8:13Luke 8:13

They on the rock are those who hear the word and at once take it up with gladness and believe for a time, but having no depth of root they last only briefly and fall away when temptation, trial and persecution come.ST Jun 30, 1881+2 Their failure is not in the sower or the seed, which are the same in every case, but in themselves, for their faith rests on feeling and excitement rather than settled principle reaching the springs of action, and the heart has not been renewed and transformed by the Spirit.3T 111.2–112.1+2 They do not count the cost or yield habit and life fully to the control of the word, attempting to serve both self and Christ, so when plain truth calls for self-denial, sacrifice, reproach and radical change they choose present ease and abandon the truth.3T 111.2–112.1+2 A stony hearer need not remain such, for by choice and cooperation with God the soil of the heart can be broken up by deep repentance and earnest effort in the strength of Jesus, and by diligent preparing, sowing and cultivating until Christ's life and character take root and bear lasting fruit.COL 56.1–2+2

Luke 8:13 was spoken to an eager, expectant throng gathered to see and hear by the Sea of Galilee.COL 33.2–34.1 There the sick lay on mats waiting to present their cases, and disease was rebuked while life and health and peace were diffused.COL 33.2–34.1 As the crowd increased and pressed close until there was no room, a fishing boat was entered and pushed off a little from the land, and the multitude upon the shore was addressed from it.COL 33.2–34.1

The verse belongs to the parable of the sower illustrating the things of the kingdom of heaven and the work of the great Husbandman for His people.COL 33.1 Like a sower in the field, Christ came to scatter the heavenly grain of truth, and the parable-teaching itself was the seed with which the most precious truths of grace were sown.COL 33.1 The natural seed cast into the soil points to the gospel seed whose sowing brings man back to loyalty to God.COL 33.1 He who gave the parable is the Sovereign of heaven, and the same laws that govern earthly seed-sowing govern the sowing of the seeds of truth.COL 33.1

The parable presents the different tendencies and kinds of the human heart.2SP 241.1–2+1 It explains why the ministry had meager and limited immediate results.2SP 241.1–2+1 People were free to accept or reject, to receive or refuse, rather than being forced or compelled to believe and obey.2SP 241.1–2+1

The rock is people who hear the word and receive it at once with joy and believe for a while, but have no root and no deep root to sustain them, so they endure only briefly and fall away in time of temptation and testing and trial and persecution.ST Jun 30, 1881+4 Their profession does not endure when tested, and this is seen in those who deny Christ's soon coming in word and action, live for the world, mistreat fellow servants, and outgrow Advent faith through worldliness and unbelief.Lt 57, 1895, par. 4–7+2 Thorough grounding helps fortify those brought into the truth to remain faithful when later instruction or correction might otherwise offend them and Satan use that offense to lead them away.Lt 15, 1862, par. 25–27

Their faith is guided by feeling rather than settled principle, with no depth and stability of character, and principle does not reach the springs of action.3T 111.2–112.1+1 The heart and character have not been renewed and transformed by the Spirit of God, so they speak with zeal and exalt the truth in word but are not doers of the word.3T 111.2–112.1+1 They take up anything new and exciting with ardor, talk earnestly of faith and hope, and even reprove those of long experience for lack of enthusiasm.TCBMP 140.1–142.1 Yet their knowledge remains theoretical in the mind and is not brought into heart and conscience to convert the heart and transform the character, leaving unsanctified self alive and strengthening evil instead of restraining it, and producing no lasting Christian fruit.TCBMP 140.1–142.1+2 Genuine conversion bears the peaceable fruits of righteousness and brings a person closer to Christ in character, while apparent conversion is exposed by trial as unable to endure unless truth does that work.Ms 130, 1897, par. 26

Their joy and quick acceptance are not themselves the cause of failure.ST Jan 26, 1915 The problem is they do not count the cost, consider what the word requires, or yield habits and life fully to its control, and trying to serve both self and Christ leaves them unable to endure when the test comes.COL 49.3–50.1+1 They may appear faithful while life is easy, or welcome religion as a way to escape suffering, but they cannot bear reproach for Christ.ST Jan 26, 1915 When tested by the heat of trial and temptation, by sacrifice and persecution because of the word, and when plain pointed truth and the pruning-knife of God are applied that they may bring forth fruit unto perfection and expose faults and deformity of character and cherished sin, calling for self-denial and sacrifice and radical change and sanctification, their zeal dies and their voice is silent.3T 111.2–112.1+2 When the truth calls for workers they are elsewhere, and they choose present ease over eternal realities, abandoning and yielding the truth rather than submitting to be sanctified through it, while flattering themselves that heaven can be reached by an easier way.3T 111.2–112.1+2

In falling away they return to worldly surroundings where cares and temptation fade first impressions, take up sins again, and sink back into indifference.2SP 234.1–2 The seed imagery also shows the broader law that what is sown in the heart bears fruit, so that teachings in books can grow into infidelity.CT 186.3–187.2

The failure of the rocky-ground hearers lies in themselves and not in the sower or the seed, for in every case the sower and the seed are the same and the different result depends on the soil.COL 56.1–2 The hardness of heart that keeps the good seed from taking root comes by resisting the Spirit who seeks to break the spell of worldly infatuation and awaken desire for imperishable treasure, and people are themselves responsible for that inattention and neglect of the word.COL 56.1–2 A stony-ground hearer need not remain such, for the outcome is not beyond control; though no one can change himself, the power of choice remains and it rests with each one to determine what he will become by cooperating with what God desires to accomplish in him.COL 56.1–2 The garden of the heart must be cultivated, the soil broken up by deep repentance for sin, and the evil tendencies of the natural heart overcome by earnest effort in the name and strength of Jesus.COL 56.1–2

Lasting belief requires diligent, persevering labor in preparation of the soil, sowing of the seed, and culture of the crop, for the heart is a garden and soil that must be prepared beforehand just as ground is prepared for natural seed, since a raw, uncultivated heart cannot at once yield a harvest.ED 111.1–2 This is to be taught practically by having children prepare soil and sow seed while explaining the garden of the heart with good or bad seed, and by instructing youth from tilling the soil.ED 111.1–2 Parents must do this preparing in early childhood by not sending little ones away to school too early nor trusting the molding of the infant mind to other hands, but being the best teachers of their children till eight or ten years of age.CTBH 67.3 Their schoolroom should be the open air amid flowers and birds and their textbook the treasures of nature, opening before them God's great book of nature as fast as their minds can comprehend it, so the lessons will not soon be forgotten.CTBH 67.3 Great pains must be taken in this cultivation of children's minds and formation of correct habits, using half the time and labor now worse than wasted in following the fashions of the world, for what is planted in an impressionable young mind on good soil can bear fruit unto eternal life.CTBH 67.3+1

Believers need to be taught from the beginning to make Christ's life and character their own, to deny natural inclination, bear burdens, serve and endure hardship, trust Christ, and work for others.COL 57.1–2 Ministers must keep refreshed and cheerful in order to drop words of cheer and courage as seed into honest hearts, and must teach people how to come to the Lord and how to lead others to Him, how to be purified from iniquity and elevated by adherence to pure and holy principles, so that belief takes root and springs up to bear precious fruit.COL 57.1–2+1 The seed can take root even in a hard heart when Christ's love is shown through personal ministry that softens stony hearts, and working for the lost weakens the attraction of worldly pleasures and helps truth remove harmful growth at its roots.COL 57.1–2+1 The seed may also lie dormant for a time before God's grace awakens it to life so that it springs up and bears fruit.TBC1872 111.1

The seed can wither if left without care, so continued work after people hear the message protects and nurtures what was sown.Lt 18, 1898, par. 2–3 Thorough teaching and firm grounding before a minister leaves fortifies those brought into the truth to remain faithful when later instruction or correction might otherwise offend them and Satan use that offense to lead them away.Lt 15, 1862, par. 25–27 Those who oppose the truth act like birds that take the seed, using false claims to make the truth appear false and destroy its effect on those who are convicted.Lt 18, 1898, par. 2–3