Shall we just briefly pray?
Father, we do pray that you would give us receptive hearts, make us good soil.
! This morning we pray as we hear your word.
! Help us to respond to your word in the way that Jesus expected people to respond to his words,
with repentance and with faith, with obedience.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, it's lovely to be here, and thank you for those words of introduction, Paul.
I have to tell you that I haven't really preached to a congregation like this anyway for about 18 months.
So I'm a bit out of practice, so I hope you'll bear that in mind.
And I really feel dependent upon God this morning.
And I hope that you'll pray for me, and I hope that you'll pray for our church in Kendall.
We're actually meeting in the town hall this morning.
Since lockdown, we've been meeting as two congregations in our building, one at 9.30 and one at 11.15.
And both congregations are growing.
And we'd love to continue to meet together as one congregation like we used to before lockdown.
And one possible solution to this is to meet sometimes at least, even every week possibly,
in the town hall in Kendall, which is the only place we can think of that's any bigger than our church building.
So they're meeting there this morning.
So please pray for guidance for the elders that they'll make the right decision about that.
Okay, I want to speak this morning about this really important parable.
It's an important parable because it occurs in all three of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
And it's one of my favorite parables.
I love these parables about sowing and reaping.
It's a picture that Jesus often used in his ministry.
And it's about a sower.
And we were talking about this in Sunday school this morning.
The boys and girls will remember it.
It's about a sower who sows his seed.
And in those days, they didn't have nice cultivated fields like we do.
Well, maybe you don't in the evening.
I don't know.
But we have nice cultivated fields in the Lake District.
And nearly all the seed that's sown grows well.
But there they would scatter the seed.
And some of the seed would fall on the path.
Some of the seed would fall in shallow soil where there wasn't much depth of soil.
And some of the seed would fall amongst the thistles and the thorns.
And it would get choked.
And it wouldn't bring forth fruit.
And some seed would fall on really good, fertile soil and bring forth fruit.
So, I think that this parable has two ways, two applications, two ways we can think about it.
And the first is that it's an encouragement to preachers.
It's an encouragement to those who proclaim God's kingdom, who preach God's word.
And the second, and the one I want to particularly stress this morning, in a little while,
is there is a warning to those who hear the message of the kingdom, to those who hear the word of God.
So, sowing the seed is a bit like preaching the word, proclaiming God's word.
And Jesus was the great sower.
And he began to preach.
You can read about this in Mark chapter 1.
And he began to preach.
And his message, right at the beginning, was the time has come.
The time that God's people have been waiting for for so long, all through the Old Testament period.
God's kingdom.
That time has come.
God's kingdom.
The king is here.
So, repent and believe the good news.
And that's the response he wanted.
He wanted people to repent, which means to turn from everything that's wrong,
everything that God doesn't like, everything that isn't like Jesus.
He wants us to repent.
And he wants us to believe the good news.
I'm going to say more about that this evening.
We're going to be looking at that this evening in more detail.
What it means to repent and believe.
So, that was Jesus' message.
That's the response that he wanted from the crowd.
Like this crowd gathered on the beach by the Sea of Galilee when he first preached this parable.
The response he wanted was repentance and faith in himself.
And the parable shows us the different kinds of responses that were in that crowd.
And I've got no doubt at all that in this congregation this morning,
all four of these responses to God's word will be here.
They will be present this morning as I'm preaching.
And you need to ask yourself, what kind of soil am I?
How am I responding to Jesus?
How am I responding to his word?
What kind of soil am I?
So, as I've said, this is an encouragement, first of all, to proclaim,
an encouragement to those who preach the kingdom of God, who preach God's word.
And Jesus wanted this response of repentance and faith.
What response did Jesus, the great sower, get from the crowd?
Well, if you read through Mark, you get to chapter 2.
As early as chapter 2, you find that there's opposition.
There's opposition from the scribes and the Pharisees to Jesus and his message.
By the time you get to chapter 3, they're plotting to kill him.
Chapter 3, beginning of chapter 3, they're plotting to kill him.
By the time you get further on in chapter 3,
they're saying that he's possessed by Beelzebul, who was an evil spirit.
Later on after that, Jesus' own family come and try to stop him preaching.
They're embarrassed by it.
He goes to the synagogue at Nazareth, his hometown, and he preaches there.
And the response is, this is just the carpenter, the carpenter's son.
We know his mother.
We know his brothers.
We know his sister.
And they were offended by it.
So, Jesus preached God's word.
Jesus preached the kingdom.
He wanted repentance.
And he wanted faith.
And what did he get?
He got all kinds of responses.
He got a negative response, as we've just seen.
He got a shallow response from the crowd.
They followed him.
As long as he was performing miracles, the crowd followed him.
But he didn't last for very long.
And then, very, very sadly, he would preach the word.
And some people would claim to have become disciples.
And they would last a few months, a few weeks, a few months, maybe a year or two.
And after that, they would stop following.
I was reading earlier this week in John chapter 6.
John chapter 6 starts with 5,000 people being fed by Jesus in the wilderness.
He then goes on to the synagogue at Capernaum.
There's a crowd in the synagogue.
He's preaching there.
And after the sermon in the synagogue, in John chapter 6, verse 66, it says that many, many of his disciples, that's the word that's used, many of his disciples no longer followed him.
Now, Jesus got all those responses that I've just been going through with you.
And if Jesus, and he was the greatest preacher ever, he was by far the greatest ever preacher.
No one ever spoke like Jesus did.
No one ever spoke like this man.
He was the spirit-filled preacher.
And when Jesus preached, those are the responses he got.
He got the hard response.
Some people, no impression at all.
He got the shallow response.
Some people followed him for a bit.
The crowd.
He got the overcrowded response.
They claimed to be disciples, but other things came in and became more important than Jesus.
And Jesus became less and less important.
And they gave it all up.
The word the Bible uses for that is apostasy.
They apostatized.
They gave up the faith that they once professed.
And some seed fell on good soil.
That's the good news.
Not all the seed was lost.
Some of it fell on good soil.
Now, if Jesus got the response like that.
If those were the responses to God's word that Jesus got.
The greatest preacher who ever lived.
Then, it's the kind of response that we should expect as well.
And I just want to encourage preachers this morning to keep on preaching.
And not to think that just because they're getting these different kinds of responses.
They're not preaching properly.
Jesus was the greatest preacher ever.
And this is the kind of response or non-response that he got.
Well, this is how people are going to respond to God's word.
But keep on preaching.
Because there's going to be some seed that falls on good soil.
And there's going to be seed that's fertile.
There's going to be ground that's fertile.
And the seed is going to sprout in that ground.
And there's going to be a harvest.
And it's not just going to be a little harvest.
There's another parable in Mark chapter 4 about the mustard seed.
Which is a tiny little seed.
And yet, it grows into a big garden shrub.
In which the birds of the air can roost at night time.
Build their nests and so on.
And that's Jesus' picture of the growth of the kingdom.
And it is growing.
It's growing all over the world.
It's wonderful to hear about the work here amongst the Japanese people.
It's wonderful to see people from other countries as well.
It's the same in Kendall.
I mean, nobody comes to Kendall from abroad.
But we're getting more and more Eastern Europeans in our congregation.
We're getting people from Russia.
We're getting people from the Ukraine.
We're getting people from Poland, Romania.
Coming to church on Sunday.
It's wonderful what God is doing in this world.
There is going to be a harvest.
There is a harvest.
It's coming.
It's developing even now as we speak.
Yes, there are terrible, terribly hard places like Britain.
Really, really hard ground.
But some of the seed will always fall on good soil.
So keep preaching.
You're going to get exactly the same kind of response that Jesus got.
There are going to be people who oppose you.
There are going to be people who reject what you say.
We're not going to listen to you.
There are going to be people who you're quite encouraged about.
And then you're terribly disappointed by.
Your heart breaks because they walk out on Jesus.
They walk out on the church.
You don't see them again.
They give it all up.
It's going to happen.
It happened to Jesus, as we've just seen.
And it's going to happen to you.
But don't give up.
Keep on sowing that seed.
It's the only way that God's kingdom will grow.
Through the preaching of God's word.
So if you stop preaching, that kingdom won't grow.
And if you preach it, will.
So keep on preaching.
That's my first message for this morning.
Okay?
Have you got that?
Good, good, great.
So that's the first point.
There's only two points.
Second point, this is an encouragement.
This is a warning to those who hear the message of God's kingdom.
The point of the parable of the sower is there in verse 9.
If you look at verse 9.
Jesus said,
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
This is a parable about hearing the word of God.
Now, I've just been explaining that when Jesus preached,
he expected repentance and faith,
or he wanted repentance and faith,
leading to a life of obedience.
And yet, he warns us here that there are those who hear his words
who will never understand it.
That's in verse 12.
People who hear and who never understand.
That doesn't mean they don't understand it with their minds.
They understand it with their minds,
but they don't understand it in the sense that they don't stand under it.
That's what the word understand means here.
They don't stand under what they hear.
You can hear the word of Jesus without really hearing it.
And this is the message of this parable.
It's possible to hear the words of Jesus,
and it's possible to hear the words that's preached here every week,
to be here,
and for the sound to impinge upon our eardrums,
and even into our brains,
but never to really hear
what's being said.
Never to stand under it.
Never to understand it.
To stand under it.
And these different soils represent different ways
in which we can hear without hearing.
When Jesus preached,
he expected us to hear and to heed,
to listen to what he was saying,
and to act on what we heard.
In the Second World War,
there was a lot of bombing of cities
in this country,
in Germany,
in Japan.
Bombing of cities.
And there were air raid warnings.
The siren would go off.
And people,
when they heard that siren,
they wouldn't just stand there
or sit there.
They'd find the nearest
air raid shelter.
If they were in London,
some of them would go down
into the tube station
for the night.
They didn't just say,
ah, yeah,
an air raid shelter.
They didn't just say,
ah,
an air raid.
They would find a shelter.
That's when they really heard
the warning,
the siren.
They would find a shelter.
They'd do something about it.
They would respond.
And,
there may have been people,
I'm sure there were,
who heard the siren
and they thought,
well,
I've heard that before.
I won't bother to do anything
about that this time.
Nothing much happened last time.
And they don't do anything about it
or they didn't do anything about it.
And the result was disaster for them.
You should listen to Jesus
like people listened to air raid warnings
during the Second World War.
When Jesus speaks,
you should really listen.
You must listen to Jesus.
You know,
there's a verse in Chapter 6
of Mark
about Herod,
King Herod.
And,
he had
John the Baptist
in prison.
And,
he was very reluctant
to execute
John the Baptist.
Why?
Well,
Mark says,
he liked
to listen
to John the Baptist.
King Herod
liked
to listen
to John the Baptist.
He liked
his sermon.
He liked
his preaching.
I don't know
what he liked
about them.
But,
there was something
about John the Baptist's
sermons
that attracted
King Herod.
But,
he never
really
listened.
And,
when he came to it,
when he had to choose
between
his wife,
his wife's will,
and
John the Baptist,
he chose
to obey
his wife.
But,
he liked
to listen
to Jesus.
And,
Jesus
ends his
sermon on the
mount
with a
parable
about two
men,
a foolish
man
and a wise
man.
And,
the wise
man builds
his house
on a rock.
And,
the rain
comes,
and the floods
ascend.
And,
the wind
blows
against the
house he
builds,
but it's
built on a
rock,
so it
stands,
it's secure.
there's a
foolish man,
he builds
his house
on sand,
and the
same winds
blow,
and the
same rain
falls,
and the
same floods
come,
and his
house
falls
down.
Some of you
children probably
know a song
about that.
The wise man
built his
house upon a
rock,
the foolish
man built
his house
upon the
sand,
and the rain
came,
and the floods
came,
and the
house on
the sand
fell flat.
You've heard
that one.
Is it just me?
You do think
it sometimes,
yes.
And,
Jesus said,
the foolish
man is a
man who
listens to
his word,
who hears
his word,
and doesn't
do anything
about it.
It's possible
to hear the
words of
Jesus,
and not do
anything
about it.
James says
in his
letter,
that we
should be
doers of
the word,
not hearers
only,
and if that
isn't true
of us,
if we just
hear the
word,
and don't
do it,
James says
we are
deceiving
ourselves.
We're
actually
deceiving
ourselves.
We may
be good
attenders
of church,
we may
listen to
good
sermon,
but if we
don't actually
do anything,
James says,
we are
deceiving
ourselves.
Jesus took
three of his
disciples onto
a mountain,
and on that
mountain he
was transfigured
before them.
His appearance
changed.
They saw a
glimpse of his
future glory,
and a cloud
came, and he
was joined
by Elijah,
the prophet,
and by Moses,
the lawgiver,
two representatives
of the Old
Testament, the
law and the
prophet.
Moses and
Elijah, the
Old Testament,
the law and
the prophet.
Peter said,
let's build
three huts,
or dens,
you would call
them boys and
girls, let's
build three
dens.
One for
Jesus, one
for Abraham,
and one for
Isaac.
And there
was a voice
from heaven
that Moses
and Elijah
disappeared.
And there
was a voice
from heaven,
and the
voice from
heaven said,
this is my
son whom I
love.
Listen.
Listen to
him.
You must
listen to
Jesus.
And if you
hear sermons
and even read
the gospel and
don't do anything
about it,
you are
deceiving
yourselves.
so you
must listen
to Jesus.
And these
four soils
are different
ways in
which we
can listen
or not
listen to
Jesus.
I'm dealing
particularly with
the first
three.
This morning
and then this
evening I want
to look at the
last one, the
good soil, in
more detail.
Some of the
seed falls on
the footpath,
on the path,
behind the
soil, and
it's trodden
underfoot.
Or it's
gobbled up
immediately by
the birds.
And these
are people who
hear the
word of God
and it
makes no
real impression
on them
at all.
They don't
stand under
it.
They may
reject it.
They may
say they
don't believe
it.
They're
hostile to
it sometimes.
but they
may not be
hostile to
it.
They may
actually, in
a sense,
believe it,
i.e.
believe that
it's true.
But they
don't really
listen.
They're just
sermon
tasters.
It's
possible to
be a
sermon
taster.
It's
possible to
get used
to hearing
sermons.
You may
even like
a good
preacher.
You may
be a
connoisseur
of sermon.
You may
be able to
give preachers
points.
Eight out
of ten for
content.
Seven out
of ten for
presentation.
And go
away and
not do a
thing about
what you've
heard.
You're just
a sermon
taster.
I think
this is a
real danger
in churches
where there's
an emphasis
on the
preaching of
the word
of God
as there
should be
in every
decent
church.
The real
danger is
that people
get used
to hearing
people who
handle the
Bible well
and familiarity
breeds contempt.
And they
just, it's a
habit they get
into of
listening to
good sermons.
And do you
know what they
do when they
go on holiday?
They go to
Kesech for
more sermons.
Or they go
to Word
Alive for
more sermons.
They may
even go to
both if
they're really,
really keen.
Their whole
life is
listening to
sermons.
How many
sermons have
you heard in
your lifetime?
How many
sermons have I
heard?
How many
sermons have I
preached in
my lifetime?
Hundreds and
hundreds, not
just heard, but
preached.
I've actually
probably preached
more than I
heard.
And yet it's
possible to
do that and
never really to
listen to
Jesus.
Never really to
repent.
Never really to
believe.
And James
says that if
that is true of
us, we are
deceived people.
We may be
well-informed
people, but we
are deceived
people.
And I've no
doubt there are
people like that
here this
morning.
This soil would
have been in
that crowd on
the beach at
Galilee, and I've
no doubt that
it's here this
morning.
There are people
who are familiar
with God's
word.
They are familiar
with Jesus.
They're familiar
with the gospel,
but it has never
actually made much
of a difference
to their lives.
They're not
living lives of
repentance,
turning from
everything that
is against what
Jesus is like,
or what Jesus
taught.
And lives of
faith and trust
in him, and
humble obedience
to him, out of
love for what
he's done for
us.
I wonder if
there's anybody
like that here
this morning.
I'm sure there
is people like
that here this
morning.
And it's Satan,
you know, who
snatches the word
away.
it's the
activity of
Satan that
causes us to
hear God's
word and not
do anything
about it.
And then
there's the
shallow soil.
The shallow
soil is soil
that's over
hard rock,
limestone or
something.
And it's
only a thin
layer of
soil.
And so the
shoots emerge
very quickly.
And they
emerge quickly
because there's
no depth of
root underneath.
there's nothing
underneath.
It's all
surface.
Nothing
underneath.
And then
when there's a
dry period,
it shrivels
up.
It shrivels
up as quickly
as it shoots
up.
And Jesus
says these are
the people on
whom God's
word seems to
make initially
some impression.
It says here
that they
receive the
word with
joy.
They receive
the word
with joy.
Now in the
book of Acts,
that word
receiving,
that phrase
receiving the
word means
that they
became Christian.
I don't think
it means that
here.
But in the
book of Acts,
they would have
been welcomed
into the
church,
they would have
been baptized,
they would have
been welcomed
into the
church,
they'd receive
the word.
And Luke
says in Acts
chapter 2,
those who
received the
word were
baptized and
added to
the church.
So these
people look
like Christians.
They probably
think they're
Christians to
begin with,
and other
people think
they're Christians
to begin with.
And then the
tests come.
Then the
persecution
comes,
that's Jesus.
The difficulties,
the pressures,
persecution on
account of the
word, trouble
on account of
the word.
So these are
professing believers.
But when
they're
persecuted,
the persecution
reveals that
there's no
depth at all.
They're
shallow.
They're
superficial.
And after
that promising
start, they
drop out.
So what is
one of God's
purposes in
persecution?
Why does he
allow Christians
to be persecuted?
We've been
praying for them
this morning,
all over the
world,
increasingly.
Persecution is
a fact for
Christians.
And the
New Testament
says it will
be.
The New
Testament says
it's part of
the package.
unto us it
has been
given on
behalf of
Christ,
not only to
believe in
him,
but also to
be persecuted
for his
sake.
That's just
it.
It's part of
the package.
If you become
a Christian,
you're going to
be persecuted.
We've done
very well in
this country.
We haven't
been persecuted
properly for a
long time.
That means we
haven't been
tested.
We haven't been
tested by
persecution.
one of the
reasons that
God allows
his church to
be persecuted
is to test
the depth
of their
faith in
Jesus,
the reality
of their
faith in
Jesus.
Now, the
problem with
becoming a
Christian in
Britain is
that it
actually starts
you off,
gets you
started on
quite a nice
life really,
doesn't it?
And church is
quite a nice
place, isn't it?
And you
quite like
coming here,
don't you?
It's quite a
nice place to
come on a
Sunday morning.
Nice people.
Nice people from
all over the
world.
I bet the
coffee,
Josh said that.
I should
imagine that
the coffee is
quite good as
well.
I'm not even
sure that you
have coffee on
the Sunday
morning.
I'm sure the
coffee is good
as well.
It's a nice
place to be.
Nice people.
And you
become part of
a kind of
evangelical
subculture
enjoyable
meetings,
somewhere to
go.
So our
life after
conversion is
probably in
some ways
better than
it was before.
Easier than
it was before.
And it's
never been
tested.
Will we
still choose
Jesus when
the storm
comes?
Will our
house stand
when the
storm comes?
You know,
when I was
a child,
my dad
and mum
used to
like listening
to George
Beverly
Shea,
America's
beloved gospel
singer.
He died
two or three
years ago,
aged about
103.
I think he
was still
singing.
And he
sang a
hymn
called,
I'd
Rather Have
Jesus
Than
Silver or
Gold.
I'd
rather be
his than
have
riches
untold.
I'd
rather have
Jesus
than
houses
or
lands.
I'd
rather be
led by
his nail
pierced
hands
than to
be the
king of
a vast
domain
and be
held in
sin's
dread sway.
I'd
rather have
Jesus
than
anything
this
world
affords
today.
great.
Great.
But let
me ask you
a question.
How do
you know?
How do
you know?
If you've
got Jesus
and silver
and gold,
if you've
got Jesus
and houses
and land,
if you've
got Jesus
and the
wolves
applaud,
how do
you actually
know that
you'd rather
have Jesus
than any
of those
other things?
Unless
the point
comes,
the time
comes,
when you
have to
choose
between
the two.
And all
over the
world today
there are
Christians
who are
having to
choose
between
the two.
If you
become a
Christian
in,
let's say,
Egypt
or Pakistan,
just your
ordinary big
Muslim
country,
you'll be
treated as
a second
class citizen.
You will
almost certainly
not get a
decent job.
You may
end up
working on
the brick
kilns in
Pakistan for
the rest of
your life.
And you'll
never get
out of them.
Would you
be happy
with that?
If you
had to
choose either
that or
Jesus Christ?
What would
you choose?
Your children
were probably
not going
to university.
You'd never
have been to
university
yourself.
There are
increasingly,
an increasing
number of
places in
the world
today where
you have to
choose between
Christ and
prosperity.
Christ and
your freedom.
Christ and
your popularity.
And
increasingly,
even, as in
Nigeria, as we've
been praying this
morning, Christ
and life
itself.
Will you
choose
Jesus?
One reason
why God
allows
persecution
like that
is as a
test to
know whether
you really
would rather
have Jesus
than anything
this world
affords
today.
That's why
God allows
persecution.
So there's the
shallow soil.
Then there's the
overcrowded soil.
soil.
And this
seems even
more promising
than the
shallow soil.
It seems to
take root.
It lasts
longer than
the seed that
has been
sown in that
thin soil.
It begins to
grow, seems to
grow, and
gradually the
thorns and the
thistles that
share the soil
take over and
they choke
the seed.
And Jesus
identifies these
thorns and
thistles with
the worries or
the anxieties of
this life and
he mentions this
specifically, the
deceitfulness of
wealth, the
deceitfulness of
riches.
So it's the
distractions linked
with wealth and
success.
And the
anxieties, the
worries that
wealth, pursuing
wealth and
success bring.
If you read
chapter 6 of
Matthew in the
Sermon on the
Mount, there's a
link between
wealth and
worry, wealth
and anxiety.
Jesus talks about
laying treasure up
in heaven, not
on earth.
And then he
talks about people
who are crippled
by anxiety, by
worry, about what
to eat and what
to drink and what
to wear.
And the
pursuit of
wealth, and
Jesus calls it
the deceitfulness,
the deceitfulness
of wealth, is
one of the
thorns that
chokes the
seed.
Spurgeon is
supposed to have
said this.
I hope he did
say it.
I sometimes
think that
Spurgeon is a
bit like
Churchill.
he's always
been quoted
as having
said this.
And I can't
believe that he
said all these
things that he's
supposed to have
said.
But he's
supposed to have
said,
persecution has
slain its
thousands.
Prosperity has
slain its tens
of thousands.
been
done.
And I think I
know more
people who
have given
up the
Christian faith
that they
once professed
because of
prosperity
than because of
any persecution
that has
threatened them.
Prosperity is
as big a test
of the reality
of your faith
than
persecution.
as persecution.
We pray for
the persecuted
church and
rightly so.
Do we pray for
the prosperous
church?
Because I'm
telling you this,
there are
thousands and
thousands of
Christians who
are nowhere
today who
once professed
Christ.
Well, I'm
calling them
Christians because
they profess to
be Christians.
There are
thousands of
people today who
once professed
Christ and who
are nowhere
spiritually today
because the
pursuit of
prosperity and
success and
all the other
things that
they want in
their lives have
choked the
seed of God's
word.
It can be all
kinds of things.
The other
things can be all
kinds of things.
It can be a
relationship with
somebody.
It takes over.
It can be a
sport, a
pastime, an
activity.
I know a
number of
people.
who used to
go to
church.
I can think
of one
person in
particular in
Kendall,
actually, who
used to go
to church and
who stopped
coming to
church because
they did a
lot of
mountain running
and that sort
of thing.
And all
these runs
were on a
Sunday.
So they
would go
running instead
of going to
church.
And it
begins with
maybe one
Sunday and
then maybe
twice a month
and gradually
it takes over.
all that
running, which
is probably
just ruining
their knees
probably.
All that
running up
and down
mountains,
wonderful,
isn't it?
But it's not
as good as
Jesus, I'm
telling you.
There are
people for
whom something
is unimportant
as running,
although I
know some
of you think
it's really
important.
And your
pastor actually
did the park
run yesterday
with his
children.
So I must be
careful what I
say.
Running is
important, but
he doesn't do
it on a
Sunday.
At least I
don't think
he does.
And he
must be
careful and
you must be
careful not to
allow anything
to become more
important than
Jesus, more
important than
church in
your life.
Okay, so
there are
these people
who seem to
be doing well
and then
heartbreakingly
there comes a
time when you
don't see them
anymore.
And there'll be
people like that
in this
congregation.
Some of you
young people in
particular,
brought up in
Christian home.
You're here
now.
Will you be
here in 20,
30 years'
time?
I hope so.
But I'm sure
that there will
be people who
hear God's
word regularly,
week by week,
from Paul here
and from
others.
And 20 or
30 years from
now, you may
not profess to
be a Christian.
Be very, very
careful.
Jesus wants us
to hear God's
word with
repentance and
with faith.
He wants us
to be good
soil.
And the good
soil are those
who hear his
word with
repentance and
with faith.
They hear
Jesus'
words and
they realize
that they're
going in the
wrong direction
and they turn
around.
They turn
around really,
really,
in their hearts,
they turn to
Jesus.
That's what
repentance means.
and they
believe,
which means
they trust,
they depend
on,
they rely
on totally
on Jesus.
They repent
and they
believe.
And that
gives rise to
a life of
obedience to
Jesus.
If you don't
live a life of
obedience to
Jesus after
you've repented
and believed,
well, you've
stopped repenting
and you've
stopped believing.
repentance and
faith are not
something you do
just at the
beginning of the
Christian life
and say,
yeah, well,
I've done that.
That's the
repentance and
faith.
Repentance and
faith get you
started on a
life of
repentance and
faith.
And if you're
not obeying
Jesus, you've
stopped repenting
and you've
stopped believing.
Repentance and
faith.
Trusting Jesus.
Trusting that
he died for
your sins.
Trusting his
words.
Trusting his
wonderful
invitation.
Come unto me,
all you who
weary and
heavy laden,
burdened, and
I will give
you rest.
This is the
cup of the
covenant.
Shed for
many.
For the
forgiveness of
sins.
What wonderful
things Jesus
said.
It isn't all
just moral
instruction.
It's gospel.
It is
wonderful
invitation.
Wonderful
promises.
And when we
believe, we
believe the
promises of
Jesus and we
accept the
invitations of
Jesus.
And we also
heed the
warnings of
Jesus and we
follow the
teachings of
Jesus.
That's what it
means to
believe in
Jesus.
Repent and
believe.
Every person in
this congregation
fits into one of
these categories
this morning.
Hard,
shallow,
overcrowded,
or fertile.
Which one are
you?
I'll be saying
more about the
fourth category
this evening.
So I hope you'll
come along and
hear more about
repenting and
believing.
God bless you.