Spiritual Suffocation | Mark 4:1-20 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

My heart is swelling with joy this afternoon. And as you can imagine, there's so much that can be said about what the Lord has done, over the past year, but I'm going to restrain from doing that. And I'm going to keep that for our time of fellowship where I will share a few words. But for now, I just want to trust the process that we have been going through in the scriptures as we continue in our series within a series, in Mark chapter four as we study and continue to survey the parable of the sower. And so this is going to be a strong word today, but, we're going to trust the Lord that the people here today will benefit from it and that it will bear fruit.

It will bear fruit. And so meet me in Mark chapter four, and let's just look at one verse together in verse seven. Mark chapter four verse seven. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

Lord, this is your blessed word. Now bless our hearts as we seek to understand your mind, your wisdom, your will. We plead with you, Lord, that you would grant a special touch from the Holy Spirit that there would be his power assisting the delivery of this word and his power breaking open our hearts to receive it with joy. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You and I have now arrived at our third installment of our study in the parable of the sower, and the value of our time in this and what the Lord Jesus has to teach us is incalculable. Its primary design is really to have listeners of the word of God to cautiously ponder not just what they are hearing, but how they are hearing the truth. In other words, this teaching that is so familiar to us, especially those who grew up in the church, is a confirmation from God that any audience member from every generation will be responsible for how they assess and how they apply God's revealed will to them. If the sower is faithful in his delivery of the seed, he will not be guilty for the fruitlessness of his hearers. At the same time, the seed will never be criticized for having an inability to produce life in the soul even though the audience may be receptive, though unchanged.

This parable is important because the Lord Jesus points us to the heart of a very complicated and debated matter concerning the complex short term and long term responses to the gospel. But this parable unveils it and he really simplifies it for us. The explanation for the variety of reactions is in the attitude of the hearer. That is where it all lies. The seed of truth will either thrive or it will die based on the condition of the inner man, which varies from person to person.

And we have already discussed the hardened heart, the heart who hears the word like you are hearing it today. But because of different reasons, they are totally unresponsive to the truth and that truth ricochets off of them making it totally easy for Satan to grab that seed, less it might have some impact in your life down the road. And then we looked at the rocky soil, different in in the sense that it was receptive, suddenly and excitingly receiving the truth, promising much fruit, much conformity to Christ likeness until the heat of persecution, trials, discomfort, blaze over it, scorching it until it has no life and no fruit to show. But today, the Lord has another batch of soil to sift before us. And I believe that this is a class of professing Christians that is unfortunately widespread in Christendom today.

And the reason for that, the reason why this category is so typical even in our congregations is, I believe, because what spoils the soil is something that most of us generally tolerate. Partly because what Jesus deems as soul damning is what our culture boldly advocates as ambitious, as wise, as aspiring, as admirable. And many professing Christians have bought into that same idea. You might be shocked this afternoon to learn what the Holy Spirit defines as thorns. But if you are among those lean in now.

Lean in now. If you are among those who are honest enough to admit that your spiritual life has not seen growth since your apparent confession of Jesus, then take heed to the words of the author of life because it may rescue you from the spiritual suffocation that you are suffering from. Listen. We are already at the verse in the parable that tells us about this category of listeners, but let's go to Jesus' explanation of it in Mark four eighteen. Mark four eighteen.

And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. Before I get to the list of perils that Jesus mentions in this, allow me to make a comment of the uniqueness of the soil in comparison to the others. Like the rocky soil, the soil with thorns looks good on the surface. But in reality, there are deadly elements within it that contain corrupting faculties.

Neighboring organisms like brambles and weeds are living there, and they are prepared to accelerate in growth because there was not careful purging that took place beforehand in the soil. And these components have no problem cohabitating with good seed. They don't mind having good seed being their neighbors, but they are always always threatening the growth of that seed and anything that tries to develop in close proximity. The reason that these weeds are viciously threatening the good seed is because they are selfish, and they soak up the nutrients, and they steal the water and the light that is required for development. And because of this, there is a hindrance to the maturity of any competing harvest, even if it's good.

By alluding to thorns and the imagery of thorns, Jesus is brilliant. He's brilliant. He's wonderful. Because in this, he's communicating the pitfall, and it is this. Embracing the gospel while permitting polluted preoccupations to abide in the same heart.

In Luke eight seven, and you don't have to turn there, we are told with a different detail that this seed grew, but the thorns grew up with the seed with it and then choked it. This informs us something very important. The main lesson about this part in the parable is to point out the listener who thinks that they can receive the truth and accept the terms of the gospel while allowing other aspirations to coexist. What the Lord is not saying is that there are people who, because of their single-minded drive for riches and promotion and luxury and other desires and pleasures of this life, immediately reject the truth. I'm not interested.

Don't sign me up. If you read carefully, these people are like the rocky soil in that they welcome the seed. They accept the seed. They're stirred by the seed. They're convinced by the seed.

They confess Christ. They can articulate theology and doctrine, and they may make an appearance in the house of God from time to time. But here's the main thing. Ultimately ultimately, they lack genuine fruit. Like the fig tree that Jesus cursed from a distance, that tree had leaves.

It looked like it had life. It looked like it was the real thing. But upon close examination and evaluation, Jesus realized that it was a fraud, and he cursed the fig tree. This is the type of plant that we are dealing with. This is the type of professing Christian that Jesus is addressing.

And if that is the case, then at what point does apostasy occur with the thorny heart? And here's where it is unique. Because you can point out with the first soil that it is immediate. I don't want this. I reject this.

Okay. You come to the rocky soil. And what? The moment things get hard, the moment there's a price to be a Christian, the moment there is pressure from family, they jump ship. That's the moment.

But when you come here to this soil, there is no definitive moment. There is no clear, observable, measurable turning point. Instead, this kind of falling away is defined by a deception that makes the ensnared soul generally unaware of the seriousness of his spiritual plight. In essence, it is a gradual decay that eventually leads to a practical denial of discipleship. Let me show that to you in Luke's version.

Go to Luke with me in chapter eight in verse 14. Luke eight fourteen. Luke eight fourteen reads, and as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As they go on their way listen. Don't get distracted.

See how quick that can happen? As they go on their way is a striking phrase. First, it means that the seed made some kind of impression on the soil. There's something there or else the weeds would have nothing to choke. This shows that a person who has a thorny heart is someone who has an initial interest and attraction to Jesus.

Unlike the hardened soil that has no desire. Secondly, it shows a trajectory of the soil. The person's relationship with the truth is deteriorating. As time goes on, they deteriorate. The more time that goes on, over time, it shows that there is something wrong on a foundational level.

And that's why Jesus says that their fruit does not mature. Have you met a professing Christian who looked the same from the moment that they apparently confessed Jesus? That's a scary place to be. Lastly, it reveals that the smothering of spiritual life happens over an unspecified amount of time as they go on their way. What happens here is that at some point at some point, such a person ends up looking as though there is no seed that entered into their heart even to begin with.

Here's the overarching statement of what Jesus is trying to teach with this section of the parable. One cannot know cannot know the true saving power of the gospel unless he or she is willing to surrender every other priority, every other passion to the lordship of Jesus Christ. You see the main issue about the way the thorny soil receives Christ is that he accepts him as, pay attention, a priority. A priority among other cherished preferences. This is starting to sound a lot more like American Christianity, isn't it?

Instead of Christ becoming the preeminent purpose and pursuit of a life, he is a shared conviction. He is a shared conviction that lives in the shadows of rival objectives. And this is why becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ is increasingly becoming difficult in the West with all the freedoms that we have so far. Because our culture is constantly trying to sell us so many means of contentment and success and comfort always at the price at a true commitment to Jesus. Always.

And if you desire this afternoon to know whether or not this soil speaks of you, all you have to do, really, is be honest enough to reflect on your own heart as the three things that Jesus mentions as thorns are things that determine the direction of your life. Examine yourself and say, are the things that Jesus illustrates, as thorns, are these things the true masters of my life? But let me give a disclaimer before I move on, and this is an important disclaimer. Here it is. It is totally possible to know the temptation of one of these thorns, even all of them at the same time, and still be a true follower of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not referring to being tempted by the cares of this world, being tempted by riches, being tempted by different desires. It's it's easily proven. Just read the epistles, and what will you find? Warnings to true blood bought Christians about caring, being anxious, riches. So it's there.

It's a possible temptation for the believer, but what Christ is explaining here is something different. How worldly cares, worldly desires, worldly riches upon evaluation of the professing Christian is really the Lord of their lives. It's it's it's the conflicting desires that completely starve the affection and the energy that must be reserved for your relationship with Christ. And so I want you to just hear what these things are and then ask yourself, not am I tempted by these things, but are these things truly more important, more demanding, more lovely, more cherished than Christ who is supposed to be my Lord. And so Jesus begins in Mark chapter four by referencing the cares of this world.

Another way of saying it is the day to day worries in our life, and these things are characterized by concerns that stem from life's stressful demands and unpredictable challenges. They're not necessarily fruitful, sinful, by the way. They're not. They're not inherently evil, but they can be idols. And they can be idols that we excuse as you ready for this?

Responsibilities. They can be idols that are decorated as personal goals. When in reality, they're thorns sticking in your neck, and you're bleeding, and you can't even tell. I will not list what these cares can be because they vary from person to person, and there's always a danger when you get to specific applications. Right?

The moment a preacher gets into specific applications, he's walking on a razor thin thread, And he can fall into legalism, and he can fall into liberty, sinful liberty, and so I will try to be as general as possible, especially when it comes to these things. But however major or minor these cares might be to you, the heart filled with thorny weeds and bushes permits his relationship with Jesus Christ and his fellowship with his people to be rendered valueless because of them. To be rendered worthless in light of these other cares. Oh, you would never admit it. Remember, you accepted the seed.

It's there. It didn't disappear. A bird didn't come and pluck it up. Oh no, it's there. And even from a distance, look at all that green.

And when you come closer, look at those weeds. Oh, oh, those are thorns. Where's the fruit? But you accepted it. Right?

You would never say that. Jesus is my all. He's my everything. And yet in practice, there is concern. For such people, there is no such thing as private devotion.

Private what? Day after day goes by, morning to night, morning to night, and not one heavenly thought has traveled through the corridor of your meditations. Oh, not even a whisper to the Lord that you apparently profess. And more than that, the gathering with the local church is a matter of personal convenience. Personal convenience.

I'm not speaking about emergencies. I'm not speaking about irregular events. I'm speaking about priorities, and so is Jesus. And guess what? For the thorny hearted professing Christian, the local church ain't one of them.

Meeting with the saints on the Lord's day is an afterthought Simply because there are other things that I gotta do, man. Come on, preacher. Understand where I'm coming from. Oh, they can be easily done on Saturday, but who's gonna really give up a Saturday? We can always have church to skip.

Right? Two hours on a Sunday, but we can skip it. What about Saturday afternoon? No. No.

No. That's girls day. That's this. That's that. That's that.

I'm reminded of the words of Jesus in another parable that I believe accurately reflects the mindset of those who have this kind of a heart. It's another parable, the parable of the great banquet where the king sends his servant with an invitation in his hands to bring a specific audience into his presence. And when the servant goes out, he realizes that as he extends his gracious and merciful invitation, it is responded to in the following way, in Luke fourteen seventeen. Luke fourteen seventeen, and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come, for everything is now ready. But they all began to make excuses.

They all began to make excuses. The first said to him, I I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.

And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Full stop. You know what this parable is about? Primarily, procrastination with salvation. Excuses to why you won't come to Jesus, but I have to admit it's not difficult to see how similar excuses are made by someone when it comes to their willful neglect of personal discipleship.

Did you notice how none of these reasons were inherently wrong? I just bought a field. I just got new oxen, new cars. I just married I just married somebody that I'm madly in love with. JC Ryle quote, says, infidelity and immorality no doubt slay their thousands, but decent, plausible, smooth spoken excuses slay their tens of thousands.

You know what else I noticed from this? They're pretty polite. Did you notice that? Please have me excused. Please have me excused.

Except the one with the wife. I'm serious. Read it. I'm not making it up. When it came to the field, please have me excused.

When it came to the ox please have me excused. When it came to the marriage, no. We're not coming. That's by design. You know why?

Because I believe it's meant to show how there are some who sheepishly justify their unwillingness to submit to the words of the king, and then there are others, you ready for this, who are outright offended when the servant of the king comes and tells you about making the king's bidding a priority. You see what I got going on here? I'll come when I'm ready. Properties, work, fashion, food, and romantic relationships were stumbling blocks then to fruitful faith, and they're still there today. They're still there today.

And I know what some of you may be thinking. I can feel it. Right? What kind of world do you think we're living in, preacher? What kind of world do you think we're living in?

Does being a Christian mean we ignore other responsibilities and duties? I got food to put on my table. I got bills to pay. I got relationships to nurture. I have an ill mother-in-law who needs constant attention and supervision.

What is this legalism that you are proposing? And let me clarify by saying this, that nowhere in the bible, nowhere in discipleship, nowhere in instructions of practical Christian living are we told to abandon wholesome activities and or responsibilities. And let me add to that by saying that as a ministry, our goal is not to keep you in a church building as many days in the week as possible. That's not our goal. I praise God that we have Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

My desire I wish I can see you more than that because I cherish your fellowship and I cherish you. But I understand, and we understand there's a world out there to engage with, and there are responsibility. There are dealings. There are things that happen. That is not what I am speaking about, and neither is Jesus.

There's a world to engage with. But if you can easily brush off your basic duties as a disciple of Jesus, and point to reasons that we all have to deal with in life, by the way, would you check your heart and see if there's any prickly thorns there? Being a Christian does not erase the cares of life. It might even add some to it. Being a Christian is all about how the the gospel enters in, sits on the throne of your heart, and then by God's good grace and love, teaches you how to handle those cares.

Remember what we concluded about the rocky soil? Remember how they rejected Christ so quickly when trials came? We learned from that that a true follower of Jesus Christ does not renounce his faith when it gets hard. Those things actually bring him closer to his God. And guess what?

It is no different with the Christian and his worries. Let me give you just a glimpse. Let me just Let's just peek a little bit to get an idea of of how a Christian deals with the cares of this world. James five thirteen. Is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray. Has anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Two out of those three things are negative. Are you suffering in any way? Are you sick in body?

Well, if you're suffering, then then pray. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Lay it all there. See, when you give your heart all to the gospel, God gives all his promises and his comforts and his mercies to you. The worst thing to do is to embrace Jesus half heartedly, and then be consumed by cares.

The best thing to do is give yourself to him and watch what he does with your cares. So if you're suffering, what does the Christian do? He comes to his God. Lord, I need you. I I am in I don't know where to go from here.

This is overwhelming. I'm tired. I remember being in college overwhelmed with my schedule, overwhelmed. Internship, didn't have a car, the the commute was so terrible, I made a vow, I will never take public transit transportation again. That's how bad it was.

And I remember I would walk home in the cold February weather, stepping foot into my apartment exhausted. And you know what would come out of my mouth the moment I had to enter in and make my terrible excuse of a meal as a college student? Lord, I miss you. This is hard. This is not easy.

Lord, I don't have much to give you but I'll give you what I can. I'll give you what I can. Is there any any among you sick? Like even Satanu, when you touch somebody's body, they really reconsider the goodness of God. Touch his stuff, that's one thing.

Touch his body and watch how he'll squeal. But is any among you sick? What do you do if you're sick? You don't run away from the church. You call the church.

You call the pastors. Oh, pastors, pray for me. I'm suffering here. Pray for me. I'm ill.

Pray for me. The doctor's report was not good. Have the church pray for me. Do you see what happens? Do you see what happens to the heart that has good soil when they do experience the cares and worries of life?

It doesn't pull them away from their master. It doesn't pull them away from the church. It pushes them towards them. This is what happens. Oh, but the heart filled with thorns is driven by cares.

Driven by cares at the expense of totally ignoring what Jesus Christ as Lord asks of him. But strangely, there are some who, when they advance in life and experiences various promotions and blessings, their faith and service to Jesus seems to only evaporate more and more. As they go on their way, the sea chokes them. The cares of this world. And Jesus goes to the second component and deals with the deceitfulness of riches.

Money, money, money. Jesus famously said in Matthew six twenty four, you cannot serve God and money. But this group of people believe you can. The heart filled with thorns believe you can. And that's why Jesus specifically said that they are choked by the deceitfulness of riches.

Not just riches, the deceit behind those riches. And these group of professing Christians believe that a Christian can live with the same goals that almost every other ungodly person in this world has. What happens? Lord didn't say you can't have God and money. He just said you can't serve both of them at the same time.

But the thorny heart hears the gospel and become a disciple by name, and then they plan and they prioritize his today and his tomorrows with one goal. You wanna know the goal? I wanna get rich. That's what I want. I want riches.

I want financial independence. I want things at the snap of my finger. I wanna get to the point in life where no matter what I spend or what I invest, it would not even affect my day to day even by the slightest. And if time in the word check this out. If serving in the church, if worshiping Christ with God's people or investing in the advancement of the gospel gets in the way of that pursuit, well, guess what?

Those things are gonna have to suffer. How do I know if money is my master? It's not hard. What are you more happy to have? Cash or Christ?

What are you more worried about losing? Material blessing or spiritual treasures? What dominates your long term goals? Financial independence or fruitfulness for the kingdom of God? The thorny heart would answer internally, I know what the Christian answer is, but look, I'm honest here.

I want more. I want more, and I won't be content till I until I get it. So be it. So many examples in the bible. So many examples.

But one of the strongest examples that came to mind when I was reflecting on this was a man in the old testament who who is told to be a lover of money. In the new testament, his name was Balaam. You remember Balaam? Balaam is an interesting figure in the bible because when you read about him in numbers, there's debate about whether or not he was a a good prophet that went bad or if he was a fraud to begin with. And then it's not until you go to the new testament where you see that Balaam is mentioned by name three times, and each time it's to condemn him as an apostate, as a false teacher.

And he actually becomes a prototype for false teachers today. Again, when you read about Balaam in numbers 22, when you're introduced to him, you get this sense that maybe he's a real prophet. He calls the Lord his God. Balak sends some people to hire him to put a curse on the nation of Israel and he says, let me inquire of God. And he inquires of God.

God tells him, no. My people, Israel, they're blessed. You can't curse them. So he comes back and he says, look, I can't help you here. God said no.

They go back to Balak and Balak says, up the ante. More honor, more blessing. Go. So they come back and there's Balaam again and they said, look, paraphrasing, he's willing to give you more. And here's what Balak does or Balaam does.

Let me inquire of God again. God already told you what the answer was. It wasn't up for negotiation. But let me go to God again. Maybe I can work something out.

So he goes. He comes before God, and the Lord saw what was really in his heart. He said, think you wanna go? Okay. He allows him to go.

So Balaam is ready to go and curse that which God has blessed. He's ready to defy what God had originally said for one thing. The price is right. The price is right. For this kind of thorny soil, if the price is right, It's nice knowing you Maranatha Bible Church.

So I read to you from numbers twenty two twenty two. If you wanna turn there, you're welcome to. Numbers twenty two twenty two, very easy reference. But God's anger was kindled because he went. And the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary.

That's a terrifying thing. I think some people consider me their enemies. I don't personally have any enemies, but I'd rather have the world as my enemy than have the angel of the Lord as my enemy. Just saying. Now, he was riding on the donkey and his two servants were with him, And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field, and Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road.

The irony of this passage. The irony of this passage is just oozing. Balaam is hired to be a prophet who has apparently unusual insight and access into the spiritual world, but he cannot see the angel of the Lord who is standing before him. You know who does? The donkey.

The donkey does. The donkey sees the angel of the Lord and hears this man who claims to have eyes into the unseen world and he can't. He can't see the donkey. You know what I take from this? Maybe you see it too.

To some degree, Balaam could not see what was spiritual because he was blinded by his love for money. He was blinded by his love for money. When a person loves money, one of the dangers that he invites into his life is that he does not have the right perception of reality, especially when it comes to perceiving the riches that are in Christ Jesus. I've talked to people who love money. When you when you it just like, are you like, what are we doing right now?

They don't have the right evaluation. They don't have the right estimation. They don't have the right understanding. That's what they're suffering with. And what do they do?

What do people who love money do? Well, they put their security. They put their value. They put their worth. They put their joy in that which will fail him, that which will harm him.

And I admit at this point, the donkey has more spiritual insight than Balaam, and I rather be living the quality of life like this poor beast, but see the angel of the Lord who is Christ than be a guy like Balaam and who couldn't. That's very offensive, isn't it? It's offensive to a lot of people. Yeah. Let me be a servant like this donkey, but let me see Christ as I walk instead of being like Balaam who had so much already and wanted more, but could not see the angel of the Lord.

The true believer will confess that he rather have that. The true believer will confess that he rather have the eyes of his heart opened so that he can explore the deep riches of God's grace and intimacy and love than to know more and more and more and more of this world. Does God say you can't have money and God? No. You can't have both.

Are there very successful spiritual men in this life? You better believe it. But they have money. Money doesn't have them. And you don't have to be rich to love money.

You can be poor and still be riddled with this cancerous desire. It's so easy, isn't it? That deceitfulness of riches come in and suffocate maturity in Christ. And Jesus masterfully ends with a final thorn when he says, not just the cares of this world, not just the deceitfulness of riches, but also the desires for other things. You know why that is so masterful?

Because our immediate reaction to that might be, well, well, okay. What things, Jesus? Lord, this is very general. Can you can you tell me the list of things that I have the power to choke out fruitful faith? I would like to know so I can avoid those things.

And Jesus wasn't being general because he was being careless. Jesus was being general because he was being strategic. Because when he says the desires for other things, what he means is other things are anything. Anything. Not just some things.

Anything that is inferior to the worth and value that is found in Jesus Christ is capable of choking faith. And guess what is inferior to Jesus Christ? Everything. Anything and everything that has primary devotion and places God even in second place is capable of choking your religion. To the hearers who are honest today, please listen carefully.

Listen carefully now. I'm almost done. When we present the gospel and we call you to say yes to his unbelievable mercy, and you choose to say yes, keep in mind that at the same time, you are also confessing that Jesus Christ is more precious, more glorious, more lovely, more desirable, more honorable, more brilliant, and infinitely more worthy than anything else in this life. That's the gospel that we preach, and that's the gospel that we hope and pray people would accept. Not a gospel that says, I will plant you right here on the bed of my life with all these other plants around you, Jesus.

Because Christ will not be a roommate in your heart. He wants all of it. He wants you to give the title deed of your life. He wants you to surrender everything from top to bottom, from east to west, from all that you have, and all that you know, and all that you aspire to. He wants you to surrender it at his feet when you come to the foot of that cross.

Nothing less. And any confession that is less than that reality will let the rocky soil prove itself eventually to be fraudulent because it will be fruitless. I'll say this in closing. I think it's amazing how the thorn is the metaphor that Jesus chooses to describe cares, riches, and pleasures of this world. Why do you think that is?

Have you ever had a thorn stick into your hand? That little device can be torturous. And putting a band aid on it isn't gonna help. Icing it will only numb it for so long until the pulsing ache and irritation revisits you. And Jesus said, cares to to live for cares and to satisfy your cares where you push out God, deceitfulness of riches, the desires for other things.

It can be anything. I heard of a man who lost his ministry because he got caught up into his collection of stamps. He forsook the ministry. He forsook prayer. He forsook preaching.

These things, if you live for them, like a thorn in your flesh will bring no goodness, only burden, only frustration, only irritation. And the only solution to being liberated from the pangs of these things is to remove it completely. Is to remove it completely. When a thorn goes into my hand and I've had it come into my foot, I've I don't do anything with it, it just happened in the history of my life. I have one thing in mind when I realize it.

I don't wanna go shopping. I don't wanna take a nap. I don't wanna even eat a meal. I need to get this thing out of me. See, what you think you're wearing around your neck is a necklace that beautifies your life.

It's actually a color that's choking you. And it doesn't matter what you painted or how you decorated, in the end, that thing is just a thorn. And it has one intention when you misplace its value in your life, and that is to take your life. Oh, yeah. Outwardly, you're good, but spiritually, you're dying.

And you're already dead. You know, I listened to something this past week of a very wealthy man, and he said something that was so true yet so simple, and people who are still pursuing riches and the deceitfulness of riches don't get it. This man says, I've reached the point in my life where I can spend anything and I can buy anything and it doesn't affect me one bit. And he said, you know, there were days when I when I was poor and I thought to myself, when I become rich, when I become wealthy, I'm gonna buy this, I'm gonna buy that, buy this, I'm gonna buy that. He says, once I got there, I realized there's not so much things that you can buy.

I mean, what can you really buy anyway? Okay. You buy a nice house, then you buy okay. You buy more cars. Okay.

You buy the fancy watch, you buy 10 of them. Okay. You fill your closet with clothes. Then what? Then what?

Tell me. What? What else? Don't actually tell me. People do sometimes.

Don't. What? What? What? Tell me what else you're gonna get.

And that's why you look on the TV, you look on the social media, and what do you see? When you're unregenerate and you are extremely wealthy, the only thing that you have to live for is, is, well, I got this wealth, so I have power. Let me exercise this power, and because they're sinful, it gets ugly. Let me save you the trouble. There is nothing worth living for apart from the one who gave you life, Christ himself, and letting him fill your heart with his goodness and day by day presenting to a feast that will keep you satisfied and steady and immovable.

And no matter what you have on your back, no matter what brand the thing is, no matter what you acquire in this world, you will be glad. You will be glad upon one condition, die to yourself. Let the Holy Spirit come in and let him dig up all those other roots. Let him remove the thorns. Let him remove all those silly things that we're worried about and we're willing to ignore Christ for.

All the things that we're willing to put energy and effort and time and investment in, Let him do that work, and then let him have your heart, and you'll be satisfied. And you will know what we're gonna discover next week. That when the heart is good and it understands all that Christ is and what he demands, you will know fruit upon fruit. You will know fragrance upon fragrance. You will know life upon life.

Pray with me. Lord, we are reminded again that you alone are worthy, and we gladly confess afresh you are truly lord of our lives. Lord, we know that even as children of God, the cares of the world knock on the doors of our hearts. We know that the riches of this world persuade us and promise satisfaction. We know that there are things in this life that have no problem kicking Christ out to have our dominant desires.

So we ask that you help us, Lord, and protect us from these things. But for the person who initially received Christ on the wrong premise and thought that he can just fit one compartment, but we pray that today would be the turning point. For you have given us this parable, not just merely for reflection, but also for reflection Jesus, there was no growth. There is no fruit in my life. There is nothing in me that loves Jesus.

I love 10 things before I love Christ. I love even one thing more than Christ. Lord, may you have mercy and save that soul from such deception. Thank you, Lord, that when we give up on everything else, we don't lose anything. We gain everything.

And we ask, oh, Lord, that that would be true. For every person who does truly know you, they can say, all I have is Christ, and all I need is Christ. And, yes, there are things I gotta do in this life, and I will enjoy the riches of relationships and marriage and food and vacations, but Christ is more than all of these things put together. And because of Christ, all these things are possible and even enjoyable. Lord, may that be the theme of our lives.

So we surrender to you, and we sing to you, and we worship you, Lord. You are worthy of everything. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hallelujah indeed.

Let's stand and worship the Lord.