There are two reasons why this
parable is of great importance. Number one, of course, is that
our Master, our Lord, taught it. He chose to bring this parable
to a large group of people that were listening to him. push
the little boat out in the sea and sat on it or stood on it
and talked to this multitude. This is what he taught them.
So I'm on good ground this morning teaching this parable because
he taught it. He selected this parable to teach. And then the second reason why
it's of great importance is found in verse 13. Mark 4, verse 13. Did you ever notice this before?
When He gave the parable and the disciples asked Him to explain
it, they asked Him about the parable,
and He said in verse 13, He said to them, to His disciples, know
ye not this parable? Don't you understand this parable? This parable is so easy to understand,
don't you understand it? It's taken from things so common,
everyday experiences. Then he said, how then will you
know all parables? If one does not understand this
parable, which is so simple, so plain, so easy to understand,
he says, how will you be able to understand other parables
which are more difficult. This is the simple parable. This
is where we began. This is kindergarten. But who was the man who wrote
the book All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? So let's look at it. Let's see
what this simple parable of which our Lord said, if you don't understand
this You needn't go any further." Well, I read it. You remember
a certain farmer in an eastern country arose one morning, and
he filled his sack with seed, corn, barley, rye, whatever,
wheat, filled his sack with seed, and he went out into the field.
He plowed and prepared the field. He went out to sow the seed.
And he scattered the seed. That's the way he was sowing
it, not in rows, but he was scattering the seed. And there was a path
along the edge of the field where the ground was hard and packed,
and people walked, walked often upon this path. All around the
field was a path. And as the farmer scattered the
seed, threw it out, some of it fell on this fallow ground, this
hard, unplowed ground. And he moved on, sowing his seed.
And the birds sitting up in the trees watching him sow the seed,
they saw that seed fall on that hard ground. And as he moved
on, they swooped down and picked it up and devoured the precious seed.
And then there was another part, our Lord said, of the field where
the man was sowing the seed, another part, rocky, and it had
very little topsoil, just rocky ground, and just a layer of dirt
over the rocks. And some of the seed fell there
on this stony ground, and it did have a little earth, a little
soil, And so, in time, it sprang up. Got a little moisture and
sprang up. And it grew quickly. But it had
no root. Had no depth. The roots didn't
reach down into the soil and draw the water from beneath.
Had no source of water. So the sun came out with burning
heat, and these little plants, after a while, withered and fell
over. They sprang up and then they
withered. And then there was another part
of the field, probably the plow had touched there, but it had
a lot of old roots and briars and thorns, which grew in that
part of the field that the plow didn't tear away, didn't completely
destroy. And some of the seed fell among
the thorns and the briars. these old roots. And it grew. It grew for a time, but the thorns
and briars grew too. And after a while, the seed had
the plant and the thorns and briars grew around it and just
choked it. And it bore no fruit. It didn't amount to anything.
But much of the seed, our Lord said, fell on good ground. Good
ground meaning that it was broken up. It was plowed, it was prepared
by the farmer, it was ready to receive the seed. And when the
seed fell on this prepared ground, it took root, and it grew, and
it produced fruit. He said some thirty-fold, some
sixty, some a hundred. Several bushels to the acre,
but different amounts. All didn't bear the same. So
when he was alone with his disciples here in verse 11, he said to
them, God's blessed you with understanding the gospel of Christ. The Son of God had come and given
us an understanding that we may know him. That is true. We have
nothing to brag about, to boast of except the cross. What we
have, God gave us. what we know God taught us. And
that's what he's saying here, unto you it's given by God's
grace to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to these
who are outside the kingdom, these who are without, who do
not understand, to whom God hath not given light and knowledge
and understanding, I preach to them in stories, in parables
like this. I teach them in parables and
stories. He said in verse 12, you see,
that seeing they may see. They saw Christ with the bodily
eyes, but not with eyes of faith. He said, whom do they say that
I am? Well, some say you're Elijah, some say you're John the Baptist,
some say you're a great prophet. They saw him, see? They saw him
with bodily eyes, and they saw a human figure. They saw the
miracle. But they didn't discern who He
is. They didn't discern the spiritual
truth of these miracles. They heard His words. He said
they see, but they do not perceive. He said they hear, but they do
not understand. They heard His words. They saw
the miracles, but they didn't understand. They read the Scriptures. The Scriptures were read every
Sabbath day in these synagogues. The scripture was read just exactly
as we read it this morning. That's Psalm 84, which I read
about worship, the house of God, and the ways of Zion, and the
mercies of God. Those old Jews read that a thousand
times. That was read, think how many
times. Isaiah 53, that you and I love
so much, that was read over and over again. Isaiah 42, mine elect,
my servant. Psalm 23, the Lord's my shepherd. They read those things. He said,
but they seeing, they see but they don't perceive. And hearing,
they hear but they don't understand. Lest at any time they should
be converted. They willfully rejected the Savior. They willfully rejected Him.
Christ came. And to his own, and they didn't
receive it. It was in the world, the world
didn't know it. And then he said in verse 13,
he said to these disciples, don't you know this parable? Can't you get up here and preach
on this parable? Can't you explain this? If someone
would ask you, can't you explain this? Then how would you understand
other parables? that are so much more difficult. Well, let's see what it is. Oh, our wonderful Lord. He didn't walk off. You don't
understand this? Well, how are you going to understand
anything else? Well, no, He's going to explain it to them.
He's going to tell them again. Tell me again. Tell me again. I forget so soon. What's that song? Tell me the
story of Jesus. I forget so soon. The early dew
of morning is gone by noon. I need to hear it again. And
if you'll tell me again, it'll refresh my mind and I can rejoice. All right, I'll do it again.
Verse 14, the sower soweth the word. Now listen, the sower,
who is the sower? He's the preacher of the gospel.
He's who I am, what I am. He's doing what I'm doing this
morning. The Word. Sowing the Word. If you're going out in the field
to sow, you better take some seed. I don't understand these
preachers that don't take the seed. This is the seed. The seed
is the Word. The seed is the Word. The sower
sows the Word. Seed is the Word of God. I don't
understand. I've watched the television and
the preachers and these girls and women and all, and they don't
have a Bible. They don't even have one with
them. They're just running up and down, talking about all kinds
of things that they suppose to be true. But you see, the sower
has the seed, the Word. The preacher has the Word. And
listen, the sower didn't make the seed. God made the seed. That sower that has that seed
in his bag or bucket, whatever he's using, he didn't make that
seed. God made that seed. He didn't
have anything to do with it. It was given to him. I didn't have anything to do
with it. That's your doctrine. No, it's not. No. No, I reject that. It's His doctrine. The doctrine I preach, the word
I preach is not my word, it's not my doctrine. It's His word,
His doctrine. I can say with my Lord, I can
say this with my Lord, He said the words that I speak are not
my words, they're the words of Him that sent me. And let me tell you this, this
word, the sower soweth the word. The sower soweth the seed. You
know something about seeds, it's fascinating to me. That's one
reason I garden, not only to eat, but because it's fascinating
to me to watch putting that seed in the ground, and it grows. Let me tell you something, that
seed in that sack has life in it. It has life in it. Now listen
to me. God made that seed that that sower has in his hand, and
that seed has life in it. Turn to Genesis. Please turn
to Genesis 1 and listen to this. Genesis 1, verse 11 and 12. Now listen carefully. And God said,
Genesis 1, 11, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass,
the herb yielding seed, the fruit tree yielding fruit after its
kind, whose seed is in itself. upon the earth and it was so
and the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after
his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself
after his kind. God saw that it was good. The
corn grows and the seeds in itself and you take the kernel and there's
life in that seed and you plant it. And God makes it yield increase. God does what He does with it. You just plant it and back off.
And God, the life is in that seed. With His power, He makes
it grow. Even so, there's life in this
Word, that's what I'm telling you. There's life in this seed. Now let me make good on this.
You turn to John 6, verse 63. This is the Word of Life. The Word of Life. The sower is
sowing the Word, and the life is in the seed. That's right. Now listen to me. John 6, 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth.
John 6, 63. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Life in this word, spiritual
life, John, in this word. Now, that's right. Turn to 1
Peter chapter 1. Now listen to this, 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter 1 verse 23. Now listen to it. Being born again, that's us,
we're born again. We're born the first time of
corruptible seed, semen, seed. But second time, we're born of
seed, but not corruptible seed. Listen, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass. All the glory of man is a flower
of grass. In other words, the grass in
Genesis 1, it has seed in itself, but it's temporary, natural.
And you have seed in yourself, you men. That seed can make another man,
but he'll be like you. He'll die like the grass, grass
withering, flower fading. I cannot produce a living child
of God. I can produce a dying son of
man, just like the grass. Now look at it. All flesh is
its grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away. But the
word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by
the gospel to you. Life in this seed, if he's pleased to make it live,
it's according to where it falls. That seed's got life in it, but
on that rough ground, it won't grow up. That seed's got to come
in a heart prepared by God. prepared by God makes it live.
But this life is in the seed, it's in the Word. James 1.18, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. So back to my text, the seed,
the sower soweth the word. The farmer sows the seed faithfully,
that's all he can do. Sow it faithfully. He don't amount
to nothing. That's bad English, but you get
the message, don't you? Paul said, Paul, Apollos plowed,
Cephas watered. I planted, but God gives the
increase. He that planteth is nothing.
He that watereth is nothing. God's everything. And you know
the thing about this seed business? Out there in my yard, some beautiful
sunflowers came up last year. Sunflowers. Beautiful. My birds loved them. Little finches loved them. Old
squirrels loved them too. They broke them down, you know.
So I said, did you plant those? I said, no. She said, who planted
them? I said, the birds. There ain't
nothing to planting seeds. A bird, a dirty bird can do it. That's right. I have sunflowers
out there in that bird feeder that Ed Ballard made me. And
the birds get the sunflower seeds and fly and they drop them. That's
right, just an old bird picked up a seed, flew over and dropped
it, and God made it live and made a beautiful flower. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels. We're just birds. We sow the
seed. So what I'm saying, He's the
Lord of the harvest. He gives the increase. If there's
an increase, it's by His will and not mine. It's by His work
and not mine. Isn't that right? But the seed
is the Word. And in that Word, All right, now here our Lord
goes on. He says, now, but the seed, some of it fell by the
wayside. Verse 15, and these are they
by the wayside where the word is sown. When they've heard,
Satan comes immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts. The seed falls on unprepared,
uninterested ground. It's there only a brief time.
The ground is totally unprepared, there's too much traffic, there's
too much other interest, there's too much going on, there's too
many people walking on it. Who are these people? Well, these
are people who sort of get in the way of the gospel. They happen
to be where the gospel is preached. I could give you several illustrations.
A man attends a funeral. The gospel is preached. Faithful
preacher has the seat. the life-giving seed of God's
Word, and preaches it. And that man sits there and listens
to it. And then he goes out, and the seed just disappears.
He doesn't think on it anymore. No more. It's gone. Or a fellow
dates a girl. She goes to church where the
Gospels are preached. She's a faithful attender in
a place where the Gospels are preached. She brings him along.
or a girl dates a boy, and he brings her along, and they sit
and they listen, and they hear the same thing you're hearing.
Hear the word. But they're not interested. They
just get in the way of the gospel. They're passing by, and the gospel
hits them, and they pass on by, you know. Or they turn on the
radio and TV, and they hear a preacher preach the gospel. Think of all
the people who have read this book. There's a copy of this
book in every motel, in every jail cell, in every place. People have read this book. That's
the gospel. That's the word. Think of the
people that have heard beautiful singing. Think of the people
that have celebrated Christmas, where we talk about the birth
of Christ. They just go through it. January, December the 26th,
they've forgotten about it. Satan comes and takes it away.
Well, that's people the Lord's talking about. They hear it briefly,
and it's gone. Now then he says, what's this?
Verse 16, and these are they likewise that are sown on stony
ground. Some of the seed fell on stony
ground. who, when they heard the word,
immediately received it with gladness." That sounds good. That sounds good. They heard
the word. They heard the gospel. And it
sounded good, and immediately they received it. Immediately. But they have no root in themselves. They have no root in themselves. It's all a mental thing. It's all a spur-of-the-moment
thing. There's no conflict. There's
no wrestling. There's no conviction. There's
no counting the cost. There's no study of the person
and work of Christ. There's no digging deep and laying
a foundation. You see what I'm saying? They
just hear about heaven and forgiveness of sin Missing hell and going
to the sweet by and by. It sounds good. And the preacher
gives the invitation and multitudes come down the aisle, stand around
the front, raise their hand, just immediately. Now let me
turn to Luke chapter 6 a moment. Luke chapter 6. Our Lord talks
about that over here in Luke chapter 6. He says in verse 47,
Luke 6, 47. I'm talking about digging deep.
They have no root in themselves. In Luke 6, 47, Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I'll show you to whom he's like. He's
like a man which built a house and digged and laid the foundation on a
rock. This man, it took a while to lay that foundation, it took
some digging, it took some searching to find a solid footer, a rock,
a foundation, a cornerstone on which to place his building. And then trials came, the flood
arose, that's trials from the earth, The rain beat upon the
house as trials from heaven and could not shake it because it
was on a rock. It had foundation. It had root like a tree with
deep roots. But he that heareth my words
and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a
house upon the earth. against which the streams did
beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that
house was great." That's clear, isn't it? Back here in our text in Mark
4, these, the seed, it fell on ground, stony ground. Verse 16 says, when they have
heard the word quickly, immediately, without much thought, without
any searching, or digging, or inquiring, or meditating, or
conflict, or counting the cost. They sprang up with seeded, with
gladness. Verse 17, but they have no root
in themselves, and so they endure but for a little while, and afterwards
when affliction or persecution arises, for the word's sake,
immediately, just as quickly. it goes away. What is above ground
is not where the strength is, the strength is what's below. You see, this is the thing that, what impresses a lot of people
in religion is the doing and the talking and what men say. But what's important in a relationship
with God is what God sees, underground, in the heart, laying a foundation, a good foundation. And the winds and the rain and
the floods are going to beat on this house. And the house
that has the root, the plant that has the root, when the sun
came out, They didn't have any roots. They weren't down where
the water flows, where the water of life flows in Christ. And when the trial comes, especially
over the Word, it just shakes this house and it falls. It falls. And then here's another group.
He said in verse 18, And these are they
which are sown among thorns. They are people who hear the
word. All these people here, the sower is the sowing the word.
Everybody hears it. Everybody hears it. And this is among the thorns.
What are they? And the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things.
Entering in, choke the word. It becomes unfruitful. This just may apply to our day
more than any other time in history. To you and me. This right here. All the other does too, but this
especially. I believe today that we're more exposed to these
cares of the world. Activities. We're the busiest
people who ever lived. The deceitfulness of riches,
luxuries, riches. The lust of other things. I believe
we have more problem with this than our fathers or our father's
fathers. I go back many decades. I go back to the life when it
was slower and simpler. Some of you do. Some of you don't,
but some of you do. When life was slower and simpler
and less involved with the world. The world bought into our homes. We didn't have a newspaper, we
didn't have a radio, we didn't have a TV, we didn't have any
movie houses, we didn't have any bowling, we didn't have anything.
We played a little ball in the yard and things like that, but
our lives were uncomplicated. We went to school and came home
and that's it. We're so involved, and there's
so much danger right here. There's so much danger right
here. The word is faithfully sown,
and the word is heard. But the cares of this world,
the cares of this world, the affiliations and connections
and organizations and duties and responsibilities, the cares
of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other
things. There's a young man who lives
up north, gets these tapes. Well, there's several of these
I could tell you about. I'm just thinking of one in particular. And he manifests a love for what
he hears on these tapes. And a delight in this gospel
of grace. But he struggled, he and several
others just like him all over the country, just had so many
conflicts and battles and fights and can't get any assurance and
confidence and can't get any strong hope and just always shuffling
here and there. And I told him one time, I'll
tell you a problem. I said, here in this congregation,
the people have a pastor. And they meet on Sunday morning,
and Sunday night, and Wednesday night. And we read the Word. And we worship. And we help one
another. We encourage one another. We
exhort one another. We praise the Lord together.
We feed on spiritual things. We feed on the Word. We feed on the water of life.
We rejoice in Christ. That's what I read in Psalm 84.
Their feet are walking in the ways of Zion. I said, you! Don't
have any of that. Seven days a week you're in the
world. Seven days a week you're working, making money, business,
arguing. You don't have any of this fellowship,
food, meeting with the people of God, worshiping God. Leave
where you are and come down here and worship God and your life
will change. Can't do that. Why can't you
do that? I got a good job. I got a nice
home. My children are in school. My
wife's got a job. We got three automobiles. We
got television in every room. And an empty heart. and perishing children, the cares of this world, and
the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things.
And one day he won't have any interest. I guarantee you, you
wait and see. That's what I'm talking about,
1996, 1990s, 80s, who knows what it's going to be like in the year
2000. No time for God. I'm too busy. And these thorns are permitted
to spring up and choke the Word. It becomes, don't let that happen. I tell you, you have to hoe your
garden about every day, don't you? And you better file that
hoe, too, and keep it handy. Because you go several weeks,
and you turn around and look, and it's too late. It's grown
up. It's grown up. Weed your garden
of the thorns and briars. They grow by nature. You don't
have to plant those. The seed has to be planted and
cared for and nourished. The weeds grow by nature. I got
a lot of those in my life, haven't you? I got it constantly. And let me say this. You say,
well, my grandpa, he had plenty of time and he wasn't spiritual.
Well, you know, I'm not saying the less involved we are, the
more spiritual we're going to be, because if that's true, everybody
in jail's got plenty of time to read the Bible and pray, but
they don't. I'm saying this. The busiest
man here can still walk with God if he remembers what's first. The busiest woman here. And you
women are busy. Somebody said, man works from
sun to sun, a woman's work's never done. And I know about
that. Because our wives, but the busiest
woman here can keep one thing in mind. What's important? What's first? Seek ye first the
kingdom of God, His righteousness, and you can just work all you
want to. That's right. You can build all
you want to. I stay busy. I'd love to be. I can't stand just to sit. I'd
be busy. But you can walk with God. Old
Noah built an ark, but he walked with God while he's building
it. Amos took care of sheep, didn't he? But he walked with
God when he took care of them. That's subtle. So it's not inactivity. That won't help us. It's just
get rid of some of this garbage and baggage and remember where
your heart is. That's so in it. Don't lose this
precious Word. Well, verse 20, there's some
that fell on good ground. I want you to turn to Matthew
13. This parable is given in Matthew 13. Matthew 13, 23 kind
of helps us a little more about this good ground. Matthew 13,
23, but he that received seed into the good ground is he that
hearth the word and understands it. Now let me make a couple of comments
before, give me time to give you this. It fell on good ground.
There's no ground good by nature. I guarantee you every garden
is plowed by somebody prepared. And this good ground is the heart
that God has plowed. It's the heart where God, by
His grace and by His Spirit, has given what Luke 8, 15 says
is an honest heart, a willing heart, an interested heart, an
open heart. See, God plowed the ground. It was dead, but He quickened
it. And God brings people here to hear the gospel that's all
ready for the gospel. They're all ready. He plowed
it. And I preach His gospel, and that seed comes into that
heart. And they understand. They hear,
and they understand. What do they understand? What
the Word says about them. I'm a sinner. What the Word says
about God's holiness. He's holy. He demands righteousness. What the Word says about Christ,
who is our righteousness, whose blood cleanses us from all sin. He understands why Christ died,
that God may be just and justified. He understands. He hears and
understands. That's life. And he brings forth
fruit. And all of that fruit, you see,
some, he says here in verse 23, some a hundredfold, some sixty,
some thirty. God's people aren't all alike,
like corn stalks or bean stalks. You get more beans from some
than you do others. But they all bear fruit. Love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness,
they all bear fruit. To whatever degree he's pleased
to give. It's not the fruit of the branches,
it's the fruit of the vine. That's a simple parable, isn't
it? That's a simple parable. It's true. I know it's true. And I would caution every one
of us, especially on that third point. That's where I think that
one of the greatest problems that we face in this day is getting
things in the proper order. access to God as Abraham did,
or Charles Spurgeon, or anyone else. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. But he's a jealous God. All right,
let's turn our hymn books to 256. Well with my soul, number
256.