Soldier of Christ Disciple Training Ministries
A ministry of Acts III Global Ministries – USA & Malawi – www.God.mw
Lesson 101 – The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven – Part 1
Parable of the Sower - Category 2 – The Seed on the Stony Ground
Jesus’ Explains: In a similar way, the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. They believe for a while, but because they have no firm root in themselves; they are only temporary. When affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. Others in time of temptation fall away.
More Thoughts: This is the category of ground that Jesus spends the most time on, so it must be important. Let us begin by looking at some of the facts concerning this stony-ground-convert to see if we can tell how he came to be that way.
* He hears the word and immediately receives it with joy
* He believes for a while – he is only temporary.
* He withers away because (a) he has no firm root inside himself, and (b) he lacks moisture.
* He falls away immediately because of affliction or persecution or because of temptation.
First, we need to answer the question…why does he immediately receive the word with joy? I believe it is because we are preaching a watered down partial Gospel. Maybe you have heard something like this: ‘God loves you...He has a wonderful plan for your life…He sent Jesus to die for you…You need to make Jesus your personal Lord and Savior…I’ll pray with you now…Amen.’ While that entire message is true, it is not the entire Truth. It is lacking the true foundation. The word Gospel’ means ‘Good News,’ but why is it good news? Before you can accept good news, you have to know what the bad news is. With this ‘feel good’ gospel message, people are tricked into believing they are saved when they are not. So what do I mean? Take for example John 3:16. This has to be the most popular verse in the Christian world today. Most any churchgoer can quote it or at least paraphrase it. So why is that a bad thing? It’s bad because we are missing the point. The foundation for this verse is set in John 3:14-15. I would dare to guess that less than 1% of the people that can quote John 3:16 even have a clue what John 3:14-15 is about. Read the verse below, and then I’ll explain what I mean.
John 3:16 – The Modern Gospel – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Wonderful message, but it does not quite give the full Gospel message. Read John 3:14 and the commentary below and you will see why.
John 3:14-15 – The Real Gospel – “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”
The first time I read through this chapter in the Gospel of John, I thought it meant simply ‘lifted up’ as in an exalted way. I didn’t get the full brunt of the passage. I did often wonder though why Jesus being lifted up had anything to do with a serpent. It didn’t make sense until I took the time to discover the Old Testament story behind the verse. Here is the Account Jesus is referring to from Numbers 21. The first section sets the stage. It is from verses 4-5: “Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”
You see, the people are complaining against God and Moses. They were impatient. They were looking back to the ‘good old days’ when they were still in slavery in Egypt. They had forgotten all of the mighty things the Lord had done for them. They had forgotten all of His commands, all of His provisions, all of His mercies. They had forgotten His Judgments. In vs. 6 we find God’s punishment for these wicked people. “The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.” Notice now how the people, Moses and God respond in verses 7-9: “So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” Here are some things to glean from the brief Scripture above:
* They knew Who sent the serpents…it was God as a judgment. They knew their painful and torturous death was not from the devil.
* They knew that their individual sins had caused them. They took responsibility. hey were reaping what they had sown.
* They needed someone to intercede for them. They could not save themselves or get rid of the effects of their sin on their own.
* God had them look upon something in faith in order to be saved.
Imagine that you are the people of Israel and you have been sinning against God. Despite all His miracles, warnings, wondrous deeds and providing for your every need, you still complain. So God judges you. He pours out His Righteous Wrath in the form of fiery serpents…symbolic of your sin. The Old Testament forms a pattern that the New Testament follows and fulfills. So here are the corresponding points between the story with Moses and Jesus on the cross:
* The people realized that they had sinned and confessed their sin. We are to do the same. We are to acknowledge our sin.
* The people recognized they were helpless on their own and so called out to the only One that could help them…God. We must have the same mindset. We must know there is no salvation apart from the Lord.
* The people were humbled and terrified and realized that they were dying a painful death. They knew that a horrible end would befall them if the Lord did not intervene. We need to have the same thoughts, although ours is more spiritual than physical.
* The people were likely down on the ground on their knees, and they had to look up. They had to look up in faith, and they had to see their sin in what was lifted up.
This is what is missing with the cross in the Gospel message today. People see the cross and think joyful thoughts about how God gave them a, ‘Get Out of Hell Free Card.’ Instead, when they see the cross, they need to recognize that what they are looking at is their personal sin has killed, murdered, tortured, and caused their ‘personal savior’ to suffer. They need to be in the same kind of pain over that thought spiritually as the Israelites were physically.
When we look at the cross, each of our individual attitudes needs to reflect: ‘it was my sin that made the cross necessary;’ ‘it is sin that fashioned those spike;’ ‘it is was my own sin that hammered those spikes through the body of the Son of God;’ ‘it was my sin that thrust the spear into His sinless side;’ ‘it was my sin that caused His Father to turn His back on His Only Begotten Son,’ ‘it was my sin that sent Him into the grave.’ Now I ask you, is that a message that you receive with joy or with brokenness and shame? Yes we can rejoice after brokenness, the Lord fills us with Joy. However, In order for the Gospel message to fall on good soil, it must be received with brokenness, repentance, a contrite heart and a realization of just how much our personal sin cost. A heart that sees the cross in this light, will have a much better chance of having a faith that matures to harvest and not a faith that withers when the sun comes out and brings persecution, tribulation and temptation. Look again at the qualities of a Stony Ground Convert:
* He hears the word and immediately receives it with joy
* He believes for a while – he is only temporary
* He withers away because (a) he has no firm root inside himself, and (b) he lacks moisture.
* He falls away immediately because of affliction or persecution or because of temptation.
He receives it with joy because he has no clue what his free gift cost God. He receives it with joy, because it cost him nothing other than a quick prayer. He receives it with joy because it is only “Good News.” There is no guilt feeling, no remorse, and little or no repentance or confession. He believes for a time, but his ‘faith’ is only for a season. He has no root in the Word, therefore, he cannot handle persecution or tribulation. He has probably been told how great things will be for him as a Christian. Maybe he’s heard of all the prosperity he will have now. He lacks moisture because there is no repentance for and no brokenness over his sin. Without this water, and no root in the Word, this seed will never make it.
The Law lays the groundwork for the Gospel. This is why John the Baptist had to come first. He was the one that was the forerunner to the Messiah. His job was to prepare the way of the Lord. What does that mean to prepare the way? John did not scatter seed by the roadside, he traveled out into the wilderness to preach repentance and make good soil. Jesus said that John the Baptist fulfilled what was spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah. Here is the verse Jesus was referring to. They come from Isaiah 40:3-5 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed” John was preaching a message that is designed to prepare the way for the Messiah by:
* Making a straight highway in the desert for the Lord
* Making every valley be lifted up
* Leveling every mountain and hill down
* Making ever crooked place straight
* Making all of the rough places smooth.
And then the result would be the Glory of the Lord would be revealed. John is preaching a message designed to produce repentance, brokenness, realization of our sin. If we are not, ‘going out into the desert to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, faith will not be fruitful and the Word of the Gospel will fall on stony ground.
I realize that this is a lot of information on just this one type of spiritual ground, but I believe that there are many that have seeds sown in this type of ground. There may be millions of people that are deceiving themselves with a false sense of salvation that came at no price and without a properly prepared heart, mind and soul. Likewise, there may be thousands that are deceiving them that will be held accountable for causing them to stumble.