Luke 8:4-15 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spoke by a parable:… I. THE HEEDLESS. Bearing without attending. All a matter of form. II. THE HEARTLESS. Interest easily enlisted; feelings quickly touched. Feelings so soon stirred are not likely to be deep, and principles quickly influenced are no safe guides. "Ruined by adversity" is the epitaph of the heartless. They may be good for a time, but they cannot be good long. III. THE BREATHLESS. This is the prevailing phase of modern worldliness. It is an age of hurry. Many persons would be excellent Christians if only they were not so many other things besides; if they were not so engrossed in business, or absorbed in pleasures, or preoccupied by cares. This will not do. If religion is to thrive at all, it must carry on simultaneously two processes; it must strike root downward and bear fruit upward. These are precisely the two things which the worldly man's religion can never do. IV. THE GUILELESS. Of these, if we may say it with reverence, it must have been a real pleasure to our Lord to speak. Not, indeed, that the good are all perfect, or all alike good. No sameness in grace, any more than in nature. We expect differences, even among guileless hearts. It is characteristic of the guileless that they make no show for a long time; they develop surely, but very slowly. "Saved by patience" shall be written over them. (T. E. Marshall, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: |
    |