The Parable of the Sower- Part 1

The Parable of the Sower

Text: Matthew 13:1–9 (KJV 1900)

The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying,

Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Introduction:

The reason Jesus gives the parables of the kingdom.

* The kingdom of God has been presented to us in the Bible from the very beginning of its pages:

Hebrews 11:7–10 (KJV 1900)

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:12–16 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

The mystery form of the kingdom was not what they expected.

* Jesus introduced the form that the Kingdom of God would take during the time of His church on earth and the mystery form of the Kingdom of God and Heaven.

Matthew 13:10–11 (KJV 1900)

10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know

the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,

but to them it is not given.

* By special revelation, the apostle Paul had been given the knowledge of the mystery form of the Kingdom of God that none of the Old Testament prophets had ever seen:

Romans 16:25–27 (KJV 1900)

25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to

the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest,

and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

.

Ephesians 3:1–11 (KJV 1900)

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;

(as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in

the mystery of Christ) 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

11 According to the eternal purpose

which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

* The apostle Paul was given a special revelation by God of the future event that will bring about the end of the mystery form of the kingdom of God and of Heaven:

1 Corinthians 15:50–52 (KJV 1900)

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery;

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (KJV 1900)

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

* Anyone reading the gospel of Matthew, anyone moving along in the

account of Jesus Christ, seeing Him come as the King and seeing Him refused and His kingdom refused, is immediately going to ask the question - What happens now?

* If the kingdom is postponed until a future time, when the people of the King will receive the King and the kingdom will then come, what happens in the meantime?

*And that is precisely the question answered by the series of parables in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew.

* Each parable describes a particular facet of this period in which we now live known as the mystery form of the kingdom, or what we call the age of the church.

* We have here before us, in the Parables that Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, the analysis of the church age from the viewpoint of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

* This is the real opening of the Bible’s revelation of the mystery that the prophets did not see- the church of Jesus Christ.

* In the Kingdom parables, Jesus discusses the nature and qualities of this period of time that we know as the church age.

* Matthew 13 is an amazingly prophetic chapter.

* I Matthew 13 Jesus reveals for the first time, things that are going to come to pass in the church age.

* Because of this, it is tremendously important for us to understand this chapter, because this is the age in which we live and work and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

* And we must understand the nature of this age.

* Now, remember that Matthew has presented Jesus Christ as King. He has shown us beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the anointed of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the King, the Savior of the world.

* He has come to bring His kingdom. John the Baptist said He would bring a Kingdom.

* Jesus did what John said he would, He offered a kingdom.

* He talked of the kingdom. He taught of the kingdom. And He called people to acknowledge Him as the King of that kingdom.

* The time, between the rejection of Jesus by the Jews and the return of Jesus to set up his millennial kingdom, is a time that we call the mystery form of the kingdom- the church age.

* Because it is a time hidden from all generations past. In verse 11 of chapter 13, Jesus calls it the mystery, that's not my term, this is the term Jesus used for the church age.

* We have, then, between the rejection of Christ by the Jews and the

return of Jesus to set up His kingdom, a period that has never been described by any of the Old Testament prophets.

* No one has ever known the details of this period of time, until we get to Matthew chapter 13.

* Jesus himself gives us the first description of the age of His church.

* That description is built upon throughout the remainder of the New Testament, but this is where it all begins, right here in Matthew chapter 13.

* Jesus in Matthew 13 tells us what the church age, the mystery form of the Kingdom of God, will be like.

* He defines for us here in Matthew 13in seven parables that reveal, the character, the extent, the value, and the conclusion of this period known as the mystery form of the kingdom- the church age.

* At this present time, God is mediating His rule on the earth through His church, made up of individuals that are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

* Now, the disciples didn't see this period of time as the prophets of old didn't see it either.

* So, when the Messiah arrived, they thought immediately He would establish His kingdom.

* Those who gathered that day on the shore of the sea of Galilee to hear Jesus preach from a little boat, had been taught that when the Messiah would come, he would establish His kingdom immediately.

* All the rebels and unbelievers would be destroyed and holiness

would fill the earth and righteousness would fill the earth and the kingdom would be as it was predicted to be by the prophets of old.

* And so they were always concerned about the kingdom of the messiah, And what it would be like, and when will the kingdom come.

* Even after Jesus died on the cross, they were still curious about the kingdom.

* That's all Jesus ever really talked to them about.

* Before His death it was the kingdom, and after His resurrection, it was

more about the kingdom.

* And it led them to ask Him in the first chapter of Acts and verse 6, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom?" Is this the time?

* To which He replied, 'It's not for you to know the times, or the seasons which the Father has put into His own power." That's not your business.

* They were always concerned about the kingdom. He said - It's not for you to know, but the angel said- This same Jesus who's taken up from you shall so come in like manner as you've seen Him go.

* The kingdom will come, they said, but it won't come in its fullness until Jesus comes back.

* The kingdom you're looking for, the kingdom of glory and righteousness and absolute holiness, the kingdom where

the Lord Jesus rules with a rod of iron and tolerates no evil, that kingdom that is that fully anticipated by the prophets, awaits the return of Jesus.

* But in the meantime, there is a form of the kingdom of God in the earth and Jesus and the apostle Paul described this time as a mystery.

* Now, this was very hard for the disciples, I think, to understand. Because they didn't see this.

* They only saw the full and glorious consummation of the Kingdom in the writings of the prophets.

* In other words, there's coming a day when Messiah reigns and there will be feasts and joy and gladness and the world will bow at His feet.

* The rebels will be purged out. That's what they were expecting the the kingdom of God to look like.

* Well the Jews lived in anticipation of this.

* The people who had gathered to hear Jesus preach that day on the sea shore expected it all of these things to happen.

* And now, here came Jesus and He said that He was the King of the kingdom of God, the Messiah that they had all been waiting for.

* But none of the glorious things the prophets told about the Kingdom of the Messiah had happened!

* Because of the miracles that Jesus did by the power of God, they could not help by believe that Jesus was the Messiah in their hearts ...

* But they struggled with doubts about Jesus, because they didn't see the fulfillment of their expectations of His kingdom.

* And so they struggled. The Jews, frankly, just couldn't believe He was the King because He didn't do what they expected the King to do.

* I am going to read a passage from the book of Zechariah chapter 8 to explain to you what those who were listening to Jesus preach expect the Kingdom of God to be Like:

Zechariah 8:18–23 (KJV 1900)

18 And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, 19 Thus saith the Lord of hosts;

The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

20 Thus saith the Lord of hosts;

It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, And the inhabitants of many cities: 21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, And to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. 22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come To seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, And to pray before the Lord.

23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, Even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

* This is just one of many pictures that the Old Testament prophets had given about the Kingdom of God.

Thus saith the Lord of host, The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness and cheerful feasts.."

* In other words, the fasts will be turned into feasts. Now, fasts were times of mourning, times of sorrow, times of remembering tragic events.

* The Jews remembered the captivity. They remembered the times when they were devastated and destroyed and carried away captive.

* They memorialized that memory by identifying certain fasts

and, they would go without food in order to remember those sorrowful times.

* And it begins by saying, "The fast of the fourth month." They, in the fourth month, fasted because they remembered the flight of the royal seed and the taking of Jerusalem.

* There was the fast of the fifth month when they fasted because of the destruction of the temple.

* And then there was the fast of the seventh month, they fasted, remembering the murder of their governor Gedaliah.

* And then the fast of the tenth month, the beginning of the siege that eventually led to their captivity.

* And some Jews in the world today are still observing those fasts.

* But the prophet says the fasts shall be turned to cheerful

feasts ... no more fasting... no more need to remember the sorrow, everything is going to change!

It shall come to pass that there shall come peoples and the inhabitants of many cities and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to

seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also. Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord."

* The prophets said that the word is going to come to Messiah.

In those days, it will come to pass that ten men will take hold of the skirt of a Jew and say; we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you.

* And the Jew will be the agent to bring the world to the feet of the Messiah, the king of the Kingdom of God.

* In other words, there's coming a day when Messiah reigns and there will be feasts and joy and gladness and the world will bow at His feet.

* The rebels will be purged out. That's all these people knew about the kingdom!

* Well, the Jews lived in anticipation of this.

* I mean, they expected it all to happen and here came Jesus and He was the King. But none of this happened. There was no purging of the rebels.

* There weren't a lot of Gentiles grabbing on to their skirts and saying, "take us to Him, take us to Him."

* There was no sitting up on a throne. There was no throwing out the Roman power.

* There was no purging of the world.

* There was still war. The people weren't beating their swords into plowshares or spears into pruning hooks.

* There wasn't peace in the world.

* There wasn't the punishing and condemnation of the

rebels and rejecters and blasphemers!

* Think with me for a moment at the 18th chapter of John and I think you'll gain another insight.

* Here we find our Lord before Pilate. And Pilate said to Him, in verse 33, "Are You the King of the Jews?"

* Jesus said He was the King of the Jews.

* He gave some absolutely, undeniable, evidence that He was in His miracles and in His words.

* They couldn't deny that Jesus, for all intents and purposes, banish disease from Palestine for the period of His ministry!

* They could not deny the ... incredible power displays ... marvelous, incomparable communication that could only have come from the infinite mind of God ...

* They could not deny the insight into the human heart that was all knowing like Jesus demonstrated to the woman at the well ...

* They could not deny all these proofs that Jesus was the Messiah

* But they still struggled with it because it because Jesus didn’t seem to jive with what the kingdom was going to be.

* On one occasion, they even tried to make Jesus a king and force Him into the kingdom, force Him into the throne, force Him to overthrow Rome and He escaped and would not allow them to do it.

* And so, frankly, they just couldn't accept the fact that He was the King, even though the credentials were there.

* And so Pilate poses the question “are you a King?”

* This question is not Pilate’s question, he didn’t even understand Messianic prophecy, he says - Are You the King of the Jews?

* Jesus says to him, "Are you saying that by yourself, or are you a parrot?

* Are you asking that question or are you parroting what the Jews are

asking?

* And what it tells us is that that is exactly what they were asking.

* Can this Jesus really be the coming King of the kingdom of the Messiah?

* Pilate said, "Am I a Jew?" In other words, do I know anything about these things? Of course I don't know anything about them.

* Pilate said "Your own nation and Your chief priests delivered You unto me." What have you done?

* He doesn't even know what He's done. But the issue about being a King is their issue, not his.

* Jesus then says this, "My kingdom is not of this world."

* Pilate, My kingdom isn't something you understand.

* And the kingdom isn't something the Jews understand either.

* If My kingdom were an earthly kingdom, a worldly kingdom, as you understand a kingdom, then My servants would fight.

* They wouldn't let Me be delivered to the Jews.

* But My kingdom is not from here. My kingdom is different

than your kingdom, or your understanding of a kingdom, or theirs.

* And Pilate then says, "Well, are you a King then?"

* And Jesus says, "You said it, I'm a King. I was born to be a King and I came into the world to be a King and I am a King.

* Now, people, there is no question in my mind at all that Jesus is a King. That's why He was born.

* That's why He came into the world. And there is no question in my mind either that this is a kingdom in which we live.

* But it is not perceived as a kingdom as men understand kingdoms.

* It is first and foremost a kingdom from within the heart.

* And that is why in Romans 14:17, Paul says, "The kingdom of God is not food and drink, it is not outward, it is righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit." It is internal.

* On another occasion in Luke 17:20, they said to Him, in effect, - Well, if you're a King, where's the kingdom?

* And Jesus said, - the kingdom of God is ... where? ... within you.

* It's in your midst. You just don't perceive it because it isn't discerned by human perception, but I'm a King nonetheless.

* When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus about the Kingdom of Heaven, he said:

John 3:2–8 (KJV 1900)

2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

* Jesus told Nicodemus “you cannot see the kingdom of God- it is a spiritual kingdom.

* Now, the disciples are sort of scratching their heads and saying He's the King, you can't deny it.

* But where's the kingdom? They were looking for the outward display of a Kingdom.

* They have just gone through the horrible rejection of chapter 12 where He's been blasphemed and called Satanic.

* And so the Lord says - Look, I'm going to teach you now how to understand this period of My reign, this period of My kingdom.

* The future will yet unfold the full glory of the kingdom in its outward early millennial majesty, such as Zechariah and Micah prophesied.

* But for now, there is a form of the kingdom, which He calls in verse 11 of Matthew 13, the mystery, and during this time the kingdom will

be different than it will be when I return to sit upon the throne of David.

* And so He goes on to describe it. He gives them seven parables.

The order of thought the parables were given in:

* For the time being, the Kingdom of God is in its mystery form.

* Matthew 13:11

Matthew 13:11 (KJV 1900)

11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

* Because this mystery form of the Kingdom has hidden from the former prophets, it will ultimately be different in its form.

* And so Jesus goes on to describe this mystery form of the Kingdom.

* Now in this series of seven parables, we gain insight into this period of time.

* In doing so, Jesus gives them these seven Kingdom parables, which He groups in three sets of two parables each.

Group 1- The Parable of the sower, and the parable of the tares.

* The first two describe the nature of the kingdom ... the nature of the mystery kingdom.

* The nature of the Kingdom is that of good and evil.

* The parable of the soils, the parable of the wheat and the tares, and the nature of the kingdom is that good and evil will co-exist.

* There will be soil that rejects; there will be the true soil. In other words, there will be people who refuse the kingdom, people who receive the kingdom.

* The second parable of the first set says and they should grow together until the final judgment.

* In the second parable of this first group of two, the parable of the wheat and the tares, we find that the believers and the nonbelievers will grow together until the harvest that comes in the end.

* So, the nature of the kingdom is that it encompasses good and evil.

* The evil are not truly members of the kingdom but they are enclosed within the rule of God for He rules at this time in the world.

* So, you're not to expect the rebels to be condemned, you're to expect the rebels and Christ rejecters to be devastated, burnt up, consumed or whatever. They're going to go along together.

* Group 2- The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the parable of leaven.

* This second group of parables describe power of the mystery Kingdom.

* Now, having revealed the nature of the Kingdom, that of both good and Evil, in the next parables Jesus discusses the power of the kingdom in the next two parables, Parables 3 and 4.

* And in these parables Jesus says – In spite of that, in spite of the co-existing of the good and the evil, in spite of the tremendous power of sin and the power of Satan, in spite of the very massive over sowing of tares and the wheat, in spite of the fact that three of the four soils are evil and rejecting, still the power of the kingdom is 'so great it's going to grow.

* From a small beginning like a mustard seed, it will become a massive tree. From the littlest seed it becomes the biggest bush.

* And like a little tiny piece of leaven, hidden in a massive pile of dough, it permeates everything, and influences everything.

* Now, this is a hopeful word, beloved, after two parables that were not hopeful at all.

* The first two parables told us we're going to have to allow evil to go along in this world.

* If you have been saved for any amount of time you no doubt have grown to hate sin.

* There are many times when I feel for David when he cried out for God to destroy the sinners and to destroy sin.

* And there are times when you just wish you could just act

as God's executioner and purge the sin and the sinners all by yourself.

* But the first two parables said no ... no, that's not for you to do. This

is the time of God's grace, judgment awaits the future.

* So they go together. That's a message of a fearfulness, of intimidation, of distress because we tolerate all this stuff.

* But the message of hope comes in the next two parables, in spite of that the kingdom's going to grow, and finally, it's going to fill the earth.

* And I believe these two parables actually usher us right into the millennium when the bush is at its largest and the trees are ... and the tree is filled, as it were, with birds, when the leaven has leavened

the entire lump.

* And we look forward to that time when the Kingdom of God has grown to it’s greatest existence.

* And so these are parables of great hope ... great hope.

* By the way, the next two parables also have a common subject also, they're about the person appropriation of the kingdom.

* Jesus used the first four parables to describe the form of the mystery kingdom in general; in the last two of the parables, Jesus causes us to understand the Kingdom in a specific sense.

* So the first two parables speak of the nature of the kingdom; the next two, the power of the kingdom; and the next two, the appropriation of the kingdom.

* That's very important. Because when you interpret this parable, you want to interpret it in the homiletic consistency that our Lord uses as Heunfolds these parables. And we'll see about that in a moment.

Group 3- the appropriation of the kingdom- The parable of the found treasure and the parable of the Seeking merchant.

* Jesus dealt with the nature of the Kingdom in the first couplet of parables, then He dealt with the Power of the Kingdom in the second set of parables, now, in this third set of kingdom parables, Jesus deals with how do we appropriate a place for ourselves in this Kingdom of Heaven.

* In the first four parables, we Jesus explained the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Heaven in general.

* In the first four parables Jesus looked at the Kingdom, as it were,

from above and seeing how it operates and how it functions.

* But in the first four parables Jesus said nothing about how it is

personally appropriated.

* And so we would find the question arising at this point - Well, then if the kingdom covers the earth and permeates the earth and influences the earth, how do we get into the Kingdom of God?

* Do we just get born into the kingdom?

* Is it like being a Jew, you're just sort of born into the covenant people?

* Or as in the days of Constantine when people were born into the quote/unquote "Holy Roman Empire," and became by birth a member of the kingdom and so were christened or baptized as infants, simply to

outwardly affirm that they had been born into the covenant.

* Is that how it is? Do you just get born into the kingdom by belonging to parents who belong to the church?

* So in the last couplet of Kingdom Parables, Jesus explains that the Kingdom of God must be personally appropriated by each individual.

* The first one is a parable of hidden treasure, very simple story.

* "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which when a man has found, he hides and for joy of it goes and sells all that he has and buys the field."

* The point of the parable of the hidden treasure is this; a man who found something so valuable that he sold everything that he had to

get it.

* That's the point of the parable. He was so overjoyed, he was so ecstatic that he was willing to do anything to get that treasure.

* The second parable in this last set of Kingdom parables is the parable of the great pearl.

* "The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchantman," a wholesaler if you will, who scours around desperately looking for fine pearls.

*Both parables in this set are designed to teach us the incomparable value of the kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven.

* when we talk about the kingdom of the Lord, we're talking about salvation; we're talking about Christ Himself and the gift of salvation that He gives.

* The knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, the preciousness of what it is to be in His kingdom, the preciousness of fellowshipping with the King, the preciousness of being a subject of the sovereign King of heaven.

* The blessedness of the kingdom is so valuable that it is the most valuable commodity that can ever be found and only a fool is not willing to sell everything he has to gain it.

* Nothing comes close to the value of the being in the Kingdom of Heaven.

* In Christ and in His kingdom there is a treasure, there is a treasure that is rich beyond comparison.

* There is a treasure that is rich beyond conception.

* There is a treasure that is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, eternal.

* There is a heavenly treasure lying in the field of this poverty stricken, bankrupt, accursed world, a treasure sufficient to eternally enrich every one of earth's poor, miserable, blind and naked inhabitants.

* Salvation and forgiveness and love and joy and peace and virtue and goodness and glory and heaven and eternal life, all are in that treasure and the treasure is that salvation and the pearl is that salvation that is equivalent to being in the kingdom.

* What a gem, what a treasure! and how the world knows little of that treasure. How they do not understand it at all!

* It is a tragedy, it is a terrible shame, how they wrap themselves up in that stuff which is valueless, and turn away the Kingdom of Heaven for worthless trinkets and tinsel.

The parable of the Sower

* The sower is Jesus.

* The field is the world- God’s field.

* The seed is the word of the kingdom that Jesus began to sow into the world, God’s field.

* There two kinds classifications of soils- Good soil and bad soil.

* There are four kinds of soil also:

There are three kinds of Bad soils- Hard soil, shallow soil, and weedy soil.

Hard soil

4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

shallow soil

: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

weedy soil.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

Good Soil

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

* Those who accept the world of the Kingdom and those who choose to remain in the kingdom of Satan.

Hebrews 11:7–10 (KJV 1900)

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:12–16 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

For thine is the kingdom.