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Free Will Baptist Church
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Ironton, Ohio 45638

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"Parable of the Sower"

December 26, 2007

 Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

 

Mark 4:1-9

 

1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

 

Keep in mind that the opposition against Jesus is probably getting close to the all-time high because of His teaching and because of His preaching.  It is really upsetting the religious crowd.  The Bible says that He is down by the sea again.  When you read this in the original manuscripts, it will tell you that up to this particular point the crowd that was here was probably the biggest crowd that He had ever had.  There were probably tens of thousands of people were here as He was on the sea, if I understand things correctly; He was probably on the edge of the bank.  The crowds continued to come down the bank and get closer and closer together.  Finally, He gets in a boat and paddles a little bit off the bank.  There He begins to teach His doctrine, or His teaching. 

 

The Bible says, "...he taught them many things by parables..."  Last week, we talked about what a parable was.  A parable is tossing something along side of something so that we can make comparisons, or draw comparisons from that.  This is what He is going to do.  Keep that in mind, because as we get through this in a couple of weeks, we are going to learn something here that I want you to keep in mind.  There was a reason that He taught in parables.  We are going to talk about that in a few weeks here.

 

Anyways, He taught them His doctrine, or His teaching.  The Bible says, "Hearken..." or listen, or pay attention, or be attentive.  In verse three, He talks about a sower going out and sowing. 

 

4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

 

As we talked last week, and I want to go back and talk about that just for a moment because I found a little information this week as I studied on this, I think that was very interesting to me and not only very interesting, but also very enlightening, as well as, very scary when I read this.  We learned last week that the wayside was a roadway that Jesus was talking about.  They had their fields in the land of Israel or of Palestine and that, the edge of the field they would have a path that they traveled through.  You just didn't walk anywhere if you wanted to go from point A to point B, you just didn't travel through the field.  There was a roadway or path that you walked and everybody walked the same path.  As you walked on the path, the path would be packed down or trodden down and it would get very hard.  As the sower would go forth to sow, he would sow or dip his hand in his bucket and scatter his seed much of it would fall on the plowed ground, the ground that had been readied, but some would fall on the roadway or by the wayside where the ground was very hard.  We know the Bible says here then the fowls of the air would come or the birds would come along and would eat it.  We learned last week that the birds is the wicked one.  Satan, he would come along, just as soon as the Word is sowed and it falls upon a hard heart and he will come immediately and snatch it away. 

 

When you look at the word "snatch away”, it means that he does it violently.  Satan, when we hear the Word of God, and when it comes down into our heart, then he just doesn't come in a pleasant way, or nice way.  He will come very violently and try to snatch that Word away from the unsaved when they hear the Word of God because he doesn’t want that Word to sink down in their heart.  It's just like the seed laying upon the hard ground, if it would lay there for a little while and some rain would come upon it and the ground may loosen up a little bit, there might be a possibility that it could get down into the ground and there is a possibility that some of it could come up.  When satan sees the seed lying upon our hard heart, he comes and snatches that away very quickly. 

 

We learned last week about how some folks harden their hearts against the Word of God.  All four soils that we are going to talk about is representative of people's heart and how that they hear the Word of God.  Some people harden their hearts against God, for whatever reason.  Some people have been hurt at church. 

 

I have pastored churches before...where I could go two, three, four or five mile radius around that church and about every home that you went to, they could tell you a story about some tragedy or some awful thing that had happened at that church and that's the reason that they don't come anymore.  They harden their hearts against God because of things like that; some people because of tragedy, some people because of death or accidents.  They harden their heart against God.  Also, some harden their hearts because of pleasure and different things that we are going to talk about little bit more tonight. 

 

I hope that we understand how dangerous it is when an individual hardens their heart against Almighty God.  As I was studying this week, I found something that was interesting to me, but it was also very scary.  A few years ago, a fellow had done a study... (He's a fellow that I read after quite a bit.   I believe that his numbers are accurate.  I don't think he made this up.  He is a very reputable worldwide known fellow.) ... He put this study together, he was interviewing people, and he looked at people at the age that they got saved.  He put this together, and it was remarkable to me.  People, by the time that they get twenty-five years old; there is one in ten thousand people that get saved. From the time you are born up to the time you are twenty-five, one in ten thousand get saved.  Now, that is not very many people; is it?  It gets a whole lot worse real quick.  The reason that I want you to think about this is because the longer that we harden our heart, of course naturally the harder it gets, but it gets harder to penetrate.  The more our heart gets hardened, the more that it pounded and walked down, the more the sun beats upon our hard heart, the harder it gets, therefore, it is harder to penetrate and it gets less likely for us to get saved the older we get.  When a person gets between twenty-five and thirty-five, one in thirty-five thousand people born gets saved.  When you get thirty-five years old, there is one person out of thirty-five thousand people that will ever get saved.  That is scary isn't it?  When you get forty-five years old, one person out of two hundred thousand gets saved.  Do you see the progression here?  Do you see how people harden their heart against God?  It gets harder and harder for people to believe.  By the time they get fifty-five, one in five hundred thousand people gets saved.  When you turn fifty-five years old, one person out of a half a million gets saved.  That's scary, isn't it?  The last one here, when people get seventy-five years old or over, one person out of seven hundred thousand gets saved. 

 

What I am trying to tell you folks is get saved now, today.  Don't turn it away.  Don't get any older.  Don't turn Him away, because the longer that you turn Him away, the harder your heart gets.  It would be easier when you hear the Word of God preached and taught, then it makes it easier for satan to come along to "snatch it" or very violently, take it out of your life.  That's what he does.

 

Tonight we are going to talk about the stony...the Bible says:

 

5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

 

As I said last week, or probably I said last week if I remember correctly, that in the land of Israel or Palestine that just under the ground a short ways, in some places more than others, just under the ground that place is all solid limestone over there.  There is limestone everywhere over there.  If you ever been around a brick building, this building here for instance, if you come out here in the daytime when the sun is shinning, you can put your hand on this brick and because the sun is on it, it is warm.  You can wait until the sun goes down and put your hand on the blacktop, the blacktop will be cold but the brick will still yet be warm.  What I am saying is that rock gets warm and it doesn't have much earth.  The Bible says "...some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth..."  He is referring to a piece of ground where the seed falls and there is just a little bit of ground there.  The limestone is hot, or the rock is hot, so something happens.  To germinate seed it takes moisture, and it takes heat.  The lime stone holds heat in the ground but it also, when the sun comes up, because there is not much earth there then it make it very vulnerable for the ground to dry quick because there is not much earth.

 

5  ...fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up...

 

In other words, the seed falls upon stony ground and...it springs up quick. 

 

5 ...because it had no depth of earth:

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away

 

It is telling us that the seed springs up quick because of the heat that is in the ground.  There is not much earth there.  The seed gets in the ground, it springs up real quick, but because it has not much root, in other words, the root cannot go very far down into the ground because of the rock.  Then the sun comes up and scorches the plant or the seed that is here and the Bible says that it withers away. 

 

If you ever planted anything, especially in the dry time like it was this summer, you can see that.  If you had sandy ground or rocky ground, that's a very picture that we know.  Think about something.  He is talking about a heart.  He is talking about the wayside folks here as we talked about a minute ago.  He was talking about people whose heart is very hard, people that their mind is closed to the Word of God. 

 

Tonight we are going to talk about some individuals who are a lot like those we see here.  It talks about people that are emotional.  I've seen people that come to altar, and we are not talking about Christian people here; Jesus, in this parable, in these three hearts that He is talking about, then when we get to the fourth one, that's a Christian individual who brings forth some fruit.  However, these first three individuals that we are talking about are people who never get saved.  They never get saved because they never bring forth any fruit.  When people get saved, they bring forth fruit.  The acid test of the Christian is that they bring forth fruit.  If we do not bring forth fruit then we are not saved.  I'm not saying that we are saved by works.  When we are saved, then we will have some works.  When we are saved then we will have some fruit.  Keep that in your mind.  I know sometimes we just think that Christianity is about coming to church, well it is about coming to church but it is about Christ being in us.  I come to church because I am a Christian.  I don't come to church to be a Christian.  I don't come to church just to do things that makes me a Christian, but I come to church because I am a Christian.  We come here to worship.  Sure we come here and we get save and all that, you know what I am saying here.  However, many times we think that we come to church that makes us a Christian, might make us a better Christian but that don't make us a Christian.  The fruits that we bear, if we are bearing fruit, then that's evident fact that we are Christian.  If we are not bearing any fruit then that's evident fact, that Christ is not in our lives. 

 

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground...

 

Keep in mind that the seed that has been sown here is the Word of God.  There is nothing wrong with the seed.  The seed is sown here and in all three analogies, it is the same seed.  There is nothing wrong with the seed and sower is doing His job. 

 

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

 

Many folks come to church.  They hear the Word of God and they get so excited that they have heard the Word of God.  They have heard something that they need to hear.  They have heard something that will change their life.  They have heard some things here that excites them and makes them emotional, but they don't have the goods. 

 

Remember this, anyone that has violent emotions; in other words, it does not take much to make them go off on the deep end to the left and it don't take much to make them go off on the deep end to the right.  People like that are very shallow people.  People whose emotions blow up one way or another all the time, are people that have no depth about themselves.  They have no root about themselves.  They are not rooted.  They are not grounded.  They are very emotional, and emotions are great and I like emotions but I am not saved by emotions and you are not either.  It is good to feel good.  It is good to feel the presence of God.  It is good for Him to come down and bless and make us emotional, and that's all good, great and fine, but the test is, "Are we bearing fruit?"  What are we doing when we leave here?  Everybody can say Hallelujah in church.  Everybody can jump up and do all kinds of things in church, but what's going on when we leave here?  What kind of a life are we living when we leave here?  We see people like that.  The seed is received but it does not take root.  People that are stony heart people are people that are easily excited.  They are emotional.  They are very enthusiastic people.  They want to do many things, but they are very superficial people.  They are very shallow people.  There is no depth there.  The rock is here.  We have an inch or two of dirt.  The seed falls on the ground and springs up real quick.  We see people do that.  We see people come to church, and they come forward and pray, they say they get saved and they want to start preaching next week.  They are springing up quick.  I've seen it and you have.  They want to hold some big job, or they want some position real quick, or they want to do some great thing real quick but they are very shallow people. Their faith is very thin faith.  They have never allowed the Word of God to sink down deep into their hearts. 

 

IMPORTANT!

 

Sometimes we think that when people get saved that the enemy comes immediately and tries to do something to them.  I know he does sometimes as we learned about the seed that fell upon the hard ground, but just because someone hears the Word today or just because someone makes a profession today doesn't mean that the enemy is going to come today and try to destroy him.

 

In reading this here, it says the seed is sown on the stony ground there is not much dirt there, there is not much root there.  It springs up real quick but it doesn't say that the sun comes out that particular day or the day after that.  The reason that I am saying is this, not everybody that comes to this altar and sits in our pews for a week or two or three or month or a year or two; and then gets up and gets mad and leaves.  Not everybody got saved.  ...Many folk that have come through here and folks that I have dealt with over the last thirty years...are enthusiastic, excitable, and emotional.  They come, and make a big splash then it is not long until they are gone.  You never see any fruit in their life.  They never do anything that brings glory to God.  They come and then they are gone because they don't have any depth.  They don't have any root in themselves.  They have never allowed the Word of God to penetrate their heart and take root in their heart.  That is why.  Some of it has been your family and some of it has been my family that has done that. 

 

Here is what happens.

 

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

 

They hear the Word preached and taught.  They say Amen, and Praise the Lord.  They're jumping, and they're throwing songbooks.  They're just having a high ole' time.  Look what happens.  They do that for a while. 

 

17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

 

The seed is sown upon stony ground where there is just a little bit of earth.  The rock has some heat in it.  The dirt has some moisture in it so it springs up quickly, but because it has no depth, the Bible says, "...and so endure but for a time..."  Many folks hear the Word of God.  Many folks like what they hear.  It tells them some things about themselves.  It tells them sometimes, things that they need to change, things that they are doing right, sometimes it is a very exciting time.  However, something happens somewhere in our life.  If I receive the Word of God today, the enemy may not come today, it may take a week, it may take a month, or it may take six months.  Somewhere along the line, the sun is going to come up.  Sun here has to do with persecution.  Look what it says here.  "...afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake..."  Here's what happens.  ...I hope you get this because it's important.  People hear the Word of God, they hear it and it springs up real quick in their life.  They have no depth about themselves.  They have never allowed the Word of God to penetrate their hearts and get down inside them where they have foundation about them.  The sun rises up somewhere down the road and this little thing that sprung up just endures for a while. 

 

The Bible says, "...when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake..."  Many people want to shout Hallelujah and Praise the Lord and they want to talk about Jesus and going to heaven.  Many times, they don't have a clue what they are talking about when they talk about things like that.  They jump up and say all kinds of things that they don't have a clue what they are talking about but they are very excited about it.  They go on for weeks, months or years.  Somewhere along the line, people that have no depth about themselves, they are going to hear something preached or taught that is going to demand that they change some things in their life.  It says here, "...affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake..."  Do you know what the Word of God does?  When you and I get saved, and as we progress in our Christian life, the Word of God will prune us and show us the error of our way.  We are growing.  I don't care if we got saved when we are seventy-five years old, we start out as a babe, we start out at the bottom of the school and we go through school.  We go through Christian school.  We go through learning processes.  The only we can learn is by looking at what God says and accepting what the Word of God says and making those changes in our lives that the Word of God says that I need to change.  It does that.  It still yet does that today because we are not home yet.  We have not graduated yet because we are still here and we are still learning today.  If we have not closed our mind, then we are still yet learning. 

 

Here is what happens.  The Word of God is preached and taught and they hear something that catches their attention that just sucks the emotion out of them.  It pricks their heart and it shows them that they cannot live that way.  "...I can't do that.  I'm not going to change my life style.  I like what I am doing.  I like the relationship that I am in.  I like the things that I am participating in.  I am not going to change my life because of what the Bible says."  That happens.  That's happened to some of your family that is sitting right here tonight.  Do you know how I know that?  I know that because some of them have called me.  They have come here.  They made a big splash.  They got very emotional.  Six months goes by, and they call me up on the phone, "Preacher you preached this.  You talked about this the other night.  What do you mean by that?  Are you telling me what I am doing is wrong?"  If you are doing that particular thing, then it is wrong.  They don't like that.  That sucks the emotion out of them.  They get emotional in the beginning but they never stop to count the cost of self-denial.  That is part of this thing.  I don't do everything that I want to do.  I don't do everything that comes into my mind.  I don't do every thought that I have and everything that runs through my mind.  I don't do those things and you don't either, if you are a Christian tonight.  The enemy will plant all kinds of thoughts in our minds, things that he will try to justify different ways for us to do. 

 

People that are shallow have no depth about themselves.  They hear the Word of God preached and taught.  They receive it with gladness, but because they have no depth in themselves, when affliction or persecution arise because of the Word of God; they hear it preached and hear it taught; they know how that they are living is wrong, and how what they are participating in is wrong; instead of changing their life to conform to the Word of God they want us to change the rules for them.  God is not going to change His rules for you.  We will either conform to the Word of God and live by the Word of God and go to heaven, or we won't.  That is what people do.  People that are very shallow they get very emotional and go through this phase and they never think about self-denial.  They never think about the cost of living for Jesus Christ.  They never think about the time that it is going to take.  They never think about the time that it is going to take to prepare themselves everyday to live a Holy dedicated life.  They never think about reading, studying and praying.  They never think about doing these things.  They never think about that.

 

When the Word of God is preached and taught, when the persecutions come because of the Word of God, because of the things that the Word of God says, then we don't see them anymore.  You call them on the phone and say, "Hey, why aren't you coming to church?"  They say, "Well, I just don't have time.  I really don't feel like it.  I'm just going to sit here at the house.  I believe that I can live a Christian life here.  I'm going to sit here and do this or do that."  Every time you call them, they get a little farther and farther away.  People like this have never brought any fruit forward at all.  They may have enthusiastic.  They may have been emotional.  They may have done different things...many people still yet come to church that are like this.  Remember, persecutions are going to arise.  Afflictions are going to arise.  They are going to arise for the Word's sake and immediately they are offended."

 

Do you know why people get offended?  The word "offend" means to lay a stumbling block, or to lay a block in front someone that they might trip and fall over.  Do you know why many people get offended today?  Do you know why shallow, emotionally violent people get offended?  It tells us right here.  They get offended because the Word of God is preached and taught and they don't want to accept that.  They don't want to believe what it says.  Therefore, instead of being something that will help them--persecution and affliction is great for a Christian if we will receive them and deal with them in a right way, they will make us grow--sun makes seed grow.  Persecutions will make us grow if we are really saved.  If we are really saved, if the Word of God has went down into our hearts then when persecutions and afflictions come it will make us grow, it will make us better people.  Just as sunshine and moisture makes seed grow, persecutions will make a child of God grow.  However, when they come and we will not do not want to accept them, it tells us the error of our way, it shows us what we are doing wrong, instead of becoming something that will make us better people, we get offended by it and we just quit.  There are many folk like that.  Most people don't quit coming to church because they don't like the preacher...  Most don't quit coming to church because they don't like the choir.  Most people don't quit coming to church because of many different reasons.  Most people quit coming to church because they do not want to conform their lives unto the teaching of the Word of God.  That is why people quit coming to church.  I know that some people do actually get offended, I understand that.  I understand that there are times that people are mistreated and get their feelings hurt.  However, the majority of people that quit coming to church, most of the time are people that have never been saved.  They are very shallow people that one time in their life may have been very emotional, but because of something that is preached or taught from the Word of God that they did not want to conform to, therefore, they say, "Hey, I'm not going to listen to that."  I have had people tell me that before.  Is that you just talking preacher or is that what God says?  If that is just me talking, that don't mean a whole lot, but if it is God talking, you had better listen to Him.  If it is God that says you had better let alone what you are doing, then you had better listen to Him.  You are going to pay a horrible price if you don't. 

 

The Bible says in verse seven:

 

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

 

I have learned some things about this one that I did not know.  I don't know if you know what thorns are or not, but if you have ever been outside any then you know what thorns are.  I know that roses have some sharp things on them.  However, the thorns here that he talking about...when we were in the mines we would have an area that would want to slip off a steep spot and we couldn't keep the ground from slipping off every time it would get wet.  We would sow thorn bushes on it.  ...you can sow these thorn bushes on these banks and in two or three years of time, you couldn't get a rabbit through it because it would get so thick. 

 

Think about something here.  The Bible says here the sower is sowing and some falls by the wayside, some falls upon stony ground and the Bible says here that some fell among thorns.  Now get that.  Some fell among thorns.  The ground had been plowed.  It had been [disked].  The ground had been drug down and the clods had been busted up as much as they could.  The sower comes along and sows some seed and there are some things that he didn't see when he was sowing.  He didn't sow these seeds with full-grown thorns there.  He didn't sow these seeds in a field with thorns because he knew that wouldn't work.  He knew that he could not harvest anything in a field of thorns.  What the sower didn't see is that right under the ground there are thorns...that are still yet alive. 

 

Last week I mentioned Johnson grass.  Johnson grass was something that you absolutely could not kill it.  We would go down there and you could plow it under.  I don't care if plowed two feet deep and turn it under two feet deep it would come back up and it would come back up in whole lot greater way.  We would go down there and pull it up.  We go down there, take gas, and set it on fire.  It was hard to get rid of.  The thorns here were the same way. 

 

The sower sows the seed and right under the ground, there are some thorn bushes that are still yet alive.  The sower didn't see the thorns but as he sowed, some fell among thorns.  The Word of God falls in places where there are a lot of thorns.  A person that is a thorny...hearer is someone that has many things going on in their life.  You see people come to church and we see them come forth and come to an altar and they want to make Christianity just one more event in their life.  What I mean by that is instead of allowing that to be the main focus in their life, they want it to be just one more activity that they do. 

 

Many folks are preoccupied.  Many folks that hear the Word of God, their minds are preoccupied and their hearts are full of all kinds of things that are going on.  That is what it is telling us here.  They are preoccupied people.  The seed falls upon the ground where the thorn bushes are just under the ground.  The seed falls on the ground, it goes in the ground and it starts growing.  Sounds good, doesn't it?  Get this.  Sometimes in life, folks hear the Word of God and may even receive the Word of God…

 

As I mentioned this Sunday morning, the night I got saved on May 15, 1976, I had to go home and get rid of some stuff.  I had to go home...there were some things that were occupying some space in my home that I had to get rid of physically.  Also, when we get saved there are some things that are inside of here that we have got to get rid of.  We cannot continue what we are doing and bring forth fruit unto perfection.  It can't be done.  ...God doesn't save me while I'm in my sins, but God saves me from my sins.  What I mean by that is this.  Before I got saved, I would quit everything that I knew to quit.  I'd quit everything that I knew to quit, even though I had some stuff at the house, I'd quit everything that I knew to quit.  I was doing the very best that I could to clean this guy up.  When I came to altar there that night, I had did all that I could do.  I had quit cussing as much as I could.  I had quit drinking as much as I could.  I had done everything that I could to get rid of all the thorns in my life.  Does that mean that I could save myself?  It doesn't mean that at all.  I had thrown out all the forces that was going to stand in opposition to the seed that I was going receive, I got rid of it all the very best that I could.  When I came to the altar that night, I said, "Lord, please save me."  Do you know what He did?  He did that.  He moved in and then He started helping me then with all these other things.  All these other things that I needed to get rid of, all these other things that were complete total opposite and opposing the seed, the Word of God; He helped me to get rid of those things. 

 

This individual here hears the Word of God...coming to church and being a Christian and doing Christian things is just one more event in his life.  It is just one more thing that he puts on his schedule.  He is someone who is very occupied.  His mind is occupied with all kinds of things.  God will be first place in our lives or He won't be in our lives.  God won't "one" of "many" things in our lives.  God is going to be first and then all these other things will be fine.  We have to work, we have families and do all these other things, but God must be first in our lives.  Anything that is opposing our Christian spiritual growth has to go. 

 

The Bible says here down in verse 18:

 

18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

 

Cares is a good word there.  "Cares" in the Greek that means "worry" or "worries".  An individual whose mind is pre-occupied, worried...many things going on, they are always wondering about, "How am I going to do this?  Am I going to get this done tomorrow?..."  Many folks are like that.  The Bible says here, "...the cares of this world..."  The word "cares" does mean to draw into different directions.  The cares of this world does us that way.  The Word of God will lead us this way, but the cares of this world, or the worries of this world, will lead us this way.  It does that, it does distract. 

 

The "world" here means this.  I wrote this down word for word out of the Greek, I forget what the Greek word was, but "the course of life as it is lived currently on planet earth by those who do not know God."  That's what the word "world" here means.  The cares, the worries of the lifestyle that people are living, those folks that are not living for Jesus Christ, the cares of this world, the life, the path that we are taking currently on planet earth; those people that are not following Jesus Christ, the cares of this world.  "The worries of people this age who live apart from God."  The cares of this world are the things, the worries, the pre-occupied minds of people that are living a life that are separated from God.

 

It goes on to say, "...the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches..."  The riches are very deceptive.  We think that riches bring us happiness.  We think that wealth brings us happiness.  Wealth does not bring us happiness.  Jesus Christ brings us happiness.  Jesus Christ brings us Joy.  Jesus Christ brings a satisfied life, not deceitful riches. 

 

It goes on to say this, "...and the lusts of other things..."  The word "lusts" means "desire."  It could be something good or something bad.  Most of the time we want to compare lust or put lust into sexual sins.  We can't always do that.  Sometimes we can lusts after good things for things of God.  It means desire.  We can desire good things.  Sure, we can.  It is talking about evil things here.  It says here, "...choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful."  The thorns are here.  The Word is sown here.  It is sown in a heart that is pre-occupied.  It is sown on ground that has not been cleaned out.  It is sown in a life that Christianity or coming to church is just one of many activities that an individual wants to do.  If that is the case, if Jesus Christ is not primary in your life then the words that you have received, the thorns are going to grow up over here are going to choke the Word and you are going to become unfruitful.  There is not going to be anything there that's going to be any good.  That happens to many folks.

 

That is why it is so important that we live our lives according to the will of God.  It is so important that we live our lives putting Him first and foremost in our lives.  If I do that then I can go to work and be happy.  I can go to work and be happy, even though the circumstances may not be so great, I can still yet have joy in my heart.  If I did not clean the thorns, the brush, the weeds, and the garbage out of my life everyday, after a while it would take over me.  It takes over people. 

 

I've have used this analogy before, maybe here, maybe not here.  Picture in your mind a house that is upon a hill.  A little white house that has a picket fence around it.  It has some pretty little shutters on it.  It has a tin roof.  There is a little well box sitting out to the side here, got an old smoke house sitting out here behind it, with a little walk-way up to it.  The grass is all mowed clean and always kept real nice and neat.  Then the people that live there dies and you go back past it six months later, you can see it starting to deteriorate.  The grass starts to grow a little bit.  You go back two years later, the morning glories are growing up over the fence and it needs painted.  You go back five years later, and you see that weeds have taken the place.  They are six feet tall and the shutters are falling off the side.  A few pieces of tin that is on the little shed are blown off.  The well box has siding that has fallen off.  You go back ten years later and the house is caved in, the weeds have taken the place, the varmints have taken over the place.  That's what happens in a lot of people's Christian lives. 

 

It used to be pretty.  It used to be very well maintained.  It used to be something that people liked to look at, but today their lives have collapsed.  Something that used to be very pretty is very vile today.  Something that used to be very pretty that people looked at as a Christian is very ugly today because they did not chop the thorns out everyday.  I'm no different than you are.  If I don't take this guy to the woodshed everyday and allow God to clean this guy up everyday, then this guy will get out of hand and you will too. 

 

That's why it is so important to live everyday, go before God everyday, "God cleanse me.  God, forgive me of my sin.  Forgive me of my secret sins, Lord.  Some things I may have done that I don't even know is sin, please forgive me for those things."  You might say why would you do that.  God is a very Holy God.  I may do some things that I might not know offends Him.  If that is the case, then you know what I want to do, I want Him to forgive me. 

 

I pray for you people.  I pray for this church.  I pray for every one of you that if you commit any sins, I want God to forgive you.  If you commit any sins, I want God to remind you of it because I want you to be clean.  I want you to be someone that this world can look at and see that you are nice and neat, someone that takes some time to work on their Christian life.  It takes effort to keep a place pretty, to keep the grass mowed, to keep the shutters on the place, to keep the roof on, to keep the weeds out of the fence; it takes effort.  It takes commitment for me and for you to keep my life where the thorns don't take over.  It takes commitment unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

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