Text: Colossians 1:5-6
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Hearing the truth
- God’s word is truth
- There is this interesting brand of religious carnality that poses as Christianity that doesn’t believe their Bible needs to be true. It just needs to be called a Bible, but as far as it being true is really irrelevant.
- Because it’s truth, it is able to clean, sanctify, purify, guide, etc.
- 2 Peter 1:13-21
- Corrupting God’s word
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 forgotten changed to “praised”
- Isaiah 9:3 increased their joy changed to “not increased their joy”
- Psalm 10:5 grievous changed to “prosperous”
- Hosea 10:1 empty vine changed to spreading vine
- Proverbs 26:22 wounds changed to “choice morsels”
- Deletions: Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Mark 11:26, Mark 15:28, Luke 17:36, Luke 23:17, John 5:4, Acts 8:37, Acts 15:34, Acts 24:7, Acts 28:29, Romans 16:24, 1 John 5:7
- Changes in modern versions that don’t update anything: Leviticus 11:30 snail to skink, hell to hades almost every time, Ezekiel 31:4 river to rivulets, 1 Samuel 13:21 file to pim, Acts 27:17 quicksand to Syrtis sands
- Lie found in Mark 1:2-3
- The trinity: 1 John 5:7 deleted, verses 6 & 8 divided to create a new verse 7
- Deity of Christ: 1 Timothy 3:16 “God” changed to “he”, John 3:16 “one and only son” (which is a lie) in line with 1 John 4:3 and the spirit of antichrist
- Isaiah 14:12 & Revelation 22:16 in an NIV Jesus Christ and the Devil are the same person – “the morning star”
Planting incorruptible seed
- Words of God bear fruit in believers: faith, love, hope
- Sower and seed
- The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11; Matthew 13:19)
- Wayside
- Significance of the wayside ground is that it is unprepared.
- Unprepared because you have no interest. Because you have no heart for the things of God. Because it doesn’t make you feel good.
- Unprepared because your religious teaching. Jesus said to the Pharisees they make the words of God of none effect by your tradition.
- Unprepared means you choose to give the devil the upper hand in your life. Unprepared means you take the grace the Lord offers you and give it directly to the devil.
- Shallow heart
- Emotional response to the words of God without any change of heart or desire for true righteousness.
- This problem is not at the surface. Underneath, this soul is set in its way.
- What was the problem? No root. The seed entered in at the surface, but couldn’t find deep enough place to root. Temptations weren’t the problem, they just revealed the problem.
- Shallow because of your age. God can’t make any real change in my life at this point in my life.
- Shallow because you received the word of God for some selfish motive.
- Suffocating heart
- The words choked out with worldliness – influences, cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, pleasures of this life, worldly lusts.
- It “becometh unfruitful” indicating that it had the opportunity to bear fruit (Mark 4:19, Luke 8:14).
- Bearing fruit is its natural state. If a farmer sees his crop not bearing fruit he will try to figure out what is wrong with it because it is natural to bear fruit.
- The soil here is good, but there is competition in the heart
- Demas. 2 Timothy 4:10
- Suffocating cares
- Suffocating riches
- Suffocating pleasure
- Productive heart
- The soil is well prepared when the seed is planted and fulfills its purpose.
- The productivity is noteworthy. For every fourth seed you get a minimum 30 fold return.
- The only factor in levels of fruit is the watering and care of the seed and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 15:5)
- What made the ground good? Honest and good heart. Quit making excuses. Quit making your fruitlessness someone else’s fault.
- The word of God, the seed, has found a place it can work and grow.
- 1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Call of the Good Shepherd
- Sheep of the Good Shepherd are marked by the voice they hear
- Identified the division among the “herds” by what he said (John 10:19-18)
- My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me (10:27)
- His flock is marked by their ears
- The problem always comes down to belief in God’s words. What you’ll do with God’s words tells you exactly who you are and what flock you are a part of.
