A Lesson on Listening From the Lord

Mark 4:1-20

Introduction

There is a question that has puzzled pastors, parents, and Christians for generations.

How can two people sit shoulder to shoulder in the very same church service...

hear the very same songs...

read the very same Bible...

listen to the very same sermon...

and walk away with completely different lives?

One person leaves convicted.

Another leaves unchanged.

One is broken over sin.

Another never gives it another thought.

One surrenders to Christ.

Another rejects Him.

One bears fruit for decades.

Another disappears within weeks.

Why?

Was the preaching any different from one person to the next? No.

We used the same exact Bible translation throughout the sermon of the scriptures I shared. The Bible was no different.

Was the Holy Spirit any different? The same Holy Spirit that works in each of our lives.

Interesting thought.

This morning Jesus answers this question in one of the most important parables He ever taught. Jesus thought this parable was so foundational, listen to the words Jesus said about this particular parable.

Mark 4:13 “And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”

Well, we can only imagine that the disciples at this point leaned in to grasp Jesus’ teachings.

Three times in our text this morning we read the word, teach, taught or teaching in the first two verses and that provides us a clue to our time together this morning in the scriptures. Jesus wants to teach us all something this morning as His disciples.

Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Mark 4:1-20.

Mark 4:1-20

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. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:”

Mark 4:3–8 ““Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 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.””

Mark 4:9–12 “And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 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, 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.’ ””

Mark 4:13–20 “And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. 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. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 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. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 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. 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.””

Prayer

Message

Before we walk through this parable, let me illustrate what Jesus is talking about.

Ill. Television

Think about how we watch television.

Sometimes the television is simply background noise. We aren't really watching; it's just filling the silence.

Other times we leave it on while we're paying bills, folding laundry, or checking our phones. We hear bits and pieces, but our attention is divided.

Sometimes, if we're honest, we've even fallen asleep with the television on.

But then there are those moments when the program is so important that everything else stops. We put down the phone, lean forward in our chair, and focus on every word.

May I suggest that's exactly how people come to church?

We can approach our time in a service just like this in similar fashion as to how we listen to TV.

We can come this morning for no other reason than social hunger and the desire to be around people with no intent of listening to the word, but simply to have some noise and be around community.

Other times, the message just puts us to sleep or we zone out without any real intention of listening realizing I must get through this block of time in the service to go out to eat afterwards with my friends or whatever your specific scenario may be.

Then there are those this morning that have full intentions of listening, but your minds become fragmented and roaming over thinking about your things to do list, responsibilities after church, looking at texts on your phone, or calendaring some activities next week. You catch certain morsels of truth, but for the most part, you miss the meat of the message.

Hopefully, you are in the last category this morning that you prepared to hear a word from the Lord. You have had a week and there is a hunger, a searching that you need some guidance from God’s Word and you are prepared to take in the word to apply to your life in whatever capacity it may be that you are facing.

Last week we encountered three different people groups that were listening to Jesus and all three groups responded differently. Same message. Three different responses.

The religious leaders heard Jesus yet they called Him Satan-Beelzebub.

His own family and close friends thought He was out of His mind.

Yet, the crowds kept growing and kept following, seeking, searching, hungry for a word from Jesus.

Interestingly, in today’s message and the teaching of this parable Jesus answers the question why people respond differently to the same spiritual truth.

This morning as far as background, Jesus was still beside the Sea of Galilee. The crowds had become so large that He once again stepped into a fishing boat and uses the natural slope of the shoreline as His auditorium. Jesus had moved from the fact the boat was a way of escape to avoid being trampled to a place of teaching.

If you have ever heard someone’s voice across water, water acts as a great conduit for sound. Jesus was facing the people in the boat and they are on land.

We can only imagine that as Jesus was teaching and sharing and all of the people are gathered on the hillsides that He may very well have seen a farmer sowing seed in the fields in close proximity to where He was teaching.

Jesus simply pointed to the familiar scene and said...

"Listen..."

1. The Word Must Be Sown VV. 1-9, 14

I will not re-read all of that text but I remind you that Jesus told the parable to the disciples and then I will read specifically verse 14.

Later in verse 14, Jesus explains the parable to His disciples.

Mark 4:14 “The sower sows the word.”

Mark 4:1–9 “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. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 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.” And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!””

Notice that before Jesus spoke about the soils that He shared about the Sower. And notice there is anonymity about the sower. We do not know a name of the sower, we know no background, nothing.

That teaches us another great truth. Even the sower is not what is the most important. The focus is on sowing and specifically sowing the Word into the hearts of people. Both the word sow or sowing and the Word-the truth if you will are both used six times in this parable. The Word seed is used three times but verse 14 answers what we must sow, the Word.

Why do you think He starts with the sower and the seed when we may have chosen to discuss the soils?

Because before we ever concern ourselves with how people respond, we must first understand our responsibility. Our responsibility is not to change hearts, but to sow seed and that seed is spelled out in verse 14. We are to sow the Word.

Now a great question is why did the Lord choose to speak specifically about the Word as being seed?

By now I’ve said it two or three times that we are to sow the Word. What I found interesting is that when I looked up the word seed in the Greek it was not there. It is implied word. Yet, we know the seed is the Word so let’s focus on that Word for a moment.

Let’s discuss what the seed of the word is not: It’s not faith, it’s not religion, it’s not good works, the seed is the Word of God.

But why did Jesus choose a seed to represent God's Word? Why not a stone, a coin or a sword for example. He chose the word seed because seed represents life. Oh dearly beloved the Word of God is living.

Listen to 1 Peter 1:23.

1 Peter 1:23 “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,”

Peter understood exactly what Jesus was teaching.

He says we are "born again...through the living and abiding Word of God."

The Word produces spiritual life because God has placed His life-giving power within it.

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

Oh listen dear church, life is connected to His Word.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

I am holding in my hands a couple of hickory nuts. Everything inside this hickory nut or seed is there to produce a tree that could live over 200 years. To grow it is all about the right environment.

That's why Jesus chose a seed.

Because inside God's Word is everything necessary to produce spiritual life.

Church, notice what Jesus does not say.

The sower doesn't sow opinions.

The sower doesn't sow politics.

The sower doesn't sow personality.

The sower doesn't sow self-help advice.

The sower sows the Word of God.

And you know sometimes we put tremendous pressure on ourselves when we share the Word with a loved one or friend or coworker and we’ve prayed diligently for that lost individual.

We think...

"Maybe I didn't say enough."

"Maybe I wasn't persuasive enough."

"Maybe if I had answered one more question..."

Jesus reminds us that the power has never been in the sower.

The power has always been in the Seed.

Isaiah 55:10–11 ““For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

God's Word always accomplishes exactly what God intends.

It may convict.

It may comfort.

It may save.

It may expose.

It may harden.

But it never returns empty.

Sometimes we look at someone and think...

"They'll never change."

"They're too bitter."

"They're too addicted."

"They're too hardened."

"They're too far gone."

But the life isn't in the person.

The life is in the Seed. Keep sharing the Word because life is in the Word.

Now may I be pastoral for a moment?

Some of you have been praying for a son or daughter for years.

Keep sowing.

Some of you have grandchildren who are away from God.

Keep sowing.

Some of you have witnessed to a coworker dozens of times.

Keep sowing.

Some of you have a spouse who has never trusted Christ.

Keep sowing.

Because every time you open God's Word...

every time you share the Gospel...

every time you pray with someone...

every time you quote Scripture...

you're planting another seed.

2. The Word Must be Received VV. 10-20

Let me read specifically verses 9-12 for a moment. This is an important truth we need to understand.

Mark 4:9–12 “9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” 10 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.’ ””

Why does it sound as if Jesus wants some to understand and others not?

Before Jesus explains the soils, the disciples ask Him a question. "Lord, why are You speaking in parables?"

That's a good question because earlier in Mark's Gospel Jesus often spoke very plainly. Now He begins speaking in stories.

Jesus gives an answer that almost seems confusing. He says these parables both reveal truth and conceal truth.

How can one story do both?

The answer is found in the condition of the listener.

Those who genuinely wanted to know Christ came closer and asked questions.

Those who had already hardened their hearts simply walked away.

Dr. Adrian Rogers in a sermon on this text stated:

"The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer."

He wasn't talking about money. He was talking about spiritual truth. The person who responds to the truth God gives him receives more truth.

The person who rejects the truth he has eventually loses even the understanding he once possessed.

Isn't that exactly what happened in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30? I invite you to read that parable this afternoon.

The servant who faithfully used what his master entrusted to him received more.

The servant who buried what he had lost even what had been entrusted to him.

Spiritual truth works the same way.

Notice the disciples.

They didn't understand everything.

But they wanted to understand.

They stayed after the crowd went home.

They asked questions.

They hungered to know Jesus.

Church...

That is the mark of a disciple.

In verses 14-20, Jesus reflects upon 4 different soils that the sower encounters when he scatters the seed.

Church, the difference is never the Seed.

The difference is never the Sower.

The difference is always the heart receiving God's Word.

Wayside

Hard heart.

Before the Word ever has opportunity to take root,

Satan snatches it away.

Some people walk out of church and before they ever reach the parking lot,

they've already forgotten what God said.

Rocky

This is emotional Christianity without rooted Christianity.

They love Jesus until following Jesus becomes difficult.

Write this down:

Storms never create shallow roots.

Storms reveal shallow roots.

Thorny

Interestingly, Jesus never mentions gross immorality in these soils. He is much more basic than that. Care, riches, desires fragments and pulls against the workings of God in one’s life.

Satan doesn't always destroy us through evil.

Sometimes he simply distracts us with good things that become ultimate things

Good Soil

Oh that we would all be the good soil that is receptive to the things of God. Not that we know it all, but that we hunger to be more like Him with each passing day. And...in so doing we will see the fruits of our lives lived out as we walk with the Lord day in day out and we will produce a wonderful crop not for us, but for Him.

“Well done thy good and faithful servant” as He shares in the parable of the talents.

For those you have been burdened over, again, its the Word that brings life, but if we know that the individual comes from no spiritual upbringing and the soil is hardened as a gardener it benefits us to know that. If the individual we are sharing Christ with has a very scrambled or fragmented life and they are chasing the things of this world does it benefit us as a gardener to know that? Sure.

Matthew 28:19 “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

Luke Bond in his time with us did a great job of making this point. We are to move beyond simply leading one to Christ, but discipling them. And...for good reason, Dr. Thom Rainer in his book Closing the Back Door addressed the reality that the church is guilty of evangelizing someone for Christ, the church embracing them, baptizing them and then we let them go to the wolves.

If as gardeners we know the individuals background that we are discipling there are times as master gardeners that we need to water, other times to fertilize, other times to use herbicides, we hoe and break the soil, and other times to rotate the crops.

Meaning there are times we need to micro manage that new Christian, spend time with them, have a Bible study with them, lovingly, graciously, as new believers we need to put out herbicide and show them a sin in the Bible they need to address, and the list goes on. When we rotate the crop, we might see there is another disciple that they have more commonality with that they seem more receptive to. Oh dearly beloved, the kingdom of God is a team effort.

3. The Word Must Bear Fruit

Notice that Jesus never said the good soil was perfect soil. Good soil still experiences heat, good soil still experiences storms, good soil still has weeds all the time attempting to infiltrate its soil.

What’s the difference?

It still bears fruit.

John 15:1–5 “1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Let’s understand where the fruit originates.

Jesus never said to produce fruit. He says to abide in Him. Fruit is the evidence of a life that abides in Christ.

Invitation

How do we apply this parable this morning and go home differently from our time with this text?

Examine Yourself

Psalm 139:1–4 “1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”

Reading these first four verses of this Psalm of David we know that the Lord knows everything about us. He knows your heart condition.

Ask yourself the question:

What kind of heart do I have today?

2. When someone comes to Christ let’s not leave them standing in the field all by themselves.

They need someone to help them develop roots.

They need someone to answer questions.

They need someone to pray with them.

They need someone to teach them how to read Scripture.

They need someone to encourage them when persecution comes.

That's discipleship. Let’s be challenged to be the disciples the Lord would have us be.

What is God saying to you today?

Here's the wonderful news.

The gospel isn't simply about identifying bad soil.

The gospel is about God changing hearts.

In Ezekiel we read:

"I will remove the heart of stone..."

If your heart has become hard...

Christ can soften it.

If your life has become crowded with thorns...

Christ can clear them away.

If you've never trusted Him...

Today the Seed is being planted again.

Mark 4:9.

"He who has ears to hear,

let him hear."