13, verses 1 or verses 3 through 9, and 18 through 23. 3 through 9, and then we'll move to verse 18 and read through verse 23. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and divided them up. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. He hath ears to hear, let him hear." Verse 18, "'Hear ye therefore the parable of the sword. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, Then cometh the wicked one, and taketh away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receiveth seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath not root in himself, but endureth for a while, For when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit. and bring it forth some 100 fold, some 60, and some 30. In our last study, we showed an overall view of this parable and gave equal time in setting forth the sower, the seed, and the soil. The sower, as you remember, was primarily Christ. It pictures Christ, but projectively Christ ministers after him. The preachers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course the seed, as is perfectly clear, is the word of God that was preached. And then the Saul represents the heart of the heroes. My purpose in the study this morning is to emphasize attention basically on the soil and to draw three primary observations from the parable as we emphasize the soil. First of all, I purpose to make this observation And that's to point to the emphasis on hearing the parable. And then secondly, to make this observation, which is to show the importance in the parable. And then thirdly, the explanation of the parable. And the first two thoughts will be hurried. We're not planning on spending a lot of time here because As we see, the importance in the parable is placed on the Saul. Not the sower, not the seed, but the Saul. The emphasis is upon the Saul. But let's move into our first thought right away now and look at the emphasis on during the parable. Now, three verses here emphasize the necessity of listening to what Christ is saying in this parable. I thought a while ago when we were singing, and over and over and over again in the song that Brother Charles led us, Are You Washed in the Blood, over and over and over again that question keeps rolling out of the song, Are You Washed in the Blood? It's a question that is designed to probe the heart. The songwriter had this in mind, I believe, when he wrote the song, Are You Washed in the Blood? It's not just some little ditty that he felt had a good melody that we could tap our toes by, but there's a question in the song that constantly is coming to the surface. Are you washed in the blood? That's a good question. Are you washed in the blood? And a lot of times we hear, but we don't hear. And that's the very object in this parable. There were multitudes that stood on the seashore as the Lord Jesus Christ sat in the ship and gave this parable, was teaching them a tremendous gospel truth by way of illustration. Yet, as they heard, they did not hear. And he was describing the very audience that he was preaching to. He said, one fourth of you are like the ones who were illustrated by the seeds sown on the wayside. Another fourth of you are like the ones which were illustrated with the seeds sown upon the stony places. He said, a third fourth of you are like those which we illustrate by the seed sown in the thorny places. And only one fourth of you, this is what he was teaching them, only one fourth of you that's here, actually here. And so he emphasizes the need of listening to the parable. He says as he starts out, emphasizing this in verse number 3, and he's taken many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold! Behold! Now that's a word that should draw attention immediately upon what he's going to say. Behold, he says. The word would be our word or our term Pay attention, or sometimes we use this term, listen up, to what we're going to say. In other words, behold what we're saying. Listen, pay attention to what we're saying. What I'm saying is important. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking here. Mark uses the word hearken. as he begins this parable, which is a military term, and those of you men who've been in the military service know what it means when you're sitting in the barracks and the CO comes in and the platoon sergeant hollers, ATTENTION! Whether you don't step there on your dead pen, you jump to attention. Or else, because of the presence of the one that's coming in, And Christ is saying, give attention now to what we're going to say in this parable. So he emphasizes our hearing the parable as we look to these particular passages of Scripture. Then in verse number 9, here again he emphasizes, when he says, who has ears to hear, let him hear. who has ears to hear, let him hear. He's not talking about outward ears. Because the whole multitude could hear the sound of his voice and could make out the intelligible words that he was speaking. But he wasn't talking about hearing with his outward ears, he was talking about the ear of the conscience. And he says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Then he emphasizes again, as we notice in verse number 18, William Hendrickson says on the meaning of let those who have ears to hear, he said it means this, let them who have spiritual capacity to do so ponder this parable and let them apply its teaching It's lessons to their lives. This is what Christ is saying. Then he emphasizes again in verse 18 when he says, Hear ye. So now, three emphases is placed upon listening to the parable or paying attention to the parable. Behold, he says, which draws sharp attention to what he's going to give us. He that hath ears to hear emphasizes again that there's a tremendous lesson to be learned in what he's going to say. And then when he gives the interpretation in verse number 18, he begins by saying, Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye, he says, the parable of the sower as he went forth to sow. So the emphasis obligates the hearer, not the speaker. You see, I'm not under obligation. Christ was under no obligation. He was faithfully and by sovereign grace revealing to these that sat on the seaside, or teaching them, a tremendous gospel truth concerning the Kingdom of God. And he places the emphasis on hearing the Word of God, therefore, alleviating the speaker of the obligation, so the obligation is placed upon those that sit before the speaker. So you're obligated to hear. You're responsible to hear the Word of God. When it's preached, you're under strong obligation and under the surveillance of God Almighty to hear what the speaker is saying. Christ is saying, I'm going to give the explanation now of the parable, and it's your duty to give attention and to take heed of its message. The emphasis is what Deuteronomy 32, 46 times, setting your heart, setting your heart to the word of God. The Bible said that there is Moses spoke to the people and he said unto them, set your hearts unto all the words which I testify unto you this day. Set your hearts to the word, he said, not against the word, but to the word. Three-fourths of our audiences, when God's men stand to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, are right the opposite of what the Word of God is instructing the hearers to be. Instead of setting hearts to the Word of God, the average individual comes in with an attitude that sets his heart against the Word of God. It's what Paul termed in Acts 17.11, concerning the Bereans, receiving the word with readiness of mind. But I'm afraid the average individual, instead of receiving the word with readiness of mind, comes in and rejects the word. And let me remind you, brothers, that that's not neither here nor there. The matter before us is what you do with the word of God. He says, Behold. Behold now. He says, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He says, Hear ye the parable of the sower. Emphasizing the obligation upon the hearers and not the speaker. He says, It is only my bounden duty to deliver the mind of God. And when I've delivered the mind of God, and literally, folks, that's what I'm up here to do, is to deliver the mind of God. I'm not up here to spin tales and to act funny and to entertain individuals. I'm up here to deliver the mind of God. You see, when I stand in this pulpit and preach the Word of God, the Bible says I'm standing in the stead of God Almighty. In other words, It's just as if God was standing here before you. Somebody says, are you making yourself God? No, I'm making myself God's man though, plainly before you. And Paul says, that as in Christ's stead to the Corinthians, we preach to you. We preach to you. In the stead of Christ, or in the very place of Christ, The gospel preacher occupies the place of preaching the word of God. So then the emphasis is on hearing the parable. And it's very, very clearly taught that the emphasis obligates you as the hearer. But then notice the importance in the parable. You notice this. We've already moved across Herodley. The importance is not on the sower. It's not on the man that was broadcasting the seed as he went across the field. Very Herodley Christ runs across this and says, Behold, behold, a sower went forth to sow seed. This is primarily all the opinion that he gives to the sower. He says, as he sowed some seeds fell by the wayside, some fell in the stony places, some fell in thorny places, and some in good grains. But so we can see the picture now, we can gather the picture from the illustration of the man that's going across the field and broadcasting the seed, he's sowing the seed. And the importance that he places in the parable is not on the sower, nor is it the seed. He says very little about the seed. He just says that the man sowed trees. But the importance in the parable, if you'll notice, is upon the sower, and upon the sower's reception, and upon the sower's repayment, and upon the sower's response to the seed that was sown. So this is the importance in the parable. It's on the soul. And what is the soul? We've already made mention of this time and time again. What is the soul? It's a representation of the hearts of the audience of the gospel preachers. Now let's go to the explanation as we look in the parable. The explanation in verses 19 through 23. You see, here again we notice that the emphasis and the importance is in the soul, is upon the soul. The Bible said, and when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, Then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receiveth seed by the wayside. He that receiveth the seed into the stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not looted himself, but doeth it for a while? When tribulation or persecution arises, because of the word by and by he is offended. He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some and hundredfold some sixty and some thirtyfold. So we come to the explanation of the parable. I said under our last thought that the importance is placed on the Saul and the Saul's reception, the Saul's retainment, and the Saul's response to the seed of God, the seed that was sown. And of course we made the emphasis that the seed is the Word of God, As is perfectly brought out here, it's the word of the kingdom. For the Bible said in verse 19, when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, so in other words, the message of God is the message of the king. The message of God is the message from the kingdom that God has sent to this ungodly world around him and to those of his who are stationed in this world at the present time. I want you to notice as we get into this explanation of these four types of soil. As we mentioned, the four types of soil represent the heart of the gospel preacher's audience. We have the first type of soil illustrated by, or the first heart illustrated by the wayside soil. The wayside Saul is the wayside Herod, who is a hard-hearted Herod. The traffic of the world has packed down the soul of the heart. The lust for the evil and wickedness that's in the world has seared his conscience. It's like a seared piece of meat that nothing can penetrate. And so the wayside hira is the hard-hearted hira. The seed is the seed but not retained. As fast as it's been sown upon the ground, it's almost that quickly carried away. And then there's the stony ground hira. We want to point out and deal to some extent on. This is a shallow-hearted individual. There's reception, but there's no perseverance. Here we find that the third type of soil, as it illustrates the thorny ground jira, or the half-hearted jira. Here there's reception, but there's, but because of preoccupation, there's no prosperity of fruit. And then there's the fourth type, the good ground hearer, who's the wholehearted individual who receives, retains, and responds with grace. But notice this now as we look to the wayside hearer. He said again in verse 19, when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not. Now, notice this word, understandeth it not, this term that's used here, understandeth it not. He says that, "...then comeeth the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in, or which was received, or sown in his heart. This is he which was received by the wayside." The wayside here, then, is the individual who hears, but doesn't apprehend. And this is what the word understand, if not, means. In other words, he does not apprehend it. He hears, but he doesn't apprehend. He hears, but he doesn't appreciate. He hears, but he doesn't absorb. He hears, but he doesn't assess the value of the seed. In other words, he's an average Joe that has his mind in the world, but yet, for the sake of conscience, he tries to act a little religious and affiliates himself with a church and he comes in, occupies the same view as the good ground heroes do, he sings the same songs, he participates in the same prayers, he listens to the same message, but he does not apprehend, he does not appreciate, he does not absorb, neither does he assess the value of the word that's being preached. This is the wayside hero. The hard-hearted individual who receives, but does not retain. For immediately now, immediately when the Word is sown in his heart, after the Word is sown, the Bible said that the fells had occupied the trees by the wayside, which are a representative of the devil and his evil forces, immediately after the seed is fell in the ground, when he gets up, he starts out of the sanctuary, here comes the devil, and with wicked thoughts and with worldly imagination, he snatches away the Word of God. Or he goes back into the world, the traffic of the world, begins to trample the Word of God under hatred. And so the Word does not There's no absorption there. There's no retainment in it. It does not do anything. He hears, but he doesn't hear. It doesn't talk to him. All right, now get this one. As we look to the second type of salt, here's the stony ground here, and we'll spend more time on this individual than any of the other three. Notice the stony ground here in verse 20 and 21. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth a word, an anon, what it wants immediately, without any thought, without any weighing out what is being said, or without any counting of the cost, he's an emotional type fellow and he just reaches out and he grabs hold of the truth that he's heard with no consideration of what the cost is going to be, and he receives it, and he receives it emotionally, joyfully. Yet, hath he not root in himself, but doreth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth, because of the word, notice that, because of the word, because of the way, by and by, he is offended. Now, we want to park here for a little while, because, friend, here is where we find the greatest majority of our healers, those that occupy the biggest portion of the fields and the places and the average fundamental church. is what we see here in this stony ground here. This is the one that the modern-day evangelist capitalizes on. He takes advantage of this challenge. He presses for decisions, he presses for professions, he presses for numbers of baptisms, and therefore he monopolizes upon this individual here that's a stony ground hearer you see here is where we find our apostates coming from right out of this type of soul the individual with this type of heart now we're going to show you something if you'll listen to it this morning the stony ground hearer is the individual who receives retains, responds, but does not persevere." Now brother, this fellow is pretty close. I mean, it's hard to make him out from the man that really got the good heart to receive the Word of God. Because you've got a man here that receives the Word. You see, every one of these receives. But the effects was what made the difference. Now, this individual not only received, but he retained somewhat of the word that he received. And not only did he receive and retain, but he responded to the message in which he heard. This teaches us something. I was telling Sister Patsy this morning when she was typing this outline for me, getting it ready, I said, you know, and I was reading in another book rest concerning the parable that I hadn't read in ten. Things just kept flowing and light, kept rushing in, and I said, you know, there's just no end. There's no reaching the end of what this parable teaches us. It was my full intention last week just to give a short scan of the parable and move on to the parable that Tarzan tweets. I didn't intend to take this much time, but God said, no, the emphasis is on the soul, so you take one morning service and you emphasize the soul. And this stony ground hero is an individual who receives, retains, responds, but there's no perseverance. And how many times have I made this clear to you that the only true test of true Christianity is perseverance. You stop going around saying, well, if that individual's not saved, then nobody's saved. I know that when they're hidden, well, they must be saved with their life. The way their toes are sticking straight up six foot under, and if they battle all the way down to the end, and instead of falling to the wayside and turning back and withdrawing They kept on and kept on and overcome and overcome and instead of being weakened they become stronger through their affliction. And bless God you can pretty well count on feeling when you get to grow up. We've heard so much of this hogwash in our lifetime. These alibis, men have used, using backsliding and everything else. worldly and carnal-minded Christians. There's no such thing as a worldly and carnal-minded Christian. No such thing as that. God saves men out of the world, not in the world, letting them remain worldly. No such thing. But alibis for people. If they don't persevere, I mark them off. If I don't persevere, you mark me off. Don't ever try to standardize men by our notions and theories of what Christians are. Let the word of God weigh them out. Look at them in the light of the word of God. The word of God is true, and all men are lying. This individual receives, retains, and responds, but as we mentioned, there's no perseverance. And the reason is given here. He's a superficial shearer. He's only a surface shearer. The Bible said he had not roots. No roots. You see, a plant can't grow without roots. It may spring up. The moisture may germinate. He caused that seed to break open and to shoot a shoot of greenness out of it. But, my friends, if he has no root, well, it can continue to drink from the earth's moisture. If it has no root, it will die. If it's a sun, get tired of the sun. It'll wither. It'll scorch it. It'll fall. Most of us are familiar enough with farming and with planting and what have you to understand what he's talking about. You see, as we mentioned, the reason is superficial. There's no root. Underneath this shallow soil, he's teaching us here, it was an unbroken rock, an unbroken rock. The seed could not draw moisture because there was no moisture under there. It was a hard bedrock under just a little bit of strong soil. And after a while, when that soil, which was shallow, surface dried out, the seed died away. Now notice this. He was a motion. There was no true weighing out of what was said or what was being said to him here. Notice the emotions have been moved. There's joy here, but the conscience was not set. There was light, but there was no light. There was illumination. He was illuminated, but he wasn't regenerated. This is foreign to most hearers today because the average individual don't know what we're talking about when we say that a man can be illuminated and yet not be regenerated. There was a time when this thing was sober. It was It was sought upon, and the congregation knew what the preacher was saying when he said that possibly our individual settings here that are illuminated, but they're not regenerated. You have light, but you have no light. Do you believe there can be such people? The Bible teaches us. No place is more, and look at Matthew 25. I said the emotions had been moved. There was joy, but the conscience was not searched. I said there was light, but no life. There was illumination, but not regeneration. This is exactly what we see as we look to the first ten verses of Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins. The Bible said, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like unto ten virgins. which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegrooms. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegrooms harried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your all, notice this now, for our lamps are gone out. Our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, no, no. lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." While they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. If the impact of this can touch your heart, this is one of the most shattering things that you've ever looked at in the Word of God. We're talking about consummation, when all things are drawn up to its end, or how fulfilled its length. We're talking about the last day when the This professed church in the world around us shall meet the judge, shall face the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And we come to terms here with the fact that here are five individuals who were called wise and five that were called foolish, five that were ready and five that were not ready, five that went in and five that were shut out. which draws us a tremendous illustration of what we're talking about in the 13th chapter of the book of Matthew. Further illustrating, illuminating our minds as to the truth of what we're dealing with. You see, the five foolish virgins here are identical with those whose hearts were classified as stony ground heroes in Matthew 13. Now, let's notice this just for a minute. The foolish virgins, number one, had lamps, as did the wise virgins. Isn't that right? Isn't that what we say? They all had lamps, didn't they? Did you notice that in the parable? They all had lamps. Secondly, the foolish virgins had light, as did the wise virgins. Didn't they all have light to begin with? But notice the difference. The wise virgins had oil in their vessels. Now, what does this tell us? The wise virgins had oil in their vessels. The foolish virgins, it said, had no oil. In other words, they had light in their mind, but they did not have the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, the oil of God, in their hearts. in their vessels. And as time went on, the Bible said that the wise virgins who had oil in their vessels trimmed their lamps, and their lamps shined, or did shine brighter. But we find the startling fact that the foolish virgins come and say, tell us of your oil, or loan us of your oil, and that our lamps have been You may have a little light in your head, but if you don't have all in your heart, you're not going to be better off. Notice the results in compassion. Matthew 13, verse 21, it says, and yet he hath not root in himself. No all, see. See how this perfectly corresponds to what we're saying here, used in a different time setting because of a different illustration, but teaching the identical truth that we find in Matthew 25. Here, this individual had no root in himself. Here, they had no all within themselves. This is so benign. Don't make me think when I read these, and study these passages. No wonder Christ emphasized 3 times the need of listening to what he was saying to you. Notice verse 7 and 8 of Matthew 25. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. You see, every one of them, all 10 of them, arose and trimmed their lamps. I might add, they were all sleeping and slumbering, the true Church as well as the professed, shallow-minded Church. They were all sleeping and slumbering, yet they arose and they trimmed their lamps, meaning all had lamps and all had light. But something happened, something took place. For in verse 8, the Bible says, And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. It didn't last, did it? It dewered for a while, isn't that what he said in Matthew 13? This stony ground hero, he receives the seed, he retains the seed, he responds to the seed, he dewers for a little while. But buy and buy. I mean, you may be doing all right right now, but what about buy and buy? Buy and buy is coming, did you know that? Luke 8, 13 gives us even more light upon the parable. Luke 8, 13 says, they on the rock, are they? which when they hear, receive the word with joy. These have not root, or have no root, which for a while believe." Now notice that. Matthew said, for a while did. He endured for a while. But Luke said, for a while he believed. Did you know there's such a thing as unsaved belief? Do you remember I preached a message or two on that one time? In the 2nd chapter of John we find the class of untraved believers. They believed when they saw the miracles that Christ did perform. But the Bible said Christ would not commit himself unto them, for he knew the heart of all men and knew what was in their hearts, and therefore he would not reveal himself unto them. We find another crowd in John chapter 8, another crowd in John chapter 12. They're all believers, but they were unshaved believers. Now, notice this comparison as we look on. Luke said, listen, he received the word with joy, but he had no ruse, and for a while believed, and in time of testing, temptation he has here, in time of testing, he says, fell away. Well, this thing got a hold of me when I got to looking at this word, fell away. I thought it meant what it said, but I did a little extra research on the word to make sure that I knew what I was going to tell you folks this morning about this falling away. This is interesting. Notice now. He says there's no definite time given here as to how long this individual persevered. How long did he last? He doesn't say. He just says he's here for a while. Or for a while he believed. In that he said, but by and by, by and by, Luke says in time, he fell away. This explains a lot to me, this answers a lot of questions in my mind. You see, one individual comes in, receives seemingly the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, retains and responds to that gospel message, and it's like a, I mean, he's like a take a dynamite for a little while. He's just on the move and he's ready to do anything and everything. He loves Jesus above all things. And he lasts for six months and he sizzles out. Well, they didn't have much trouble with them. But these fellas that come in, well, man, they just keep on lasting. They just keep on and on. And for years, they're regular. They're never really whole-hearted like the good-ground killer, but they're regular. They're in there, man. I mean, they're witches. But by and by, when the gospel preacher just keeps sinking that old codbuster in the ground, and keeps plowing, after a while he gets in his corn patch. And he plows too close to his corn, and he's offended, and he pulls away. Well, this is crazy. I said some of them last long enough. He didn't give no definite time. He just said some of them endure for a while. But by and by, that's indefinite. That's the reason I said, friend, you judge them when they're laying out there six foot under. Did they attend to the Word of God through their whole lives? Did they receive wholeheartedly the Word of God in glowing grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ until their last dying breath? That's the test of faith, your father. Or did they run along for a while, a long while, a good length of time? And all of a sudden one day they raved up in the hellishness of their rebellion and they got mad as a bulldog and their face turned red and they stormed out and said, I won't have that! I don't believe it. She's gone too far. Oh, this thing right here is sober. No wonder Christ emphasized, give him, behold him, if you've got some ears to hear, pay attention to this, which is a tremendous blessing. They fall away. That's what Luke says. They do it for a while, that's what Matthew says. Mark tells us, They have no roots in themselves and so endure but a little time, for a little time. But afterwards, when affliction and persecution arises, for the Word's sake, notice that, for the Word's sake, the Word's what's offended. Not because the community's trying to get to them, it's because the Word offended. You know what this Word will do to a good man here? It'll shape his life, it'll form his life, and it'll conform him all the days of his life until he leaves this place conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking about this Word. This Word's a hammer, the Bible says. And, friend, it'll knock every chip you ever had on your shoulder off. It'll clean you up. It'll shape you up. This Word is a structure. It'll shape and form you if you sit and listen to it, and pay attention and take heed to its message. It's like a fire, the Bible says, like a refiner's fire. It'll refine you, it'll burn out the growth, it'll clean out the impurities, it'll clean out the imperfections that's within you, and it'll clean you until you're refined as pure gold. That's what it's designed for. If you're a good guy here, it'll do that. If you're a phony guy here, a phony guy here, or a wayside here, it won't do nothing but make you mad. It might take a while, but it'll do it. You see, the apostate is the man that comes to a car scene. When God tries the Church, He tries the whole profession Church. It's not just the individual that has a true profession, but it's the whole Church. When afflictions are sent on the Church, when tribulation comes to the Church, it's upon the whole Church. That's how God purges His Church. Did you know that? He sends persecution, tribulation, affliction upon the whole Church, and the man that's got it will last and get stronger, but the man that doesn't have it will get weaker. You wait for the tribulation here. You talking about cleaning house. God Almighty is going to clean up that. And you know what tribulation is going to be about? You know why the world is going to pursue church? Because they take hold of the cardinal truths, the cardinal doctrines of orthodox Christianity. Luke tells us that he, for a while, believed, but in a time of temptation, a time of testing, he fell away. And you know this word, as I was going to mention, this word is amazing, it teaches us something, a tremendous truth. Do you know what the word fell away means, literally what the word is in the Greek? It's apostatized. Here's where the apostate comes from. The same identical word that we find in Luke 8, verse 13, we find in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, and let me quote this to you, let me read. Now, the Spirit speaks expressly, get this now, that in the latter time, some shall, and the King James says, Depart, and the Revised, 1885 Revised Version says, fell away, which is both right, for they're both saying the same thing, which in times, or the latter times, some shall fall away. Where are they going to fall away from? The faith, the faith. And what are they going to do when they fall away from the faith, when they depart? from the faith, what are they going to do? Are they going to quit being religious? Oh no, they're going to take on greater religious acts. I mean, the garb is really coming on now. They've apostatized. They will not forsake being religious, but they're not going to have the truth. They won't buy the truth. And so they turn away from the truth, and the Bible says, concerning them, that they give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of death." Now, what's the doctrine of devil? Anything that does not coincide and correspond to the true doctrine of the Scriptures. Listen son, you better not go there and mess with that church or they teach that old doctrine and let them down there. And you ever going to give him any scripture? Are you curious why he doesn't do it? He just says, you ought not to do it. And pray if you pull the Bible on him and says, well what about this? He'd say, but, but, but, you ought not to. They're just playing themselves. Next time somebody does that to you, you tell that low-living, yellow-spirited thing, if he will, I'll sit down with him, and I'll take what I preach, and I'll correspond what I preach with the Word of God, and I'll lay it beside him and parallel what he preaches, and we'll see who's right from the Word of God. I'm not afraid. to take the scripture and let the scripture say what the scripture says? If I ain't preaching the truth, this book's a lie. Now, these jaybirds that heart and harlot and dogs and dams, these blessed doctrines and God's precious words, they can't say that. Here's the man right here. Here's what's hacked out of the average church. Apostates. Apostates. They fall away, but now notice the thorny ground hero. He's got to move. The thorny ground hero is the individual who has just enough religion to make him miserable. He's got a little bit, but man, it's miserable. Trying to maintain that little bit. I mean, it's so stressing upon me. Here it is Sunday morning, a beautiful day, the sun comes up. And it's a lovely day. And it's a fine day to go to night. And a wonderful day to take the family down to the lakeside and have a little picnic. But oh my, we've got to go to church! We don't go to church to preach until the holler at us the next time we come! Such a miserable fellow. He's a pathetic case. So on the ground here, the Bible says, this fellow here is the Word, but because he's preoccupied, the Word doesn't prosper. You see, he's occupied. The Lord said this, He's occupied, he's preoccupied with the cares of this world. It's one thing that makes him so miserable. He's preoccupied with the deceitfulness of riches. He's after that ever-loving dollar, which ain't worth hardly a paper's throat on now, won't be later on. He's occupied, preoccupied with the lusts of other things. That's what he said in Mark chapter 4, verse 19 on this passage. And then Luke says that he's occupied with the love of the pleasures of this life, of this life. You see, he wouldn't know what it would be to be occupied with the pleasures that sit at the right hand of God, and that's what he gave. That's what joy everlastingly is. That's where the plagues is forevermore lie. It's at the right hand of God. Now, who's at the right hand of God? Christ. But this individual here wouldn't know what it means to be occupied with Christ. So he has just enough religion to make himself miserable. We'll move on, leave him. And look, last of all, to the good ground here. Now this individual is a person to receive the word into a prepared heart. A prepared heart. He's not a hard-hearted, wayside hearer. He's not a shallow-hearted, stony ground hearer. He's not a half-hearted, thorny ground hearer. But this fellow is a good ground hearer. In other words, he's got a prepared heart. When the word of God falls, It makes its way into a deep furrow, into ground that's been peeled, cultivated, perforated, and had a furrow laid deep that the seed might find a good resting place. And with a little kick of the saw can cover that seed, and with just a little moisture and sunshine in the spring forest, and this forest here is going to last a hundredfold, some of them, some of them sixty, Some of them say that they're going to bear fruit, because they're fruit bearers. They're good ground healers. You see, the Word was received by this, and it was retained, and it was responded to, and it prospered. This is a difference in this one and the other three types of souls. The Word not only touched his emotions, it reached his conscience. He weighed the matter out. He counted the cost. And he was still ready to go. He still wanted to follow the blessed Lord. The word not only brought joy, but it first brought conviction and contrition. Luke says, but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart. And honestly, did you know that's the only kind of folks who don't get in your head? I'm sorry. I saw a lot of good folks, morally, good religious people, And I've said this, if they would have ever gotten honest, truly, I believe by the preaching of the Word of God, I could have helped them. But they never would get honest. So much apostasy, so much of putting on, acting, trying to cover up, but would not be honest. And listen folks, until you get honest with God, you will never get there. You start thinking you're something still not, you're better than what you are, and you face the fact that you're a miserable, low-down, good-for-nothing, I mean, worm of the earth, you're not going to get help from God. You keep putting on, acting, hypocriting around, you're going to hypocrite your way right into hell. So God only deals and God only blesses on his part. This was an honest heart at this ground, this seed-telling. He heard the word, he kept it, and Luke said he brought forth fruit with patience. That's in giving, perseverance. The word not only brought light to his mind, but it brought life to his heart, and this the perseverance of his life and the bringing forth of truth in that life. Why was this heart good? Why was it a good heart? Was it because he was a better fellow than the other? No. Because of the fact that he realized he was worse than the other. Why was it a good heart? It was a good heart because it was a regenerated heart. a new heart, as Ezekiel said, a new heart also will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the old stony heart, the old stony heart. I will take away the old stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of blessing. See, this heart has been broken up by the spirit of grace. This individual didn't do the spikes of the Spirit of Grace as he did in 1078, sir. This individual received the Spirit of Grace, though it was pricking his heart, though it was tearing at his conscience, though it was bringing contrition within him, yet he received the Word of God. He received it gladly. He received it wholly. His heart had been broken up by the Spirit of Grace that had been plowed by the gospel of grace are now made ready to bring forth fruit to the praise of God.