Peter Tan-Chi - Is Your Heart Right For God's Kingdom?
Today, we will start a new series and we will Uncover God's kingdom through the parables of Jesus. Jesus began His ministry by saying "the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is at hand". Why is this topic so important? Because it will impact your life now, how you live, your values. It will also impact your future, not just your future, it will impact your eternity. You may ask, what is the kingdom of heaven? What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is very simple: the word "kingdom", you have a king and you have subjects. So the kingdom of heaven is all about Jesus being the King and we, His followers.
So when Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, what is His focus? The focus is on how do you enter God's kingdom? How can you be sure you are part of God's kingdom? What should be your attitude? How should you prepare? How should you behave? So these are all part of the teachings of Jesus, because the kingdom of heaven is now and future. Now, when Jesus came, he ushered in God's kingdom. That's why He said, "the kingdom of God is in your midst", in your heart. However, it is also future: when He will come again, literally, physically, and you and I will see Him face to face. What do you mean by parables? Parables are from two Greek words: "para", side by side; "ballo", to throw, to cast.
So when you combine the two words "side by side" and "you throw", what are you saying? You are giving an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The earthly story is to catch the attention of the audience, to help them remember, because we are created by God, we love stories; and Jesus used stories to teach heavenly truth. And parables are also designed, believe it or not, to conceal or to reveal. You see, when a person is honest and sincere, he can understand. But that same story will be mysterious, will not be understandable to people who are proud, who don't desire truth. As William Barclay said, Parables do not simply convey information, but they challenge the hearers to take action.
In Matthew 13, when the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do you teach in parables? Why do you give stories"? Jesus is giving a universal principle. Jesus is saying the kingdom of heaven has been revealed to you. When the Bible uses the word "mysteries", it does not mean it cannot be understood, but you need the revelation of God to understand it. And then when He uses the phrase, "whoever has, to him more shall be given", he's giving a universal principle: to those who are humble enough to know truth, the more truth they will learn. To those who refuse to know the truth, no further truth will be given, in fact, the heart will be darkened.
Notice how He repeats the prophecy in Isaiah. In other words, to understand the parable, what Jesus is simply saying is this: you've got to have the right heart attitude. The title for today's message is very simple: We will uncover the truth about the kingdom of heaven through the parable of the sower, beginning from Matthew 13. Now the Bible says, "he who has ears, let him hear". I want you to listen carefully. In this parable, you will notice Jesus is describing four kinds of soil. The first one is the hard soil, it's the pathway. Nothing can grow there, it's hard. The second is the rocky soil. There is no depth. The third one is thorny soil. The thorny soil is fertile but there's a lot of thorns, there's a lot of thistles in it.
The last one is the good soil. This parable represents four kinds of soil, four kinds of heart. The first one is the hard heart. The second one, the shallow heart. The third one is the divided heart. The fourth one is that devoted heart. Let us dive in now to what Jesus is saying. Let us see how He interpreted the parable. He’s now describing the hard soil, the hard heart. What do you observe? This same parable is explained in the book of Luke. In Luke 8, he now uncovers the same parable, the same kind of soil, the hard soil, the hard heart. In short, the seed is none other than the word of God, the Bible.
Do you notice: the parable has to do with salvation, it has to do with how we enter the kingdom of heaven. And now he introduces a character called the devil. What does he do? He takes away the truth that has been planted in the heart of men through God's word. For what purpose? That's why, when you are listening to me right now, and you listen to the word of God, be careful with what is entering your mind, because the devil comes and he snatches away God's truth. Why? He does not want you to believe, he doesn't want you to understand. How is our heart hardened? By the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 tells us, You see sin will make the heart hard. How? For example, the sin of bitterness, anger, unforgiveness; the sin of pride, the sin of immorality.
You see, once God's spirit is convicting you that something's wrong with your life, and you keep rejecting the voice of your conscience, the voice of the Lord in your heart, pretty soon, your conscience gets seared. Your conscience gets hardened. The heart gets hardened. Let me give you an example. Many of you are familiar with Herod. In Mark 6, the Bible tells us Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was righteous, a holy man. He kept him safe. The Bible tells us Herod enjoyed listening to John the Baptist. But do you notice what happened to Herod? Herod, though he enjoyed listening, his heart became hardened. You know why? Because John told him, And because Herod did not want to change his lifestyle, he didn't want to give up a sinful relationship, the Bible tells us while he enjoyed listening to John the Baptist, there was no repentance.
In fact, if you read Mark 6, a few verses down, eventually he had the head of John the Baptist cut. You know why? A hardened heart will make you do things that normally you will not do. This same Herod was so interested to meet Jesus. Are you aware of that? In Luke 23, the Bible tells us He wanted to see Jesus for a long time, why? He had been hearing about him. But the Bible tells us his heart was not right. And because his heart was not right, he was not after the truth, he wanted Jesus to perform maybe some signs, some miracles, But, you know, Jesus knew his heart and Jesus did not answer him. And what did Herod do? A hardened heart? The Bible tells us What did Herod do? Herod treated Jesus with contempt, he mocked Jesus. Herod had the privilege of being in the presence of Jesus, but the heart was not right, hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
History tells us Herod eventually lost his kingdom, he lost everything. He was exiled. If the heart is hardened by sin, it cannot hear God's truth, God's word. The next heart described by Jesus is the rocky soil, the rocky soil, meaning a shallow heart. Look at how Jesus uncovered the parable. This is what Jesus said: He was excited, he had an emotional experience. Wow, he loved Bible study! He loved the Word of God! Do you notice: this man has an emotional experience. He loved the Word. But when persecution, when trials, when problems come, what happens? He gives up! Jesus does not want counterfeit Christians, He does not want counterfeit conversion; He wants you and me to really understand the Gospel message. What do I mean?
In Luke 9:57-58, this is what it says: You know for many of us, we will say, "Sure! Follow"! Not Jesus. You know what Jesus was doing? "Think twice. Do you know what you're getting into? You want to follow Me? Great, but you know what it means to follow Me? If you would think following Me will make you rich, you better think twice". What is Jesus saying? In Luke 9, Jesus explains to His disciples and to everybody what it means to really enter His kingdom. You will notice in this one verse you have three commands. He was saying to them all, "if anyone wishes to come after Me", if you want to follow Jesus, number one: you must deny yourself.
Do you know the meaning of the word, "deny himself"? Today, we live in a very selfish society. The culture is me, me, me. Jesus says no, no, learn to deny yourself. Are you able to deny, say no to yourself? Number two: "take up his cross", that's a command. Take up your cross daily. What does it mean to take up your cross? To take up your cross simply means what? You say, "Lord Jesus, I surrender my all to You, I follow You. Not what I want, but what You want; it is Your will". And then the last command: "follow Me". It's a command. That word "follow" is a military word, following a military officer. That word "follow" is the term used of a master and teacher, a disciple.
So Jesus is saying, "You want to follow Me? Great. Here are the conditions". Have you heard of people saying, "After coming to Jesus, why am I having problems? I thought that after I come to Jesus, all my problems will be solved, my family, my marriage, my career, my finance". You see that mindset? "I did not follow Jesus to have these kinds of problems". My friend, that kind of conversion is what I call shallow, a shallow heart, not understanding the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is much deeper. It is saying we are sinners. And that the way to salvation is a repentant heart, to see ourselves in need of a savior. But for many people, Jesus Christ is Santa Claus. Jesus Christ is our genie. Jesus Christ is our servant. We want Jesus to serve us. We want Jesus to fulfill our agenda.
There are many Christians who are not discipled properly. They think coming to Jesus means what? He becomes your servant. Jesus is saying that is a shallow heart. You are blind to the reality of who you really are and who is Jesus. You are blind to the need for repentance. You are blind to your self-centeredness. So my friend, Jesus is saying this is not a real Christian. The apostle Peter has the same concern for shallow Christianity. Let's look at Matthew 13:22; notice what the Bible says: This kind of soil is fertile. It is rich, except there are thorns, thistles competing for the nutrients of the soil. "This is the man who hears the word": notice, he hears; he loved Bible study, but the problem is what? The worry of the world. The problem is not the world, the problem is the worry.
"And the deceitfulness of wealth", the problem is not wealth, it is the deceitfulness of wealth. It chokes, in Tagalog, "nasasakal"; you are strangled. There's no room for fruitfulness. I like what John Chrysostom said years ago. This is what he said: What John is saying is the problem is not the world, it is the care. The problem is not riches, it is the deceitfulness of riches. What John is saying is similar to what Paul is saying: money is not evil; it is the love of money. No wonder Jesus tells us clearly: What is Jesus saying? You can have only one master. Either Jesus is the most important person in your life and everything else is secondary, or you have money, you have wealth, you have pleasure competing with your loyalty. You cannot have both.
An example of people deceiving themselves and not finishing well and not being fruitful is Judas. Look at what the Bible says in Matthew 26:14,15. What do you notice about Judas? The Bible said one of the twelve, do you realize Judas ate with Jesus? Judas lived with Jesus? The twelve disciples lived together with Jesus. They served together. I wouldn't be surprised if Judas was able to heal the sick, if Judas was able to preach, if Judas was able to have many conversions. I won't be surprised if Judas was able to deceive many people. You know why? Because when Jesus asked the twelve, "One of you will betray me", none of them, none of them suspected it was Judas. Therefore it is possible to be thinking that you are part of the Christian group, that you are a follower of Jesus, but your heart has never been right.
In John 12:6, the Bible tells us Judas used to steal the money. He was the treasurer. Judas always loved money. And at the latter part of his life, he betrayed Jesus. If the heart is not right, eventually, action will follow. Notice his question: This is unthinkable. That is a warning. Is your heart fully devoted to the Lord, or is it Jesus plus something else? You cannot have a divided heart. Remember what Jesus tells us: The fourth kind of heart is a devoted heart. Let us see how Jesus uncovered the parable of the fourth heart, the fourth kind of heart. (it's a good heart, a devoted heart) I want you to notice the following amazing reality: "he hears the word", to enter the kingdom of heaven, it begins with listening to the Word of God, knowing the Word of God. What else? Understanding it.
The word "understanding" has the idea of you align with it. You embrace it. Indeed, you bear fruit. The byproduct, the proof, the evidence of having a relationship with Jesus is fruit. And it brings forth, notice, a hundred, you know a hundredfold, I realize is 10,000%. Sixty is 6,000%. Thirty is 3,000%. Luke 8:15 describes the good soil, the devoted heart. You see the good heart is the devoted heart. What do we mean? Notice, "they hear the word, honest (sincere), good heart (humble, willingness to accept), hold it fast (you cling to it), bear fruit with perseverance (you don't give up)". A devoted heart will cling to it because you will know what it's all about, you understand. You see the big picture. Can I give you an example of people with a devoted heart?
One of the person that I am privileged to have heard in their public gathering was Henrietta Mears. Henrietta Mears was an excellent Sunday school teacher. Her Sunday school class kept growing and growing up to 6,000 students. A simple Sunday school teacher, but her impact was amazing. She impacted Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade. She impacted Billy Graham and many others. In other words, one seed, the life of Henrietta Mears can impact so many others. I had the privilege of knowing, meeting, and becoming the friend of Dr. Bill Bright. He was able to visit us.
In fact, he was able to share the Gospel to my father. Dr. Bright was an amazing businessman. He heard the Gospel and he decided to commit his business and his life to Jesus. He was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Today, it's called Campus Crusade for Christ is in over 190 countries. It has over 26,000 full-time staff; over 200,000 volunteers. Dr. Bright was a man whose heart was devoted to Jesus. He impacted not just a few. The Bible says the seed grew, it multiplied, 3,000%, 6,000%, 10,000%. Through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, through the ministry of Dr. Bill Bright, I have met countless people who have been impacted by him. I'm one of those who have been impacted by his ministry.
What's my encouragement? My encouragement is this: share the Word of God. Share it to as many people as possible. You know why? Do not be discouraged when people do not respond. When people will stop attending, don't be discouraged, keep sharing! Because God is really the only One that can do something regarding the heart. And I pray that you learn to examine your own heart. You need to pray and ask God to give you a heart that is soft, that is devoted to Him. It's never too late to change. Perhaps some of you have hardened hearts, or shallow heart, or divided heart. I want to pray for you. After praying for you, I want you to pray with me.
Lord Jesus, I want to pray for our brothers and sisters who are struggling perhaps with hardened heart, by the deceitfulness of sin. Will You have them experience release? Transform their heart as they surrender their lives to You even right now. I pray for those whose heart is shallow. Lord, they're following You for the wrong reason. Will You open their eyes to realize that to follow You means to surrender their all to You as their Lord and Master? I pray for those who are divided, who loves You but at the same time, they love the world; they think it is possible. Help them realize if we truly love You, if we truly desire You, if we are truly devoted to You, we will not allow any competing things, any competing realities, any competing values to challenge our devotion to You. Lord Jesus, I pray for all of us, including myself, that our heart be devoted to You. And for those, Lord Jesus, who are not as sure that they are part of Your kingdom, I pray right now that they would humbly pray to accept You by faith as their Lord and Savior.
Pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I accept You right now, today, as my Lord and my Savior. I receive Your gift of forgiveness. I receive Your gift of eternal life. Help me to trust You. Help me to know You more. And above all, help me to be devoted to You, to serve You and to follow You. In Jesus' name, we all pray. Amen.