Three Weeks ago the Lord lead me to write about His “Parable of the Soils” this is the fourth installment on this parable. The first three are:
1. Soils and Hearts – Introduction
2. Can't Hear Won't Hear – the first soil
3. Self-Interest Conversion – the second soil
Today’s installment is on the third type of Soil. The Parable of the Soils can be found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke for this writing I will mainly be referring to the account of Mark 4: 1-20.
Let’s begin with the words of our Lord. “And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop” (Mark 4:7). This is what he spoke to the multitudes (the unbelievers) but when He was alone with His disciples (those who believed) He gave an explanation of the parable. “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:18-19). These people that the Lord speaks of are “The Double Minded”. They hear the gospel of our Lord, they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, believe that He died and rose again but instead of coming to genuine repentance they choose lust instead. They are in our churches, in our Sunday schools, and believe that Jesus is the son of God but choose the world over Him. I have thought about this blog on occasion throughout this week and prayed to my Lord about it and I must confess to you it pains me to write it. Modern evangelicalism says if you believe and say this prayer you are saved. How can you say that, you give a false convert a false since of hope in saying that? You do not see the heart for it is in the heart that true conversion happens so you can’t say that. Allow time for them to come bearing “fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8). These people may believe but listen to what James says about that. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble” (James 2:19). You believe, well good for you even the demons believe that but there part is in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone.
This is the wickedest of the soils, to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God that lived a sinless life, was crucified dead and buried for your sins, then rose from the grave but instead of choosing Him, the author of life you choose the lust of this world. These people are the Judas branch of the church. Jesus called himself “The Bread of Life” (John 6:48) and said “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). After the Lord preached these words many departed Him then He looked at the twelve He had chosen and said, “Do you also want to go away” (John 6:67)? Peter Said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67) in doing so he confessed Jesus as Lord. Jesus answered and said, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil” (John 6:70)? “He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve” (John 6:71). A devil, Jesus called Judas a devil. Judas lived with them, walked with them, talked with them but in the end he was not of them, he was of the world. Judas chose the lust of this world over the author of life and killed Him and many more do the same. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Guess what, you don’t get to keep your sins and have Jesus too, you must choose. You must enter the kingdom of God through the narrow gate. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Yes to follow Jesus as Lord is not easy, you must die to self, be born again.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit” (John 3:6). These people are not born again they do not have a new heart they have a fleshy heart a heart full of wickedness. Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Nothing is new with these people; they continue in the same fleshy lust that they had before hearing the gospel of our Lord. They sit in Sunday school or church and hear the words of our Lord and know what sin is. They go home and engage in pornography, lie, steal and cheat to get the things that their hearts selfishly desire, they are in adulterous relationships and in all of these things they will continue unless caught only worldly pain may make them stop. The loss of money or the fear of jail, it sure isn’t the fear of the Lord because they have none. I fear God, and next to God I fear the man who does not fear God. Those who do not fear God will lie to you, steal from you, and if they become angry with you would kill you if they thought that they could get away with it. These same people are in the church raising up their hands, singing praise songs, going to church socials then go home and worship their true God, (themselves). Jesus calls them devils. Do you know what the main difference is between the saved and the unsaved? Repentance! That’s right repentance! The people of the thorny soil say in their hearts I will. Satan said five times when he fell from heaven I will. I could go on with this, there is much to say here but I leave you today with the words of my Lord. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Repent from your sins and trust alone in Jesus Christ,
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Self-Interest Conversion
This is part 3 on the “Parable of the Soils” commonly referred to as “The Sower and the Seed” but as was introduced in part 1 "Soils and Hearts" it is not about the Sower or the seed but is about soils. Part 2 was on the first soil "Can't Hear Won't Hear" today we will be going over the second soil. “The parable of the Soils” can be found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke I will mainly be referring to the account in Mark 4:1-20.
“Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away” (Mark 4:5-6). The land of Israel is covered with lime stone, much on the surface and much with just a thin layer of soil on top of the lime stone. I have observed this to occur on the pavement on my driveway, a small amount of soil gets on top of the concrete the soil is moist, a plant quickly sprouts up out of the soil then dies just is quickly because it has no root system and thus no water source because the soil is to shallow. The Lord used this when referencing to a shallow heart, someone who at the surface is receptive to the seed of the gospel but can’t penetrate very deeply because just under the surface they have hearts of stone and a mind convinced against itself. In our Lords explanation of this parable He said: “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble” (Mark 4:16-17).
These people have a joyful exuberant reaction to hearing the gospel, they have tears of joy running down there face and a smile as big as the day. Lifting up their hands praising God saying Hallelujah, I’m saved. The preacher reads there name and says welcome brother so and so into the body of Christ the people of the church clap bringing greater joy to the one who had just come forward. They quickly become involved in the church, they are there every time the door is open, in Sunday school, church services and make all the social events, they may even become involved in a ministry at the church. But in time the euphoria of the new experience begins to die down, they learn the people in the church have problems and they have their own problems they sure don’t want to be dealing with someone else’s. They learn that the ministry that they got involved in is work and has time demands. Sunday school and church service seems so early and it feels so much better just to sleep in on the weekends so they begin to skip some services. Then they have a trial, their wife or husband leave them, their kids are in trouble at school and their mother or father is diagnosed with cancer, they think to themselves were is God in all of this. So they leave bitter and angry because this sure isn’t what they signed up for.
Notice that this all began with joyful emotion, the Lord used the words “with gladness”. Let me make a statement here. Being filled with joy having an emotional experience does not equal a spiritual conversion. In fact quite the opposite is more likely; in James chapter 4 he talks about the experience of coming to our Lord. “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:8-9). Most people just stumble along in life and think that they are pretty good people and good people go to heaven, right? The problem is there are no good people the bible says: “There is none righteous, no, not one;” (Romans 3:10), “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). You thought all was good that you were a pretty good person, your eyes are opened for the first time, you see your sin before a righteous and Holy God and realize for the first time that you deserve death, you deserve Hell, but learn of the provision that this same God has made for you, through the death and resurrection of His Son. What do you do are you jumping for joy? No you, “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:8-9).
These people have also responded to the gospel out of selfishness of their own self interest. If you come for self the last thing you’re going to do is stick around when you have trials and persecution. The Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 4:13 that we should be glad when we undergo trials. Trials cleans, people that belong to the Lord draw closer to him when they undergo trials, people that come for self interest run when trials come. That is why we have to preach the gospel in its entirety not just part of it, people must know the condition of their heart and God’s provision both. What are the implications to hearing the gospel?
1. Recognition of Sin – you learn that you are a sinner before a Holy God and that there is a penalty for sin called death in Hell.
2. Revolution of Character – You Repent, you turn away from your former sinful lifestyle.
3. Redirection of Energy – You focus your energy on God’s kingdom and serving Him.
None of these involve self interest; they all come about because you find out who you are and who God is. Finally the Apostle John said of these people; “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us” (1 John 2:19). In other words they left so that we might know that they were not our brothers and sisters. Some would have me be believe if you respond to an alter call and say a prayer you are always saved. I agree if you are saved you are always saved, salvation is eternal, but if you leave you were never saved to begin with! I was this person, I had a false conversion and left the church when I underwent a trail, I later came to repentance and faith alone in Jesus Christ on May 4th, 2003 when I realized who I was and who He Is!
Repent and put your faith alone in Jesus Christ,
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
“Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away” (Mark 4:5-6). The land of Israel is covered with lime stone, much on the surface and much with just a thin layer of soil on top of the lime stone. I have observed this to occur on the pavement on my driveway, a small amount of soil gets on top of the concrete the soil is moist, a plant quickly sprouts up out of the soil then dies just is quickly because it has no root system and thus no water source because the soil is to shallow. The Lord used this when referencing to a shallow heart, someone who at the surface is receptive to the seed of the gospel but can’t penetrate very deeply because just under the surface they have hearts of stone and a mind convinced against itself. In our Lords explanation of this parable He said: “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble” (Mark 4:16-17).
These people have a joyful exuberant reaction to hearing the gospel, they have tears of joy running down there face and a smile as big as the day. Lifting up their hands praising God saying Hallelujah, I’m saved. The preacher reads there name and says welcome brother so and so into the body of Christ the people of the church clap bringing greater joy to the one who had just come forward. They quickly become involved in the church, they are there every time the door is open, in Sunday school, church services and make all the social events, they may even become involved in a ministry at the church. But in time the euphoria of the new experience begins to die down, they learn the people in the church have problems and they have their own problems they sure don’t want to be dealing with someone else’s. They learn that the ministry that they got involved in is work and has time demands. Sunday school and church service seems so early and it feels so much better just to sleep in on the weekends so they begin to skip some services. Then they have a trial, their wife or husband leave them, their kids are in trouble at school and their mother or father is diagnosed with cancer, they think to themselves were is God in all of this. So they leave bitter and angry because this sure isn’t what they signed up for.
Notice that this all began with joyful emotion, the Lord used the words “with gladness”. Let me make a statement here. Being filled with joy having an emotional experience does not equal a spiritual conversion. In fact quite the opposite is more likely; in James chapter 4 he talks about the experience of coming to our Lord. “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:8-9). Most people just stumble along in life and think that they are pretty good people and good people go to heaven, right? The problem is there are no good people the bible says: “There is none righteous, no, not one;” (Romans 3:10), “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). You thought all was good that you were a pretty good person, your eyes are opened for the first time, you see your sin before a righteous and Holy God and realize for the first time that you deserve death, you deserve Hell, but learn of the provision that this same God has made for you, through the death and resurrection of His Son. What do you do are you jumping for joy? No you, “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:8-9).
These people have also responded to the gospel out of selfishness of their own self interest. If you come for self the last thing you’re going to do is stick around when you have trials and persecution. The Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 4:13 that we should be glad when we undergo trials. Trials cleans, people that belong to the Lord draw closer to him when they undergo trials, people that come for self interest run when trials come. That is why we have to preach the gospel in its entirety not just part of it, people must know the condition of their heart and God’s provision both. What are the implications to hearing the gospel?
1. Recognition of Sin – you learn that you are a sinner before a Holy God and that there is a penalty for sin called death in Hell.
2. Revolution of Character – You Repent, you turn away from your former sinful lifestyle.
3. Redirection of Energy – You focus your energy on God’s kingdom and serving Him.
None of these involve self interest; they all come about because you find out who you are and who God is. Finally the Apostle John said of these people; “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us” (1 John 2:19). In other words they left so that we might know that they were not our brothers and sisters. Some would have me be believe if you respond to an alter call and say a prayer you are always saved. I agree if you are saved you are always saved, salvation is eternal, but if you leave you were never saved to begin with! I was this person, I had a false conversion and left the church when I underwent a trail, I later came to repentance and faith alone in Jesus Christ on May 4th, 2003 when I realized who I was and who He Is!
Repent and put your faith alone in Jesus Christ,
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Can't Hear Won't Hear
This is a continuation of a blog that the Lord had me begin last week on the parable of our Lord most commonly referred to as “The Parable of the Sower and the Seed” as stated in that blog this parable is not about the Sower or the Seed but it is a parable about soils and hearts ("Soils and Hearts"). So let us begin with the words of our Lord. “And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it” (Mark 4:4). Throughout Judea during the time of Jesus there were pathways or crude roads cut through the fields so that travelers could pass through without disturbing the crops. These roads became extremely hard and packed down, the wayside is the edge of a path or road, so as the Sower spread his grain across his field some landed on the wayside where the earth was impenetrable allowing for birds to come and eat the grain on the surface. “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts” Mark 4:15). There are people in this world that are so hard hearted that no matter how many times you give them the loving gospel of our Lord it just bounces off and they are unable to take it in. Since the Lord has led me to be His witness I have come across a lot of these people. How can anyone look at creation and not know there is a creator. Creation itself is evidence of the creator. If I took a bunch of stones and stacked them up in my front yard to form a pyramid many would ask me (Why did you do that?), logic dictated that someone had to have stacked those stones, they didn’t happen to be there by chance. Atheism the belief that there is no God is a fool’s game, it is foolish, and it is not intelligence. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). In my observation I have noticed that the people unable to hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ fit into three categories. The Religious, the been burnt by a false gospel, and the I love my sin.
The Religious, this is a tuff group and our Lord knew this. The Pharisees and Scribes at the time of Jesus loved their religion and would not give it up for anything. They saw Jesus who spoke with authority unlike anyone else, who healed massive amounts of people of their illnesses and decided that He couldn’t be of God because if He was they would have to let go of their piety and follow Him, so they decided He must be doing all of these works by Satan, so He basically told them they were beyond saving. “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies that may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:28-29). Are you counting on your works to earn your way into heaven, are you counting on the fact you go to church to earn your way. This is what God thanks of our pitiful acts to try to earn our own justification. “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all or righteousness are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). There are many that are so focused on their Religion (their works) that they are unable to hear the gospel of our Lord.
The next group is the (Been Burnt by a false Gospel). These people have a legitimate reason to be angry, they have been told a lie, been sold a false bill of goods, but sadly their anger keeps them from ever hearing the truth, their hearts have been permanently closed by their anger and are impenetrable to the gospel of our Lord. This is the message that many are told and it may be the message that you yourself were told. “Come to Jesus he is the answer to all of your problems, He can fix your drug addiction, alcoholism, marriage problems, and financial problems”. Thus playing on the problems in their lives to get them to except Jesus, or this; “You have a God shaped hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill, He will give you love, joy, peace and fulfillment”, using their depression to bring them to the cross”. So what happens; they have problems that they would like fixed and are depressed and would like to be happy. So they give this Jesus thing a try, it just might work for them, besides the people in the church seem happy. But what happens? They notice in time that nothing has changed. They were told to come for love, joy, peace, and fulfillment but all they got was the promised (temptation, tribulation, and persecution). Not only do they now have all the same problems that they use to have but their former friends are now excluding them, and making fun of them. Had they been told the real reason to come to Jesus, that they had offended (sinned) against a Holy God and that there was Hell to pay there might have been a different outcome. Coming to Jesus to have your sins removed and escape Hell is a lot different than coming for happiness. Sure love, joy, peace, and fulfillment are legitimate fruits of salvation but they’re not the reason to tell someone to come. You have love because God loved you enough to send His son to redeem you, you have joy because you have escaped the wrath of God, you have peace because you know that your life is eternal, you are fulfilled because Jesus paid the price and you don’t have to.
Lastly the third group I like to call (I love my Sin). This group completely shuts out any talk of God whatsoever because if they even believed for a second that there was a God they just might be accountable to Him and just might have to give up the sins that they hold so dear. These are the fools that say in their heart “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). My daughter said to me one time, “I understand some people don’t believe in God but why do they have to be so angry about it”? You want to have your head bitten off, go and share with an atheist that there is salvation from sin in Jesus Christ; you’ve never seen such anger before. They have a chip on their shoulder where Jesus is concerned, I believe this comes about because outwardly they say “There is no God” (Psalm 14”1) but deep within they may not even be conscience of it they know that there is a Creator God and they are accountable to Him. God has written His laws on the heart of every man (see Hebrews 8:10) so every time you sin (break one of God’s laws) your conscience tells you that it is wrong. ‘Con’ means with ‘Science’ means knowledge so every time we sin we do it with knowledge that it is wrong. That is why atheist want to hide all mention of Jesus Christ in our society, hoping it will quite their conscience.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
The Religious, this is a tuff group and our Lord knew this. The Pharisees and Scribes at the time of Jesus loved their religion and would not give it up for anything. They saw Jesus who spoke with authority unlike anyone else, who healed massive amounts of people of their illnesses and decided that He couldn’t be of God because if He was they would have to let go of their piety and follow Him, so they decided He must be doing all of these works by Satan, so He basically told them they were beyond saving. “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies that may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:28-29). Are you counting on your works to earn your way into heaven, are you counting on the fact you go to church to earn your way. This is what God thanks of our pitiful acts to try to earn our own justification. “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all or righteousness are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). There are many that are so focused on their Religion (their works) that they are unable to hear the gospel of our Lord.
The next group is the (Been Burnt by a false Gospel). These people have a legitimate reason to be angry, they have been told a lie, been sold a false bill of goods, but sadly their anger keeps them from ever hearing the truth, their hearts have been permanently closed by their anger and are impenetrable to the gospel of our Lord. This is the message that many are told and it may be the message that you yourself were told. “Come to Jesus he is the answer to all of your problems, He can fix your drug addiction, alcoholism, marriage problems, and financial problems”. Thus playing on the problems in their lives to get them to except Jesus, or this; “You have a God shaped hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill, He will give you love, joy, peace and fulfillment”, using their depression to bring them to the cross”. So what happens; they have problems that they would like fixed and are depressed and would like to be happy. So they give this Jesus thing a try, it just might work for them, besides the people in the church seem happy. But what happens? They notice in time that nothing has changed. They were told to come for love, joy, peace, and fulfillment but all they got was the promised (temptation, tribulation, and persecution). Not only do they now have all the same problems that they use to have but their former friends are now excluding them, and making fun of them. Had they been told the real reason to come to Jesus, that they had offended (sinned) against a Holy God and that there was Hell to pay there might have been a different outcome. Coming to Jesus to have your sins removed and escape Hell is a lot different than coming for happiness. Sure love, joy, peace, and fulfillment are legitimate fruits of salvation but they’re not the reason to tell someone to come. You have love because God loved you enough to send His son to redeem you, you have joy because you have escaped the wrath of God, you have peace because you know that your life is eternal, you are fulfilled because Jesus paid the price and you don’t have to.
Lastly the third group I like to call (I love my Sin). This group completely shuts out any talk of God whatsoever because if they even believed for a second that there was a God they just might be accountable to Him and just might have to give up the sins that they hold so dear. These are the fools that say in their heart “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). My daughter said to me one time, “I understand some people don’t believe in God but why do they have to be so angry about it”? You want to have your head bitten off, go and share with an atheist that there is salvation from sin in Jesus Christ; you’ve never seen such anger before. They have a chip on their shoulder where Jesus is concerned, I believe this comes about because outwardly they say “There is no God” (Psalm 14”1) but deep within they may not even be conscience of it they know that there is a Creator God and they are accountable to Him. God has written His laws on the heart of every man (see Hebrews 8:10) so every time you sin (break one of God’s laws) your conscience tells you that it is wrong. ‘Con’ means with ‘Science’ means knowledge so every time we sin we do it with knowledge that it is wrong. That is why atheist want to hide all mention of Jesus Christ in our society, hoping it will quite their conscience.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Soils and Hearts
There is a subject that has been on my heart and mind all week and I would like to talk about it today. This subject is so vast that it will take weeks to unfold so come back in the following weeks to get the entire breath of the message. The subject is this “The Parable of the Sower and the Seed”. This parable is so profound, full of so much significance and depth that I do not see how it is possible to cover in a brief blog or even sermon for that matter, not just an entire book could be written about this but volumes of books. Contained in this parable are secrets of the Kingdom of God, the depravity of man, and his affliction. Hopefully by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Devine Word of the Living God in Christ Jesus I can by the will of God do it justice. The parable that is most often referred to as “The Parable of the Sower and the Seed” is not even about the Sower or the Seed, it is a parable about soils or hearts. Matthew, Mark, and Luke found such significance in this parable that all three included it in their account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15) for reference I will mainly be referring to the account in the Gospel of Mark. I encourage you to read (Mark 4:1-20) yourselves.
The Lord when He taught this parable was on the Sea of Galilee in a boat facing the land with the multitude of people on the land facing the Sea. I said earlier that this is not a parable about the sower or the seed but it is a parable about soils or hearts. Let us meet the Sower, Jesus said: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow” (Mark 4:3). Nothing significant is said about the Sower it is just said a sower went out to sow. What does a sower sow? A sower sows seed; he takes seed and spreads it around on the soil. Later when the Lord explained the parable to His disciples He said: “The sower sows the word” (Mark 4:14). So who then is the Sower? “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’” (Mark 16:15). The Sower is everyone who has repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and the Seed is the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ; from the beginning with the account of creation, to the Law and Prophets, to the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
There is nothing special about the sower. The sower is a slave of Jesus Christ who goes out and does the will of God and spreads the seed of the Word of God and not his own seed. Churches everywhere are always trying to dress up the sower. Building certain buildings with a certain look to attract crowds, give it a decade and that building is behind the times and thus a waste. Churches try to dress up the service with certain music that will appeal to the listener and thus win a crowed and cause the church to grow. Pastors look for the latest style in their dress and preaching to appeal to the listener. Over the last twenty years pastors have gone from wearing suit and tie to tattered and faded jeans and back again all in an attempt to change to the waves of times. The look, style, and manner of the sower doesn’t matter all that matters is that the sower is sowing the Word of God.
The Word of God is perfect, it is all that is required, it doesn’t need to be given in a special way and it surely doesn’t need to be changed to fit the times. The same gospel saves today, that saved 2000 years ago. Churches and pastors are trying to change the gospel everyday that makes it more palatable, more excitable. Do you know what happens when you convert people to a false gospel? You get false converts forever doomed to suffer an eternity separated from God in Hell. Do you want to be on the side of God; then preach the gospel of our Lord? People want to be known for drawing crowds having a large church with lots of converts and that is the true motivation behind all of these church styles, preaching styles, and false gospels. It is not ours to convert people, it is the Lords! I understand who I belong to; I belong to Jesus, He is my Lord and I am His slave. I am not, He is! Preach the gospel, yes only a few are converted but isn’t that what the Lord said “there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14). The gospel is offensive to a depraved world and so be it, don’t try and dress it up for it is the gospel that saves! I don't care that I offend you, I care that you are saved.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ! You are a sinner, you can do nothing about that, you where a sinner from birth; self seeking, manipulative, lust filled, indulgent, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Despite all of that God loves us. He doesn’t love the things we do, He loves us. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (John 4:10). Jesus the sinless blameless Lamb of God was brutally beaten, murdered on a cross dead and buried. He carried on to the cross all the sins of everyone who would believe, and except Him as Lord. Then three days later He rose from the grave and defeated death. “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Turn away from your old ways (repent) and turn by (faith) to Jesus Christ as Lord. I hope you will! Come and be my brother and sister in Jesus Christ.
Next week I will begin to talk about the soils.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
The Lord when He taught this parable was on the Sea of Galilee in a boat facing the land with the multitude of people on the land facing the Sea. I said earlier that this is not a parable about the sower or the seed but it is a parable about soils or hearts. Let us meet the Sower, Jesus said: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow” (Mark 4:3). Nothing significant is said about the Sower it is just said a sower went out to sow. What does a sower sow? A sower sows seed; he takes seed and spreads it around on the soil. Later when the Lord explained the parable to His disciples He said: “The sower sows the word” (Mark 4:14). So who then is the Sower? “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’” (Mark 16:15). The Sower is everyone who has repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and the Seed is the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ; from the beginning with the account of creation, to the Law and Prophets, to the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
There is nothing special about the sower. The sower is a slave of Jesus Christ who goes out and does the will of God and spreads the seed of the Word of God and not his own seed. Churches everywhere are always trying to dress up the sower. Building certain buildings with a certain look to attract crowds, give it a decade and that building is behind the times and thus a waste. Churches try to dress up the service with certain music that will appeal to the listener and thus win a crowed and cause the church to grow. Pastors look for the latest style in their dress and preaching to appeal to the listener. Over the last twenty years pastors have gone from wearing suit and tie to tattered and faded jeans and back again all in an attempt to change to the waves of times. The look, style, and manner of the sower doesn’t matter all that matters is that the sower is sowing the Word of God.
The Word of God is perfect, it is all that is required, it doesn’t need to be given in a special way and it surely doesn’t need to be changed to fit the times. The same gospel saves today, that saved 2000 years ago. Churches and pastors are trying to change the gospel everyday that makes it more palatable, more excitable. Do you know what happens when you convert people to a false gospel? You get false converts forever doomed to suffer an eternity separated from God in Hell. Do you want to be on the side of God; then preach the gospel of our Lord? People want to be known for drawing crowds having a large church with lots of converts and that is the true motivation behind all of these church styles, preaching styles, and false gospels. It is not ours to convert people, it is the Lords! I understand who I belong to; I belong to Jesus, He is my Lord and I am His slave. I am not, He is! Preach the gospel, yes only a few are converted but isn’t that what the Lord said “there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14). The gospel is offensive to a depraved world and so be it, don’t try and dress it up for it is the gospel that saves! I don't care that I offend you, I care that you are saved.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ! You are a sinner, you can do nothing about that, you where a sinner from birth; self seeking, manipulative, lust filled, indulgent, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Despite all of that God loves us. He doesn’t love the things we do, He loves us. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (John 4:10). Jesus the sinless blameless Lamb of God was brutally beaten, murdered on a cross dead and buried. He carried on to the cross all the sins of everyone who would believe, and except Him as Lord. Then three days later He rose from the grave and defeated death. “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Turn away from your old ways (repent) and turn by (faith) to Jesus Christ as Lord. I hope you will! Come and be my brother and sister in Jesus Christ.
Next week I will begin to talk about the soils.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)