| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church Anyway, combine this thought with other things in the Bible like when Jesus was making his final entry into Jerusalem, and the crowds pressed against Him, the Roman officials feared a riot, and told Jesus to quiet and/or disperse the crowd. He replied “I can, but even if I do, the very rocks will cry out in adoration”. I don’t really understand the relationship between God and creation, other than that when He created it, He said “it is good”, and He did it for you. Last week we talked about farming from Matt. 13:1-9, and 18-23. We learned that the sower represents Christians obediently sharing the Gospel. The Seed is the Word of God which is perfect, and the four soils, are four conditions of the heart. Today, we look a little deeper at the soil. Your heart condition. If you haven’t read the text, do that first. For us, the soils represent these four conditions. 1) Not Saved and know it. 2) Unsaved, but think they are - (False Assurance). 3) Genuinely Saved, but living under a storm cloud of doubt, and 4) Saved and know it - ready to charge hell with a water pistol. We won’t spend much time on the first person today. He is the guy who says: “Dan I just don’t believe any of it”. He is honest, and I respect him. I hurt for him, and pray for him, but I respect him. The one I want to focus on today is the Casual Heart. The stony ground from vs 5. The superficial hearer. We in the Ministry are guilty of convincing folks that if they “walk the isle”, or “get dunked”, or “partake of this or that”, or say the “magic prayer” they are Okey-Doke. But when the “sun” of tribulation comes, these folks wither away. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked: “what must I do to be saved?”, the Lord held up the Law like a mirror to reveal his need. But he wasn’t broken. Jesus showed him who his true god was - his stuff. Listen now, Jesus sent him away without ever giving him the Gospel. What? Yet in Acts chapter 2, 3,000 people get saved. What was the difference? Peter showed them (and us) their guilt in the death of Christ, and 2:37 says “they were cut to the heart, and cried out ‘what must we do’”. Then and only then, did he share the gospel. Salvation is not found in water or wine, but in the person of Jesus Christ. Has the soil of your heart ever truly received that? |
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