The Parable of the Sower

Q: What does the Bible say about the Parable of the Sower?

The Parable of the Sower illustrates how different hearts respond to the Word of God. In Mark 4:1-20, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, demonstrating how the seed—representing the Word of God—falls on different types of ground, symbolizing the varying conditions of human hearts. The seed that falls on wayside soil represents those who hear the Gospel but do not understand it, allowing Satan to snatch it away. The seeds on stony ground illustrate those who initially receive the Word with joy but lack depth, leading to a quick fall away when trials arise. Seeds that fall among thorns represent individuals who hear the Word but are choked by worldly cares and desires, rendering it unfruitful. Lastly, good soil reflects a heart that understands and accepts the Word, producing a fruitful harvest. This parable calls Christians to examine their own hearts and how they respond to the Gospel.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

The doctrine of election is expressed in Scripture, confirming God's sovereign choice in salvation. The doctrine of election is founded on various scriptural passages that illustrate God's sovereign choice in salvation. For example, Ephesians 1:4-5 speaks of God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world, demonstrating that our salvation is not based on our merit but on God's sovereign grace and purpose. Romans 8:28-30 expands on this by describing how those He predestined He also called, justified, and glorified, showcasing a comprehensive plan of redemption orchestrated by God. This doctrine underscores the importance of God's grace in salvation, affirming that it is God's will and purpose that leads to salvation, not our works or decisions.

Q: Why is understanding the Word important for Christian growth?

Understanding the Word is vital for spiritual growth and producing fruit in a believer's life. Understanding the Word of God is crucial for Christian growth because it serves as the source of spiritual nourishment and guidance. In the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:20), it is clear that those who hear the Word and accept it with an honest heart bear fruit, demonstrating that knowledge of and engagement with Scripture is essential for a fruitful Christian life. The seed symbolizes the transformative power of the Gospel, leading to regeneration and growth. Furthermore, as believers grow in their understanding of God's Word, they cultivate a deeper relationship with Christ, which is foundational for perseverance in faith and an expression of the fruitful characteristics of the Holy Spirit, such as love, joy, and peace.

Mark chapter 4, now let's begin
with verse 1. And the Lord Jesus began again
to teach by the seaside. And there was gathered unto him
a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship and sat in
the sea. And the whole multitude was by
the sea on the land. And he taught them many things
by stories, parables, illustrations. And said unto them in his doctrine,
hearken, behold, there went out a sower to sow. Now let's just
stop on each one of these verses for just a few moments. Our Lord
said, a certain farmer arose one morning, and filled his bucket
or sack full of seed, whether corn or wheat or barley or whatever. And he went out into the field
and he began to scatter the seed. A sower went forth to sow. He
began to scatter the seed over a wide area, evidently with wheat
or barley or something like that. Verse 4, And it came to pass,
as he sowed, scattered the seed, some fell by the wayside. In
other words, here's the field, and around the field, I judge,
was a place where people walked, a path, fallow ground, unplowed,
hard ground, unprepared. And as he scattered the seed,
some of the seed went over there and fell on this hard, fallow,
unprepared ground. And the fowls of the air came
and devoured it. He went on with his sowing. He
was dipping his hand in his bucket and scattering the seed. The
seed went over there and just lay on top of that hard, fallow
ground. And the birds were sitting in
the trees watching him. As he walked on, they'd swoop
down and pick up the seed and take it off. And he said in verse
5, and some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth. There was a part of the field,
I judge, over in the corner somewhere that had not been plowed deeply.
And like the Yucatan, a lot of rocks, there was soil there,
there was dirt, It was rocky. And as he scattered the seed,
sowed the seed, some of it just went over there and fell on the
just little, not very deep, thin layer of dirt over the rocks. And immediately, right over a
period of a few days, it sprang up. It rained on it. It had a
little bit of earth, not much, just a little bit, but a lot
of rock underneath it, and it sprang up. But because it had
no depth of earth, and when the sun came out, it had that little plant growing
out of that thin layer of soil, but when the sun came out, it
had no root, it had no depth, it couldn't reach down into the
moisture. and draw from the moisture life and nourishment. So when
the sun was up, verse 6, it was scorched, and because it had
no root, it just withered away. It didn't mount to anything.
After a while, it all died. You couldn't even tell any seed
had even been sown there. And then verse 7, and some of
the seed, as he scattered the seed, some of it fell among the
thorns and the briars. course, around the field, all
of you who've ever lived on a farm, or the plowed ground's got to
stop somewhere. And there's other ground, there's
honeysuckle, weeds, briars, and old grass, and there's soil there,
and when he threw the seed over the ground, some of it went over
there among those, among those briars and thorns, and it grew
up because it had some soil there. But you don't plant things in
grass and weeds and thorns because it chokes it. And so when that
seed fell among the thorns, it grew, but the thorns and the
briars and the weeds choked it, stunted its growth, and it yielded
no fruit. But other, some of the seed,
the sower sowing his seed, much of it fell on good ground. What
kind of ground is that? Well, that's ground he's plowed
and cultivated and just kept preparing and probably fertilized
it and everything. And it fell on that good ground
and it did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and it brought
forth fruit. All of it didn't bring forth
the same amount of fruit. All of it that was sown on the
good ground brought forth fruit. But some of it brought forth
thirty, some sixty, some a hundred, some thirty bushels to the acre,
some sixty bushels to the acre, some a hundred bushels to the
acre. But it did bear fruit to different degrees. That's the
Master speaking. And he's preaching, he's teaching.
Would God we were as plain and simple. And then he said this,
he said to those listening to him, he that hath ears to hear,
Let him hear. Let him hear this story, this
parable. All right, verse 10. And evidently
the people dispersed, those who were listening to him on the
seashore. He was sitting in a boat, teaching
and preaching. And they left, and he was alone
with his disciples and a few other people. And when he was
alone, they that were about him, with the twelve, There were just
a few people there, a few believers, followers. They asked him the
parable. What does this mean? And he said
unto them, well, unto you it is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of God. God's given you ears to hear,
God's given you eyes to see, God's given you a heart to understand.
You here tonight, this preacher, We don't know nearly what we'd
like to know or what we ought to know, what we should know,
or what we will know. Paul said we know in part. We
preach in part. We see through a glass so dimly. Someday we're going to know as
we have been known. But we do know something about
the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and the glory of God in
the face of Christ. We do know. God gave us that.
He gave us that understanding. I thank Him for it. But unto
them which are without, whether in the world or whether in religion,
there are them who are without, them who are without God, without
Christ, without grace, without the circle of believers, those
who are without. All these things are done in
parables. That seeing they may see and not understand. See,
anybody knows what he's saying here. Anybody, if Sower went
forth to sow. Very graphic picture. Through the seed, some of it
fell over the fallow ground, some of it stony ground, some
of it among the thorns, some on good ground. And they see that, but they don't
see it. They hear it. But they don't
understand. They don't understand. Lest at any time they should
be converted and their sins should be forgiven to them. And he said
to them, he said to the disciples and to that inner circle, he
said, don't you know this parable? Suppose I just closed my Bible and sat down
and invited you up here to tell us what that parable means. Do
you understand that parable? That's what he's saying to them.
He said, don't you know what I'm saying? You don't know what
I'm teaching? Well, he says, if you don't know
this parable, how can you know the other parables? These are
the basics. This parable is where it all
begins. If a man does not know this parable,
he says, how can he know the other parable? Our Lord so often was, I don't
know the exact word to use here, but He often rebuked His disciples for
their lack of faith, their lack of understanding, their dullness,
Dullness. And that's what he does here.
They say, well, what are you talking about? He said, well,
don't you know this parable? Don't you know what I'm saying?
Well, if you don't know what I'm saying here, how can you
know any of the others? All right. And then the patient,
wonderful, compassionate Redeemer teaches them. God give us Give
us compassion. Give us affection. Give us patience. We talk about to teach. And you know, a lot of times,
and I know this is true, like I said a while ago, if I close
my Bible and put it down and invited you to come and say what
you believe that parable is, a lot of us can't put in words
what we know in our hearts. And when I give this definition
of the parable, you're going to say, that's exactly what that
means, and I knew it all the time. And you do. I know you
do. But look at verse 14. The sower soweth the Word, the
Word of God. This parable, the account of
this parable is found in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. And in Luke 8.11, the Master
plainly says, the seed is the Word of God. That's what he says.
The seed is the Word of God. So the preacher of the Gospel,
here's what the Master is saying, the preacher of the Gospel, what
I'm doing right now, what I did Sunday morning, Sunday night,
what I did Monday night up at the television station, what
I'll be doing tomorrow, what you do, what you do, what you
do, what you do, Other men do when they stand here, sow seed. The seed is the Word of God.
The preacher sows the Word of God. Like the sower, he goes
forth. Our Lord said, go into all the
world and preach the gospel. What we do on television every
Sunday morning is blanket this tri-state with the seed. The
seed is sown. I'll take my bucket and come
up here and sow the seed, the Word of God. The seed is the
Word of God, and the seed is the life. The life is in the
seed. When you sow that whatever seed
you plant, it may not look like it, but it's got life in it.
Did you know that? That seed has life in it. I planted,
Russell and I planted some spinach and some peas, little old shriveled
seeds. But I'm fully expecting to see
something in a few days out there, because that seed has life. There's
not going to be any life, not going to be any plant unless
the seed is put there, and if the seed is put there, and God
blesses it, there'll be life, because life's in the seed, and
there's life in this Word. I'm telling you the truth. James
1.18 says this, and let me say this plainly as I can say it. I fear fatalism and hardshellism
as much as I do freewillism. I hear people say, well, they'll
be saved whether they hear the gospel or not. No, I beg your
pardon. That's not true. I can't explain
it, but it's not true. Now, of His own will begat He
us with the word of truth. Don't ever, don't ever get away
from that. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. Isn't that correct? Isn't that
what the Word says? We are born again, not of corruptible seed. The first time we're born, we're
born of corruptible seed, which is flesh. He has birthed the
flesh. But we're born the second time of incorruptible seed, the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Now, folks,
that's true. Paul said, in whom you trusted
after you what? Heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. There's no life where there's
no word. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved, but how shall they call on him in whom they've not
believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they've
not what? Heard. I hear somebody say, well, I'd
rather see a sermon than hear one. You're not going to be saved
by seeing somebody act a certain way, you're going to be saved
by hearing of Christ. Hearing, hearing, the ear gate. I'm telling the truth. And just
because I can't explain why God's pleased to do it this way doesn't
mean it's not so. There's not going to be a salvation,
there's not going to be any new birth apart from the Word. The
Holy Spirit is the agent and the seed is the Word of God.
And I just as soon expect over there in my little garden patch
to see tomatoes come up without planting any as to see people
say without preaching the gospel. That won't happen and this won't
happen. It's exactly right. The seed is the Word of God. Now listen to me. It's not just
words. Now this is so important. The
Word preached. which has life, which is the
seed of life, is about the word incarnate, Christ. Now, I can say some words up
here that won't save you, even truth, even good words, kind
words, acceptable words, but not just words. You see, Christ
is the word. And you can't separate the Word
preached from the incarnate Word when you have life. If life is
going to come forth, it's got to be the preaching of the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That's the reason
in Matthew 22, they came up to all these religious fellows,
and one of them said, well, is it lawful to give tribute to
Caesar? Now, that's a good discussion, and you could spend a long time
discussing that and say some awful true things about it. Render
to Caesar the things of Caesar, the things of God, the things
of God. There's no saving life in that message. Another one
came along and said, let's talk about the resurrection. If a
woman has a husband, another one, another one, so forth, so
on, and they all die, who's going to be her husband in the resurrection?
Well, there's some things that could be said about that. It's
a true thing. But you can listen to prophecy
and resurrection all day long and not hear any gospel, not
hear the word that has life. See what I'm saying? And another
one came to him and said, well, let's talk about the law. Let's
talk about the law. Which is the greatest law? What
can I get by with and still be saved? You know, this sort of
thing. Which is the most important law? And there's a lot of things
to be said about love. But when they got through with
all of this, Christ said, What think ye of Christ, whose Son
we see? Now there's the saving grace.
There's the saving power. There's the seed of life. The
Word. Capital W, capital O, capital R, capital D. The Word. The preaching
of the Word. And there are preachers all over
the world that are preaching, but are not preaching the Word. Oh, brother of mine, they use
the Bible like you do. I know, I can turn to a lot of
places in this Bible and not preach the Word. That's exactly
right. Not interpret it like it's supposed
to be, just preach good things, laws, traditions, customs, ordinances,
those things, and not preach Christ. See what I'm saying? There it is, there's the light.
So, the sower went forth to sow. And the seed is the Word of God. That's what he's telling us,
the Word of God, the living Word, the incarnate Word, Christ the
Lord. All right, let's look at verse 15. All right, some of
it, verse 15, and these are they by the wayside. You remember
he scattered the seed and some of it fell over there on that
hard, trodden ground, unplowed, fallowed Just like this right
here. He just fell there. He just fell
on that old hard ground. Now who are they? Who are these
people? Well, these are they by the wayside
when the Word is sown and when they heard it. Satan comes immediately,
said the birds of the air in another place, and takes away
the Word that was sown in their hearts. Well, these are people
who come in contact with the gospel. Here's the preacher.
Preacher is the soul, is the seed, is Christ, the message
of Christ, the real gospel. I'm talking about the real gospel.
I'm not talking about false gospel, the Word of God. And these are
people who come in contact with this gospel, but who are indifferent
to it, unconcerned, uninterested, unprepared. John Gill called
them the casual, accidental hero. How'd they get under the sound
of the Word? Well, there's several ways. He may be a friend and
come to church with a believer. Someone might have come by and
said, will you go to church with me? Well, yeah, I'll go with
you. And he goes and sits, and he hears the gospel. He really
hears the gospel. how God can be just and justify,
how Christ died for our sins, how Christ is our righteousness.
If he comes here and to a lot of other places, he's going to
hear the gospel. Just casually hear the gospel,
but he has no interest. And someone else, perhaps he
dates a girl that worships God, comes with her, or a girl dates
a boy, and she comes to church with him, Or perhaps he hears
the gospel, the true gospel on television or radio. Or maybe attends a funeral. I preached funerals before where
people attended that never in their lives ever heard the gospel
before. They heard it then. There are many ways that men
are exposed to the name of Christ and the true gospel of Christ.
But here is this hero. Casual, accidental, indifferent,
unprepared, unconcerned, and he comes and hears it, and he
goes out the door, and it's no time at all till Satan comes
and replaces that which he has heard with something else. Takes
away that seed and leaves it just like it was. You say, you
mean there are people who actually hear this gospel and are unconcerned,
unmoved, indifferent, and remain just like they were? Just like
they were. They have ears, but they really
don't understand. They see what you're saying,
but they don't perceive it. That's right. And Satan, he's
the adversary. And I don't understand all I'm
supposed to about him. I don't really want to know much
about him. But he takes away that which
is sown. You'll put something else there.
All right. Then he told about another type
of hero, verse 16. Listen to this. And these are
they, likewise, which are sown on stony ground. Stony ground. Remember how I described the
stony ground? It's got a little bit of earth. Mostly rocks, mostly
stones. Who, when they hear the word,
what do they do? They hear the word. They hear
it. They listen. They listen. They listen to the good news.
They listen to the grace and mercy of God. They really listen. They're not even like this wayside
bunch. They have some interest. That's right. And they not only
hear it, but watch this, and here's a key word, immediately,
immediately, right now, right now, immediately. No thought,
no conviction, no study of it, no counting the cost, no destroying
of idols, no thought of the consequences, no searching of the scriptures
to see if these things be so. But they come and sit and they
hear it, and immediately they say, that's good, I like that
now, that really appeals to me, and they receive it. They receive
it with gladness. See, there's no preparation.
There's no digging out of the idols or the stumps or the rocks. getting down there and plowing
up the land and preparing the ground to receive that, where
there's a searching and a thirsting and a hunger and a willingness
to take it in and to digest it and to germinate it and to think
upon it. It's just lighthearted and I
hear it and that's good and I like that, boy. They receive it with
gladness. They're glad to hear about heaven.
No hell? Boy, think of it. Streets of
gold? Big castles? Deliverance from
the curse. Deliverance from the penalty
of sin. These are those folks that hear a preacher, an evangelist,
and they're brought down the aisle at the end of the service.
The preacher has great charisma, and he has great persuasive power,
and he uses his prepared speech, you know, and his illustrations,
and his poems, and the songs, and then the bowed head, and
all of these things. And he may say a lot of truth. But these folks hear it and here
they come, here they come. Immediately, immediately they
receive it. But what's next verse? But having
no what? No roots. What do roots do? Roots go down. Roots go down
and reach for the moisture. It's like the man who digged
deep and built his house on the rock. This is a house that's
just laid on top of the ground. This is a seed that's just laying
on top of the ground. This is all head work. They hear
the preacher and they say, sounds good. I'll set it against this
over here and this over here and this sounds best and go to
heaven. There's no root. There's no depth. There's no
conviction. There's no conversion. There's
no troubling of the soul. There's no heart work. The roots
go down. And so they receive it with joy.
And what's this? And he says, and they endure
but for a time. How long, preacher? I don't know.
I don't know. But they do endure for a time.
How long? Who knows? Who knows? But now you remember this. This
right here. Untried faith is suspect. Until the wind blows on the house
and the rain falls on the house, and the floods attacked it, that
house on the sand will sit there just as long as that one on the
rock. Isn't that right? It will sit there just as long.
And that fellow will endure. How long? I don't know. It says
for a time. But then, watch it, when affliction and persecution
arises, I don't know what form it will take. Troubles come.
Troubles go, and trials come, and trials go, and what sort
of trouble, I don't know. But trouble is trouble, and trial
is trial, and affliction and persecution arises for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. And immediately, just like they
came in, they go out. Immediately. That word, he keeps
using that word. You see, they came, and they
heard a little something, Immediately, they said, that sounds good.
I like that. No, that's right. Folks come up and say, well,
you don't want to join with you. Well, stick around a while and
see what we say. I want to confess Christ. Well,
this first time you heard this message, first time, well, hear
it again. Is that wrong? Don't think so. Hear it again. Because these
folks, they hear it and immediately they receive it. They endure
for a time, but having no root, having no depth, having no personal
understanding, having no life commitment, when they meet an
obstacle that it takes God to handle,
they quit. Same way they came in, they go
out immediately. Okay, verse 18. And I'll tell
you, somebody said this, the very fact that they're gone reveals
what they are. The very fact that they're gone
reveals what they are. Because Paul says, we're not
of them that draw back. You can't offend a believer with
the Word of God. You can't offend him. He loves
that word. He'll die for that word. All right, next verse,
18, and he said, And these that are sown among the thorns are
those that hear the word, those that hear the word. They hear
the word, too. They hear the word. Now, some
ways, there's some way that our Lord makes a difference. We know there's the wayside,
there's the stony, indifferent, they're just indifferent. They don't care. They're just,
they're the casual, accidental hearer. And then there's that
stony ground hearer that hears it with gladness and says, that's
it, I like that. But then he finds out what that
is. He finds out the consequences
of that way and that word and he quits. But now here's somebody
else. It's different from these others. This one has a little
more depth. It's not stony ground, this is
ground. They hear the word, and they
have some understanding. I hesitate to say how much understanding,
but I do know this, this seed is sown among the thorns, among
the briars, the ground was never really cleared for the seed.
It was never prepared for the seed. It was never made ready
for the seed. The word that they have heard is just another interest
along with the weeds and the briars. In other words, here's the ground
here that's been prepared for the seed, and the briars have
been dug out, and the roots have been rooted out, and the weeds
have been weeded out, and the ground is sitting there. bare
with nothing waiting on the seed, but here's ground here that hadn't
been cleared at all, but it's got weeds. It's got so many different
weeds and briars and thorns, and the seed falls out in the
middle of it. So the seed is just another thing growing. It's just another thing growing. It's not the only thing growing
or the first thing growing, it's another thing growing amid all
the other things that were already there and kept there. And naturally, as the seed came
up, these things that were already there just choked it out and
it disappeared. What is that? Well, he tells
us. He says, the cares of this world
Not the care of another world, the cares of this world, the
interests of this world, the concern and affections of this
world. That's the reason our Lord said,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and these things will be
added, these cares. Why are you so careful about
what you shall eat, drink, and wear? Why are you so anxious
about what you shall eat, drink, and wear? Seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and all these things will be added to you. And too often, folks try to fit
Christ in with all these other interests, and it won't work.
The other interests crowd him out then. See, it's got to be
Christ first and last, alpha and omega, beginning and end,
the first and the last. Christ is all, but he's not Lord
at all. The cares of this world. And
then he says something else, the deceitfulness of riches. Why are riches called deceitful?
Because they promise what they can't give. Instead of being
concerned for the riches of the kingdom of God and the riches
of grace and glory, are they not enough? But there's still
that desire for the things of this world, the materialism,
the status, the approval, the applause, and then he says, and
the lust of other things. And the lust of the eye, the
lust of the flesh, the pride of life, these are the other
things. And when this gospel, here's
a man who comes to hear this gospel, he's involved. Well,
if this gospel goes, he's going to have to get uninvolved to
where that gospel starts. See what I'm saying? See what I'm not saying? He's
saying this. His pursuit is the things of this world, and the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and
I'm determined to do this my way." Well, the seed will be, you'll hear
it, and it may be you understand it. But it just, you can't, it won't
fit in with each other. It won't, Christ doesn't demand
equal time, He demands all time. See what I'm saying? And I know
their family cares and job cares. I realize that, much as anybody
here. And I know you've got to have something to eat, something
to drink, something to wear. But if our minds and affections
and thoughts are on Christ, first and foremost, His kingdom, His
love, His mercy, His grace, so that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
that I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead, These other things
will fit their right place. But where they're of equal importance,
where they're more important, then
this gospel is going to get choked out. And that's what he says
there, in the lust of other things, they choke the Word. They choke
the Word, they squeeze it out. I've got an article in a bulletin.
I don't know whether it's going to be in this Sunday or the next
Sunday. I've already got a couple of bulletins ahead because I'm
going to Texas next week. But I've got an article on the
worship of the Lord. David said, I was glad when they
said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Why go to the house
of the Lord? Well, I can worship God without going to the church,
to the house of God. I can pray without going to the
house of God. I can praise God without going
to the house of God. I know that. I can study the
Bible for myself without listening to the preacher, I know that. But not if those things that
keep me from worship and praise and study are the things of this
life and this world. Now, if those things have prevented
me and kept me from worshiping God, then it's going to choke
the Word after a while. It's going to choke it out. And
you know what I'm talking about as well as you're sitting there
and I'm standing here. I just know a pursuit of God and a pursuit
of Christ and a knowledge of Christ. Old Barnard said this
39 years ago, 40 years ago, old Poppet, the Lordship of Christ. He'll be Lord of all, but he
won't be Lord at all. That's just so. and the cares
of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other
things. It's just the gospel, Christ's relationship with him
is not going to be a sideline. Now that's all there is to it.
It's just not going to do it. And I'm not telling everybody
here, quit your job and come down here and we'll have a commune,
you know, and all drink Kool-Aid one of these days. You know exactly what I'm saying.
Because some of you have experienced this very thing right here. Too
busy. Too much responsibility. And you might say to me, well,
preacher, you've got it easy. All you've got to do is study
and preach and pray and do these things. I know that. I've said
that a dozen times right here. But that doesn't lessen this strong statement our Lord
makes. It does not excuse us. from allowing
these things to come between us and Christ. That doesn't excuse
it. I don't care how busy we are, how important we are, how
many responsibilities we have, it does not excuse it. And one
day, we're going to be awful sorry if we allow that to choke
out this Word, the life of Christ, that it will. We'll be awful
sorry. All right, verse 20, let's look
at this before we quit. And he says, these are they which
are sown on good ground. Now you know, the ground's not
good by nature. It's not good by nature. It's
like all ground. It's got to be prepared. If you're going to plant anything
this year, you're going to have to work the ground now. You're
going to have to plow it. You're going to have to turn
it over. Get the weeds out, it's like all natural ground, it's
full of weeds, it's hard, it's fallow ground, it's got to be
prepared. And this good ground here is
prepared by the Spirit of God. Broken up, this fallow ground
is broken up by the Spirit of God. I'll tell you this, every
sheep of Christ who hears the Word is prepared by the Holy
Spirit to hear that Word. I guarantee you that's so. I
don't know who he is, where he is, but I just know this. If
he hears the Word, God's going to give him ears. If he receives
the Word, God's going to prepare the ground to receive it. He'll
come here prepared. Yes, he will. You know what Luke
called it when our Lord, when he recorded this parable? He said that the good ground
is an honest heart. Look it up. Luke 8. Let's look
it up. Let me show you. Luke 8. Luke 8, verse 15. Here it is. Boy, listen. In Luke 8, 15. You got it? Luke 8, 15. But that on the good
ground are they which in an honest and good heart have heard the
word. What's an honest heart? You ever
heard me preach, honest people don't go to hell? That's right. How are they honest? They're
honest before God, they're sinners. They're honest before God that
they have no ability to satisfy Holy God. They're honest and
sincere before God that Jesus Christ is the only righteousness
and blood atonement. They're honest. They know that.
They're not feigning. They're not hypocrites. They're not phonies. They're
not trying to claim to be what they're not. They're what they
are. All right. I tell you, you never know what's
under that old pall of ground, but you know what's under that
ground. There it is. There's the bottoms on top. It's
dug up. Boy, he dug up. When God worked
and plowed in his eye, he just dug it up. And what you see is
what you get. That's right. That's what it
is. Just broken up. He's honest. He's a sinner. Christ is the only Savior. He
has a sincere heart with a sincere commitment to Jesus Christ. It's
an honest time. Good ground. What did they do? They heard the Word and they
received it. Back in Mark 4, he said they
heard the Word and they received it. They received the Word. Not all these traditions of religion
thoughts and ideas of men. I see these poor people sitting
on television discussing what they think the Bible teaches,
what they think. That's not what this seed that
put in that good ground, that honest heart, is the Word heard. Brethren, I don't know where
you stand, but I know what that Word says. I know it's Christ. And I receive His Word. If you may receive it, not as
the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. That's
my foundation. And what they do? And they bring
forth fruit. Well, you know what that is.
That's the fruit of the Spirit of God. That's love, faith, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness,
kindness, meekness, temperance. They bring forth fruit. They don't all bring forth the
same amount of fruit. They all bring forth fruit now.
On a tomato vine, you're gonna find tomatoes. But you might
only find four or five. But they'd be good tomatoes.
And the old vine next door might have a dozen on it. Might have
a dozen. Some thirty, some sixty, some
a hundred and four. But I tell you this. I know who
the Lord of the harvest is. And He'll cause every plant which
my father didn't plant, He'll root up. But every plant which
He plants, He'll prune. He'll work with it. And it might
be seventy years old before it bears a hundredfold, but He can
make it. It may bear thirty, sixty, a
hundred. But He'll keep working with it till it glorifies Him.
That's what he says, isn't it? He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. All right, Mike, come lead us in a closing hymn.

The Parable of the Sower

What does the Bible say about the Parable of the Sower?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is understanding the Word important for Christian growth?

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The Parable of the Sower

What does the Bible say about the Parable of the Sower?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is understanding the Word important for Christian growth?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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