- Have I responded with a Hard heart? (Matthew 13:19)
- Don’t be Thankful.
- Don’t Believe it when you see God working.
- Don’t turn from Sinful choices.
- Don’t do what God clearly Commands
- Have responded with a Shallow heart? (Matthew 13:20-21)
- Have responded with a Crowded heart? (Matthew 13:22)
- Have responded with a Receptive heart? (Matthew 13:23)
- Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
- Worship (Hebrews 13:15)
- Winning Souls (Matthew 13:23)
How would I know?
How to harden your heart:
How would I know?
Affliction / persecution
How would I know?
Cares of the world / deceitfulness of riches
How would I know?
FRUIT
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
All right, open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.
00:04-00:08
We're going to begin a new sermon series.
00:10-00:13
Jesus introduces the church.
00:14-00:20
Like, well, wait a minute, I thought the church didn't technically start until Acts chapter two.
00:20-00:27
And that's true, but Jesus gives a preview here in Matthew chapter 13.
00:29-00:32
My wife has a grandmother, her name is Helen.
00:33-00:34
It's her mom's mom.
00:35-00:41
And we always laugh with her because grandma Helen apparently knows everybody.
00:42-00:47
And she knows every child that's ever been in any type of scenario.
00:47-00:48
And here's what I mean.
00:48-01:01
If you go to grandma Helen's house and you lean on a railing or something, grandma Helen will say, "Oh, don't lean on that railing." I knew a little girl who leaned on that railing and she fell and broke her leg.
01:04-01:11
Or if you're messing around in the yard or throwing rocks, she'll say, "I wouldn't throw those rocks if I were you.
01:11-01:31
"I know a little boy who threw a rock at the shed there "and it came back and hit him in the eye." And it got to the point that my wife, every time grandma Helen would launch into one of those stories, Erin would always say, "Yeah, Grandma, what was that little girl's name?" And Grandma was totally like busted, right?
01:32-01:44
Well, she was always telling stories and obviously her point was, "I wanna try to teach you a lesson, "so I'm going to tell you a story." Well, there's a pretty good precedence for that because that's actually sort of what Jesus did.
01:45-01:53
And when we get to Matthew chapter 13, we're going to see that Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven.
01:55-01:59
And so many times in scripture, this theme comes up.
02:00-02:03
Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
02:03-02:05
The kingdom of heaven is in your midst.
02:05-02:12
The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are poor in spirit and those who are persecuted for the faith have the kingdom of heaven.
02:12-02:24
And you have to become like a child to receive the kingdom of heaven." And, and, and, and Jesus was always telling stories, saying the kingdom of heaven is like this.
02:24-02:25
The kingdom of heaven is like this.
02:25-02:26
The kingdom of heaven is like this.
02:27-02:31
It's like this man who, it's like this King who threw a wedding feast for his son.
02:32-02:33
It's like this, it's like that.
02:34-02:35
Over and over and over.
02:37-02:45
Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of heaven, telling stories to describe what it's like.
02:46-02:57
Matthew 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 22, 23, and 25, all through the book of Matthew.
02:58-03:00
Jesus teaches about the kingdom of heaven.
03:01-03:08
It's all through Mark and Luke and John, but in those epistles, it's referred to as the kingdom of God.
03:08-03:18
So the question is, if Jesus spent so much time talking about this and telling stories about it and teaching about it, what is the kingdom of heaven?
03:18-03:18
Like, what is it?
03:19-03:23
Well, I'm so glad you asked because that's what we're going through in Matthew 13.
03:24-03:26
So are you ready for a little Bible study?
03:27-03:27
Are you ready?
03:29-03:31
All right, you might wanna jot a couple of notes down.
03:32-03:33
I'm gonna go through some of these things quickly.
03:34-03:46
And some of this information I've actually put on the blog on our website, because I was kind of weighing out, I really think it's important for our people to learn and understand these things.
03:47-03:51
I'm not sure if you're going to sit through a five-hour sermon each week on them.
03:52-03:54
So I was trying to balance that out.
03:55-03:59
So some of this teaching is going to be more in-depth on the blog and the website.
03:59-04:02
That way you can study that at your leisure.
04:04-04:05
Or at your leisure.
04:06-04:08
So what's the kingdom of heaven?
04:09-04:12
Well, I'm gonna give you the short version.
04:13-04:27
But all through the Old Testament, God promised that Israel's ultimate King was going to come and was going to reign.
04:27-04:29
You can't read the Old Testament without catching that.
04:29-04:30
It's all through the Old Testament.
04:31-04:40
The King is going to come, the Messiah, the Christ is going to come, and he's going to reign all over the earth.
04:43-04:54
Well, the problem, not for God, But the problem that we see is that the Christ came to Israel and was rejected.
04:55-04:58
In fact, when you read the book of Matthew, that's what you see.
04:59-05:06
Going up to Matthew chapter 10, 11, 12, Jesus Christ is being rejected by his own people.
05:06-05:10
So the king that they've been waiting for has come.
05:10-05:36
standing in their midst and they reject them. Well, I'm sure you've heard, but nothing stops God's plan. Right? Have you heard that? Nothing stops God's plan. Just go ahead and say that. What stops God's plan? Anything? Nothing at all? Nothing.
05:37-05:40
Right, I agree. Nothing stops God's plan.
05:40-05:44
And God didn't cancel this kingdom, okay?
05:45-05:50
But the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom is yet future.
05:52-05:53
So understand that.
05:55-06:02
Is Israel going to have a king who's going to reign all over the earth?
06:03-06:04
Yes.
06:06-06:13
That is going to happen. He came and He was rejected. So, what happens in the meantime?
06:15-06:22
Now you see, when you read through the Old Testament, you see passages that say the Messiah comes and He suffers.
06:24-06:30
Like Isaiah 53, classic text. You know, the Messiah comes, the Messiah suffers.
06:32-06:39
But then you see all these passages in the Old Testament that say that the Messiah comes and He reigns.
06:39-06:44
So there was some confusion over how that was all going to look.
06:44-06:45
And you see that in the ministry of Jesus.
06:47-06:53
For example, there are times in the Gospels that they tried to make Jesus king by force, the people that recognized Him for who He was.
06:55-07:08
And remember the triumphal entry as people were waving the palm branches and shouting "Hosanna!" They thought He was going to come and take over Israel and overthrow the Roman Empire.
07:08-07:09
That's why they were doing that.
07:09-07:10
Our King is here!
07:12-07:18
And even after the death and resurrection of Christ, remember Acts chapter 1?
07:20-07:22
So Jesus died, rose from the dead.
07:22-07:23
Do you remember what the disciples asked Him?
07:25-07:31
"Lord, is it at this time?" that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel.
07:31-07:36
Even the disciples were like, "Okay, Messiah comes, Messiah suffers, Messiah reigns.
07:36-07:40
Messiah comes, Messiah suffers, Messiah reigns." They had that.
07:43-07:47
But there's something that we're going to see in Matthew 13.
07:48-07:52
Something that Jesus was unveiling for the first time.
07:53-07:55
And it sort of looks like this.
07:57-08:03
In the Old Testament, you could say, "This hand, the Messiah comes and the Messiah suffers." And then they saw the Messiah comes and the Messiah reigns.
08:04-08:07
Here's what they didn't see, was there's a gap in the middle.
08:08-08:18
And when we get to Matthew 13, Jesus is saying, "I'm going to teach you now, first time ever, what happens in the gap." Okay?
08:23-08:31
So what Jesus is revealing for the first time in Matthew 13, some people call it the parentheses, some people call it the church age.
08:34-08:38
And you're like, "Why are we studying all this?" Well, it should be pretty obvious.
08:40-08:55
Jesus in Matthew 13 is describing exactly what life was going to be like between his first advent and the second advent. He just lays it out.
08:56-09:01
Matthew 13 is sort of a panorama view to say, "Here's what's going to happen.
09:01-09:13
Why should this matter to us? Here's why. Because we're living in those days right now." Now, June 10th, 2012 is a day between the first coming and the second coming of Jesus Christ.
09:13-09:23
And in this chapter, Jesus says, "Here's exactly what it's going to look like." And that's one of the reasons Matthew chapter 13 is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible.
09:24-09:29
Because when you read Matthew 13, you're just like, "Yep, yep, yep, it's happened.
09:29-09:33
"It is happening and I see how it is going to, "it's right in our face.
09:33-09:39
"It's just right in our face." Jesus totally called it exactly how it's going to be.
09:41-09:53
That's why I thought it was very important for us as a church in our first year to get into this, because Jesus is describing people, here's the day that we live in, all right?
09:55-10:05
So he's asking, or he's, excuse me, he's answering some questions that we need answered about these days.
10:07-10:19
And the first question is this, the one that we're going to tackle today, how will people respond to the message about the King?
10:20-10:21
That's what we call the gospel.
10:22-10:27
The King has come, he's died, he rose from the dead, he ascended, he's coming back to ultimately reign.
10:27-10:43
But in the meantime, the message is going out about receiving the gift of eternal life through this King who like David had the position, but was out of town.
10:43-10:45
Jesus is sort of like that now, right?
10:46-10:57
David wasn't any less King when he wasn't actually in Jerusalem, just as Jesus is still King of Kings, even though he's not here right now reigning.
10:58-11:00
We have a King who's on his way back.
11:02-11:05
So what happens in the meantime when the message gets out about him?
11:06-11:08
Well, let's look at Matthew 13.
11:08-11:08
Is everybody with me?
11:10-11:32
Matthew 13, it says, "The same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach." Like, could you have that scene in your mind?
11:33-11:41
Jesus was going out to teach and people were like crowding him, like in his face to the point like he's trying to teach.
11:41-11:43
And there's like people like right in front of him.
11:43-11:47
He's like, I'm just gonna step into this boat by myself.
11:47-11:49
That way I can teach.
11:52-11:59
And you know, you and I totally would have been there like in his face, like we said would have.
11:59-12:42
In verse three, "And he told them many things in parables, saying, 'A sower went out to sow.' And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, then the birds came and devoured them." Okay, so Jesus is like, "I'm gonna tell you a story." So some of you know how this, you know what's coming ahead here, But just imagine if you can, you've come to see the most talked about, the miracle working, raising people from the dead, healing disease, the Messiah of Israel, some say.
12:42-12:44
You've come to see this man.
12:47-12:48
He's going to teach us something.
12:50-12:53
And Jesus basically says, "Let me tell you a story.
12:53-12:57
A guy had a bag of seeds and he went and threw him on the ground.
12:58-12:59
Like what?
13:02-13:04
He said, a sower went out to sow.
13:06-13:07
Okay.
13:07-13:12
So picture in your mind, picture a farmer bag of seed seeds over his shoulder.
13:12-13:21
And you know, he didn't have his tractors, his John Deere, his rototillers, his brush hogs, any of those types of things.
13:22-13:26
What he had was a bag of seed in his arm and he went out to sow.
13:26-13:29
That's the picture that people would have had in their minds.
13:31-13:38
Verse four says, "As he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them." Okay, now what's the path?
13:38-13:45
There was some woods behind my house growing up, up in Chicora and this wooded area, we called it the bunny hop.
13:46-13:52
And there were paths just from people riding dirt bikes, four wheelers, walking, sled riding.
13:52-13:56
There were certain paths throughout these woods that were as hard as the street, right?
13:56-13:57
You know what I'm talking about.
13:58-14:01
There's just certain places that were just like rock hard.
14:02-14:03
And that's what Jesus is talking about here.
14:03-14:11
These would have been little paths in between the rows of crops where the sower would actually have walked to sow the seed.
14:11-14:15
And Jesus said, some of the seed fell there and the birds came in, ate the seed.
14:18-14:36
Verse five, "Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil." When I first heard this and pictured rocky ground, I pictured like a little bit of dirt and all these like baseball-sized chunks of rock sticking in there.
14:36-14:38
And that's not what he's talking about.
14:39-14:55
He's talking about the limestone bedrock that was underneath many areas, that there were some places that that bedrock came up to within just a few inches of the soil, which people didn't see.
14:56-15:01
You know, you're throwing the seed, you don't realize that the soil is only this deep and then there's rock underneath that.
15:04-15:05
That's what the rocky ground is.
15:05-15:06
So there's not much soil.
15:06-15:15
It says, "Immediately they sprang up "since they had no depth of soil, "but when the sun rose, they were scorched and since they had no root, they withered away.
15:16-15:17
That's what happens to a plant.
15:18-15:35
You know, if you imagine the seed going into the dirt, once the root hits that rock, the plant's going to grow up, and very quickly, because the roots can't grow down, all its energy is heading one direction.
15:35-15:43
But the problem with that, since the soil is so shallow, those roots aren't able to get the water that they need.
15:44-15:51
So when the sun comes out, you have a plant that's just going to basically bake in the sun because it doesn't have the moisture that it needs.
15:54-15:58
Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.
15:59-16:01
Okay, I think we all know about weeds.
16:01-16:11
You throw a seed in there and there's some weeds growing up and the weeds sort of crowd the seed out and take all the nutrients and bad scene there.
16:12-16:19
Other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30.
16:20-16:22
He who has ears, let him hear.
16:24-16:26
And that was the story Jesus told.
16:27-16:32
And you might think to yourself, well, I thought you were talking about the kingdom of heaven.
16:32-16:35
This sounds like a farming lesson, right?
16:36-16:41
Jesus is like, "Here's how not to plant your fields.
16:42-16:59
"And here's how you should." Well, if you look in verse 10, the disciples knew that this was a parable, but look at verse nine again, let's back up there.
17:00-17:12
Jesus said, "He who has ears, let him hear." Underline that in your Bible because Jesus said that a lot through Matthew, Mark, Luke and Revelation.
17:16-17:22
It was one of Jesus' favorite expressions, "He who has ears, let him hear." What does that mean?
17:26-17:44
Well, obviously like the crowd that was sitting listening to Jesus, A crowd sitting here right now would say, "Well, I have ears, what are you talking about?" But you understand that you can have ears and not hear.
17:46-17:52
You can hear the words that are coming out of my mouth right now, but you're not listening.
17:56-17:59
He's talking about being spiritually tuned in.
18:02-18:06
It's like he's speaking on FM, but our radios are all tuned to AM.
18:06-18:20
And Jesus is saying, "For those of you that are tuned into FM, pay attention." So some of you are tuned in, and at this point, some of you have tuned out.
18:23-18:25
But I would echo the words of Jesus.
18:26-18:34
If you can hear what he's saying, You need to hear them because this is ultra important.
18:36-18:42
Now, verses 10 through 17, I'd encourage you to go to the website to see some comments on that.
18:42-18:48
I'm not going to preach through that, but basically the disciples came to Jesus and they said, "Why do you talk like that?
18:48-18:59
Why do you teach people in parables?" Well, parables have a way of revealing truth to those who want it and hide truth from those who don't want it.
19:00-19:05
It's an act of grace, it's an act of mercy, and it's an act of judgment all rolled into one.
19:05-19:06
Jesus said, "You want spiritual truth?
19:07-19:13
"Here it is." But the people that are hearing the words but don't want spiritual truth, a parable has a way of hiding it.
19:15-19:28
That there are people that walked away, I'm sure they walked away from Jesus that day, and they were like, "What's up with the farming lesson?" And I'm sure there's gonna be people walk away from church here today.
19:28-19:30
But what'd you talk about in church today?
19:30-19:35
I don't know, he was talking about like how to like plant a seed or something and you're gonna miss it.
19:37-19:46
But some of you like in Jesus day are going to hear what the word of God is saying and it's going to change your life.
19:49-19:55
So I encourage you read verses 10 through 17, check out the blog, but I wanna get down to verses 18 through 23.
19:56-19:57
This is the interpretation.
19:59-20:00
The interpretation.
20:06-20:13
Now, just to give you a heads up, to define some of our variables, the seed, what is the seed?
20:14-20:15
I've heard a lot of sermons on this parable.
20:16-20:17
I've heard a lot of bad ones.
20:18-20:23
One person said, "Well, the seed are the good virtues that parents pass on to their children.
20:24-20:25
That's what the seed is."
20:27-20:28
(Brett grunts)
20:29-20:29
Let's try again.
20:30-20:39
I heard another sermon about, this parable is really about prayer and like why some prayers get answered and some prayers don't get answered.
20:41-20:43
That's not it either.
20:44-20:45
I got an idea.
20:45-20:48
I'm just gonna throw this out, but let's let the Bible interpret the Bible, right?
20:49-21:02
In Mark 4, verse 14, Jesus very explicitly says in the parallel passage, "The seed is the word of God." Okay, so when I turn here and, okay, how do we interpret this parable?
21:02-21:04
Well, Jesus said the seed's the word of God.
21:04-21:06
Like, why would I skirt around that?
21:08-21:10
So jot that down, it's the word of God.
21:14-21:15
You know, seed's a mysterious thing, isn't it?
21:20-21:26
Somehow it's this thing that really doesn't have life, but it does have life.
21:27-21:29
And nobody's quite sure how a seed works.
21:29-21:34
It's a mysterious thing like this, an agent of life.
21:35-21:45
And we realize the leather and the paper, this isn't what gives life, but this book points us to the one who does, agent of life.
21:47-21:50
It's a small thing that has a big result, right?
21:52-21:53
That's what a seed is.
21:53-21:56
It's a small thing that has big result.
21:56-21:58
But here's something else that I was thinking of.
21:58-22:02
When you think about seeds, where do seeds come from?
22:05-22:06
Where do they come from?
22:08-22:09
A factory in Cleveland, right?
22:10-22:14
They get a factory in Cleveland where they're just constantly like pumping out different kinds of seeds.
22:15-22:23
And now, do you realize that the seeds that we have on the earth now, you can trace them back to creation, right?
22:24-22:25
I mean, isn't that logical?
22:26-22:27
You can trace them back to creation.
22:27-22:30
We didn't have them imported from Saturn or anything, did we?
22:30-22:39
Like, it's the same seeds that are continuing to pass the baton, so to speak.
22:39-22:41
And the word of God's like that.
22:43-22:44
This doesn't change.
22:47-22:54
But this agent of life, so to speak, Keeps things moving forward.
22:57-22:57
Well, that's the seed.
22:57-23:00
The sower is Jesus.
23:03-23:06
And ultimately everyone who sows the word.
23:07-23:09
So who's the sower in this parable?
23:09-23:15
Well, if you're somebody that distributes the word of God, you are the sower.
23:17-23:24
Okay, ultimately it's Jesus, but basically what we're doing now continuing to sow the same word of Jesus, right?
23:25-23:30
So if you teach a ladies Bible study like Chris Whitcomb, you're a sower, right?
23:31-23:36
You have a bunch of guys in your Pittsburgh Sports Museum in your basement teaching Ephesians, right, Paul?
23:36-23:37
You're a sower.
23:38-23:43
What you're doing is you're taking the seed of the word of God and distributing that, all right?
23:45-23:50
But what this parable is really about is the soil.
23:51-24:48
What does the soil refer to? The soil actually refers to hearts. These are different types of hearts. And in this parable, Jesus is showing what happens when his word intersects certain types of hearts. That's the purpose of this parable. You know what's so amazing about this parable? I've been in pastoral ministry, you know, like what, 15 years or something like that, and I've been in a lot of sharing the gospel scenarios. And these four ways that Jesus lays out here, I can't think of anything, anything I've encountered or even anything I've read from other evangelists.
24:50-24:55
I can't recall anything that happened outside of what Jesus described here, honestly.
24:57-25:03
Jesus here is laying out, here's how people are going to respond to the Word.
25:05-25:09
So the question as we go through the interpretation, here's the question.
25:11-25:28
You know, I could stand up here for the next few minutes and say, "Here's how people respond to the Word of God." And you could, "Interesting, fascinating, didn't know." What I'm concerned about now is how have you responded to the Word?
25:30-25:32
Because you're in this parable somewhere.
25:33-25:33
You are.
25:34-25:36
You're like, "No, I'm not." Yes, you are.
25:37-25:44
If you've heard the Word of God, somewhere in this parable is you.
25:46-25:48
And I'm just simply asking this morning, which one are you?
25:49-25:51
And I want to go through Jesus' interpretation.
25:52-26:01
So whether you're a very young person or a very not so young person here, please, this is so important that you understand this.
26:01-26:03
How do people respond to the gospel?
26:05-26:14
First question, ask yourself, "Have I responded with a hard heart?" Have I responded with a hard heart? Look at verse 18.
26:16-26:19
Now here, Jesus was giving the interpretation of the parable just to the disciples.
26:22-26:26
But Jesus said, "Hear then the parable of the sower.
26:29-26:54
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, that's the seed, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. So the first type of heart Jesus is describing as a hard heart.
26:54-26:58
And every time the word of God goes out, you have two options.
26:58-27:05
You can either receive what God says, or you harden your heart to what God says.
27:06-27:07
But there's no other option.
27:09-27:12
You can receive it or you can harden yourself to it.
27:15-27:17
And sadly, this is happening right now.
27:20-27:21
It's going to happen here every Sunday.
27:22-27:24
It's going to happen in the church down the street every Sunday.
27:25-27:27
It happens in churches worldwide.
27:30-27:39
That there are people who come, hear a message, but don't listen.
27:39-27:40
They have ears, but don't hear.
27:40-27:43
They don't have ears rather, like Jesus was talking about earlier.
27:46-27:49
And they sit and just harden their heart to the message.
27:51-27:57
The Bible says you need to turn from your sin and you need to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
28:00-28:03
There are people every week that just harden themselves to that.
28:03-28:06
No, not me.
28:06-28:09
Maybe next week, not now.
28:13-28:14
I have some questions.
28:15-28:16
We're going to evaluate ourselves here.
28:17-28:19
The question for each one of these is how would I know?
28:21-28:23
'Cause I could say to you, do you have a hard heart?
28:23-28:27
And you would respond, hopefully, how would I know if I do?
28:27-28:29
Well, jot these things down.
28:29-28:30
This is a whole nother sermon.
28:32-28:34
But here's how to harden your heart.
28:35-28:36
Okay, here's how to do it.
28:36-28:39
Not that I recommend it, but this is how people harden their heart.
28:39-28:40
I didn't make this up.
28:41-28:42
This is all, jot this down.
28:42-28:46
This is all from Hebrews 3, verses seven through 19.
28:47-28:50
This is just sort of a paraphrase of that, but here's how you harden your heart.
28:51-29:02
So I'm praying that if this is you, that you've been hardening your heart, might your heart be softened enough to just hear this for the next few minutes.
29:03-29:04
This is so important.
29:08-29:19
See, the hard-hearted person is so heartbreaking, So difficult because a hard-hearted person doesn't care and wouldn't ask.
29:20-29:23
Right now, the hard-hearted people, here's what's going on.
29:23-29:24
I'm saying, is that you?
29:24-29:25
How would I know?
29:26-29:31
They're sitting there going, when's lunch, man?
29:31-29:33
I wonder how long the sermon's gonna be this week.
29:36-29:37
Worship wasn't bad this morning.
29:38-29:39
I like the worship.
29:40-29:41
Why's he gonna talk?
29:43-29:43
You know what?
29:44-29:47
I think I am gonna stop somewhere for lunch after church.
29:47-29:49
That's what the hard-hearted person's doing right now.
29:50-29:57
They're like, "What's he talking about?" So here's how it happens.
29:58-29:58
Please listen.
30:00-30:01
Here's how you harden your heart.
30:01-30:02
This is all from Hebrews 3.
30:03-30:04
Letter A, don't be thankful.
30:05-30:06
Don't be thankful.
30:08-30:14
Just complain about everything and have unbiblical expectations Never be satisfied with anything.
30:15-30:16
That's how you harden your heart.
30:17-30:18
I'm just not thankful.
30:18-30:24
You know, Romans one teaches that there's a direct correlation between faith and thankfulness.
30:25-30:27
Faith and thankfulness.
30:30-30:37
And somebody that's continually dissatisfied and unthankful is hardening their heart.
30:38-30:41
A letter B, don't believe it when you see God working.
30:43-31:19
That's what God said about ancient Israel. I was like standing right there doing miracles in their midst and they're just like missing it Run from it deny it whatever you have to do, but just don't believe it You know how many miracles have we seen even in the short time that we've launched You know the way God's provided and you know Some of the amazing things that he's done and there are people that have been alongside us. I'm sure that are just like yeah Letter C, don't turn from sinful choices.
31:23-31:25
Don't turn from sinful choices.
31:27-31:32
Turning to Christ, we talked about this so often, repentance means changing your mind.
31:32-31:34
You've got to change your mind about your sin.
31:36-31:39
And people who don't want to do that are hardening their heart.
31:40-31:43
And then letter D, don't do what God clearly commands.
31:44-31:45
Again, these are all from Hebrew history.
31:47-31:48
But God makes a clear command.
31:50-31:52
Receive my son and live.
31:53-31:54
Turn from your wicked ways.
31:54-31:56
You know, clear commands.
31:56-31:59
And we're like, I'm not going to do it.
32:00-32:01
You harden your heart.
32:03-32:04
You're beyond caring.
32:06-32:10
Maybe once I thought about giving myself to God, but I'm not really into that now.
32:11-32:14
There are some people that they start coming to church because you know what?
32:14-32:18
I really need to get my life on track with God and that's their mindset when they come.
32:19-32:22
And then the interest in that kind of wanes.
32:25-32:26
What's happening?
32:27-32:29
Well, the devil's taking the seed away.
32:31-32:34
It's like that, you know, seed falling on that hard path.
32:34-32:36
It didn't penetrate the dirt.
32:36-32:44
And it's just laying there and the bird flies by And he's like, "Oh, I'll just eat this." Jesus said the same way, Satan comes and snatches that word up.
32:45-32:48
He has a way of making sure that it doesn't linger.
32:49-32:50
Like, well, how does he do that?
32:50-32:52
Satan will distract you.
32:53-32:55
He will cause you to make excuses.
32:57-33:03
Satan's oldest tactic, clear back from Genesis 3, he'll cause you to question the word of God and to deny the word of God.
33:04-33:16
Anything that Satan can do to snatch that word away, Because he doesn't want to sit there long enough hoping that the ground might soften, that it seeps in.
33:20-33:29
That's why some of you are going to go home today and ask yourself, "What was that sermon about?" I totally didn't get that. I totally didn't understand.
33:33-33:37
I realize that there's a burden on the preacher to communicate clearly.
33:37-33:41
I get that. And by God's grace, I try.
33:44-33:46
But there's another side of that too.
33:48-33:52
The other side is, are you prepared to hear it? Right?
33:54-34:05
And if the word of God is communicated clearly, and you're walking out of those doors in a few minutes going, yeah, I totally didn't get that.
34:06-34:07
That should be a concern.
34:10-34:15
Because what it means is you've hardened your heart if you're not ready to receive it.
34:17-34:17
Okay?
34:19-34:20
So have I responded with a hard heart?
34:20-34:22
Number two, have I responded with a shallow heart?
34:23-34:24
A shallow heart.
34:26-34:27
Look at verses 20 and 21.
34:28-34:36
As for what was sown on rocky ground, remember we talked about the limestone bedrock, shallow soil and parts, root.
34:37-34:40
Root doesn't get very deep, sun comes out and scorches.
34:41-34:47
As for what was sown in the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
34:48-34:53
Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.
34:55-35:02
And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
35:04-35:08
So Jesus said some people seem to receive it with joy.
35:09-35:10
They're caught up in an emotional sermon.
35:13-35:17
You know, as we turn the lights down low and I tell you a sad story or.
35:19-35:29
Maybe it is something from the word of God that's just really stirring in your heart and, you know, your emotions are moved and this is exactly what I need.
35:30-35:32
Yes, this is exactly what you're right.
35:33-35:36
Jesus Christ needs to be preeminent in my life.
35:36-35:38
You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right.
35:38-35:42
And they come and you hear the message and all this is what I've needed.
35:42-35:45
This is what I've needed. This is what I've needed.
35:48-35:50
And they come forward and.
35:53-35:56
They're thrown into ministry and they're put on a pedestal and.
35:58-36:01
Then in a month or in six months.
36:03-36:04
What happened to that person?
36:05-36:06
Have you ever experienced that?
36:07-36:13
Raise your hand if you've known somebody. Raise your hand if you've known somebody that you're like, wow, God got hold of that guy.
36:13-36:17
And then like a couple of months later, you're like, what happened? Right.
36:18-36:20
Well, Jesus said, here's what happened.
36:21-36:25
There was no root. Received it with joy.
36:30-36:34
Fell away. So the question is, how would I know?
36:34-36:37
How would I know if I've responded to God's word with a shallow heart?
36:37-36:40
Well, here's the answer. You will know when things get hard.
36:42-36:44
That's how you'll know. You'll know when things get hard.
36:47-37:05
If you've received Christ, whether you actually have or you think you might have or whatever, and your life has been cupcakes and pixie sticks and, you know, raspberry milkshakes ever since you've received Christ.
37:09-37:10
That's not the test.
37:12-37:15
The test is what happens when things get hard?
37:17-37:27
What happens when there's a betrayal or a disappointment or a financial problem or a problem with one of your kids, a major health concern?
37:28-37:28
What happens then?
37:30-37:32
You'll know what you're made out of when things get hard.
37:33-37:41
Meaning you'll know if you have true saving faith because true faith is always persevering faith, always, always.
37:43-37:45
True faith is always persevering faith.
37:48-37:49
Actually, what did Jesus say?
37:49-37:51
These two words underline them in your Bible.
37:51-37:58
When tribulation or persecution arises, tribulation, that's the sickness, that's the financial problems.
38:01-38:02
or persecution.
38:05-38:08
Yeah, my mom doesn't really like it that I started going to church so much.
38:09-38:12
Or, you know, I'm dating this girl that's just not really into church.
38:15-38:18
Or, you know what, my coworkers are really making fun of me.
38:20-38:30
And that stuff sort of starts weighing on you to the point that I don't wanna get too fanatical about this Jesus stuff, right?
38:34-38:42
Well, Jesus said that you need to count the cost, right?
38:42-38:44
You need to count the cost.
38:44-38:49
When Jesus talked about discipleship, he didn't mince words.
38:49-38:51
He didn't sugarcoat it.
38:51-38:57
He didn't become this salesman that was like, you wanna follow me?
38:57-38:58
Okay, well, it's easy.
38:58-39:03
that might require a little commitment and things are gonna be great.
39:03-39:10
Jesus said, "Count the cost." Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him," what?
39:12-39:14
"Deny himself." Deny yourself.
39:15-39:20
Take up your cross daily and follow him.
39:24-39:26
Jesus didn't lower the bar.
39:27-39:37
He said, "You better be sure what you're getting into because following Me..." What did Paul say in Philippians?
39:37-39:47
"I want to know the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." That's both in truly following Christ.
39:49-40:02
If you're not ready, If you're sitting here right now thinking, "I'm not ready to get fanatical about it," well, maybe you've responded with a shallow heart.
40:05-40:05
Two more.
40:06-40:26
"Have I responded with a crowded heart?" Look at verse 22, "As for what was said among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." So some people hearing the Word of God just get hard-hearted.
40:27-40:33
Some people, "Yay, that sounds great!" and hard times come and bail.
40:34-40:38
But Jesus said some people, their hearts are just crowded.
40:39-40:40
Their hearts are just crowded.
40:42-40:47
Now Aaron has quite the farm around our house, around our massive...
40:47-40:49
How much land do we own?
40:50-40:52
Like a quarter acre or something like that?
40:52-40:56
What's that? A sixteenth of an acre? Really?
41:00-41:04
You'd never guess by the amount of crops that Erin brings in.
41:04-41:09
We're talking wheelbarrow fulls and she's always renting combines and things like that.
41:10-41:11
We joke about her thing.
41:11-41:16
She has she just has stuff planted everywhere.
41:16-41:19
There's like little baskets of stuff hanging on the fence.
41:19-41:37
"and I think I've mowed over some blueberry bushes "that were still in the larva stage and stuff like that." But we joke about her, bless her heart, she goes, "Well, you don't complain about it "when you eat it." And I'm like, "Yeah, that's true." But what was I talking about?
41:37-41:50
Oh yeah, when she was planting these things, she couldn't just go to a patch where there was a bunch of weeds and say, "You know what, I'd like a blueberry patch there, "so I'll just plant that there in the middle of that big cluster of weeds.
41:51-41:52
That's not gonna happen, is it?
41:55-42:04
Because the weeds and this precious blueberry plant are going to be fighting each other for the moisture, for the nutrients in the soil.
42:07-42:18
And the thing that you want growing, the thing that you want growing is going to get crowded out from the things that are already there.
42:21-42:25
And what Jesus is talking about here is there's going to be a competition for the space.
42:27-42:30
And that's what happens in the hearts of some people when they hear the gospel.
42:31-42:33
There's just too much competition for the gospel.
42:34-42:35
There's just too much competition.
42:38-42:39
Just too much stuff happening.
42:40-42:42
Well, how would I know if I've responded with a crowded heart?
42:43-42:44
How would I know?
42:44-42:48
Well, let's let the word of God lay it out for us.
42:48-42:55
Verse 22, Jesus said, "The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word." That's what crowds it out.
42:55-42:56
First of all, the cares of the world.
42:58-43:03
See, that's the thing, these aren't bad things, right?
43:03-43:06
These aren't bad things, these are just less important things.
43:10-43:49
And sometimes people get so fixated on non-essentials, whether it's the latest technology or sports, or your kids, or your job, But we allow the things of the world to just take such a priority in our lives that we don't really have time to do anything with the message of the gospel.
43:50-43:53
It just gets crowded out. It just gets crowded out.
43:54-44:00
And somehow, the eternal message of the Son of God gets put at the bottom of the priority list.
44:02-44:05
But all these goofy things get put near the top.
44:08-44:09
That's how some people respond to the gospel.
44:11-44:15
It's just this, "I don't have time. I don't have time.
44:16-44:24
I hear what you're saying, but I just don't have time." So the cares of the world, what else?
44:25-44:26
The deceitfulness of riches.
44:28-44:30
Money is a big fat liar. Did you know that?
44:31-44:31
Money's a liar.
44:32-44:34
What are some lies that money tells?
44:36-44:36
Just shout them out.
44:37-44:38
What are some lies that money tells?
44:40-44:41
Yeah, that's a big one.
44:41-44:43
I'll make you happy, right?
44:43-44:44
I'll make you happy.
44:44-44:45
That's a big lie.
44:46-44:49
Has anybody here ever been made happier by money?
44:49-44:56
I heard somebody say one time something like, I just want the opportunity to see if money's going to make me happy.
44:56-45:01
But honestly, is there somebody here that can say, my life has been made so much better by money?
45:04-45:05
That's a liar.
45:07-45:08
It's gonna make me happy.
45:09-45:09
It's not.
45:11-45:13
What are some other lies that money tells?
45:14-45:14
Any other lies?
45:16-45:18
It'll make life easier, right?
45:18-45:19
Is that what you said, Tom?
45:19-45:20
It'll make life easier.
45:22-45:28
I read a lot of testimonies from people that made a lot of money, and all the testimonies sort of said the opposite.
45:29-45:32
My life has gotten so much more complicated since I've had money.
45:33-45:35
Life was easier when I was poor.
45:35-45:37
What are some other lies?
45:39-45:40
It solved my problems, right?
45:40-45:41
I can just buy my way out.
45:42-45:45
Yeah, money's got a lot of lies attached to it.
45:45-45:47
And that's what Jesus is talking about here, the deceitfulness of riches.
45:49-45:50
Now money's not evil, right?
45:50-45:51
Money's not evil.
45:51-45:57
Jesus actually said, we're to use the stuff of the earth to advance God's kingdom, Luke chapter 16.
45:58-46:07
But when money becomes our God, No servant can serve two masters, right?
46:10-46:12
So maybe the interest is there.
46:13-46:15
I'm not talking about money anymore.
46:15-46:16
I'm talking about your heart.
46:16-46:20
Maybe the interest is there, but the commitment is not.
46:22-46:23
It just never got off the ground.
46:25-46:28
So maybe there's somebody here today saying, well, you know what, the lights are coming on, Jeff.
46:28-46:29
The lights are coming on.
46:31-46:42
I realize, you know, I have been hard-hearted towards the gospel, or maybe somebody say, you know what, I haven't received Jesus because I've just been so wrapped up in the stuff of the world and that's kind of bogged me down.
46:42-46:46
Or maybe there's someone that says, you know what, I thought I received Jesus, but it was such a shallow commitment.
46:46-46:47
I don't think I really did.
46:48-46:50
And your question now is, well, what should I do?
46:51-46:52
What should I do?
46:54-46:56
Jot this scripture down, Hosea 10, 12.
46:57-46:58
I don't know if we have this one for the wall.
46:58-46:59
Do we have this one?
46:59-46:59
No.
47:00-47:02
I think this was a late add on.
47:03-47:19
But Hosea 10, 12 says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you." Break up the fallow ground.
47:24-47:26
So that the Lord may rain righteousness on you.
47:27-47:32
Now understand if the fallow ground of your heart's going to be broken up, who's going to do that?
47:33-47:35
Point to the only person that can do that.
47:37-47:37
God, right?
47:38-47:38
I can't do it.
47:41-47:53
And it's just my prayer that maybe there's somebody here today that says, you know what, God, I need you to get out your spiritual rototiller and break this hard heart of mine up.
47:55-48:02
Or maybe there's somebody here saying, God, I need you to get deep in me.
48:03-48:06
I need this bedrock that's underneath it.
48:07-48:09
My commitment was so shallow.
48:09-48:10
I need that broken up.
48:12-48:23
Or maybe there's somebody here saying, you know what, God, I have allowed so much other junk into my life that has just consumed my time and money and energy and resources.
48:24-48:26
And God, you have not been my priority.
48:29-48:33
Good news. God can break up that fallow ground.
48:35-48:46
God can do that. And then what does freshly seeded ground need?
48:47-48:52
Needs rain, right? And He will rain righteousness on you.
48:52-48:55
You can't get it from yourself. He has to give it to you.
48:56-49:02
Okay. So as I close, number four, have I responded with a receptive heart?
49:05-49:10
As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.
49:11-49:13
He hears the word and understands it.
49:14-49:18
He indeed, excuse me, bears fruit and yields.
49:19-49:24
In one case, a hundredfold, in another 60, and in another 30.
49:26-49:31
So when the word is heard and the word is understood, things happen.
49:32-49:37
Just like when a seed gets in the ground, on good soil, it's gonna grow.
49:37-49:38
Things are gonna happen.
49:39-49:40
So the question is, how would I know?
49:41-49:44
How would I know if my ground is good?
49:46-49:46
No, not yet.
49:48-49:49
Sorry, just a couple minutes.
49:49-49:52
I was like, "All done." Just a minute, bud.
49:54-49:57
How would I know one word, it's fruit?
49:57-49:58
It's fruit.
50:02-50:07
Understanding, please, fruit doesn't get you saved, but it's a sign of life.
50:12-50:13
It's a sign of life.
50:14-50:16
A dead tree produces no fruit.
50:17-50:20
A living tree can't help but produce fruit.
50:20-50:20
You get that?
50:22-50:30
If I went out to one of Aaron's massive apple trees in our front yard, and I'm like, "Look, you're just going to have to stop producing fruit." It can't stop. It's alive.
50:34-50:35
Only the dead ones don't.
50:37-50:40
So you're like, "Well, what fruit?" Well, here's three things as we wrap up.
50:42-50:43
First of all, the fruit of the Spirit.
50:44-50:59
Like, "How do I know? How do I know the seed?" Well, the fruit of the Spirit, these are characteristics of Christ that the Holy Spirit manifests in you, as Christ lives in you.
51:01-51:09
The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
51:10-51:11
That's the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
51:12-51:17
That's what's Christ-like about you, is when the Holy Spirit's living in you and through you.
51:18-51:18
That's fruit.
51:21-51:29
And you don't pick and choose, like, "Well, I'm more of a patience person, "but I don't have very much love." It's like you get the whole basket of fruit, okay?
51:30-51:34
And obviously we all have areas we're growing, but it's the fruit of the Spirit.
51:35-51:37
Another fruit is worship, Hebrews 13, 15.
51:39-51:40
It's the fruit of worship.
51:42-51:48
Now we realize worship is a lifestyle, but understand part of that lifestyle is worshiping in song.
51:50-51:51
That's a big deal to God, by the way.
51:54-51:57
That's a big deal to God, worshiping in song.
51:58-51:58
How do I know?
52:00-52:02
You know, the biggest book in his word is what?
52:03-52:04
What's the biggest book in the Bible?
52:05-52:07
Psalms, the song book.
52:08-52:10
So worship is a big deal.
52:11-52:12
And you know what they're doing in heaven right now?
52:13-52:13
Take a guess.
52:15-52:16
Take a guess, what are they doing in heaven right now?
52:19-52:19
They're worshiping.
52:20-52:21
They're worshiping.
52:21-52:27
And guess what you're gonna do when you pass over into heaven?
52:27-52:28
You know what you're gonna do?
52:29-52:30
You're gonna be worshiping.
52:30-52:31
It's a big deal.
52:32-52:36
So the question is, do I see the fruit of worship in my life?
52:37-52:38
Do I see that?
52:42-52:49
I don't really have time to jump into this, but when we get talking about music and worship, it's such a subjective thing.
52:49-52:50
I know that.
52:50-53:00
And we're gonna have everything from the, I like Striper, to it's Gaithers or Die.
53:00-53:01
I know that.
53:03-53:17
And I don't wanna tread where angels fear to tread, But the point is, there should be something in you that just loves worshiping, wherever you are on that.
53:18-53:21
There should be something that stirs your emotions.
53:23-53:26
I ran into a guy, actually it's the guy that ran into Dale, Jen.
53:27-53:33
This guy goes door to door and doing some witnessing and stuff, I ran into the guy and he told me the same thing he told Dale.
53:33-53:38
He said, "You know, at our churches, The worship is to get you ready for the preaching.
53:39-53:41
The worship is to get you ready for the preaching.
53:41-53:46
That's, it's good worship, but that's the purpose of worship, is to get you ready for preaching.
53:47-54:07
And I said, well, I said, "At our church, we believe the exact opposite." He's like, "What?" I said, "My job as a preacher is to help people become better worshipers." And he's like, "Well, I don't know about that." And I said, "Well, in John chapter four," is the Bible, like frontwards and backwards.
54:07-54:19
I said, in John chapter four, Jesus said, "God the Father is looking for," he's like, "Worshippers." I'm like, "He's looking for worshipers." What's the Father seeking?
54:20-54:21
Worshippers, right?
54:22-54:24
I'm gonna be out of a job in heaven.
54:25-54:32
Sam and Laura and Jay and Bob, they're still gonna be like carrying this thing out, but like me, I'm just gonna be like in the unemployment line.
54:33-54:35
But worship is a fruit, okay?
54:35-54:37
It's a fruit.
54:39-54:42
And then the last one, this is the one right here in the text is winning souls.
54:44-54:45
Winning souls.
54:49-55:00
Some with a bigger return than others, but the fruit in mind here is reproducing disciples that reproduces disciples, that reproduce more disciples.
55:01-55:02
And that's sort of how botany works.
55:04-55:14
same way the gospel works. The word in me goes out and takes root in someone else who goes out and implants the word and it takes root in someone else.
55:15-55:17
And that's how that's how it gets spread.
55:19-55:20
That's how it gets spread.
55:23-55:24
Back to the original question.
55:26-55:28
How have you responded to the gospel?
55:30-55:31
Where do you fall?
55:33-55:34
You're one of these.
55:37-55:48
hard, shallow, crowded, or fruit producing.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Matthew 13:18-23
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.