When the Gospel Doesn't Work

Who This Passage Is For

If you are a believer and you've ever shared the good news — the good news that has come upon you in your life, that saved you, that you're excited about, that's completely transformed you and is continuing to transform you as you grow in Christ — and you've shared that with others, and they're like, "Meh, " or worse, "Shut up, man. I don't want to hear it, " or they close the door in your face: you've been disappointed. You've shared the exciting good news, and it was not so exciting to the person you were sharing it with.

If you've ever been disappointed in that way, this passage is for you.

If you're here this morning and the good news has been shared with you and you haven't quite received it yet, this passage might also explain some things for you. If you're here this morning and you think you've received the good news — but you really haven't, not truly — this passage might also clear that up for you.

For those of us who are believers, we endeavor to share the gospel with others as we're supposed to, as we're inclined to. We can be discouraged when it doesn't work. It makes us not want to share, because those are hard conversations, especially when you share the gospel and it's met with indifference, or anger, or something else.

But the truth is that the gospel sometimes doesn't work.

There's nothing wrong with the gospel. Obviously the message itself is perfect — it's God's word, his good news that there's life to be found in Jesus, that you can be free from your condemnation, free from your sinfulness, free from your debt to God. But clearly that gospel message does not always result in changed lives. So when I say the gospel doesn't always work, I mean it's not plug-and-play. You share the gospel, they become saved — it oftentimes doesn't work that way. We can't say all you have to do is share the message and every person you share it with will change. Obviously, that's not the case.

The Parable and the Text

So here in Luke 8, we're moving through the Gospel of Luke. Please turn there. If you didn't bring a Bible, open up a phone, grab an app, Google it — Luke 8, whatever you need to do. I want you to see what God says in his word here in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8.

This is a familiar scene. It's not the first parable Jesus gives in the Gospel of Luke, but it's the first big one — the first extended one — and definitely the first one he explains. Most parables are tough to understand and you wish he'd explain them. But by God's grace, he actually gives us his own commentary on his own parable, which is amazing.

The parable really does look at what I just laid out for you: as you share the gospel, not everyone is going to receive it. Some people reject it outright. Some people think they receive it. Some want it, then don't want it. But not everyone actually receives it.

It's a lesson that is a hard-learned lesson for his disciples. It begins with a parable — a story, an analogy, an illustration — and then the disciples pull Jesus aside and say, "Wow, that was really cool. What did that mean? " And he says, "Well, I'm not going to tell everybody what it means, but I'll tell you. " And then he explains it to them. Before he explains it, there's a little hinge: he cites an Old Testament passage from Isaiah 6, and we'll get into that — but it's easy to miss. He tells them why he's not explaining it to everyone and only explaining it to them.

So let's read the entire thing. We're looking at chapter 8, verse 4 through 15. It goes: parable, then Jesus' explanation as to why he doesn't explain it to everybody, then his explanation of the parable. Three parts, and we'll read all three straight through. Pay attention to the details, and then we'll walk through unpacking it together.

Clearly, as you read this parable, it is not difficult to understand — especially as Jesus explains it and unpacks it for the disciples, and we get to listen in on the conversation. As the gospel goes out to people, many will hear it but will not bear fruit from it because their hearts are hard. Many people will hear the gospel — even in churches, even in this room, maybe today — hear the gospel in their language, at a level that's understandable to them. Intellectually they can grasp it. Audibly they can hear it. But they don't actually receive it because their hearts are hard.

The Hinge: Secrets Given and Withheld

So here's where I want to begin. That hinge in verses 9 and 10 is easy to blow past. I think it's central for a reason.

Before Jesus gives his explanation of the parable, he explains why he's not giving this explanation to everybody. That's important. There are different kinds of people out there, and he's already demonstrating to the disciples that they are different from the crowds. Why? Because God has chosen to give secrets to them that are still a mystery to everybody else. It's an insider group.

When they ask him, "What does this parable mean? " he doesn't start answering their question — if he did, the answer would start in verse 11. Instead, he says, "Good question, but I'm going to answer the question you should have asked. I'm going to explain it to you, and here's why I'm not explaining it to everybody. "

At the end of the day, some people call this the parable of the sower. Some people call it the parable of the soils, because there are four soils. But in actual fact, there are two soils: people to whom the secrets are revealed, and people to whom it's hidden. However the first three soils do it, they don't produce fruit. So you have three barren soils with different stories, and only one soil that actually bears fruit. And Jesus is telling the disciples, "It's not because you're so good at it, man. You're not more educated than the crowds. You're not more righteous than the crowds. It's because this is a secret that God is giving to you, and I'm going to tell it to you right now. " That's reinforcing: I chose you; you didn't choose me.

Have you ever heard people say, "Jesus was a master storyteller"? Jesus was so good at communicating truth and he used parables to do it. Well, to be a master storyteller, you have to be able to tell a story that means something. The meaning isn't in the story itself — Jesus isn't teaching us agriculture. The seed means something, the soils mean something, and that other something is the actual point. So by definition, a master storyteller communicates truth through a story.

The problem is, Jesus says, "I'm not using the parables to help people understand — I'm using the parables to keep people from understanding. "

Let me read it one more time in case that got you. Middle of verse 10: "But for others, I'm giving the kingdom message in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. " He doesn't say he's using parables because otherwise they wouldn't be able to see it, and so the parable is going to help them see it. It's the opposite. He's giving them the parable without the explanation so that seeing they won't see, and hearing they won't hear.

Does that sound backwards to you? It should. You would think Jesus would say, "I'm trying to break it down in terms they understand. They're an agricultural society. Everybody knows how seeds work — you put them in the ground, and if the ground is good, they grow, but some ground is bad and they don't. Everybody understands that, so I'm using that to stoop to their level and help them understand. " But strangely, Jesus cites an Old Testament passage about how God sends a message — and promises the prophet delivering it that it's not going to do anything.

Now, I want to clarify: this is not Jesus saying, "So you guys have to go out and preach in parables. " He's just explaining why, at this moment in time, he is preaching in parables. He's got to get to the cross. And then after the cross, more eyes are opened — even some of those who had been chanting in the crowd, presumably, had a change of heart. The opening of the book of Acts is astounding. The change of heart that people had. So Jesus is not saying, "Therefore, be as confusing as possible when you go out there. " That's not what he's saying.

What's important to understand is that sometimes God operates in ways that do not help the person who has already refused all prior help. In other words, sometimes God sends a message, sends a message, sends a message — and then he says, "That's it. You're not going to respond to this message. And to make it worse, I'm going to keep giving you messages and hold you accountable for not embracing them, but it is my judgment upon you. "

Background: Isaiah 6

Let me give a brief background before we unpack the rest of the parable, because Jesus is quoting Isaiah 6.

Many of us are familiar with Isaiah 6 — but not necessarily the entire chapter. Isaiah 6 opens with Isaiah's vision of the throne room of God, with the seraphim flying around, covering their eyes, crying "Holy, holy, holy. " That's where we get that refrain. It's that awesome scene of God's holy presence upon the throne. Isaiah is so struck by it that he senses his own unraveling before the holiness of God. And then of course God atones his lips — touches Isaiah to burn the sinfulness out of his mouth so that he can be a speaker for him. And then God says, "I need a message to go out. Who shall I send? " Isaiah's looking around in his vision, and he says, "Send me. " And God says, "Oh, a volunteer. We love that part. "

But then God continues: "Isaiah, here's your task. " If God had called me to ministry this way, I don't know that I'd be in ministry today. God says, "I'm going to give you this message to take to Jerusalem and Judah especially, and as you preach, they're not going to turn. In fact, the more you try to get them to see, the more they're not going to see. The more balm you apply to their eyes for healing, the blinder they actually get. The more you try to get them to hear, the more deaf they become. So go for it. You volunteered. "

That's strange. But it's less strange if you don't start at Isaiah 6 — if you start at Isaiah 1. In Isaiah 1 through 5, Isaiah unpacks just how miserably terrible Jerusalem and Judah have become. These are the people who have God's word. They've had exposure to it. It's not new to them. They understand it. They're religious — but they've lost it. They've left it behind. They've walked away. No matter what the prophets say, no matter what the priests say, no matter what the Torah has taught them, they don't want it. Other things have become more important. They've become a terrible people. Five whole chapters on how terrible it is, and then in chapter 6, God says, "I'm going to send them a message — but it's only going to be a message that condemns them, because they're not going to listen. "

Now that's a difficult truth. But scripture teaches that truth repeatedly throughout both the Old and New Testaments. God offers truth, man rejects the truth. Sometimes man rejects the truth so rebelliously, so stubbornly, so persistently that God hardens their heart — so that further exposure to the truth only makes them more resistant. Now, that's God's prerogative. No preacher should ever take that upon himself. I never write a sermon thinking, "I'm going to try to make this so that people don't listen. " That's not my job, and that's not what Jesus is telling the disciples. What he's telling them is: I'm doing something in keeping with what God does sometimes in his own prerogative, and in this moment, that's what I have to do. But there's still an in and an out — and on the outside are hard hearts, and on the inside are hearts that have at some point become receptive to God's word, and to those the secrets of the kingdom are given.

God hardens as a judgment for the hardening people have already done themselves. God never takes an innocent party, hardens them, gives them the truth, and then holds them accountable for not listening to truth they couldn't receive because he hardened them. He only hardens those who are already hard, as we see in the opening of Isaiah. God never does a hardening work with someone who is truly willing to hear. It's the willful resistance on man's part that is then met by God's hardening, if he so chooses.

I think that means: the longer you listen to truth and resist it, push it, kick it down the road, there might come a time where God says, "You're done. " That's not how I would have written scripture, but as I read this passage, I think that's what it's saying. In his prerogative, he says, "You're done. "

The First Three Soils

What Jesus is doing is giving a truth to the crowd in parable form — a story — and then when the disciples ask him about it, he gives them the inside scoop. He explains why not everyone gets the inside scoop: that those who hear but are not willing to accept will entrench themselves in unbelief, sometimes to no turning back.

He explains piece by piece what the parable means. The seed is the word of God — by which I understand it to mean specifically the gospel. Not every doctrine, not every bit of systematic theology we could ever come up with, although all of God's word is God's word. But here, the seed being planted is the message of the kingdom. It's the good news. It's the entrance into the kingdom — the word you need to hear and grasp by faith in order to become an actual Christian. So the gospel goes out, spread like seed thrown everywhere onto the ground.

And then there are three soils where it doesn't work.

The first is soil that's become a path. It's been walked on so often that there's no weeds, no grass, no loose dirt — it's compacted. It's still soil, but it's been trampled to the point of becoming hard, and seeds bounce right off of it. They sit on top, they don't get in, and then the birds come along and snatch them. Before the seed has a chance to do anything, it's gone.

He says, "The ones along the path are those who have heard — then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. " The seed bounces off the hardened path in a way that Jesus says is due to satanic influence. That influence is real. Some of those people in the crowd just can't see past the parable — "Why is he talking about agriculture? " They just don't get it at all, and some of it is due to demonic influence. This is not the time to turn the sermon into a full thing about spiritual warfare, but it's true.

But no one can say the devil made them do it. You may remember in James chapter 1, James explains that no one, when they're tempted, can say God tempted them. His explanation is that when a person sins because they're tempted, they are tempted when they are lured and enticed by their own desire — not a desire planted there by Satan, not because Satan put his hand on their neck. What Satan does here is prevent the message from lingering long in the mind and making its way into the heart. For this soil, that inner-heart desire is already to not respond to the gospel. They already don't want to respond.

Have you ever heard a sermon and felt convicted — "Man, I need to respond to this" — but somehow by Monday morning you're like, "Hmm, that was something. " And then maybe the next Sunday, "Yeah, that's true. " But by Tuesday, "Ah, whatever — it's life, just go about life. " Can a person linger there for weeks, months, years? Yeah. Jesus is saying: might be demonic. Somewhere between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon, there are influences whispering, "Don't think about that. Think about this — this is what's important. You know what, do it later. " He's crafty. He didn't approach Eve and say, "Sin against God right now. " No — "That's not what he said... He actually wants this for you. " There's always some angle to it.

And so your thoughts betray you. You linger on the sermon, you linger on the message, on whatever exposed you to God's truth — and you're not laying hold of it. It just disappears. You put it aside. Demonic influence is not typically in the form of possession or house hauntings. It's forgetfulness. It's ignoring the stirring in your heart when scripture speaks.

And if you're hearing this now, unbeliever — will you walk away? Or will you at least today cry to the Lord to help you with your unbelief? I hope you will.

Well, there's another soil. Some of the seed lands on rock. Jesus says those people fall away due to trials. Look at verse 13: "And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. "

This is a little different from the first soil. It sounds the same because if you throw seed on rock it bounces off — but he doesn't mean big sheets of bare rock. He means rocky soil. And oftentimes rocky soil has the rocks lying underneath where you can't quite see them. There's enough dirt there for something to go down, some root to happen, some green something to sprout. There's enough in the rocks mixed with soil. That's why Jesus refers to the fourth one as good soil as opposed to these three bad soils. This is still soil — just not good soil, because of the presence of all the rocks that prevent moisture from staying there long enough for the seed to truly take root.

What strikes me is that in the first bad soil, the seed bounces right off. I almost wish there were only that first soil and the fourth one. Because when somebody tells you "I don't want to hear that, " at least you know where they stand. It's when people say, "Oh — interesting, okay, okay. " But are they? "Good sermon, pastor. " "Thanks for sharing that verse with me, that's really awesome. " "I like it. Sign me up. Baptize me tomorrow. Let's go. " But are they?

These two middle soils are frustrating because of that. Some people receive it with joy. They're excited. "Jesus is awesome. I've studied other figures, but Jesus — he's the one. Sign me up. " So excited. For a while. He says they believe for a while. What happens to that joy?

The time of testing comes in their life to demonstrate whether they are or aren't. Anyone can tell you they love basketball — they watch it, they've played it, they dream about it. And you say, "Let's go play. " That's when you find out. When someone is tested, that's when you find out if they're just talk, in any category. That's what Jesus is saying here. Some people love talking about it, love being in the midst of it, love adopting the persona of it — but when testing comes, you find out it's not really it.

Now I have to do this quickly: I believe this is not saying someone can lose their salvation. I don't think you can solve that debate from this passage alone. But I believe, because of the presence of so many other passages, that it is not accurate to say that someone truly converts, truly believes, truly repents, and then in the end somehow loses their joy and loses their salvation. I don't believe that's true, and I think you can make that case from Luke, even if you can't make it from this one passage.

It sounds like they believed and then fell away — but there's a kind of belief that is a spurious belief. That's a word worth jotting down and adopting. Spurious belief looks like it, claims to be it, sounds like it, seems like it — but is not it. It's close to the word counterfeit, but a little less malevolent. It just seems to be the thing, but isn't really the thing.

It's a kind of belief almost like the belief that demons have. James made this point — demons believe. Do you think demons are atheists? They believe. Do you think they believe the truth of scripture? Yeah. But they're against it. They hate it. So there's a kind of belief a person can genuinely have that doesn't mean they've repented. We've been here already with John's message of repentance bearing fruit. Only one of these soils actually bears fruit. Did this soil repent, or were they just joyful about it? He doesn't say they repented — he says they were joyful about it. But it wasn't the kind of faith and repentance that actually produces fruit.

And you know how you know? Not at first — you know in the end. Something happened in their life that made it difficult to be a Christian, and they gave up. If a person is not truly regenerate — and so many other passages talk about how God is the one who regenerates us, holds us, keeps us — this is a different category. This is somebody who is not genuinely repentant, but they are happy about the gospel. They are theists. More than theists, they hold to Christian beliefs. They get it about Jesus. But what ultimately exposes the fact that there's still unreceptive soil is that trials bounce them right out.

And I'll say this quickly, brothers and sisters: if there's something in your life right now, or recently, that made it really difficult to hold on — something so shattering that you actually questioned your faith, like John in prison going, "Should I follow you or somebody else? What is going on? " — a moment of crisis, some difficult pain — I'm not saying you can be thankful for the pain itself. What I'm saying is: you can be thankful that it has proven, if you're still here, that you're in.

Because soil number two would have been out, man. "God, you take that from me and I'm leaving. " Well then you're not in. That means something else is in the number one slot. God might be number two, but he's not number one — because if you lose that thing, you walk away from God. Repentance is saying: God, you are number one.

This is why Job had to just cover his mouth. "Everything God has taken from me — what am I supposed to say to him? I deserve my wife, my children, my job, my standing in the community, no boils on my skin. I don't get what you're up to, but I'm not walking away. I'll just shut my mouth. " I know that's hard to hear. But for some of you, I hope it's a relief. You look back on a difficult season of grief and sorrow — but you're still here. That keeps me going. I hope it does for you too.

Third soil: thorny soil. Verse 14: "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. "

Here's another group that starts off well, because amazingly to me, there's fruit there — something has started. It seems they're even ahead of soil number two. Soil number two has a little sprout, a shallow root system, and then whatever the trial is — the wind, the scorching sun — messes it up. But this one, there's something you can call the beginning of a fruit, a semblance of a fruit. You see it budding and starting. It's just not full. It's not mature. And it doesn't last, because it gets choked out by thorns.

What are these thorny weeds? They are the cares and riches and pleasures of life. He doesn't say the sins, the transgressions, and the iniquities of life. It's caring about this life — caring about riches. Are riches bad? No. It's the care of them, the focus on them, that being number one. The pleasures of life — a lot of the pleasures of life God has granted to us. Sleep is pleasurable. Have you ever read through Proverbs? Sleep is a gift God has given. Do too much of it and you're a fool, right? Sleep is a pleasure given by God — but we can also pervert it into something that's a choking hazard. That's just one example of many things. The pleasures of life, the cares of life, the riches you might have — there's some semblance of fruit here with this type of person, but it doesn't count.

There's a reason why you wait for a crop to be ready before you harvest it. As soon as you see the first sign of production, it's not edible, it's not usable. You have to wait patiently until it's fully grown, and then you reap it and cook it and eat it — but before that, it's no good. You have to let it grow. And so it's not there yet, it's just not there. It can look promising, but it's not there. These people start off well, but they don't stick. And in this case, it's not a trial that made life hard — it's a comfort that made life good. These things of comfort, these temporary things, these distractions, can be the choking hazard that reveals you are soil number three.

Before I get to the good part — I know this has all been sobering so far, hopefully appropriately so — I want you to notice something about these first three soils. They all heard. Jesus makes a point of saying it at every step of his explanation: soil number one heard it, soil number two heard it, soil number three heard it. The message was received. But the message didn't compute.

No one can ever say, "Why should God let me into heaven? " and answer, "Well, because I go to church a lot. I listen to the sermons. I really listen. I take notes. " It doesn't matter — if it doesn't actually produce fruit. Hearing doesn't get you in. There's something else that needs to happen. Everyone who hears the word hears the word. But do they ingest it? Do they actually receive it?

The Good Soil and the Encouragement to Sow

Praise be to God, some do. Jesus isn't saying, "Guys, preaching the word — what a failure. " He's saying: yes, door number one is going to slam in your face, door number two is going to welcome you in and then kick you out, door number three is going to say "Yeah, come on, let's go! " and then walk away — but there's always going to be number four. There's always going to be number four. Don't you dare give up knocking on doors. Don't you dare give up talking to people about the gospel, because this one was hard soil, that one was rocky soil, this one was thorny soil. Keep going, man, because there is always good soil out there.

I think this is actually a message intended to encourage the disciples. He's training them to be ministers of the word, training them to spread the seed, helping them understand that as difficult as it is and as many hard hearts as there are, there are those who will hear and bear fruit. And then of course Isaiah doesn't stop at Isaiah 6 either — there's a promise of a remnant going forward.

Look at verse 15: "As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word" — just like everybody else, but different from everybody else — "hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. "

That's a pastoral word to me — and to parents. "Where's the fruit? Where's the fruit? I don't want to see soil one, two, or three. I want to see soil four. " Sometimes it takes time. This whole passage is about patience. How do you know soil number two or three is not actually four? You don't, until they prove it someday.

That's why John said, "You know how we know they weren't really a part of us? They left. " Before they left, we didn't know. It was a mixed group and we don't know. But when they leave, you go, "Oh man. I thought they were, but they weren't. " Sometimes it takes patience to discern the fruit that will eventually mature in someone. But thankfully, according to the parable, it can grow a hundredfold — once it gets going, a hundred times the beginning. That's amazing.

Let me unpack this phrase quickly: hold it fast. Those who hear the word not only hear it — they hold it fast. It's one word in the Greek, and here are some of the other ways it's translated in the New Testament: to have, to hold captive, to keep, to maintain, to possess, to restrain, to suppress, to take. Do you notice something? There's something active about it. Maintaining, suppressing, restraining, holding, keeping, taking. This person is not passive — "Yeah, yeah, that's nice. " Something happens in the heart and mind of the true believer, a light bulb comes on, and they possess it with honesty and a good heart.

It's not for something else. It's not "I'm going to take this so my kids have a nice place to grow up and have good Christian friends and stay out of drugs. " Okay, good for you — but that's not the gospel. That's not latching onto the word. It's an honest and sincere heart that recognizes our total need for God's grace to save us from our desperate debt toward God — a debt we can never repay because of our sin.

Share the word. Sow it with hope. Because you know that this person maybe not, this person maybe, but this person one day is going to thank you that you shared it — because that's how God got them in. Share the gospel freely and share the gospel hopefully. Don't be too discouraged with rejection. There is somebody ready to receive the gospel. And so you share it, understanding that God will turn soil for his sake.