The Good Soil (Luke 8:15)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/13/2026 8:11 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus: The Good Soil

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 8:15

            Message of the verses:  “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”

            Well we finally get to the good soil, which is the only one that produces any grain.  This is in contrast to the first three soils, the seed in the good soil produces genuine salvation.  This last soil represents the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, one that is genuinely and truly good without duplicity.  They are those who understand the word (Matt. 13:23), accept it (Mark 4:20), and hold it fast in ongoing obedience (cf. Luke 11:28; John 14:15, 21; 15:10).

(Matt. 13:23)

“23  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

(Mark 4:20)

“20  But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.’”

(cf. Luke 11:28; John 14:15, 21; 15:10)

“28  But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

“15 ¶  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

“21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

“10  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

“Unlike the roadside soil, where the seed never penetrates, the rocky soil where it sprouts briefly and withers, and the thorny soil where it is choked out, the good soil is properly prepared.  The seed will grow into mature plants that bear fruit with the perseverance that marks genuine faith (see the discussion of perseverance above).  As noted above, those who abandon their profession of faith prove that it was never real.

            “Fruit encompasses the good works that accompany salvation (Matt. 3:8; John 15:16), including both attitudes (Gal. 5:22-23) and actions (Col. 1:10; Phil. 1:11).”

(Matt. 3:8; John 15:16)

“8  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

“16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

(Gal. 5:22-23)

“22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

(Col. 1:10; Phil. 1:11)

“10  so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

“11  filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

“Attitude fruit produces action fruit, and to attempt to generate action fruit apart from it results in legalism, such as that which the Lord condemned in the scribes and Pharisees.  As both Matthew’s (13:23) and (Mark 4:20) accounts reveal, there are varying degrees of fruitfulness.”

Matthew (13:23)

“23  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’”

(Mark 4:20)

“20  But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

“All believers, however, will bear some genuine fruit (Eph. 2:10); fruitlessness is a mark of false, non-saving faith (John 15:2; cf. Matt. 3:10).”

(Eph. 2:10)

“10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

(John 15:2; cf. Matt. 3:10)

“2  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

“10  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

            “A proper understanding of this masterful parable should have a profound influence on how the church does evangelism.  Jesus taught that the variable is not the method or skill of the one presenting the gospel, or the message itself—the things that are frequently the focus of contemporary evangelistic methodology.  The variable is the heart.  More specifically, it is not the nature of the heart; in the Lord’s analogy all four soils are made up of the same dirt.  The determining factor in how people respond to the gospel is the influences that prevail upon and dominate their hearts.

            “Conviction, which prepares the heart to receive the gospel, is the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), and salvation itself is the work of God.”

(John 16:8)

8  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:”

“But the Spirit’s work of conviction does not take place in a vacuum.  He uses the proclamation of the gospel message of sin and the need for salvation to do His convicting work in the human heart. ‘How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?’  Paul asked rhetorically. ‘How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  And how will they hear without a preacher?’ (Rom. 10:14), since ‘faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ’ (v. 17)

            “Believers must present the full message of salvation and not merely focus on its blessings.  Before people can experience those blessings they must come to grips with the reality that they are sinners, facing God’s wrath and eternal judgment.  They must acknowledge that their only hope lies in the salvation He has provided through the sacrificial death of His Son.  Therefore Christians must explain sin to the lost before presenting God’s gracious offer of forgiveness.  As the Puritan pastor and theologian John Owen noted, those who would have their sous justified by grace must have their sins judged by the law (The Forgiveness of Sin [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Baker 1977], 60).  Only then will the hard soil be plowed, the rock bed broken up, and the weeds removed, preparing the good soil to produce the fruit of salvation.” (All enclosed quotes come from John MacArthur’s commentary on the gospel of Luke.)

9/13/2026 9:03 PM