Open with me to the Gospel by Mark, chapter 4. And we're going to look at the third of four portraits Jesus gives. And Jesus Christ, amazingly, in this fourth chapter, and we're going to read several verses, does something that is very profound. And I want you to just step back with me and think about that as we look at these verses. Jesus compares life to a field. Jesus compares people to soil. He compares the gospel to seeds being thrown out by a sower. And he compares eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness. Now if you ponder all of those elements, it's fascinating. One of the most amazing parts of it is that you don't know what a person is until you see the fruit of their life. That's what he's talking about, the crop of their life. What was it? What is it? Well, Jesus also classifies everyone on earth. He says either they're a wayside person. A wayside person is a hard heart. Or he says they're a rocky person, the shallow heart. Or he says they're a thorny person, the crowded heart. So Jesus says, everybody in the whole world, is either wayside, or rocky, or thorny, or good. Amazing, the depth of this. Because that day Jesus also said that God's Word either is stolen away by birds, or God's Word is scorched away because it's unrooted into our hearts, or God's Word is choked away by the world, or God's Word comes into our life And being implanted within us brings forth a crop of supernatural, something we can't do, fruit, harvest, a crop of righteousness. We've come to the third bad response. Just as there are three degrees of fruitfulness, if you notice, he says in verse 8, other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up and increased and produced some 30, some 60, some 100. So Jesus said there are three levels of fruitfulness. So Jesus says there are three types of unfruitfulness, three bad responses. There are three good responses to the Word of God, the 30-fold response, the 60-fold, the 100-fold. There are three responses, but there are also three bad responses, the wayside, the stony, and the thorny. It's amazing how symmetrical this is. And just as there are three degrees of fruitfulness to the good soil, there are three degrees of fruitlessness to the bad soil. Jesus is warning us of a third dangerous condition of the heart. And that's the crowded heart. Now all the way through this, I want you to understand a simple truth. And this will help. I deal with this so much in people's lives. There's only one interpretation of the Bible. Now there's disagreement on what that one might be, and there has historically been, but the Bible has one interpretation. What is an interpretation? It's what God meant when he communicated through his spirit using the instrument of one of those forty individuals that he used to write this book. God had a message. He had a purpose, an intent. He had a direct message that that prophet or apostle was supposed to communicate for him. That's the interpretation. But there are countless applications of the scripture. And that's how you apply it to your life, how you apply it to your heart, your condition, your purpose, where you are this stage in life. Now the real problem is that a lot of people get confused the application with the interpretation. And that's why we have such difficult times in the church that someone applies it this way and they say, and that's what everyone has to do. No, there are many applications. There's only one interpretation, only one intent God had with that word. Now, the interpretation of this historically has been that Jesus was talking about the responses in the hearts of people to his word. And he says there are three wrong responses, three bad responses, three negative responses, and there are three good responses, three positive responses, and three fruitful eternal responses. In between those two, there is a world of application. I would say that the vast majority of you are on the good side, the good soil. You're born again. But you know what Jesus is warning? If you're not careful, you might be a wayside person. Sin might trample you down, Christian, if you don't guard against it, if you don't flee from it, if you don't resist it. Or you might Develop some rocks in your life that that you start resisting God or you might allow the cares of this world The thorns to come in So you can't just sit back this morning and say, I'm not one of these crowded hearts. I'm a believer. Because you know, believers can get crowded. Believers can get rocky. Believers can get trampled down. And so, as Jesus says in verse 9, all of us should listen. Well, Jesus warned of a third condition of the heart, the crowded heart. First, he warned us about the hardened heart, a person beaten down by the constant traffic of life, a person packed and hardened by time, a person who, because of sin, they get totally hard. to God. And His Word, the first soil we saw, never touches them. Kind of like when your deck is painted with that deck sealer, the rain can rain all at once and it just beads up and it doesn't penetrate. And every time I see something that's been waterproofed and I see that beading up of the water, I think of the wayside hearts. I see people, they get sprayed with the gospel and it goes like that and it never penetrates them. That's the first one Jesus warns of. The second one, is the shallow heart, and this is the life that harbors just beneath the surface a massive outcropping of rebellion. And we saw that last week. It's like a layer of rock. This rebellion takes many forms, but it keeps the heart from ever being reached. We saw last week the rich, young ruler. And we saw how he had his emotions touched, his feelings got moved, but his will was never engaged. His will was set. It was like a rock. He would not give up. He would not submit. He would not yield. He emotionally was attracted. as we saw last week. But his will was not touched. Well, Jesus warns us about the third heart. That's the crowded heart. This is the heart that has the roots of three deadly weeds in it. Now you notice Jesus talks about that in verse 18. He tells us there are three deadly weeds that are very alive and they're poised to spring from the soil of that life. And if you notice in verse 19, he says, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for things, entering and choke the word. See, these three deadly, remember I told you about the farmer would never throw seeds in thorns. I mean, this is not a dumb farmer. This is a man who's prepared the field. The agricultural picture is that he prepared the field. The first thing they did is they'd burn off all that stuff. They'd burn off all the weeds. Then they'd plow. But in that particular section, which is discussed in verse 7, there had been beneath the surface, the roots of these acanthi, as the Greek word, these native thorn bushes. Now, they were indigenous. They were native to that part of the world. They loved that climate. They loved that soil. And the farmer was bringing in something foreign, seeds. Those seeds were not native. They were not part of the Middle Eastern culture. They were a crop he wanted to bring into that place. And so the farmer burned away all the top of the ground thorns, and he plowed the field, and then he threw this seed there, but immediately the seed was competing with the already lodged in the soil thorns. Their roots. They were perennial. They were hardy. They were thriving in that climate. And there was an inability for the seed to compete with the thorns. And as it says in verse 7, the thorns grew and choked the seeds. And it didn't, what it says is it yielded no crop. It never came to crop. It didn't live long enough to come to the crop. So that's the basic story. And that's what Jesus wants us to learn from. I'm going to read those verses and ask him, the Lord Jesus himself, to open his word to us. I'm going to read Mark chapter 4. You follow along. Verse 7. And some seed fell among thorns, Jesus said. And the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop. Now skip with your eyes down to verse 18. That's his sermon on this verse. 4.18 of Mark's Gospel. Now these That's the ones who fell among thorns. These are the ones sown among thorns. They are the ones who hear the word, verse 19, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things, entering in, choke the word. and it becomes unfruitful. Let's bow together. Father in heaven, I pray that you would quicken our hearts, that you would illumine our minds, that you would focus us to hear your voice through your word, that your spirit would be able to freely move among us, I pray that the vast majority of those who are here this morning are those of us who know you. And that as we hear this stern warning of this unresponsive soil, this heart that was overtaken by weeds, that we would not comfortably say, ah, but I know you already and I'm so grateful for that. But we would rather say, oh Lord, are there any things in my life that are choking out the full surrender of every dimension of my life to you. I might be great in one department, but there might be others where I have not allowed you to take away sin that has become cherished, habits that have become defiling. Oh Lord, how I pray that we as believers would examine ourselves lest we be overtaken with the thorns of this life that are so virulent, that are so deadly to spiritual growth. And then Father, for any who might be with us this morning who have never yet allowed you to give them a new heart. And their heart is filled with perennial weeds and they're choking out any knowledge of you. I pray that they would realize that it's a supernatural birth from above when you give us a new heart and take away the stony heart, the heart that is given over to self and to sin. and that you, this day, can change us from the inside out, as unbelievers to come to faith, and as believers to come to even fuller surrender. That's our heart's desire. Bless us to that end. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Jesus is revealing, for us as believers, three symptoms of dangerous conditions that can come into our lives. Jesus is declaring, and the primary purpose of his message was to declare to the listeners of his day, that if they heard him and went merely on their way, that there were three reasons why they left Jesus' presence unchanged. And the first was they were hardened like the wayside. The second was that they had subterranean rebellion like the shallow. The third was that they allowed the Word of God to get choked by the other perennial habits of their heart that were sinful. I like to entitle these things, the first one, the cares of this world in verse 19, I call that distractions. There are many people who will never be in the kingdom of God because they're too distracted. They have never caught sight of Jesus Christ. They have never looked at Him that they might live. They're distracted by the cares of this world. They are constantly, ever drawn to the world. And we'll examine that, there are many scriptures. Secondly, deceptions, the deceitfulness of riches, the false promises that this world system gives. The world system says that more is better and much is best. The world system says that money buys happiness and it doesn't. Money just buys more places to look for happiness. But the people in the big houses and the people with the big names and the people with notoriety and that are famous, they have everything. Behind their palatial homes are just as empty as the poor lost people. Because only Christ can satisfy, money can't. And there's a deception to riches. And then finally, the desire for other things. Desires, this is the word lust. There are people that lust for stuff. And that lust for stuff, kind of like we saw with the rich young ruler last week, precludes being able to love Jesus Christ. and we'll see his words on that. Well, let me divide this up into three areas. First of all, these crowded hearts are a divided heart. Weedy soil, and you notice what Jesus says in verse 18, these are ones sown among thorns. There is something already present in the heart when the word of God comes, and so it's immediately crowded. The heart is divided. Now, did Jesus ever talk about that? Yes. By the way, he tells this story in all three Gospels. Let's look back in the book of Matthew because he tells us something interesting. If you turn back to Matthew 13, that's the story that we're looking at, the parable of the sower, Matthew 13. And the first nine verses are about that sower and the seed. But as you turn to Matthew 13, Jesus has already said something about the heart that's crowded, that's divided, that has no room for God. And if you're in 13, back up to chapter 6 of Matthew, that's where I want to actually take you, but I want you to see the reference point of Matthew 13. But turn to Matthew 6, in verse 24, because weedy soil, this thorny soil, represents a heart preoccupied with worldly things. preoccupied, under the occupation of worldly things. And in Matthew 6 and verse 24, Jesus says this to that heart. He says, no one can serve two masters. Now this is an absolute statement. He says, no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. Now by the way, do you remember the rich young ruler? It says that he turned from Christ. You know what that means? That means that he utterly was repulsed when Jesus told him that. That word turned is so, you know, it says he went away, actually it says in English, went away sorrowful. Actually the word was not that gentle went away, I mean, There's a sense to this that Jesus is saying. Look in verse 24. He says, He will be loyal to the one and despise, be repulsed by, be totally turned away from the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now mammon is just a general term for the whole cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the pursuit of things. It's the world system. It's the god of this world. It's living for here and now rather than for him and then. It's not living for the eternal and the spiritual, it's living for the physical and the temporal and the pleasures of the moment. So the weedy soil represents this heart preoccupied with mammon, with the world. And the thorn bushes are not visible because, like I said, they've been burned off from the surface of this heart that Jesus is talking about the Word coming to. But their roots are still intact, and when the seed gets sown and watered and germinated, the entrenched thorns which are already there, that are native, that are hardy and are thriving, they grow faster and they just take the life right out of that seed and right out of that heart. They choke the grain before it produces any fruit. This is a divided heart. This is a heart that has divided loyalties, and those loyalties are never reconcilable. You cannot merge those two loyalties. Jesus said, look at verse 24, no one can have two masters. You cannot bow two directions. You have to bow one direction or the other. You can't bow in two directions to two masters. And he says, this heart has divided loyalties. This heart has the thorn, and the seed. No one can serve both, he says, because you'll either love the one and hate the other, or you'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. Keep turning to chapter 7 of Matthew's Gospel. It's just the next page in my Bible. Jesus talks about this in another continuation of this sermon. By the way, all of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount keeps talking about the two, two, two, two. He talks about two ways, two treasuries, two masters, two eyes. Everything in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, he's always talking in kind of like both poles. And so in chapter 7, look what he says in verse 21. He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will, the one who bows to the master, as 624 is talking about, the one who yields to him. Does the will, what, of my Father in heaven? Many will say, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied and done wonders? Verse 23, And I'll say to them, I never knew you, depart from me. Look at this, you who practice bowing to the other master. You who's, now remember what Jesus is talking about, the whole context of 721-23 is the end of the life. The whole context is that the crop is in. that the harvest is past. And that the harvest of this life, if you notice in verse 21, was not doing the will of the Father in heaven. Verse 23, it was practicing lawlessness. It was thorns. Not doing the will of my Father in heaven and practicing righteousness. Remember what I said at the beginning? Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness. Now some are 30-fold. Some are double that. They're 60-fold. Some are more than triple that. They're 100-fold. But those crops are the harvest of the life. And Jesus is warning that you can tell along the way where you're headed by where you're bowing and what you're doing. So the crowded heart is a divided heart. Let me take you to one more thing at the end of the Bible. Look at 1 John. So go all the way to the other end. Just before Revelation, back up those little tiny books that are kind of just before Revelation, the end of your Bible's Revelation, back up to 1 John chapter 2, because this is what Jesus is referring to, that John is testifying to in 1 John 2.15. And this is speaking to the thorny heart, because the cares of this world is what we're looking at, this divided heart that has got two loyalties. Do not love the world, 1 John 2.15, or the things in the world. That's the end of Jesus' three weeds. Remember he said, the first is the cares of the world and the last is the desire for things. That's what chokes out the word. Well, John combines them both. He says, don't love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, look at what a sobering statement. The love of the Father is not in him. You know what the whole book of 1 John is about? How you know you're a believer. And the whole book of 1 John says this, by this we know the love of God. Because His love is shed abroad in our hearts. And we have love for one another. Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. And everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. Look at this. If you love the world, the love of the Father, the love that makes you born of God, the love that gives you eternal life, is not in Him. Do you hear Christ's parable? It's not in. It never finds root. It never bears fruit. And the fruit is that there is this love for God. Now you say, wait a minute, is it perfect all the time? Well, I'm glad you asked that. You're in 1 John. Go to the book of Jude. I want to show you something. Book of Jude. And it only has one chapter. And I want to start with you in verse 20 of the book of Jude. Because believers struggle with sin. When you get saved, you are not eradicated. Now that is a doctrine of a denomination. They believe in the eradication of the old nature. But what's amazing is I've never seen an eradicated person because the ones that are eradicated are proud about it. And I say, you know, I've met, at conferences, I've met speakers from that denomination that they have been eradicated. That means their sin nature is gone. And they tell me about it. They say, I no longer sin. I say, really? Yes. And you know, they are right then. They're very proud about the eradication. In fact, one of them, after he told me that, pulled out his pocket mirror. Now for a man to carry a pocket mirror You know, I don't have that problem. Boy, did he have that problem. He actually, before he spoke, he pulled out his pocket mirror and was checking to make sure his beautiful hair was waving. He popped it back in his pocket and I thought, you're eradicated? There's still a root of pride there and you know so we still struggle with sin all of us I do you do we do all the believers Paul's testimony is in Romans 7, but look what Jude verse 20 says, but you beloved Building yourselves up in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves in this love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life and Now look at this, verse 22, and on some have compassion making a distinction, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments defiled by the flesh. There are believers who struggle deeply with sin, and there is a ministry we're to have in the church of rescuing them. This, I remember when I pastored in New England, one of my ministries was, we had this Jude 22 ministry, and that was ministering to these who, because of the huge homosexual community that's up in New England, that they had come to Christ, but just as much as you, if you're given to things, still look at those catalogs and wish you have those things, and just as much as you, if you formerly were into alcohol, you have to say, I'm not going to go back to that, and just as you, if you formerly were into any other sin, you still have temptations, they still were tempted back to their old lifestyle. They hated it, and they were new creations in Christ, but they were drawn back to that. You know, we used to have this Jude 22, if some have compassion, Jude 23, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. We used to call them. We used to say, come to our house. Come and visit us. Come to the church. Come to the haven. When you are tempted, when you are, come. And I remember we had one man who was so, he was the leader of this ministry, he would go right to them, wherever they were, in the bar or whatever, and he would just take them and say, come on, you need to get out of here. I mean, he literally took verse 23, smashing them out of the fire. Because sometimes we think when someone gets saved that they are just perfect for the rest of their life. No. Some Jews said, Have compassion on them. They are weak and they're struggling. Okay, so these divided hearts that Jesus is talking about, and go with me back to Mark chapter 4 because I want you to keep this orientation. He's talking about not someone that has had a change within and they're still struggling with sin. We're just talking about someone that's had no change, and the gospel's getting crowded out, and these people that have the thorny life are uncommitted, they're preoccupied with the world's pleasure, they live for money, they live for their career, they live for fame and fortune. They say they're Christians, but they don't care. You know what one of the greatest testimonies of the assurance of your salvation is? If you struggle with sin. If you struggle with sin, If you wrestle with it, if you're like the Apostle Paul, you can say, what I would do, I don't do, and what I would not do, that I do! That's an evidence of salvation, because the unregenerate person doesn't even know what sin is. They just don't want to get in trouble too badly. They don't want anybody to know. They hope no one finds out. But they don't have that internal conviction, that hatred for sin, which is a mark of salvation. And that's what this thorny, weedy heart, it shows no evidence that the seed was ever sown. There's a second thing about them. Look at verse 19. Because crowdy hearts are also temporary in their confession of Christ. These are people who attend to the preaching of Christ's truth to a certain extent. They assent to it. They approve of it. I mean, they're not pagans. They think, yes, that's true. Their conscience is affected by it. In fact, emotionally, like the shallow heart, they're in favor of it. They acknowledge that it's right, it's good, it's worth receiving. In fact, some of these people even start abstaining from different things, you know, kind of the turn over the new leaf, kind of the idea that I'm just going to start over again and do better next time. But what happens is, they stop. Look what it says, the cares of this world, verse 19, the deceitfulness of riches, the desire for things, entering in, choke the word, and it never comes to maturity. That's what unfruitful means. It only grows to a certain point, then it's gone. And you know, the reason it's so important to understand what Jesus said is, He said, the seed is the Word of God. And salvation is when the implanted Word, in James chapter 1 and 1 Peter chapter 1, the engrafted Word saves the soul. The Word gets to the core, to the heart, to the center of our being, and it takes root. Do you notice the parallelism? The roots of the thorns keep the roots of the Word ever being set? See, the Lord is paralleling here. He said a saved person is not a person whose life is permeated by the roots of these thorns, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for things. Rather, that heart is new, that soil is brand new. They receive a new heart. You say, how do you get that? Well, I'm glad you asked. Turn back to the first definition of this in the book of Ezekiel. Did you know that what we believe about the new covenant, we know from the book of Ezekiel? Ezekiel. Now you say, where is that? I haven't been there lately. Go right to the middle. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Okay, keep going to the right after you get to the middle, and you'll find Ezekiel. It's just before Daniel. And look at chapter 36. I want to explain to you what happens to supernatural work that the thorny heart never got. Never happened. It says in Ezekiel 36, in verse 26, this is salvation defined. When Jesus said, the new covenant which is in my blood, this is what God was promising to all who come in faith to Christ. This is what he said, verse 26, I will give you a new heart. and put a new spirit within you, I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." So how do you get rid of the wayside heart? How do you get rid of the rocky heart? How do you get rid of the thorny heart? Do you try real hard? Do you get in a class? Do you make a lot of promises to God? I won't do that anymore. I promise. I'm going to turn over a new leaf. I don't want to be that way more. No. No. That's what I mean about it's supernatural. Look who's talking. God is talking in verse 26 and He says, I, I the Lord, I the God of the universe will give you a new heart and I'll put a new spirit and I'm going to take away the thorns. I'm going to take away the rocks. I'm going to take away the packed down wayside heart out of you. You see, that's why Mark chapter 4, this section we're studying, ends with the disciples in utter amazement. They said, what you're talking about is impossible. And Jesus said, it is impossible. Only my Father which is in heaven can do this. You see, salvation is not joining this church or any other. It's not getting baptized here or anywhere else. It's not doing something and making a bunch of promises. It's verse 26. It's getting a new heart from God. It's having a heart transplant. It's having regeneration. It's having God take over and change us from the inside out. It's not something we do. It's not something you try hard enough to get. is something you receive simply by faith. And that faith in the God who offers salvation causes Him to give us a new heart, to take away the underlying rock layer of rebellion, to totally destroy and remove those thorns from the center of our being, those roots of thorns. And he says he puts his spirit within us. And look what it says, verse 27, I put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. God prompts us to turn from sin. God prompts us to want to live righteously. God prompts us to have a holy hatred of sin. That's the wonder. So back to Mark chapter 4 with me. I want you with that in mind, I want you to listen to what Jesus says and you'll understand his parable very well. He says in Mark chapter 4, that this heart are the ones, verse 18, who are sown among thorns, and they're the ones who hear the Word, in verse 19, the cares of this world and the seedfulness of riches and desire for other things enter in and choke the Word, and it never bears the fruit. What's the fruit the Word of God is supposed to bring in our lives? The fruit is, we're supposed to get a new heart, we're supposed to get a new spirit, we're supposed to get a new operating system, we're supposed to want to obey God and do His will. That's why Jesus can say in Matthew 7, depart from me. You are doing my will. You didn't get a new heart. He didn't say you didn't cut the grade. You didn't do hard enough work. You didn't make it. He didn't say that. He didn't say you didn't do enough. He said you never got a new operating system. You never got a new heart. And you know what the challenge today is in America? There's so much gospel preaching, so much Bible and Christian material, that everyone's heard all this, and we have a multitude of people that are trying their hardest to be a Christian. I mean, they're pedaling like on one of those exercise bikes. They're just pedaling and they're doing everything they can, as hard as they can, and it's not working. And so they try a little harder. And what they need to do is get off the bike and get on their knees and ask for a new heart and a new spirit. doesn't make us perfect. That's the other side of this coin, and that's what I want to talk about here. Because can a believer have a crowded heart? Yes, we can. Yes, we do. But it's temporary, it makes us uncomfortable, and it is dealt with by God. Remember what Hebrews 12 says? You want to turn to Hebrews 12? I want to show you a little something. Another evidence of salvation is Hebrews 12. For those of you that are wondering about this, Hebrews chapter 12 tells us about, starting in verse 3, for consider him, Hebrews 12, 3, who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, this is talking about Christ, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You haven't resisted the blood, striving against sin, verse 4. You've forgotten the exhortation, verse 5, that speaks to you as sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Don't be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son he receives. Verse 7, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Now here's the ominous verse, listen up, verse 8. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Matthew 7. Mark 4, Jude, and right here in Hebrews 12 is always consistently the same. If you are bowing, you're born bowing, I was born bowing to my old master, myself, my flesh, this world, my desires, my lusts, my passions. I can't bow there and bow to Christ. And so when His Word comes, and I'm bowing here, His Word comes and takes root in my heart, and by faith I respond and I say, yes, Lord. And He gives me a new heart. And He causes me to bow to Him. Now, what happens if I allow sin to come into my life? Verse 8, I get chastened by the Lord. You see, we are not perfect when we get saved, we just have a new heart. We have a new direction, a new desire. But the whole New Testament is about a group of people who were struggling against the tide of the world, trying to obey the Lord, and some of them were slipping back, and some of them were turning around, some were getting all mixed up. And Jude tells us about some who go back to the old life and they need to be grabbed and dragged lovingly back to Christ. Why? Because the Lord chastens But what if someone is never chastened? What if someone says they're a Christian and they never feel bad about bowing to the cares of this world and the lust of the flesh and every other sin, whatever form of design or sin that they are into? What if they never stop bowing? Then Jesus said, you never have done the will of my Father in heaven. You have never produced a crop of righteousness. you have been unrighteous. Can a believer have a crowded heart? Yes. The four soils represent four different ways people respond to God's message. While Jesus was talking about four kinds of heart, each one's readiness to receive the gospel. He said three of them don't receive it. But there are three levels of those that do, 30, 60, and 100 fold. This can apply to us in several ways. It could be there are different times or phases in our lives. When we willingly receive God's message in one area of our life but we resist it in others. How about this? You and I can be open to God about our future but closed about how we spend our money. There's an example of a thorn. It's so easy to be so fearful about the future that we're open to God about our future. We say, yes, Lord, yes, I want to serve you, but let me wait until I earn just enough money so I can be comfortable and secure. Now that's a thorn, and that's a very common one. I mean, if all of us could really trust that God would take care of us, we would spend less of our time all preoccupied in the cares of this world and making sure we're secure enough to pay our medical bills until we go to heaven, and we would trust that God will take care of us if we do what we're supposed to do, and we would serve Him more fully. Here's another one. You may respond like good soil to God's demand for worship, but you might be rocky or thorny in regard to helping people in need. There's a real dichotomy in our sector of evangelicalism. We're great on the doctrine and worship, and we're really poor on the social compassion for the down-and-out and the needy. It's amazing that most of the liberal churches have all of the ministries to the needy people, but they just never give them the gospel. And we have the gospel and the doctrine, but we don't have any of the ministries to the needy people, hardly. I'm just generalizing. And that's something that we need to strive to be like the good soil in every area of our life. Real quickly, let me go through these three in verse 19. So you should be in Mark chapter 4, and I'm going to conclude here in a few moments. I want to apply this and give you some verses to think about, and then we'll respond to it. Jesus says this, beware of three things in verse 19. He says, beware, first of all, of distractions, the cares of this life, the worries of this life. What is the thorn there? The thorn is this. The world around us says this. It says, take care of yourself, no one else will. Now that's a thorn. You and I are concerned as believers that the world around us is saying, you've got to take care of yourself, you've got to think about yourself, you've got to grasp the moment, you've got to get all you can get. And Jesus says, that is deadly to your life, believer. That's deadly. Now, in a lost person's life, this shows up in many ways. It shows up with someone being consumed and preoccupied with money. But what does it do in a believer's life? It makes us be We say, Lord, I know that you want my attention, but, but boy, if I don't, you know, build up and all of us have a different level, I mean, you know, if you're poor, you think if you just have $10,000, and if you have 10, you think you need 50,000. If you have 50, you think you need 100. If you have 100, you think you need a million. If you have a million, you think you need 10. Right? That's just how it is. You always need just a little more to feel secure. And he says, don't listen to the lie of the worries of this life. Society says, you need to take care of yourself. Nobody else will. And what does God say? He says, don't let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. I have a place prepared for you. You don't need to have your dream house here on earth. Now that's one of my pet peeves. I've never had a dream house. I meet people all the time, they're telling me they can't wait for their dream house, and I'm expecting to have a conversation about John 14 with them. And it's not, it's about better homes and gardens, or house beautiful, or Home Depot. Did you know your dream house is not of this world? And it's a thorn to set your hopes that you're ever going to have a house in this world that's perfect. And what he says is, don't live for the temporary. Also, another thing that is a distraction is a fear of persecution. We want to identify with Christ, but the world is so against it, we don't want to have the world against us, and it's a distraction to us. How many times have you pulled out your track that you should carry around? And I always have my wallet loaded with my track, and there's my current track that I'm praying over. And you get that all out, and you're ready to share it with someone, and then you think, You know, what if they make fun of me? Or what if they do worse than that? What if they run after you and try and hit you like they did the Apostle Paul? Or what if they threaten you? Or what if they fire you? You know what I mean? And we get the cares of this world, their response to the gospel. I'll tell you already how the world's going to respond to the gospel. They hated Jesus Christ, and as soon as they know you're like Him, they'll hate you too. Did you know that? The more you look like Christ, the more they hate you. So we have to be careful. Here's the second one. Look at the deceitfulness of riches. The deception. What Jesus said, he said, watch out because in verse 19 it says, the deceitfulness of riches. Deceitfulness means the false promises or the lies of riches. What riches tell us is that wealth can take God's place in our lives. It can become an idol. It can become the focus of our activities and of our devotion. It can tempt us to deny our dependence on God. That's what wealth does. Wealth becomes what we live for, what we protect, what we talk about, what we love. And then it's an idol. I've told you this many times. One of my dearest friends taught me a lesson I've never been able to forget. Dear friend, beloved friend, we were sitting having dinner together. I work for this man, he paid my way through seminary. We were sitting having dinner together and we had just cut in, and he was very wealthy, wonderful friend, paid my way through seminary, wonderful friend, and we're cutting our steaks, which I couldn't have afforded, you know, I was sitting there cutting mine, you know, and I was just ready to take a bite when he looked up and he said to his wife, did you set the alarm? She said, I thought you set the alarm. I'll never forget this. They both dropped their forks, like that, and they were gone, and their twin Mercedes, out of that place. They both raced home to set the alarms. Now let me ask you, we should protect our stuff, I'm not saying that. When you have so much stuff, that you're worried about it. Someone's going to get it. Someone's going to break in. Someone's going to steal it. Someone's going to ruin it. Someone's going to get it. Watch out because the deceitfulness of riches has become an idol in your life. Jesus said watch out for the care of riches. In fact, Paul said that in 1 Timothy chapter 6. He says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. Verse 10, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. What's the evil it is? It's the care of it. It's the worrying about it. It's the collecting it and amassing it and then storing it and then guarding it and then worrying about who's going to get it and then trying to give it all away before you're gone. It's just a lifetime work. And he says, watch out. Riches is a perfect description of a worldly person, this deceitfulness of riches. They live for the things of the world. Not only can money buy material possessions, but money will never satisfy the desires of the heart. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6 that it blinds those who pursue them. Jesus says watch out for deception. Society says wealth brings security, power, and happiness, and Jesus says no it doesn't. He says only I can give you that. Are you going to look for security power and satisfaction from your wealth and bow there? Or are you going to bow to me? is what he says. Last one, Jesus says watch out for, in verse 19, look back down there, watch out for the desire for other things. You say, wait a minute, I thought you already covered that. Well, mammon is what we're talking about, and it's described by Jesus in three ways, so I'm going to talk about it three times. He says, the cares of this world, at the beginning of verse 19. Then he talks about the deceitfulness of riches. Then he talks about the desire for other things. What's that? Desire for other things is the longing for other things. It's the society that tells us that you need to enjoy life. Indulge yourself. I mean, isn't that the current thing? Be indulgent. Try it all. Get all you can. Indulging our desires leads to all kinds of problems. It weakens our willpower. You know, we're supposed to be denying ourselves, and yet the world says, indulge yourself. Do you see a paradox there? God says, when you come after me, you're to deny yourself, you're to take up your cross, you're to die daily, you're to no longer live for yourself, but live unto me. And the world says, no, don't listen to that, come on, indulge yourself, pamper yourself. Now I'm not talking about resting, I'm not talking about everyday normal, I mean, it's okay, you don't have to sleep on sackcloth and a nail bed, okay? We're not going back to Hinduism or the monastic times. But you know what I mean. It's all around us, and it's squeezing us, and it's saying, indulge yourself. It weakens our willpower, it stifles us from growing spiritually, because we hear two separate messages. Because indulgence breeds more indulgence. And self-denial breeds more self-denial. And more Christ-likeness. Desire for things includes anything that serves to distract us. These first century disciples had the same problems we do. Materialism distracted them from being fruitful for the Lord. And that's an application for our lives. Are you fruitful for God? But think about it. Do you drop your fork every time you realize that you didn't set the alarm? then maybe you should invest the stuff the alarm's protecting in heaven and no one can get it. And it will be there forever. That's one of the joys. I had a dear friend in the ministry, Darrell Dell, who's a very successful pastor. He was the first pastor sent out from where I was, Grace Community Church. And he went to a church of 250, and now it runs over 5,000. So in human terms, he's very successful. And the church honored him, and a contractor built him a home that was several hundred thousand dollars, way up the hill. where he lives in Scottsdale. And he was preaching through this, and you know what? He was living in that home with his two sons, and they went off to college, so he was living in that home with just he and his wife. And he said, as he told me this, as I was preaching through that, he says, I got so convicted, he says, I sold my house, had enough equity to live free and clear in my house, and he said, I used the extra $2,000 a month I was paying in mortgage payments to support a missionary entirely myself. And do you know what happened in his church? Everyone started thinking, is it the goal of our lives to live further up the hill? That's how they measure wealth in Scottsdale, your view. Or is the goal in my life to see how much I can live on in the way God wants me to live and the rest to use for his kingdom? That's what Jesus is warning us about. Jesus started this sermon, look back at verse 9, and I'm going to end there. He says, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Hear what? Watch out for longing for more stuff, and indulging. Watch out for the deceitfulness of wealth, that you can get security, power, and happiness. Watch out for the distractions of this life, saying, take care of yourself, and let God take care of you instead. Now, join me in considering what Colonel Daniel Webster Whittle said, he's a man I told you about a while back. I'm starting to enjoy him so much. I'm reading all of his hymns. He was the guy I told you about that got his leg blown off in the Civil War and was laying there in the hospital unsaved And someone gave him a Bible, and he was reading it, trying to find the truth, and the guy next to him had gangrene and he was dying, and the nurse said, you're a Christian, why don't you tell him about Christ? He said, I'm not a Christian. He said, someone just gave me a Bible. She says, don't give me that, you're a Christian, you're reading the Bible, tell him about Christ. And so he took the Bible and started reading to him from John chapter 3, and this man dying in a fever of gangrenous wounds, simply cried out in faith to Jesus Christ, and just before he died, he was saved on the cot. Well, Daniel Webster Whittle, the one that wrote 328, all of a sudden went, that's what I need. So he led himself to the Lord, after he led the dying guy to the Lord. And this is his testimony, right here, one of them. He wrote ten hymns. We're going to read this, okay? It's a question. And we should answer it this morning before we go. In unison, read with me. Have you any room for Jesus, He who bore your load of sin? As He knocks and asks admission, sinner, will you let Him in? Now the first stanza is to lost people. That's a great question this morning. If you've been peddling on your bike as hard as you can, trying to get to heaven, you're not going to make it. You can't be good enough. None of us can. We're all too bad to go to heaven. So you've got to get that new heart. So sinner, will you let him in? Read the refrain. Room for Jesus, King of glory. Hasten now his word, obey. Swing the heart's door widely open. bid him enter while you may." Now he starts talking about believers. Stanza two, together. Room for pleasure, room for business, but for Christ the crucified, not a place that he can enter in the heart for which he died. I mean, how many times do we not have any room? How many people say, in such a busy week, just haven't any time for prayer or time in the Word? You don't have room in your life in the heart for which he died? See, the crowded heart gets to believers too. And that's why we should say the refrain as believers and make some choices. I'm going to make room for the Lord in my life, in my schedule, in my plans, in my goals, in my family. Let's say the refrain, room for Jesus, King of glory. Hasten now His word, obey. Swing the heart's door widely open. Bid Him enter while you may. Last stanza. Room and time now give to Jesus. Soon will pass God's day of grace. Soon your heart left cold and silent. and your Savior's pleading cease. Now that's the thorny, that's the rocky, and that's the wayside heart that doesn't respond. Because you know, the Lord stops knocking. This is from Hebrews. While you hear His voice, don't harden your heart. That's the cry of the love of the God who offers salvation. But the confession of us who know Him, and we'll say it one last time as a refrain, and we'll close with this, together with me. Room for Jesus, King of glory, hasten now His word obey, swing the heart's door widely open, bid Him enter while you may. Bow with me. Father in heaven, I pray, that any here who have never swung their heart store widely open would reach out to you in faith, O Christ, and say, I want you. I want that new heart. I know that I need that. You have convicted me. You have lovingly, patiently waited for me, O Lamb of God. I seek you. For us who know you, may we make room for you, King of Glory, and not let our hearts get crowded, and not let our hearts get shallow, and not let the traffic of a busy life beat down the fruitful soil of our hearts. Oh Lord, work in those who know you not and bring them to faith. Oh Lord, work in us who know you and bring us to ever deeper levels of consecration. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask it and all God's saints said, Amen.