Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Story for the Hard of Listening Msg 1720 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

A Story for the Hard of Listening Msg 1720 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:00
Speaker 1: Such a privilege to have a copy of God's Word
0:06
Speaker 1: in our own language. Amazingly we have it. Not just that,
0:12
Speaker 1: but whatever version you may wish to use, whatever size
0:18
Speaker 1: print you may need, in whatever size the Bible itself,
0:28
Speaker 1: we are privileged beyond measure. There are some places, hard
0:35
Speaker 1: as it is to believe, where they would love to
0:38
Speaker 1: have the freedom of an open Bible and enjoying what
0:46
Speaker 1: is ours to enjoy with hardly a second thought. I
0:51
Speaker 1: read some time ago of a country that had been
0:55
Speaker 1: I believe it was Russia that had been kept in
0:58
Speaker 1: those decades of darkness, And through the process of time,
1:05
Speaker 1: as it reached toward the end and the wall came down,
1:08
Speaker 1: they be able to go in and bring copies of
1:13
Speaker 1: God's Word. And they were with a gathering that had
1:18
Speaker 1: never had such and the people just clamored for a copy,
1:24
Speaker 1: and they wound up with one more person, but not
1:28
Speaker 1: enough bibles. And he asked if he could just have
1:32
Speaker 1: the box that the bibles had been brought in, and
1:37
Speaker 1: they explained that there's no bible. I know, but I
1:40
Speaker 1: would just like to have the box where they were carried.
1:47
Speaker 1: We must not live so long that we overlook privileges
1:53
Speaker 1: and this is one of them. God's word is alive
1:58
Speaker 1: and active, and sharper than a two edged sword, and
2:03
Speaker 1: it's able to pierce where no surgeon's scalpel can ever touch,
2:11
Speaker 1: right to the soul. Any other book that you could
2:15
Speaker 1: use would not do that. But you could put a
2:20
Speaker 1: page of the Bible in a bottle in the middle
2:22
Speaker 1: of the sea, plug it up, drop it in when
2:26
Speaker 1: it washes the shore, and someone pulls out that sheet.
2:30
Speaker 1: That sheet that has a part of God's word on
2:34
Speaker 1: it is alive and active and able to change the
2:38
Speaker 1: life of the one who reads it. We are going
2:42
Speaker 1: through the Book of Matthew, and we've come to a
2:44
Speaker 1: place where Jesus changes his approach. I sometimes use the
2:52
Speaker 1: words heat. He goes a little more underground, behind the scenes.
2:58
Speaker 1: And now he begins to speak words that are not
3:01
Speaker 1: that easily understood. We might call them riddles, but he
3:07
Speaker 1: calls them parables. And we are there in chapter thirteen
3:12
Speaker 1: of Matthew, and we have the privilege of looking through
3:18
Speaker 1: the first twenty three verses. I'll not read all of
3:21
Speaker 1: the verses, but just a select number. Please locate Matthew thirteen,
3:27
Speaker 1: and when you have please stand with one another for
3:31
Speaker 1: the reading of God's Word. I'm reading from the New
3:37
Speaker 1: Living Translation. Later that same day, Jesus left the house
3:42
Speaker 1: and sat beside the lake. A large crowd soon gathered
3:48
Speaker 1: around him, so he got into a boat. Then he
3:52
Speaker 1: sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore.
3:59
Speaker 1: He told me many stories in the form of parables,
4:05
Speaker 1: such as this one. Listen. A farmer went out to
4:11
Speaker 1: plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field.
4:18
Speaker 1: Some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came
4:23
Speaker 1: and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with
4:29
Speaker 1: underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow,
4:36
Speaker 1: but the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and
4:42
Speaker 1: since they didn't have deep roots, they died. Other seeds
4:49
Speaker 1: fell among forns that grew up and choked out the
4:54
Speaker 1: tender plants. Still, other seeds fell on on fertile soil.
5:02
Speaker 1: They produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, even one
5:08
Speaker 1: hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone with
5:13
Speaker 1: ears to hear should listen and understand. His disciples came
5:23
Speaker 1: and asked him, well, why do you use parables when
5:27
Speaker 1: you talk to the people. He replied, You're permitted to
5:32
Speaker 1: understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others
5:35
Speaker 1: are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more
5:42
Speaker 1: understanding will be given and they will have an abundance
5:46
Speaker 1: of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even
5:53
Speaker 1: what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.
5:59
Speaker 1: That's why I use parables verse eighteen. Now listen to
6:08
Speaker 1: the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds.
6:14
Speaker 1: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who
6:18
Speaker 1: hear the message about the kingdom and don't understand it.
6:25
Speaker 1: Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed
6:28
Speaker 1: that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the
6:33
Speaker 1: rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately
6:39
Speaker 1: receive it with joy, But since they don't have deep roots,
6:44
Speaker 1: they don't last long. They fall away as soon as
6:49
Speaker 1: they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word.
6:57
Speaker 1: The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who
7:01
Speaker 1: hear God's word and all too quickly the message is
7:06
Speaker 1: crowded out by the worries of his life and the
7:11
Speaker 1: lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed
7:18
Speaker 1: that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear
7:24
Speaker 1: and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty,
7:32
Speaker 1: or even one hundred times as much as had been planted. Interestingly,
7:42
Speaker 1: all four types of soil are represented in the gathering
7:47
Speaker 1: this large. We can't tell by looking. Only you know,
7:53
Speaker 1: and hopefully, as God's word is explained, you will understand
7:59
Speaker 1: what that means. Please be seated. Just as there were
8:06
Speaker 1: those in years past who gave their lives that we
8:10
Speaker 1: might know freedom, so there was one who lived and
8:16
Speaker 1: died for every one of us, promising us not only
8:23
Speaker 1: the hope of forgiveness and eternal life, but true freedom.
8:31
Speaker 1: Freedom from others' expectations, freedom from the grinding, binding demands
8:43
Speaker 1: of the Mosaic law, freedom from one's own habits, and
8:52
Speaker 1: the domination of sin as it runs through our lives,
8:57
Speaker 1: all of our lives. If you don't know that freedom,
9:01
Speaker 1: if you don't know that one who died, what a perfect,
9:06
Speaker 1: perfect moment for you to pause and receive him. He waits,
9:15
Speaker 1: and like the other comment I made, only you know.
9:20
Speaker 1: Only you know if you have trusted in Jesus for
9:24
Speaker 1: eternal life. If you have not, do that now do
9:30
Speaker 1: that now, please bow with me as we pray briefly
9:41
Speaker 1: in a world that is on fire and filled with panic, unrest, fear,
9:55
Speaker 1: and depression. Our Father, we who know your son, thank
10:02
Speaker 1: you for the peace that passes all understanding. Thank You
10:11
Speaker 1: for his life and his sacrifice on our behalf. Thank
10:21
Speaker 1: you that nothing was left for us to pay for,
10:25
Speaker 1: but all was paid for at the cross. For many
10:32
Speaker 1: of us first saw the light, the burden of our
10:36
Speaker 1: heart rolled away, but some still have not. And we
10:44
Speaker 1: pray that on this weekend given for the purpose of
10:49
Speaker 1: reflecting on freedom and liberty and the sacrifice it took
10:55
Speaker 1: to provide it, that those without Christ will come to Him,
11:03
Speaker 1: and we pray that You will, upon their coming give
11:06
Speaker 1: them healing and hope and the reassurance that nothing else
11:12
Speaker 1: can provide. That they might know what we who know
11:17
Speaker 1: Christ know what it means to be still in our souls,
11:26
Speaker 1: realize that God is God. Minister, we pray through your
11:33
Speaker 1: word today in a very special way, give us ears
11:39
Speaker 1: not only to hear, but combined with open hearts. May
11:45
Speaker 1: we listen, and may it make a difference in the
11:50
Speaker 1: way we live. Our Father, we are grateful for our occupations,
11:57
Speaker 1: the way we make our living. But we realize that
12:01
Speaker 1: you own it all. You even give us breath and
12:04
Speaker 1: our lungs and give us a pulse beat in our
12:08
Speaker 1: hearts because you own it all. We pause to realize
12:13
Speaker 1: that whatever we give is already yours. And I pray Lord,
12:19
Speaker 1: that might prompt us to be people with not only
12:25
Speaker 1: open hearts, but open hands. Find favor. We pray in
12:31
Speaker 1: the gifts that are released today and the motive behind
12:36
Speaker 1: the giving, and use these gifts in significant ways here
12:43
Speaker 1: and beyond the familiar world in which we live. These
12:49
Speaker 1: things we ask in the name of Christ, and because
12:52
Speaker 1: of Him we give. To Him and his work through Jesus,
12:58
Speaker 1: we pray. One said, Amen. Some days they're just non
13:05
Speaker 1: stop from start to finish, and not just it's sun up,
13:11
Speaker 1: but before sun up and long after sundown. They just
13:15
Speaker 1: go on and on and on. When Senday and I
13:19
Speaker 1: have a day like that, we will often say, as
13:22
Speaker 1: we're turning the covers down on our bed at night,
13:24
Speaker 1: this is one of those twenty second nights. By that
13:28
Speaker 1: we mean I need about twenty seconds with the time
13:31
Speaker 1: my head hits the pillow. So it's also saying don't
13:34
Speaker 1: bring up some subject that will require a lengthy discussion,
13:39
Speaker 1: or I'll be going to sleep on you. I won't
13:41
Speaker 1: be able to make it. I think Jesus had one
13:44
Speaker 1: of those non stop kind of days when I look
13:48
Speaker 1: back through chapter twelve, and I invite you to do that.
13:52
Speaker 1: Go back and see beginning at verse two of chapter twelve.
13:59
Speaker 1: They are eating great and he's called on the carpet.
14:02
Speaker 1: He's confronted by the Pharisees. That same day, that same
14:09
Speaker 1: group found fault when he healed a man's deformed hand
14:14
Speaker 1: at the synagogue, and they criticized him for that, and
14:18
Speaker 1: the same group of critics called a secret meeting in
14:22
Speaker 1: verse fourteen of chapter twelve, and the meeting was about
14:25
Speaker 1: finding a way to kill him. To give you some
14:28
Speaker 1: idea of the condition of their hearts, they were religious,
14:33
Speaker 1: but they were totally out to lunch spiritually. Knowing of
14:38
Speaker 1: that meeting, Jesus escaped and kept right on healing as
14:43
Speaker 1: the crowds followed. And is there anything more draining than
14:47
Speaker 1: the constancy of crowds. That's in verse fifteen of chapter twelve.
14:53
Speaker 1: And then he encounters a demonized man who is not
14:57
Speaker 1: only blind, but is not able to speak Jesus casts
15:02
Speaker 1: out the demon as well as gives the man sight
15:05
Speaker 1: and speech. Again, the Pharisees accuse him of operating under
15:11
Speaker 1: the power of Satan, and there is this heated dialogue
15:14
Speaker 1: between him and them verses twenty four and twenty five,
15:19
Speaker 1: and it finally winds up where he says to them,
15:21
Speaker 1: in an exasperated moment, you brood of snakes verse thirty four.
15:26
Speaker 1: And then the Pharisees set him up to do a
15:30
Speaker 1: great sign, and they wanted to find fault in that.
15:35
Speaker 1: That's verses thirty eight to forty five. And when you
15:38
Speaker 1: know it, with the time you get to verse forty
15:40
Speaker 1: six to fifty, his own family shows up from a Nazareth,
15:45
Speaker 1: and they want to remove him and rescue him from himself,
15:49
Speaker 1: because some of them believe he's lost it. Like I said,
15:53
Speaker 1: he must have been exhausted when you face a day
15:58
Speaker 1: like that. Look at verse one of chapter thirteen. It
16:03
Speaker 1: makes sense that Jesus would leave the house and sit
16:08
Speaker 1: beside the lake. Sounds like a great place for a
16:12
Speaker 1: little R and R. Well, that doesn't last long, because
16:17
Speaker 1: as soon as he's there, the crowd locates him verse two,
16:22
Speaker 1: and they gather around and he has to get into
16:24
Speaker 1: a boat, which becomes a perfect theater setting, for there's
16:31
Speaker 1: no public address system, so his voice would carry easily
16:35
Speaker 1: over the shoreline. And as they are sitting, as they
16:39
Speaker 1: are standing, he is sitting, and he decides verse two
16:43
Speaker 1: that he would he would teach them, and he told
16:46
Speaker 1: them many stories in the form of a parable. A
16:50
Speaker 1: smile inside because I remember a setting in our own
16:55
Speaker 1: life as a family many years ago, when all of
16:58
Speaker 1: our children were at home and smaller. It had been
17:03
Speaker 1: one of those non stop periods of months now, not
17:07
Speaker 1: just a day or two days or a week, but months,
17:10
Speaker 1: and we were all sort of stumbling over our tongues
17:14
Speaker 1: trying to keep life together. And I realized we all
17:17
Speaker 1: need to get away, and I sading and I made
17:22
Speaker 1: plans to escape to our favorite island and among the
17:27
Speaker 1: Hawaiian Chain, the island of Kawaii. You can't get much
17:31
Speaker 1: further away than that. And I thought, nobody will know
17:35
Speaker 1: us there, that'll be a great place to be. And
17:39
Speaker 1: we went and it was terrific, and early one morning,
17:43
Speaker 1: the boys and I went fishing. We went to the
17:47
Speaker 1: north shore, long before daylight. And I remember what I'm
17:52
Speaker 1: saying is we were on our way. I thought we
17:54
Speaker 1: were gonna have easier days. Well yeah, yeah, but we're
17:58
Speaker 1: gonna face now. So we're getting the boat. We go out,
18:00
Speaker 1: we catch a bunch of fish. It's great. We put
18:03
Speaker 1: them on a stringer and we get back and we
18:06
Speaker 1: wait ashore. And as we're waiting ashore, my two sons
18:12
Speaker 1: are on each side. We look up and there is
18:14
Speaker 1: a gathering of a group of people walking toward us.
18:19
Speaker 1: And one of the boys said, they're coming for you, Dad.
18:22
Speaker 1: We're out of here, and I said, no, no, no,
18:26
Speaker 1: nobody even knows we're here. So the boys were gone
18:29
Speaker 1: and left me with a string of messy fish and
18:33
Speaker 1: a crowd. And to my amazement, they all had bibles,
18:37
Speaker 1: and they began, Brother Swindall, Brother Swindall, we heard you
18:40
Speaker 1: were on our island, and we have come for you
18:43
Speaker 1: to teach us. And I thought, where are my sons
18:48
Speaker 1: when I need them right now? And then I also
18:51
Speaker 1: thought of something. I could have said, let's start with
18:54
Speaker 1: a miracle. You close your eyes, count forty five seconds
18:58
Speaker 1: and I will vanish from you. But I didn't. But
19:04
Speaker 1: I didn't teach him. I wasn't as patient as Jesus is,
19:09
Speaker 1: and I found a way to lie, my way out,
19:11
Speaker 1: not lie. But I said, we had other plans. The
19:17
Speaker 1: plans were to get away from them so that we
19:19
Speaker 1: could get some peace and quiet. And I got in
19:22
Speaker 1: the car and the guy said, we told you, Dad,
19:25
Speaker 1: we told you what's gonna happen. Well, here's Jesus sitting
19:28
Speaker 1: in a boat, and he's got the crowd, ever present
19:33
Speaker 1: crowd there, and he decides to teach them in a
19:38
Speaker 1: different way. Always remember when you're reading your Bible to
19:44
Speaker 1: pay attention to unusual words. One of them emerges in
19:51
Speaker 1: verse three. He told them many stories in the form
19:59
Speaker 1: of parables. Parables. Interesting word. Actually, it's a combination of
20:07
Speaker 1: two Greek words para, which means beside you place something,
20:14
Speaker 1: para something you do it beside it, and bollow, which
20:18
Speaker 1: is the verb for to throw or to cast some
20:23
Speaker 1: time to place, placing something alongside something else for the
20:30
Speaker 1: purpose of comparison, to teach a particular truth. Now understand,
20:41
Speaker 1: parables were spoken. They weren't written. Jesus did not tell
20:45
Speaker 1: them to write anything down. They're not meant to be
20:51
Speaker 1: analyzed with commentaries and dictionaries and Bible atlases and all that.
20:57
Speaker 1: They're meant to be heard, better to be listened to
21:03
Speaker 1: as someone speaks them. Furthermore, the truth they teach is immediate.
21:13
Speaker 1: Either you immediately get it or you do not. They're
21:17
Speaker 1: designed to be like that. In other words, Jesus used
21:23
Speaker 1: these parables, these comparisons, first of all to reveal truth
21:31
Speaker 1: to those who desired to get it, and then to
21:35
Speaker 1: conceal truth from those who rejected it, denied it. It
21:43
Speaker 1: sort of separated the listeners from those who had no interest.
21:53
Speaker 1: They're not allegories. One man writes this way. Generally speaking,
21:59
Speaker 1: a parable will have only one point. A parable is
22:03
Speaker 1: not an allegory. An allegory is a story in which
22:07
Speaker 1: every possible detail has an inner meaning. But an allegory
22:11
Speaker 1: has to be read and studied. A parable is heard.
22:19
Speaker 1: We must be very careful not to make allegories of
22:24
Speaker 1: the parables. I often say it this way. Don't make
22:27
Speaker 1: a parable walk on all fours. Don't try to take
22:31
Speaker 1: apart every segment of it and make it mean something
22:35
Speaker 1: or represent something. You know. An allegory that comes to
22:40
Speaker 1: mind is the Pilgrim's Progress. It's a book full of
22:45
Speaker 1: word pictures, and you study it, you read it, and
22:49
Speaker 1: you can examine each of those things that represent something
22:55
Speaker 1: else of a deeper meaning as an allegory. But a
23:00
Speaker 1: parabalo or parable is designed to teach one main truth.
23:05
Speaker 1: We'll get to it in a moment, but keep that
23:08
Speaker 1: in mind. What is the one truth that Jesus wanted
23:14
Speaker 1: to convey? So he begins with the familiar parable. Start
23:22
Speaker 1: like that, familiar to people in the first century, though
23:26
Speaker 1: not familiar to twenty first century people, some of whom
23:32
Speaker 1: have never been on a farm, most of whom have
23:35
Speaker 1: never sown seed in a field. So the story begins
23:42
Speaker 1: unfamiliar to us, unfortunately. So for that reason, I'll take
23:47
Speaker 1: a few moments to explain it. If I were to
23:49
Speaker 1: say a person sat down at the computer to send
23:53
Speaker 1: an email message to a friend, everybody here would get it.
23:57
Speaker 1: You've not only you not only know about it, you've
24:00
Speaker 1: done it, You're involved in it. So it was with
24:03
Speaker 1: the farming community of the first century. But because we're
24:09
Speaker 1: not of an agricultural type setting in our lives, a
24:15
Speaker 1: little explanation is helpful. A farmer would have the field plowed,
24:21
Speaker 1: or he would plow it and then would attach a
24:24
Speaker 1: bag of seed to the waist, or would hang a
24:28
Speaker 1: shoulder bag, a strap of his shoulder bag, and he
24:31
Speaker 1: would reach inside and as he walked along, he would
24:35
Speaker 1: randomly broadcast the seed, tossing it here and there, and
24:41
Speaker 1: the seed would fall randomly on the soil. That's the
24:45
Speaker 1: picture could have been that there was a farmer up
24:48
Speaker 1: on a hillside, and Jesus is just like that farmer.
24:52
Speaker 1: You've all seen it. You're all familiar. There was this
24:56
Speaker 1: farmer that showed seed. He was planting or scattering seed. Now,
25:05
Speaker 1: I want you to do something you don't normally do,
25:07
Speaker 1: unless you're among those that liked to take notes. I'd
25:12
Speaker 1: like you to take out a pen or a pencil
25:14
Speaker 1: because I want you to mark four things that I
25:18
Speaker 1: want to point out. They're important for us to understand
25:21
Speaker 1: this parable. I won't analyze it too much, but I
25:26
Speaker 1: do want you to see the various parts with your penhandy.
25:30
Speaker 1: I want you in verse four to mark the footpath
25:35
Speaker 1: or beside the road. It reads. As he scattered the
25:39
Speaker 1: seed across the field, some fell on a footpath. Mark
25:44
Speaker 1: that that's the first kind of soil that he uses
25:50
Speaker 1: to illustrate his point. What is a footpath? Well between
25:57
Speaker 1: rows there would often be provided a place for people
26:01
Speaker 1: to walk, so they didn't crush the plants as they
26:04
Speaker 1: walked across the field. And that reminds me of something
26:10
Speaker 1: that happened years ago. I just thought of it. We
26:13
Speaker 1: were driving from from San Francisco to Houston. I just
26:18
Speaker 1: got my orders cut and I was gonna have to
26:20
Speaker 1: go overseas. So we had a month off before I left,
26:23
Speaker 1: and Centthy and I got the brilliant idea to drive
26:27
Speaker 1: without stopping from San Francisco to Houston. You do dumb
26:33
Speaker 1: things when you're early married, and this was one of
26:36
Speaker 1: our dumber things. And one of us said we would
26:42
Speaker 1: we would fix it up where one would sleep in
26:45
Speaker 1: the backseat and the other would drive, hopefully would drive,
26:51
Speaker 1: and one would sleep and the other drive. So we
26:54
Speaker 1: swapped off and we would wake the other one up
26:58
Speaker 1: and say it's your turn, and we up. And so
27:01
Speaker 1: one time we are outside Pacas, Texas. They were going
27:06
Speaker 1: to Pacaus. Don't go but but anyway, it's flat land
27:14
Speaker 1: and it's way out there, and Cynthia woke up as
27:20
Speaker 1: the car was doing this. She's in the back asleep
27:25
Speaker 1: and I'm on the at the wheel, and she said,
27:28
Speaker 1: what in the world is going on? It's a rough road.
27:32
Speaker 1: I mean, I can I say you know what. I'd
27:35
Speaker 1: slept for about seven miles from outside Pacas, through three
27:41
Speaker 1: traffic lights into a cotton field, and we were in
27:45
Speaker 1: the field going through this, and she said, I'm never
27:52
Speaker 1: gonna trust you again. She said other things I'm not
27:55
Speaker 1: going to get into, but but I remember thinking it's
27:59
Speaker 1: probably what a good idea to come all the way
28:01
Speaker 1: back without sleep. Anyway, we were not on a footpath.
28:04
Speaker 1: We were in the field where we should not have been,
28:09
Speaker 1: and thankfully the farmer did not see us going knocking
28:13
Speaker 1: all the crops down. The pathway keeps you from doing
28:18
Speaker 1: that kind of thing, gives you a place to walk.
28:20
Speaker 1: But imagine everybody walking a pathway. It gets as hard
28:25
Speaker 1: as a pavement. And if you drop seed on a pavement,
28:28
Speaker 1: like on this desk here, you we just lie there
28:32
Speaker 1: and then blow away, which is his point. We'll get
28:35
Speaker 1: to it in a moment. On the footpath. Now you
28:37
Speaker 1: got your pen ready, Look at verse five. Other seed
28:41
Speaker 1: fell on your Bible may read rocky places or rocky soil.
28:48
Speaker 1: Mine reads on shallow soil. The reason is it's more
28:53
Speaker 1: shallow than rocky. Well, we think of rocky soil. We
28:57
Speaker 1: think of little stones and rocks mingled in in the soil,
29:01
Speaker 1: but it's not that. This is a small shelf, almost
29:05
Speaker 1: like a skin of a dirt that lays on top
29:09
Speaker 1: of limestone. A big slabs of limestone found all over Israel,
29:15
Speaker 1: and it would be shallow soil. And obviously if seed
29:19
Speaker 1: lands there, it begins to germinate. But there's no place
29:23
Speaker 1: for the root to grow, and the sun comes and
29:28
Speaker 1: pounds on it, and the weather beats on it, and
29:31
Speaker 1: it finally withers, and it doesn't grow. It dies, says
29:35
Speaker 1: at the end of her six Now get ready, here's
29:38
Speaker 1: the third other seed fell among thorns. Now it sounds
29:43
Speaker 1: like they was throwing seed on Actually in the plowing
29:48
Speaker 1: it had not gotten all of the roots of horns
29:51
Speaker 1: out of there. And here are these fibrous roots that
29:56
Speaker 1: are really thorn and thistles that as soon as the
30:01
Speaker 1: ground begins to be watered and the sunshines, the thorns
30:05
Speaker 1: grow up along with the grain, and the thorns overgrow
30:10
Speaker 1: the grain and choke out the grain so that it
30:14
Speaker 1: cannot produce, and the new sprouts are hindered from producing.
30:22
Speaker 1: And we read they being these tender plants that they
30:29
Speaker 1: were are choked out and of no use. Then the
30:35
Speaker 1: fourth is market fertile soil, or your Bible may read
30:40
Speaker 1: good soil, nice clean, soft, well cultivated, are well plowed
30:48
Speaker 1: soil that the roots can go into, and then the
30:52
Speaker 1: plant grows and is healthy and becomes productive. Verse ten
31:04
Speaker 1: naturally is disciples are hearing this, and they don't know
31:07
Speaker 1: where he's going with it. They know all about soils,
31:11
Speaker 1: but they knew it wasn't an agricultural class. There's something
31:14
Speaker 1: more to this. They just couldn't figure it out, so
31:17
Speaker 1: they said, why do you use parables when you talk
31:21
Speaker 1: to the people. His answer is significant, you're permitted to
31:30
Speaker 1: understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, and others
31:32
Speaker 1: are not. To those who listen to my teaching, that's
31:37
Speaker 1: a key word. To those who listen to my teaching,
31:42
Speaker 1: more understanding will be given. They'll have an abundance of knowledge.
31:45
Speaker 1: But but for those who are not listening, I've circled
31:53
Speaker 1: not in my Bible. For those who are not listening,
31:57
Speaker 1: even what little understanding they have will be taken from him.
32:01
Speaker 1: And that's why I use parables. Interesting, isn't it all
32:12
Speaker 1: four soils receive the seed, just as we'll see in
32:17
Speaker 1: a moment all who have the seed planet in their
32:22
Speaker 1: lives here, but they don't all listen. They're not hard
32:28
Speaker 1: of hearing, their heart of listening. That's what he has
32:36
Speaker 1: in mind. In fact, he says in verse thirteen, they
32:41
Speaker 1: look but they don't really see, and they hear, but
32:45
Speaker 1: they don't really listen or understand. Then he quotes from Isaiah,
32:52
Speaker 1: and verse fifteen is significant because that's where the problem lies,
32:58
Speaker 1: not in the auditory nerve, not in the optic nerve,
33:04
Speaker 1: but down deep in the hearts of these people hardened
33:11
Speaker 1: and their ears cannot hear, and their eyes cannot see.
33:17
Speaker 1: You know what. Let me just interrupt here and make
33:22
Speaker 1: a statement so they we'll see the relevance of all
33:25
Speaker 1: of this. That explains why some of you, as you
33:32
Speaker 1: sit and endure a message, keep checking your watch, keep
33:38
Speaker 1: wondering how much longer, And the answer is longer than
33:42
Speaker 1: you wish. And you're not. You're bored. It's not of
33:50
Speaker 1: interest to you. You want to yawn, you really want
33:54
Speaker 1: to get up and scoot and get out. But others
33:57
Speaker 1: of you would say, I wish you'd gone on thirty
34:02
Speaker 1: forty five more minutes. I wish we'd have had time
34:06
Speaker 1: to really dig even deeper than that, because I love this.
34:13
Speaker 1: This explains why you know people who with whom you
34:19
Speaker 1: were able to share God's truth, and they say to you,
34:22
Speaker 1: in so many words, just tell me more. I just
34:26
Speaker 1: can't get enough of this. I will tell you. I'll
34:32
Speaker 1: confess to you. When I got the seminary, I was
34:35
Speaker 1: in that category. I couldn't get enough. I clamored for
34:40
Speaker 1: a front row seat. I didn't want to be distracted
34:42
Speaker 1: by anything else. I wanted to learn from everyone that
34:46
Speaker 1: was teaching the truth. I knew this was my one
34:48
Speaker 1: and only moment to glean as much as I could.
34:54
Speaker 1: I wasn't that bright. There were others far more bright
34:58
Speaker 1: than I. But I had a My heart was like
35:03
Speaker 1: a sponge, and I listened. I listened, I interacted. I
35:08
Speaker 1: would often stay until the prop would check his watch
35:13
Speaker 1: to see how much longer this guy's gonna ask questions.
35:17
Speaker 1: I wanted more. I wanted more. I'm not bragging. I'm
35:20
Speaker 1: just saying my heart was open. But not everyone in
35:25
Speaker 1: the class had open hearts some reward, Some in fact,
35:31
Speaker 1: dropped out of school after one year or two, or
35:36
Speaker 1: they went true, but it didn't mean that much. This
35:40
Speaker 1: is the picture here. Like some of you, you will
35:44
Speaker 1: leave even by the time you finished lunch. If your
35:47
Speaker 1: life depended on it. You could not repeat what you
35:50
Speaker 1: heard because you didn't listen. Oh you heard it, But
35:56
Speaker 1: you have a heart problem. And as he puts it,
36:02
Speaker 1: the hearts of these people are hardened. And you know
36:09
Speaker 1: I can't tell them by looking. Some of you hide
36:13
Speaker 1: your boredom. Others of you don't. That's okay, that's all right.
36:20
Speaker 1: If I were bored, i'd do that. That's probably the
36:22
Speaker 1: same thing. But Jesus is giving a parable that reveals
36:29
Speaker 1: a very important truth. Get it down, you're ready, You
36:34
Speaker 1: got your pen. The condition of one's heart determines its
36:42
Speaker 1: receptivity to truth. The condition of one's heart determines its
36:51
Speaker 1: receptivity to truth. Now understand, the heart is not the
36:58
Speaker 1: organ that pumps blood. When you read in your Bible
37:01
Speaker 1: of the heart, it rarely refers to a literal heart
37:05
Speaker 1: in the chest. It's the inner person. It's where we
37:10
Speaker 1: form decisions, where we come to terms with life. It's
37:18
Speaker 1: where convictions make up their minds. It's where we form
37:23
Speaker 1: or break habits, where we make decisions or refuse to
37:29
Speaker 1: make them. The heart is the inner being, the part
37:35
Speaker 1: of us that will live forever. It's that mixture of
37:41
Speaker 1: soul and spirit deep within that represents who we are.
37:46
Speaker 1: That's a very important point. Your heart represents who you are.
37:53
Speaker 1: Now when you go a little further, this is one
37:57
Speaker 1: of those great parables, you know why. Of course Jesus
38:00
Speaker 1: interprets this parable. Now later on I need to warn
38:05
Speaker 1: you the preacher will be interpreting the parables, and that's
38:09
Speaker 1: when we can get into a lot of trouble if
38:11
Speaker 1: we're not careful. Because I don't speak as cathedral, I
38:16
Speaker 1: could make mistakes, and often have. But Jesus makes no mistakes.
38:21
Speaker 1: He is right on the money as he comes to
38:24
Speaker 1: this interpretation. Now you still got your penhandy four more
38:29
Speaker 1: things to mark. Here we go verse eighteen. Now listen,
38:34
Speaker 1: here we are again. Listen. Listen to the explanation of
38:39
Speaker 1: the parable about the farmer planning the sea. Here we
38:43
Speaker 1: are the seed that fell on the footpath represents. Now
38:49
Speaker 1: you mark this. Those who hear the message and don't
38:53
Speaker 1: understand it. You hear it, but you don't get it.
39:00
Speaker 1: And to make matters worse, truth be told you don't care.
39:07
Speaker 1: It's part of your heart condition. And you know that.
39:11
Speaker 1: I just say it to make the point. Jesus dealt
39:15
Speaker 1: with those who didn't care. He spoke to Pharisees, and
39:18
Speaker 1: it just hit them like a drop of water with
39:22
Speaker 1: hit glass and roll right off. You hear words, but
39:30
Speaker 1: you don't perceive the significance of them. They don't land
39:37
Speaker 1: deep within with a desire to make a difference, having
39:42
Speaker 1: heard them, having listened to them. So first is the footpath.
39:47
Speaker 1: This is the person whose mind is shut, whose eyes
39:50
Speaker 1: are blinded to truth. This is the individual who is
39:54
Speaker 1: not teachable, who refuses to accept. And there are none
40:01
Speaker 1: so blind as those who will not see. And may
40:06
Speaker 1: I just say a word to you who have loved
40:08
Speaker 1: ones in this category. Talking longer won't help, Speaking louder
40:17
Speaker 1: won't help. They're not interested. So use a little wisdom
40:25
Speaker 1: and understand who you're dealing with. Now, by the grace
40:29
Speaker 1: of God, some will find that there's a breakthrough as
40:34
Speaker 1: a result of your telling them, just enough for them
40:38
Speaker 1: to turn over in their minds, But for the most part,
40:44
Speaker 1: their minds are closed. They're shut. Now look at the
40:51
Speaker 1: rocky soil, and we'll notice that it represents not the
40:54
Speaker 1: hard heart, that's the first one. But this represents the
40:58
Speaker 1: shallow heart. So let's look at what it says. The
41:03
Speaker 1: seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear and
41:06
Speaker 1: immediately receive it with joy butt But since they don't
41:12
Speaker 1: have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away
41:16
Speaker 1: as soon as they have problems or they're persecuted for
41:20
Speaker 1: believing God's word. This would be those who fail to
41:28
Speaker 1: think things through. They're quick to grab onto a new craze.
41:36
Speaker 1: They have a quick start, they have no follow through.
41:42
Speaker 1: They have a burst of emotion. It's all excited about
41:46
Speaker 1: this stuff of Jesus. But the lack of firm commitment
41:52
Speaker 1: and trouble comes, and soon the fire goes out. They're
41:57
Speaker 1: a dying ember. It's a shallow heart. We sometimes see
42:01
Speaker 1: it among celebrity testimonies. We hear about someone who came
42:07
Speaker 1: to know Jesus, but we find out a few weeks
42:11
Speaker 1: later it didn't really make a difference, and we go
42:15
Speaker 1: back and wonder what happened. It's a shallow heart. Some
42:19
Speaker 1: of you have shallow hearts. You like the burst of enthusiasm,
42:25
Speaker 1: you like the excitement of a moment and you're attracted
42:28
Speaker 1: to this, but it doesn't really take root, doesn't really
42:32
Speaker 1: make a difference. Now there's a third here. It gets
42:36
Speaker 1: really personal. The Thorny Verse twenty two Thords represent those
42:43
Speaker 1: who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message
42:47
Speaker 1: is crowded out. I call this the crowded heart, crowded
42:54
Speaker 1: out by the worries of this life and the lure
42:57
Speaker 1: of wealth, so no fruit is produced. If you read
43:03
Speaker 1: it in Mark four, the same parable mentions the cares
43:09
Speaker 1: of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the
43:13
Speaker 1: lusts of other things. Epithe me, it's the word that
43:17
Speaker 1: means desire, the desire for a lot of things. You're busy.
43:25
Speaker 1: You're too busy, too many interests, too many involvements, too
43:31
Speaker 1: many activities, too much stuff. Your life is continually fast paced.
43:36
Speaker 1: You're preoccupied, so eternal things are crowded out. Takes time
43:41
Speaker 1: to drink in the eternal. The late how Hendrix used
43:47
Speaker 1: to say to us when we were in his class,
43:50
Speaker 1: you cannot turn out a man of God without the
43:54
Speaker 1: luxury of leisure. He's right, takes time. My study is
44:04
Speaker 1: not filled with loud music and activity and videos and
44:08
Speaker 1: television program. My study is silent, and I'm there for hours.
44:16
Speaker 1: I have the privilege of that, and I'll never forget
44:19
Speaker 1: it's a privilege. And children are gone no longer there.
44:23
Speaker 1: Grandchildren come and go, but the house is usually quiet,
44:28
Speaker 1: and it's the perfect setting for me to drink in
44:31
Speaker 1: and let it absorb and soak into my soul. And
44:37
Speaker 1: it's amazing what can happen. But I can't keep saying
44:42
Speaker 1: yes to a lot of other things and have the
44:45
Speaker 1: time I need to do what I'm called to do.
44:51
Speaker 1: The crowd at heart is preoccupied with getting rich. Money
44:56
Speaker 1: means too much to you, or making an impression, building
45:01
Speaker 1: your own private empire. Too many exciting things, no time
45:06
Speaker 1: for real priorities. That's the crowd at heart. These are
45:12
Speaker 1: thorns that choke the word, and it can't produce good
45:22
Speaker 1: word choke. It crowds out all that really matters. And
45:30
Speaker 1: then he says, there's the good soil, which obviously is soft,
45:35
Speaker 1: and the priorities are based on what's important, not what's urgent.
45:39
Speaker 1: You need to read the little book, the Tyranny of
45:41
Speaker 1: the Urgent, if you haven't already. The good soil is
45:46
Speaker 1: not always putting out fires. It not only hears, it listens,
45:52
Speaker 1: not only sees, it perceives it, not only thinks this
45:56
Speaker 1: would be helpful for someone. It says this is needed
45:59
Speaker 1: in my own life. I need this. This is a
46:04
Speaker 1: conviction that God is revealing to me, and I dare
46:10
Speaker 1: not miss it. The good soil is a healthy heart.
46:17
Speaker 1: You get them down, the hard heart, the shallow heart,
46:22
Speaker 1: the crowded heart, and the healthy heart. You know what's
46:28
Speaker 1: wonderful about this? It all starts with who we are.
46:37
Speaker 1: You are, what your heart is. That's who you really are.
46:47
Speaker 1: Thought about this when a little nursery rhyme came to
46:50
Speaker 1: mind not long ago. Pussy Cat, pussy Cat, where have
46:55
Speaker 1: you been? I've been to London to look at the Queen.
47:00
Speaker 1: Pussy Cat. Pussycat, what did you there? I frightened a
47:05
Speaker 1: little mouse under her chair? What you gotta be kidding, Fluff.
47:13
Speaker 1: You got to London and you had a chance to
47:15
Speaker 1: see Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, You had an opportunity to
47:21
Speaker 1: visit Hyde Park. You could go and see the Changing
47:24
Speaker 1: of the Guard. You could even watch as Parliament sat,
47:28
Speaker 1: or maybe even a championship soccer game. You had all
47:32
Speaker 1: of this opportunity and what did you do. You sneaked
47:35
Speaker 1: in the queen's chamber, You got down in a corner
47:39
Speaker 1: and you spotted a mouse under her chair. Come on,
47:45
Speaker 1: what is wrong? It's a simple answer. Fluff is a cat.
47:51
Speaker 1: She is a mouse hunting feeline, and no queen is
47:56
Speaker 1: going to be of interest for her if there's a
47:58
Speaker 1: mouse in the room, because you see, don't miss it.
48:05
Speaker 1: What she is determines what she sees, and what she
48:10
Speaker 1: sees determines what she does. That's us, that's us, you say, Chuck,
48:24
Speaker 1: you're losing it. You have gone too far. Well, nursery
48:29
Speaker 1: rhymes are hard to follow, aren't they, So let me
48:33
Speaker 1: put it on the bottom shelf. Who you are determines
48:36
Speaker 1: what you listen to, and what you listen to determines
48:45
Speaker 1: how you respond. That's what this parable is all about.
48:55
Speaker 1: Which soil are you? Where are you? Hard heart? That's
49:07
Speaker 1: why your mind stays closed. That's why discussions about spiritual
49:11
Speaker 1: things don't really set you on fire. In fact, they
49:15
Speaker 1: make you want to run away from it. That's why
49:21
Speaker 1: you're blind to see the significance of what can absolutely
49:27
Speaker 1: prepare you for the one thing you're going to face,
49:31
Speaker 1: death and life beyond that's why you live so fearful
49:41
Speaker 1: because it doesn't take root. Shallow? Is that who you are?
49:49
Speaker 1: Sort of hit and run, crowded, don't answer out loud?
49:59
Speaker 1: But are you too? Most I meet are too busy.
50:06
Speaker 1: Synth and I have a friend and we flew on
50:08
Speaker 1: this plane as we were going to a particular spot
50:12
Speaker 1: to enjoy time away. The only man I knew who
50:15
Speaker 1: had two faxes and two phones going at the same time.
50:20
Speaker 1: Too busy. How about healthy heart? You know what, truth
50:29
Speaker 1: be told. We've got a lot of healthy hearts in
50:31
Speaker 1: this church. And that's what excites me because I know
50:35
Speaker 1: that no matter how deep I may go, I'm not
50:38
Speaker 1: going too deep for many of you. You love it,
50:43
Speaker 1: and I commend you because I will tell you if
50:47
Speaker 1: not now, there'll be a day in your life when
50:50
Speaker 1: you really need it, when they take our Bibles away
50:56
Speaker 1: from us, and not only our freedom, but our families
51:03
Speaker 1: are threatened, and we're not that far away. Please bow
51:13
Speaker 1: with me. Who you are determines what you listen to,
51:22
Speaker 1: and what you listen to determines how you respond. I
51:31
Speaker 1: hope you've listened. I hope you're getting it. Use you're
51:40
Speaker 1: going to really need it. Maybe sooner than you realize.
51:49
Speaker 1: Help us, our Father, in the midst of this maddening world,
51:58
Speaker 1: to grasp what comes from no other source. Teach us
52:08
Speaker 1: to take time, Teach us to listen, that we might
52:18
Speaker 1: be transformed and bad habits changed, and addictions removed, and
52:29
Speaker 1: souls rescued. In the name of Christ, I pray everyone
52:42
Speaker 1: said Amen. The preceding message, A Story for the Heart
52:50
Speaker 1: of Listening, was copyrighted in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty one,
52:55
Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one
52:58
Speaker 1: by Charles Arswind. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of
53:04
Speaker 1: copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.