Thank you. Please be seated. And as you do so, turn with me to Luke and Chapter 8. Luke Chapter 8, the same passage that was read for us a few moments ago. Sorry if you are a little disappointed. that the man standing in front of you is the one you always see. If you are one of those that didn't know that Pastor Kane has had his flights canceled, canceled, now delayed, and hopefully he should be in this evening. So I really wish I had a Kenyan accent to just try and reduce on your sense of disappointment. I did try to put on a pair of jeans, but I just couldn't. I couldn't. It's very clear that I'm on that other side of life or in that other generation. So you will just have to use perhaps your greatest imagination. to try and replace me in your mind with Pastor Ken. I've never forgotten many, many years ago when I was in your age group and I was at Lusaka Baptist Church and they had announced somebody and he couldn't come. So we had a pastor as usual. And he mentioned something like, sorry, you will have to have carpenter and chihuahua again, which, for those of us then, made a lot of sense that we are having what we normally eat. And it won't be barbecue or pizza or whatever that might be. Well, we are considering the theme of being rooted. And as you heard earlier on from Colossians, being rooted in Christ. And it's been presented in question form so that the answer is one which you yourself as an individual should attempt to give. In other words, are you yourself rooted? The reason why that's an all-important question is that being in a context where we are, Africa, south of the Sahara, and in Zambia more specifically, it's fairly popular to be a Christian. Anybody can claim to be a Christian. In fact, the nation itself calls itself a Christian nation. And many an individual, if you ask them whether they're Christians or not, will say they are, And then if you follow it up with the question, how did you become a Christian, often the answer amounts to something like, well, I was born in a Christian family. And so as those suggesting that we come into the Christian faith in families, so once your parents have made that claim, then surely yours is to simply be a participant in it. And so it's important for us to answer the question as to whether we are truly Christians in the biblical sense of the word. Again, another account that I can bring to attention, which goes again many years ago. I remember I was with a pastor of another church. in town, Cairo Road, and a lady was coming down the road, and he said, before she arrived, he whispered to me, and said, that lady coming there, she used to be born again, she used to be born again. Now, where I come from, there's nothing about being born again in past tense. You cannot used to be born again. If you're born again, You're born again for life. There's nothing like you becoming unborn again. But I can understand what he meant. He meant that at one time she had walked to the front, repeated a sinner's prayer, made a profession of faith, claimed to be a Christian. She does not do so anymore. Well, my answer to that is this. She never was a Christian. She never sank her roots in Christ. She claimed on the outside, and then in due season, reality proved that she was not. She simply went back where she belonged. She went back to her vomit. And thankfully, this is nothing new. In the parable that our Lord Jesus Christ gives here, that's exactly what he is teaching. And what we will notice there is that it is only the rooted who actually bear fruit. Or putting it another way, bearing fruit is the proof that you are rooted in Christ. So let me quickly walk us through what we have here. And I will read once again the parable. I will speak about the purpose of the parable and many other parables, and then we will quickly go into the meaning of the parable itself. So just those three things, okay? The story of the parable, the purpose of the parable, and then the meaning of the parable. So verse four down to verse eight is simply the story of the parable. It was read earlier. Those of you who came earlier have the benefit of hearing it twice. And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot. And as he sowed, some fell along the path. Oh, sorry, I'm going through that same line. And was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. There we are. Verse six, and some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. Verse seven, some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up. We lit and choked it. And then finally, verse eight, and some fell into good soil, and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is simply one of many other parables that Jesus Christ gave. He was a master teacher, a master preacher. And he often taught with these earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. And whereas they were meant to simplify spiritual truth, there was another effect that they were having. And that's what I want us to see in verse nine and verse 10. And when Zappos asked him what this parable meant, he said, to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. But for others, they are in parables, so that seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. The point that is being made out of that is that parables basically separate us into two clean camps. Those that are spiritual, and those who are not. It's the way it is often when you go to the hospital, and the doctors and nurses are talking, or still the doctors are talking among themselves, and it becomes fairly evident that you do not belong to them. Because they are always speaking in parables. They will say something like, no, he has PQN. And then the other one goes, ooh, sorry. Is it AQ? So for you, obviously, you are not relating. But for them, it's understandable. Or when the doctor has finally finished with you and puts the prescription into your hands, and then as you're going to the pharmacy, you start peeping to see whether you are alive or dead or anything. You cannot tell what is written there to save your life. You can't. But ah, you pass it on to the person across the counter, and they go. And sure enough, they bring you, they say, you know, take this twice a day, three times. Where was that written? Where? It's clear you don't belong to this camp. You're an outsider. Because it's going right past you, and yet you are looking. You're looking. Well, that's exactly the point that Jesus is making with respect to the parables. that if you're an outsider, it's just a story, that's all it is, a story. Some farmer has gone out, he's thrown a few seeds here, thrown a few other seeds there, thrown a few other seeds there, that's what he's done. And at the end of the day, in one place, he finally has some fruit that comes out of it. For you, that's all it is. But for an individual who is truly spiritual, to borrow the phrase here, the one to whom God has given the keys, the keys, the ability to understand the things of the kingdom of God, to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. For such a person, this is so meaningful that he's able to act on it appropriately. And so Jesus then proceeds to give the meaning of this parable. And as he gives the meaning, you will notice that for those who are truly spiritual, the answer is yes, yes, yes, it makes sense. This is the truth. For those who are not spiritual, they will hear, but it will go in through one ear and out through the other. So having said that, let's quickly plunge into the parable itself. Now, in many ways, it's referred to as the parable of the sower, but let's face it, it's really the parable of the soils. The parable of the soils. Because the sower is the same, And the seed is actually the same. The only thing that keeps changing are the type of soils. So the Lord begins by telling us the identity, the spiritual reality behind the seed. And he puts it this way in verse 11. Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. And inevitably, therefore, the one who is casting the seed into the various soils, the sower who's going around to sow the seed, he would be viewed as a preacher or somebody who is sharing the word of God. That's basically what he is. Or putting it another way, You who are listeners are soils. Your ears are the ones into which the seed is going in. The question is, what is it doing there wherever it goes? It's worth underscoring very quickly then that salvation This thing we call salvation, or going to heaven, which is another way to put it, is intimately related to the word of God. To the word of God. It's not about water baptism. It is not about that. It is not even about which home you were brought up in, or were still born in. It's not genetics. It's not about DNA. It is intimately related to the way in which you respond to the word. Every year, round about November, If you are ever observant, you will see that government speaks a lot about distribution of fertilizer and seed. Fertilizer and seed. The reason is quite simple. You can have as much land as you possibly can. Maybe you've inherited 100 hectares of land. You will have as much rain as everybody else is going to have. But without planting that seed, forget it. The rain season will be over, and your land will have no produce to boast of. The seed is what counts in the end. You may be able to even survive without fertilizer. You may. depending on how rich your soil already is. You can do without fertilizer, but you cannot do without the seed. Salvation is like that. If you claim to be a Christian and you cannot bring in that the Word informed you, and in this case the Bible and its teaching informed you, it's very unlikely that you are a Christian. Very unlikely. One more step. As we speak about the Word itself, we are speaking primarily about its number one subject, and it is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Word teaches. If we can just go to the very last chapter of this same book, the very last chapter, chapter 24, This is what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, chapter 24. And we begin reading from verse 44. If you are there, Luke 24, verse 44. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And in referring to the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms is essentially saying the whole of the Old Testament. The whole of the Old Testament. Speaking about me and it was to be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds, notice, to understand the Scriptures. He opened their minds and they were able to see that that's what the Bible speaks about. It's about Him. And then what is it that he says about him? Well, verse 46, and he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. This is what is written. That's what your entire Old Testament is all about. It's about me, my person, Jesus, me, my work in this world, suffering and dying for the forgiveness of sin. That's the central message that, therefore, in the sowing of the seed of the Word is being sown. Putting it a little differently, therefore, you cannot be a Christian Unless you can say that Jesus has died in my place and because I have trusted in him, my sins have been forgiven. And notice, I haven't said anything about belonging to Zambia. I haven't said anything about belonging to a Christian family. I haven't said anything about being baptized. I've simply said, Jesus, exactly what is mentioned there in Luke 24. I have heard, I have heard that Jesus came, suffered, died for my sin. I have believed in that and my sins have been forgiven. Now, we are ready to go into verse 12, verse 13, verse 14, and verse 15. And here's the point. If what I've just told you is breaking news for you, you never realized this before, I want to tell you somebody who knows that that is true, absolutely true. the devil, Satan, he knows that. That these people who are born into my kingdom, we are all born into that kingdom, if they hear the word and they respond to the word, I'll lose them. I'll lose them. So he will do anything and everything to make sure that that does not happen. And there are three ways in which he does that, three ways. And that's what we see in verse 12, verse 13, and verse 14. First of all, it is simply by making sure that you are not really hearing when you think you are hearing. Let's read that in verse 12. Back to Luke and chapter eight. Luke chapter eight. So we've heard that the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. Now, the ones, that is the seeds, along the path are those who have heard Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. So the point there is that you hear, but it does not actually sink deep enough for you to truly believe and get saved. Now, one of the ways in which that happens is obvious. It is when you are dosing in church. It's obvious. After church, someone says to you, so, what was Pastor Bill talking about? Yeah, bah, you know, today, he was difficult to follow. How come your friends were following? How come? So all that happened was that the word came, it came in through one ear and right through the other, the gray matter in between did not arrest anything. Nothing. So that's one way, the evil one just quickly takes it away and you do not really hear. Another is simply by distractions, especially these days with cell phones, distractions. I know you've got your Bible on your cell phone, but while you are checking, messages are coming through, isn't it? Dear, I'm missing you. Now, do you honestly think you listen to the pastor when that message arrives? Away! Already your heart is gone to wherever that person is who's missing you. So in between, the sermon is continuing. It's continuing. You've missed because of the distractions that are there. So that's another way in which that happens. But another is simply the fact that you are not really thinking about the message as it is being given. You're not really connecting with the message. You're not really seeking to follow what is being said. And inevitably, therefore, yes, you picked up something here, you picked up something there, you picked up something there. If someone was to say to you, what was he talking about? You probably might be able to say one or two things, but you haven't put everything together and said, okay, Lord, what must I do in the light of this? You haven't done that. And the point is Satan is willing for you to go very far in receiving, very far, as long as you don't finally reach that point of believing and therefore being saved. Believing and therefore being saved. When I was in secondary school, We used to have what was called Bible knowledge. It was an actual course. It wasn't religious studies. It was Bible knowledge. And I've never forgotten Luke was one of those books that was in that Bible knowledge course, including Acts. But I remember especially Luke. And I've never forgotten how some of the guys in class used to be able to answer questions on Luke But I remember looking at them thinking, how am I failing to see this? Because they were very good. But my point is, when I got converted, now that I knew what Christianity was, and I began meeting them during my university days, I got converted between secular school and university, they were unconverted. Despite their knowledge, head knowledge of the Bible, they were unbelievers, still living in sin, despite the fact that they knew so much of the Bible. So that's a warning. that it's possible for you to pick things, but in the end, you don't reach the point of believing and being saved. Okay, so that's one category. Let's quickly move on. Because the evil one has two other ammunitions in his belt that he uses. We will call one of them as Vinegar. And we'll call the other honey. Now, just in case you got distracted, let me repeat. The first one, we will call it vinegar. And then the other one, we will call it honey. And by vinegar, I mean, trials, difficulties that the evil one will definitely want you to go through so that that flimsy faith that you have can be proved to be what it is, that it is not the real thing. Let's read verse 13. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. So there seems to be some apparent evidence that this person may have become a Christian. There seems to be some evidence, and especially this joy element, happiness. Praise the Lord all the time. When you ask them, how are you? Praise the Lord. It says there, but these have no root. That's the problem. They've got no root. And therefore, although there's some apparent believing, notice, they believe for a while, and then it says, and in time of testing, fall away. in time of testing, fall away. So they believe in terms of knowing that this is the kind of life that Jesus wants his followers to live. They know that. But then when on the outside threats begin to come their way, people who want them to sin against God when those people threaten them. If you don't do this, you're going to be fired. If you don't do this, we'll send you away from this house. We'll see where you're going to live. If you don't do this, we will no longer give you any money. We will no longer help you. These threats make the person say, no, this Christianity, it's going to cost me. And therefore the person abandons it altogether. That's the category that is being spoken about there. And notice, it is also an engineering of the evil one. An engineering of the evil one. Because ultimately, what he wants is to keep you to himself. And a lot of those individuals that, remember the example I gave, that were once upon a time born again. That's exactly what would have happened. They were happy, they had made some kind of professional faith, they had walked to the front, said a sinner's prayer, or whatever it was that they could point back to and say, this is why I'm saying I'm a Christian. But then the world had its threats. And for fear of losing, they went ahead and abandoned the Christian faith altogether. And what you'll notice in this one and also in the second one is that it is a gradual process. It's a gradual process. First of all, the person tries to live both lives. For a while, both lives. Still professing to be a Christian on one side, but when away from believers, yielding because of fear of those individuals and circumstances that might make them lose. And then before long, they abandoned this side altogether. Because inevitably, the way the world is, it is like a track that goes like this and like that. So to begin with, you think you're managing both, but as you're going ahead, the distance is getting further and further and further apart, sooner rather than later, you will abandon one. And if you are not rooted, as we are saying here, the Christian faith is the one that goes out through the window. It's amazing how In the Africa that is north of the equator, where becoming a Christian is costly from day one, the moment you say you're a Christian, immediately you are ostracized, you are kicked out of your home, and if you've got a job, your name is put on the red alert, and it's a matter of time that you lose it. People who claim to be Christians pay that price from day one, from day one. When you are saying I'm going to be baptized, it's not that all your relatives will be coming with cell phones and wanting to really sort of make sure they share the good news. No, no, no. If they come with their cell phone and they take a video of you, you know that I'm gone, fried, because the environment is hostile to the Christian faith, very hostile. They pay that price from day one, and they are willing to go forth for the rest of their lives as hunted individuals. Let me quickly go on to the third, because this is now on the opposite end, and it is the honey, which the evil one also uses, verse 14. And as for what fell, that is the seeds that fell among thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. In other words, you've got the seedlings, but in the end, it doesn't give you anything to eat. This is now the honey. The first one was fire that's threatening to destroy you. The other now is a warmth that is saying, come, come. Come and warm yourself here. Come and warm yourself here. You're freezing. I just feel warm here. It is the pleasures, the riches, and the cares of life. It's actually exactly the same as the threats, because usually what happens is this, that those same people who want to make you abandon your Christian faith, they will either say, do this, or else you are fired, Or they will say, you know if you do this, you get a promotion. Okay, but it's exactly the same thing they want you to do. They want you to sin against God, they want you to begin to live a life that is contrary to what your conscious tells you God wants you to do. So they are now, instead of using threats, they are using promises. I've got three houses, I can give you one. Here, just sign here, and this house will be yours. I have a spare Mercedes Benz. It's just sitting at home. Do this, and you can choose. I've got a black one, a white one, metallic gray. Choose. or a lecturer who wants to sleep with you, what will he say? Very simple. I'll be giving you great grades all the way to the end. Great grades. Just be my girlfriend. That's not a threat. It's a promise. And when you think about getting grades, A pluses while you're sleeping. the pleasures of life. And in the end, it takes you away. That's one way. Another is simply the competition that is there, the rat race with your friends that makes you think, I'm getting left behind. Why? Because my friends don't read their Bibles, they don't pray, they don't go to church. If they go, they just go in time for the sermon and quickly closing prayer, they've dashed back to whatever it is that is keeping them ahead of me. I think I better catch up as well. And so in the process, you join the rat race and in the process, the things of God end up being left behind. And again, it is slow, it is never bang and it's over, no, no, no. The rails begin to go like this, begin to go like this, begin to go like this. It'll be excuse after excuse, but at least you show up once or twice, but more and more excuses, and then once or twice becomes once, and then next time it becomes zero. You're gone, gone after the world, the things that are promising you life and in the end they don't. It's what John said in 1 John chapter two. Let's quickly turn there before we go to the last point. 1 John and chapter two, verse 15. 1 John chapter two and verse 15. Do not love the world Sorry, some of you are still getting there, let me wait. First John chapter two and verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The point that is being made there is that you cannot have these two loves at the same time. So if you love the world, It is at the expense of loving God. The consequences are inevitable. Verse 16, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with his desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. So that's the second. Trick, if I might use that way, the evil one uses to make sure he does not lose you. He brings before you promises. And those promises he fulfills at the expense of your spiritual well-being. He's got you back in his clutches. Oh, you never really left, but he's held onto you so that your profession of faith in due season is thrown away as well. For a lot of our young people, it is the Anikoyoke, isn't it? The Anikoyoke. the pleasures of this life. The thought that if I miss this guy or this girl, this sleeping beauty, this prince charming, I've missed life with a capital L. That's the devil whispering into your ear. and all that you are seeing which is wrong, you know that this person is unconverted, you sort of say, as the Bemba say, fika is over. It will solve itself. And you take the plunge. You've gone this way. The Christian faith goes that way. However, there are those who are rooted, rooted. Those whom the evil one knows I have lost them. I've lost, gone. And these are spoken about in verse 15. As for that in the good soil, They are those who hearing the word. I love that. Because remember where we started. The seed is the word. And it's crucial that there is a hearing. There is a listening. There is a taking heed to what the word says. There is an acting on that word. Genuinely believing. trusting in the Lord Jesus, they hold it first in an honest and good heart. In other words, a heart that has been changed by the Holy Spirit, transformed by Him, a heart that has been regenerated by Him. that can genuinely say, this is truth. There is no other truth. This is life, abundant life. This is eternal life. I'm willing to lose whatever pleasures, whatever riches the world is willing to give. I'm willing to lose even my own life. I'm going to embrace this. completely, with honesty. And Jesus says, they bear fruit with patience. In other words, over time, they are bearing its fruit, step by step by step. Oh, as it was put in the parable itself, and some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. grew and yielded so much fruit. As I said at the beginning, I want to end with that. Where does that find you? Where does that find you? Which soil represents your heart? Remember, this is the parable of the soils. The sower is one. The seed is one. There's no difference. The difference lies in the soils. Which one are you? Are you an individual who's never professed faith? Never. And the reason why you've never done so is because you've never really engaged your mind seriously with this subject. It goes in and out through the other, you go out through the door the same. When are you an individual who made some form of profession, some form, but then the threats or the promises of the world have since shown you to be what you really are. It's the occupational hazard of childhood professions, isn't it? When you're still young, you're still in your father's home, in your mother's home, and you say, I also believe now, I want to be baptized. Are you sure? Yes. Are you sure? Yes. Okay. Because you can repeat the right words. And then as you make your way through secondary school, trouble begins. We still go into college or university, chapua. Your parents, ah, but what has happened? No, I think there's no God anywhere. Where has this come? There's no good. No, it was just now millions and millions and millions of years went from being a caterpillar to a human being. Just admit it's seen out there that has taken you either through threats or through promises. I ask, where are you? May it be that will be counted among the fourth time. where the evil one tried all those tricks. And in the end, you embraced Jesus Christ as Savior and are willing to die for Him. May that be true of you. Amen.