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[0:00] You can turn to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. We'll read that in just a second. How important is the word of God to you?

[0:11] ! How important is the word of God to you? How badly do you have to have it? How badly do you want to understand it? How badly do you need the gospel?

[0:24] How badly do you need the gospel?

[0:54] The first 21 verses of Luke chapter 8. Follow along as I read this. Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

[1:14] And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the son of Chusa, Herod's household manager, and I'm sorry, Joanna, the wife of Chusa, and Susanna and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

[1:42] 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 the birds in the air devoured it.

[2:05] And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it, and choked it.

[2:20] And some fell into good soil, and grew, and yielded a hundredfold. And he said these things, as he said these things, he called out, He who has ear to hear, let him hear.

[2:37] When his disciples 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.

[2:53] Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. The ones 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.

[3:09] The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of testing, fall away.

[3:22] And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on in their way, they are choked by the cares, and riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

[3:39] As for that, in the good soil, they are those, who hearing the word, hold it fast, in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

[3:51] No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a jar, or puts it under a bed. He puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

[4:11] Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given. And from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.

[4:29] Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you.

[4:39] But he answered them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for your word.

[4:55] And I thank you for the grace that this passage speaks of. The work that you do in hearts and lives and preparing them for hearing the word.

[5:08] Lord, we also thank you for the command that is given, the challenges that are given for us to hear the word. And I pray that you would be with us.

[5:19] Father, that you would work in our hearts. Lord, as this parable reveals the hearts of people, I pray that we would be people like Jesus mentions here who consider carefully and do.

[5:32] And I pray that you would be with us to help us to understand your word together today in Jesus' name. Amen. So we've read a long section and poor Jen, I added to, I said, okay, it's going to be 1 through 15.

[5:51] And then I said, no, it's going to be 1 through 18. And then I said, no, it's going to be 1 through 21. And she made it into the bulletin rite. So I'm glad for her perseverance.

[6:04] But we have an interesting situation here. The connecting theme in all 21 of these verses is the fact that someone was to hear.

[6:17] In the first couple verses, a message went out. And then Jesus spoke and then calls people to hear, to listen. And that same theme goes down through the whole of these 21 verses.

[6:32] The idea of hearing and listening. And so here at the beginning, just a couple of the things that will help us to see the background and how the Lord is working here.

[6:46] Jesus is bringing the good news. He's the one going out. We'll see in this, he's the caster of the seed. He's the sower. He's bringing the good news and he's planting it all over the place.

[6:57] And we already know that there's been just a tremendously mixed reaction. There are people who fall at his feet. There are people who will mock him. There are all kinds of reactions.

[7:10] And one might even look at this situation and say, I don't understand. The same man is preaching and then you've got people who do this and you've got people who do that and have all kinds of different reactions.

[7:26] But that's what happens as the gospel goes out. Jesus goes into all these places. He's running this circuit into many towns and villages. We don't know all the places.

[7:38] But the time that he's gone, each place he's preaching the forgiveness of sins. Like what's talked about in Luke 7, 47 last time. You remember the woman who came and wept and washed Jesus' feet with her tears and then wiped his feet with her hair and then anointed it.

[7:56] And she had recognized that she had been forgiven. And because of that loved the Lord. And Jesus gives testimony to that in verse 47 that her sins were forgiven.

[8:07] This is one of the things that Jesus was preaching that people's sins could be forgiven. And Jesus was showing mercy towards the undeserving. Lepers were being healed. Widowed women were having their only dead son raised.

[8:21] Mercy was being shown in all these places. And salvation was being known by people. Even this woman that we looked at in the last chapter, last time, when Jesus was done talking with Simon, he says to you, your faith has saved you.

[8:39] And so he's been speaking the gospel. in all of these different places. And yet, there has been this gamut of reactions. Luke is careful to mention in this preaching circuit that there were people with Jesus.

[9:01] There were the twelve, it says. And that's speaking about twelve disciples whom Jesus called apostles. The ones he chose. that they would follow him and learn from him.

[9:15] And be able to take the testimony that he would share with them and what they would see, he'd be able to take that. They would be able to take that further after he had gone to heaven.

[9:27] So there were the twelve and it says that there were some women with him. Which is Matthew, Mark, nor John mention anything about this. Luke is so careful to make sure that we know the gospel is not just for one little group of people.

[9:49] It's not just for the Jews. It's not just for Jewish men. But it's for people, sinners. That's all of us. And so there were some women that went along with Jesus.

[10:02] and they were also disciples. Now the Pharisees wouldn't have heard of such a thing. They would have used women. I'm not talking about it in a moral way, but they would have used women.

[10:15] But these women went along with Jesus and we'll see some of the things that they do, but they went along as disciples. They went along to learn and Jesus allowed it.

[10:28] He not only allowed it, he was glad for it. And Luke's making sure that we know this, that as Jesus goes about preaching the good news of the kingdom, it was also for all people.

[10:42] But it says that there were some women, and it only lists three, but then it says there were many more. And it says of those three, it's at least true of the first.

[10:54] It's construction seems that it's for the three, and it may have been for more. But it says that those women had been delivered from evil spirits and infirmities.

[11:05] Now we know that Mary Magdalene mentions was delivered from evil spirits. Others may have been delivered from infirmities. We don't know that it is just her.

[11:16] But so these women were along. Mary Magdalene was mentioned. It's interesting. Mary Magdalene seems to be the chief of the women who are going along with Jesus.

[11:30] God gives her a special or privileged situation. She watches through the whole of the crucifixion, witnesses the whole thing, watches when they take him down, watches when they put him in the tomb, watches them seal the stone, goes away, prepares spices, comes back the third day after the Sabbath days, and is prepared to anoint the body of Jesus.

[11:54] She is leading that group, and as she gets there, of course, the stone is rolled away, the angel speaks to her, and the Lord himself speaks to her. He has taught her.

[12:06] She is a disciple of Christ, and she will be a picture of some of the things that he speaks about in this parable. One who would not turn away no matter what came.

[12:18] She was brave enough to stand at the foot of the cross. She was brave enough to go back and face the Roman guards when it came to anointing the body of Jesus. This woman had been so moved by the work of God that she was going to follow him all his life.

[12:37] Mary Magdalene of whom seven devils had been cast out. And I think we ought to be careful. Some people say that she was a prostitute.

[12:48] She is not. That was a middle-aged thinking that linked to the previous section of scripture that we've looked at with Mary Magdalene and that is not the case.

[13:00] There are all kinds of other lies that went on about Mary Magdalene but she was a godly woman. And it mentions also Joanna, wife of Chusa. Chusa was a high official of Herod.

[13:11] Which Herod? Herod Antipas. Who's Herod Antipas? He's the guy who arrested John. And it says that he was a high official household manager.

[13:23] He was probably one of his cabinet members. And there are things people have assumed. Some think this was a nobleman's son who was raised.

[13:35] We have no idea. But anyway, this wife of Herod Antipas was ministered to by Christ. demon, infirmity, and please don't, I'm not minimizing it, or just hearing the gospel.

[13:53] Somehow, this woman heard and was ministered to by Christ, and she has put her faith and trust in Christ, and now she is following Christ. And then it mentions Susanna.

[14:06] This is the only mention we have of Susanna. We don't know anything about her. But Luke mentions these three women, so that we know the gospel is for all, so that we see testimony, we're going to see testimony at the beginning, we're going to see testimony at the end, of these people who have been affected, and lived their life for Christ no matter the cost.

[14:32] Now these, and it also says there are many others, we don't know how many others, but many others, so Jesus was glad and welcomed these women as part of his disciples, but these women provided for the disciples, or the twelve, and Jesus and themselves, as this preaching ministry went throughout the area, as they went from town to city and to village, these women, these three plus others, provided for whatever they needed.

[15:09] food, what would they need? Well, they couldn't grow food, they had to buy food, and these women were the ones who made sure that Jesus had food, and the twelve disciples had food.

[15:26] we have an instance in Luke 22, 7-13, it's just before the Passover, just before Jesus is to be arrested, Jesus speaks to one of the disciples, the twelve, says, go to such and such a place, and you'll see a man carrying water, which is unusual, it was always women who carried water, you'll see a man carrying water, follow him, and he'll go to a place, and that's where I'll have my Passover meal with you.

[15:57] How did they get that room? They had to pay for it. Everything had to be paid for during the Passover, and so these women allowed the ministry of Christ to go on, I mean, the Father would have provided somehow, but he provided through these women, they had a part, they were so impressed with the gospel, they were so seeing the gospel as true, that they lived their lives in making sure that the gospel was out.

[16:28] One of them, this Joanna, whose wife of Chusa, was probably a noble woman, and so not many people in the upper classes thought a lot of Jesus.

[16:45] This probably cost her. I think these three women typify so much of what Jesus is about to teach.

[16:58] I think that's why they're there amongst the other things that we can learn, to see more of the application of the parable of the soils. Well, as we get to verse four, we see that a great crowd has gathered.

[17:14] That has not been the unusual thing at this time. The crowds keep growing and growing and growing, but they're mixed crowds. Mixed, not in ethnicity, although they were, they were mixed crowds in their reaction towards Jesus.

[17:29] Luke doesn't say where they are, but the other gospels do mention that they're alongside the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus is speaking from a boat. And it's just people from town after town after town, and the impression is this is some huge crowd.

[17:50] We'll see, actually I can't say we'll see, I don't know, I haven't looked this far ahead, I'm just, it just come to mind. There's a point where Jesus speaks about needing to trust him, and they were talking about bread, and he had provided bread, and he talks about my flesh is true bread, and if you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me.

[18:11] And at that point in his ministry, there were great crowds that followed him, and when he said that, a bunch of them went away. Most of them went away.

[18:22] In fact, it was so bad that Jesus looked at the twelve and said, are you going to go away too? I mean, it was almost like you're in a football stadium and it's full of people, and you make this statement, and it's just one team on the sideline.

[18:36] Are you going away too? So, it was a huge group of people. And he taught them a parable.

[18:51] I'm going to reread the first part of the parable. And I want you to think, I know we can't do this. We can't unthink or unknow or unlearn what we've learned.

[19:03] Praise God you know what you know about the rest of the chapter. But if you can think in your mind what it would have been like to be sitting there and listening to Jesus and pay attention to what he says and doesn't say.

[19:22] Okay? And when a great crowd was gathering and the 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 the birds of the air devoured it, and some fell on the rock, and as it grew up it withered away because it had no moisture, and some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and some fell into good soil, and it grew and yielded a hundredfold, and he said these things, and he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

[20:00] But notice the next verse, and when his disciples asked him this parable, he says it's to you that I'll explain it.

[20:14] Back up, he speaks this parable, and I don't, you know, whether this is good or it's not a bad term, but whether this is exactly the way, because the term I'm going to use indicates an attitude, and it's not an attitude that Jesus has, but he speaks this parable, what I just read to you, and it was like mic drop, that was it, he says, what I've just told you, you need to pay attention to, and that's all he says to them.

[20:51] There's no explanation to the crowd. The parable goes out, and no explanation at all. And if you were sitting there that day, in an agrarian culture, in a culture where farming was everywhere, everyone knew where their butter came from, everyone knew where their wheat came from, you saw it all the time.

[21:19] And for someone to say, a sower went out to sow, and he did this, he did that, and this is what happened, and he says, what I've just said, you need to pay attention to.

[21:31] And that's all he said. You'd think, well, you haven't told me anything, I don't know. I know that people go out and spread seed, and I know that in the course of time, not all of it comes up is profitable.

[21:45] You've not told me anything. And that's where it stops. But Jesus then turns to his disciples and has a conversation.

[22:00] I think it's the twelve plus the women, and they ask, what is this parable mean? Before he explains what the parable means, he explains why he's talking like he is.

[22:17] He explains why he's using a parable in this way. Now, a parable is an account that's meant to help people understand something.

[22:29] You know, we usually say something like, you know, and when you do this, this is what's supposed to happen. Let me give you a story of what that means. A parable often does that.

[22:40] It helps people understand. The Good Samaritan is a parable. It's used to help people understand and know what a good neighbor is. So, it's a story with a purpose.

[22:56] The purpose is usually stated. stated. Jesus in that account states, they said, who's my neighbor? He goes into telling a story. And he ends by saying, who do you suppose was neighbor unto him?

[23:11] And so, there was a purpose. It was usually stated or it was easy to see. The purpose for this parable is not obvious, nor did Jesus state it.

[23:25] it simply sounded like a statement of horticulture. Yep, you throw seeds, they land, some grow, and you get an increase.

[23:41] Jesus tells a parable here, and going forward, it's not all of them, but going forward, he does not always give an explanation to the crowd for what parables mean.

[23:59] And there's a specific reason for that. He says, I will reveal the mysteries of the kingdom to those who have ears to hear, and I will conceal the mysteries of the kingdom from those who do not have ears to hear.

[24:20] There were people in that crowd, the only reason they were there was try to trip up Jesus, to try to catch him in some error, that he could go and tattle, they could go and tattle on him.

[24:35] And at this point, Jesus quotes, Luke gives the shortest quotation, Matthew and Mark give longer quotations, more, but we'll stick to Mark's.

[24:46] Mark quotes Isaiah 6, 9, the others quote more of Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6, 9, Isaiah 6, 9 comes right after Isaiah has seen a picture of the Lord in his glory.

[25:05] He falls down as dead, the angel takes a coal and puts it on his lips, after Isaiah says, I'm an unclean person, I live in the midst of unclean people.

[25:15] And after that, he says, who will go for us? And Isaiah says, I will go. I will go be a messenger to these people for you, Lord.

[25:27] And the Lord says back to Isaiah, and he said, go and say to this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

[25:39] Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. What's going on? Israel was so sinful and so rebellious at that point, that God was going to allow them to go on and face their judgment.

[25:59] And so he sent Isaiah to tell them the truth, but those who weren't looking for it, those who didn't want to see it, wouldn't see it.

[26:11] Now those, the opposite would be true to those who wanted to see the truth, that God would see it. But Isaiah was sent to preach primarily to bring more judgment on Israel.

[26:26] Israel refused to repent, and so God was giving them over to their judgment. Romans 1 and 2 talk about the same kind of things. God has revealed that he is, and that we owe him as God our allegiance, our obedience, and we refuse, and what does God do?

[26:46] He gives us over to our own judgment, the result of our own judgment. And he's done the same in the Old Testament, Jesus is doing the same here.

[27:00] Israel refused to repent, but there were people amongst that group who wanted what Jesus was preaching. preaching. And to those people he would reveal.

[27:14] So Jesus is saying, okay, now I'm going to be speaking many times in parables where I will only explain to you what's going on. Because these people in their rebellion are going on to judgment.

[27:30] All right, so now I've said this would just be an account of horticulture, how you normally plant things. A couple things that would be helpful to know, they plant things a little differently than we do, and some of it overlaps.

[27:47] They don't take tractors, at that time they didn't take tractors out and run a plow and then a disc and a spring tooth harrow and maybe a color packer or something like that to make sure everything's broken.

[28:00] They didn't have near the things that I even was able to grow up with some 45 years ago. Anyway, sowing the seed back then would have been done by broadcasting.

[28:15] They'd take a bag, put seed in it, throw it over their shoulder, have it in such a way that the opening was in front, could keep it up, cupped, and they would simply scoop and grab seed and fling it.

[28:27] And that's how they would do that. And some would say that they would do that before they plowed, some said they did it after. Doesn't matter. it's the same picture. They would take and spread seed over their whole field.

[28:43] Now, one thing that's different, a little different, we probably had some of the same things on the farm I grew up on, and that was they had foot paths.

[28:55] There weren't near as many roads. We have a road everywhere. They would have a main road and maybe a couple other side roads, but once you got anywhere outside of town, you probably just, the main road from here to Nazareth, and from there you only took foot paths.

[29:15] And those foot paths were most direct, right through someone's field. People would just walk right through people's field all the time. And sometimes the roads would do that also.

[29:27] Now, the soil in Galilee is good. It's not uncommon, though, for rocks to be just under the surface. I'll have you know that it's not uncommon in Potter, New York, for there to be rocks just under the surface.

[29:42] Oh, I hated that. And I spent so many hours picking rocks. But they would be just below the surface, and there would be just a little bit of dirt, and you wouldn't see the rock.

[29:55] It would be there. I mean, their plow would only plow two or three inches deep. modern day, a really good plow will plow 11 inches deep, but not then.

[30:12] And so, many of the rocks were missed, and so there would only be just, you know, inch, two inches of soil over a rock. And, in their day and age, from what I understand, didn't live then, don't know for sure, but from what I've read, the normal return, if you spread one seed into the field, you would get seven to ten seeds back.

[30:42] So that's a seven to ten fold increase on your spreading of seeds. Okay, now we get to the point where Jesus explains the parable.

[30:53] He says there are four kinds of people who are exposed to what Jesus has shared. And that is true in Jesus' day, it's true in our day.

[31:05] And I'm just, I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna go back through the parable, I'm just gonna give you those kinds of people, and some of the things that he said, and maybe some of the ways we can see that today.

[31:17] First of all, there were those on the path. Remember the fields? People walked through them, you know, in a footpath this wide, who's gonna get out and sprinkle, you know, walking sideways just two or three seeds at a time?

[31:33] You just broadcast it. Too much time to try to make sure you miss that six, eight, ten inch path. some landed there anyway. And that seed would do nothing because the ground was hard and people walked on it.

[31:50] If something started to come up, it smushed. It was just done. These are the kind of people who hear the good news that Jesus would tell them and they would do nothing with it.

[32:04] They didn't care about it. It meant nothing to them. They had no conviction of sin, no sense or a sense that they had a need of repentance, no sense that they had any spiritual need.

[32:18] Now, in your mind, you probably have already categorized what most people would categorize as the easiest people who would be seen as people who were on the path. Now it's true that they would be these people, but most of the time, you would be pretty good in guessing that this would be like the Pharisees.

[32:34] I mean, they thought they had made their own religion. salvation. Now they would say it was God's, but still, they thought they were pretty good, needed nothing, and what Jesus would say as far as them needing to repent, what he would say as far as them needing salvation, they'd push it right off.

[32:50] They didn't care, they didn't pay attention, no conviction, no sense of any spiritual need there, they felt they were fine. You know, if I feel like I'm not quite making as good as I should, I'll just work harder.

[33:06] the gospel did nothing for them. Those on stony ground, those who, are those who make an excited beginning.

[33:17] Stony ground, you see a lot of activity quick on thin soil like that. Why? Because the roots can't go anywhere. Where, if a soil is down, you know, part of an inch, well, the first thing that's going to happen a lot of times is the root goes down and you don't see anything.

[33:39] And maybe next day something starts to come up. You know, it's not as long. But if you take something and put it on the rock and there's no place for the root to go and the root comes out and starts pushing, well, what's going to happen?

[33:53] Well, the seed and part of the root is going to show. And if you're not careful, you're going to look at it and say, wow, it's only been 18 hours and I'm already seeing something. This is amazing.

[34:05] And of course then, because there's no depth, there's nothing to grab onto, you know, whatever the seed itself can bear as far as sprouting a leaf and a stem and a root, well, that's going to come quickly because it can't go where it's supposed to go.

[34:22] But it's going to disappear just as quickly because it has no ground to get water from. Nothing to be able to feed it.

[34:34] And so it looks like they're spiritual fruit. But things aren't good. They fade away quickly because of trials.

[34:47] The minute the sun comes out over a seed that's planted over a half an inch of ground in the sun with a stone underneath, it's gone.

[34:59] There's no water. And Jesus is saying this is the idea of those who when any bit of trouble comes along, I don't need this Christianity stuff, that's not what I signed up for.

[35:12] If you're going to make my life better, I'm all for it. If you're going to make me rich, I'm all for it. If you're going to make me happy all the time, I'm all for it. But that's not what they signed up for.

[35:25] They didn't sign up for trials, and so they fall off and fade away. Those among thorns. Now they seem and look genuine at first, because they can actually put a root down, and they can begin to push a sprout up, and they begin to grow.

[35:48] grow. And if per chance they were planted about the same time that the seeds for weeds fell, well they'll do all right for a while.

[36:01] I've always said that if you can find a reason to make money on a weed, it'll stop growing. They grow, I mean, there's a reason we say our kids grow like weeds.

[36:16] They grow fast. they just are the most hardy plant out there. And if you plant a weed and a thistle bush seed side by side at the same time, they both may appear in a couple days, but it isn't long, but the thistle bush has long outstripped the wheat.

[36:40] And soon it's shading that wheat so that it can't grow. It's soon sending out so many roots that it's sucking out all the nutrients and all the moisture and the wheat is starved.

[36:53] And it stops growing. It may still be alive, but it stops growing and it doesn't end up producing any fruit. Now this is not a picture of a carnal Christian, because a Christian produces fruit.

[37:10] And this doesn't get there. Jesus' explanation goes on to talk about trials. And it makes it plain that these are people who quit because of trials.

[37:24] When life is overshadowed by a thistle bush, all kinds of trials that could be in our life, when things get hard, people sometimes say, I didn't sign up for this.

[37:40] Or here were the thistle bushes. other things choke out their life. I'm mixing two of the sections here. Other things choke out their life.

[37:53] Trials don't seem to sway them, and they begin to press on, but they look like they're trusting in Christ, but slowly you begin to see them fade. Such things as, I've got to provide for my family, or I've got to give my kids all the opportunities.

[38:10] I don't have time for church. I don't have time to be in the word. Soon there's no time for Christ at all. They're concerned about making money, or they're concerned about status, or they're concerned about this.

[38:23] The cares of this world choke them out, and they end up producing no fruit. There are other things that are of more value to them than trusting Christ.

[38:36] People can say, oh yes, I love the Lord, I just don't have time for him. They would fall into this third category.

[39:01] And then we have the last category. It's those who are in good soil. hear the news of the kingdom and see it is exactly what they need.

[39:15] Think with me, if you were here last week, of this woman who had an awful reputation. Everyone knew her as a sinner.

[39:27] her. And she knew her fate. She knew what people thought of her. She knew that she was going to hell for who and what she was.

[39:42] And then Jesus preached repentance unto salvation. He preached about the kingdom of God. And she understood it.

[39:54] And she accepted it. that so moved her, she saw it as her only hope. And she was willing to fall down at the feet of Jesus and weep and wash his feet and wipe his feet with her hair and anoint him.

[40:11] Even though the Pharisees were mocking her and everyone in the room still looked at her as a sinner, she said, this one is worth it.

[40:21] he's my only hope. Life for her revolved around the hope of the gospel.

[40:37] She couldn't live without it. She held fast to it no matter what. And that's the difference between these soils.

[40:52] The good soil is the one where God has worked in the heart so that they see I'm a sinner. I have no hope in myself.

[41:03] My only hope has to come from someone outside myself. I hear the gospel that Jesus has taken on flesh, come and lived the perfect life for me.

[41:15] And he's taken my sin upon himself and he's died on the cross for me. And he was buried and rose again and has given me righteousness and will resurrect me and I'll live with him for all eternity not because of anything I have done because of what he has done.

[41:32] A person that holds fast to that will endure trials and the cares of this world because there is hope in nothing else.

[41:47] things. Maybe they'd love to have better things, an easier life, but nothing is of more value than knowing Christ.

[42:01] I want to read to you from Philippians 3, 3 to 11. And Paul's talking about not earning your righteousness, but in the end he gets to the same thought.

[42:12] for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

[42:29] Circumcised of the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

[42:47] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth. This is the part that speaks about the reaction of the right kind of soil.

[42:59] I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

[43:16] Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith. That's the kind of person, the fourth person.

[43:31] Now, the theology may not be that well developed but Jesus is saying we need to be people who recognize that what Jesus offers us is the only hope and that what he tells us we need to hang on every word.

[43:53] So my question to you as I close today is how do you respond to Christ's message of your need to repent and trust him, of your dependence and need to depend on the gospel.

[44:08] Just like Jesus says we need to be people who take care how we hear. And I think the interesting thing here is three of these groups look like they were hearing and holding to what Jesus said.

[44:29] Three of them look like it. Only one saw the gospel as their only hope. Only one saw the gospel as hope even if it cost them in trials.

[44:46] Only one group saw the gospel as hope until the things they loved instead of the things that could be loved by the world.

[45:00] Is the gospel your only hope? Is that the only thing you will trust in? Are you willing to trust Christ even when it costs you?

[45:17] And I'll just end with three quotes from this passage. Luke 8 15, and as for that, in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

[45:35] Luke 8 18, take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has, will be taken away.

[45:51] Romans 8 21, but he answered them, my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.

[46:04] And so, let me just encourage you, are you a person who hears the word of God and does it? Are you the kind of person who says this is my only hope?

[46:20] Then you will produce fruit. Luke says a hundred fold. Matthew and Mark say some 30, some 60, and some 100.

[46:31] Luke says just 100. In Christ, you'll have it all. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would be with us.

[46:46] Help us to be people who see our need to trust only in the gospel. and trust in it no matter what comes, no matter what the cost, because it is our only hope.

[47:02] Help us to be people who have ears to hear. Give us grace to rest and trust in the work of Christ. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[47:14] Let's sing 461, Not What My Hands Have Done Can Save This Guilty Soul. 461.

[47:27] stand together. stand together. My guilty soul, not that my turning flesh has borne and made my spirit whole, but my healing for you, and made in peace with God.

[48:12] How all my presence, eyes and teeth can bear my awful hope. My word of the Lord who lies, and he's a sweet of sin.

[48:30] My blood of the Lord who ever got, can give me peace with him. My blood of the Lord, not my word to thee, and in the office of the West, and set my spirit free.

[48:59] My grace alone, O God, to me and I am sweet. My power alone, O Son of God, and his soul upon his way.

[49:17] My grace alone, O God, and his soul upon his way.

[49:30] My grace alone, O God, and his soul upon his way.

[49:44] My love of divine, and in the body of heaven, O God, and all his sake of mine.

[49:56] His cross, his spells, each brow, I will be in his tomb. Each father, unbelief and fear, each lame in shade of blue.

[50:16] I praise the God of grace, Christ of sin, strength and pride. He calls me, He gives my God, and all my joy, my life.

[50:35] Praise the Lord, unbelief and fear, and all my dreams. I love Him because He is all in me, I live because He lives.

[51:05]  Thank you. Thank you.