I have a question regarding the parable of the seed sower in Luke 8:5-9. The group mentioned in the third example, those who accept it then fall away in testing is the one that gets to me. Who are they, and what does it mean? I thought one could not fall away and believe it. But sometimes I fall into sin and this part comes up and I get worried.
With all the passages that guarantee our salvation, this group has to be those who have an intellectual understanding of the Gospel but haven’t received Jesus into their hearts.
The Lord said that the one representing this group received the word with joy, so he didn’t reject it outright, but that he has no root, which means it wasn’t planted in his heart. There are millions of “in name only” Christians like this in churches every Sunday. They love the stories about Jesus and think that He was a really good person, but they don’t think of themselves as sinners and don’t see the need to be born again. When their time of testing comes, they don’t have the faith to persevere and drift away defeated.
2 Cor. 1:21-22 clearly says, Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. If this happened to you, then you have nothing to worry about. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).