3ABN On the Road

Ears To Hear

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: David Sherwood

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000789


01:00 Hello, my name is David Sherwood.
01:02 And it's a privilege for me to be here.
01:05 I work for a small mission training school
01:07 in Troy, Michigan called the Arise Institute.
01:10 And as I said it's just a privilege for me
01:12 to be here to share with you,
01:13 what the Lord has laid up on my heart.
01:19 It was a Native American who was walking in Downtown,
01:23 New York City with a friend of his,
01:24 who was a resident of the city.
01:28 And as they were walking,
01:30 amidst the hustle and the bustle of Manhattan,
01:32 he grabbed his friend by the arm.
01:34 And this Native American said,
01:35 "Did you hear that?" His friend said,
01:38 "I hear lots of things, what are you talking about?"
01:41 He said, "I hear a cricket?"
01:44 And his friend looked at him and he says, "What?"
01:47 He says, "You don't hear a cricket?"
01:49 He says, "No, I hear a cricket."
01:53 He said, "How on earth do you hear a cricket
01:55 in the middle of Downtown in New York?
01:59 The subway is underneath us, it's roaring by.
02:02 I hear cash registers clanging,
02:04 there's people screaming at each other over there,
02:07 there's 1,000 people on this block alone,
02:09 there's car honking.
02:11 And you tell me you hear a cricket."
02:14 And the Native American said, "I can hear a cricket."
02:17 He said, "Come with me."
02:19 Grabbed him by the arm, he pulled him over
02:20 and ran down the street a little ways.
02:22 And he stopped, he cocked his head. No.
02:25 He brought his friend back the other way,
02:26 crossed the street, gets down in his knees,
02:28 he's looking in cracks and crevices in the sidewalk
02:31 and he still doesn't find it and he says, "Come with me."
02:34 Run to a big cement pot where a tree was growing.
02:39 He said, "I think I hear it."
02:41 He started digging through the mulch and through the dirt.
02:42 And finally, he pulls out a cricket.
02:48 He said, "See I told you. I heard a cricket."
02:52 And his friend looking at him and said just flabbergasted.
02:56 "How on earth did you hear a cricket
02:59 in Downtown, Manhattan?"
03:01 And the Native American said to his friend,
03:03 "Well, my ears are just different than yours."
03:06 He said, "Come here, I'll show you."
03:08 So he brought his friend over
03:10 and had some change in his pocket.
03:12 He pulled out the change.
03:14 He held it up like this, he says, I'll show you,
03:18 my ears, they're just different than yours.
03:21 So he held the change about this high, still on the midst
03:24 of just thousands of people on the block there.
03:27 Held the change about this high
03:32 and every head on the block turned
03:35 and looked at that Native American.
03:38 And he looked at his friend and he said, "See,
03:41 it's all in what you're listening for."
03:45 So that's the question of the day for us.
03:48 As we search through God's word,
03:50 is to ask ourselves the question.
03:53 What is it that we are listening for
03:56 in our experience with God?
04:00 Let's have a word of prayer.
04:04 Father in heaven,
04:08 we come and we sit here before You, Lord.
04:11 And we pray that You would come here and be with us.
04:15 Lord, we pray that we would hear You.
04:20 And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
04:26 So the question of the day is what are you listening for
04:30 in your experience with God?
04:33 I'd like you to go with me in your Bibles
04:36 to a parable in Matthew Chapter 13.
04:43 Matthew 13: 9, we're going to start.
04:47 Matthew 13: 9, we're going to see an exhortation
04:51 that Jesus used in the gospels more than 15 times.
04:56 He gives this exhortation to people
04:58 when He's just made a significant spiritual point.
05:02 Here's what it says, Matthew 13:9, it says,
05:07 "He who has ears to hear, let him," what? "Hear."
05:13 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
05:19 Now we can deduce just through logical reasoning
05:25 that if Jesus is talking to these people
05:28 and saying if you have ears to hear, let them hear.
05:32 He who has ears to hear, let them hear.
05:34 So we can reason in our minds that if people have ears to hear
05:39 that must be that some people have ears that don't hear.
05:46 Today, we're going to go through this parable
05:47 Matthew 13 and also the parallel account on Luke Chapter 8.
05:51 And we're going to use these two parables
05:53 as a means to evaluate our ears.
05:57 As a means to evaluate our hearing.
06:01 Do we have ears to hear?
06:04 Or do we have ears that don't hear?
06:06 Now when Jesus was using this exhortation,
06:09 is He calling on the people who have the ability
06:13 or whose eardrums have the ability to perceive
06:17 sound vibrations from His vocal cords?
06:21 Of course, not that's not what He's talking about.
06:24 He is exhorting those who have ears to hear
06:26 the spiritual crickets above the noise of their lives.
06:33 So again we are going to use this opportunity
06:38 to evaluate our ears.
06:39 What is it we're listening for?
06:42 So we'll get right into the parable,
06:44 Matthew Chapter 13 starting in verse 1.
06:47 It says, "On the same day,
06:49 Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
06:52 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him,
06:55 so that He got into a boat and sat,
06:57 and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
07:01 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying
07:04 'Behold, a sower went out to sow.
07:07 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside,
07:10 and the birds came and devoured them.
07:14 Some fell on stony places,
07:15 where they did not have much earth,
07:17 and they immediately sprang up
07:19 because they had no depth of earth.
07:22 But when the Sun was up they were scorched,
07:24 and because they had no root they withered away.
07:28 And some fell among the thorns,
07:30 and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
07:33 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop,
07:37 some one hundred, some sixty, some thirty.
07:40 He, who has ears to hear, let him hear."
07:49 So we don't have to wonder
07:51 what Jesus is talking about here.
07:52 He is speaking in a parable.
07:53 And a parable is a story
07:55 that is used to illustrate a broader spiritual truth.
07:59 We don't have to guess
08:01 what this parable by Jesus means.
08:03 Because He explains it
08:04 a little further down in the chapter.
08:06 So if you go with me now to Matthew 13:18,
08:11 it says this, "Therefore hear the parable of the sower,
08:14 when anyone hears the word of the kingdom,
08:16 and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes
08:19 and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
08:22 This is he who received the seed by the wayside."
08:27 So we see the first soil mentioned.
08:30 There's four soils mentioned in this parable.
08:33 The wayside, the stony ground, you could say,
08:37 the thorny ground and the good ground.
08:43 We see this first soil called the wayside.
08:51 If you can picture where Jesus was,
08:53 He was out in a boat
08:55 because the crowd around Him was so great
08:57 that He pushed off into the sea a bit,
08:58 so He could speak to the entire crowd.
09:01 In the back of the crowd,
09:02 He was looking out on the plain of Gennesaret.
09:04 In the plain of Gennesaret,
09:06 they were actually farmers out sowing their seeds.
09:10 So when Jesus said, "Behold a sower goes to sow."
09:13 He was looking out over this beautiful plain,
09:15 actually, seeing the parable play out.
09:19 And as Jesus was looking out, He saw four types of soil,
09:22 the wayside, the stony places,
09:24 the thorny ground and the good ground.
09:27 Now what was this wayside, that's not a word
09:29 that we use in everyday language today,
09:31 the wayside? What the wayside was?
09:35 If you can picture a field where someone is farming,
09:38 there are paths in the middle of each row and paths
09:40 that go around the outside of the fields.
09:44 This is that wayside path.
09:47 Now the characteristics of the wayside path.
09:49 What are the characteristics of a path in a field?
09:53 Are they very soft and ground up?
09:56 No, of course not.
09:58 They're hard and they're packed down.
10:01 The Bible here tells us that because of the wayside,
10:05 the condition of this wayside path
10:06 it's hard and packed down.
10:08 That it's those who don't understand
10:12 the seed that is being tried,
10:14 is trying to be sowed into their heart.
10:20 Now we can see a very good example
10:23 of this wayside soil in a story,
10:29 also in this same Book of Matthew.
10:33 If we go to Matthew 9:43,
10:38 Matthew 9: 43, we're going to look at an example
10:42 of how it could be
10:43 that someone wouldn't understand the message of the kingdom?
10:48 Or how someone could read
10:49 and have a seed sown in their heart
10:52 but that they couldn't understand it,
10:53 how can that happen?
10:55 We'll see a perfect example here
10:58 of this wayside soil of the heart
11:01 in Matthew Chapter 9 beginning in verse 43.
11:10 Go back to Luke, I am sorry.
11:13 Luke 9: 43, Luke 9: 43,
11:21 this is just after the parallel account from Matthew
11:24 of where Christ was giving this parable
11:27 and we see not to long after that,
11:29 here's a situation that the disciples
11:30 find themselves in with Christ.
11:32 Luke 9: 43, it says this,
11:37 "And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.
11:40 But while everyone marveled at all the things
11:41 which Jesus did, He said to His disciples,
11:45 'Let these words sink down into your ears.'"
11:49 So similar language, I love this language.
11:51 "Let these words sink down into your ears."
11:56 Christ was looking at the people reading their hearts
11:59 and He knew that they weren't getting it.
12:03 So He's saying please
12:04 let these words sink down into your ears,
12:06 hear me have ears to hear.
12:09 He goes on, He says,
12:11 "For the Son of Man is about to be betrayed
12:14 into the hands of men."
12:17 The parallel account in Matthew also includes that
12:20 it says that He will be betrayed into the hands men,
12:23 that he would be killed
12:25 and that He would rise the third day.
12:27 So Jesus Christ just sat down His disciples,
12:29 He says, listen guys,
12:31 there's something very important to tell you
12:33 because you're not getting it.
12:35 I'm about to be betrayed
12:36 into the hands of men and be killed.
12:39 Now let me ask you something, is this confusing language?
12:44 Is Jesus speaking in a parable here?
12:47 Of course, He's not.
12:49 This is not confusing language.
12:51 And by the way, should this have been
12:54 new information to the disciples?
12:58 Should have been new information that Jesus was going be betrayed
13:00 in the hands of men and killed and rise the third day?
13:04 No, this shouldn't have been new information
13:06 for many reasons.
13:08 Number 1, for the past 1,000 years
13:14 the entire Jewish economy was based on a sanctuary system
13:19 that pointed forward to exactly
13:21 what Christ is saying in these verses.
13:24 These Jews who weren't receiving this
13:28 should have known about this.
13:32 Their entire economy was based in signs and symbols
13:35 pointing forward to the death and crucifixion
13:38 and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
13:40 This should not have been new information.
13:43 With that in mind this is not confusing information.
13:46 This is not a confusing statement.
13:47 It shouldn't even be new information.
13:49 So we go on to see, what is the disciples' reaction
13:53 to Christ's statements here?
13:55 We pick up in verse 45.
13:59 Immediately after the statement,
14:00 He tells them, listen guys,
14:02 let this sink down into your ears,
14:03 you have to understand this. I'm going to be killed.
14:08 Verse 45 says, "But they did not understand this saying,
14:15 and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it
14:17 and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying."
14:23 So we're asking ourselves,
14:24 okay, how could it be that someone could not understand
14:27 the plain language of Christ?
14:30 And we see in verse 45,
14:31 we get the first glimpse as to how this happens.
14:35 It says, "And they were afraid to ask Him about this saying."
14:41 You see the state of mind these Jews at this time.
14:47 They were under severe oppression by the Romans.
14:51 It had been for sometime.
14:53 And do you think that they appreciated this? No.
14:59 So all the talks of the Messiah coming,
15:03 had never entered their minds
15:05 that He was to set up a spiritual kingdom
15:09 to free them from sin rather than our earthly kingdom
15:13 to free them from the Romans.
15:15 It never entered their mind and Christ knew this.
15:17 That's why He said, "Let this sink down into your ears,
15:19 you have to understand this."
15:22 And it's says, "They did not understand."
15:24 And then it says they did not understand
15:25 because they were afraid.
15:28 And if you go to Matthew in a parallel account
15:30 it says they were very sorrowful,
15:32 after Christ said this.
15:34 So we see two things, we see that fear,
15:36 the Bible is telling here that fear and sorrow
15:41 can cause us not to understand the plain teaching of Christ.
15:52 Now sometimes we're tempted to think
15:55 like these godly men in the Bible like
16:00 we see the ridiculous things that they seam to be doing.
16:03 And we're tempted to think,
16:04 man, how on earth could they not understand
16:06 what Christ was saying?
16:08 We think, I mean, it's like they're just stupid
16:13 but are they truly stupid?
16:17 And the answer is, no. If we you go to Hebrews 3:13.
16:24 Hebrews 3: 13, says this, "But exhort one another daily,
16:29 while it is called 'Today,' lest any of you be hardened
16:34 through the deceitfulness of sin."
16:40 The wayside path is the hardened soil of our heart.
16:46 So we ask how do our hearts get that way
16:49 and we find in Hebrews 3: 13,
16:50 that's through the deceitfulness of sin.
16:55 So you see the disciples weren't stupid
16:58 but they were deceived by the deceitfulness of sin.
17:03 An inspired writer once said that
17:05 all sin is selfishness, all sin is selfishness.
17:11 And if you go through each of the Ten Commandments,
17:13 we know that sin is the transgression of the law.
17:16 If you go through each of the Ten Commandments
17:18 and think about what would cause
17:19 someone to break any one of those commandments
17:21 and it will always boil down to selfishness.
17:27 The disciples were not stupid. They were deceived.
17:31 They were deceived by their own selfish ambitions
17:36 for their positions in the new earthly kingdom
17:39 that they thought the Messiah had come to set up.
17:43 If you go with me we're going to continue reading
17:45 in Luke 9: 46.
17:51 So right after they said they didn't understand,
17:54 here is what the gospel records.
17:56 It says, "Then a dispute arose among them
17:59 as to which of them would be the greatest."
18:03 So picture this, Jesus Christ. This is how I picture it.
18:07 The disciples are following Christ
18:09 and they are talking amongst one another
18:11 and they're saying, "Can you believe it?
18:12 We are alive in the time of the Messiah.
18:15 How many of our ancestors would have loved to be here
18:18 at this time in earth's history and we are here.
18:21 You know, who do you think is going to be the greatest
18:24 in the kingdom? I think it will be me.
18:27 I've been following Him the longest.
18:29 You know, it should be me. No, no, no, it should be me.
18:32 I've been the most attentive.
18:35 Jesus Christ reads their hearts and He goes to these men
18:37 and He says, listen guys, sit down,
18:40 let this sink down into your ears,
18:42 I'm about to be betrayed into the hands of men
18:44 and I'm going to be killed but I'll rise the third day.
18:49 So I pictured these disciples are all excited
18:52 and dreaming about what they are going to do
18:53 when they are rulers of the known world,
18:57 under the Messiah.
18:59 They hear this message from Jesus
19:00 and scratch their heads.
19:06 They heard the message.
19:08 They didn't like where it was going.
19:14 So I picture them, scratching their heads
19:16 and saying, "Hmm, so what kind of crown
19:19 do you think I should wear?
19:21 And let's go look at robes.
19:23 You know, I'm going to need a nice regal robe for when,
19:24 you know, the Messiah ushers in this new kingdom.
19:27 They didn't get it.
19:28 Just like when the sower throws the seed on the wayside,
19:30 the seed bounces.
19:33 The spiritual truth, Christ was trying to preach to these men
19:35 bounced off of their heart.
19:38 They didn't get it.
19:44 Has there ever been a time
19:47 when you have read something in the Word
19:49 or heard something in a sermon that you didn't understand
19:55 because you didn't want to understand it,
20:00 or because you were sorrowful about
20:02 what it would mean to your life if it was truth?
20:08 We need to come to the Word of God.
20:09 We need to come to God Himself.
20:12 Ready to give up all of our preconceived notions
20:15 about His will for our life.
20:24 Moving on, to the stony ground
20:28 we will pick it up in Matthew 13:5.
20:34 Matthew 13:5 says this,
20:40 "Some fell on stony places,
20:42 where they did not have much earth,
20:44 and they immediately sprang up
20:46 because they had no depth of earth.
20:48 But when the sun was up they were scorched,
20:51 and because they had no root they withered away."
20:57 Do you know that plants grow downward
20:59 before they grow up? Why do you thing that is?
21:06 Because God programmed them
21:08 to grow down as far as they could
21:10 to establish a firm foundation of roots,
21:14 not only is this going to help them
21:15 have the structural support that the blade will need
21:17 when it penetrates the soil.
21:19 But also it enables them to get down deep
21:21 where the moisture is,
21:25 so establishes its firm foundation of roots.
21:29 In Matthew 13, the parallel account of this parable,
21:33 it says that the seed fell on stony ground
21:35 sprang up immediately and it was scorched by the sun.
21:39 And because it had no root it withered away.
21:43 Now a question for you, do plants needs the sun?
21:46 Of course, plants need the sun.
21:48 They need the photons of light from the sun,
21:52 they react with the chlorophyll in the leaves of the plant
21:55 and the chlorophyll along with the carbon dioxide
21:58 from the air and the water that it's gets from the roots,
22:01 all reacts together to initiate the process of photosynthesis,
22:04 which enables it to produce cellulose
22:06 which becomes food for the plant.
22:10 So plants need the sun to live.
22:12 Is that a true statement?
22:13 Absolutely, it's so interesting to know it,
22:16 that the same sun that is necessary for life
22:21 is able to kill seemingly identical plants.
22:31 So we ask ourselves what's the difference?
22:33 The difference is the root system.
22:38 You see the sun or trials in our life
22:44 reveal the depth of the soil in our hearts.
22:49 Trials in our life, the sun in this parable
22:51 reveals the depth of the soil in our hearts.
22:58 Just as the plant with a deep root system
23:02 is able to use the sun to sustain itself and to grow,
23:06 those who have a spiritual root system
23:09 are able to use trials in their life
23:13 to be moulded more into the likeness of Christ.
23:18 But those that don't have the spiritual,
23:19 the deep root system will wither away,
23:22 when trials come just as this plant did.
23:29 Many who profess to be followers of Christ in reality
23:33 are these stony ground hearers mentioned in the parable.
23:37 And you think about it, it says that
23:38 the plant sprung immediately.
23:41 Like the appearance of a plant
23:44 with shallow roots in the beginning
23:47 and the appearance of a plant with deep roots
23:49 in the beginning is very similar.
23:53 So too of those with people like us
23:55 who don't have the deep spiritual root system,
23:58 we can spring up immediately
23:59 and appear to be consistent Christians.
24:03 But when the sun comes out,
24:05 when the trials in our life begin to happen,
24:12 we wither away if we don't have that
24:14 deep spiritual root system.
24:15 Now what prevents this deep spiritual root system?
24:19 It's the stones.
24:21 It's those stones of selfishness in our life.
24:32 Many people unfortunately,
24:35 they see religion and Christianity
24:37 as a way to avoid trials and a way to avoid adversity.
24:44 And so when everything is going fine
24:46 these Christians are fine going with the flow,
24:49 appear to be consistent Christians.
24:54 But you know when the Word of God points out
24:58 some cherished sin
25:00 or requires some kind of sacrifice
25:02 that would mean a radical change in their life,
25:05 instead of, having the deep root system
25:07 to be able to use that to grow,
25:10 they're offended by it and they wither.
25:16 It would cost them too much effort
25:17 to make a radical change in their life.
25:20 They look at the present inconvenience of their trial
25:23 and they forget about the eternal realities
25:26 that has been sown in their heart already.
25:28 They are unable to keep that seed and they wither.
25:37 There was a 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo
25:40 despite the fact that he was in a terrible car accident
25:43 and he lost his left arm.
25:46 So he enrolled in a judo class
25:48 that was thought by a Japanese judo master.
25:53 And after the first class,
25:55 the Japanese judo master came to him he says,
25:56 "Listen, if you continue to train with me
26:01 I can make you a champion."
26:05 The boy was excited about this,
26:07 so he started training with his judo master
26:08 and a month went by and the boy was surprised
26:12 because he was doing quite well
26:14 but the judo master was only teaching him one move.
26:17 So he finally mustered up enough courage
26:18 to ask the judo master,
26:21 "Sensai, shouldn't I be learning more moves?"
26:25 and the judo master said,
26:26 "Listen this is the only move that you know
26:28 but it's the only move that you'll need know.
26:31 If you trust me I can make you a champion."
26:35 So he continued to train for a couple more months
26:37 and then the judo master enrolled his student
26:38 in a tournament.
26:40 So this 10-year-old boy who has one arm enters this tournament
26:44 and to his surprise he won his first two matches easily.
26:49 And he is excited.
26:51 He is like what's going on, you know?
26:53 How am I winning these matches?
26:55 The third match comes it's a little bit different.
26:58 His opponent is a little bit bigger,
27:00 a little bit stronger, more experienced.
27:03 The fight lasted a little bit longer than the others
27:07 but this opponent got impatient
27:10 and he made a mistake and the boy was able to pin him
27:13 and he won the third match.
27:15 Excited, he moved on to the championship round.
27:18 The boy with one arm stepped into the ring
27:21 and then the goliath of his opponent steps in.
27:25 Was much bigger, much stronger, much more experienced,
27:28 he had been studying judo for years.
27:29 The referee comes into the ring sees the discrepancy in size,
27:32 he says, whoa, wait a minute.
27:35 He's about to call the fight.
27:37 The judo master comes out and talks to the referee.
27:39 He says, "You have to let this fight continue.
27:40 Trust me, everything will be fine."
27:43 Something in what the judo master said
27:45 convinced the referee. He said, "Okay, let's do it."
27:49 The match continues.
27:51 Begins and it was a very tough fight.
27:54 The boy was knocked around
27:57 and the fight dragged on and on and on
27:58 but this goliath this opponent couldn't pin him.
28:01 And he is getting frustrated.
28:03 He is like how can this boy, this little boy with one arm,
28:05 how can I not pin this kid?
28:08 So he got impatient and he made a mistake.
28:11 And the boy was able to pin him with the only move that he knew
28:15 and he was a champion.
28:19 Walking out of the door, joy, carrying the trophy,
28:22 they get in the car, they are driving home
28:24 and he gets up, the boy has to muster up courage
28:26 again to ask the Sensei.
28:28 "Sensei, how did I win this tournament?
28:31 I only know one move."
28:35 The wise sensei looks at him,
28:36 he says, "You won for two reasons.
28:39 Number 1, you have almost completed mastered
28:43 the most difficult throw in all of judo.
28:47 And number 2, the only defense for that move
28:51 is if your opponent were to grab your left arm."
28:57 You see, Jesus Christ wants to use the trials in our life
29:03 to give us victory over the sin in our lives.
29:23 Just as the plant cannot be benefited
29:29 from the sun without a deep root system,
29:34 we cannot benefit from the trials in our life
29:36 if we don't get out the stones of selfishness that are there.
29:40 The stones that are preventing the seed from going deep,
29:45 from giving us that deep conviction of the Holy Spirit,
29:48 we cannot have that if we have these stones of selfishness
29:51 under the thin layer of soil
29:52 that is able to receive that seed.
29:57 I think if plants were conscious
29:59 they sure would appreciate the sun, wouldn't they?
30:04 How much do we appreciate the trials in our life?
30:10 This is precisely why James says in his epistle
30:13 in the first chapter starting in verse 2,
30:15 "Brethren, count it all to joy
30:17 when you fall into various trials,
30:19 for the testing of your faith produces patience.
30:24 And let patience have its perfect work,
30:25 that you might be perfect, lacking nothing."
30:29 We need to see these trials as a joy because know that,
30:32 that is God's chosen tool for developing us
30:35 into the likeness of His Son.
30:42 Brothers and sisters, I don't necessarily need to tell
30:45 this congregation this but there is going to come a time,
30:49 I think very soon.
30:51 We are bible believing Christians.
30:57 We have to choose between following of thus saith the Lord
31:00 in the principles that are taught in the Bible,
31:03 or the prerogative to buy and sell.
31:08 And you can read all about it in Revelation 13:16, 17.
31:13 This is going to happen before Christ returns.
31:17 I just had my first son, my first child three months ago.
31:23 And from what I understand,
31:25 there could come point in my lifetime
31:28 where I have to choose between following
31:29 the principles of God's Word or buying food my son.
31:37 Now I can't think of a more intense trial than that.
31:45 If I don't get the stones of selfishness out of my heart now
31:50 that are preventing my deep spiritual root system.
31:53 If I don't get out those stones now,
31:58 there is no way that I'm going to stand
32:01 in the face of that kind of trial in the future.
32:06 People might say listen I know what the end time scenario is,
32:10 I know how Christ is going to return,
32:11 I know who the Antichrist is,
32:13 I know what the mark of the beast is going to be,
32:16 so when all of this stuff starts to go down I will just avoid it,
32:19 and I'll do the right thing.
32:23 It doesn't work that way.
32:25 No mere intellectual ascent to
32:27 what the truth is is going to save anyone.
32:31 It is only having that deep spiritual root system
32:38 to have access to the moisture,
32:40 the Holy Sprit that we will be able to stand
32:44 in the face of a trial like that.
32:49 The stones of selfishness need to go.
32:59 Moving on, Matthew 13:22, says this
33:04 "Now he who received seed among the thorns
33:06 is he who hears the word,
33:08 and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
33:12 choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful."
33:17 In a parallel account in Luke,
33:18 it also mentions the pleasures of this life so the pleasures,
33:23 the riches and the cares of this world
33:25 can choke out our experience with God.
33:33 Many people start to hear the spiritual crickets
33:38 but then they just turn up the volume on the world.
33:47 Many people have simply cut off the tops
33:51 of the pleasure weeds in their lives.
33:56 I just recently bought my first house.
33:58 You know I feel like a real adult.
34:01 Now I have my own mower
34:02 and I have my own lawn, I have to mow.
34:05 So this past summer, you know,
34:07 it started to get weeds in the sod that I just laid.
34:09 I was like, okay.
34:11 When I was in high school, I just motor ride
34:12 over those things and that was it.
34:16 But now that it's my own lawn, you know,
34:18 I kind of take extra care in, you know, what it looks like.
34:23 And so what I noticed is that
34:24 when I just mow over those weeds, what happens?
34:28 They come back and usually they bring some friends.
34:33 See it's not just enough to just chop off the tops of the weeds
34:39 or to just chop off the appearance of the weeds.
34:46 We have to sincerely ask ourselves,
34:49 are we uprooting these weeds so they don't come back?
34:57 Riches, money is a tricky thing.
35:02 In our society, we need money to live
35:05 to buy the necessities of life.
35:09 The Bible says that,
35:11 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
35:14 than for a rich man to inherit the kingdom of heaven."
35:18 Praise the Lord, then he says after that
35:19 all things are possible through Christ.
35:25 And by the way, I heard a statistic not too long ago
35:29 that if you have an outfit of clothes,
35:35 enough food to eat everyday and a roof over your head,
35:39 then you are richer than 75% of the entire world.
35:45 So when you think riches don't think palaces and fancy cars.
35:54 Chances are if you live in North America, you are rich.
35:59 So these riches can choke out our experience with God
36:02 and it's very interesting that the pleasures of life especially
36:08 in North America here are usually
36:10 what casus the deceitfulness of riches.
36:14 Hollywood tells us that the American dream is to
36:17 work really hard to get a good paying job,
36:19 so that you can give your kids everything that you didn't have
36:21 and then you can provide yourself with everything
36:23 you didn't have, when you were young.
36:24 It's all about more and more and more,
36:26 getting stuff, getting stuff and getting stuff,
36:31 so the two play off one another the deceitfulness of riches
36:34 and the pleasures of this life.
36:40 A wise man once said that the standard of wealth
36:44 is not how much money someone has,
36:47 but how much one can live without.
36:51 How much can we live without?
36:58 The cares of this world, in the NASB
37:03 that word cares is translated as worry.
37:07 Worry can choke out our experience with God as well.
37:11 A family member of mine gave her heart to the Lord
37:15 through the witness of my mother.
37:18 She started coming to church, she's eventually baptized,
37:21 she came to church every week
37:23 and brought her children every week to church
37:26 and she was thrilled about the things
37:27 that she was learning and the changes
37:28 that were occurring in her life.
37:31 Her husband on the other was not so thrilled.
37:34 Even though this man didn't attend a church himself,
37:37 he didn't like that she wasn't going to a main stream church.
37:41 He had issues with her giving 10% of her paycheck away.
37:48 And this caused significant worry in her life.
37:54 In her eyes, there was either save her marriage
37:58 or do what the Bible says.
38:02 She didn't realize there's always the third option
38:04 and that's do what Christ would have you to do.
38:08 Eventually, she succumbed to the harassment of her husband.
38:15 She slowly stopped coming to church
38:16 until she didn't come at all.
38:21 And it wasn't much longer after that,
38:26 that she began to feel a hole in her.
38:28 You all know here today I don't need to tell
38:30 before you come to Christ or if you fall away from Christ,
38:33 there's a hole inside of your heart.
38:37 The famous mathematician and Christian apologist,
38:39 Blaise Pascal said,
38:41 "There is a God-shaped hole in the heart of every man
38:45 that can be only be filled
38:46 through the knowledge of Jesus Christ."
38:49 So when this family member of mine went away
38:51 from the church that hole started to open up
38:53 and it's started to get bigger and it started to ache.
38:57 And her marriage and her family
38:59 wasn't even going to be able to fill it.
39:03 So she started looking for other things to fill it
39:06 and she went to another man.
39:12 To show you how deceitful the devil is.
39:17 Her husband started to know what was going on,
39:21 he called my mother and he asked my mother
39:25 if she thought she would be able
39:28 to get his wife to go back to church.
39:32 But it was too late.
39:35 The worry of this life can choke out our experience with God.
39:43 There's people in your life that are close to you,
39:50 that are trying to take you away
39:52 from what you know to be true from God's Word.
39:55 Do them a favor and stick to what God's Word says.
40:06 The good ground says this in verse 15,
40:10 it said in Luke 8:15.
40:13 It says, "But the ones that fell
40:14 on the good ground are those who,
40:16 having heard the word with a noble and good heart,
40:20 keep it and bear fruit with patience."
40:26 They keep it and bear that seed to fruit with patience.
40:34 Did anyone see a problem with this verse?
40:38 It says, "Having heard the word with a noble and good heart."
40:42 Go with me to Jeremiah 17:9.
40:45 and I'll see if you can see the problem with this verse.
40:50 Jeremiah 17:9.
40:55 Jeremiah 17:9 says this,
40:57 "The heart is deceitful above all things,
41:00 and desperately wicked, who can know it?"
41:04 Problem, this verse here the good ground,
41:07 we get to the good ground.
41:08 Praise the Lord, there's people with hearts
41:10 that are ready to receive the word.
41:13 The good soil, but it says that those
41:17 who having heard the word with a noble and good heart,
41:20 keep it and bear fruit with patience.
41:23 What's the problem?
41:26 It says that those with a noble and good heart.
41:27 But we see in Jeremiah that our hearts are far from that.
41:33 So what is our solution to this problem?
41:37 We don't have the heart that is noble
41:39 and good to receive the seed.
41:44 So what's the solution?
41:48 Can soil change itself?
41:52 No, can it water itself or fertilize itself?
41:57 No.
41:59 Just as the soil cannot change itself,
42:03 we cannot make our hearts soft like soil.
42:09 We need to pray a prayer like David did.
42:13 In Psalm 51:10 when he said,
42:14 "Create in me a clean heart, Oh, God,
42:18 and renew a right spirit within me."
42:24 Only then will the work of the tilling
42:27 and the throwing out of the stones
42:29 and the weeding be able to start to begin.
42:37 So we have a problem.
42:40 You know I can sit up here and appeal to you
42:46 about all of the individual stones,
42:50 the individual weeds in your life.
42:53 There are specific individual stones and weeds
42:56 and I hope you're thinking about those things right now.
43:02 But the wayside hearers, the stony ground hearers,
43:06 the thorny ground hearers,
43:09 all have a variation of the same problem.
43:15 As I mentioned before, all sin is, what?
43:19 Selfishness. All sin is selfishness.
43:32 The wayside hearer is completely egocentric,
43:37 totally focused on his or her circumstances.
43:42 Shutting out all spiritual messages
43:46 like the disciples who heard the message
43:51 but didn't want to understand it.
43:57 Ask yourself today, is God trying to tell you something?
44:02 Does He sit you down on a regular basis
44:04 and plead with you, let these words sink down into your ears?
44:12 There might be something in your life today
44:17 that you've heard about,
44:19 that your conscious has been pricked about,
44:22 but that you've hardened your heart too.
44:23 Because you don't like where it's going,
44:26 you don't like the changes
44:28 that you know you would have to make,
44:29 if you went there and really understood
44:32 the message that God is trying to plant in your heart.
44:43 The stony ground here,
44:46 we talked it before has a thin layer of soil on top of stones.
44:54 So this thin layer of soil, it's able to receive the seed.
44:59 The Bible says that, that seed springs up immediately.
45:04 And for our all intents and purposes,
45:05 it looks just like another plant,
45:08 one that has the deep root system.
45:12 But when that blazing hot trial
45:14 of the sun comes, it withers away.
45:27 There's stones in lots of our lives,
45:30 stones of selfishness.
45:32 Things that are preventing us
45:34 from having a deeper relationship with Christ,
45:39 that thin layer of the soil
45:41 on top of those stones of selfishness
45:44 are our good intentions to follow the Lord.
45:51 So that seed if it's in the optimal environment
45:56 is able to grow in that thin layer of good intentions.
46:01 When there's no trials and nothing going on
46:03 in the immediate vicinity of that seed,
46:07 no storms of the life, no blazing hot sun,
46:10 that seed is able to germinate.
46:11 Even though, it doesn't go in deep
46:13 into the soil and it shoots up.
46:23 If we don't take out these stones
46:25 that are preventing the roots from going deep down
46:29 to the moisture of the Holy Spirit,
46:34 you can guarantee that you will wither away,
46:36 when the trials come.
46:39 Whether it's a more minor trial sometime this week
46:45 or whether it's somewhat major trial just before Jesus returns.
46:50 We cannot withstand trials
46:55 if we don't have a firm established
46:59 root system with God.
47:08 And finally these thorny ground hearers,
47:15 while they receive the seed
47:20 they refuse toallow pet sins to be uprooted.
47:30 And they allow the thorns and the weeds to choke out
47:34 their experience with God.
47:46 So what's the solution?
47:50 As I said before, we all have specific weeds
47:52 and stones in our life.
47:55 But every single one of those stones,
47:56 every single one of those weeds has an underlying cause
48:00 and that cause is selfishness.
48:06 "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
48:10 Every one of us has had selfishness,
48:12 or has selfishness in our lives that needs to be taken out,
48:19 before we can have a true deep relationship with Christ.
48:29 So there is a solution.
48:30 It's a very practical solution to this problem of selfishness.
48:35 This problem that is ensnaring almost everyone on this planet,
48:39 everyone on this planet has some hint of selfishness
48:43 to varying degrees, that's keeping us from a further
48:45 and deeper relationship with God.
48:51 I'm going to read a quote from the very powerful book
48:55 called "Christ's Object Lessons."
49:00 And if you listen very carefully,
49:04 if you have ears to hear,
49:08 if you let these things sink down into your ears,
49:15 you'll be able to see the inspired prescription
49:21 for the cure of selfishness.
49:27 I'm not going to leave you hanging today.
49:30 I'm not just going to point out the problems
49:35 and simply say, oh, we just need to pray about it, which is true.
49:38 We do need to pray about, that's where we need to start.
49:43 We need to start for the willingness,
49:45 pray for the willingness to chuck out the stones.
49:49 Pray for the willingness
49:51 to uproot not just hack off the weeds.
49:57 But there's something even more practical that we can do,
50:00 we have a part to play.
50:08 I'm going to read this quote. Listen very carefully.
50:11 Let these words sink down into ears,
50:13 and be listening for this inspired
50:15 prescription for selfishness.
50:20 It says this,
50:23 "At the very outset, of the Christian life
50:26 every believer should be taught its foundational principles.
50:33 He should be taught that he is not merely
50:35 to be saved by Christ's sacrifice,
50:37 but that he is to make the life of Christ his
50:41 and the character of Christ his character.
50:48 Let all be taught that they are to bear burdens
50:52 and to deny natural inclination.
50:57 Let them learn the blessedness of working for Christ,
51:00 following Him in self-denial,
51:03 and enduring hardness as good soldiers.
51:08 Let them learn to trust His love and to cast on Him their cares.
51:16 Let them taste the joy of winning souls for Him.
51:22 In their love and interest for the lost,
51:27 they will lose sight of self.
51:33 The pleasures of the world will lose their power to attract
51:36 and its burdens to dishearten.
51:40 The plowshare of truth will do its work.
51:43 It will break up the fallow ground.
51:47 It will not merely cut off the tops of the thorns,
51:51 but will take them out by the roots."
51:57 Did you hear the prescription?
52:03 What is the prescription for selfishness?
52:08 I'll read it you one more time.
52:14 It says, "In their love and interest for the lost,
52:21 they will lose sight of self."
52:26 There it is.
52:27 The practical prescription for eradicating the selfishness
52:31 that's choking out our experience with God,
52:34 the inspired prescription
52:37 for taking out the shovel of faith,
52:40 and digging out those stones that are preventing us
52:42 from having the spiritual root system that we need.
52:45 The divine prescription for eradicating selfishness
52:51 is our interest and our love for the lost.
53:01 You see
53:09 there is nothing we can do in and of ourselves
53:18 to change our hearts.
53:24 It is only by reaching out to those around you.
53:30 How many of you have had ears to hear
53:32 the invitations that God has been giving you
53:36 to reach out to your neighbor?
53:41 How many of you have heard
53:44 that still small voice like a cricket
53:50 over the noise of your life?
53:54 That still small voice is calling out to each person here
53:57 and calling out to me
54:02 to pray that we could have the love
54:04 and interest for the lost that we need in our lives,
54:13 if we are to have that spiritual root system,
54:16 if we are not to be choked out by the weeds in our life.
54:34 It's been said that Plato
54:40 had a student ask him,
54:43 "Teacher, how is it that I can obtain
54:46 the knowledge that you have?
54:48 How is it that I can attain
54:50 the enlightenment that you have?"
54:54 Then Plato said, "Well, come with me."
54:58 And he brings him down to the river
54:59 and Plato wades out into the river
55:01 and he says, "Come down to me."
55:04 So the student thought, this is kind of strange,
55:06 but he wades down into the river and he says, okay.
55:11 Plato says, put your self under the water.
55:16 So he thought it was an interesting
55:18 answer to his question.
55:19 So he put himself under the water.
55:23 Plato, then put his hand on top of his student's head
55:26 and held him there.
55:29 After 30 seconds or so, the student started to struggle.
55:35 And he's trying to get up,
55:36 but he could not escape his teacher's grip.
55:41 Just as the student started to stop struggling,
55:47 started to go limp, Plato took his hand off.
55:52 The student jumped out of the water
55:54 and was breathing very heavily.
55:57 And Plato looked at his student and he said,
56:01 "The moment that you desire knowledge and enlightenment
56:08 as much as you did to breathe the air you just breathed,
56:13 that is when you will receive it.
56:18 Jesus said a very similar thing, He said in Matthew 5,
56:22 "Blessed are those who hunger
56:23 and thirst for righteousness sake, for they will be filled."
56:32 There's problems in your life.
56:37 There's things that you know are keeping you
56:38 from a deeper relationship with God.
56:44 We've seen the prescription for taking those things away.
56:55 Let's pray.
56:57 Father in heaven, I just pray tonight
56:59 that You would give us ears to hear.
57:02 Let this seed fall on good ground, Lord.
57:07 Let us hear your message and realize
57:09 that we all have a variation of the same problem.
57:12 That problem is selfishness.


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Revised 2014-12-17