Turn back to Matthew 13. Matthew
chapter 13. The title of the message is Four Types
of Soil. We are given four types of soil. in this portion of Scripture
that I read to you. The parable of the sower is called,
but here I've titled it Four Types of Soil. Our Lord had been
speaking to this multitude, and He spoke to them in parables.
This is the first parable He gave them. And this is one of
the few parables that the Lord explained. This is one of the
few that He actually explains. Now the focus of the parable
here is on the soil in which the seed is received. The seed, you'll notice, is the
same in all cases. And the seed here is not a false
gospel, it is the gospel. It's the gospel. And the soil here, which is the
ground spoken of, represents the heart of those who come under
the ministry of the gospel. Now, every time the gospel is
preached, One, if not all, of these four
types of soil is present. It's present when the gospel
is preached. Now our Lord says in verse 18,
He says to His disciples, hear the parable of the sower. And I think He's saying this,
understand what I'm saying. Understand this parable. And when the Lord says to any
sinner, understand, that is when you will understand. It is when
He tells you, commands you to understand. The hearing ear and
the seeing eye is of the Lord. And He tells them, He says, hear
the parable of the sower, understand it. to you who believe it has been
given to hear and understand the mystery of the gospel. You
will understand the parable of this sower. Now the first soil that our Lord gives here is the
hardened soil. It's the hardened soil. This
is the footpath soil. You know, back in that day, the
farmer would go out and he'd sow the field with wheat. He'd
just go out and just scatter the wheat. And people would take
shortcuts through his field. They'd make a shortcut and they
would do it time after time after time. And everything traveled
on this path. Even the animals would travel
on it. It's an easy path to travel on. It's hardened. Over time
and use of all this traveling on it, it's a hardened, hardened
path. It's like a rock. This path is
so hard, it's like a rock. And this is what he's representing
here. This heart, this heart, this
wayside hearer is so hard that it's not penetrable. Nothing penetrates it. When the
Word is preached, this wayside hearer is totally unaffected. Unaffected. It doesn't penetrate. The wayside hearer is far more
concerned where they're going to eat after the service than
the meal that's being served right now. You know, the bread
of life being served, the wayside hearer is like, where are we
going to eat after this is over with? This person is totally
unaffected and he doesn't understand what's going on. This wayside
here has no understanding of the gospel. No understanding
of who God is, who Christ is, who and what we are, even though
this wayside here has heard it time and time and time again. It's just like pouring water
on a rock. It rolls off. That's what it's
like. And even standing here preaching this, the wayside here
still doesn't get it. He still doesn't get it. There's no understanding. No
understanding. You know, our Lord said to His
disciples, hear the parable. Understand the parable of the
sower. But the wayside here never understands
it. And over in Mark it says here
that the wicked one, and over in Mark it says Satan comes immediately. Satan comes immediately and takes
away what was heard. He gets the wayside, hears mind
on something else. There's something else that he
came in with and he's going to leave with it. And he never hears
this. He never hears God's voice in
the message. He's not impressed with it. This
wayside here has no penetration of the seed. The heart is so
hard by sin. It may be gospel hardened. This
wayside here may have been raised up right under the gospel and
just heard it and heard it and heard it and it just never means
anything. Never means anything. This here is careless. Careless
listening, thoughtless, unconcerned. Sin has hardened this like the footpath. It's just
been traveled so much by sin that it's so hard, this one doesn't
even penetrate. It just lays on top. And he says,
over in the earlier part of this chapter, he likens Satan to the
birds of the air. They fly down and they get it.
And he says, Satan comes along and immediately takes away what
was heard. And he never thinks of it again. This wayside here
never thinks of the gospel, never thinks of Christ, never thinks
of his soul, never thinks of God. Never does. Never does. And then he gives us another
type of soil. The second one is, and I call this one the shallow
soil. The shallow soil, there in verse
20. But he that received the seed
into stony places, the same as he that hears the
word and announce joy, he receives, this one receives the seed. The
wayside here didn't receive it, but this one receives it. But
he receives it on the surface. There's no depth. There's no
sinking of the seed down into the soil. It receives the seed, it says,
in stony places. There's a little thin layer of
soil on top, but underneath is nothing but stone. You can't
grow anything on stone. You're not gonna grow a tree
on stone. There's no depth to this soil.
The stones haven't been cleared. The stones are underneath the
surface. All that he believes, everything
about the gospel to him is on the surface. But I want you to notice here
how the seed is received by this one. It's received quickly. The good news sounds good. It
sounds good. He receives it quickly and with
joy. This one hears the good news
and shows some sign of life. He shows some joy, some excitement
about it. He sings, oh, how I love Jesus. He likes that song. But I tell
you, one of the things that's missing here is no conviction
of sin. I told you last week, conviction
of sin is painful. It is painful when the Holy Spirit
of God convicts a man or woman of sin. It's a painful experience. But this one, he hears the good
news, he hears about heaven, he hears about forgiveness of
sins, and quickly, quickly rejoices in it. He says, I like that. I tell
you what, if you've got two brain cells that are working, you ought
to like that. You ought to like that if you
do. Really. You ought to like forgiveness
of sins. We ought to. You ought to, I ought to. We
ought to like that. Naturally, we like the idea of
heaven. It sounds like vacation. But that's not what salvation
is. Salvation is union with God. It's not where I'm going, it's
the one I know. It's God. Being made one with God. He never
gets past going to heaven and missing hell. I mean, that's
good news. But he misses the one that heaven's
all about, Jesus Christ. This one is never sold out to
Jesus Christ. I'll show you here in a minute.
It's just all joy to him. Any good news makes him happy.
Any good news makes this one happy. He likes the music but
he doesn't hear the message. There's no real penetration deep
into his heart either. He's caught up in the emotions
of it. He's caught up in the glad tidings of the gospel. And notice what happens to him,
verse 21. Yet hath he not rooted in himself.
But Durreth endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution
arrives because of the Word, he's offended. He leaves. He leaves. He apostatizes. That's
what he does. He leaves. When trial or persecution
comes, he's offended. He's like, I didn't sign up for
this. I signed up for happy all the
time. That's what I signed up for. I didn't sign up for persecution. I didn't sign up for being persecuted
over the word, over the gospel, I believe. He signed up for the benefits,
not the losses. Paul said in Philippians 3, I
have suffered the loss of all things. I've suffered the loss
of all things, for Christ's sake. We've been going through Thessalonians
and it says, they received the gospel. How Paul say they received
the gospel? In much affliction. In much affliction. The very reason, part of the
reason in writing the epistle to the Hebrews is because some
of them were wanting to leave and go back because of the persecution
they were suffering over the gospel. And they were being persecuted,
losing their homes and their families and being excommunicated.
And someone said, you know, whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute,
you didn't, this wasn't on the ticket. I didn't sign up for
this. And that's the attitude of this
one. But listen, it says here, he had, this one had no root
in himself. He was not rooted in Christ.
The Word of God did not take root in this heart. You know,
you take a seed and you plant it in the ground, and it takes
root. And it took no root in this one
because it was all on the surface. Underneath that surface was a
hard rock, a hard heart. That's what was underneath the
surface of this one. John Bunyan calls this one Mr. Temporary. and Mrs. Turnback. That's what John Bunyan
called him. Mr. Temporary and Mrs. Turnback. This one is like over
in Hebrews chapter 6. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
6. Let me read that to you. Now, when I say he turned back,
he left, I don't mean he became an atheist, and he didn't quit
going to church service. He went down the road where they
preached a gospel that didn't bring any trouble. You know,
God loves this bumper sticker on there, God loves your smile.
You know, that's the one he went to. He don't get in trouble over
that one. This one where Jesus wants to
save everybody if you just let him, that's where he wants to
go, because this one caused too much trouble. This one causes
too much trouble. He didn't quit being religious
or become an atheist. He just went down the road where
they preached something he liked and it wasn't a problem. It didn't
bring any problems. But over in Hebrews, I guess
I need to get there, don't I? Hebrews chapter 6. I mean, look in verse 4. For it
is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, they've had some measure of taste of
it, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, they've sat in
the Gospel where the Gospel is preached, and have tasted the
good word of God and powers of the world to come, if they shall
fall away, to renew them again to repentance, seeing they crucified
to themselves, the Son of God afresh, and put into an open
shame. These are the ones who apostatize.
They leave the gospel of the grace of God. Now they don't
leave, as I said, religion. They just leave the true gospel
because of trouble. Suffering for Christ was not
counted as a joy. When the disciples suffered,
they counted it a joy that they were worthy to suffer for Christ's
sake. And our Lord said that type of
soil is among the multitude, the crowd that comes to hear.
Then we have the third soil. I call this the preoccupied soil.
This is the preoccupied. And this, I think this is the
most dangerous. This is the most dangerous. Verse 22. He also that receives
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. He received the word among thorns. This one seems to be promising.
Because it says He brought no fruit to perfection, that is
to maturity, but there was the appearance of fruit. There was
the appearance of some fruit. It started, but it looked real,
it looked promising, but 40 years later, it wasn't any different.
There was no maturity. There was no growing in Christ.
There was no growing in faith, hope, and love, kindness, and
patience. It was missing. He says here,
the cares of this life choke the Word. This one is so preoccupied
now. This one is so preoccupied with
this life, he has no time for Christ. He that loves mother,
father, sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me.
This one had no time for that. He loved mother, father, sister,
brother, job, whatever, more than Christ. He was preoccupied,
this is preoccupied soil. This one never leaves, but it
never develops. It never develops. This one is like Lot's wife,
always looking back. Always looking back. This one is more interested in
the stock market than the gospel, the newspaper than the Word of
God. I think this one is the most
dangerous because this one receives the seed, shows a little bit
of fruit, shows a little bit of promise, but No fruit, faith, hope, and love,
they never mature. And the reason they never mature
is because they're not real. If it's real, let me tell you
something, if it's real, it will mature. If God has given you
faith, it will grow. Now it won't grow to the same
measure as maybe somebody else's, because he said it brought forth
fruit, some 130 and 60. But if it's true faith, if it's
a God, it'll grow. It'll grow in Christ, it'll grow
in grace and knowledge of Christ. It'll grow in hope. Your hope, which is your expectation,
will grow. And your love, your love for
God, your love for one another, your love for sinners, it will
grow. I'm telling you, it'll grow.
You'll become more and more obsessed with Christ than these things. But 40 years later, I'm still
loving these things and more obsessed with these things and
more concerned with these things than I am with Christ at all.
It was never real. It was never real. And I'll show you this here in
the fourth soil. I call this one the prepared
soil. This is the prepared soil. In
verse 23, but he that receives seed into the good ground, good
ground, is he that hears the word and he understands it. What did the Lord say to the
disciple? Hear the parable. And he's saying
to him, understand the parable. Understand it. And here's evidence of good ground. Here's evidence of good, good
ground that's prepared of God. And this ground represents the
heart. It's the heart. Which also bears fruit. It bears
fruit. It brings forth some a hundredfold
and some sixty and some thirty. It brings forth fruit. The seed
here is received into this good ground. This ground has been
plowed, it's been cultivated by the Holy Spirit of God. God's
worked on this good ground. God has made this ground good. Because there's none good, no
not one, so if it's good ground, God made it good. He made it
good. And the seed has sunk deep into
the heart. The Holy Spirit has taken the
gospel and He has buried it. He has buried it into your heart
so deep that it becomes your life. It literally becomes your
life. When you think about where you're
going to go to work, what you're going to do, Christ is thought
of. Lord, what would you have me
to do? Where would you have me to go? Your life, listen, good ground
is when the gospel, which is Christ, when the gospel is buried
so deep into you, that it defines you. You are
defined by the gospel. You know, one time the people
took notice of the disciples that they had what? Been with
Jesus. They said, those men have been
with Jesus. And they could tell by their
talk and their conduct, they'd been with the Lord. It's a driving
force in your life on this earth. This heart, listen, this heart
keeps it. This heart keeps it. The devil
doesn't come and take it away because God has buried it so
deep in the heart he can't get it. God's put it there. And this
heart understands. You know, He said, the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven is not given to them, but it's given
to you. This heart understands the gospel. This heart understands,
if God sends me to hell, He's just. As David said in Psalm
51, He's just God in doing so. This heart understands, it understands
that God is holy and just, and He can do with me as He will.
He's the sovereign. This heart understands that Jesus
Christ is the substitute, the mediator, and this heart understands
its need of Jesus Christ. It understands. I'm thinking of a scripture that's
coming to my mind. I know I can't quote it. It's over in Isaiah.
Let not the rich man glory in his riches or the strong man
glory in his strength, but let him glory in this, that he understands
and knows Me. That he understands and knows
Me. What is a mystery to others is
clear to this one. It's clear to this one. This
good ground is the work of God. It's God's ground. It's God's
ground. Now how do we know this? How do we know this? How do we
know the good ground from the wayside here, the hard path,
the hard footpath, the wayside, and the thorny ground here, how
do we know the difference? Well, the way we know the difference
is fruit. That it bears. It bears fruit. How do you know an apple tree?
It bears apples. It bears apples. An apple tree
doesn't bear pears or cherries. It bears apples. And this good
ground bears, listen, the fruit of the Spirit. the fruit of the
Spirit. Now it bears some 100-fold, some
60, some 40. Not all bear the same amount,
but they do bear the same kind. It may not be the same amount,
but it's the same kind. And the evidence of this good ground,
this good soil, is faith, genuine faith. They grow in faith. You know, as life rolls along,
and trials and troubles come along, and they will. This one
grows in faith, and instead of being tore all to pieces all
the time, it starts to become like Eli said, it's the Lord.
Let Him do as He pleases. It's like Job, he says, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh away. When the stoning ground here
says, I can't believe the Lord let this happen to me. This is
not supposed to happen. I'm supposed to be a child of
God. And he leaves. But true faith stays. I'm telling
you, faith stays. It's like the three Hebrews have
thrown into the furnace. Our God, they said, is able to
deliver us. They said this, but if not, If
it's not His will, if He lets us burn up in this fire, He's
still God. He's still God. That's faith.
That's faith. And hope. Hope. If you have real
hope. Let's say God gave you hope 20
years ago, 10 years ago, or 50 years ago. That hope, which is
an expectation of God doing just as He said He would, is stronger
today than when it began. You have a greater expectation
of God doing. That's what enables you to wait
patiently on the Lord. That's what enables you to wait
because you have an expectation of God doing just as He said
He would. God said, call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will
deliver you and you shall glorify Me. And what do you do? You wait. You wait. You know, when you were young
in the faith, you were anxious, but the older you get, the more
you grow in Christ, the more you're able to just wait. You
wait on Him. He'll show up. He said He would. He said He would. And you grow in love. Love to
God. Love to the brethren. You grow in good works. Paul
said, be careful to maintain good works. Now, outside of Christ,
nobody has good works. That's what He says. If you're
not eating good, nothing good can come from you. That's just
simple. That's just simple. But when God makes the ground
good, and God works on this ground, God works in this ground, it
brings forth good works, good fruit, kindness, Long suffering
with each other. Long suffering. And this person, listen, this
person keeps coming to hear the gospel. You really need the gospel. You really need to hear the gospel.
You know, just to hear it once in a great while is not enough. I tell you what, I eat every
day. I eat three meals every day. I don't skip any of them. Because I'm hungry. I'm hungry. If God has made you hungry, blessed
are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness to be right
with God. Well, if I have a real hunger
and a real thirst after righteousness, Who is my righteousness? Scripture
says Jesus Christ is, and I have no hunger or thirst after Him.
Because He's my righteousness before God. This person keeps coming to hear
the gospel. This person has real conviction
of sin. Sin really bothers you. Sin really,
really bothers you. Scripture says they shall mourn
when they look on Him whom they've pierced. There's a real genuine
mourning over your sinfulness. There's a real conviction of
sin and righteousness and judgment. This one has a real love for
Christ and the brethren. There's real growth in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. And when trials and afflictions
come, they bear more fruit. This is when the fruit really
shows up. is when the trials and afflictions
come. This is when they show up. This is what ripens the fruit. When God sends His children trials
and afflictions and heartaches, this ripens the fruit. It ripens
them. It ripens the fruit, it ripens
them. And then when they're ripe enough to pick, God takes them
home. When they're good and ripe, He takes them home. This one is born of God. All
others, they had no fruit. There was not any fruit. They
didn't grow any kinder. Their love didn't grow any stronger.
Their faith didn't grow any more in Christ. There was no change. There was
no change in them. No change. In fact, this ground bears fruit throughout life. Why don't you turn over to Psalm
92 and I'll wind this down. Some of you older folks, and
there are some older folks I know that's not here, may wonder,
why is the Lord leaving me here in this place? You know, what
good am I anymore? Well, listen. In Psalm 92 verse 14. Well, let's go to 13. Let's go
to 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall
flourish in the courts of our God, They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. You may think, and actually you
don't even see the fruit. They're the ones who said, Lord,
when did we ever see you in prison and visit you? When were you
ever hungry and we fed you? When did that ever happen? They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. Henry will write me a letter.
That's fruit. I'm telling you, to me, it's
fruit. He don't see it that way. I'm sure he probably doesn't.
He doesn't see it like I see it. Put it that way. He doesn't see it like I see
it. Here is an old saying of God writing to me about the grace
of God and our fellowship in Christ. Just that letter is fruit. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. That's right. You think, well,
that ground has been around a while. It ain't gonna grow anything.
Why can you grow in that ground? Well, I'll tell you what. I've
seen this. I've seen this in those who've
been around in Christ for years. Man, I've seen, I've seen the
tenderness and the compassion come out. that I didn't see 40 years ago. They grow in these things. I
tell you, if something's alive, it's going to grow. The person
that's born of God, they will bear fruit throughout their whole
lives because it's God's ground. The only thing growing old on
me is my body. My spirit, that which is born
of God, it doesn't age. It does not age. The only thing
that's aging on me right now is this body. And in a little
while, I'm gonna get rid of it. Then I won't age at all. Not all bear the same amount
of fruit, but they all bear fruit. That's the evidence that good
growth is evidenced by fruit. And with this group in here this
morning, We will fall under one of these
four soils. One of these match us. One of
them. God, make me good ground. Make
us good ground. All right.