May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word and this morning I desire
to speak to you on the parable of the sower so I won't read
that parable, we read it together and of course it is comprehensive
and quite long but it's very important for all of us to know
what it intended to mean to us and have a right effect upon
our souls. A very similar account is recorded
in the Gospel of Mark, in the fourth chapter. And in that account,
the Lord commences, it's recorded, He commenced with these words,
Harken. Here we have, the Lord says,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And it's clear, surely from
that, that in the days when the Lord was on the earth speaking
to the multitude, he desired the people would listen. Hearken, he said. You might think
it wasn't necessary in those days. Well, clearly it was. And
if it was necessary then, it's no doubt far more necessary for
us today. to hearken, to hear what God
the Lord will speak to us. Now this parable of the sower
is, I'm sure, a well-known parable. Many people will have heard of
it, many people have read of it. But it is a very searching
one, because it speaks to everybody, really, who comes and hears the
Gospel. And it speaks of four types of
people. Four types of effect that the
Word of God preached has on the people. And all of us this morning,
as we're here, will be affected in one way or another. Now there are four ways described
here. Four ways. And three do not have
a good benefit, a good ending, but the fourth one does. And
the fourth one is that the seed is sown into good ground. Now,
you younger people may wonder, well, what does it mean? Well,
the sower is the preacher. The sower is the preacher. And what is the seed? The seed
is the Word of God. And so, put very simply, the
preacher preaches the Word of God. And as that preaching is
preached, and as the Word of God is heard, then it comes upon
us in four ways. And it will come on all of us
this morning in one of those ways. It is very important that
we are able to look into our hearts and to find out where
we are in relation to these four situations. The four are, of
course, put very simply, the first was by wayside, the second
was on stony ground, the third was among thorns, and the fourth
was on good ground. So as we trace out these conditions
this morning, we need to look carefully into our own hearts
and be able to discern if any of these apply to us. And if
they do, to be concerned that we are not left to be found in
the wrong way, with the wrong attitude, with the wrong desire.
And so the first statement which the Lord makes, he says, and
he sowed some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and
devoured them up. So that was the first picture
that we have, we can imagine. We don't of course see it quite
the same nowadays in our country, sowing the seed, but Years ago,
literally, the Saha went with a seed in a basket or a container
on one arm and the other arm. He put his hand in the seed and
threw it across like that. So it spread and he walked on
and carried doing this all the time. So the seed then, he hoped,
would go always into good ground. But it didn't always go into
good ground. And that's why these seeds, some fell by the wayside. And you may say, well, what was
the interpretation of that? Well, the Lord gives, thankfully,
the interpretation of these things. And it's good for us, therefore,
to be able to recognize what they mean to us. And just before
I speak on that, the Lord Jesus speaks about the multitude, many
of those people who were listening. And he tells us what they were
like. He says, For this people's heart is waxed gross, their ears
are dull of hearing, their eyes have they closed, lest at any
time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and should understand with their heart, and should be converted,
and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for
they see, and your ears, for they hear. For very I say unto
you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see these
things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those
things which ye hear and have not heard them. So let's realise
this morning it's a wonderful privilege and favour for us to
come here and to hear the truth of God's Word. And so the Lord
comes and says, hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. So
the first explanation is this. When one heareth the word of
the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the wayside. Well, the application
to that is very simple, really. And it applies to many people
today in the Christian so-called world, where people hear the
Word of God read, and they hear the Gospel preached, but it doesn't
affect them. It doesn't do them any good.
And you may say, well, just explain that, I will. You come and you
sit and you hear the Word of God read and the preaching. And
then when you go out of the doors and you go home, and I might say, well then, what
did you hear? What did you hear? What did the
preacher say this morning? And you scratch your head. And
you can't remember anything. that the preacher said. Now that
happens in all of our lives and it's a great blessing if today
we're not like that, but that we have come, we've come to hear
the Word of God. We haven't just come to spend
the time here just to waste an hour or so and say well I've
done my duty and that's fine and now I carry on. Religion
is not like that. And you know that's a tragic
scene. Tragic scene when people come and go and hear nothing. They haven't heard. Their ears
have been stopped as it were. They haven't heard. They haven't
benefited. They might as well have stayed
home. But the solemnity is that because
we are here, we shall be judged by Almighty God. And we won't
be able to say, well, I never heard. We did hear naturally,
but we didn't hear spiritually. And so this morning, may we not
be found amongst those who go home and don't remember what
was said. may be concerned to remember
the great truth that the Lord sets before us. So that was really
basically the first statement that the Lord made, a wayside
hearer. And then he says, some fell upon
stony places where they had not much earth, Forthwith they sprung
up because they had no deepness of earth. Well, we can imagine
that can't we a Stony place and there's not very much earth and
therefore it's difficult for any seeds to grow very well well
It no doubt Is there? But we're told and when the Sun
was up they were scorched and because they had no root and
they withered away. Well, you can imagine a seed
growing a little, but because it's got no root, it can't get
the moisture it needs because the ground isn't moist, it's
stony and therefore it dies. And so again, the Lord gives
us an explanation for that. He says, He that received the
seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word and
anon with joy receiveth it. Well, again, people will come
and people will say, well, that was a good sermon this morning.
And we may think, well, that must have had some good effect
upon them. But you see, the Word of God tells us. They receive
the Word, with joy receives it, yet hath he not rooted himself,
but endureth for a while, but when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended. So this here directs us to the
very important element of being born again by the Spirit of God. Because it means that there is
a root if we are born again. If we are not, there is no root. There is no real root. There
may be just a very small little bit, but it doesn't succeed in
feeding. It doesn't succeed in producing
moisture. And that can be just the same
in a spiritual life. People say, yes, that was a good
sermon. Many people, you know, will react like that. But what good has it done them? Has it affected their lives?
Does it really touch their heart? Has it really turned them to
the Lord Jesus Christ? Has it really been of spiritual
benefit to them? Is it something they've taken
home and pondered and it's encouraged them? Or perhaps it's corrected
them? But whatever, it's had an effect
upon them. And they don't lose it. It doesn't
just disappear so that in a day or so they can't remember anything.
It's had an effect. upon them, if it is, that by
the Spirit. But if it's not, then it just,
just for a little while, it does, has an effect, and then it's
gone. It's gone. Again, that's a pretty
sad condition, and it's a pretty typical condition of many people
today. And one of the problems is, in
the day and age in which we live, we are surrounded with so many
things to distract us from the true things of God, the true
worship of God, and the true staying upon the things of God. We only have to look, don't we? And we realise with the internet
and the mobile phones and all those kind of things, what do
they do? For the most part, I'm not saying
totally, not true at all, but for the most part they Distract
us from the things of God For the most part they turn us away
From the things of God now. I know of course there are good
things. I know they can be wonderfully blessed But as a general position
We need to be aware that using such things and attracted by
many things today we lose the benefit of of the truth of God,
we lose the blessing. And surely it is probably because
in many cases there is no root. That means there is no real new
birth. It just satisfies our conscience,
again for perhaps a bit longer than the previous statement where
it perhaps only benefited us when we were listening to it
and we thought it was alright and then we forgot about it totally.
But here we have something which is a little stronger. It means
there was an initial, initial perspective, initial scene of
some blessing it appeared. But it was false. It wasn't true. It wasn't real. And you might
ask the question, well, why wasn't it? Because there was no true
fruit. There was no true benefit. There was no true honour and
glory to God from it. And so we have this sad condition
which exists. And let's recognise that these
three conditions, which the Lord so clearly enumerates to the
multitude, were necessary in His day. And my friends, they're
necessary today, aren't they? They're necessary today for us. And we should not just brush
it aside and think, well, it doesn't apply to me. We need to examine our hearts
and see whether it does apply to us. Whether we have been those,
a wayside hearer or a stony ground hearer, and how has it benefited
our soul? What's been the lasting effect
of it? And then the Lord goes on to
the third case, and he tells us, and some fell among thorns,
and the thorns sprung up and choked it. You can imagine the
seed trying to grow, and there's the thorns growing more strongly,
and what happens? It chokes it, chokes it, and
there's therefore no benefit. Chokes it and it dies. In the
Lord Jesus he speaks of this, he says, And he also that received
seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care
of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word, and
he becometh unfruitful." The Word hasn't been profitable to
him. Well, surely that's another great
truth today, that we live in a world where the materialism
of this world chokes the seed, chokes the seed. And therefore
it is no lasting benefit. The cares of this world. The care of this world. And again we have to be very
careful. It's right to be caring about
the things in the world. But not to be so taken up with
them that they choke the life of God in our own souls. People can be so concerned about
everything else, they lose sight of their own souls. Well, do
we lose sight of our own soul? Are we so concerned about everything
going on around us? We might think we're doing a
good job, and we might think we're doing a righteous job.
But is it choking the word that you and I heard preached? Because the Lord is speaking
here about the preacher who sows the seed, the Word of God. We
must concentrate on what is set before us and not let us think,
well, of course I read this and I read that and I do this and
I do that. My friends, this is directed very clearly to those
of us who are blessed to hear the preaching of the Word, as
to whether that benefits us. or whether we find that it's
choked because of the care of this world. We often perhaps
pass over things like that, and people can justify themselves. They say, well, I do this, and
I do that. Well, you may do this, and you
may do that. But is it in accordance with the word of God? These are
the words of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. These are
the words which are directed at those who hear the preaching
of the Gospel. And so, may we not find ourselves
choked by the world or the deceitfulness of riches. Again, let us think
that these words are the Saviour's words, the deceitfulness of riches. And the Word of God explains
that like this. The love of money is the root
of all evil, not money itself, and not riches itself. Abraham
was a very wealthy man. It didn't spoil him, it didn't
separate him, he was able to use it wisely. But you see, here
we have this statement here, and we should not forget it,
the deceitfulness of riches. I suppose that can mean that
we are looking to riches, natural things to support us and to help
us and to strengthen us. Whereas we should be looking,
of course, to the Lord God, to Almighty God, that He will help
us, that He will bless us, and not to look to ourselves or to
worldly things to be of some source of favour to us. And so here we have this statement.
The deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it becometh unfruitful. Well, these are very clear statements,
aren't they? And they're very relevant statements. And again, let us not forget
the Saviour was directing it to those who hear the preaching
of the Word of God. And let us not therefore go away
from hearing preaching and then forget about it or just rejoice
in it for a short time and then we forget about it and it's gone
or we find that those things that we've heard are therefore
choked by the cares of this world or the deceitfulness of riches.
And so there is no benefit. Again, it is important, isn't
it, to realise these are the words of God and I suppose we
live in a dark age, don't we? A dark age really in the liveliness
of our souls, the health of our souls. What a blessing it is
then to realise the Lord has given us such words, words of
warning aren't they to us? To consider our ways and to consider
how we stand and where we are in the presence of Almighty God. Well, then there is the last
one and it is of course a very positive one, and a very essential
one. And so the Lord tells us, an
other seed fell into good ground. And the effect of that was it
brought forth fruit, some 100-fold, and some 60-fold, and some 30-fold. And the word of the Saviour was,
who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And again, the Saviour
tells us what this means. But he that receiveth seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it,
which also beareth fruit, and bring it forth, some 100 fold,
some 60, and some 30. So we must conclude that we need
to be amongst those who are good ground hearers. Now don't jump
to conclusion and say, well, I think I'm a good ground hearer. If we're a good ground hearer,
The ground would have been prepared. God would have prepared our hearts
to receive his word. We can't suddenly think, well,
I'm now going to be a good ground hearer. It's right to desire
that. But a good ground hearer has
had the ground prepared. And it's been prepared like this.
Think of a field. What does it need? Well, the
first thing it needs is to be ploughed up, isn't it? Is to
be ploughed up. Now, those of you who know about
farming will know what a plough does. A plough digs into the
ground and it turns the ground over. It turns the ground over,
so that which is underneath comes up to the top and that which
is at the top goes underneath. And that's what ploughing does. Now, let's think if that's had
an effect upon our heart, whether God has ploughed us up. So that which was on the top,
And we might think that on the top was all the things that we
like to do, our old nature likes to do, get involved in. And we've
been involved in these things. And have they been of true benefit
to us? Well, we have to perhaps analyse
it and recognise, well, it really hasn't. Well what a blessing
then if the Holy Spirit comes and ploughs us up so that those
things which we enjoy getting involved with were turned upside
down and were buried. Well what a mercy then in our
lives if God has buried some of those things which were distracting
us from the things of God. So that in fact we weren't growing
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. We were more concerned to grow in the things of this
life. We were more concerned to be
knowledgeable in all the things of time. We were more concerned
that people might take notice of us because of our ability
to be able to talk on this subject and that subject and to be able
to perhaps work in this way and that way. And what were we concerned
that people might think, one of us? Was it profiting our soul? No, it wasn't. Well, if we are
to be a good ground hearer, the Lord would have come with his
plough in our lives and would have produced a difference. See,
God's work always produces a difference. There is an effect upon it. It's
not something that you and I just carry on with, without any effect. Because the Lord's work is a
powerful work, and the Lord's work changes things. If your
life and my life has never been changed, then, my friends, there's
no evidence of the work of God in our hearts. And we're not
good ground hearers. Let us not fool ourselves. Let
us not think, well, I think I'm a good ground hearer. I'm sure
many people have been misled by the devil into concluding
they're a good ground hearer, when in fact they're not. And
they fall under the categories of these previous three, which
are wayside, or stony ground, or thorny ground hearers. Well,
has the Spirit of God come and has the Spirit of God ploughed
us up? Turned us upside down? Turned
us upside down? Not something perhaps that you
and I enjoyed. Perhaps it's something we rebelled
against. We didn't want our life to be
turned upside down. We didn't want it to be spoiled.
We were pretty content with it. We were fairly happy with it.
Things were going pretty well, pretty smoothly in this life. But how about our eternal life? Well, as God turned you and me
upside down, he's ploughed, ploughed us. And then you see, when that's
occurred, when the ploughing's been done, You know, very often, that ploughed scene has to be
left. Has to be left. And what happens then? Well,
if it's done in the autumn, often then there's frosts come. God sends frosts. And frosts
have a good effect upon ground. They break it up. You break it
up, you see, the dampness in the soil expands with the ice
and it breaks it up. What a good thing then. Perhaps
if the Lord allows us then, allows us perhaps in that condition,
we've been turned over, and where are we then? We're cold, we're
not warm, The Lord has to send his weather upon us and what
happens then? When the frost comes and it's
cold, but it has an effect and it touches our heart and it breaks
it up, the hardness, the coldness which is there. The Lord is preparing ground
to receive the seed. So that when that seed is received,
then you see it grows. Now, we might say, if it's going
to be a prosperous growth, i.e. 36 to 100 fold, there may be
more preparation. It's not just an initial leaving
it. No, there's more preparation
needed so that it may be really ready to receive that seed and
therefore the seed, as you might say, relishes the grain conditions
which are found and therefore it does grow. And then you see
the farmer then needs to harrow the soil as well. And Harrowing,
well when I was on the farm, may be different now, he used
to have a series of cutters that used to go across the ploughed
field and to cut the sawn up into much finer pieces. So it comes down when it's perhaps
it's been gone over once and perhaps it needs to go over twice
and perhaps three times to break it up more and more. Well, the
Lord knows, doesn't he, what you and I need, and what he will
do with us. Because there are degrees. The
Lord, you see, grants that there may be those who are 30-fold,
and some who are 60-fold, and some who are 100-fold. And you
see, those who are perhaps 30, may have only had the harrow
over them once. Perhaps 60 twice, perhaps 100
three times. Yes, the Lord, you see, works.
And he works on us, and he breaks us down, breaks us up, breaks
down the barriers. You see, there are barriers,
aren't there, in our heart. And they need to be broken up. And it comes like this, to be
made willing in the day of God's power to do His will. Wonderful it is to know that
we are being dealt with by the Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit
is not letting us go. Not letting us go. And why? Because it's love to our soul. love to our soul. So let's look
at ourselves to see whether the Holy Spirit has worked and
perhaps is working in our life and is changing us, bringing
us down, making us smaller. There's not those big clods,
they're broken up into small bits. for mercy when you and
I are broken up into small bits. So we're not great in our own
estimation. We're broken up into small bits. And we read the second case,
of course, was stony ground, wasn't it? What do you think
when you think of a stone? Well, it's something which is
hard, isn't it? A stone is hard, isn't it? A plough can just turn a stone
over. A harrow can just not have any
effect upon a stone. And sometimes it's necessary
to go over a field and to pick up the stones and to get rid
of them, to throw them away. Sometimes that's so in our lives,
isn't it? We may have stones which need to be dealt with in
a particular way. What a mercy when the Lord comes
and puts his finger perhaps on a particular stone in our life.
And what's been the effect? That stone has produced hardness,
hardness in our heart. Do you know one of the biggest
stones that you and I have? And it's a stone of pride. And
it's a big stone. And what a mercy when the Lord
deals with it. He comes and he takes that stone
and humbles us as we realise what we're like. How sad our
condition has been. And how horrible it's been. And how vile it's been. But when
the Holy Spirit comes in and takes that stone, that hard stone
of pride, and takes it away, takes it away, well, what's the
effect? The effect is really the Lord's
given us a soft heart. He's taken away the stony heart,
and he's given us a soft heart. And what does that mean? It means
that we don't put ourselves as the wonderful example that everybody
got to look to. See, that's what we do by nature.
What's the effect? We then direct people not to
ourselves, to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see His
life. We see what He did. He humbled
Himself. unto death, even the death of
the cross. And what does that mean? When
the Holy Spirit comes, you see, and prepares us to receive his
word, he takes away these stones. Pride, arrogance, evil thoughts. Yes, trying to please men rather
than desiring to please God. And what does the word tell us? To mortify ourselves. That's
to put to death the lusts of the flesh. It's not easy work,
is it? It's not easy work. Do you expect
to be a good ground hearer? You've got all these things which
are fighting against goodness. You see all the evils which are
within you? We find them in our heart. Well, to be a good ground
hearer, to have the wonderful effect of the Holy Spirit taking
out these stones, taking out these stones, and the flesh dislikes
the way. It's painful you see, to our
flesh. But my friends, our flesh will
perish. Don't forget that. Your and my flesh will perish.
The flesh dislikes the way, but faith approves it well. Because the Holy Spirit will
show to us that he's dealing with us. He's preparing us to
be this good ground. So that when the seed is sown,
when the preaching is preached, well, it falls into our hearts. It suits us. It does us good. Yes, we've been made ready by
the power of God to receive the Word of God. So what a mercy
it is then to be found here receiving, this is one of the
key words, receiving the word of God. You don't come and say,
I wonder what I can find fault with today with the preacher.
I wonder what he's going to say wrongly today that I can analyse
and say, well, that wasn't right, was it? And go home and say,
well, you see, this man, he said that wrongly today, and he said
that wrongly. You see, when the Word of God, when the Spirit
of God comes and touches our heart, we receive the Word. Now,
I'm not saying, of course, that a preacher is faultless. We're
only men. But we're thankful that God does
direct and graciously give the Word. The Lord gave the word
and therefore as that word comes, do we receive it as the word
of God? Do we receive it as though God
is speaking to our heart? And therefore we ponder it and
we meditate upon it and it has a good effect upon us. So that
it produces that which is God honouring. And we're able to
turn away from all the things which go against the things of
God, go against the life of God in our soul, and to desire, oh,
for a closer walk with God. Yes, see that's the wonderful
effect of this ground being made ready. There's in our heart the
desire for a closer walk with God. Yes, what a blessing it
is, my friends. Because if we desire that, what
are we desiring? We're desiring to see more of
the Saviour, hear His words. These are the great issues, aren't
they? Not the things of time, but to
know my Jesus, crucified, by far exceeds all things beside. What a mercy, my friends, for
you and me, if the Lord is and has prepared our hearts to be
a good ground hearer. So therefore, as the Word of
God comes into our hearts, yes, there's a work, there's an effect,
and there's a growth, there's a growth. In two ways, spiritual
growth, there's a growing down, People don't see that. That's
God's sovereign work between our soul and him. He deals with
us. And thankfully, my friends, it's
between God and us. What a mercy. All our thoughts
are not brought to the surface so everybody can gawk at them
and see them. The Lord deals with them. So it's the root then that goes
down, and it goes into the ground, and it receives then moisture. I suppose what it really means
is, in that condition, the Holy Spirit is dealing with us and
showing us our great need to be part of the vine, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and to benefit from his root. not be dependent
upon what we might think is ours. Realise that we are rooted in
Him, the great and glorious Saviour again. This is an effect, isn't
it, of the Spirit's work in preparing our ground to receive the truth,
the Word of God, and to receive then the blessings which will
be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, if you and I are therefore
to be fruitful How will this fruit be? What will it show?
It will evidence itself in our walk, our conversation and in
our life generally. There will be the effect because
our lives are for the honour and glory of God. What a mercy
then to think that we have such a God who hasn't left us to be
a wayside or a stony ground or a thorny hearer, but to be a
possessor of the work of the Spirit who has worked in our
soul to produce that good ground that receives His Word And the
effect of that word is to bear fruit for his honour and for
that his glory. Well, what a mercy today if we
have the evidence of that fruit in our lives. And that fruit
will be to show forth something of the preciousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Something of the needfulness
of the Saviour. So that our lives will demonstrate
who we are. whom we love, whom we serve. We won't be left to serve ourselves. We will be concerned that the
great glorious Saviour, who shed his precious blood to redeem
our souls, is the one that is lifted up. He must increase,
but I must decrease. Oh, that's a good lesson, isn't
it? That's a good example of the work of the Spirit in granting
us the favour of being a good ground hearer. He must increase. I must decrease. Less than the
least of all saints was the Apostle's description of himself. Oh, the
Spirit's work was there. My friends, may you and I know
the Spirit's work in our hearts, so that we're able to come and
believe and say, less than the least of all saints. I am nothing,
but Christ might be all and in all. Oh, what a great God we
have. And so may our souls be on the
stretch after Him. The Lord has favoured us to be
born into a country where Christianity is about and we are able to gather
freely to worship. My friends, we are not to hide
our light under a bushel. The Lord has prepared our hearts.
Bless God for that. And as you said, that light is
to be put on a candlestick so that men and women, boys and
girls, may observe that we are bought with a price and we are
not our own. This has an effect upon us all. Boys and girls,
those of us who are older, teenagers, whatever it is, old people, it
speaks to us all. that we may all be concerned,
that we are good ground hearers. Remember, the Lord is addressing
those who are hearing the preaching of the word, the sower being
the preacher, the seed being the word of God, and that such
is a true eternal good, eternal good, so that our souls are strengthened,
our souls are encouraged, Perhaps we are corrected. Correction
is very beneficial, very often. We don't like to be corrected,
do we? But it is the work of the Spirit of God to correct
us, to show us how we've had faults and perhaps in that, you
know, the Lord comes and takes the stone, doesn't he? And corrects
us. Yes, we might need correction.
The Lord knows what we each need. We all have different life, don't
we? But we all have this common need to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Well, may
we ponder these words. Let us not just pass them away. Let us not be then this morning
a stony ground hearer, or a wayside hearer, or a thorny hearer, but
may we be a good ground hearer for the honour and glory of God.
Amen.