May 13, 2013

• Parable of the Soils, P2: Percentages

  I wasn’t planning on posting this for a few more weeks.  There was also supposed to be another post between this one and the last one which was posted on March 5th and can be found linked here:  The Parable of the Soils, P1: What’s Missing?  A few comments at my last post, though, made me realize that the answer to their comments lay within my observations here, which was supposed to be the conclusion to this mini-series of blogs.  Thus I break in the middle of “Judgment Comes” and offer this both as Part 2 for the Parable of the soils and likewise part 3.5 of Judgment comes.

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  Within the pages of Scripture there are interesting apparent dichotomies which defy explanation.  Dr John MacArthur likes to simplify these by asking a few pointed questions.
  

  Who lives your Christian life?

  1. You do, you live it as best you are able in this fallen world.
  2. Christ does, He lives in you, through you and empowers you to do as He wills.

  Who is Christ?

  1. He is fully 100% human.
  2. He is fully 100% God.

  Who wrote the Bible?

  1. Men wrote it, it was fully their words, their thoughts, their styles and manners and their character.
  2. The Holy Spirit wrote it, using men and inspiring them on what to write, but not using them as robots, or dictating machines.

  MacArthur likes to point out that within every major doctrine of Christianity, there is a point of tension.  This is why Christianity often splits in to differing Theological groupings — because men love to try to fix the points of tension.  Calvinism – Armenianism,  both opposite examples of theological poles…. a magnetic north and south if you will.   Men love to explain things, and we love to fix issues we see with the powers of our logic.

  FOOTNOTE:  I am not dismissing Calvinism as an extreme.  I firmly believe that the truths of Scripture are CLEARLY presented in Calvin’s presentation of Biblical doctrine. 

  But God places tension within Scripture in order that He might better display it’s Supernatural origin.  What MacArthur means by that is this:  If men had written the Bible — they would have eliminated the points of tension.   They would have found some way to bring logic forth and downplay one tension in favor of the other.  They would have presented things so that there would be no tension.   Yet the reality is that the writer’s of the scriptures themselves embrace these tensions.

  To live is Christ, to die is gain.  (Philippians 1:21)

  1. Practical question: Live in Christ in this present darkness or die that I might know Christ fully? 
  2. Answer — Both have purpose… accept that God will use both your life and your death to His greater purpose and plan. 
  1. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT)

  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) 
  

  1. Practical question: Do I live my life or does Christ live it for me? 
     
  2. Answer — both, we live our lives, but Christ lives through us.  It is not a joint effort with you taking credit for the bad things and Christ taking credit for the good — your life is lived simply by the power that Christ gives you as you submit yourselves more and more to Him. 
     
  1. Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

  
  Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.  (2 Peter 1:20-21) 

  1. Practical question:  Who wrote the scriptures, man or God? 
  2. Answer — Both.  The scriptures were not preplanned by the authors, but were preplanned by God.  Thus Isaiah did not sit down one day and say “I think I’ll write scripture today.”  But God took what he wrote, inspired him, and thus gave us the book of Isaiah.
  1. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.  (2 Timothy 3:16)
  2. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. (1 Corinthians 10:11)
     

  There is a hidden truth in the parable of the soils that we don’t like to consider.  It isn’t really hiding, it’s in plain sight, but we gloss over it so quickly that it might as well be hiding.  And the truth of this plays right into Harlots, Prostitutes & Adulteresses, my last post.

  
  

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  Quick — how many different soils are there in the parable of the soils?

  If you said 4, you’re partially wrong.  The actual answer is there are 6, 3 bad ones (obvious) and 3 good ones (not so obvious).    There’s the path, the rocky, the thorny (3 bad ones) and there’s the soil that produces 30%, the soil that produces 60% and the soil that produces 100% (3 good ones).  All of the latter are simply lumped together as “good soil” because the issue isn’t how much they produce, but simply that they do produce something.

  4 soils or 6 soils, either way you look at it, there’s good and there’s bad — two things stand out from this though — both “types” of soil can exist in Church and only time and the production of “fruit” will tell the good from the bad.

  Wheat  & Tares.  (Matthew 13:24-30)
  Sheep & goats. (Matthew 25:31-46)
  Faithul & unfaithful servants. (Matthew 25:14-30)
  Bridesmaids found with lamps a-ready & those who were lazy & unprepared.  (Matthew 25:1-13)
   
  —- Judgment comes to first separate the true from the false, those who say “Lord, Lord” and do not live by that admission and those who are found faithful to living by Christ’s commands.  (Matthew 7:21-23)

  So here’s a key point that gets missed: the percentage of folk who are honestly saved  out of all those who are found within the walls of “Church” is actually only about 33% to 50% —- by Jesus own estimation!!!!  That’s right …. 33% to 50%, more or less, of all who claim to believe and follow Christ…. are false in their assertions!

  Let’s quickly review:

  Rocky Soil — People in church but who are only there for an emotional boost.  They live by their emotions, and in the end that will be their downfall.  (I went into further detail on this in my first post on this parable.)

  Thorny Soil — people in church who only commit themselves superficially to the truth of God’s Word.  Maybe they like the fellowship, maybe they like the sermons (Benjamin Franklin used to love listening to George Whitfield preach — not because he loved the truth and was a Christian, but because He loved the passion of Whitfield’s beliefs… and how that came out in his sermons.),  maybe they even like the music…. whatever the reason, they are there, but they don’t really commit themselves to Christ.

  Hardened Soil — These people still hear the truth, even while the dismiss it outright.  They may or may not be in church, but in some fashion the truth has or is being presented to them… and they have the opportunity to reject it.

  Good soil — true believers, regardless of how much fruit they bear.

  Thus, in the least, 33% – 50% of a church (Dismissing the Hardened Soil as they probably aren’t in or would never be a part of a Church) could potentially be honest regarding their commitment to Christ.  It could be more, one would hope that it is — but reality is that most folks are simply playing games with God hoping that God will save them because of how “good” they are, how “good” their lives have been, how much “good” they’ve done along the way and any number of other “good” reasonings.  They are in the Church, but they don’t belong…. tares, goats, thorny or rocky soils, unfaithful servants, lazy bridesmaids…..  and it’s to folks just like these that the strongest warnings and most earnest and passionate urgings of Scripture flow out to.  Even here in the parable of the soils!

  3 times in the book of Hebrews, the writer breaks from his train of thought to issue a strong warning.   In Hebrews 2:1-3, in Hebrews 6:4-8 and lastly in Hebrews 10:26-31 the writer urges his readers / hearers to come out of their indecision and to make a stand for what has already been proven to be Truth.  The wording is strong and the ultimate condemnation is terrifying. 

  …think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. — It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  (Hebrews 10:29, 31)
  

  This warning isn’t merely something given in Hebrews — you can find echoes of it in every New Testament writer, and even in the words of Jesus.   Those who “CLAIM” to follow Christ are constantly called to make sure that “CLAIM” is true and honest.

  Here’s where all this comes together —- all my thoughts and the questions posed in my last post about Judgment —-  Here’s where the question of the Eternal Security of the Believer and yet the Adultery of the Church (and it’s inescapable judgment, re:  Revelation 3:16) find their places.

  Two truths — both inescapably absolute and yet seemingly at odds with one another.

  Those that come to Christ, who are saved by Him, are saved for eternity.  There is nothing in all of Heaven or Earth which can or will take them out of God’s hand.  (John 10:28; Romans 8:31-39)   In Calvinistic terminology, this would be Irresistible Grace and the Perseverance of the Saints.  When God places a call upon someone’s life — they will be saved, and nothing will prevent that.  Once saved and you shall always be saved, scripture paints that picture very precisely.

  Yet….

  All men who call themselves believers are constantly and consistently commanded to make sure their salvation is real, honest and true.

  So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.  (2 Peter 1:10)
  

  Jesus, himself, says this TO HIS FOLLOWERS:

  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.  ….. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. (John 15:4,6)

  Paul adds this —

  Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.  (2 Corinthians 13:5)
  

  When the church is full of weeds — when the soil of men’s hearts who claim to believe in Christ is naught but rocky & thorny ground — when men cry “Lord, Lord” but cry “Foul, foul” when they are questioned regarding their how their lifestyles break from what is pure and true and noble and right — > KEY POINT — >   When those that claim to represent the God of the Universe, the creator of all men, and His beloved Son AND in point of fact do not and lead men into an idolatry in Christ’s own name……  Judgment cannot be far behind.   This is why Paul says the last days will be perilous times where men will have a false form of spirituality, following doctrines of demons and deceiving many.  (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5)

  This same fact of judgment was just as true of Israel when they played the harlot to every idol and false God……. it will be equally true today when Millions of men take upon their lips the name of Jesus, but in their lives show nothing of a life that displays a servant’s humility, a readiness to follow their Master or a dedication to stand upon the solid rock of Truth found in Scripture despite the ridicule of the world which mocks and scorns those of us who do.  These are the adulteresses for whom a commitment to Christ is meaningless.  And it’s a pretty high percentage.

  In all of Israel God told Elijah that there were 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to Ba’al.  7,000 out of hundreds of thousands. (1 Kings 19:18)

  In all the world, God found only 8 to preserve in the Ark….. OUT OF BILLIONS.  (Link is to a post I wrote 4 years ago looking into the number of people potentially killed in the universal flood.)

  In all of Jerusalem and Judea, after Christ had preached His final message and had been crucified — only 120 men OUT OF POTENTIALLY 250,000 – 1,000,000+ PEOPLE…. only 120 men were to be found waiting on the day of Pentecost….

  The percentages of the parable of the soils are telling —- and the warning is for one and all of us to pay extra careful attention NOT TO OTHERS…. but to our own salvation, to be absolute certain we are as we claim — even though once God’s calling comes upon a man or woman, to save that one, the place they gain in the family of Believers is unquestionably  E-T-E-R-N-A-L —- still Judgment does come…. and it begins with those who claim to be Christians….. and we would best spend our time making certain we are not deceiving ourselves.  (1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 1 Peter 4:17) 

  So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “If you continue to accept and obey my teaching, you are really my followers.  (John 8:31)

  Brother, sister — when was the last time you thoroughly searched your life to be certain of your honesty before God?  
  

  • 3:17 am
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