Well, good morning. It's really good to see everyone and I'm excited to be here today. As most of you know, I have been going through a teaching series on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the gospels. So today, I'm just fresh back from Israel.
And what I really wanted to do was share with you all about my trip to Israel. I wanted to show you a ton of pictures. I wanted to tell you stories. I was really excited about that, but as I started to prepare for this message, I heard a still small voice inside that said, no, John, not right now.
There's a different time and a different place for that. And so I think that that was the Holy Spirit. And I hope it was the Holy Spirit because my thoughts have been redirected to continue on my series on the teaching of Jesus Christ. There will come a time when I would absolutely love to show you my pictures, tell you about my trip, tell you about all the people that I met and all the stories and maybe we'll do that at a different time and place in someone's house or our house or something.
I would love to do that. But as I thought about preparing for today, I heard a voice say to me this, John, speak the truth from the scriptures that impacted you the most. And so that's what I want to do. A couple weeks ago, I went to Israel, went to Egypt, I climbed mountains, I walked through the land, I read my Bible, I had 17 days of uninterrupted time with God.
I didn't bring my work phone, I had no emails, I had no texts, I had no distractions, just me and God in the land of Israel with my Bible for 17 days. And so today I want to share with you the message that God impacted my heart with. And hopefully it will be a blessing to you. I did a lot of thinking and some of my thoughts were like this.
What are you pursuing in life? John, what really will matter when you stand before God? And in the end, our possessions will not matter. Our status, the status that we have in life will not matter.
Our earthly accomplishments will really not matter. And so I think a lot of us, myself included, spent so much of our lives chasing things that really in the end won't matter. So what will matter? What's going to matter in eternity?
When this life is over, what is going to matter? And as I walked through the land of Israel from Dan, right down to a lot, the golden heights, I went to the border of Syria, the border of Lebanon, right to Haifa and Caesarea and Jerusalem and all through the desert, the wilderness into Mount Sinai, I thought a lot about Abraham and I thought about Moses and I thought about David and I thought about Solomon and what he built. And I thought about Herod the Great and what he built and about his life that was so empty without God. I thought about Daniel and I thought about what these men have left and what legacy that they have left behind because they are now in eternity.
And I asked myself some really deep searching questions. What's going to matter in eternity? And here's what I think is going to matter. Have I exercised faith like Abraham did?
Have I demonstrated love? Have I lived Christ like the Apostle Paul said in Philippians, for me to live is Christ. What treasures have I laid up in heaven? Have I been faithful to the truth that God has revealed to me in his word?
Because here's what's going to matter. On the day that you and I stand before God and this whole life that we know of today is history. Here's what's going to matter. Did we believe what God said in his word?
Did we believe it? Did we love God? Did we serve God? Were we faithful?
And here's what impacted me the most. Do I have an honest heart? And so I want to ask us all today. Do you have an honest heart?
There's a verse that's very dear to the people of Israel. It's Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. And it should be dear to all of us as Christians because this is the heart of God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.
Today, I want to talk to you about your heart, about our hearts. So how do we implement these things in our lives that are incredibly valuable? If we want to pursue God, if we want to live for eternity, how do we implement these spiritual values in our lives? And I believe it's a matter of the heart.
You see, God wants our hearts. That's what He wants. He wants our hearts. Why the heart?
Does that ever like, you know, we use this term the heart. What do we mean by that? Why the heart? Check this out.
I was amazed to find out that the word heart God focuses on in the Bible. Do you know how many times the word heart is in the Bible? Just shy of a thousand times. Over 900 times, God makes reference to the heart.
Why the heart? It's the seat of the affection. It's what our desires come from. It's our motives, our intentions.
It's the innermost part of you. It's the control center of your being. It is what drives your will, the heart. That's what drives you.
What does God say about our hearts? Well, the first thing that stood out in my mind that God says about our hearts is He searches them. Yeah, God searches hearts. Jeremiah 17 and 10 says, He tries the reins.
He tests all of us. And then it says, our hearts are deceitful. And above all things, desperately wicked. The ESV says incurable.
You know what Jesus said about our hearts? It's kind of scary. You know, we all look good and we got all these nice outward expressions. And you know what?
There's many layers to all of us. And you peel back all the layers and you get real honest and transparent. What is in our hearts? Well, Jesus said in Mark 7 and verse 21 that our hearts defile us.
Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, lust, theft, murder, adultery, greed, deceit, envy and catch this arrogance and foolishness. That is what is in our hearts. And as I walked through the land with God, with all the distractions gone, do you know what I realized? I have a sinful heart.
I'm still distracted. My thoughts are distracted. I still can't get away from who I am. And so when God shines His light right down into my very heart and soul and I before God, I'm fully transparent.
I know what I am and God knows what I am. Here's what's so ironic. In Romans 10 and 10, it says it's with our heart that we believe that if thou shall confess with thy mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, you will be saved because with the heart man believes unto righteousness and is justified. Wow, what's in the heart?
The Lord Jesus Christ was a absolute master of communication and He spoke in parables. A parable is something that has the root word parallel. It is to take an earthly story and lay alongside of that a spiritual meaning. And so the Lord Jesus spoke many profound parables and He gave deep spiritual truth by illustrating spiritual truth from earthly stories.
The Lord Jesus had deep spiritual vision. You know, there's something that's very striking about the Lord Jesus. He spoke with authority and conviction. He saw a lot that we don't see.
You know what Jesus saw that we don't see. He had an eternal dimension. He knows what it's like after this life because He is eternal. And He looks into the eyes and the hearts of people and He longs that they would make right choices.
He desires that their heart would be right and yet He knew what is in the heart of all men. I want to take you to this site. This is what they call today, Sowers Cove. It's right there on the Sea of Galilee.
Some of you have been there. What's amazing about this is this is likely the site that Jesus spoke this parable that we're going to read in Mark chapter 4. It's called Sowers Cove. It actually has a natural amplified acoustics like an amphitheater that when somebody was out on the water and the land kind of gradually moves up and has like a 180 semicircle around it, you can imagine what this would be like with Jesus in a boat just pushed off from the shore and multitudes on the banks.
And Jesus lifted up His voice and He taught them many things in parables right here from this site that's called Sowers Cove. And it's just down from Capernaum and it's in between Capernaum and Tabga where Jesus broke the loaves and the fish and fed 5,000. And the Mount of Beatitudes is just up on the hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. I'm going to talk more about that in future times, but I just wanted you to have this setting.
I'd really like you to read with me Mark chapter 4. So as we look at Mark chapter 4, we're going to look at a parable about our hearts. Mark chapter 4 and verse 1. Now I do have the first nine verses on the screen here.
This is in the ESV. I'm going to be reading out of the King James, but if you have your Bible, you can follow along. Mark chapter 4 and verse 1. And He began to teach by the seaside and there was gathered unto Him a great multitude.
Okay, you got the setting, think of that bank, Sowers Cove. So He entered into a boat and He sat on the sea and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land and He taught them many things by parables and He sat unto them in His teaching. Harken, or listen, behold, there went out a sower to sow. And it came to pass that as He sowed, some fell by the wayside.
This is the hard-packed footpath that's on the side of the fields. And the fowls of the air, the birds of the air, came and devoured it. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth, not much soil. And immediately it sprang up, but it had no depth of earth.
And when the sun was up, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns. And the thorns grew up and choked it.
And it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground. And did healed fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some hundred. And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let Him hear.
Now drop down to verse 15 and you re going to see how Jesus actually interpreted the parable for us. Mark 4 and verse 15. Well, we re read from verse 14, the sower that sows, it is the word. And these are they, by the wayside, where the word is sown.
But when they have heard, Satan, the enemy of souls, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that is sown in their hearts. And these are they in a like manner that are sown on the stony ground, who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, but they have no root in themselves. And so endure for a little time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word sake, immediately they are offended, or some versions say, fall away. And these are they that are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of many things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
And these are they that are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some 30, some 60, and some 100. I'd like to draw some spiritual lessons about the heart from the sowers parable. You know, the first lesson that I learned, this is a very important lesson. Ability to comprehend spiritual truth is a gift from God.
You know that there are many people that will not listen to the word of God, because they have been filled with willful blindness, rebellion of heart, and this will actually prevent them from hearing what God is saying to them. And Jesus spoke particularly about these people. Jesus came unto his own people, and they received him not. He came to the religious Jews, and they totally rejected him.
The Messiah, the sent one from God. Do you know what Jesus said about those people? He said, and I quote literally, this is what he said, these are people who have calloused hearts, calloused hearts. They have closed their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
They are blind. Warren and I run into a lot of people like this on the street when we give out the gospel and want to talk to people about the greatest need of their soul. Many of them are hard. They flatly refuse.
They don't even want to think about this. These people have calloused hearts, and God wants to reach out to the entire world and tell him the truth of God. And yet these people, so many of them, they don't want to listen to God. They have blinded eyes, and they have deaf ears.
And you know what's so sad about that? When I say a person like that, my heart breaks because if they don't change their thinking, they will perish. A person like that that doesn't want to listen to God will perish in hell and the lake of fire forever. That's just the truth of the Bible.
And it's so sad that there's so many people today, and they're not listening to God. The second lesson that I learned from this parable is that the seed is the word of God. Beautiful. The sower is the Lord, and the soil is our hearts.
You see God's word is incorruptible seed. Psalm 126 says it is precious seed. 1 Peter 1 and 23 says it is incorruptible seed that allows a person to be born of God. The word of God is living, it is eternal, and if you let it speak to you, it will change your thinking, it will open your heart, it will touch your conscience.
Hebrew says it divides right down into the very heart of man between the bone and the marrow, and it touches our conscience. This is all in truth, but it's absolutely true. Every time we hear the word of God, we are accountable. We are accountable.
We're accountable to God for what we've heard and what we've done with it. It's a blessed privilege to hear the word of God, but it's a strong responsibility. There is a response. Every time we hear the word of God.
Even if we're not listening to what God is saying, there is a response. And so as I walked through the land of Israel, I wanted to hear God speaking to me. And I said, Lord, touch my heart, peel back all the layers of business and cares and frustration and issues of life, touch my heart. Isn't that what David said in Psalm 139?
Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me. Know what is in the very innermost part of my being, my control center. Touch me.
Speak to me. Feed my soul and guide me in the way of our lasting. Would you be willing to allow God to speak to you in your heart from the Bible today? That's a blessed thing, because he has wonderful truth for your soul.
There are four kinds of hearers with four different hearts. And I'd really like to look at these today. You know, when Jesus is speaking to the multitude, he's looking out into probably hundreds and hundreds of people. He knows every one of them.
He knows their life, their past, their thoughts, where they've been, what they've done, what they're thinking right now. And he's in that little boat, and he's speaking this wonderful parable to all these people. Do you know what's the same today? When you hear the Word of God, you hear the living words of God almighty.
The Word of God is like a mirror. It's like a sword. It shows us what we are and it touches into our very hearts. It convicts us.
It is such a blessed thing to listen to what God is saying. Four kinds of hearts. The first one is a hard heart. Jesus said that as the sower goes out and he soothes the seed of the Word of God, some fell by the wayside.
You know, if you look at the fields in Israel and there's this fertile soil that's all been worked and all the way around the outside of the perimeter is this hard-packed dirt. And as that sower is sowing, some of the seed, it almost looks like concrete. It's so hard. And the seed of the Word of God falls upon it.
When Jesus was speaking this parable, I would venture to say there were people that had probably sown seed that very week. This was their lifestyle. They would have known exactly what he's talking about. And so as they're sowing the seed, yeah, there's some seed that fell on the wayside.
And guess what happens? A little bird comes in, snatches up the seed, it's gone. And that that hard-packed soil won't be penetrated with that seed. And in a split second, it's gone.
That's a picture. It's a spiritual picture of hard hearts that when you tell them the truth of the Word of God, they think about it for a moment and then the playoffs jump into their mind. You know, Boston's going to win. Or the next thing that comes into their mind is what's my priority list for tomorrow?
Or what what do I got? What's that assignment? I got to do. Or what's that next flight that I got to catch?
And you totally miss what God is saying. Could I just encourage you today? Don't be like that. Don't have a calloused heart.
When the Word of God is planted and it comes down from God, just open up your heart and say, God, what are you speaking to me? Let me hear you. You know, those people with hard-packed hearts are people that have already decided, I don't want anything to do with that. You've seen them, Warren, many times.
I know what that's about. Don't even tell me about that. I think David McDonald had an experience like this this past week in Eddie Bauer. He wants to tell the cashier of the gospel and she's like, don't even go there.
You know what that is? That's the wayside that is hard-packed soil. I'm not interested. Don't tell me about this.
Don't even dare go there. I've had lots of experiences with people like that that I've tried to share the gospel with. Hard hearts. You don't make our hearts, our hearts hard, problems in life, the stress, the pressure of life, age, stubbornness, opinionated people that just have their own mindset and they don't want to be open to what God is saying.
You know what that is so sad to see something like that? Because if they don't change their mind, they will perish. God has blessing for them and yet they're like the wayside. But the next heart is a little bit more sobering.
And I'll tell you why. And I thought about this a lot when I walked on the shores of Galilee and thought about the teaching of the Lord Jesus. He spoke to many people in his day that had shallow hearts. You know, you could go in John chapter 6 and he's telling them this profound parable that's hard for them to understand.
And they say, this is a hard saying. This guy's nuts. We're out of here. And they walk away earlier in that chapter, they're called disciples.
And yet at the end of the chapter, they're leaving the Lord. They're walking away. And Jesus turns to his own disciples and he says, will you go away also? And they say, Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. You know that passage that I'm talking about. Here is an example of people with shallow hearts. And in the parable, Jesus says, there's a little bit of soil.
And it's over top of the rock. And underneath is rocky ground. I'm not going to let that penetrate. You know what's so sad about this?
These are people that are surface only. And I believe what Jesus is saying here, and I'm open to discussion, but I believe what Jesus is referring to in the shallow heart is he's talking about many, many people that make a shallow profession to follow Jesus. And I think what he's saying is, there are many people that have said, yeah, I'll follow Jesus. I'm going to decide to do that.
Can I just stop and ask you, how many people do you know in your family, in your friends, in your community? You folk that have been here for many, many, many years longer than I am. How many people do you know that have come in and out of these doors for many, many years and had professed to be Christians and following Jesus? And today they're far away from God.
I believe that in this passage, this is a solemn thought that there are many people that have shallow hearts. And they have said the sinner's prayer or decided to follow Jesus without conviction, without genuine repentance, and they have made a light-hearted profession. And they're not following God. And we say, you know, they lost their faith.
They fell away. I think what Jesus is saying is you listen to what God is saying to you. And you make absolutely sure that you allow the Word of God to go deep, deep down into your heart and take root and build conviction. Because there are many people, Jesus spoke about these people, that in the last day when the door is shut, they begin to knock and they are on the outside of that door and they say, Lord, Lord, open unto us, we have eaten and drunk in your presence.
You've taught in our streets. And what does he say? I never knew you. You know what?
That is so sad. And I don't want to shake anybody up here. But I would like every one of us to search our hearts, children, teenagers, older ones, every one of us, search our hearts. Have we listened to the Word of God?
Are we convicted about this truth? Have we repented of our sin and have we honestly believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior? It is critically important to have an honest heart. I think of the next one, Jesus said that when that seed is sown, there is a type of ground that that seed will fall among thorns.
And what will happen? The seed will go into the soil, but the thorns will grow up and choke the seed so that it bears no fruit. I actually think that in our day and age, 2019, this is a very clear case that happens to a lot of us. We're choked.
You know what it says? Look at the passage. This parable is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I encourage you to study it on your own time and sit down before God and open the Word of God and say, Lord, touch my heart with this.
Let me understand its truth. Because Jesus said this, when the disciples gathered with him in the home and they said, Lord, tell us this prayer, but what does it mean? He began to unfold to them what it means. And here's what he said.
He said, there are people that hear the Word of God and they're distracted. Okay. Are you distracted? Do you know what?
There's so many things in this life that distract us. You know what distracts us the most? I left mine on the seat, the iPhone. You know, there's this little app on the iPhone now that shows you how many hours you look at it.
I hate that. Because when you pull that out of your pocket and it says, four hours and six minutes and you go, what? I spent four hours of my day and six minutes looking at this crazy thing. Do you know what guys?
We are distracted. I'm distracted. I got a million things going on. Do you know what God says?
Clear out the clutter. Put it all away. Sit down with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and let God penetrate my heart. That's what I did for 17 days.
And God spoke to me. And he said, John, focus. There are not many things that are important. And I spend 90% of my time on things that will not matter in eternity.
Let the Word of God dig down deep into your heart. We are distracted. What are we distracted with? The cares of this life.
Some versions say the worries of this life. You know what we worry about? Am I going to have a job next week? Oh my goodness.
Am I going to make that mortgage payment? Oh my goodness. I spent that much on my visa. I'm in debt.
You know what? We are thinking about planning. We are thinking about family. We are thinking about school.
We are thinking about all these things. Our career, our status. We are going to do this. We are going to do that.
God says no. Clear out the clutter. Don't be distracted. The thorns, the cares of this life.
The worries. You know what they do? They distract us. Here is another thing that he said that hit really hard to me.
The cares of this life. Two other things. The deceitfulness of riches. And what else does it say?
The deceitfulness of riches and the lust of many things. Ouch. When you get to the stage in life that I'm at, you are starting to think about retirement. You are starting to think about putting money away.
You are thinking about debt. You are thinking about, and you know what happens? I don't know if you guys have, this sounds like it's a confession period. I don't know.
You know what happens to me? I think that I'm investing in something that's going to give me a good rate of return. And I spend time and energy and money. And sometimes I even borrow money to save money.
And you know what? My rate of return is not what I expected. And you know what it is? It's deceitful.
Because I'm chasing it. I'm chasing it. I'm 50 years old. I've got to be here when I'm 55.
I've got to be here when I'm 60. I've got to do this. I've got to do that. And you know what?
You get there? Not bubble bursts. It's deceitful. Because you have taken so much of your time and energy chasing empty bubbles, building castles in the sand.
And guess what happens? The water comes in and it just wipes it all out. Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where's your treasure?
That's where your heart is. Are you focused on things that are short term? Are you focused on things that are going to be gone on the day that you die? It's empty.
And the thorns grow up and they become distractions. The cares of this life. The deceitfulness of riches and the lust of many things. How many times are we chasing?
Many, many things. Things. I don't know about you. Here we go again.
But I look at my closet and I look at my garage and I think all of this stuff. Why do I have all this stuff? The more you have, the more you got to maintain. The more you got to maintain, the more time it takes.
These people that are rich and have yachts and all these huge retirement homes and all this stuff, they got to send people over there to manage all this stuff. You know what? Jesus said about this, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of many things distract us from the more important things of the eternal word of God. Okay.
I want to speak about the good soil. The good soil is where that seed fell and Jesus said that the good soil is where the seed goes down in. It penetrates. It takes root and it produces fruit.
Okay. So let's search all of our hearts today before God. Just you and God. Am I bearing fruit for God?
What is it in my life that is genuine, honest, bearing fruit for God? It says some 30 fold, some 60 fold and some 100 fold. Because in the last day, when our life is all over and we stand before God and our life is put through a dispenser, we'll call it. The only thing that's going to come out on the other side is the fruit that I have born for God.
And so I began this message by saying this. What's going to matter in the last day? Have I believed what God said? Have I exercised faith?
Have I loved? Have I worshiped God? Have I served God? Am I leaving a legacy of something that is of eternal value for God?
And the Lord Jesus said, everyone needs to take heed or listen to what God says. How he hears is critically important. I want to ask some practical questions about this parable. You answer these before God yourself.
My number one question is this for me. What are the desires of my heart? What are they? What do I really want?
What am I seeking after? Am I shallow in my convictions? Do I have a shallow heart? Am I distracted by the cares of the age, the lust of many things?
Is my hearing dull and my spiritually deaf so that I don't hear what God is saying to me? Or do I have an honest heart? Have I honestly believed in God and in the person of Jesus Christ? Have I turned to God with all my heart?
Have I repented of my sin and have I placed my personal faith in Jesus Christ? God has a message for the entire world and I'm going to tell it to you again today. Here's the message. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
When we were yet without strength at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. The blood of Jesus Christ, God, Son cleanses me from all sin. He that believes on the Son is not condemned. He that believes not is condemned already.
The one who has accepted Jesus as their personal Savior with an honest heart has their sins forgiven. They will not come into condemnation. They are passed from death unto life and they are living their life for God. That is something that is individually between you and God and no one else.
And you need to decide before God if you honestly listen to the Word of God and if you have an honest heart. It's searching but I think it's healthy. It's good for every one of us to say speak Lord, I serve and hearth. Teach me what I need to know from the Word of God.
Give me an honest and an open heart. Deliver me from distractions. I thank God that Jesus Christ came into the world to save me and He died on that cross for my sins. And He made intercession for me.
He bore my sin and He rose from the dead and He offers me forgiveness of sins by simply believing in Him. That's a personal thing and every single one of us need to do it. I'm going to wrap up my message today with a couple of quick thoughts that I had about Solomon. Solomon was an amazing and amazing character.
God spoke to Solomon as a young man. You know what God gave him? Wisdom. Wisdom.
It says that Solomon was likely the wisest man that ever lived. When Solomon was a young man, his heart, we're talking about hearts, his heart was one with God. He loved God. He served God.
He followed God and He accomplished many amazing things in His life. Not the least of which is the temple. Go check it out. It is amazing.
But here's what Solomon, about Solomon, no pun intended, you know what it says in Second Kings? It says that at the end of his life, when Solomon was old, he turned his heart away from following God. He was distracted. Do you know what he was distracted by?
700 wives, 300 concubines. You know what he did? He turned away from God and started worshiping idols. And if you don't believe it, you should read it in Second Kings.
I think it's chapter 7. Look at it. It says that when Solomon was old, his heart turned away from following the Lord and he was not perfect with God as was the heart of David, his father. Okay.
If Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, could make a choice to do that. I send a warning note out to every one of us. To finish well, to stay the course, to follow God with my whole heart. Don't you love Caleb?
He wholly followed the Lord and he died an old man in touch with God. Moses climbed that mountain and God took him and buried him. He finished well with God, his heart. You know, life is a matter of the heart.
Where our hearts are is critical because that is the control center of where our life is going. I love what Solomon wrote. Proverbs 23. You know what he says?
Son, give me your heart. Give me your heart. That's what God wants from every one of us. And I heard that loud and clear as I walk through the land.
Son, give me your heart. I want my heart to be given to God. If you give your heart to God, you'll never regret it. He will fill you with joy, with lasting enjoyment that will take you into eternity and you will never regret it.
But if you allow distractions and sin and things in your life to destroy you, you will regret it for all eternity. I hope that God will search our hearts today as we think about this parable. I really enjoyed the thoughts that I had and I feel like God wanted me to share them today. So I hope that they've been a blessing.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the word of God. We pray that you would search all of our hearts. We pray, Lord, that we would be honest and that we would not be distracted.
That we would not be shallow and God forbid that any of us would be part of heart. But Lord, that we would have ears to hear. And we would follow what God says and that we would apply our hearts unto wisdom so that our days would be able to bring glory and honor to God. And in our last day, we'll be able to say like the Apostle Paul, I fought a good fight.
Finish my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth for me, there's laid up a crown of righteousness. And so Lord, we just pray that you would bless us as we separate and guide us and lead us and be with each one of us as we go our separate ways.
We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.