And so we saw the setting of these parables last week.
We saw also the significance of the parables,
why Jesus was now making this transition in his style of teaching.
Today we're going to focus in on this one parable itself.
We're going to see the story, and then we're going to see the sense of it
or the meaning of it.
Look with me again at verse 3.
We'll see the story that Jesus told.
Right here at the beginning of verse 3, he says,
Listen, hearken.
And then he tells us, Behold, a sower went out to sow.
Now, we noted at the end of chapter 3,
remember when Jesus was in the house,
and his family was on the outside of the house,
and they were sending the messages in,
saying that they were there to see him,
and people were communicating to him.
Remember there was an emphatic statement that Jesus made.
When he answered, he answered loudly.
There was an exclamation point at the end of that,
which is not extremely common in the scriptures.
It's a point of emphasis there in the text.
This word, hearken, or listen,
you may see that it has another exclamation point there.
It's a point of emphasis here.
Now, it could be that Jesus is outside on the lake,
and there are thousands of people,
and he's just getting their attention.
But why would Mark feel a need to communicate to us
something that we already know Jesus would have had to have done?
We know he would have had to have quieted the crowd.
So I don't think that this is really an emphasis of volume.
I think it's an emphasis of significance that Jesus is getting across here.
Throughout the entire chapter, actually,
this whole series of parables,
there is a major emphasis on listening,
hearing, and heeding the message that Jesus is teaching.
And so right here, we get to verse three,
and Jesus calls out, listen.
It's not so much volume.
Listen, quiet down.
It's not so much that.
It is, listen to me.
Listen, this is important.
It's emphatic in that sense.
Don't miss what I'm about to tell you, Jesus says.
He was alerting his audience to the importance of this story.
Now, all parables communicate ordinary, everyday ideas and situations
that audiences would have been familiar with.
Everybody that was there on the seashore that day
would have understood this story.
It was agricultural in nature.
They would have understood, as we do,
you don't have to be a farmer to understand that
when you throw seed out, it finds a place of soil,
and if that soil is good, the seed will grow,
and it will flourish, and it will produce fruit.
So this is what Jesus did with the parables.
The stories themselves isn't what was difficult to understand.
There's nothing in the story that makes it hard for us to grasp the story itself.
Now, the parable itself, the story,
is about the process of sowing this seed in a field,
but the emphasis is on the soil.
And so Jesus gives four types of soil in the story
that that seed that maybe he was demonstrating even in that moment
might have fallen on.
And the first one is found in verse 4.
Look at it with me.
And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path,
and the birds came and devoured it.
So the first type of soil here that Jesus mentioned is a pathway.
It's the borders of these fields.
Now, we've talked about this already in Mark's gospel as well.
You remember, was it chapter 2,
where Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field along the path,
and his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
And as they were rubbing the chaff in their hands
and eating the grain because they were hungry,
some Pharisees noticed,
and there was that confrontation about the Sabbath day.
You remember that?
Well, we talked about what path they were on.
The road systems were not like they are today.
Most of these agricultural fields had pathways
that would either border the fields
or they would traverse across the field.
And so over time, these paths, as you might expect,
with the foot traffic of not only people but animals,
and then the farmers doing their thing,
the carts for the merchants that would travel from town to town
or from place to place,
the carts that would follow along the ox
as they were treading these fields,
the ground would get very, very hard.
So it would be something similar to concrete,
maybe not quite like rock, but it would be very hard.
You know what a path is like.
And so Jesus in this story talks about that's the first type of soil.
The sower goes out with a seed, and he throws the seed,
and it lands on the paths that kind of transverse
or traverse the fields.
And what happens is there's nothing there
for the seed to penetrate in the soil.
It just sits on top as if it was on top of a rock.
And there's no protection.
They weren't throwing straw down on the seeds on the path, right?
And so the birds saw it, and immediately the birds come down,
and they take the seed that has been sown,
and they devour it.
So Jesus says the sower's going.
Some gets on the path,
and the birds just immediately take it away.
Secondly, we see in verses 5 and 6,
look at with me.
Other seed fell on rocky ground,
where it did not have much soil,
and immediately it sprang up,
since it had no depth of soil.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched,
and since it had no root, it withered away.
Now parts of Israel as well were very rocky,
and that makes it difficult to farm.
And the soil here is a reference to a limestone or a bedrock
that would have had a very thin layer of dirt on its surface.
In fact, in order to try to be like Jesus,
I brought an object lesson for you today,
right from my backyard.
In fact, if many of you,
most of you have actually probably been to my house
and been to my backyard,
this is a piece of bedrock from my backyard
that I pulled out this morning.
It's very hard and rocky.
There's about a half inch to an inch of soil
on top of this in my backyard.
And so it's right behind my house.
Now, I also brought some of my soil
from my house this morning,
which is not very good soil.
It's just like sand.
It's all it is.
There's nothing there really for anything to grab onto.
And so you can go to my backyard today,
right behind my back porch,
and you'll see there's a whole bunch
of this bedrock like this.
And it's got about that much
of this sandy, nasty, rocky soil on it.
Now, here's the problem.
I can spend a couple of hundred dollars
in the spring and in the fall
and throw seed on this portion of my backyard.
And I'm ignorant enough to keep doing it
for some reason.
And I do it.
And it just sits there on top,
but it may penetrate a little bit.
It's not quite like the soil on the path.
That would be as if I was just throwing it
right on the rock.
This is just a little bit different.
There is a little bit of soil there.
It's not very deep.
That's the problem.
And so the seed will get on it.
And then I'll get out there with my sprinkler
and I'll spend a couple hundred bucks a month
on water for my house,
trying to get this seed to grow.
And wouldn't you believe it?
In a couple of weeks,
there'll be a couple of short,
thin blades of grass that pop up
right behind my house,
right on top of this right here.
But then a rainstorm will come.
And it just kind of washes this stuff out
because there's just nothing to it.
There's nothing to it.
Or if maybe the rainstorm doesn't come,
the seed lands on it
and it goes in just a little bit.
And then the water that I put on
or the fertilizer I put on,
you get these little sprouts.
But then as soon as things start to get hot
in the spring,
you know what I mean?
It starts to get hot.
It just scorches.
It burns it out.
And it can't survive.
Why?
There's no root.
It has absolutely no root system in it.
And so it may seem at first,
I'll get excited like I did last year.
I've got pictures.
If we had a TV in here
or one that we use there every week,
I would show you the pictures.
My dad helped me do this.
And we had grass.
You know, we went out with a blanket one day.
We sat in the grass.
And like a week later,
it was all gone.
There was nothing there.
It had no root.
And I was excited at first
because look,
it seems like this has taken
and there's some fruit of it.
But no,
there was actually no fruit at all
because there was no root
in the seed,
in the soil.
So that's what Jesus is saying.
There's the pathway.
Then there's the rocky ground.
It just doesn't have much soil.
It pops up for a moment.
But it doesn't have any root system
so it can't survive.
And then he gives the third one
in verse seven.
Other seed fell among thorns.
And the thorns grew up
and choked it
and it yielded no grain.
Now,
there's a different problem here.
The problem in this part of the story
is not the depth of soil.
It's not like this.
There's plenty of it.
And it's pretty fertile soil.
And it's good.
Maybe it's rich with some nutrients even
and it has great depth
and texture to it.
The problem's not the soil itself.
The problem's what's inside of the soil.
So I went out in my backyard
and I got something else to show you
this morning.
Maybe you have some of these
in your backyard.
This is about all that's in my backyard.
In fact,
it's just a bunch of weeds.
This was the smallest one
in my yard this morning.
There have some that are,
they're probably this tall
sitting off this.
They're just massive
because we're bad yard keepers.
But there's this weed.
Now,
what Jesus is talking about here
in this particular part
of the parable,
this is not what he's talking about.
This is what we see.
Right?
We see the weed.
Okay?
The problem in the parable
is not the weed
because in the parable,
the weed's already been cut
or it's been burned
or it's been taken out
in some way.
The problem is that
when the weed was taken out
or when the thorn was taken out
or it was cut
or it was burned
or whatever,
the root remained in the soil.
So it's not that
there's not depth of soil.
It's not that there's not a place
for the seed to penetrate.
It's that what else is in the soil
that you can't see?
There's these weeds and thorns
and as the seed begins to grow,
so does the weeds and the thorns
and ultimately the weeds choke out
the good seed
and there's no grain
that's able to be produced in it.
So Jesus gives those three types
of poor soil
and then he gives a good soil
in verse 8.
And another seed fell
into the good soil
and produced grain,
growing up and increasing
and yielding 30-fold
and 60-fold
and 100-fold.
So after mentioning
these bad soils
in which no seed can survive
and be fruitful,
Jesus told of this good soil
and this earth
was well cultivated
it was prepared
to receive the seed
it has depth
it's free from the underground
problems and pollutants
that will choke out the grain
and as far as Jesus' story
is concerned
this is the only soil
that will actually
be able to produce
any kind of fruit.
And then Jesus closes this story
with another emphatic statement
in verse 9.
And he said,
He who has ears
to hear,
let him hear.
Now you gotta think
the unbelievers
that were there
that were maybe
continuing to be
hardened by this
had to have been
confused.
What in the world
is that about?
We've traveled
from all over the place
to come and listen
to this guy's teaching.
We've heard that
it's phenomenal.
And he just
told me a story
that I learned
in my second grade
science class
about how seed
and soil works.
And then he just
leaves it to that.
And then he gets
to the end of the story
and he says,
He who has ears
to hear,
let him hear.
And this is supposed
to be significant
to me?
This story
about soil
and seed?
What is this
all about?
Well,
Jesus is actually
testing the soil,
so to speak.
the soil
of their hearts
here.
And it was
the testing
of their soil
that determined
whether or not
they were really
in Christ or not.
And so he says,
He who has ears
to hear,
let him hear,
meaning that
many of them
would not actually
have ears
to hear.
But if they did,
it was important
that they listen.
The command here
is not only
to give audience
to his remarks,
but to engage
with them,
to obey
the lesson
that he was
teaching.
And this teaching
is actually
eternally significant.
And he desired
that they would
obey.
Well,
let's skip down
to verse 14
and we'll see
what this parable
actually means.
And then we'll
wrap up this section
of Mark chapter 4.
Look with me
at verse 13.
And he said
to them,
Do you not
understand this
parable?
How will you
understand
all the parables?
Now Mark's
returning to
this issue of
soil.
He took a break
and he talked
about Jesus'
explanation of
why he was
teaching in
parables to
begin with.
And before
explaining this,
Jesus made
those really
difficult sayings
to hear.
But then he
wraps back to
this specific
explanation about
the soil.
It's a foundational
lesson actually
for believers.
Jesus said,
If you don't
understand this
one,
you're going to
have a really
hard time
understanding any
of the other
parables that I
tell.
And so all three
of the synoptic
gospels actually
record this exact
parable in great
detail.
Why?
Because Jesus
himself said,
If you don't
get this one,
you're not going
to get the other
ones.
You may be
wondering,
why didn't
John do it?
If Matthew,
Mark,
and Luke did,
why didn't
John?
Well,
John didn't
record any
of Jesus'
parables,
so it would
be unnecessary
for him to
explain the
one that they
need to know
to interpret
the others.
But Matthew,
Mark,
and Luke all
deal with it.
And so let's
see what he
has to say.
Verse 14.
This is the
key that unlocks
the whole thing.
The sower
sows the
word.
The sower
sows the
word.
The sower
casting out
the seed
in Jesus'
story is
representative
of an
individual
who is
preaching
or teaching
or sharing
the word
of God.
And in the
immediate context,
the sower is a
reference to
Jesus.
Because in this
moment,
Jesus is the
one casting
the seed.
He's the one
that's teaching
the gospel.
He's the one
that's sharing
the good news.
But it doesn't
only apply to
Jesus.
We would make
a mistake if
we thought that
Jesus is meant
to be the
sower exclusively
in this particular
passage.
That's not it.
Any person
who takes
the gospel of
Jesus and
shares it with
another is
represented here
by the
sower.
And of course,
the seed is
the Bible.
Especially
the explicit
teaching of
the gospel of
Jesus.
Now, we have
to make an
important note
here.
Notice that
in the story,
the problem
is neither
with the
sower nor
the seed.
So in the
immediate context,
the sower is
Jesus.
Well, Jesus
is the greatest
teacher to ever
live.
He's perfect.
He's God.
There can't be a
problem with him.
It can't be a
problem with the
way that he's
teaching.
It can't be a
problem with his
methodologies.
It can't be a
problem with
his tone or
any other
things that we
may point to
and say,
well, maybe
this was the
problem there.
No, there's no
problem with the
sower here.
Sower is just
casting out
seed.
There's also
no problem
with the
seed.
The seed is
the word of
God.
It's perfect.
It's inerrant.
It's infallible.
There is no
mixture of error.
It is God's
truth to us.
So as this
seed is being
cast out,
there's no issue
with that because
it's perfect.
And in this
particular context,
so is the
sower.
So there's no
issue here with
sower and
seed.
So we can't
come to this
story and say,
well, we need
to find out more
creative ways to
sow the seed of
the gospel.
No, that's not
what Jesus is
saying.
And then we
don't come to
this and we
say, well, we
have to figure
out better ways
to present it
ourselves.
We need better
personalities or
we need to wrap
it all in this
nice, neat
package of modern
trendiness.
No, that's not
what this parable
is about either.
The issue in
this parable is
not the sower
of the seed.
The issue in
this parable is
the soil.
It's just bad
soil.
And the soil
represents the
hearts of
people.
Jesus, again,
says that there
are four types
of soil, four
types of hearts
that this seed
will land on.
And so let's
look at them
quickly.
Verse 15.
Jesus said,
these are the
ones that along
the path where
the word is
sown.
When they hear
Satan immediately
comes, takes
away the word
that is sown in
them.
Well, this is the
hardest type of
soil that Jesus
mentions.
Talked about that
already.
It's the pathway.
It's very hard.
There's nothing
for the seed to
penetrate.
This individual's
heart is so
hardened to the
truth of God
that they are
utterly indifferent
to it.
I'm convinced
after spending the
last couple of
weeks in this
passage, I'm
convinced that
this is the
most predominant
type of soil
that you will
come across in
your evangelism.
It's just people
that are just
completely indifferent
to what we have
to say.
They're just
completely indifferent
to the word.
It's not that
they're trying to
figure out.
It's not necessarily
that they got all
this stuff in their
life that's choking
it out.
It's just they
don't care.
They don't care to
begin with.
And some will
even, in fact,
maybe even many
will take it to
the extreme where
it's not indifference
only to the gospel.
Maybe it's even
they've made
themselves an enemy
of the gospel.
These are the
people that you
can sit down with
at your dinner
table and you can
talk about the
love of Christ.
You can talk
about the reality
of their sin.
And they just
don't care.
Like there's just
nothing there to
grab their attention
at all.
There's no sense
of remorse.
There's no sense
of anything at
all in their life.
They just don't
care.
And they go to
church.
That's the thing.
They go to
church.
But they don't
go to church
because they care.
They just go
because their
wife makes them
go.
Or they go
because their
parents make
them go.
Or they go
because this is
what you're
supposed to do.
And maybe if I
network enough
within the right
congregation,
I'll be able to
make the right
business context
that I need to
make.
And it'll benefit
my life in another
way.
But their hearts
are so hard.
The actual
message, the
truth, Christ,
they're just
completely indifferent
to it.
There's nothing
there.
And Jesus
says when the
seed falls on
this heart,
that Satan
immediately comes
and devours it.
He doesn't come
and devour the
person.
He devours
the seed.
Right?
What does that
mean?
Well, sometimes
he does that
just through
worldly
distractions.
You know, they
share the gospel
with somebody
and immediately
their attention
is just completely
diverted to
another thing.
Something else
that's going on
in their life.
Maybe it's their
business or maybe
it's their family
or maybe it's
some other thing
that maybe in and
of itself is a
good thing, but
Satan just uses it
as a distraction.
He devours that
seed.
He devours the
seed that has
then been cast
on the soil.
Satan doesn't
harden the soil.
That's not what
he does.
The soil is already
hardened.
That's the problem.
He just devours
the seed when it's
cast out, which
tells us we have
no excuse.
When I was a
kid, maybe you
did this.
I don't know.
When I was a
kid, I learned
early that if I
messed up, there
was a chance that
if I played a
spiritual card with
my parents, I
might could get
some type of
relief from the
punishment.
You know what I
mean?
I know Marty
knows what I
mean.
And there were
times I remember
telling my parents,
you know, I
really didn't want
to do that.
The devil made
me do it.
The devil made
me do it.
And they just
never accepted
that for some
reason.
I'm not sure
why.
Because Satan
doesn't harden
the soil.
That's not what
he does.
He's not capable
of that.
We take
responsibility for
that.
We harden the
soil of our
hearts.
We're the ones
who reject the
message.
We're the ones
who live in sin.
We're the ones
who do wrong.
And we can't say,
well, the devil's
just on my back
this week.
No.
He just steals
the seed.
He just steals
the seed.
Maybe it's
through deception.
Maybe it's
through distraction.
But he steals
the seed.
Paul said to the
Corinthians in
2 Corinthians 4
that Satan
actively blinds
those who do
not believe.
He said,
in their case,
the God of
this world
has blinded
the minds
of the
unbelievers
to keep
them from
seeing the
light of
the gospel,
the glory
of Christ.
You say,
well, what kind
of hope does
this person
have?
If their
hearts are
so hard
that Satan
comes whenever
a seed is
sown and he
just devours
it and he
takes it away
and they're
distracted and
it just
immediately goes
away, what
kind of hope
do they have?
It is only
by the grace
of God that
any one of
us has a
believing heart.
Because between
our sinful
nature and
Satan's
blinding work,
we are
actually
hopeless.
And the
only hope we
have is that
the grace of
God will
overcome the
power of sin
and Satan
in our lives.
Listen,
no person
comes to
faith on
their own.
It's not
possible.
The soil's
too hard.
And Satan's
working too
hard to
steal away
whatever seed
comes.
You say,
well, what hope
do we have?
The only hope
we have is
that God
in his grace
and in his
sovereign will
will do a
cultivating work
in our heart
to break up
the soil of
our heart
in order
that his
seed can
penetrate
our hearts
and he
can then
produce fruit.
It is the
spirit of
God that
awakens us.
Let me go
back to 2 Corinthians
4.
Right after Paul
says that the
God of this
world has blinded
the minds of
those who do
not believe,
then he says
in verse 6,
for God who
said,
let light shine
out of darkness,
he's appealing
to the power
of God,
the creative
power of God,
for God who
said let light
shine out of
darkness has
shown in our
hearts to give
the light of
the knowledge
of the glory
of God in
the face of
Jesus Christ.
And then he
says in the
next verse,
but we have
this treasure
in jars of
clay to show
that the
surpassing power
belongs to
God,
not to
us.
It's his
grace that
brings salvation.
It's his
grace that
softens the
soil.
It's his
grace that
does this
work,
not us.
You don't
come to
Christ by
epiphany.
You don't
just wake up
one day and
say, you know
what, I think
I'll be a
Christian.
It doesn't
work that
way.
God does
a work.
It's a work
of grace.
Think about
Matthew 16.
Peter makes
this wonderful
confession.
Jesus says,
who do men
say that I
am?
And Peter
says, you
are the
Christ.
And here's
how Jesus
responded.
Jesus
answered,
blessed are
you, Simon
son of
Jonah, for
flesh and
blood has
not revealed
this to
you, but
my father
who is in
heaven has
revealed this
to you.
Think about
John 6,
44.
No one
can come
to me,
Jesus said,
unless the
father who
sent me
draws him
and I
will raise
him up on
the last
day.
As it is
written in
the prophets,
they will
all be
taught by
God.
You say,
well, there's
a problem
here.
If my
heart is
so hard
that whenever
the seed of
the word is
sown, the
devil comes
and blinds
me or he
takes away
that seed,
then I've
got a
problem there.
And if
on the
other side
is I
can't
actually do
anything about
that problem
that I
have to rely
on God's
gracious work
in my heart
to do
something about
that problem,
what am I
supposed to
do?
What am I
supposed to
do?
You've got
one choice.
Pray.
That's all
you can do.
This is why
we pray for
the lost.
Have you ever
thought about
that?
You ever
thought why
we pray for
people to
be saved?
Because we
know it is
in God's
act for
people to
be saved.
It takes
his work
of grace
in their
heart and
so that
should drive
us as
believers to
get on our
knees before
God and
beg for
God to
do a
work of
grace in
the hearts
of people
that we
love, in
the hearts
of our
co-workers,
in the hearts
of our
friends, and
in the hearts
of people that
may even
attend our
church whose
hearts are
so hard.
And we
gotta pray
that God
will do
something in
their hearts,
that he
will cultivate
the soil of
their hearts.
That's the
only hope they
have.
It's the only
hope we
have.
And we
need to
pray.
And if you
find yourself
becoming
hardened and
indifferent to
the gospel
yourself, and
you're concerned,
well, you may
be a little
softer than
you think.
And you
need to
pray that
God will
do this
work, and
then believe.
That's what
Jesus said to
do, isn't
it?
Repent and
believe the
gospel.
Second type
of soil,
verse 16.
These are the
ones sown on
rocky ground,
the ones who
when they hear
the word,
immediately
receive it with
joy.
But they
have no root
in themselves.
They endure
for a while,
and then when
tribulation or
persecution arises
on account of
the word,
immediately they
fall away.
This type of
person gives
early signs of
excitement about
Jesus, but the
word never takes
any root in
their hearts.
Now consider
the types of
people that were
following Jesus
and were listening
to him and
hearing him at
this point.
this soil
represents the
prosperity seekers.
This is the
prosperity seekers.
Their interest is
not in the
gospel.
Their interest is
not even in
Jesus himself or
in his purpose or
in his identity
as Lord.
They only want to
receive some type
of healing,
some type of
success,
some type of
improvement to
their temporal
life.
love.
They're hoping
that coming to
Jesus, he will
benefit them
materially or in
some earthly
way.
And for them,
it's all emotion.
That's what Jesus
said.
Immediately they
receive it with
what?
Joy, gladness.
They receive it
with joy, not the
prospect of the
gospel.
What they receive
with joy is the
prospect of their
life having some
type of improvement
that they want
to experience.
But they abandon
Jesus as soon as
a hardship comes
along.
The word initially
sprouts, but it's
unable to take any
root in their heart.
Sun comes up,
things get a little
hot, and they say,
okay, this is not
what I signed up
for.
But what does the
sun represent here?
It could be a lot
of things actually.
It could be
persecution.
It could be that
they've said, yeah,
I'm a follower of
Christ, and then
their friends decide
they don't want to
be their friends
anymore.
Or their family
decides they don't
want them coming
over for dinner
anymore.
Or their coworkers
are mocking them
or making fun of
them for whatever
it is, and they
say, you know
what, okay, maybe
I'm not a follower
of Christ.
It's not worth it.
There's no root.
No root.
Could be unmet
expectations.
They came because
they thought Jesus
was going to give
them a better job,
and they thought
Jesus was going to
heal the disease
that they have,
or they thought
Jesus was going
to restore the
relationship that
they have with
an estranged child,
but then when they
don't ever get a
better job, or they
don't ever get the
wealth that they
were looking for,
they don't ever get
the other material
things, these unmet
expectations cause
them to say, well,
Jesus isn't all he's
cracked up to be.
Could be that they're
just hurt by others.
They get excited
initially, and then
they realize once they
get into church and
around Christians,
that Christians are
sinners, and we
don't always do
things well, and they
get hurt, and they
say the first thing
they abandon is not
necessarily the church
that they abandon,
it's Christ.
They say, I don't
want this.
Third type of soil,
verse 18.
Others are the ones
sown among thorns.
They're those who hear
the word, but the
cares of the world and
the deceitfulness of
riches and the
desires for other
things enter in and
choke the word, and
it proves unfruitful.
Now, unlike the other
two types of soil, as
we mentioned earlier,
the issue here is not
depth.
It's what's in the
soil.
Now, this person is
willing to accept
Jesus as their Savior,
but we know that's not
the complete gospel.
They don't mind asking
Jesus in their heart,
and they definitely
want Jesus to keep
them from going to
hell.
No doubt about that.
What they're unwilling
to do is submit to
Jesus as Lord.
What they lack is not
belief in the claims
of Jesus.
They wouldn't deny who
he is, wouldn't even
deny what his purpose
was.
What they lack is
repentance.
A repentance that Jesus
demands for salvation.
So, underneath the
surface of this
pseudo-belief is a
network of sins, a
network of desires that
ultimately turn their
hearts away from Christ
altogether.
And we have a cultural
term for this.
We call them nominal
Christians.
But the problem with
nominal Christianity is
it's not Christian.
it's just nominal.
It's one thing to want
Jesus to save you
from hell.
It's another thing to
actually submit to him
as your Lord and repent
of your sin.
That's the issue here.
Jesus said in Matthew
6, no man can serve
two masters.
Either we will hate the
one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to
the one and despise the
other.
And then the specific
illustration he gives is
money.
No person can serve both
God and money.
In other words, your
attention, your heart
cannot be divided in the
gospel.
James talked about this.
A double-minded man is
unstable in all his ways.
This person, they want
Jesus because they want,
they don't want to go to
hell.
They want Jesus, but they
don't want Jesus telling
them what to do.
They don't want to
actually have to change
their life around.
They just want Jesus to be
okay with them.
They want Jesus to accept
them as they are, but not
actually do the refining
work that the gospel does
in their lives.
And what we come to find
out according to Jesus is
that none of these soils,
none of these three soils
produce true Christians.
Two of them produce false
Christians.
And then he gets to the
good soil.
Verse 20.
But those that were sold on
the good soil are the ones
who hear the word, accept it
and bear fruit 30 fold, 60
fold, and a hundred fold.
Now, the word that Jesus uses
for here in all three of these
situations is the word
akuo.
It's a verb.
The first three times he uses
it in the first three soils,
it's in the imperfect tense,
which means that it's past.
It's a single action.
In other words, they heard.
Single moment, they heard.
It's kind of the picture of
in one ear, out the other
that we're all familiar with,
right?
That's the way that Jesus
is using the word.
When he gets to the good soil,
he uses a different form
of the word akuo.
They not only hear the word,
but they heed the word.
They listen to the word.
They obey the word
and they submit to it.
And Jesus made clear
that the way to determine
what type of person you are
is to gauge the fruitfulness
of the word in your life.
Now, remember,
we are not bearing fruit
in this parable.
It's not us bearing fruit.
We're just the soil.
What is it that's bearing fruit?
The word.
The word bears the fruit.
When it lands on the right soil
that's been cultivated,
the word bears the fruit.
And a typical yield
in Jesus's day
would have been anywhere
from six to tenfold.
In fact, tenfold was a blessed year.
That was a good crop.
But then Jesus makes this
outrageous statement
that the good soil produces
in some thirtyfold,
in some sixtyfold,
and in some a hundredfold.
This would have been meant
to shock the people's ears,
to shock them,
because that's a massive bounty
for what has been sown.
And so what's the point?
The point is that
there's no mistaking
whether a person
is truly trusting Christ or not.
There's no mistaking it.
Because it's not the person
that produces the fruit,
it's God that produces the fruit
through his word,
by his spirit.
And for a person
that has truly come to faith,
that's going to reveal itself
over time
in the bounty of fruit
that the word has provided.
Some thirtyfold,
some sixtyfold,
some a hundredfold.
We're all going to be
in different walks.
We're all going to be
on different planes
as far as our Christian walk
is concerned.
But the unmistakable truth
of the Bible
is that those who have truly
come to Christ in faith
will,
will bear fruit.
Because it's God
who does the fruit bearing
in us.
It's not that we don't produce that.
He produces that.
And only those who are
producing that fruit,
that word is impacting their life
and changing their life
and doing the work
of the Lord
represent the good soil.
MacArthur said,
having been made alive
by the spirit of God,
they produce fruit
in keeping with repentance.
That's Matthew 3.8.
That's a part of the fruit.
You say,
how do I know
that this is me?
Well, what happens
when you get confronted
by the word
about your own sin?
What do you do?
Do you bear fruits
of repentance?
It's not that the good soil
never sins.
You don't just leave it alone.
But what do you do
when you are confronted
by your sin?
Do you rebel?
Do you harden?
Or do you repent?
It bears fruit
in keeping with repentance.
Matthew 3.8.
And then he said,
it bears the fruit
of righteousness.
Philippians 1.11.
That not only are we
avoiding sin
and repenting of sin,
but we're actually living
unto righteousness.
We're not only stopping
the bad things,
but we're actually being
being driven to do
the good things,
the righteous things,
the godly things.
And then thirdly,
he says,
the fruit of the spirit,
which is Galatians 5.
Love,
joy,
peace,
long-suffering,
gentleness,
faithfulness,
meekness,
self-control.
Those aren't things
you produce.
Those are things
the spirit of God
produces.
And so the question is,
what's the fruit
of your life?
Do you sprout up
real quick
and then you blow away
because you actually
have no root?
Is the faith part,
you know,
as far as mental
ascent belief,
I'm good there,
just I don't want
to give up the sins.
I don't want Jesus
to be my Lord.
I just want him
to be my Savior.
Is that your soil?
Maybe you're so hard
that you just can't wait
for this to get over
because none of this
matters to you.
What does this
have to do with me?
Or is the word of God
actually doing something
in your heart?
Is it actually
producing a fruit
in your heart?
Is God doing
this work in you?
It's a testing
of the soil.
And so we have
to ask those questions.
In relation
to the parables,
most of the parables
are about the kingdom
of God.
And so when we come
to one,
we ask,
where do I stand
in relation
to the kingdom
of God?
And in this particular
case,
the question is,
what type of soil
have I proven
to have
in my heart?
we also need
to understand
how this lesson
relates to our evangelism.
This is an important
note for us
as we care
about lost souls.
Our responsibility
is to cast
the seed.
Remember?
the sower
in this case,
now we could take it
that far
if we wanted to,
but Jesus doesn't.
Okay?
So we go with
what Jesus gives us.
The sower
in this case,
the issue of the soil
isn't his issue.
We just cast
the seed.
Right?
We cast
the seed.
And then we trust
God to do
that cultivating
work in the
hearts of people.
we're responsible
for faithfulness.
We leave the fruitfulness
to God
and we trust
him to do it.
But this helps us
to understand
why the people
that we witness
to respond
in different ways.
A lot of people
you witness to
is they're going
to be just
hard ground.
They're going
to be different
types of soil.
This helps us
understand our evangelism.
And then finally,
if you're a believer,
if you're a believer
with the fruit
of the word
being produced
in your life,
this should lead
you to worship.
This should lead
you to worship.
The problem is
sometimes in our pride,
that worship
doesn't become
so much a worship
of God
for the fruitfulness
of our life.
It becomes a worship
of me
for the fruitfulness
in my life.
Look at what I've done.
Look at how far
I've come.
Let me help you out.
When we understand
the grace of God
and how it works
in the soil of our hearts,
what that leads us to
is to fall on our knees
and worship.
Understanding that
but for the grace of God,
we would be
the hard path
or we would be
the shallow soil
or we would be
full of weeds.
Which is exactly
what Paul does
in Ephesians 2.
He recognizes
when he says,
but God,
who is rich
in mercy,
because of the great love
which with he loved us,
even when we were dead
in our trespasses,
he made us alive
together with Christ.
And if they didn't understand
what he's saying,
he follows it up with,
by grace,
you're saved.
Not your own effort.
Not what you do.
It's not that you got
it all together.
It's that God
has blessed you.
God has done
a work in you.
And what that should
lead us to do
is worship him for it.
for you,