God's Redemptive Purposes

Mark 4:1-20

Introduction:

Has anyone ever heard something and it just made absolutely no sense before? We might ask ourselves “What does that even mean?”

Maybe it is a modern art. I know I surely do not understand half of the insane things we call art now a days. Maybe it is a puzzle that looks just off until that last piece goes in. Maybe it is a book or movie that just seems to have no purpose until the end brings it all back together.

Sometimes our first impressions are not rooted in the reality of the situation. There is often a deeper meaning once everything can be seen.

This is true in everyday life and in Scripture.

Some examples are, Jesus saying, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26). He’s going to say, Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9). He’s going to say, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life (John 6:53-54). We could keep going with others.

The parables of Jesus provide a similar thought of “What?” This parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20 is no different. Now let us place ourselves in their shoes. We are in a crowd gathered up to get something from Jesus, we see that He got onto a boat but we do not know if He is leaving or not. His voice bellows out with a sharp “Listen!” This is a command. This is not Him saying “Hey, listen up.” He is saying, “Listen. Now.” But this time it is not a straight forward sermon or moral command. Instead, He continues on, “Behold, a sower went out to sow..”

He is telling a story of a Sower. He is not explaining anything. He is telling a story.

After everything we have seen Jesus do, at this point, we may start to ask the question “What does this mean?”

The parable is not meant to bring confusion simply to confuse us. Jesus is using this parable as a way to reveal His redemptive purposes, the condition of the human heart and the transformative power of His word.

As we continue on in this text, we will see that: God’s redemptive purposes are fulfilled through various responses to Scripture.

Although, not all who hear the Word of God will believe. God’s redemptive purposes are still accomplished through the cross.

Now let us take a look at Mark 4:1-20.

Mark 4:1-2

Starting in Mark 4:1–2 “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:”

As we can see Mark is setting the scene as Jesus starts by the sea and is teaching. The crowds are getting so large that Jesus needs to step into the boat as people gather along the shore line. This helps to give Him a stage in which to share this message.

This is the beginning of a shift in the teaching of Jesus. Up to this point, we saw Jesus be more direct and confrontational - calling sinners to repentance, exposing hypocrisy, revealing His authority as the Son of Man, but now Jesus is being to teach in parables, earthly stories with heavenly meanings.

These teachings are meant to reveal and conceal; they reveal the mysteries of the kingdom to those who have ears to hear. However, they conceal those same points from those who hearts are hardened.

This parable of the Sower shows that how we hear God’s Word has 1 of 2 effects; it either breads life or brings judgment.

Let us see how Mark continues this in verse 3.

Mark 4:3-9

Jesus begins teaching this parable by saying in Verse 3 “Listen! Behold” without question this demanded their attention, they were ready to listen, and behold.

The Sower went out to share the Word. The Sower here is God. Jesus is telling a story about how God is sharing His word around. Some may ask why is God wasting His time with these people who will not hear His Word?

This emulates an old Israel farming practice. See their land was not plowed and made into the ground that is ready for the seeds. Instead, they went out and spread the seed around then plowed. Now their plowing was not the same as we might see it today. They used a stick to poke the ground and break it up so the seed would go into the ground.

So God is sharing His word with people who have absolutely no interest in God’s Word. He does not do this to waste His time, but instead He does it indiscriminately. He does this knowing that His word will not return void. His word does what it is designed to do.

The same is true here as it was in the ancient world where a harvest was considered successful if it produced a tenfold increase over the amount of seed that was planted. However, when God is involved in the harvest He brings in thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

This is a great reminder that God is not sharing His word willy-nilly but how He designed it to work. He is sovereign, so when He sends His word forth, it accomplishes what He designed.

Mark 4:10-19

In this section of Scripture we get to see how Jesus shares about the 4 types of soil the seeds will land on, or the 4 types of people the Word will land on. 3 of these types are negative. We will see how God’s redemptive purposes are fulfilled through various responses to Scripture.

First, we see the seed that fell on the pathway. He notes that the bird came and ate it. Every farmer has to deal with birds at some point in the harvest process.

Now, When someone works hard to make sure the crop can be successful as possible to grow the birds can be seen as evil. This is an appropriate, because Jesus compared the birds to Satan.

Satan always wishes to to interfere with progress of God’s Word. However, no matter how much Satan tries God’s Word does not return void. Therefore Satan can only do what God allows Him to do.

This points to the people who have been given over to their depraved minds since they are ones who will not hear God’s Word. This can be seen as a call back to Isaiah. The reason being is there were a bunch of people there that did not wish to hear God’s Word. In fact they rejected it. They were lost to the amazing work of the Holy Spirit. They were so far gone that they were not going to hear God’s Word. Yet, God still had Isaiah share His word.

Second, we see the ones that fell on the stony ground. This is a spiritually vivid description of someone having a spurious conversation. This means the conversation is lacking authenticity. They were not serious.

In my time in ministry, I have seen plenty of people that have been willing to have a conversation about Jesus. They do not always mean what they say while the minister, chaplain, or pastor is around.

Sometimes they just want to say the right thing to get the pastor to walk away. Sometimes they know the language so well you would be shocked they do not believe.

Or they make a confession of faith and the next day they will renounce it. That just means that they never believed it in the first place. These people are not authentic in their pursuit of Christ.

There are plenty of people like this in this world. We just pray that at the end of the day God’s Word will make them come to their senses.

Third, we see the ones that fell on the thorny soil. These are the people who make a profession of faith but they just cannot let go of a vice from this world.

They may not be able to give up money, fame, or other fleeting pleasures. These people are similar to the previous by not being authentic. The Word is choked out by their worldly desires so much so that it never takes root in their lives.

Mark 4:20

Finally we get to see the fourth type of soil or person that feel on the good soil or is willing to hear God’s Word.

This person shows the fruit of the Spirit, they are growing in God’s Word.

However, this requires a reminder from R.C Sproul's, “… no one is justified by a profession of faith. We must possess the faith we profess if we are to be justified. The seed of God’s Word has to take root in our hearts if we are to enter the kingdom of God.”

In other words, we must be people who are good soil. The ones who are willing to hear God’s Word. These people will see the fruit in their lives and others will see it too.

We do not want to be a carnal Christian. These people are very popular in Churches. They are described as a person who it truly redeemed but who life never brings forth fruit.

The difference here is that a real Christian will see progress in the fight against the flesh, and they will not remain carnal. There is no Christian that is completely carnal. It is hypocrisy; a contradiction. It is not real.

The unfortunate part of this is when people make a confession of faith and do not mean it are set on the wrong path. They may be in a discipleship group and they will make no progress towards change if they even join the group.

However all of these responses lead us to the main point: God’s redemptive purposes are fulfilled through various responses to Scripture.

Conclusion

This begs the question, why does one person receive the Word of God and another reject it?

There is a major view out there that many people fall into. I at one point made the mistake of falling into this trap as well. That is that we made the decision to follow Christ out of our own will.

The other part of this view believes that someone who does not follow Christ is doing so out of the hardness of their hearts. Therefore, those who think like that have something to boost about in eternity.

However, Jesus clearly states, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.… unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

He also told His disciples, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” Paul said this in Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So earlier I said we should be the good soil. Some of us might be asking well how do we do that, if we are not making the decision?

This requires the work of the Holy Spirit, not us. See the good soil is good because of the supernatural work on the soul by God. This means that the Holy Spirit is going to work in our hearts before we can ever say “yes” to Him. This means the regeneration comes before faith. This change comes from the Holy Spirit working in our soul before we say “yes”.

That is the power of God. He prepares the soil (our souls) to receive the seed (His Word). This is a great reminder that salvation is of the Lord and to Him alone receives the glory.

(Pause)

Who would like to close us in prayer?

Lord’s Supper

1 Corinthians 11:26–29 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.””

Prayer Requests:

Mateo, natala are sick, recovery

School and sports

Dog’s ear infection

Announcements:

Please remind your parents if you would like a hoodie!

Today is the last day to sign up for TCTC at its current price, please remind your friends that the price will go from 180 to 200 dollars.

Reorganization week: Jan 12-16th I am asking for volunteers at any point in the week to come and assist with whatever time you can to help move and reorganize the whole church.