The Parable of the Sower: The Heart of the Matter
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
I was in Walmart the other day and if you’ve been in the store recently to look at the Christmas Clearance sales, you have probably noticed that they have already moved out the Christmas items to make way for Valentine’s Day stuff and they are setting up their spring displays.
My wife has me on a mission to make sure I scan the Christmas clearance every time I go in to catch the best deals.
In the spring section there are all kinds of things that you can find, like garden equipment and supplies and the big seed displays. I learned a long time ago when I began gardening that if you start your own seedlings, you can grow a better variety and save a little money.
The only thing is, you have to start early for some plants like tomatoes and peppers. It’s time to start them in the next few months, even though we are in the middle of winter.
In fact, if you are gardening, now is the time to get your soil ready for planting. You need to be plowing it up and making any amendments to it that need to be made. If you are using raised beds, you may need to get the winter weeds out of them and add some more compost to refresh the nutrients that were lost last growing season. You also may need to make repairs to the beds or build completely new ones if you plan to expand.
A lot goes into preparing your garden to be the right home for your new plants so that they can produce the best crop for you possible this year. The human heart is a lot like this. We need to prepare the soil to receive God’s Word. Don’t wait until you get to church, but there is never a time like the present.
In fact, before we look at how the condition of our heart affects the Word of God, let’s just take a moment to pray and ask God to help us hear His word this morning.
Pray.
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.
3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
This morning as we look into the first parable of this series of parables that Matthew records for us, we need to understand an important point Jesus made about this parable. It is the key to understanding all of the other parables.
Jesus said in Mark 4:13
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
We will see why this is true by the end of the message this morning, but let me first of all tell you that we cannot understand very much of what God wants us to understand without the aid of the Holy Spirit.
Why?
We have sin-hardened hearts
We have many cares in this world
We have dull hearing and poor vision
Jesus wants us to understand. Remember that Jesus went to where the people were.
We are going to look at the four types of soil that a person might have that composes their heart this morning, but before we look at the soil, we need to note a few things.
Jesus is going to interpret this parable, so everyone should be able to understand this one.
There are some common factors we see present with all four types of soil
The seed is the same
The sowing is the same
The only difference in the four responses is the condition of the soil, which we are told refers to the condition of the person’s heart.
1. The Hard Heart (v.4, 19)
1. The Hard Heart (v.4, 19)
4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
This person doesn’t have a chance at understanding the word.
Notice that the seed was still sown, even though it never penetrated the heart.
In the middle east, sowers often sowed their seed by hand.
They broadly scattered the seed.
They scattered it generously
Some of it would fall on the hardened footpath between fields.
Compacted soil is not very productive. The seed just lays there on the surface and can’t break through the ground to germinate. It has no moisture and no environment to really germinate.
The seed laying there is an excellent source for the birds and animals to eat it up but it will never produce.
Jesus says that it is Satan that comes and snatches away this seed. These people are so ingrained in Satan’s kingdom that they do not want to hear the word and there is no chance of the word germinating until their heart is first broken up.
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.
One thing to notice here is that while the sower is actively sowing, the enemy is actively working against the word.
The only way to fix this problem is with plowing up the soil. The soil must be broken or replaced with good soil.
This is what the prophet Jeremiah was prophesying about in Jeremiah 4:3-4
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
To fix this problem, a person needs salvation. They need God to break up the ground of their heart and give them a new one. God would later make this promise in Ezekiel 36:26
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Hosea says it this way:
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
So the first step is garden prep, but the soil can’t prep itself. What must it do? It needs the help of the gardener.
If you find yourself in this place this morning, call out to God to help you. Ask Him to make your heart receptive. This is a prayer that God is guaranteed to answer for you.
Do you want to know how I know this? Because if you actually ask this, God is already working in your heart to want to ask it!
Now, let me be clear about something. The heavy equipment of the Lord may come rumbling in and it may hurt a little. God may have to pull out some stumps and he may have to drill down deep to turn over the soil of your heart, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Think about these things for a moment:
How is Satan working against the preaching of the word this morning?
What has hardened your heart to hearing God’s Word? Have you asked Him to break up the hard ground of your heart?
Do you know anyone that needs to have the soil of their heart broken up?
2. The Shallow Heart (v.5-6, 20-21)
2. The Shallow Heart (v.5-6, 20-21)
Now, let’s look at the second type of soil. This is the soil of the shallow heart.
5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
This type of soil is tricky. It is soil that is good on the surface, but it is still hard underneath. There is more progress on this heart than that of the hard path, but the hard heart is still there.
What happens is the see germinates and starts to grow, but it will never produce fruit because it has no depth of soil for the roots to penetrate.
You may have forgotten this from science class, but plants send out roots in search of nutrients in the soil. These roots will spread out and form a massive root structure underneath the soil and the more roots you have the better.
You can actually try this out when you plant a tomato plant this year. Lay it on it’s side and break off the lower branches. The tomato will grow roots along the stem everywhere the stem touches the soil and it will produce more fruit.
However if you have a plant with no root structure developed, it will whither.
Illustration:
When I plant seeds, I like to plant more than what I need in a spot to make sure I get good germination. When two or more plants pop up in the spot, I like to try to save the ones that I don’t want there. I only want one plant in the spot.
A common plant I will have this happen with is zucchini, squash, or cucumbers. When this happens, if I can catch it early on, I will gently pull up the extra plants taking care not to bother the main plant and not to tear off any roots that have started to grow. I will then move the plant to a new spot.
Here’s the secret to this process, though. I have to do this on a very overcast or rainy day. I cannot do this in the hot sunshine or the plant that I move will not have enough root to survive. It will just whither and die. However, if I can do this on a day that is overcast or rainy, I can buy enough time for the new plant to send out just enough roots to get it started and survive. I might even need to plant it in a container and shelter it long enough to get it going.
The human heart can be like that too. Here’s how Jesus explained this type of soil:
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
Jesus says that this type of seed starts off looking good. It looks like the healthy plants in the good soil and you might not be able to tell the difference in the two until the persecution comes.
It’s easy to walk with Jesus when it is convenient or when others are going in that direction. When being a Christian is the popular course, or good for business, people will pledge allegiance to Christ. But, when it gets hard, that’s when people fall away.
Illustration: Some of the Congress surveyed in this year’s Congress claimed no religious affiliation because they felt it would make them more liked by everyone if they just didn’t say.
What do the persecutions come from? They come from the Word according to Jesus. It is persecution that arises from following God’s Word.
God’s Word is not popular among the children of this world.
Here’s the other challenge that we face with people of this type of heart. They often look like they are Christians, but they may not be. They can deceive people. This is why we have to examine the plant over time.
We have to watch new Christians and help them out. We aren’t trying to judge them harshly, but to be ready to step in and help.
Think about that plant that I mentioned earlier that I relocated. If I could catch the first signs of distress in the plant, I might could intervene and help save it.
The same is true of these type of people. If they believed incorrectly in how to be saved or if they were not starting their journey off right, we could help them and keep them from falling away or drooping under the persecution this world causes.
It is also dangerous to put people into key leadership positions or even admit them into the church without knowing if they are really saved. You might be harming the church or giving the person a false sense of salvation. They may be trusting in works to save them and not the gospel. This is why we watch and do new members classes and things like this.
It is to help the person out not to hinder them from entering the kingdom that we take such care.
Now, there is one last thing I want to say about this particular type of soil. Notice that with all three of the types of soil that at least yield a plant, the sun rises and the rain falls. You see, in life we are going to have these things.
Notice that in one case the sun scorches the plant and withers it; while in the case of the fruitful plant, the sun actually is used to turn around a harvest of plenty. The rains fell and beat down on both plants as well.
This is not the main meaning of the parable, but I think it is an application for us to pay attention to. The difference between how you react to trials and persecutions in your life will be determined by the type of soil you have.
If we stick with the horticultural examples, you might not be aware of this, but did you know that plants actually do better when they are exposed to the sunlight and the elements?
It is getting close to time to start seeds if you garden and start your own plants from seed. When you start your plants, you usually have to have them under artificial light and start them indoors or in a green house because the weather is too cold outside. You are starting these plants in order to get a head start on the growing season.
If you start your seeds in this artificial condition, they will never survive outside where they ultimately need to go without you taking a few steps.
It is actually good for your plants to place a fan near them in order to create a gentle breeze that will cause the plant stem to stiffen up and later be able to support the plant better. It’s also necessary to do what gardeners call hardening off to make sure that your plants can adjust from the artificial light that you have supplied the plant with to the natural light of the sun. The sun is much more intense than artificial light and will scorch your plants if you don’t slowly acclimate them.
Why am I telling you all of this? Well, the same thing is true of us in life. We need these trials in our life to toughen us up. We need them to develop our faith muscles. The plants thrive in natural sunlight and can never produce as much under artificial conditions as they can in the natural environment that God intended for them to grow in.
You and I are going to have trials in this world and if our heart is composed of the right soil, we will not just survive, but we will thrive despite the pressure.
The key is in the soil.
Conclusion:
This morning, your soil may not be made of the right materials. It may need amending or to be changed out entirely. If you are here and you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, your soil is at worst the hard packed ground that cannot receive anything from the Lord. It is at best the stony ground that produces for a little while but will never produce a harvest.
I challenge you today to understand why you need new soil. Our hearts are desperately sick and deceitful according to the Bible. We all inherited a sinful heart from Adam. It is a heart that is at war with God and seeks to please itself rather than the One who made us.
We need to be reconciled to God. God sent Jesus to fix us. He sent Jesus to take our sins upon Himself on the cross and pay the punishment that we deserved. We simply must look to Jesus in faith and be saved. We must repent and turn from our sins and turn to Christ.
If you can hear that message this morning, would you cry out to God to be saved and trust Jesus as your Savior? If you can’t, plead with God to help you understand.
If you are a believer this morning, you may have had that heart change take place, but your soil may need amending. You’ve lost your vitality and you need to be fertilized again. The beautiful thing about the work of the Holy Spirit is that not only does He convert us, but He sustains us and even causes us to grow.
You too can call out to God to help you. Ask Him to recharge you and help you grow in your walk with Him. Ask Him to help you hear the Word that He’s given you as you read your Bible and help you understand it and apply it to your life. Ask Him to make it change who you are on the inside.
3. The Distracted Heart (v.7, 22)
3. The Distracted Heart (v.7, 22)
7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
4. The Fruitful Heart (v.8, 23)
4. The Fruitful Heart (v.8, 23)
8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
