Our Lord's parables in Mark 4 (also in Matthew 13 and Luke 8) help us to understand the difference between those who are truly saved and those who are not.
Matthew 13:37 tells us the sower is the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark 4:14 says, The sower soweth the Word. Luke 8:11 says, “The seed is the Word of God” (Luke 8:4-15).
During our Lord's absence we are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:18-20.
The soil represents four types of hearers: (1) The Way Side (Mark 4:4). (2) The Stony Ground (Mark 4:5, 6). (3) The Thorns (Mark 4:7). (4) The Good Ground (Mark 4:8).
A) TO GET TRULY SAVED YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL. Matt. 13:19, “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not…”. The fault lies not with the seed, nor with the sower. The problem is man's hard heart. If a man's heart is tender towards God, the devil will not snatch away that which was sown.
B) THOSE THAT ARE GENUINELY SAVED GET GROUNDED IN GOD'S WORD. Our Lord said in Mark 4:17, “And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time...". “Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.” Matthew 13:21.
C) TO BE GENUINELY SAVED, YOU MUST MAKE A CLEAN BREAK WITH THE WORLD (4:18, 19). The thorny ground (Mark 4:18,19). The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word. There comes a time in a person's life when he must make a choice: the pleasures of this world or the things of God. James 1:8; 2 Tim. 3:2,4; Matthew 16:26.
Psalm 139:23, 24
SERMON ACTIVITY
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James J. Barker is a graduate of Tabernacle Baptist Bible College, Virginia Beach, Virginia. He started Bible Baptist Church, May 1990, in Queens, NY. The LORD commissioned him to minister in the new location of Elmont, NY in 1998. The church has moved from storefront to tent...
