[ ] 6/1/2003 #507
SAVED AND SECURE
THORNY HEARTS
Matthew 13:7, 22
INTRODUCTION: Jesus explains the third kind of soil in this parable. This soil is capable of receiving the seed. The problem with the soil is the thorns and weeds that are already present. They outgrow the good seed choking it from growing and bearing fruit. This illustrates people who make a confession of faith in Jesus but fail to repent of the weeds already in their hearts. Materialism, pleasure and worry over worldly things smothers their faith till it dies.
I. THE HEARERS
A. SEED RECEIVED BY THE HEARERS. (Matthew 13:22)
B. SOIL INFESTED WITH THORNS. (Matthew 13:22)
II. THE HINDRANCES
A. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THORNS.
1. Cares of this world.
a. Seriousness of distraction caused by worry. (Luke 10:41-42)
b. Sin of disbelief revealed by worry. (Matthew 6:25-34)
2. Deceitfulness of riches.
a. Divides a person's loyalty. (Matthew 6:24)
b. Diverts a person's energy. (1 Timothy 6:9)
c. Deprives a person of God's blessings. (1 Timothy 6:10)
d. Danger to a person's eternal soul. (Luke 12:16-34; 16:19-31)
"Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Luke 12:15)
3. Lusts of other things. (Mark 4:19)
a. Example from Scripture.
1. Israel. (1 Cor. 10:1-12)
2. Demas (2 Timothy 4:10)
b. Exhortation from Scripture. (1 John 2:15-17)
4. Pleasures of this life. (Luke 8:14)
a. Pleasure in wicked things. (Romans 1:28-32; 2 Thessalonians 2:12)
b. Pleasure in worldly things. (2 Timothy 3:4; James 4:1-4; 5:1-5)
B. CONSEQUENCES OF THE THORNS.
III. THE HARVEST
A. FERTILITY OF THE THORNS.
B. FRUITLESSNESS OF THE SEED.
LESSONS FOR LIFE:
1. Gardening teaches us that we have to keep the weeds out so the good seed can grow. The same is true of our hearts. Confession and repentance will keep our hearts clean so faith can grow.
2. Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and His enemy which is the world.
3. The evidence of genuine salvation is the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit. As a person's faith without works is dead so is a person's faith that is void of spiritual fruit.
J. Vernon McGee: "If one out of ten responding to my invitation to receive Christ is genuine, I feel that my batting average is good. Other Christian workers tell me the same story. A member of the team of a very prominent evangelist had told me that only 3 percent of their inquirers can be considered genuine converts."
John MacArthur: "A person who comes to church but never becomes committed to serving, who is continually preoccupied with money, career, fashions, sports, and everything but the Lord's work is a person with a weed-infested heart. A person who claims to love Christ but who cannot remain faithful in marriage has a weedy heart. The person who refuses to let go of his worldiness is a person in whom the seed of God's saving gospel has not found root and is in danger of being choked out altogether."
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust of it; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." (1 John 2:15-17)
Billy Graham: "Today, in what we call the society of the world, we hold spiritual things in contempt and lust after the things of this world."
Vance Havner: "Worldiness is rampant in the church. The devil is not fighting churches, he is joining them! He isn't persecuting Christianity, he is professing it."
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19)
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and