As I said earlier, the message
this morning is about the parable of the sower. I've chosen the
account given in Matthew 13, but you can also find it in Mark
chapter 4 and Luke chapter 8. And they so closely and so accurately
copy one another that you can use whichever you want as a reference
this morning. What is a parable? A parable. A parable is just
a simple story given to illustrate a spiritual truth. Very simple
story. Our Lord used parables all the
time. So what then is the lesson taught
in the parable of the sower? Well, the subject of the parable
is about hearing the gospel. Our Lord had been dealing with
some Pharisees and scribes and religious folks who didn't listen
to what He was saying, tuned Him out. They already knew everything
there was to know about it. They were master theologians.
They had been to school, had their diplomas, had their titles. wore their robes. These men already
knew the story and they didn't care to hear it. And then others were there who
were listening to first one side and then the other. They'd listen
to the Pharisees and then they'd listen to the disciples and they'd
listen to Christ. And they were just back and forth
and viewing and listening. And the Lord stopped And as he
sat there, a great crowd began to gather there on the Sea of
Galilee, and he stepped off into a boat because of the press. There were just thousands gathered. And shoved the boat a little
ways off of the land, and from the boat, he began to preach
to the people. Now, I want to give you just
a few things in general to think about before we get into the
message this morning. I've already read the parable
to you. First of all, this parable assumes
that there's one whose fields are all ready to plant. There was a field already prepared,
and it was prepared by the one who owned it. as the potter has power over
the clay to make of the same lump one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor. So the great husbandman, Christ,
and His Father has the right to sow His seed in whatever field
He sees fit to sow it in. A sower went out to sow. He didn't go out to sow the wayside. He didn't go out to sow the rocks,
he went out to sow in a field prepared for the seed. But some
fell by the wayside, and some fell on stony ground, and some
fell among the thorns." The Bible says this, "...the
earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and the world,
and they that dwell therein." Psalm 24. Psalm 24, 1. And God established
this. He tells us that in verse 2 of
that same psalm. It was founded upon the seas
and established upon the flood. God took this world, which was
His, and overflowed it with a flood and killed all but eight souls.
No man from that day to this day needs to doubt whether or
not this world belongs to God. He's already proven that. He's
already established that. And he's established it over
and over. But he especially established
it in those floodwaters. And it doesn't take much reading
in church history to see that God plants where He will and
leaves other fields to grow up in weeds. Don't take much reading
to see that. And then the second thing I want
you to see, I want you to see first of all that there's a field
already made ready. This field is ripe for the planting. It's ready. Otherwise, the sower
wouldn't have been sent forth to sow. He was sent forth to
sow because the field was ready. The second thing I want you to
see about this is the seed. Christ is the seed. The Word
of God is the seed of regeneration as its message of Christ is preached
to chosen sinners. Peter made this abundantly clear.
He said this in 1 Peter 1 verse 25. He said, For this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This is the seed. The
very seed of regeneration. Christ is the seed. Not His physical
person. It's not His physical person.
It's not His physical name. But Christ as He set forth in
the Word of God as the Savior of sinners. God come into the
flesh. His name shall be called Immanuel,
God with us. Christ the one mediator between
God and men. Christ the great high priest
appointed for men and things pertaining to God. We have such
a high priest, Paul said in Hebrews chapter 9, Not like those old
types, but this one priest, by his own blood, entered in one
time into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Christ, the high priest. Christ, the end of the law for
righteousness. Christ, our sanctification. Christ,
our sin-atoning substitute. Christ, Lord of heaven and earth. The head and representative of
the church. Paul said, Other foundation can
no man lay, or Peter did, than that which is laid, Christ the
Lord. When God created the herb-bearing grasses, they were perfectly
suited to sustain and nourish man upon the earth. He created
these things, the seed was in them, and it was satisfactory
to nourish a perfect man. But ignorant men, wise in their
own conceits, would alter what God ordained. Natural man, he'll
take that seed and genetically alter that seed under the delusion
that what he's doing is making it better. And this process is so widely
accepted that you can't hardly find anywhere where you can obtain
unaltered seeds. Can't find them. Is this not
a picture of man who would alter the very nature and character
of God our Savior in the illusion or delusion, whichever you prefer,
of making him better? Isn't that a similitude of that? Doesn't that show that? Beware,
Paul tells us in Colossians 2.8, lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit. after the tradition of men and
the rudiments of the world, not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in Him." Christ is the seed. He has no blemish, no spot. He
is perfect God, perfect man, and perfect Savior. The Scripture says, now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds
as of many, but as of thy seed, which is Christ. Christ is the
seed. And so then Paul concludes, if
you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise. He's the seed. He's not part
of the seed. He's not a seed in a bag of seeds. He's the seed. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 22,
under that law, which if you go back under that law, it's
full of types and pictures and similitudes of Christ. But back
in Deuteronomy 22, 9, the Lord tells his chosen people, he said,
thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds, mixed seeds. Lest thy fruit of thy seed which
thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Christ is the seed. And I don't
care where you plant. I don't care how much you plant.
I don't care how well the seed is received. If you don't plant
Christ the seed, you'll never grow a Christian. It'll never happen. And then
thirdly, this parable is about seed being broadcast by man. Paul said, I planted, didn't
he? Huh? Planted? Yeah. He sowed the seed. Paul is watered. God gave the
increase. In 1 Corinthians 3, 9, he said,
for we are labors together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. It pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And to the perishing, this is
foolishness. This sowing seed is foolishness
to those who are perishing. Absolute foolishness. Under those
being saved, it is the power and wisdom of God. You know, in the old days, you
didn't have these big things that look to me like they stretch
out 30 feet behind those tractors. I see them over there in the
bottoms going towards Genoa. Those things, it's hard to tell
at long distance just how wide they really are, but the tractors
are huge, but those things dwarf the tractors. And they're back
there planting seed. Well, they didn't have all that
back then. Back then, a man strapped on a bag full of seeds, and he
went out and he got himself lined up in that area that was plowed
and ready to plant, and he reached down in that bag, and he'd pull
out that seed and throw it as he walked. And he'd throw that
seed. We're not talking about planting corn now. We're talking
about weed or barley or something like that. Now, the Bible says this, we
have this treasure, this precious seed in earthen vessels. And it's been sent out by the
master to plant his feet. Where did he get this seed? Where
did this sower get this seed he went out to plant? The master
put it in his bag, didn't he, or had somebody do it? Filled
his bag up full of seed. He didn't have any seed. He wasn't
born with the seed. He didn't go find the seed. The
seed was provided for him. Filled his bag up full of seed
and sent him out. And that's what we do when we
go out to preach. And you reach down in that bag, down that earthen
vessel where God put that treasure, where God put the treasure of
His seed. And you reach down there and
you get all you can hold. In my case, that ain't much.
But you get all you can hold, and in one big wide sweeping
motion, you throw it out. And you let God take care of
where it hits. Planting seed was never meant
to be an exact science, but it exactly describes how the seed
is planted in the preaching of the gospel. And then, fourthly, this parable
is about where this seed falls and how it's received. The parable
states very clearly that all the seed which is broadcast does
not mature and bring forth fruit. And then the last thing I want
you to think about as we go through this parable is the blessed opportunity
of receiving the seed. Under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, Matthew writes this, when he sowed. A sower went out
to sow. And when he sowed, no seed fell
in the good ground, no seed fell on the stony ground, no seed
fell among the thorns and none by the wayside until he sowed. Until he sowed. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit
would press this upon every heart here today. You don't have the
seed. You're not born with it. You
can't go get it any more than the field could go get the seed. There's not a more important
occasion in your life than to be present when the sower sows
the seed. All right. Now let's look at
where the seed falls and how these things affect the outcome.
In Matthew chapter 13, verse 4, he said, when he sowed, some
seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them
up. Now the wayside, to me, is used
to describe the bulk of humanity. It's the highway. It's the broadway. He often uses that to describe
the world in general, natural men in general. The course of
this world, he calls it in Ephesians chapter 2. The broad road, he
calls it. Many there be that travel this
road. This road is the road to hell,
he said, and this road leadeth to destruction. There's nothing
that grows on the road. Can you hear me? The seed falls there from time
to time, but it don't grow. It don't grow. Because as fast
as the seed lands, it's trodden underfoot or eaten by satanic
fowl. And yet on either side of the
road, the master's fields are cleared and broken up and being
planted. The nature of the highway ground
is hard as a rock. It's hard because of the constant
pounding of those who trod and underfoot the Son of God, put
Him to an open shame. That's the words used in Scripture
to describe the way this world receives the gospel. They hear
it, and they reject it, and then
they just walk on it. Just walk on it. Natural man
has a heart of stone. But it's made even harder by
the constant pounding of the false prophets. And then notice
this. When the seed fell by the wayside,
it just laid there on top. It just laid there on top. It's
not the fault of the sower. He broadcasted the seed exactly
like God told him to. He said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel. That's what he did. He threw
the seed out. He threw the seed out. And it's not the fault of the
seed. The seed's perfect. It's ready, able to produce life. What prevents the seed from growing
is how it's received and the nature of the ground into which
it fell. I preach the gospel here. And
sometimes I look around this congregation and I see men weeping
with joy. Weeping with joy. Going through
hard times. going through times of doubt
and trouble and trial, sometimes doubting if they even
know God. And I look around, and as I preach
Christ to them, I see tears of joy, not sadness, tears of joy
rejoicing in the message. After the message is preached,
sometimes they'll come to me and say, I want another copy
of that. I want to hear that again. I want to hear that again.
And others, it just hits and lays there, just like that seed
on the road. It just hit on the road and laid
there right on top, right on top. It's broadcast out, but it lands
upon hard hearts, never penetrates the surface. And then watch this,
the fowls came and devoured the seed. Every trip I make up this
road coming to the church, It's lined on either side with birds. You got to be careful. Sometimes
they're out there feeding on an old carcass or something,
and they'll fly right up into your windshield. You got to be
careful when you're driving along. But I look up on the side, and
there's predator birds up there. There's hawks. Why are they hanging
out around the road? Because you go down the road,
and the traffic on that road stirs things up. Down they come. Picture, what are these fowls? What do
they picture? Well, the picture is of the devil
and his ministers. I didn't make that application,
Christ did. He said that seed fell by the
wayside and he said Satan came and devoured it. He devoured
the seed, took away the seed. Satan and his true rulers of
darkness, the darkness of this world, are always around when
it's seed planting time. Always around. You won't be bothered
with them out in the world. You go out there and get on that
old saw head and cut trees down. You get on the skidder, pull
them up, and he ain't out there. He ain't bothering anybody. But
boy, you come in here to sow some seeds, he knows it's seed
planting time. And he knows when that seed hits
on the surface. They stand ready to grab that
seed and devour it, even though it has little chance of growing. The best way to prevent a seed
from growing is to take it away. I go out there and I plant seed,
and sometimes some drifts out of the row. I go over and get
it and put it back in the row. Best way to keep it from growing
in the middle of the row, put it back where you put it. Best way to keep it from growing
is to snatch it away before it has time. So in the minds of
natural men, Satan's spouse, dart in and devour the seed. What's that talking about? Are you yourself right now as
I'm talking to you, you making some applications to that? How
does Satan get to see? How does he get it? What's he
talking about here? Well, he's talking about things
like this. Who does he think he is? He thinks he's the only
one in Arkansas that knows the gospel. Satan fouled. Got the seed and gone. Got the
seed and gone. Why should I listen to him? He
hasn't even been to seminary. Seed gone. What he's saying can't be true.
That violates man's free will. Devoured the seed. Worldly reason,
preconceived notions, rash judgments about the preacher and his calling,
sudden rejection of scripture because it's contrary to your
upbringing. Satan's fowls fly quickly and
snatch up the seed. You would think when you're talking
about eternity, when you're talking about a man's soul, you're talking
about where he's going to spend eternity. You're talking about
deliverance from an everlasting hell, everlasting punishment.
You'd think a man would give you more than 10 seconds and
weigh what you're saying for more than a half a minute. And
he would, except Satan's ministers fly in. Those evil spirits, they
fly in and in these things, snatch that seed away. Some of the seed fell by the
wayside. Those who are there, those who
are there and hear, they hear the gospel, the seeds broadcast. But then cometh the devil and
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe
and be saved. That's Luke 8, verse 12. Secondly, Matthew 13, verse 5. Some fell upon stony places where
they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprung 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. The stony ground here is a man
whose heart's never been broken. He knows the doctrines in his
head. He's heard them. He's heard them. He knows something in his head,
but he's not fully convicted or convinced. This is not a regenerated
man, but a man who's heard some things and professed to believe
some things and may have even submitted himself to baptism,
joined a church. He gives evidence of life. The
seed springs up, it says here. The seed don't lay there. Satan's ministers didn't grab
it. The fowl didn't get it. It did come up. Christ is whispered
on his lips. He acknowledges Christ as his
Savior and Lord. He may even submit himself to
baptism, but his heart's not right with God. He has no root. He has no root. The nature of
the ground remained the same. The ground is in a different
location. It's not out there in the Broadway, but it's close to it. It's stony ground. It has enough
soil to produce a sprout, but not enough to grow a Christian.
How can you tell the difference between seed on the stony ground
and seed in the good ground? You can't at first. You can't at first. Actually,
there is a little way you can tell. That sprout in shallow
ground, you know, first time I ever planted a garden, I didn't
know what I was doing. I went out there, and I could
remember seeing Daddy dig out a row and put the beans and corn
down in it, and I did that, come back. It wasn't two days, that
thing was up out of the ground and looking good. Next thing
I know, it was all dead. I didn't plant it deep enough. When you don't plant something
deep enough, when it's in this shallow earth, it'll spring up
real quick, but it don't have any root. And the birds will come along
and pull it out, eat the grain off the bottom of it, or the
sun will come up and scorch it. They had no deepness of earth,
and when the sun was up, middle of the day, the sprout was scorched.
It withered up and died. The stony ground here are those
who received the seed because it's conveniently found. It landed
on it. They weren't looking for it.
It just happened. And it was convenient. Nothing was done
in preparation for it. Nobody was there to nourish it
or water it or till around it. And it seemed to come there at
the right time. Come there right at the right
time. And they rejoiced in it for a season. But then come the
sun. The trial came. Paul said, every
man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is. And he's not talking about
a fire like you burn in your stove. He's talking about fiery
trials, real trials. Trials don't create faith, they
manifest. Stony ground here. I'll tell
you how you know if it's a stony ground here. Sooner or later,
something's going to happen. The trial's going to come up.
This is going to happen, that's going to happen. They're scorched
by the sun, and they wither up and die. They're gone. All right,
thirdly, Matthew 13, 7. Some fell among thorns. And the thorns sprung up and
choked them. Our Lord interprets this verse
down in verse 22 of Matthew 13. He also that receiveth seed among
the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this
word, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he
becomes unfruitful. Demas was just such a man. Just
such a man. He heard the gospel and what
he heard sprung up into a profession of faith. He heard the gospel and to some
degree understood it, become one which the Apostle Paul called
his fellow laborer. This man went out and preached.
He went out and preached. But pretty soon he found himself
among some thorns. Bills had to be paid. Bills had
to be paid. Transportation had to be sought.
He needed somewhere to live. Maybe his wife and children needed
attention. We're not told what the exact
problem was, only that he loved this present world. Demas hath
forsaken me, Paul said, having loved this present world. To
love this present world is to give it more attention than you
do the gospel of Christ. To love this present world is
to prefer its company to that of the children of God. To love
this present world is to let anything come between you and
Christ. And to love this present world
is to leave the family of God for the fellowship of this world. John said they went out from
us. It didn't say they left Christ.
It said they went out from us. But they were not of us, for
had they been of us, they no doubt would have continued with
us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they
were not all of us. The cares of this world overshadow
the seed. They robbed the seed of its light.
It can't get any light. The thorns came up. Came up,
overshadowed the sea. And the sea couldn't get its
light. It didn't get the light that it needed. And it didn't
get the water that it needed. And it didn't get the minerals
that it needed. It was choked and choked and
choked until finally it died. It died. And then lastly, Matthew 13,
8. But other fell into good ground,
and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold. You know what
Luke said? He skipped the thirty and the
sixty, he just went straight to the hundred. And I think when it's talking
here about all these different quantities of fruit, it's not
talking about, although there is, there are men who know more
than other men, but I don't think that's what this is talking about
at all. We don't all live the same amount of time. Some people
come to know God and then die a few years later. Well, he's
not going to bring forth the fruit of this man over here who's
been worshipping God for 50 or 60 years. I think Spurgeon pastored
that church for 50 years, and the one before him, and the one
before him. They buried in the quantity of
the fruit, but they all produced fruit. And then I want you to see this.
Matthew uses four different prepositions to describe how the seed fell. He said it fell by the wayside. He said it fell upon stony places. It fell among the thorns. But when it come to the prepared
ground, it said it fell in to the good ground. What made the good ground good? What made the good ground good? Well, the master went out and he had his servants to plow
the field. He had other servants come along
and disk it. He had some come along and manure
the field, fertilize it. Then he come in there and he
crushed that thing down to where it just looked like sand almost. The Holy Ghost breaks up the
fallow ground. That bare and cursed ground of
our hearts must be broken up. You know, when the plow, some
of you in here used to plow with mules. I know old John likes
to plow with a mule. What happens when you plow the
ground? Turns it upside down. You ever noticed that? When I was a little kid, I'd
sit there and watch them tractors. They had them big deep plows
and every so many years they'd put those great big old deep
plows on there and plow that ground. Turned it upside down. What happens when the Holy Ghost
comes into a man's heart and begins to plow that? He turns
you upside down, don't he? Huh? Turns you upside down. What's the next process? Then
they got this thing called a disc. I don't know what they used back
then. They might have used holes for all I know. I don't know,
but they had some metal and had some things. I believe they had
some discs there. They pulled around with those
oxen or whatever they were using. And that slices. It cuts up that
big lump, just cuts it up in pieces. First work in the conversion
of a sinner is conviction of sin. Bringing a man down, revealing
to him what he is. Exposing what's underneath. Taking
away the covering. Turning it up, ain't nothing
but raw earth on the other side of that thing when it's plowed.
exposes what he is. And then he breaks him up. He
slices into his stronghold and takes away his excuses. Makes
him ready to receive the good seed. Every seed that fell into the
good ground grew up a Christian. Every one. Always does. Always will. And every Christian
Every Christian it grew produced the fruit of the seed which was
sown. You know what our Lord said about
those he sent out preaching the gospel? He said, you'll know
them by their fruits. They're sowing my seed. And my
seed will bring up my wheat. It'll bring up my wheat. You'll
know them by their fruits. May God be pleased today to cause
His seed fall into some good ground, the good ground of his
preparing and taking deep root to glorify his maker. And I say this in closing what
our Lord said to them, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear,
let him hear. Not as the wayside, not as the
stony ground, and not among the thorns. but into the good ground,
it given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God."
May that be true in your heart today. Thank you.