This morning we come again to the exposition of God's Word. And we are in Mark's gospel chapter four, we will be looking at verses one through 20 this morning. And I've been entitled my discourse to you "Why People Reject the Gospel." Bear in mind that despite the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that Jesus was Israel's long-awaited Messiah, they still rejected him. How can that be? Vast crowds followed Him. At first, they were convinced that he was the Messiah that would now defeat Rome and restore Israel to her former glory, consistent with the covenant promises that God gave to Abraham, and to David as well. And after all, they watched what he did he, he healed the sick, he gave sight to the blind. He restored withered limbs, He cast out demons, even raised the dead. He even had power over nature. But he was a threat to the ruling class of Israel, the Scribes, the Pharisees. In fact, you will recall in Mark 3:22 Despite all that he was doing, they said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons." You see, they were insulted because he exposed their hypocrisy. He undermined their works righteousness system of apostate Judaism, he claimed to be God, who forgave sins. He preached the gospel, that salvation was by faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone. But of course, self-righteous hypocrites never see their need for saving. And we're it not for the Spirit's work in our life, we would have never seen it either. They wanted personal prosperity. That's what people vote for. Right? I don't care who you are, what you believe, as long as you give me stuff, you got my vote. That's how the world works. That's the way it was back then. In fact, they were convinced Jesus could deliver these things to them. John speaks of this in John 6:14, for example. We read this "Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet who is come into the world. So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." Later in verse 26, Jesus exposed their motives, "Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.'" You see their self-interest blinded them to the truth of who Jesus was. And instead of falling down and worshipping Him as the Lord of Glory, they wanted to use him, to serve them. In fact, they resented everything about Jesus as time went on. John six goes on to describe that they really hated his theology, his doctrine of salvation. In fact, in John six, all five points of Calvinism that's typically summarized by the acronym TULIP, can be seen in what Jesus told the multitude, who wanted yet another sign before they would believe in Him. In verse 36, of that text, Jesus said, "But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe," there's total depravity, the "T" in tulip. Total inability, man is so ruined by sin, that it is impossible for him to respond to the gospel apart from regenerating grace, the very next verse 37, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." There is Unconditional election and Irresistible grace. In fact, in Ephesians, one four we are reminded that "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world," very clear. God chose his elect according to the kind intention of his uninfluenced will, verse 36, he goes on to say, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Beloved, there is Limited atonement, or sometimes called particular or specific redemption, what was the will of the Father that sent him? Well, to actually, not potentially, but to actually atone for the sins of those whom the Father had chosen and given to him in eternity past. In fact, this is repeated in John 17, as Jesus prepared to die, you will recall that he prayed for all whom the Father had given him. He said in verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory which thou has given Me, for thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world." Jesus went on to expand upon this theme in verse 39. He says, and "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him upon the last day." There is the P in the TULIP, perseverance of the saints, or better the perseverance of God with his saints, we are eternally secure in Christ. Also in verse 44, he says, "No one can come to me, unless the Father draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day." Again, this sinful man is powerless to change his nature, and by nature, he has no desire to follow Christ, he is hostile to God. He is spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, is incapable of embracing spiritual truth, he is powerless to come to Christ, on the basis of his own free will. Scripture is filled with these truths, but people resent it.

So how can a man be saved? Well, the father must draw him to Christ. And here Jesus makes it clear that God must take the initiative in salvation. And notice how he does this in verse 45, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to Me." So in other words, the father's drawing is a result of his teaching. It includes teaching, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And as a result of the Word of God and the Spirit's power, there is a supernatural thing that happens. Internal illumination causes the sinner to run into the outstretched arms of the Savior. Again, that's the irresistible drawing of sovereign grace. He went on to say in verse 63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." In other words, the will of man has nothing to do with it. John 1:13 expressly declares that the new birth is, quote, "Not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Jesus went on to say in verse 63, of John six, "the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and are life," verse 65, "And He was saying,' For this reason," referring to their unbelief. "For this reason, I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew, and we're not walking with Him anymore. “Indeed, most people reject the true gospel. There you have the greatest church split in history, right? But 20,000 people suddenly, who wanted to make him king one day, now reject Him.

So most people who experienced Jesus heard the message of the gospel, but they resented it, they rejected it. In fact, John one in verse 11, says, “He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive him." Once again, bear in mind they were looking for political deliverance, consistent with what was promised in the Old Testament, and they ignored the Old Testament prophecies that foretold how the Messiah must first suffer and die, as we would read in in Psalm 202 and Isaiah 52 and 53, and Zechariah, 12:10, and so forth.

Now back to Mark, what's going on here with all of that context, Jesus is going to present a parable to explain the various kinds of soil that exist, speaking of people's hearts so that his disciples could understand Israel's growing rejection. This would help him or help his disciples, and by, by extension, all of us, every believer to understand why people reject the gospel of saving grace. And I might add that I'm sure in an audience this size, there are those of you who are in that category. You reject the gospel. You have never been broken over your sin, you have never cried out to God for saving grace. You're just kind of part of churchianity, it's a very dangerous thing. Your life therefore, bears no real fruit of repentance. If you're honest about your life, you have no sincere love for Christ. You have no hunger for his word. You have no hungry and thirsting for righteousness. You never grieve or mourn over your own sin. There's no transformation of the desires of your life. Your life is not devoted to the glory of God. There is no obedience to the Word and will of God, no aspiration to commune with God and prayer, no burden for the lost. But you call yourself a Christian. This is churchianity. This is priceless Christianity. May God grant you ears to hear today, what the Spirit of God has to say through his servant and His Word.

Now as we come to Mark four, let me give you the context you will remember earlier that same day, the unbelieving Pharisees witnessed Jesus heal a blind and mute demoniac. But they claimed that the power that he had, he received from Satan, Mark 3:22, casting out the demons by the ruler of the demons and so forth. So let's pick up the narrative here. In Mark four, verse one. Jesus, “began to teach again by the sea. And such a large crowd gathered to Him that he got into a boat in the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables." By the way, this will become his primary method of disseminating truth from here on out and his ministry, and I'll explain why from the text in a moment. "He was teaching them many things in parables and was saying to them in His teaching, 'Listen to this! Behold, the Sower went out to sow, as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up, and increased they yielded a crop and produced 30, 60 and 100 fold.' And He was saying, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'"

In other words, this is an invitation to believers, who are able to hear the truth and respond to it. And the clear implication here is that there are some who do not have ears to hear and will refuse to hear. The Pharisees and many of the lay people, at that time rejected Jesus message, despite the Holy Spirit's clear revelation of who Jesus was through His miracles, through His Word, and of course, this was the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, described in chapter three and verse 29. Beloved, please understand that persistent unbelief in the face of full revelation will cause a person to cross a line where God's saving grace is no longer available to them. We don't know where that is, but God does. And eventually, divine judgment is all that awaits them. I think of Second Timothy four beginning in verse three. These are the ones that, "will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickle, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." In other words, they refuse to hear the truth, because it conflicts with their desires, with how they see the world with how they see themselves. So they unwittingly begin to wander into false religious systems that will eventually overtake them because they appeal to the lust of their flesh. They will believe spiritual and theological absurdities with all their heart and they will perish in their sins because of it. How can anyone possibly claim to be a Christian and yet approve of those things that God abhors? Like the LGBTQiA plus agenda, like homosexual, pastors, transgender pastors, drag queen story hours in churches? How can they believe the perversions of the prosperity or social justice gospels? How can they believe that God actually speaks to them, and on and on it goes. Many today are like the Israelites of that day that were so ruled by the sins they loved. And so enslaved by years of false teaching and corruption that they were like the Israelites in the Old Testament. Hosea described it this way. In chapter five and verse four, "Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of harlotry is within them. And they do not know the Lord." Into verse 12, he goes on to say, "for a spirit of harlotry, has led them astray. And they have played the harlot departing from their God."

Now back to Mark four, and verse 10. "As soon as He was alone, His followers along with the 12, began asking Him about the parables." Matthew sheds more light on this in chapter 13 and verse 10, "The disciples came and said to Him, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?'" Jesus, what you're saying here, these analogies, they're hard to understand they, they are spiritual, ethnic myths that people just don't get. Why are you speaking this way? Well, he answers it in Mark 4:11. "And He was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God.'" Now let's stop there for a moment. What is this mystery of the Kingdom of God? Well, this refers to spiritual truths in the New Testament, that would have remained hidden, had God not chosen to reveal them. Think of what Paul said in Colossians one, beginning in verse 25, he said of this church, "I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is," here it is, "the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory," referring to the surpassing riches of the indwelling Christ by the Holy Spirit. We read about this more in John 14, Romans eight and so forth, I might add, that these mysteries also include the mystery of the gospel Ephesians 6:19, the mystery of Christ, Ephesians three eight through 12, the great mystery concerning Christ in the church, Ephesians 5:22 through 33, the mystery that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, First Corinthians 15:51, as well as First Thessalonians 4:13 through 18, the mystery of lawlessness that Paul spoke of in Second Thessalonians two verse seven and nine, the mystery that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, as Paul described in Romans 11:25 through 36. And finally, in Revelation 17 Five, the mystery Pre Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth. In fact, Paul expands upon his responsibility further, in his letter to the Corinthians in First Corinthians two seven, "but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory." It's interesting here, if we look at the original language, he is using the strong adversative of conjunction, but or "alla" in Greek, which underscores the extreme contrast between man's wisdom and God's wisdom. In fact, in the original language, it is in the emphatic position in the Greek text emphasizing both supernatural possession as well as source. In other words, this wisdom belongs to him, and it comes from Him. This is what we preach. This is what Jesus preached. Paul also calls it the hidden wisdom of God, because it is the secret wisdom that God intentionally conceals to the natural man. First Corinthians 2:14, The natural man, the unsaved man who prefers earthly wisdom to God's wisdom.

And again, beloved, it is this wisdom, God's wisdom, that we preach with confidence, knowing it was ordained before the ages for our glory, verse seven says, so again, back to Mark four verse 10. "As soon as He was alone, His followers along with the 12 began asking Him about the parables and He was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing they may see and not perceive, and while hearing they may hear and not understand, otherwise, they might return and be forgiven.'" It's interesting here, fascinating text. Here Jesus is quoting Isaiah six nine through 10, which was a passage that originally described the hard-hearted Israelites whose consciences were so seared by willful self-deception, that their persistent unbelief sealed their fate, and God judged them. As a result, God used the invading hordes of the Babylonians or the rule of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy them. And likewise, in Jesus day, the same and tractable. Unbelief sealed the fate of divine judgment upon Israel. Countless millions today are doomed to that same judgment, because of their persistent, willful unbelief. Paul speaks about this, you will recall in Romans one, beginning in verse 18, he says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who," catch this now, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness." I don't want to hear it, I reject it. He goes on to say, "because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world is His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." He goes on to say, "Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurities, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." In other words, he just gives them over to the consequences of their lusts, so that they will commit all manner of immorality. He goes on to say beyond that, "God gave them over to degrading passions." And he goes on to describe the degrading passions of homosexuality. And if that isn't enough, he finally gives, "them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." He went on to say, "And although they know the ordinances of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

Beloved, please understand, when man knowingly, persistently, with full knowledge, rejects the truth of who God is, God will reject Him. Historically, Israel's apostasy we know was judged in AD 70 when the Romans invaded. The apostates were killed and enslaved and today they languish in the solitary confinement of an eternal hell. The same fate awaits all who refuse to come to Christ, in repentant faith. But their judgment begins on earth because of their persistent unbelief. God leaves them in their state of spiritual blindness and removes any possibility of them understanding or embracing the gospel. This is why Jesus began to speak in parables, as he stated.

Now, next, Jesus explains the parable of the soils to his disciples. There's four different kinds of soils that we are going to see. And it was crucial for his disciples to understand these things, so that they had some idea of why so many people reject the gospel. And any of us who have walked with Christ, anytime at all know full well, that the vast majority of people who hear the truth of saving grace and the glories of Christ will laugh in your face and reject it. But some, by God's grace, will repent and believe. I did. Hopefully all of you have. "And He said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?'" In other words, he's saying this is, this is the key guys, this is the key to interpreting future parables. But more importantly, this parable is foundational to your understanding of the doctrine of salvation and evangelism, you've got to get this. That's what he's saying here. And I might say, personally, this is one of the most instructive and encouraging passages in all of Scripture regarding the doctrine of salvation. And regarding my role in evangelism, what he's asking me to do, and frankly, what he's asked you to do is real simple. Just sow the seed, right? I'll take care of the rest, you just sow the seed. And by the way, don't spend your time trying to cultivate the soil so that the seed will get in there. And don't tinker with the seed to somehow alter it genetically, so that somehow it will grow in any environment, even through concrete. Don't tinker with the seed. I've given you the seed, you sow my seed, the seed of the Gospel, the same seed that Jesus sowed, and then trust God with the rest. Beloved, never take responsibility for things beyond your control, right? Let God be God. And that's what he's saying here. And he's helping us to understand that most seeds will never take root. Most seeds will never bear spiritual fruit, but a few will.

I was thinking about this, the apostle John was allowed to see what the few would look like in future glory. Revelation seven, verse nine, this is so encouraging. He says, "I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne. and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice saying 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'" Oh, dear friend, I pray that you and your household will be among the number of the redeemed.

Dave Harrell

So verse 14, Jesus says, "The sower sows the word." We know this is a reference to the Gospel, the message of salvation, through faith and the finished work of Christ on the cross. And again, there's four different kinds of soil upon which the seed is going to fall, depicting four different kinds of heart responses to the gospel. I have named them thusly, the first soil I call the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief. Secondly, the shallow heart of temporary belief. Thirdly, the worldly heart of double minded belief and finally, the receptive heart of fruit bearing belief. Now, I might add that the first three hearts will hear, but refuse to wholeheartedly embrace the gospel, and sadly, we all know people in this category. In fact I might add that many ostensibly evangelical churches actually cater to the shallow heart of temporary belief. They appeal to the emotions rather than to the mind producing phony kind of drama queen Christians that are all hyped up on emotion. But they're spiritual substances like cotton candy that will instantly melt under the heat of persecution. And then there's the worldly heart of double minded belief that churches will cater to, especially an evangelical pragmatism that believes that friendship with the world is a better strategy of evangelism than preaching the gospel, that somehow we become like the world in order to win it. And as a result, priceless Christians that cannot be distinguished from the world they love, make up these churches. Now, notice the first soil, the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief, verse 15, these are the ones Jesus said, "who were beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear immediately, Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." Now, if you go to the paths, the roads in the Middle East, especially in Israel, you will see very quickly that they are as hard as concrete. They're beaten down by 1000s of footsteps, from people and from animals in the scorching sun that bakes it, kind of like the clay that we have here in Tennessee, that can get extremely hard. And this is the perfect analogy of religion of the religious elite of Israel, who even in the face of irrefutable evidence, deny Jesus to be the Son of God, Israel's Messiah, even attributing His miracles to the power of Satan. And we all know people like this, whose animosity toward the gospel is so callous that the truth of saving grace is like what he says here, "when they hear immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." And I've heard all the excuses. Well, they hold to some other false religious system and so they don't buy what the Bible has to say, after all, it's a bunch of myths. And it's for the feeble minded, so I'm not going to believe that, and the Bible is full of all kinds of, of inconsistencies and so forth. And they'll reject God on the basis of some philosophy that they believe the wisdom of man, so no matter what you say, two plus two is going to be five. And when confronted with the truth, they are going to reject it and sometimes militantly. I'll never forget the first time in a group that I was leading in in Nashville probably had 12, or 15 men in the group. When I went to explain the gospel in man's depravity, I had a guy get up and walk over to me and spit in my face and walk out, last I ever saw him. People don't want to hear that. I think of a pastor in Israel, converted Jewish man, I was able to go in with some others, in a forest, they were in an underground church because the, ultra-orthodox that are Hasidim, the ones with the big fur hats, you've heard me talk about them before; they hated them, wouldn't allow them to own land, wouldn't allow them to build a church and he was telling how one day he was with his little boy walking down the street of this one town and one of those men came up with his little boy and spit at him, and then told his little boy, I want you to spit at him. I want to teach you what we do to Christians. That's the level of hatred that exists even today. Beloved, this is what was going on in the days of Jesus.

By the way, some might ask, what do you do when you encounter this kind of person? Jesus said in Matthew seven six, "Do not give what is holy to dogs. And do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces." Remember, most dogs in those days were filthy wild scavengers. They were diseased and they were vicious. They weren't like our little poodle sitting up on the couch right. And swine were considered by the Jews to be the epitome of uncleanness. They were animals that foraged in garbage dumps, they were also vicious. So together Jesus use these animals to depict the ungodly, who reject the gospel, but also viciously attack all that God deems holy, viciously attacks his people blaspheme his name. And when this happens, we must walk away. Paul even speaks of this in Titus three and verse 10. He says that we are to, "Reject a factious man after the first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and as sinning, being self-condemned.' It's time as Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 14, to shake off the dust of your feet. Perhaps these are ones that God has utterly abandoned and unbelief, by the way, we don't know. We don't know. So we continue to pray for them. But when they mock God's Holy Word, don't give them the precious pearls of his truth. They may be like those in Hebrews six, six who have fallen away from the gospel that they've heard they've, they're rejecting it. And he says, "It is impossible to renew them again to repentance." So we walk away from them, we pray that God will soften their heart. And sometimes he does. He did the apostle Paul didn't he? And he did a lot of the Pharisees that eventually came to saving faith.

So first, Jesus speaks of the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief. Secondly, the shallow heart of temporary belief. He says, "In a similar way, these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves but are only temporary; then when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately, they fall away." These are the people who will respond very favorably, very quickly to the gospel. They can be enthusiastic; they can be absolutely giddy with joy. Many times lots of drama, lots of emotion. They seem to be on fire for Christ, which you begin to see that it's all sizzle and no steak. It's all show no substance. Because the seed of the gospel is merely fallen upon the shallow topsoil of emotion that conceals right under the surface, a bedrock of selfishness and unbelief. We all understand this. There are places where you can plant a seed, and it will quickly sprout but its roots cannot penetrate the bedrock that might be just under the surface. And here in Tennessee, we really understand that it's hard to find a foot of topsoil in places. I've seen this however, 1000 times in the lives of people. I regret that I've seen this, especially amongst our youth here at Calvary Bible Church. I've seen young people who respond very enthusiastically to, to the gospel, and they seem to be on fire for Christ, they want to be baptized, but as soon as they have to take a stand for their faith, you see a very different person and gradually they disappear. They're not even a part of the church anymore. I've seen adults the same way. They have some superficial desperation to come to Christ, maybe to be able to be a part of the group, who knows what all is going on in their mind, but they have never been broken over their sin, to the point where they would cry out to a holy God, in utter desperation, and say, What must I do to be saved? But rather than make some superficial external profession of faith, and again, as soon as they experienced the high cost of discipleship, you see a very different person, they abandoned Christ. They're like wilting lilies, not mighty oaks. So superficial Christians who love themselves more than Christ, live by sight, not by faith. And there is a dead faith, therefore that cannot save, it will not endure the inevitable persecution that will come upon all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. I think again, of youth that forsake Christ just as soon as they're outside of the house, they get about 17 or 18, and they leave the house and they don't follow Christ anymore. What's going on there? This is what's going on, they leave solid Bible teaching churches to attend some church that will cater to their flesh. Their faith had no firm roots So their faith is only temporary as Jesus says "then when affliction or persecution arises, because of the word immediately they fall away." As soon as their friends think they're cornering for some of the things they believe, okay, I'll not believe that anymore. Think of all the professing Christians today, professing Christians not necessarily possessing Christian, but those who profess Christ and yet they bow their knee to the godless woke cult in our culture. Or they embrace the vile perversions of the LGBTQIA plus agenda. Immoral abominations in the eyes of God, that blaspheme his holy name. I just can't believe this demonic drag queens reading the Bible to children in worship services. And yet these people claimed to be Christians. Dear friends, the atrocities of the wicked knows no bounds. For the wicked to call themselves Christians, is a blasphemy that exceeds the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the ones that have a shallow heart of temporary belief. Contrast this with true Christians that Jesus described and Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it for what does a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself."

In the 19th century, Charles Finney mastered the manipulative techniques he believed that would bring sinners to conversion. He believed man's only problem was no deeper than his will. And like all palladiums, he denied the reality of man's ruined nature of his of his utter inability, because of the depths of his depraved nature. He denied all of that as many do today. He believed that all men need to do is to resolve to become a Christian. And all the preacher needs to do is to persuade him to do so. He believed that any outward act like standing, or kneeling, or walking an aisle to an anxious bench, with some altar call, any of those kinds of things were signs of genuine conversion, and many people, 1000s of people, responded to those types of manipulative techniques, as many do today. But as we look at history, permanent change was virtually nonexistent. In his excellent work, "Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750 to 1858" Ian Murray, one of my favorite authors, records the words of Joseph Ives Foot, a Presbyterian minister, who wrote this in 1838, in response to what he was seeing with all of Finney's, and others revivals, here's what he said, quote, "During 10 years, hundreds and perhaps 1000s were annually reported to be converted on all hands. But now it is admitted that Finney's real converts are comparatively few. It is declared even by Finney himself that quote, 'The great body of them are a disgrace to religion.'" End quote. I think of the Church at Laodicea remember that, Revelation three, the lukewarm church that made God vomit? The term lukewarm, doesn't mean that they were mediocre Christians, as some people tend to think, that's not what it's speaking of. It means they fit neither category of hot, which would be a true Christian or cold, a person that rejected Christ. They don't fit either one of those categories. Although they were unregenerate, they did not openly reject Christ. And you have lots of churches that are that way. They don't openly reject Christ, but they are hypocrites. They are pretenders that make a mockery of the gospel. Beloved, a lukewarm Christian is no Christian at all. The Laodiceans were financially prosperous, they were smug, self-righteous hypocrites, as lost as the most depraved atheist. And for this reason the Lord warned them in Revelation 3:19 and 20, to, "Be zealous and repent, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him and he with Me."

So again, this type of a Christian, the shallow heart of temporary belief, may profess Christ, but because their nature has never truly been changed, because they've never truly been born again, because they have never truly become a new creature in Christ, when persecution and temptation come their way, they have nothing to restrain the flesh, no indwelling Spirit. And so their flesh will continue to rule them. They will wilt like grass growing on a dusty sidewalk when the hot sun beats down upon it.

Well, thirdly, there is the worldly heart of double minded belief, Jesus said, "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns." "Akantha" in the original language, "akantha," a thorn bush that used in Matthew 27:29, to describe the thorns, even that was placed on Jesus head at his crucifixion. And even in good soil, at least what you would think would be good, that's been cultivated, that maybe everything's been burned off, the seeds and root system of these predatory thorn bushes are still there, and they will emerge. So when seed falls their roots begin to grow, and they deprive the other good seed of water and nutrition and choke them out. That's the analogy, it's a perfect analogy, isn't it? It describes the worldly heart of the double minded; those who claim to love Christ, but down deep, they really love the world and all that the world has to offer. Jesus said, these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. James one, verse eight, we read, "a double minded is unstable in all of his ways." In other words, he is the man that has divided loyalties between God and all the material things that the world has to offer. Jesus said in Matthew 19:24, that, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Why is that? Because they love all of their wealth. For a number of years, I counseled primarily very wealthy celebrities and wealthy people down on the south side of Nashville. And I can attest to those realities. People with a lot of money really don't see their need for Christ. Matthew six, verse 21, Jesus said, "Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also right." He went on to say in verse 24, "No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." You cannot serve God and wealth. And of course, greedy materialism is the great idol of America today. If you want to see the worship centers of America, go to all of the malls that exist in every city. So when the gospel seed is a sowed sown among the thorns, it simply will not germinate and bear fruit. The pull of the world is too powerful for these people to believe. I've heard people say before that they don't want anything to do with Christianity because if I do, I have to change my lifestyle. What they don't understand is you get to change your lifestyle. You now have the power and the desire to change your lifestyle.

So we've seen the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief, the shallow heart of temporary belief, the worldly heart of double minded belief, and then finally here we go, the receptive heart of fruit bearing belief. Jesus said, "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil, they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30,60, and a hundredfold." Oh, dear friends, is it a blessing to see someone come to saving faith in Christ, to see our children, our grandchildren, or loved ones or friends, when they hear the word they accept it. And you see, that's a demonstration of regenerating grace, where the Spirit of God breathes life into a spiritual cadaver, raises that person from spiritual death to spiritual life. Paul spoke of this in first Thessalonians two verse 13. He said to the church there "For this reason, we also constantly thank God, that when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." Now, I want you to notice something here. There is no indication anywhere in this text, where Jesus says that, you know, if you're going to be a good sower, you need to tinker with the seed so that it will grow in every kind of soil. Alright, I want to re emphasize this, no, you don't read that anywhere. There's no indication that the sower even has to cultivate the ground. What he's simply saying, as I said earlier, is, look, I've supplied the seed, it is my word, it is the gospel. I want you to sow that seed. And trust me for the increase. For indeed, dear friends, genuine repentance and saving faith are a supernatural work of God, not of man. Second, Timothy two verse 24, Paul says, "The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition." Now underscore this, "if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." I also think of what Paul said in Ephesians, two, magnificent passage beginning in verse one, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins." Now, let that sink in for a minute. You were "dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we to all formally lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but God," oh, here we go, not but you, "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions," he is the one that, "made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved." And finally, I want you to notice the end of verse 20 in Mark for these are the ones that will hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30,60 and 100 fold. Folks, you got to realize this is this is inconceivable to the people of that day. I mean, they were thrilled, if they could get a five or six fold increase, eight would be wonderful, 10 would be practically unheard of. But here you have three or six or 10,000%. This is beyond anything that they could imagine. But when it is a work of the Holy Spirit, this is what will happen. It is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of Christ's likeness. It is the Holy Spirit that will produce the fruit of the Spirit love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's what you're going to see manifested. In the life of a true believer. These are the fruits in keeping with repentance, Matthew three eight, the fruit of righteousness, Philippians 1:1, and so forth.

And in closing, when this happens, the opposite of what I said earlier, will be manifested in your life, you will have a sincere love for Christ. You will have a hunger for his word. You will have a hungering and thirsting for righteousness, you will have a mourning over your own sin, there will be a radical transformation in your desires, your entire disposition will be different. It will produce a devotion to God's glory, and obedience to His Word and His will give you a yearning and aspiration to spend time with God and commune with Him in prayer, and you will have a burden for the lost. Folks, this is the stuff of genuine saving faith. This is authentic Christianity. So I pray that you will celebrate the power of the gospel here today and scatter the seed wherever you can and then trust God for the increase, knowing that it will fall on fertile soil, and it will germinate and bear much fruit to the praise of his glory. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. Thank you that you make them so clear to us. But I would cry out to you that you would move upon the hearts of those that may be deceived with their own religiosity, Lord, whatever it might be. I pray that you will speak to the heart of those who do not believe that today they will be saved. And for those of us who know and love you, may we rejoice in your saving grace, and be committed to doing all that we can by the power of the Spirit to bear much fruit to the praise of his glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.