Posted on 12/09/2025 5:38:35 AM PST by metmom
“‘When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road’” (Matthew 13:19).
The hard-packed soil beside the road represents the unresponsive hearer who “does not understand” the gospel, solely because of his or her own hardheartedness. The person has continually resisted the gospel or anything else related to true spirituality because of an insensitive, impervious heart.
The Word lies on the surface of the unresponsive heart, exposed to attack by Satan. Such a hearer’s lack of repentance insulates him or her from Christ’s help and leaves them victim to assault by the enemy of the soul.
Such people remind us of the fools who hate wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1:7) and say there is no God (Ps. 14:1). They are often self-satisfied and self-righteous, and the gospel is simply veiled to them because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel” (2 Cor. 4:4).
Satan uses various means to snatch away the seed sown: false teachers who promote spiritual lies, fear of human opinion that opposes Christianity, pride that blinds people to their real needs, and all sorts of other sinful prejudices against the truth of God’s Word. All of these realities ought to prompt us toward prayer for and reaching out to the lost so that God may save some.
Ask Yourself
If lack of repentance is the key ingredient in shielding people from their need for Christ, we must continually guard ourselves from this hardened condition, even after being saved. Would this be a good time to deal directly with any unconfessed sin, turning away from it and back to the mercies of God?
Studying God’s Word ping
Ask Yourself
If lack of repentance is the key ingredient in shielding people from their need for Christ, we must continually guard ourselves from this hardened condition, even after being saved. Would this be a good time to deal directly with any unconfessed sin, turning away from it and back to the mercies of God?
THIS hit me, thank you. I have told many that at a time when I was losing a lot of worldly feelings and that government seemed so unjust (still is) and they are taking taxpayers to their debt grave (still is), that my heart for people cheating and America was hardened. So, Satan heard me (we know he sees and hears) and took that and twisted me for a few months making the negative ACCENTUATE the positive , including my understanding of when I heard and read The Word of God!!!! My compassion for anyone but me was at an all time low. When I saw anything in others that Jesus would have addressed, I passed by with the thought they were just stealing and begging with a dead spirit....!!!!
Thankfully, this is not my real soul and spirit as I had to repent of calling my Jesus heart a demonic spirit one!!! So, I was able to let my heart heal from what I wanted from others and know it came more than I could ever know from Jesus and The Holy Spirit! There was a battle. At a Christian gathering in May, going through a tunnel of 50 prayer warriors, I was broke of that power over me and my rightful heirship returned fully! I am in my early 70’s so have another story for growing Christians!
We need to keep asking ourselves questions after reading Scripture!
I wonder if this ministry is taking an intentional departure from Calvinism or if it just blindly unaware of its inconsistencies with The Doctrines of Grace.
This little devotion rightly placed the blame for unbelief right where scripture does - on the heart of the hardened sinner. Calvinism distorts this truth, and essentially places the blame on God, as he created them to be lost for eternity.
Churches and ministries need to be on guard for Calvinistic creep into their teaching. It changes a loving God into an arbitrary tyrant, empties the cross of its saving power, and deflates the gospel as good news for all.
And before you contend that I just don’t understand Calvinism, I do more than I wish I did.
We need to keep asking ourselves questions after reading Scripture!
Yup.
You’re spot on. But you may have jumped into a hornet’s nest.
Churches and ministries need to be on guard for Calvinistic creep into their teaching. It changes a loving God into an arbitrary tyrant, empties the cross of its saving power, and deflates the gospel as good news for all.
If you don’t like the truth of Calvinism, why do you need saving power? What do you need to be saved from?
Nobody with earthly ears likes the truth of Calvinism, but it is the truth and must presented in truth.
The fact is if God didn’t choose some, NO ONE would be saved. Jesus says, go find his sheep, the ones God has chosen and given ears to hear. Ears are a gift from God. Earthly ears can’t hear the Good News.
The message of the whole Bible is repent and turn to God. Everyone likes the second part but you have understand the first part to fully understand Gods mercy and love.
So if God in eternity chooses some for reprobation - condemning them for eternity in lostness and making it impossible for them to be saved by the power of the Word and the Holy Spirit - how then can the parable of the Sower, and Jesus’ own explanation of it, be incorrect?
1) It shows us a just God. Reveals who we are and our need. God must be just. He chooses to be merciful at his great pleasure. There must be justice, mercy without justice is meaningless.
2) It explains the cross, the need for it. Reveals the real saving power.
3) Jesus on the cross is a stumbling block for many. They don't need repentance, man is basically good. The truth of Calvinism inflates the need for the for the gospel. THE GOSPEL IS NOT GOOD NEWS FOR ALL.
Nobody initially likes the truth of Calvinism. “THATS NOT FAIR, IS THE RESPONSE. But once you get to the full flavor of it, your relationship with God gets deeper. You understand who his is and who you are and what you deserve and what he offers.
inconsistencies with The Doctrines of Grace.
Except that Jesus himself told us that understanding the mysteries of the kingdom is a gift from God:
Matthew 11:25,26
Matthew 13:11
Matthew 16:17
Mark 4:11
Luke 8:10
This is also stated elsewhere in both the OT and NT:1 Corinthians 2:10-14, Romans 16:25-26, Colossians 1:26-27, Ephesians 3:3-5, 1 John 2:20-21, Daniel 2:22, Isaiah 6:9-10, Deuteronomy 29:4, Jeremiah 33:3, Proverbs 1:23, Amos 3:7, Psalm 25:14, etc . . .
If calvinism was fully true then the Holy Spirit would not have had it called Calvinism. It would have simply been called “The Way” or simply Christianity. The doctrines of Calvin have been teased from the pages of the Bible, almost set apart from The Word Logos made flesh.
If Calvinism was the way we were to interpret the bible plan of Salvation...then it would not have been allowed to be called “Calvinism”...it would have been called ‘The true way of Christ”.
You are on the right track.
Calvinism makes this and many other scripture teachings into mere theater.
A person born completely impervious to conviction of sin,
Incapable of responding in any way to the gospel,
becomes hardened by hearing and not responding to that very story.
Preposterous.
Yes, staying in the Word is crucial.
Thank God for a spirit sensitive to the things of God.
Calvin’s theology wasn’t unique to him alone.
You have to excise large portions of Paul’s teachings to refute Calvin.
If you believe that, then you don’t understand what Reformer believers beliefs.
The enlightenment of faith IS a gift from God the Holy Spirit through the word. Without this gift, nobody could believe.
But through this gift, anyone can believe. That is why the parable says that it is not the Sower or the seed that is the problem. It is the soil.
And, just to point out using your own words, this is a GIFT from God. A gift is freely given and freely accepted - or refused. But this goes against another tenet of Calvinism - the irresistible grace to the chosen elect. This too is not scriptural, but even Calvinist defenders like yourself are not immune from the truth of scripture.
You have just said the quiet part of Calvinism out loud:
The Gospel is not good news for all.
Woe to anyone who stands in the way of God’s grace to sinners.
bingo
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