Open Your Heart

It is vital that our hearts are open and receptive to the Word of God. The parable of the sower is not about the sower, but about the four types of people who hear the word. We can be those who hear but are not willing to receive, or those who let it take root but not to the foundation of our lives, so that when persecution comes our faith is broken, or those who hear but are too taken with the worldly pleasures to really listen and obey God; or we can be those who have open hearts and willing ears, who hear the word and act on it. God had given us freedom, to remain in that freedom we must continue in His word.

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There’s one theme that I want to talk about, which is to do with freedom and what we do with it. I’m going to a parable, maybe in a different way to how you have looked at it before. During this month, I’m going to be looking at a different parable each evening.

Jesus came back to this small place called Nazareth first after being baptized.

Luke 4:16-21

That was quite a dramatic moment because, for the first time, Jesus proclaimed why He had come. Part of that proclamation was that He was going to set at liberty them that are bruised. So if you are Christian, you have been set free from the power of sin inside to make choices that please Him. Jesus has come inside you to give you the power to live right. He said what He said, He then sat down and said that this day that scripture was fulfilled.

We have freedom as to how we respond to the word. It is that use of freedom that I want to focus on now. This next scripture is a few years later when Jesus had been preaching and performing miracles in the synagogues and to the people at large:

John 8:30-32

There’s the sense that freedom is continuing in God’s word. A little later He says:

John 8:36-37

Freedom is to do with how we respond to God’s word. We have the freedom to create how we are going to hear it. It is important how we hear it. Now this is the parable itself:

Matthew 13:1-9

This parable is to do with your use of God given freedom because your freedom allows you to be one of four types of people, so that when you come to listen to preaching, your freedom has determined the soil that’s in your heart. You have made the choice, even as you came in this morning, to either hear or not hear. This parable is often referred to the parable of the sower, but really it’s the parable of the person who got it right in the way he heard God’s word. It is vital that you and I are open to what God wants to speak to us in His word. The principle is that we have ears to hear. That is why Jesus told them that they had ‘ears to hear’. Are the words sinking in, or do they just bounce off you?

Matthew 13:10-12

In other words, the more you hear this word, it compounds good unto good or confirms the opposite; it depends how you hear.

Matthew 13:13-15

There’s an active thing that He quotes there, of the way we come to hear God’s word. Quoting from Isaiah, He says that their hearts are waxed gross, their eyes and closed and they are dull of hearing.

Matthew 13:16-17

What’s matters is how we hear. The principle is that we need to have an open heart to what God by His Holy Spirit wants to say to us. It is possible for us to emphasise the freedom God has given us whereby we close off, the hearts waxes gross, the ears become dull and the eyes shut.

Matthew 13:18-19

The wayside is where it’s all compressed ground and there is no ability for the seed to take root so it just gets washed away. So the first choice is that when I come into this room I can set my heart not to hear. I will hear the words spoken, but will push it away and not let it sink it. It might be you’re at home, reading your Bible, or the thought has occurred to you that should read the Bible, but then you decide actually, no, I don’t need to. The enemy of our soul is ever ready to capture any word that you bounce away.

Matthew 13:20-21

The stony places are where there is only a thin layer of soil so no roots can grow. This is the sort of person whom receives the word for a while, and on the surface all looks good. But, when persecution comes, because there is no foundation, their faith will fade away. We have to continue in His word, because by continuing, we can endure persecution.

Matthew 13:22

So there’s a two-horse race going on with this type of hearer. They have made the choice and hear the word. But parallel with that word, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches means that they both come to church and go out and enjoy the cares of the world. In time, the word, although they hear it every week, will be choked because the cares of this world are too important to that person.

Matthew 13:23

There’s a sense in which you and I have a responsibility with the freedom God’s given us, to be open to what He wants to say to us. God wants us to be open. He will continue relentlessly to be revelatory to you by His word because He lives you. What He wants in our lives is fruit that is pleasing to Him. That fruit is the fruit of the spirit and talking to other people so that, through our lives, other people are drawn to Him.

Galatians 5:1

Don’t get so bound up in legalism and what the world is such that you come here but are not open. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Galatians 5:13

As far as I’m concerned, when I come into this hall, it must be the case that I come in with a receptive heart to God’s word. God is specific to each one of you. I know that each one of us can look back at our lives, and see the difficulties we’ve overcome, and testify to the faithfulness of God through it all. To me, the opportunity God has given to us, to hear His word and for His Holy Spirit to come is so wonderful.

When you get baptised, as those who are getting baptised today, you are proclaiming to the world that you believe in Jesus Christ and that you have set you course to obey them. I am not going to be a dull hearer or someone who thinks they know it all. The testimony of those getting baptised today is, as far as I’m concerned, God inside me, my faith in Jesus Christ means I’m a Christian and I’m going to go forward in Him.

Yesterday, a field near my house, was harvested. I’d been looking out at this field for the past months, watching the wind and rain and thinking that there was no way there would be no crop. But, as it was harvested, there was a constant reliance on the combine harvester of the crop. There is no way, if God has got involved in your life, that you will not bear fruit. What is that fruit for? It’s for His glory; it’s to show others that He is the Lord of your life.

We don’t know what life holds, or when we will go to be in glory. But we do know that the freedom we need to exercise, day in and day out, is to be open to Jesus Christ. Who does He want to reach through you this week? When was the last time you reached out to someone in need with the Gospel? You are here because He got you here; He loves you. I know that as we are faithful to His word, and fulfil His purposes in His time, the glory will be unto Him and unto Him alone. He is a wonderful heavenly Father.

Our Need of Him

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin and death so that we would not be condemned to an eternity without God. Out of His love God talks to us, by His Holy Spirit, convincing us of our sin and our need for Him. All we have to do is look at Jesus with faith, and He will give you salvation.

I’d like to thank the choir for all the work they’ve put in to convey to you the significance, and the vitality of the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, conquering sin and death. The outworking of anyone who is involved, as we all are from our initial birth, with sin, is death. There are some here this morning in whom God has been faithfully speaking over the past weeks. By His Spirit He speaks to us. He does that for the simple reason that He wants you not to end up in death. When Jesus was with His disciples He told them that if they kept His commandments they would abide in His love even as He had kept the Father’s commandments and abode in His love. Jesus was the only one who fulfilled the commandments of the Father. He did no sin, He thought no sin. He was pure. The life and love that is in Christ is something which God is pointing out to you because He wants to change the decay inside you. That decay which leads, in the end, to an eternity without God; death.

(reading from Mau Tsi Tung’s book) He didn’t follow an ideology or philosophy. It was a life without God and it ended in death and self-pity. Even at the end he was thinking that someone was going to depose him. I have mentioned this because your involvement with sin, if Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Saviour, will result in death eternally. You can’t muck about with sin. The glorious truth of today is the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, period. He conquered death by doing that, and took into Himself the penalty of sin. The power of sin in your life is broken. As a result of Him rising from the dead, death was conquered and life reigns.

There were ten occasions when He appeared to various people after He came back to life. He was seen by Mary Magdalene, then by the other Mary, then to the disciples, then to Peter, then to 500 people, then to James and then to the Apostles again as He was taken up in a cloud back to heaven. There was one occasion I missed out in that list which will now see:

Luke 24:13-27

You can now see in Isaiah a few verses which refer to Jesus. Jesus could well have referred to these verses when He explained to those two on the road about Himself.

Isaiah 25:6-8

He will swallow up death in victory. And now, here’s Jesus walking along the road pointing out all those verses which referred to Himself. As He spoke to them, they could tell that what He was talking about was true.

Luke 24:28-35

Ten occasions when Jesus appeared before He ascended into heaven, physically risen from the dead.

Here Paul lists these occasions in his letter to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

What he’s talking about is that if Jesus Christ had not risen up from the dead, sin would still always have control of you and me. The end would be certain death, an eternity without God. There are some of you here who are thinking that you have heard this so often and you are not sure if it will ever be true for me. God is saying to you that Jesus actually physically rose from the dead, that is a fact. It was attested by many witnesses. As a result of that death has been broken and life has been given, through Him eternally. The point comes when, by His Holy Spirit, God in His love and mercy makes that revelation to you that you need someone to sort out the sin inside you. The fact that you realise you need someone to deal with your sin is God Himself already working in you.

It is miserable without God because you try and fill that void inside you, but nothing can fill it. So you keep coming back to square one and you’re still the same. Christ rose from the dead so that you would be set free from the curse of sin. He took into Himself that sin inside you on the cross. He’s not going to force Himself on you, but by His Holy Spirit He’s speaking to you right now. I don’t care if someone is sitting here who has been here year after year and yet, for you, it’s as if you’re hearing this for the first time. I’m saying that it is not too much to swallowed one’s pride if we are talking about eternity. The Law of God still stands. You know and I know that you cannot fulfil that law. Jesus fulfilled that law because you cannot. The solution is simply to look at Christ. God has provided a way forward for all mankind, but He’s a gentleman and He won’t force the issue.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

1 Corinthians 15:53-56

The bite of the serpent resulted in death, and the analogy is that the sin is the sting that causes death. The only solution to your situation inside, is Jesus Christ and you exercising faith. That means repenting of your sin and thinking about what it meant for Jesus Christ to go to the cross and to rise again. The solution is that when you set your faith in what Jesus Christ has done, you can have salvation. The Holy Spirit first has to convince you of your sin and of the consequence of that. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power which changes people on the inside today. No wonder He says: “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

At this point I could say, if God’s convicting you on the inside, come to the front and I’ll pray with you. Many of you would say that you’ve done that before and nothing has happened. I know that what matters is that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to you directly, by His Holy Spirit, to get hold of you. He loves you.

Stand Fast in the Freedom in God

1 Peter 2:9

This letter was sent around a number of areas, and the whole point was the persecution that was arising from Nero in Rome. There were tough times ahead for these people.

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1 Peter 2:11

Verse 11 is extremely clear cut. Fleshly lusts, or desires, definitely do war against the soul. If you give in to fleshly desires, that war will intensify. Freedom in God is the freedom not to sin. That’s one way of expressing it. You’ve been set free from the power of sin. You’ve been set free from the penalty of sin. Prior to being a Christian you cannot but sin. That is the nature. If we’re free not to sin, that freedom can be exercised in the wrong way. That is why Peter says to be careful not to give in to fleshly lusts.

Judges 16:18

James 4:1

There’s a submission, and these few verses in 1 Peter are all to do with who you are submitting your mind to. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.

1 Peter 2:11

1 Peter 2:13

There is a way of living as a Christian where you abide by the rules.

Acts 5:17

The angel had told Peter to go and teach. But when he said you ought to obey God rather than men, that doesn’t mean to cut across man’s law entirely. When God specifically wanted him to do something, that overrode everything else, but in the normal course of life we should obey the law.

1 Peter 2:13

Actions speak louder than words. The way we go about things and the way we treat people and talk to people is important. God is not unaware of the stand you are making. Keep making that stand. You are who you are before God.

1 Peter 2:16

Freedom in Christ is to be cherished. I am free to be the person God wants me to be. I’m free as a result of what he has done inside me to walk in the spirit.

Galatians 4:31

We need to stand fast in that liberty. I’ve talked to a number of people who have rediscovered that freedom in God. There’s been an excitement that’s growing. You know that you are walking to things that God has prepared for you that are miraculous. God is working out his purposes in reaching out through you to other people.

1 Peter 2:13

Our only agenda is lifting up the name of Jesus Christ, loving each other, and preaching the Gospel to help those outside who need it.