Is Your Heart Ready for the Word — Luke 7-8

0:13 Good morning. Some like lopsided, there's a lot of real estate's cheaper over here today. So I need extra loud for you guys to say Amen's on your side because it's I need to balance it. Okay. Let's open with the word of prayer.

0:36 Dear heavenly father, we come before you once again this morning and we are about to open your word and we ask that you would guide our hearts and our minds, open us to be receptive to your word. Speak to us, may your spirit dwell in us this morning and guide us as we study your word. And we thank you for this time that we have, ask for your blessing upon it. In Christ's name, Amen. So we are continuing in our study of Luke and Roger wrapped up chapter seven last week and we are beginning today in chapter eight.

1:24 I am not covering all of chapter eight. We're going to attempt to get through verse 18 today. That's the schedule. So what this passage is about really from verse one through verse 18, if I could sum it all up, I guess, and if you want a title for this, this is really about the importance and the power of God's Word. So I'm not going to read all of this just at once for the sake of time, but we are going to do is break this into some smaller sections as we divvy this up.

2:05 So let's get right into the text here and then that will lead me into a little bit of introduction. Luke eight verse one, and it came about soon afterwards that he began going about from one city and village to another proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God and the 12 were with him. And also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses, Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means. And we'll stop there. So he's going through every city and village.

2:48 Now, this is often considered to be Christ's second tour of Galilee, if you will. His first tour of Galilee was in chapter four, which is what I talked about the last time I was up here as that happens. But he was going throughout Galilee and it's highly likely that he was visiting the same cities and villages more than once during his itinerant preaching ministry. And on this tour, the 12 were with him. So in Luke four, when we read about his first tour, the 12 had not been formally recognized yet and this time they are with him and they are learning along the way.

3:25 And he's preaching and bringing glad tidings, as it says in some translations. So this broadly describes what his message was. It describes the theme of his teaching. He was bringing good news to the people. He's proclaiming that God's king and Messiah was here with them and he's announcing his kingdom.

3:46 Now Luke points out in verse two and also some women. Luke specifically points this out because it's a bit interesting. This is unusual. And why is that unusual? Jesus had a different attitude towards women than most of the religious leaders of the time.

4:08 The rabbis refused to teach women and generally assigned them a far more inferior place. And it's interesting if you think about it, really in all four gospels when we read about the enemies of Jesus, they were all men. And I'm not saying that there weren't any women but it's just interesting to note that the women who get mentioned in the gospels who are supporting Jesus, you know, you don't have any all all of the enemies were men. So, the women kind of really were on the right track and he had the men who really should have known who Jesus was. The men were the ones who were educated and the men are the ones who were opposing Jesus.

4:53 So the women really had it right all along so cue the moment to wives elbow your husbands and say, See, see, see, I was right, I was right, I was right. So the women really had the right idea all along. And a couple of women specifically, so Mary of Magdalene from whom seven demons had cast out and Joanna the wife of Chuza who was one of Herod's high ranking officials. And we look at this and we think how it's interesting that you can bring these two women together. So Mary who had a dark past if you will and you have a lady of the court who are in one company with Jesus.

5:32 They wouldn't normally have been together but Jesus has a very curious way of doing that. And many others who provided for him out of their substance. So what we see here is a picture of the true humble nature of Jesus. He willingly made himself dependent upon others. Of course, He didn't have to.

5:57 He could have created all of the money, all of the food, everything that He and His disciples needed. He could have created it but instead He chose not to. He was humble enough to receive help from others. And what does that mean for us? What does it mean to us?

6:14 It can be difficult to receive help from others, can it? Our pride gets in the way. It can be hard to be on the receiving end. And so sometimes being able to humbly receive can be a better indication of Christ in our lives than being on the giving end. Sometimes.

6:39 Giving sometimes, we might feel better about giving sometimes and that elevates our status because we can give but being able to receive humbly that that puts us in a lower place. We see that as a lower place but what it really is is this is evidence of Christ in our lives. Jesus here humbly receiving help from others. When he absolutely didn't need it. So that's by way of intro here and what's going on and setting our stage.

7:51 And other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. And other seed fell on the good soil and grew up and produced a crop a 100 times as great. And he said these things, as He said these things, He would call out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. So we read the same account in Matthew 13 and Mark four. And both Matthew and Mark's accounts of this occasion tell us that this was crowd that was so large that they were pushing on Jesus and Jesus got into the boat and set out a little bit off the shore.

8:27 So the boat made an effective pulpit and also happens to be that acoustics travel very well over water. It made a really good acoustic pulpit to stand there on the shore. Sound carries really well just by way of anecdote. But, and I mentioned this, I think it was when I was talking about Joshua and the acoustics of where he was when he was addressing the crowd. Anyway, that's interesting to me.

8:50 But I digress. So he speaks by a parable. And we get into the section of the parable. So the idea behind the word parable, right, is to throw alongside. So it's a story that's thrown alongside of a truth that's being intended to teach.

9:07 Parables are often called earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. We've heard that term likely many times. And they generally teach one main point or one main principle. We can get into trouble, I think, by treating them or expecting them to be intricate systems of theology with the smallest details revealing the smallest hidden truths. And I think we should remember that a parable is not an allegory where an allegory, is a story in which every possible detail has some kind of hidden meaning or an inner meaning and we're supposed to read and study the allegory and unlock every single word.

9:49 But parables aren't like that. And so I'm not going to dig through all the Greek of each word in here as we dig this apart. I think the point of the parables are here's a story that's being that's being thrown alongside of a truth. So Jesus has this parable. He has this story and it's an agricultural story which fits the culture of the day.

10:16 And as he sowed, some went on the wayside, some fell on rocks, some fell among thorns, and some fell on good ground. A lot of us have read this story before. So he's talking about four different types of soil and it's commonly called the parable of the sower but in some some bibles it might even call it the parable of the soils and I think that really is a better name for it because the differences are never in the seed or in the sower, but where you see are strictly talking about differences in soil. So the wayside, this is the path, the hardened dirt road where people walk and nothing grows there because the ground is too hard. On rock, so you've got a little thin layer of soil there but there's rock underneath it.

11:01 So on this kind of ground seed springs up quickly but then dies because there's no moisture there and it can't grow roots so it dies. So growing among thorns, that soil is fertile, maybe too fertile because there's weeds also that grow there and the thorns choke out to good grain and don't make a productive crop. And then good ground is good soil that's fertile and weed free and this good soil produces a good crop that can increase yields of a 100 fold. And then he says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. So this is not, when we look at the rest of what comes after this, this is not a call for everyone to pay attention.

12:25 So apparently, the meaning of the parable was not blatantly obvious to them And Jesus' use of parables was not as simple as an easy illustration of a spiritual truth. And he says, to you, it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. So the way that Jesus uses them, the parables were more like puzzles or riddles than an illustration and you had to have the key. You had to know what the key was to understand them And the disciples wanted to know the things of God. They wanted to know the kingdom of God.

13:04 And so because of that, He says, given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. They were given to know. So they could be spoken to plainly but others were taught in parables. And Jesus quotes Isaiah six:nine is what is in verse 10, Seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. By quoting this, Jesus is explaining that his parables were not just illustrations to make difficult things easy to understand for everyone in the audience.

13:37 That wasn't the point. They were a way of presenting God's message to those who were spiritually sensitive, to those who were spiritually in tune, to those who were spiritually curious, who were open so that they could understand. But those with a hardened heart, those who were callous, those who weren't open to the spirit of God, they would not understand, they would hear a story. A parable is not exactly an illustration. Right?

14:08 A good teacher can illustrate by stating a truth and then we can tell a story or an anecdote or an analogy to help get that point of cross. But Jesus doesn't start by stating a truth. He starts by telling the story. And this parable then, the story becomes a doorway. Jesus's listeners stood on the outside of the doorway and okay, if you're spiritually sensitive, if you are if you are curious, if you are open of mind and heart, you can step through the doorway and learn more about Christ.

14:43 You can learn more about God. You can learn more about the kingdom of God. But to those who were not, they stand on the outside and hear the story. And if you don't understand the key to the parable, you don't understand it at all. So think about, if we think about what some other people in the audience might have been thinking as Jesus states this, he states no truth.

15:09 He doesn't start with the truth that he then explains, it's just here's a story. So you have a farmer in the audience and he's sitting there thinking, he's telling me that I'm being very inefficient with the way I cast my seed. I must have been wasting all kinds of seed. That's what he's talking about. And you have a politician who's saying, I need to get a program going because we need to help the farmers and educate them in the efficiency of casting seeds.

15:36 So if I get this program going, this is going to be a big boost in my election campaign. Or you've got a newspaper reporter and they're like, he's talking about the bird problem and how much this is affecting the farming industry and this would make a great story. We can have a whole series in the newspaper about this, about the bird problem. And you get a salesman who thinks he's talking me, he's encouraging me in my fertilizer sales and if only this farmer knew how much I could help him with my product. And that's where we are.

16:10 So if we're not... If you don't have the key and you're not spiritually enlightened, if you're not having an open heart, here's the story that you hear and here's the perspectives that they're all kind of bringing. None of them can understand the real spiritual meaning of the parable until Jesus explains it to them. In verse 11, the seed is the word of god. Now, the parable is this, the seed is the word of god.

16:37 If you miss the key, you miss the whole parable. If you think the seed is love, you miss the parable. If you think the seed is money, you miss the parable. If you think that the seed is good works and hard work, you miss the parable. You only understand it by understanding the key that the seed is the word of God.

17:47 And the seed in good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance. The seed is the word of God. Jesus likens the word of God and this could be spoken or written, really, the word of God to be like a seed. And why do we think that is? A seed has an enormous power in itself for the generation of life and usefulness, right?

18:18 You think about a little seed and whether that grows into grain or corn or a tree or a bush, whatever, it all started with this. So there's a lot of potential there for life and usefulness if planted, if it's received in the right conditions. And this principle, this idea of the word of God being a seed is repeated then later on in the New Testament. Paul talks about it in one Corinthians three and Peter also describes it in his first epistle in chapter one that we have been born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. As he explains the different types of soils here, Jesus says, Those by the wayside are the ones who do hear, then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts so they do not believe and be saved.

19:11 So there are some who receive the word of God with hardened hearts and Satan quickly comes and takes away what is sown. It never has any effect because it never penetrates the soil. It represents those who hear the word of God but do not have understanding. The word of God must be understood, right, before it can truly bear fruit in our lives. We can't just hear it.

19:38 We've got to be able to understand it. It has to be able to take root. And so one of Satan's chief works we read about in two Corinthians four, Paul talks about this. He says that one of Satan's chief works is to keep us in darkness regarding the understanding of the gospel. And what does that tell us?

19:58 If if that's one of Satan's chief works, Satan believes in the power of the word of God because he knows that he has to be busy against it when it's being taught. He might believe in the power of God, power of the word of God more than we do sometimes. He believes in it. And Jesus says, then comes the devil. He's punctual.

20:30 The seed is cast, it hits the ground and then the devil comes. He is on time too. He believes in the power of the word of God being taught. And so he knows how to bring a distraction at just the right moment or the wrong moment, I guess you would call it then, right? It could be the speaker themselves who have a story and now I give you this story and it brings up some association in your mind with something else and now it's gone, right.

20:58 Or it's that your mind starts filling with yesterday's to do list and what you're doing this afternoon, right, and it's gone. It could be the cute kid in the row in front of you who turns around and smiles at you, right. It's gone. This is what happens. This is what happens.

21:16 The devil comes and takes the word. Jesus says that he's not only attempting to do it but he's successful. He does it. He takes it. And the devil has power in that regard.

21:29 And so if it were not for the opposing work of the Holy Spirit, there would be nothing happening here at all folks. Nothing. Do you believe in the power of the word of god bring preached preached as much as Satan does? Do we believe that? But the ones on rock are those who when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

21:59 A seed falling on a thin layer of soil on top of a rocky shelf springs up quickly and then withers and dies. This is like people who hear the word and receive it with an immediate kind of enthusiasm but then wither away. So what happens? They have good seed. They have a warm environment.

22:22 So there is a joyful reception of the word of God and we receive it eagerly. But then none of these things were the problem. So this all sounds fine and dandy. This is great. Everything is fine but then they fail because the seed lacks moisture and therefore has no root to endure the time of temptation.

22:47 Charles Spurgeon had a number of things to say about this particular section of scripture. I want to quote a few things, from one of his sermons. So he said, first, there was something that they did not have in connection with the spirit of God who waters the word. When we speak of spiritual do, we refer to the operation of the holy spirit. When we talk of the river of the water of life, we mean those sacred things which come streaming down to us from the throne of God through the working of the spirit of God, end quote.

23:26 He goes on to give seven different indications of what a lack of moisture might mean or how that might manifest manifest itself. Itself. He He says says, it it could could be be doctrine doctrine without without feeling. Feeling. It can be experience without humiliation.

23:44 It can be practice without love. Faith without repentance. Confidence without reservation. Action without spirituality. And zeal without communion.

24:08 We could spend the next half an hour or an hour or three unpacking that and we don't have time for that but I just wanted to put these things kind of in the back of your mind. The way he... Then he sums this up and he says, quote, we need the Holy Spirit and if the Lord does not water us daily from the living springs on the hilltops of glory, we shall certainly die. So take heed brothers and sisters that you do not lack the moisture of the Holy Spirit's gracious influence. Moving on.

24:45 Now, the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. So this is some who respond to the word and grow for a while but are choked and stopped in their spiritual walk, their spiritual growth by the competition with unspiritual things. The soil represents fertile ground but the soil was too fertile because it grew all sorts of other things, namely, the cares, riches and pleasures of life. And then he says, The ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience, thus fulfilling the purpose of the seed. So those are are the ones who brought fruit from their soil and in generous proportion.

25:51 He says that they bear fruit with patience. Obviously, this would be the desired outcome. Both for the farmer and for the preacher, this would be the desired outcome. But it would be wrong for us to take this fatalistically as if we were saying, well this is just the type of soil I am. This is the type of soil you are.

26:20 This is the kind of soil they are, right? That's that's the wrong way to take this. What this is to us is a challenge for every listener to accept God's help to cultivate the soil of their mind and of their heart so that the word of God has the best possible effect in your life. And it's not just that this represents four different types of people, but we can benefit from seeing all four types of soil in our lives at any given moment. Each different day, week, month, year, phase of life, we can see these in ourselves.

27:09 So sometimes, like the wayside, the word of God is preached and sometimes we allow no room for it at all. And sometimes like the stony places, sometimes we have these flashes of enthusiasm, right? And then it fizzles out. And there are other times, other days of the week where soil among thorns, the cares of the world are constantly choking out God's word and our fruitfulness and the usefulness of it. And sometimes, like the good ground, the seed falls on good ground and it bears fruit in our lives.

27:46 And so again, this parable is about the soil. The sower casts the same seed and you can't blame differences on the sower or on the seed but it's only on the soil, it's only on us. And even more than describing the mixed progress of the gospel message, this parable compels us to ask, what kind of soil am I? And not just in general because you have to pick one, but it's what kind of soil am I being today? What am I in this phase of life?

28:21 Where am I this week? How can I prepare my heart and my mind? How can I be the right kind of soil? This parable, Jesus is inviting action. He's calling us to action.

29:25 No one when he has lit a lamp covers it over with a container or puts it under a bed. But he puts it on a lamp stand in order that those who come in may see the light. For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. Therefore, take care how you listen for whoever has, to him shall more be given and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has, shall be taken away from him. Truth by its nature is meant to be revealed.

30:04 Right? And God promises that it will be. Nothing that is secret that will not be revealed. Nothing is secret that will not be revealed. That those may enter...

30:19 That those that enter may see the light. So if we've received the truth of God and we have the word of God and we have cultivated and we have received the word and we are growing as good soil, now we have responsibility. So if we have the truth of God, we are responsible to spread that truth in whatever way, whatever capacity God gives us to. However, He gives us an opportunity just as you might think someone who had the cure to a life threatening disease, you'd kind of think they have a moral responsibility to spread that. And this is...

30:51 We have a responsibility now to bear fruit and to spread it. We have to be stewards of the truth. And so we become accountable. And because we're accountable, we have to be careful how we hear. Therefore, take care how you listen.

31:13 It's good to hear the word of God, of course, but it's much better to think about how we are listening. He's warning us that we have to be actively preparing hearts and minds for this. There takes... It takes effort. We don't just become good soil and then we kind of just stay there untouched.

31:40 That's not how it works. Even if you've got good soil every year, you've got to to keep it going. Especially if you live in a climate like this and in the winter stuff happens. And so every spring, right, we've got a whole ritual that we have to do. So we have to actively be preparing and cultivating.

32:03 And we have to be careful how we are hearing. So we need to be judging ourselves as hearers as much as we're judging whoever is standing up here. So I'm up here and I bumble around and I fumble over my words and stuff and you can judge me for my lack of formal education and speaking skills which suffer. The more I talk about it, the worse I get. Okay.

32:29 Let's just keep right on going. So we need to be judging ourselves as hearers though. So let's focus on that. As you're sitting out there and you're receiving the word of God, let's focus and try to make it a point about how we are hearing. Take care how you listen for whoever has, more will be given and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away.

32:55 Even what he seems to have. So sometimes people may think that what they have spiritually, they really only think they have it. They don't even actually have it. The Pharisees were like this and so was the church at Laodicea in Revelation three. The Laodiceans said to themselves, hey, we are rich, we are wealthy, we don't need anything and they didn't even know that they were wretched, poor, blind, naked.

33:22 They didn't even know. For whoever has, to him more will be given. So when we hear the word of God and receive it with gladness, more will be given to us from God's spiritual riches. More more what? More will be given.

33:38 More what? More desire to hear. More understanding of what we hear. More capability to understand what we hear. More to understand about god.

33:49 More personal possession of the blessings that we hear about, more, more, more, more will be given. And what Jesus is talking about here, something we can take from this. So whoever has, more is giving, right? So your spiritual growth follows your momentum. Whether that's positive or negative.

34:11 So what you have, more will be given. You have a snowball effect. Right? You're getting more and more and more. But whoever doesn't have even what he thinks he has will be taken away.

34:20 So I guess that's also snowball rolling down the other side of a hill which is not a great metaphor. Maybe we should think about it more like it's the pendulum, right? Pendulum is much better, see? So you have your spiritual growth that's following your momentum. So the more that you have, more will be given.

34:38 And it follows that way. Whatever's in motion tends to stay in motion, right? Who was that? Isaac Newton, I think. Sorry mom.

34:46 And then when you are going the other way, right? Even when you don't have, what you think you have will be taken away. Your spiritual growth follows that momentum. So be careful how we hear. We have...

35:40 And then, if I'm not being good soil today or in this season of my life, if I'm feeling like I fit one of these other types of soil, what can I do about it? How can I cultivate my life, my heart, and my mind to receive the word of god and bear good fruit? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you and thank you for your word which has been given to us. We thank you for the power that it has to change and transform our lives.

36:17 But Lord, we fall short so often. It is so difficult to go through life with the cares and the worries of the world that threaten our daily Christian life and growth and our spiritual journey and becoming more like Christ. Heavenly Father, help us to cultivate our minds and our hearts. Help us to strive to be good soil. Help us to cultivate good soil so that we can bear fruit for your work and reflect Christ's love in our lives.

36:55 We ask for your blessing today as we go and we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.