Let's ask some pointed questions about the parable of the sower.

First of all, what is the seed that is sown? The Seed is Christ, the living Word of God.

Second, of the four kinds of ground, how many enjoyed lasting fruit? Only one of the four kinds of ground enjoyed lasting fruit.

When we think about the person who had no roots, and the individual who had many weeds and thorns of worry and the deceitfulness of wealth, we see that the seed actually had germinated. Those with no roots, and those with thorns, actually had experienced the Life of Christ in them beginning to bear fruit.

No intelligent reader in his right mind could claim the rootless and the thorny had never been Christians. The Seed had been born in them and was beginning to bear fruit!

Then what happened? The one fell away. The other became unfruitful.

But Jesus said He has chosen us that our fruit should remain.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16—NIV)

"Fruit that will last"! If we do not bear lasting fruit we will be cut from the Vine, from Christ.

How can so many Evangelicals persist in their belief that once we accept Christ we never can be removed from Christ or that we are living in an impenetrable bubble of grace not affected by the fruit of our life? How in the world do modern Evangelical teachers get around the parable of the sower?

I am sure they have an answer.

The other day I heard a way to get around the parable of the vine. I had thought I had a foolproof answer to the eternal security group. If you don't bear the fruit of Christ in your personality you will be cut out of the Vine, out of Christ.

An Evangelical believer found a way around the clear message of the parable of the sower. He said the whole world has an opportunity to receive Christ and not bearing fruit means the individual did not accept Christ.

I am tempted to give up after that tortured interpretation, but I can't really give up because if I keep on explaining the new covenant I might save one more Christian from today's unscriptural traditions.

So we see that salvation is not a case of profession of belief in orthodox doctrine but that of bearing fruit. God the Farmer is looking for fruit. When He does not find it, when He does not see the image of His son coming forth, He begins to think about removing the tree. God is seeking trees of life, not dead trees.

Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. (Luke 13:8—NIV)

Lest the reader become confused with all these examples, what we are teaching is that there is no such thing as a state of grace in which Gentiles (and the same is true for Jews) are protected from wrath and brought to Heaven even if they do not serve God, do not bear fruit.

We have made belief in doctrine the basis of redemption. Belief in doctrine is not the basis of redemption. Fruit is the basis of redemption. Belief in the gardener's manual is not the goal of the farmer. The crop is the goal of the farmer.

To be continued.