still studying the parables of our Lord, and we're looking at the parable of the sower and the seed. And we looked so far at the first kind of ground, and today we want to look at the stony ground here. Very interesting study, and I hope that it will be profitable to us all. I want to remind you of the verses. I'm not going to read the whole passage of Matthew 13, but I want to read four verses here, verses five and six. Say, some seeds fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched. because they had no root, and they withered away. And then verses 20 and 21 says, but he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. And yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately He stumbles, so we need to think about the description of the ground that we're looking at here. Can someone tell me what the ground is in these, what does it represent in these, in this parable? What does the ground represent, the four kinds of ground? It does, it represents the heart. The human heart. And what specifically are we talking about is related to the seed being sown. And the seed is? The Word of God. And the chief sower is? Christ. Do we sow seed ourselves? We do, don't we? And that's one of the reasons that Jesus spoke these parables was for our sake so that we might better understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the one leading to the other. So we see here a description of the ground, and that's the way that I've put it here, trying to make this as simple as I can. The description of the ground, it says, not much depth of soil. Now, you probably understand how this is, don't you? If you're a farmer, you really understand it. But even if you're not, if you've ever tried to clear the land of rocks, which I did in the summer of 68 on my uncle's farm in British Columbia. He had a 4,000 acre farm. And my job that summer was to clear rocks. off the land, which meant I took a tractor and I had a blade in the back of it and I'd back it up against ones in the ground and knock them loose and then I'd knock them onto a rock boat and then I'd drag that to the edge of the field and I did that all summer. And it was really quite an amazing experience. But at any rate, it taught me some things about the ground. There's usually a lot more, at least up there in British Columbia, there's a lot more rocks than I would have anticipated that lie just under the surface of the ground. And they prevent the ground from being cultivated in the way that my uncle wanted to cultivate it, which is why he had me doing that task. But what we're talking about here today is we're talking about a stony ground here. A stony ground here. Not much earth here. Not much depth of soil. And the ground is described here as stony ground. Some fell on stony places, which again represents the heart. And we talked about this in the first kind of soil that it was hard, but it was hard because you recall it was beaten down. It was like a beaten down pathway where a lot of people have traveled and so when the seed is sown on it, then it was easily taken by the birds of the air and devoured. You remember that? But now we're talking about the seed falling on this rocky ground, not much depth of soil, maybe a very thin layer of soil that's covering the rock, covering the hardness of the heart. And that's what we want to think about here for the next few minutes. It says because there's not much depth of soil, they immediately spring up. Now what do you think that that means? they immediately spring up because they have no depth of soil. What would the springing up be, would you think? They appear to be converted. Very good. Anyone else? Initial positive response to the word? Excellent. They immediately spring up. I think that what's been said has been good. I'll just add to it just a little bit. There are people who make profession of faith. They say that they believe. And yes, Marilena. Very good That's very good They think it's a solution to their problems and a lot a lot of people are like this. They're looking for answers and to their difficulties, their problems in life, and they hear the gospel, and they believe it, apparently, and they look like they are saved people, but there is something that we need to think about in relation to people that hear the Word of God, and that is that sometimes they are superficial. The soil is very thin, but That indicates something about the heart. They're superficial in their analysis of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to follow Christ, what it means to grow in Christ, and yes, they make profession of faith, but really, nothing has really changed in their heart. They hear the gospel, they hear the word of the kingdom, they rejoice in it, it says here, they receive it with joy, initially, They really believe that the word of God is a good thing, at least for a while, and they believe that it will bless them. They believe this, our parable tells us, for a time. It may just be a short time, or it may also be a longer time. But because they have no depth of soil, it says here, what does that imply about their discernment spiritually? What kind of spiritual discernment do they have, having rejoiced in receiving the word here? What's the indication from the small depth of soil? Little or no discernment. Little or no discernment. The outward appearance of things. The outward appearance of things. Like the people following Jesus after he fed them. Excellent. Going away after he gives them a hard teaching. Amen. The feeding of the 5,000, how they followed after the Lord Jesus for a time, even wanted to make him king for a time, but then turned away from him when the harder sayings came. No depth of soil, no depth of spiritual discernment, or true understanding, which comes from the Holy Spirit's working in the heart, illumining their darkness. They will not continue to receive it at all times, going on indefinitely and into the future. So, We should look at Jeremiah 17, 9 here together because I think this is a text that we often forget with regard to ourselves as believers as well as people who are unbelievers. Who would like to read Jeremiah 17, 9 for me? Okay. The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? You should read verse 10 too, David. All right, thanks for reading that. Now when it says that the heart is deceitful above all things, what does it mean, the word deceitful? A liar, yeah, the heart can not speak the truth to us, our own heart can be that way, right? But what does the word deceitful mean, can you tell me? A simple definition of the word deceitful, I think sometimes we don't realize what it means. It's a proneness to falsehood, yeah. The fallen nature is connected with it with the heart very very much so and The word that I'm looking for a couple of words here tricky. I is one word that I think of when I think of deceitful. And deceiving is another word that I think of in relation to it. And I mean that in the sense of our being self-deceived by our own heart. And I want to bring this to your attention because this can happen in the life of a believer as well as an unbeliever. And you'll notice that the way that this is worded here shows that. It's a generic statement. The heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked. The words desperately wicked are really strong words. Desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can know it? Which implies something, doesn't it? about our hearts that we don't know them always the way that we would want to know them even as a believer. But it says here in verse 10, I the Lord search the heart and I test the mind. And here's how he does it in relation to giving to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So what should that speak to us about the stony ground hearer? Some seeds fell on the stony places. Stony places means that there are hard places in their heart. I have a question for you then. Does the natural hardness and blindness of a person continue on? Even after they make a profession of faith in regard to the stony ground here? Does that continue on with them? It does, doesn't it? So even though they've made a profession of faith, this continues on. And the reason it continues on is because of Jeremiah 17.9. That is that the heart is deceitful above all things and is desperately wicked. And so we need to take that into consideration when we preach the gospel to people that it's possible that a person can make profession of faith, it's possible that they can even join the church. It's possible that they can continue on for some years and then it's possible that they might depart from the faith even then. So let me ask another question here. What kind of truths do you think that the stony-hearted person would reject? What kind of truths would the stony-hearted person reject? Truths that would humble them and challenge them. to repent in order to really live the Christian life. What kind of truths would you think would they reject? Well, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Yes, yeah, okay. Mm-hmm. Amen. Amen. That's one of the definite things that I was thinking of, David. Well, the stony ground, it falls, it dies in the face of persecution and tribulations. they don't see the value of perseverance. Amen. Persevering through the difficulties because of what's on the other side is eternity. So they don't have an eternal mindset. Very good. Excellent. Yeah, they don't understand perseverance. They don't have an eternal mindset. They aren't thinking of things in terms of eternity. Turn over with me. Yeah, go ahead. No, but they appear to be. That's why we're talking this way. They appear to be. And we need to remember that we need to think about ourselves, we need to think about others around us. This seems to have come up a lot in my own thinking lately in terms of all people around us, that there are many issues in the hearts of people. And as time goes by, there's many things that are down low in a person's heart that don't necessarily surface right away. They will over time, but they don't right away, necessarily. And you and I need to understand that. Yes, they are unconverted, but many people profess to know the Lord, and yet they may not be truly converted. And we may not see that right away, and we don't need to always be questioning that in people. But we do need to think and pray about it. in relation to both ourselves and people around us. Take a look at Mark chapter 8 verses 34 and 35. In fact, who would read verses 34 to 37 for me of Mark chapter 8? Who would like to do that? And he summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. for what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Alright, thanks for reading that, Matt. Now you'll notice here that these were sayings that the Lord Jesus gave after he had called the people to himself and after he had said in verse 31 that after he began to teach them that he must himself suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And even Peter was resisting this. Peter did not want to hear this kind of thing coming from the lips of his master. And so Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, it says here. But when he turned around, verse 33, and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. This is what I'm talking about in terms of believers and the receiving of the word of God. You and I need to understand this, that even believers don't understand sometimes what it's going to mean for them personally to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Now, some of the things that were just mentioned here a few minutes ago about the difficult truths that tend to be rejected by the stony ground here are found right here. In other words, denying yourself. Picking up your cross and following me, Jesus says. This cross bearing that Jesus is talking about here is not something that the stony ground here has reckoned with. because there's not much depth of soil. The Holy Spirit strives with them. There's no doubt that that's true. But because there's something wrong, there's something at the bottom of all this, they can't do that. Do you see what I'm saying? That ought to be a warning sign to parents of children who've made profession of faith. Or just as we look around at our fellow believers whom we love, that if we see that they're not able to pick up the cross at the difficult points in their life, that we need to be very concerned. And there's other truths here as well that are mentioned. A person's desiring to save their life. What does that mean? Can you tell me? What does it mean to be trying to save your own life? Yes. Yes. But if you really think about it, it's easy for people to live under the influence of Christianity or the Gospel and catch that influence and call it their own, but it's not really their own. They haven't really taken it in. And like Jonathan Edwards always talked about, the affections of the heart. what you love the most. And I mean, I've been around lots of Christians in my life, and I'm one of those people, when I talk about this, I'm not trying to put myself as the judge or anything, because we all are guilty of all these things that we're looking at, other people, the failings of them. But why is it that a lot of people don't seem to have much of an interest in the things of God? They don't want to be in the discussions that Christians are having? want the conflict, I don't want this or that, but if you have an affection for God, you want to go there. Right. No matter what it costs, because you love those things. Amen. No matter what it costs. That's good. That's really good, because that's what cross bearing is all about. That's what losing your life for Christ's sake is all about. Whoever desires to save his life, that is the life that you've lived up to the point of your conversion or your supposed conversion. You want to preserve those things. You don't want to lose those things. You've got a problem. You don't want to really change like we're talking about here this morning. And then I think it was Michael who mentioned the riches. And it says here in verse 36, what will a prophet of man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? So sometimes people who make profession of faith can become enamored with riches. Even Christians, true Christians, sometimes are warned against becoming enamored with riches. We need to examine our own hearts, but we also need to remember that when we preach the gospel to others, we're gonna run into people who are stony ground hearers. What's really wonderful is found in Jeremiah 23 and verse 29. You'll turn with me over there. Jeremiah 23 and verse 29, I'll read this. It says, is not my word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? So when you read that, what do you think about in terms of preaching the gospel? How is the word of God like a fire? And how is it like a hammer? that shatters the rock. What rock is being talked about here? Because the heart is hard that way, isn't it? It's resistant to the truth by nature, but here's the stony ground here are receiving it with joy, but yet the heart is still hard but what I'm trying to say is that we need to take courage from the fact that God does strive with sinful people and he can ignite their heart to a true sense of the glory of God and their need of Christ and he can shatter the rock that their heart is, the hardness of their heart. And I want you to see that. Sometimes it's kind of a mystery, as Rita was talking about. I want you to turn with me over to Romans chapter 8 and verses 15 to 17. Romans 8 and 15 to 17. The Apostle Paul says, I'll start in 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God, and if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together. So when it says there in verse 15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, what is that spirit of bondage that leads to fear? A very unusual expression, isn't it? There is such a thing as the spirit of bondage, which brings people, a person is brought into. How are they brought into it? Yes, it is. It does have something to do with the law and even the position of these verses here in Romans 8. I want to indicate that or clue us to that. It does have something to do with the law. What is it that people think that they can do on their own that might bring them into this spirit of bondage? That they can keep the law, right? That they can keep the commandments of God's law. And it brings them into this spirit of bondage. where they're bound up in their spirit. They think that they are pretty good people. They think that they're moral enough to keep the commandments of God. But the more they try, the harder they try, the worse it becomes. At certain points, anyway, the Lord lets them see that. They may come under conviction of sin, but put it away from themselves. But the wonderful thing here, again, is that when the Spirit comes to do His work, then He actually changes the ground of the heart. And we're going to see this more and more as we go on. Next week, we'll talk about how He has no root in Himself. But I want to just close with what we're talking about here is that we need to see just how precious and blessed the Holy Spirit's work is. And the Spirit works in connection with the Word of God. So that the things that we share with people and sow seed with them help them exceedingly to be able to see that salvation is by grace through faith in that and out of themselves. It's the gift of God, salvation is, when he changes the heart and makes it good ground. Okay, let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this study and we pray that we would continue to learn many good things from it about our own hearts as well as the hearts of those who make profession of faith and then don't continue on for various reasons. We pray that we would be those who have great compassion on people around us in regard to these things that we're talking about, that we would not become judgmental of people, but that we would be those who are tender-hearted towards them and trying to see how we might actually help others to understand the deceitfulness of their own heart as we understand the deceitfulness of our own heart. So we pray that you will help us in this great way in days to come to be able to sow seed and to see people come to know you through that means in Jesus' name. Amen.