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Luke 8:1-21 "When God's Word Comes to You" · Clifford Baptist

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  Speaker A: Welcome to the Aug. 16 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 6:35 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter 8, verses 1 through 21. And the sermon is entitled When God's Work Comes to you, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell.
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  Speaker B: So I'm thankful today that you are here. Grab your copy of God's Word, go to Luke, chapter number eight. Luke, chapter number eight. I don't know if you're keeping track or not. Once we get through chapter eight, we are only one third of the way through the book of Luke. And I want you to know this. Chapter eight has become my favorite book. And you'll probably hear me say that again as I study and preach from this book. But chapter eight has so much truth in it. And today, as we open it up together, we remember that Dr. Luke is writing to a man by the name of Theophilus. And here's what he wants Theophilus to know. He wants Theophilus to realize who. Who Jesus is. That is his purpose of writing the letter, who Jesus is. And so as he writes this letter, he writes it. And I've picked out Luke 19:10 as the overall summary of this whole book. Luke 19:10 says this. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. That one verse sums up the whole book of Luke and why Luke writes to Theophilus. And eventually God's Word makes it to us that lost people can see and understand and know who Jesus is and that Jesus will save them. Amen. I'm thankful for this book as we break it open together today. We understand what happens when God's Word comes to us. And I don't know how you take in God's Word. Certainly we do that together on Sunday morning. We take in God's Word together. But my prayer is this, that I'm not the only source of your Bible information and Bible knowledge. I pray that every day that you open God's Word and that you take in God's Word for yourself. I also hope and pray that there are other resources, other people that pour into you. Anytime I'm going down the road, the radio is on, somebody's preaching to Jeffrey. I want you to know that I'm listening to somebody preach, and so somebody's always pouring into me. And when God's Word comes to us, there are really three questions that we must consider that we need to ask ourselves. When God's Word comes to us, this is a very, very, very familiar story. This is not going to be different. You understand? You Know this story, but I pray that we can answer three questions together. You leave today. Look in Luke, chapter eight, starting with verse number one. We're going to cover a lot of ground. We're going all the way to verse 21 today. But we're going to read the first 10 verses together. And it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village. Preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him. And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils. And Joanna, the wife of Cuza, Herod's steward. And Susanna. And many others which ministered unto him of their substance. And when much people gathered together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow a seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside. And it was trodden down. And the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock. And as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among the thorns. And the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit a hundredfold. And when he said these things, he cried, and he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable be? And he said unto you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to others in parables that seeing they may not see. And hearing they might not understand. The first question that we're going to answer together today about when God's Word comes to us is the question of this. Will you hear it? How many of you would label yourself hard of hearing? I'll be the first one. Wives, take your elbow and just chunk it in his side right now. All right. Make him raise his hand. Right. We can be hard of hearing. We can be selective hearing. Sometimes we are present, but we don't hear. Sometimes when we read God's Word, we read and we don't understand. We're not hearing the Word of God. And so when we think about the importance of hearing God's Word, here's the question today. Will you hear it when God's Word comes to you, Will you hear it? We have a picture, as chapter eight opens up, of Jesus moving around from place to place. The 12 are with him. Now, those 12 are referring to the 12 disciples who our apostles, the 12 closest earthly people to Jesus are with him. But we are also introduced. There are some faithful women that are ministering to him. And as we see this list of faithful women, three of them are mentioned. Mary Magdalene, whom seven spirits were cast out of her. Joanna, the wife of Cuza, which is the manager of Herod's house. And then Susanna, these women, out of their own means, took care of Jesus. Now, I want to bring your attention to something in verse number three. It says the end of the verse, they ministered unto him of their substance. Here's what that means. Out of their own pockets, out of their own giftings, out of their own abilities, they ministered to Jesus. Wow. What I also want you to see is that word ministered is the same word that we studied last week as we talked about deacons, diakonos. That word is a root there, and it means to minister or serve. These women poured into Jesus that he may continue to do what the Father called him to do. And so here's what I want you to understand. Listen to me, men. I know we can be hard of hearing, right? But women in the Southern Baptist circle, sometimes it's hard to figure out where you fit in. And here's what I want to tell you. Without women, ministry fails. Amen. I will say this from the pulpit. I do not believe women are called to be pastors, but I do believe women are called to serve the people of God faithfully, whether you have a title or not. We do that together and collectively as the church. So today, when we think about these women and how they poured into Jesus out of their own wells, if you will. Many of them very precious to Jesus and his ministry. And Dr. Luke, remember, Dr. Luke is good at the details. He notices the importance of these women doing what God has called them to do. So they minister. Verse number four. We are told that many people gather around. And anytime people gather around, Jesus takes takes the opportunity to preach and to teach people. And so today, as verse number four opens up, we are introduced to four different types of soil. This parable of the sower teaches us some things that we can learn about our own life. And here's what we need to understand. There are four different soils that are represented. But what do these four soils mean? We were introduced to them. What does it mean? Look at verse 11. Now, the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear. Then cometh the devil and take away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock Are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy. And and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. That which fell among the thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and the riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection but that on the good ground are they which in honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patient. Can I tell you something before we look at the soils? Verses 12 through 15 describe the four soils that we're going to talk about. But here's the one thing they have in common. Listen to me. They all heard the word. They all heard the word. Even though the soil is different, everyone hears the word. And what happens with that word? It describes what soil it fell on. Jesus says this, verse number 11, the seed is the word of God. So in this parable, when we are talking about sowing or casting out the seed, the seed is God's word. And what you do, what you hear from God's word is important. That's the crux of this parable. And so when we look at this today, I've described these soils in four different ways. This is just my interpretation of it. Okay, you have a calloused heart. What is a calloused heart? If you look at verse number five and verse number 12, as that sower goes out to seed and he sows some falls on the wayside, they're going to fall on the path that has been packed down. This is a packed path, a trodden down soil. On the surface, it is very hard and hard to penetrate. And so when the seed is sown, when it is cast out, this soil cannot receive the seed and the seed cannot penetrate the soil. And what does this hard packed path serve as a landing strip for? Satan. That's what it is. The Bible tells us Jesus says as that seed goes out, the fowls of the air will devour the seed before it can take root and before it can get into the ground before it has time, Satan devours the seed. In verse number 12, it says the devil takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Before the word of God can take root in that heart and in that life. Guess what? The devil doesn't give it time. Now listen, church, you can't point at your finger and say that's the devil's fault. Fault. We've got to look at our hearts. And maybe today you're here and you have a Calloused heart. Your heart is so hard because of life's circumstances or something that's happened or the bitterness in your heart. You can't give opportunity for God's word to penetrate your heart. That is real and that is represented here today. A calloused heart cannot receive the word of God. And I would shudder to say that many of us have probably entered a sanctuary at one time or another with some form of a calloused heart. You've had a bad morning. You had a bad day. Anybody had a bad morning on a Sunday morning. And you just said, I shouldn't even went to church today. Okay? I'm the only one that has this morning. I'm sorry. The calloused heart. The calloused heart says, no, God. It's your fault. No, God, there's no room. No God. There's no way that you can come in. There's a second heart here that is represented, and that is the convenient heart. This is represented in verses 6 and 13 by the rocky soil. Verse 6 says that seed falls upon the rock as soon as it was sprung up. It withered away because it lacked moisture. There was nothing to feed its roots. The rocky ground was in competition with the seed. And so when we understand that convenient heart, as the soil receives the seed and immediately it is received with joy, somebody hears about Jesus and they get excited. But guess what? The seed can't still penetrate the soil because the rocks that are all around it springs up for a little bit because there's no way for it to take root. It is found lacking and it falls away. The worldly, fleshly temptation wins over this heart of convenience. This seed does not produce. Listen to me. A heart that believes and hears and serves out of convenience, being led by your own desires. Today, if you can't truly serve God from the joy of Jesus that lives in your heart, you're just serving out of duty. The soil of your heart is rocky. Maybe you sign up to be part of a committee and you never show up. That's rocky soil, Convenience. And what I've realized is rocky soil is difficult because you've got to let God go take care of the rocks before the seed ever has a chance. There's a third soil. It is the soil that is crowded. A crowded heart is represented in verses 7 and 14. This soil, as the seed is cast out, the soil has thorns in it. And as that seed begins to grow, the thorns choke it out. Verse number 14, it says, they have heard, go forth and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. How many of you have to battle your own gardens from the weeds? What happens when the weeds infiltrate the garden? At times it seems like we're every day pulling weeds, right? It's no different in our hearts. Every single day you have to address what is growing in your heart. And here is the reality. The crowded heart chokes out what God wants to do. The cares and the riches and the pleasures of life. Root out what God really wants to do in your life. So just as you would kneel down and you would sweat and you would jerk that weed up by the roots in your own garden, we need to do the same thing within our own hearts. Daily we have to die to ourself. That's what the Bible teaches so that God can live in and through us. Notice this seed starts out, but life in the world chokes out life in the Word. There's something that chokes out God's Word. Today, when we think about a crowded heart, what's battling the seed and the soil of your heart? What's trying to root out God's word? We can ultimately point at Satan, yes, we can point at him. But what really is there, day by day, that's taken over God's place in your heart? Here's my $0.02 advice. Get rid of it. You have to pull it up and pull it up by the roots. But there's one more heart that is represented here by the good ground. And it is the cultivated heart. The cultivated heart offers good ground. It's not packed, it's not rocky, it's not weedy. It's good dirt that the sea can land on. And it receives the seed. Not only does it hear the word, this heart desires to keep God's word and to live by God's word. The soil is receptive to the word of God. And when that happens, it brings forth fruit. Look at me, church. Today our lives should be bearing fruit for Jesus. What we see here is the seed has the potential to bear fruit and to bear a hundred times a hundredfold fruit. And here's Jesus cry. Here is his plead. He who has ears, finish it out. Let him ear hear the importance of hearing God's Word when it comes to you. Not just brushing it aside, not just tuning it out, not just saying God, I'll wait to another time. No, God wants to deal with your soil right now. It's a call to action as we hear the word of God. When you receive it, my prayer is that you receive it with joy. And it is the good ground. It is receptive soil to the word of God. Let me ask you this. Who prepares the ground of your heart? This could get theologically fun, right? Can the pastor fix your heart? I would argue no. Because, look, the sower's not named, right? The sower's not identified here. Who's the sower? The sower is you and me. We are to be sowers as well. But as you sow, as whoever sows the seed, that seed is rooted in your heart. When we think about today, when we think about what we can do to make the soil right to receive the seed, it is in your hands, and it is God's hands. So, real quick, here's what I want you to know. Especially on Sunday mornings when God's word is proclaimed, you need to ask God to break the ground of your heart. You can do that driving on the way to church. You can say, God, prepare my heart today to receive whatever you have for me. God, break the ground of my heart up. You can ask God to get rid of the stones. There are things that are battling for space in your heart. God, I've got to get rid of these things that are really there. But, God, you've got to take them over. You got to get rid of them. Papa made me pick up rocks out the field growing up. I love my papa, but I didn't love picking up rocks with my papa. Why did we pick rocks out the field? So grass would grow. And some of us need to look at our own hearts and allow God to help us remove those stones. That way the seed can grow. Maybe you need to pull weeds. You know, there are things vying for God's space, and you need to get rid of it. Look, you don't need to pray about it. You don't need to seek counseling. You don't need to talk. You just need to get rid of that stuff. Pull it up by the roots and get rid of it. Prepare in prayer. Limit distractions. Bring your own copy of God's Word. Bring your Bible. Take notes. Review them throughout the week. Respond when God tells you to do something. That's how the fertile ground remains fertile. The good ground remains good. And so today, the first question, When God's Word comes to you, will you hear it? And the answer according to God's Word is this. Yes. Everybody hears the word of God. Here's the second question. Look at verses 16 through 18. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under A bed, but sitteth it on a candlestick that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known. And come abroad. Take heed therefore, how ye here. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. Question number two today is this. When God's word comes to you, will you hide it? Will you hide it? Many of you know this parable. Many of you have learned it. Many of you grow up singing a little song about hide it under a bushel. No, I'm gonna let it shine. I can't sing. I know that. We remember that song. How many of you sang that song? We're reminded of a very, very simple truth. The parable drives home human responsibility. And here's what Jesus says. I want you to catch these first two words in verse number 16. No man, no one. Jesus says this. When you receive the good news of Jesus, there is no one that can hide that he says this. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, puts it under a bed or sits it on a candlestick, that they which enter might see the light. We understand that once we receive the truth of God and it lands on that good soil, that we cannot hide it. We cannot hide it. No man, no person lights a candle and sticks it under something. Don't stick it under your bed. Don't make it go out. Don't hide it in your closet. Because the light brightens the room, not only for you, but for others that enter the room. And so today, when God's word comes to you, light is important. Light shows you what's there. Light exposes things that you didn't realize were there. And as that light begins to take over the house and enlighten the room, it is there for anyone that comes by. But it's also there for your own self that you can continue to give God the dark places of your heart and of your life. We don't hide the light of Jesus. The truth of the light of Jesus illuminates our lives. That darkness must leave. And so, as Christians today, we should want our hearts to illuminate for Jesus every part of them, every aspect of them. We want the light to expose the things that do not belong. Do we just shut this truth down? Do we just put a snuffer over the lamp and put it out? Jesus says this. No. There is no way we should desire that light to reach more areas of our lives, more areas of our homes, and more areas of our hearts that others around us can know the truth of who Jesus is. Who's that responsibility on us, you and me? The responsibility to sow and to share the light. The truth of God's word is ours and it belongs to every single believer. Do not hide the truth of God. Now listen. Here's what's hard for me. You have no control over it. Listen, once you sow the seed, my job is done. I can't twist your arm. It's not my job to beg you to come to Jesus. I'm just a seed, Sower. Just like when I realize who Jesus is, I put that light in every area of my life and I let it shine. It's my responsibility to sow and to shine for Jesus. And Jesus takes care of the rest of it. I can't come and change your heart. Only Jesus can. And you can change that heart. So today, when we think of what we will do when the word of God comes to us, will we hide and stop sowing the truth that we know, the truth that is Jesus? There's one more question. Look at verses 19 through 21. Then came to him his mother and his brethren and could not come at him for the press. And it was told by him, by certain, which said, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee. And he answered and said unto them, my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. The third question today is this. Will you hear it? Will you hide it? Or will you heed it? Will you just do what it says? The crowd around Jesus is growing. And somebody in the crowd says, jesus, those people that you really love, your mom and your brothers are here to see you. Now, some of you aren't going to like this. Does Jesus roll out the red carpet and say, yeah, bring them to me? No, they don't get the VIP treatment. They say, jesus, but they really want to see you. And Jesus says this. My family are the ones who hear the word of God and do it. Is that a harsh response? Does biological family matter to Jesus? Absolutely. They matter to Jesus. But what is he saying? He's saying this. Those that hear and obey the word of God, they become part of the family of God. To get close to Jesus isn't just knowing his name. To be close to Jesus isn't giving birth to him in order to get close to Jesus. You can't say, that's my brother. I know him. No, no, no. In order to get close to Jesus, you've got to hear him, understand the teaching and obey it with your life. You are in the family of God. If obeying God's word brings you closer to Jesus, why wouldn't you want to do that? That's my question. Today, the word of God must move forth from the ground of your heart to produce fruit, to lead your life, to shine to others that you are obeying what God would have you to do. So today, what are you going to do with God's word? The seed's been sown. Part of that seed is this. Jesus Christ came to this world in perfect form, without sin, without shame. He was sent by God the Father because of you and I. He lived a perfect life. And yet you and I are sinners. The Bible tells us that we can't save ourselves. We can't do enough good things. We can't know just about Jesus. We must know the truth of who Jesus is. And Jesus came to die that we may be saved from our sins. His death on a cross was our death. He took our place. His blood, the payment for our sin. And his resurrection on the third day proves that he has power over death. Jesus came to save and to seek that which was lost in this scripture. A couple of times, Jesus says to the disciples, there are going to be some parts that you understand and others don't. The mysteries of God are going to be made known to you through parables. That's what he tells the disciples. But others aren't going to understand them. Why would God do that? It depends on the soils that the seed lands on. Jesus knew the soil of the crowd. And here's the reality at Clifford Baptist Church this morning. Jesus knows the soil of your heart. He knows the areas of your heart that are hard. He knows the areas that are rocky. He knows the areas that are crowded out with thorns. He's looking for good ground. He's looking for Christians, men and women that will stand up and say, I'm not going to hide the truth, that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father but by Him. We can't snuff that out. And he's looking for men and women that not only believe it and share it, but live it out day by day. And so today, in a moment of invitation, there's only really two people that know your heart. You and the Lord. And this morning, you know what you're dealing with. You know what you're contemplating. The Word of God is at work. The Holy Spirit is at work. You know what you need to deal with? Maybe today you need to be a sower of the seed. Maybe you need to shine your light for Jesus. All you have to do is cast out the truth before men and women. We need Christians to be sowers of God's word. Pray for the opportunities to do that. Don't hide from it. Sow the seed. Maybe today you're here and you want to get closer to Jesus. If you're hiding the word, the truth of God instead of heeding it, you will not get closer to Jesus. I can promise you that today, what do you need to do? And maybe today you're here and with an honest heart, you can come before the Lord and say, lord, as I searched this soil, as I searched this
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  Speaker A: heart,
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  Speaker B: I realized, God, that you're not there. God, work on my heart, work on the soil. Because the seed has been sown. And I want the truth of God, not just to go a little ways down. I don't want Satan to devour it. I want that truth of God to reach my heart. And I want it to reach that good ground and grow. And I want to live my life and devote my life to living and sowing and shining for you, Jesus. I realize that I am a sinner. And Jesus, you are my Savior. Will you save me today? Jesus can change your life today. I'm not here to twist your arm. The seed's been sown. You and Jesus do the work in these moments. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for how we must contemplate what we are to do. When your Word comes to us as believers in this room, we have the option to hide it or let it shine. We've got an option just to keep the truth in our bag or to sew it. God, we've got the option to live it out or not. Lord, all over this room today, God, I pray that you will be plowing the soils of our hearts, that we would not only want to live it out, but we would want to share that truth that others may live for you as well. Let our light so shine from Clifford Baptist Church to the world that Jesus is the way. Lord, today if there's someone that's struggling with competition with a crowded heart, God, show them exactly what needs to go. Lord, today, plow the hard heart that your seed may root and grow and be fruitful. Thank you, Jesus, for what you're going to do. In his name we pray. Amen.
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  Speaker A: Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.