In his sermon titled 'All That Glitters Is Not Gold,' Jason Dohm explores the parable of the sower from Luke 8:4-15, emphasizing that appearances can be deceptive, and not all who hear the Word of God will be fruitful. The sermon outlines the four types of soil described by Jesus: the wayside, rocky ground, thorny soil, and good soil, each representing different human responses to the Gospel. Dohm explains how the devil actively works to prevent the Word from taking root, particularly in the wayside soil, leading to disbelief. The rocky soil represents those who initially receive the Word with joy but fall away when faced with trials, while the thorny soil depicts those distracted by life's cares and riches. The good soil, however, signifies those with a noble and good heart who keep the Word and bear fruit. The sermon warns about the dangers of selective listening and the importance of understanding true faith, which is resilient in the face of temptation and tribulation. Dohm also discusses the concept of 'judicial hardening,' where persistent rejection of God's truth leads to a hardened heart. He encourages listeners to examine themselves, understand their role in spreading the Word, and maintain hope despite recognizing the prevalence of false Christianity.

This sermon is entitled, All That Glitters is Not Gold. And it comes from, it's a common expression, simply meaning that not everything is what it appears to be on the surface. So many things appear to be one thing on the surface, but then when time and circumstances take their course, they're revealed to be something other than what you thought they were, what they appeared to be. Jesus said, actually teaching us this in a parable, all the glitters is not gold, things aren't always what they appear to be on the surface. We're now in chapter 8.

This is how chapter 8 started. I'm reading chapter 8 verse 1. Now it came to pass afterward that He went through every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. Now Luke actually takes us to one of these sermons and gives us some of this preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. This preaching takes the form of a parable.

What is a parable? A parable is a word picture. It's describing something that causes your mind to picture what's being described. It's a word picture from everyday life, something that you already know something about, and it's used in order to teach a major principle. So here we have a farming parable.

It teaches you things that you, even we, we're not farmers, but we know some things about farmers that this word picture will draw on to teach us things that have nothing to do with growing actual crops. But because we know these things about farming, Jesus is drawing on what we know to teach us about other things. So without further ado, let's ask God to help us and dive into the parable. God, I thank you for your wisdom. Thank you that the Gospel accounts give not just the parable but an explanation of the parable so we're not left wondering.

Thank you for sending your spirit to give us depth of understanding to these things. Many of us have spiritual life so we do have eyes to see and ears to hear and we have a tutor that comes alongside and teaches us these things. So I pray that this would be happening in our midst today. I pray in Jesus name, Amen. So to begin with, I'd like to read the parable.

I know it was just read and then I'm going to skip these middle two verses, 9 and 10, and go right into 11 through the end. So I'm going to read the parable and read the explanation of the parable. I know that you were just read but I hope this is helpful repetition. There's repetition and then there's helpful repetition. I hope that this will be helpful repetition.

Hopefully your Bibles are still open. Follow along as I read four through eight. Then I'm going to skip nine and ten and continue reading there. So that's what I'm doing. And when a great multitude had gathered and they had come to him from every city he spoke by a parable.

A sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed some fell by the wayside and it was trampled down and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock and as soon as it sprang up it withered away because it lacked moisture. Some fell among the thorns and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it, but others fell on good ground, sprang up and yielded a crop a hundredfold. When he had said these things he cried, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Now the parable is this, the seed is the Word of God.

Those by the wayside are the ones who hear, then the devil comes and takes away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." So here in these verses we have the parable of the soils and its explanation. Sometimes it's called the parable of the sower, sometimes it's called the parable of the soils.

I tend to like parable of the soils, but it doesn't matter much. So great multitude has gathered in other places in the Gospels where you have a great multitude. Sometimes they're actually counted, four thousand, five thousand. So I'm guessing we have a multitude of people in the thousands, and there are people from all over. This is not people from one location, but they've come from all over to hear Jesus.

They've come from every city is what our text says. There are really good parallel texts in Matthew 13 and in Mark 4. A parallel text is a text of the same events but in another gospel, and in these there's so much overlap. They're very, very, very similar, but you do get some nuances from the other accounts that you don't get in Luke, and I'll be drawing those in from time to time during the sermon. Mark, excuse me, Matthew 13 and Mark 4 both say that this happened by the sea, and this is one of those times where the crowd is such that Jesus gets into a boat and he's sitting in the boat and teaching the people who are in a multitude on the shore.

So this is one of those events. Jesus is teaching sitting in a boat when he teaches this parable. This is the word picture from everyday life that teaches a major principle. Here it is. Someone who sows seeds, someone who is spreading seeds so that there will be a harvest, a sower goes out and spreads seeds.

In Jesus's explanation, he tells us exactly what the seed is. The seed is the Word of God. So this is a person who is going out and spreading the Word of God. This can be anyone who is dispersing the Word of God. So here Jesus is in an actual event and Jesus is teaching the Word of God.

So here Jesus is the sower, but he doesn't limit it to himself. Anytime You speak to someone about the Word of God. You are the sower from this parable. This can be anyone who is dispersing the Word of God. And these seeds, the Word of God, find their way onto four different kinds of soils.

And These are four different kinds of people who hear the Word of God. So as students of the parable, here we are, we're studying the parable, as students of the parable, we should say, I'm here somewhere. As a hero of the Word of God, I am one of these soils. And also, This describes all of the other people who hear the word of God too. So you're here, you're hearing the word of God, you're one of these soils, but the same is true of the other people who are here, the other people who are hearing the word of God all over the earth today and every day.

So we're being given something that challenges us to think about ourselves. You should read this parable not as an intellectual exercise, but accept the challenge of the parable to consider yourself and to understand what we see in others. So this helps you understand you and it helps you understand all sorts of things that you have seen, are seeing, will see across all life. God gives you a long lifetime. You're going to see all of these things over and over again.

Here are the four soils, or here are the four different kinds of people who hear the Word of God. Number one, the wayside. The giver of the Word of God goes out and declares the things that God has said. Some of that falls on the wayside, falls to the side. It's trampled down and birds devour it.

In Jesus' explanation, he says that these people hear, the words hit their eardrums, then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved." So what does the devil know? The devil knows if the word of God takes root in the heart, they'll believe and be saved. So he comes and steals it away. Here's what J.C. Ryle says, The first caution that we learn from the parable of the sower is to beware of the devil when we hear the word.

Nowhere perhaps is the devil so active as in the congregation of gospel hearers. Nowhere does he labor so hard to stop the progress of that which is good and to prevent men and women being saved? Marvel how it is that they find sermons so dull and remember them so badly. They forget the parable of the sower. They forget the devil.

We shall always find Him at church." Is that like a splash of cold water to the face? No, the devil is out there. We encounter him out there. No, no, no. J.C.

Ryle says, you always find Him at church Where the word of God is being declared, to steal it away, lest you believe and be saved. First Peter 5, 8 tells Christians, your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." And so, Peter's counsel to brethren is, be sober, be vigilant. Yes, vigilant. Be sober, be vigilant, because he's on the prowl, wanting to devour. And in this case, of this kind of soil, he is literally devouring.

He is literally protecting the condemnation of unbelief. The condemnation of unbelief. Matthew 13 at this point in the parable says the person doesn't understand it. The words hit the eardrum. They don't really understand it.

It makes sense to the person sitting right next to them, but they can make nothing of it. Why is that? The devil has come and is doing work. The Word of God is a primary tool for plundering the devil's kingdom. The only thing that might compare with it is prayer.

The Word of God and prayer. A primary tool for plundering the devil's kingdom, taking people who are subjects of the devil and transporting them out of this kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God's love. When gospel preaching is understood and believed, it saves. It plunders the devil's kingdom and the devil knows it. So the devil is there when the Word of God is declared.

Friends, is there anyone here who the preaching is bouncing off of. Is there anyone here who the preaching is bouncing off of? The words are hitting the eardrum, but it's like impenetrable. You can't get into the heart. The sermons really aren't understood.

They're never remembered. You should be asking yourself, if this is you, If you feel like sermons bounce off of you, you should be asking yourself, Am I this soil? Is the devil stealing away truth that would save me? And if you say, I think sermons just bounce off of me. Cry out to God.

Say, God, this seems like me. Would you have mercy on me? Would you cause the sermons to Stop bouncing off of me and penetrate my heart so that I could believe and be saved. If God is giving you an impulse to cry out to Him for mercy, that's a really good sign. That's a sign that he is actually at work.

Number two, rock. Sometimes the Word of God, as it's being spread, falls on rock. Matthew 13 calls it stony places. Mark 4 calls it stony ground. These seeds spring up immediately.

Instant growth. All looks very promising, but it very quickly withers away. In Matthew 13 and Mark 4 it says it's scorched. The sun comes up and it's scorched. Here in our text it says it lacks moisture.

So there's growth, but because it's rocky soil, the roots can't go beyond the surface, so when the sun comes up and the surface is dried out, then the plant is dried out and it just withers away. In the explanation, Jesus says, these are the people that hear and receive the Word with joy. Yes! This is what I've been looking for. This is what I've been waiting for.

They received the Word. Yes! I received the preaching. This is what I've been looking for." In the explanation, Jesus continues, and these have no root who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away." Both Matthew 13 and Mark 4 said they had no depth of earth, so the problem is it never gets beyond the surface. A lot of stones, not much earth.

So there was a dramatic response and they received the word with joy, but there was no depth to it and There was no root going deeper than the surface, so it could survive heat and drought. It's not heat proof. It's heat vulnerable. It will wither and die with heat. It's not drought proof.

It's drought vulnerable. It will wither and die because it has no access to water. There might have been tears, there might have been a lot of tears, There might have been tears that the real believer envies. Oh, if I'd only really felt my sin like this person is feeling their sin, I would have cried like they cried. There might have been off-the-charts happiness.

You never seen someone so glad to hear the good news, But it doesn't last. When you saw the tears, you would have sworn that will last forever. When you saw the off-the-charts happiness to hear the good news, you would have sworn this could only last forever, but it doesn't last. Matthew 13 and Mark 4 say, for when tribulation and persecution arise because of the Word. So when you have the Word of God in your life, you are also bringing tribulation into your life.

That's what the Bible teaches, and you're eventually going to bring persecution into your life. When you embrace the Word, you are inviting tribulation and persecution. So, it might not come tomorrow, but it is coming. It might be a week or a month, might even be a year. You might get a one-year honeymoon with your profession of trusting in Jesus and following Jesus, but someday or another tribulation is coming, persecution is coming, temptation is coming, and then is there root?

Is there root? Then that will tell the tale of what's real and what isn't real. Matthew 13 mark 4, for when tribulation and persecution arise because of the Word, immediately he stumbles. Did you know that the Puritans strove to be very careful to appeal to the mind and took care not to appeal too much to emotions for this very reason. We read, sinners in the hands of an angry God, Jonathan Edwards, and think it was preached like that.

The contemporary accounts from the time assure us that it was preached almost monotone. He wasn't always thundering from the pulpit. They're thundering words for sure, But it wasn't always a thundering tone. Often it wasn't a thundering tone at all. Because when you read it, you get logic.

You get the appeal to the mind. It is emotional because heaven and hell are emotional things. But sinners in the hands of an angry God, when you read that sermon, you have an appeal to the mind. The Puritans were careful not to overly appeal to the emotions for fear of this. That if you appeal too much to the emotions, that's all you get is emotions.

And there's no root, And so you have a faith that isn't real saving faith, and it's not heat proof, and it's not drought proof, and tribulation is coming, and persecution is coming, and temptation is coming, and that faith will never survive those things. Things. If people believe that the gospel will solve their problems and make their life great And there is no consideration of the requirements and hardships and costs that inevitably lie ahead for the Christian. When those things do come, these people want out. Now, does the gospel solve your problems?

Your biggest ones it does. Does the gospel make your life great? In a hundred ways it does. In a thousand ways it does. But Jesus and the Apostles were also careful to set alongside that and demand a consideration of the requirements and the hardships and the costs too.

Jesus' preaching was very different from a preaching that just promises that this will solve your problems and give you a great life. It does solve your biggest problems, it does give you a great life, but there's other things to be considered. Think of our recitation text, take up your cross daily. Every day there's going to be a cross for you to carry. That is also part of the gospel message.

When we get to Luke 14, Jesus is going to claim your allegiance and your affection above your father, above your mother, above your spouse. Your allegiance to Jesus must be greater than your allegiance to your spouse. Your love for Jesus must be greater than your love for your spouse, so much so that it makes your allegiance to your spouse and your love for your spouse seem like hatred by comparison. That is Luke 14. In Luke 14, Jesus demands that His listeners count the cost.

Count the cost. Let me also say this. There is selective preaching for sure. We don't like it and we shouldn't like it, this selective preaching that only promises the good without calling for accounting of the cost. That's selective preaching.

But even if you didn't have selective preaching, you'll always have selective listening. You can proclaim it perfectly and demand a counting of the cost, and Some people will only hear the parts that they want to hear, and their reception of the gospel will be a sunny day reception of the gospel. They're in as long as the sun is out and the birds are chirping, but when the thunderclouds form, they want out. Because they want their cake and they want to eat it too. Friends, is there anyone here whose faith cannot survive temptation or tribulation or persecution?

Real believers have roots that go down into rivers of living water. I'll say it again. Real believers, the true ones, the ones who have a new heart given by God, have roots that go down into rivers of living water. Heat proof. Their leaves don't wither.

They keep bearing fruit. Drought proof. We've been in a drought. The trees by the river aren't bothered. The roots go down into the river.

They have what they need. If you find yourself saying, I don't think I have a faith that can survive temptation. I'm proving that over and over again in my life. I don't think I have a faith that can survive tribulation, hardships that God brings into life. Oh, they're coming!

I don't have a faith that I think can survive persecution. I think I'll head for the exit when people start making fun of me for following Jesus. If that's true, if that's true of you, cry out to God. Say, God, I see this is true of me. I can feel it.

People know what I'm saying, but I know I won't last. God, would you have mercy on me? Number three, among the thorns. Some of the seed scattered among the thorns. The Word of God comes among the thorns.

It springs up. The thorns spring up with it and choke it. If you have crabgrass, you know what this means. Crabgrass. Healthy fescue doesn't stand a chance against crabgrass.

That's not in my notes, but I do have a yard. In Jesus' explanation, he says that these thorns that choke are cares. Know anything about cares in life? Riches? Know anything about wanting riches, chasing riches, thinking too much about riches, and pleasures of life?

Know anything about chasing pleasures? These people are given over to these things. These things are undisplaceable in their lives, So no fruit comes to maturity. Cares, riches, pleasures of life are their preoccupations on their minds all the time. They're obsessions.

They can't stop thinking about them and seeking them and chasing them. Matthew 13 and Mark 4 add a little bit of detail. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches. Riches trick you into misvaluing things like material value is the only value. Material value isn't even the most value.

You've been tricked if you can't stop thinking about riches. Desires for other things instead of the pleasures of life. The last soil was about hardships. Hardships come and stump the growth and make the plant wither. This soil is about love of the world and the things of the world.

This person, no matter what they say, would rather be a citizen of earth. The real Christian is seeking another city. He is a citizen of another kingdom. He even thinks of themselves as just one who's passing through a pilgrim and a sojourner. God gives us a new heart that has this disposition towards our life, the world that we live in.

Yes, we're part of it. Yes, we're engaged in it. But I'm really just passing through. I'm just a pilgrim. I'm a sojourner.

And the best things are ahead. So we might enjoy things here, but we're not obsessed with things here, preoccupied with things here. So with these people there is a profession of faith in Jesus, but when push comes to shove, they cannot bear not to cherish blank. You fill in the blank. I can't bear not to cherish big houses, Not to cherish relationships more than anything else.

And because of that, in the end, it all comes to nothing. There is a profession. There is an appearance. It's glittering, but it's not gold. It looks like life, but it's not life.

There's no real fruit. Will they be preoccupied with the things to be cared for in this life? There's so many cares in this life. Yes, they'll be preoccupied all day. Will they be preoccupied with the abundance of things, always chasing more things to be sure?

Will they endlessly pursue the next worldly pleasure? They get to it, they find that it doesn't satisfy, so it's just on to the next one to chase, by the way. There's no end to that. You get there, you find out, it's not what I was hoping for, but that. And then you get there and you find out that's not what you're hoping for.

Oh, but that! And there's no end to the line. It should be said that some of these things can be lawful in and of themselves. In other words, you can look from Genesis to Revelation, you'll never see God saying, don't do that, don't engage with that. So it's lawful, but it's not lawful for it to have the place of supreme affection.

Nothing is lawful to have the place of supreme affection, except for God. This is about the place of ultimate affection. This is about what is loved most. Here's what J.C. Ryle says, They allow the things of earth to get such hold upon their minds that they leave no room for the Word of God to do its work.

The Word of God can't get in there because it has such a grip on their minds. Thousands of things which in themselves are innocent become when followed to excess little better than soul poisons." Let me read that again. Thousands of things which in themselves are innocent become when followed to excess little better than soul poisons and helps to hell. These temporal things may rob us of heaven and smother every sermon we hear." It's possible that you have something in your life that's smothering every sermon you hear. Poor me!

I don't stand a chance because you have something that you love so much and you can't bear not to cherish it so all the sermons get smothered. Friends, is there anyone here whose idol is dragging you to hell? When Jesus is here and offered to you and a willing Savior, but you can't bear not to cherish, fill in the blank. If in your heart of hearts you know that's you, cry out to God that He would have mercy on you. This much we know, God is merciful.

This much we know. The Bible teaches anything at all that teaches that God is merciful and he wants people to come to him and plead with him to be merciful. He doesn't turn away people like that. Number four, good ground. We're finally here.

Good ground. There's seed that is spread on the good ground and it springs up and it yields a crop. And what a crop. A hundred fold. One kernel to a hundred kernels.

Ten kernels to a thousand kernels. A thousand kernels to a hundred thousand kernels and on and on. Jesus' explanation, He says that these people heard the Word of God with a good and noble heart. Keep it, keep the word, and bear fruit with patience." So these other soils, they encounter things that cause them to shrivel up, but here this person keeps the word with patience. They're in it for the long haul.

They bear fruit. They heard the word with a noble and good heart. Of course, that is easily misunderstood. How so? What does the Bible say about the natural condition of the human heart?

In other words, you came into this world with a heart. It wasn't a blank slate. It wasn't a tabula rasa, meaning a blank slate. It actually is strongly inclined towards certain things and strongly inclined away from other things. The bad news is it's strongly inclined towards things that dishonor God.

It's very backwards and inclined away from things that honor God. That's how you came into this world. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that the heart, The natural condition of the human heart is that it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jeremiah 17, 9.

That's what the Bible says about the human heart. Then how does Someone who is accurately described like that, they have a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, how does a person who can be described that way get a noble and good heart? How do you get from here to there? The answer is totally outside of this text. This text doesn't even touch on it.

It doesn't ask the question, doesn't answer the question. But the answer in Scripture is that a noble in good heart is totally unearned, totally undeserved, certainly totally unnatural, meaning nobody has a good and noble heart coming out of their nature that they were born with, not a single person is born. A noble and good heart is something that is totally unearned, totally undeserved, and an act of God's kindness. It's a gift. It's a gift.

Matthew 13 says that this person hears the Word and understands it. Mark 4 says this person hears the word, accepts it, and bears fruit. Paul says, The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Paul calls the person in their natural state dead.

You're spiritually dead. You have no way to embrace spiritual things because there's no spiritual life with which to embrace them. They are foolishness to you. So the Word of God comes to you in your natural state and you say, that's foolishness. But this person, this good soil, has a different kind of heart, a good and noble kind of heart.

They are spiritually alive and so the Word of God can take root there. So the parable is simply teaching us how to recognize the presence of a new heart. This isn't an admonition, Now you go and have a good and noble heart now. Good luck with that. The parable is not exhorting us to try harder to have a good and noble heart.

It's teaching us how to recognize the presence of a new heart. Here's what it looks like when a person has a new heart. The Word of God takes effect and there's a bumper crop. There's an abundant crop. There's a hundredfold.

There's fruit. What kind of fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Probably missed one. Galatians 5, the fruits of the Spirit, is a good place to start.

It's probably not a comprehensive list. I'm confident that it's not, but it's a great place to start. Before we move on, let me make some concluding remarks. I want to make four concluding remarks about this parable and the explanation. Number one, Jesus wants his listeners to understand this multitude of at least curious, mostly appreciative listeners and their place in it.

Let me say it again. That sentence didn't seem as complex when I wrote it as it did when I read it. Jesus wants His listeners, and I'm meaning at least initially this multitude that's gathered at the shoreline to listen to him teach from the boat. He wants these people who are listening to him to understand this multitude, to understand themselves. They're at least curious and they're mostly appreciative listeners.

He wants them to understand their place in it. He wants them to understand that just because you're there on the shoreline doesn't mean anything by itself, that the Word of God will have to take root and bear fruit for it actually to be meaningful and that there are different kinds of people who are listening to him in that moment and different kinds of people who are listening every time the Word of God is spread. It wants people to consider their place in this multitude. Gold is good, but all that glitters is not gold. The seed of the Word of God is good, but just because you received the seed of the Word of God doesn't mean that you'll be a healthy fruit-bearing plant.

It does not mean that. Often it doesn't, it means it does not mean that. It does not result in that. Two, what should a sower expect? Mixed results.

A sower should expect mixed results. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 5 through 7, Paul says, one plants, one waters, God gives the increase. You can plant perfectly. You can water perfectly. God has to give the increase so there won't be increase.

And He does so at different times, two different degrees according to His good pleasure. Sowers have to make peace with that. Noah was a preacher of righteousness in his generation and eight people believed. The rest were swept away in their wickedness. The day of Pentecost, 3, 000 souls were swept in with one sermon.

God is Lord of both of those things. Just be faithful. So, so, so, so. Scatter the word. God teaches you what He says, tell other people what He taught you.

Three. What should I do when I see someone abandon the faith? Several years ago, I heard of a fellow pastor who I had worked with extensively who walked away from his family and walked away from the faith. We preached together side by side. I had some email exchanges with him afterwards just trying to exhort him to encourage him.

They were the saddest things I've ever participated in in my whole life. What do we do when that happens? Here's what we should do. We should say, Jesus told me this would happen. So you can be disillusioned and have your world turned upside down, but It doesn't have to happen because Jesus told you this would happen.

If you live long enough in the faith, you will see that. Someone that you said, oh there were so many tears, there was so much joy, it has to last forever. No it doesn't, not if it's not real, and you can't see a no. Jesus told us it would happen. Don't go into crisis and think, now I have to rethink everything because someone has quote unquote deconstructed.

When someone deconstructs they were never in the faith and now they stopped pretending. That's all that's happened. They stopped faking it. Number four. Always be hopeful.

You know, you could come away from this parable and it can make you the worst kind of skeptic where you're just afraid that no one's really saved. Three out of four seeds they're not really saved. That doesn't have to be true. That doesn't need to be true. That isn't true.

A lot of the people who you think are saved are saved. You should proceed optimistically and hopefully. You should try to help everybody who's making a profession of faith make progress, but understand the power and prevalence of fake Christianity. So remain optimistic and hopeful, and don't let this turn you into a skeptical Debbie Downer always wondering will they last. That is a terrible way to go through life.

Jesus is not trying to get us to that space by teaching this parable. So always be hopeful, but understand the power and prevalence of fake Christianity. Verses 9 and 10. I'll go fast. I'm going to reread it because it's been a long time now since we've been there.

Luke 8 verses 9 and 10. This is between the parable and his explanation of the parable. Then his disciples asked him, saying, What does this parable mean? And he said, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to the rest it is given in parables that quote, seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.

Here in these two verses Jesus explains his use of parables. He doesn't have to use parables. There are a bunch of different ways you can teach things. He's choosing to use parables. Why?

He explains that here. First thing I should say is this. Parables are great if you have an instructor who will tell you what they mean. They're super great. They're some of the most memorable things that you know you've known through this teaching device.

Once you grab onto a truth through a parable, you'll never forget it. It's such a powerful way to teach. So parables are great if you have an instructor who can help you understand, who You can go to and say, what does this mean? I'm not sure I understand what your parable means. What does it mean?

The disciples had that and Jesus told them exactly what it means and it got written down and now we don't have to wonder. Jesus tells his disciples, this gift has been given to you. What gift? The gift to understand the mysteries. It has been given to you.

It has not been given to some others at the pleasure of the gift giver. They got a gift to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Some others did not get that gift. It's even okay to say it was withheld from them and it was at the pleasure of the gift-giver. So be careful when you start to make demands on gift-givers.

If it's really a gift, they don't have to give it to you. Verse 8, Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The implication of that is some of you don't have ears to hear, and you won't hear. Verse 10, Jesus quotes Isaiah 6 verse 9. This is a really important verse because it is quoted six times in the New Testament.

Three times, Matthew, Mark, here Luke, with this parable, but three other times by other people at other times to explain this. So it's important. Isaiah 6 verse 9, giving the reasons the mysteries of the kingdom, the reason the mysteries of the kingdom had been withheld from others. Why in the world would God withhold the mysteries of the kingdom, meaning the revelation of truth from heaven? Why in the world would God withhold revelation of truth from heaven from some people?

Here's the from some people. Here's the answer. Because He has already spoken to them, and spoken to them, and spoken to them, and spoken to them, and they refuse to listen over and over and over again. Think about the Pharisees and the scribes in the New Testament. Who knew the revelation of God from heaven more than them?

Who was more opposed to the Messiah than them? They despised God's instruction. So God hardens them in their rejection. You want to reject, reject, reject, reject. I'll just cement that.

I'll just lock that in. Theologians call it judicial hardening, Meaning the hardening is a judgment for the persistent rejection. Reject, reject, reject, fine. You are cemented into your rejection. Isn't that a terrifying thought?

When people close their eyes to the truth over and over and over, truth can't see it, don't want to see it, God is just to make them blind. Let me say it again. When people close their eyes to the truth, they don't want to see the truth so they close their eyes to it again and again and again and again. God is just to actually make them blind. Go read Romans 1, the darkening of the heart, corrupted understanding, judicial hardening.

When people stick their fingers in their ears over and over again, you ever had a kid do that? I can't hear you, I can't hear you, because I don't want to hear you. God is just to make them deaf. Listen to Proverbs 1 20 through 33. Proverbs 1 just gives this to us on a silver platter.

Proverbs 1 20-33. Wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. Everybody can hear her. She cries out in the chief concourses at the openings of the gates in the city.

She speaks her words, How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke. Surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you.

Because I have called and you refused. I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded. Because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes. When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies." Those are the most terrifying words, to be given over to the fruit.

Just get what you deserve and be turned over to be filled with your own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them and the complacency of fools will destroy them, but whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure and without fear of evil." Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 11 verses 25 and 26. This is Jesus, Matthew chapter 11 verses 25 and 26. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight." They are the worldly wise. They are the prudent.

They know the most, just ask them. God has hidden these things from them and revealed it to the most unlikely because it seemed good to him. The hard question isn't why God withholds understanding from people who have already despised his instruction over and over again. Is that hard for you to understand? Is it hard for you to understand why God would withhold understanding from people who already rejected his counsels a thousand times?

That's not hard for me to understand. The hard question is why God in mercy overcomes that in some. And the answer is simply His good pleasure. You're not going to find another answer from that in scripture. Ah, They were nicer than the others.

They were better than the others. They were more polite than the others. They were kinder than the others. That is not the explanation. The explanation is the good pleasure of God in saving some sinners to the glory of His grace.

If your response to that is to insist that God gives an undeserved gift, is to insist that if God gives an undeserved gift to some that he must give it to all. So if that's the response in your heart, God you're giving that undeserved gift to some so I insist that you give it to everyone. Then you actually want to strip the Godhood of God from him and give it to yourself. Just understand that's what you're doing. We all have that impulse, so I'm trying to say it hard, to come hard against that impulse.

We all have that impulse. God, why would you give it to me and not give it to them? You didn't deserve it. He didn't have to give it to you and He doesn't have to give it to them. It can be according to His own good pleasure and that's fine because He's God and He will not let you strip His Godhood from Himself and reallocate it to yourself as if you know better.

He's not going to do that. Thank God He's not going to do that. He actually knows what to do with that kind of power. Now, maybe you've despised God's instruction. You've heard a thousand sermons.

And you've said, no, no, can't hear that, can't hear that, can't see that, can't see that. Maybe very secretly, Maybe none of us even have a suspicion. But today you can see that about yourself. Cry out to God for mercy. Beg God to have mercy on you.

Tell him you're so sorry for doing so little with the truth that he has given you and beg him not to make you blind as a punishment for it and not to make you deaf as a punishment for refusing to hear and not make you blind for punishment for refusing to see. Applications, I'll give you three. One, examine yourself. Which soil am I? By the wayside, where the devil just plucks it away, Sermons bounce off of me.

Rocky soil. It's been a dramatic response, but I know the roots don't go down into rivers of living water. I know how susceptible I am to heat and drought. Soil where the thorns grow up right alongside you. It's just a matter of time until it chokes out any until it chokes out any appearance or good soil.

Two, know your part and God's part. Your part is to go indiscriminately spreading seed. Don't try to predict who will and who won't, who can and who can't. That's not our part. That's God's part.

Our part is just to spread seed. God's taught us things, so tell people the things that God taught you. When you know your part and you know God's part, you can work and rest. Plenty of work to do. God's given it to us to do, but you can rest knowing that it's not our job to produce the harvest.

That's God's job. Number three, see the world through these lenses. So much that doesn't make sense will suddenly make sense when you put on these glasses. I don't understand what's happening around me. Start seeing through these glasses and you'll understand a whole lot more when you see that all that glitters is not gold.

Let's pray. God thank you for your word. It does make the simple wise. Pray that it would take root, that the roots would go down deep into rivers of living water. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.