Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress.

And right now, your generous gift will have twice the impact, thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, active now through July 6th. To give a special matching challenge gift, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's word with every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

Perhaps I'm speaking to some of you right now. If you're honest, you would say, well, I'm suffering from a hard heart. The word of God doesn't even penetrate my life anymore. Reading the Bible is no more exciting to me than reading a dictionary.

If that's true for you, you're suffering from a hard heart. Let me prescribe for you spiritual exercise.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus describes four types of soil into which the word of God can be sown, from hard to healthy.

So where do you fall along this spectrum? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress diagnoses these four conditions of the human heart and offers three prescriptions for spiritual health.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David, and welcome to Pathway to Victory. In a moment, we'll resume a message I introduced yesterday based on Luke chapter 8 and called Prescription for a Healthy Heart. The key to healthy living, we're learning, is to allow the seed of God's Word to sink deeply into the fertile soil of our hearts. Once that happens, we begin to produce fruit and grow in remarkable ways. Jesus used this picturesque parable, this story, to help us understand the importance of receiving his Word.

But it's more than just receiving. Our calling as followers of Jesus Christ is to be salt and light in a dark and decaying world. And for that reason, we've established the Salt and Light Matching Challenge so that every dollar that's given to Pathway to Victory this month will be automatically matched and therefore doubled until we reach the staggering goal of $1 million. So by giving your best gift today, as the Lord may lead you, Pathway to Victory will have twice the ability to shine the light of God's truth into a nation and a world that's shrouded in darkness.

Today, your generous gift of $100 would become $200. A $500 gift would become $1,000. A $5,000 gift would be matched until it became $10,000. There is no limit to what you can give in this matching challenge. As my way of saying thank you for your investment, I'm going to send a brand new and exclusive book that I've written for you called Shine the Light. I'll show you how God uses even the smallest expressions of faith to become beacons of hope.

More details later, but right now it's time to get started with today's message. Let's turn again to Luke chapter 8. I've titled today's study Prescription for a Healthy Heart.

Speaker 3

Jesus understood the power of stories, which is why he told them in such number. Of course, the stories he told were called parables. And today in our study of the life of Christ as told by Luke, we have come to the first of the parables that Jesus told. It's a story that answers a question that perhaps you have wondered about: Why doesn't everyone who hears the gospel respond to the gospel? Or, put another way, why is it that you can have two people listening to the same message from God's Word, one responding enthusiastically to that message while the other turns away from it? Well, Jesus answers this question in the first parable we're going to look at today.

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Luke chapter eight as we look at Jesus' prescription for a healthy heart. Look at verse five: "The sower went out to sow his seed." The sower scattered much seed, and the seed fell on four different types of soil. Notice what Jesus says in verse five. First of all, some of the seed that the sower spread fell on hard soil. When the sower's seed fell on this hard soil, it couldn't penetrate; it would just lie on top of it. This was the seed that never took root.

Then, some of the seed that the sower spread fell on a second kind of soil, the thin soil. Look at verse six: "And other seed fell on rocky soil." In this instance, the seed would fall on the soil, which was loose enough to allow it to take root. However, when the seed began to grow roots, those roots would press against the limestone and couldn't go deep. As a result, this plant was the first to wither away.

Speaker 2

Why?

Speaker 3

Because it had not developed a deep root system that could derive the nutrients and moisture it needed from the soil. The third kind of soil Jesus mentioned was the weed-infested soil, and other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Here is seed that falls on soil that is loose. It is deep. It starts to take root and grow a root system. But as soon as it begins to grow that root system, it is strangled out by a vast network of weeds underneath the soil that have been there long before the plant ever took root.

Finally, there is the good soil, verse 8. And the other seed fell into the good soil and grew up and produced a crop a hundred times as great. Now, what's the meaning of this parable? Jesus tells us, beginning in verse 11, what this parable means. He said, the parable is this. First of all, the seed is the Word of God. And the sower is just anyone who spreads the Word of God. The amount of fruit that grew had nothing to do with the sower. It didn't depend upon the sower. It really didn't depend upon the seed. The seed was the same in all four instances. What determined whether the seed produced fruit was the condition of the soil on which it fell.

Now remember, Jesus is answering the question, why is it that people respond differently to the Word of God? Some accept it, some reject it. Why is that? It all has to do with the condition of the human heart that receives that truth. And Jesus points out that these four kinds of soils represent four conditions of the human heart.

First of all, verse 12, the hard soil represents the entirely impenetrable heart. Look at verse 12. And those beside the road are those who have heard. And then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they might not believe and be saved. Remember, this is a soil that the seed just would lay upon. The birds would come and snatch it away. Jesus said, this represents the hard heart, the heart that hears the Word of God, but the Word of God never even is able to penetrate the heart. Why? Because the heart has become so hardened.

How do people develop a hard heart? Listen to this. It is by a constant rejection of the Word of God. Did you know it is possible to say no to God so often that you harden your own heart to a point that you are unable to believe the truth? And that's what happens to the hard heart. We see that prediction in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 10 to 12. Paul talks about how during the final seven years of Earth's history, the tribulation, the Antichrist will come and will deceive many people. Why is he able to deceive so many people in the final seven years of history?

Look at verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians 2. And with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence, that is the Antichrist, so that they may believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness. Do you see what he's saying? It's true today. It will be true during the tribulation. These deluding influences, these false religions, ultimately the Antichrist, are God's judgment against those who have rejected the truth. God sends a deluding influence so that people may not believe what is true. That's why it is so important that we not reject the truth that God has revealed to us. That's the hard heart.

Secondly, there is the thin soil that represents the shallow heart. And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no firm root. They believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away. Remember this thin soil; it had the limestone underneath it. The plant would try to develop a root system but wasn't able to. And so it flourished above the ground. But the sun came and caused the plant to wither away. He said this represents people who respond initially with enthusiasm to the gospel.

You know people like this; they're so enthusiastic about their faith. They have some dramatic encounter with God. Maybe they're at a revival service. Maybe they have a near-death experience. Maybe they have an illness from which they are miraculously healed. Something big in their life happens, and they embrace the gospel, and they are so excited they are there every time the church opens. They are so enthusiastic. And frankly, people like us feel guilty around them. Why can't we be more like they are? But that initial enthusiasm lasts for just a season. Then something happens. They run into opposition. They face an illness or the loss of a loved one. They have unanswered prayer in their life. Something happens, and they fall away from the faith. Their faith just withers up and dries away, and you never see them again. That's the kind of person Jesus is talking about here.

See, the problem is these Christians are living off their experience. They've never developed a firm spiritual root system to get the nourishment they need in their Christian experience. And when a time of testing comes in their life, they have no spiritual resources from which to draw because their whole Christian life is based on an experience from long ago that has now faded away. And that's why it's so important that we have that spiritual root system that is grounded in God's Word.

You know, the fact is, we are all going to face times of temptation. That word, temptation, is a word, remember, that means testing, means a difficult time. Parismos in the Bible, tests are neither good nor bad. Remember, for example, what James says. He says, count it all joy when you encounter difficulties, trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces what? Endurance. If you're a Christian whose faith is built upon the truth of God's word and an ongoing relationship with God, tests can be a good thing. They strengthen your faith. However, if you have a shallow faith, a faith that's not firmly rooted in the truth of God's word, those tests will destroy your faith. They will cause you to wither away and fall away from God. That's why it is so important that we have that deep spiritual foundation if we're going to grow.

The third kind of heart Jesus talked about is the strangled heart. That was the weed-infested soil, remember? That was the seed that took root, started to sprout a root system, but the weeds overtook it and strangled the life out of that plant. Jesus says, look at verse 14, the seed which fell among the thorns. These are the ones who have heard. But as they go on their way, they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

This is a person who initially embraces the gospel. He even starts to bear fruit. But his relationship with God is strangled out by three things. Notice the three things that will destroy your spiritual life. First of all, worries. Some translations say the worries of this world. He's not talking about anxiety; he's talking about a preoccupation with the things of this world. Secondly, he talks about riches having a way of strangling our spiritual life. When he talks about riches, he doesn't mean necessarily having a lot of money. He's talking about a preoccupation with money.

1 Timothy 6:10 says, for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. And some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Did you know poor people can love money just as much as rich people can? Poor people can think, if I just had more money, it would solve every problem I have. You don't have to be rich to be preoccupied with money. He's saying that a preoccupation with money can strangle out your spiritual life.

And then the third thing he mentions is the pleasures of this life. Again, there's nothing wrong with pleasure. In Ecclesiastes 2:24, Solomon said, what is better than for a man to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good for this? That is, pleasure is from the hand of God. God meant for you and me to do more than just endure this life. He wants us to enjoy this life. But he also said in 2 Timothy 3:4, warned against those who become lovers of pleasure. That's what he's talking about. Pleasure, entertainment, that is out of balance.

Do you know people? Maybe you're one of these people who is just obsessed with pleasure. Maybe you're thinking about, you know, the next trip you're going to take. You're retired, and you're just traveling around all the time, just trying to entertain yourself to death. Some people get overwhelmed and preoccupied with television and video games. The average American watches 8 hours of television a day. Some people become obsessed with sports. All they can think about is that next game and then the game after that, and the game after that. And Saturday and Sundays are all days, one game after another. It's not that any of these things is wrong, but any of these things can strangle out our love for God.

The only type of soil that produced fruit repeatedly was this fourth kind of heart, the responsive heart. That is the good soil. Look at verse 15 and 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, and underline this with perseverance.

Now, I can already tell I'm going to get some emails this week. I can see some of you formulating the email in your mind right now. Pastor, from what you said today, you seem to be indicating that people can lose their salvation. You're talking about people who fall away from the faith, people who hear the gospel and then fall away. Is that what you're saying? I'm not saying that at all. Jesus said in John 10:28, I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish. No man shall snatch them out of my hand, those whom the Father has given me.

But what I want you to see is there is only one kind of heart in this story that represents a heart that is truly saved. And it's this last heart, the responsive heart. The first heart didn't even receive the message; it was so hard. In the next two types of soil, the seed took root. But only in the last heart did the seed actually produce consistent spiritual fruit. Warren Wiersbe, in his book "Windows in the Parables," makes it clear that none of the first three soils represents a human heart that is truly saved. Wiersbe says the proof of salvation is not listening to the Word or having a quick emotional response to the Word, or even cultivating the Word so that it grows life. The proof of salvation is fruit. For as Jesus said, you shall know them by their fruit.

The heart that is truly saved is the heart that produces consistent, continual spiritual fruit, not just for one season and then goes dormant for the next 20 years. It is constant, continual fruit with perseverance. As Psalm 1 says, bearing fruit every season without fail. You know, you may be saying, pastor, what are you talking about? Fruit? What do you mean by fruit? Cantaloupes, kumquats? What are you talking about? Fruit? By fruit, Jesus is referring to inward attitudes and outward actions. Inward attitudes like Galatians 5, joy, love, peace, self-control. Outward acts like actual people you can point to who have come to know Christ as Savior because of your witness. Ministries you're involved in that are producing spiritual fruit, the investment of your financial resources in Kingdom enterprises. All of these things. Inward attitudes, outward actions are not the means of salvation, but they are proof of salvation.

In these final minutes today, I'm going to close today's message in a completely different way. Instead of leaving you with two or three timeless truths from the passage or closing with a strong story, I want to instead close with a question. A question for you. What is the condition of your heart right now? Is your heart, your spiritual heart, producing real, tangible spiritual fruit? Your answer to that determines whether or not you are truly saved, not whether you appear to be saved, but whether you are truly saved.

What is the condition of your human heart? Perhaps I'm speaking to some of you right now. If you're honest, you would say, well, I'm suffering from a hard heart. The word of God doesn't even penetrate my life anymore. I can hardly concentrate on listening to a message. Reading the Bible is no more exciting to me than reading a dictionary. If that's true for you, you're suffering from a hard heart. Let me prescribe for you spiritual exercise. That is, instead of trying to take in any more information about the Bible, why not exercise what you already know to be true? Maybe God is speaking to you about something in your life you need to stop doing, or something in your life you need to start doing. God has already revealed that to you.

There are some of you who are suffering from a shallow heart. That is, you can look back to a time when you were enthusiastic about your relationship with God, but then you fell away. Something happened, a disappointment with God, a broken relationship, an illness, a loss of a loved one. You have fallen away from God, but you want to come back to God. You know, for you, if you're suffering from a shallow heart, what you need to do is to improve your spiritual diet. And by that, I mean instead of trying to live off some past experience from 20 or 30 years ago, what you need to do is develop a spiritual root system right now where you can draw the spiritual nutrition you need to grow in your faith.

And there are some of you right now who are suffering from a strangled heart. You've received the word of God; you've received it enthusiastically, but your spiritual arteries are blocked. They're filled with spiritual plaque, if you will, that is strangling off the life-giving spirit from your heart. You've allowed some things to block your relationship with God because they have become preoccupations for you. It may be your work, it may be school, maybe a relationship, it may be a hobby, but there is something that is blocking the free flow of the Holy Spirit in your life. It may be your possessions. For you, what you need to do is remove that spiritual plaque. You know what it is in your life that needs to be removed so that the spirit can freely flow in your life.

You know, I read last year that 15.3 million Americans died from cardiovascular disease. But the real tragedy is millions of those people died separated from God for all eternity because of the condition of their spiritual heart. You and you alone are responsible for your heart, the condition of your physical and your spiritual heart. That's why Solomon said in Proverbs 4, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from your heart flows the issues of life."

Speaker 2

At Pathway to Victory, we're praying that God would use today's study to soften.

Speaker 3

Your heart for him.

Speaker 2

And we're praying that along the way you'll become a bright light for him so that others would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior as well. Remember what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount: you are the light of the world. He didn't say you should be the light or you could be the light. He said, you are the light right now.

Along those lines, we're inviting you to become a part of the revolution in our dark world that shines the bright light of the Gospel in big and small ways. I've written a book that will guide and inspire you. It's called *Shine the Light*, and it's yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

But here's the best part. Because of the $1 million Salt and Light matching challenge, every dollar you give today will be automatically matched and therefore doubled in size and impact. Is there any doubt that we're living in the darkest of times? It's shocking to see and hear the cultural debates that attempt to normalize evil behavior. Well, now's the time to shine the light rather than retreat.

Friends, God has opened a door for you and me to do just that. This is a tremendous window of opportunity for us to be Salt and Light in our towns, our cities, and our nation. And by giving to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, you'll empower Pathway to Victory to double down on our mission to push back the forces of darkness.

So please take down our contact information and take advantage of the Matching Challenge opportunity today and the resources we've prepared for you. Thanks so much for your investment in Pathway to Victory.

David, thanks Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 1

Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of the brand new book by Dr. Jeffress, Shine the Light. To request these resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org now. When you give $100 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for the Shine the Light Teaching series. And remember, because of our Salt and Light Matching Challenge, your gift to Pathway to Victory today will be matched and therefore double in impact. So be sure to get in touch with us right away. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could send your donation by mail if you'd like: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. When you bow your head and pray, are you confident that God even hears you, or do you feel like your words are falling on deaf ears? We're getting back to the Basics of Prayer 101 Wednesday on Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Albert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible, and right now your ministry gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on July 6th. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.