Now this morning, I'm going to
look at a sermon that I know our brother Bill preached years
ago, and he's preached it since. Again, called the parable of
the sower and the seed, or it can be called different things.
But this particular parable here, you have a sower, which is a
messenger, a minister of the gospel, the true gospel. You
have the seed, which is the message, the gospel itself that's being
sown in different types of soil. And then you've got soil. You've
got four types of soil we're going to look at. And you've
got the hearers. You've got four types of those
that hear. this message here. And we're gonna go through these
verses here that Jason just read and hopefully get a good understanding
of what we're talking about here. First of all, I wanna tell you
that when we talk about the seed that's sown, we're talking about
the true gospel. We're not talking about a false
gospel, something that you might hear in so much of professed
Christianity today in name only. But we're talking about the true
gospel, that gospel that identifies the true God and the true Christ
of scripture, that gospel that tells us who they are and what
they did on our behalf to save sinners. This gospel that identifies God
as a just God, this gospel that tells us about Christ, who was
set up in eternity to represent a people, and in time to come
here to this earth, representing them on their behalf as their
surety, substitute, and doing all things necessary to save
them. We needed salvation because we fell in Adam. We're sinners. And so Christ came to this earth
and he did all those things necessary to save us. And even to the death
on the cross where he shed his blood. And God justifies his
people based entirely on Christ and that righteousness that he
worked out and God imputes it to our account. He does not charge
us, his elect, with our sins. What a blessed, what a blessed,
blessed gospel. That is good news, to know that
God's not gonna charge us with our sins. And the reason why,
he's already charged it to his son. And his son came in time
and paid the debt that we owe. So I wanted to tell you that
about, when we talk about the seed that's sown out there, we're
talking about a true gospel, not a false gospel that says,
well, he came and Christ came and did everything that he could
and now it's left up to you. It's your faith. It's what you
do to make the difference between heaven and hell. And you know
it does because if Christ came here and he died for all individuals
without exception, something has to make the difference other
than what Christ accomplished. Something else. And it has to
do with what you do. And that's not the Christ of
Scripture. So let me go forward here. I wanted to just put that out
there to begin with. Now today, as we look at Matthew
13, and look at this parable of the sower and the seed, you
could also title the message the parable of the soul. Because
the emphasis of this parable is that there are four types
of soul here, which represent four types of hearers. when the gospel is preached.
Now, Matthew 13 one says this, the same day went Jesus out of
the house and set by the seaside and great multitudes were gathered
together unto him so that he went into a ship and set and
the whole multitude stood on the shore. It was so crowded
on the shore that Christ had to get on a ship to teach. to talk to the crowd. And he
spoke in verse three, it says, and he spake many things unto
them in parable, saying, behold, a sower went forth to sow. Now
parable, as you know, is an earthly story. It's a story that uses
earthly things, earthly persons, symbols, things, objects, to
teach a higher spiritual eternal lesson. We also need to see that
the main issues of a parable is represented by an earthly
object. We also need to understand that you can't make everything
in a parable mean and stand for something. But you have to take
just a general message of that parable and hear the parable
of the souls and later on, beginning at verse 18, The Lord tells us
exactly what each thing means. He's talking about the spreading
of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel throughout the
earth. Now here in Matthew 13, you have
a series of parables, and what the Lord's doing in these parables
is teaching. He's teaching his disciples the
issues, the truth, and the nature of the kingdom of heaven. The
kingdom of heaven are sometimes referred to as the kingdom of
God, in these parables is not heaven itself or the future glory
of perfection that's in heaven, but Christ is talking about the
state of the church and his rule and reign over all things in
the establishment and growth of his church between the time
of his first coming and his ascension into glory and his second coming. That's the last days of the time
of the new covenant. The New Testament and the time
over which Christ rules and reigns and disposes of all these things
to save his people from their sins and to establish his church
throughout the world. Now, this is the time that we're
talking about. That's the kingdom of heaven.
Now, in the local assemblies, in the local assemblies on earth,
where the gospel, the true gospel is preached. That's what we're
talking about. local assemblies where the true
gospel is preached. They're believers and they're
unbelievers. And over in Matthew 25, 31 through 33, it tells us
something about these types, these two different types. When
the son of man shall come, it says, in his glory and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory and before him shall be gathered all nations. And he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divided
his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand and the goat on his left hand. Now this parable
speaks of the judgment, the final judgment, and how in the end
Christ is going to come and in that day he's going to separate
the ones he identifies as sheep, which are God's elect people,
Those for whom Christ died and redeemed from their sins, they
are regenerated and called by the Spirit in the new birth through
the preaching of the true gospel. Christ will separate those sheep
from goats, scripture says, which refers to unbelievers who will
perish eternally. Now that's what the scripture
says. But before that time, before this time of separation that
it's talking about right here, There's going to be a mixture
even within the local assemblies. Where the true gospels preach,
there will be a mixture. And that's what this parable
is talking about, speaking of this morning, the parable of
the sower and the seed. Even in local gospel assemblies,
there's going to be different kinds of people. There are going
to be believers and there are going to be unbelievers. And
there are going to be false professors and true professors. So that's
what this parable speaking of here. Now remember this about
the parable. They're not children's stories.
They weren't given to simplify the gospel. They were given to
illustrate the gospel and to teach truth of the kingdom of
heaven. Now, so in this parable here
that we're looking at, he begins in verse three, and Christ says,
behold, a sower went forth to sow, like a farmer. sowing seed on the ground. It
says in verse 4, it tells us of the first type of soil here
that that seed's sown into. It says, when he sowed, some
seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls, the birds, came and
devoured them, devoured them up and ate them. The seed didn't
have any opportunity to take root. The seed wasn't sown in
good ground or good prepared ground. It was sown by the wayside. Then Christ speaks of the second
type of soil here in verse five. It says, some fell, some of these
seeds fell upon stony places, stony ground, stony soil, where
they had not much earth. It was more rock than earth. And forthwith they sprung up,
because they had no depthness, no deepness of earth. And when
the sun was up, they were scorched. And because they had no root,
they withered away. So that's the second type of
soil. Then in verse seven, we have a third type of soil. Now,
he says in verse seven, and some fell among thorns. And the thorns
sprung up and choked them. Then in verse 8, we have the
fourth type of soil, and that's where Christ says, but other
fell into good ground, good earth, and brought forth fruit, some
a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. This seed produced
varying degrees of fruit, but they all grew. And he says in
Matthew 13, 9, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now, many
of the parables conclude that way. If you've got ears to hear,
then you hear. Now let me say this before I
go here in verse 18 to the meaning of this parable. We need to pay close attention
to this verse nine where it says, who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. All of us are familiar with the fact that in this physical
realm that we're in, we have physical life. We have physical
eyes and ears, ears to hear, physical ear. So we need to ask
ourselves, who gave us those physical ears, physical ears
to hear and physical eyes to see? Well, the answer is God
did. You didn't get those eyes and
ears that you're using in the physical realm on your own. God created it. God gave them
to you. It's the same in spiritual life. It's the same in spiritual hearing
and spiritual sight. As Christ gave sight to the blind
and he gave hearing to the deaf, he gives spiritual hearing and
spiritual sight to his people. He said, my sheep hear my voice. That's what Christ said. And
so what I want you to know before we get into this, if you hear
the gospel of God's grace, so fortunate to hear it, God's grace
in Christ, and believe it, then you have God to thank for that
hearing. You can't say, well, I heard
it because I'm better than somebody else who refused to hear it.
It wasn't an act of your own will. God made you willing by
giving you spiritual ears and spiritual eyes in this matter. Now, when does God give a sinner
spiritual ears and spiritual eyes? Well, the answer is obvious. It's when they're born again,
when we're born again. That's what Christ told Nicodemus
when he was talking to Nicodemus. a Pharisee of the Jewish religion,
he said, you must be born again, born by the Spirit of God, a
new birth. So what we're going to see in
the parable of the souls here is that three of these types
of hearers, that's what these souls represent, sinners hearing
the gospel in different ways. Three of these types were not
given spiritual ears and spiritual eyes. There was only one type
of hearer that had spiritual ears that produced fruit. Now,
as we begin here in verse 18 of chapter 13, it says, hear
ye therefore the parable of the sower. Christ is about to go
in and as he talks to his disciples and explain the meaning of these
parables. Now beginning in verse 18 here,
this is where he's talking to his disciples. Christ says in
verse 19 here, when anyone hear 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 someone said none of
the gospel and it's preached to him and he hears it with the
physical ear. But it says, then comeeth the
wicked one and catches the way that which is sown in his heart.
This is he which received the seed by the wayside, that we're
talking about. Now, this is the first sow, that
is the wayside hearer. This is the person who hears
the gospel with physical ear and may have some thought about
it. That's why it says sown in his heart, not planted in his
heart. You see, not taking root, but
that person really turns away from it, has no interest in it. They're just not concerned about
it. He's not concerned about sin. He's not concerned about
how God saves sinners as you talk to him, as he hears it.
He's not concerned about death, hell, or heaven. That's the way,
wayside hero. He's totally uninterested in
the preaching of the word. of the kingdom, and so many times
when the gospel goes out, there will be people who will just
turn a deaf ear to it, just unconcerned about it. They don't want to
listen. They don't want to consider it.
They don't want to think about it. That's the wayside hero. And that's sad. That's sad. You feel for these people in
a way. these individuals that are like that, that they don't
give heed to the preaching of the word of life. The word of
the kingdom is the word of life. Those that are hearing me this
morning, this gospel that I went into a little bit at the beginning,
how God saves sinners, Paul said it's either the preaching of
a message that is so important that it comes down to this. It's
either life unto life or death unto death. Life unto life to
those who God brings to faith in Christ, death unto death to
those who turn a deaf ear to it. Now he comes to the next
here. He says here in Matthew 20 and
21, but he that receives the seed into stony places, The same
is he that heareth the word, and anon, that is, he now or immediately he receiveth,
and with joy receiveth. The indication here is that this
person hears and he immediately latches on to it with joy. But he really hasn't thought
about the implications of what he's hearing. He hears it and
it sounds good to him. But he hadn't thought about the
implications of what he's hearing, what he's going to have to face
down the road. In other words, he's like the person that Christ
said, who didn't count the cost. I remember when I had to count
the cost, back when I first heard this gospel. And I had to consider
what I was going to have to confront with my former religion, and
my family, and my friends, that I had witnessed to in my former
religion. I had to tell all of them, I
was wrong. I was wrong, what I've been telling
you. That's not easy. But God gives us grace to do
it when he regenerates us and brings us to this gospel. I said I was wrong and that God
had revealed to me what the true gospel was. I had to repent. of all those things that I was
once proud of in my former religion. I had to count it lost. Then
Christ goes on in verse 21 and he says, Yet hath he not rooted
in himself, but doeth for a while, he endureth for a while, and
he says, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because
of the word. Now that's key. at that in verse
21. He doesn't say just when trouble
comes or persecution comes, but it's when trouble and persecution
comes because of the word, the gospel. Because of the gospel. This is a specific persecution
and tribulation that we face. And he says, by and by, he's
offended. And he leaves it. He turned,
I don't want to have to face all this with my former religion,
with my family, with my friends. It's just too much. I don't want
to confront them. It's not worth it. And when confronted with
this same issue, let's see what Apostle Paul did in Philippians
3.8. Apostle Paul says, yea, now this
was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a Jew. Come from that
Jewish religion. And he had all his life, he was
out persecuting the church, killing Christians, before God saved
him. He says, yea, but when God saved him and he came to this
gospel, he said, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, speaking of his
past religion, and do count them but done. worthless, that I may
win Christ. That is, Christ alone for salvation. Looking to Him alone for all
my salvation. Not Him, not Christ plus what
I did, but Christ totally, what He done. Now, there are many
stone-to-ground heroes. Have you heard the gospel and
received it and not suffered persecution, tribulation? with
your former religion, your family and friends. Do you know that
the gospel by its very nature will bring, will always bring
some form, some degree of persecution? Some degree of it. Persecution
and trouble from the world. We're in a battle, scripture
says. Believers are in the world here.
We walk this earth every day, but we're not of the world and
so Christ told his disciples in the book of John 15, he said,
marvel not if the world hates you. Now Christ is telling us
this. The world's going to hate you. He says, he says, for it
hated me before it hated you. Our Lord was despised and rejected
of men. He was lied upon. He was spat
upon. He was disrespected. He was actually
hated because of his message of grace. that expose the evil
deeds of the best and most religious and zealous men of his day. You see, when sinners hear that
all of his efforts to make himself righteous before God are evil
deeds because they deny the glory of God, they deny Christ, the
true Christ, they are fruit of unbelief. Unless God turns that
sinner's heart to Christ and away from his own works that
he thinks he can do to save himself. That sinner's gonna hate the
light. That's what scripture says. John 3, 19, the light has
come into the world, but men love darkness and hate the light. This light is that gospel message
that identifies the true God and the true Christ. That's the
light, the hate. That's what Christ, that's what
God's word said. So the gospel is called the preaching
of the offense of the cross. It's offensive to man by nature. It's offensive to his dignity,
to his self-righteousness, and so the gospel is hated. So Christ
told him in John 16, 1 and 2, these things have I spoken unto
you, he's speaking to his disciples, that you should not be offended.
They shall put you out of their synagogues, the churches, Yea,
the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God's service. The Apostle Paul back then, when
he was hunting down these Christians, he was thinking he was doing
the God that he knew a service by getting rid of them. And we
know, I know, I can attest to it in my own past religion, they
don't want you there. And you say, well, I don't want
to Tell them the gospel. Well, you can go so far with
that, and we've had some here that have been booted out. You stay here, but that message
has got to go. We won't have that talk here. And all we're telling them is
salvation is based on Christ and His righteousness alone.
Based entirely on Him. That's all we're telling them.
Flee to Christ. Salvation by His blood alone. I want to do something. I got
to do something. Give me something to do. He said,
blessed are you when men persecute you, revile you, and say all
manner of evil against you. Christ is telling us in his word
what's going to happen. It's going to happen and when
that message of grace offends the ears of self-righteous They'll
turn on you, and that's when the stony ground hearer says,
whoa, I gotta go. He leaves this gospel. He can't
handle it. He gotta go. That seed has not
been planted in that good, prepared ground by the Holy Spirit, and
it won't keep him there. That persecution, He goes, but
when we see God's glory in this thing of salvation, we see His
glory. And the exaltation of Christ,
that's what it comes down to. We think more about that, about
God's glory, than we do about our own. And so, where am I going
to go? Salvation is by Christ alone.
I've been convinced I can't do anything that's going to measure
up to what Christ accomplished, and God demands perfection. And Christ is going to be that
standard of judgment. In the end, I got to flee to
Christ. He's my only hope. Now, in verse
22, here's the third kind of hero. Matthew 13, 22. He also
that receiveth seed among thorns is he that heareth the word,
and the care of this world and the seekfulness of riches choke
the word, and he becometh unfruitful. Here's another kind of hearer.
This would be a person who hears the gospel and claims to believe
it, but he has no time for it. He's got other things to do.
The cares of this world has taken up his mind, consumed his heart
and his time. There's a seekfulness of riches.
He wants to make money. Now, there's nothing wrong with
making money. We all got to make a living. Nothing wrong with
making money. But if that consumes you, consumes your heart and
your time to the point that you just don't have any time to worship
the true God, No time for the Word of God, no time for the
people of God. This is the category of Saul
that you're in. It's a person that's deceived
by his own desires. So this is the thorny ground
here. Now, lastly in verse 23, it says, but he that received
the seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and
understandeth it, which also beareth fruit. and bringeth forth
some an hundred, some sixty, some thirty. This here understands
the gospel savingly, with the eye and the ear of faith, and
also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth fruit, some an hundred,
some sixty, and some thirty. Now here is a person whose heart
has been prepared by the power of the Holy Spirit, who gives
life, who changes that heart, gives you a new heart, who gives
a new heart to receive this gospel that's been preached to you. This is the broken and contrite
heart. This is the heart that's broken
over sin and sees the necessity of salvation by grace, God's
grace and mercy. You see, if you have a good heart,
it's one that has been prepared by God the Holy Spirit You didn't
have it naturally. The Bible said, there's none
good, no, not one. The heart of man is deceitful
and desperately wicked, it says. Who can know it? So if I believe
the gospel of Christ, the true gospel now we're talking about,
believe Christ from the heart, that is, your mind, your affections,
and your will. It's God who gave you that heart.
It's God who transforms you. It's God who gives you life,
spiritual life, to see my sinfulness and to see the glory and the
grace of God in Christ. And from that creation that God
has made and that sinner who receives Christ comes fruit. Now, some will bring forth more
fruit than others, some 100 fold, some 60 fold, some 30. But there will be fruit. It's
taken root. It's going to grow. It will be
the fruit of repentance, faith. It will be the fruit of works,
obedience motivated by grace and love, and gratitude for what
Christ has done for you. My friend, this is a person who
has been born again. And you notice here in this parable
of the souls, there are three types of heroes who end up end
up lost. There's only one kind of hero
that ends up saved. What am I to do? What am I to
do? Well, I'm to pray to God, oh
Lord, give me that heart of faith. Give me the heart of repentance.
Break my heart. Show me the glory of Christ and
what he's accomplished. Cause the spirit of God to shed
abroad in my heart the love of God in Christ. And as 1 John
4.10 says, herein is love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin,
the satisfaction. This is the word of the kingdom
and the Holy Spirit implants it in the heart of his people
where it takes root and it grows. when it's watered by the power
of the Holy Spirit and the power of the word of God. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, the scripture says, and you shall be saved. Don't let this word here, this
gospel, fall on deaf ears. Don't let this word be received
for a little while and then taken up for the cares of the world
and the seekfulness of riches. Don't let this word be a point
of contention to the point that when you are persecuted or face
trouble over it, you leave it and never come back. Lay hold
of Christ and never let go. That's the parable of the sower
in the sea.