Sermon Tone Analysis

Sower

luke 8 4-15

Parable-earthly story with heavenly meaning

1) It is suggested that it means that the fate of the word of God depends on the heart into which it is sown.

the wayside soil-hardened hearts

the rocky soil - shallow hearts - shallow soil on top of rocks

thorn-infested soil-unsanctified hearts

the good soil - fruitfull hearts

1) The common ground in Palestine was split into long narrow strips; between the strips there were paths which were rights of way; when the seed fell on these paths, which were beaten as hard as the road, it had no chance of getting in.

a) The hard path represents the shut mind, the mind which refuses to take it in.

Anyone who has attempted to share the Gospel with a non-believer may have witnessed this.

We put God’s Word out there, and it seems to disappear.

They just don’t believe.

I also appreciate the fact that Jesus makes it clear there is an adversary, the devil.

This is not a myth, the devil is real, Jesus says so.

(2) There was the rocky ground.

This does not mean ground that was full of stones but ground which was only a thin skin of earth over a shelf of limestone rock.

In such ground there was no moisture or nourishment, and the growing plant was bound to wither and die.

b) The shallow ground represents those who accept the word but who never think it out and never realize its consequences and who therefore collapse when the strain comes.

Roots are important.

If you are not rooted, no matter how good you look on the outside you’re not going to last.

Because of the shallowness the plant springs up quickly, but without roots it quickly withers.

3) The ground which was full of thorns was ground which at the moment looked clean enough.

It is possible to make any bit of ground look clean simply by turning it over.

But the seeds of the weeds and the fibrous roots of the wild grasses had been left in it.

The good seed and the weeds grew together, but the weeds grew more strongly; and so the life was choked out of the good seed.

c) The thorny ground stands for those whose lives are so busy that the things of God get crowded out.

how many have you seen that used to profess Christ be caught up in all that this life brings our way and get distracted from God’s Word and from God, so they never really mature to the point of reproducing .

And then of course, there is the good soil.

4) The good ground was ground that was deep and clean and well prepared.

(d) The good ground stands for the good hearer.

Good hearers do three things.

First, they listen attentively.

Second, they keep what they hear in their minds and hearts and think over it until they discover its meaning for themselves.

Third, they act upon it.

They translate what they have heard into action.

you hear the word, understand it, receive it within , and are truly saved

and you prove it by patiently producing fruit

that fruit may include winning others to Christ, money given to Gods work, good works, Christian character and praise to the Lord

Verses 9 and 10 have always been puzzling.

It sounds as if Jesus is saying that he spoke in parables so that people would not be able to understand; but we cannot believe he would deliberately cloak his meaning from his listeners.

Various explanations have been suggested.

(1) puts it slightly differently.

He says that Jesus spoke in parables because people could not rightly see and understand.

Matthew seems to say that it was not to hinder people from seeing and understanding but to help them that Jesus so spoke.

(2) Matthew quotes immediately after this a saying of , , which in effect says, ‘I have spoken to them the word of God and the only result is that they have not understood a word of it.’

So then the saying of Jesus may indicate not the object of his teaching in parables but the result of it.

is

(3) What Jesus really meant is this—people can become so dull and heavy and blunted in mind that when God’s truth comes to them they cannot see it.

It is not God’s fault.

They have become so mentally lazy, so blinded by prejudice, so unwilling to see anything they do not want to see, that they have become incapable of assimilating God’s truth.

(2) It is suggested that the parable is really a counsel against despair.

Think of the situation.

Jesus has been banished from the synagogues.

The scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders are up against him.