In His Great Mercy, Jesus has painstakingly laid out the criteria for true salvation, inasmuch as so many will for one reason or another, misunderstand that salvation is not about merely knowing about God, but exalting Him as King and Ruler over their lives. Merely hearing and then just forgetting, or allowing trials and tribulation to interfere with our relationship with Him or repeatedly retreating; seduced by the allure of the world, is not synonymous to salvation. God requires commitment that He instills when we come to faith in Christ IS the way. Thanks to the Power of God, a true believer WILL obey His Commands, as we read in John 14:15-17, inasmuch as God makes us able. God doesn’t command us anything, without first giving us the ability to carry it out:

^“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

Through the Principle brought out by the Parable of the Sower and others; believers are taught about true salvation. The lesson clearly illustrates that God will never leave us nor forsake us, but it is WE who forsake and leave HIM. New converts will not be able to withstand the temptations of the world; they will turn away when trouble comes IF they are not properly grounded and rooted in Christ.

The Parable of the Sower

4 And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. ² Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:

³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. ⁵ Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. ⁷ And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

⁹ And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Mark 4:1-9)

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹³ And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. ¹⁶ These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. ¹⁸ Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the ^word accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” (Mark 4:13-20)

When someone accepts Jesus into their heart, the period prior to becoming grounded and rooted in Christ is critical and the moments following the revelation that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior are pivotal. New converts either grow from glory to glory into maturity, or fall when the world continues to have far too much influence over the lusts of their flesh. Some allow the world to choke the seed just planted. Others allow the Word of God to go in one ear and out the other.

In this Parable, the farmer is Jesus and the varying soils or ground represent the 4 aforementioned ways in which people respond to the Gospel Message, and the seed represents the Word of God.

4 Major Responses--

The seed falls and is immediately eaten by birds—

Some new believers allow the Word to go in one ear and out the other. As the expression depicts, they hear but then immediately forget the message. See verses 4 & 15.

The seed falls on rocky soil/stony ground--

 As soon as they lose their excitement over the Good News, they start to lose their focus on God. As soon as there’s a problem that interferes, the concept of a savior is lost….(V.5-6 & 16 -17). They are strictly “fair weather Christians,” (Our Daily Bread Ministries)

The seed falls on “thorny ground—

Some stray as over the seduction of the world; “worldly desires choke their spiritual life,” (Our Daily Bread Ministries). As soon as worry, stress or any sort of distraction enters in, they turn away from God. (V.7, 18 & 19)

Then of course there is the “good ground,” in which all of the true believers find an everlasting foundation in Christ. (V.8 & 20)

The Four Soils | Our Daily Bread Ministries

Another parable that could be considered a parallel to this Principle that it’s we who leave God, not God who leaves us is the Parable of the house built on sand in Matthew 7:24-27….

And, another parallel verse that depicts this lack of foundation is referred to as believers being “scarcely saved,” as we read in 1Peter 4:18. Someone who is scarcely saved is not grounded and rooted in Christ; at least not yet….

The need for a relationship with God through Christ is clear through these examples. Salvation has to be about making the Christ Jesus Lord and Master over our lives; a dependent relationship with God through Christ:

See John 15:5, Philippians 4:19, 1Corinthians 10:13 & 2Corinthians 12:9-10.

Merely knowing that there is a God does not embrace a meaningful relationship with Him. Moreover, just saying a prayer and then going on to live as usual is also not synonymous with salvation, as this Parable clearly illustrates.

Believers are to submit themselves unto Christ:

^“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

This Principle also explains why Paul felt the need to say to his church that they needed to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

These passages are further proof that God is not the one who does the leaving….

OTHER PARALLELS

“Count the cost,” Luke 14:25-33

“The apostate church,” Matthew 24:10 & 12, Revelation 2:19 & chapter 17

The vital message that Jesus is conveying is that all new believers are vulnerable to leaving God and need to make certain that they are grounded and rooted in Christ; then we are enabled by God’s Spirit within us to grow in our relationship with Him that is relevant and very much alive.

CONCLUSION: God doesn’t leave us nor forsake us; it’s WE who leave Him. The Bible doesn’t teach that we cannot lose our salvation; it teaches how shaky our salvation can be when we first come to the Lord. The fact of the matter is if we can lose our salvation, we were never saved in the first place. We suffer from a lacking solid foundation. Furthermore, whence we are truly saved, we cannot lose our salvation; for the truly saved cannot and will not leave God and God will never leave those who are truly HIS:

^“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Special NOTE:

God Word even includes a passage in Hebrews illustrating that if someone actually does leave Him after being truly saved, there is no longer a sacrifice that can save him or her. This should come as the ominous warning in which it was intended…

^” For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6)

NKJV

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