020 LISTEN! – part 5

Mark 4:1-34 (18-19)

February 22, 2026

By now you certainly realize that we are in a segment of Mark’s gospel

That focuses on the premium of listening to God when He speaks.

In Mark 3 Jesus warned about those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit,

By ultimately rejecting His testimony about Christ.

In Mark 4 Jesus preached a sermon that the crowd could not understand.

We have been talking then about the importance of listening to the truth.

#1 THE PROBLEM WITH TRUTH

Mark 4:1-9

· That if you don’t listen to it, you run the risk of not being able to hear it.

#2 THE PRIVILEGE OF TRUTH

Mark 4:10-20

· That Jesus grants understanding to those who listen and seek Him out.

AND THAT IS WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW.

Those with “ears to hear” were not content not being able to understand,

So they have sought out Jesus for an explanation.

Jesus is now granting them the privilege

Of understanding His cryptic parable.

The key verse is verse 14

“The sower sows the word.”

Not only does this verse give us the key to understanding the symbolism,

It also happens to be the point of the entire sermon.

By changing the word “seed” to “word” we learned that

Jesus’ sermon was not about farming, it was about preaching.

· The seed isn’t literal seed, it’s the gospel.

· The farmer isn’t a literal farmer, it’s a preacher.

· And the soil isn’t literal soil, it is the heart of those who are preached to.

This sermon was meant to explain to those who preach the gospel

Why not everyone who hears ends up being saved.

It certainly does give a vivid warning

· To those with hard hearts that don’t listen

· Or shallow hearts who have no depth or true commitment

· But ultimately the sermon is meant for those who preach.

Don’t get discouraged if you preached the gospel

And the person you preached to did not get saved.

It may be that they had a HARD HEART.

And it may be that Satan was stealing the word from the heart by offering them excuses not to believe.

· You are in a spiritual war, and not everyone who hears the gospel accepts it.

· You should not stop preaching just because some ground is too hard to hear

the truth.

Or it may be (as we saw Sunday night) that you preached to someone

Who seemed to believe it, but then fell away.

And again you wonder if you are just “no good” at preaching the gospel.

It may be that the recipient of your preaching had a SHALLOW HEART.

· They were hard-hearted in disguise.

· They had a thin layer of soil concealing their hardness.

· But they only accepted the gospel for the supposed temporal benefit of it.

We saw this happened with both Moses and Jesus,

So don’t get discouraged if you preached and some then fell away.

Or it may be that you preached to someone who claimed to believe it,

But even though they never openly denied Christ,

They just never really lived for Him either.

And you wonder if you said something wrong,

Or failed to make the calling clear.

No, it may just be that you encountered this third type of heart,

And it is the one we want to look at this morning.

THE HALF HEARTED

(18-19) “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

Sunday night we looked at the half-hearted

· Who were never genuinely saved even though they faked it for a while.

· And they ultimately proved they were lost because when affliction of persecution arose they denied and left the faith.

Such phony believers were probably quite prevalent in Jesus day,

Or in the days of the early church, or even in hostile areas today

Where physical persecution is more common.

But we live in a country, where at least thus far,

Physical persecution is not very common.

John said that you spot a phony believer when they deny the faith.

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

But what about if they are never persecuted and so they never leave?

What if they just live uncommitted and undevoted lives,

But are never really forced to actually deny Jesus?

They remain in association, but their lack of faithfulness frustrates you.

IT MAY BE THAT THEY ARE HALF-HEARTED.

It may be that they are weedy soil.

· It may be that their heart is full of idols

· And nothing has ever pressured them enough to make them choose.

But their lack of fruitfulness is evidence of their lack of conversion

Even though they choose to hang around the church.

We see these types of people in Scripture too:

Jude 1:12-13 “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

Or the church in Pergamum:

Revelation 2:14-16 “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. ‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ‘Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.’”

· It is the “some there” we are talking about here.

They heard the gospel,

They at least outwardly accepted the gospel,

But their lives indicate that the gospel never really took root.

They associate with the church, but fruit is absent.

Such hearers can also be very disheartening when you preach the gospel.

Jesus explains what is going on in such situations here.

· Don’t get disheartened when people don’t believe they may be hardened soil.

· Don’t get disheartened when people fall away they may be shallow soil.

· Don’t get disheartened when people fail to bear fruit, they may be weedy soil.

Now, as we saw with the first two examples

We again see two things in play.

One is the condition of the soil

The other is the threat which takes advantage of it.

In the first analogy

The threat is Satan (birds),

· He takes advantage of those with hard hearts.

· He steals the seed from hard-hearted people.

In the second analogy

The threat is persecution (sun),

· Persecution will dislodge and remove those with shallow hearts.

· They did not sign up for suffering.

In this third analogy

The threat is idols (thorns) that choke out the gospel.

· Idols will choke the seed of the gospel if they are not removed at the first.

This is why repentance precedes believing

In every gospel presentation.

If you don’t remove the weeds through repentance

The gospel may be choked out before it bears fruit.

So let’s examine this 3rd soil here this morning.

(18) “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,”

Again, we are NOT talking about those who have never heard.

We are talking here about those who have heard it.

And even unlike the hard soil

There was some element of understanding and acceptance here.

This heart did, to some extent, receive the gospel.

And this is where it can become so tricky for us.

For many years in evangelical life

· All that was asked of men was to “receive” Jesus.

· Or to “receive” the gospel.

But conspicuously absent from the invitation

Was a reminder of the cost associated with receiving it.

Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

· Or when Jesus warned the man that He was homeless.

· Or when Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to sell his possessions.

Jesus never just told people to “receive” eternal life.

He called men to follow and there is always a cost to following.

But because the American version of the gospel

Has chosen to omit any notion of counting the cost to follow Jesus

It is no surprise that we end up with a multitude of people

Who just tried to add Jesus to their garden.

· They didn’t till the garden.

· They didn’t remove the weeds.

· They just tried to add Jesus as some additional form of security against going to hell.

But, as Jesus said, they are people “who have heard the word,”

And then comes the kicker in verse 19:

“but…” THERE IS A PROBLEM IN THE HEART.

Jesus says, “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

We need to start out by recognizing the problem,

And that is the LACK OF FRUIT.

That is the problem with every soil mentioned thus far, there is no fruit.

Fruit is what distinguishes the good soil from the 3 bad ones.

Fruit is what distinguishes the good heart from the 3 bad ones.

We have, yet again, a heart that was exposed to the word

But did not handle it properly,

And that is evidenced by the lack of fruit.

What we want to know is where did this heart go wrong?

What happened here?

· It wasn’t a hardness issue

· It wasn’t a shallowness issue

· It was a weed issue; an idol issue.

Jesus here gives 3 types of weeds that grow in this heart.

And while they all can be categorized as idolatry

There is a bit of a chain reaction here.

1. It starts with DOUBTS (worries)

2. The doubts make the heart susceptible to DECEPTIONS

3. The deceptions lead to DESIRES

AND THE END RESULT IS NO FRUIT.

We want to work through those and understand them a little better.

1) DOUBTS

“the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world…”

“worries” translates (MARE-im-nah)

It’s just things that consume you.

It can even be used of good things that consume you.

2 Corinthians 11:28 “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.”

It can also speak of negative things that consume you.

1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

It is what Jesus taught us quite thoroughly

In the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:25-33 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Here we have a heart that has other concerns or other worries.

But they are NOT NOBLE concerns like what Paul had for the church.

Jesus says they are the “worries of the world”.

“world” is (eye – OWN)

It speaks NOT of the physical world, but rather “of the current age.”

It can be translated “age” or “forever”

Jesus is referring to “age old worries” or “age old concerns”

The types of things humanity has been consumed with forever.

It is the types of things that humans from every age

Have always concerned themselves with.

We think of the book of Ecclesiastes

And how even a book written nearly 3,000 years ago

References the type of pursuits and concerns that are still relevant today.

· We heard that preacher seeking money and knowledge and pleasure,

· We saw him worrying about his legacy and security.

There is indeed nothing new under the sun.

That is the person Jesus references here.

They are still totally consumed with

The worries and concerns and doubts of the world.

· It indicates a failure to trust Christ.

· It indicates a failure to repent of worldliness.

· It indicates a lack of true regeneration.

It is what Paul said about Demas:

2 Timothy 4:10 “for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”

Can I remind you of something else Jesus said?

You cannot love this world and God.

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

John echoed what he obviously learned from Jesus:

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

On the other hand

You have testimonies of true followers who certainly understood what Jesus taught:

Matthew 19:27 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You…”

Paul said:

Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Those who followed Jesus knew exactly what was being asked.

They were leaving their old lives and their old loves behind.

They were NOT just adding Jesus to their current ambitions.

BUT HERE we have people who tried to keep both.

· They didn’t give up the world.

· They didn’t deny themselves.

· They just tried to add Jesus on top of all of that.

They brought their worries and cares and doubts with them.

And the problem is that this opened the door for a second problem.

2) DECEPTION

“and the deceitfulness of riches…”

When you concern yourself with age-old worries

It leaves you exposed to an age-old deception.

What is that deception?

That money is the solution to your problems.

THAT PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP THE WORLD DOESN’T IT?

If I can just get more money then all my problems will be solved

(or at least the major ones).

SO THE RACE IS ON FOR MONEY.

And the ambition drives everything.

We even program young people to think that way.

· You need to do good in school

· So you can get accepted to a college

· So you can get a good job

· So you can make lots of money

· So you can live a happy life

WHAT A LIE!

Ecclesiastes 2:8-11 “Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines. Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”

IT’S A LIE.

· Money does not buy happiness.

· Money certainly does not buy salvation.

Psalms 49:7-9 “No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him— For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay.”

You can’t buy salvation.

· God won’t accept VENMO when you stand before Him.

Money won’t save you,

But I’ll tell you what it will do,

It will keep you from letting the gospel bear fruit in your life.

If you love it, it will ruin your heart.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Remember Gehazi?

· He was the servant of Elisha when Naaman the leper came to be cleansed.

· Naaman offered money, Elisha refused,

· But Gehazi chased him down and sought payment anyway.

2 Kings 5:26-27 “Then [Elisha] said to him, “Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? “Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”

That wasn’t a good decision.

We are speaking of people

Who are so consumed with the worries of the world

That they turn to money to solve it and will not part with it.

BUT IT LEADS THEM TO RUIN.

Luke 12:13-21 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

We could certainly lift up the Rich Young Ruler

· Who refused Jesus’ command to sell all his possessions and follow Him.

· We see how his love for the world choked out the seed of the gospel.

YOU SEE THE PROBLEM.

We have a man who would not eradicate his love of the world.

1. He was filled with age-old concerns of worldly comfort.

2. Those doubts opened his heart to an age-old deception that money would be

his security and savior.

He was deceived.

And eventually that deception leads to a disastrous desire.

3) DESIRES

“and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word”

“desires” is (epi-thoo-ME-a)

It is a craving or a longing, especially for forbidden things.

Romans 1:24 “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”

Romans 7:8 “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”

It is the progression we saw in Eve.

· Satan deceived her,

· Promising that something from the world could produce true happiness.

· That deception led to a desire that ruined her.

“other things” translates (loy-POS)

It literally means “the rest” or “what remains”

So this person refused to part with their idols.

Eventually they were deceived to seek that which would secure their idols. (wealth)

But then the deception went further.

It started telling them about other things they also needed.

After the deceit came in this person

Started coveting other things or desiring the rest

Or wanting the things he perceived he was missing out on.

THERE IS A DANGER!

Remember Asaph?

TURN TO: PSALM 73

He recounts how he nearly fell prey to this particular weed in his life.

(READ: 1-14)

· Do you see how he started to worry about worldly things?

· Do you see how he became deceived that money was the answer?

· Do you see how he started thinking he was missing out by following God?

It happens.

Fortunately God restrained his madness and corrected his foolishness.

Fortunately God took a grubbing hoe and ripped that weed from his heart.

(READ: 15-28)

He learned better.

But that is the danger.

James 4:1-3 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

It will destroy you every time.

Here Jesus says that this is what happens

To many of the people we preach the gospel to.

They hear the gospel.

They even like what they heard.

· Who doesn’t like promises of forgiveness, blessing, and eternal life.

THE PROBLEM IS that while they chose to receive the gospel

They chose not to remove their idols.

They try to add Jesus to their list of other gods and it destroys them.

Jesus said, those remaining weeds “choke the word”.

Do you understand that?

We’re talking about that internal battle.

The gospel asks you to deny yourself and follow Christ.

· There is a cost involved.

Sometimes that is a monetary cost.

· He may ask you to give

· He may ask you to sacrifice

· He may ask you to turn down something from the world

And at that moment you have to choose

Which plant you are going to water.

You are either going to

Embrace the plant of the gospel and nurture it

Or you’re going to protect that weed

That you think will give you security.

BUT YOU CAN’T DO BOTH.

Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

You can’t follow Christ and the world.

For those who refuse to eradicate the weeds we see what happens.

EVENTUALLY THE WEEDS WIN.

The world becomes more important to them.

· Service of Christ and the fellowship of the church take a back seat to

sporting events and worldly entertainment.

· Giving to the kingdom takes a back seat to the toys and treasures of the

world they want to buy.

· Risk of comfort or safety can never be entertained because it might

threaten all that I have acquired.

And though they never formally leave the church

We see that their heart is somewhere else altogether.

Every time the gospel might ask something of them

Their love for the world effectively chokes it out and silences it.

And Jesus says:

“it becomes unfruitful”

IT’S A TRAGEDY.

And one we see played out in America over and over.

Where we love to justify keeping our idols.

Certainly then THERE IS A WARNING

To any of us against allowing idols to remain in the heart.

Each of us this morning

Should be determined to make sure no weeds remain in us.

Jeremiah 4:1-4 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the Lord, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver, And you will swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.” For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”

· We should certainly forsake the world.

· We should certainly remove the idols of the heart.

· We should certainly embrace the gospel and nurture that in our hearts.

But ultimately, as we have noted, this sermon is not for the crowd.

They were prevented from understanding it.

THIS SERMON IS FOR THE SOWER.

AND IT IS A REMINDER TO THOSE WHO SOW THE SEED

Not to become discouraged when people don’t accept what you say.

Not to become discouraged when someone who accepted your words then falls away and denies.

Not to become discouraged when someone who accepts your words but never demonstrates devotion.

THOSE THINGS HAPPEN.

Satan, Suffering, and Sin are powerful enemies to the gospel

And they keep men from believing and holding to the gospel.

But that doesn’t mean you should stop.

If we grow discouraged at the lack of fruit and quit sowing

Then I can assure you that we won’t get any.

“The sower sows the word”

I know though there are plenty of bad soils out there,

BUT there is also some good soil that is ripe for planting.

We’ll take a look at them tonight.

YOU KEEP SOWING.