Sermons

Introduction

I'd like you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 is our text this morning. My focus and assignment is Luke 8:1-15. But to prepare ourselves for the hearing of God's word, since this is a word about how we listen, how we hear God's word, this well-known parable of the soils is concentrated and focused around this theme of hearing and receiving the word of God. And with that in mind, I want to read from verse 1 to verse 21, though we'll consider only through verse 15 mainly for our focus. The title of this sermon I'm borrowing from Dr. Luke himself in verse 18 where he says, "Be careful how you hear." So if you like a title to a sermon, this is called "Be Careful How You Hear," Luke 8:1-15. Let's begin by reading this text again through 21, and then I'm going to ask for God's blessing. So, let's read.

"After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

"While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, He told this parable: 'A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.' When He said this, He called out, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'

"His disciples asked Him what this parable meant. He said, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; and though hearing, they may not understand. This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.'

"Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see Him, but they were not able to get near Him because of the crowd. Someone told Him, 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see You.' He replied, 'My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.'" May God bless His word. Let's ask Him to do so.

[Prayer] Father, thank You for the Scriptures. Thank You for the words of Christ. We ask that You would do what only You can do by Your Spirit, that You would bring the word of God and the human heart into connection. Would You give us what this passage is teaching us and asking us for? Would You give us soft hearts, good soil, careful listening; and we'll give You all the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen. [End]

Dr. Robin Wallace is a professor of musicology at Baylor University, and he's a renowned scholar about the legendary composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven. And Beethoven is known not only for his incredible ability with the piano and his virtuoso as an improviser and as a conductor and as a composer of some of the most regarded classical works in all of history. Hundreds of years later people still perform Beethoven in front of sold out crowds of fans of classical music. His music is admired and his artistry is widely commended. He's Beethoven for goodness sakes.

Dr. Wallace wrote a book called Hearing Beethoven, Hearing Beethoven, a story of loss and discovery. And though he devoted his entire academic life to the study of Beethoven, particularly the reception of his works, it wasn't until his precious wife who had struggled with poor hearing for most of her life since a childhood medical incident that after they'd been married for I believe 14 years, she one morning was suddenly unable to hear at all. And as they struggled through this reality, it gave his research on the famously deaf musician Beethoven.

Remember it was in his late 20s that Beethoven began to struggle with hearing loss and a combined sensitivity to loud noises, and some of his most famous works were composed before he lost his hearing. But even after, he continued to compose. And they put a resonator on his piano so that he could feel the music, while his hearing was greatly compromised and diminished. And as this scholar studied Beethoven and also navigated this difficult trial with his precious wife, he came to understand more and more that the remarkable thing about Beethoven wasn't that he was a deaf composer. The remarkable thing is that he faced adversity that he never anticipated. And Beethoven became an example of how to navigate that kind of difficulty, that he worked not in spite of his disability, but alongside of it and through it.

It's really a remarkable story of one professor's love for his academic subject combined with his devotion to his wife. And I think what's so appealing about a story like that and what causes people to be so interested in the life of Beethoven is we can't think of anything more tragic than a great composer, a great musician, and an artist of significance losing that which is most precious to them: their ability to hear.

But there is a greater tragedy before us in Luke chapter 8. The greater tragedy, the more disastrous reality is a deafness to the word of God. Helen Keller said famously, "Blindness separates people from things, but deafness separates people from people." And when we are deaf to the word of God, we are cut off from salvation. We are cut off from relationship to God. If we fail to hear His voice, nothing else matters.

And that's why Luke chapter 8 contains for us the parable, as we call it, of the sower, a parable that isn't actually about and focused on the one who throws the seed, but a parable that's about different types of soil, four types of soil, only one of which is fruitful, three of which are disastrous. It's a passage that Dr. Luke in his presentation of the gospel – it's not Luke's gospel, it's the gospel, God's gospel according to Luke, that he carefully arranged. You remember since back in chapter 1, he gave us his purpose statement: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of the things that you have been taught."

Dr. Luke carefully composes God's gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, from his perspective, from his research, from his careful and attentive care, seeking to demonstrate the veracity and the truthfulness of this gospel message; and as he does so, he is concerned to accurately and carefully lay out the ministry and work and death and resurrection and the building of the church in the book of Luke: Acts. That's what he's doing.

In this particular section, he provides for us the parable that is most significant to all the gospel writers. The reason I say it's most significant is though there are many parables that Jesus taught, it's this parable that's given a place of preeminence in the layout of the Gospels. Remember, the Gospels aren't primarily concerned with historical chronology. I didn't say historical accuracy, they are historically accurate. But chronology is less important to them than artistry. In other words, where these stories and sermons are arranged matters deeply as they make a theological case for the ministry and miracles and teaching of Jesus.

And that's exactly what's happening in Luke chapter 8. Lest we misunderstand the parable, Dr. Luke has placed it in a particular context. It wasn't just Mark Becker's bad math that gave me verses 1-3 to include in this sermon, it's part of what Dr. Luke is trying to present, just as he has woven this story. And last week, you looked at the story of the sinful woman caught in her sins and forgiven by Jesus because of His massive love for her, and she's granted salvation.

Now, as we've seen Jesus both embraced and, by Simon, rejected, we are seeing that there is a variety of responses to the ministry of Jesus, to the gospel that's being presented here. And what Luke seeks to do and what Jesus sought to do in preaching this parable was to show us how important it is to pay careful attention to the word of God, and to help us understand why is it that some people respond to the gospel in a positive way and then suddenly turn away from that confession that they seem to hold on to with such emotional power. It helps us understand why others will hardheartedly and immediately reject the gospel without any concern for its application in their lives. And it helps us understand why some respond to the gospel in salvation and live lives of fruitful, generous perseverance as they seek to honor the Lord with their lives, but more important than anything else, that we could analyze through this parable.

This morning, dear church family, what I'm hopeful will take place is that your preeminent, your main concern is not looking at how other people respond to the word of God, but instead to think about how you respond to the word of God, how you respond to the gospel, because as Jesus provides us a careful consideration of the different kinds of hearts and the different reception His word receives in all these different hearers, it's my desire that our own hearts would metaphorically be taken in our hands, that you would take your heart in your hands and ask the Lord, "God, how do I attend Your word? How do I listen to Your word?" I hope this morning as we look at this very familiar parable, we'll know that the need of this message is for our own hearts to be carefully considered and to ask, "What kind of heart do I have towards the word of God? What kind of reception do I give to Scripture, to preaching, to God's gospel, to the kingdom of Jesus? Am I open to hearing, or am I just part of the crowd and the seed has just bounced off of my heart?"

J. C. Ryle – this seems to be one of his favorite paragraphs in all the Gospels and in his meditations on the Gospels, he writes much and very beneficially about the parable of the soils. J.C. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool, 1880 or so, said this: "These verses contain the parable of the sower. Of all the parables spoken by our Lord, none is probably so well-known as this. There's none which is so easily understood by all from the gracious familiarity of the figures which it contains. There's none which is of such universal and perpetual application. So long as there is a church of Christ and a congregation of Christians, so long there will be employment for this parable. The language of the parable requires no explanation." To use the words of an ancient writer, it needs application, not exposition. And that's my desire.

Now granted, I'm going to do some explanation here, I can't help myself. But the point isn't, "Let me give you all the data on ancient soil and plowing techniques. Let me talk to you about what kind of birds ate seeds in the ancient world." That's not the end here. The goal from the outset is that we take our own hearts and ask the Lord to give us the assistance we need from His Spirit, where you're sitting today to thoughtfully and carefully examine, "How do you respond to the word of God? How do we receive the Bible? How do we think about spiritual things? Are they valuable to us? What kind of effect has this had on my life to think carefully and wisely about our own reception of the word to ask: What kind of hearer am I?

Am I hearing the word with profit? Am I evidencing the fruitfulness of God's grace?" And as Jesus explains this parable to us, we understand that this parable unlocks all parables because it has to do with how we receive the very word of God, and we seek to respond appropriately.

The Salvation In Jesus' Word

So, what does it teach us about receiving the word of God? I think we can consider it in three parts. First, let's look at "the salvation in Jesus' word, the salvation in Jesus' word." Again, this passage intentionally is framed by Dr. Luke to show us the reality of the salvation of Jesus' word. Consider verses 1-3: "After this," – after the encounter with the sinful woman, after Jesus has been rejected by some and embraced by others – "after this," – it says, verse 1 – "Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God."

Jesus's ministry was that of proclamation. He was a preacher of the word of God. God had one Son and He made Him a preacher, and this preacher had a message, and the message that He proclaimed is euaggelion, it's the Greek word for "gospel" or "good news," a word that was used to announce the announcer of a military victory. When we think of announcers, we think of great and notable sportscasters like Vin Scully. He's the only one I think of – go Dodgers. Pray for Shohei. And we think of an announcer. They're the ones that tell you what's happening in the game. They provide play by play and color commentary. But the proclamation here, the announcement here of euaggelion is similar in that in the ancient world when a victory was achieved, the only way that victory would be communicated back to the townspeople, who waited to wonder if their soldiers would return victorious or if they would be defeated in battle, was a runner to come with that message of glad tidings, of good news, to announce the victory. That's what the word means.

The gospel writers and Jesus Himself and the apostles who followed Him employ that word to be the perfect description of what Jesus is doing in His preaching. He is announcing God's victory over darkness. He's announcing the coming of the kingdom of God, the breakthrough of God's kingdom, because where God's kingdom is is God's throne and God's ways and God's presence. And so in the coming of Jesus is the coming of the kingdom of God and the proclamation of the glad tidings and good news of salvation. This is what Jesus' word is about. The content of the word of Jesus is a message of glorious salvation that He's bringing to us. And what we see in these opening verses is that this message has in it not just a message of salvation, but as the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 1, "The power of God for the salvation of all who would believe."

Look at verse 1 at the end: "The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out." Here we have the disciples following Jesus. They are, according to Luke, with Him. It's a great definition of discipleship. And as they continue on their journey, as they follow Jesus, as He makes His way to the cross to accomplish His divine mission, the mark and hallmark of their discipleship is their togetherness with Christ.

And when we think of disciples, we usually think of twelve guys, mostly fishermen, one tax collector, you know, twelve guys, one bad dude in the mix. But Jesus' disciples were more than twelve. In fact, later in the Gospels, you see that Jesus sent out seventy of His disciples, as messengers, as evangelists, as apostles. They were part of a larger crowd of people that followed Jesus. And so, though Jesus' inner circle consisted of three men, and then another kind of interior group was twelve men, there was lots of disciples. And in these larger concentric circles, it was not only men. In fact, Luke serves to remind us of the important place that women had in the ministry of Jesus. And they were not just the recipients of Jesus' mercy, but they were also ministering alongside of Jesus, serving alongside of Jesus. And Luke seeks to underscore this reality by identifying some women who'd been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

The first one is named Mary, or Mary of Magdalene. Now, some have sought to associate Mary with the sinful woman in prostitution in chapter 7, but there's no reason to believe that. In fact, she already has seven demons, why are you trying to put that stuff on her, too? It doesn't make any sense. So Mary Magdalene, all we do know about her is where she's from and that she was under the power of the evil one. She was a victim of the devil's schemes. And this is a sad situation. To be harassed and incapacitated by the devil's power is to show just what kind of a woman Jesus rescued here.

Not only does he give her as an example of one who'd been saved from Satan's power, but he gives the name of another woman: "Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household." Well, if this demon-possessed woman would have been on the outskirts of society, a woman like Joanna would have been the upper crust of society. Her husband – and we don't know if she was married or a widow or what her present status was, just that these women were women of means, able to support the disciples; and that was likely a financial support in her case. And some of these women who maybe didn't have as much, they were supporting the ministry by working, by helping, by serving in various ways. Some women, we see in Romans chapter 16, provided the homes that the church would eventually meet in. But this woman was associated with Herod's household. Her husband would have been influential and probably wealthy.

And then another woman is named Susanna, and we don't know any about her, but Luke says, "and there were many others, and they were all helping to support them" – the disciples and Jesus – "out of their own means." This is so crucial, and it should be unmissable because it was to the earliest audiences. I wouldn't have to work very hard to show you in first century Judaistic writings that women were looked down upon by rabbis. They were not considered intellectually or socially worthy of studying the Torah, according to most rabbis in Jesus' time. Jesus was countercultural in the way that He ministered to and alongside of women. And this is something that you cannot skip over because Luke won't allow it. He is showing you some serious girl power in Jesus' ministry right here. And I know what you're thinking. I'm making you nervous because you, like me, probably don't want a woman president, or a woman soldier or whatever. I didn't mean it in a timely way, I'm just saying...

Conservative Christians are known for making a distinction in male and female roles, especially in the church, right? In other words, we believe the apostle Paul when he says that women shouldn't be elders, they shouldn't be pastors; and that's true. This verse doesn't contradict that. And the theological position is called "complementarianism." And whether your complementarianism is very broad – in other words, you don't like lady cops, for example, you need to be at least precise and restrictive when it comes to what the Bible actually forbids. And I'm not trying to make a case for Margaret Thatcher here. I'm trying to show you that Jesus did not forbid women from, first of all, salvation, because they were equally in need of the Savior's grace. And He didn't withhold them from participation in His ministry either. Jesus simultaneously practiced distinction because none of the twelve disciples were women, but women were disciples in that larger crowd.

Why am I making much of this? Well, I'm making much of this because I think Luke makes much of this. I'm making much of this because, to quote one author, "this was remarkable," because in those days, rabbis generally did not teach women, theology was only for men. But Jesus wanted to do more for these women than forgive their sins. He wanted to disciple their minds.

To that end, He instructed them in His word. And what we see happening in this passage is these women are the recipients of this sowing of the seed of the good news of the kingdom. They're the recipients of the preaching of Jesus as He scatters seed all over Judea. And people respond and people don't respond, and some of the people who responded were these women, and the way they responded was to turn to Jesus for salvation, the forgiveness of their sins, but then to support Jesus' public ministry. They became examples of God's grace.

Another author says it this way: "What a challenge and inspiration it must be for every woman to consider that while nowhere in the four Gospels is mentioned made of any women who were hostile to Jesus. There are numerous references to ministry and marks of honor which they accorded Him."

And as Luke's gospel continues and moves along the shadow of the cross to become nearer and nearer to Calvary, when all the men abandoned Jesus, who's with Him at His crucifixion? The women. Who's with Him at the tomb? The women. Women are faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christianity has no place for sexism or misogynistic attitudes. Christianity is a place that honors women, that should seek to protect women, to teach women, and cultivate their gifts. You can still believe that only men should be pastors, and I do, but you do not limit what God can do through faithful women in the church exercising their spiritual gifts. Is that okay? We cool? You can send somebody an email afterwards; I don't even live here.

Why is this right here by this parable? It's here because these women, another author, these women are living embodiments of what happens when the sower sows His seed in the soil that can revive and nurture it – living embodiments, portraits and trophies of God's unmistakable grace. These women are, verse 15, when the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. These women and all faithful disciples are verse 18, they have considered carefully how they listen. These women, according to verses 19-21, are something new, because it reminds me of 1 Corinthians 6:1-3, "Such were some of you, demon-possessed, diseased." But what does Jesus do with them through the gospel? He saves them, and they become, verse 21, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put into practice."

So, the first mark of the word of Jesus is that Jesus' word brings salvation. "Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were cleansed, you were sanctified." And so here we have a living example of the word of God bearing fruit, supporting the ministry of Jesus, these socially outcast, and religiously despised women, in an official sense, become part of Jesus' family more so than His actual biological family who did not hear His word and put it into practice. It starts with salvation.

There's Judgment In Jesus' Word

And then it moves to a surprising direction, Point Two: "Not only is there salvation in Jesus' word, there's judgment in Jesus' word." And here I'd like you to move down to verse 8 when Jesus proclaims, "He who has ears to hear, let them hear," because there is a kind of spiritual deafness that is concerning the Savior, and He calls it out among the crowds because lots of people are enjoying the Jesus show of miracles and His profound teaching, but it's bouncing right off their stony hearts. And so Jesus calls for a real hearing. But as He introduces the necessity of listening to His voice, He reminds us that He remains completely sovereign because the same word that brings salvation to the heart that is good soil and noble is the same exact word that brings judgment to these other types of soil. And this is where I think our understanding is most challenged in this familiar passage. This is the difficult part, verse 9: "His disciples asked Him what this parable meant."

Now, we have a tendency to think of the disciples here as dimwitted because they were. At the same time, we need to be generous in that we've been reading this passage with the attached explanation from Jesus our whole lives. So you say, "Parable of the soils, I get it." Put your yourself in their sandals. They had never heard this parable before, and so they're asking a good question. And their question isn't just, "What's the meaning of this parable?" it's, "What's the meaning of the responses that we're seeing here?" They want Jesus to help them understand why the kingdom, which the Jews had been anticipating for centuries, was so tiny, why the response was so hostile. And that is the reality that Jesus' word doesn't just bring salvation, it intentionally is intended by God to bring judgment.

Verse 9, "After the disciples ask Him what it means, He says," – verse 10 – 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God' – the mystery of the kingdom of God – 'has been given to you,' – disciples – 'but to others I speak in parables, so that, seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. This is the meaning of the parable.'" Wow. Did you catch that?

This is what's most provocative about the parable of the soils. What's most provocative is it contradicts our simplistic and incorrect thinking that says, "Well, parables are an example of Jesus being a master teacher. He explains stuff so good, right? I mean, the good Samaritan thing and the prodigal son and the house built on the sand. Like, kids remember parables, and Jesus would grab onto this stuff from ordinary life, sand and plants; and don't be worried because of birds. And all these parables and illustrations are just an example of how Jesus was able to communicate so effectively like a toastmaster, like a TED Talk guy, He should have had a podcast. I mean, look at Jesus, the master communicator."

That's exactly wrong! Jesus was the prince of preachers in the truest sense. But that's not what parables were for. Parables were intended to hide truth. And that's a difficult teaching, isn't it? The purpose of the parables for Jesus's opponents and for most soil types – in other words, most hearts – is to obscure the message of the kingdom. It's to speak in code, as it were.

I grew up around the southwestern United States, all around the western United States, because my dad worked for the government. I can't tell you what he'd do, the CIA would come in and take you out. No, I'm kidding. I am telling you what he did. He worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It was part of the Department of the Interior. They built schools and jails on Native American reservations.

And so, I remember living in those kind of places. I was minority. And I remember learning things about Native American history; and there was great stories. We visited the Navajo Reservation a number of times. And there was this really wonderful and memorable experience in American history involving the Navajo people. They were the code talkers in World War II, remember that, the wind talkers. Their language was so mysterious and so different than anything that touched the continent of Europe. Their language became the perfect code of speaking about Hitler's machinations; and in order to overcome in the war, their voices were employed in radio and they were indecipherable to anyone but the Navajo people.

That's what parables are like. Parables are code talking by Jesus so that only those who are truly His disciples can understand the meaning behind them. You see, to access the teaching of Jesus, Jesus requires your heart to be well-prepared. And this is an example of the very sovereignty of God in salvation. In other words, you can't get it unless He lets you get it.

In John chapter 6, there's a similar encounter that Jesus has with the Pharisees, and as He's talking to the Pharisees, they are pridefully dismissing His message about the kingdom because of their pedigree. They say, "We are Abraham's children. Salvation is ours because of our attachment and association with our father, Abraham. You don't even know who Your father is, Jesus." And with those sharp words, as Jesus is inviting the crowds to follow Him, the Pharisees are making it very clear, "We're not going anywhere You're going, Jesus."

And in John chapter 6, Jesus says something that had to be mysterious to them. After they reject Him viciously, He says, "All the Father gives Me will come to Me; and whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away." Jesus tells these opponents that "this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all He has given Me." And the religious leaders continue to grumble, as Jesus, the bread of life, offers Himself for salvation. And Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. I am the bread of life." Jesus will go on to say that only His sheep hear His voice. This is all to say that the unbeliever's final closed-fisted boast is decimated by the sovereignty of God and salvation. Ultimately, Jesus says, "The reason you don't believe isn't simply because of your hardheartedness, which is real and validated. It's because God hasn't opened your eyes."

This is a difficult teaching. But that's why Jesus, back in Luke 8, says that this has always been the way the word of God has operated. "Though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand." Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah from 800 BC. Isaiah ministered to the people of Israel at a point of spiritual trough. I mean, it was the lowest point – a point of idolatry, a point of dependence on foreign armies. The people of Israel were in a place of despair and rebellion against Yahweh. And as God commissioned Isaiah, He reminded the prophet Isaiah who spoke on behalf of God – he was a prophet – that part of His ministry would consist of preaching and being rejected, "that seeing, they will not see; and hearing, they may not understand."

You see, the word of God is so precious, that if you reject it, the warning would be that might have been your only chance. The fact that you can even hear the word of God is an extraordinary privilege. And to harden your heart, to turn your back on it, to pursue other things, to reject the Savior means that that same word that can soften and rescue and forgive and save is the same word that can harden and condemn and destroy.

The word of Jesus is a word of salvation, it's also a word of judgment. And we're probably having some intellectual difficulties here because I'm talking about, at the very beginning, you've got to prepare your heart. You need to prepare your heart for the word of God to receive it with all your might and with attending God's blessings. But then I'm also saying while God is sovereign over the condition of your heart, and all people are fallen, and so, "How does that work? I feel tension there between human responsibility and divine sovereignty."

Well, let me explain to you how that works. I can't. And you can't understand it because we're not God. And wouldn't it be something if you could understand the mind of God. It's so far outside of our ability to comprehend that maybe we're not supposed to comprehend it, I think we're probably supposed to put our hands over our mouths and worship this God, and then respond to Him.

There's A Warning In Jesus' Word

And that moves us to the third and final portion here. Not only is there salvation in Jesus' word, and judgment in Jesus' word, but "there's a warning in Jesus' word." And this is the part where we need to carefully look at our own hearts, our own hearts as we attend the word of God.

How do we listen? Verse 11: "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God." So the word of God is cast all over the place, falling on all these different types of soil. It's a good word to evangelists to keep on preaching, that there's no place off limits, just keep on spreading the seed of the word of God. But it's going to fall in different hearts. And really, there's four types of soils, but only two responses, if you think about it. Three bad soils and one good. All three of these soils ultimately end up in condemnation and not salvation, and only the good soil is the one that counts. But let's look at each of these three bad soils to help protect and guard our hearts away from an uncareful hearing of the word of God.

George Whitefield spoke on this parable and he called it "How to Listen to Sermons." And that's true. But we're talking about every bit of your reception of the word of God. When you open your Bible on your lap, when you think, "What should I do, God, with my life?" when you seek Him in prayer, when you're faced with the gospel, when you're faced with a choice of obedience or disobedience, when you're being counseled by the word of God, when you're counseling others with the word of God, this is not just about sitting under the preaching of God's word, though it certainly applies to that. This is always how you respond to the word of God, whether it's a child listening to their mother explain to them why God says what He says, or whether it's a college student questioning intellectually the claims of Christ, this is your opportunity to take your heart and to submit it to the word of God, because there are significant threats to good hearing.

Verse 12: "Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved." There's a lot of threats to our worship, internal threats from our own hearts – indifference, and coldness. But the first and greatest external threat to the progress of the gospel in our own hearts is that we have a real adversary, the devil. Job calls him the Satan. He's the adversary. Peter warns us that "the devil roams around, prowling around, seeking who he might devour."

And in this first soil, the great danger that all hearers of the word of God face is the reality of the evil one. This bad soil can have this bird effect where it's plucked away by these nasty crows who come down and steal that seed. And it's a reminder of the reality, not just of this evil being who is the adversary, but a reminder that all of us, because of sin, are under the sway of Satan by nature and by choice. All of us are part of the kingdom of darkness by our default setting.

And when "the devil comes" – in verse 12 – "and takes away the word from their hearts, so they may not believe and be saved," this hard pathway is a reality, a portrait of a hardened sinner whose conscience is seared, who's been listening to the devil his whole life, following after his natural inclinations, growing angry and growing older and continuing to allow truth to just be dismissed. This is why there's so many people who have grown up in and around the preaching of the gospel but never responded to it, that hardheartedness, that cold indifference, that constant unbelief is theirs because they belong to the diabolical one. It's theirs because they do not believe and will not be saved. The devil is at work, and he takes away the seed.

J. C. Ryle describes it this way: "Nowhere does he labor so hard to stop the progress of that which is good and to prevent men and women from being saved. From him come wandering thoughts and roving imaginations, listless minds and dull memories, sleepy eyes and fidgety nerves, weary ears and distracted attention. In all these things, Satan has had a great hand. People wonder where they come from and marvel how it is that they find sermons so dull and remember them so badly. They forget the parable of the sower. They forget the devil." Friend, don't forget the devil. That's the world and kingdom that you've been saved from. And when you let hardness of heart and distraction rule and reign over you, you know exactly who's behind that.

Screwtape Letters, one of my favorite C .S. Lewis works, a guy walks out of church, and the mentor devil writes letters to the younger devil. It's a fictional account, but it thinks about the nature of temptation quite convincingly. And as this guy walks out of church, having heard the word of God, he sees a number on a van drive by, 73 or something, and it just totally distracts him. Everything that was in his head, he just follows on this random line of thinking. And then he hears a dog bark, and he's thinking about what kind of dog – dog, bark, bark bark, dog, dog bark. And this was before they invented Instagram to intentionally distract you. But that's what the devil does because that's where our heart's proclivity is.

But there's more bad soil, verse 13: "Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a little while, but in the time of testing, they will fall away." And this is a common experience. Christians call this apostasy. It's a commitment to Christ that is perfunctory, short-lived. It's someone who hears; and the description is there's rocky soil, there's not enough place for the roots to thrive. They have no roots, but their initial reception was one of emotion and joy. This is a kumbaya summer camp kind of a faith. This is a kind of faith that has emotions attached to it, but it lacks the truth and the thinking that need to undergird all our emotional responses.

God gave us the emotions, and emotions are good, but they're to be led and guided by right thinking, and our right thinking needs to be informed by the truth of God's word. And so a merely emotional response, an enthusiastic response, an emotional manipulation that so often happens in an evangelistic event so often produces an unreal work of salvation. This is a warning to all of us to guard our hearts from an emotional approach to life that does not have anchors in the word of God. If you live by how you feel, you will live erratically. If you live by what you know to be the truth of God's word, you will receive that word, and it will guide your thinking and your feeling.

Again, Ryle says, "It's quite possible to feel great pleasure or deep alarm under the preaching of the gospel and yet be utterly destitute of the grace of God. The tears of some hearers of sermons and the extravagant delight of others are no certain marks of conversion. We may be warm admirers of favorite preachers and yet remain nothing better than stony ground hearers." Lots of people get excited about Christianity for a minute, but they've got no roots.

Well, this final bad soil in verse 14 is the seed that fell among thorns. And Jesus says, "It stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way," – that's a Greek participle. In other words, if that second soil was a quick response, like grass that pops up in the summer in the crack of the sidewalk and then withers and dies, this is one that's gone on for a long time. This is one that is apparently very Christian because they've been hearing the word and they've been going on their way. In other words, they keep on going, they keep on continuing. It looks like perseverance. It looks like decades of church attendance and attendance to God's word and consideration of God's word. But something happens – "as they go on their way, they are choked by life's" – three things – "worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature."

Conclusion

The three greatest threats to receiving the word of God in this particular heart, which is a heart like our own hearts, is, first off, worries or anxieties. It's why Jesus addressed them – and we all have them. We all have things that take the place of Christ in our preoccupation. And the opposite of anxiety is, of course, trust. When we're anxious and uncertain about the future and worried and consumed with the possibilities of things precious to us, falling away from us, of obligations not being met, of circumstances turning to a desirable outcome we do not desire, all those anxieties, all those worries move us from a position of solidarity and trust in Jesus. And so when He counsels our anxieties He tells us to not be afraid, to trust in God's provision. But when we don't, those worries become like a vine that grows up and takes over.

Not only is there the vine of worries, but there's the vine of riches. The Bible calls this the great evil of the love of money. And riches can also take the place of God's word because we are to be reliant on God and His provision, not on our own riches, our own means, our own ability to provide for ourselves. That's not where our backstop is. Our backstop is God.

And then pleasures. At the heart of all three of these choking vines is pleasures; and at the heart of pleasures is self. When our cultivation of self-pleasure instead of self-control, when our desire is for what we want, not the needs and concerns of others, we put our hearts in a very dangerous place.

My parents in their backyard in New Mexico have an invasive vine called a Virginia Creeper, and it's right behind where I trained for my very short-lived athletic career, the basketball court in my parents' backyard. And right behind the hoop is this massive wall that separates my parents' house from their neighbors. And my dad planted these little vines, Virginia Creeper, an invasive and dangerous species. It will take over. I mean, I'm surprised Albuquerque even has sunlight anymore. I mean, when they get after this thing, they have to hack it back because it grows so fast. And that's what these concerns are like. They're a Virginia Creeper – riches, pleasures, anxieties, choking out our attention to the word of God, choking out spiritual growth, getting us in trouble because we're not looking to the word of Christ anymore. This is the great dangers that are all around our path. And as we navigate a life of listening to God's word, if we want to bear fruit, then we are ready to counter and chop these weeds.

But it's not all negative, is it? In fact, the emphasis seems to be on the abundance of the harvest, verse 15: "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." That's what we want to be. We want the word of God to dwell in us richly. We want to be responsive to the word of God. As we're warned by Jesus about the perilous condition of our hearts, we want our hearts to be fruitful and godly and interested in God's word, and quick to hear and listen and understand, and to truly see."

William Cooper, who was a disciple of John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace," he was a poetic guy, a depressed soul. He struggled greatly throughout his life. But he composed in his dark depression some of the most beautiful Christian hymns that we have. He wrote a poem about this parable, and here's a few lines from it: "The seed that finds a stony soil shoots forth a hasty blade, but ill repays the sower's toil, soon withered, scorched, and dead. The thorny ground is sure to bulk all hopes of harvest there. We find a tall and sickly stalk but not the fruitful ear. The beaten path and highway side receive the trust in vain, the watchful birds, the spoiled divide, and pick up all the grain." Final verse, "But where the Lord of grace and power has blessed the happy field, how plenteous is the golden store, the deep wrought furrows yield."

That's where this parable ends, with a good and fruitful heart that sees that plenteous yield, and thanks God for it. May we stay sensitive to the word of God, having heard the word and responded well. Let's take the Lord's Supper together.

[Prayer] Father, thank You for Your word. And it's exactly appropriate that we should, right now, take this bread, thanking You for the sacrifice of Jesus. That's the message of the kingdom., that's the giving of Yourself; and for that, God, we're so grateful as we open this little package.

Friend, if you don't have one, there's some at the back at the sound booth, you can grab one even right now.

But, Lord, as we take this bread, we remember what the apostle Paul said: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Let's take the bread together.

Jesus, thank You that You have given Yourself to us, that Your life, Your active righteousness, Your obedience, and Your sacrificial death was in our place. Thank You for Your perfect life that gives us righteousness that does not belong to us. Thank you that You –