In the Gospel of Matthew chapter
13, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke several parables, seven parables. Now, a parable is an earthly
story that illustrates heavenly or spiritual truth, and the Lord
often spoke in parables. He spoke of the kingdom of God.
All of these parables are concerning the kingdom of God or eternal
life and those that are in the kingdom of God, those who have
eternal life. It speaks of the salvation of
God, speaks of the Son of God, speaks of the family of God,
the kingdom. The kingdom. Seven parables.
Seven is always a number that represents perfection because
this is the perfect wisdom and understanding and word of the
Lord God. The first parable perhaps is
the most important. This is where the Lord began. He spoke a parable concerning
the Word of God, which is the incorruptible seed, Scripture
says, by which we are born of God, born again. And this Word,
the Word of God, must be sown in the heart. He begins in verse
3, he says, a sower went forth to sow. A sower. That sower is God Almighty, and
the seed is His Word. The sower is the Spirit of God.
The sower is the Holy Spirit of God who takes the things of
Christ, who is the seed, the incorruptible seed, and sows
Him, puts Him in the heart of a sinner, of a child of God,
and gives them life like seed in the ground. Christ came into
the world. The Word was made flesh, the
seed of God. He came into the world to preach
the Word, to sow the Word. God Almighty is the husbandman,
He is the owner. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and the inhabitants thereof. Jesus
Christ was sent by God the Father into His land, into His world.
He is the seed and God must sow God must put Christ in the heart. The Spirit of God must put Jesus
Christ by faith in the heart of a human being or there won't
be life. And He sows this seed where He
will. So Christ is the seed. The Word
is the seed. Christ is even called the Word. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Well, the ground is man's heart. This is where the seed is sown
or not sown. The ground is man's heart. Scripture
says, out of the heart are the issues of life. A man must believe,
a woman must believe from the heart, for with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made. Well, there are four types of
ground, and he gives these types of ground here in this parable.
He says in verse 3, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed,
some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured
them up. Some fell upon stony places,
or hard ground, where there was not much earth, and forthwith
they sprang up, but because they had no deepness of earth, no
depth of soil, when the sun was up they were scorched, and because
they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns,
And the thorn sprung up and choked them. And other seed, that is,
fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold,
some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. And he says, He who hath ears
to hear, let him hear. So there are four types of ground
or four kinds of hearts that hear the word or do not hear
the word. And I draw this to your attention,
three out of four are bad, bad ground, bad hearts. So does that
make you understand the rarity of a good heart? that many are
called but few chosen, that the only good heart is a broken heart,
and that is a heart given by God, made good or broken by God,
which Ezekiel 36 verse 26 says, I will give a new heart. So the
first heart is a wayside heart, the second is a stony ground
heart, the third is a thorny ground heart, and the fourth
is a good heart. Now this is a parable that I
can relate to, that you can relate to. We live in Franklin County,
Virginia, which is a farming county. And this is a story of
a man with a bag of seed, and he has his land, and he broadcasts
this seed. Some of that seed falls on the
path around the land, which many farmers, they drive their tractor
around the ground and not on it to keep from compacting it. Some of this seed fell on that
wayside, and then some fell on ground that had not been plowed
up. It looked good. But it had not
been plowed up. And then some fell among thorns,
or the thickets. And then some fell on good plowed
ground. Well, verse 4 says, He sowed
this, some fell by the wayside. By the wayside. In verse 19,
the Lord begins to open up this parable to His disciples. And
He says in verse 19, Anyone 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 way side. Christ is the way, but this way
side were those that are by the way, but not in the way, not
in the field, not plowed up by the Lord. They are near it, but
not in it. And the seed fell upon them,
but it did not penetrate. Scripture says, Have they not
all heard? Have not most people heard the
Word? Yes, the vast majority. The vast
majority hears the Word of God, but they don't receive it because
their hearts have not been prepared. And they go the way of the well-trodden
path of the world, the wide way that leads to destruction, the
way they think is right, the way of man's wisdom, the way
of flesh, the way of pleasure or religion, which is the way
of man's will or works. It's a well-trodden path, and
it's a wide road, but it leads to destruction. And that seed
of God is generally trampled on, and the ground, the heart
is not broken by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God to
receive it. And it says the fowl of the air
come along like an old crow sitting on a fence watching the farmer
sow this seed. And he sees that seed fall by
the wayside and quickly swoops down and gathers up that seed
and takes it away. Well, that's the fowl one of
this air, the arch enemy of this, the God of this world and his
demons who take away. Take away the word of God who
blinds the minds of men and women lest they hear the word of God.
He steals it. He twists it. He corrupts it.
And they don't receive it. Verses 5 and 6, some fell upon
stony places, hard ground. They had not much earth. They
looked pretty good. like some who sit and listen.
They look pretty good, seems good, but it says they had no
depth, no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they
were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.
That's a person who sits and hears the Word and might make
a profession, might be baptized, might make some kind of public
profession, seems to be zealous, comes and sits for a while, But
there's no depth, there's no root, there's no real true heartfelt
need for Christ, love for Christ, love for the truth, love for
His worship, love for His kingdom. No real depth of earth and no
true heart of faith and love for the truth. I worry about
Those who sit and sit and sit and sit and don't hear a thing. And many have sat for years under
the preaching of the truth and have not made a profession of
faith. I have deep concerns that they may never, may never hear
the Word. But then there are those who
sit, who have heard the Word and made a profession. And they
sit for a while and after a while it seems like their hearts have
grown cold and stony and they lose interest. I'm perhaps more
worried about that person. How long can a person sit and
not make a profession? Well, a long time. A long time. How long can a stony heart receive
the word and then finally fall away? A long time. A long time. But this is a person
who has just a shallow or head knowledge and no heart love for
the truth, like Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. Her heart
was in Sodom. When the sun came up, tribulation,
persecution because of the truth. Christ is the sun. Christ is
the light. The Word is the light that reveals
the heart, exposes the heart. And tribulation, that's pressure
from the world. Persecution, ridicule, rejection. Here it is, someone gets religion
and for a time they're devoted. They seem to be interested, but
then their old friends and the world and the things of the world
and the advantages of the world that are still there in the heart
begins to compete with the Word of God
and the worship of God. And the great revealer of the
heart is the truth. Christ is a great revealer. And
then when this persecution, the world and the people of the world
begin to pull at this person, and they won't take sides with
God against the people and the family that they have in this
world, and finally they fall away. That's a stony ground. Well, the next kind of ground,
says, some fell among thorns. Thorns. And the thorns sprung
up and choked them. In verse 22, our Lord said, He
that received the seed among the thorns is he that heareth
the Word, and the care of this world and deceitfulness of riches
choked the Word. And he become unfruitful. The
care of this world, the deceitfulness of riches. Where your treasure
is, that's where your heart is. And if Christ is not in the heart,
but rather the world is, It chokes out the Word, and you will leave. Oh, my. And then there's good
ground. It says, Others fell on good
ground. See, the Word, the Gospel, the
truth falls on good ground. The only good ground or good
heart is a broken heart. Scripture says in Psalm 34, the
Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, broken by
the Spirit of God, broken over their sin, that mourn over sin.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are they that mourn. They shall be comforted by the
gospel. The Lord saveth such as be of a contrite heart. Scripture
says in Isaiah 66, to this man will I look, to this person He
that is poured of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word."
Yes, the word is received with a trembling, broken, contrite
heart. It receives deep down into the
heart. And it says it brings forth fruit,
some 100, some 60, some 30, but its faith is what it is. It is
fruit. It is love, true love, love for
the truth. Love for God, love for His Word,
love for His people, love for His Kingdom. It is joy, joy in
the Lord, rejoicing in Christ Jesus. Peace, peace through Christ,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
the world being brought out of that person's heart and given
a true heartfelt love for Christ, for His truth, for His Kingdom,
for His Gospel, for His Gospel, His people, that's a good heart. What about you? Hear ye, Christ
said, hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear what the Spirit sayeth. Oh, may the Lord break up your
heart and cause the seed of His Word to be planted and bring
forth life. Amen.