LISTEN! (part four)

Mark 4: 1 - 9 and 13 - 20 records one of the most familiar parables of Jesus Christ.  This parable teaches that there are four different types of spiritual hearts in which the Word of God is sown.  The condition of a man’s heart will determine how well he loves God,  whether he will be responsive to God or be closed-minded and rebellious.  God holds each person responsible for the condition of his heart and for how he responds to the gospel -- the good news of salvation in Christ.

Three out of the four responses to the gospel found in this passage are heart wrenching:  First, there is the person who has a heart like a hard trodden-down pathway.  His heart is tough and calloused by a life of sin and unbelief.  Second, there is the person with a heart like rocky places where the soil is shallow.  He doesn’t allow the Word to root deep into his soul and quickly falls away from early faith.  And third, the person who has a heart like thorns receives the Word and makes good progress at first in his Christian life.  However,  the worries of this life,  the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things choke out the sown Word and prevent it from being productive.  In the end, anyone with one of these types of spiritual hearts ends up rejecting the Word of God,  thus never reaping a harvest of righteousness or eternal life.

In His “Parable of the Sower” Jesus paints one picture of the “good soil” which represents hearers who are genuinely converted by the Word of God.  Of this fourth hearer He says, “Still other seed fell on good soil.  It came up,  grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty or even a hundred times.”  The Lord’s explanation is “...like seed sown on good soil, [others]  hear the Word,  accept it and produce a crop...”   Luke adds this insight,  “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart,  who hear the Word,  retain it and by persevering produce a crop.”  (Luke 8: 15)

If the spiritual heart be humble,  holy,  and heavenly-minded, it will endure and grow in service to the Lord.  That person constantly allows God’s Word to cleanse his heart and he steadfastly retains the Word whether in prosperity or in adversity. This genuine Christian heart is neither hard,  nor shallow nor preoccupied with this world‘s things.  God’s Word gets through to him and becomes of great worth in his heart and  life.

Jesus says,  “He who has ears to hear,  let him hear.”  He also said,  “Listen!…” or attend carefully to what is said.

“Listen!”   There are four different types of spiritual hearts on which the Word of God falls but only one reaps a harvest of eternal life.

Jesus had twenty-one powerful words for Satan at the time Satan tempted Him to sin against God His Father.  Our Lord said,  “It is written:   Man does not live on bread alone,  but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

What is your response to the Word of God?  We urge you to be good and fertile soil.  Accept all of God’s Word into your heart, believe it fervently and act on it without delay.  Begin by receiving Christ into your heart as personal Savior and Lord.