Ah, the heart was wrong, and
therefore everything was wrong. Alexander Smiley, The Secret
Place, 1907 Some fell on stony ground, where
it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because
the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the
plants were scorched, and they withered, because they had no
root. Mark chapter 4, verse 5 and 6 Much is said about these stony-ground
hearers of the word which is attractive and hopeful. I anticipate
a true life, a brave witness, an abundant harvest. But suddenly
comes the check, the change, the fall. And what was the problem? Ah, the heart was wrong, and
therefore everything was wrong. 1. The heart was unbroken, the rock
had never been penetrated at all, and the seed died soon on
its hard and impervious surface. I wonder whether the stubbornness
and stolidity of my heart have been shattered. Have I been melted
into practical concern of soul, into the sense of spiritual neediness,
into godly sorrow, into contrite prayer? There can be no new birth
and no vital growth until then. After an eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
the lava covered the fields with an apparently invincible crust. But the peasants bored holes
in it, and pierced to the ground below, and planted their vines,
and in due season gathered the grapes. Has the lava crust of
my heart been divinely pierced and overcome? The heart was shallow and superficial. It had no depth. Immediately
beneath the thin layer of topsoil was that rebellious and intractable
adamant. The seed had not a sufficient
resting-place and home. This is the fatal fault of very
many. They do not stop to think about
unseen, eternal, heavenly things. They do not take time to consider
their own miserable state of soul and the grace of Jesus Christ. They nod and glance and bustle
by. Again, I ought to examine myself. I can be eager enough and resolute
enough about earthly matters, but have I ever roused my very
soul? Have I ever set my face like
flint to seek and find the Lord my Saviour, my righteousness,
my strength? There is no possibility of salvation
for the superficial heart. 3. And the heart was dry. It had
none of the moistening, subduing, fructifying influences of the
Holy Spirit. If the showers descend upon the
rocky soil, there is no loam to retain them and to derive
a benefit from them. Just so does everything depend
on the Spirit's presence and work within me. Apart from His
dues and gentle rains, I am helpless, hopeless, dead, damned. For until his almightiness renews
me, until his waters slake and vivify my parched and thirsty
being, until I receive the outpouring of the grace of God, I have no
spiritual life. Is it not a miserable heart,
this heart of stone? I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh. you