LUKE 8:4-15 HEART CONDITIONS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 8:4-15 Heart Conditions

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012.

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Well, this morning as we look at Luke chapter 8, again the parable of the sower, the parallel passages for this passage that we're studying, if you want to check those out later on today or this week, you can check it out in Matthew chapter 13 and Mark chapter 4.

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And in both of those passages, Matthew 13 and Mark 4, Jesus also is giving the parable of the sower, and you can get a little bit different insight and perspective from those different accounts.

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But as we get started today, we're going to break it up a little bit and not go, you know, usually we would start in verse 4, then go to verse 5, and so on and so forth. But today we're going to break it up a little bit. And first, as we begin to look at this parable, I want to talk to you about the purpose of parables and make sure that we understand what the purpose is, why Jesus used this manner of teaching. And I want to talk to you about the purpose of parables and make sure that we understand

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And the reason why we're talking about this right now is, well, number one, we're looking at a parable. But the second thing is Jesus in our passage today explains why he uses parables. And so if you would jump with me to verse eight and look at the last part of verse eight, it says, when he had said these things, he cried, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

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Now, as we talk about parables and what is the purpose of parables, I'd like to say, first of all, that the purpose of parables is to provide an invitation. It's to give an invitation for those who want to draw near to God, for those who want to hear from God. It's an invitation that is extended.

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We see in verse 8, Jesus says, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. It's an invitation to hear the message of God, to hear the teaching, to hear from God what he has for you.

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Also, as we look at this, notice that it's he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And I would caution you, I would point out that the purpose of parables is not to give you a tool to evaluate other people.

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Really, the whole point of the parables, this one and the others that we'll be studying in the Gospel of Luke, is to help us evaluate and understand our own hearts and where we are in our relationship with God, where we stand with God in the things that He's working in us. And so...

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Be careful that you don't just start looking at these things and saying, okay, this person, that's who it's talking about here, that person over there. But we want to look at our own hearts and let God work in us through these things that he's declaring to us in this parable. If you have ears to hear, Jesus says, then you hear, you listen to what God is bringing forth.

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Now as he brings forth this parable in verse 9, it says, And so he gives the parable, and then later on to his disciples, he gives the explanation.

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I think it's interesting that Jesus explains the parable to his disciples. Now when it refers to his disciples, it's not just talking about the 12, the 12 disciples or 12 apostles that we might think of, but we've seen already as Jesus is going from place to place and ministering

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He has the 12 disciples with him, but he also has other disciples who are with him, who are hearing the teachings that are listening to him, that are following him. Last week in verses 1 through 3, we saw even, you know, the ladies that were with Jesus and going from place to place and hearing his teachings.

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And so he's speaking to the multitude, the parable. But then later on, when the multitude's gone, but the disciples, the followers of Jesus are still around, Jesus explains the parables to his disciples. Again, it's an invitation for those who are his disciples, for those who are following Jesus. He says, this parable...

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It's an invitation for you to draw near to me so that I can explain it to you. It's an invitation for you, not just all the multitude, they'll disperse, they'll go their separate ways, but for you who want to be close, for you who want to hear, here is the explanation. And so a parable is given by Jesus as an invitation to

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for those who want to hear, for those who want to draw near. The word parable means to cast alongside.

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It's often described as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And so there's this heavenly truth or this spiritual reality, and Jesus takes something of the common day, something they understood, and he lays it alongside the spiritual truth to illustrate it, to help them grasp it, to teach this truth that he wants to share.

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But the explanation of the parable is really for those who desire to know him, those who desire to draw near. I really like the way that Guzik explained the purpose of parables. He says this, he says,

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But if they were interested, they could walk through the doorway, think more about the truth behind the parable and what it meant to their life. I think this is a really good visual for the purpose of parables. It's a doorway. It's an invitation.

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So you hear the parable, if you want to draw near, if you want to hear from the Lord, you can step through the doorway. You can dive into, you can draw near to Jesus, and he will explain in more detail. He will minister to you more personally what he has to say to you through that parable. But it's also the opportunity, and this is the second aspect of the purpose of parables. Number one, it's an invitation to

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Number two, it's the choice to not believe. The purpose of parables is to invite you to draw near, but it's also to give you a choice if you don't want to draw near. To give you opportunity to say, no, I don't want to have any part of that. I don't want to know anything.

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what that means. I don't want to hear more from the Lord. Look at verse 10. It says, Jesus explains to his disciples, hey guys, you've been given the mysteries of the kingdom of God. I think it's a

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He says, you've been given the mysteries of the kingdom of God to the people who are saying, we don't get it. What's this parable mean? You've been given the mysteries. Mystery, biblically speaking, a mystery is not something that is not known or cannot be known, but a mystery is something that is only known by revelation from God. And Jesus is saying to you, it's been given. I'm about to reveal to you the meaning. I'm about to give you the meaning.

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Because you're my disciples. You're drawing near. You're responding to the invitation. But I'm giving the parable. He says, the rest, they have it given in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. Now, this is a quotation from the book of Isaiah chapter 6 verse 9. You can check that out later on and see the message that was given there to the prophet Isaiah. But

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This verse oftentimes, well, it seems to say, and it causes a little bit of confusion in us because it seems to be saying that Jesus says, I teach in parables so that people won't understand. Right? You ever think that that's what that's talking about? That seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. So in a sense, we think that Jesus is trying to hide the truth. He's trying to obscure the teaching so that they cannot understand it.

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But as I was looking over this portion and praying through it and studying through it, I found a really insightful word from Pastor John Corson that I thought really shed a completely different light that was really important for us to understand the purpose of parables. Here's what Corson says.

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He says, maybe you've seen films of Adolf Hitler. Now you start thinking, what? Adolf Hitler? What does that have to do with Jesus teaching parables? Well, pay attention. It says, maybe you've seen films of Adolf Hitler speaking to the German masses, firing them up during World War II. He says, that is nothing compared to what Jesus could have done. Adolf Hitler, not a good example in many ways, but he was effective in

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at working people up, at building up emotions and momentum and enlisting people and doing things that they didn't really want to do. And Corson's pointing out, Jesus could have done much more in that regard than Hitler ever could. You think about it for a second. Jesus, he's God. He could speak with great persuasion so that people would be caught up

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And in a sense, forced into following or doing something that they really did not want to do. He could have manipulated more masterfully than anybody else because he knew what was going on in the hearts. He could have got everybody together to do what he wanted them to do, even if they didn't want to do it just by his words.

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by persuasion, by manipulation. He had that capacity. But Jesus spoke in parables to give them a choice so that it would not be so compelling that they would have to against their will, that they would be caught up in it, but that they would have the opportunity to decide, we want to follow this guy, we want to hear what he has to say, we want to learn more of him, or no thanks, I'm not interested.

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So that when it says, seeing they may not see, that it's not that the objective is that they not see, but that they have the choice. You may not. You have the opportunity to not see if that's what you choose. And so Jesus gave parables as an invitation to draw near, but also to give you and I choice whether or not we want to receive what he has to say.

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and hear the message that he has for us. And so that's why Jesus taught in parables. Now as we look at this specific parable, the parable of the sower, we'll continue on for a moment in verse 11 and find the key to this parable here. It says, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.

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The seed is the word of God. This is the key to understanding this parable that Jesus is teaching in this passage. The parable of the sower. The main focus is on the seed that is sown. And that seed, Jesus says, represents the word of God. It reminds me of Paul in Romans when he tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

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And so as Jesus is talking about sowing seed, he's illustrating, he's casting alongside this story, this account of the spiritual reality of the word of God being sown in our hearts. And what that produces in us is determined by the condition of our hearts. And so this morning as we look at the parable, we're looking at heart conditions.

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Because it's really the conditions of the heart that determine the effects of the seed that is sown. There's four types of soils, four heart conditions that we will see this morning. And you are one of the four. You are one of the four. Your heart matches one of these conditions that Jesus will be describing.

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I want to challenge you this morning and as we take the next couple weeks to dig a little bit deeper in this portion to let God challenge you, examine you, to really be honest with yourself. Because if I was to ask you, you know, all right, you're one of the four, you know, of these different types of soils. This is describing your heart. Which one best describes you?

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especially if we are familiar with the parable, we jump right to the end, right? Well, the good soil. I'm the good soil. I got good soil in my heart. That's why I'm here at church today. You know, we want to jump right there and just assume that's where I'm at. But I want to challenge you not to do that. Don't just jump to the end and think that's who you are. But as Jesus is explaining these things, would you honestly evaluate based upon not your desire, not what you hope to be, but

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Well, what your life actually looks like. Evaluate. Consider. This parable is an invitation for you to draw near to God and hear, Lord, what is the condition of my heart? Through this, Jesus wants to give you insight into your own heart that you would understand where you are with Him and what He needs to do in you. Now, as we look at the parable and this seed that is sown, which is the Word of God, initially and primarily,

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That seed is the gospel message. And we could look at that. We're not going to really be focusing on that this morning. But the seed being sown or tossed out, cast out, and the gospel message going forth, and it's received in different ways. And there's definite applications, and you can see that very clearly in the parable. But also, the seed is the word of God. Now, when you have received the gospel message...

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That's the beginning for you of receiving the Word of God. But the Word of God is something we're continually receiving. It's continuing to develop in our hearts. And so each time we read the Word, each time we hear the Word, each time that it's brought forth to us, the condition of our heart is very important. And that's what I want you to consider today is what is your heart condition? Not just have you received the gospel message.

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Now if you've not received the gospel message, then you have to start there. You have to believe in Jesus Christ. Receive the forgiveness that he offered because he paid the full price on the cross. You have to start there. That's the beginning. The initial seed that is sown. But that's not the end of the work that God does in us. There's much more that he has in store. And so we need to check our hearts. What is your heart condition?

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Well, the first type of soil that we see, the first condition of the heart that we'll talk about is the hardened heart. And we go back now to verse 4 here in Luke chapter 8. Verse 4 says this, And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to him from every city, he spoke by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trampled down.

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and the birds of the air devoured it. So here Jesus gives this parable. Now notice it's to this multitude that is gathered. This multitude hears this parable. The explanation is reserved for those who respond to the invitation and draw near his disciples. But here's what the multitude hears. The sower goes out to sow his seed. And so it's a

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illustration. It's a picture that they would understand. Agriculture was a very prominent part of their society. You and I, you might be involved in planting seeds. You might be familiar with sowing seeds, or you might not be because of the society we live in. But basically, they would go out to their field to plant seeds, and they would sow. Now, the way that they would do that is they would have a bag of seed. They would put their hand in. They would just

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Cast seed out into the field. Now, they wouldn't take one seed and then precisely put it, okay, I want it right there. Yep, yep. Okay, this one goes right there. That's not the way that they would sow seed. They would just cast it. They would cast it out.

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Maybe you have like one of those whirlybird things, right? You know, you cast out seed in your lawn or something. That same type of thing, that it's cast out. And so as it's cast out, it's not going in precise places. It's landing in various places. And so landing in different types of soil. And so some of the seed that's cast out, Jesus says, falls on the wayside. Now the wayside would be the path or the road that would be next to the field.

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And here on this path, the dirt is hard. It's packed down because people have been walking on it. And so the seed doesn't really go into the soil, but it just sits on top of it. It doesn't get implanted. It doesn't penetrate the soil. It just lays there on top of it. And because it's laying there on top of the soil, and because it's a path, Jesus says it gets trampled down.

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So people are walking, they're stepping on it, they're kicking it around. It's just getting trampled down, Jesus says. And then, once it's trampled down, then the birds come and eat it. And so now the seed is removed from the path by the birds. Now this, again, was something they would be familiar with. They're sowing seeds, some of it lands out on the path.

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They don't think, well, I got to go sweep up the path now because some of the seed landed on there. The birds will take care of it. They were familiar. They know this is what's going to happen. That's what the multitude heard. But the disciples, the one who says, I want to know more of you, Lord. I want to hear what you're saying to me. Well, what does this mean? And so Jesus explains to his disciples now in verse 12 what he's really talking about. In verse 12, it says, those by the wayside...

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So we're talking about a heart condition. The seed that is sown is the Word of God. The seed is sown into their hearts. But in this case, because their hearts are hardened, the Word is taken out of their hearts by the devil.

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Now, I'd like to point out here, it says, those by the wayside are the ones who hear. And so understand, Jesus is not talking about those who have never heard. He's not talking about those who don't go to church or don't hear the Word of God or don't read the Word of God or don't hear the Gospel message. He's talking about those who hear

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have heard, who do hear. The message is given. It is delivered. They sit in church. They hear the gospel. They read their Bibles. He's talking to those who hear the word. And so again, don't be so quick to just jump to the end and say, I'm the good soil. Consider, does this soil, does the hardened heart describe you? So far, just looking at hearing the word,

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It describes you. Right? I mean, you are one who hears the word. You're here today. I'm sharing the word. Prayerfully, hopefully, you're spending time in the word on your own. So the word is going forth. You're hearing the word, but the question is, is your heart hardened? And that's demonstrated by, you can tell by what happens now once the word is given to you. Jesus says...

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These are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts. The seed gets trampled, the birds eat it. Jesus says this represents the devil coming in and taking the word out. Why would the devil do this? Well, because the devil hates you, and he wants to destroy your life. He's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

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It says there at the end of verse 12, lest they should believe and be saved. That's his motivation right there. He doesn't want you to believe and be saved. And so a hardened heart, the seed, the word, the message of God is heard, but it doesn't penetrate. It just kind of sits there on the surface. And the devil comes in and takes the word out of their hearts.

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Perhaps by doubts or questions or distractions. Maybe he tramples it down and mocks it and things like that. He takes the word out of their hearts because it did not penetrate. Because he doesn't want to run the risk. If I just let the word sit there, then it might begin to change them. It might work its way in the soil. It might begin to produce life. The devil's objective is for you to

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and I to not have the word penetrate our heart, for us to not be changed by it, for us to not be transformed. So the hardened heart, the end result of a hardened heart is that they do not believe and they are not saved. Now again, talking about the gospel message, this is certainly the case. Those who do not receive the gospel, they do not believe and they are not saved.

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Peter tells us in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23, he says, talking about being born again, he says that we're born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the Word of God which lives and abides forever. The Christian life begins by being born again by the incorruptible seed which Peter says is the Word of God, which Jesus said is the seed that's sown on the hearts.

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And so we begin our Christian life with the gospel message. Now, if our hearts are hard and we don't receive the gospel message, then the devil will come and take it away so that we do not believe and we are not saved. But also as we continue to grow as believers, once we receive the gospel message and have been born again, well, the word of God is still being sown into our hearts. It's still being planted into our lives. And there are times when

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Where our hearts become hard. And even though God is delivering His Word to us, we are not receptive to it. We're not listening. We're not wanting to hear what He has to say. And the enemy will come and remove that from our hearts so that it does not get planted, so that it does not begin to grow. We need to be careful. We'll talk more about this next week. But to guard against that hardened heart.

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Where we're not receptive to the Word of God. Is that your heart condition? Hardened. The Word goes out. You hear it. You read it. You listen to it. But there's no real change. There's no life that is produced from the Word that is being sown. Well, the second soil, the second heart condition we see in this parable is the shallow heart. Look with me at verse 6.

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It says, some fell on rock and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. So some of the seed that was sown, again, it's just being cast out. Some of it falls on the wayside and some of it falls on rock, Jesus says. Now, I always...

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of this part of the parable, this type of soil, of being dirt with a bunch of little rocks mixed in. Kind of like we have here in Corona. You know, you're digging and you hit a rock and you're like, ah, it's hard to get around the rocks and it's frustrating. But actually, that's not what Jesus is talking about at all. It's not dirt with a bunch of little rocks in it, but think instead of a big rock with a layer of dirt upon it.

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So you could take some dirt and you could put it out on the pavement and that would be a similar effect. But there was these big rocks, these boulders, these big flat rocks and there would be dirt, a layer of dirt upon them. But the dirt would not be very deep. It was just there laying upon the rock. Now this was something that was common for them and known to them because, well, there's a lot of rocks in Israel and many times the hillsides are

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are all rocks. There's just rocks all over the place. The dirt that once was on the hillsides has been washed down to the valley by the waters and the rains. And so what's left on the hills, the sides of the hills, is those rocks with a little bit of dirt on them. And so the sower is sowing his seed. He's casting it out and some of it falls on these rocks that have a little bit of dirt on them. Now Jesus says there in verse 6,

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that it fell on the rock and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away. With this condition, with the situation of this rock with a little bit of soil on it, the soil would be kept at a warmer temperature because of the rock. And so it was shallower and so the sun would keep it warmer than the deeper soils. And as a result, it would cause the seed to sprout quickly.

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And so the seed would fall on this thin layer of dirt. It would be nice and warm. And so, boom, it would spring up. It would begin to grow quickly. There'd be a lot of movement, a lot of life happening all at once. But as quickly as it comes, Jesus explains, it withers away because it lacks moisture. So it springs up real quick. There's real quick life, but

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But it doesn't last because the soil is too thin. It's not enough to sustain this new life. It's not enough to provide the moisture, the nutrients necessary for the seed that is beginning to grow. There's no...

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real root system established because the soil is too shallow. So that's the picture. That's what Jesus says to the multitude. Now to the disciples, verse 13, he says, but the ones on the rock are those who when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

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So now Jesus explains it a little bit more in detail. He says, look, the seed that is sown on the rock are those who hear. Now notice again, they're hearing the word. It's not those who have not heard. It's those who are hearing the word. The word is going forth. You're reading, you're studying, you're listening to messages or teachings or Bible studies, and the word is being brought forth. He says, these are those who hear the word and receive the word with joy.

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There's this immediate response, just like it springs up quickly out of the soil. There's this immediate response. Whoa, God's speaking. Wow, this is amazing. There's this excitement. There's this joy. This is like, wow, so incredible. But then he says, they have no root. So they believe for a little while, but then in time of temptation, fall away because there's no root.

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Because it's not established. It's responded to with joy, but it's an emotional response. It's when you're caught up in that moment, you're caught up in the excitement, but there's not really substance behind it. You're not really established. I like the way that Spurgeon pictures this. He says, there are many whose religion must be sustained by enthusiastic surroundings.

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They seem to have been baptized in boiling water. And unless the temperature around them is kept up to that point, they wither away. The religion that is born of mere excitement will die when the excitement is over. Can you relate to that? Can you understand? Can you think back into your own life and experiences with the Lord and realize, yeah, there's been times where I've responded, God spoke to my heart, and it was so exciting.

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I mean, God spoke and he brought forth his word and he instructed me to do this, to walk that way. And man, it was so exciting and joyful. Or, you know, the retreat type experience, right? Where you're up on the mountaintop and it's just amazing. It's really easy to walk with God at the retreat, right?

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I mean, there's not much temptation. There's not like, you know, worldly surroundings. It's real easy up there to walk uprightly, to spend time in the Word, to be involved in the things that God wants you to be involved with. And so there's this receiving with excitement, with joy. Woo, yeah, oh, so amazing. And then we go down the mountain. And what does he say? They believe for a while and in the time of temptation fall away.

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And those things that we were so excited about on the mountain, pretty soon they've withered. They've died. Because, well, there was not really depth to our hearts. The seed was sown. It was received with joy. But it was really about the emotions, not about the work of God. It was real. It was received. They believed for a while, Jesus says. But then there's that time of temptation.

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And temptation will come. Trial will come. There will be testings to our faith. And as God speaks to us through His Word, there will be testings and trials regarding those things. Is this your heart condition? The shallow heart? None of us want to think that we have the shallow heart, right? None of us want to raise our hand. Yeah, that's me. I'm shallow. But it's a reality. It exists. Jesus warns us against it.

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Is this the condition of your heart? Can you think about times? I'm not talking about, you know, long ago history, but recently where God has been speaking to you and it's so exciting. You're like, yeah, let's go. Perhaps with the Bible in three years. You know, God's doing a new work. It's been pretty exciting recently.

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And a month ago, you were like, yeah, Bible in three years. It's amazing. It's awesome. I'm committed. We're going to do this in three years. Yeah, it's exciting. Good stuff. But then a month later, today, you're like, oh, yeah. I kind of forgot about that. What happened? Where's the gap? Well, there's this shallowness. There was no real depth. And we have the tendency to be shallow in many ways.

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And many times as God's word is ministering to us and we're responding to it, we can do so with joy. And then it's like, oh wait, oh man, it's harder than I thought. Never mind. And it withers. Is that your heart condition? Shallow. Feeling good yet? Third type of soil.

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We find in verse 7 the divided heart. Look at verse 7. It says, "...and some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it." So here we have the situation. The sower is sowing the seed. He's casting it out. Some falls on the path. Some falls on the rock. And now some falls on soil that has thorns in it. Or maybe we would consider weeds.

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It's cast out, it lands in the soil, and the soil also has weeds. Now, these weeds or these thorns are not already grown. The idea is that they're in the dirt, but they're not growing yet. And then as the seed is cast out, it says there in verse 7, the thorns spring up with the seed and choked it.

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So it's a dirt field. The soil is there. The seed is cast out. Now in the soil you have the seed of the word of God and also the seed for these thorns or these weeds. And both begin to grow. But the weeds choke out the good seed.

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That's the picture Jesus is saying here. That's what he shares with the multitude. The thorns choke out the seed by taking its nutrients, by taking its space on the ground, by taking the sunlight that it needs. And so it's stealing its resources essentially and choking out the good seed. Now to his disciples, to those who say, Jesus, I want to hear more. I want to know more. What is this message? What are you saying to us? He says in verse 14,

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Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. So now Jesus explains, this is, again, those who have heard, so they're hearing the Word, they're reading the Word, they're listening to the Word, they're being taught the Word, the Word is going forth, it's landing in their hearts,

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And it's beginning to grow. So it's not just, you know, rejected, but it penetrates the soil. It begins to grow. There's a work that's happening. They receive it. They begin to grow. But then there comes this issue of the divided heart, where now there's other things along with the Word that begin to take priority, that begin to steal away the attention, the focus, the dedication, the

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that is necessary for the word of God. In order for the word to grow, well, our hearts must not be divided. And Jesus talks about three specific things that our hearts can be divided on. He says the cares, the riches, and the pleasures. And so the idea is the seed is sown. You hear the word God speaking to you.

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And you say, yes, God's speaking. Let's do this. I'm going to grow. I'm going to walk. I'm going to be obedient. I'm going to love my wife. I'm going to be a good employee. I'm going to go on the mission field. I'm going to start that Bible study. Whatever the case is, God speaks to your heart and you begin to go forward with it. It begins to grow. Yeah, this is what God wants to do. But then dollar signs pop into your eyes. You're like, oh man, I need to get some money.

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And if I had more money, we begin to justify it, right? If I had more money, then I could tithe more. I could give more to missions. I could be more effective that way. And there's this divided interest where, yeah, God, I want to go forward and do what you've called me to do and be obedient to your word, but I need to make some money first.

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I need to get that car or that home or get this status or develop my career. I need to, and as soon as I get that, Lord, then I'm going to come back and do what you wanted me to do. There's this divided heart that's going on. These other things that what they end up doing is choking out the word of God, choking out what God was beginning to do, that word that was beginning to grow because it steals away everything

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What is necessary for God's word to grow in you. Or it could be, Jesus says, pleasures. Another word for this is lusts. Now, not just sexual lusts, but lusts of all kinds. Just fleshly desires. Pleasures. Seeking after pleasure. Well, God's speaking to me. Oh, this is amazing. He's beginning to work, but I really want to have some fun. I mean, I work hard and life's tough and I need some me time.

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And so you start investing in the me time and you begin to steal away the resources from the word that God has planted in your heart. And it chokes out the word. There's these divided interests, this divided heart. But Jesus also talks about the cares. Now cares is kind of like the opposite end of the riches. Right?

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Of course, it puts it this way. Cares affect those who live in poverty. Riches affect those who live in prosperity. So on the one hand, you can be caught up and consumed with, oh, I need to get that. I want to get that. I'm going to go over there and I'm going to accomplish this. On the other hand, you could be like, man, I don't got this. I don't got that. I need that. I don't have that thing. And the cares, the word care, it could also be translated anxiety.

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You know, when Peter says in 1 Peter 5, 7, cast your cares upon him for he cares for you. Those cares that you cast upon him, it's the same word here. Those anxieties, those stresses, those pressures. And many times we can let the anxieties and pressures of life choke out what God has said. God speaks to you. Yes, I need to do this. God wants to work in this way. He's revealing himself to me. But I got to do this. I have these pressures.

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I have these stresses. I have these needs that I have. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. You have to have your priorities straight. Your heart has to be devoted to the Lord and not divided between these things so that we seek first the kingdom of God

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And then he adds on the other things. What other things? Well, Jesus is talking about food, clothing, shelter. He's talking about all meet your needs, your cares, your burdens, your stresses, your pressures. I'll take care of those, Jesus says, but you seek me first. The problem is when we say, okay, I got to go take care of these stresses and burdens and pressures, and it chokes out.

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Because our interest is divided. Our attention is divided. Our passion is divided. And so the cares, the riches, and the pleasures choke out the word. And then the end result is there's no fruit to maturity. There's no growth. It withers and does not develop or produce fruit. Is this your heart condition? Is this where you are? Where God is speaking to you?

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And you're saying, yes, let's do this. Oh, but wait, I have this one other thing I have to do first. And then, oh yeah, oh yeah, I have this other thing too. I'll be right back, Lord, but I got to do this other thing and I'm going to get to it, I promise. But there's this divided interest. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Let that word develop in you to have its full effect, to become, well, the fullness of what God desires to do in you.

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Well, finally, we have the fourth kind of soil in verse 8. And we're looking at the committed heart. In verse 8, it says, So he's casting out the seed. Some falls on the path. Some falls on the rock. Some falls on the soil with thorns in it. And finally, the one that we all think we are, the good soil.

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The land's on the good soil, the good ground. He doesn't give us a lot of detail about the good ground, but basically you could sum it up that the good ground is the opposite of the other three. It's soft, it has depth, and it's pure or it's clean. It doesn't have the other divided interests. And we'll be talking about that, developing that more next week.

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But it's soft, has depth, and it's clean. And as the seed falls on this good ground, then it produces a mighty crop, a hundredfold crop. A hundred times the seed that was sown, it produces. It's a mighty and miraculous abundant crop. Well, then Jesus explains it more in detail to his disciples in verse 15.

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He says, but the ones that fell on the good ground are those who have heard the word with a noble and good heart. Keep it and bear fruit with patience. So he says, look, this is speaking about those who hear the word. Again, same thing. But they hear it and their hearts are noble and good. That is, they're receptive. They're soft. There's depth. They're not divided.

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And not only do they hear it, but they keep the word. Remember what James said? Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Don't just hear it, but do it. Keep the word. Put it into practice. And so this is talking about those who receive the word, who believe it, and then do it. They practice it. And when that happens, Jesus says, and they bear fruit. There's results. There's results.

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There's change. There's transformation. There's a work going on. There's evidence that comes forth from those who receive it, believe it, and do it. But notice, he says they bear fruit with patience. That's the end result. Those who receive God's word in this way bear fruit with patience. As opposed to the shallow soil where it springs up overnight and then it withers just as quickly. With this good soil, it takes longer.

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for it to spring up. It takes longer for it to develop. It takes longer for it to grow. But then the lasting effect comes forth. It's durable. It's persistent. It's with patience. And so this is those who say, oh man, God's speaking to me. He's showing me these things and I'm going to do them. I'm walking in them. I'm putting it into practice. But all the adverse things of the other three soils still impact this one.

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There's still the birds that try to steal away the seed. The enemy tries to rip you off and keep you from receiving what God is speaking to you. That's still going to happen. But those who keep it and bear fruit with patience are those who persevere through that. They persevere through the attacks of the enemy and they continue on even though there's this opposition. The sun that rose that heated and wilted

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The shallow soil or the seed in the shallow soil still rises on the seed in the good soil. There's still the heat. There's still the trial. But because there's depth to the soil, it's able to withstand. And so with patience, they withstand the trials, the difficulties, the temptations that come. There's still the temptation, the opportunity for success.

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The divided interest, the divided heart. Many things fight for our attention and focus and devotion. But the good soil, the one who receives it on a good and noble heart is the one who keeps it and bears fruit with patience. Continuing on, even though it might get difficult, even though it might not look like much is happening, you know, you plant the seed and you have to water it and water it and keep watering it and the next day you have to water it. But nothing's happening. You're just watering dirt.

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It takes a while for it to produce. It takes time for it to become mature and then to bear fruit. And so we must persevere. The committed heart continues on with patience, no matter what, to bear fruit. So what is the condition of your heart? Another aspect of this that was challenging my own self this week is, well, it's interesting that we judge a message by how it's taught.

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right? I mean, you listen to somebody and you go, I don't like that guy. You know, he's kind of dry. I don't like the way he shares that. You know, I think I could do a better job explaining that point. We, we're doing these judgments in our mind based on how it's being delivered. And we're determining whether or not it's a good message or not by our perception of it. But we do the same thing in the word. You know, we spend time in the word. We read and we go,

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Yeah, that passage doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not sure why God included that. Let's just skip over that and go to this next one. We're judging whether or not that's a good passage. Really, we're judging God. We're saying, God, I don't think you were thinking clearly when you included this in the scriptures. We're judging it based on our perception. But here's the reality. In reality, it's turned around the other way. When you're judging, you're judging how you listen.

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It's not the message. The message is the same. In all four, the seed is sown. It's the same seed. It's the same sower. They all heard. But it's the condition of the heart that's different. And so when we say, oh man, that was a boring message. When's he going to finish so I can go have lunch? You think, yeah Jerry, I can teach you a couple things. Let me tell you how to spice it up a little bit. You need some more activity, some more...

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illustrations. I could tell you how to do it. You think you're judging me, but you're really judging your own heart. How you listen. How you hear. How you receive God's word as it goes forth. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I can't or I don't teach bad messages. I mean, that does happen too. But as we are looking at the word of God, many times we're judging it, but we're really just expressing that my heart's not right.

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And I'm not listening. And that's the way that it is. As the word of God is going forth, you could be sitting here and you could be like, man, this is boring. And the person next to you is like, I can't believe this. This is changing my life. And for the rest of their life, they will remember this day, this message, because God transformed them and spoke to them so clearly. And they're sitting right next to each other. How does that happen? Because it's based on how we hear. It's based on the condition of our heart.

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And so it's not about the person delivering. It's not about the passage being studied. It's about what's the condition of your heart. Do you have a hardened heart? Do you have a shallow heart? Do you have a divided heart? Or do you have a committed heart? They're going to come up and lead us in the last song. And as they do, I want to ask you to really just take this time, just you and the Lord, and let Him speak to you.

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Let the Spirit minister to your heart. Where do you stand? Think about your own experiences recently. What are you demonstrating? Which heart do you reflect? The heart that says, yeah, all right, let's go, but then it quickly fades. The heart that says, I'm not really interested. I don't really want to read the Word. I don't spend time in the Word. You know, I don't really care about what that has to say. It's just... Or the divided heart. Yeah, I really want to. It's good stuff, but I just don't got time.

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Or do you have the committed heart where you're seeking first the kingdom of God, where He's the priority, where you're not just listening and hearing, but you're believing it and you're putting it into practice? What's the condition of your heart? Let's worship the Lord together and allow Him to meditate or to minister to us on that truth.

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We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.