SPEAKER_02: Let me say this.
SPEAKER_02: We study the Bible here every week.
SPEAKER_02: And it's just something that Christians have thought was the most important thing to do.
SPEAKER_02: And it's something that Christians should think is the most important thing to do because we believe God wrote a book for our instruction, for our life, and to communicate what He has done in the world for people.
SPEAKER_02: We believe what Christians have believed for a really long time.
SPEAKER_02: And that is the best way to live is under the authority of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_02: We believe God chose to write a book word for word.
SPEAKER_02: And because of that, we should study it word for word.
SPEAKER_02: We should believe the things it tells us to believe.
SPEAKER_02: We should live how it tells us to live, and we should wait to see all the things it continues to promise that will come to fulfillment.
SPEAKER_02: It's such a special book.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, prophets and priests, prostitutes and Philistines, Philippians and Pharisees have read it.
SPEAKER_02: Christians in China used to hide the Gospel of John in cookbooks so that they could have their own personal copy of the gospel message.
SPEAKER_02: People not only die in the book, but people have died to have a personal relationship or sorry, personal copy of it, and people have died obeying it and with more joy than their persecutors.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's the only book that comes with the promise that the author will help you read and understand it.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: So when we open the Bible here, and we open to Luke chapter 8 on another Sunday, we have an expectation that the Spirit of God will illuminate the Word of God to teach the people of God about the Son of God.
SPEAKER_02: So we have the expectation that this morning the God of the heavens can and will speak to us through his word.
SPEAKER_02: We're not just looking to do an intellectual exercise, we're looking to hear from God.
SPEAKER_02: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_02: God, speak to us this morning in your word, we pray, by the power of your spirit, for the glory of your name.
SPEAKER_02: All God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: This morning we're looking at a parable.
SPEAKER_02: And we're looking at one of the first parables that Luke records.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you're familiar with the parables, um you may know exactly what they are, but if you're not so familiar with the parables, in short, they are short stories given by Jesus where the story is an illustration of something true.
SPEAKER_02: The parables are contextual, and so Jesus often used characters or places or things within the context he's teaching in to illustrate what is spiritually true.
SPEAKER_02: In short, you see behind me, parables are fictional stories that disclose spiritual realities.
SPEAKER_02: That's what the parables were.
SPEAKER_02: This morning we'll be looking at the parable of the sower, or I will make the argument better understood the parable of the soils in Luke chapter 8.
SPEAKER_02: That title, of course, the parable of the sower, isn't divinely inspired.
SPEAKER_02: It's just what someone came up with for that section of your Bible.
SPEAKER_02: The story is the parable of four soils.
SPEAKER_02: If you are willing and able to read out of Luke 8 and stand to do so with me, you don't have to read out loud.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to read exactly what Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Carlos just read.
SPEAKER_02: If you would stand with me in honor of God's word if you're able.
SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter 8, verses 4 through 8.
SPEAKER_02: And when a great crowd was gathering, and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it, and some fell on the rock, and as it grew up it withered away, because it had no moisture.
SPEAKER_02: Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
SPEAKER_02: And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.
SPEAKER_02: As he said these things, he called out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
SPEAKER_02: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Our prayer this morning is simple.
SPEAKER_02: My prayer for you, God, would you give us ears to hear, minds to understand, and hearts to embrace your word.
SPEAKER_02: The Gospel of Matthew gives a little more commentary on the same scenario and the same parable.
SPEAKER_02: The book of Matthew, chapter 13, tells us about this parable that the same day Jesus told this parable, he went out of the house and sat by the sea.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew also tells us that he had told this parable right after he had done a bunch of things.
SPEAKER_02: So Matthew chapter 12 tells us what those things were.
SPEAKER_02: He had conflict with the Pharisees about what you can and can't do on the Sabbath, and then he went to a synagogue and taught.
SPEAKER_02: He healed some people there, he delivered someone from a demon, and he continued to teach.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, all of this really, really, really irritated the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_02: So the Pharisees decided in private that day they were going to kill him.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew tells us on the same day, Jesus went out and sat by the sea.
SPEAKER_02: Now, Jesus lived in a town called Capernaum, and he went out to the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_02: And he sat down because, well, first and foremost, he was probably very tired from what all was happening.
SPEAKER_02: A conspiracy to kill him, he had healed someone from people from diseases, he had delivered someone from demonic possession.
SPEAKER_02: He sits down.
SPEAKER_02: And not only does he have to sit down because he's tired, you might imagine, but also great crowds are gathered around him because they were interested to see and hear more from this miracle worker.
SPEAKER_02: There were so many people, Matthew tells us, that Jesus drops anchor beside the water, sitting in a boat for space, and teaching people that are surrounding him on the land.
SPEAKER_02: Now, not so long ago, I looked up where is believed to be the position Jesus was in when he gave this parable.
SPEAKER_02: It was the north shore on the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_02: And if you look up the north shore of the Sea of Galilee and look up with it the parable of the sower, you'll learn pretty quickly a cove called the Cove of the Sower.
SPEAKER_02: And this is really pretty interesting.
SPEAKER_02: Long story short, a number of acoustical studies have been done in this little area.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, a Bible scholar by the name of Kabi Chrysler published, and I quote, the acoustics and crowd capacity of natural theaters in Palestine in December of 1976.
SPEAKER_02: And he basically said that because of the topography, someone sitting at the bottom, aiming their voice upward, could be heard by almost 10,000 people without raising their voice very loud.
SPEAKER_02: So you think for just a moment, as God, the creator of the universe, is creating all that is, he knows where Jesus thousands of years later will walk and teach and talk and heal.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine him creating the natural amphitheater of this cove, knowing that Jesus is going to speak to so many people gathered around them.
SPEAKER_02: And he created it in such a way that so many could hear.
SPEAKER_02: That baffles my mind.
SPEAKER_02: I think that's so cool.
SPEAKER_02: So everyone is standing as Jesus tells story after story about the kingdom of his father to come, and he's like this.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a story.
SPEAKER_02: Some fell along the path, some fell along the rock, some fell among thorns, and some fell in good soil.
SPEAKER_02: And then in verse eight, he is telling us what to do with the teaching he just gave.
SPEAKER_02: And it goes a little like this He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
SPEAKER_02: Now you might just think that's a passing statement of Jesus to say, hey, listen up really close.
SPEAKER_02: Like to my kids when they're not paying attention, or to your kids when they're not paying attention.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, listen up.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, this is really important.
SPEAKER_02: But what I'm going to propose for you is it wasn't just Jesus getting their attention, but Jesus giving them what actually is the application of the whole parable he's teaching.
SPEAKER_02: That's the application.
SPEAKER_02: He who has ears, let him hear.
SPEAKER_02: What is Jesus teaching in the parable?
SPEAKER_02: Well, before I answer that question, I think we should recognize a few really big Bible truths together this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I will tell you this morning that this message is going to be a long one.
SPEAKER_02: But that's all right.
SPEAKER_02: You binge watch Netflix.
SPEAKER_02: We can sit down and we can listen and we can study God's Word.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray that God does something profound in His people when we study His Word.
SPEAKER_02: All right?
SPEAKER_02: Four big Bible truths that we should agree upon in the room.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, God has promised to save people from the punishment of their sin.
SPEAKER_02: Genesis 3.15.
SPEAKER_02: God has promised to send a savior for sinners.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, God planned to save people through the death of his son as a substitute in the place of sinners.
SPEAKER_02: Genesis chapter 22, where a lamb is caught in the thicket like a crown of thorns around his head, and the lamb is substitutionally sacrificed in the place of Isaac.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, God's Spirit convicts sinners who hear the gospel message, and he supernaturally turns their heart toward himself.
SPEAKER_02: You heard the gospel many times, most likely, but at one point in time the Spirit of God opened your heart to see in Jesus the beautiful Son of God, the Savior of the universe.
SPEAKER_02: And number four, every person, here it is, every person must individually respond to the gospel in genuine faith in order that they might be saved.
SPEAKER_02: Can we affirm these truths?
SPEAKER_02: I pray so.
SPEAKER_02: But even though we believe these truths to be well and true, sometimes we have questions about how it works out and how it doesn't work out in the lives of those we know and we love.
SPEAKER_02: Because, well, what if someone walked an aisle and prayed a prayer at one time in their life, but now, at least from our vantage point, they could not be further away from the faith?
SPEAKER_02: How do we make sense of those who seemingly have left the teachings they formerly followed?
SPEAKER_02: Deconstruction is a popular thing today, where by definition, someone investigates certain constructions of their faith to see whether or not they are true, testing their genuineness, and in a lot of cases, some who have deconstructed their faith, have deconverted, and now call themselves ex-evangelicals.
SPEAKER_02: How do we make sense of that?
SPEAKER_02: Or what about the person who seemed to be strong in their church, but all of a sudden divorced their spouse, left their family, and moved?
SPEAKER_02: What about the person you led to the Lord who was on fire but for a very short time and you haven't heard from them in a while?
SPEAKER_02: What about those who you know have heard the gospel and in some way they respect it, but they never received it?
SPEAKER_02: How do we make sense of those who've heard the message of Jesus and seemingly walked away or it didn't sink in?
SPEAKER_02: These are real questions.
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's the key difference in a person who has kept the faith and in a person who's left the faith?
SPEAKER_02: Has God let them go?
SPEAKER_02: Did he never have them?
SPEAKER_02: Could he not have saved them?
SPEAKER_02: What about those who just don't listen?
SPEAKER_02: Is there human responsibility here as well?
SPEAKER_02: To what level is a human response determinative of one's salvation?
SPEAKER_02: Question after question after question.
SPEAKER_02: Well, Jesus is answering in many ways those questions in the parable of the sower.
SPEAKER_02: Because in the parable of the sower, what Jesus is doing is he is organizing and categorizing reality.
SPEAKER_02: Let me be more clear.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus in the parable of the sower is categorizing the hearts of those who respond to the gospel in whatever way they respond to it.
SPEAKER_02: He is putting into words what he knows is true, but what we may not see for a long time.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is saying that he can see all people ever.
SPEAKER_02: He can see all their hearts.
SPEAKER_02: All people then, all people before then, all people now, and all people who will ever live.
SPEAKER_02: He is diagnosing and organizing reality and saying that, follow me here, everyone's heart could really be one of these four soils, their heart response to the gospel, based on the way they respond to the good news of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That is the words of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus says in this parable, there are four soils.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel seed is spread on a path, rocks, thorns, and good soil.
SPEAKER_02: The soils are representative of the heart of those it's reached.
SPEAKER_02: So here are the soils, the hearts of all people who have ever lived.
SPEAKER_02: And then Jesus explains what these things mean for the people.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus explains what you can see above the soil.
SPEAKER_02: And then he explains what you can't see below the soil.
SPEAKER_02: What you can see in someone's life, and what you can't see in their heart.
SPEAKER_02: So let's look just at each one of the four briefly before Jesus explains them.
SPEAKER_02: Brief explanation.
SPEAKER_02: There is the seed that was sown on the path.
SPEAKER_02: The seed that's sown on the path, it is not going great with what you can see and with what you can't see below the soil.
SPEAKER_02: The seed never went in.
SPEAKER_02: The birds ate it.
SPEAKER_02: So nothing ever was visible above the surface, and nothing ever invisible below the surface.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel went out, nothing took.
SPEAKER_02: The second, the seed spread on rocks.
SPEAKER_02: The seed spread on rocks is probably the saddest in its own way, because Jesus said, because of the rocks, there was never nowhere for the seed to grow down.
SPEAKER_02: So it looked like the soil received the seed, but it didn't without many other internally invisible pre-existing things that kepting kept it from resting in, growing down, and taking root.
SPEAKER_02: It looked good for a bit, but it wasn't good.
SPEAKER_02: That's why it's such a disaster, because there was a struggle down deep for it to ever take root.
SPEAKER_02: The third.
SPEAKER_02: Things are going really well below ground.
SPEAKER_02: It's got some good soil, but above ground, the thorns are trying to choke it.
SPEAKER_02: And in some cases, do the soil received the seed, but visible external factors are taking it and it's not producing fruit.
SPEAKER_02: The fourth, the seed sown on good soil.
SPEAKER_02: The good soil is obviously the one that's going great below the surface and above the surface.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus is saying, okay, here's some categories of the hearts of those who the seed is brought to.
SPEAKER_02: This is what's real, and a lot of what you can't see.
SPEAKER_02: So what do these categories mean?
SPEAKER_02: Well, Jesus does answer that question, but not before he answers another question.
SPEAKER_02: The disciples come up to him as he says it aloud at the cove, and they say, Verse 9, Why do you speak to them in parables?
SPEAKER_02: The disciples seem to notice that Jesus isn't clear to everyone.
SPEAKER_02: Some aren't getting it.
SPEAKER_02: So the disciples are like, Why aren't you talking more openly, more clearly?
SPEAKER_02: Why are you telling stories instead of just telling people the information?
SPEAKER_02: And you know that that doesn't seem to be like initially a bad question.
SPEAKER_02: Why are you doing that, Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Why didn't Jesus tell it like it is?
SPEAKER_02: Why didn't he make a chart?
SPEAKER_02: Give examples of people while he explained it.
SPEAKER_02: Why'd he choose to obfuscate his teaching behind a story?
SPEAKER_02: Well, Jesus answers that question in verse 10.
SPEAKER_02: To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others, they are in perilous, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
SPEAKER_02: Again, I'll return to Matthew for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew gives us a little more commentary on the same scenario.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter 13, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not been given.
SPEAKER_02: For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance.
SPEAKER_02: But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
SPEAKER_02: This is why I speak to the parables in Luke and Matthew, both they quote the prophet Isaiah, because see, they do not sing, and hear him they do not hear, nor do they understand.
SPEAKER_02: So you might think a purpose of the parables was to help clarify spiritual truth by way of telling a story.
SPEAKER_02: But that's not exactly true.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is saying the parables serve a dual function.
SPEAKER_02: The parables both reveal truth and conceal truth.
SPEAKER_02: For the people who will hear, they hear.
SPEAKER_02: For the people who won't hear, they don't hear.
SPEAKER_02: And so there is a measure of mysterious sovereignty here.
SPEAKER_02: We just have to step back and say, I don't what I totally understand.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus is saying, for those whose hearts are hardened, whose necks are stiff, who don't want to hear the word of God, who have hostility toward humility and anger at Jesus' glory, the parables are a form of judgment.
SPEAKER_02: It's what you can literally call form of poetic hypothesis.
SPEAKER_02: It is as though God was saying, You don't want to hear me.
SPEAKER_03: Fine.
SPEAKER_03: You lost.
SPEAKER_02: So here's a noble truth.
SPEAKER_02: Insight into truth is a gift of the Holy Spirit, illuminating the truth of the word of God, that you might receive it with gladness.
SPEAKER_02: You might see Jesus for who he is.
SPEAKER_02: No matter how smart you are, you can't understand God's word and work in the world totally without God's help.
SPEAKER_02: I'll give you examples of that to just show you how they can hop, right?
SPEAKER_02: We see this explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: No one can understand the things of the Spirit of God without the work of God's Spirit first within us.
SPEAKER_02: Paul tells the Corinthians this removes reason for boasting.
SPEAKER_02: You could not have understood and received the gospel without the Lord with God's Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Another example, we see this when Peter makes his famous confession.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus says, Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_02: And Peter says, You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus does not say, Gold star for you, Peter.
SPEAKER_02: You're smarter than every else.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Flesh and blood, ache anger made.
SPEAKER_02: Could not have just revealed that to you my father in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Again, Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, no man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: You see, sin makes our hearts so naturally dulled and slanted against God that we can't see spiritual truth as we ought to.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God.
SPEAKER_02: That's the work He's involved in helping us see His Son.
SPEAKER_02: So who does not understand Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Those who have not humbled themselves, have not been changed by God's Spirit, as evidenced by their receiving Jesus as Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew again, for this people's heart has grown dull, with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed.
SPEAKER_02: Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, but understand that their heart will turn.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll heal thee.
SPEAKER_02: Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.
SPEAKER_02: For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it, and hear what you hear and did not hear it.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus is basically saying here, there have been so many people for all of history that leaned forward, waiting for the Messiah they never got to meet face to face.
SPEAKER_02: There were prophets that leaned forward, waiting for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that they never got to have what you have.
SPEAKER_02: And think about this, Jesus is the prophet's message made manifest, the word of God, the Son of God, amongst them, and the Pharisees and the scribes who studied the prophets.
SPEAKER_02: They're this right here.
SPEAKER_03: And Jesus is explaining why their hearts apart.
SPEAKER_02: Whether it be an unwillingness to change by submitting to Jesus, an embrace of sin, apathy, or just personal arrogance and pride.
SPEAKER_02: This is true today.
SPEAKER_02: But their hearts are out.
SPEAKER_02: Their necks are stiff.
SPEAKER_02: They respect him, but they've now repented before him.
SPEAKER_02: They drive my churches, they wear cost necklaces, they use Jesus for their cause or for their campaign.
SPEAKER_02: They read, but they do not hear.
SPEAKER_02: He says that this is a parable about the word of God being spread like seed.
SPEAKER_02: A seed being cast in the wind on earth is not about farming, it's about sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And he explains what he means with each soil now.
SPEAKER_02: Through verse 15, which again helps us categorize the different responses to Evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: Let's take each one, each category, one month.
SPEAKER_02: The first.
SPEAKER_02: Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus explains.
SPEAKER_02: The word of God never has sunk deep into their heart.
SPEAKER_00: Is this you?
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard the word of God?
SPEAKER_00: But not received it.
SPEAKER_00: You respect the teaching of Jesus, but you've not repented.
SPEAKER_02: You know him in your mind, but you don't follow him with your heart.
SPEAKER_02: You've kept enough distance from Jesus that he might not change your life.
SPEAKER_02: Because you like your life and not willing to lay near.
SPEAKER_02: The people referred to by the picture of the sea in the path are those who the gospel has not penetrated enough from.
SPEAKER_02: And he's working 24-7 to keep them from embracing it.
SPEAKER_02: This is you.
SPEAKER_02: Know that the devil wants your eyes on what you will lose by following Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: But let me make something incredibly clear if this is you.
SPEAKER_02: Do not think you can not follow Jesus and still beat your life.
SPEAKER_02: Those wishing to save their life will lose it.
SPEAKER_02: That's the reversal Jesus talks about when the devil wants you thinking the opposite.
SPEAKER_02: If you want your own life, you keep it.
SPEAKER_02: If you give it to the Lord, you'll lose it.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: Like the parable is what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Do not think for a moment that you can keep Jesus at a distance and keep your life.
SPEAKER_02: This is you.
SPEAKER_02: Do you feel sin hacking you?
SPEAKER_02: Do you long for something better that satisfies well?
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the word Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And welcome it not simply into your mind, but into your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Ask the Lord just stop it.
SPEAKER_02: The set of category that people Jesus talks about is not those with a hard heart, but those of a deceiver.
SPEAKER_02: The ones on the rock are those who, when they heard the word, receive it with joy.
SPEAKER_02: But these have no root.
SPEAKER_02: They believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew says this time of testing is a time of tribulation or persecution that arises on accountover.
SPEAKER_02: The seats on the rocks is really, really sad.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll forewarn you right now and talk about this category for quite some time.
SPEAKER_02: Because I think this soil, by its very nature, is the most difficult for us to detect.
SPEAKER_02: From the outside looking in, the person in this category looks like they've received the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: But the soil is so shallow that when suffering comes after a while, it it gets burned.
SPEAKER_02: And suffering is coming for every Christian.
SPEAKER_02: So inevitably, they won't wax.
SPEAKER_02: It looks good for a little while.
SPEAKER_02: But suffering takes it away, and and that joy they once had isn't there anymore.
SPEAKER_02: And again, suffering's coming for every Christian.
SPEAKER_02: So what we make of those in this category.
SPEAKER_02: Well, Jesus teaches us there's a category of people that seemingly welcome his teaching, but over time prove the fake that they seem to have was not genuine.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus knows about this guide already.
SPEAKER_02: We couldn't see, but the root didn't take.
SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't until difficulty came that they agree that it became known.
SPEAKER_02: To put it simply, this group follows Jesus until realizing to do so means denying yourself and taking up a cross.
SPEAKER_02: Until he said, You can't be my disciple unless you hang your mother, brother, father, sister, even your own life.
SPEAKER_02: Unless you take up your own cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to recognize something very, very clearly, sir.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus puts that warning before the lifelong discipleship call.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus puts a warning, that is the cost of being his disciple, at the front end of his ministry.
SPEAKER_02: To keep people from doing what they don't actually want to do.
SPEAKER_02: Honestly, to keep them from embarrassment and wasted time.
SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of a cutness.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus went to great lengths to make sure people had first considered the cost of following him before they would follow through.
SPEAKER_02: I'll give you a couple examples.
SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter 14.
SPEAKER_02: In Luke 14, Jesus is walking.
SPEAKER_02: He's headed toward Jerusalem, where he knows he'll be slain as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.
SPEAKER_02: There are great crowds still following him at this time.
SPEAKER_02: And again, he turns back and says, If you wish to move on my side, well, you must deny yourself, take it or cost daily and follow me.
SPEAKER_02: It must come that I am first, even over all other people you know.
SPEAKER_02: And then he tells two stories about an army.
SPEAKER_02: You wouldn't go out and face an army if you haven't counted the cost first.
SPEAKER_02: And he says you wouldn't build this whole building unless you first counted the costs.
SPEAKER_02: So too, you should count the cost before following me, because I'm going to my death.
SPEAKER_02: During that time I got to see students from different parts of the world come fin up Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: One of those students, I cannot say Zayn up bad, is Mike.
SPEAKER_02: Name Zam Mike, he's from India.
SPEAKER_02: You can imagine Zane Zap.
SPEAKER_02: But in spotsman in.
SPEAKER_02: Well, Mike came up to me after a service.
SPEAKER_02: On Thursday night, 150 college students all gathered at University of South Pole.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, Trent, I know the teaching of Jesus already.
SPEAKER_02: I believe what Jesus has said.
SPEAKER_02: I know that I'm the sinner and desperate need of forgiveness of God.
SPEAKER_02: But if I believe, I know I cannot keep that private.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't like a preacher stretching truthful, but I know I can keep that private.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going back home to India.
SPEAKER_02: My family will ostracize me.
SPEAKER_02: What do I do?
SPEAKER_00: All the time.
SPEAKER_00: One of my first times I really had to think through it.
SPEAKER_02: And I told okay, in Acts chapter 2, you have 3,000 men, wouldn't show up.
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't have you count men.
SPEAKER_02: But but but more over more and more people in Acts who went and got baptized.
SPEAKER_02: Well, to be baptized as a Jewish person was to say, basically, I I didn't know that Jesus was the Messiah.
SPEAKER_02: I now believed him to be the Messiah.
SPEAKER_02: And all that I continued to follow after I went against Christ has been wrong, and now I've understood about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to follow after him.
SPEAKER_02: It was a public declaration, and it was also a statement to say, I'm going to be ostracized.
SPEAKER_02: So I said, hey Mike, just know that what you're experiencing is experienced by every Christian, not every Christian, many Christians around the world.
SPEAKER_02: We're just a unique place where we've had the freedoms we've had, and we've not had to worry about immediate persecutionism.
SPEAKER_02: But you share experience from Christians all over the world.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, you share the experience of the earliest of Christians, and it here is why the church is so important to encourage you and to keep you strong.
SPEAKER_02: If I can meet all us, I'm concerned that as the church at large, we have undersold the cost of following Jesus and oversold the simplicity of following Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I am concerned that as the church at large, we have undersold the cost of following Jesus and oversold its simplicity.
SPEAKER_02: Like, do you want to follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: We won't embarrass you.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: Let's be plain.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone close your eyes so that people are now willing, because your eyes are closed to acknowledge Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate similar messages by personally because I've been ditching my others for a long time.
SPEAKER_02: Have we made the barrier for entry to war so low that we're welcoming people into a war they're not even knowing they're listening in?
SPEAKER_00: Like comments easy when death is on the table.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, If you want to keep your life, don't follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew no easy believism.
SPEAKER_02: The very symbol he gave for what cassit worship was was a torture device.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, I'm all for casting the broad net, asking for a response to every message, but altar calls might ought to come with the disclaimer that altars are places of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus did not promise an easy life.
SPEAKER_02: He promised life to all those who would follow him to our brandy cross.
SPEAKER_02: No, you will not face the punishment of God by following Jesus, but you will face persecution from the world for following Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You must know your son for your blessed be how Allah more seeds on.
SPEAKER_02: R.C.
SPEAKER_02: School famously said the Bade of Nash evangelism in America in elastical centuries has been a phenomena that evangelists scratch their heads about.
SPEAKER_02: Holding public meetings, giving stirring sermons at the end of sermons, calling people to come forward and give their lives to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've been in places like this and seen these kinds of experiences, all of a sudden, the way the humanity comes to other seats and the eye afford to confess their faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he says, studies show that six months later, the majority of those people stirred by emotionals in the lung returned to their old ways and showed no evidence of conversion whatsoever.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make sure we clicked in warning.
SPEAKER_01: Along with the blessing.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm the Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This will cost your life, but it's worth you.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I am not saying that you're not a totally secure to thought Jesus, absolutely your.
SPEAKER_02: I am simply saying following Jesus will cost your life.
SPEAKER_02: It's worth gonna move on to number three.
SPEAKER_02: The thorns, the seeds sown on thorns.
SPEAKER_02: That's a divine heart.
SPEAKER_02: It's good underneath, but it's not looking good up above.
SPEAKER_02: And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those that hear, this is verse 14, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit is not but sure.
SPEAKER_02: This is the person who shears the word and believes it, and wants to follow, but other things are trying to just choke it out, specifically riches and letters.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, I want Jesus so long as he comes with everything else.
SPEAKER_03: This is Jesus' and this is dangerous.
SPEAKER_02: This is the story of the rich young ruler, for example, who heard Jesus' teachings.
SPEAKER_02: It had hurt his heart.
SPEAKER_02: He went to Jesus and he said, Okay, I want to follow you.
SPEAKER_02: What do I do?
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus said, Sell all your possessions.
SPEAKER_02: Does that mean it's selling his possessions and married eternal life?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus knew where his heart was.
SPEAKER_02: And the text says, He went away very sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, what's worth all men had?
SPEAKER_02: 1 Timothy chapter 6 tells us that God has given us many things to enjoy.
SPEAKER_02: Even physical players to enjoy.
SPEAKER_02: There are many things that God has given us that are not bad things in and of themselves, and you should enjoy them to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoyed many things on the 4th of July to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: Time of family, family gossipity.
SPEAKER_02: Time beating, you know, burgers or sade or drinking at Coke, not buying a cup of coke.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: See.
SPEAKER_02: But hear me clearly.
SPEAKER_02: Good things can become bad things if they begin to replace God.
SPEAKER_02: If they take all of their fall.
SPEAKER_02: It may not be a conscious decision to reject God, but some will not follow through on obedience to God's word because obedience to God's word gets crowded out by many other things.
SPEAKER_02: This is a warning.
SPEAKER_02: It's a warning to us.
SPEAKER_02: That we must fight the cares of our former life to be fruitful in our life for us.
SPEAKER_02: Lastly, Jesus is organizing, he categorizing reality.
SPEAKER_02: All the people, all the world, he can see that mark.
SPEAKER_02: He knows how they're responding to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: He could see and diagnose things we can't see below the surface.
SPEAKER_02: He said up, he hears the full from there are people with a open and a being heart.
SPEAKER_02: Who received flesh?
SPEAKER_02: This is the good soul.
SPEAKER_02: As for that in the good soul, there are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast, an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
SPEAKER_02: Now, let's be really careful here.
SPEAKER_00: Good soil does not mean good people.
SPEAKER_00: As in, there's like a category of good people, and only good people respond to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: People that respond to gospel do they're not good at me, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Now Jesus said the good soil is not marked by a unique blend of character traits like nutrients with itself to cause the seed to come to it below, though the seed spread error.
SPEAKER_02: The good soil simply received, embraced, and held the gospel as its only book.
SPEAKER_02: We know this is a miraculous work of God's spirit, causing joy and happiness to sprout, to take root, helping a person dead in sin see Jesus and the hope he brings as beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: You know, when the word of God really takes root in you, it relapsely produces fruit through your life.
SPEAKER_02: The fruit of the spirit, which is what's being referred to here.
SPEAKER_02: How to treat people.
SPEAKER_02: Your generosity of spirit, how quickly you forgive your excitement in worship and your desire to tell people about Jesus is miraculous, which means it's noticeable a hundredfold.
SPEAKER_02: Produces and produces and produces.
SPEAKER_02: So here's a question.
SPEAKER_03: Is the word of God noticeable in your life?
SPEAKER_02: Can see people can people see the work of God alive to your love, joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and gentleness, and goodness and faith and self-control.
SPEAKER_02: And one question as we come to the conclusion.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is categorized four solents hardmarking, the see, dividing, and open.
SPEAKER_00: Which one are you?
SPEAKER_00: Have you accepted a virtual of tradition Christianity without a commitment to Christ?
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_02: Are you distracted or divided?
SPEAKER_02: Are you the kind a soil is let the cares of the world choke it out?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're ready to really receive the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you want to come and say, God, I'm ready to make my heart the soil for your word to grow.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know what the greatest difference is?
SPEAKER_00: Let those with ears to hear the word of God hear.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it receive it and produce frequency.
SPEAKER_01: That's the application.
SPEAKER_00: Hear.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, but you have ears to hear the beauty and riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: God our Father has sent his son to live a perfect life with die sinner's death.
SPEAKER_02: Those who would turn from their sin and trust in Christ, by his death taking upon your punishment for sin?
SPEAKER_02: You no longer stand the for God pilloting.
SPEAKER_02: Seeking God's mercy, shown in Christ, you can be forgiven and free of the sin that plagued you.
SPEAKER_02: Forgiven?
SPEAKER_02: Now free when he returns.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, would you take would you take that word?
SPEAKER_00: Recede it.
SPEAKER_00: Would you trust Christ and follow all Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It's not easy.
SPEAKER_01: They'll call Show was Jesus.