The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.What fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life; and they bring no fruit to maturity.And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.And that which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
3 sermons cite this verse
… is giving the explanation of his parable. And he says in verse 14, the seed that fell among thorns, stands for those who hear. But as they go on their way, they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not come to maturity. Somehow or another, Ananias and Sapphira, in Acts chapter 5, fit into that picture. You remember the story of them lying about the sale of their property, trying to make it look as though they had done better than they had done in terms of their giving? There was no reason for them to do so, there was no pressure on them to capitulate in the way in which they did. And what about Judas Iscariot on that sorry morning? when Jesus was bound and led away and handed over to Pilate. And Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, and he was seized with remorse, and he returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. I have sinned, he said, for I have betrayed innocent blood. What's that to us? they replied. That's your responsibility. …
You may be seated. The cause of spiritual failure. Thank you. That's what I want to tag this text, the cause of spiritual failure. Luke is writing the words of Jesus and the Jesus words come across like a transcript that describes his ministry. It's a notation of his experience. When you read what we've read, you have some questions that surface. Couldn't Jesus' ministry have been richer? Could it not have been more productive, more positive than what we read? what is it about even the ministry of Jesus where crowds of people gather around and then they go away? I hadn't paid attention to that, had you? I'd always thought that the crowd that gathered around Jesus initially when they were enthusiastically following after him initially when he inaugurated his ministry was the same crowd swelling as Jesus moved toward the cross. I'm not really giving attention over these years of studying how the crowds thinned out even on Jesus. crowds gaggling Galileans that gathered to follow our Lord's words were in abundance initially and the closer he got to the purpose of his coming the cross things started thinning out now if that was Christ's question where are they it might be the question that falls from our lips where are they the question is has Christ's ministry failed has God failed finally? …
the light, for nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known or come to light. Take ye then, Christ covenant church, how you hear. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who does not have, even what he has or thinks he has will be taken away. So for the last few days your pastor and I and several hundred pastors have been thinking and talking a lot about preaching, the power of it, the privilege of it, the preparation of it. And so it seemed fitting when Kevin asked me to preach in this service that I would talk about hearing preaching. That's why I chose this text. Notice the second half of verse 10. so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. Verse 12, the ones along the path are those who have heard. Verse 13, the ones on the rock are those who hear the word, receive it with joy. Verse 14, as for those who fell among the thorns, there are those who hear. But as they go on their way they're choked, and especially verse 18, which is the climax of the story of the parable and the point of the text and the sermon, take heed, Christ's covenant church, how you hear. …