Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23 Teaching Outline)

Introduction [After having read all of verses 1-23]: I recently read a testimonial from someone who attended the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Here is a part of that testimonial:

I have, for a long time, been passionate about making the Bible relevant in contemporary culture and talking to people where they are at. So when I found that LICC was running a course teaching practical skills on just this subject, I thought it would be good to take part.

Notice the emphasis on the need to “make the Bible relevant in contemporary culture.” This statement betrays a bias that sees the Bible as inherently irrelevant. It can only become relevant to those in our modern culture if we make it so.

Contrast this with a statement from John MacArthur in an online article entitled What Does This Verse Mean “to Me”?:

We don’t make the Bible relevant; it is inherently so, simply because it is God’s Word. And after all, how can anything God says be irrelevant?

You see the difference? One approach sees the ultimate determination of relevance as rooted in what our contemporary culture thinks is relevant, whereas the other approach sees the ultimate determination of relevance as being rooted in the authority of God Himself. The Bible is relevant because He revealed it, and if we do not think it is relevant – and therefore resist hearing it on its own terms – then the problem is with us, not the Bible.

The reason I bring up this issue is because I believe that the Parable of the Sower speaks to it as well. And today, as we examine the parable in context, it will become apparent that Jesus simply preached the Word faithfully, expecting that not all would see its true relevance. But He saw the problem as lying within those to whom He preached, not the Word itself.

So, let's take a look at the parable and observe first of all that it is an allegory, in which the various elements of the story correspond to people or things outside it. Thus, we will see that the sower in the parable refers primarily to Jesus, although he can also refer to others who share the Word as Jesus did, i.e. the disciples and all of us who follow in their footsteps. In the parable Jesus is describing the different reactions to His teaching ministry and why these different reactions exist. The seed, then, refers to the Word of God that Jesus preached and that we share with others as well. And the various types of ground refer to the various types of people who hear the Word, or, even better, to the condition of the hearts of those who hear.

As we examine the parable and Jesus' explanation of it, we will focus upon what happened to the seed as it was sown on each of the four different types of ground. So, without further ado, lets take a look at each of these.

I. The Seed That Fell by the Wayside

Jesus first spoke of this ground in verse 4:

NKJ Matthew 13:4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

The “wayside” refers to a path along the field. This path had become hardened due to the foot traffic it received. Thus the seed couldn't penetrate the soil, and it just lay there so that the birds were able to eat it. Jesus explained the meaning of this ground in verse 19:

NKJ Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

Notice a couple of important things about the wayside person:

1) Jesus says that this person hears the Word but does not understand it. But notice that the fault does not lie here with the sower or the seed, but rather with the ground. The sower has done His job well enough, having sown good seed, but the ground is unable to receive it. This explains the many people who heard Jesus teach but who lacked the spiritual understanding necessary to take it in. 

2) Notice also that, since these people were unable to understand and thus respond in faith to Jesus' message, the “wicked one” – that is, the devil – was able to snatch it away. Now, Jesus doesn't explain how the devil accomplishes this. He just says that somehow the devil deprives these unbelievers of the word they had heard.

As the Apostle Paul told the Corinthian church, “even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

Application: There are a couple of ways that we can begin to apply what Jesus is saying here.

First, we can learn from the way that Jesus operates versus the way the devil operates. We do know that the devil is a deceiver, and that he seeks to prevent people from believing the truth by filling their heads with lies that they find more acceptable than the truth. In other words, he is quite willing to tailor his message to fit what sinful people want to hear. But Jesus would never distort the message in this way! And neither should we! We must understand that there will be many hardhearted people out there who simply cannot and will not receive the word of God. But it is never our job to try to alter the message in order to make it more acceptable to them. It is our job simply to be faithful in proclaiming the message as we have received it from the Lord. As James White is fond of saying, “the Gospel is ours to proclaim, not to edit!”

Second, we can reflect upon what kind of ground we are. Ask yourself, “Am I a hardhearted person? Have I really understood the Gospel?” I suspect that most of you here this morning can answer, “Yes,” to this question. I suspect, for example, that you can say, “Yes, I understand that I am a sinner, as the Bible says, and that the only way for me to be saved is to trust in Jesus' death on the cross, where He bore the wrath of God for sinners, and to believe that He rose from the dead that I might have everlasting life. I know that I must repent and seek His forgiveness for my sins and give my whole life to Him.”

Now, assuming you understand all this, let me ask you another question: Do you really believe it? Have you really trusted Christ – and Christ alone – to save you from your sins? Have you relinquished all your own efforts as worthless and relied solely upon the work of Christ and the grace of God to save you? If not, then perhaps you are not so different from the wayside person after all, since you have done nothing with what you claim to understand. Or maybe you are just a stony ground kind of person, about whom we shall read next.

II. The Seed That Fell on Stony Ground

Jesus first spoke of this ground in verses 5-6:

NKJ Matthew 13:5-6 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

This ground is not ground that just has a bunch of rocks in it. Rather it is ground found in many parts of Palestine, where there is a thin layer of soil with limestone beneath it. The seed germinates quickly because the soil is warm and loose, but as it grows in the sun it cannot take root deep enough to survive. Jesus explained the meaning of this ground in verses 20-21:

NKJ Matthew 13:20-21 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

The stony ground person is different from the wayside person in that he appears to understand the Word. He thus receives it with great joy. Such a person apparently has quite an emotional and excited reaction to the Gospel. But herein is the problem. This person's acceptance of the Word seems to be no more than an emotional reaction, because when difficulties come because of the Word he does not persevere. In fact, he gives up very quickly. As Jesus says, “when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles” (italics mine). As William Hendriksen, in his commentary on Matthew, observes:

Today’s evangelical revival gatherings, undoubtedly sources of blessing for many, add illustrative material. Investigation has established that by no means all those who at the spur of the moment – emotionally affected by the message and personal appeal of the evangelist, as well as by the music and the words of the old familiar hymns – were led to come forward and to sign the pledge card, have remained faithful. (BNTC, e-Sword)

But most of these people have nothing like the reasons Jesus gives here for some people's lack of perseverance in the faith. He speaks of “tribulation and persecution because of the Word.” One can only imagine how many more people today would fall away under genuine persecution for the faith. But, as the author of Hebrews says to true believers, I trust that “we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39).

Application: Again we can begin to apply what Jesus is teaching here in several ways.

First, we can remember that not everyone who seems enthusiastic about the Gospel is necessarily a true believer. Emotional reactions are not necessarily the best measure of a genuine acceptance of the truth.

Second, since we know this is true, we should not seek to emotionally manipulate people into expressing faith in Christ, as is too often done in evangelistic crusades and so called “revivals.”

Third, we can again reflect upon what kind of ground we are. Ask yourself, for example, “After the initial excitement about my new-found faith in Christ began to wain, did my faithfulness to Him seem to go with it?” Perhaps you are still going to church and going through all the religious motions, since there is not the kind of persecution that would have weeded you out of the body of Christ by now, but you know you really don't trust Christ in your heart, and even the smallest problems in your life begin to reveal your lack of trust in Him. It could be that you are not so different from the stony ground person after all.

Or maybe you are just a thorny ground kind of person, about whom we shall read next.

III. The Seed That Fell Among Thorns

Jesus first spoke of this ground in the parable in verse 7:

NKJ Matthew 13:7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

Here Jesus refers to seed that is sown in a part of the field where there are thorns growing. Perhaps the thorn bushes had been burned off by the farmer, but the roots were still intact, so that, when the seed began to grow, the thorns grew up with it and kept it from getting the nourishment it needed. Jesus explained the meaning of this ground in verse 22:

NKJ Matthew 13:22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

The thorny ground person is so filled with the cares of this world and the thought that they may be relieved by worldly means that there is no room for the Word of God. He may not actually be a rich man, but he has succumbed to the deceitfulness of riches nonetheless. Again William Hendriksen is helpful in driving home the point:

[A] heart filled with worry with respect to the workaday world and beclouded by dreams about riches thwarts any influence for good that might otherwise proceed from the entrance of the kingdom message. Such a heart is preoccupied. It has no room for calm and earnest meditation on the word of the Lord. Should any such serious study and reflection nevertheless attempt to gain entrance, it would immediately be choked off. Constant anxiety about worldly affairs fill mind and heart with dark foreboding. When this person is poor he deceives himself into thinking that if he were only rich he would be happy. When he is rich he deludes himself into imagining that if he were only still richer he would be satisfied, as if material riches could under any circumstances guarantee contentment.

The man in question cannot be richly blessed nor can he be a blessing. The word as it affects him cannot be fruitful. There is nothing wrong with the sower. Also, there is nothing wrong with the seed. With the man, however, everything is wrong. He should ask the Lord to deliver him from absorbing cares and dream-world delusions, so that the kingdom message may begin to have free course in heart and life. (BNTC, e-Sword)

Or as Kent Hughes illustrates the point:

This is the divided heart – like the heart of the girl to which a young man once proposed. He said, “Darling, I want you to know that I love you more than anything else in the world. I want you to marry me. I'm not rich. I don't have a yacht or Rolls Royce like Johnny Brown, but I do love you with all my heart.” She thought for a minute and then replied, “I love you with all my heart, too, but tell me more about Johnny Brown.” (Mark, Vol. 1, p. 108)

You see, such a person may appear to be a true believer at first, but as time goes by and growth is expected, it just never seems to happen. Fruit is sought but never found. This is because they are never truly serving Christ, who Himself warned that, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24).

Application: Again we can begin to apply Jesus' teaching to our own situation in a couple of ways.

First, we can recall the deceitfulness of riches and denounce those who would seek to preach the Gospel as a means to personal wealth. In my view, this is exactly what the so-called “Prosperity Gospel” seeks to do. It is a false gospel that appeals to people's love for riches and essentially tells them that God and mammon are one and the same! But the so-called churches that teach such heresy are filled with many, many false believers.

Second, we can again reflect upon what kind of ground we are. Ask yourself, for example, “Do I allow worldly cares to crowd out any real relationship with God?” Or, “Am I so focused on worldly things that I have no time for God's Word?” If the answers to these questions are not what they should be, then you may be more like the thorny ground kind of person that you might have thought.

But there is still one more kind of ground, and that is good ground. It is the kind of ground I believe there is a great deal of here in this congregation! So let's turn our attention now to this kind of ground.

IV. The Seed That Fell on Good Ground

Jesus first spoke of this ground in verse 8:

NKJ Matthew 13:8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

This ground obviously refers to soil that is ideal for planting. It is not too hard or too shallow or infested with thorn bushes. This kind of ground can thus produce crops with varying degrees of fruitfulness. Some parts of the field may be more productive than others, but all produce. Jesus explained the meaning of this ground in verse 23:

NKJ Matthew 13:23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Notice a couple of important things here about the good ground kind of person:

1) This person is the only one whom Jesus says understands the word. He has earlier said that the wayside person doesn't understand the Word at all, but now it becomes apparent that even the stony ground or thorny ground person doesn't really understand the Word either, however much they may seem to understand it. All the kinds of people described by Jesus hear the Word, but apparently only the good ground person truly understands it. The good ground person is, then, the only one who is a genuine believer.

2) The good ground people demonstrate their true understanding of the Word in that they bear fruit. Of course, they don't all bear the same amount of fruit. Some bear less and some bear more. But they all bear fruit because they all truly understand the Word and thus have genuinely received it.

As Jesus told the disciples on another occasion:

NKJ John 15:3-8 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Thus, a genuine believer bears fruit because he genuinely understands and believes the Word. But what kind of fruit does Jesus have in mind? Well, we can say from John 15 that such fruit consists of whatever in our lives brings glory to the Father. But we can also look at passages such as:

NKJ Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Or perhaps to Paul's example:

NKJ Romans 1:13-15 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Here Paul speaks of what we might call “Gospel fruit” – the fruit of others coming to know Christ through the preaching of the Gospel. But we can all produce fruit in whatever ministry we have been given by God, whether it be the fruit of children who come to know the Lord, or others growing in their faith because of our teaching or encouragement, or perhaps the way in which we meet the needs of others through giving of our time and money. Whatever we do that magnifies Christ and glorifies God in our lives is fruit, and the true believer will always bear such fruit to some degree.

Application: The application here is pretty obvious. You and I can be assured that we have genuinely understood the Word and have been transformed by it when we see genuine fruit in our lives. Do you have such fruit? Even just a little? Then be encouraged, for you have passed the test that Jesus gives here. It is the same test that Paul put to the Corinthian church, when he said, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Cor. 13:5).

Conclusion: I will conclude where I began today, by emphasizing that God's Word is relevant, and we do not need to make it relevant. We may try to help people see how it is relevant – as I have sought to do in suggesting applications for us today– but this doesn't mean trying to tailor the message to what people want to hear. For, if they are good ground, they will hear it and receive it as it is. And if they are any other kind of ground, telling them what they want to hear will only exacerbate their problem. Let us be the kind of sower that Jesus was, faithfully sowing the same seed, and trusting God to sort out the rest.

Final Reminder - The Christmas Giveaway is Coming!

This is a final reminder to the blog's readers that the Christmas giveaway drawing is next month. As I announced on September 23, this year the Reformed Baptist Blog would like to thank our readers by offering an opportunity to two of the blog's email subscribers to receive a free book for Christmas this year. Two of our readers will receive a free copy of Dr. Jeff Johnson's upcoming book The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Biblical and Covenant Theology when it becomes available, which we hope will be this December. We will keep you posted and let you know just as soon as possible. This book promises to be perhaps the definitive work to date on Covenant Theology from a Reformed Baptist perspective. You can read more about this publication here.

On December 15 I will draw from the addresses included in the email subscriber list from FeedBurner. So, if you want to have a chance to receive one of these books, then make sure you sign up as an email subscriber to the blog using the Subscribe in a reader link on the right panel of this page. And make sure you click the "Get Reformed Baptist Blog delivered by email" option. Current email subscribers are already in the running.

I Don’t Believe in Soul Mates

There have been times that I have felt – that’s right, I said the word “felt” – prompted to get up out of my warm bed in the middle of the night to pray. At other times, I have had a sudden and spontaneous burden come upon me to give an offering to a person without hearing any external solicitation. I can firmly testify that my heart has felt tremendously close to Christ in private and corporate worship. I have not only experienced a love and devotion for my Savior, but more importantly, I have experienced His deep love for me. The inexpressible joy of the Lord, at times, has been so real in my life that all the logic of the wisest men in the world could not have convinced me that I was not in the presence of God. Moreover, I earnestly seek to remain in constant fellowship and communion with God and seek to become more and more sensitive to His leading in my life.

Though the Spirit’s leading is a vital part of my life, and I place great value upon my personal feelings, I did not marry my wife because I thought she was my “soul mate.” Rather, I married her because I thought she was godly, friendly, and pretty.

By saying that I do not believe in “soul mates” I do not mean that God does not have every detail of our lives (including whom we will or will not marry) already determined in His eternal council. Because God predestinated every detail of history, God knew in eternity past that I would marry Letha.

When speaking about “soul mates,” however, most people are not talking about God’s eternal council (a.k.a., God’s secret will), but rather they are referring to the idea that there is a “perfect will” of God for their lives that can be and often is thwarted by their failure to discern the Spirit’s leading in their lives. Those who hold onto the idea of “soul mates” generally believe that it is their responsibility, out of all the other permissible possibilities, to find that one single person that God has designed just for them. As if to say that Lisa is John’s soul mate, but John failed to discern the leading of the Spirit and mistakenly married Robin, which forever messes up the lives of Lisa, Robin, John, and whoever God had intended for Robin to marry. This sounds silly, but countless Christians really believe that they are called to find that one needle from out of a large haystack, or otherwise they may miss out on their intended “soul mate.”

I, on the other hand, believe that we are free to marry whomever we like as long as we submit ourselves to God’s Word and choose a spouse within the permissible boundaries of God’s “revealed will.” With this in mind, here are a few reasons why the idea of a “soul mate” is unbiblical.

It Confuses God’s “Revealed Will” with God’s “Secret Will”

There is a difference between God’s “secret will” and God’s “revealed will.” God’s “secret will” is said to be “secret” for a reason. It is secret because it includes everything that will transpire in time – things that God has not chosen to reveal to us until after they occur in time. That is, it is only after something happens that we can say with certainty that that event was a part of God’s eternal plan.

God’s “revealed will,” on the other hand, is not a secret. Rather it includes all that which God has clearly revealed to us in the Bible. For instance, God's “revealed will” is for us to obey the clear commands found within the Scriptures. We are called to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the will of God for us. We are to live and make wise decisions based upon the teachings and principles of God’s objective Word.

Yet, those who feel that they cannot decide to marry a person until they know that practical person is the one and only person for their lives, end up creating a new category of God’s will – God’s “perfect will.” This “perfect will” of God becomes a mixture of God’s “secret will” and “revealed will.” This is an unbiblical category because it opens up the real possibility of sinning against God’s “perfect will” for our lives while remaining obedient to God’s “revealed will.” For it is one thing to say that within God’s “revealed will” all things are lawful but not all things are equally profitable, but it is another thing to say that within God’s “revealed will” not all things are lawful.

We Are Not Commanded to Discover God’s “Secret Will”

With good intentions, a friend of mine said that we should not decide to marry someone until we know that it would be ‘sin to do otherwise.’ That is, until we knew that person was our “soul mate.” Yet, not only is this line of reasoning impossible to constantly live out, there is no biblical warrant for such a practice. Yes, it is a sin to go against God’s “revealed will,” but nowhere in the Scripture are we commanded by God to uncover God’s hidden/perfect will for our lives before making a decision upon a matter.

How did I know that Letha was the one that I should marry? I prayed, I talked to my parents, but mostly I searched the Scriptures to learn what God has to say about a godly wife. After spending time with Letha, I concluded that it was a no-brainer.

We Are Called to Live Under God’s “Revealed Will”

The Bible is not only sufficient for the preacher in the pulpit, it is sufficient for the life of the believer (2 Tim. 3:16). You see, we are not called to look for some new, mystical revelation about the perfect will of God; we are called to submit ourselves to God’s “revealed will.”

Moreover, those who refuse to say that Scripture is sufficient for uncovering God’s will for their lives end up undermining their duty to live under God’s “revealed will.” I am not just talking about the extreme cases, such as the professing Christian who files for divorce because he feels that he had made a mistake and married the wrong person (missing out on his soul mate), but those who refuse to follow what God has said in the Scriptures until they hear an audible voice from God. This may seem super-spiritual, but often it displays a lack of faith in God’s written Word. Rather than diligently studying the Scriptures, seeking wisdom from a multitude of counselors, and learning how to apply biblical principles of discernment, many mystics seek some extra-biblical and subjective experience. Many Christians are more interested in hearing new revelation than they are in following God’s inspired revelation. Thus, they neglect to follow God’s revealed will in order to uncover God’s secret will. They like signs more than they like Bible study. The point is that the objective “revealed will” of God, the Bible, teaches us to live by God’s infallible Word rather than by our subjective and fallible feelings and experiences.

Thus, we are free to make choices within the boundaries that God places upon us. For example, when I take my son, Martyn, to the store to pick out a new toy, I generally give him a price limit. I allow him to pick out the toy he wants as long as he does not go above the given amount. Within that price range, which toy do I want him to pick? I want him to pick out the toy that he wants most. In the same way, God has given us certain boundaries and wise principles to follow, and if we seek to live within those revealed boundaries, we are free to do what we want—and we can be assured that we are in the will of God.

We Are Called to Be Wise and Discerning

Granted, making decisions can be hard, especially important decisions, like whom to marry. The more variables to consider, the more difficult it is to know what to do. When we are faced with decisions where we honestly do not know what to do, we often would love to receive a sign or hear an audible voice directly from heaven. This would make things much easier. However, God has not called us to live life without the exercise of wisdom. And godly wisdom is the skill of appropriately applying the principles of Scriptures in difficult situations. Thus, wisdom only comes with spiritual maturity. Babies and young children need to have step-by-step promptings on what to do. This is because they lack the spiritual discernment to make wise choices for themselves. However, we are called not to be babes in knowledge but mature (1 Cor. 4:12). We are called to be discerning. We are called to be wise. This does not imply that we trust in our own human wisdom and cease to acknowledge God in all our ways. It implies that we cast ourselves upon God by submitting ourselves thoroughly to the commands and principles of God’s Word.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Heb 5:12-14).

The Spirit Communicates in the Objective Word of God

Finally, living by the objective Word of God, the Bible, does not remove the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives. As I alluded in my introduction, I depend upon the comfort, prompting, leading, and conviction of the Holy Spirit. I want to be sensitive to the voice of God and seek to live in the Spirit and not be controlled by my flesh.

However, I do not believe that seeking to be submitted to God’s objective Word, the Scriptures, is merely a dry mechanical process, like following the instruction manual on how to construct a swing set. Rather, I am convinced that the voice of the Spirit is to be heard and experienced within the pages of Scripture. Illumination, conviction, understanding, spiritual wisdom, and spiritual guidance come from the Spirit speaking through, by, and in the truth found within God’s Word. This is not dead intellectualism at all. It is personal, lively, and experiential.

Furthermore, the Spirit can speak to us even when our Bible’s are closed. I say this not because I believe the Spirit is seeking to give us new and extra biblical revelation, but that the Spirit uses the truth and the principles of the Scriptures that are stored in our memories to convict and lead us throughout the day. Just as we hear the voice of God in a preached sermon, we hear the voice of God in our conscience (that is filled with God’s Word). Preaching speaks to us not merely when the preacher is reading the Word but also when he explains and applies the Word. Likewise, the Spirit speaks to us when our biblically trained conscience convicts and leads us along the way.

For example, when I am prompted to give money to a person in who is in need or when I am convicted to get out of my warm bed to pray, I truly feel that the Holy Spirit is leading me. Yet this is not new revelation, but the Holy Spirit convicting and applying biblical truth and principles, which are stored in my memory, to my conscience. I can be certain that it is God’s voice, not because I trust my feelings, which are often very deceptive, but because I trust the objectivity of God’s Holy Word. As I test my feelings and conscience, and when they are confirmed by the Word of God, then I can be confident  that I am in the will of God.

Conclusion

So, if you are contemplating if you should marry a particular person, you don’t need to hear an audible voice from heaven saying that he or she is your one and only “soul mate.” Rather, you should seek to be led by the Spirit in prayer and submission to God’s “revealed will” as you apply biblical wisdom to your decision. Is he or she a Christian? Is he or she godly? Is he a spiritual leader or is she a submissive helper? Are you attracted to him or her? Is he or she friendly? Many more questions like this should be asked and biblical wisdom should be used when answering them. If you are convinced by God’s Word that he or she would be a good match, and if you want to…go for it!   

      

"Why I Cannot Sign the Family Integrated Church Confession" by Shawn Mathis

Earlier this year Shawn Mathis, pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church (OPC), Denver, Colorado, wrote an article entitled What Is a Family Integrated Church? which I alerted this blog's readers to here. Now I would like to bring to your attention a follow-up article written by Shawn entitled Why I Cannot Sign the Family Integrated Church Confession.

In this article Shawn criticizes the confession of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches (NCFIC) and argues that "There are a number of reasons I will not sign the online family integrated church confession. And it has nothing to do with animosity. It has to do with principled objections to the substance, nature, purpose, and effects of this confession."

In the conclusion to the article, Shawn writes:

There are various other problems with the confession: vague generalizations, undefined terms, simplistic proof-texting, questionable assertions and the like.  These alone would prevent me from signing the confession. But throwing all churches under the evolutionary-secular-unbiblical bus for practicing age-segregation goes too far.

Whatever a church or Christian believes about the FIC movement as a positive or negative, all should agree that the NCFIC in particular has certain definable and public views that are codified in this confession. It is my hope this essay will bring these views to bear so that churches may prayerfully reconsider their association with this confession and organization.

In my continuing endeavor to keep this blog's readers informed about the issues and debate surrounding the Family Integrated Church Movement, I recommend that you read Shawn's article in its entirety. As always, comments are welcomed here.

Doug Phillips Resigns From Vision Forum Ministries

Last Wednesday Doug Phillips resigned from his position as president of Vision Forum Ministries and discontinued his speaking responsibilities as well. Here is the official statement of resignation from the ministry's website:

With thanksgiving to God for His mercy and love, I have stepped down from the office of president at Vision Forum Ministries and have discontinued my speaking responsibilities.

There has been serious sin in my life for which God has graciously brought me to repentance. I have confessed my sin to my wife and family, my local church, and the board of Vision Forum Ministries. I engaged in a lengthy, inappropriate relationship with a woman. While we did not “know” each other in a Biblical sense, it was nevertheless inappropriately romantic and affectionate.

There are no words to describe the magnitude of shame I feel, or grief from the injury I caused my beloved bride and children, both of whom have responded to my repentance with what seems a supernatural love and forgiveness. I thought too highly of myself and behaved without proper accountability. I have acted grievously before the Lord, in a destructive manner hypocritical of life messages I hold dear, inappropriate for a leader, abusive of the trust that I was given, and hurtful to family and friends. My church leadership came alongside me with love and admonition, providing counsel, strong direction and accountability. Where I have directly wronged others, I confessed and repented. I am still in the process of trying to seek reconciliation privately with people I have injured, and to be aware of ways in which my own selfishness has hurt family and friends. I am most sensitive to the fact that my actions have dishonored the living God and been shameful to the name of Jesus Christ, my only hope and Savior.

This is a time when my repentance needs to be proven, and I need to lead a quiet life focusing on my family and serving as a foot soldier, not a ministry leader. Though I am broken over my failures, I am grateful to be able to spend more time with my family, nurturing my wife and children and preparing my older sons and daughters for life. So, for these reasons I want to let my friends know that I have stepped down as a board member and as president of Vision Forum Ministries. The Board will be making provision for the management of the ministry during this time. To the friends of this ministry, I ask for your forgiveness, and hope that you will pray for the Phillips family at this time, and for the men who will be responsible for shepherding the work of Vision Forum Ministries in the future.

Doug Phillips

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have had my disagreements with the Family Integrated Church Movement (FICM), of which Doug Phillips had been a prominent leader for many years, but I am saddened by this news. It breaks my heart whenever a pastor who has taught the true Gospel for many years succumbs to such temptation and moral failure, and my prayers are with Doug and his family.

I also hope that those who have disagreed with some of the positions taken by Vision Forum Ministries, as I have disagreed with them, will not see Doug's failure as in any way indicative of the positions he has taken or of those who have agreed with him from within the FICM. As I have looked around the internet at various reactions to this terrible news, I have been deeply troubled and grieved that some have taken this opportunity to malign the FICM because of Doug's confessed moral failure. Let us not be among such people! Let us be fair-minded and loving toward our brothers and sisters in the Lord. And, where we disagree with them, let us focus our attention on the actual points of Scriptural disagreement rather than on the moral failures of those who have failed to live up to their stated positions. After all, how many of us ever lives up to our own moral ideals as faithfully as we would like? And how many of us would not be just as easily led astray into such moral failure but for the grace of God?

Update 11 November 2013

The following announcment was posted at the Vision Forum Ministries website:

In light of the serious sins which have resulted in Doug Phillips’s resignation from Vision Forum Ministries, the Board of Directors has determined that it is in the best interests of all involved to discontinue operations. We have stopped receiving donations, and are working through the logistical matters associated with the closing of the ministry. While we believe as strongly as ever in the message of the ministry to the Christian family, we are grieved to find it necessary to make this decision. We believe this to be the best option for the healing of all involved and the only course of action under the circumstances.

This is a reminder of the devastating fallout when a Christian leader succumbs to serious moral failure. Let us continue to pray for those involved as the aftershocks will no doubt continue for quite some time.

Update 20 November 2013

Last Wednesday Scott Brown, longtime close friend of Doug Phillips and director of the National Center for family-Integrated Churches, delivered a sermon in which he commented very wisely and Scripturally on Phillips' public fall (although he didn't mention his name). The sermon is entitled How Sin Deceives & Destroys the Soul and the comments are found a little more than halfway through the message. Scott warns about how every public sin was first a private sin for a long time and admonishes us to mortify such sin lest our own work of ministry, which we may have been building for many years, be burned to the ground around us.

Update 17 November 2014

In An Update Regarding Doug Phillips, there was a formal announcement that "the Elders of Boerne Christian Assembly have moved to excommunicate Doug Phillips from the Body of Christ. In doing so, we have sought in good faith to follow diligently the process set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:15-17. This has been a process in which BCA has demonstrated great longsuffering and patience, has offered many and earnest appeals, and has sought much counsel from men of other churches."

This story just seems to be getting sadder and sadder by the day.

Army Briefing Labels Christians and Tea Party Members as Terror Threats?

Yesterday Todd Starnes posted a disturbing article at Townhall.com entitled Army Briefing Labels Tea Party, Christians as Terror Threats. Here is the first portion of the article outlining the charge:

Soldiers attending a pre-deployment briefing at Fort Hood say they were told that evangelical Christians and members of the Tea Party were a threat to the nation and that any soldier donating to those groups would be subjected to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

A soldier who attended the Oct. 17th briefing told me the counter-intelligence agent in charge of the meeting spent nearly a half hour discussing how evangelical Christians and groups like the American Family Association were “tearing the country apart.” 

Michael Berry, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, is advising the soldier and has launched an investigation into the incident. 

“The American public should be outraged that the U.S. Army is teaching our troops that evangelical Christians and Tea Party members are enemies of America, and that they can be punished for supporting or participating in those groups,” said Berry, a former Marine Corps JAG officer.

“These statements about evangelicals being domestic enemies are a serious charge.”

The soldier told me he fears reprisals and asked not to be identified. He said there was a blanket statement that donating to any groups that were considered a threat to the military and government was punishable under military regulations. 

“My first concern was if I was going to be in trouble going to church,” the evangelical Christian soldier told me. “Can I tithe? Can I donate to Christian charities? What if I donate to a politician who is a part of the Tea Party movement?” 

Another soldier who attended the briefing alerted the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. That individual’s recollections of the briefing matched the soldier who reached out to me. 

“I was very shocked and couldn't believe what I was hearing,” the soldier said. “I felt like my religious liberties, that I risk my life and sacrifice time away from family to fight for, were being taken away.”

One can only hope that these allegations turn out to be unfounded, although I doubt they will be given the current trend in the U.S. military under the Obama Administration.

An Interesting Open Letter to Mark Driscoll

On Monday Darren Wiebe, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and a current M.Div. student at The Master’s Seminary, posted My Open Letter to Mark Driscoll. In it he publicly confronted Mark Driscoll for having lied concerning what actually took place when Driscoll showed up at the Strange Fire Conference with James MacDonald to pass out copies of one of his books in the parking lot.

Darren was attending the conference and spoke with Driscoll in the parking lot and witnessed what actually took place when Driscoll was asked to leave by security. Here is the heart of Darren's post, which contains the charge against Driscoll:

Instead, by your own admission, you were met graciously by the Grace Community Church staff and security. You told the Christian Post that you thought it was “Gracious that they let me on campus at all.” Adding that, “they don’t owe me anything and I didn’t go through an official process. I wasn’t planning on it. I just happened to be in town.” Pastor Mark, this statement tells me two things:

1. You were looking to pick a fight. By your own words you claim that you did not expect to have a good meeting when you arrived on campus. You came to cause a scene and maybe gain some status as a martyr in the promotion of your upcoming book, in which you ironically call for unity within the church and a ceasefire on what you’ve labeled as “tribalism.” Honestly, if your arrival had gone according to how you envisioned and anticipated, it would have been a perfect illustration. I have to wonder though, were you were seeking to start a civil war for promotional reasons?

2. You schemed. Be honest Pastor Mark, you did not happen to be in town. You were in Long Beach… A trip of over 40 miles on one of America’s most congested freeways. You did not just happen to be in the neighborhood with a reporter and photographer. The only time I see scheming in the scriptures, it does not have positive connotations. Those that are associated with scheming are not ones with which we want to be aligning ourselves. But again, this is my interpretation of what was going on. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Maybe you always have a reporter and photographer with you.

So many people have asked me about the few minutes that we talked. I tell them about how nice you were…very cordial and gracious. It was a pleasant exchange about church planting, ministry and the last time you were in my homeland of Canada. While you were here, it was rather nice. There’s plenty that we do not agree upon, but that does not mean we have to throw away civility. When it was time for you to leave, I watched some of the staff of Grace Community Church walk back with you to your car, even offering to carry the box of books you brought. The box of books you returned to them, insisting they were a gift.  And I heard friendly conversation and even joking banter between you and the head of security.

Honestly, I and many others were impressed by how well you conducted yourself on campus, even though it seemed like you were pulling a Kanye West inspired move. That is why I was so shocked, when you drove off campus and immediately sent out this tweet:

Security confiscated my books. #strangefire http://t.co/mGccvXZwyK
— Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) October 18, 2013

All of us who were present were rather horrified at the blatant lie you sent to your 428,247 twitter followers, 39,556 Instagram and 218,335 Facebook friends.

Darren goes on to say:

I still am shocked at seeing my picture float around Facebook and the various Christian news outlets. I never realized my 15 minutes of fame would come with so much baggage attached. In all honesty, I walk away unscathed. I just have to put up with getting teased by friends and family over the fact that they’re seeing me everywhere online. However, I was not the brunt of a lie and I do hurt for my dear friend who you falsely accused in a public arena and presented in a way that is far from accurate. I cannot understand how you feel justified in presenting someone who was gracious to you, someone who offered to help you carry things, someone who treated you like a gentleman…as a villain. You threw this man under a bus as he was carrying your things.

Thankfully, his upright character is so well-known to those at Grace Community Church that most people were surprised to see him portrayed as such. This is a real man, one who acts like a man. He’s strong, noble and does his job as head of security with excellence. I have also watched him on numerous occasions, share the gospel passionately with those he is having to contain and discipline. I’ve seen him pleading with those he is working with, inviting them to come to church with him. More concerned for their souls, than for the harm they may inflict on the campus. Please, you have an opportunity to clear his name.

This is a pretty serious charge, but it certainly looks like a valid one from an eyewitness who clearly was not alone in what he observed.

For another interesting take on the actions of both Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald in showing up unannounced and uninvited to the Strange Fire Conference, Darren recommends this post.

Update 24 October 2013

Thanks to Marcia Wilwerding for posting a link to this video in the comments below:



That pretty much says it all.

Update 25 October 2013

In all fairness Mark Driscoll has responded to the above accusation in a post entitled See you in Seattle, Pastor John MacArthur? Here is the relevant portion:

The only difficult moments on my visit came during my interactions not with your pastoral staff, but with a few of the apparently staff security personnel. I had been handing out advance copies of my new book for free; the pastoral staff said I was welcome on campus. They were kind, and some of them even asked for photos and books, which I gave them and signed with a pen I borrowed from your son, Mark. He kindly lent it to me, we visited, and he too was very kind, very welcoming, and very gracious.However, there were two security guards who seemed to operate in a manner inconsistent with the permission I received from the pastoral staff. These two men took turns approaching me as I was talking with and praying for people, and things got confusing.

Security said I could not hand the books out, so I stopped. But people started helping themselves to the books that remained in the box, so security said the books had to be removed. One of the security guards said if I did not remove the books, he would “have to take it to the next level.” I asked him what that meant, curious, as his tone was different than the pastoral staff I had encountered. He admitted he did not know what the next level was. The other security guard then approached, saying the books had to be removed. He told me that they were taking them to put them in a Mustang, which they apparently thought was my vehicle. I did not know what Mustang they were referring to. In any case, it was obvious that my gift books were being removed.

It was at this point that I told the security guard that, since they were going to confiscate the books anyway, they could just keep them as a gift from me. Apparently, someone recorded the final words of this conversation on video, but nothing of the prior conversations that led up to it.

As Bible teachers, we both know that people often arrive at the wrong conclusion when they extract a line out of an ongoing discussion, ignoring the context, and then wrongly impugn someone’s character. I am guessing the security team and pastoral team were not entirely rowing in the same direction, and that security thought they were just doing their job.

This sounds reasonable at first glance, but then I again read Darren's eyewitness account and again watch the video footage, and it looks very clear to me that the security staff were not trying to "confiscate" Driscoll's books at all but were merely seeking to remove them in order to keep them from being handed out. And it was Driscoll himself who repeatedly insisted that they keep the books a as gift to the church. Why the repeated insistence unless he thought it wasn't their intention to keep the books? If Driscoll actually thought they were trying to confiscate the books, then why would there have been a need to repeatedly insist that they keep them? One only repeatedly insists that someone keep something as a gift if the person seems reluctant in some way to keep it, right? It just doesn't look good, does it?

Reminder - The Christmas Giveaway is Coming!

This is just a reminder to the blog's readers that, as I announced on September 23, this year the Reformed Baptist Blog would like to thank our readers by offering an opportunity to two of the blog's email subscribers to receive a free book for Christmas this year. Two of our readers will receive a free copy of Dr. Jeff Johnson's upcoming book The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Biblical and Covenant Theology when it becomes available, which we hope will be this December. We will keep you posted and let you know just as soon as possible. This book promises to be perhaps the definitive work to date on Covenant Theology from a Reformed Baptist perspective. You can read more about this publication here.

On December 15 I will draw from the addresses included in the email subscriber list from FeedBurner. So, if you want to have a chance to receive one of these books, then make sure you sign up as an email subscriber to the blog using the Subscribe in a reader link on the right panel of this page. And make sure you click the "Get Reformed Baptist Blog delivered by email" option. Current email subscribers are already in the running.

Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27 Teaching Outline)

Introduction: The Sermon on the Mount, like most sermons today, has both an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction consists of the thought-provoking and heart-penetrating Beatitudes, but the conclusion consists of a simple illustration intended to drive home the crucial choice left to the hearers. And it shows us that we have been brought by Jesus to a potentially dangerous place as well. For we have become hearers of His teaching and – as hearers – we are now held responsible for what we have heard.

Puritan author Thomas Brooks, in his justly famous book entitled Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, gives this warning in his preface “To the Reader”:

Know that it is not the knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man – but the doing man, that at last will be found the happiest man. “If you know these things, blessed and happy are you if you DO them.” “Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven – but he who DOES the will of my Father that is in heaven” (John 13:17, Matt. 7:21). Judas called Christ Lord, Lord; and yet betrayed him, and has gone to his place. Ah! how many Judases have we in these days, that kiss Christ, and yet betray Christ; that in their words profess him—but in their works deny him; that bow their knee to him, and yet in their hearts despise him; that call him Jesus, and yet will not obey him for their Lord.

Reader, if it is not strong upon your heart to practice what you read, to what end do you read? To increase your own condemnation? If your light and knowledge be not turned into practice, the more knowing a man you are, the more miserable a man you will be in the day of recompense; your light and knowledge will more torment you than all the devils in hell. Your knowledge will be that rod that will eternally lash you, and that scorpion that will forever bite you, and that worm that will everlastingly gnaw you; therefore read, and labor to know, that you may do – or else you are undone forever. 

Exposition – The Wise Builder: We will see in this passage that Jesus also gives us a grave warning, although – unlike Brooks – He chooses to end His discourse with a warning. And His warning comes in the form of a brief but poignant parable.

NKJ  Matthew 7:24-25 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

The word therefore points back in the context to the previous contrast between saying and doing and introduces the contrast here between hearing and doing. Just before and leading up to this parable, Jesus said:

NKJ  Matthew 7:20-23 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” 23 And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

In these preceding instructions Jesus warned us about the danger of self-deception that makes us think that we can claim to believe yet have no corresponding fruit in our lives. Even so, in this parable Jesus is explaining that those who merely say that Jesus is Lord are self-deceived, but not due to the fact that they never heard the truth. They heard it alright, but it made no difference to them because they did not heed it!

When Jesus says that the man built his house on the rock and that his house was founded on the rock, He is implying and expecting His hearers to understand what He stated explicitly on another occasion when He used the same illustration:

NKJ  Luke 6:48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.

So, when Jesus says the man built on the rock and that His house was founded on the rock, He is talking about the strong foundation of the house. And this foundation is deep in the ground. It is not immediately visible, and its depth and strength are not evident until it is battered by a storm and withstands it.

But what is the rock Jesus is talking about? What does it represent? The answer is found in verse 24, in Jesus' reference to “these sayings [words] of Mine.” The rock – the sure foundation – is the truth He brings. And Jesus intends a correspondence here between His own words and His reference to “the will of My Father” in verse 21:

NKJ  Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

So, those who say Jesus is Lord and do the Father's will are also those who hear Jesus' word and do it. And the Father's will and Jesus' words are revealed and preserved for us in the Bible. It is in the Bible where we find the source of truth upon which we must build our lives. It is in the Bible where we find Christ revealed. Thus the Lord Jesus ultimately directs us to the Scriptures as our sure foundation.

Exposition – The Foolish Builder: But the foolish man will not heed the words of our Lord Jesus, as He goes on to make clear in the second part of the parable:

NKJ Matthew 7:26-27 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.

Again, a comparison with Jesus' use of this illustration elsewhere shows with certainty that the problem with this house is its lack of a proper foundation:

NKJ  Luke 6:49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.

Such a house has not been built upon the truth and will be destroyed when the storms come. This is true of those who encounter life's storms without this proper foundation, but it is especially true of those who encounter the ultimate storm of God's judgment. They shall fall … and great shall be their fall!

Application: This leads us to the application of the parable, and I would suggest that there are at least four ways in which we may apply this parable to our own lives:

1) Notice that the foundation is hidden until the storm comes. In fact, the two houses may even look the same in every way, but when the storm comes it will reveal the foundation ... and the foundation is all the difference!

Now, Jesus is speaking in a general way here, so He may have a broad application of the analogy in mind. In this case, the storm probably stands for difficulties, trials, or temptations that will come upon those who profess faith in Christ. In fact, the context would indicate temptations to follow false teachers as one possibility. If taken in this general way, this reminds me of another analogy Jesus used when He told the parable of the four kinds of soil. He described the three bad kinds of soil this way:

NKJ  Matthew 13:19-23 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

When the storms of life hit you, what kind of soil do they reveal you to be? Or, to get back to the analogy in this passage, what kind of foundation do they reveal? When difficulties and temptations come our way, do we begin to collapse under the pressure, or do we withstand such storms?

2) Also, if understood in this more general way, it is important to notice that Christians are not spared from storms. They are only assured that they will withstand them because they have built their lives on a sure foundation. As the Lord Jesus taught on another occasion, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And when we withstand the storms of life in this world, the foundation upon which we have built will be evident to all.

3) But there is another, more specific application Jesus may be thinking about in this parable, namely that the ultimate storm we will all face is that of God's judgment. Certainly the future judgment is on Jesus' mind in this passage (recall again verses 21-23). If so, it is not unusual that He would envision the future judgment as a storm, because this is a familiar Old Testament analogy. For example:

NKJ  Ezekiel 13:9-14 My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 10 Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace!” when there is no peace – and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar – 11 say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. 12 Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, “Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?” 13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. 14 So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.”

When the ultimate storm of God's judgment comes upon you, what kind of foundation will be revealed? Will your life be seen to be built upon Christ through faith?

[Perhaps see also 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 about the future judgment for believers. Some Christians will be left with nothing but a foundation!]

4) In addition, the storms of this life as well as the ultimate storm of God's judgment will – as we have seen in the preceding context – expose the self-deception of those who call Jesus “Lord,” but who do not do the Lord's will. In the same way, these storms will reveal the self-deception of those who hear His word and do not do it. The Apostle James also wrote about such self-deception:

NKJ  James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Jesus, and James after Him, are warning us about such storms ahead of time, so that we will be wise builders now and build our lives on the truth. And if it smarts … if it makes us uncomfortable … then perhaps we should each ask ourselves this question: Isn't it better to have our self-deception revealed now – even if by many terrible and difficult storms of life – than in the future judgment? After all, now is the time we can do something about it! There will be no second chance beyond this life. As the author of Hebrews says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

Conclusion: As John Stott has aptly reminded us concerning this parable:

In applying this teaching to ourselves, we need to consider that the Bible is a dangerous book to read, and that the church is a dangerous society to join. For in reading the Bible we hear the words of Christ, and in joining the church we say we believe in Christ. As a result, we belong to the company described by Jesus as both hearing his teaching and calling him Lord. Our membership therefore lays upon us the serious responsibility of ensuring that what we know and what we say is translated into what we do. (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 210, emphasis mine.]

Paul said to the Corinthians:

NKJ  1 Corinthians 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Is Christ the foundation of your life? If so, it will show in the way you live your life! It will show that you are trusting the Lord as the true builder of your house:

NKJ  Psalm 127:1a Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it ….

It is only by God's grace and through His power that we can build our lives on a solid foundation!

Check Out the Bible Design Blog

If you want a helpful cite that offers good reviews of and recommendations for quality Bibles, then you will want to check out the Bible Design Blog. This blog is all about how Bibles are designed and bound, as well as the materials used. Here is a brief description of the blog from its author J. Mark Bertrand:

Focus on one thing and do it well. That’s the philosophy behind Bible Design Blog. Here the focus is on the physical form of the Good Book. I discuss good design with an emphasis on reader-friendly formats, which means elegant layout, opaque paper, and sewn bindings that open flat. The Bible is more than a reference work. It’s meant to be read. Choices made by designers, printers, and bookbinders all influence readability––though their sway usually goes unremarked. 

Not here.

If you are planning to spend money on an expensive, quality bound Bible, then you will want to read some of the reviews here first.

Christmas Giveaway - The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Biblical & Covenant Theology

This year the Reformed Baptist Blog would like to thank our readers by offering an opportunity to two of the blog's email subscribers to receive a free book for Christmas this year. Two of our readers will receive a free copy of Dr. Jeff Johnson's upcoming book The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Biblical and Covenant Theology when it becomes available, which we hope will be this December. We will keep you posted and let you know just as soon as possible. This book promises to be perhaps the definitive work to date on Covenant Theology from a Reformed Baptist perspective. You can read more about this publication here.

On December 15 I will draw from the addresses included in the email subscriber list from FeedBurner. So, if you want to have a chance to receive on of these books, then make sure you sign up as an email subscriber to the blog using the Subscribe in a reader link on the right panel of this page. And make sure you click the "Get Reformed Baptist Blog delivered by email" option. Current email subscribers are already in the running.

Jeff Johnson Interview Regarding The Fatal Flaw

In case some of our readers missed it, last month Brandon Adams (author of the Contrast blog) interviewed our own Jeff Johnson about his book The Fatal Flaw of the Theology Behind Infant Baptism. The interview was posted as a podcast in two parts at the Confessing Baptist website:

Part One

Part Two

You will want to listen to this intriguing discussion about the nature and importance of Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology with a man who is quickly becoming one of the leading Reformed Baptist theologians of our day.

"Can Evangelical Chaplains Serve God and Country?—The Crisis Arrives" by Al Mohler

Earlier today Al Mohler posted a blog article entitled Can Evangelical Chaplains Serve God and Country?—The Crisis Arrives. Here is the opening of the article:

Can chaplains committed to historic biblical Christianity serve in the United States military? That question, though inconceivable to our nation’s founders, is now front and center. And the answer to that question will answer another, even more important question: Can religious liberty survive under America’s new moral order?

The repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, coupled with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, set the stage for this crisis. The full normalization of same-sex relationships within the U.S. military is part of the unprecedented moral revolution that is now reshaping American culture at virtually every level.

The crisis in the chaplaincy arrived with these developments. The presenting issue is clear: Can a chaplain committed to historic biblical Christianity remain in military service? Does the normalization of homosexuality require that all members of the military, including chaplains, join the moral revolution, even if doing so requires them to abandon their biblical convictions?

I highly recommend reading the rest of the article here. We need to pray for an open door for the Gospel in the U.S. military, and ask for God's guidance and protection for Christians who serve, whether as Chaplains or in some other capacity.

Check Out the 1689 Federalism Website

Discover the covenantal heritage
of the 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith.

If you want to get a good introduction to Reformed Baptist theology, a good place to start is the 1689 Federalism website, which focuses on the Biblical basis for and the distinctiveness of Reformed Baptist Federalism, also known as Covenant Theology, as outlined in the the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.

There you can watch a number of  helpful introductory videos that include:

An Introduction to 1689 Federalism
1689 Federalism Versus Westminster Federalism
1689 Federalism Versus Dispensationalism
1689 Federalism Versus New Covenant Theology and Progressive Covenantalism
1689 Federalism Versus 20th Century Reformed Baptists

The site also includes some helpful charts and a list of resources.