The Parable Of The Soil (2)

And so we saw the setting of these parables last week.

We saw also the significance of the parables,

why Jesus was now making this transition in his style of teaching.

Today we're going to focus in on this one parable itself.

We're going to see the story, and then we're going to see the sense of it

or the meaning of it.

Look with me again at verse 3.

We'll see the story that Jesus told.

Right here at the beginning of verse 3, he says,

Listen, hearken.

And then he tells us, Behold, a sower went out to sow.

Now, we noted at the end of chapter 3,

remember when Jesus was in the house,

and his family was on the outside of the house,

and they were sending the messages in,

saying that they were there to see him,

and people were communicating to him.

Remember there was an emphatic statement that Jesus made.

When he answered, he answered loudly.

There was an exclamation point at the end of that,

which is not extremely common in the scriptures.

It's a point of emphasis there in the text.

This word, hearken, or listen,

you may see that it has another exclamation point there.

It's a point of emphasis here.

Now, it could be that Jesus is outside on the lake,

and there are thousands of people,

and he's just getting their attention.

But why would Mark feel a need to communicate to us

something that we already know Jesus would have had to have done?

We know he would have had to have quieted the crowd.

So I don't think that this is really an emphasis of volume.

I think it's an emphasis of significance that Jesus is getting across here.

Throughout the entire chapter, actually,

this whole series of parables,

there is a major emphasis on listening,

hearing, and heeding the message that Jesus is teaching.

And so right here, we get to verse three,

and Jesus calls out, listen.

It's not so much volume.

Listen, quiet down.

It's not so much that.

It is, listen to me.

Listen, this is important.

It's emphatic in that sense.

Don't miss what I'm about to tell you, Jesus says.

He was alerting his audience to the importance of this story.

Now, all parables communicate ordinary, everyday ideas and situations

that audiences would have been familiar with.

Everybody that was there on the seashore that day

would have understood this story.

It was agricultural in nature.

They would have understood, as we do,

you don't have to be a farmer to understand that

when you throw seed out, it finds a place of soil,

and if that soil is good, the seed will grow,

and it will flourish, and it will produce fruit.

So this is what Jesus did with the parables.

The stories themselves isn't what was difficult to understand.

There's nothing in the story that makes it hard for us to grasp the story itself.

Now, the parable itself, the story,

is about the process of sowing this seed in a field,

but the emphasis is on the soil.

And so Jesus gives four types of soil in the story

that that seed that maybe he was demonstrating even in that moment

might have fallen on.

And the first one is found in verse 4.

Look at it with me.

And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path,

and the birds came and devoured it.

So the first type of soil here that Jesus mentioned is a pathway.

It's the borders of these fields.

Now, we've talked about this already in Mark's gospel as well.

You remember, was it chapter 2,

where Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field along the path,

and his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

And as they were rubbing the chaff in their hands

and eating the grain because they were hungry,

some Pharisees noticed,

and there was that confrontation about the Sabbath day.

You remember that?

Well, we talked about what path they were on.

The road systems were not like they are today.

Most of these agricultural fields had pathways

that would either border the fields

or they would traverse across the field.

And so over time, these paths, as you might expect,

with the foot traffic of not only people but animals,

and then the farmers doing their thing,

the carts for the merchants that would travel from town to town

or from place to place,

the carts that would follow along the ox

as they were treading these fields,

the ground would get very, very hard.

So it would be something similar to concrete,

maybe not quite like rock, but it would be very hard.

You know what a path is like.

And so Jesus in this story talks about that's the first type of soil.

The sower goes out with a seed, and he throws the seed,

and it lands on the paths that kind of transverse

or traverse the fields.

And what happens is there's nothing there

for the seed to penetrate in the soil.

It just sits on top as if it was on top of a rock.

And there's no protection.

They weren't throwing straw down on the seeds on the path, right?

And so the birds saw it, and immediately the birds come down,

and they take the seed that has been sown,

and they devour it.

So Jesus says the sower's going.

Some gets on the path,

and the birds just immediately take it away.

Secondly, we see in verses 5 and 6,

look at with me.

Other seed fell on rocky ground,

where it did not have much soil,

and immediately it sprang up,

since it had no depth of soil.

And when the sun rose, it was scorched,

and since it had no root, it withered away.

Now parts of Israel as well were very rocky,

and that makes it difficult to farm.

And the soil here is a reference to a limestone or a bedrock

that would have had a very thin layer of dirt on its surface.

In fact, in order to try to be like Jesus,

I brought an object lesson for you today,

right from my backyard.

In fact, if many of you,

most of you have actually probably been to my house

and been to my backyard,

this is a piece of bedrock from my backyard

that I pulled out this morning.

It's very hard and rocky.

There's about a half inch to an inch of soil

on top of this in my backyard.

And so it's right behind my house.

Now, I also brought some of my soil

from my house this morning,

which is not very good soil.

It's just like sand.

It's all it is.

There's nothing there really for anything to grab onto.

And so you can go to my backyard today,

right behind my back porch,

and you'll see there's a whole bunch

of this bedrock like this.

And it's got about that much

of this sandy, nasty, rocky soil on it.

Now, here's the problem.

I can spend a couple of hundred dollars

in the spring and in the fall

and throw seed on this portion of my backyard.

And I'm ignorant enough to keep doing it

for some reason.

And I do it.

And it just sits there on top,

but it may penetrate a little bit.

It's not quite like the soil on the path.

That would be as if I was just throwing it

right on the rock.

This is just a little bit different.

There is a little bit of soil there.

It's not very deep.

That's the problem.

And so the seed will get on it.

And then I'll get out there with my sprinkler

and I'll spend a couple hundred bucks a month

on water for my house,

trying to get this seed to grow.

And wouldn't you believe it?

In a couple of weeks,

there'll be a couple of short,

thin blades of grass that pop up

right behind my house,

right on top of this right here.

But then a rainstorm will come.

And it just kind of washes this stuff out

because there's just nothing to it.

There's nothing to it.

Or if maybe the rainstorm doesn't come,

the seed lands on it

and it goes in just a little bit.

And then the water that I put on

or the fertilizer I put on,

you get these little sprouts.

But then as soon as things start to get hot

in the spring,

you know what I mean?

It starts to get hot.

It just scorches.

It burns it out.

And it can't survive.

Why?

There's no root.

It has absolutely no root system in it.

And so it may seem at first,

I'll get excited like I did last year.

I've got pictures.

If we had a TV in here

or one that we use there every week,

I would show you the pictures.

My dad helped me do this.

And we had grass.

You know, we went out with a blanket one day.

We sat in the grass.

And like a week later,

it was all gone.

There was nothing there.

It had no root.

And I was excited at first

because look,

it seems like this has taken

and there's some fruit of it.

But no,

there was actually no fruit at all

because there was no root

in the seed,

in the soil.

So that's what Jesus is saying.

There's the pathway.

Then there's the rocky ground.

It just doesn't have much soil.

It pops up for a moment.

But it doesn't have any root system

so it can't survive.

And then he gives the third one

in verse seven.

Other seed fell among thorns.

And the thorns grew up

and choked it

and it yielded no grain.

Now,

there's a different problem here.

The problem in this part of the story

is not the depth of soil.

It's not like this.

There's plenty of it.

And it's pretty fertile soil.

And it's good.

Maybe it's rich with some nutrients even

and it has great depth

and texture to it.

The problem's not the soil itself.

The problem's what's inside of the soil.

So I went out in my backyard

and I got something else to show you

this morning.

Maybe you have some of these

in your backyard.

This is about all that's in my backyard.

In fact,

it's just a bunch of weeds.

This was the smallest one

in my yard this morning.

There have some that are,

they're probably this tall

sitting off this.

They're just massive

because we're bad yard keepers.

But there's this weed.

Now,

what Jesus is talking about here

in this particular part

of the parable,

this is not what he's talking about.

This is what we see.

Right?

We see the weed.

Okay?

The problem in the parable

is not the weed

because in the parable,

the weed's already been cut

or it's been burned

or it's been taken out

in some way.

The problem is that

when the weed was taken out

or when the thorn was taken out

or it was cut

or it was burned

or whatever,

the root remained in the soil.

So it's not that

there's not depth of soil.

It's not that there's not a place

for the seed to penetrate.

It's that what else is in the soil

that you can't see?

There's these weeds and thorns

and as the seed begins to grow,

so does the weeds and the thorns

and ultimately the weeds choke out

the good seed

and there's no grain

that's able to be produced in it.

So Jesus gives those three types

of poor soil

and then he gives a good soil

in verse 8.

And another seed fell

into the good soil

and produced grain,

growing up and increasing

and yielding 30-fold

and 60-fold

and 100-fold.

So after mentioning

these bad soils

in which no seed can survive

and be fruitful,

Jesus told of this good soil

and this earth

was well cultivated

it was prepared

to receive the seed

it has depth

it's free from the underground

problems and pollutants

that will choke out the grain

and as far as Jesus' story

is concerned

this is the only soil

that will actually

be able to produce

any kind of fruit.

And then Jesus closes this story

with another emphatic statement

in verse 9.

And he said,

He who has ears

to hear,

let him hear.

Now you gotta think

the unbelievers

that were there

that were maybe

continuing to be

hardened by this

had to have been

confused.

What in the world

is that about?

We've traveled

from all over the place

to come and listen

to this guy's teaching.

We've heard that

it's phenomenal.

And he just

told me a story

that I learned

in my second grade

science class

about how seed

and soil works.

And then he just

leaves it to that.

And then he gets

to the end of the story

and he says,

He who has ears

to hear,

let him hear.

And this is supposed

to be significant

to me?

This story

about soil

and seed?

What is this

all about?

Well,

Jesus is actually

testing the soil,

so to speak.

the soil

of their hearts

here.

And it was

the testing

of their soil

that determined

whether or not

they were really

in Christ or not.

And so he says,

He who has ears

to hear,

let him hear,

meaning that

many of them

would not actually

have ears

to hear.

But if they did,

it was important

that they listen.

The command here

is not only

to give audience

to his remarks,

but to engage

with them,

to obey

the lesson

that he was

teaching.

And this teaching

is actually

eternally significant.

And he desired

that they would

obey.

Well,

let's skip down

to verse 14

and we'll see

what this parable

actually means.

And then we'll

wrap up this section

of Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Look with me

at verse 13.

And he said

to them,

Do you not

understand this

parable?

How will you

understand

all the parables?

Now Mark's

returning to

this issue of

soil.

He took a break

and he talked

about Jesus'

explanation of

why he was

teaching in

parables to

begin with.

And before

explaining this,

Jesus made

those really

difficult sayings

to hear.

But then he

wraps back to

this specific

explanation about

the soil.

It's a foundational

lesson actually

for believers.

Jesus said,

If you don't

understand this

one,

you're going to

have a really

hard time

understanding any

of the other

parables that I

tell.

And so all three

of the synoptic

gospels actually

record this exact

parable in great

detail.

Why?

Because Jesus

himself said,

If you don't

get this one,

you're not going

to get the other

ones.

You may be

wondering,

why didn't

John do it?

If Matthew,

Mark,

and Luke did,

why didn't

John?

Well,

John didn't

record any

of Jesus'

parables,

so it would

be unnecessary

for him to

explain the

one that they

need to know

to interpret

the others.

But Matthew,

Mark,

and Luke all

deal with it.

And so let's

see what he

has to say.

Verse 14.

This is the

key that unlocks

the whole thing.

The sower

sows the

word.

The sower

sows the

word.

The sower

casting out

the seed

in Jesus'

story is

representative

of an

individual

who is

preaching

or teaching

or sharing

the word

of God.

And in the

immediate context,

the sower is a

reference to

Jesus.

Because in this

moment,

Jesus is the

one casting

the seed.

He's the one

that's teaching

the gospel.

He's the one

that's sharing

the good news.

But it doesn't

only apply to

Jesus.

We would make

a mistake if

we thought that

Jesus is meant

to be the

sower exclusively

in this particular

passage.

That's not it.

Any person

who takes

the gospel of

Jesus and

shares it with

another is

represented here

by the

sower.

And of course,

the seed is

the Bible.

Especially

the explicit

teaching of

the gospel of

Jesus.

Now, we have

to make an

important note

here.

Notice that

in the story,

the problem

is neither

with the

sower nor

the seed.

So in the

immediate context,

the sower is

Jesus.

Well, Jesus

is the greatest

teacher to ever

live.

He's perfect.

He's God.

There can't be a

problem with him.

It can't be a

problem with the

way that he's

teaching.

It can't be a

problem with his

methodologies.

It can't be a

problem with

his tone or

any other

things that we

may point to

and say,

well, maybe

this was the

problem there.

No, there's no

problem with the

sower here.

Sower is just

casting out

seed.

There's also

no problem

with the

seed.

The seed is

the word of

God.

It's perfect.

It's inerrant.

It's infallible.

There is no

mixture of error.

It is God's

truth to us.

So as this

seed is being

cast out,

there's no issue

with that because

it's perfect.

And in this

particular context,

so is the

sower.

So there's no

issue here with

sower and

seed.

So we can't

come to this

story and say,

well, we need

to find out more

creative ways to

sow the seed of

the gospel.

No, that's not

what Jesus is

saying.

And then we

don't come to

this and we

say, well, we

have to figure

out better ways

to present it

ourselves.

We need better

personalities or

we need to wrap

it all in this

nice, neat

package of modern

trendiness.

No, that's not

what this parable

is about either.

The issue in

this parable is

not the sower

of the seed.

The issue in

this parable is

the soil.

It's just bad

soil.

And the soil

represents the

hearts of

people.

Jesus, again,

says that there

are four types

of soil, four

types of hearts

that this seed

will land on.

And so let's

look at them

quickly.

Verse 15.

Jesus said,

these are the

ones that along

the path where

the word is

sown.

When they hear

Satan immediately

comes, takes

away the word

that is sown in

them.

Well, this is the

hardest type of

soil that Jesus

mentions.

Talked about that

already.

It's the pathway.

It's very hard.

There's nothing

for the seed to

penetrate.

This individual's

heart is so

hardened to the

truth of God

that they are

utterly indifferent

to it.

I'm convinced

after spending the

last couple of

weeks in this

passage, I'm

convinced that

this is the

most predominant

type of soil

that you will

come across in

your evangelism.

It's just people

that are just

completely indifferent

to what we have

to say.

They're just

completely indifferent

to the word.

It's not that

they're trying to

figure out.

It's not necessarily

that they got all

this stuff in their

life that's choking

it out.

It's just they

don't care.

They don't care to

begin with.

And some will

even, in fact,

maybe even many

will take it to

the extreme where

it's not indifference

only to the gospel.

Maybe it's even

they've made

themselves an enemy

of the gospel.

These are the

people that you

can sit down with

at your dinner

table and you can

talk about the

love of Christ.

You can talk

about the reality

of their sin.

And they just

don't care.

Like there's just

nothing there to

grab their attention

at all.

There's no sense

of remorse.

There's no sense

of anything at

all in their life.

They just don't

care.

And they go to

church.

That's the thing.

They go to

church.

But they don't

go to church

because they care.

They just go

because their

wife makes them

go.

Or they go

because their

parents make

them go.

Or they go

because this is

what you're

supposed to do.

And maybe if I

network enough

within the right

congregation,

I'll be able to

make the right

business context

that I need to

make.

And it'll benefit

my life in another

way.

But their hearts

are so hard.

The actual

message, the

truth, Christ,

they're just

completely indifferent

to it.

There's nothing

there.

And Jesus

says when the

seed falls on

this heart,

that Satan

immediately comes

and devours it.

He doesn't come

and devour the

person.

He devours

the seed.

Right?

What does that

mean?

Well, sometimes

he does that

just through

worldly

distractions.

You know, they

share the gospel

with somebody

and immediately

their attention

is just completely

diverted to

another thing.

Something else

that's going on

in their life.

Maybe it's their

business or maybe

it's their family

or maybe it's

some other thing

that maybe in and

of itself is a

good thing, but

Satan just uses it

as a distraction.

He devours that

seed.

He devours the

seed that has

then been cast

on the soil.

Satan doesn't

harden the soil.

That's not what

he does.

The soil is already

hardened.

That's the problem.

He just devours

the seed when it's

cast out, which

tells us we have

no excuse.

When I was a

kid, maybe you

did this.

I don't know.

When I was a

kid, I learned

early that if I

messed up, there

was a chance that

if I played a

spiritual card with

my parents, I

might could get

some type of

relief from the

punishment.

You know what I

mean?

I know Marty

knows what I

mean.

And there were

times I remember

telling my parents,

you know, I

really didn't want

to do that.

The devil made

me do it.

The devil made

me do it.

And they just

never accepted

that for some

reason.

I'm not sure

why.

Because Satan

doesn't harden

the soil.

That's not what

he does.

He's not capable

of that.

We take

responsibility for

that.

We harden the

soil of our

hearts.

We're the ones

who reject the

message.

We're the ones

who live in sin.

We're the ones

who do wrong.

And we can't say,

well, the devil's

just on my back

this week.

No.

No.

No.

He just steals

the seed.

He just steals

the seed.

Maybe it's

through deception.

Maybe it's

through distraction.

But he steals

the seed.

Paul said to the

Corinthians in

2 Corinthians 4

that Satan

actively blinds

those who do

not believe.

He said,

in their case,

the God of

this world

has blinded

the minds

of the

unbelievers

to keep

them from

seeing the

light of

the gospel,

the glory

of Christ.

You say,

well, what kind

of hope does

this person

have?

If their

hearts are

so hard

that Satan

comes whenever

a seed is

sown and he

just devours

it and he

takes it away

and they're

distracted and

it just

immediately goes

away, what

kind of hope

do they have?

It is only

by the grace

of God that

any one of

us has a

believing heart.

Because between

our sinful

nature and

Satan's

blinding work,

we are

actually

hopeless.

And the

only hope we

have is that

the grace of

God will

overcome the

power of sin

and Satan

in our lives.

Listen,

no person

comes to

faith on

their own.

It's not

possible.

The soil's

too hard.

And Satan's

working too

hard to

steal away

whatever seed

comes.

You say,

well, what hope

do we have?

The only hope

we have is

that God

in his grace

and in his

sovereign will

will do a

cultivating work

in our heart

to break up

the soil of

our heart

in order

that his

seed can

penetrate

our hearts

and he

can then

produce fruit.

It is the

spirit of

God that

awakens us.

Let me go

back to 2 Corinthians

4.

Right after Paul

says that the

God of this

world has blinded

the minds of

those who do

not believe,

then he says

in verse 6,

for God who

said,

let light shine

out of darkness,

he's appealing

to the power

of God,

the creative

power of God,

for God who

said let light

shine out of

darkness has

shown in our

hearts to give

the light of

the knowledge

of the glory

of God in

the face of

Jesus Christ.

And then he

says in the

next verse,

but we have

this treasure

in jars of

clay to show

that the

surpassing power

belongs to

God,

not to

us.

It's his

grace that

brings salvation.

It's his

grace that

softens the

soil.

It's his

grace that

does this

work,

not us.

You don't

come to

Christ by

epiphany.

You don't

just wake up

one day and

say, you know

what, I think

I'll be a

Christian.

It doesn't

work that

way.

God does

a work.

It's a work

of grace.

Think about

Matthew 16.

Peter makes

this wonderful

confession.

Jesus says,

who do men

say that I

am?

And Peter

says, you

are the

Christ.

And here's

how Jesus

responded.

Jesus

answered,

blessed are

you, Simon

son of

Jonah, for

flesh and

blood has

not revealed

this to

you, but

my father

who is in

heaven has

revealed this

to you.

Think about

John 6,

44.

No one

can come

to me,

Jesus said,

unless the

father who

sent me

draws him

and I

will raise

him up on

the last

day.

As it is

written in

the prophets,

they will

all be

taught by

God.

You say,

well, there's

a problem

here.

If my

heart is

so hard

that whenever

the seed of

the word is

sown, the

devil comes

and blinds

me or he

takes away

that seed,

then I've

got a

problem there.

And if

on the

other side

is I

can't

actually do

anything about

that problem

that I

have to rely

on God's

gracious work

in my heart

to do

something about

that problem,

what am I

supposed to

do?

What am I

supposed to

do?

You've got

one choice.

Pray.

That's all

you can do.

This is why

we pray for

the lost.

Have you ever

thought about

that?

You ever

thought why

we pray for

people to

be saved?

Because we

know it is

in God's

act for

people to

be saved.

It takes

his work

of grace

in their

heart and

so that

should drive

us as

believers to

get on our

knees before

God and

beg for

God to

do a

work of

grace in

the hearts

of people

that we

love, in

the hearts

of our

co-workers,

in the hearts

of our

friends, and

in the hearts

of people that

may even

attend our

church whose

hearts are

so hard.

And we

gotta pray

that God

will do

something in

their hearts,

that he

will cultivate

the soil of

their hearts.

That's the

only hope they

have.

It's the only

hope we

have.

And we

need to

pray.

And if you

find yourself

becoming

hardened and

indifferent to

the gospel

yourself, and

you're concerned,

well, you may

be a little

softer than

you think.

And you

need to

pray that

God will

do this

work, and

then believe.

That's what

Jesus said to

do, isn't

it?

Repent and

believe the

gospel.

Second type

of soil,

verse 16.

These are the

ones sown on

rocky ground,

the ones who

when they hear

the word,

immediately

receive it with

joy.

But they

have no root

in themselves.

They endure

for a while,

and then when

tribulation or

persecution arises

on account of

the word,

immediately they

fall away.

This type of

person gives

early signs of

excitement about

Jesus, but the

word never takes

any root in

their hearts.

Now consider

the types of

people that were

following Jesus

and were listening

to him and

hearing him at

this point.

this soil

represents the

prosperity seekers.

This is the

prosperity seekers.

Their interest is

not in the

gospel.

Their interest is

not even in

Jesus himself or

in his purpose or

in his identity

as Lord.

They only want to

receive some type

of healing,

some type of

success,

some type of

improvement to

their temporal

life.

love.

They're hoping

that coming to

Jesus, he will

benefit them

materially or in

some earthly

way.

And for them,

it's all emotion.

That's what Jesus

said.

Immediately they

receive it with

what?

Joy, gladness.

They receive it

with joy, not the

prospect of the

gospel.

What they receive

with joy is the

prospect of their

life having some

type of improvement

that they want

to experience.

But they abandon

Jesus as soon as

a hardship comes

along.

The word initially

sprouts, but it's

unable to take any

root in their heart.

Sun comes up,

things get a little

hot, and they say,

okay, this is not

what I signed up

for.

But what does the

sun represent here?

It could be a lot

of things actually.

It could be

persecution.

It could be that

they've said, yeah,

I'm a follower of

Christ, and then

their friends decide

they don't want to

be their friends

anymore.

Or their family

decides they don't

want them coming

over for dinner

anymore.

Or their coworkers

are mocking them

or making fun of

them for whatever

it is, and they

say, you know

what, okay, maybe

I'm not a follower

of Christ.

It's not worth it.

There's no root.

No root.

Could be unmet

expectations.

They came because

they thought Jesus

was going to give

them a better job,

and they thought

Jesus was going to

heal the disease

that they have,

or they thought

Jesus was going

to restore the

relationship that

they have with

an estranged child,

but then when they

don't ever get a

better job, or they

don't ever get the

wealth that they

were looking for,

they don't ever get

the other material

things, these unmet

expectations cause

them to say, well,

Jesus isn't all he's

cracked up to be.

Could be that they're

just hurt by others.

They get excited

initially, and then

they realize once they

get into church and

around Christians,

that Christians are

sinners, and we

don't always do

things well, and they

get hurt, and they

say the first thing

they abandon is not

necessarily the church

that they abandon,

it's Christ.

They say, I don't

want this.

Third type of soil,

verse 18.

Others are the ones

sown among thorns.

They're those who hear

the word, but the

cares of the world and

the deceitfulness of

riches and the

desires for other

things enter in and

choke the word, and

it proves unfruitful.

Now, unlike the other

two types of soil, as

we mentioned earlier,

the issue here is not

depth.

It's what's in the

soil.

Now, this person is

willing to accept

Jesus as their Savior,

but we know that's not

the complete gospel.

They don't mind asking

Jesus in their heart,

and they definitely

want Jesus to keep

them from going to

hell.

No doubt about that.

What they're unwilling

to do is submit to

Jesus as Lord.

What they lack is not

belief in the claims

of Jesus.

They wouldn't deny who

he is, wouldn't even

deny what his purpose

was.

What they lack is

repentance.

A repentance that Jesus

demands for salvation.

So, underneath the

surface of this

pseudo-belief is a

network of sins, a

network of desires that

ultimately turn their

hearts away from Christ

altogether.

And we have a cultural

term for this.

We call them nominal

Christians.

But the problem with

nominal Christianity is

it's not Christian.

it's just nominal.

It's one thing to want

Jesus to save you

from hell.

It's another thing to

actually submit to him

as your Lord and repent

of your sin.

That's the issue here.

Jesus said in Matthew

6, no man can serve

two masters.

Either we will hate the

one and love the other,

or he will be devoted to

the one and despise the

other.

And then the specific

illustration he gives is

money.

No person can serve both

God and money.

In other words, your

attention, your heart

cannot be divided in the

gospel.

James talked about this.

A double-minded man is

unstable in all his ways.

This person, they want

Jesus because they want,

they don't want to go to

hell.

They want Jesus, but they

don't want Jesus telling

them what to do.

They don't want to

actually have to change

their life around.

They just want Jesus to be

okay with them.

They want Jesus to accept

them as they are, but not

actually do the refining

work that the gospel does

in their lives.

And what we come to find

out according to Jesus is

that none of these soils,

none of these three soils

produce true Christians.

Two of them produce false

Christians.

And then he gets to the

good soil.

Verse 20.

But those that were sold on

the good soil are the ones

who hear the word, accept it

and bear fruit 30 fold, 60

fold, and a hundred fold.

Now, the word that Jesus uses

for here in all three of these

situations is the word

akuo.

It's a verb.

The first three times he uses

it in the first three soils,

it's in the imperfect tense,

which means that it's past.

It's a single action.

In other words, they heard.

Single moment, they heard.

It's kind of the picture of

in one ear, out the other

that we're all familiar with,

right?

That's the way that Jesus

is using the word.

When he gets to the good soil,

he uses a different form

of the word akuo.

They not only hear the word,

but they heed the word.

They listen to the word.

They obey the word

and they submit to it.

And Jesus made clear

that the way to determine

what type of person you are

is to gauge the fruitfulness

of the word in your life.

Now, remember,

we are not bearing fruit

in this parable.

It's not us bearing fruit.

We're just the soil.

What is it that's bearing fruit?

The word.

The word bears the fruit.

When it lands on the right soil

that's been cultivated,

the word bears the fruit.

And a typical yield

in Jesus's day

would have been anywhere

from six to tenfold.

In fact, tenfold was a blessed year.

That was a good crop.

But then Jesus makes this

outrageous statement

that the good soil produces

in some thirtyfold,

in some sixtyfold,

and in some a hundredfold.

This would have been meant

to shock the people's ears,

to shock them,

because that's a massive bounty

for what has been sown.

And so what's the point?

The point is that

there's no mistaking

whether a person

is truly trusting Christ or not.

There's no mistaking it.

Because it's not the person

that produces the fruit,

it's God that produces the fruit

through his word,

by his spirit.

And for a person

that has truly come to faith,

that's going to reveal itself

over time

in the bounty of fruit

that the word has provided.

Some thirtyfold,

some sixtyfold,

some a hundredfold.

We're all going to be

in different walks.

We're all going to be

on different planes

as far as our Christian walk

is concerned.

But the unmistakable truth

of the Bible

is that those who have truly

come to Christ in faith

will,

will bear fruit.

Because it's God

who does the fruit bearing

in us.

It's not that we don't produce that.

He produces that.

And only those who are

producing that fruit,

that word is impacting their life

and changing their life

and doing the work

of the Lord

represent the good soil.

MacArthur said,

having been made alive

by the spirit of God,

they produce fruit

in keeping with repentance.

That's Matthew 3.8.

That's a part of the fruit.

You say,

how do I know

that this is me?

Well, what happens

when you get confronted

by the word

about your own sin?

What do you do?

Do you bear fruits

of repentance?

It's not that the good soil

never sins.

You don't just leave it alone.

But what do you do

when you are confronted

by your sin?

Do you rebel?

Do you harden?

Or do you repent?

It bears fruit

in keeping with repentance.

Matthew 3.8.

And then he said,

it bears the fruit

of righteousness.

Philippians 1.11.

That not only are we

avoiding sin

and repenting of sin,

but we're actually living

unto righteousness.

We're not only stopping

the bad things,

but we're actually being

being driven to do

the good things,

the righteous things,

the godly things.

And then thirdly,

he says,

the fruit of the spirit,

which is Galatians 5.

Love,

joy,

peace,

long-suffering,

gentleness,

faithfulness,

meekness,

self-control.

Those aren't things

you produce.

Those are things

the spirit of God

produces.

And so the question is,

what's the fruit

of your life?

Do you sprout up

real quick

and then you blow away

because you actually

have no root?

Is the faith part,

you know,

as far as mental

ascent belief,

I'm good there,

just I don't want

to give up the sins.

I don't want Jesus

to be my Lord.

I just want him

to be my Savior.

Is that your soil?

Maybe you're so hard

that you just can't wait

for this to get over

because none of this

matters to you.

What does this

have to do with me?

Or is the word of God

actually doing something

in your heart?

Is it actually

producing a fruit

in your heart?

Is God doing

this work in you?

It's a testing

of the soil.

And so we have

to ask those questions.

In relation

to the parables,

most of the parables

are about the kingdom

of God.

And so when we come

to one,

we ask,

where do I stand

in relation

to the kingdom

of God?

And in this particular

case,

the question is,

what type of soil

have I proven

to have

in my heart?

we also need

to understand

how this lesson

relates to our evangelism.

This is an important

note for us

as we care

about lost souls.

Our responsibility

is to cast

the seed.

Remember?

the sower

in this case,

now we could take it

that far

if we wanted to,

but Jesus doesn't.

Okay?

So we go with

what Jesus gives us.

The sower

in this case,

the issue of the soil

isn't his issue.

We just cast

the seed.

Right?

We cast

the seed.

And then we trust

God to do

that cultivating

work in the

hearts of people.

we're responsible

for faithfulness.

We leave the fruitfulness

to God

and we trust

him to do it.

But this helps us

to understand

why the people

that we witness

to respond

in different ways.

A lot of people

you witness to

is they're going

to be just

hard ground.

They're going

to be different

types of soil.

This helps us

understand our evangelism.

And then finally,

if you're a believer,

if you're a believer

with the fruit

of the word

being produced

in your life,

this should lead

you to worship.

This should lead

you to worship.

The problem is

sometimes in our pride,

that worship

doesn't become

so much a worship

of God

for the fruitfulness

of our life.

It becomes a worship

of me

for the fruitfulness

in my life.

Look at what I've done.

Look at how far

I've come.

Let me help you out.

When we understand

the grace of God

and how it works

in the soil of our hearts,

what that leads us to

is to fall on our knees

and worship.

Understanding that

but for the grace of God,

we would be

the hard path

or we would be

the shallow soil

or we would be

full of weeds.

Which is exactly

what Paul does

in Ephesians 2.

He recognizes