The Parable of the Soils.
Notes
Transcript
If you have a bible open it up to Matthew 13. I have titled the message this morning The Parable of the Sower. Pray with me.
So last week I preached a message titled why the parables, and that message is online for those who might not have not got to listen, but the whole point of that sermon was the parables lead us to have a deeper understanding of the kingdom of God. And today we are in a text with one of the great powerful parables. That teach us some incredible truths about God. And I want to read it to you and then unpack it together.
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.”
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 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. 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. 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. 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.”
57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
If you are one to take notes or follow along with the handout I have a main idea which is this…
Only one type of soil produces the fruit of eternal life.
Only one type of soil produces the fruit of eternal life.
A few comments on these verses before we into the meat of the passage. Notice the sower in verse 3. As I studied for this passage there are a-lot different interpretations of what people think this means.
One view is that the sower is God because that term is used to describe him in the Old Testament in a variety of different places.
Another view is that the sower is Jesus Christ because he says in Matthew 13:37
37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
And there is another that says the sower could be the preacher, the parent the Sunday school teacher or anyone who is telling people about Jesus. I believe there is truth to all those points. We as Christians have the opportunity to sow seed into the places we go.
What is this seed though it is gospel its the message of the kingdom of God.
Now when you think about this text it really should have been titled, the parable of the soils because that is what Jesus is focusing on here. There is four types of soils that we see here in the text. But only one as I stated in the main idea leads to eternal life.
Four points I want you to gather from this text the first is this..
A hardened heart does not lead to eternal life.
A hardened heart does not lead to eternal life.
as you look at verse 4 again. Matthew 13:4
4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
Now when we listen to Jesus explain this in verse 19 he say.s… Matthew 13:19
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.
Jesus’ interpretation is clear here. Some people hear the message about the kingdom; but like hardened paths, they do not let the truth penetrate, and before they really understand it the what happens the devil has snatched it away.
One commentator said.. Now, who in the Gospel of Matthew represents this soil? Of course, we think of the Pharisees. They certainly fit nicely into this soil sample. At first they are curious about Jesus. Along with the crowd, at the beginning they think, "Can this be the Christ? Let's give him a good look.' But it doesn't take long for their hearts to harden. When they hear Jesus say that he has the authority to forgive sins, their hearts begin to tighten; and when they see him welcome sinners to table fellowship, their hearts start to slowly freeze; and finally, once he breaks their sacred laws by healing a man on the Sabbath, their small, cold hearts become calcified, as hard as a floor. And the seed still sitting there right atop their hard hearts is an easy swallow for Satan.
However, the Pharisees are not alone in this category. Many others fit in as well, even those people of Jesus' own hometown: "We see later on in this chapter.. And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown [Nazareth] he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, 'Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?' (vv. 53, 54). Here the seed of the gospel is planted, but listen to the hardness of heart, watch the arteries start to clog.
Wait a minute, they say.
"Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this [ordinary and familiar] man get all these things [this power and wisdom]?" (vv. 55, 56)
Their mind-set was, "Jesus sure acts like the Messiah, and he sure speaks like the Messiah, but he can't possibly be the Messiah because he's one of us.
He is a poor boy from the backstreets of the Bronx. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' (John 1:46).
Then look at verse 57. Here that devilish bird grabs the seed, gives it one shake, and down it goes. "And they took offense at him" (v. 57). What's going on here? They go from awe to offense and "unbelief" (v. 58). "He came to his own [his own town], and his own [towns]people did not receive him" (John 1:11). Jesus is rejected by house and home, by his own household (his mother and brothers) and also by his own hometown (his fellow townspeople).
A hardened heart does not have eternal life it does not take root the word of God.
Second point.
A shallow heart does not lead to eternal life.
A shallow heart does not lead to eternal life.
Jesus talks about these verses first in verses 5 and 6. Remember what they said.. Matthew 13:5-6
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.
and Jesus explains these verses in verses 20 and 21.
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.
These are people who respond to the gospel yet it never takes root in them. These are people who fall away from the faith and I would argue that they were never saved in the first place. they were this kind of soil.. and this type of soil produced people who fall away from the faith. In fact one of the things I was studying caught my attention this week. Have you ever known someone who has fallen away from the faith?
I would imagine most of us have. And why in America, where there is so little persecution, is this true? Right now , Christians in Sudan, China, and Iran are and other places in the world are meeting secretly in homes, hotel rooms, and backrooms of businesses, and other Christians throughout the world are being beaten, tortured, and killed because they will not renounce Jesus Christ.
It has been said that In the twentieth century there were more martyrs for the Christian faith worldwide than in all nineteen previous centuries of church history combined." So why in America, where there is so little persecution, do so many people fall away from the faith?
I want to answer that question.. I think part this problem with falling away comes from so many pastors or people sharing the gospel with others or a lack of discipleship that fails to tell people hey the christian life is not all sunshine and roses in fact Jesus tells us that Christians will be persecuted will face trials, but instead we have people who might have raised a hand in church said a prayer and nothing happened in their lives after that. This to me is a scary soil, because so many people are tricked into being saved or even worse manipulated to be saved that they are to end up never having any sort of change in their lives. They are like this soil.
Reading this week I read… George Whitfield, the passionate and powerful preacher of the First Great Awakening, used to preach to massive crowds numbering in the thousands, and people were greatly affected by his evangelistic message. When Whitfield was asked how many people were saved, he would say, “We'll see in a few years." The point is not that people needed to earn their salvation remember that, but rather that it would take time for true salvation to be demonstrated. This is a very different approach than we hear of today, where the number of decisions is often touted boldly. We need to be careful in light of Jesus' clear teaching on the superficial heart.
I believe with all my heart you can be saved today be confident of that, but you need to take that word of God to heart and not have a shallow faith that when trials happen you stop believing. You can’t just be a Christian when its all good part of the sanctification process is leaning on Christ when things are not good when things are bad when you are like the brothers and sisters in Christ in parts of the world who have nothing but Christ, and that is enough.
Third point.
A strangled heart does not lead to eternal life.
A strangled heart does not lead to eternal life.
Jesus talks about this in verse 7.
7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
And Jesus explains this in verse 22. Matthew 13:22
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.
This is a powerful one, because its one that I believe takes alot of time to manifest, its one as the North American church we should pay close attention to, even for those in this room or listening online that may not have much you have far more than most people in the world would ever have, and so often we let the cares of this world choke out the good word of Jesus Christ.
We can hear the word respond to the word then we can let two things choke us out the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. Having money is not a bad thing loving it is. even going back to Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
So if you are serving money you are not serving God.
Listen to this.. At the end of the last century, historian Martin Marty called evangelicals “the most worldly people in America." What a condemnation! But he's right.
Listen to this statistic. Each Sunday evangelicals around American sing songs like " Surrender All," but 80 percent of us give on average only between 2 and 3 percent of our income, and 20 percent don't give anything at all.
Let's do the math. The average household income (usually two incomes) in the city where this commentator lives is $120,000 a year. Two to 3 percent is somewhere around $3,000 out of pocket given to others. These are people who claim to be Christians. Where on earth is the rest of the money going? I'll tell you where it's going it's lining their (your?) coffins. You can't take it with you to Heaven, but you sure will take it with you to Hell. Don't think you can trust money and get into Heaven. Don't think you can treasure earthly treasures and still inherit the eternal pleasures of God. "Friendship with the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4). If money is your best friend, God is not.
I know riches are not the problem.!° The heart is the problem. I know a rich man can get into the kingdom of heaven, but I also know how hard it is.
Watch out for riches; they can be deceitful. They will love you one day and leave you the next. No, they will love you one day and choke you the next.
You wouldn't sell Jesus for thirty silver coins, would you? Or would you?
Before I move on to the soil that saves ask yourselves where is your heart today is it hard… does the word of God just bounce off you and mean nothing. Is Satan taken the seed that has been scattered your way and removing it from your life. Is the truths of the gospel not planting deep enough down into your soul that when things don’t go according to plan you lose belief in who God , or are you like the one we just talked about being choked with the cares of the world, because friends if that is your heart is any of those soils you are on a path that does not lead to eternal life, take warning because Jesus is clear in this text only one type of soil produces the fruit of eternal life.
Which is my final point.
The heart the receives the gospel has a fruitful life.
The heart the receives the gospel has a fruitful life.
When Jesus says in verse 8.. Matthew 13:8
8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
and again in verse 23 when he says. Matthew 13:23
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.”
He is making a huge claim here if we have any farmers in the room or anyone who understands the harvest on a really really good year as I studied you might have a year where you produces 7 to 8 times the amount of seed sown.
So Jesus to make this kind claim for the Christian means that we will produce a fruitful life not might we will. So Jesus saying this to the crowds listening would be quite unthinkable. But that is the kind of change the Christian life should have on those whom here the message and those who receive the message.
Listen to this one of my studies Jesus spoke from the boat and his voice carried up the hillside (vv. 1, 2), these words would have hit them like an unexpected tsunami. So in using this shocking language of thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold, Jesus is ending on a very positive note. And he is not saying “All Christians will bear fruit, some a little and some a lot?" Rather he is saying and listen to this, All Christians will bear fruit, some a lot, some a lot more, and some a whole lot more."
See all these other soils hearts hear the gospel but only one takes root and that is the one who hears and understands..
If you are hearer and understander of the gospel then you will take the words of God to heart and you will not let the enemy snatch away from you you will see this (The Bible ) his word as true treasure, and you will not be faced by persecution or trails that with Christ you cannot handle and you will not let the world take your heart and choke it out.
Galatians 5 is a tale of two different lives one life motived by the flesh the other motivated by God. Let me read it to you starting in verse 16. Gal 5:16-26
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18
Stop for a moment to think about this text we are in Matthew there is this hard soil which in then end is motivated by are own sinful flesh. And this soft soil ready for gospel to be recieved and planted down deep to produce fruit, and as we keep reading we will see a tail of two opposites a fruitless life and a fruitful life. Lets keep reading verse 18 says..
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God
Look at the works of the flesh x2 … There is a warning from the apostle Paul just like Jesus that if you are workers of the flesh if you heart has not been changed then what happens you will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Lets read more in Galatians..
. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Jesus Christ is saying if you are a believer in me then you will have x 30, 60, and even 100 the amount of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control then you had before you were a believer . What makes Christians so different that everyone else its suppose to be the fruit we have.
So what do we do to have that kind of fruit.. John the Baptist says..
8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
and in Matthew 3:10
10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
What does that mean a fruitful life is a life that turns away from sin, it repents, and if you are producing any fruit that is sinful cut it out. Cut it down I got a some good tree guys in this church that will help you cut your lifeless trees out of your life.
Want a fruitful life walk in obedience to the Lord.
In fact in John 15:5-8
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
We had a winter storm a few years ago and I had this tree that came with the house and great freeze happened and spring time came and that tree was dead clearly no life in in fact it was so dead that i picked it up with my hands and put in my back yard until big trash pickup you know what happened to that branch over those many months that it laid in my backyard. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was a tree and branches not connected to anything no root whatsoever and if we are not connected to Christ here me this morning.. we are just like that dead lifeless tree that was in my backyard not doing what it was designed to do.
Listen to this..
You prove yourself to be a disciple of Jesus if you do what? , work miracles, speak to an angel? No, if you bear much fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold.
The true work of Christ in the believer is as obvious as red delicious apples on an apple tree! Don't tell me you are a Christian if there is no fruit
One Psalmist wrote this psalm and another man commented along the way you might know it quite well. . Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers [he doesn't let such outside influences get to his heart, to harden it or strangle it|; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.He takes the seed of God's Word immediately and deeply and exclusively. And so what happens?] He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. (Psalm 1:1-3a)
Friends church what soil are you? Are you one of the soils that leads to destruction or are you the one soils that leads to eternal life. Keeping the theme of using many Scriptures this morning. John 17:3
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
To know God is to acknowledge that Jesus Christ born of virgin lived a perfect sinless life going to the cross the worst possible way to die to so that he and he alone could become our sacrifice for sins, and though he died he did not stay dead because three days later he rose from the dead proving that he and he alone has dominion over sin and death and if you acknowledge that and if you believe that then you are apart of that good soil who hears and understands and who bear the fruit of eternal life.
For those who are Christians the warnings. of this text cannot be missed there are many. You must take to heart the words of the bible. You need to plant them down deep inside you because if you don’t Satan looks to take what God’s Words says away from you. How can you expect to live the Christian life if you don’t have this in your heart.
You also need think about your own love for the world and the passions of the world. The world is very very appealing to the flesh and those things I mentioned in Galatians the flesh loves, and they manifest so easily when we are not in tune with the Spirit of God, but be like the Word says and cut all those ungodly things out of your life Jesus goes so far in this gospel to say….
in Matthew 5:29-30
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
take the passions of the flesh out of your life so that the word can take root deep down into your hearts not covered by thorns but covered by the precious blood of Christ.
Finally bear fruit in keeping with repentance, be like the Psalmist says planting your life in such a way where you can’t help but be fruitful that comes from reading your bible, prayer, serving exercising those gifts God has given you so you can see the fruit of that in your own lives.
Respond how the Lord leads you to today let us pray.
