Welcome to 721 Loud, the media arm of 721 Ministries. I'm Sam Hunter. I'm glad you joined us. Thank you for being with us. Today, we're going to take a different twist, different look at Jesus' parable in Matthew 13, the parable of the four soils. We're going to actually call the parable the four chairs because we're going to put four men in each chair that represents each soil the kind of man that Jesus is talking about it that he's describing as he tells us about each soil and for simplicity's sake it'll be men because this is a men's ministry but this applies to men and women of course But I think you're going to like this little twist we take on it to see from a different vantage point what this looks like today. In today's church, let's say in today's America, the four soils, Matthew 13. That's what we're going to do. I think you're going to enjoy this. Let's jump right in. Jesus this is his first parable recorded in Matthew. He's been teaching. He's been preaching He's been healing and now he goes into the parable section of his teaching and this is the first one and I've always found it to be fascinating I think you're probably familiar with it, but we'll read it and then we'll come back and dissect it But before we actually read how he describes it I'll Want to give you the in-between he gives the parable his disciples come in and say we don't really understand this Can you explain it to us and then he says these words about why he speaks in parables Those seeing, talking about people, now he's going to describe the people in these chairs, these four soils, and the people he's talking to. Those seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. You will be ever hearing, but never understanding. You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become callous. They hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes hear with their ears Understand what their hearts with their hearts and turn and I would heal them Jesus is describing all too familiar scene in church or in Christianity Where we are hearing a message Perhaps even reading a message, but we're not taking it in we're not Absorbing it. It's not getting into our DNA and we're not living it out. It's not changing the way we live How many times have you sat through a sermon? Or listened on a podcast and an hour later somebody asked you what you've been listening to you couldn't tell him a thing you Struggle to bring out one point perhaps But you wouldn't really be able to talk about what the message was or you you read scripture this morning And someone said, hey, are you reading the Bible each morning? Yes, I do. I try to do that every morning. Well, what are you reading? Well, I'm in Romans. Well, what did you read today? Let's see. Now, tell me that's not all too familiar to you. This is exactly what Jesus is talking about. We hear, but we're not listening. You know, of course, as a man, your wife says this to you often. I know you hear me, but you're not listening to me. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying. You're hearing. You're seeing me, but you're not perceiving, you're not listening. An interesting little side note, when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, and he comes up out of the water, God says, this is my son whom I love dearly. This is my son, my only son, whom I love dearly. When Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the cloud comes over, and God then speaks again, and he says, this is my son whom I love, and then he says, listen to him. He adds that, listen to him. And I often wonder if he added listen to him because they were not listening to him. And he's saying, I know you hear the words he's saying, but listen. So as we go through this, I want you to think about which soil you are, which chair you're sitting in. Perhaps maybe you floated or drifted back and forth between one or two of these chairs Maybe you were in one chair and you've moved to another but this exercise does no good if you don't Appropriate it if you don't look inside and say oh, yeah, that's me And I want I don't want that to be me now. Let me just read Jesus explanation and then we'll jump into this one by one Listen then, verse 18 in chapter 13 of Matthew, listen then to what the parable of the sower means. The first soil, the first chair. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. Now let me just take a moment. He says the evil one comes and snatches away whatever he heard. Now when you say the Lord's Prayer and you finish it and you say, deliver us from evil, that is not the right translation. Your Bible should say, deliver us from the evil one, because it's the exact same word, the exact same phrase that Jesus is using here. Just as a side note, when you say deliver us from evil, that is a vague and ambiguous concept. But when you say the evil one, and that's what Jesus says, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. First soil, first chair. Second soil, second chair. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, but since he has no root, it lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly fades away. Verse 22, third soil, third chair. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life. I hope this doesn't sting. Actually, I hope it does sting. But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the fourth chair, the fourth soul, the fourth person. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it and receives it, perceives it, takes it into his life. He produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was sown. Four different people, four different chairs. And we're gonna look at each one of them one by one, but I wanna ask these four questions as we begin. When we think about these four men sitting in each chair, and just visualize them sitting side by side, who is watching whom? Think about that as we go through this. Who is watching whom? Who is scattering? Who is gathering? Who is producing fruit that will last? And who is in the most trouble? Who is in the most trouble when it comes to their salvation? And I would add a fifth question. Which one are you? Which one are you? Because you're one of these four. Now let's go to the first one, and let's dig into this. I think this will be helpful for you. The first soil, Matthew 13, 19, we just read this. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. I call this the first chair, and I call it the outside looking in. Mr. Outside looking in. He's outside Christianity. He's not involved in it at all, but he's looking in at other people who call themselves Christians. And we call this, Mr. Who wants that? Mr. That's for you in the gutter type people. And Mr. Look at all those hypocrites. And I might add, look at those, Jesus is just a crutch for you. Now, I've heard these. Everything I'm gonna talk about today, I've actually heard in many different conversations. And here's, who wants that? What is that person saying? He's on the outside, he's looking in at church, he's looking at Christians, he's looking at people who call themselves Christians, and he's going, who wants that? And why is he saying that? Because he's watching a bunch of people who look just like him whose lives haven't changed. They have no real joy They're struggling with the same things. He's struggling with in life. They have the same sins. They're obvious they don't seem to be living with any Holy Spirit power and he just looks and goes and and and There was a survey across the country asking, what words do you associate with born-again Christians? And the first word, the number one word was against. They're just against everything. They're just against anything and everything. He's looking at that and saying, who wants that? Mister, that's for all you in the gutter people. Now this man is looking at, and this would fall in the same category of, you know, Christianity is just a crutch. It's just a crutch. Well, when someone says that, he's thinking of people that flame out, you know, they have this public embarrassment and they become Christians or they have a jailhouse conversion, you know the type, you certainly understand what I'm talking about. And then, mister, look at all the hypocrites because we all end up looking like hypocrites from time to time because we're human. So I want you to think about how you would respond to someone who says, who wants that? And I would say, I wouldn't want it either if I were sitting in your place. But we're not talking about Christianity, we're talking about Jesus. And if you really got to know him, you'd like him and you would want that. Always try to find a little common ground, agree with him, and then say, but it's not Christianity we're talking about, it's Jesus. And you'd want that once you got to know him. Mister, that's for all you in the gutter people or that Christianity is a crutch. I love this one because the first beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when you recognize your spiritual poverty. When someone says it's for you and the gutter types, I'll say yeah, it sure is. You may not be publicly in the gutter, you may not be monetarily or health-wise, materialistic, whatever, but your heart recognizes you're in the gutter. So I tell them, yes, it took me getting into the gutter to recognize my heart was so broken and so empty, I needed a savior. When I was standing up on the sidewalk and everything was just fine and dandy, or at least so I thought, I didn't need a savior, but yeah, I'll proudly say I had to go in the gutter. Now, I hadn't lost any money, my life wasn't falling apart, but Jesus got me and showed me I was in the gutter. And when they say Christianity is just for those who need a crutch, you know what I've learned to say? You're right, and I need a crutch, because I need Jesus to help me stand tall. You may not need it, but I think you're fooling yourself. Yes, it's a crutch, because he helps me stand tall and be the man I wanted to be. And then Mr. Look-at-all-the-hypocrites, I always have a little fun with this. I say, yes, I agree, I agree totally. They look at church and say, look at all those hypocrites in church. I don't go to church because it's full of hypocrites. And I'll say, do you go to the movies? Do you go to events? Do you go to concerts? Do you go to football games, basketball games? Well, yeah, of course. Well, they're full of hypocrites too, because we're all hypocrites. So if you're not gonna go to church because of hypocrites, don't go anywhere. That's soil number one. This is Mr. Outside-looking-in. Soil number two. Chair number two. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. Now let's stop there for a moment and let me ask who this person is. Do you recognize this situation? They hear the word. And it wants to receive it with joy, but since they have no root, they last only a short time. What is this phenomenon? What is this setting? It's altar calls. It's altar calls. It's the promise keepers for the men going forward. It's the altar call at the senior high summer retreat. It's the FCA altar call. It's altar calls. It's high emotion, highly charged. You go forward. You commit your life to Jesus. You're all full of emotion. You're perhaps sobbing, but nothing came of it. And I've heard this 100 times, way more than 100 times. Sam, I was born again at the junior high retreat. I was born again at the senior high retreat when we went forward. And then they'll say, but I know I lived a different life. And you want to say, well, there was no fruit. It didn't take. It was just an emotional thing. So we don't do altar calls. We never have done altar calls with 721 Ministries because of that very reason. In the South, especially, we have a saying, you have to get these men unsaved before you can get them saved. Because they're so sure they're saved that you have to battle the altar call. refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives with great joy, but since they have no root, no discipleship, no training, no growth, they last only a short time. When, and I added, when the emotions wear off and trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. And then I added from Jesus's words from Luke 14, they all alike began to make excuses. See, in America, and in the South especially, but across America, we don't face any real persecution. The only trouble we face when it comes to the Word of God is the Word of God speaking into our hearts and saying, stop doing what you're doing. Stop living the way you're living. Or start doing this. That's the only real trouble or persecution we come up against. But we fade away because there was no root. Now, we have some titles for these folks. Sometimes not necessarily so nice a title. We call the man sitting in chair number two the churchian because he follows church, not Christ. And this is probably 95% of the people sitting in church in the South. They follow church. They don't follow Christ. But if the man's sitting in the chair, we could call him Mr. Hopeful. God grades on the curve. I'm not that bad. Mr. Proud, surrender? That sounds like quitting, like losing. Mr. Martyr, I've done a lot of good. If that's not good enough. Mr. Stiff, I prefer the intellectual approach. And Mr. Clueless, saved? Saved from what? This church in chair number two, when he says, God grades on the curve, and I'm not that bad, he's not saying he really thinks, he doesn't say he thinks, he doesn't articulate out loud that God grades on the curve, but he is sure that he does, because there's really bad people, and then there are those not quite so bad, and none of us are perfect, and then there's really good, and so this person thinks, you know, I'm not that bad. Certainly not as bad as those other folks. God's got a grade on the curve. So when I'm talking to someone like this, I say, well, you know, the truth is you are that bad. And he doesn't grade on the curve. And how bad does it take? What is the level of bad? Yes, you are that bad. And until I realized I was that bad, I wasn't desperate and I didn't surrender. But when I realized the darkness in my heart and the sin in my heart and how much I needed a savior, then I surrendered. Mr. Proud, surrender? That sounds like quitting, like losing. And remember, I've heard all of these over the years, many different times. I say to this person, yeah, it is losing, it is quitting. It's losing self and it's quitting my kingdom, me being on the throne. It's me getting off the throne and putting Jesus on the throne. Yes, it is losing and it is quitting, but it's quitting and losing to the winning team, the team I wanna be on. So I quit self. I quit my throne, I lose all of that, and I let him take over my life. So yes, it does sound like quitting, because it is. Mr. Mortar, I've done a lot of good. If that's not good enough, then... I had a conversation with a man who said that very same thing to me. Look, I've done a lot of good. And he listed off his resume. And if that's not good enough, then that's just not good enough. Now, again, I try not to blast someone like that, but I said, sir, Andy Stanley has a great question when it comes to that. How good is good enough? Do you really, are you really willing to bet your salvation, your eternal life on something you're not sure what the grading scale is? Sort of like how bad is bad enough? How good is good enough? How can you know? No one would really, no rational person would bet their entire eternal life on, I think I'm okay. Mr. Stiff, I prefer the intellectual approach. I love this. Now, let me be clear. I love the intellectual approach. I love to dig in. I love to understand what the Greek and the Latin and the Hebrew are actually saying, the Aramaic. I love that. I love the culture and the context. I love the history side of it. But somewhere along the way, that intellectual approach has got to get down to the heart. It's got to make that 13-inch journey from the head to the heart, or else there's no salvation. There's got to be a heart issue here, not just a head issue. Now, when I was a little younger and I was a little more brash, and someone said, I prefer the intellectual approach, I would kind of come around and say, you know, there are going to be a lot of intellectuals in hell, because that's not getting it. Now I try to be a little softer and say that's great, but you've got to make that 13-inch journey from your head to your heart. Jesus himself said in John to the Pharisees, you study the scriptures so diligently. You try to understand everything there is about Moses and Abraham and the whole history of King David, and you miss me in the story. You've got the intellectual approach, but you've missed me in the heart of it all. And then Mr. Clueless, saved? Saved from what? And this person might as well be saying, I don't know what you're talking about. Who needs saving? We're all okay. We're pretty good. Saved? Saved from what? And if I had the opportunity to have that conversation, I'd say, well, first off, you're saved from yourself. Oof, you're saved from yourself. And quite frankly, you're saved from a very real place called hell, where people, Jesus says, people go. Saved, safe and well. That's chair number two. Remember, we're talking about who's watching whom. Let's keep going. Soil number three. This one is probably gonna sting a little bit because we're gonna all see ourselves in this. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the words of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. This is a person that hears the word, but he gets distracted. He gets busy. Remember Satan's three Ds, destroy, distract, discourage. That's from search ministries. Destroy, distract, discourage. Satan wants to destroy your soul for eternity, and he'll do that by distracting you and discouraging you away from Christianity. That sounds a lot like number one. Number two sounds a little bit like both, distract and discourage. Number three is pure distraction Choked out no fruit and the deceitfulness of wealth choked the word making it unfruitful now I say because I asked this question when we're doing this with the men's groups who is saved out of these four soils Who's got salvation? Well clearly not your soul number four does I? would think one would say clearly number one and number two do not and Number three is a little bit of a gray area. And I've come to believe over the years of studying this that there are some who are saved that fit into this category number three. They just are bearing no fruit because they've been too busy and too distracted, and perhaps that's you. Or they're not saved because they got distracted and discouraged and never crossed over. Now, from time to time, I'll have someone say, you cannot decide, determine who's saved and who isn't saved. Only God knows that, and I'll say, yes, I agree. But I will tell you this, over the 20 years of 721 Ministries, I can line up 500 men that there is no question they're saved, their lives have changed, they've been transformed, their wives would say it, their children would say it, their parents would say it, anybody would see it and say yes, there's no question, and I can put somebody else up next to them and they don't look the same. That man looks like a churchian, or he looks like he's sitting in number chair number one, or the church in number two, or perhaps the man in number three who's just gotten choked out and never got there. They look different. They live differently. They have different hearts. Now, there are always snapshots of people who don't look like Christians. You could certainly catch me in moments where I don't look like a Christian, but if you're looking at my life, In my heart, you're gonna see that I follow Jesus, that he changed my life, that he transformed me into a different man. The third soil, we've got some names for these. I call this the lukewarm, distracted, busy man. Now Jesus doesn't care much for lukewarm people. You remember that in Revelation, he said, I'll spit you out, you make me sick. Lukewarm, distracted, busy. Mr. Blender, I'm okay, you're okay, let's all be normal, we're all okay. Mr. Practical, there's no need to be a fanatic. Mr. Drifter, I'm not where I was with the Lord, but I'll do better later when... Mr. Always Saved, I was saved when Jesus died on the cross. Now, again, I've heard all of these. I've heard all of them. The last one, I was saved when Jesus died on the cross. Universal salvation. Jesus died for everybody, and everybody's saved because of his death. He took away the sins of the world. That's a belief. Now, that's not an accurate belief. Jesus says over and over, yeah, there's gonna be a lot of people who end up in hell, and they're gonna be shocked. The number one thing they all have in common in his parables were people end up in hell, or they can't believe it. They're surprised. They're shocked that they ended up there. So I was saved when Jesus died. No, you were not. Mr. Blender, I'm okay, you're okay. Let's all be normal. You know, we're all fine. Let's don't get, and then that follows into number two. There's no need to be a fanatic. Now remember, we're asking the question, who's looking at whom? Keep that in mind. Number two, number one and number two, are they looking at number three? Mr. Drifter, I'm not where I was with the Lord. This may be the same person who says I went forward at the altar call, but I'll do better later when dot, dot, dot, and when will they? When do they think they will? When will you do better later, when? When will you get back into it? When will you get serious about it again? When will you start digging and trying to go deeper into the kingdom? What would you say? Well, when things get a little slower, when I'm not quite so pressed, when the children leave the house, when I get this project done, when I finally make partner, when I hit that dollar amount, when I retire, My friends, we don't know what's coming our way. That's a bad bet to say I'll do it later when, and sooner or later, we're all gonna stand before Jesus, and we're either gonna have to say, we're either gonna hear, well done, good and faithful servant, come, enjoy your master's happiness, or we're gonna have to say, and this sounds cold and blunt, but there'll be no gray area on that day, Jesus, you just weren't that important to me. These other things were more important. You may have to say, you don't want to be the one saying that. So cherry number three, lukewarm, distracted, I don't want to be a fanatic, I'm okay, I'll get back more involved in it, I'm okay, I was saved, we're all saved when Jesus died. Cherry number four, soul number four, verse 23, but the seed falling on good soul refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. and does something with it, appropriates it into their life, absorbs it. This is the one who produces a crop of fruit yielding 160 or 30 times what was sown. John 15, five, producing fruit that will last. John 7, 38, from within the heart will overflow the joy of the Holy Spirit. Let me go back one slide here and I want to, I want to bring something up about this whole, whole thing of I'm going to go back two slides. Here we go. Yes. Swole number three. If this person is saved, but all of their fruit has been choked out, I would go to 1 Corinthians 3.15 where Paul says, yeah, this is not a matter of salvation, but everything you did in life went up in smoke when you entered heaven. Nothing followed you into eternity. You should go back and read his words in 1 Corinthians 3, probably verse 10 through 15. If they're saved, nothing they did in this world matters. They go to heaven, but they don't carry any fruit that will last with them. If they're not saved, then they look like John 15, 5, 6, which says, without me, you can produce no fruit. Or Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats, where Jesus says, you didn't do anything for me. When I was hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink. When I was in prison, you didn't come to see me. When I had no clothes, you didn't clothe me. When I was homeless, you didn't give me a house. You didn't take me in. And they say, well, we never saw you. What are you talking about? And he said, when you didn't do it for the least of these, you didn't do it for me. So the third Saul is producing no fruit, Now we're back, the fourth soul. Chair number four, the A plus life to the full. Mr. Pursuit, I will do whatever it takes to go deeper. Mr. Holy Spirit Power, I'm living with energy, clarity, and creativity. Mr. Different, he's changed, he's grateful, he's been transformed. Mr. Center, Lord have mercy on me, I am the center. And then we go back to our previous lessons in the last three weeks. Mr. Guarantee, he knows Jesus' promises are a guarantee. He lives with love and loyalty, and he's living in a partnership with Jesus. These are the four souls. The first soul, outside looking in. Second soul, Mr. Churchy. And the third soul, lukewarm, distracted, busy. And the fourth soul, the A plus life. Now, let's go back to our original questions. Who is watching whom? I just think we've got them lined up. One, who's on the outside looking in, is probably not seeing chair number four, the man who's living the A plus life. He's probably looking at number two and number three. And he's saying, who wants that? Hypocrites, they're not living the life out who wants that so number one is looking at number two and thinking oh my gosh Number two is looking at number three and saying we're the same He really I know he goes to he's more involved He's you know, he professes to have a born-again experience at one time or or he went forward on the altar, whatever But we're the same And if any of them are having a chance to look at number four I They aren't they're just trying to wonder what what's different about that person? Why are they different and perhaps they may be thinking in their minds? They're a fanatic They you know they're just gone too far. They're just they just do too much. They're just fanatical But in their hearts all three of these first years when they lay their head down their pillow at night They they don't they have no confidence in No assurity that they're going to spend eternity with the Lord. They just don't. So these four questions, let's go back. Who is scattering and who is gathering? Well, I think that ought to be obvious. The first three are scattering. Only the fourth soil is gathering. Who is producing fruit that will last? Obviously, only the fourth soil. And then this other question, who is in the most trouble? Think about that for a minute. Who is in the most trouble? You've got the outsider looking in, he don't want anything to do with it. You got number two sitting in the chair, the churchian who's in church, but he's following church and not Christ. Number three is busy and distracted. And number four, of course, is living the life that Jesus wants for us. Who is in the most trouble? And I want you to think about this scenario. Let's just say we have a family and you've got the first child, the oldest child, the second child, and third child. The first child is a renegade, prodigal son, if you want to think in terms of that. The second child is so nice and so sweet and so good that everybody loves that person. The third child is maybe in high school went around the FCA poll and in the morning at the flagpole and they did the morning prayers and were real involved in it, but now they've drifted away. Who's in the most trouble? And I would say it's chair number two, the church who thinks they're okay. They have no need, there's no desperate in surrender. Number one, number two, and number three are all in trouble, but number one at least doesn't think they have salvation. They don't care perhaps, but they do care. But they know they're not okay. Two, thinks they're fine. Three, maybe drifts back and forth. But we don't want to be in any one of those first three chairs. Even if you're in the third chair, and even if you happen to be saved, you're producing no fruit. You're living a life that's flat. You're not expanding the kingdom. You're not gathering. You're just scattering, because you're not living the life Jesus wants you to live. The four soils. And here's what I would say about this. Should be, I hope, by now familiar. that we're looking at. We're looking at the progression of being unsaved out here, sitting out here on your own, and this process of going deeper into the kingdom. One, two, and three are sitting outside the kingdom, looking in. They haven't gone through the first gate, the first gate of surrender. Remember, Jesus said the gate is narrow. The gate is narrow. They haven't surrendered. They haven't gone through the first gate. They're still on the throne. They're still in charge of their lives. The man, the soul number four, the man sitting in chair number four, he keeps going through these gates one by one as he progresses over time. It is a process. He's getting off the throne. He's putting Jesus more and more on the throne, and each time he comes to a gate. Now, I want you to think about this, because I've experienced this so many times. Jesus brings me up to a gate. And the Holy Spirit convicts my heart, Sam, you've got to drop that habit. That hard habit, maybe early on it was a physical habit, it was some type of sin, sex, drugs, rock and roll, whatever. And he says, you have to drop that. And I don't want to do it, because it's who I am. It's what I've been doing all my life. And I said, I cannot do that. And he says, fine, you just sit back behind that gate. You're saved, but you're not going any deeper. Then I sit back behind the gate and I stew around a while and after a while I realize I don't want to stay back here, I want to go deeper and I drop whatever it is and I go through the gate. And on the other side all I see is an enormous amount of green pasture and I go, why didn't I do this earlier? That's the man sitting in chair number four. He's going deeper. When he comes up and he hears from the Holy Spirit in his heart, I want you to start doing something or I want you to stop doing something, he listens and he goes through that next narrow gate and then the kingdom just Expands in front of them the narrow gate opens to just this unbelievable pasture of richness of love joy peace and patience I want you to be a number chair number four Jesus wants you to be in chair number four because there's so much more You know it come follow Jesus and find