SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/1/2022 9:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Superficial Hearer”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
13:20-21
Message of the verses: “20 "And the
one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the
word, and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root
in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution
arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Let us begin with a question this morning: How come many people rapidly accept the
gospel message? We see the answer is for
some at least is because the person’s emotional response to the gospel is so
immediate and positive, and this sort of convert stands out above most
others. This person is often more vocal
in talking about his experience and may even be zealous in church attendance or
Bible Studies and even pray for a while.
So I guess the bottom line is that they are very emotional. Now to tell the truth that is exactly the way
that I responded to the gospel, but as mentioned many times it was certainly
real for me. Oh yes I have had my ups
and downs, which I suppose happens to all believers, but thinking about my
experience when I first heard the gospel, at least heard it and understood it
that I was instantly a true believer.
In
the case of the people or person we are talking about in this section of
Matthew we see that it was because the soil of his heart is shallow, thus he
has no firm root in himself. The
gospel prompts and immediate positive reaction, however it is only temporary,
which makes all the change only on the surface, and not having any depth in his
heart. The problem is that his feelings
were changed, however not his soul.
MacArthur writes “God’s life-giving word cannot take root because just
below the surface of his heart is a rocky base that is even harder to penetrate
than the soil beside the road. There is
no repentance, no remorse over sin, no recognition of lostness, not contrition,
no brokenness. And there is no humility,
which is the first mark of true conversion (Matt. 5:3).” “"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The problem is that when this person hears the
gospel it becomes a “religious” experience, but it does not bring salvation
which is evidenced by the fact that when affliction or persecution arises
because of the word, immediately he falls away.” We can see that the gospel truth has not
penetrated into his heart but it is only on the edge of his mind, so it is
therefore immediately renounced as it was immediately received. This person has come to Christ to find
something from Him, but when he does not receive it he will turn away because
he is not a true believer. I think that
this could be described as what the tele-evangelizers are really “selling” as
the health and wealth gospel. This
person has built his religious house on the sand of emotional experience, and
when the storms of affliction or persecution beat on his house it will crumble
and then it will wash away with the waves as seen in Matthew 7:26-27. The problem is that there is no root that
goes down deep, but only foliage or a religious experience, therefore he cannot
produce spiritual fruit “22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the
thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 “And the
one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word
and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold,
some sixty, and some thirty’” (Matthew 13:22-23).
Looks
like we will have to finish this section tomorrow, (No April fools joke).
4/1/2022 9:32 AM
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