Mark 4:3-6
"Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, (casting the seed) some fell by the way side, fowl of the air came and devoured it up (In other words, it didn’t even have a chance to effect anybody. It was there and gone, just that quick.), And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; (maybe just an inch of topsoil) and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no (what?) root, it withered away."
We’re talking about an inch of topsoil on a piece of rock and the seed comes up but there’s no root. And consequently it withered away. Oh it had life, but it withered and it disappeared. So it is with those who by their very nature only give God their mental assent to Him and His Word. In other words all they've received was more of the same spirit or the spirit of the world when they went to the front at the alter call. No Holy Spirit presence is in this kind of crowd or assembly. Now verse 7.
Mark 4:7-8
"And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred."
Now for what ever reason this crowd has the presence of the Holy Spirit but He's not taken in or received by all parties of this assembly so some are ready while others are not. And then, Jesus comes down to verse 14:
Mark 4:14
"The sower soweth (what?) the word."
We’re not talking about wheat. We’re talking about Spiritual things. And as the Word went out over Israel, from the lips of the Lord and the Twelve disciples what happened to most of it? Nothing absolutely nothing. Only a small portion took root and these were the hundred and twenty or so who stuck by Him through the three years of His ministry to Israel. We're not talking about the harvest of souls after His ascension when three thousand were converted as recorded in Acts 2:41. As these people may have heard Him during His three years of proclaiming the Kingdom Gospel and upon whom the word at the time took no root, but with the Holy Spirit's presence things changed. As the ministry of the Holy Spirit had also changed from that of being an external ministry to that of an internal ministry or a spiritual awakening. Which was ushered in at the Lord's Marriage Feast or Last Supper of the Passover meal. Where and when the exchange of ministrations from a Satan-child to a God-child took place and was then consummated by the "It is Finished" of the cross, burial, resurrection and later His ascension. Thus sealing us as God-children again.
I don’t like to say 25% were believers, because I don’t think it was even that many. But we know that in the whole concept of Spiritual sowing, the vast majority falls on thorny ground, or on dry ground, too hard for any root to take. The birds get it. And then some fall on shallow ground and springs up but it doesn’t mature. And that’s the part that’s so scary.
Alright, back to Hebrews. R. E. Torrey, great evangelist of a by-gone day, made statements something like this and I’m trying to be real close, R. E. Torrey made the statement "that there is an enlightenment of the Spirit that does not lead to regeneration." Did you hear that? There is an enlightening power of the Spirit that does not lead to regeneration. That’s exactly what Paul is addressing here in these verses. These Hebrews had been steeped in their religion. They had considered Paul’s Gospel but they wouldn’t swallow it.
Let’s look at another one. Let’s go back to John’s Gospel, it should be in chapter 4. John’s Gospel chapter 4 and you all know the account. Jesus and the woman of Samaria at the well. They meet out there at Jacob’s well.
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