Do You Really Understand?

It's great to be back with you guys, miss worshiping with you all last week.

Please open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

We'd love to give you a copy of the Bible that you can take home with you and use while you're here.

We're going through this series in the Gospel of Matthew, and we are in chapter 13 today,

verses 1 to 23.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, we thank you because you did not leave us to our own devices.

But you gave us instead your Word.

The words of life.

Word that brought this world into being.

Word that now makes the dead, those who are spiritually dead, live again in Christ.

Lord, we now humble ourselves before your living Word.

We ask that you will give us eyes to see and ears to hear.

exalt the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Help us cherish and hold fast to his message of salvation.

It's the good news you have given to us in him.

Teach us to do that better now as we hear from you in Matthew 13.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand if you're able.

Let's honor God as we read from his Word as he addresses us.

That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down.

And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying,

A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil.

And immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched.

And since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

He who has ears, let him hear.

Then the disciples came and said to him,

Why do you speak to them in parables?

And he answered them,

To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables.

Because seeing, they do not see.

And hearing, they do not hear.

Nor do they understand.

Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says,

You will indeed hear, but never understand.

And you will indeed see, but never perceive.

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed.

Lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart, and turn.

And I would heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see,

and your ears, for they hear.

For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see,

and did not see it.

And to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Hear, then, the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it,

the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is what was sown along the path.

As for what was sown on rocky ground,

this is the one who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.

And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word,

immediately he falls away.

As for what was sown among thorns,

this is the one who hears the word,

but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word,

and it proves unfruitful.

As for what was sown on good soil,

this is the one who hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields,

in one case a hundredfold,

in another sixty,

and in another thirty.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Thank you.

There's an issue that has befuddled pastors

and different ministers of the church

throughout the generations,

and it's that you can tell two people

the self-same gospel,

and yet one person rejects it outright and scoffs,

while the other person receives it eagerly.

Even within the church,

people can hear the self-same gospel

from the same preachers

over many months and years,

and while some seem to soak it all in

and mature steadily,

others stagnate

or even fall away.

What are we to make of all of this?

What accounts for the varied outcomes?

Jesus answers that question

in two primary ways.

First is that God only reveals the secret to some.

That's his first answer.

And the second answer is this,

only some people hear and understand.

I've mentioned to you before

that the Gospel of Matthew

is structured around five main discourses,

and this is the third discourse,

which is on the theme of the kingdom of heaven,

kingdom, the word,

occurs 12 times in chapter 13 alone.

The kingdom of God

or the kingdom of heaven

refers to the dominion

or the rulership of God

over his subjects.

And this passage,

and this third discourse in particular,

is concerned with

what does it look like

when the kingdom of heaven

breaks in upon the earth?

What does it take?

What does it look like

for us to become participants

or citizens of the kingdom of heaven?

That's the important question

that this discourse addresses.

Jesus begins this teaching

by the Sea of Galilee.

In our cultural context,

preachers like me stand,

and people who are listening sit.

In the near eastern context,

the teachers,

in the Jewish context,

the teachers sit,

and then the disciples gather around.

So when Jesus sits down by the sea,

the disciples get the cue.

They all gather around him

to hear what he has to say.

But when the crowd gets large,

the large crowd gathers around him,

he goes onto a boat

into the Sea of Galilee

and then preaches from there

to the people who are sitting on the shore

because,

I mean,

they probably knew this from experience.

Sound travels further in water,

and so because of that,

this would provide natural amplification.

And then he says in verse 3,

it says in verse 3,

Matthew says,

Jesus told them many things in parables.

This is one of the distinctive features

of this third discourse.

It is made up almost entirely of parables.

Eight parables to be exact

about the kingdom of heaven.

Of the 17 occurrences of the Greek word

for parable in the Gospel of Matthew,

12 of them occurs in this chapter.

Verse 34 says,

in fact,

that Jesus said nothing to the crowds

without a parable.

And this first parable that Jesus tells

is one of the most famous ones

that we know of in English

as the parable of the sower.

But since the focus in Matthew

is not on the sower per se,

but on the seeds

sown on four different types of soil,

it may be more aptly be called

the parable of the four types of ground.

The word parable comes from a Greek word

that means to literally

to place alongside something,

to juxtapose something

for the sake of comparison.

So in verse 24,

Jesus introduces a parable by saying,

the kingdom of heaven

may be compared to

a man who sowed good seed in his field.

So a parable is an illustration,

a comparison,

an extended figure of speech

whose meaning goes beyond

the literal meaning on the surface.

So let's look at the parable of the sower.

Its meaning is not immediately apparent.

We're so familiar with it now

because we've been taught this passage,

we've seen Jesus' explanation of it many times,

that we can assume that this is,

you know, self-evident.

But that's not the case

when you hear just the parable.

Why is Jesus talking about

seeds that fall along the path

that are devoured by birds,

and then seeds that fall on rocky ground

that sprout up quickly

but wither away due to lack of root,

and other seeds that are choked by thorns

as they grow,

and still others that produce much fruit?

Is he trying to relate to

and commiserate with

the plight of the farmers

who labor in the arid ground

of the ancient Near East?

Is he trying to warn farmers

about the need to exercise care when sowing?

Or is he talking generally

about the hardships of life,

the difficulties of life,

the meaning is not immediately clear.

And that raises a question.

Isn't the goal of the teacher

to communicate concepts clearly

so that the students understand?

Why then employ parables,

which by definition need to be deciphered,

explained?

Jesus' disciples had this exact question.

So they ask him in verse 10,

why do you speak to them in parables?

And Jesus gives them a plain answer in verse 11.

To you, it has been given to know

the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,

but to them, it has not been given.

The secrets of the kingdom of heaven

have been given to the disciples of Jesus

to know,

but it has not been given to the crowds

to know.

Jesus continues in verses 12 to 13.

For to the one who has,

more will be given,

and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables,

because seeing,

they do not see,

and hearing,

they do not hear,

nor do they understand.

This is why I speak to them in parables,

Jesus says.

Because seeing,

they do not see,

and hearing,

they do not hear.

Maybe some of you have seen

this optical illusion

that I saw years ago

when I was a kid.

It's a drawing,

a black and white drawing,

of a young woman

with the headscarf

with her head turned slightly this way.

I think some of you guys

have probably seen it.

And if you,

you know,

if you just look at that,

that's maybe all you see.

Until someone points out

the contours of another image,

and when they do that,

you suddenly see,

not a beautiful young woman,

but an old wrinkly woman

with a huge crooked nose

and a protruding chin.

And then once you see that,

you can't unsee it.

Like that's what you see

when you see that image.

But unless someone points that out

or you somehow came to see

that second image,

you could stare at that

all day long

and all you see

is that first image.

A parable is kind of like that.

Because seeing,

they do not see.

You have heard the parable,

but have you really heard it,

not just with your ears,

but with your heart?

You understand the surface meaning

of the words that Jesus speaks,

but do you understand

the deeper meaning underneath that?

That's the point of the parable

that some people see

and yet not see.

The point of the parable,

the parable functions

for some people to elucidate.

For the disciples,

when they explain it,

it clarifies,

helps them to understand.

But for some others,

it obfuscates,

it makes opaque,

more difficult to see

and understand.

In the parallel version

of this parable

in the Gospel of Mark,

Mark 4, 11 and 12,

Jesus makes this point

even more explicit.

He says,

To you has been given

the secret of the kingdom of God,

but for those outside,

everything is in parables,

so that they may indeed see,

but not perceive,

and may indeed hear,

but not understand,

lest they should turn

and be forgiven.

Jesus cites Isaiah 6, 9-10

in verses 14 and 15

to explain this further.

In the original context of Isaiah,

this is in the commissioning

of prophet Isaiah,

God tells him to go

and prophesy among

the people of Israel,

but as he commissions him,

God tells Isaiah

that people will not listen to him.

In fact, he tells him

that your prophecy

will have the effect

of hardening the hearts

of the people of Israel.

The heat of the sun

melts chocolate,

but it hardens clay.

The word of God

functions as an instrument

of mercy to some,

but as an instrument

of judgment to others.

It reveals and saves for some.

It conceals and hardens for others.

As 2 Corinthians 2, 16 says,

witnesses of Jesus Christ,

that they are,

we are as witnesses of Christ,

are a fragrance

from death to death

for those who are perishing,

but we are a fragrance

from life to life

for those who are being saved.

Jesus cites Isaiah 6, 9 to 10

to explain why he teaches

the crowds in parables,

not so that they might hear

and understand,

but so that they might hear

yet not understand.

Follow along with me

in verses 14 to 15.

You will indeed hear,

but never understand,

and you will indeed see,

but never perceive.

For this people's heart

has grown dull,

and with their ears

they can hardly hear,

and their eyes

they have closed,

lest they should see

with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand

with their heart

and turn,

and I would heal them.

A passage like this

makes some of us

feel uncomfortable

because it seems

to negate human agency

and will.

If we go back

to the original quote

in Isaiah,

it's even more direct

and forceful

than Matthew's rendering of it,

which he quotes

from the Greek translation

of the Hebrew.

Isaiah 6, verse 10 says,

Isaiah 6:10

Make the heart

of this people dull

and their ears heavy

and blind their eyes

lest they see

with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand

with their hearts

and turn and be healed.

God's telling Isaiah

that his prophecies

would dull

the people's hearts,

harden their hearts

in some sense,

that Jesus is saying

that his parables

fulfill Isaiah's prophecy

by doing the same thing.

It's also important

to note that

it's not the case

that the disciples

of Jesus,

they don't have dull hearts,

they are humble

and receptive

and therefore

they understand

these parables

without Jesus

having to explain it

to them.

That's not what

sets these disciples

apart from the crowds.

Matthew makes it clear

in the course of the gospel

that his disciples

also do not understand

the parables

without Jesus

explaining it to them.

So he says

in Matthew 13, 36,

Then Jesus left the crowds

and went into the house

and his disciples

came to him saying,

Explain to us

the parable

of the weeds

of the field.

Again,

in Matthew 15, 15,

Peter says to Jesus,

Explain the parable

to us.

They ask Jesus

to explain the parables

because they don't understand.

Both the crowds

and the disciples

do not understand

the parables.

The only difference

between them

is that Jesus

does not explain

to the crowds,

but he does explain

to the disciples.

Why?

Jesus told us

in verse 11,

To you it has been given

to know the secrets

of the kingdom of heaven,

but to them

it has not been given.

Or as Jesus

puts it differently

in Matthew 22, 14,

Many are called,

but few are chosen.

Jesus did not choose

the disciples

because they are

unlike these crowds

and they have hearts

that are humble

and supple

and able to understand.

No,

their hearts understand

because Jesus chose them

and explains things to them.

Since this is

a difficult topic,

let me bring in

a few other passages

of scripture

to demonstrate this

to you all.

Psalm 139, verse 16.

Psalms 139:16

It says,

Your eyes saw

my unformed substance.

In your book

were written

every one of them

the days that were

formed for me,

when as yet

there was none of them.

Notice it doesn't say

that God foresaw

what I will do

ahead of time

and then he just

wrote it down

in his book.

If that's the case,

then what's the point

of telling us

that God wrote the book

before any of our days

came to be?

That priority,

that priorness

of God writing

our days

in the book

is no priority

at all

if he only wrote

down what he foresaw

we will do.

In that case,

our choices

and our actions

come logically

before God's writing

and that's not

what Psalm 139, 16 says.

It says that

our days

were written

in God's book

before any of them

came to be.

We need to take God

at his word

when he tells us

that he sovereignly

ordains

every single one of

every single day

of our lives

before any of it

came to be

which is a source

of great comfort

for me

knowing that no matter

how hard my life gets,

no matter what

bad things happen,

no matter what

tragedy strike,

all of it came

from the loving

and sovereign hand

of my Father.

Ephesians 1, 11 says this,

in him we have

obtained an inheritance

having been predestined

according to the purpose

of him who works

all things

according to the

counsel of his will.

According to whose purpose

did God predestine

some of us

for salvation?

He says,

according to the purpose

of God

who works all things.

Well, but doesn't

God purpose

to uphold

our free will

and therefore

work things out

according to

our wills

and choices?

What is the basis

for God's purpose?

having been predestined

according to the purpose

of him who works

all things

according to the

counsel of his will.

It says that our

predestination is

according to God's

purpose

and that God's purpose

is not based on

our will and choices

but on the counsel

of his will.

So why is there

such a wide range

of differing responses

to the gospel

of Jesus Christ?

One answer

that our passage

gives is this,

God only reveals

the secret

to some.

But if you walk

away from this passage

way down

only by the fate

of the non-elect,

those who are not

chosen by God

in this sense,

then you're missing

the emphasis

of Jesus' teaching.

All of us

were once

depraved,

hardened sinners.

All of us

once had dull hearts.

What is remarkable

is not that

these sinners

are not saved.

What is remarkable

is that some sinners

are saved.

what is remarkable

is that to some

it has been given

to know the secrets

of the kingdom

of heaven.

So Jesus says

to his disciples

in verses 16 to 17,

but blessed are your eyes

for they see

and your ears

for they hear.

For truly I say

to you,

many prophets

and righteous people

long to see

what you see

and did not see it

and to hear

what you hear

and did not hear it.

I think it's fair

to say that all of us

have a fascination

with secrets.

We like to be privy

to secrets.

We all wonder

what's in that vault

or in that secret archive

in the MI6 headquarters

in London

or what's hidden

in that CIA headquarters

in Langley, Virginia

or what was hidden

in the secret

Vatican archives

that wasn't open

to the historians

until like the 1880s

or something like that.

What's in there?

People want to know

these secrets

want to be in on it.

Jesus says

that many prophets

and righteous people

throughout the ages

long to see

what you see

and did not see it.

Not only the prophets

and righteous people,

1 Peter 1, 10-12

tells us that

even the angels,

angels of heaven

long to look

and see

what it was

that God was planning

his redemption plan

through the suffering

and death of Jesus Christ

and his resurrection.

God has invited us

to be in on

a secret

that up to the point

of Christ

that not even his angels

were fully privy to.

He has now revealed

that to us.

What exactly

are the secrets

of the kingdom of heaven?

The word secret here

is the same word

that is usually translated

as mystery

in the New Testament.

Paul speaks

of this mystery

that God revealed

to him in Ephesians 3,

4 to 6.

When you read this,

you can perceive

my insight

into the mystery

of Christ,

which was not made known

to the sons of men

in other generations

as it has now

been revealed

to his holy apostles

and prophets

by the Spirit.

This mystery

is that

the Gentiles

are fellow heirs,

members of the same body

and partakers

of the promise

in Christ Jesus

through the gospel.

The secrets

of the kingdom of heaven,

the mystery

of the ages

is this,

that Christ Jesus

fulfilled the law

of God

by living the life

of perfect obedience

and then dying

as the atoning sacrifice

for sin on the cross

in our place,

in the place of sinners,

and then he was raised

from the dead

in victory

so that lawbreakers

like you and I

who were once enemies

of God

can be forgiven,

pardoned,

and become citizens

of the kingdom of heaven.

but how can

the kingdom,

the secrets

of the kingdom

of heaven

be mine?

See,

that's the true wonder

of the doctrine

of election.

It's meant

to make us wonder

why would it be

that God

would choose me?

I wouldn't choose me

if I were God.

I'm slow to change.

I'm like a stubborn mule,

right?

Really,

really long times.

I change slowly

and gradually.

I'm a Gentile dog,

an ethnic mutt

in all likelihood,

even though I haven't

taken one of those

DNA tests,

but just look at me.

Definitely don't look

100% Korean

if you ask me.

I was alienated

and hostile

in mind to God,

doing evil deeds,

as it says

in Colossians 1.21.

My forefathers

were engaged

in idolatrous,

futile ways.

Opposed to the truth

of God.

If you go far

back enough,

my ancestors

persecuted the Jews,

the chosen people

of God.

I am the foremost

of sinners.

I was far off,

separated from Christ,

alienated from

the commonwealth

of Israel,

and strangers

to the covenants

of promise,

having no hope

and without God

in the world.

That's me.

So God,

I think you've

got the wrong

person.

I'm not your

guy.

I'm not supposed

to know the secret.

These precious

secrets are not

for my blind eyes

to see,

not for my deaf

ears to hear,

not for my dull

heart to understand.

God.

But if God

as the king

gets to choose,

then he can say,

it doesn't matter

what you say,

I'm choosing you

and revealing

this secret to you.

Pastor,

he's still a pastor,

I think,

Stephen Um,

who's an acquaintance

of mine,

when he used

to do

submissions work

in South Korea,

he would minister

to prostitutes,

and no matter

how many times

he would tell

them the gospel

and God's

forgiveness

and God can

forgive you,

you can have

a new life

in Christ,

they wouldn't

listen.

They felt so

much shame,

so much shame

from their

lifestyle and

what they had

done,

they said to

themselves,

God cannot

possibly receive

us.

But it was

when they

were taught

the doctrine

of election,

when they

were taught

that God

is the king

who sovereignly

chooses and

saves people

for himself,

that's when

they said,

oh,

if that's

the case,

then I can

believe that.

That's the

wonder of

election.

How can

God choose

me?

Because my

son died

for your

sins,

he has

fulfilled the

law on your

behalf,

you whom I

have chosen,

you are no

longer strangers

and aliens,

but you are

fellow citizens

of the kingdom

of heaven.

Remember,

that's why

Andrew preached

on this

passage in

the preceding

passage,

Matthew 12,

41 to 42.

What did

Jesus use as

examples when

he was denouncing

the Pharisees?

He says,

the men of

Nineveh will

rise up to

condemn you.

For Jonah

came to them

and preached

and they

listened and

they

repented,

but something

greater than

Jonah is

here.

The queen

of Sheba,

the queen

of the

south,

came to

hear the

wisdom of

Solomon and

she listened

and she

will rise up

to condemn

you in the

day of

judgment because

something greater

than Solomon

is here.

Both of those

examples,

they're Gentiles,

sinners.

He's kind of

rubbing it in

the face of

these Pharisees,

the Jewish

religious elites.

you think

you're saved

because you're

a Jew.

You think

you're saved

because of

your own

righteousness,

not a

chance.

Those whom

God sovereignly

chooses and

reveals himself to,

those who

repent and

believe in

Jesus Christ,

only they

who recognize

that their

own righteousness

is inadequate

can be saved.

and so with

the religious

elites,

the cream of

the crop,

the moral

exemplars that

they thought

themselves to

be behind

him,

Jesus turns

to his

ragtag

bunch of

disciples,

the collection

of sinners

and tax

collectors who

have gathered

about him

and he says,

here are my

brothers,

here are my

mothers,

here are my

sisters.

brothers,

Jesus turns

upside down

the conventional

Jewish

understanding of

who is in

and who is

out.

Jesus has

made a way

for sinners

like us to

be saved.

And yes,

God sovereignly

chooses some

to be saved,

to be his

disciples,

but implicit in

this passage is

also an

invitation.

Yes,

the purpose is

to make people

hear,

some people

hear yet not

understand,

but there's

also an

invitation to

believe and

follow the

only person

who can

explain the

parables and

give its

meaning.

When I

defined the

word parable

for you

earlier,

I didn't

mention that

parable is

a Greek

word that's

used to

translate the

Hebrew word

for proverb

in the Old

Testament.

So when it

says in

verse 3 that

Jesus told

them many

things in

parables,

it recalls

1 Kings 4

32 which

tells us that

King Solomon

spoke in

many proverbs,

more specifically

3,000 proverbs.

And remember

Jesus, we were

just told in

chapter 12

verse 42 that

Jesus is

something greater

than Solomon.

if the queen

of the south

traveled 1,500

miles to

hear the

wisdom that

God had

given to

Solomon,

then how

much more

when the

wisdom of

God in

the flesh,

when the

word of

God incarnate

is in our

midst, how

much more

should we

pay attention

to him

and listen

to him?

Divine

sovereignty

and salvation

does not

abrogate human

responsibility.

The

geologist

Frank Rhodes,

who was the

ninth president

of Cornell

University,

once used

this analogy

to explain

multiple types

of causes.

He asks,

so why is

the kettle

boiling?

Two types

of explanations

can be given.

At one level,

the stove top

is applying

thermal energy

to the base

of the kettle,

which then

generates kinetic

energy and the

molecules are

moving faster

and faster and

that is what

you're measuring

and then when

this reaches

100 degrees

centigrade,

that's boiling.

That's one

way to explain

why the kettle

is boiling.

A second

answer that

you can give

is this,

the kettle

is boiling

because someone

put it on

to make a

cup of tea.

That's the

just as valid

of an

explanation.

Rhodes writes

this,

now these

are different

answers,

but both

are true.

Both are

complementary

and not

competitive.

One answer

is appropriate

within a

particular frame

of reference,

the other

within another

frame of

reference.

We have a

hard time

reconciling

divine sovereignty

and human

responsibility

because we

presume that

divine will

functions at

the same

level on

equal footing

as human

will,

as if they

function on

the same

plane,

but it's

not like

that.

Our will

is that of

the creature.

God's will

is that of

the creator.

Our will

is that of

the characters

in a book.

God's will

is that of

the author

of the book.

When I was

a child,

I only knew

how to draw

two-dimensional

things,

right?

Circle,

rectangle,

it's a human

being,

right?

It's like a,

and then as

I got older,

took some art

classes in high

school,

right,

you learn about

perspective,

and you learn

about shading,

and then you

learn to use

the contrast

and color

to give depth

and volume

to drawing.

And then when

you jump from

that two-dimensional

world to a

three-dimensional

world,

it revolutionizes

art,

right?

That's what

makes it look

good,

right?

Being finite

creatures is

like living

in a two-dimensional

world.

We function on

the X-Y

plane.

So we can't

quite grasp

the third

dimension,

the Z-axis,

right?

We know that

the two are

connected,

but from our

limited human

perspective,

we cannot

search the

reaches of

God's

infinite

mind.

It's important

to note,

however,

that this

does not

therefore in

any way

abrogate our

responsibility to

respond to the

gospel of Jesus

Christ in

faith.

If we think

to ourselves

after believing

in the

sovereignty of

God and

salvation,

well,

if God

chooses whom

he will

save,

well,

then it

doesn't

matter what

we choose

in the

end.

If you're

tempted to

think that

way,

I just want

you to know

that that's

not a

biblical

idea.

That type

of,

that kind

of thinking,

that line

of reasoning

is completely

foreign to

biblical

thought.

It never

occurs to

the writers

of Scripture.

The authors

of Scripture

did not

have the

difficulty

that we

have of

holding

divine

sovereignty

and human

responsibility

together.

It says,

choose this

day whom

you will

serve,

Joshua 24

15.

That's

what Jesus

says in

verse 9,

he who

has ears,

let him

hear.

That's an

invitation.

Only those

to whom

God has

given ears

to hear

can hear,

yes,

but it

is not

our business

to know

whom exactly

that is.

The only

thing we

can do

is to

take heed

to hear

and understand

the gospel.

Instead of

wondering whether

other people

are chosen

by God

or not,

we share

the gospel

with them

all.

Isn't that

what Jesus

does here?

I mean,

I don't know

if it's

exactly,

you know,

25%,

25%,

25%,

but if you

look at that

as 25%,

his success

rate's not

very good.

He sows

seeds everywhere

on paths

that will be

devoured by

birds,

on shallow

ground,

on rocky

ground,

among the

thorns,

he sows

everywhere.

God,

Jesus sows

liberally

everywhere,

and so we

must do as

well.

We can't

tell who

is elect,

who belongs

to God's

chosen people.

God has

not given

us that

knowledge,

not for us

to know.

No,

it is our

responsibility

to go and

liberally

sow the

gospel seeds

everywhere we

go.

Instead of

wondering whether

you are

chosen by

God or

not,

do what

you can

do,

which is

to put

your faith

in Jesus

Christ and

follow him

as a

disciple,

for that's

the only

way to

know whether

you belong

to him

or not.

That's the

point of

Jesus'

explanation

of the

parables

in verses

17 to

23.

The word

understand

comes up

a number

of times,

and it's

a key

word.

Verse 13,

hearing they

do not

hear,

nor do

they

understand.

Verse 14,

you will

indeed hear,

but never

understand.

Note this

contrast between

just mere

hearing of

the ear and

understanding

of the

heart.

Verse 15,

lest they

understand with

their heart

and turn,

and I

would heal

them.

This theme

of understanding

is continued

in the

explanation of

the parable

in verse

19.

When anyone

hears the

word of

the kingdom

and does

not understand

it,

the evil

one comes

and snatches

away what

has been

sown in

his heart.

This

seed sown

along the

path is

contrasted

with the

seed that

is sown

on good

soil.

In verse

23,

this is the

one who

hears the

word and

understands

it.

He

indeed

bears

fruit.

Only

the last

seed planted

on good

soil bears

fruit because

that's the

only one

that is

described as

having

understanding.

The seed

on the

path gets

eaten by

birds.

The seed

on rocky

ground

sprouts up

quickly but

withers in

the heat.

The seed

among the

thorns are

choked by

it.

These

three kinds

of seeds

all eventually

lose what

they had at

the beginning.

That's what

Jesus is

talking about

in verse

12.

For to the

one who

has more

will be

given and

he will

have an

abundance but

from the

one who

has not

even what

he has

will be

taken away.

Only those

who hold

fast to the

word in

an honest

and good

heart,

those who

do not,

only those

who truly

understand the

gospel will

bear fruit

in one

case a

hundredfold,

in another

sixty and

another thirty

but to

others who

do not

hear and

understand,

even what

they had

will be

taken away

from them.

So let

me ask you

this all

important

question.

Do you

really

understand?

to use

this parable,

what kind

of soil

are you?

Verse 4

tells us

that some

seeds fell

along the

path and

the birds

came and

devoured

them.

A seed

cannot

germinate,

it can't

lay roots

through a

path.

So it

just sits

there,

lies there

until the

birds come

and devour

it.

This,

Jesus

explains in

verse 18,

is when

anyone hears

the word,

the word of

the kingdom,

and does not

understand it,

the evil one

comes and

snatches away

what has been

sown in his

heart.

The enemy

of God,

Satan,

is always

looking to

snatch away

the gospel

seeds that

are sown on

the hearts

of people.

Even today

there may be

people who

hear and

then will

turn around

and forget

about this

gospel.

Please don't

let that

happen.

Don't let

the good

news of

Jesus Christ

go in

one ear

and out

the other

and slip

away from

your consciousness,

slip away

from your

life.

Hold on

to the

gospel.

Meditate

on it,

think on it,

understand it,

ask sincere

questions.

Don't let

the evil

one come

and snatch

away what

you hear

this morning.

Some seeds,

Jesus says

in verse 5,

fall on rocky

ground where

they did not

have much

soil and

immediately

they sprang

up.

Sometimes this

happens in

real life,

that seeds

sprout faster

on shallow

soil because

it doesn't

have long

ways to go

down in

terms of

roots and

it doesn't

have long

ways to

come up

because it's

on shallow

soil.

It doesn't

take much

energy to

sprout its

leaf past

the soil.

and because

it receives

more warmth

because it's

closer to

the surface,

it germinates

faster and

sprouts up

faster.

However,

such plants

are prone

to drying

out and

withering

away more

quickly because

when the

heat gets

hotter,

the root

system is

too shallow,

it doesn't

get enough

moisture.

Jesus explains

in verse 20

to 21,

notice that

phrase,

he has no

root in

himself.

I've seen

many people

move here

to the

northeast,

to Massachusetts,

from the

Bible Belt

or from the

south,

and when

they are

no longer

surrounded

by Christian

community,

when Christianity

is no longer

a badge of

respectability

but a badge

of disrepute

and dishonor,

when Christians

are viewed

as ignorant

bigots,

they abandon

the faith

that they

once had.

I've also

seen many

young people

who were

very active

and zealous

in church

youth groups

abandon

their faith

once they

go to

college

when they're

no longer

under their

parents'

roof

and supervision,

when they