.

The spirit has given them faith for them.

The parable to them is meant to explain

or clarify the secrets of the kingdom of

God.

But for others who don't have ears to

hear the parable is actually meant to hide

the truth from them.

That means that parable are not only to

reveal, but they're also

conceal.

What Jesus says here is a quote from

the book of Isaiah. We always need to

make sure to understand if there's quote from

the old testament. What are they doing and

and what are they saying and why are

they saying it?

That that quote for Isaiah, keep on hearing,

but do not understand keep on seeing, but

do not receive in the context of Isaiah

ministry in the old testament people would rebelled

against the the word of God.

But they rebelled in an interesting way. They're

they're eager to come hear it.

They're just not eager to do it. They

they become hard. And I'll hear it, but

my answer is gonna be no.

And part of God's judgment against their sin

of rejecting what he wanted for them is

to harden them further in their un unbelievable.

So here here's here's the idea. People come

together hear the word. All here, but I

ain't gonna do it. Their hearts are hard

and because I wanna gonna harden your heart

even more.

Jesus is telling the disciples. I'm gonna use

the parable like back in the day of

Isaiah.

They'll be revelation to those who have ears

to hear,

who... Those who want to obey me and

they'll harden the stiff neck people who do

not want to obey me.

Rc sp says it's as though, God were

saying to the stiff neck people. You don't

want to hear me.

Fine. I won't let you hear me.

You're closing your ears with your hands. I'll

do you 1 better. I'll close your heart

off.

And this is heavy stuff, and we might

hear this and think well, That sounds

capri and addictive on god's part, but

as older theologian have put it, God's justice

is first just, but it's also poetic.

He gives people. And we see this all

over the old testament. We we we tend

to think of judgment only is what happens

when you die,

But god all over the bible talks about.

There's a judgment that can happen here and

a judgment that happens internally. There's not just

1. A judgment that happens here is I'll

give you over to your sin.

If you're cool with your heart being harden,

I'll make sure it's even harder.

You want a stiff neck, I'll make it

concrete.

If that's what you want, you can have

it in spade.

Think of the book of Romans, read the

first 2 chapters and he gave them over

to a debate mind.

This is this. Okay. You can have what

you want.

This means the same parable could have different

effects on different people.

For those who come just to be entertained

or casually here

Jesus with no desire to obey or or

follow

or submit to. Those people are gonna be

hardened and Deaf. Here's the result. That that

that's just interesting this week every time we

preach or you hear the word an c

or Dna or or whatever you're doing. When

you're hearing the word of god. It never

does nothing.

It either harden you or soften you. That's

all it does.

Be careful how you hear.

Those who seek to listen and apply and

follow,

says there'll be truth that's added to you,

and then you get more and more in

or it'll it'll

it'll build you.

Leon Morris says this for

Jesus was looking for more than

superficial

adherence.

What what we may wanna hear is he's

looking more for more than cultural Christianity or

Sunday morning than Christianity.

So he

his parable in his use.

Stories which yielded a meaning only to those

who are prepared to search for them.

The parable demand thought and earnest ness and

they separate the the sincere seeker from the

casual here, like, a, oh, take it or

leave it.

This idea of spiritual earnest, this is desire

to not just hear, but to search and

process and apply and plumb the depths of

Jesus words. This all of a sudden explains

a little bit more why he says those

who have ears, let them here. You're you're...

There's something that's supposed to happen in our

hearing. It's not it's not meant to be

a road to nowhere.

The Jesus

desires for those who are his to hear

deep in their soul and have the secrets

of the kingdom of god take root in

their life.

What does this mean? And and and this

is what is hard is especially if we're

talking... We're we're coming fourth of July ish

weekend,

tons of plans, maybe you haven't your vacation

yet. You're... Maybe you're the low and you've

already vacation. Like, there's a million things that

can happen.

And it's showing us that we're not meant

to just come around the word And here

it physically, we're meant to hear it deep

in our soul. This is what Jesus wants.

Hear my words deep in your heart, take

them in and let them do something in

you.

And then he explains the parable.

The seed is the word of God.

It is the the bible. The manifest will

and word and part of God is revealed

through the scriptures and passed on by the

apostles. This is the seed.

But Jesus is showing is the seed or

the word will hit 4 different types of

hearts. Now, clarify, it's not saying there's 4

different types of people in the world That's

not what it says.

It's saying that when the word goes out

and someone is hearing it, there's 4 different

types of parts that it'll that that will

hear it.

The word will hit a hard heart,

a shallow heart,

an infested heart,

or a good heart.

And it will have an effect on all

of them.

For the heart heart, this is the soil

upon

the path. If you've ever walked on a

trail, if you've been hiking or Mountain biking

and there's a trail that that hundreds of

feet have walked through it, it's it's hard

like concrete. There's There's nothing that's gonna get

in there. And this is what Jesus talking

about. These are people who hear the word

outward, but it never makes it inward. This

seed is thrown. It lands on them. They

are as hard as a rock and it

never breaks the surface,

then listen to Jesus words.

The devil comes and takes a seat away.

The word is taken from their hearts.

So that they may not believe and be

saved.

That's a pretty profound thing if you believe

Jesus is serious isn't it?

The holy spirit is at work trying to

bring about faith and repentance and strengthen us

to see the beauty of Jesus when the

word is preached.

And the devil is at we're trying to

pluck it off of the hard ground.

Jesus tell us there's a spiritual battle raging

that you and I can't see or understand

when the word goes out because it's not

meant to do nothing.

There's a battle that rages when it goes.

Then some seed hits

the rock. This is

meant to be imagine bedrock with a an

an inch or 2 of dirt on top.

The seed hits it

seems to to take root to sprout up.

It seems like there's gonna be a harvest.

This person normally joy or receives the word

and joy. They're excited about Jesus they're pumped

about it. I wanna do all the things...

But they don't... They don't have a root

system.

And it doesn't go deep. It doesn't break

the... The... It it doesn't break the surface

and go deep enough in their heart. So

at the first test,

the first problem, the first conflict, the first

challenge of their their life and their faith.

They fall away, and they leave behind. I'm

so excited about Jesus peace out. I'm out.

That that's the rock.

This is the shallow part.

Faith doesn't go very deep.

This person is normally interested more in the

ideas of Jesus like salvation, inheritance peace with

God, no

no consequence for sin, but but not very

interested in in san vacation, die to self,

repentance life together. I want Jesus words, but

not as heart. Let me do my thing.

This is the the shallow 1.

As soon as trial comes,

they walk away.

Now some here this,

we have put our theological hat on. Right?

And they wonder is is Jesus teaching that

you can lose your salvation.

He was not.

The bible tells us that those who the

lower lord redeem,

he

preserves.

Guys in moments when we know life isn't

going well,

this is a bedrock of our hope.

I got you and I won't let you

go.

He gives them a seal a guarantee of

the holy spirit and we're told

that he who began the good work him

is gonna see it through to completion.

Salvation doesn't get lost because it's held by

God and nobody wins in a fight against

God.

He keeps his children,

but

There will be sadly people who have what

I'll just call foe faith.

The idea of Jesus will seem good to

them,

but they will walk away at some point

because their hearts were never transformed by god.

They at many levels did not want the

word to go deep so it did not,

and they fall away over time.

And the soil among the the thorn. This

is the,

infested heart or I could call it the

the the the dual heart or the the

conflicted heart, This person seems to have faith

and maybe it lasts a little bit longer

than than the the the word hits the

rock, but

ultimately the thorn, the cares of the world,

the desires that the passions that you have,

the things that you want out of life

end up competing with the truth of god

and they win. They choke it out.

I want Jesus, but I want this more.

And and it wins.

What's difficult for us

is there are things that

that Jesus says

that there will be moments of time that

illuminate to us that we just didn't take

it serious that he met that.

So he flat out says there's a lot

of people

who will walk away from my word.

Right? There's no mathematical

equation, but you do understand that there's 4

types of hearts, and only 1 of them

is a a good 1.

There are a lot who here

seem to accept. Seem to be even in

the words they'll will accept it with joy.

They'll be excited over it.

But then it'll come crashing down and the

walk away.

After Covid was a mass illumination of what

we'll call shallow and infested soils.

In the church

a whole over the west.

It was a point in time that many,

many, many, many people left the the church

as it seems for good.

Hopefully not. But as it seems for for

good, many seem to have bore faux fruit

and then attention came or problem came, or

their desires came and weighed in and all

of a sudden, they... The ones who seem

like they accepted the word of God rejected

the word of god and Jesus told us

it was gonna happen.

And it let a lot of people wondering

if

the gospel with a church

were just done a irrelevant,

broken.

And believe this Texas say no.

It just wasn't good soil. It hurts and

it's not fun. We pray the lord still

intervene,

for for those who walked away all over

the place, but it doesn't mean the church

or the gospel

are dead or broken.

I told you that there was gonna do

this.

Was first 3 were a bit depressing. Right?

You can say yes.

1 of you said it. Strongly. Yes.

Then Jesus says some will

hit good soil.

This is the heart of a person who

hear the word and hold fast to it.

Here and

Hold fast. Not hold fast for a second,

not here for a second here and hold

fast with an honest and good heart. They

will bear fruit a hundred fold.

This hundred fold isn't just a literal 100.

This is meant to be

exponential.

We need to do some work here though.

Because we pair this parable with the 1

prior last week. Remember the parable from last

week was about the debtor who could not

pay.

There was a bill that no matter what

could not be paid off. The person could

not get rid of it. They couldn't cancel

it. They couldn't deal with it no matter

what the bill is way too big. It's

astronomical.

I can't fix it. So the 1 who

is owed cancels the debt for the 1

who actually owes.

The point was that Sin has brought about

a bill that you and I cannot pay.

We cannot lose our theology because of a

parable.

It's brought a bill that we cannot pay.

We cannot fix it. We cannot clear it.

We cannot work it off. This is why

Grace is such a beautiful thing. Un meredith

its out... Or a favor is salvation, not

the the debt that you were able to

pay off.

As Jesus is talking about the soils

and the harvest that comes.

That if we hold theology with the parable,

he isn't telling you to work hard to

make yourself good soil.

He isn't telling you,

hey, you better

you you better weed yourself. You better take

care of the Thorn now or else they're

gonna get you.

Right? No soil is able to clear rocks

from itself.

That was a ph mindset

salvation by. It works. Remember the ph that

that got into it with Jesus in the

text last week.

Jesus isn't giving us a huge task that

we have to figure out how to do

on her own He's explaining what happens when

a person is saved.

Remember, he's the champion. He's the hero.

Because of the salvation that Jesus brings, they

receive the word,

and it gets down deep,

and they hold to it.

And they cling to it with an honest

heart.

Meaning they in their heart, want the word

torque in them.

And it does.

And they bear fruit then by hearing

and taking in the word, and then they

as they take in the the word, the

word becomes a apparent in their life because

it actually harvest itself

out of their life.

Remember, there's a ton of people who are

around at this point. Again, what why is

he doing this?

People all around coming? And they're hearing for

different reasons.

And I can just imagine them but like,

this is so good and

there's a lot of people are hearing though,

but they don't actually wanna change.

And it's not doing anything, and they're fine

with it.

See, the good soil is the heart that

wants the word to grow in it.

They want to take it in. They they

they want it to to go deep. They

wanna hold onto to it, and they wanna

cling to it and be shaped by. They're

not wanting to just how much do I

have to do in order to not go

to hell. They're they're wanting the word to

to dig deep and and change them, Lord

you are good in your kind, so change

me from 1 degree of glory to another

because I need you. This is the good

heart.

Not the mixed mode 1.

I believe Jesus is telling us more about

the miracle of salvation here.

Than he is of giving us a heavy

task that we need to figure out.

It would be heavy. Wouldn't it? Make yourself

good soil.

Fix it.

It's counterintuitive to the whole gospel.

He's telling us

about the miracle of salvation as those who

were once hearted.

Those you and I who are once shallow,

those who are once are in by the

thorn by the work of the spirit are

not transformed into good soil.

Jesus takes what looks unusable,

Jesus takes what seems like it would be

impossible for anything good. Remember the broken,

the shattered.

And he turns it into something usable and

healthy,

transformed

Well, the goal of this parable isn't to

get you to try and change your soil

makeup.

This is the hard part of the text.

Right?

Then what do I do with it?

If it's not trying to get you to

change your soil makeup. If you were a

follow of Christ, it does shed light into

how you are meant to to live.

You were meant to take in the word,

and it is meant to do something in

you.

That means Sermon an mc and Dna and

reading and

every time that you encounter the seed,

that has not meant to be an exercise

in

futility.

God help us for the times that we

just come expecting nothing.

It's meant to work.

It's meant to be seeds planted that grow

and become apparent.

See for those who take in the word

all the time and yet there is no

change in them.

Those who hear Sermon all the time and

it doesn't ever do anything.

What Jesus is telling you that's not supposed

to happen.

That's not what salvation does. Salvation bears fruit.

Salvation springs up in the heart. Is this

at over the top? Like a crazy manic

thing all the time, no, but we are

to be changed, and it's visible and it's

made manifest and it's transformative

and it's exponential we could never do it

on our own.

If it's made to be

manifest

and seen and invisible,

Then maybe we can understand why Jesus says

what he says in verse 16.

No 1 lights in the lamp for the

purpose of light and then covers it up.

Jesus is transfer...

He's transferring the metaphor for from sea to

light here.

But the general idea is the same. If

a person hears the word of God,

if they take in the seed,

if the light of the world, Jesus christ

has lit in their heart,

then you can't hide that

because it does something.

It'll be visible to to them and to

others. It is a fallacy to think that

Jesus... Would reside in the heart transform you.

Make you a new creation, give you the

spirit, a new identity, a new inheritance, are

calling a brand new name, call you clean,

Tell you, you'd never let you go. And

you look the same as everyone who's never

been saved.

There's a beautiful light that has been given

to the good soil.

It's not meant to be hidden.

Friend is a light hidden.

There's likely a twofold meaning to this.

If we believe we are saved,

and yet the salvation isn't visible, It isn't

breaking through the darkness, then there is a

problem.

Maybe we aren't good soil

or maybe we need to ask the lord

to

till the heart.

And if we're doing our best to blend

in culture. We've been on this road every

since even

through Romans and Hebrews. If we're doing our

best to blend in to not cause waves

to not be extra for Jesus or stand

out. You're missing the point of your salvation.

You're not meant to be a jerk, but

you're also not meant to blend in.

We are called to shine. He he he

literally talks about. You meant to be like

a light, a kid in a corner no

on a stand.

Like on a hillside. You can't hide that

thing.

In a cultural moment like today where the

tenants of Christ are just... They're not loved.

Good soil still not meant to hide.

It's meant to keep on shining. It's meant

to be put on the stand. It's meant

to be seen by the world even if

the world doesn't like it.

This is why Jesus ends the text by

saying.

Take care than how you hear.

I think there's a

Well we cannot change the tenants of what

soil we are. There is just a message

seriousness.

Be careful not to be flipping around the

word.

Be careful not to assume it's not gonna

do anything.

Be careful how

you hear don't hear the truth and hide

it. Don't hear the truth and file it

away in the recesses of your heart. You

not hear the the word and become indifferent

to it.

Here and be transformed.

Here to be changed. Here to

have the light of the world shine in

you and not in some weird way, be

become more and more and more like Jesus.

Think maybe we bought into

for a while that because grace is unmarried

favor, we're just all meant to go to

to heaven still dumpster fires.

He's meant to change us.

Look more and more and more and prepare

us for eternity with him.

There's a bit of a warning here.

Those who hear the truth and it does

nothing.

Actually need to know that the truth is

hardening you.

We may hide behind,

I'm a cy or other things like that,

but if there's if there's nothing good coming,

it is hardening you

So those up ears let them hear and

be changed.

This text since it shows us the miracle

of salvation,

and are evident need to be serious about

how we hear.

There's probably a couple plays

If you feel like your heart is growing

cold,

isn't open to change is different as nonchalant,

And I think it'd be wise in our

in our time of prayer today, Lord help

me.

I was seeing more clearly, and I've blamed

it on a a lot of other things,

but my infections aren't hot, and my my

heart isn't being molded and I need your

to help holy help soften me. I need

you. III can't do it. Give me a

new heart, help me to see and be

changed.

You aren't done. Keep working.

For us, what child of God believes that

the work that God wants to do them

isn't good. So at a heart level, if

we feel that the Lord isn't working through

his word, maybe we just say, lord good

father. I I need you to work again,

help me.

Weed without the things that I can't.

There's also a time for gratitude I think

in this. If you don't change your soil,

and the Lord is the 1 who's changed

you,

If God has moved towards you with the

love of Jesus so that you would be

changed and grow and out of a bill

that you could have never paid off, then

there's a lot of adduction that comes out

of that,

man you're good.

Man you're good, and your patient and your

kind. So I think there's a invitation to

ask the lord to work again if it

slowed,

and then the invitation to to worship out

of thankful and humility.

God you've done a good work. Please keep

doing it. Thank you for doing what I

could never do.

The so came

and the word went out.

Hit many hearts,

and in some of them,

There's a great harvest. Friends our our prayer

just simply this. Look...

Let let your word do you're work us.

Don't stop changing. We're so glad that we

have a a building.

But, we're glad that you've been kind. We're

we're glad that we've have... We we've had

many years under our belt, but we also

want you to keep working, thank you for

what you've done.

Continue to work in us.

Man you guys can come back up. We'll

take

comm today.

Like we do each week.

First Corinthians 11:23 through 26 where I received

1 Corinthians 11:23–26

from the Lord what I also delivered to

you.

At the lord jesus on the night when

he his betrayed, took bread and when he

had given thanks, he broke, and he said

this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me in the

same way. Also, he took the cup after

supper saying, this cup is the new covenant

in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink, and

remembrance it's of me for as often as

you eat this bread and drink the cup.

You claim the Lord's death

when until he comes.

Friends of Jesus was telling us this parable

to explain the miracle of salvation then we

come to the table thankful.

God is only you that have done a

good work in me.

Thank you for what you've started to thank

you that you you preserved me.

Thank you that you you will not let

it in. You will not let it go.

Thank you that you have done all the

works. It was your body and your blood

thank you helped me to live out of

that, may your word.

Produced a rich beautiful crop in my life.

Thank you for your goodness. That's our hope

as we come to the table. We remember

It his god's work and out hours and

we worship out of

out of that. You don't have to be

a member to take here. We'll play a

couple songs at any point you can come

up. And you can take.

But the hope is that will continually be

fed at the table. Got it as you

and you alone, and we thankful for your

grace and mercy.

Would you stay in and pray with me?