Mark 4:1-20 "The Parable of the Soils"
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!
Men and responsible young men… I hope you can join us for fellowship with guns today.
When I visited our home church in Maryland I told them I got ZERO complaints about our Gun Fun day in Indiana. But, in Maryland… that would have divided the church!
Man I love Indiana!
They may not be able to do a Gun Fun day without controversy in Maryland, but they certainly are doing a good work for the Lord out there.
Let’s do that same work now… please open your Bibles to Mark chapter 4. Mark 4:1-20 today.
Last time we met, we saw Jesus ministering to the multitudes… and consistently when that happens in the gospels… opposition follows.
Still to this day… the more ministry you do… the bigger a target you become.
And, Jesus was a huge target… ministering to thousands… and opposition came from without and from within.
From within… Jesus’ mother and brothers thought Him insane and came to round Him up.
Which would open a door for Jesus to talk about the superiority of His spiritual family… those who “hear the word of God and do it.” They will abide forever.
From without... scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons…
Which was crazy talk!
So, Jesus spoke to them in parables about how ludicrous of an accusation this was…
Jesus said, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.”
If you go to war against your own household… you go to war against yourself… and you lose.
Jesus also warned them that they were close to committing the Unpardonable Sin… the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit for coming against the ministry of the Holy Spirit… who points people to Christ.
Which is exactly what was happening as Jesus cast out this demon because Jesus, as He said cast them out by the “Spirit of God.”
The hardening of one’s heart to unbelief is the unpardonable sin.
And, so on this same day… Jesus continues to teach in parables and on various conditions of the heart…
Which leads to arguably His greatest parable, the “Parable of the Soils”… our sermon title today.
Let’s pray!
Mark 4:1-2 “And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:”
Pause right there… let’s get grounded in our setting. Matthew tells us this was the same day, so Chapter 3 and 4 are chronologically together…
Which is amazing because many of us would be done for the day if we had a day like Jesus.
In the least on this day, Jesus has already healed a demon possessed man.
Most of us would have been done for the day at that point.
But Jesus also survived major confrontations from His own family and the religious elite from Jerusalem… and He kept teaching where… many of us would have been emotionally drained by the confrontation.
And, then Jesus goes out of the house… probably Peter’s house in Capernaum… and begins to teach even more… now by the sea of Galilee.
They call this the “Long day of the Lord”… and for good reason.
Most of us would collapse in exhaustion from a day like this. But, this is why He is God and we are not…
And 2000 years later… He’s still moving… still teaching us through His word. Just like we will see today…
The day is still young for Jesus.
A massive crowd has gathered to hear Jesus teach… here by the sea… Jesus gets in a boat to put some space between Him and them…
So they didn’t press on Him… the crowds were so hungry for His healing touch, but sometimes what they needed more was for Him to feed them the word of God.
And, this was one of those moments…
Matthew tells us the “the whole multitude stood on the shore” while Jesus got on the boat and sat.
Which was the posture the teacher took in those days… Sit to teach, stand to preach.
I’m hoping we can bring all that back one day.
I’ll sit to teach and you stand.
Spurgeon said, “The teacher sat, and the people stood: we should have less sleeping in congregations if this arrangement still prevailed.”
If you’re a student here at Lakeland… what’s your school theme for the year?
“Stand”… how timely!… It’s like a sign from God!
Listen… I know you’re never going to stand for an hour, but don’t be surprised if one day I’m sitting on a stool.
Anyhow… Jesus sits on the boat to teach…
This is probably NOT a row boat, but a 1st century Galilean fishing boat… roughly 26 ft. x 7 ft. (about the size of a Fed-Ex delivery truck)… about a 15 person capacity.
So, not a small boat… and Jesus’ position on the water may have allowed sound waves to reflect from the water surface making Him easier to hear… at least physically.
Jesus knew this was a tough audience, and so… He teaches them in parables.
Ten parables altogether… 8 in Matthew 13 and 2 parables in Mark.
Especially in Matthew 13, Jesus frequently begins a new parable with “The kingdom of heaven is like...”
Thus, this teaching is referred to as, “The Kingdom of Heaven” discourse.
Which is the 3rd of 5 Major Discourses...
1st is the Sermon on the Mount Matt 5-7
2nd: Missions Discourse as Jesus sends the Apostles Matt 10
3rd: Parabolic -or- Kingdom of Heaven Discourse Matt 13
4th: Discourse on the Church Matt 18
5th: Olivet Discourse (on End Times) Matt 24-25
All of these discourses are addressed to the disciples, except that which we are looking at today… here Jesus addresses the multitudes.
And, this is not a favorable address to the multitudes.
We’ll see in V10-11 the disciples ask Jesus why He speaks to them in parables?
And, Jesus responds, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables...”
Matthew says “...to them it has not been given.”
So, there is a veil here… the parable is not the veil… moreso this crowd… at least most of them have covered their own hearts with a veil…
Not all the soil is good soil…
Not all the people have ears to hear.
So Jesus speaks in parables… Why parables? And, what is a parable? Why is this Jesus’ teaching method at this time?
Parables are a method to communicate truths to believers (those with spiritual sight), and to hide truths from unbelievers (who are spiritually blind and oppose Jesus).
So, if you’re searching… you will find. It’s no different today. We all hear the same words of the Bible on a Sunday… and someone will walk out of here impacted… and someone else will walk out of here nice and rested up… best hour of sleep that they had in a long while.
Hey… and that’s ok… I believe in osmosis… many a nights in college I fell asleep on my text books…
So, just soak it in here… dream about parables.
And, what a parable IS… is this: The Gk. root word is paraballō meaning “to throw alongside.”
A parable takes one truth and compares it to another truth…typically a natural truth to a heavenly truth.
Comparing things visible in the world TO the invisible things of the heavenly realm.
We read in V2 that Jesus taught them in parables, and we mistakenly get this picture like Jesus is telling them a bedtime story.
“Once upon a time…”
It’s not that… this is deep… this is profound…
Jesus is on a boat… staring out at a multitude of people… and like in so many other places… as John wrote, “He knew what was in man.”
Jesus knows this is not an entirely devoted crowd TO HIM… He knows their thoughts… He sees their hearts…
And, He looks out upon them, and He’s going to describe exactly what’s going on inside their hearts.
The Great Physician is going to diagnose their heart conditions… and the prognosis is poor for the majority.
There’s a broad way leading to destruction, and many go by it.
Imagine NOT being right with God and sitting in that crowd… hearing Jesus share this parable… how convicting that must have been?
So, the parable begins… Jesus exclaims… VSS 3-9…
Mark 4:3-9 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
In Jesus sharing the parable, He begins and ends appealing to the senses of His listeners.
Hundreds… perhaps thousands have gathered and Jesus calls out…
“Listen”… a appeal to the ears…
“Behold”… an appeal to the eyes…
He wants them to thoughtfully consider what He is about to say… and not all of them would for He will close saying… “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Which was a reference NOT to the ears… more to the heart…
All this talk about hearing and seeing… and that wasn’t the problem at all… their eyes and ears worked fine… their problem was a heart condition.
Jesus was so attune to His surroundings when He taught.
During the Sermon on the Mount… on the hillside He referenced very likely what He saw… lilies… birds…
And, now He is on a boat… starring out at the multitudes before Him… and what He sees is hearts.
Often in the gospels we read that Jesus ‘knew their thoughts.’ I’m sure this time was no different as He sees their hearts.
He doesn’t see bank accounts… or count heads to see how big His following is…
He sees all kinds of hearts… fruitful hearts… unfruitful hearts… hard hearts… shallow hearts…
And so… he shares this first parable and weaves His audience right into the parable…
This parable of the soils is all about them… It’s all about the world…
Other times in Scripture, when Jesus saw the multitudes, we read “He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”
So what did He do? Mark tells us “So he began to teach them many things.”
He was a good shepherd… feeding the weary and scattered sheep… teaching the the word…
Is this NOT a reason why we gather here on Sundays? Not only to give Him our praise and worship, but to be fed by Him… by His word.
The Good Shepherd is still doing the same thing today leading us through His word…
And, that’s a key point of this parable. We’ll see that Jesus will talk about the importance of the word of God in their lives.
Let’s break this parable down…
Jesus says, “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.”
In this agrarian society, this parable should have resonated with the audience…
Jesus first mentions a “sower”… not as in ‘needle and thread’, but as ‘one who sows or scatters seeds with the intent of planting and eventually harvesting a crop.
Some Bible translations use the word “farmer.”
And, this sower will scatter seed on soil… and these are the 3 main elements of this parable:
The sower, the seed, and soil.
Two of these elements (the Sower and the seed) do NOT change… they are constant…
But the soil varies… there’s the wayside, stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground.
Jesus says in V4, “And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.”
This is the first soil... The wayside-
Meaning “a road, a path”…
It’s well-trodden and compacted down… like the Winona Lake Trails…
This kind of soil is too hard for seed to penetrate… so when the sower scatters seed here… it just stays on the surface and birds come and eat the seed.
The second soil...VSS5-6 “Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.”
Stony ground…stony Gk. pĕtrōdēs…root word pĕtra meaning “rock.”
Israel is full of rocky soil… certainly not ideal soil for crops.
Rocks covered by a thin layer of soil resulting in the seed sprouting, but the roots could not penetrate into the earth.
The roots fail to reach down and find moisture and nutrients for life.
And, under the hot sun...the plants are scorched and wither or waste away… because the soil was shallow… it lacked the necessary depth for strong roots.
The third soil...V7 “And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.”
Thorny ground… at men’s Bible Study, we recently read about thorns in Gen 3:18… the ground was cursed with “thorns and thistles” as part of the fall of man.
Thorns can come as invasive vines that choke out other plants… and cause them to be fruitless.
The fourth and final soil...V8 “But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
This is Good soil that produces fruit… it yields a crop.
This soil is free of thorns, rocks, and people trampling it underfoot.
It’s is rich in depth, nutrients and moisture.
And this harvest was a bumper crop...an unusually productive harvest… some 30x, some 60x and even 100x… well past the expected yield.
And, in V9, Jesus concludes saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Do you think He ‘mic dropped’ after that?
This is so difficult for me to imagine. A great multitude is present… His disciples are there… Jesus gets on the boat… and shares this parable… 122 words… 6 sentences… that’s only 1 minute of talking and He provides the multitudes NO explanation… just “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
And, then He gets off the boat… His message was done.
Can you imagine being a disciple or being one of the multitude? “Wait, that’s it?”
Some of you are thinking, “That sounds amazing… where can I find a church like that? 1 minute sermon… sign me up!”
But let’s not forget… Jesus is the Master Teacher… and like this parable… He plants a seed… this illustration would resonate with many of the listeners who were very familiar with all the farming images He shared.
Only 1 minute to share the parable, but how long would they be thinking about it… and discussing it later?
Asking each other, “What do you think Jesus meant by that?”
And, no doubt… many were listening, but did they truly hear? They heard with their ears, but did it touch their hearts?
Paul said, in 1 Cor 2:14 “...the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
That verse described many of this multitude…they heard the parable…but many did not spiritually discern His message.
As we continue, there is a change of scenery… a private scene with Jesus and His disciples…
Mark 4:10-13 “But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’ ” [which Matthew tells us is in fulfillment of Isa 6:9-10] 13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
V10 tells us the disciples want to know about the parable… more specifically, as Matthew wrote… the disciples ask, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
The disciples struggled at times with Jesus’ methods of speaking figuratively and using parabolic illustrations.
Later in John, Jesus will tell the disciples He came from the Father and is going to the Father, and they erupt saying, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!”
Enough with the riddles already Jesus… just speak plainly…
Isn’t that just like how we are too… when it comes to the word of God? We just want it spoon fed… spoken plainly… we want it easy…
But let me say this… some of the greatest revelations I have gotten from the word.... came after laboring in the word for hours for understanding… and then the epiphany… the “A- ha” moment.
It’s not bad when Jesus makes us work for understanding… He knows what He’s doing.
And, those who truly were seeking… who truly wanted to understand Jesus’ parable… they would need to work for it… as the disciples are doing here going to the Master for explanation.
And, Jesus begins His explanation in V11 saying, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables...”
Notice… Jesus present 2 groups of people here… He make a distinction… There’s “you” and “them” who Jesus describes as “those who are outside.”
In God’s economy, there is very little gray.
You’re “in” or you’re “out.”
Spiritual alive or dead. Saved or condemned.
Eternity in heaven or hell… smoking or non-smoking… however you want to say it…
And, Jesus makes a distinction here between His disciples, and those among the multitudes who have gathered, but they are “outside”… they are not His disciples.
In Jesus’ explanation, we will find He gives 3 reasons He speaks in Parables…to reveal, to conceal, and to fulfill.
To Reveal truth to believers; to conceal truth from unbelievers; and to fulfill prophecy.
“To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God”… that’s revelation.
To you… disciples… believers… I reveal.
He’s revealing the mystery of the kingdom of God…
“Mysteries” Gk. mustēriŏn- meaning “a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to understanding.”
Not like a murder mystery book or TV Show, but…
Truths hidden from the wicked, but plain to the righteous.
For ex., God’s plan of salvation hidden in the OT… hidden to the OT prophets… now revealed through Jesus… revealed to all nations according to Rom 16:25-26…
Simply speaking, salvation was “once concealed, but now revealed.”
Now… the mystery here in Mark 4 is that of “the kingdom of God”, which Matthew titles “the kingdom of Heaven”… same idea.
And, it’s an important and big idea to Jesus.
He began His ministry speaking about the kingdom of heaven, spoke about it often, and we read in Acts 1:3 that in the forty days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, He spoke to the disciples “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
The phrase “kingdom of God” is found 70x in the Bible…all in the NT.
Plus, the phrase “kingdom of heaven”… an additional 33x…all in the Gospel of Matthew.
In the OT, we don’t see these exact phrases, but “the kingdom” idea certainly has roots in the OT.
So, what is “the kingdom of God”?
It’s not a simple definition because depending on the context… it can take different meaning. It’s multi-faceted.
Based on context, Jesus could be talking about God’s sovereign rule… or the eternal nature of His kingdom… or His future millennial kingdom…
Some people confuse the kingdom of God with the church…
And, while the church is part of the kingdom of heaven… the kingdom of God is a much broader concept.
These Parables in Mark 4, Matthew 13, and Luke 8 specifically tell us what the kingdom and it’s citizens will be like between Jesus 1st and 2nd coming.
These parables reflect the age in which we live…the Church Age.
And, those with ears to hears… believers are granted the privilege of understanding these spiritual principles, mysteries, and insights.
But, to those outside Jesus said about them in Matt 13:13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
This is Jesus’ 2nd reason He speaks in parables… to Conceal truth to unbelievers.
Now, why on earth did He want to do that?
Isn’t Jesus the light of the world? Yes… He is… and “… whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
And, this was exactly the problem with this multitude… there were many hearts shrouded with unbelief…
They saw Jesus as a threat to the status quo… a threat to their religious system… a threat to their economic system… He didn’t even meet their expectations of the Messiah who would overthrow Roman oppression…
Thus they rejected Jesus in their hearts…
They were the “them’s”… “those who are outside”… not because of God, but because of their own choice…
Spiritual truths were present in the parables, but hidden from them… because in their hard heartedness… and in their spiritual blindness… they could not extract that truth.
And, that’s true today. You know people like this who cannot understand the Bible.
I know in my own testimony that prior to 2012 and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit… I was one of those people who struggled to have passion and understanding with the word.
But, God changed that in a moment on Aug 5th, 2012.
Keep praying for those you love… and be patient with those you love… God removed the scales from Paul’s eyes… from my eyes.. and He can do the same for them.
Well… we’ve mentioned two reasons Jesus spoke in Parables… to reveal… to conceal… and the third is to fulfill… which He mentions in V12 where He quotes Isa 6:9-10…
In Matthew’s Gospel we read, “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled...”
So, these parables were fulfilling prophecies of old.
And, this specific prophecy is paraphrased here in Mark 4:12 as “Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’ ”
The people were spiritually blind and spiritually deaf… and the result is they would not turn or repent… THUS their sins were not forgiven.
Now… don’t misinterpret this… it’s not that God doesn’t want an unbelievers to be saved…
In Isa 65:2 God said, “I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts”
God is welcoming… arms outstretched… reaching out… the problem is not Him…
In Isaiah’s day… in Jesus’ day… and still today… in every age… there are those who don’t want to understand… and they don’t want God.
They are NOT denied the opportunity to come to God… they chose NOT to come to Him.
3/4 of the soils in this parable were not good… nor were the majority of the hearts of many who were listening to Him.
Jesus was “throwing alongside” one truth beside another.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6 here because there was a parallel… Both in Isaiah’s day and in Jesus’ day… Israel was in a sad state…
And, both Isaiah and Jesus’ message yielded the same result… there was not a spiritual return.
Thus, Jesus’ message in parables fulfilled the scripture in Isaiah.
And, then in V13… Jesus asks His disciples, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
V13 highlights that this first of ten kingdom parables sets a base for all the others. There’s a term called “expositional constancy” where similar images like seed or birds remain constant through parabolic teachings.
The other parables in this series build upon the concepts of this parable.
For ex., birds consistently represent evil in parables… and holding to this helps you to properly interpret other parables… like the parable of the birds nesting in the branches.
And this also highlights that Jesus recognized some confusion in the disciples. They were struggling to fully understand.
But the difference between them and the unbelieving multitude… “those who were outside” is the disciples are seeking to understand.
I like how Pastor David Guzik explains parables He said, “A parable isn’t exactly an illustration. A good teacher can illustrate by stating a truth and then illustrating the truth through a story or an analogy. But when Jesus used parables, He didn’t start by stating a truth. Instead, the parable was like a doorway. Jesus’ listeners stood at the doorway and heard Him. If they were not interested, they stayed on the outside. But if they were interested, they could walk through the doorway and think about the truth behind the parable and what it meant to their lives.”
So, while there was some confusion among the disciples… they desired to walk through the door… not to stand outside.
And so, appropriately Jesus would encourage His disciples… which Matthew captured in Matt 13:16-17 where Jesus contrasted His disciples from the unbelieving multitude and said… “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Jesus turns His eyes to His disciples and shares how blessed they are for being spiritually alive and having spiritual understanding.
If you are here today and have faith in Jesus Christ, you too share in these blessings… spiritual sight and hearing and beholding the Messiah… these blessings apply to you as well.
When Jesus said, “… many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see…” but they did not...
One way to understand this is to remember when Jesus spoke highly of John the Baptist and then closed saying, “…he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
John the Baptist closed out the OT. He was the last of the OT prophets… and was the greatest person who ever lived in his dispensation of time…not because of character, but because He had the privilege of beholding the Messiah.
But, John did not live to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom, therefore “he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Christians today have more privilege and blessings then John… BECAUSE we live in the Church Age… where…
We are in-dwelt and Baptized with the Holy Spirit…
Who gives gifts and fruits of the Spirit…
We have the whole counsel of God (Gen-Rev).
We look back in faith to Jesus’ finished work on the cross and His resurrection…
AND we look forward in faith to His 2nd coming to right all that is wrong in the world.
These are tremendous blessings… Assuredly… “blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear...”
One thing that is fantastic about this parable is Jesus gives the interpretation… which we see next.
Not all parables have interpretations. Just imagine what the take away was for people in Jesus’ audience.
Depending on their occupation, they may think there was a natural application… that Jesus spoke about soil management or seed conservation… even problems with invasive birds and thorny plants… even heat waves that scorched plants…
The mind can wonder… the politician would seek our reforms… the newspaper reporter would look for a story… the salesman would promote their product… the scoffer wouldn’t care… he would just mock Jesus for only speaking a minute and in riddles.
And, all of them would be wrong in their interpretations… because Jesus’ point had a spiritual application…
And, the key to that application is found in V14, but even more clearly written in Luke 8:11 “The seed is the word of God.”
If you miss this, you miss properly interpreting the parable. The seed cannot be anything but the word of God.
Let’s read Jesus’ full interpretation of this parable to His disciples…
Mark 4:14-20 “The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
As mentioned earlier, there are 3 main elements of this parable: The sower, the seed, and soil.
The Sower and the seed are constant… but the soil varies…
The Sower is not identified. Jesus was a sower, but so is anyone throughout the age scattering seed.
The seed is the word of God… which is a fitting comparison to the word of God.
Just think about how both of these compare…
Both are amazing creations of God.
When planted both produce life.
Both have the ability to lie dormant for decades, and still produce life.
Seeds are powerful, as the plant grows it moves dirt, rocks…it can crack concrete and the word of God can move mountains in people’s hearts…
Both can multiply…from one seed many seeds are produced… and from the word many lives can be saved.
Both require maintenance…you must nourish the seed...and in time, a harvest will be reaped… and you must abide in Christ in His word to reap a harvest spiritually.
There are additional parallels, but this is a great comparison.
And, then there are the soils… which I’ll discuss as we go through these verses… because they vary…
Except that… the soil reflects the hearts of people who live in this present age.
You see that clearly… for example at the end of V15… “the word that was sown in their hearts.”
The soil is the heart of various people.
We will observe that one soil is unproductive, two soils are short lived, and the final soil is fruitful.
The first soil or heart… V15… is hard…
This is the hard hearted person.
Jesus initially said… The seed was sown on the wayside and the birds of the air devoured it.
Now, as He interprets, the birds are identified as Satan (the ‘wicked one’ in Matthew’s account, and the ‘Devil’ in Luke’s Gospel).
Interesting, but Jesus doesn’t try to convince His audience that Satan was real. just assumed.
And, while the work of the enemy is bad… the problem lies more with the fact that the seed couldn’t penetrate the soil.
If one heart is hard towards the word of God… just like a seed planted on a path… it will not penetrate.
The problem is hard heartedness, which makes that person an easy target for Satan.
Remember what Peter said about the adversary? “… the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Pet 5:8
Lions are opportunistic hunters… the young… the wounded… these are preferred targets for prey.
And, hard heartedness makes one an easy target for Satan.
This is the kind of person who hears a Bible verse or the gospel, but it takes no root.
Their heart is hard, and Satan can quickly cast doubts… “Did God really say?”
The end of Luke 8:12 tells us why Satan snatches the seed… “lest they should believe and be saved.”
So… this first person is not saved… they’re an unbeliever.
The second soil or heart… VSS 16-17… seed sown on stony ground which lacked depth of earth.
This is the shallow heart.
This is a person who initially is excited about church or the word… they may even confess that they believe in Jesus…
Which may have been an impulsive and emotion driven confession… because they quickly fall away for they are not grounded in faith and the word of God.
Luke says they “believe for a while” and then fall away because of temptation… meaning a trial or testing.
This person could be a carnal christian... or an apostate christian… if they are a christian at all certainly they are shallow.
The scorching sun in V6 parallels “tribulation or persecution… for the word’s sake”…
When this shallow person encounters tribulation they stumble in their shallowness…tribulation… even a trial or testing is NOT what they signed up for.
The third soil or heart… VSS 18-19… seed sown among thorns…
This is the unfruitful heart.
This person is distracted and their mind is crowded by the things of the world.
This person may in fact be a believer, but they are carnal. Their mind is on the world and not on the things of God and they are unfruitful as a result.
Mark says they are distracted by “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires of other things…” Luke adds “pleasures of life.”
And, being that we live in one of the wealthiest counties in Indiana, let me clarify and say that money is not an issue, so long as you have money, and money doesn’t have you.
There are many great people in the Bible who were immensely wealthy and and used their wealth to further God’s program…
Abraham, Joseph, David, Lydia the seller of purple… and many others. Money was not a problem for them.
But, the unfruitful heart in this parable allows their mind to be consumed by and worried about their money and their possessions.
They think constantly about how to obtain wealth and then worry about not losing it.
And, in doing so they become a slave to money.
This person is deceived by riches.
Riches are deceitful because they never live up to what they promise. They promise satisfaction and joy, but the sparkle fades and the heart longs for more… like an addict on drugs.
And, the problem with storing up wealth and constantly seeking pleasure is that the heart becomes too crowded… and there is no room for God.
Their heart is choked out by thorns… they become unfruitful.
This is an issue that has infested America, and other first world countries.
My Pastor said, “The biggest enemy to the best thing are the good things.”
There are many good things in life (work, kids, family, sports, our homes, our hobbies, our toys). We are blessed to have these.
But, if these good things choke out the best thing… which is the seed of the word of God… they become thorns in our life.
If you have no time for private time devotions in God’s word or attending Bible Studies… because you’re too busy with other things…
Is your heart being described by this thorny or unfruitful soil?
Most people on their deathbeds who are facing eternity don’t look back on life and think about the things that ensnared them…
They think about what they should have done.
And, knowing death means meeting our maker… how good is it to step into eternity knowing WHO HE IS… and we get that through His word.
The fourth and final heart… V20… Good ground…
This is the fruitful heart. A true believer who is receptive to the word and yields a crop…they bear much fruit.
In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit...”
How do you bear much fruit? By abiding in Jesus.
Luke 8:15 states, “...the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”
One who hears the word with a heart that is noble (meaning “beautiful”) and good (meaning “generous or kind”)…
… they keep the word…and with patience they bear fruit.
Fruit doesn’t just pop up the first year you plant a tree…it takes time, and this person is patient.
The yield varies… 30, 60, 100 fold, but they ALL bear fruit.
And, so what was Jesus’ big point in telling this parable to the crowd?
This is a parable about the importance of the place of the word of God in their lives.
Which is a timeless truth to this day.
Let’s Pray!
As we went through that parable, which heart soil did you identify with? How did your heart respond as we read the word today?
Hard, Shallow, Unfruitful or Fruitful?
I pray you are all good soil bearing good fruit, but if not… commit to taking steps in the right direction.
God will honor your steps and meet you there.
If you need prayer today, please let me or someone know…
The rest of you… entering into this week bearing much fruit as you abide.