This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Importance of The Heart

Importance of The Heart
 Jesus explains the parable and says the Seed is the Word of God, also Jesus is the Word of God, John 1:1,14 , but he doesn’t focus on the sower but on the way each ground respond to the seed. Any believer who shares the Word of God or shares the good news of the gospel is the sower.

All the 4 hearts (grounds) heard the Word of God, but the HARDEN heart that was all hard like a sideway heard the word, but is so hard that the seed doesn’t penetrate it,  doesn’t received it

The other 3 hearts received the word, but in different ways:

I/ The shallow heart (part hard & part soft)  believed for a while, but it doesn’t last. Believers that start up well but because they had no root, they withered away.

II/ The heart with thorns is a believer, (soft heart but affected by surroundings) but he/she is too busy with cares of this world, doesn’t spend enough time with the Lord & because of that he/she doesn’t bring fruit to maturity, this means they may give some fruit but it falls to the ground before is mature, so is lost.  Many Christians are in this category, their hearts are good, but the problem is they are too busy or they listen to wrong doctrine.
Many are eager to serve the Lord before learning the Word, so they try to ‘work’ on their own, without the Lord. Some may even try to witness to at least “x” amount of people, thinking that this will get them somehow on the ‘safe side’, but sadly they are deceiving themselves, (Jehovah’s Witnesses work very hard to witness to others but that won’t take them to heaven, many unsaved people do charity works, but that doesn’t save them), the fruit from our hearts is much more than that. Many read this parable & understand its meaning but miss the main reason of why or how we give fruit:

 “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4-10).
– Abides= Strong’s # G3306, to remain, to continue to be present, to survive, to live, to remain as one.

The branches cannot give fruit on their own, the vine is the source of the fruit not the branches. The branches without the vine cannot give fruit but will dry up. The branch is just an instrument & when is full of the vine’s sap it will produce fruit without effort. In other words the fruit is a consequence of the vine’s sap infilling the branch.  Remember it isn’t us, it’s all His work in us, we got nothing to boast about.

III/ And Finally, Only 1 of the 4 is a good heart and bears fruit with patience. Believers that spend time in their relationship with the Lord & are learning the Word & to be led by the Holy Spirit to do His will, and because of that, they produce fruit. A fruitful Christian is one who is able to bear fruit to bless others. Many focus on  ‘works’  but unbelievers also have works. Some others do it for the wrong reasons: “But all their works they do for to be seen of men” Matt. 23:5

Jesus said “Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:20). Jesus was talking here mainly about false teachers & false prophets.  He didn’t say by they works you will know them, but by their fruits, their fruits are their actions & words.  The work of faith is obedience, but it is faith which works by love (Gal.5:6), true faith is active, not passive, because it is perfected or completed by our actions (James 2:22).

Checking our fruits: Are we offending God with the things we say & do? are we repenting & asking for forgiveness? are we lying? are we money hungry? are we using people for our benefit or are we freely serving them? are we doing works to gain favor, or to get a position? are we proud? Is people seeing the fruit of the Spirit in us? … and the main one, are we  loving God & others?

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law‘. Gal. 5:22.
See examples in the bible of each kind of ground/heart:

Sideway- Acts 26:28

Rocky soil- John 6:51-67

Thorns- Luke18:18-23

Good soil- Acts 10

By this parable we can learn that:

1. The condition of our heart (4 kind of grounds) determines if we receive salvation. (God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance – 2 Peter 3:9).
2. Our heart’s condition affects our ability to understand and receive the Word of God. (Mark 6:52; 8:17).
3. The condition of our heart affects our spiritual growth & fruit. (Luke 8:15, Mark 4:20)
4. Our heart’s condition affects also our ability to see with our spiritual eyes & to hear with our spiritual ears. (Matt.13:15; Mark 8:17-19; Acts 28:26-27)
5. Because all of the things mention above, the condition of our heart affects our relationship with God.  (See also Prov.28:14; Prov.21:2; 1 Samuel 16:7; Lucas 10:27)

Ephesians 4:18: ‘having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (Strong #4457= callousness, blindness, hardness) of their heart‘.

The Word of God tells us the importance of guarding our hearts Proverbs 4: 23 ‘Keep (guard) thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’  We also see in the Parable that to the believer only it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, we were blessed with  eyes that see: and with ears that hear. ( God opened our spiritual eyes & ears, when we repented & were born again). We noticed the Lord emphasized about the way we HEAR His Word (spiritual truth).

” Take heed therefore how ye hear: For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him“ Luke 8:18.  Whoever has what? …   Faith (Rom.12:3), spiritual gifts from God (Matt. 25:28-29),  spiritual eyes to see & spiritual ears to hear God’s teachings.

We can pray for our brethren & ourselves that the Lord would reveal anything in our hearts, that hinders our relationship with Him, so we can repent & ask for a cleansing of heart.  And also we can pray before witnessing to the unbelievers, that the Lord could prepare and soften their hearts, so they can receive the Word of God, understand it  & get saved.

In Jesus Christ’s Love, to whom be the glory forever. Amen

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