(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - All right, good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. Hope you had a good week in the Lord. This morning, I'm gonna read from Psalm 100, verses four and five. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good, his loving kindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations.

And with that, let us give thanks and bless the Lord. (gentle music) (gentle music continues) ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ Worship his holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ O my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning ♪ ♪ It's time to sing your song again ♪ ♪ Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me ♪ ♪ Let me be saved with the evening cry ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ Worship his holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ O my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ You're rich in love ♪ ♪ Rich in love and you're slow to anger ♪ ♪ Your name is great and your heart is kind ♪ ♪ For all your goodness I will keep on singing ♪ ♪ 10,000 reasons for my heart to find ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ Worship his holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ O my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Your holy name ♪ ♪ On that day ♪ ♪ And on that day when my strength is failing ♪ ♪ The end draws near and my time has come ♪ ♪ Still my soul will sing your praise unending ♪ ♪ 10,000 years and then forever ♪ ♪ Forevermore ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ Worship his holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ O my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ Worship his holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ O my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Yes, I will worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Lord, I'll worship your holy name ♪ - All right, good morning and welcome to Bruin Community Church.

All right, let me get to a few announcements before we get started. First of all, our FIG, Family in God Ministry. This is, if you're not in the FAM 245, you're not in the Jubilee, they're taking a second round Bible reading fellowship that they're gonna be reading from Acts through Philippians.

And so if you're in it, you can re-sign up for the second portion of it. If you're not in it, you can sign up and then they'll direct you to the right fellowship for that. The Jubilee is also doing the same thing and I misannounced it on the first service.

They're doing the same thing except they're doing from Genesis to somewhere. I forgot exactly where they're going, but starting at Genesis. So if you are already signed up, you can re-sign up for the second session or if you're not in it, you can sign up for it and Elder Philip will direct you to the right path for that.

All the other stuff, I'm just gonna let you look it up online, but I was told that our auction was able to raise 28,000 plus for our summer mission. So we're very thankful for your generosity, for those of you who've donated your gifts and various things and those of you who overbid for some of these things.

And we know why you did it. It was obviously you were trying to give to the funds and it was a creative way to do that. And then this is one of those things that I'm so thankful that got started a few years ago. Our sister Rachel and Andy kind of introduced it to the church and not only are you raising funds, you're serving the church and the church is able to fellowship through it.

You get to go over to people's houses and enjoy meals together. So it's just a win, win, win, win, win situation for everybody. So thank you very much and just wanted to give you information that we were told that that's what they raised. This morning, I'm gonna take some time.

We'll pray and then give you an opportunity to give. Again, if you're gonna give online, please give through Subsplash. If not, we have a physical offering box in the back. Then after our praise time, our brother Aaron Tong is gonna come up, give his testimony and be baptized this morning.

All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your grace that sustains us, that empowers us, that causes us, Lord God, to persevere and to look to you. Help us, Lord God, that in our weakness that you would cause us to lift up our eyes to recognize the true King, the only one worthy of all our full attention.

Help us, Lord, to run to Christ as our refuge, to cling to him, Lord God, for our sustenance and to look to him as the object of our worship. I pray that the offering that we give would be an extension of this worship and may it be handled with wisdom and biblically that it may be multiplied for the sake of your glory and your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) Would you rise and take a minute to greet those around you and we will continue our worship. (gentle music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) ♪ Oh Lord my God ♪ ♪ When I in awesome wonder ♪ ♪ Consider all the worlds thy hands have made ♪ ♪ I see the stars ♪ ♪ I hear the rolling thunder ♪ ♪ Thy power throughout the universe displayed ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ When I think and when I think ♪ ♪ That God his Son not sparing ♪ ♪ Sent him to die ♪ ♪ I scarce can take it ♪ ♪ That on the cross ♪ ♪ My burden gladly bearing ♪ ♪ He bled and died ♪ ♪ To take away my sin ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ What joy shall fill ♪ ♪ With shouts of acclamation ♪ ♪ And take me home ♪ ♪ What joy shall fill my heart ♪ ♪ Then I shall bow ♪ ♪ In humble adoration ♪ ♪ And there proclaim ♪ ♪ My God, how great thou art ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ This is my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ ♪ How great thou art ♪ Amen.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) ♪ For my weeping breath ♪ ♪ For my daily breath ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ For the sun to rise ♪ ♪ For my sleep at night ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ Oh, I depend on you ♪ ♪ You're the way, the truth, and the life ♪ ♪ You're the well that never runs dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Through the stillness ♪ ♪ As I'm following ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ For the victory's ♪ ♪ Still in front of me ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ Yes, I depend on you ♪ ♪ You're the way, the truth, and the life ♪ ♪ You're the well that never runs dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪ ♪ Be my all, my treasure, my prize ♪ ♪ I am yours forever, you're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ When I pass through death ♪ ♪ As I enter rest ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ Oh, I depend on you ♪ ♪ For eternal life ♪ ♪ To be raised with Christ ♪ ♪ I depend on you ♪ ♪ Yes, I depend on you ♪ ♪ You're the way, the truth, and the life ♪ ♪ You're the well that never runs dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪ ♪ Be my all, my treasure, my prize ♪ ♪ I am yours forever, you're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪ ♪ Be my all, my treasure, my prize ♪ ♪ I am yours forever, you're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ Amen, you may be seated.

(bell chimes) - Hello, okay. Good morning, church family. My name is Aaron Tong. I was raised in a God-fearing family of five, going to church on Sundays and youth group on Wednesdays. I was a very defiant, stubborn, and disobedient child who wanted to control everything. Whenever my mom would spank me for my treason, she would pray for my repentance and my salvation in hopes that I'd receive the Holy Spirit, who'd be her ally in raising me.

I professed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was just six years old. At the time, I knew that I was a sinner and that Jesus was the only one who could save me from my sins. However, I didn't know the cross's implications on my life besides being a ticket to heaven and an escape from hell.

In 2012, our family moved from Texas to Arkansas, where I switched schools and ended up at a new church. I continued to attend youth group and to do all of the things a Christian would do. I was a pretty good kid. I got good grades, parents and teachers liked me, and I stayed out of trouble.

Simultaneously, though, I started to grow up. I couldn't help but notice that the world had a lot to offer, popularity, money, entertainment, and sexual pleasures. I couldn't help but wonder why God would tell me not to love the world. Didn't he create the world? Christianity became this big rule book, and I only felt constrained by its demands and teachings.

By the time I entered high school, my life was indistinguishable from unbelievers. Away from my parents, I cursed, gossiped about others, and was deep in sexual sin. Because of the pandemic, but more so my selfishness, I stopped going to church for a long period of time and became disconnected from my youth group.

My friends would ask about Christianity's strict rules and practices, and I would cop out by calling my faith just a personal relationship, not a religion, completely ignoring the call to take up my cross and pursue holiness. I tried to run to forgiveness and grace without repentance. In high school, I also chased excellence in athletics and academics, putting my identity in championship rings, GPA, and follower counts.

Whenever I would pray, it was just to be heard and to build my own kingdom, not to listen to God's will. I would cheesily say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me before races and tests. I tried to be the God of my life and thought that God existed to serve me.

By God's grace, I was forced to move across the country to California during my junior year of high school. With my whole life uprooted right before my prime years of high school, I suddenly became the new kid. Having been raised in the South, I was a banana and didn't fit in with all the Asian kids.

I made it my mission to just get good grades and get into a good college. I didn't feel like making new friends and starting over again. I wallowed in self-pity, licking my wounds, and using the pain as motivation to beat everyone else in college admissions. I thought that if I just dug deep and maximized my potential by grinding, that I'd somehow find fulfillment.

When senior year rolled around, I realized having no friends meant that I had no friends to go to prom or grad bash with. To solve this problem, I started to show up to our school's Christian club. Despite my selfish motivations, God used my time there to magnify who he was.

The friends I made there actually lived out their faith, and I was deeply intrigued by their love for me, a complete stranger. During March, college decisions came out. I had been wait-listed or rejected from every single dream school I had applied to. This spanking from God hurt far more than my mom's hand.

My whole life felt like a failure because I thought everything revolved around my will. I was bitter and jealous of my peers. This last straw took me to a dark place, the lowest of lows, where God allowed me to feel the weight of my sin and brokenness. Though I thought my lust, my pride, and my selfishness would fill me, they left me empty.

I had exchanged the glory of the creator for created things and was on the broad road to destruction. Over the summer, I was blessed to hang out a lot with my friends that I had made from the Christian club. Their encouragement led me to believe that there was something far greater than myself in this world.

One day, as I was scrolling Instagram reels, I saw a reel that said I could find the meaning of life in Ecclesiastes. For the first time in years, I decided to open my Bible. Ecclesiastes punctured my heart and heart and made me realize that my whole life was vanity.

There is nothing under the sun that would ever be enough, but everything God does will endure forever. I started to understand that my concept of God had been flipped my whole life. Everything exists for his glory, not my laughable greatness. As I've been at Berean, God has graciously allowed me to repent and place my faith in Christ.

I've learned that loving the Lord with all my heart means all my heart and not 50%. If I try to love God and love this world, I'll surely lose both. I've learned the commands he's given aren't constraints, they're ways I get to delight in the freedom Christ has given me from sin.

I've learned that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Doesn't mean I can have and do whatever I want. More so, it means there's going to be a lot of suffering, pain, and tears, but Jesus will be right there with me in my weakness. To this day, I struggle to grasp that a holy God loves such a miserable wretch like me and sent his only son to take my place on that cross.

John 14, six reads, Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Eternal life was never about getting to go to an all-inclusive resort on a cloud or having a perfect, comfortable life on earth. Eternal life is knowing Christ and giving up all that I am for all that he is.

Revelations 21, four says, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. I long for that day more than anything else, but until then, I will joyfully serve my Father.

Thank you. (audience applauds) (audience applauds) - Aaron, do you understand when you go into the water, you're being united to Christ's death? When you're coming out, you're being united to his resurrected life? - I do. - I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

(water splashes) (audience applauds) - All right, thank you, Aaron, for that very encouraging testimony. If you could turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter eight, and I wanna read starting from verse four all the way down to verse 15, okay? Luke chapter eight, verse four, all the way down to verse 15.

Reading out of the NASB, it says, now, sorry, when a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to him, he spoke by way of a parable. The sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up.

Other seeds fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it, and choked it out. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and grew up and produced a crop a hundred times as great.

As he said these things, he would call out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. His disciples began questioning him as to what this parable meant. And he said, to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest, it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those beside the road are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no firm root.

They believe for a while, and in time of temptation, fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way, they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

For the seed and the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. Let's pray. Father, we pray for understanding, not simply the words, but your very heart. We ask, Lord God, that your very breath would cause us, Lord, to know you, to love you, and to worship you.

Help us not to stray from your word to the left or to the right. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Years ago, when I was a young Christian, when I first became a Christian, one of the faith crisis that I had early on was I talked to a Jehovah Witness that I really looked up to, not knowing he was a Jehovah Witness, and after the conversation, it really shook me, because if you asked me at that time who I thought was the strongest Christian, I would have said it was that guy.

He was a coworker of my dad at some company, and after that encounter, and again, this was just a few months after I became a Christian, I began to wonder, how do I know if what I am believing is right? What if the Bible he's reading is right, and what about the Mormons, and what about the Jehovah Witnesses, and what about the Muslims and the Buddhists, and how can I be sure?

So I started questioning. I believe God, but which path was the right way? Am I professing to be a believer in a Protestant faith because I was born in a pastor's family, and I just happened to be in a Christian environment, and that's the environment that I ended up meeting God, and so therefore I just assumed that this was the right way, and so I started questioning.

I started to ask, and the conclusion that I came to is the reliability of God's word. Is the Bible that they're using their authority? Is that more reliable than what I had? And so I began to try to study. When I, in college, I started taking classes on world religion and its origin and where it came from, and I started soaking up as much as I can, and every opportunity I had, whether it was a Buddhist or a Mormon or Jehovah Witness, I would sit and ask.

Instead of trying to evangelize to them, I would ask them, where did it come from? How did it start? Who is this guy? What was the evidence behind it? And my end conclusion was this is the word of God, without a doubt, and my faith in this word is much stronger today than it was when I first started, but the beginning of that was I came to believe with all my heart this is God's word.

The parable that we're looking at, Jesus says, for the purpose of warning his disciples, because the crowds are growing bigger and bigger, and so he's warning them that not everybody who's coming to me are genuine believers, and so there's gonna come a time when Jesus is gonna say something that's gonna disturb them, and many are going to walk away, so he's telling them that some of them are coming for this reason, some of them are gonna look like they're believers, they're gonna fall away, and some of them are gonna be among us, and then they're gonna fall away, and he makes it very clear, the only one who's a true Christian is the fourth soil, the one who perseveres, and the Bible repeats that over and over and over again, and the agent in which, an agent in which that identifies if somebody's a true believer or not is the word of God.

The seed, clearly, he says, is the word of God. So you can profess that this is the word of God, but does it have authority over your life? You can say you believe in an inerrant word of God, but when the word of God is open, does it change you?

I'm not talking about my sermon, whether you like the sermon or not. I'm talking about when the word of God is open, and it judges the thoughts and intentions of your heart, how do you respond? We have a tendency when, especially if you've been a Christian for a while, or at the church for a while, you kind of give a thumbs up or thumbs down on sermon, and after this service, people are gonna ask you, how was the sermon today?

I liked it, or I didn't like it. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Now, there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. Everybody has preferences in how it touched you or didn't touch you, but if that's where it stops, the word of God has no authority. The real question that we need to be asking is, was it truthful?

Was it biblical? And if it was biblical, if it was biblical, what does that mean to you? How is that gonna change you? But if the hearing of the word of God stops with I liked it and I didn't like it, that's the same question that Paul says there's gonna come a time when people are gonna gather teachers to tickle their ears.

So people who are coming to get their ears tickled, the only question that they ask is, did I like it, did I not like it? And there's no difference between a genuine believer and an unbeliever if that's the only question you ask. Did I like it or not like it?

In Hebrews chapter two one it says, for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. We must pay close attention to God's word. Not just hear it, but what does it mean to you? How has the word of God shaped the way you think?

How has the word of God shaped the way you live? How has the word of God shaped the way you see money? Raising your children, your future, your goal? Again, the four soils is given so that he would prepare his disciples for the inevitable fallout of the crowds. He's also warning the crowds that are coming that not all of you are coming to me for the right reason.

And so when the fallout does happen, which we know it happens in multiple stages, that they will remember Jesus said, not all who hear the word of God and seem to respond are genuine believers. So this morning I want to look at the two soils and then the third and fourth we'll look at next week.

I want to spend a little bit more time, I preach through this so many times in our church, but I want to take some time to comb through what this actually looks like in the context of a post-Christian society. Clearly, the identifying mark of a Christian is the fruit.

The Bible says you will know them by their fruit, not by their confession, but by their fruit. First John, it says they left us because they were never really of us. They left us and proved that them falling away revealed whether their faith was genuine or not. That's what it says in First John.

It says in John 15, those who do not bear fruit, they will dry up and be thrown into the fire. The Bible tells us over and over again the true identifying mark of genuine faith is their fruit. Again, the only believer in these four soils is the fourth soil.

So I want to look at the first two soils and what that looks like in the context of the church. First, the seed that fell on the side of the road. These are unbelievers who heard the gospel, maybe in the context of a church. Maybe it's in the context of somebody else sharing the gospel and you just happen to overhear it.

In a post-Christian church, we have a lot of that where people who grew up in the church were never really believers. So you are cultured as Christians, but you're not Christians. So if you took a survey in the United States and asked people how many of you identify as Christians, and I remember back in the '80s and early '90s, it was as high as 80-some percent.

Now, we know for a fact that's not true. But over 80% at least identified as Christians. Many of them, I would say most of them, probably fall into this category. They heard, they never really believed, but they're cultured. In fact, before I met Christ, because I was raised in the church, my dad's a pastor, my grandfather's a pastor.

Church was part of our life. If somebody asked me, "Are you a Christian?" I would've said, "Yes." What else would I be? My dad's a pastor, what else would I be? I go to church, what else would I be? But I was not a Christian. But I would've told you I was a Christian.

If you asked me, "Do I believe in God?" Of course I believe in God. I don't know what that meant. I was living in sin. I had no loyalty to Him. I never prayed. But if you asked me, I would've said, "Yes." So in a post-Christian culture, many of these people, where you've heard and it makes no impact, at least go to church.

Now, if you're not in the church and you're denying and say, "That's a bunch of foolishness." That's easy to identify. But in a post-Christian church, they're inside the church. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, "But a natural man "does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, "for they are foolishness to him, "and he cannot understand them "because they are spiritually appraised." He said, "Every genuine believer "has the Holy Spirit in him, "but because the Holy Spirit is not in him, "they are not able to discern.

"Is this right or is this wrong?" So they are unbelievers. These are people who are committed to the church purely for social reasons. You wanna play basketball. You have young people your age. You're looking for a wife or a girlfriend. And we have people who are just honest, right?

Now that our church is a certain size, we have people just bold and they say, "Why are you here? "What are you looking for?" It's, "I'm looking for a wife." Okay, and then we have to tell people, "Hey, watch out for that guy. "We gotta protect our girls," right?

But after a while, for social reasons, these are people who have no interest in God and they're more than welcome to come and learn. But the problem that we get into in a post-Christian culture where a good church and a bad church, a successful church and an unsuccessful church is measured by the number, then we have to gather as many people to the church as possible, even the people who are outright rejecting Christ.

You're welcome to come to church. And the problem is, when you come to church, you can easily become a member. And when you become a member of the church, you serve the church. And if you serve the church, you can become a leader. And so the church has become a place where we can't tell the difference between the world and the church.

In Matthew 10, 14, it says, "Whoever does not receive you nor heed your words "as you go out of the house or that city, "shake the dust off your feet." Now you may read that and say, "We can't practice that, shake the dust." So we apply. And I don't know if you've ever said this or you've heard this.

Didn't Jesus say that he would leave the 99 to go after the one, right? That parable has been so misunderstood and misapplied and in some sense have ruined the church. Now think about it. Does Jesus mean that that one sheep is much more precious than the 99? So abandon the 99.

No matter what that one does, abandon the 99 to go after one. Does that make sense? Is that what Jesus is saying? That even if that one is ruining the church, leave the 99. If you have 10 children and one strays, you're gonna abandon the nine because of the one?

Is that what Jesus is saying? So much of the dilution in the church, the compromise in the church has been given because of the wrong understanding of this. The point that Jesus was making was that every soul is precious before God. Every soul is precious. He's not saying you compromise the 99.

I remember, and I may have shared this before, years ago I went to a youth retreat to speak and one of the teachers was beating up on the kid, junior high school kid. And then so we had to have a meeting, and I was a guest speaker there and I was part of the meeting and saying, I found out that there was a pattern of this, that this guy had such a bad temper and anybody he felt disrespected, he would beat them up.

And so we had to scold the teacher. And I remember talking to the youth pastor who was a friend of mine and said, "Why do you allow that guy to come?" And he said, "If we don't let him come, "he won't come to church." And I remember just shaking my head and said, "Would you do that if that was your kid?

"If that was your child, so that he can come to church, "you're gonna let him have access to kids? "Imagine what happens to that kid because of that guy." But he said, "Didn't Jesus say "he's gonna leave the 99 to go after the one? "I'm going after the one." He's saying every soul is precious before God.

And here's the kicker. He said he's going after his sheep, not any sheep. He's not going after someone else's sheep. He's going after his sheep, like his children. And each one of them, every single one of them, is precious before God. The problem that we have come into in our generation is that we think drawing lines is unbiblical.

Read the scriptures. Jesus here is drawing the line. Here's people who have heard it. They received the word of God. They have outright rejected it. And so therefore, they are not part of the body of Christ. One of the things that I hear a lot is, Pastor Peter, we have a church where the Bible is taught, and if I bring my non-Christian friend, they may not understand your preaching.

So they're kind of requesting that I would bring the sermon down a little bit, right? Now let me make this very clear. We are here gathered for worship, right? So the target of my sermon are Christians, so that his sheep may be fed. So are non-Christians welcome? Of course they're welcome.

They're more than welcome to come ask questions so that we can share the gospel with them. But this is worship. Non-Christians cannot worship God. My target is not non-Christians when I stand here on Sunday morning. They're more than welcome. We hope that you will evangelize. We hope that you would share the gospel with them.

We hope that you would share the love of Christ with them. But we are gathered here for the purpose of worship so that you may be fed. This is the body of Christ. Non-Christians are not part of the body of Christ. We want to present the body. We want the body of Christ to be the light to them, but they are not part of the body of Christ.

Now, the first soil is easy because the first soil people have heard the word of God and openly said I'm not a Christian. I don't believe this. So these are things that have fallen on the side. So either they have heard it outside or heard it inside, but they never, there's no confusion here.

Where the confusion begins is the second and the third. So if you're offended by the second soil, hold on, right? Because we're gonna get to the third soil next week and you're really gonna be bothered by it, okay? Second soil is the one that falls on the rocky soil.

They respond with joy, but because they have no roots, they eventually die. So the first thing that it says is they respond with joy. So they look like everybody else. So because they responded with enthusiasm, they make a decision and so some of them may even be baptized, may even become members of the church, but they say that eventually when they are tested and temptation come, they fold and they walk away.

So their faith wasn't genuine, but initially it says they responded with joy. Now, again, in a post-Christian culture, when somebody raised their hands, we say, well, one saved, always saved. Years ago, Billy Graham contacted Dawson Trotman, who was the leader of the Navigators, and Navigators was known for strict discipleship, right?

And so Billy Graham contacted Dawson Trotman because he was starting to hear of the study of the people who make a decision for Christ and they would ask people to come and make a decision, raise their hand, come down, and they would do the sinner's prayer and they would go.

But the studies found out that 97% of the people who make the decision never end up going to church. So initially they said only 6% who make a decision, they come down this aisle, only 6% end up going to church, and out of the 6%, more than half of them end up leaving the church and only, so 3% of all the people who come down.

Now, that study was done years ago and then they did a recent study of the Harvest Crusade. And this has nothing to do with like, oh, the Harvest Crusade is bad, or it has nothing to do with that, it's just facts. It's for all the people who come and make a decision for Jesus, only 3% are walking with Christ.

Now, the problem with that is that 95, 7% of them will walk away and say, one saved, always saved. I raised my hand, I went down. I got a free Bible. But the word of God is not going into them. They don't know what it means to be a follower of Christ.

And maybe their faith isn't real, we don't know. Because the gospel in and of itself is taught so that the maximum number of people can come in to the church, the maximum number. If the gospel that you hear is, Jesus loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life, and your hardship comes because you're separated from God, and he forgives us unconditionally.

He loves you unconditionally. He receives you unconditionally. And so you live your life. Yeah, we may struggle, but thank God it is by grace. And so when you die, you're gonna go to heaven. And then you've given that, like, who wouldn't want this? What have you got to lose?

Raise your hand and come down and get a free Bible. And then they walk away, and you have a generation filled with people who are absolutely convinced that when they die, that they're gonna be in heaven, not knowing the warnings of scripture. He says they have no roots. Roots is underneath the ground, so you can't see it.

So when somebody receives with joy, we don't know. But the root is what's connected to the nutrients, to the water, the living water. And so when the sun shines, when the temptation comes, what was meant to sustain them withers them. In James chapter one, two to four, it says, consider all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

And let endurance have its perfect results so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. See, for a believer, when the testing and the trials come in, it strengthens their faith. It tests their faith through, and they're almost like there's a greater resolve. You grow in your faith as your faith is tested.

You learn to persevere, and eventually, you are perfected. You are sanctified because of trials and difficulty. But an unbeliever who may, on the surface, look the same, an exact same trial comes into their life, and they completely wither. Why did God do this to me? Why did they do this to me?

And they don't see, because what's precious to them is not Christ. What's precious to them is this world, and Christ is only the avenue to get there, and when that is taken away, it is enough reason for them to walk away from their faith. That's what the second soil looks like.

They have added the church without adding Christ. In a post-Christian culture, there's all kinds of reasons to come to Christ, 'cause we don't have community. So you come to church and look for people who are like you. You go to church, and there's other people raising children like you.

You go to church and looking for purpose, community. So everything that you want as a social human being, you don't have it in the world, so you find it in the church. You get to play softball with people. You get to play BBA, right? Maybe find your future girlfriend, your wife.

You raise your kids, teaching good morals. You have all kinds of reasons to come to church without actually knowing Christ. 2 Timothy 3, one through five, he said, "But realize this, that in the last days, "difficult times will come." In verse five, "They are holding to a form of godliness, "although they have denied its power.

"Avoid such men as these." Holding to a form of godliness, meaning that this is a group of people who have learned to play the game. They know what to say. They know how to behave. They know what to do, because they've been in the church and they've been educated, so they know how to play the game, but the affection for Christ never grows because the root is not connected to the living water.

So they hear it, they're learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, just like it's in 2 Timothy 3, seven. Always learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Always learning, always hearing, always adding more knowledge. And if you've been in the church long enough, you know how to, you know how to behave.

You know how to serve. You know how to talk to people. You know how to get the attention of the leaders. You learn to play the game, and you play it well, but you've never really repented. You're holding on to your old life, because you see Christ as a conduit to get what you want.

In order to accommodate the unbelieving and the uncommitted, the church has created a culture that looks no different than the world. We want the uncommitted, unconverted, people with no roots, who have spiritually walked away from their faith, to feel comfortable at church, week after week, year after year, and no wonder the church doesn't look any different than the world.

And so every once in a while, we hear statistics of sexual sin, about divorce, about all kinds of things that the church does and says, "Well, Christians are no different." But I realize that these statistics are not about Christians. They're about the church, about professing Christians. In 1 Corinthians 3, 16, and 17, it said, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God, "and the Spirit of God dwells in you?

"If any man destroys the temple of God, "God will destroy him, "for the temple of God is holy, "and that is what you are." Paul is writing to the Corinthians, because all kinds of chaos is coming into the church. Because the leaders were hungry for power, and they were one-upping each other, it caused divisions in the church, and they allowed all kinds of sins to enter into the church.

The worship was in chaos, the spiritual gifts were in chaos, the communion table was in chaos. And he said, "Do you not know that your assembly, "your gathering, is a temple of God?" Every Jew knew exactly what he meant. If you enter the temple of God with blasphemous thoughts, you're asking for judgment.

The high priest couldn't linger in the Holy of Holies. Just by lingering beyond what he should have been, he died. So when he said, "Do you not know that your body, "your church, is a temple of God?" They knew exactly what he meant. He was saying, "Hey, stop acting like the world.

"Recognize what the church is." In Jude 4, it says, "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, "those who were long beforehand "marked out for this condemnation, "ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God "into licentiousness and deny our only master "and Lord Jesus Christ." It says, "They have crept in." Sad thing about our generation, they did not creep in.

We opened the door wide open and put a sign out saying, "Everyone is welcome." Of course, they're welcome to come to church 'cause we want to share the gospel with you. Of course, they're welcome to come and ask questions. We have events so that non-Christian can come so we can share the gospel with them.

But the problem is, unbelievers have been welcomed in the church, serving in the church, have become members in the church, and oftentimes, even become leaders in the church. This is the temple of God. And then he says in Jude chapter, verse 12, "These are men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, "in your fellowship, when they feast with you, "without fear, caring for themselves, "clouds without water, carried along by winds, "autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted." These are people who have a memory of what they were like when they were young.

When Christianity was manufactured in their college ministry, where they were constantly surrounded by constant encouragement, and you were almost peer-pressured to be a Christian. And so you went to camp, you went to small group, you participated because all your friends did it, and so the only time you remember when you were in love with Christ was when Christianity was manufactured for you to pressure you to live like a Christian.

But those are many years behind. You physically didn't walk away from Christ, but in every other aspect, outside of what you say, no one would know the difference. He says, "They are reefs in your feasts, "in your fellowship." In the church, we have the universal church, which is unseen.

And the membership of the universal church is the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit doesn't make mistakes. Nobody comes into the universal church by accident, by acting a certain way, 'cause the Holy Spirit will know. The local church is the expression of that universal church in the local body.

But in the local church, we make mistakes. 'Cause oftentimes, we can't tell. 'Cause the roots, sometimes you can't tell. It takes time. We have to see the fruit. That's why Jesus says to be careful that we uproot the wheat with the tares, because they look the same until time passes and you can see the fruit.

So in the local church, we have mixtures. So it's one thing to make a mistake. It's another thing to defile the church deliberately. There is no fellowship. There is no fellowship in the church who are not part of the universal church. There is no fellowship. There can't be fellowship, because fellowship is to partner with another person who has the Holy Spirit, whether it is financial, whether it is encouragement, whether it is preaching the gospel, where we are partnering together.

But in the church, we call softball fellowship, hiking fellowship, ski fellowship, and anybody is welcome to this fellowship. No, fellowship can only happen with genuine believers. The church cannot be the light if you can't distinguish between the church and the world. These are people, according to John chapter six, who are excited about Jesus.

After Jesus feeds the 5,000, this crowd hit its peak. It says 5,000, but probably the actual number is closer to 20,000. So 20,000 people are packing up their bags and their children, forgetting to pack lunch, and they're following Jesus everywhere. So you would think, wow, Jesus' ministry is very successful.

It actually tells us in verse 14, "Therefore, when the people saw the sign," the feeding of the 5,000, "which he had performed, "they said, 'This is truly the prophet "'who has come into the world.'" Jesus, verse 15, "So Jesus, perceiving "that they were intending to come "and take him by force to make him king, "withdrew again to the mountain by himself." You say, wow, this crowd, like they know Jesus.

They wanted to make him king. But when they finally catch up to Jesus on the other side of the sea, John 6, 26, 27, Jesus is not impressed. And he warns them. He said, "Jesus answered them and said, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, "'you seek me not because you saw signs, "'because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

"'Do not work for the food which perishes, "'but for the food which endures to eternal life, "'which the Son of Man will give to you, "'for on him the Father, God, has set his seal.'" He says, "You're not coming to me because you know me. "You're coming to me because you got something from me." We have a clear distinction in our generation.

We know what the health and wealth gospel people look like. 'Cause they're open about it. They'll tell you. If you believe in Jesus, you're gonna be healthy. You're gonna be wealthy. And the preachers are the wealthiest person in that church, and they brag about how many cars they have and how they got jets that they fly on.

And so they're very open about it. It is the false gospel, but they're very open about it. But in a Bible-teaching church, it creeps it. How many people follow Christ because of the benefit of following Christ? But when the trials and the temptation and the struggle comes, we question God.

So when he answers our prayer, and we were sick and we become healthy, praise God. We get a better job, better pay, praise God. When our children do well, praise God. God is blessing us. But as soon as difficulty and trials come, where is he? Is this a God worthy of worship?

Is this a God that I'm going to trust if this is what he's going to allow happen in my life? How is that any different than a health and wealth gospel? We just didn't make it clear. But our life reflects that we're not loyal to Christ. We're loyal to what he can give, the bread and the sustenance and the healing.

And that's exactly what Jesus was pointing out. You're not coming to me because you know me. You're coming to me because you ate. When Jesus says, "I am the bread, I am the bread. "I gave you physical bread so that you may know "that I am the bread, I am the life." And then they turned away from God.

And they walked away, just like Jesus told. And the very reason why he was telling this parable gets fulfilled after the feeding of the 5,000. So many people have walked away from their faith and yet functioning in the church. So many people, and for every practical purposes, Jesus Christ is not their king.

The word of God is open, but it doesn't have final authority over your life. You test the word of God to see if you like it or not. But the word of God doesn't have final authority over your life. It is your own conscience, your own pleasure, your own pursuit, your own will, determines what you will accept and what you will reject.

And so in every practical purpose, you have walked away from the faith, but not from the church. Christianity, for those people, becomes a burden. You hear the word of God, and outside of Jesus loves you, encourages you, you're gonna have eternity, there's hope in Christ, outside of those messages, every imperative becomes a burden.

Because you don't know the gift in Christ. We say the gift of Christ, gift of salvation, is not that we get saved from hell. Of course the Bible says we get saved from hell. The gift of Christ is not the benefits. It's Christ himself. What makes heaven heaven and hell hell is the presence of Christ and the absence of Christ.

If you have heaven, you have a mansion. If you have heaven, and you have friends. If you have heaven, and you have health. And if you have heaven, and there's no tears, but you don't have Christ, that's not heaven. Because the author of life is Christ. So you can have all that looks like life without Christ, you do not have life.

The whole point of salvation is to restore us to the author of life. So you can come to church and mimic life, just like you mimic life outside. But if you do not know Christ, if your roots are not connected to the living water, which is Christ, you're only pretending.

Second Corinthians four, three to four says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they may not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

He says when somebody who's received joy because they don't have root, and when they are tested, they found out that their faith wasn't genuine, and he says then the devil comes and snatches away the seed. Which means they are still under the authority of Satan. Just like it says the God of this age will continue to blind them.

Now let me conclude with this. In Romans 12, one it says, therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Now this is after 11 chapters of deep exposition of the gospel.

All of sin falls short of the glory of God. Tells us that you are guilty, whether you are with the law or without the law. How he saves us to free us from the slavery of sin, that we may become slaves of righteousness. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that he saves us by his mercy.

And in chapter 11, up to chapter 12, he basically tells us the deep understanding of the love of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, the holiness of Christ, the wrath of Christ. And then, in conclusion, in view of the mercy of the gospel that you have heard, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, which is spiritual service of worship.

You know what's interesting is that word for spiritual, in the King James Version, it says reasonable. In fact, if you have the NASB, most likely from that word spiritual, you'll have an asterisk or a number there, and if you follow that number, it'll say the literal interpretation is rational or logical.

That's what that word means. Just that other translators translated spiritual because they thought that maybe we wouldn't understand what logical and rational meant. The King James just said rational, right, reasonable. But I think the understanding of it is clearer to interpret it exactly what it means, that a logical, rational response to somebody who's heard the word of God, believing that the Son of God who left everything to save sinners, allowed his only begotten sons to suffer for guilty, blasphemous people, that if we genuinely believe that and accept that, that our reasonable, rational, logical response to that is for us to give our lives as a living sacrifice.

It is illogical, it is irrational for somebody who's professing that and then live like you never heard it. And that's what the scripture is saying. They may pretend, they may go through the motion, they may learn how to play the game, holding on to a form of godliness, always learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

They don't know Christ. They do not know Christ. The logical, rational, reasonable response to the things that you and I profess to know is to live the rest of our life pursuing more of him, wanting more of him, desiring to worship him, to be near him, to hear from him, to run to him, to fix our gaze upon him, because seeing him is what saved us.

Believing in him is what cleansed us. Hoping in him is what perseveres us. And so these two soils, the first one is obvious. The second one, maybe some of you have a lump in your throat maybe 'cause you're convicted or maybe some of you are bothered. You say, "This legalist." Anytime you don't like something being said, he's a legalist.

It's like, "Ah, legalist." Jesus hates legalists, that's you. Again, the question is, is it biblical? Look at the Bible, is it biblical? Did I contradict anything the Bible said? Now let me warn you, I'm not done with my sermon. I'm not done with my sermon. My sermon's gonna continue next week, and if you are part of the fourth sermon, hang on.

Hang on. The fourth sermon, if you are part of the fourth sermon, you will find tremendous encouragement. If you're part of the second soil and you are bothered, you are really gonna be bothered next week. The people in the third soil are the ones who are really gonna be bothered because they're the hardest to tell.

They're in the church. They might even be small group leaders. Oftentimes, they're even leaders in the church, even pastors, and that's why it's so hard, and we need to be careful that we don't superficially just throw around, "Hey, Christian, non-Christian, "Christian, non-Christian." We need to be careful. Jesus told us to be careful, but we also need to be able to discern.

It is not, it is not judgmental and hateful and legalistic to sell somebody who may not be a Christian to examine their faith. It is much more hateful to have doubt over somebody's faith and never say anything 'cause you don't care. You care more about your reputation. You care more about their response.

You care more how they will view you by saying this. It is not loving if you doubt and you say nothing. Now, don't be a jerk. Don't jump to conclusion. Don't be judgmental. Be gracious and loving and as patient as you can, but speak the truth in love. You can never compromise either.

You speak the truth without love, they will not hear. You speak with love but no truth, and they will be condemned, and so I'm asking you to hang on, hang on, because these are Jesus' words, and hearing the word of God, I pray, yes, even in a Bible-teaching church, even if you're a member of the church, even if you're serving in the church, that we would take some time to examine, is my life a reasonable response to what I confess to believe?

Let's pray. Father, we pray that the power of your word would grip us, grip your church, that we would not commit to a form, but to actual power, that we would not gain knowledge, but truth. We pray, Father God, that your word that you have ordained, that you have sent out, would not return until it has accomplished the purpose that you have ordained.

May Christ, in Christ alone, be magnified. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) ♪ Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Greatest treasure of my longing soul ♪ ♪ My God, like you there is no other ♪ ♪ True delight is found in you, Lord ♪ ♪ Your grace, a wealth too deep to fathom ♪ ♪ Your love exceeds the heavens' reach ♪ ♪ Your truth, a fountain of perfect wisdom ♪ ♪ My highest good and my unending need ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Strong defender of my weary heart ♪ ♪ My sword to fight the coldest demon ♪ ♪ And my shield against his hateful dart ♪ ♪ My sword to fight the coldest demon ♪ ♪ My song when enemies surround me ♪ ♪ My hope when tides of sorrow rise ♪ ♪ My joy when trials are abounding ♪ ♪ Your faithfulness, my refuge in the night ♪ ♪ Lord, my refuge ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Gracious Savior of my ruined life ♪ ♪ My guilt and cross laid on your shoulders ♪ ♪ In my place, you suffer, bled, and died ♪ ♪ You broke the grave and left the tomb for me ♪ ♪ You broke my bonds of sin and shame ♪ ♪ You broke the grave and death of comfort ♪ ♪ You broke my bonds of sin and shame ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ May all my days bring glory to your name ♪ ♪ May all my days bring glory to your name ♪ - Let's pray.

Father, we pray for revival. We pray, Father God, that you would purify the church, that we would be the body of Christ, that we would be the light, Lord God, as the world becomes darker. We pray, Father God, that you would sustain your church as you have promised, that the gates of Hades will not be able to prevail against it.

Help us, Lord God, to follow the path that Christ walked, not to covet this world, but to covet Christ more and more each day. I pray that your name may be honored, glorified, and that you would sustain your church, that as you send us, that we would be the aroma of Christ wherever you send us.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪ God sent his son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to put my Savior there ♪ ♪ Because he lived ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lived ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lived ♪ - Amen.

(upbeat music) ♪ How I love the voice of Jesus ♪ ♪ On the cross of Calvary ♪ ♪ He declares his work is finished ♪ ♪ He has spoken this hope to me ♪ ♪ Though the sun had ceased its shining ♪ ♪ Though the wall appeared as lost ♪ ♪ Christ had triumphed over ♪