Parable of the Sower

0:07 · Well, good morning, Cross Church

0:08 · Phoenix. How are you?

0:10 · >> Good morning. I'm DJ. I'm the p uh

0:12 · pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. And

0:15 · uh if you're new with us, welcome. I'd

0:17 · love to meet you. Come find me after

0:19 · service. Love to chat with you. And at

0:21 · this time, I invite you to open your

0:23 · Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.

0:28 · Matthew chap 13

0:31 · beginning at verse one. And if you don't

0:33 · have a Bible, we have one in the seat

0:34 · back uh in front or near you. And that

0:37 · is our gift to you. Make that your

0:38 · Bible. Uh you can highlight it,

0:41 · underline, make notes, bring it back

0:43 · next week, but make that your Bible.

0:49 · And I am just as surprised as you are

0:51 · that our brother Brian can speak Hebrew.

0:53 · Uh that was pretty cool. I was like,

0:56 · dang. And he's doing that with

0:57 · confidence. Man, that was awesome. Well

0:59 · done. Well done.

1:03 · Well, last week um uh we started our

1:06 · series in the parables of Jesus and

1:09 · we're staying in Matthew for that. And

1:12 · as we continue this series, we come to

1:15 · one of the most popular parables, the

1:18 · parable of the sewer or the soils or

1:21 · both soils, sors, etc. Um, fortunately

1:25 · for us, Jesus not only gives the parable

1:29 · but also provides the interpretation,

1:32 · which which makes my job a lot easier

1:35 · this morning. So, let's pray. Father, we

1:38 · thank you for this morning and we thank

1:39 · you for your word. Pray your hand of

1:42 · protection over us as we as we read, as

1:45 · we study, as we hear the preaching of

1:47 · the word. God, I pray

1:49 · as you will say here, that we will have

1:52 · ears to hear,

1:56 · that we will listen,

1:59 · that we will consider,

2:01 · and that we will listen again to the

2:04 · parable

2:06 · of the soils in Jesus name. Amen.

2:09 · >> Well, I invite you to stand with us as

2:11 · we read God's word together. Of course,

2:13 · if you're unable to stand with us in

2:15 · spirit uh simply as we honor the word of

2:18 · God together, I'm going to read Matthew

2:21 · 13 1-9 and then 18-23.

2:26 · And it says this, "On that day, Jesus

2:29 · went out of the house and was sitting by

2:31 · the sea.

2:33 · Excuse me, such large crowds gathered

2:35 · around him that he got into a boat and

2:38 · sat down while the whole crowd stood on

2:41 · the shore. Then he told them many things

2:43 · in parables, saying, "Consider the sewer

2:45 · who went out to sew."

2:48 · As he sowed, some seed fell along the

2:50 · path, and the birds came and devoured

2:53 · them. Other seed fell on rocky ground

2:55 · where it didn't have much soil, and it

2:57 · grew up quickly since the soil wasn't

2:59 · deep. But when the sun came up, it was

3:02 · scorched. And since it had no root, it

3:05 · withered away. Other seed fell among

3:08 · thorns, and the thorns came up and

3:10 · choked it. Still other seed fell on good

3:14 · ground and produced fruit. Some 100,

3:17 · some 60, and some 30 times what was

3:20 · sown. Let anyone who has ears listen.

3:26 · And they ask Jesus why he speaks in

3:28 · parables, and he answers them. And we

3:30 · come to verse 18.

3:33 · So listen to the parable of the swer.

3:37 · When anyone hears the word about the

3:39 · kingdom and doesn't understand it, the

3:41 · evil one comes and snatches away what

3:43 · has been sown in his heart. This is the

3:46 · one sown along the path. And the one

3:49 · sown on rocky ground, this is the one

3:52 · who hears the word and immediately

3:54 · receives it with joy,

3:57 · but he has no root and is short-lived.

4:00 · When distress or persecution comes

4:02 · because of the word, don't miss that.

4:05 · Immediately he falls away. Now the one

4:08 · sown among the thorns, this is the one

4:10 · who hears the word. But the worries of

4:13 · this age and the deceitfulness of wealth

4:15 · or the deceitfulness of riches choke the

4:18 · word and it becomes unfruitful.

4:21 · But the one sown on the good ground,

4:24 · this is the one who hears and

4:26 · understands the word, who does produce

4:30 · fruit and yield some 100, some 60, some

4:34 · 30 times what was sown. Amen. You can be

4:37 · seated.

4:45 · Well, last week we were in chapter nine

4:48 · talking about the parables of the wine

4:50 · skins and the garments. And uh like our

4:53 · miracles series, if when there's times

4:55 · where we skip portions, I want you to

4:57 · kind of bring I want to bring you up to

4:59 · speed and kind of give you some context.

5:00 · So by the time you get to chapter 13 in

5:04 · Matthew's gospel, there is growing

5:07 · hostility

5:09 · towards Jesus and his message.

5:14 · In Matthew 12, Jesus heals a man on the

5:19 · Sabbath. And we read the Pharisees

5:22 · response in Matthew 12:14. But the

5:25 · Pharisees went out and plotted against

5:27 · him how they might kill him.

5:31 · So there's already a plot beginning to

5:34 · stir

5:36 · to kill Jesus.

5:39 · A little bit later in Matthew 12, Jesus

5:43 · is accused of casting out demons by the

5:47 · power of Satan.

5:50 · They said Jesus' power must be from

5:53 · Satan rather than the spirit of God.

5:56 · Why? Well, because they didn't want to

5:58 · submit to Jesus.

6:02 · Jesus is coming and his teaching is

6:04 · stirring the pot amongst the Pharisees

6:06 · and the religious leaders. Of course, if

6:08 · you're going to maintain their influence

6:10 · and position and it goes opposite of

6:12 · Christ, well, he must not be of God

6:15 · because if he were, they would have to

6:17 · submit to him. They don't want to. He

6:19 · must be of Satan. So, they believe Jesus

6:23 · is satanic and they're plotting to kill

6:26 · him.

6:29 · It wasn't just what Jesus did that

6:32 · brought opposition to him and his

6:34 · ministry. It's also what he taught.

6:39 · Throughout the gospels, Jesus teaches

6:43 · that there are ever only two kinds of

6:47 · people in the world.

6:51 · These two kinds of people are described

6:53 · in different ways.

6:56 · Wheat and chaff

6:59 · or those on the narrow path that leads

7:03 · to life and those who are on the wide

7:05 · path that leads to destruction.

7:08 · A good tree that produces good fruit and

7:11 · a bad tree that produces bad fruit.

7:15 · Those who, you may remember this story,

7:18 · build their house on the rock and those

7:21 · who build their house on the sand.

7:25 · The sheep and the goats or the good fish

7:29 · and the bad fish.

7:32 · Those who do the father's will and those

7:35 · who do not.

7:37 · those who walk in light and those who

7:40 · walk in darkness and so on. I think you

7:43 · get the point. All of these described

7:47 · basically the saved and the unsaved.

7:52 · Those who know Christ as their personal

7:54 · Lord and Savior and those who do not.

8:00 · Our parable this morning, the parable of

8:03 · the sewer slashthes soils tells us that

8:06 · there are four different kinds of hearts

8:10 · inside of people.

8:13 · We know Jesus is talking about the

8:15 · hearts of people because of verse 19.

8:19 · The evil one comes and snatches what was

8:22 · sown in his heart.

8:29 · While there are four different kinds of

8:31 · hearts, what we'll still continue to see

8:34 · this morning is that there are still

8:36 · only two kinds of people.

8:40 · So that's our main heading this morning.

8:41 · If you have an outline, if not, it

8:43 · should be on the screen. Four types of

8:45 · soil, two kinds of people.

8:50 · Now, before we get into the types of

8:52 · soil, I want us to consider quickly the

8:55 · swer and the seed.

8:58 · Who are they? What do they represent?

9:01 · Well, verse 19 tells us that the seed is

9:04 · the word of the kingdom or as Luke puts

9:08 · it in his parallel account, the word of

9:10 · God. And Mark just calls it the word,

9:14 · right? The word, the word of God, the

9:15 · word of the kingdom.

9:17 · So that's the seed. The seed is the word

9:19 · of God. Who's the swer? Well, if you

9:23 · think about it, Jesus is exemplifying,

9:27 · this is being literally lived out as

9:31 · it's being preached and taught. Jesus is

9:35 · teaching here a crowd about the word of

9:37 · God, giving them a parable, which will

9:40 · be received by those people as he's

9:43 · teaching them. All of which will fall

9:46 · into one of the four types of soil.

9:52 · So Jesus is the initial swer. He's

9:55 · casting the word of God to the people.

9:59 · Paul used similar language in

10:01 · Corinthians to say what that about his

10:03 · and Apollos ministry. I planted Apollos

10:06 · watered but God gives the growth. Really

10:11 · every person, every believer, everyone,

10:14 · pastor, missionary or lay, everyone who

10:17 · gives, proclaims the gospel, give the

10:19 · word of God to people is a swer.

10:24 · If you go out and share the gospel, you

10:27 · are sewing seeds of the gospel, seeds

10:31 · from the word of God.

10:36 · The swer is Jesus and anyone who shares

10:39 · the word of God with others. And what we

10:42 · see today in evangelism and in the

10:43 · preaching and teaching of God's word are

10:45 · the same truths we find here in this

10:47 · parable.

10:49 · The issue in the parable is not the swer

10:52 · or the seed.

10:54 · There are not different kinds of seed so

10:57 · to speak, right? We have the word of

10:59 · God, but then we also have the word of

11:01 · Joseph Smith here in our Book of Mormon.

11:03 · No, we don't have that. Uh we don't have

11:05 · the word of God and then the word of

11:06 · Muhammad in the Quran. No, we don't have

11:08 · that either. The seed is the word of

11:11 · God. There aren't different kinds of

11:12 · seed.

11:15 · And while we might sew differently, all

11:19 · legitimate swers sow the same seed, the

11:22 · word of God. Any true swer sws the truth

11:27 · of God's word. The issue that this

11:30 · parable is focused on is the condition

11:33 · of the soil the seed falls on

11:37 · or we can say the hearts

11:41 · the condition of the hearts of those

11:43 · listening to the word of God. And in a

11:47 · very real way as we preach through this

11:50 · this morning it's also being lived out.

11:55 · What kind of soil are you?

12:00 · That is the question. On any given

12:02 · Sunday morning, not just here at Cross

12:04 · Church Phoenix, but any Bible believing,

12:06 · Bible preaching church around the world,

12:09 · everyone listening to the preaching and

12:12 · teaching of God's word falls into one of

12:14 · these four types of soil. So the

12:16 · question is again, which one are you?

12:20 · Well, the first type of soil is simply

12:22 · this. The unfruitful hard heart. The

12:26 · unfruitful hard heart.

12:30 · Using the illustration of sewing seed,

12:32 · Jesus is using an example that they

12:35 · would obviously be familiar with.

12:37 · Ancient farmers walked up and down rows

12:40 · of field fields scattering their seeds

12:42 · with their hands. You wouldn't just walk

12:45 · around aimlessly and trample upon things

12:47 · that you were growing before. You would

12:49 · walk in a probably the same path every

12:52 · time. Maybe you cut across here, make a

12:54 · little big tri uh rectang not triangle,

12:56 · a big old rectangle, right? Those

12:58 · things. Um and you would walk the same

13:02 · path, a similar path every time.

13:09 · As you walk the path and as that becomes

13:11 · wellworn and often trotten, it becomes

13:14 · hard because of the foot traffic on it.

13:18 · And Jesus is saying, "Some seeds fall

13:20 · upon that hard ground.

13:24 · And because it falls on hard ground,

13:26 · birds come and devour it."

13:29 · Look down at verse 19. This is what the

13:32 · hard soil represents.

13:35 · It represents hearing the word about the

13:38 · kingdom, the word of God, not

13:42 · understanding it, and the evil one

13:45 · coming and snatching it away.

13:48 · This is the hard-hearted person.

13:53 · The word understand in verse 19 means

13:56 · it's not that this per that this is

13:59 · calculus or rocket science and that they

14:01 · don't understand it what they're

14:03 · hearing. It's that they won't consider

14:06 · what they're hearing. It's not that they

14:09 · didn't physically hear it with their

14:11 · ears. It means that they won't pay

14:13 · attention to it. It is refused,

14:16 · rejected, and so taken away by Satan.

14:22 · Luke says specifically, Satan takes away

14:25 · the word from their hearts so they won't

14:28 · believe and be saved.

14:31 · The point of sewing seeds of the gospel

14:34 · is for salvation obviously.

14:38 · And when one's heart is hard against it,

14:44 · when it falls on hard soil, hard heart,

14:48 · Satan takes advantage. Oh, there's a

14:51 · seed open for the taking. Snatch it. I

14:55 · don't know if you guys have ever planted

14:56 · a um winter lawn, but I try. And you

15:00 · know, you put the seed down, you put

15:02 · topper on it, you can't cover every

15:03 · seed. And no matter how hard you try,

15:06 · like if I've been out and all all day

15:08 · and I come back home, there's like 20

15:10 · pigeons on the front yard eating all the

15:12 · seeds. And then of course, I have a

15:14 · patchy um green lawn, you know?

15:17 · >> Yeah. Amen to that. Right.

15:20 · >> So, that's kind of the picture that I

15:21 · get though. Exposed

15:23 · seed

15:25 · that is on on a hard ground.

15:34 · No root takes place in this person. They

15:37 · probably don't stay in church long.

15:39 · Maybe they were dragged in by family or

15:41 · visited on Christmas or Easter. But they

15:43 · see no need to truly understand or apply

15:47 · what they're hearing.

15:51 · And Satan, you can bet your bottom

15:53 · dollar, takes full advantage of a hard

15:56 · heart by coming, taking it, snatching it

16:00 · away.

16:03 · The second soil, number two, is the

16:05 · unfruitful, shallow heart.

16:08 · Unfruitful, shallow heart. Jesus

16:12 · describes this as rocky ground with

16:15 · shallow soil. Verses five and six.

16:20 · It grows quickly because the shallow

16:23 · soil absorbs the sun's heat faster,

16:26 · which would cause the seed to germinate

16:28 · quicker. The problem is there's no root.

16:32 · And though there was a small sprout, the

16:35 · sun scorches it and withers away. Now,

16:38 · please don't miss this. The same sun

16:42 · that caused it to sprout quickly

16:44 · initially is the same sun that scorches

16:48 · it and it withers away. And Jesus will

16:51 · draw this truth out in his

16:53 · interpretation.

16:56 · Jesus tells us this kind of the uh kind

16:59 · of heart of this person in verses 20 and

17:02 · 21.

17:04 · The brief sprout represents receiving

17:06 · the word with joy at first.

17:12 · This is great. This is exciting. I just

17:15 · got back from camp, right? And I have a

17:19 · mountaintop experience.

17:24 · But their reception of the word is

17:25 · short-lived. Jesus says, look closely.

17:29 · It says when persecution or distress

17:33 · comes because of the word

17:37 · because of the word this person falls

17:41 · away. Notice the same word that this

17:44 · person receive with joy at first is the

17:48 · same word that they're ashamed of when

17:52 · opposition comes.

17:55 · They're ashamed of the same word they

17:57 · initially received with joy. You see

18:00 · that represented by, hey, the sun early

18:02 · sprout, awesome, and then the same sun

18:05 · withers away. The word,

18:10 · this is the person who may come to

18:12 · church. They may like what they hear.

18:14 · Maybe they make a profession of faith,

18:15 · get baptized, but then walk away when

18:18 · life gets hard.

18:21 · I tried the Jesus thing out for a few

18:23 · minutes and it didn't work for me. So, I

18:25 · walked away.

18:28 · And can I just take a moment to

18:30 · encourage those of you who have gone

18:32 · through difficult things in life as a

18:34 · believer and you stayed the course? Yes

18:37 · and amen.

18:39 · If you say, "Man, I've been a Christian

18:40 · for however long, doesn't matter, and I

18:42 · have gone through trial after trial and

18:45 · I've stayed the course." That is

18:47 · evidence, fruit of your salvation.

18:52 · And I commend you.

18:55 · This word for falling away in verse 21

18:58 · is the same word Jesus uses in John

19:00 · 16:1.

19:03 · In John 16:1, he says, "I have said all

19:06 · these things to you to keep you from

19:08 · falling away." In Greek, it's

19:11 · interesting. It's scandalidzo, right?

19:12 · It's like from be to keep you from being

19:14 · scandalized by it, right? But in John

19:17 · 16, Jesus contextually is in the upper

19:21 · room with his disciples telling them a

19:23 · bunch of things. Namely, that

19:25 · persecution

19:27 · is coming.

19:30 · Jesus says, "I'm going to send you the

19:32 · Holy Spirit from the Father. He will

19:34 · help you." Why? Because persecution

19:37 · is coming.

19:40 · Jesus doubles down. Why people are going

19:42 · to kill you guys and think they're

19:46 · serving God.

19:48 · Ready to follow Jesus.

19:50 · Sounds fun, right? And it is. Don't get

19:53 · me wrong. But it's not all. The point is

19:55 · that it's not all rainbows and unicorns

19:56 · following Jesus. That's the point.

20:02 · Christ says, I'm telling you this. Those

20:04 · are the things he was saying so that

20:06 · they won't what? Fall away. And to fall

20:09 · away, to be clear, means to disbelieve

20:12 · or to eventually reject.

20:16 · So back to our text, as soon as testing

20:20 · comes, or some translations might say

20:22 · distress, trouble, pressure, when they

20:24 · actually have to take a stand for

20:27 · Christ,

20:29 · they walk away.

20:33 · That's soil number two.

20:36 · Have you ever known someone who

20:38 · professed faith in Christ and looked

20:40 · like they're on fire for the Lord? Man,

20:42 · that guy, that girl is going to do

20:43 · amazing, great things for God, only to

20:46 · see them later walk away from God, maybe

20:48 · even deny Christ, be ashamed of the same

20:51 · word they profess to believe. I know

20:53 · I've seen people like that in my own

20:55 · family, right? Ashamed of the very word

20:58 · he professed to believe years ago.

21:02 · This is the person who has not counted

21:04 · the cost. Super exciting at first. Oh,

21:07 · wait. This is going to cost me

21:09 · something. Never mind. See you later.

21:12 · That's this person.

21:15 · And in the end, the point is that it is

21:18 · unfruitful.

21:21 · Third soil number three is the

21:22 · unfruitful distracted heart. The

21:25 · unfruitful distracted heart. Verse 7

21:29 · describes this heart as thorny soil.

21:32 · While it looks like it might grow and

21:35 · bear fruit, the thorns choke it out and

21:38 · it becomes unfruitful.

21:41 · In verse 22, Jesus explains this heart.

21:46 · They hear the word, but the worries of

21:49 · this age or this world, the

21:51 · deceitfulness of wealth, riches chokes

21:54 · it out.

21:56 · And notice the end of the verse, the

21:58 · point of it all. Once more, it becomes

22:00 · unfruitful.

22:05 · To me, this is probably the scariest

22:08 · soil to be.

22:11 · This person may attend church.

22:14 · They may give. They may even volunteer

22:18 · but never actually bear fruit. Thorns

22:20 · grow up with it. Meaning something's

22:23 · growing there. Something looks

22:25 · promising, but instead of bearing fruit,

22:28 · it chokes. It's choked out and it dies.

22:32 · The bottom line is this person has

22:35 · competing demands for their loyalties.

22:40 · They have competing demands for who is

22:43 · Lord,

22:46 · Jesus or themselves. Jesus or insert

22:49 · your idol here. That's this person.

22:56 · They may come to church, hear the word

22:58 · of God, but as Luke says in his gospel,

23:00 · go on their way. They leave church on

23:03 · Sunday worried about riches and

23:05 · pleasures of this life rather than

23:08 · seeing their need for Christ.

23:12 · This person wants Christ to share the

23:15 · throne of their lives.

23:19 · Christ, you take half the seat and I'll

23:22 · sit next to you and we'll share being

23:26 · Lord. Isn't that great, Lord? No, that's

23:29 · not how it works.

23:31 · Jesus said, "No man can serve two

23:35 · masters, and yet this person wants to

23:37 · give it a shot.

23:41 · This person wants to give it a try.

23:44 · No one can serve God and money." And

23:47 · this person says, "Challenge accepted."

23:50 · And ends up failing miserably.

23:55 · This person is deceived. Notice that

23:57 · Jesus says the deceitfulness of wealth

24:00 · and riches.

24:02 · And instead of serving two masters,

24:05 · which we know is impossible, the word of

24:07 · God is choked out. The cares of the

24:09 · world wins and no fruit is produced.

24:15 · I was sharing in first service, not in

24:16 · my notes, but I was like, I'll share it

24:18 · anyway, right? I saw on the news that

24:19 · Elon Musk apparently became the first

24:22 · the world's first trillionaire.

24:25 · Who cares, right? Like, who cares? Don't

24:28 · care

24:30 · because his soul is in jeopardy. At

24:34 · least I have not heard him make a

24:36 · profession of faith in Christ, right?

24:38 · Not I'm not saying that I know for sure

24:40 · 100%, but it doesn't seem like it to me.

24:45 · What does it benefit you to have a

24:47 · trillion dollars and let you lose your

24:50 · soul? Right?

24:55 · This person

24:57 · is distracted by the things of this

24:59 · world so much that they may look like a

25:02 · Christian on the outside. They're

25:03 · growing parallel to this weed or this

25:06 · this thorn. They might look like a

25:09 · Christian on the outside, but inwardly

25:11 · their heart belongs to the world.

25:15 · This is your Judas Escariat

25:19 · following Jesus for three years, hearing

25:22 · the word of God from God

25:26 · directly

25:28 · for three years. And what we have

25:31 · written down is only a portion. Remember

25:33 · John said, "If I wrote everything that

25:35 · Jesus said and did, uh the the there not

25:39 · enough books in the world that could

25:40 · contain it." So, we only have a portion

25:43 · of it. Judas probably saw, heard, and

25:45 · experienced more than what we can even

25:48 · read about in the Gospels.

25:51 · And yet

25:53 · loves money so much he'll sell Jesus out

25:56 · for 30 pieces of silver and literally be

25:59 · choked out and die. If you're unaware,

26:02 · what did Judas do? He went out and

26:04 · hanged himself after betraying Jesus.

26:07 · Giving us a little bit of an

26:08 · illustrative word picture of being

26:10 · choked out and dying. Literally,

26:15 · he faked loving people. Remember what G

26:18 · uh Jesus this money could be used uh

26:21 · this stuff could be so this could be

26:23 · used for, you know, um to for the poor.

26:26 · And John, you know, in his commentaries

26:28 · when he gives you that little aside, he

26:29 · says, "Yeah, this he said not because he

26:31 · cared about the poor, um, because he

26:33 · loved money. He was in charge of the

26:35 · money bags and was, you know,

26:37 · skimming off the top, whatever, right?

26:40 · He didn't actually care. He was a

26:42 · pretender,

26:44 · right?

26:46 · This is the pretender."

26:50 · Soils two and three are probably on

26:52 · church membership roles all over the

26:53 · world, likely here in Christ Church.

26:56 · They may profess faith in Christ, but

26:58 · their love and affection is actually in

27:01 · the world. And remember

27:04 · remember God doesn't look at outward

27:08 · appearances. He looks on the heart.

27:13 · And God looks at this heart and he ain't

27:16 · fooled by its superficiality. Right?

27:21 · He ain't fooled by any of ours. If

27:23 · you're soil number three, I'm a

27:25 · Christian,

27:27 · but I actually love this more than

27:30 · Christ.

27:34 · We need some good news, man. Uh so, soil

27:37 · number four, the fruitful committed

27:40 · heart.

27:41 · This is the only soil that bears fruit.

27:45 · Jesus describes this person's heart in

27:47 · verse 23. They hear the word, understand

27:51 · the word, and produce fruit yielding

27:54 · incredible yields. The amount, some

27:57 · hundred, some 60, some 30 are are

27:59 · exorbitant amounts. Um, a tenfold crop

28:04 · would be an amazing return on your

28:07 · investment. 30, 60, or 100 is meant to

28:10 · get our attention like, "Wow, that much?

28:12 · That's a lot." Yes, it is.

28:16 · Luke adds that this person holds fast

28:19 · the word in an honest and good heart

28:25 · and bears fruit with patience.

28:29 · That's the good soil. Any first century

28:31 · farmer would know that the only soil

28:34 · that produced fruit

28:38 · is useful.

28:40 · The only soil that produced something is

28:42 · useful is the good soil. that's useful

28:45 · is the good soil. None of the others are

28:48 · useful to the farmer because they didn't

28:50 · produce fruit. The point of farming is

28:52 · produce. If there isn't produce, it's

28:54 · useless. And so only the fourth soil is

28:58 · useful to the farmer. And that's Jesus

29:01 · point.

29:04 · And this is why we, myself included,

29:07 · ought to examine ourselves, right? Is

29:09 · there evidence of fruitbearing in our

29:12 · lives?

29:14 · All over the New Testament, bearing

29:16 · fruit is what is associated with being

29:19 · truly saved.

29:22 · I can only give you a few examples

29:24 · because I can't go over all of them. But

29:25 · like Jesus in Matthew chapter 7

29:29 · says that the way to discern false

29:31 · teachers from real teachers is by their

29:36 · fruit. He says, "Good trees produce good

29:38 · fruit. Bad trees produce bad fruit."

29:41 · It's not rocket science, right?

29:44 · And so you say, "Okay, DJ, how do I know

29:48 · if I'm bearing good fruit?" And I think

29:52 · that that is the best question we could

29:54 · ask, right? That's a question we should

29:55 · all be asking ourselves this morning.

29:58 · Bearing fruit is not just about what we

30:00 · do. Unbelievers can do nice things. Elon

30:04 · Musk could donate billions of dollars to

30:05 · all kinds of nonprofits and be a really

30:07 · nice guy. The question is, does he hate

30:11 · his sin and does he love and pursue

30:13 · righteousness and holiness? That would

30:16 · be different.

30:18 · And that's between him and the Lord.

30:20 · Just as an example,

30:25 · bearing fruit isn't just about what we

30:27 · do, but it is characteristic of who we

30:32 · are. For example, the fruit of the

30:35 · spirit in Galatians 5 22:23

30:39 · says, "But the fruit of the spirit is

30:41 · love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

30:44 · goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

30:45 · self-control. Against such things there

30:47 · is no law." These are characteristics

30:51 · of believers, the natural outflow of the

30:55 · Holy Spirit in your life producing those

30:58 · things like love, joy, peace, and the

31:00 · rest.

31:03 · A fruit of the spirit is kindness,

31:04 · right? So, a Christian will be kind.

31:07 · Yes. And that means that they'll do kind

31:09 · things. But because they're a new

31:13 · creation in Christ, kindness is

31:17 · characteristic

31:18 · of them because anyone can do something

31:20 · nice.

31:23 · What else might be fruit bearing?

31:25 · Obedience to God's word.

31:28 · Not just being a hearer of the word, but

31:30 · a doer also. So when you fight against

31:35 · sin and p and pursue righteousness and

31:38 · holiness, you're bearing fruit. A

31:40 · growing love for Christ and his word

31:43 · bearing fruit. A desire to evangelize

31:46 · and see other people come to Christ is

31:49 · bearing fruit. A longing to live a life

31:53 · that is honoring and glorifying to God

31:56 · that's bearing fruit.

31:58 · The Bible calls believers new creations

32:01 · in Christ. And as a new creation, the

32:04 · natural outflow of your life reflects

32:07 · biblical principles because you're

32:11 · filled with the Holy Spirit and led by

32:13 · the Holy Spirit.

32:16 · Not that you're perfect. Don't hear me

32:17 · say that you never struggle or that

32:19 · you're perfect. But it is generally

32:23 · characteristic of your life to pursue

32:26 · God.

32:27 · We could say

32:30 · like we talked about last week, right?

32:31 · Sin is now uncomfortable to you for you.

32:35 · It doesn't fit comfortably into your new

32:37 · life as a Christian and it shouldn't.

32:41 · Conviction of sin. So when you mess up,

32:44 · yeah, you confess it to the Lord. You

32:46 · say, "God, help me." And then you press

32:47 · on instead of, "I I really like

32:51 · sinning."

32:54 · Problem for the professing Christian.

32:59 · Instead of loving sin, you now love

33:02 · righteousness, pursue holiness, uphore

33:06 · sin. That's fruitbearing.

33:09 · The fruit of the spirit is

33:10 · characteristic of the new you.

33:15 · So I'm going to say what I said at the

33:17 · beginning. There are only ever two kinds

33:19 · of people in the world. The unfruitful

33:23 · and the fruitful. That's why I use those

33:26 · words to describe each heart. Three are

33:29 · unfruitful, one is fruitful. That's the

33:32 · point.

33:34 · The only one that produces fruit is the

33:38 · heart committed to Christ and his word.

33:43 · So, we have a parabolic truth here at

33:44 · the end. Of the four types of soil the

33:46 · word of God comes to, only the one who

33:49 · produces fruit is assured they belong to

33:51 · Christ in his kingdom.

33:56 · Or maybe maybe I could put it this way.

33:58 · Only the one who produces fruit is

34:00 · assured that they belong to Christ and

34:03 · are in his family, one of his children.

34:08 · In context, at the end of Matthew 12,

34:11 · you can look back with me for a second.

34:16 · At the end of Matthew 12, beginning at

34:18 · verse 46, Jesus is speaking with the

34:21 · crowds and his mother and his brothers

34:24 · are standing outside and they want to

34:25 · speak to him and someone told him,

34:27 · "Look, your mother and your brothers are

34:29 · standing outside wanting to speak to

34:31 · you." And he replied to the one who was

34:33 · speaking to him, "Who is my mother? Who

34:35 · are my brothers?" Stretching out his

34:38 · hand towards his disciples, he said,

34:40 · "Here are my mother and my brothers. For

34:43 · whoever does

34:46 · the will of my father in heaven is my

34:48 · brother and sister and mother. Then he

34:51 · gives a parable about hearing the word

34:54 · of God and producing fruit from it.

34:57 · That's how you know you are a child of

35:00 · God in the family of God.

35:04 · I want to end with Jesus own words. John

35:07 · 15:5 Jesus one of his I am statements

35:10 · says I am the vine. You are the

35:12 · branches. Whoever abides in me and I in

35:14 · him, he it is that bears much fruit. For

35:18 · apart from me, you can do how many

35:20 · things? This many things is what you can

35:22 · do apart from him. Right? Nothing. Think

35:25 · you can produce fruit on your own? Try

35:27 · again. Right? You can't.

35:31 · And three verses later in John 15:8,

35:34 · by this my father is glorified

35:38 · that you bear much fruit

35:41 · and so prove

35:45 · prove. Did I mention prove to be my

35:49 · disciples? It's one thing to say I'm a

35:51 · disciple of Christ.

35:54 · Prove,

35:55 · right? We are not saved by works. Don't

35:57 · hear me wrong. Right? We are saved by

35:59 · grace through faith. But we are his

36:01 · workmanship created in Christ Jesus for

36:03 · good works. James, the whole book of

36:05 · James, right? Show me your faith.

36:08 · There ought to be evidence of it. So we

36:11 · end with the question we started with.

36:12 · Which soil are you?

36:16 · If you leave church this morning, have

36:17 · zero interest in God the rest of the

36:19 · week, ask God to plow your heart.

36:23 · I'm serious.

36:25 · Ask God to plow your heart. Or if you

36:27 · have idols in your life competing for

36:29 · your loyalties, it's God and this,

36:36 · ask God to plow your heart because it's

36:38 · time to get rid of it. If you have

36:41 · competing interests, competing loyalties

36:43 · for your heart, kill the other one

36:45 · that's not named God

36:47 · and ask God to help you.

36:54 · Uh, I said this at 9:00 service because

36:56 · I wasn't sure if I've said it from this

36:57 · pulpit before, but if you think you're

37:00 · on the fence, you don't want to be on

37:02 · the fence with Jesus because as one

37:04 · preacher said, Satan owns the fence.

37:06 · Right? So, there are ever only two kinds

37:10 · of people in the world. And we would add

37:13 · to this what Jesus has said, the

37:16 · unfruitful and the fruitful.

37:21 · Maybe you're here and you are bearing

37:23 · fruit. You hear the word of God and you

37:24 · go home and you continue to love God,

37:26 · pursue God, worship God, live a life to

37:30 · honor God if that's you. Amen. Keep it

37:32 · up. Amen. Let this be an encouragement

37:35 · to you to continue to produce.

37:40 · That's why I said this whole passage is

37:43 · really a very grave warning for many

37:45 · people and a very uh big encouragement

37:49 · to others depends on which soul you are.

37:54 · But this is the truth of God's word. I

37:57 · want to invite the worship team back up

37:59 · as we get ready to sing our last song.

38:00 · But if you're here and you say, you

38:02 · know, DJ, I might be uh soils one, two,

38:04 · or three. I don't know about this whole

38:07 · being number four.

38:10 · I would love to chat with you about that

38:13 · because this is serious, right? Say

38:15 · serious has a heart attack. Yep.

38:19 · Jesus is dead serious about this

38:22 · and it's being lived out in real time,

38:24 · right? Pharisees have hard hearts

38:26 · rejecting everything he's doing and

38:27 · saying.

38:29 · You have the one who doesn't count the

38:31 · cost. Little rich young ruler action who

38:34 · does count the cost. Says, "Nope, not

38:36 · giving that up." Right? or you have the

38:38 · Judas, don't be like him.

38:43 · Be a Christian who produces fruit. Be

38:46 · someone who loves God and says, "I want

38:48 · to do everything I can for the kingdom

38:50 · of God because he loves me. I love him

38:53 · because he loved me first and now I want

38:55 · to go serve him." Be that. Let's pray.

38:58 · Father, we thank you for your word this

39:01 · morning. And we pray God that it would

39:02 · not fall on

39:04 · hard soil or rocky soil or shallow soil

39:09 · or soil that is um has thorns native to

39:14 · it as well.

39:17 · God, I pray for soft hearts and good

39:20 · soil.

39:21 · the cross church Phoenix would have many

39:24 · who produce incredible yields of fruit

39:27 · as they live the Christian life with you

39:30 · God. It is you who lives lives within

39:33 · us.

39:35 · God help us in Jesus name. Amen. Let's

39:38 · stand as we sing our last song.