Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 8 while you're turning there, if some men could put
some tables back up in the back for the luncheon the ladies are
going to have with Evelyn this Saturday. If they can do that
after the service, that'll be helpful. Evelyn's great having
you here with us. Wish you could stay. And I've
got a real rough day ahead of me tomorrow. I've got to fly a long way and
go to Hawaii. Somebody's got to do it, but
I'll be back. I'll be back next Friday. And
Greg Elmquist will preach for us this Sunday and Bob Coffey
will preach next Wednesday. Luke, Chapter eight, I've entitled
this message, The Four Types of Hearers. The four types of hearers. Now, in bringing this message,
I'm going to describe me. And I'm going to describe you.
And I'm asking myself, I want to know what type of hearer I
am. I know I'm doing the preaching
right now, but I'm more concerned about being a hearer. What kind
of hearer am I? Now, let's read this passage
of scripture together in Luke, chapter eight, verse four. And when much people were gathered
together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by
a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed,
and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden
down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon
a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because
it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, And
the thorn sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell
on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit, and hundredfold. And when he had said these things,
he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him,
saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it
is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to
others in parables that seeing they might not see, and hearing
they might not understand. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they
that hear, then cometh the devil. and taketh away the word out
of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on
the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with
joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns
are they which when they've heard, go forth and are choked with
cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit
to perfection. But that on the good ground are
they which in an honest and good heart Having heard the word,
keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." Now, in light of the passage
of Scripture I just read about those people who heard, but they
received no benefit. They didn't hear with faith.
The gospel preached did not benefit or profit them. In light of that
passage, seeing there are some hearers who gain no benefit from
the Word, I want to know what kind of hearer I am. Don't you? I want to know what kind of hearer
I am. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Oh, I pray that I have ears to
hear. Now, in the parable of the sower,
four types of hearers are described. So I will be describing what
type of hearer you are and what type of hearer I am. We all fall
into one of these four types of hearers. Now, the sower goes
out and sows the seed. That's the preaching of the gospel.
That's the Word of God being proclaimed. God's Word. This is a supernatural thing.
God's Word is being preached. The sower is sowing the seed. Some falls on the beaten path
and the fowls come and immediately gobble up the seed. Some falls
in the soil that had been plowed, but there was a rock underneath
this shallow soil. And when the sun comes up, the
seed germinates, something comes up and a tender plant appears. But because it has no root, it's
there's a rock right under the soil. It can't really take root.
When the sun comes up, it's scorched and it withers and dies. Some
falls in a place where there are weeds competing. for the
nutrients of the soil, and the plant springs up, but there's
no fruit. No fruit. A plant without fruit. It's choked. And some falls into
the ground that had been previously plowed, and it takes root, it
springs up, and it brings forth fruit. Now there we have the
four types of hearers. And one thing they all had in
common was they had the same message, didn't they? And these
are not people who didn't hear the gospel. These are not people
who believed in salvation by works and so on. These are people
who heard the word of God. These are people who heard the
truth. All of them have that in common. The seed is the word
of God. The seed is the gospel message. The seed is that word, that message
from the word, the written word, which reveals the living word,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of God. This
is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the seed. Oh, what seed
this is. Turn with me to first Peter,
chapter one for a moment. This is the seed that brings life,
there's no life without this seed. Now, remember the word
of God. All three of these, the Word of God is a trinity. It's
the message of God. It's God's message. It comes
from the written Word. This is the inspired Word of
God, and it reveals the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All three of those elements are in place in this seed being sown
that is to bear fruit, the Word of God. Now, in 1 Peter chapter
1, verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. And here's the message of the
word for all flesh. He says grass. Excuse me. And all the glory
of man. as the flower of grass. The grass
withers, the flower thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord
endures forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. Now remember, faith cometh by
hearing. What we're doing right now is
so important. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by what? The word of Now the sower is
sowing the seed, the word of God, the gospel message. Now
let's consider these four types of hearers. Look in verse 12
of our text, in Luke chapter 8. Those by the wayside are they
that hear, then cometh the devil. and taketh away the word out
of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved. Now this
passage of scripture has always scared me in the past because
I thought, well, what if I hear the word of God and the devil
just takes it away and I'm, what can I do about it? Does this
mean, here's the question that comes to my mind, does this mean
that you can hear the gospel that Satan can prevent somebody
from being saved? If God intends to save somebody,
they're going to be saved. So you know it doesn't mean that.
But I tell you, it does tell us that Satan is at work when
the gospel is being preached. Now, you can just write that
down. Satan is at work when the gospel is being preached. Now,
in Matthew's account, it says when they hear, they do not understand. They hear the gospel, and they
do not understand. They can't bring it together.
They can't make sense of it. It just doesn't connect with
them. Now, what is this thing of not understanding? It's not because
they're less intelligent. Why, perhaps they're more intelligent
than the good ground here. This is not an intellectual thing,
but it's like this, this thing of understanding. If I explain
to a blind man a beautiful landscape, can he get it? If I talk to, if I play a beautiful
piece of music to a deaf person, can they understand? No. You
see, when this man hears the gospel, he's got a different
point of reference. When he hears about sinfulness,
his own sinfulness, if he hears about blood atonement, He doesn't
really see any need for that. I mean, he doesn't see himself
as all that sinful. I mean, he's not as good as anybody else.
He doesn't see how God's justice needs to be vindicated because
he doesn't know who God is. He has no concern about how God
can be just and justify the ungodly. It's a dull and uninteresting
subject to him. When he hears the gospel, it
doesn't connect with him. When he hears about, say, election,
well, he doesn't need to be elected. He doesn't need When he hears
about grace, he doesn't need grace. It doesn't connect with
him. So he doesn't understand. He hears the gospel. He hears
the word of God, but it just doesn't mean anything to him
because he's not hearing as a sinner. Do you know the only way you
can hear the gospel to profit your soul is when you hear as
a sinner? When you hear as a sinner, hearing
about blood atonement is good news to you. Hearing about grace
is good news to you. But this man, he just could not
understand. It just didn't mean anything.
It really wasn't important to him. It wasn't of value to him.
He hears the word and he doesn't understand and he just... Satan
may perhaps injects another thought or diverts his attention. It's
so easily diverted and he goes on his merry way and he goes
down. This man had no understanding. He's the beaten path. His heart
is hard. It's never been plowed up by
the spirit of God. It's never been penetrated. The
birds come and gobble up the seed. He's gone. Then there's the shallow ground
here. Look in verse 13. They on the rock are they which,
when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation they fall away.
Now I've seen these people so many times. I've seen them come
in here. They hear the gospel. I don't know how many times this
has happened to me, and I've grown so cynical whenever anybody
comes for the first time and loves what they hear. Oh, this
is great. This is wonderful. I'll be back. I know they won't
be. I know it. I mean, I just I just listen
to that. And I just said, you know, I forgive me when I'm being
cynical. Who was it? Brian really got
me. This is a true story. Once this guy comes to church
and and And he was showing some interest and so on. And Brian
was excited about it. And I said, you know, I doubt
that we ever see him again or something like that. And Brian
said, why are you so negative? You know, why are you so cynical?
I said, oh, Brian, I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't like that and
everything. He said, Brian, maybe the guy
broke his leg. And that's and so what you're
going to have the next Sunday. God didn't show up. I said, Brian,
what did I tell you? I was feeling pretty good about
myself. And he said, well, maybe he broke his leg. And OK, well,
next Sunday he shows up with a cast on his arm. But where
he is now, I don't know. But like I said, I've seen these
people come in and they receive the word with joy. This is great.
I love what I'm hearing. But you know what? If you don't
get sad before you get glad, Something's wrong. You see, before
God clothes you, he strips you. And you're made to see painfully
who you are. And you're made to see that you're
in the hands of a sovereign God. This is not something at first
you, oh, this is wonderful. No, you're scared to death. I'm
going to hell. You get sad. before you get glad. You see,
God, the Holy Spirit strips you. He tears you up. And when someone
just receives the word with joy, they haven't really heard. They
haven't dealt with the implications of what's being said. They receive
it with joy. This is great. They're like shooting
stars. I've seen a lot of those shooting
stars. Oh, boy, they make a big noise. But when Persecution comes
because of the Word. When trials come, they fall away. You see, what you can't see about
them, they don't have. They don't have the root. Job
said, the root of the matter is in me. They don't have the
grace of God in their hearts. Oh, they hear and they agree.
I think that's in the Bible, they agree with that. But there's really nothing to
them. They don't believe. They believe for a while, but
when trouble comes because of the word, they quit, which shows
they really have no value for the gospel. That's what it really
should. When somebody leaves, it means
the gospel was never to them the pearl of great price. If
it's going to cause me problems in my family, if it's going to
cause me trouble, why it's not worth this. So the gospel really
isn't of value to them. So they leave. The stony ground
here. They came up quick, but obviously
God had never done a real work of grace in their heart. You
see, where there's no grace, there will not be perseverance,
will there? They'll quit. And then we read
of the thorn-choked here. Now, to me, the thorn-choked
here is the one who concerns me the most. Because, you know,
this stony ground here, he's gone. Flash in the pan, bang,
he's gone. But the thorn-choked here, he's
still here. He never leaves. And this thorn choke here, he
receives the word. He hears the gospel, and he says,
I believe this. He believes the Bible is the
word of God. He really does. When he hears the word, what
the Bible says regarding man, he says, yeah, that's what it
says. I believe men are taught to pray. I see what the Bible teaches,
divine election and Christ's successful atonement, God's invincible
grace. I give agreement to all those
things. There's an assent to those things. He hears the word
and he receives the word. Verse 14. That which fell among
thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked. with cares and riches and pleasures
of this life. Now, like I said, this man doesn't
leave. He still shows up for church
every now and then. But what does he not do? He does not bear
fruit. There's no fruit in his life. You see, the weeds are competing
for his affection, and four things are mentioned that compete for
this hearer's affection. He hears, he believes, he wouldn't
say he doesn't believe, but he never bears fruit. Now, what
good is a plant that doesn't bear fruit? Remember how the
Lord said, why cover it with the ground? Cut it down. The
purpose in this seed is fruit. And when there's no fruit, there's
really no salvation. The fruit of God, the Holy Spirit,
love, joy, peace. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness and temperance. That's the fruit of God, the
Holy Spirit. When God does a work of grace
in somebody's heart, no fruit, no grace. Now, this is the fellow
that he hears, but he's got other interests. He's got competition. The Lord mentions the cares. The cares. The anxieties. of this life, and there are plenty
of them. I want you to think of the things
that pull you apart. Some of you have kids that absolutely
break your heart, problems in the home, problems on the job,
financial problems, sickness, Feel just on and on. There's
so many anxieties and cares. And so just trying to make a
living, trying to raise a family, the cares, the anxieties of this
life. And there are plenty of them.
It would be meaningless to say, I'll just look past it. We we
all have troubles. We have things that make us anxious.
We have trials. Anything that causes anxiety
and then the Lord mentions mentions riches. And the other account talks about
the deceitfulness of riches. The deceitfulness of riches.
Now, who here isn't interested in having a little bit more money?
Every one of us would like to have just a little bit more,
maybe just a whole lot more. But everybody is interested in this
thing of money. Now, this man would not admit
this, but material blessings are more important to him than
spiritual blessings. And oh, how riches deceive. Oh, they're so overrated. They
really are. Do you believe that? They're
so overrated. Having food and rain, but let
us be content. Let us be satisfied. But riches
deceive. They deceive. They make somebody
just grasp after them. And that becomes more important
than hearing the gospel. It becomes more important Faith
in Christ and walking with him and being with his people, the
deceitfulness of riches, turn to first Timothy, chapter six
for a moment. First Timothy, chapter six. Verse six. But godliness with
contentment. His great gain. Isn't it? Godliness. That means God's done
something for you. And to be content. What if you
don't have any money? It's still great to be content,
isn't it? Just godliness with contentment. Simply being in
the Lord Jesus Christ is enough to float my boat. Knowing that
God loves me. That Christ died for me. That
everything's working together for my good and His glory. Godliness
with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out, and having
food and raiment let us be content. Now, that's talking materially,
yes, but most especially, having Christ is my food. Having Christ
is my clothing. That's the work of Christ for
you and the work of Christ in you. Having food and raiment
let us be satisfied, but They that will be rich fall into temptation,
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which some have coveted after they have
erred from the faith, and they have pierced themselves through
with many sorrows." The Lord said, what should profit a man
if he gained the whole world and loses his soul? And what
will a man give in exchange for his soul? The third thing that
the Lord mentions in verse 14 is the pleasures of this life. Now every one of us are interested
in pleasure. I want a pleasurable experience
in everything I do. I don't want it to be a drag.
I don't want it to be bad. Everybody's interested in pleasure. And as
far as that goes, You know, like the writer of the Hebrews said,
talking about Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,
there is indeed pleasure in sin. People wouldn't sin if there
wasn't. I mean, there's pleasure in sin. But people can just become
consumed with pleasure, the pampering of the body and so on, and that
becomes more interested, that becomes more important to them
than the gospel. the pleasures of this life, and
we read in Mark's account the lusts of other things. The cravings
for other things, and that covers about everything else, doesn't
it? The lusts of other things. Craving power. Craving security. Craving prestige. Craving the
smile of this world. Craving the praise of men. Craving
these things. These things come in, and listen,
we deal with every one of these things. Don't you? You deal with
every one of these four things that he's speaking of. There
are things you fight with, but this person, these things choke
the word and they never bear fruit. No real love, no joy,
no peace, no long suffering, no gentleness, no goodness, no
faith, no meekness, no temperance. There they sit, strangled by
the cares of this world. and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the love of money, and the lusts of other things, strangled. There they sit, but they bear
no fruit. And can't you see how easily
this can be you and will be you, apart from the grace of God? Lord, deliver me from being one
of these thorn-choked hearers I believe the gospel, but, oh,
Lord, cause me to bear fruit. And let me give you some good
advice right now. This is real good advice. Don't
worry about bearing fruit. Look to Christ right now. And
the only way you'll bear fruit is looking to Him. As soon as
you start thinking, oh, I need to come up with more fruit to give
me assurance, that's a false assurance. If you get assurance
by the fruit you're bearing, you've missed it. Don't do that. Don't do that. Look to Christ.
And in looking to Christ, you will bear fruit. It's just the
promise of the gospel. Now let's talk about the good
here. Look in verse 15. But that on the good ground are
they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word,
keep it and bring forth fruit. with patience. Now, this good
ground here, something that he has that the others did not have,
is what the scripture calls an honest and a good heart. Now, does that mean he was better
than these other fellas? Well, you know better than that.
He had that same evil nature that these other fellas had.
But this honest and good heart is a reference to the new heart
that God places within. You see, to be a good ground
here, you're going to have to be given a new heart. You can't
hear and bring forth fruit unless God does something for you. So
you see the fruit is anyways, not yours. He's going to have
to put something in you. And it's called in the scriptures
an honest and good heart. Honest. Honest. The scripture says, blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered, blesses
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose
spirit there is no guile." It's not deceitful. It's honest. It's
honest, first of all, with the Word of God. It's honest with
what God says. It doesn't try to make God's
Word say what He wants it to say, to make it fit into His
own preconceived notions and so on. It bows to what God's
Word says. It's honest with the Word. It's
honest about Himself. The closest I can come to honesty
is to say that I'm not honest. That's about the closest I can
come. If you're honest about yourself,
you are honest with the fact that you are a sinful. Evil person. That's what you
are. You're honest about it. And you
know, this person. He hears the gospel as a sinner.
This is an honest heart. Honest with what the Bible says
about God. It bows to God's sovereignty
and God's holiness. Honest with what the word says
about himself. Nothing but sinful. I love what
Barnard used to say. Honest people don't go to hell.
And they don't. They don't. Honest. And only this new heart can be
honest. And he calls it a good heart. It's so good that it doesn't
sin. This is talking about that new nature that does not commit
sin. This is the heart he's talking
about. It's this good heart, this new heart that sees the
bad heart. The old heart can't see that. But the new heart does. It's what sees the sinfulness
and the need of grace and so on. It's an honest and it's a
good heart. So that's where we've got to
begin. It's a heart that God gives. This is not the natural
heart. This is that new heart, honest and good. Now, five things are said about
this honest and good heart. Matthew's account, if you read
Matthew's account, Matthew chapter 13, he says this new heart understands. It understands. You see, I understand. I would say this right. I do
not intellectually comprehend anything that I believe completely. Can you comprehend God's eternity?
Can you comprehend the Trinity? Can you comprehend how bad you
are? We can't. I mean, can you comprehend how
Christ was made sin? Can you comprehend how you're
the righteousness of God in him? These are things we believe.
We believe, we can't so much get our intellect around them,
but we sure believe them. And we do understand, listen
to me, I understand that I'm a sinner. And when I hear the
gospel, it comes as good news to me because I understand my
need of what the gospel teaches. I need for God to choose me because
I know I won't choose him. I need for Christ to put away
my sin completely, to accomplish my salvation, because if he didn't,
I won't be saved if anything's left undone. I need irresistible,
invincible grace. I need it. So I hear the gospel
with understanding. There's a frame of reference
there I hear as a sinner. And all the doctrines of the
gospel are necessary for me. Mark's account tells us that
he receives the word, and the word means welcomes with approval. When you hear the gospel of who
God is, in all of his glorious attributes,
in who you are, and what Christ accomplished on the cross, do
you welcome this with approval? Do you approve of the gospel? I tell you what, I do. I do. I love the way God saves. I approve. Now, it's true whether I approve
or not. I realize that. But I approve. Do you approve
of God's way of saving? Do you approve of God's saving
in a way where Christ gets all the glory and none goes to you? Do you approve of that? Do you
approve of the excellency and the glory of Jesus Christ? Do you approve of his glory of
precious blood? Do you approve of being saved
by his righteousness? Does that come as good news to
you? Do you approve? Luke tells us,
having heard the word, he keeps it. You know what that means? He holds on to it. He won't let
it go. You see, it's of infinite value
to him. He will not let it go. I've got to hear the gospel.
I mean, I've got to hear the gospel. I've got to be where
I can hear the gospel, and I can't be where I don't hear the gospel.
Now, if you can be somewhere where you don't hear the gospel,
you're not a good ground deer. That's kind of a take-it-or-leave-it
attitude. No, that won't work. I've got
to hear the gospel, and I hold on because it's of infinite value
to me. I can't let it go. Now, I realize, even saying that,
I realize that all the Lord's got to do is take his hand off
of me, and I'll let it go just like that. And you will, too.
You know that. But I tell you what, I've got
to... Sinner that I am, I need his
grace. And I can't let it go. He holds on for dear life because
of its value to him. He keeps it. That's what it means.
He holds on. He won't let it go. And then
Luke tells us also and all the other accounts tell us that he
brings forth fruit. Now. I love God. And I love you. I do. The gospel makes me rejoice. And I have peace knowing that
Christ is my righteousness before God and has nothing to do with
me. I have peace. And as far as longsuffering,
I don't feel like I'm patient, but I do know this. I do abide
under God's hand. I know he's in control. And whatever
he sends my way is right. Now, sometimes I take it better
than others. I realize that. But still, shall not the judge
of the Lord do right? In that sense, every believer
is long suffering. So God's the first cause behind
everything. Gentleness, that means kindness. Kindness. Love is kind. Goodness, that's talking about
a merciful attitude. Thankfulness. Meekness, whatever
God does is right. He's the first cause behind everything.
Temperance, control from within. Every believer bears the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. And that's the purpose for sowing
the seed, isn't it? To produce fruit. And then Luke says, with patience,
with patience, which means literally abiding under He abides under
God. He submits. That's what the word
means. He submits. Now, this thing of
submission. Well, there's nothing you can
do about it. Whatever God says, that's not
really submission. When, well, something happens,
well, God said it, what can we do about it? You just kind of
grin and bear it, accept it. That's not submission. Submission
believes that whatever God does is right. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Now that's the patience he's
speaking of. It's an abiding under the hand of God. Now, what type of hearer am I? The beaten path? Just no frame
of reference? Gospel is meaningless to me?
The stony ground here, shooting star, receives the word quickly,
but they're gone now. They're gone. Something entered in that drove
them off. The thorn choked here. The cares
of this life, the deceitfulness of riches entering in, choked
the word and no fruit. Or this good ground here. This
honest and good heart placed there by God, the Holy Spirit
that believes the gospel. What kind of here am I? Well, I can tell you how you
can tell what kind of here you are. It's very simple. Got a got a letter just just
yesterday by fella, and he said, tell me. what your church, what
your stand on, on how one becomes saved and how they stay saved.
But that's a good question. How does one become saved and
how they stay saved? And he asked also if there's
commandments, tell me which commandments they are. And he said, be specific.
And it was kind of a humorous letter. And he was very sincere.
But I wrote him back and I said, the scripture says, By grace
are you saved. So how does one become saved?
By grace. Through faith. The evidence of
God's grace, every part of salvation is by grace, from election to
glorification and everything in between. And the evidence
that God's given you grace is if you believe. And the same
way that you become saved, you stay saved. Stay saved by grace
through faith. And he wrote me back this morning.
I looked up. He said, I liked your answer. I said, good. But here's the evidence. Am I
a good ground hearer? Right now, do I rely on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Yes, I do. Then I am a good ground
hearer. Let's pray.