Mark 4:1-20 Spiritual Farming

From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

Pray

Mark 4:1-20

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

Introduction and Review:

Jesus is now a few months into His earthly ministry (Review Jesus incarnation, mission, message)

Thousands of followers - so many in this case that He teaches from a boat in the Sea of Galilee (photo of the sea of Galilee)

Jesus is teaching in parables now. Mark 4:10-12 “As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.””

Why did Jesus teach this way?

Pharisees and scribes were not interested in God’s revelation - only trying to get rid of Him

Not everyone will come to Christ, by teaching in this way, Jesus is separating sheep from goats.

This is the most well-known of Jesus parables

Provides a description of how different types of people respond to God’s Word.

This describes people everywhere, all over the world and all over the country

The language Jesus uses is perfectly clear. Doesn’t need much explanation

Jesus shows us that no matter how many people there are in the world, there are only really four types of responses to the Word of God

Seed on the side of the field, Mark 4:3-4 ““Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.”

Go to church, don’t pay attention

They go to be seen

they go for appearances

to be seen or show off

look respectable

Pay no attention to the preaching

They are lost in worldly thoughts. Only meaningless words - blah blah blah

No money in it, or food or free stuff

They think about other things

Do not care about law, gospel, commands

See no beauty in Christ

Has zero effect on them

When they leave, it has had no impact - brain dump

Many many Christians like this

In every church or chapel

They are allowing Satan to steal valuable and useful teaching from them

They live without fear, without faith, without knowledge, without God’s grace

They feel nothing, they don’t care

It’s as if Christ never went to the cross - the Gospel is a story to them

They will die like this, and then the judgement, then hell

This is a sad situation

Some people hear, but their hearts are stony

, Mark 4:5-6

““Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. “And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.”

Some hearers of the Gospel have hearts that are like the stony ground in a field

These are folks who find the message interesting, but it leaves no lasting impression

They get the message into their heads, but not the heart. Its when it gets into our hearts that the message produces the change the God desires

They like to hear messages that speak the truth

They can talk like experts, with real enthusiasm about how wonderful the Gospel is and how happy they are when they hear it.

They can become tearful and emotional when they hear the appeals of preachers, talk openly about their own struggles, conflicts, desires, fears

Then, they lose interest, they slip away - their feelings only last for a short time

There is no real work of the Holy Spirit to sustain them

When trouble comes, they forget their faith, fall away,

They are like a cut flower, with no root, their religion just fades away

Like the first group, there are many in churches, or who call themselves Christians, who are like this

They enthusiastically listen to the Gospel and think they are children of Christ

Because they like the preaching, they think that God is at work in their hearts

They are lying to themselves - they are still dead in their sins

With their feelings, joys, hopes and desires, they are nevertheless headed for destruction

Seed among the thorns, Mark 4:7 ““Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.”

Some who hear the Gospel have hearts that are like the thorny ground in the field

They hear the Gospel and to a certain extent obey it.

They understand it, and agree with it.

Their conscience is affected by it

They agree it is right, good, and should be believed and obeyed

They may even avoid sins and obey commands the Bible requires

But they stop short, they can’t grow in their Christian faith

The secret of their problem is the World (explain)

the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Mk 4:19). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

All the cares of this world keep the Word and Spirit from helping them grow

They are standing still, and never bear fruit

Unfortunately, you can find many cases like this, inside the church and out.

These are the saddest

To get so far, yet let the world come between you and Christ, to not give your heart to Christ, is terrible

Unless they change, these folks will never get into heaven

Christ must have our all

James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Seed on good ground, Mark 4:8 ““Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

Then, there are some hearers of the Gospel, whose hearts are like the good soil in a field

They take Christ’s truth into their hearts, believe it fully, obey it completely. They fully embrace the Saviour

You can see the fruit that these people produce: wonderful godly results not only in their hearts, but in their lives

They hate sin, it saddens them, they fight against it, they speak against it

They truly love Christ, trust Him, follow Him, obey Him

Their way of life shows holiness, humility, they are spiritual, patient, loving

You can see their love and faith - they are open about their faith

The work of the Holy Spirit cannot be hidden

There will always be some like this where the Gospel is faithfully preached

May be few

Levels of spiritual growth may differ a lot

The fruit of the Gospel will always be the same

repentance

visible faith in Christ

Holiness

These are necessary for saving faith

Bringing it home

Have to ask ourselves: what are we?

What group are we?

fallen by the wayside - the Word bounces off

stony ground - no depth

caught up in the thornbushes of the world

Seed of the Gospel growing in our hearts - embrace the Saviour

What kind of hearts do we hear the Gospel with?

Three ways to hear it wrong, one right

The one mark of a right hearted hearer - they bear fruit - you can see the work of Christ in their lives

Without that fruit, they are bound for hell

Prayer

Discussion