The Soils and Bible Study

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning, Good morning, Good morning to everyone. It is Thursday, September the fifth, twenty twenty four. It is currently ten forty three am Central time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem. We have a problem. My intention was not to find myself in this problem, but we have a problem. And I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know if we're going to come up with a very good answer.

0:46 In fact, I don't even know what's getting ready to happen in this episode because we have one of the situations where we're going to be reviewing something that, as always I haven't listened to, which makes it more fun, but it can also lead to lots of frustration. So I don't know where things are going to go. But I will remind you of the problem. Oh, it was such a simple idea. I have a study Bible here and whenever I have a book anywhere in the studio, at my church, in my home, it doesn't matter where If I look at the book and go, I haven't really done a lot with it, right, I need to do something with it. I either need to take some extensive notes on the book. I need to read it again. I need to turn it into a something I can teach, maybe a Sunday School lesson, a sermon, or I use it for a podcast because I want to get the most out of every single book I've ever purchased. I want to make sure I've used it as many times as possible to get everything I can from it. Well, I have this KJV Study Bible that was at the church.

1:45 I kind of used it in the library because I use study Bibles more as a reference tool that I will when I'm studying something. After I've studied something, that I'll grab the study Bible to see if there's any notes or any information to see how they approach it, to challenge or test my my conclusion or my hypotheses or my interpretation of the text. So I understand that's why I typically use it for. But for some reason, it made it its its way from the church to the studio and I look down one day, I'm like, why is that here? I opened it up and I'm like, well, let's do something with it. So I started flipping through the pages and I came to an essay to an article before you actually get to Genesis entitled how to Read and Study the Bible, and I'm like, well, there's a podcast mini series right there, how to Read and Study the Bible, because I absolutely love teaching people how to actually study the Bible by teaching specific Bible study methods twelve of them to be exact, all right, and I've been teaching them forever, all the way. It doesn't matter where I found myself, it doesn't matter the state the country. If I could find anyone who listen, I'll teach them the Bible study methods because I think they're absolutely essential, because you need actual steps how to study the Bible other than these just a vague, kind of vague well read it and highlight it and do a cross reference. It doesn't even talk about how cross references should work versus how they shouldn't work. Sometimes it's just so vague it drives me crazy. You need specific methods.

3:18 So I was like, Okay, this will be fun. I'll go through it. I'll be able to give their perspective. I'll offer my analysis, my critique. It should be fun. Well, it started off somewhat interesting. They kind of gave their introduction. They talked about why we should spend time in the Bible because it is God's word. Okay, and then the next section instead of beginning in a sense with the mind, right, here are the things you need to know. Here are the concepts you need to know. Here are the basic rules of reading interpretation. Here's the basic rules of context syntext. Here's the basic rules of you know, like laying down those foundational ideas that you can oh those ideas and use those ideas. The author of this article decided not to start with the mind, but decided to start with the heart. Now that sounds that sounds very spiritual. Right.

4:15 If you're going to be an effective Bible student, if the Bible is going to actually produce fruit in your life, and if the Bible's actually going to be effectual in your life, the issue is not what you know. The issue is the condition of your heart. Now you can preach that everyone in the pew will be saying amen, and you may get applause, and everybody may say it's a great sermon, and they'll post a comment under your sermon that it's amazing, Yes, the heart, I was convicted about the condition of my heart, and everybody will think it's great. But for me, as usual, I'm the one sitting in the back of the classroom raising the hand, going, Am I the only one who thinks this makes absolutely no sense? Am I the only one who thinks that this is just circular reasoning? Logical fallacy? Like? Do we have a problem? I think we have a problem. I know I'm the only one who ever lifts up my hand to point out the problems, and I don't. I never intended that to kind of be the lane I found myself, but I guess I've always been there. It doesn't matter what the subject is. I'm always the one going.

5:18 But wait a minute. I know it's like everyone seems to be in agreement, but isn't there a problem here? So let me explain. The article basically asserts at the beginning, and I will read I will read some of the paragraphs here. The article basically asserts this principle if you if studying the Bible is going to be effectual at all in your life. If it's going to be effective, then it's got to start with the condition of your heart. So you have to ensure that your heart is in the right condition before you ever study the Bible, because if it's not, then well, basically the word of God will not penetrate, it will not really produce fruit. It will just it'll just lay there on the top of your heart and be taken away by Satan. Or it may spring up a little bit of fruit, but it will immediately go away. It won't be effective, effectual unless your heart is right. Well, here's where I begin to have a problem. So if I want the Bible to be able to do work in my life, I have to make my heart right. But typically Christians are the ones who say, it's the Bible that makes your heart right.

6:24 It's the study of the Bible, the reading of the Bible, it's the memorization of scripture that changes your heart. Your heart is changed through the study of God's word. But this is telling me my heart has to be right before I study God's word. So something makes absolutely no sense to me. I have major issues with this kind of circular rea, like I don't get it. So this is how the article began. I'm just gonna I'm going to just try to go through this quickly so that we are all on the same page. It says, begin with the heart. Now again, it does not begin with the mind. It begins with the heart. And it says this and the parable of the seeds and soils. Jesus used a word picture to describe the different levels of receptivity people have towards God's word. He tells it of a farmer who basically, you know, they use the word broadcasting seed, you know, spreading seed along the edge of a field. Some seeds fall on the hard packed path beside the field, Some fall on rocky ground that has little top soil, Some fall into the weeds, and some fall into fertile soil that offers a good environment for growth.

7:35 The various places they fall provide an image of the human heart as it is confronted with God's word. Some people have hearts that are hard packed, like a frequented footpath. God's word does not get through to these hearts. Others have shallow hearts that seem open to God's word. The word comes and they respond, But the moment things get tough, the pressure of life override the principles of God's word, and the spiritual life withers. A third type of person engages God's word at a deeper level, but worries and desires of worldly things squeeze out the word, choking it from the person's life. Finally, there are those who receive the Word with a heart like a well tilled filled This is the picture of a person fully receptive to God's word, and God's word brings exponential growth to their spiritual life. So hey, so the Matthew or Mark chapter four three through twenty is what they reference. This is the parable of the soil. So the seed and the soil right. And the idea is, Hey, if we're I'm getting ready to teach you how to read and study the Bible, but it doesn't matter unless your heart is right.

8:41 And if your heart isn't right, then all the Bible study methods in the world, all the reading in the world, all of the study in the world is not going to be effective. So get your heart right before you read. Well, then how do I get my heart right? Because I'm going to obviously be doing it without God's word, because God's word is not effective until I'll get my heart right. This to me becomes really, how does this work. So I did a little bit of work. I did a little bit of talking to AI about the problem. And here's some things that I came up with. Right, here's just some basic things, and I'll tell you what we're going to do here. The parable of the sower, or the parable of the seed and soils, is found in three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew thirteen one through twenty three, Mark four one through twenty and Luke eight four through fifteen.

9:34 The common interpretation of the soils as different conditions of the heart is based on jesus explanation of the parable, where he describes how the seed the Word of God falls on different types of ground, each representing each representing different response to the Gospel message. All right, so that's kind of a common interpretation. All right, that's a common interpretation. So then I was like, well, wait a minute, seems to be some circular reasoning happening in Christianity when it comes to the soils parable. Many approach it and say, the condition of the soil, which represents the condition of the heart, determines that the Word of God will be effectual in our lives. So we must say, sure, a heart is in the right condition as the first step for being a good Bible student. However, it is also taught that the word of God is the very thing that changes the heart. If I have to have my heart right before the word of God can be effective.

10:26 But it's the word of God that changes the heart. This seems contradictory and almost a circular type of reasoning. So this is how AI responded. You've identified a common tension in Christian thought regarding the parable of the soils and the role of the heart in receiving God's word. The issue can indeed seem like circular reasoning. Primis number one, the condition of the heart, represented by the soil, determines whether the word of God is effective. Primis number two, the Word of God is what changes transforms the heart. If both of these premises are true, it raises the question, how can one have a receptive heart good soil to receive the word if it is the Word itself that that is needed to transform and prepare the heart. The apparent contradiction can be addressed from several philological perspectives. Okay, so the AI is going to offer me some possible solutions to our riddle. Some possible solutions to our problem. Now, I think Christianity spends its constant I think Christianity spends most of its time speaking and logical fallacies, circular reasoning, contradictory statements. Let me just give you the classic example.

11:46 You'll hear this inserments. When you became a Christian, you become a new creature and Christ all things are passed away. Everything has become new. That is what you are, that is who you are practically, and everyone in the church will say, Amen, Praise God. I'm a new creature, the oldest gone, everything is new. And then literally, like almost in the same breath, the pastor will say, but we still have to fight against sin. We still gotta battle the flesh and the sin that's in us. We still struggle, we still are tempted, we still sin, We're still not perfect.

12:27 And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, if I'm a new creature, the oldest gone in everything is new, then there's no sin in me. Because if sin is still in me, then the old is still present. Don't you hear the contradiction? And everyone in the congregation will just be like, Amen, Praise God, Praise Jesus. And I'm like, do you not hear yourselves? Now? For that one, there's an easy solution. In Christ, I'm a new creature. That means, positionally, I'm a new creature, the oldest gone. Everything is new because in Christ and perfect and holy, because of imputed righteousness and credited to my account. Practically, I'm not new anything. I'm the same old sinner that I was of the I've changed my mind, but my nature is still just as to pray. And I know many Christians try to argue against that, but it does really kind of explain the reality of two thousand years of Christian history and sin, sin, sin, sin, and if you're even honest, it explains your life. But Christians don't hear themselves. You'll hear this and reform circles.

13:33 Everything that happens happens because of God's eternal decree, and he works it out and his divine providence. God's God's decrees are eternal, They're unchangeable. But we're gonna be praying for God to change this. Wait a minute, if if why am I praying for God to change anything when everything that happens it's God's eternal decree. What doit Wait, we're gonna pray about this. But God, God's the one who allowed it to happen, to create it to happen, and then worked for it to happen. Now I'm going to pray that God changes what And so we talked about how many times our prayer understanding contradicts are very theology. And even if you don't believe in God's eternal decree, you're praying to the very God who allowed it to happen and did nothing to stop it from happening. So obviously God wanted it to happen. Right, Okay, Well we can get in all those discussions. There's all these like circular contradictory things that Christians do, and I think this, Hey, I'm going to teach you how to study the Bible.

14:33 Now listen, studying the Bible is not going to be of any value to you until you get your heart right. Well, then how do I get my heart right? I'm going to be I've got to get my heart right apart from God's word. And if my heart's already right, I guess I could learn. I could study God's word to know something, but I don't really need it to do anything in me. Because my heart's already right, and if your heart's already right, wouldn't the result be perfection? Or is the heart only have to be kind of right? I don't know. So the AI tries to provide some solutions. None of the solutions really to me make much sense. The first one is divine sovereignty and human responsibility. One way this tension is often approached is through the lens of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and this view ultimately God. It is ultimately God who prepares and changes the heart, enabling it to be receptive to his word. While humans are called to respond and repent and believe, it is God who initiates and enables their response through grace. Thus, the Word of God itself, though through preaching or our personal study, can begin to work in any type of soil, gradually preparing the heart. The good soil is not the result of human effort, but of divine work. All right, So this one seems to say, Okay, the way this works is it is God who changes the heart. God changes the heart through the study of the Word, So you don't have to change your heart in order to study the Word. You study the Word and then it begins

16:05 to change the condition of the soil. All right, that kind of makes sense. Hey, hey, you no, no, no, you don't get your heart right before you study. You study, and through the preaching and teaching and study of God's word, slowly but surely, your heart becomes changed, little by little by little, never going to get to perfection. But it's through the preaching of the Word that will, it will bring conviction, it will it will do this. And so all right, I guess that makes at I guess that one makes a little sense. So that by this concept, this entire idea that is being presented in this article, in this study Bible, and in the book that is entitled Reading the Bible Better, they would call that this is wrong. You don't have to fix your heart before you study. You study, and that's how God starts working on your heart. The second off, so the first one they refer to it as divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

16:59 I don't like the way they kind of summarize that. I think what they're saying is study and that's what through that God sovereignly and begins to work and initiate change and the heart. It's through the process of study. The more you read, the more you study, the more you memorize, the more it begins to do some work on your heart. Obviously, you're never going to get to perfection, but that's where you're You're going to be confronted with truth. You're going to be confronted with your own sin. You're going to be confronted with the reality of God. You're going to be confronted with wrong and right. So I can I can see that a little bit better. The second one is the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. Another perspective emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit and regeneration.

17:42 According to this view, the Holy Spirit works in tandem with the Word of God to transform a person's heart, making it good soil. The Spirit may use the Word to bring about conviction, repentance, and faith, ultimately resulting and a heart that is open and receptive. And this view, the transform transformation is a synergistic work involving both the Spirit and the world. The human heart is not expected to naturally be receptive, but it becomes so that the Spirit's regenerative power. So this idea is when we become saved and regeneration now it begins to make the heart more receptive. But even that seems to be like, it's just not overnight. Now again, some people will take the parable and just say the only person is saved is the last one. Everyone else is lost. But we know that even so, how receptive do you have to be to God's word? Because I know people who would say, well, I'm very receptive to God's words, but the words seem to just be bouncing off them because I don't get it, they don't understand it. They don't seem to be very good effectual Bible students. But I wouldn't claim they're not saved, So I think that's a whole nother issue. But all right, it's the spirit and the word that changes the soil, So then that would mean you don't have to change the soil before you start studying. You study in order to change the soil. Right next, some traditions emphasize the ongoing process of sanctification. They argue that Christians should actively seek to cultivate their hearts through spiritual discipline such as prayer, study, and obedience, which can make them more receptive to God's words.

19:13 This is not necessarily a contradiction, but rather a recognition that spiritual growth is an on going process where one's receptivity to the word can fluctuate and require ongoing effort. All right, So then again this would say, hey, you don't need to fix your heart before you study. You need to study in order to fix your art. Okay, well, that to me makes far more sense. Now, the next thing they offer is the parable more as a diagnostic tool, rather than prescribing how to change one's heart. The parable of the soil may function primarily as a diagnostic tool. Now I think that. See, I think a lot of people of taking these parables, and this is always the problem. Remember, a parable just has basically one idea, just one idea, and we take it and we start trying to well, this represents this, and this represents this, and this means this and this, and I think in many cases we destroy the parable. The AI argues, maybe maybe we should just see the parable as a diagnostic tool. It's not telling you to change your heart. It's not even telling you how to change your heart. It's not doing anything along with that. What it's doing is it simply shows that different responses to the Gospel are possible. It highlights the reality that some hearts are hardened, some are distracted, others are ready to receive. This might prompt listeners to examine their own hearts, recognize their current state, and seek God's help in becoming a more receptive It may also be intended to comfort, to comfort those who sow the Word by acknowledging that not all soil will bear fruit

20:44 and that outcomes are not entirely within human control. Maybe it just says, hey, when you go preach, you're gonna get different results. D D like, just be prepared for that. Maybe that's all the Parables trying to do. They say. The next thing they say is the mystery, the mysterious work of God. Finally, some Christians accept that there is a mystery involved in how God's Word and human hearts interact. They recognize the tension and choose to trust in the mystery of God's working without trying to resolve every logical problem. Okay, well that's probably good. I'm not very good at doing that, Okay. Faith for them involves accepting that human elements of divine interaction with humanity may remain beyond human contrehension comprehension, and then Ai says this, the tension you've noted is real. Okay, so they at least acknowledge that I'm not looking at something that's made up, and different theological traditions attempt to reconcile it in various ways. Well, it may seem circular.

21:47 It reflects the complex relationship between divine grace, human will, and the transformative power of God's word. The key takeaway may be that while human beings are called to be receptive, it is ultimately God who enables and cultivates that receptivity through his word and spirit. Now again, now that drives me crazy, that last statement. Hey, ultimately it's God who enables and cultivates receptivity. Well then wait a minute. If there's someone whose heart's not in the right condition, well then it's God's fault. Okay, Well nope, Now how do you what do you do with that? So then I asked Ai the question, Well, if God is the one who changes the heart, then every Christian you would think would have a perfect heart. He I responded, This is a thoughtful question, and it gets to the heart of some important theological discussions about God's role in changing the human heart and the nature of Christian transformation. If God is the one who changes the heart, it might seem logical to conclude that every Christian should have a perfect heart, free from sin, doubt, or hardness. However, several theological perspectives can help to try to explain this, and then they kind of go through the base position versus practice, the role of human agency and cooperation, the presence of sin in a believer's life. So in other words, it's going to be there even if God is the one doing the work. Clearly it's going to be there, and that ultimately the fulfillment of basically having a perfect heart and

23:21 no more sin doesn't happen n till glorification, which I know it's true. I think the issue is we. On one hand, Christians want to talk like, no, we have the power of God. Dun dun, dun duh. We're basically superheroes. We can do it. We can say noicein and yes to God, and then five seconds letter say, well, we can't be perfect. Well, if I can't be perfect, that means there's something stronger than God, because God, you think, would want me to be perfect. But if I can't get to perfection, then there's something holding it back, and whatever's holding it back obviously is dominant and has control. But again, this just leads you into circles. So I in rejecting this idea. Then when it comes to the Bible, you start with the heart. I just I just think that there. I just don't think that's where. I think you have to start with learning the basic principles, reading comprehension, context, and then you dive in and then let God's word do its work. I don't think you say you have to start with the heart. No, you start with the mind and learn the principles, and then you just dig in.

24:30 I don't care what the condition of your heart is. Study the Bible and it will show you the condition of your heart. It will convict you about the condition of the heart. That's my perspective. So I wanted to talk a little bit more about that. I wanted to go ahead and at least challenge the concept because I kind of set it up yesterday. But then you know what I want to do. Right. In fact, I think I challenged you to do this shift. I told you to go ahead and grab the sermon's two point oh app and let's start looking up sermons about Mark chapter four verses three through twenty, and I found one entitled the parable of the Sower. In fact, I think this is the very first one I found. I don't know if it's good. I don't know if it's bad. I don't know how they're going to approach the parable. But let's just see, this is a random message pulled from the sermons two point zero app let's just start listening to how churches typically handle this parable, what they do with it, and then we can see whether we agree or disagree, and how does it fit in too. Should this be a first principle of Bible study or how should we understand this? So we're going to listen. I don't even I don't have the name of the church.

25:39 I just literally just did a search for Mark four three through twenty. First one showed up. I clicked on it and downloaded it, and here we are. So I don't have any information. That's okay. You can look for your own and see what you find. But let's just jump in and see. All right, this is not a long sermon. It's only about thirty minutes, so we probably we may not review the whole thing. What we're going to be doing is just reviewing to try to get their basic thesis, their basic approach to the text. That's what we want to hear. And of course I'll be offering my analysis and my critique and we'll see where this goes. Here we go, Good morning, Church. I'm really excited to be here this morning. Really just love growing closer to this church and getting the opportunity to come every Sunday and worship together. I love worshiping just through all the ways that we do that. We worship through song, which is a beautiful have some beautiful voices, and worship through our fellowship, and I've just been really blessed by this church. I just want to thank you guys for being a congregation that worships the Lord regularly and does that well. I think this morning we'll be in March chapter four. We're gonna be looking at the parable of the Sewer, as is commonly called. Before we do that, though, we're going to go ahead to end pray. Jesus, we come before you this morning just thankful for who you are. We're thankful that you are a God who is so big and so powerful, created everything, and yet

27:14 are so personal and loving. It's a paradox. It's hard for us to comprehend, but we're thankful for it anyway. And Jesus, we are thankful for your word as well. Pray that you just are just present with us this morning as we go through this word. And Jesus, we asked that you help me to speak your truth only this morning. And Lord, for anyone who's listening, we pray that you help them to hear your truth only. We pray this in your name. Amen. A lot of times I criticize opening prayers that one sounds like he's actually talking to God and not just preach his sermons. So I really appreciate that. But did you hear it? Did you hear it? God, help me only speak your truth. Help me only speak your truth. Now, similar prayers are prayed in almost every church. Lord, hide me behind the cross, and let me only speak that which is you know true, speak Lord. And it's always this is this is prayed over and over in church after church, some variation of it. Now, here's the problem.

28:36 That's prayed in a Pentecostal church, that denies the Trinity, that's prayed in Lutheran churches, that's prayed in Greek Orthodox churches. That's prayed in charismatic, whacked out charismatic churches. It's prayed in Church of Christ. It's prayed in from everything from free will Baptist to reform Baptist to Presbyterian, and listen, none of them agree on anything. So we're if God's helping us only speak his truth, then you're saying his truth is just inevitably contradictory. There can only be one truth about baptism, there can only be one truth about you name it salvation, you can go on in on eschatology, ecclesiology, you name it. I want to believe that God will only let me speak one truth, but clearly God does not do that in any way, shape or form. Wouldn't it be great, hey, God, let us all find truth and then it would all be. There'd be You think there would just be one church then, or maybe not one church, but I mean one ultimate church with just well, then various local congregations of that one true church. But that's not the way it works. You just drive around your town around and note the churches. Lutherans, they believe you take a baby, put water on it, you know, becomes a magic Christian Sins washed away. You got others

30:08 who may baptized, not to necessarily for regeneration, but to put the mark of the Covenant. Okay, you've got some who believe, but how baptize a baby. You got others won't baptize the baby, believe it's not biblical. You've got others beliefs believe that baptism is essential for salvation. You got others who believe baptism is not essential for salvation. But you only baptize professing believe. We can go on and all just all the differences Lord's Supper. You got those who believe in closed communion, close communion. You've got an open communion. You got to believe those who You've got the Lutheran belief of Christ being present, his body and blood present under the bread and wine. I know I'm not being articulate in how I describe their view.

30:49 You got others like it's just simply a it's a symbol, it's a memorial, it's an ordinance. Others will call it a sacrament, a means of grace. And I can just go on, and the difference is a forever. God is obviously not saying no, no, no, no no, no no no no no no no no no. You can only speak this. You can only speak this. Obviously, truth and error can be spoken in every sermon at any time. All right, mark chapter four. We're going to start in verse three before we do that, though, this is a parable, So I'm going to give just a little bit of teaching on what a parable is. The way we're all on the same page. Most of us are familiar with parables at some level. There's stories that Jesus told. It's one of his most common ways that he taught crowds was through parables. And a lot of times we think that the reason that he did this. You've may heard people say this before, the reason is because they're so simple.

31:51 The stories are that it makes the teaching really understandable. And we'll see in today's teaching that that's actually not what Jesus says the reason he used parables for he says almost the opposite. That's I agree with that. People always say, well, Jesus told these parables so that we could understand. No, that doesn't appear to be the case. And look at all the difficulties in interpreting parables. I mean, we're already seeing it right here. See this parable teaches you that you have to get your heart right before you can study the Bible, or the Bible won't be effectual. Where did that come from? The parable? Others will be like, that's not what the parable is saying. So obviously, parables don't make it easy since nobody knows how to interpret the parables in the first place.

32:37 Parables are actually meant to be used in a way to make things a little bit unclear for most people. Actually, and so we're going to look at that this morning. But a parable, what it is is a short story with a single, specific spiritual meaning. These are similar to maybe Aesop's fables. You guys are familiar with these. There's a famous one that has a specific meaning. It's a short story with the specific meaning the tortoise and the hair. And if I at the end, there's kind of this little phrase. It says that slow and steady wins the race. Yeah, everyone knows this that that Aesop's fabled towurtis in the hair. I agree with this. It has a single meaning, a single and so so many Again, what I get bothered about parables is pastors like, well, this represents this and this represents this, and this represents this, and this represents this, and then there's this and this and this and you know, who whoa, whoa whoa? What is this single meaning of the parable? Because sometimes we find a single meaning we we we stay out of some of these like circular contradictory issues.

33:46 It has one single meaning. And if someone tried to convince you that the meaning of that fable the tortoise in the hair, that story was that you shouldn't sleep in a foot race, you would say, that's not the meaning. That's true and from the story you could draw that truth out, but that's not the meaning of that fable. Right, does everyone understand that we all know what the meaning is. Slow and steady wins the race. It's not that we shouldn't sleep on a foot race, or that you shouldn't be cocky or that. Right, there are other things you could draw out of that story, but that's not the meaning of it. Jesus tells us a story this morning, the parable of the sewer, and it has a specific, one specific meaning. There are other truths that we can pull from this, but that's not what Jesus is trying to teach us. Okay, and so it's important as we read this text that we understand there's one specific meaning that Jesus is trying to teach us, and that's what we're going to focus on this morning. Although there are other truths we could potentially draw from the story, that's not what Jesus is trying to teach us through the story.

34:43 Does that make sense? So I just want to make sure we're clear on parables. That's why we're going to draw one meaning out of this. And there are other things that could come out, but that's not what we're focusing on this morning. Okay, Wow, I love this. I love this approach because this immediately gets us to the to the heart of this, right, this really gets us to a correct approach to parables. The correct approach to parables is, Hey, there's one meaning. So I am gonna I cannot wait to hear what he finds as the one meaning. I cannot wait. All right, now, I gotta do something really quick here. My software where I record just crashed, so I'm gonna have to force the I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to make this close. Okay, all right, now, I'm gonna have to reopen it, and we're gonna have to find out where we just stopped. So my recording is now gone, but we'll continue on. Hopefully I can grab the recording from sermon audio hopefully here, and uh, we can see what we can do.

35:54 All right. I don't want the draft. I want this. Okay, here we go, all right, So I'm going and hang on. I got to reload the sermon. Everything crashed here, everything crushed, all right. I think we have the sermon ready to go. All right, so we've kind of we've kind of well, the recording is messed up, but that's okay. That's okay. Hopefully the recording will work from the sermon audio platform. That's one of the reasons we use two different things is to ensure But let me now, I'm gonna have to kind of fast forward here and see if I can find it, So just be patient with me. Here we go. Then it makes the teaching really understandable, and we'll see in today's teaching that's actually no spiritual meaning. These are similar to maybe Aesop's fables. You guys are familiar with these, race, Yeah, everyone knows this that Aesop's fabled towards and does everyone understand that we all know what the meaning is? Slow and steady wins the race. It's not that we shouldn't sleep on a foot race, or that you shouldn't be cocky or that right, there are other things you could draw out of that story, but that's not the meaning of it. Jesus tells us a story this morning, the Parable of the and it has a specific, one specific meaning.

37:03 There are other truths that we can pull from this, but that's not what Jesus is trying to teach us, okay, And so it's important as we read this text that we understand there's one specific meaning that Jesus is trying to teach us, and that's what we're going to focus on this morning. Although there are other truths we could potentially draw from the story, that's not what Jesus is trying to teach us through the story. Does that make sense? So I just want to make sure we're clear on parables. That's why we're going to draw one meaning out of this. And there are other things that could come out, but that's not what we're focusing on this morning, all. Right, So he's going to find one meaning. So let's listen and figure out what that one meaning is, and does that one meaning agree with again this article and this book that Hey, if you're going to be an effectual Bible student, you have to get your heart right, because if your heart's not right, But what are God's just going to bounce off? Is that the meaning of the parable? Let's see what he thinks the meaning of the parable is. Let's find out together.

37:59 Okay, we're going to start in verse three, and we're going to read this text in three sections. So I'll read a section, we'll talk about it, read a section and talk about it. So we'll start in three and we'll go through nine. Listen, Behold, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up since it had no depth of soil. When the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil. And produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold, and sixtyfold and one hundredfold. And he said, he who has ears to hear, let him here.

39:02 This teaching from Jesus is a teaching that the people of the day, the large crowd is focused that's around him, focused on him, would have understood really clearly. Many of them would be farmers, and they would have sown seed in exactly this way. If they weren't farmers, they almost certainly would have seen someone or know someone who does sow seed in exactly this way. For a modern reader, it is not exactly the way we think about sowing seed. We tend to imagine tractors that are tilling up the ground behind them and disking it, and then we'd think of rows, lots of rows of seeds. Even if for gardeners and we're not thinking about machines, we still think about taking a seed and placing it in a very specific place. A lot of us will get out our tape measures and make sure that our spacing exactly right in our rows right. Some of us are less careful, but we're still in rows. We tend to be rose and place the seed in the ground and cover it up.

39:52 But the picture that we're seeing here is of a sewer. What they would do in these days is they had kind of this satchel that would go around their body was just full of seed, and they would reach in with their hands and grab a handful of it and kind of scatter it around. It's called broadcast seeding. And what they would do they had a chilling, you know, they'd have a all. Right, well, that that's cool. Now. I know why the article used the word broadcasting. It's called broadcast seating. Had no idea. I was like, why is the article referring to it as broadcasting? Because I think of broadcasting, Well, I think of what I'm doing. I'm like, what is that so but so broadcast seeding? Okay, So I've looked.

40:33 See this is why we listened to sermons. I've already learned something I so far. I I Other than that that one thing about the prayer, which of course is so common, that's the only thing I've disagreed with. I'm really liking this. This is taking us, possibly in a good direction. I'm just curious, what is the one meaning? What is the one meaning? Or a horse or oxen that would till up the ground, but they would actually do that after they threw out the seed, so they weren't sure where necessarily the rockiest parts of the soil were, where the thorny parts were. They weren't sure exactly how this is all going to go, because when they threw out this seed, they would till it afterwards. And so this is very This picture that he's painted is of a sower, and he's saying that the seed is being broadcast out like this, and the seed lands in some different places. You may think, actually that this is not very effective methodology, because some of the seed's going on the path and it's getting taken by birds, and some of it's not growing because of the rocky soil, and some is not growing because of the weeds. But then at the end it says that the yield here is thirty and sixty and one hundredfold, which is pretty good yield. Actually, some people are suggesting this in the commentaries. They're suggesting that this yield is an exaggeration or more than what would be typical of the day. Others are actually suggesting that this is what would be a typical yield for a field. They're saying actually, in some ways, maybe the agriculture was better then than it is now, and that the yield that they're getting from these fields was just higher than what we would expect.

42:04 I think that that's irrelevant to me. I think it's just the point is this one grew, whether thirty sixty one hundred. I think it just throws out different numbers. It's not like, well, was that the way the yield's supposed to work? Is this exaggerated? See? I think sometimes again with the parables, I think we get so lost in the details. What is the basic message here? Not well, is the yield more? Is it normal? Is it a little bit of normal? But I mean it gives a wide range thirty sixty one hundred. I think it's just saying this is the soil where the seed actually grew.

42:46 What's interesting for me is verse three. Right at the beginning, there's this word that starts the beginning of this teaching. Jesus says listen. As if the crowd wasn't already listening, they're gathered around him to hear him, and he starts with listen. This is important. Most of those other teachings don't start this way. There's a reason the author included this. It's not like, hey, let me get your attention everybody. That's not what Jesus is doing here. This word is important because the author includes it when he writes this. And what's really interesting is he book ends the teaching with another phrase in verse nine that often gets overlooked. He says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

43:30 I want you to pay attention to this theme because as we go through this text this morning, it is common. It is off repeated. He starts with, listen, there's something important about this parable, and I need you to listen to it. And he ends this parable with you, if you have ears to hear, then hear this because it's important. Something about the way that we listen to this parable is important, and we need to focus on that. This theme is throughout this teaching and I want you, guys to pay attention to that's go and read the next section here starts in verse ten and says when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables, and he said to them, to you has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God, But for those outside everything is in parables. So that they may indeed see but not perceive. They may indeed hear, but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.

44:38 So this crowd that's in front of Jesus has heard the parable, and they don't know what it's about. Okay, So it says in it right in the beginning where I started reading, that's a very large crowd that's actually gathered around him, and they don't know what the parable is about. They may be taking some guesses. Maybe some of them believe that this is some kind of instruction for plantings seed. It's not very likely. We don't think that, and it's very evidently a story meant for teaching something. That's what Jesus did, is he taught using these parables. But many of them are just guessing at what this could be. Maybe it's about love, Maybe that's what the seed represents. Maybe it's about how we're supposed to to love our neighbor, or maybe it's supposed to there's a maybe guesses going on, and the crowd has kind of a choice about what to believe about the parable and how to kind of find out what we see here in verse ten. This is really important. The phrasing of this sentence is very interesting. It says, when he was alone, meaning Jesus, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. Anyone recognized that that's a little bit of a strange phrasing. Those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. The author could have said those around him asked about the parables, but he actually wants to point out he's making it very clear here that it's not just us, the twelve disciples, right, Jesus often explains things to his twelve disciples when he's alone, but this is saying it's not just the twelve disciples.

46:07 There's also more who have come from the crowd who heard their parables, and those are the ones who are coming and asking Jesus about the parables. This is important because the author has made an aside. Verses three through nine are the parable, and verses thirteen through twenty are the explanation of the parable. And these two verses sit in between, and they're meant to show us a couple of things. One is meant to make a little bit of a comparison between the crowd that was there before the very large crowd who heard the parables. And now the smaller crowd that's stuck around and is asking about the parable. This is very good observational work on the text. He's observing the interesting things about the text of things that should stand out because of doing an observational reading, an observational approach. So I'm I'm I'm loving all of this.

47:01 I'm loving all of this. But the question is what is the main lesson? Is it going to be in agreement with this article about how to study the Bible? Is it going to be contradictory to that? Am I going to agree with it? Are you going to agree with it? What is the one lesson do you want to know? Should we stop now I'm building up the anticipation. Let's let's find out. And Jesus says this to that smaller crowd. This is specifically director of those people who are asking about the parable. He says to you, has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God. To the smaller crowd who stuck around was asking, has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God? And who does not have the secret of the Kingdom of God? Those who are on the outside, the ones who heard the parables. That's right there in verse eleven, to those to whos been given the secret of the Kingdom of God, but those on the outside, everything is in parables, he says. The reason I do it in parables this is a quote from Isaiah Isaiah six ' nine. That they may indeed see but not perceive, and they may indeed hear but not understand. The reason he speaks in parables is that way they don't quite get it. The parable is a little bit of a sifting situation. They hear the parable, they don't understand it.

48:28 And what do they do? Either they leave or they come and ask Jesus about the parable. And if they come and ask Jesus about the parable, this was his message to them, to you has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God. So you see that there's something here about the way that they heard the message of the parable and what they did with that message of the parable. Okay, And we're going to get into the meaning of it, because this is an easy one to figure out what the meaning is because Jesus tells us that's pretty cool, okay. Verse thirteen says this, He said to them, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables. The sower sows the word, and these are the ones along the path where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

49:29 And those are the ones sown on rocky ground. I'm sorry. These are the ones sown on rocky ground, the ones who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy. They have no root in themselves, but endure for a while. Then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. The others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, But the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke out the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and one hundredfold. I forgot to point out in that passage from Isaiah, again Jesus brings up hearing and not understanding. That theme is there again in verse thirteen.

50:23 Jesus starts explaining the parable, and he says this, do you not understand this parable, then how can you understand all the other parables. What Jesus is saying is that if you don't understand the message of this parable, if you don't get this parable, this is kind of a bedrock parable. This is a foundation parable. If you don't understand this one, you're not going to understand any of the others. This one is vital for the understanding of the other parables, for understanding other things that Jesus has to say. That's really and we mentioned this, I think yesterday when I was reading through it. That's a really powerful concept. Hey, if you want to know if you can understand the other parables, you've got to be able to understand this one.

51:07 You can't understand this one. You can literally not understand any other parable. So if you're ever going to do this teaching on the parables, you have to start with this one, because this is the test. If you can't figure this out, you can't figure out any of the others. So I think that's pretty interesting. The way that we take in this parable, the way we hear this parable, and what we do with this parable, affects the way we hear the other messages of the word. Okay, so this is a very very important one. Now I want to show you, just to be full understanding, I guess the other way you could read those two sentences is that the message of this parable is so simple that if you can't even understand a very simple message, how could you understand more complex messages of the other parables.

51:58 I don't think that's what it is, because we've discussed already a parable has one simple meaning. The point of the parable is a little bit that it drives towards one simple meaning, not just this parable, but all parables. And so I don't think Jesus saying this message is so simple the others are more complicated. If you can't understand a simple one, how can you understand a complicated one? I think what he's saying. And when we get into this, I think you'll understand this a little better as well. If you can't understand this foundational parable about how you take in the word, because that's what he says, the seed is, then how could you understand the other messages about the word. This is a foundational parable, And so the way you hear this parable affects the way that you hear all the other parables. Okay, so do not understand this parable, then how will you understand all the parables?

52:44 Verse fourteen is kind of the key to understanding what this parable is about. He says that the sower sows the word. So the seed doesn't represent love, The seed doesn't represent whatever else you might think it represents. The seed represents the word. These are the words that Jesus uses here. Now, as a modern reader, we want to read the word, the word, the words the word. We want to see those phrases. And what we tend to think of is we think of what we call the word, which is the Bible as I have it in my hand right here. And I think we can do a little bit of work to get there and say, yeah, that is probably fair, But that is absolutely not what Jesus meant when he said the word. There are a couple of reasons we know that. The first reason is because the Bible as I have it in my hand right now did not exist when Jesus said these things.

53:33 In fact, none of the New Testament existed. And it's in any way when he said this word right, So he's not talking about the word meaning the Bible, because the Bible didn't exist like this. Now, could he have been talking about Old Testament scriptures. We'll get there. That could be an interpretation that we take another thing. Another reason. We know that just because you see the word in scripture doesn't mean that we want to interpret it necessarily as just the Bible. For instance, at the beginning of John chapter one, we see that the Word was with God, and the Word was God in the beginning. And if we interpreted that as the Bible, we have certainly elevated the Bible to a place that it does not belong right, because the Bible was not with God in the beginning, and the Bible was not God at the beginning. The Bible has never been God. These are the words of God. Okay.

54:23 The apostle Paul often uses the phrase the word to represent the Gospel message of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Of course, at this point Christ has not death and resurrection yet, so he's not talking about that here. This is interesting. So the word here, if it's not scripture, what is it? This may destroy the entire concept that this teaches us how to be an effectual Bibles to this may utterly annihilate that. So so now we want to know what is the main lesson? But now the question you must be You've got to be a movie to the edge of your sea. Now what is the word?

55:03 Right now? You need to be probably jumping up and pacing around the house. Hey, everyone coming, We got to figure that what is the meaning of this parable and what is the word? Okay, let's find out. Let's find out. In the Old Testament, we see the phrase the word of the Lord a lot of times after a message from a prophet, and so we need to be careful as modern readers. Just because the Bible somewhere says the word does not necessarily mean that it's talking about the word in our hands the Bible as we see it today. Now we're going to do a little bit of work. What I want to do is I'm about to start working some application and some interpretation together as I walk through this next section. This will be kind of the longer section of this text, and I want you to kind of have several definitions of what the word could be for a modern reader, what that means. What Jesus probably meant was the message that he oft repeated through all of the gospels, which is that the Kingdom of God is upon us, The Kingdom of God is here, the Kingdom of God is new. That was his good news, was that the Kingdom of God is here. He's saying I'm here, I'm coming, and I'm bringing the Kingdom with me.

56:13 But for us, so there the word would just be reduced to basically one concept. Hey, the Kingdom of God is here. And when you tell people the Kingdom of God is here, there's going to be different responses. So this would just be, hey, just one concept. It's not the Bible. It's just one concept. Okay, all right, let's see. I think I know how to possibly use that. Let's see where he goes with this. We have the opportunity to hear the message from God, the words of the Lord, in a few different ways as modern readers. One of those ways, and perhaps the most important, is the Bible. And so I think, while that's not specifically what Jesus meant when he said this to that audience, to that crowd at that time, when we hear this message today, we can absolutely imagine that the Bible is one of the things, one of the ways that we hear the word of the Lord, and maybe the most important one. This is the least likely to air, the least likely to have an issue. Even small translation issues over the ears have not changed the message of the Bible. And so when you see the word in verse fourteen, you can say, yes, part of this is how do I hear the Bible? How do I read the Bible? How do I take in the Bible? Now, as I've mentioned the word hearing specifically as an oft repreated theme throughout these verses, and so it's really important

57:45 that we understand one of the most regular ways that we hear the word of God, or we hear messages from God, is through Nate's preaching every Sunday, Right every Sunday, we hear a word from the Lord. And Jesus is about to show us four different soil types or four different ways that we can hear those words, and and and and kind of present some different ways that we can hear them and take them take them with us. Okay, So here's the challenge I have for you, is we're about mixing a little bit of application in as we're interpreting these next sections. The challenge I have is I want you to be a little bit introspective. Okay, I want you to to search your heart and understand which of these soil tart types do you tend to be? Oh?

58:42 Boy, I think right now it seems like we're circuling, circuling right back to the problem. See is this going to be? Hey, every Sunday when you come to church, what soil type are you? So is this going to Are we not inevitably going to walk right back into Hey? You can come to church, but unless your heart is right, the sermon is not going to be of any value. So you've got to fix the heart. Well, then is it me fixing the heart or is it the preaching of God's word that fixes the heart? Is it the study of God's word that fixes the heart? Or do I have to fix my heart prior to studying the word? Are we not inevitably going right back to And I remember he said there's just one main lesson? What is that main lesson? All right? So I did do a little work. I was asking AI here all right? So in Mark four fourteen, because he called into question what the word could be, Jesus explains the parable of the sower, saying the so or sows the word. The word in Greek lagos, is a key concept in this parable, and different interpretations of what the word refers to has been proposed within Christian theology. Here are some of the most common interpretations. Number One, the Gospel message. The most straightforward and widely accepted interpretation is that the word refers to the Gospel message, the good news of Jesus Christ, life, death, resurrection, or the salvation of humanity. This is understood. This understanding is supported by the broader context of Jesus ministry, where teaching in parables is often centered on the announcement of the Kingdom of God and a call to repentance of

1:00:14 faith in Him. Now, this one is to me, this may be a key to some of them. This is not about Bible study. This is when the seed, the Word, the basically the Gospel or the news that the Kingdom of God has come. Repent and believe that basic message. That when that basic message is presented, there's going to be different responses. Those different responses indicate the condition of the heart. Now, it's only one that will ultimately believe and then grow. Why is that one different? Because that is the one which is saved and God has to be the one to make the heart receptive to the gospel message. It is you can go preach. Many will not believe because well, God has not changed the heart.

1:01:07 This is not about you changing your heart so that you'll be a good Bible student. This is about God has to make your heart ready to be able to believe. Only one, only one of soil will ultimately believe in accept the gospel message. See so AI went in and gave me this and this interpretation the seed that the sower scatter represents the proclamation of this message. The different types of soil what reflects various responses to the gospel. Some receive it, some reject it. Others accept it but then fall away. Do the hardship, persecution or worldly distortions right or distractions? I should say, so now they give a bunch of other interpretations, but I think the gospel message, or now they do offer the one he did, which is God's Kingdom message and Mark's gospel. Jesus often speaks of the Word and connection with the Kingdom of God. Therefore, another interpretation is that the Word represents the message about the coming of God's Kingdom, a central theme in Jesus preaching.

1:02:08 This view focuses on the proclamation of God's reign breaking into human history through Jesus, and this interpretation of the different types of solar represents how various people respond to the news of God's kingdom. Now, if we go with a more hardcore s a dispensational view, this is simply a parable about how the Jews are going to respond to the idea that the kingdom, the kingdom was present, the king had arrived. So I don't know if this has anything to do with the way many preachers handle it. Let's see where else he goes with this, because now I think he's kind of falling right back into the same trap. Hey, when you come to church, you've got to figure out the condition of your heart. Well wait a minute, wait a minute, are you telling me I've got to change the condition of my heart? Like, well, how is he going to handle this?

1:02:58 Jesus about to give this for soil types, and he's going to tell us what those four types are, what they represented. And I want you to pray to God and ask him to reveal your heart to you. Your heart is very deceitful, it's wicked above all else. Who can know it. It's a rhetorical question, means God can know it, and David praise. This praise has revealed my heart to me, reveal the wicked ways, the wicked bents that all right. Now, now we're kind of stumbling into the idea God can reveal to you something outside of scripture. And when I say, God, God reveal my heart to me, isn't it my study of the Word that will reveal my heart to me? Or is God going to do this outside of scripture? Well, if God's going to reveal the condition of my heart, what else can God reveal? So now we do we have God giving revelation outside of scripture.

1:03:50 See how I think the study of the Word reveals my heart because I'm confronted with my sin. I think it's through the scriptures where this curves. I have in my heart. And so I would like you to do that as I'm as I'm kind of talking through these four soil types, ask God to reveal which of these four soil types do I tend towards? Which ones do I need to work on? What wicked ways do I have in my heart that I need to ask for help with? Okay, now he's going with the approach that obviously any Christians can have any one of these four soil conditions, that it doesn't represent that only one set that is the saved one, that all of us can have all of these. See now I think this is making the parable now much more complex. Remember he started that it only has one meaning. So now any of us can have any of these soil conditions at any time. And now we have to pray for God to reveal it.

1:04:47 Now what's God reveals it? Is it God going to be the one to fix it? Or do I have to fix it? And if I don't fix it, then are you telling me the Bible? Are we not going to fall right back into the problem we started this entire thing with. The first soil type is Verse fifteen says there are those on the path that's where the seed lands, on the path where the word is sown. When they hear they hear the word, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. There's some people who are sitting in church every Sunday, and they're hearing the word every Sunday, And before they have a chance to do anything with that message, it has already left.

1:05:35 They're certainly hearing the word, but the message is gone by the time they've walked out the door. They can't even remember what the sermon's about. These are people who are saying spirituality is not actually particularly important. Maybe I'm here. Oh now that. Lady. We got to be careful there, Okay, if we're going to if we're gonna say, people who walk out of church and can't remember the message are the people who their heart is like the path. Well, then, ladies and gentlemen, I've been preaching forever. That is ninety percent of American Christianity. I mean, like, look, every study says that most Christians cannot remember what was preached by Sunday night. For crying out loud, they can't remember by the time they get home.

1:06:26 So you're gonna see that the reason people don't remember the sermon is because they have this first soil condition though by the wayside, on the path, that's their heart condition. That's the reason. Hey, So the next up, pastors, just get up there on Sunday night, give a test about your sermon on Sunday morning, and those who can't remember, like your hearts are like that of the path, your heartened heart. Satan is taking the message away from you. That's why you can't remember it. I'm not saying that's what he's trying to say, but that be a logical inference from what you say. Come on, what was preached last Sunday your church? What was preached? Come on? Don't look at you notes. Do you know how many people can't remember? I know it because I do. I used to get. You've heard me many times in my sermons.

1:07:20 Get almost just want to scream when I'm doing a review, I'm like, why can't you? I literally covered this fifty thousand times? Like, what is this problem? Do I do? I argue that it's a spiritual condition, So I think we got to be really careful with that. I don't know. I don't know if we judged this based on your ability to remember the sermon. Yeah, I think there's a lot of other factors. Because my parents have always been here. Maybe I'm here because this is what we do is we come to church on Sunday morning. But I go back to living my life exactly the way it was before as soon as I'm out the door. Maybe I'm not really even fully listening to the message. Maybe As I think back on the last eight months of message, I don't know how long we've been in the Ten Commandment. It feels like a long time. As I think back on all those weeks of the Ten Commandments, I go, I don't know if there's anything that has actually changed in my life, literally at all, because of those messaging. Some of us have access to the Word. It's in our house. Maybe we have several Bibles in our house.

1:08:30 Now, see, are we going to judge this by how much you change? Hey, it's September. Think of all the sermon. If you've been a part of the If you have been a part of the Sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge, you've listened to one sermon every single day for all of twenty twenty four. Look at how many sermons you've listened to. What has changed? Is that the way you're going to judge this, Hey, the word your heart condition is like the wayside, the path hard and Satan has taking the message away from you because you haven't changed. How do you measure that? How much change? Well?

1:09:10 As long as there's some change, Well, how do you measure that change? An external change or an internal change? What if the external change happens, but the internal hasn't changed. Then See this is right back to the idea that unless your heart is right, none of this is gonna do any good. Well, then how do you get your heart changed? Is it through the reading and study of God's word? Or are you saying that we're just got to sit there and like, well I till God changes my heart. There's no point in going to church, There's no point in reading the Bible because there's not going to do any good. Maybe I bring one back and forth with me to church, but when I'm at home, I don't even crack it open. I have total access to it. I can hear the word anytime I want to. But I'm so busy with all the other things that are going on that I don't even open my Bible when I'm in.

1:10:00 So now we're going to judge the condition of the heart based on how much you read your Bible. Do you realize is one of the biggest issues within Christiandom is that it's very difficult to get Christians to consistently read and study their Bibles. So, now again, what so so the soil here if you don't read your Bible is because your heart is hardened, or you have this hardened soil of a heart. But wait a minute, it wouldn't matter if they were reading the Bible because it wouldn't do any good. Right, so going to church doesn't do any good. But you're saying that the one of the ways to prove that they have a hard heart is because they're not reading their Bible. But wouldn't matter if they were reading their Bible because they have a hard heart. So what difference does it make if they're reading it or not reading. Well, I'm not reading it.

1:11:00 This shows my heart is hard. But if your heart is hard reading, it's not going to matter anyway. So then how do you fix the problem? Home? Satan has taken the Word and it's gone before I even have a chance to take it in the Word of God is very available to us, but how much are we actually taking this in. It's like seed put out on the sidewalk that's never going to plant, will never turn into a plant. The birds will absolutely come take that seed before you have a chance for it to even think about turning into a plant. If this is you, I what I pray for you is that you maybe you're aware of this, and you say, man, I kind of know this isn't me already, I don't need to hear the others. Jesus can turn your heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

1:11:56 And that, oh, the heart of stone into a heart of flesh is from Ezekiel. That is about Israel. Okay, this started so good. Now I'm getting frustrated. So then Jesus has to change the heart. Okay, Well, then if Jesus is the one that changes the heart, well then everyone should have the right heart and then there should be no problem. Is the problem is you just haven't asked Jesus to change your heart. Hey, everyone, right now, ask Jesus to change your heart. Will all have a perfect heart? Well, then there should be no more sin. So unless your heart is right, then the word of God is not going to do any good. Preaching is not going to do any good. It's useless. But God is the one who has to change the heart. So there's nothing you can do. Hey, God, if you don't change my heart, there's no point in listening discermons, are going to church or reading my Bible because it won't do any good. I can't do anything because nothing will work.

1:12:51 You have to change my heart. If God doesn't change my heart, then there's nothing I can do. My prayer for you. I hope that you're earnestly praying that for yourself. This isn't something you can try harder to become better at. This isn't something where you need to work a little harder try to earn a love for the Word. This is something you need to fervently pray about that God changes your heart from a heart of flesh, from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, so. That nothing you can do. Nothing, you can do nothing. All you can do is just say, God, change my heart. So the condition of your heart is God's fault, or you have to believe that when everyone becomes so you can become a Christian and God doesn't change your heart. Typically, the way this is understood is that when you become a Christian, typically people run to Ezekiel again. That is a part that is directly to Israel. We've covered it a million times. We covered it in our study of Eschatology.

1:13:54 I get so tired of people taking that out of context. But usually the way this works is when you become a Christian, your heart is completely transformed. However, you still can't be perfect, so you have a sin nature. So you have a you have a new heart, but a sin nature. It gets really complicated. We've talked about how utterly just convoluted it becomes. But this is even more maddening because he is saying that you can be a Christian and not have a new heart. So then as a Christian, so salvation doesn't change your heart. But then when you become a Christian, then you pray for God to then change your heart. And then when God changes your heart, then the preaching of God's word can be effective, and the study of the Bible can be effective. But until then, I've got a pencil. I'm going to bounce it off the table. It's just going to bounce off.

1:14:41 It's not good. It's not going to do anything. It's not going to do anything. It's just going to hit the hard ground. Okay, well that I don't understand. Let's let's go a little further. Because that's what this is. This is the seed is landing on a hard, hard heart. And even though you've got more availability of the Word than anyone in all of human history has had. Thirty years ago, the greatest librarians, who had all of the resources at their disposal, do not have the same resources you have today in your pocket. It's glass and metal, and you have access to commentaries, world class commentaries in many languages translated into yours. It's incredible the resources we have, and yet do we access the word the way we should. There's a second soil type says that there are those who are sown on rocky ground, the ones who when they hear the word again, they're hearing the word, but they and they immediately receive it with joy. That's good, let's stop there. No, they don't stop there, and they have no root in themselves.

1:15:54 They endure for a while, and then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. I have often found myself in this category, especially when listening to a message that is convicting, or when reading a passage that is convicting, and I go, man, I'm really excited about this. This one's going to spark a lot of life change in me. I'm going to go home and do something really different. May this is you with some of the ten commandments we just walked out of You said, he I'm gonna actually, we're gonna try really hard. We're gonna do Sabbath different. Now. Now, wait a minute. If God's given you a new heart, then why are you not then struggling for life change.

1:16:39 If God's now giving you a new heart, then where is the problem. I don't get it. So we have a new heart, but in old nature, this we're right back into. Oh this started off so promising. This, I'm so confused. I still we're right. We don't have an answer, ladies and gentle and I just noticed that we've been on the air for one hour and twenty minutes. And I apologize because when the when my recording software crashed that my clock went my clock because right now, if I look at my clock, it says zero zero zero zero, meaning I've been on I've been broadcasting for zero amounts of minutes. So because when it crashed, So, uh, I apologize. We've gone so long. But this is we're right back to where we started. Remember he said this has one meaning.

1:17:26 He's now not giving the what is the one meaning of the parable? This has turned into? All right, if church is gonna have any impact, if the preaching of God's word is gonna have any impact. If the study of the Bible's gonna have any impact, You've got to get your heart right. But you can't do anything to get your heart right. You got to pray that God will give you your heart right. So if you'll pray, then you'll no longer have a heart like on the path. You'll have a brand new heart. But even if you have a brand new heart, it appears that well, you could still struggle with the Word of God actually doing anything, actually bringing about any change. What do I have to get on my mind? I don't understand. I don't understand.

1:18:13 Maybe you're convicted by the Sabbath message. You say, I'm not gonna eat out anymore. I'm not gonna do these things. I really feel like I'm gonna try to honor that as a holy day. That's different. And then the next week it was like, well, I didn't really have anything prepared, so I'm actually gonna go out to eat just like I always did. This is the seed is planted. You hear the word and it sparks joy. You say, yes, I want to change, I want to do something with this word. I heard some people this is actually the gospel message itself to some of you know people like this. I know a lot of them. I went to Bible school.

1:18:53 But what's being changed? If all I gotta do is say God give me a new heart, and God will give me a new heart, then what then needs to be changed? From that point forward? The heart's already been changed and you can't do anything to change your heart. You just pray God give me a new heart. Bloom, he gives you a new heart. Well, then what needs to be changed after that? The heart's already been changed. And if the heart's been completely transformed, then should that need logically mean you should be basically perfect? So then what needs to be changed? It's the we're right back to the same convoluted circular reasoning that is so evident in most churches, where they will say, if you're in Christ, you're a new creature. Old things have passed away, all things have become new, but you still struggle with sin.

1:19:44 That's because I'm only become a new creature and new in my position, not in my practice. Why do you say it's true of my practice and then acknowledge that I haven't changed. It's the same thing when you become a Christian you get a brand new heart. Okay, Well then and that means there's no more sin in my heart. Heart's no longer deceptive, there's no longer sin in my heart. Well, then where does all the sin arise from? Because Jesus seemed to say sin arises from the heart, right, fornication, lust, greed, conveteousness. Where is it coming from? If I have a new heart, the only thing that should be coming out of me should be perfect, because I have a new heart. If that's in me, then what should come out of me should be the things flowing from the new heart. But sin continues to flow out of us. So then I don't understand. Well, this is like, hey, you know we sometimes struggle and we're not really changed by the message.

1:20:37 Well wait a minute. You just said in the previous one, all I got to do is ask for a new heart. I guess maybe this one, this one needs a new so I guess the answer is all you need is a new heart. So maybe maybe he's going to see this about this soil as well, That all the soils except the last one, the problem is they don't have a new heart. So then you would have to argue, Well, then these people aren't saved, but he's making an argument that you can be saved and experience these soils. So then I don't get it. A lot of these people I know who ministered alongside me were speaking the Gospel of people and preaching and doing all these things together. And now I look at their Facebook posts and I see, oh, actually they aren't even close to walking out what they were doing before.

1:21:24 They've totally renounced the faith. For a short time, they looked like they were excited about the word, and they looked like the word had taken but there wasn't enough route. The smallest persecution turns these people away. A third soil type, this is the one that worries me the most in the American church. Okay, he didn't give a solution for the second one. I'm assuming the solution for the second one is the first one. Get I think logically he would only have to agree that all these people are lost and the only ones are saved is the last one. So God, so is that the only way to approach.

1:22:09 This third soil type? Says, others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke out the word, and it proves unfruitful. Have you ever tried to plant something where there's a bunch of weeds already? Sometimes you even get that to come up right. The issue is if you plant a tomato amongst a bunch of other plants that are also planted, you may get a tomato plant, but it's not going to do as well as if there weren't all the weeds there. This is a picture of a seed that's fallen in among thorns in this area. You guys are familiar with, you know some of that like multi floor rows and different things that will literally like swirl up the trunk of a tree and choke it out. This is the picture it's painting here is of thorns that exist around the seed, and Jesus is saying, this is what a lot of us are like. We hear the word again, We're hearing it every week. We look like Christians, we look like the right thing. We look like a tomato plant that's supposed to be doing the right tomato plant things. There's no fruit. What's the point of a tomato fruit and a tomato plant. If you don't have any tomatoes, these weeds that are planted in and amongst us. They're the things he puts out here. Is the cares of the

1:23:40 world is the first one. What are the cares of the world? Jesus says in another place that these are things like the clothes that we wear and the food that we eat, or we're not supposed to care about those things. We are those are important, but God's going to provide those things for us. These are things like our families and things like our jobs, which again these are very important things. We should have families and we should have jobs, But what place of priority do they take in our lives. Francis Chan has an interesting idea. I'm not going to quote him, but I'm going to give you the idea. Roughly. He says that most people, most Christians in the American Church, would say that their priority list goes something like this, God is number one, below that as family. Third might be career or hobbies or whatever. You know, I'm going to serve my community or you know whatever. Those things come after that. But he wants to directs us to the look at those first two priorities are God and then our families. And he asks a hypothetical that I just consider this for a second. What would it look like for you if you reverse them? What would change in your life if you actually said, you know what, I'm going to just pretend like families number one and God is number two.

1:24:56 This challenge hit me probably six years ago when I read it, and I went, man, nothing at all would change, because that probably is the way that I'm actually prioritizing right now. The cares of the world are taking priority over God in my life. So he's acknowledging this. This can happen to Christians. So even if you get a new heart, then all of this is true. Well, then what does the new heart do now? Oh, and we're right back to until you get the new heart, then the word of God is not going to be effectual. But you can have a new heart, and I guess the word of God can still not be effectual. So then how do I get the heart? How do I fix this problem? Is it me or is it God's word that fixes the problem.

1:25:45 But God's word can't fix the problem because God's word can't be effectual unless I get the heart. Truck. I don't I. And it's choking out the fruit of God. What about this second one, the deceitfulness of riches. He's not saying riches are the problem. Most of us in here are not rich by any standard, But it's actually the deceitfulness of riches. It's interesting about this is he's not saying something we every single person in here goes, yeah, riches are absolutely deceitful. No one's like saying like, no, I don't think I believe that. But yet we live our lives pursuing riches. We make decisions based on the careers that we want to make and how are we going to make more money? So many of us focus on finances constantly. Either we're worried about him or we're excited about them, but either way, we're constantly focusing on them. Again, this is the truth everyone knows. No one is sitting at their deathbed saying, man, I just wish I made a few more dollars last week. I just wish I had more. When I'm leaving, you know, I just wish I was As I'm dying, I just wish I had a little bit more money. No one is saying that riches are absolutely deceitful, and we know it, and it is absolutely distracting us from being able to bear fruit for God. Again, what is the points of a tomato plant if it doesn't have any tomatoes on it? This

1:27:18 is this is the soil type that Jesus says that we'd all like to be this. But I want you again, introspectively searching your heart? Is this? You let God reveal your heart to you Verse twenty. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and one hundredfold. Look back at any length of time in the past, maybe the past five years. Let's give you plenty of time. What's your fruit? What's your thirtyfold and sixtyfold and one hundredfold fruit? How many people have we evangelized to? How many people have we talked to about the gospel? How many people are you discipling right now?

1:28:12 What is your Is that? What that's supposed to represent is how many people you talk to or how many people you evangelize, how many people you disciple? I don't know about that. Fruit? Is your heart? Good soil? Or is your heart one of these others? Do you look like a Christian but you're not bearing fruit? Now asking the question to be mean, I'm asking it because I think it's really important that we search ourselves in and really look for How are our hearts wicked and leading us astray by making us believe that we're doing the right thing. How is our heart wicked? You said i'd get a new heart. It's the never ending circle.

1:29:00 One of these other soil types. If you're recognizing wickedness in your own heart now and seeing you're not one of the good soil types, these these first three soil types, they're not Christians. These are not people who are actually seeking after Christ. Okay, so now he's going with they're not Christians. But he just said we can all be like this. So now he's going with the idea, no no, no, no no no. If you're a Christian, those three won't be like you. But he just said that even he's like that sometimes, so we can be like it, but not like it. No, no, they're not Christians. So the first three then they're just they're not Christians. Even though he made it sound like that, it is.

1:29:54 These are people who have their heart has deceived them and they're hearing the word. They're hearing it maybe regularly, but they're not taking that word and doing something with it. If this is you, I do earnestly pray that you pray to God and ask him to change your heart, to give you a good soil that seed will land on and change your life. Jesus, thank you again for this hard message for them. And that's that's the message we made it to. So he never really told us what the one I guess what he is. I guess this is the one message, the one point of the parable. Remember he said there was one point. He never really gave us the one point. He never really articulated it, gave it, summarized it, put it in a like a thesis statement. Basically, what he is saying is this parable. The point of this parable is to prove who's saved. There are only one group of people save with the right soil, they end and the right soul minds you now you have a new heart.

1:30:57 Well again, if you have a new heart, then why did he then art articulate that we struggle with these things? Why are we struggling with them? If we have a new heart. So I guess if we take it from that perspective, the only people who the Word of God will be of any value to are Christians, and they're the ones who will receive the Word, and then we'll produce you know, thirty sixty one hundredfold fruit and all that other description. If that's you, you're not a Christian. But then he articulated that that he even acknowledged that that's I don't know, we're well over an hour and thirty minutes now that So I guess if we took this back to the article that's in the Study Bible, then I guess the way that article should read is this, forget the parable. I guess we're going to use the parable the solers to demonstrate this. You cannot be an effect your Bible student unless you're a Christian. And if you're a Christian, you're going to be a perfect Bible student, and the Word of God's going to be perfect and great, and everything's going to be wonderful because the other soils represent lost people. I guess you could go with that, but then you can't then be a Christian and then demonstrate any of those things mentioned where well, sometimes the word just kind of bounces off of you. Satan takes it, and sometimes things get choked out. None of you wouldn't be able to relate to any of that, because none

1:32:28 of that is true of you as a Christian, even though he made it sound like he related to it. So I don't really know. There we go. It started out so good. I was so much agreement. I just wish you would have summarized I think, I guess so, I guess I will have to offer the ones. The one principle, according to him is there's only one group of people who are saved, and that's the last soil, every other soil. If that's your experience, you're not saved, you're not a Christian. And once you become a Christian, boom, you get a heart. You don't struggle with any of that other stuff ever. Again, thanks for listening. Sorry it took so long, but we had to. Well that's one of those that we had to finish because they kept telling us that there was one point, and we kept waiting for the one point, and we never really got the one point other than I guess the way I'm summarizing it, But that's really not fair for me. To summarize it, but because I don't know if that's the point he wanted to get across. But that's where we ultimately ended. All right, thanks for listening. Well, we'll keep working on the parable. Yeah. I think I think I know how to now rewrite the article that's in the Study Bible because of now I think I know what they're saying. So I think it would just be easier to say salvation is a prerequisite. And now we could get into if salvation is a prerequisite to be an effectual Bible student, and then salvation somehow makes us ready to study the Bible and understand it. Then I do

1:34:00 Christians never agree on it? And there's so many different interpretations, And why is it that you can I guess I see, if you're not careful, you'll just start throwing everyone out of the Kingdom of God. That all right, I'll stop right there. Everyone, have a great day, God bless