The Power of the Word

Transcript

GRM 1223
07/21/19
The Power of the Word
Matthew 13:3-23; Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We’re going to take a break from the Book of Ecclesiastes today. We have worked through the first eight chapters, and we’re ready to go into chapter 9, and that is a good place to break. I thought instead of moving into chapter 9 and then having to pick up that would be a better break, and it enables me to do something else with you. I want to go to Matthew chapter 13 in your bibles. Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, about the center of the Book of Matthew, and it is a key chapter in the Book of Matthew, and one that we become familiar with because it contains a number of parables, and parables are always interesting and challenging as well for us. Parable, the word just simply means two things brought together or brought alongside each other. You take something from the natural physical world often and you draw a comparison with something else, and that’s what Jesus is doing in Matthew 13.

The time of these events and this period in Jesus’ life on this earth is crucial. Matthew is recording a transition. Remember Jesus Christ the Son of God left heaven and came to earth, born into the human race, a Jewish man, the King of the Jews. Unto you, this day in the city of David is born One who is the King of the Jews. He’s the Messiah of Israel and so when He entered into His adult ministry at 30 years of age he was introduced by John the Baptist, and presented as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. John had been preaching “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and the Jews looked forward to and understood from the Old Testament prophets that the Messiah would come. He would be the Savior for Israel. He would bring judgment on the enemies of God’s people. He would establish a kingdom that would never end. So, when Jesus entered His public ministry, about 30 years of age, He began to offer the kingdom to the nation Israel, offer Him as their Messiah. He gathered around Him His disciples and they were sent out to the Jews in the nation Israel to announce that their King was present. They were welcomed to come to Him, to believe in Him, and to submit to Him as their Savior, as their King. Sadly, they rejected the grace that was offered to them in Christ.

Now if you just back up from Matthew 13, and at the end of chapter 11 of Matthew you have the gracious invitation given by Jesus when He says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Come under My authority, My care. I am the One who can rescue you, redeem you, cleanse you from your sin, bring you to peace of heart and soul. But the nation has said, “No.” So in chapter 12 you have the reminder that Jesus the Son of God, the Son of Man, had three offices that He fulfilled. He was a Prophet, He was a Priest and He was a King, showing that those three positions in Israel came to their climax in Him, the Messiah of Israel. He was greater than anyone who had preceded Him in Judaism, but He had been rejected.

In chapter 12, something of the rejection of Christ is stressed. We’ll just have time to point to the comparison with Christ. He is compared with the temple in the opening verses of chapter 12. The temple was the focal point of worship in Israel. It was the center point of the priestly ministry in Israel where the priests who would represent the people to God would come, bring sacrifices and so on. And you’ll note verse 6, Jesus speaking says, “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.” Something greater than the temple and all it represented, the priestly ministry in Israel, but the Son of God is here. The One who is God and Man, who can truly represent you to His Father in heaven, but He has been rejected, something greater than the temple. When you come over later in chapter 12 the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would not only be priest, He would be a prophet.

Remember Moses spoke of the time when God would raise up a prophet greater than him in Israel, and he compares or brings up the prophet Jonah. And Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale and the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth as a result of His rejection, crucifixion, and burial. And then Jesus says at the end of verse 41, “…something greater than Jonah is here.” He’s the greatest prophet. He fulfills the prophecies that pertain to Him and then He is a King. He’s the Messiah of Israel. He speaks of Solomon, and then He says at the end of verse 42, “…something greater than Solomon is here.” Prophet, Priest and King, Christ was greater in His offices than any who had preceded Him in these areas. They all came together in one Person, the God-Man Jesus Christ, and yet this evil generation rejected Him.

At the end of verse 45 God calls them an “evil generation”. There is a judgment coming on the nation Israel. A judgment that we need to understand continues down to this day, that the nation of Israel lives under the judgment of God. They have since the events we’re considering right here in chapter 13, culminating in the crucifixion of their Messiah. And the worst is yet to come as we’ve seen when we study the Book of Revelation. That preceding the return of Christ to earth to establish the kingdom that was prophesized, there’ll be terrible suffering and judgment on the nation Israel. When you come to chapter 13 what happens is a change in the ministry of Jesus in regard to the nation Israel. Up to this time, the kingdom has been offered to the nation Israel if they will accept Him as their King, place their faith in Him, bow before Him, recognize who He is, trust Him to be their Savior, and their King. They said, “No!”

It is an evil generation that has rejected Him so in chapter 12 verse 45, Jesus compared it to a house or a body of a person from whom a spirit had been removed, an evil spirit. The inside of that person was all cleaned up, and then that spirit that had been removed didn’t find any place to go and found out that house had been all cleaned up, so he brought seven spirits back in that were worse. So, in verse 45 Jesus says, “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will be also with this evil generation.” Things are going to get worse. For the last 2,000 years, the nation Israel has lived under the judgment of God for their rejection of their Messiah. God is not done with the nation Israel, but He has placed them under judgment, and there is a change in the emphasis of what God is doing in the world today. We call it the Church. You’re aware that the Church has not replaced Israel but is a new thing God is doing. The program with Israel will resume.

What Jesus does in chapter 13 is talk about the tragedy of Israel’s rejection. From this point on, in Matthew’s Gospel, the account of Christ, the kingdom will not be offered any longer to the nation Israel. The door is closed. The opportunity is no longer there. We’re moving toward the cross. Their rejection of their Messiah is accepted as their last word. The kingdom will not be available to them any longer. Two thousand years have gone by. It is yet future, so in chapter 13 Jesus begins to talk in parables. Chapter 13 opens up and says, “That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down…” And you’re aware, like we see it even in our day, where something may be going on, you can have people crowded around. He gets into a boat so He can push off a little from the shore, have some space, have some room like we have even in this auditorium where I can be removed somewhat and speak easier to the people. So, He’s in the boat a little from shore, so He can address the crowds that are there. The crowds gathered to Him.
He sits down. He begins to address them and verse 3 says, “And He spoke many things to them in parables…” Now this is a new way. Not that He hasn’t used parables before, but now He strings a series of parables together and the disciples see something of a change. And so, in verse 10 they come and ask Him, “‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ Jesus answered them, ‘To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.’” What is the difference? The multitudes have refused to believe in Jesus as the Savior Messiah of Israel. These disciples have believed in Him, that’s the difference. For those who have believed in Him, it’s granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven; we know what that’s about. That’s the kingdom that Jesus offered. He’s going to clarify truths concerning the kingdom that He came to earth to establish, but that will not now be established but will at a much future time.

Now, this mystery, these are not things that are complicated necessarily. They’re things you could not know unless God revealed them. It’s new information, not before revealed. That’s what a mystery is in the New Testament. God revealing new information, so the information He is giving is new information and that new information will carry on through the rest of the New Testament, culminating with the last of God’s revelation in the Book of Revelation. That pulls all this together. New material not before been revealed about the kingdom, and what He’s going to talk about, is it is not going to be established now, but it will be at a future appointed time. So, what He’ll talk about in chapter 13 covers things that will take place during this time until Christ returns to earth. And in chapter 13, verses 41 to 43, he talks about when Christ will send His angels to gather the wicked out from the earth, so that the righteous can go into the kingdom.

The kingdom hasn’t been totally shut down. It has been delayed. Now it’s not delayed in the plan of God because His plan includes all things, but from the human perspective. He goes on in chapter 13, verse 13, “‘Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.’” And this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah and we won’t go back there because you have recorded in verses 14 and 15 what Isaiah 6 tells us. “‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’” But they wouldn’t as a nation.

“‘But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’” The whole Old Testament anticipated the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah of Israel. When He came, the nation said, “No, we will not have this man to be King over us.” But some did believe, and they saw what the prophets of the Old Testament could only anticipate and look forward to. So, Christ is going to speak in parables because the nation has come under the judgment of God. Through their history, they have said “No.” They have said “No,” and they have rebelled against God. Finally, the Messiah comes from heaven and offers them the kingdom. They shut their eyes, they put their fingers in their ears. We don’t want to see it, we don’t want to hear about it.

You know what God says? Open your eyes, take your fingers out of your ears. You know what the judgment is? You won’t see anything, you won’t hear anything. You don’t want to see, all right you won’t see. You don’t want to hear, all right you won’t hear. You reject the truth; you’ve persisted in your rejection of the truth. Judgment falls. Now the opportunity to have the kingdom established, your Messiah as your Savior, that day is gone for you. So, He’s going to speak to them in parables to hide the truth. The same principle we have in other parts of Scripture.

You know what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church? He says the soul-ish man, the man who has never experienced God’s salvation, the man who has never believed the truth of God in the heart, he cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. Just going by, but it doesn’t make any sense. He doesn’t grasp it. He doesn’t see it as the truth of God to be believed and assimilated into his life. But the man who has the Spirit of God, who has believed and experienced the power of God’s salvation, is able to understand all the things of God. That’s the dividing line between people. The dividing line between our own audiences here, those who have the Spirit, those who don’t. Those who have believed in God and the Savior He provided, those who have not. Those who can understand truth or not. So, we’re going to walk through this truth.

Back in verse 3, “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying…” The first parable He speaks is the Parable of the Sower. He’s going to take something from everyday life in biblical times; a sower planting a seed and what they did in those times. Obviously, you’re familiar with the pictures and so on. They had a bag of seed, they had paths through their field, and they would walk the path and as they walked the path, they’d scatter the seed. Not as efficient as we do today, but it worked in those days. He’s going to talk about that, and there’s different kind of ground that the seed would fall on. Then down in verse 18 you’ll see what he says, “‘Hear then the parable of the sower.’” I will explain it to you, He says, so He becomes very helpful. Do you get how to interpret a parable? And you know about parables, it’s making a point. Everything is not to be elaborated. For example, the one sowing the seed is going to cast the seed and some of it is going to fall on ground that’s too hard to absorb the seed. Some of it is going to fall on weedy ground and the weeds all choke it out. Well, we’re not then going to say that the sower was careless, he should have been more careful. That’s not the point of the parable.

The point of the parable is the soil, the kind of ground. And Christ is going to say that is the kind of heart. The seed’s going to be the Word of God. Let’s walk through this, “‘Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.’” So, two kinds of ground. A solid ground that’s hard. It would be like the path. You know a path gets beaten, so the seed there just falls on the ground. It stays on the surface. The birds come in and help themselves to the seed.

Then there’s another kind of ground. It’s a rocky ground, and it’s the rocky kind of ground we’re talking about where you maybe have a layer of limestone rock, and then a thin layer of soil. So that when the sun comes out and the conditions are right, none of the energy of the seed goes down to put any roots down. It grows and the plant up there looks great. It looks great, but soon as the sun comes out and beats down, it withers because it has no root. Then there’s a third kind of ground as seen in verse 7. “‘Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.’” We know how that is, the weeds take over. You do all your work to get good seed to grow, and we do that today. You put a certain kind of week killer out because the weeds do choke out the good seed. Oh, it seems it has a start, but it doesn’t go anywhere. And then the fourth ground, “‘And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.’” Not all the good soil produces at the same rate, but it’s all producing an acceptable crop.

“‘He who has ears, let him hear.’” Do you have ears to hear what God is saying? Christ is going to explain it to help give understanding to these disciples. The opportunity’s passed for the nation as a nation. This is a scary thing in some ways. The opportunity for the truth, to be offered and received goes by. That’s why Paul will tell the Corinthians in another portion of what he wrote to them. “Today is the day of salvation.” Truth either softens or hardens; something that happens every time the word of God is presented. It either further hardens a heart or it softens a heart in response. Let’s look at Jesus’ interpretation of the parable in verse 18. “‘Hear then the parable of the sower.’” There are three factors: there’s a sower, there’s a seed, and there are soils. We know who the sower is because he interprets it in a later parable down in verse 37. “‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.’” So, there’s no problem with the one doing the sowing. The Son of Man is Jesus Christ the anointed One, the Messiah of Israel. That’s where we begin and it’s going to go all the way down in chapter 13. We won’t cover them all. But just until the time when He returns to earth to establish the kingdom.

So that is the message that He started giving out regarding Himself, His Person and the work that He would accomplish ultimately on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. But now the parable of the sower in verse 19. “‘When anyone hears the word of the kingdom…’” about the Messiah, who would establish the kingdom, “‘…and does not understand it, the evil one…’” the devil. Now you realize there’s spiritual activity going on that we don’t perceive physically but is being illustrated in this parable. The word of God is given out, the truth about Jesus, the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel who would establish the kingdom and a person hears it but doesn’t go anywhere. He doesn’t understand it so that word just lays on a hard heart. It didn’t go anywhere, it wasn’t received into the heart, into the mind, into the inner person where we make a response. Where we accept or reject. So, it just lays there, the word of God. The devil and his demons they come and what do they do? They snatch the word away, so it’s just like the person never heard it.

Their life goes on. “Yeah, somebody came to talk to me about religious things, but I didn’t care what they were talking about and I didn’t pay any attention.” People can come to church and do the same thing. I’m not so gullible. I think everybody is hanging on every word, but we need to be careful, it’s the word of God. “‘…the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.’” That’s like the seed on the ground that’s been beaten hard. The seed doesn’t penetrate. We know what hearts are like that won’t listen. They’re not open to hear the word. That’s what’s illustrated here. When you’re told the word of God, when you share it with someone, you may have some hearts that are like this. They don’t have any interest at all. Sometimes they are nice, humanly speaking. They’ll let you have your speech and then they say, “I’m not interested in hearing anymore.” That’s the kind of person, all right, that’s one kind of heart. They call it a hard heart.

Verse 20, “‘The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, (that’s where there’s a layer of rock under the soil, so there’s something for the soil to get started) this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy…’” Oh, boy this is what I’ve been looking for! This is exciting, this is what I want! There’s an emotional response, yet he has no root in himself. It’s only a temporary response, and that’ll be revealed when any kind of affliction, persecution, things like that arise because of the word. Immediately he’s gone. There was no root in him. I got caught up.

You know there was a time when people just poured in. I want to hear, “Oh, this is exciting! This is what we want. We want to hear the word. This is great! But it’s not always that way. Now people would go to large crusades like Billy Graham. Because why? It’s exciting. I want to go and find out what’s happening. But for some of those people, that’s all it was. Some of those people would go forward in a meeting. And “Oh, this is great! This will be the answer to all my problems, I can’t wait!” But then when they get back home, and life goes on and then they find out it upsets their family. Our--you know we were raised in this church. What are you taking a stand against that? There’s well… there’s, you know, I don’t know if I meant that, and well at any rate for whatever reason, there was no root. They don’t last.

Then there’s another kind of person. That’s the thorn ground. “‘And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.’” A person hears the words and it seems to be doing something in his life. You know some of the characteristics. These are all people that had opportunity to hear the word and indicate a response and this is their response. There’s just so much in life, I just don’t have that much time for it. You know there are other things that are more important, and it pushes in. All that’s in the world is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh or the boastful pride of life. And when the world is shaping a person’s life, they have less and less time, less and less interest in the word of God. You know, I’ve got a lot of things to do. It just chokes out the word. Somewhere along the line, they just have so many other things to do. I meet people that attended Indian Hills in the past time. I’ll say, “Where are you attending church?” “Oh, we really haven’t been going anywhere. You know, just you know, you get busy. There’s a lot of things.” In other words, what God has to say is not as important as the things of the world to me. I have a busy life.

We battle that as a church, let’s be honest. I had a brother-in-law that’s been with the Lord many years. He pastored a church in California. He says, “You know what, Gil? I have 3,000 people on Sunday morning. I have 100 on Sunday night and then they close up. And then pretty soon, well, could we compress Sunday morning? Do we need to have both Sunday school and church? You know we’re studying the same bible? Couldn’t we do it all one time and then maybe we could move it to a time because you know—Saturday has been a sports day, but I’d like Sunday to be—maybe we could put it down here in an evening.”

And I’m not against whether you have church on Sunday morning or Sunday evening or Tuesday night or whenever. The thing that concerns me, what we’re really saying is that my life’s getting so filled with other things, I don’t have that much time for the word of the Lord. No matter how we dress it up, what we’re saying is the priorities of the world are squeezing out the word of God for me, but that reveals something. I don’t understand what is precious, of value, of importance. Maybe it’s revealing our true character. Maybe I never had any relationship. I just fit it in with everything else, but soon everything else squeezes that out. That’s one kind, another kind of heart.

Verse 23, “‘And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.’” So, there is good soil. Now you note in this, that most of the seed will fall on soil that’s not long term productive, and the three kinds of soil, picturing a kind of heart that is never really transformed by the word. There is something that we need to note about the seed. The power is in the seed. So, let me talk a little bit about that with you. We’ve been studying the Book of Romans on Sunday night. In Romans chapter 1, verse 16, Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel…” the message concerning Jesus Christ, the gospel of Christ, “…for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” That includes the Jew and the Gentile. The gospel, that message concerning Jesus Christ is God’s power for salvation. That’s the message, that’s the seed, the word of the kingdom, the message about Christ the King, King of kings and Lord of lords, the Savior.

I want to take you to a few verses. Come over to Hebrews chapter 4. That’s all the way back, as you may be familiar, toward the back of your bible. Almost to the Book of Revelation, because after Hebrews there’s just some small books, James, Peter, the Epistles of John. Then you’re in Revelation. But the Book of Hebrews is the last large book we have in our New Testament. Come to Hebrews chapter 4. We’re going to touch just a few things on this. There are portions in Hebrews, he’s writing to Jews who have professed to put their faith in Christ, but Paul is concerned that some of them may be these kinds of hearers where their faith is not genuine. They’ve heard the word, but they have a hard heart. They’ve heard the word, but they have a shallow heart. Their response was superficial. Now the pressure is causing them to want to move away from the truth or maybe the things of the world and their concerns about the world. So, he reminds them of the importance. In chapter 3, verse 12, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

Now you see here the same thing we had in Romans, but I’ll wait until we get to Hebrews here. In Romans, the gospel is the power of God for everyone, but it doesn’t mean everyone who hears the word of God is saved. You know what he says, it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes that gospel. This word that is powerful enough to save your eternal soul. But you can sit here and hear it, and hear it and memorize it, and die and go to an eternal hell, because you must believe it. You must respond with your heart, your mind, yes Lord, I am a sinner. I am the one guilty before You. I have no hope but Jesus Christ, His death for me. I want to place my faith in Him. Until that response is made, it’s just a word falling on the ground. The power is not released that transforms you on the inside until you believe. That’s where he warns them in verse 12 of Hebrews 3. “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart.” You’ve paraded around like you’ve believed, but you really haven’t.

Verse 14, “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end…” You don’t want to be like Israel was in the Old Testament. Then the message to them, “‘TODAY, IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS…” close out your hearing the word that can save you. You come down to chapter 4 verse 1. “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest…” The salvation God provides brings rest to the heart. We read in Matthew where Jesus said, “Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden.” I’ll give you rest, the peace of heart and mind that inner peace, the peace of God which surpasses understanding as the bible says it. A peace that only God can bring that can quiet the heart and the mind, to put it at peace and rest. That’s what God offers. But beware lest “any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”

What do you mean? Well these are people that have heard the word of God, that have professed to have believed it, but there are signs that it wasn’t a reality in their life. Saving faith is a life changing faith. You don’t get saved by changing your life, but when God changes you on the inside your life is changed. So, don’t come short. Don’t hear it--boy I go to all the bible studies I can. That can be profitable, but don’t stop short of saving faith which transforms you on the inside. It makes you what the bible says a “new creation.” It causes you as Jesus said, “To be born again.” Verse 2, “For indeed we have had good news…” that gospel, that good news about Jesus Christ “…preached to us, just as they also…” Israel through their history did “…but the word they heard did not profit them...” It is a tragedy when you hear the word, but it’s of no profit, no value to them. Why? Because “…it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest…”

The rest of God’s salvation that will culminate in that rest promised in the kingdom, He’ll establish on the earth. It begins with peace in the heart. How sad it is. This is a concern I have as I share the word of God from week to week; that there will be people that will hear it but will stop short of believing it. It won’t profit them at all. How sad. What a terrible condition to be so close and yet so far. To someday stand before God and say, “Oh, yes I heard that. Well, you know I wasn’t interested then. Or “Yeah, initially it sounded good and I thought that’s what I wanted, but you know there were a lot of pressures and it never went anywhere.” A serious matter, I don’t want to make people doubt their salvation, but I want everybody to be sure of their salvation. Verse 11 of chapter 4, “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest…” the rest that God promises.

I mean how gracious is God? Here we are sinners in rebellion against God, disregarding the God who is sovereign over all and He says, “Come to Me.” We struggle with life, battle with life, we get frustrated, we get in turmoil, we can’t sleep. The inner peace, Come to Me, I’ll give you peace. I’ll give you rest. Verse 11, “…let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” Then we have this great word, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” He sees you just as you are, not the veneer that everyone else can see. He sees right to the center of your soul. He knows what your heart condition is.

Have you ever placed your faith in Him alone? Say God, I let go of everything. I trust in You and the Savior who loved me and died for me and Him alone. What good is it to fool other people? How terrible that I would want to try to conform my life, to live like Christians are to live, and die and go to an eternal hell. Who have I fooled? I’ve fooled myself. That’s the warning that God is giving. But the word of God is living and active, it’s powerful. It’s like a sword that can pierce right into the inside of you. Why would we fight against it? Why would we fight against God? Now you know there’s a battle that goes on. We read about it. The devil wants to come and snatch away the truth of the word of God. Paul put it this way to the Corinthians, if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden from those whose hearts have been blinded by the god (small g) of this world the devil. He blinds hearts so the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ does not shine in. So, the people will not believe, be released from the power and control of sin, be released from the power and control of the devil. Be set free in Christ, be cleansed from sin, be made new. That’s the power that only God can do.

You can’t get it by joining this church. You can’t get it by being baptized here. You can’t get it by joining communion here. God says it’s free when you believe what I have done for you. It’s given as a gift. The word of God is powerful in and of itself. Christian don’t forget that. That’s why the devil likes to move churches away from the word of God. You know my thoughts, my ideas and so on, are worth very little. Nothing when it comes to salvation. What makes a difference is the word of God, it’s alive and powerful. No matter what you do for someone else, a lost friend, a lost family member, if they don’t hear and believe the gospel, they are going to hell for eternity. Why should I talk to them about everything else under the sun, but never tell them about the truth that could save them for eternity? You know, we get intimidated and back off and no, they won’t want to hear it and it’s going to cause a division in our family and it’s—What’s more important? Is there anything else that could save them?

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.” Now He graciously says everyone who wants to come is welcome to come but you come God’s way or you don’t come. We are stubborn people, we are proud people. We don’t want to be humbled even before the living God. Amazing how we’ll fight, how we’ll hold on. Why? It’s a gift, that He paid at great cost.

We need to go to another passage. Come to James chapter 1, verse 18. “In the exercise of His will…” this is God acting “…He brought us forth by the word of truth...” This is the gospel. That’s another way of saying God caused us to be born again by His word. That’s the seed that you have to hear. The bible says you cannot be saved if you do not hear the truth of the gospel, and you cannot hear the truth of the gospel unless someone tells you, brings it to you. That’s the plan.

That’s what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 13, the seed is the word of God. We’re going to live in a time . . . I will not be present on earth. I will be seated at the right hand of My Father in heaven. I will send the Spirit of God, to do the work of God on the earth in the hearts of men, and you will pick up what I started and you will sow the seed of the truth concerning Me, and it will fall on various kinds of hearts, but it is a powerful seed and what is received into a heart by faith, it changes a life never to be the same again. It’s His will God’s sovereign work that does salvation.

Go over to 1 Peter, which is after James. I’ll bring you back to Hebrews, 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 18. “…knowing that you were not redeemed…” ransomed, the price for your salvation to rescue you from sin and hell. “…you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers…” I don’t care what religion you were raised in. The Jews couldn’t be saved by being born Jewish. Lutherans can’t be saved by being born Lutherans or Catholics or Protestants.

You don’t get saved by these external ways, “…but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” This is the way of salvation, the Son of God dying on the cross. His death provided for our redemption, which stands between you and eternal salvation, faith or the lack of it. Isn’t it amazing how simple God made it? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” “The wages of sin is death, (which includes eternal death in hell,) but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.” You’d think people would be climbing over one another. I need to hear this message, I have to believe it. That’s what I need to have.

How sinful we are that we would sit and hear it and turn around and walk away. And then we say, “Well, I don’t think God would send anybody to hell.” What’s He going to do with people like that? Bring them to heaven and turn heaven into hell? Look at the world around you. See what people do. Look at verse 23 of 1 Peter 1. “…for you have been born again, not of seed…” There we are the seed that’s being sown. “…which is perishable but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.’ And this is the word which was preached to you.”

You want to do something of eternal importance with your life. Go tell someone about Christ. You want to do something that will last for eternity. Go tell someone about Christ. Say, I have something I can tell you about, that transcends this world. I mean this world is temporal. Brevity, remember Ecclesiastes? But the word of the Lord lasts forever, and this is the word which we preach to you, which we pass on to you. Anybody that you have regular contact with, let me tell you something that you must hear because it will last for eternity. Heaven and earth will pass away, Jesus said. My word will not pass away. We’re born again by the living and abiding word of God. That’s how the new birth occurs.

Back up to Hebrews. That’s just before James, so we’re just going back a little bit. Come to chapter 10, verse 26, a strong word of warning. “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” What’s the alternative? “…but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.” That’s an eternal hell. If you persistently refuse to believe in Christ, and you reject Him, there’s no other place to go for salvation. There’s one God. There’s one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. If you persist in rejecting Him, there is no longer a sacrifice for your sins. He’s the only sacrifice. When you reject Him, there’s no other escape from an eternal hell. You understand what He’s saying here. If you persistently reject belief in Jesus Christ, the only certainty for you is terrifying, the eternal fires of hell.

You say, “Well would God do that?” He says He would, He says He will, and He says He’s the God who cannot lie. But the question that really matters is why would you reject the offer of forgiveness, cleansing new life? There was judgment in the Old Testament for those who rejected God’s word. Note what He says in verse 29. “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

You know to hear the word of God and not believe it, is an insult to the living God. It’s though you just looked at the death of Christ and you trampled underfoot. And this is what I think of it like, when you want to show total disregard for something you throw it down, and you stamp it all over with your feet. People do that with the flag. They want to show their total disregard of it. You know they’re just showing their disdain. That’s how God views a person who hears the message of His Son and says, “No, I won’t believe it!” That’s not just a light decision. He says you regard the death of My Son as nothing. You insult the Spirit who has come to convict you of sin, of righteousness and judgment. And you still close your heart and say no. You deserve hell, is what God says. We all deserve it.

I want to get what I don’t deserve. I want to get the free gift that He paid, so I wouldn’t have to. Come down to verse 38. There is no other alternative. These Jews were feeling the pressure of persecution of the world and thinking maybe they would go back to Judaism, go back to where they came. Verse 38. “BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.” Saving faith is enduring faith. Saving faith is persevering faith. Saving faith is a faith that lasts. “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” When you truly trust Christ you walk with Him. His grace sustains you. It doesn’t mean it’s easy. It doesn’t mean there aren’t down times. We’ve been looking at this in Ecclesiastes. We live in this fallen world, but saving faith is an enduring faith. We live by faith. We entered into this new life by faith and we live it day by day by faith. Come what will, my faith is in Jesus Christ and what He’s done for me. I have nothing else to trust. I have no one else to turn to. He’s the one and only Savior.

We cling to Him no matter what else comes. So, I guess the question is, what kind of heart do you have? We examine ourselves. The seed goes out. What has been the response of your heart, your soul, your mind to the truth of God regarding your sin and guilt before Him? The provision He made at great cost of His Son, to pay the penalty for your sin, so that by believing in Him you could have life, forgiveness. What kind of heart do you have? Where are you? A serious thing to say, “Well, I’ll think about it.” Israel did not know the time would come when God said the door is closed, the opportunity is done. That’s why God says through Paul in writing, “Today is the day of salvation.” I’m not saying you might have opportunity tomorrow, but you might not. The safe thing, the right thing, is take advantage of the opportunity while it is before you. That’s today.

Let’s pray: Thank you Lord for the clarity of Your word. It’s a simple word, it’s a clear word, it’s a gracious word, that we are sinners, separated from You under condemnation, doomed to an eternal hell. Deservedly so. But You in mercy, love, and grace had your Son leave the glories of heaven to be born into the human race, be rejected by men, be crucified on the cross. So that He, as the God-Man, could pay in full the penalty for our sin. So that we could be rescued from our lostness, from the doom of hell, simply by believing in our hearts, with all of our being, what You have done for us. Lord You know us, as we are, we are all open before You. You see each person’s heart, and mind, and thought as they sit here. Lord, I pray that in Your grace, Your Spirit will bring the conviction that leads to life. May we be faithful with this seed of the word, which is powerful for salvation as we share it with others. In Christ’s name. Amen