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THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER : THE STONY HEART PART 2
Characteristics of the Stony Heart.
The stony hearts go further than the roadside or path way hearts. They hear the word, understand it and gladly or excitedly receive the word of the kingdom and the King of the kingdom Himself. The word does not enter the right ear and fly out in the left ear. We must note that merely being hearers of the word does not qualify us for eternal life or fruit bearing
from the word of God we receive. So what are the characteristics of the stony or rocky heart?
(1)These people delight in the word of God but they do not “meditate on it day and night. So they cannot be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper” (Ps1:2,3 nkjv)
(2)These hearers lack endurance. They receive the word of God with joy. They are among those who call out “preach it” to the preacher. Many of these are eager to hear a good sermon, “a word from heaven” especially from one they respect and adore on and off the pulpit, yet they do not profit by the message given. They are pleased by the word, touched by it, “blessed” by it, yet they are not changed and ruled by it.
The heart may melt under the word and yet not be melted down by that word much less into it as into a mould. Many of these taste the word and find it sweet but some lust they love or idea they cherish is rolled under the tongue which the word does not agree with so they spit the word out. Example is some of the hard sayings of Jesus. “I assure you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you cannot have eternal life within you… I am the true bread from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever and not die as your ancestors did even though they ate the manna”….. At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him” John (6:53, 58, 66 nlt).
Because they only endure for a while and not to the end and they come short of the salvation, peace and joy of God promised only to those who endure to the end and persevere. Jesus said “And everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to Me. But those who endure to the end will be saved.”(Matt. 10:22 nlt). This calls for commitment to Jesus and the word of God, to follow Him and to perform.
It calls for a devoted life to God to experience the transformation the word of God we hear and receive and live by performs in our life. But those with a stony heart toward the word of God fall away so that no fruit can be brought to maturity. They are like the grass “on the housetops, which withers before it grows up” (psalms 129:6 nkjv)
Friends let’s pray this prayer:
1. Father, in the name of Jesus I do not want to be like the “grass on the housetops.” I do not want to look good for a moment, only to wither away. I desire my life to bear fruit that abides for the kingdom. I want to be a hundred fold fruit bearer like Isaac. Amen.
2. Father let my root; grow deep in you. Let me be your branch that is nurtured by you to flourish like a palm tree. Let me not be a cast away in Jesus Name. Amen.
(3))Another issue which confronts people with a stony heart apart from perseverance or endurance is that though they started well something hindered them.
Paul told the Galatian Christians in (Gal. 5:7, 8) “You were getting along so well. Who has interfered with you to hold you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for He is the one who called you to freedom. But it takes one wrong person among you to infect all the others – a little yeast spreads quickly through the whole batch of dough: (nlt)
It often happens that some people love the Lord, hear His word and believe but a false teacher, prophet or preacher introduces a negative word or doctrine to turn the heart away. Such happened In Acts 13: 1. When Paul and Barnabas were preaching the word to the proconsul sergius Paulus a false prophet, a sorcerer Elymas withstood them. Paul rebuked him with blindness and the message prospered and the proconsul believed. We also recall the young prophet from Judah in 1 kings 13 who was lied to and made to disobey God by a lying old prophet from Israel. The young prophet was punished by God. He was killed by a lion. Lssd;
Thus evil or false and contrary ideas and teachings from other people can make those with a stony heart to fall away and fail to grow and bear fruit.
(4) Another characteristic of those with a stony heart is that they have no root in themselves. They have no firm principles, no strong convictions in their lives. They have no resolute wills, no faith, no commitment to godly habits. Where they do not have root of grace hardness prevails in the heart and whatever softness exists is only superficial. They possess no depth because in the inner man they are like rock and stone. They are not united in Christ who is our root and the Centre of our beings for in Him we live, we move and we have our being. All our spiritual blessings are encapsulated in Him. This is not the type of relationship of the stony heart with Jesus the True Vine. they cannot grow to maturity and expect to bear fruit.
Paul declared to the Colossians in Col. 2: 6,7 “And now just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done.” (nlt). Paul further guides us “Don’t let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high‐ sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world and not from Christ” (Col 2:8 nlt).
This is what the person with the stony or rocky heart must follow to enjoy a life of transformation from the word of the kingdom and grow to maturity with fruits that abide.
(5) Another aspect of the stony heart is failure to recognize and take advantage of opportunities that God provides. When we ignore them we lose. We all bear personal responsibility for the condition of our heart.
Jesus confirmed this through His introductory teaching on the parable of the sower. When His disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables. This was because in His earlier years He did not teach so much in parables but did so later on. Jesus explained it to them. For example in Matthew 13:10-15 quoting Isaiah the prophet, Jesus told them and us today. The people hear the word but they pretend not to hear because they do not want to listen, ponder and consider lest they understand. If they understand they will he convicted and so change their beliefs and their ways and be saved. They see but in like manner pretend they do not see because they refuse to see and know the truth that will make them accept Jesus as the promised messiah. So people with a stony heart have opportunities to embrace the message and the free gift of salvation but reject it.
But in some instances God in His mercy sends warnings to His people to make them turn back to Him. Examples are in the cases of Israel and Judah in the Books of Jeremiah and Hosea we referred to earlier.
When God gives us multiple opportunities time without number in some areas of our life and we fail to respond positively the heart becomes dull and insensitive.
Many believers go through this phonemeneon. They were fervent in spirit, serving the lord and embracing specific messages but down the line over time they slipped back and lost the zeal. This happens because their heart has lost its sensitivity to the kingdom message or even values they once professed and observed.
We can observe this in Isaiah 6:8. Isaiah encountered the Lord and He spoke to him. Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Isaiah accepted the commission with the stunning message “Go and tell this people Keep on hearing, but do not understand, keep on seeing, but do not perceive! He continue “Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and return and be healed “(Isaiah 6:9,10, nkjv).
Isaiah then asked “Lord, how long? Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitants. The houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate…But yet a tenth will be in it. So the Holy seed shall be its stump” Isa 6:12 (nkjv). In other words the judgment will run its course and then the remnant will return.
This is the case where a Christian believer becomes insensitive to the word of God and His warnings. When we ignore them we will not realize that our hearts have been stony until the blows of judgment come. May God help us by His Spirit to continually do a check up on the state of our hearts that we may always hear and respond positively to the word of God so that instead of punishment we experience His goodness and fulfillment of His promises.
(6) Let us finally examine another characteristic of the stony heart. The stony heart is weak in faith and is not deeply rooted in the word of God. Therefore when trials come in the form of persecution, affliction and oppression because of the word and allegiance to Jesus as they must, believers with this type of heart give up. These adversities constitute stumbling blocks which they are unable to overcome. They can come in the form of temptations and they give up like Peter who denied Jesus and abandoned his professions in the face of danger and harm to his life.
This happens because of the shallowness of their root in the word and or lack of intimacy with the Holy Spirit. They quarrel with their confession then cast it off and cannot further their growth to bear any fruit. It is therefore the personal responsibility of all of us believers, in our walk with God to continually search our hearts to know if we are still in faith. We need to know whether our faith in God and His word is growing. When we experience diminishing delight in the word of God, Luke warmness in matters of the kingdom, perseverance, weak prayer life, lacking in love of the brethren it is time to arise and pray the Holy Spirit to help us break up our fallow grounds, clear weeds in our hearts and return to the Lord. He is faithful to receive us back. His love never fails. He desires fruit from us and will grant us more and more grace to overcome. The Holy Spirit is available to help us soldier through.
The Lord be gracious to you.