The Parable of the Soils Luke 8:4-15
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
The passage we have just read is perhaps one of, if not the most familiar of the parables of Jesus recounted for us in the four gospels. This same parable is told in Matthew 13 and in Mark 4.
When I say the word Parable, I’m aware that some may not know exactly what is meant by that so let me take just a brief moment to explain what a parable is.
Parable- Comes from a greek word that means to “throw along side” and it is always used for the purpose of making a comparison. It is a way of teaching a truth through narrative by taking something that is familiar and throwing it alongside the unfamiliar in order to shed light.
The Lord Jesus did most of his teaching through the form of parable by taking common everyday things to communicate difficult or supernatural truth. The images are simple and obvious but the truths that they are conveying are not.
In the text we have just Jesus actually explains why he chooses to teach this way, but we will speak to that later in the message. Interestingly, this parable is the first one recorded by Luke in his narrative of the life of Jesus and from this point on, Jesus teaching to the large crowds would only be done through parable.
At this point in Jesus ministry he is moving from town to town preaching in a sort of whirlwind fashion and his preaching is typically met in one of two ways:
It is either embraced and peoples lives are changed
or, it is rejected. Sometimes to the point of causing outrage.
Soon, Jesus is going to send his disciples out on a short term mission trip to preach the same message and they too are going to be met by the same response. Perhaps, you have even experienced this same kind of response yourself.
Over the years in my own personal witnessing I’ve seen people accept the Gospel joyfully and I’ve been cussed at, kicked off properties and once even physically assaulted.
Perhaps you're like me and have asked the question: “ How can it be that the same “good news” is met with so many varying results?”
Jesus parable here in Luke 8:4-15 answers that question for us. It is often called “The Parable of the Sower” but, it’s really not about the “sower” but about the soil into which the seed is sown.
In our time together in the Word of God this morning we are going to pick apart this parable in order to grasp a real understanding of what the Lord Jesus s teaching us.
If your taking notes this morning, the outline is simple:
The parable told.
The parable explained.
The parable applied.
1.) The parable told. (v.5-8)
1.) The parable told. (v.5-8)
Lukes gospel does not give us the setting of this particular teaching event in the ministry of Jesus but Matthew tell us that Jesus had left a home in town and journeyed to the shores of the sea of Galilee. The crowds at this point were growing larger and larger everywhere that Jesus went and this one was particularly large, no doubt numbering in the thousands.
Because of the the crowd pressing on him, Jesus climbed into a boat and began teaching them from the boat. Using it as a sort of platform and the water as an amplifier.
From there, Jesus began relaying this wonderful story to illustrate truth.
The scene that was told was one that was very familiar to his audience since the Galileans lived a largely agrarian lifestyle. You can almost picture as Jesus is teaching that up on the surrounding hills there may have very well been a farmer doing this very thing that Jesus spoke of.
Jesus spoke of a sower going out to “sow his seed”.
In the ancient near east, the plowing and sowing of a field would have been done somewhere in the months of Oct-Dec just before the rainy season would set in. The plowing was done not to create deep furrows like modern farming does but to loosen the soil and break up any clods. To do this they would have used very simple implements like wooden plows that would either be pulled by an animal or by the farmer or something as simple as a hoe. This would scratch along the surface. If it were a large field, they would drag a comblike harrow over the surface. After doing this, they would go through and pick out any rocks that may have broke loose. Then, they would walk through the fields carrying a bag over their shoulder and scoop out handfuls of seed and broadcast them in wide arcs. Then they would smooth the soil over the seed either by hand or using another implement.
As the farmer would broadcast the seed, it would fall on different types of soil.
Some would fall by the wayside (ESV-path, NASB-road)- These were the small beaten paths that separated the narrow strips of cultivated land around Galilee. This paths would be used both by farmers to access their fields and by passers by as they would travel through the country side. These paths didn't get plowed and in the dry, arid climate would get as hard as concrete. The seed that fell along this path either got trampled under foot or eaten by the birds.
Some fell on rock- This is referring not to big rocks but the shallow top soil they laid on top of the limestone bedrock. This would have been too deep for the plow to reach but not deep enough to maintain growth. Any moisture content in the shallow soil would soon dry up and the roots would wither because they couldn't grow through the rock into the water table below. Because of this, they would wither and die.
Some fell among thorns- Thorns refers to any kind of “thorny plant”. These were useless prickly weeds that were very harmful to cultivated land. Even if you were careful and meticulous in your plowing, you couldn't always stop these from growing among your land. (Talk about thistle in our flower beds at home). These thorny weeds would grow faster than the good plants, block sunlight and consume water and nutrients from the soil. As they grew along side the good plants, eventually, they would choke them out.
Others fell on good ground- Some of the seed manages to fall on the good ground and produces a hundredfold crop.
2.) The parable explained. (v.9-15)
2.) The parable explained. (v.9-15)
Jesus ends his teaching by saying:
Luke 8:8 (NKJV)
... “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
That’s it, a rather abrupt ending. He didn’t explain the meaning to the crowd. He basically said “If you get the point, then apply it.”
In order for a parable too be rightly understood, you have to have two things:
A willingness to understand- An unteachable spirit will find it easy to twist a parable into something that doesn't make any sense and then turn around and use it to prove the teacher a fool. Because of this, those who wanted to reject Jesus found what they were looking for. They had no desire to understand, so they didnt try.
Spiritual discernment- Jesus used parables to explain spiritual things that the natural man, apart from God’s help can’t understand. It is the Holy Spirit that brings the understanding.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Jesus ending his teaching the way he did sort of distinguished those in the crowd who wanted to understand from those who didn't.
You will recognize, it was only his disciples who sought understanding, the rest of the crowd didn't.
Notice Jesus response to his disciples:
10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
Mysteries- Spiritual truths hidden in the Old Testament era and revealed in the New Testament era.
Kingdom of God- The whole sphere of salvation. Where God rules and reins over his people.
In vs.10, Jesus then quotes from Isaiah ( Isa 6:9-10) to say that to the rest of the crowd who reject truth, that the parables are actually a judgement from God.
Because the nation of Israel by-and large hardened their hearts to God’s truth, God judicially hardened their hearts so that they could not understand.
Just as he did Pharoah in Exodus 8:15 (Pharoah hardened his heart), 14:8 (God judicially hardened Pharaoh’s heart.)
Only the disciples were given the ability by God to understand the meaning of the parables. This truth was only for them.
Now that we have that understood lets begin to unpack the truths contained in the parable of the soils.
A.) This is an allegory
Sower= Jesus or anyone who shares the gospel.
Seed= The Word of God
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
3. Soils= differing circumstances and conditions of the heart.
This parable isn't about the sower or the seed, Jesus never identified those because they are unchangeable.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
24 because
“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
There is nothing that can replace the divine seed of the Gospel found in the scriptures. Any attempt to soften it or replace it in order to produce better results or make it more palatable will only result in false conversions.
B.) What do the soils represent
The wayside soil- represents those who hear the Gospel and reject it. Those whose hearts are hardened against the truth of the Gospel. These kind of people have a pathway of sin in their hearts that is constantly trampled over. The plow of conviction never touches it. They wont see themselves as sinner in need of repentance. They are completely callous to the Gospel.
Ironically, the people who are most like this aren’t the people who don’t believe in God, they are often religious people who think they know better. That’s who they were in Jesus day.
Jesus says that it’s the devil who comes and takes away the word from their hearts. This happens today with those who peddle a false gospel, or by making them afraid of what people will think of them, or simply stoking their pride and doubt.
2. The rocky soil- represents those who hear the word of God and have a
superficial emotional reaction to it and may even go so far to make a
profession. At first, these people seem like they are christians. They
display even a sense of Euphoria and delight at their new found truth
and relationships in the church. But, they have no firm root and
succumb to temptation and never mature and bear fruit. Their
superficial enthusiasm dissipates at the first sign of trouble.
Fall away- does not mean they leave the faith or lose their
salvation. It simply means they do not stand. In other words, their
faith doesn't stand because they never actually had it.
Salvation is eternal, you either have it or you don’t! But how do we know if someone or myself even has genuine faith.
The Doctrine of Perseverance- This is more than what is commonly called “once saved always saved.” The Bible teaches that the mark of genuine faith is that it preservers in the face of temptation and does not ultimately “fall away.”
John 8:31–32 (NKJV)
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide (continue) in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Persevering or continuing faith is a distinguishing mark of genuineness, not emotional exuberance or joy. Joy and exuberance often is a characteristic of genuine faith but, it can sometimes also be a sign of a false profession. That doesn't mean though that the absence of exuberance or joy is a mark either. Emotions make “fickle friends” and are not an indicator of genuine or false faith.
Salvation is a work of God, not man. It may or may not produce some sort of emotion. But, genuine faith will stand the test of time and temptation. Genuine faith isn't crushed by difficulty it is in fact strengthened by it.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
It is the test and trial that reveals if your faith is genuine or superficial.
3. The thorny soil -represents those who have heard the gospel, initially responded positively to it, just like those on rocky soil; but, are choked out not by difficulty but pleasures and cares of life. The soil appears great, but has impurities in it. Other seeds are present as well. They become consumed with the temporal, sinful pleasures, longing and desires of this world.
A better career
A new car
A bigger home
A college scholarship in sports
The preoccupied and world heart is easily swept away but the delights of the world.
9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
There is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying the good things God has given us, but our priority should be the things of God.
4. The good soil- represents genuine salvation. There is no duplicity like the last two. These are those who receive, believe and hod fast in ongoing obedience to the word. The seed takes root and grows into maturity and bears the fruit of genuine salvation through perservearnce.
What is the fruit of genuine salvation? Attitude and action.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
3.) The parable applied .
3.) The parable applied .
It does us no good to understand the interpretation of this wonderful parable without knowing how it applies to us.
The point of this parable is not to unravel the mysteries of salvation or to figure out just how much belief is enough belief. Neither is it meant to be used as a sort of litmus test in order to figure out if someone is a genuine christian.
None of that is the case.
A proper application of this parable should profoundly affect how we evangelize those without Christ. It doesn't matter the method you use or the experience you have. Our job is to simply spread the seed of the gospel to everyone that we can.
It is the condition of the soil not the sower or the seed that determines how someone will respond.
Remember, the soil is a representation of the heart of a person who hears the gospel. But, its not the nature of the heart, but the influences that bear upon and dominate the heart.
Conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of the hearer and salvation is a work of God, not us. But, God uses the proclaiming of the gospels message of sin and the need of salvation to bring that conviction.
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
We must be faithful to present the gospel accurately and fully. Not just focusing on the benefits but on sin and the condemnation if brings.
Before someone can come to faith, they must come to terms with the fact that they are a sinner and their sinful condition is abhorrent to a Holy God. They are already under the wrath of God and will bear the full force of his judgment one day. That judgement will be just for they are enemies of God. They are without hope to avoid it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is their only hope. Only through repentance and faith in Christ alone can the wrath of God be assuaged. When we come to him in genuine repentance, he is
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is only when the hard soil is plowed and the thorns removed can good soil appear.
Our job is not to judge the soil but to faithfully scatter the seed and leave the results up to the Lord.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
I wonder this morning who are you in the parable of the soils?
Are you the sower, faithfully sowing seed? you cant reap a harvest until the seed is planted
Maybe your heart is the wayside soil. Stubborn, proud, self-willed, no interest in spiritual things. If that’s you, there is coming a day when you will regret it and that day will be too late.
Maybe your the rocky soil. Rootless and unstable. You like this church stuff, it makes you feel good but that’s as far as it goes. You’re a hearer but not a doer. Hear me, you are not a believer! You too will stand before God and feel the full force of his wrath one day. Repent and believe the Gospel.
Perhaps you’re the thorny soil, busy and preoccupied with the dainties of this world. Content to be distracted by your stuff. So involved in the pursuit of happiness that you have no real peace. Hear me today, nothing this world can offer is permanent. It lulls you to sleep with false assurance but will leave you damned to an eternity in hell. Repent and believe the gospel.
Hopefully, you’re that good soil where you have come to realization that you are a sinner. That the wrath of God is very real and it terrifies you to think about it. You know your only hope is to repent and believe the good news of he Gospel. Don’t wait, come to Christ.