All right, Matthew 13, 1 through
10, then down to verse 18. The same day went Jesus out of
the house and sat by the seaside. And great multitudes were gathered
unto him, so that he went out into a ship and sat, and the
whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things
unto them in parables, saying, Behold, 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 seed fell upon stony
places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprang
up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was
up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good
ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundred, some sixtyfold,
and some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Skip to verse
18 and the Lord interprets it. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom and understandeth not, then cometh the wicked and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he
which receiveth seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth the seed
into the stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it. And yet he hath not root in himself,
but doereth but for a while, for when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receives seed among
the thorns is he that hears the word, and the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh
unfruitful. But he that receiveth seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understands it,
which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold,
some sixty, and some thirty. Now, speaking of this manner
of preaching that is in parable, I wonder if we have taken notice
as we read and study our Bible, something about the preaching
or the teaching of the Old Testament prophets and teachers of God. That during that Old Testament
dispensation, yea, the preaching and the worship during that period
of time, that there were many types and many shadows. that were employed in their worship
and in their knowledge. And these all pointed to a corresponding
antitype under the gospel in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet much of the preaching and
much of the writing of the Old Testament scripture were either
prophetical or they were historical. or they were, as it were, practical,
a rebuke for their sin as a prophet stood and called them to account
for their great sin and apostasy against God and to correct and
amend their way and walk in the way of God. When we come to the
New Testament and particularly during the ministry of our blessed
Lord, which is recorded in the four gospels, we find that our
Lord's teaching is loaded with parables that he speaks unto
them, especially in the public teaching of our Lord, and particularly
from Matthew 13 on for a while. Now of course, He did not always
speak. in parable, and particularly
unto his disciple in private. He spoke unto them openly, and
he taught them of the things of God, and he showed them how
the Old Testament prophecies were coming together in him as
the Son of God. But most, a large part, of what
our Lord spoke to the public particularly in the hearing of
the Jew, he spake in parable form unto them." Now, here are
some verses of scripture. In Matthew chapter 13 and verse
34, all these things spake Jesus in parable, and without a parable
spake he not unto them." Mark chapter 4 and verse 2, and he
taught them many things in parable. We read in Matthew chapter 13
and verse 3, and he spake many things unto them in parable.
Now that stirred my curiosity, and I tried to make a count of
the number, actual number, of the parables that our Lord spoke
that are recorded in the three synoptic gospels, Matthew and
Mark and Luke. Spoken to the people, spoken
to the Jew, spoken out in public, spoken unto the people at large. and a conservative count of the
number of parables in the scripture recorded that our Lord spoke
would be about 40. There are some 40 or so parables
that our Lord used in his ministry in speaking unto the public and
unto the Jew. Now many of them are announced
as parables. Either the writer will say, and
another parable spake he, or Jesus would say, hear ye this
parable, and he spoke it unto them. And so the question then
becomes, what is a parable? What is this manner of speaking
that is in parable form? I think the Greek word is the
word parable, meaning to throw down beside in order that one
might make a comparison between one thing and another. And a
lot of our Lord's parables were taken from the realm of agriculture
or of farming and of tilling the ground and human experience
and such thing. And that paints a clear picture
of the natural. The natural in a parable is very
easy to see and to understand and to picture in our mind's
eye. But at the same time, that parable,
so clear as to the natural, can have a hidden spiritual meaning
and application that may not be understood by the hearer. Now, as for the running context
in Matthew's gospel that we read from, we read here again in Matthew
chapter 13 And verse 3, that he spake many
things unto them in parable. That is, a multitude was gathered. Remember, they were on the shore.
Our Lord cast off a little in a ship. And he spake these parable
in Matthew chapter 13. unto them, at least the first
part, and the last part to the disciples in private. Now this is the first time that
we have a parable recorded in the New Testament, and it is
the first time chronologically that the word parable is used
in this New Testament. The first time that we meet with
this method of teaching in public evidently was here in Matthew
chapter 13. And in verse 10 and over in Mark
chapter 4 and also verse 10, the disciples took note of our
Lord that he had begun to speak unto them time after time in
parable. And so they ask him the question,
why are you speaking unto them in parable? You can look at Mark
chapter 4, 33 and 34 also. Now, it's not that they are critical
of our Lord's way of teaching, but they wonder why he speaks
unto them in these, quote, dark sayings, unquote, in their hearing
to the people instead of using plain speech unto them. Why do you speak unto them in
parables? In fact, if you want to know,
they themselves did not understand all of the spiritual meaning
in the parable, and they were perplexed as to why the Lord
had begun to speak in parable. So, here's part of chapter 13
that we skipped over. Let's read it now, beginning
in verse 11. We read the answer of the Lord
under their question, and we're using the account of Matthew,
it being the most complete of all of those that are recorded. Why do you speak unto them in
parable is the question. And here is the answer, beginning
in verse 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. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath
not, from him shall be taken away even that that he had. Verse 13. Therefore speak I unto
them in parables. Because they seeing see not,
and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, by hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is whack
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes they have
closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, hear
with their ear, and should understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them. Blessed are your eyes,
for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say
unto you, that many prophets and righteous have desired to
see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to
hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them." Now
did you recognize? That is part of Isaiah chapter
6 when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. Now the short
answer to the question is that our Lord was fulfilling the prophecy
of Isaiah and that a judicial sentence had been passed against
the Jew because of their rejection and enmity against Messiah. What he said, it is not given
them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. They are
blind and they are deaf to the things of God. But as for this
beginning to speak unto them in parables, chapter 12 is our
backdrop for this incident, especially Matthew chapter 12 and verse
14, if you glance there back at it, it says that they sought
to formulate a plan whereby they might destroy the Lord Jesus. They might be rid of him, put
him away, even put him unto death. And in chapter 12, They, first
of all, criticized the Lord for letting his disciple gather corn
from the field on the Sabbath day when they were hungry. There
in that chapter, they blasphemed his casting out of devils, saying
that it had been done for in the name of Beelzebub. and they
criticized the Lord for healing a man upon the Sabbath day. They said, you could have waited
to some other day for your healing. And so the Lord likens them,
that is Israel, unto a man that had an unclean spirit, and the
unclean spirit went out of him. This gave him Phariseeism. The unclean spirit went out of
them. walking through dry places, seeking
water, finding none. Then he said, you know, I'm going
to return to my house or body out of which I came. And when
he did, he took with him seven spirits, more wicked than himself,
and entered in. And the Lord said, the end of
that man was worse than the first. And in Matthew chapter 12 and
verse 45, The Lord applies that parable to this wicked generation. And in Matthew chapter 13, as
A.W. Pink wrote, here began a new
method of the Lord's teaching, using parables to make a distinction
between his hearers, to keep them from perceiving the truth
as Isaiah had predicted. And yet, how many there are today,
when they talk about parables, their point is, Jesus spoke in
parables to make it so easy for the people to understand what
he was talking about. And the scripture said it is
the very opposite. It is imparable in order that
they might not understand. And get this, it was a form of
judgment upon the people or the nation of Israel. And then the
parables were not used in the preaching of the apostle after
our Lord. So let's note something unique. about this particular parable
that we're looking at this morning, something unique before we enter
in and consider the parable. We have to turn to Mark for this. That'd be chapter 4, verse 10
through 13, as Mark is the only gospel that includes what we
read in chapter 13. And he said there, in essence,
that this was or is a key parable. If you don't understand this,
how will you understand all parables? And especially the kingdom of
heaven parable. To unlock the parable, this parable,
would lead them greatly to understanding other parables of like nature
and of teaching. Now, this first parable was an
introductory course to parableology, as our Lord spoke and used it
in his ministry. And the Lord stretched it out
more than most here in Matthew chapter 13, showing how a parable
may be darkness to one while it is light unto others. according
to the purpose and the design of God. He spoke in parables
so that some should hear it and not understand or know. For their ears are dull of hearing
so that they cannot understand and they therefore cannot be
or will not be converted. Now the Lord pronounces very
blessed those that have eyes to see and ears to hear what
he said. Matthew 13 and verse 17. Prophets and righteous men under
the law desired to see and to hear what Jesus was speaking
to the apostle and they did not hear them. But Hebrews 11 and
verse 13, those under the old economy who desired to see and
to hear these things, they died in faith without seeing the fulfillment,
only seeing them afar off, but they were persuaded of them and
they embraced them. As we read in Hebrews 13, 11,
and verse 13. So back to the thought that this
is a key parable for us and is a very enlightening one also. Once the Lord interprets it for
his servants for us to read and to contemplate. Then, as David
Brown wrote in his book on the gospel, it has an introductory
character, unquote, this parable of the soil. And it explains
why so few there were and there are that believe not. And the nature of the kingdom
of heaven. Why so many hear the Word of
God? They have the seed sown, quote,
in their ground, unquote, or their heart, but they do not
respond not in a proper way and why some do not respond and the
misery of that state and they miscarry after hearing the word
of the Lord being sown in their heart and their fruit never ripens. They never wholly produce fruit,
only the fourth year or the last one. Now we see in other parables,
for example, among the wheat, There were tares that were sown.
That's the next parable here in this. Darn ale, illegitimate
wheat, some have called it, which was good for nothing and at the
harvest would be gathered out and burned. The tares, the false
wheat, the fake wheat. Then we also noted that in the
parable of the net, there were good fish and bad fish that were
caught in the net, drawn to shore, The good fish were gathered in,
the bad fish were thrown away. They were caught in the gospel
net, if you will, in the preaching of the word. But now coming to
the parable which we have singled out. First of all, here is the
naked parable itself in Matthew 13, 3 through 8. Then he interprets
it as we read. The Lord's interpretation and
the spiritual application of the parable. Now the parable
is so picturesque and is so clear for our minds to see when we
look at it. Whether is this a parable? Is it a parable of the sower? Is it a parable of the seed?
Is it a parable of the soil? For all of them are concerned
in it. I prefer the last, that it is
a parable of the soil. For the sower and the seed are
one and the same. while there are four different
types or conditions of the soil or the heart that hears the Word
of God. The same sower sowed the same
seed in each and every case. Verse 3, Behold, a sower went
forth to sow. Verse 4, As when he sowed, some
fell by the wayside. Verse 5, And some fell up on
rocky places, and then some seed fell among an infestation of
thorns and landed in the briar patch in thick growth and came
to nothing. Verse 8, some, on the other hand,
landed in the good ground or upon the good heart and brought
forth fruit. So let us envision, if we might,
the Palestinian sower going out into his field to sow the seed. Behold, a sower went forth to
sow. Now, this sower in Jesus' day
is not on an eight-row, air-conditioned John Deere tractor sowing the
seed in his field, nor is he on a horse-drawn cultivator with
a planter attachment like we had in the country. but a knapsack,
probably, over his shoulder. And as he reached in for hands
full and cast them about, sowing about in his field. We call this
broadcast sowing, I think. Just sowing seed in every direction. Some of them carried over into
this play. Perhaps the wind drove others
outside of the cultivated field. Now as we go and we see him sow,
we hear a forecondition and of foreresult from the sowing of
the seed. In verse 4, those seed that fell
on the wayside were devoured by the fowls of the air. And secondly, in verse 5, and
in verse 6, those which fell on the rocky soil had not much
earth and rocks underneath, so they sprang up all right, but
because of the shallow soil, and the lack of extracting moisture
from the ground. The sun came, began to beat down
upon them, scorched them. Having no depth of earth, it
said, they withered away and came to nothing. Then we come
to the third one, verse 7, those that fell among a thorn infestation. And the thorns overgrew them,
and outgrew them, and smothered them out. And even though it
was a good seed, it brought no fruit to perfection, what then
made the difference. And then number four in verse
eight, the seed which fell upon the good soil, and it brought
forth fruit in varying amounts, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. It produced a harvest. for the
farmer. And this is the aim and this
is the goal of a farmer. To this end, he exerts his labor
in clearing and preparing the field to receive the fruit of
his labor in the harvest of his field, planting in the hope of
an expectation of a harvest, and to reap of every seed after
its very own kind." We read in Mark chapter 4 and verse 10,
when they were alone, the little flock of the Lord asked him about
the parable. And the Lord explained that the
soils represent the various states or condition of the hearts of
those that are hearing the Word of God. There are four kinds
of hearers, for the soil represents the heart and the response is
determined Not by the skill of the sower or the purity of the
seed, but by the condition of the heart. The seed is the Word
of God. Luke chapter 8 verse 11. Now
the parable is this. The seed is the Word of God. The sower is the Son of Man,
as in the parable of the tare and the wheat. Matthew 13 and
verse 37, He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The Lord, a preacher, a herald
sent from God to declare the things of God. Then the field,
as we learn, is the world. And again, taking it from the
parable of the wheat and the tare in Matthew chapter 13 and
verse 38, it said, The field is the world. The field is the
world where the seed is sown. The good seed are the children
of the kingdom. The tares are the children of
the wicked one of the devil. Now the fowls in the parable
represent the wicked one in Matthew 13 and 19. Even Satan in Mark chapter 4 and verse 15. The fowls came and grabbed the
seed and took them up. But the thing to remember is
that the final emphasis regards the type of soil or heart in
which the Word of God is sown and where it fell. No farmer
would sow or would plant his seed in an infested thorn track,
or in a rare patch, or upon a bunch of rock. The land must be first
cleansed. The land must be plowed. It must
be tilled, the fallow ground broken up, perhaps fertilized
that it might receive new strength. The Johnson grass all plowed
under in spring to make ready for the planting. all the stubble
plowed under and there to rot and to decay, made ready for
the planting. There's more work in getting
the field ready to plant than there is in the planting and
in the harvest. Now, let's examine the four situations
set forth in the type and the anti-type here in this great
parable. First of all, we have the wayside
setting, Matthew 13 and 4. In sowing, some seed are bound
to fall accidentally, I might add, outside the plowed or prepared
field or ground, landing on a soil that has been trodden down and
a roadway that has been packed and is hardened. And perhaps
the figure is then the seed is trodden underfoot And what happened? Why, the fowls of the air, with
their great sigh, saw it, came down, swooped down, got the seed,
carried it away, and devoured it. Did you ever notice, if you
ever saw a plowed field, how the birds come and flock to see
what might be there for their good? I'm amazed at mowing the
grass around here that these birds will come and like five
feet from that roaring lawnmower snatch up a worm or a bug and
got it and they're gone because the plowing and the mowing stirs
up that which they are looking for and after. Now the application in Matthew
13 verse 19 Mark 4, 15, Luke 8, and verse 12. This is the
only one with absolutely no response whatsoever. The first one, the
seed falling upon the hardened ground. hearing the word of God,
but having absolutely no response, no good reaction on account of
the condition of his heart. His heart is hard. He has no
understanding of what he has heard. It makes no deep or lasting
impression upon him. It makes no conviction unto him
whatsoever. It makes no turning of his heart
unto the Lord or thinking upon eternal things. Also, the buzzards
of hell come and snatch away the word out of his heart and
they do not believe, they do not respond. How many hearers
are there like this? who might come and hear a fine
sermon and a true and a biblical sermon and have absolutely no
response or conviction whatsoever from him. I had a little story
I wanted to tell. I want not to take this time.
When I was still working, I was working at a packing house and
there was a guy there that was a friend of mine and I was preaching
in a certain place and I told him about it and asked him to
come and And so the next day at work, I said, well, you didn't
show up last night at church. He said, oh, yes, I did. Yeah,
I was there, way back in the back. I didn't see him. And so
I said, all right, tell me something that you heard. He said, well,
you told that little joke about so-and-so. Didn't hear the word
of God. Didn't tell me what scripture.
Didn't tell me a point. You told a joke. And he told
me, and I said, OK, I know you were there. Well, secondly, we
have here that that fell on the rocky soil covered by a shallow
layer of earth. And it sprang up very quickly
when the seed was planted. But the shallowness of the earth,
the lack of a root system where it could not put one down, The
lack of moisture scorched by the sun of the day and it withered
away. Now this hearer at first received
the word with joy and in Mark 4 and 16 immediately received
the word with gladness. But he had no root. He could
get no moisture. And when they meet persecution
for the sake of work, for the sake of the word, And when the
guys at work start teasing him and calling him a sissy because
he started to go to Sunday school and church and teasing him about
things like that. And the in-laws scold him and
say, my, have you drank a cup of that opiate of religion? And
by and by, under that, he gives it up. He abandons his connection
to it whatsoever. The joy and gladness dies away.
They quit church, they spend Sundays on the lake or barbecuing. How many of this type have we
seen? Matthew 13, 21, they doer for
a while and then fall away. Thirdly, the thorny ground here,
the seed, the thorns sprang up around it. and they choked out
the seedling and they killed it so that it could not get life. This kind of hearer, yes, hears
the word but brings forth no fruit to finality or to perfection
for the word is completely choked out in his heart by the things
around it, by the thorns, by worldly cares, the deceitfulness
of riches, the lust and desire of other things entering in,
and the pleasures of life, and these things smother the word
out in this particular hearer as they did in the ground. David
Brown in his book on the four gospels put it this way, by drawing
so much of one's attention, absorbing so much of one's interest, and
using up so much of one's time, unquote, is a factor in that
word being smothered out. They're overcome with such things
as the world, with the lust of the eye, the lust of the heart,
and the pleasures of life, the pride of life. And their hearts
and affection are set on other things and not upon the word
of God, and the word is then choked out. But then, verse number
four, we come to the good ground, hearer, and the fruit which they,
quote, bring forth. The parable, some seed fell on
good ground, ground cleared of the thorns and the briars and
the wild vines. The rocks all picked out and
thrown aside, the ground broken up. and plowed and made ready,
and then the seed cast into that ground. And it sprouts up, it
puts down its roots, it grows, it buds, it blooms, and it puts
on its fruit. And it ripens in various measures,
listen to this, according to the vigor in the soil that feeds
it, in the parable and in the heart. So the application, the
hearers differ one from the other and this one from the three.
Not because a more skilled or experienced sower has taken up
the seed sack, for the sower and the seed are the same in
all four of these grounds and here. The only difference in
it was in the soil where the sower sowed that seed. And all three gospels that include
this parable attribute the result to the soil and the condition
of the heart. All three call the fourth ground
good ground. It fell into good ground. And then the description of the
hearer, that is, he heard in Matthew 13, 23, He that receives
seed into the good ground is he that hears the word and understands
it, which also bears fruit. In Mark chapter 4 and verse 20,
such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit. Luke
8 and 15, rises higher, that on the good ground are they which
in an honest and a good heart, having heard the word, keep it
and bring forth fruit with patience. Mark, I'd rather Luke. Now there
are five things here that Luke has put out for us, how to commend
the hearer, that distinguish us from the previous three types
of heart and ground. So let us think of number one,
the ground, number two, the heart, and either can be called good
when the ground was cursed for Adam's sake. How in the world
can it be said that this ground is good and this heart is good
when we have the history of the depravity and the fall of man? First of all, you remember the
earth was cursed with or for Adam's sin in Genesis chapter
3 17 through 19, a part of Adam's punishment was to fall upon the
earth. Cursed is the earth for your
sake. It is put in bondage in Romans
chapter 8 and verse 21 with the sons of men, bringing forth thorns
and thistles and briars, which can choke and smother the good
produce upon the earth, except they are cut down, digged out,
burned, and removed. First things up seem like every
year is the weed and the things that we do not want. They're
up first in our garden. But beyond that, how can the
heart of a man be called honest and good when we read such things
as Genesis 6 and 5, the whole imagination, the whole intent,
The whole motive and the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually. That is every day. Every day. Genesis 8, 21. The imagination
of man's heart is evil from his youth. That famous one. In Jeremiah
chapter 17 and verse 9, the heart is deceitful above all things. It is desperately wicked. Who
can know it? Mark 7, 21 through 23, the Lord
Jesus Christ told of the evil things that come up out of the
heart and defile the individual. The unrenewed heart is nothing
but a cesspool of iniquity, giving birth to the most degrading type
of sin that one might imagine. All you have to do is look at
our world and listen to the news. So that it rejects the word of
God, it shuns Christ, it lacks ears that it might hear, And
yet here is a heart likened unto good and ready to receive the
word of God, called honest and good. Who made it different from
the other hearts? How is it that this heart is
so distinctively different from the other three? For as the fallow
ground must be broken up, it must be cleared, it must be made
ready for the seed, and it must be done in the right season for
a harvest to be gained, even so, Benjamin Keats wrote a big
old thick book on all the parables of the Bible. He said this, quote,
the heart must first be plowed up by the Holy Ghost to make
it good tillage before the seed of God takes root and brings
forth fruit. Unquote. There must be a preparation
of the heart like there is for the ground or the reception of
the seed. I also agree with Keech. This
is a supernatural work and a supernatural blessing flowing both from and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He counts such blessed for having
hearing ears and seeing eyes. Blessed are your eyes, they see.
Blessed your ears, they hear. Proverbs 20 and 12, the hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. The rule of the Lord as he taught
was this, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. I speak,
he that has ears to hear, Let him hear. The point is to be
noted. The seed being the same in all
four soils, quote, our slash hearers, did not change the bad
ground slash heart. being the Word of God by the
same sower at the same time. So the good ground slash heart
indicates a prior work of the Holy Spirit to prepare the ground
slash heart to receive the Word of the Lord. And this prior work
is known as regeneration. which enliven the dead faculties
that are in us prior to that, enables them to spiritually function
and to act and to understand and to bring forth fruit. None
of the others did. None of the others could. The
Word itself does not change the heart. The seed did not change
the soil. Good seed was sown in all four
cases, but the throwing in of the good seed by the good sower
did not in itself change the soil or the heart of the individual. None makes themselves to differ
from the other. It is a work of grace, a work
of God. And I close with this. that God
said he takes away the stony heart and gives us a heart of
flesh, soft and pliable so that the Spirit of the Lord has prepared
it. A new heart will I give you,
the prophet said, taking away the old stony heart. What is
that but regeneration, the new birth, the great work of God
commencing with that work in us. Then we have ears to hear,
and eyes to see, and an understanding. God help us that when the Word
comes, we understand it. That's a work of God. None make
themselves to differ. It's not your intelligence, it's
not your education, it's not your training. The ignorant as
well as the super intellectual, by a work of grace, is needed
to receive the truth of the Word of God.