WWUTT 2348 The Parable of the Sower Explained (Luke 8:9-15)

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Jesus gives to his disciples the parable of the sower. There's seed that falls on a path, seed that falls in rocks, seed that falls in thorns, and seed that falls in good soil and produces a harvest when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. My voice is still a little weak here, but I think we'll get through a whole lesson.

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We'll see. Let's pick up where we left off yesterday. So we are in Luke chapter eight.

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We read just the parable of the sower yesterday, what we have in verses four through eight, as Jesus originally gives the parable.

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And then the disciples ask him, why? Why does he speak in parables? What's the meaning of this parable?

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And that's where we're picking up today, verses nine through 15, with the explanation of the parable of the sower, hear the word of the

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Lord. And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,

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Jesus said, to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others, they are in parables.

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So that seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand.

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Now, the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

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And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy, but these have no root.

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They believe for a while, and in time of testing, fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and their fruit does not mature.

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

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So verse nine was kind of a bridging verse for us yesterday. I ended with that verse.

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I'm gonna read it again today as Jesus explains the reason for speaking in parables.

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Verse nine, once again, Jesus' disciples asked him, what does this parable mean?

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And he said, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.

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Now, let me stop right there at the comma. When I was growing up as a kid, I heard all the time from my

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Sunday school teachers, even from a few pastors, that the reason why Jesus spoke in parables was to tell a story or give a metaphor or some sort of a word picture that would help people understand his teaching better.

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That's only half of the explanation. It is true that a parable would help somebody understand something that Jesus was teaching, most likely about the kingdom of God.

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Most of the parables are pointing the disciples toward the kingdom of God, especially as Jesus gives this explanation here about this parable pointing to the secrets of the kingdom of God, exposing those secrets for the disciples.

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So it is true that in speaking in these stories that Jesus gives, these wonderful pictures, verbal illustrations,

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Jesus does that so that the disciples will understand more about the kingdom.

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And in this particular parable, what we read about are those who hear the message of the kingdom.

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In other words, they hear the gospel or they hear some sort of teaching of the kingdom. And some of them hear it and don't believe, or they hear it and they believe for a time, but it turns out that it was just a passing opinion.

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They weren't really believers in the message that had been spoken to them as it seemed.

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And then there are those who are going to hear it and they legitimately believe. And hold it fast is the expression that Jesus uses here in Luke 8.

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So yes, Jesus will give an illustration of the kingdom of God in a parable to help his hearers, his disciples in particular, understand.

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But again, that's only half of the illustration. The other half is regarding those who don't understand, whose hearts are actually not inclined toward Christ or to his kingdom.

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They hear these things in parables so that they won't get it. That's part of the reason why, that's the other part of the reason why

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Jesus speaks in parables, is so they don't understand that their eyes would actually be blinded and their hearts would be hard, their ears would be stopped up.

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They hear it, but they don't get it because their heart is not for the kingdom of God anyway.

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So Jesus speaks in a way that makes it difficult for them to understand it because they're not meant to understand it.

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So the second half of verse 10 there, for others, they are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.

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And this is like something the Lord said to Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six. I heard the voice of the

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Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And Isaiah said, here

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I am, send me. And God said, go and say to this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

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Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. That sounds exactly like what Jesus is saying here in Luke 8 10, right?

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Even in Isaiah 6 10, it goes on from there. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.

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It was God's intention through the message that Isaiah was going to preach that he would bring his people into judgment because they had rebelled against God and were worshiping false gods.

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And so that's the same thing here with the parables. Two halves, two reasons for speaking in parables.

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The first reason is so that Jesus' disciples would understand better the secrets of the kingdom of God.

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Those secrets open wide to them, exposed to them so that they may marvel and believe what

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Jesus has in store for them. But the other half of that is Jesus speaks in parables sort of like in code so that those secrets would be concealed from those whose hearts are not for the

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Lord and who do not desire his kingdom so that they would come into judgment just as God was going to bring rebellious

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Israel into judgment when he was speaking to Isaiah. So let me pick up here now in verse 11 where Jesus explains the parts of the parable of the sower.

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Now, the parable is this, Jesus says, the seed is the word of God.

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So remember, as we read about the parable yesterday, the sower goes out, he's got his bag of seed, dips his hand in the bag, fills that hand with seed, casts it across his body into the freshly plowed soil and you'll have that seed falling in different places.

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Some falls on the path, some on the rocks, some in the thorns, and some of that seed indeed falls in good soil.

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So Jesus explains what these different soils represent. The seed itself is the word of God.

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It's the message of the kingdom. It is the preaching of the gospel. It is anything that pertains to the teaching of Jesus Christ.

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Remember in the Great Commission that Jesus said in Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo,

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I am with you always to the very end of the age. So teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded, that's what's going to be taught to the disciples.

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And so this is the word. It's the word of God that is being broadcasted as I mentioned yesterday with the scattering of the seed.

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It's broadcasting the seed. Even the disciples back in those days before there was radio and TV waves, when they were preaching the gospel and announcing it into the air for people to hear it and believe, they were broadcasting the message.

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And so the seed is broadcast. The word of God is spoken so that others may hear it.

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And that could be in a personal setting even, one -on -one, you're talking to somebody sharing the gospel with them.

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That could be in a group of people. It's the teacher in a Sunday school class teaching their class, or it could be the pastor preaching to the congregation, or it could even be an evangelist that's standing out on the street corner that is preaching the gospel, warning of judgment, telling the people to repent, to turn to Jesus Christ and be saved.

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That's also broadcasting the message of the kingdom. So the seed is the word of God.

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The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

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And this is the most likely person that hears the message of the kingdom or the word of God.

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It's this person right here. Most of them are going to be the seed that falls along the path.

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Most of them are gonna be the path because they hear the word, but they don't believe it.

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The devil has come and snatched it away from them before it could be sown in their hearts and they would believe it.

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Now, even though it says that of Satan here, that doesn't mean that anybody has any excuse on the day of judgment to stand before God and say, well, the reason why

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I didn't believe in your message of the kingdom is because the devil came and snatched it away from me.

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You can't blame it on the devil. It's not gonna be a, the devil made me do it sort of a situation. You are responsible for your own actions.

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And those who do not believe the gospel will perish in the judgment as talked about in 2

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Thessalonians chapter one. Those who do not believe will perish at the judgment.

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When the Lord Jesus returns with his angels of flaming fire to be marveled at by those who believe and he brings judgment on those who do not believe.

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On that day of judgment, they won't be able to say it was the devil. It was the devil's fault because it was in their hearts to rebel against God anyway.

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The devil comes, snatches the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

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Now, I think that there is an active spiritual warfare thing that is going on there.

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Like say you've got an evangelist that's speaking out in the park and you have two men standing there listening to the evangelist.

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They're standing side by side. One of them is an atheist and the other one, I mean, he could be an atheist too, but that guy, let's say, let's just say these men are on the left hand and on the right hand, okay?

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The guy on the right, hears the message of the evangelist and he believes it.

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He is convicted of heart when he hears that evangelist talk about sin. He is fearful when that evangelist talks about the judgment of God that is coming against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of man.

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There is a day in which everything you have said and done, you're gonna have to give an account for.

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It's gonna be on that day of judgment. And so it cuts this guy to the heart. And like the men in Acts chapter two, he says, what do

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I need to do to be saved? And then the evangelist shares the gospel message. Repent, turn to the

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Lord Jesus Christ, believe in him, trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins, for he died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sins.

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He rose again from the dead for your justification so that all who believe in him will not perish, but even have his life and his everlasting life.

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And so the guy on the right hears that message and he believes it. But the guy on the left heard the exact same message, but he does not believe.

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He thinks it's ridiculous. Everybody's a sinner, sure. We've all told lies.

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We've all called people names, probably all stolen something before. Yeah, I've lusted looking after, looking at a woman and undressing her with my eyes.

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I've done all that before. Everybody's done something like that. It doesn't mean that I'm a bad person though.

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I still do mostly good things for people. Who needs this Jesus stuff? This is just religion.

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I wanna watch my football on Sunday morning. It's not football season anymore, but it's a waste of a morning for me to get up and go to church anyway.

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I don't need Jesus. God loves me just like I am. Why do I need to change anything anyway?

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He loves all of his children the same and I'm a child of God, or I don't even believe God exists.

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You know, whatever excuses, whatever thing this guy on the left is saying, as an expression of his heart, that he just doesn't believe it.

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There is an active spiritual warfare thing going on there in that some sort of evil force is around that guy and keeping him from believing and understanding.

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But they're in tandem with one another. They're working together here. The reason why the devil is able to be so effective with that man is because his heart was rebellious against God anyway.

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And the devil just works to harden it further and keep that man from the message of the kingdom, putting faith in Jesus Christ and so be saved.

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So it's a symbiotic sort of a relationship. It's not that the man really wanted to believe it, he really did, but the devil got involved and just kind of pulled this guy away.

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The reason why somebody goes after the world or goes after the devil, and we're gonna hear about the world here in these other parts of the explanation of the parable of the sower.

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But a person goes after the world or goes after the devil because their hearts are rebellious against God.

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They find rest in the devil and in the world. Now it's not truly rest, but they are comfortable there because the devil and the world are giving them what their heart wants.

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And so they don't even wanna believe anyway. I still wanna do what I wanna do.

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And therefore the devil snatches away the word and they cannot believe it and they are not saved.

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So we go on to the next two soils. The first one is the rock or the second one,

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I guess you wanna say, the rock in verse 13, the ones on the rock or that fall among the rocks that hit the rocky places, the seed on the rocks, that's those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy.

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So there's a period of time where after they hear the word, you actually see in their lives that they're believers.

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They may even walk the aisle. They may even get dunked in the tank, in the baptismal or whatever.

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They go through the whole thing. They get rid of their secular music. They start listening to only Christian music.

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They wear Christian t -shirts. They get the bracelets. They probably become like a hipster

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Christian or something. The new young restless reform, maybe they even go that far. They drink the Christian coffee, he brews.

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They go to the hipster churches or whatever church. They could even end up in a solid gospel preaching church.

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But what happens to these who exhibit this faith for a time, but then fall away?

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Jesus says that initially when they hear the word, they receive it with joy, but they have no root.

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They're not in the spirit. They're not really in Christ. This just seemed like a good idea at the time.

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I felt the feels. I had all the emotions, the goosebumps and everything else when

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I heard that preacher preaching or when I heard that song hit. And I knew that I had to be a Christian.

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I was going to follow Jesus. I was going to listen to all the right words and music and everything else. I was going to subscribe to Pure Flix, whatever this person was doing in their new enthusiasm for Jesus.

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They received it with joy, but they had no root. It wasn't truly in Christ.

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It was in their feelings, in the opinion that they had for a little while, in the circumstance or that it was convenient for a time.

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They believe for a while, Jesus says, and in time of testing, fall away.

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This is a faith that just doesn't stand up to the challenges of life. It doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

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Somebody may come up with the right kind of argument that this person can't respond to. And then they say, man,

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I guess I didn't really think this through. Maybe this isn't real after all. Or as I said previously, somebody makes fun of them.

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They don't like the ridicule so much. So they change their faith to something that's a little easier to believe, a little easier on my friends and family.

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And they won't hate me as much for believing in this Jesus. Surely they can get along with this Jesus. And then what they change their

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Jesus into is no longer the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of this world is a different Christ than the

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Christ of the Bible. The Jesus that is friendly and compatible with the world, the buddy

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Christ, as I like to call him. So they received it with joy. They demonstrated

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Christian faith for a time, but it wasn't real. It wasn't genuine.

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It wasn't really rooted in Christ. And it eventually comes to light that they never really had faith at all.

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And it is said in 1 John 2, 19, they went out from us so that it may be plainly seen that they were not of us.

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For if they were of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out. So it may be seen that they were not of us.

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And then the next one, verse 14, the next soil, as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.

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So just like with the rocks, they hear and they show in their lives an enthusiasm for the faith that's just temporary.

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It only lasts for a little while, but the faith that they have is choked out. By what? It's choked out by cares, the cares and riches and pleasures of life.

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Now that word for cares can also be anxieties. So it could be that the stuff that's going on in the world becomes so unbelievably overwhelming.

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I've seen this happen before with a person who's, their religion is like what's on the news.

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And they watch the news constantly, not spending much time in prayer or in the

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Bible, they're just watching the news. And they've been sucked in by the cable news machine.

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They watch it all the time. It keeps them in this constant state of panic and anxiety so that they come back tomorrow to see if whatever news story it was that was bothering me yesterday got resolved somehow.

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But that's not the way cable news works. They're just gonna give you another story to make you anxious and another one and another one.

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And these kinds of cares that leave you in this state, drag you away from trusting in Christ, who is working even in the midst of things that are happening in the world right now to fulfill his ultimate purpose and usher in his kingdom.

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They don't trust in Christ though. They're looking for some sort of resolution to the anxiety that I feel.

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It could also be a dependence upon substances, substance abuse, these different kinds of things.

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They're choked out by the cares and by the riches of life.

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They want wealth. They go after stuff. They're looking for these things. And this was

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Demas, by the way, in 2 Timothy 4, where the apostle Paul says,

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Demas has abandoned me and in love with this world has returned to Thessalonica. So he went back to a wealthy city.

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He didn't like the whole thing of being persecuted for his faith. So he left the faith altogether.

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He was like the seed falling among the thorns, choked out by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, looking for the things this world has to offer instead of looking for Christ and their fruit does not mature.

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But then finally, verse 15, as for that in the good soil, they are those who hearing the word and that's everybody so far, right?

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Along the path, along the rocks, along the thorns, they've all heard the word. The seed that falls in good soil, they've heard the word, but they hold it fast in an honest and good heart.

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Hold it fast. So what does that mean? All the other three did not hold it fast.

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The one on the path didn't even grasp it in the first place. The seed that falls in the rocks, yeah, they received it with joy for a time, but there's no root.

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There's nowhere for that plant to latch onto. Some sort of plant sprouted up there for a little while. It looked to everybody like this was genuine

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Christian faith and this person is saved. It's not that they lost their salvation.

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They were never saved to begin with. They had no root. They weren't holding on to anything steadfastly.

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The thorns, also not rooted in anything, but choked out by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.

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But the seed that falls in the good soil, those persons hold it fast.

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Steadfastness, that's one of the fruit of the spirit. In Galatians chapter five, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, which is also steadfastness, gentleness, and self -control.

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That faithfulness is holding steadfast to the faith. That's a fruit of the spirit. It is the

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Holy Spirit of God that has opened our heart to hear the word of God. He has tilled up the soil so that we can hear the word and it falls in good soil and therefore sprouts up and becomes a harvest.

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And it's the Holy Spirit that is holding fast that plant that sprouts up, that roots it in Christ, that we may hold fast to him all our days and be delivered into the kingdom of God on that day when we appear before Christ in glory.

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This person holds it fast in an honest and good heart, a heart that's been made good because of what

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Christ has done in the life of that person. And they bear fruit with patience.

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That could be a couple of different things. It could be bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. As John the

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Baptist had said previously at the beginning of the gospel of Luke, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

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So you continue to see a fruitfulness, a growth that is happening in this person. And repentance is not something they did once.

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It marks their life. It's ongoing, turning from sin, putting it to death, being made holy, pursuing righteousness, and growing in the holiness of God that we have been given in Christ Jesus.

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This is the honest and good heart that bears fruit with patience, steadfast, long -suffering, all the way to the end.

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No matter what comes for this person, yeah, the cares and the riches and pleasures of life, yeah, for that person, it's like, that doesn't even compare to Christ and what he offers me.

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Or when a time of testing comes, they don't fall away. It just makes them cling to Christ harder.

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And steadfastly, they bear fruit with patience until the end when they meet the

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Lord in the heaven that has been prepared for the children of God from before the foundation of the world.

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So let us understand from this parable that we need to hold fast to Christ.

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We need to hold fast the confession of our faith. We need to hold fast to the gospel that was proclaimed to us.

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We need to hold fast to the promises of God that have been delivered through the teaching of Christ, knowing that that is our hope and our future.

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Those promises that we have in store for us in heaven above, Jesus saying in Matthew 6, seek first the kingdom of God.

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And the apostle Paul in Colossians 3, we seek the things that are above where Christ is.

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We look to those things first and foremost, and we will remain steadfast.

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We're able to do this by the power of his spirit who has helped us understand the word and will keep us steadfast in the word to the end.

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If you know those who have believed in Jesus for a time and then fallen away, it's not that they lost their faith.

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It's that they never really had it in the first place. Jesus teaches that in his first parable.

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Yeah, there's no such thing as losing your salvation. It's a person who believed for a time, but then it was a passing opinion.

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They weren't really saved. If you're saved, you're saved. If you're pulled out of the water, but you can fall back into it, then you weren't really saved to begin with.

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If you can come into eternal life and then lose it, then it wasn't eternal.

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In Christ Jesus, we're saved, really and truly saved. The person who falls away has a responsibility to continue to hear the word and obey it and be steadfast in it.

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They're gonna have to give an account before God on that day if they don't remain in it. And it's on them.

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They can't blame anybody else for not believing or remaining steadfast. Everybody is gonna have to give an account before God as said in Romans chapter 14.

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So there is a responsibility upon us to remain in this, but it is by God's spirit that we have the ability to do that.

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So trust in him and rely upon him that he will keep you and see you to the very end.

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Those who hear the word, hold it fast. They never lose it. They're always in it to the end in an honest and good heart and they bear fruit with patience.

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Let us do the same. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read here. And I pray that it would encourage and challenge us to remember what

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Christ has taught and to hold fast to that and to not rely upon our own strength, but to rely upon the power of your spirit that has been given to us to keep us rooted in Christ.

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We can try and try and try until we're blue in the face and then find that we're choked out by the cares of this world because we weren't able to do it on our own.

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We have no root in ourselves. We must be rooted in Christ. So hold us steadfast,

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Lord. May we hold steadfast to you and continue to grow and bear fruit until that day when we'll be with our

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Lord forever in glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

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Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.