Transcript

ANNOUNCER: In the parable of the sower, we notice that the seed is sown and then it gets snatched away. So does this teach that a person has only one chance to be saved once the seed is sown? Let’s talk about this here on Grace in Focus, so glad that you are joining us today for this ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. We have a website, faithalone.org, and we’d love you to go there and find our magazine. It’s a free subscription magazine. It’s also called Grace in Focus. It comes out every other month, six times per year. Very well done, and yes, I did say free. It is free, you only have to pay the postage if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States. That is the magazine, Grace in Focus, subscribe today, find it at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s question and answer discussion, here’s Bob Wilkin, along with Ken Yates. 

KEN: We have a question from Dave, Bob. We’ve talked about the parable—

BOB: Is his name Dave Bob? 

KEN: No, his name’s just Dave. “Dave comma Bob.”. And he has a question about the parable of the sower, and we’ve talked about that, but this is a particular question. And I don’t think I’ve ever been asked this one. I’ve had a lot of questions about the parable of the four soils and all that. 

BOB: Yeah, well, what is it? 

KEN: Well, the question is, according to Matthew, and he’s using the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, verses 3 through 9, right? Does the unbeliever only have one chance to believe? Is this what this parable is talking? Because in the parable, Jesus says the sower goes out to sow. And He says that some of the seed fell upon the pathway or the road. And the birds came and snatched it and took it away. And of course, Luke says they don’t believe. 

BOB: And in the interpretation, Luke says Luke 8:12, Satan snatches away the seed unless they should believe and be saved. 

KEN: Right. And so in the parable, you see, okay, the sower goes out and sows the word. It’s a seed that falls upon the path. And it’s laying there, but then the birds come and take it away. So does this suggest that it a person has one chance to believe?

BOB: Yeah, what’s interesting in Matthew 13, I think the sower is the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in all of these parables in Matthew 13, He seems to be the man. You find later the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure, both are referring to Jesus. He’s the one that finds the pearl of great price. And He’s the one that buys it with His own life. He’s the one that finds the hidden treasure and buys it with His own life. Even though lordship people use those parables to say, see, you’ve got to buy your own salvation. But I think He is the sower. 

But of course, there’s many other sowers, because remember in Romans 10, how blessed are the feet of those who bring good news. And how should they believe unless they hear it and how will they hear unless someone sent? So the question in the parable, the sower is the Lord saying that only He sows and the answer is obviously not. Is He then saying when you apply this beyond His own ministry, right? Because obviously He was sowing the seed and people were rejecting it. 

But is He saying if they rejected it the first time they heard the Lord Jesus talk about it, they had no other opportunities? I don’t think there’s any indication there. And He’s certainly not saying that about the age, of the church age. Like for example, is there only one sower in the church age? No. There’s lots of sowers. 

Let’s say for example, you evangelize your children so you sow the seed. Well, if they don’t believe initially, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep sowing, right? You’ll tell them again and again. I’ve had Kathryn on this show before and she said she can’t remember a time when she didn’t believe. 

KEN: Even if you say, well, this is just the Lord. You know, He’s the only one that’s a sower. In Acts we know that some of the priests came to faith. Well, did they believe when they heard during his earthly ministry? 

BOB: Oh, that’s a good example or take Acts 2.37. Peter preaches to them about Christ and he says “whom you killed”. 

KEN: And they believe in verse 37.

BOB: And they believe in verse 37 and they say, what shall we do? And that’s when he says repent and be baptized and that this is for the forgiveness of sins and for receiving the Spirit. But they were already born again when they believed Jesus was the Messiah.

KEN: But before they hadn’t. 

BOB: Or they had heard presumably most of them had heard Jesus proclaim the message of John 3:16 and they had rejected it.

KEN: They thought that he deserved to die. 

BOB: They thought he was a false Messiah. 

KEN: Right. So they didn’t believe before when they heard it and then when they hear Peter preaching, I know this is two different ones, but it’s Christ when they heard Him and now they hear the message. 

BOB: You certainly had people saying crucify him, crucify him who later came to faith.

KEN: Right. And even I’ve heard you give your testimony. You had someone who presented the gospel to you, but you didn’t believe the first time he said it, right? 

BOB: No. In fact, a friend—I had been in a cult, a sinless perfection cult that taught you had to basically keep turning from your sins over years. And believe it or not, this cult did teach there was only one opportunity. We’ll call him Mr. H. Mr. H on his own testimony said when I was five, the Lord gave me the opportunity to be saved. I was at church and the call was to come forward and I resisted. And he said, I was very lucky. I got another chance. I think he was about 10 when he got a second chance. And he said when I was 10, the Lord gave me another opportunity and I went forward and I was saved and I haven’t sinned since. That was his view. 

KEN: He hadn’t sinned since. 

BOB: Oh yeah. Because in his view, if you sinned after you were saved, you lost your salvation, you could never regain it. 

KEN: Wow. How blind do you have to be able to believe that? 

BOB: And he said, most of us only have one opportunity, but he said, I was lucky. God gave me a second. In his view, you typically only had one opportunity, but you had to keep repenting and turning from your sins, etc. So I was in this group and a friend of mine had been in the group with me, my best friend John Carlson. And John came to faith through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. And he went to Expo 72 and he was challenged to make a list of people he wanted to evangelize. And he put me on the list.

ANNOUNCER: We will rejoin in just a moment. But years ago, Zane Hodges wrote The Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true and GES president Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob’s new book The Gospel is Still Under Siege is a book about theological clarity on the biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now. Secure yours today at the Grace Evangelical Society’s Bookstore. Find it at faithalone.org/store. That’s faithalone.org/store. Now back to today’s content.

BOB: So he called me up in the beginning of September before our senior year in college. His school was starting right then. University of Southern California and mine was still a couple of weeks away and he said, why don’t you come to a College Life meeting and hear what they have to say. And I said, no, no, I don’t want to go. They’re going to mislead me. And he said, Bob, is it possible your view of the Gospel is wrong? And I was like, wow, what if I give up everything and go serve in this cult my whole life? And I end up, well, I didn’t think it was a cult, but go serve in this organization. 

KEN: Because you were still planning on serving in that organization?

BOB: Oh, yeah. When I graduate, if I do all that and I end up going to hell anyway. So I prayed about it and I said, Lord, I’m going to go to this and protect me. And at the meeting, I heard three guys give their testimony, two of which had been division one athletes and all three talked about the grace of God and it’s by grace through faith apart from works. And I didn’t believe it, but I was interested. 

KEN: You heard the message of grace there. 

BOB: So then I ended up contacting Crusade and Warren Wilkie talked to me for five sessions about an hour each time and he kept harping on Ephesians 2:8-9. And I rejected it the first four times he told me. 

KEN: So it’s a total of five times now that you’ve heard the message of grace. 

BOB: And finally, on the fifth time, and he probably mentioned Ephesians 2:8-9, 10 times each of those five. So on the 50th time, he quoted Ephesians 2:8-9, I believe. It’s not that the first time you hear, you need to believe. Remember Acts 17:11, those in Berea were more noble minded. 

KEN: They searched the scripture to see if the things Paul was saying were true. 

BOB: About what? About everlasting life, right? About Jesus. So it’s appropriate to search the Scriptures. It’s appropriate to pray about. Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 7:7-11, ask, seek, and knock? And if we do that, we’re going to find. 

KEN: And even in Matthew 7, if he’s talking to believers there, it’s true for unbelievers as well. God rewards those who seek him. 

BOB: That’s a universal principle. 

KEN: Right. So if I’m an unbeliever and to go back to this parable, so the seed is thrown out, let’s say the Word of God there, for the unbeliever, it’s eternal life. Okay, there’s a seed that’s being planted there. It’s thrown out. I hear it. At the first time I hear it, to use the parable, the birds take it away. Okay, I don’t believe yet. But then I hear it again. So the seed is cast out again. 

BOB: But now there is a related question to what Dave’s asking. If I keep rejecting the word that’s sown, does my heart get harder each time? I would say, based on lots of different Scripture, that if instead of searching the Scriptures to see if these things are so, if instead of praying and saying, Lord, please protect me and show me the truths. But instead of that, I say, no, this is hooey. This is wrong. And I reject it. And I don’t pray about it. I don’t seek the Scriptures. I think my heart gets just a little bit harder each time. 

KEN: Yeah, we would use a biblical phrase. I’m not willing to look at the evidence. 

BOB: Well, isn’t that what Jesus said in John 5:39-40? 

KEN: Exactly. That’s what I have in mind. You are not willing. He says these unbelievers because of whatever reason. They’re Jewish traditions, whatever. I’m, you’re from Galilee. 

BOB: So those verses—here’s what they say. Jesus says, he says, You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. But you’re not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  And so the Scriptures do talk about Jesus. These are, they would testify of me, but you’re not willing to come to me that you may have life. And so in order to believe in Jesus, it appears there needs to be a willingness to come to Him. Right. And by the way, coming to Jesus in John 6:35 is a synonym for believing in him.

KEN: Right. I’m willing to look at this. Can I believe in him for eternal life? 

BOB: So when we talk to people and they say, No, that’s cheap grace. That’s easy-believism. What do we say? We say, why don’t you pray about it? Are you willing to pray about it and say, Lord, show me if I might be wrong and read the gospel of John. Are you willing to read the gospel of John and just ask the Lord? Could it really be as simple as just believing in Jesus? And I have everlasting life that can never be lost. And if we find people who say, Yeah, I’m willing to pray about that. Yeah, I’m willing to read the Scriptures. Then guess what? We’re finding somebody who will come to faith eventually because they are open. God’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

KEN: And so when we see Dave question, does the parable of the sower, particularly in Matthew 13? Does it say that the unbeliever only has one opportunity to believe? The answer is no. We can’t press this that once the bird takes the… 

BOB: Well, even even the birds taking away the seed doesn’t mean they take it away instantly. 

KEN: Right. And I would also say the sower is going to be back sowing again. He’s going to be… I mean, if we’re going to press the illustration—

BOB: It isn’t a one time event. 

KEN: I don’t know anything about farming, but I’m guessing that even the illustration, we can say, well, doesn’t the farmer throw out seed more than once? I mean, I don’t know. I’m assuming he does. 

BOB: Well, at least annually. And if it’s different fields, you’re throwing out seeds in this field and that field, and this season and that season—

KEN: Or I mean, I’m going to show my stupidity here, but couldn’t the farmer say, well, I threw those seeds out there, but I think I missed a few spots. That’s probably… But I’ve got to press this illustration here. But Dave, thank you for the question. Very simply, no. A believer can hear the good news more than once. And for all of us, remember, keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: Would you be interested in some free ebooks on topics you hear on this program? Well, if you are, you need to come visit us at faithalone.org. That’s faithalone.org. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. And when you do, very important. Please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location. 

On our next episode: can women speak up in the church meeting? That’s next time. Join us, and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.