Video Transcript: Persevering and Producing

Some people who hear the gospel and make a decision for Christ continue all the way to the end of their lives and faithfulness to the Lord. But there are others who hear the gospel and at first, get excited about it and make a decision. But then later on, stop walking with the Lord, stop going to church, perhaps stop believing altogether. 

There are different kinds of response to the gospel and different ways that people throughout their lives, either stick with it, or don't stick with walking with Jesus. And in these different results. 

There are some people who simply ignore or reject the word right up front, they never do claim to believe it. But instead, after they hear the gospel, they simply reject it, refuse it and go on with their lives. There are others, though, who received the word and they're excited about it. They're happy, they feel wonderful about what they've just heard, and they make a commitment, they make a decision. 

But then, when circumstances change, or their life gets difficult, their faith shrivels up, and they stop walking with Christ, they stop believing, there are others who hear the word, but they don't mature in their faith, because they've got so much else going on in their life, the things they worry about the things they enjoy. And those things seem to choke out the effect of the word that they initially had responded to. And then of course, there are those who hear the word and understand and grow and grow and grow in maturity and produce a lot of fruit in their lives. Jesus told a story about those four different kinds of results, He compared them to four different kinds of soil. And he was telling his disciples and all of us right up front, that you should not always expect the Word of God to produce the result that you were hoping for, there are going to be some who reject, some will get excited, and then turn away from it some who just get all occupied with everything else. And then there are those in whom the word really produces the result of salvation, and growth. 

Now, all of this raises the question, can someone be saved? But then be lost? Can you receive salvation? And then lose it again? Well, let's try to think about that. And then we'll return to Jesus parable of the forest soils first, then this question, can someone be saved, but then the last, according to Jesus Christ Himself, a true believer cannot be lost, eternal life cannot die away, consider these words of Jesus. And this is the will of Him who sent Me that is God the Father, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Now, how many does Jesus say will be lost of those that the Father gives him? None, zero, nada, nothing. If Jesus saves someone whom the Father has given to him, that person will be raised up at the last day and that person says Jesus will have eternal life. Now, just think about that phrase, eternal life for a moment, does eternal life last for a day, this eternal life last for two weeks? Does eternal life last until I get kind of sick of it or wander away from it? No, eternal life is eternal, it lasts forever. It never stops. And so if you have received eternal life, by receiving Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit living in you, then you have any eternal life in you, and it cannot die away, it cannot be lost. Jesus says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand, my father, who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. So you have the grip of Jesus Christ Himself, you have the grip of God the Father, and no one can perish. If they are in the grip of God. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord, eternal life is imperishable. 

We in our relationship to God are inseparable, if we have a genuine relationship with God at all. And this gives rise this teaching of Jesus and the rest of Scripture to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, also known as the doctrine of eternal security. And when good understates the doctrine. This way. All those who are truly born again, will be kept by God's power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives. Only those who persevere to the end have truly been born again. So if you don't persevere to the end, it shows that you never were surely born again. Because all those who are truly born again, are kept by God and keep on going as Christians to the end of their lives. That's the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Now, does the parable of the soils contradict the perseverance of the saints? Or does it confirm it? Let's think about that. In looking at the parable of the soils, who is it that produces all of that good fruit? Jesus says, As for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. There are other soils representing other kinds of people, and they hear the word and they have various kinds of responses to it, but they don't really understand it, and take it to heart. 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. So you see there again, the good soil stands for a noble and good heart, a heart that's truly been born again, a heart that beats with the life of God, and such a heart. 

By hearing the word holds on to that word understands it, and keeps on going. perseveres produces a crop, and those other kinds of soils that didn't put persevere, and where the crop never reached maturity, we're not good and noble hearts, we're not understanding truly the Word of God in the first place. This is what Jesus teaches about the hearts that receive the Word of God and grow to maturity and produce that wonderful crop. Now, why are there different results? Why do some receive the Word and persevere and produce a crop and others not? Well, Jesus explains in the very same passage, where he gives us the parable of the forest soils and the parable of the sower. He says to His disciples to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given for to the one who has more will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not even what he has, will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. So some people are given to know the kingdom of heaven. Others are not given to know it and they don't understand. And Jesus says one reason he speaks in parables is for the very purpose that some will hear what he's talking about, but not grasp. But we sometimes think parables are really easy to follow stories where the point is obvious. And Jesus was really good at telling these illustrations that everybody could understand. What does Jesus himself say? He says, He tells the parables so that some won't see that they won't truly hear that they won't truly understand. Now, that may be hard to swallow. But this is what Jesus says, In all, all the Gospels where the parable of the soils is given. Jesus said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and reveal them to little children. Yes, Father, for such as your gracious will. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Jesus says elsewhere, many are called but few are chosen. The results differ because some are chosen God the Father has hidden things from some and revealed them to others. Jesus reveals the things of the Father the things of God, to some, and not to others. And this is why results differ, according to our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, back to the parable of the forest soils and the four kinds of hearts that are represented by those soils. First of all, there is soil that fell on the path. And that path was very hard, the seed never penetrated at all. It just lay on top and birds came along and took it away. And Jesus said that, that's like hearts that the word comes to but then the devil comes right along and snatches the word away, and it never sinks in and has no impact on those hard hearts at all. There are others where the word seems to produce an almost immediate effect. They're like rocky soil where there's a thin layer of soil on top of rocks, and because the word the seed goes in in such a shallow manner and is just barely under the surface, it comes up right away. And Jesus says that's like people who receive the Word of the joy and get all excited right away, but their hearts are shallow. And then a third kind of heart is the cluttered heart. And this is illustrated by Jesus as thorny soil where the seed does come up. But then thorns and weeds come up and choke the good plants. And Jesus says, that's like hearts that are all cluttered. And the word is choked out by the cares and pleasures and other things of life. And then there's the noble heart, which Jesus illustrates, with good soil that's been well prepared, and it's deep and rich, and it's not full of rocks and weeds. And in that soil, the word grows and matures and bears a wonderful crop.

Now let's think about each of those kinds of soil keeping in mind, the fact that true believers with noble and good hearts are those who persevere and produce. Hard hearts when they want to Here's the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart, that's Jesus explanation of the hard path. And this can happen in a whole variety of ways. Let's just think about a few. One way that hearts are hardened is if you're hardened by anti Christian education, and by anti Christian entertainment. more than 90% of people, including church goers send their children to public schools. And in those public schools, children are taught again and again and again to think about all of life without reference to the Word of God, without reference to Jesus Christ. And it just becomes harder and harder and harder. When you are educated to think about everything without Christ, for you to ever be receptive. The same thing can happen in the world of entertainment, where there are many forms of entertainment that are anti God that are just full of wickedness. And these things can harden the hearts. So we need to be aware of what happens to our own hearts with a constant bombardment of anti Christian education, and entertainment. And that kind of hardening can keep the word from ever even beginning to have an impact. 

There are others who are just hardened by something that's happened in them. And they're hardened by skepticism, and cynicism. Now, what are skepticism and cynicism? A teacher once asked a really ornery student? What's the difference between skepticism and cynicism? And the student replied, I don't know. And I don't care. Well, that was the correct answer. Skepticism means I don't know. And I really don't want to know. And cynicism means I don't care, I don't give a hoot, everybody is up to no good. And that can be a kind of hardness, where we don't even want to believe in any kind of truth at all. And we don't want to care at all. Unfortunately, you can also get a hard heart simply by years of church attendance, and listen to the Bible without responding. Because you see the word of God and fellowship with the people of God always has an impact. It will either soften you and challenge you and move you towards Christ, or it will harden you and move you away from Christ, but it never has zero impact. And so some people have been hardened by years of being where the word of God is proclaimed, and yet just letting it bounce off and not responding to it at all. They hear the urgent call to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as Savior. But they put it off and they put it off and they get harder and harder. They hear the challenges of the Bible to change their life and to walk with Christ, but they ignore it and go on with business as usual. And as that happens, the heart gets harder and harder and becomes less than less able to receive anything from outside. So we need to be aware of these hard hearts. And if we are leaders in the church, we need to watch our own hearts but also warn others against the things that harden one's heart. We can also just be hardened by repeated stubbornness. 

The Bible says that a man who remains stubborn and stiffnecked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy. And so, this just repeated stubbornness can keep hardening and hardening till we have no room to receive and the devil snatches it away. Then there are the shallow Hearts. This is the one says Jesus, the shallow soil where the seeds sprang up right away. This is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yeah, he has no root in himself but indoors for a while and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. They believe for a while, and in the time of testing, fall away. Some young people who consider themselves Christians were very much involved in church go off to college for the first time a secular college. And while they're there, they find that a lot of smart people think it's really dumb to believe the Bible and to be a Christian. And they begin to think, yeah, what is a little dumb. And then soon turns out that their hearts are mighty shallow, because at the first sign of any heat, the seed just shrivels up. In our time, there's a strong emphasis on the feel good faith on instant gratification on your best life now, as one best selling book titles, it your best life now instantly feel better, and Jesus just makes you feel good. Now, if that's the kind of faith that is taught, it is going to find a hearing in shallow hearts. And there will be churches that are packed with people. But do they have the kind of faith that is going to be able to stand up under difficulty under hardship in their life under persecution from others? That's the big question. 

Oh, here's a statistic 5% of people who go forward at a big crusade rally 5% of those who go forward and weren't already part of a church, only one in 25%, join a church and stay in a church. That's a pretty telling statistic that 95% of people who weren't already involved in a church and who make that quick commitment. Don't stick with it. Maybe there was something a little amiss with the kind of emotional pressures that were put on people to go forward at those evangelistic rallies in the first place. Here's a statistic related to young people. And there are ways that different people will talk about these numbers. But currently, it said that 70% of young people leave their church by the age of 22, and about 80% By age 30. Is it possible that our churches have been doing things that appeal only to the shallow heart, but that never really cultivate greater depth? The shallow hearts can lead to huge losses. And what is a mega church, at one moment appealing to all sorts of the wishes of the people and their desire to feel good can be a halfway house in unbelief. We need to go deeper. 

We need deeper relationships. A leadership magazine published the survey and research and it said the research is ongoing. It's already revealing a promising pattern. youth involved in inter-generational relationships in church are showing promise for stronger faith in high school and beyond. Because the surveys were showing that just going to youth group or just going to a Sunday school actually reduced the likelihood of staying with the church, unless they developed a close relationship with older Christians, but simply having the Sunday School Stuff designed for little kiddos that was cute and fun and this and that actually made it less likely for them to remain in the church. So it's important, really important to have deeper relationships, inter-generational relationships. Now one thing was lacking very severely. In that article, it said almost nothing about parents and about discipling children at home and about beginning with in depth reading of the Bible every day and seeking to cultivate deeper relationships with fellow believers, and with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We need a deeper gospel. We need to plant real seed, which is the word of God the scripture, and we need to cultivate real depth real conversion, not just a quick, shallow response, what's the use of chasing bigness in numbers, but that doesn't last it's only short lived. That's one of the crises that the American church is facing right now. It managed to get his churches really big. And then those really big churches are losing all kinds of people. In the next generation. It may be that there's a shallow soil problem. 

Then there are the cluttered hearts. Jesus says the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. They're choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. That's an interesting combination. The cares, that's the hardships of the world, the worries, the things that are hard for you, but also riches are the deceitfulness of riches. They trick you into thinking things are going well, and the pleasures of life so on the one hand, you can be all wrapped up in worries. On the other hand, you can be all wrapped up in having fun, or you can kind of be all of the above you can be chasing money, money money, because it'll take away your worries and help you to have more fun. But these says Jesus are cluttered hearts. And so we got to be aware of the worries and the hassles and the arguments and the busyness. Sheer busyness can be one of those things that destroys the human heart. These days, of course, we've got a ton of things we can do. We can spend time with family which is good If it's done with the glory of God in mind, we've got our TVs, our toys, we've got studies in school and more school and graduate school, we've got all the work of our jobs, we may have golf instead of God on our Sunday. 

So we've got Facebook and a million other ways to spend our time in front of a screen, we've got our friends, we've got our money, we've got our shopping, you name it, there are a lot of things to do, to keep our minds off of God, and the things of God and to keep our minds bogged down in the cares, the riches, the pleasures of life, and we have no space to study and to live the gospel. So a cluttered heart is the heart that needs to be born again. And then there are the noble hearts. This is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case, 100 fold in another 60, and another 30. This is a life where the word of God has really taken root and overflows in the doing of good deeds to the glory of God in the winning of others to Christ in positive fruit in a person's family, and relationships. The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart. Now, we may not be used to hearing it put quite that way a noble and good heart. But if you are a Christian, even though you have an old fallen nature, you also have a noble and good heart that has been planted in you by God that has been placed in you your heart has been cultivated and made receptive to the Word of God, and you have a noble and good heart. 

You understand the gospel when it comes to you. You see the terribleness of your sin, and you reject that sin, you count the cost of following Christ, you count the cost of not following Christ to and you embrace Christ as Lord and Savior. A good heart is a heart that has been made ready by the work of the Holy Spirit. And it's also a heart where we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit in the preparation of the heart to seed on good soil stands for those who have a noble and good heart. And as Jesus does so often He's telling a story that is picking up on statements made in the Old Testament break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among thorns, says the prophet Jeremiah, unplowed, the ground that's hard ground. It's a ground like the hard path or it's like that shallow soil. plowed ground has deep soil. And plowed ground is rid of the thorns and weeds so that the good seed can grow up break up all that unplowed stuff, break up your unplowed ground for it's time to seek the Lord. So when we hear the parable, the forest soils we hear of God's sovereignty and salvation, and the Word of God coming but we also hear that our ground the ground of our hearts, needs to be plowed and made into good soil, rid yourselves of all offenses you've committed and get a new heart in a new spirit. If God's word only produces its intended fruit in a noble and good heart, then we need a new heart and a new spirit as a gift from God. And this comes only by the power of God, only God can cause us to be born again according to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable. undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who who by God's power are being guarded through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. You see the relationship with perseverance to new birth, the Lord causes us to be born again.

And then those who are truly born again are guarded by His power through faith. Until that salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last time. We've been chosen by Jesus Christ, to what? to bear fruit you did not choose me says Jesus, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. So we persevere and we produce fruit because that's what we were chosen to do. The one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, being no hero who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing this as a fruit bearer. He doesn't just forget the Word of God after he hears that he perseveres, and in persevering. He produces a crop of good works to the glory of God. If you are not persevering, and you're not producing, you were never truly born again. That's the upshot of this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, if you are not persevering and producing, you were never truly born again. And if you are truly born again, you will persevere and produce the one who endures to the end will be saved. It doesn't say oh, you can have a quick temporary response to the gospel this is will get in, no matter what happens with the rest of your life. It says, The one who endures to the end will be saved. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed, we hold our original confidence firm, to the end. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. 

So we must endure, we are called and directed and empowered to persevere, therefore, to not throw away your confidence which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance, in other words for perseverance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised, but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Genuine faith does not shrink back, and is never destroyed. So we must have faith and then the Lord preserves our souls. And so there's a, an amazing balance in the Bible. And it's sometimes seems like almost a paradox. But both things are true God preserves, and we persevere, you can almost call it the doctrine of the preservation of the saints because of God's almighty hand in keeping us faithful to himself to the end. But it must also be called the doctor the perseverance of the saints, because we must keep going by God's power. 2 Peter 1 says his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. 

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fail, you will never fall. And you see, it's God's divine power that gives us everything we need for life and godliness. And then Peter goes on to urge people that we must supplement our faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self control and self control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness, with brotherly affection, brotherly affection, with love. And he says, If you practice these qualities, you will never fall. And these qualities are yours, because what God's divine power is doing any so you see, God is doing it. And yet you are active in living out in the life God has given you. Paul says, In Philippians 2 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, you have to work it out. You have to live it out. At the same time, you're not doing that on your own, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. You have to Will you have to decide you have to choose, you have to make a decision. You have to commit, and you have to work, you have to do good deeds, you have to serve the Lord, you have to will and work. But as you're doing that, it's God, who's working in you. It's not just your own will, and your own work, but God who's doing it all, through you. And so God is preserving and working in us and at the same time we are persevering and practicing the qualities of godliness that he plants in us and in that way, the good and noble heart transformed by Jesus Christ born again through faith in Christ, perseveres and bears fruit to God's glory and to everlasting life.