WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT RESPONDING TO THE GOSPEL
MARK 4: 1-20
1. Illus. of dynamiting for fish (1001 Humorous Illustrations, # 151)
• Punch-line: “are you going to talk, or are you going to fish?”
2. Life is filled with important decisions. “Whom will I marry?” “What do I want to do for a living?” “Which school will I attend?” But according to Jesus, none of these is as important as the decision we will make about the gospel. That decision will not only affect the rest of our lives, but it will also affect where we spend eternity when life is over!
3. Has someone talked to you recently about making a decision for Christ, and you’re turning it over in your mind? “Should I or shouldn’t I? Do you have a loved one, who as far as you know, is not a believer? Listen carefully today.
4. Jesus is teaching the crowds. As a matter of fact, the crowd is so large that he uses Peter’s boat as a pulpit, so that the people on the hillside could clearly hear His teaching. Perhaps earlier that day they had passed an old weather-beaten farmer, an apron full of seed, sowing out in his fields. Jesus took that and used it to illustrate an important spiritual truth.
5. Text: Jesus warned His listeners that there were different ways to respond to the gospel, most of which were inappropriate.
6. Today: Not everyone who hears the gospel will respond appropriately with a life-changing faith encounter.
7. What are the different responses that people can make to the gospel?
I. WE CAN RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL WITH CALLUSED INDIFFERENCE
1. See vss 4, 15. When a person farmed a field, there would be paths all around it where the workers walked. This constant stream of feet would pack these paths down. If a seed were accidentally dropped on it, it couldn’t get down into the soil. It just lay on top until a bird came by and ate it.
2. Jesus said some people had hearts like that. Sin and selfishness have hardened their hearts. When a gospel witness is dropped into their life, they respond with a yawn and a, “so what?” Satan is soon able to distract them and steal that gospel witness from their hearts.
3. Illus. of Eddie H.
• His wife got saved during revival, asked me if I would go by and witness to her husband.
• He listened carefully and politely, but then told me, “I know my wife asked you to do this, and I appreciate her concern and yours, but I could really care less about all this religion stuff!”
• His heart was hardened to the gospel, and he responded with callused indifference.
4. Now, just like hardened ground had to be plowed before it can receive the seed and respond with a harvest, so a hardened heart has to be plowed up before it can receive the gospel and respond with salvation. If you know someone who has a hardened heart, the number one thing you can do for them is to fervently pray for God to break up their heart with the conviction of the Holy Spirit!
II. WE CAN RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL WITH EMPTY EMOTIONALISM
1. See vss 5-6, 16-17
2. In Palestine it is not unusual to see a layer of limestone with a half-inch of soil over it. This limestone traps the heat and water, so the soil is extremely warm and moist. A seed dropped into it springs up almost immediately. But because of the limestone barrier, the plant can’t put down any roots. As soon as the hot sun hits it, it dies.
3. Jesus says that some people are like that in their response to the gospel. Compare Mark 1:15 (Repentance and faith are acts of will) with 4:16 “receive it with gladness…have no roots… (Emotional response to gospel, but are not really saved).
4. Guess what happens? In a few weeks the emotion wears off, and the first time it becomes difficult or inconvenient to act like a believer, they fall by the wayside.
5. Illus. of evangelist
• Had very little to say about the Bible, mostly told one heart-rending story after another about people being trapped in burning buildings, and mothers who nearly died from dehydration caused by crying for lost children.
• After he whipped everybody into an emotional state, told them if they loved America and Mom they needed to come forward.
• They did, by the dozens. Within a month, not one person who “received Christ” at that meeting could be found.
6. Our church rolls are filled with people like this, people who make a decision based on emotion instead of will. They stayed with it just long enough to get their name on the church roll, but their name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!
III. SOME WILL RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL WITH WORLDLY PREOCCUPATION
1. See vss 7, 18-19
2. Sometimes the farmers in Palestine would get a little lazy. Instead of pulling up all the weeds, they would just burn off the field. If you sowed seed in that ground, the seed would grow but so would the weeds. Eventually, the weeds would choke out the seed.
3. Jesus used this to teach about preoccupied people. They hear the gospel, and they know they need to respond, but the gospel is choked out by what Jesus calls in verse 19 the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things
4. Illus. of going on trip
• Trying to complete my doctorate, had to take study trip back to SEBTS.
• Joan packed my bags. Wasn’t sure about the weather, so she packed it with hot and cold clothes.
• I had to have folders, notepads, copies of my rough draft etc.
• Got through packing, there was no room in my suitcase for my Bible!
5. Jesus says that there are people like that. There is no room in their heart for the Gospel, because it’s already packed to the brim with, “do I have enough in my IRA, am I going to be caught in the big lay-off, we need a newer car, my wife wants a bigger house, what’s going to happen with the economy, will I get that promotion, and how big will my bonus be this year?”
6. If you ask this person they would probably say, “I know this Jesus stuff is important, but right now I’ve got to focus on providing for my family.”
IV. WE CAN RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL WITH LIFE-CHANGING FAITH
1. See vss 8, 20
2. Some will hear the gospel and respond with genuine repentance and faith. As a result, their life will be radically changed. They will begin to bear Kingdom fruit in their life!
3. Of the four responses, only this last group genuinely knows Christ and is going to heaven!
CONLCUSION
1. How can we respond to the gospel?
• Callused indifference
• Empty emotionalism
• Worldly preoccupation
• Life-changing faith.
2. Here is the gospel:
• All have sinned
• Sin separates from God
• Jesus went to the cross to pay our sin debt, and through His death, burial, resurrection He can cleanse your sin and bring you into a right relationship with God
• Doesn’t happen automatically: We must repent. We must believe.
