Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

Our text this morning, as we begin chapter 13,

we're going to look at, last week I told you

I looked at verses 10 to 17 first, because it

explained why the disciples were privileged to

have the understanding and interpretation of

the parables given to them, and yet while the

other people, the crowds and the religious leaders,

We're left outside in the dark. So it kind of

sets it up. So today we're going to look at the

first parable. There are actually seven parables

in Matthew 13, each of them related to the kingdom

of God. Today is by far the most familiar. And

part of the problem when we have familiar texts

is we come to it and we have assumptions or preconceived

ideas. And we need to set those aside, ask God

to help us. So let's read the text. Let's ask

the Lord for his grace and mercy and then help

to explain it. On the same day, Jesus went out

of the house and he sat by the sea and great

multitudes were gathered together to him so that

he got into a boat and sat and the whole multitude

stood on the shore. Then he spoke many things

to them in parables saying, Behold, a sower went

out to sow and as he sowed, some seed fell by

the wayside and the birds came and devoured them.

Some fell in stony places where they did not

have much earth and they immediately sprang up

because they had no depth of earth. But when

the sun was up, they were scorched and because

they had no root, they withered away. And some

fell among thorns and thorns sprang up and choked

them. But others fell on good ground and yielded

a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some

thirty. And he who has ears to hear, let him

hear. Now that's all the crowds heard. That's

it. No explanation. Now if you would go down

to verse 18. This is to the disciples privately.

Therefore hear the parable of the sower. When

anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does

not understand it, then the wicked one comes

and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

This is he who received seed by the wayside.

But he who receives seed on so many places, this

is he who hears the word and immediately receives

it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but

endures only for a while. For when tribulation

or persecution arises because of the word, immediately

he stumbles. That is, he falls away. Now he who

receives seed among the thorns is he who hears

the word and the cares of this world. And the

deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it

becomes unfruitful. But he who receives seed

on the good ground is he who hears the word and

understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces

some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Let's pray. Father, this is your word. It is

given by inspiration. Father, Lord, we need your

spirit's help to bring illumination to our eyes

and hearts. Lord, if the veil is upon our understanding,

would you lift the veil this morning? Reveal

to us even the mystery of the kingdom of God.

Lord, we cannot do this on our own. These things

are spiritually discerned. But you tell us to

pray for the help of the Holy Spirit. And so

we do so in faith, believing that you will grant

that. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. I

was looking this morning and it was two years

ago, almost to the day that we began this Gospel

of Matthew study. And Matthew's Gospel was written

with a specific purpose in mind. Matthew is writing

primarily to a Jewish audience to show that Jesus

is the long -awaited King of Israel and the promised

Messiah. He is the fulfillment of all the Old

Testament prophecy. So he begins in chapter 1,

Matthew gives us... the genealogy of Jesus, showing

that he is both the son of Abraham and son of

David. As the son of Abraham, he is Abraham's

promised seed in whom all the world will be blessed.

As the son of David, he is David's promised heir

who will sit on the throne of his father David

forever. Now, Son of David, remember when the

blind men cried out when they saw Jesus? Son

of David, have mercy upon us. Son of David was

a messianic title. Matthew will now devote the

rest of this book proving that Jesus truly is

the Son of David. So in chapter 3, after 30 years

or so of relatively a hidden life in Nazareth,

Jesus is publicly baptized. And that's his formal

announcement to the nation that he is the Messiah.

And he began his ministry calling Israel to repent.

Why? The kingdom of heaven was at hand. And he

began to show, improve, or validate that kingdom

message. He's showing what life in his kingdom

looks like. So he began to cast out demons, and

he healed the sick, and gave sight to the blind,

restoring those who were sick and ill. And because

of these miracles, he garnered a lot of attention.

He began to attract large crowds. At one point,

the crowds got so big that Jesus had to have

a boat ready where he could escape. if the situation

were to become unmanageable. Our text today finds

Jesus in a boat, giving this most famous parable,

known as the parable of the seed and the sower.

Now this parable is given first, and it's first

for a reason. If we do not understand this one,

we will fail to understand the other six that

come later in the chapter. Now that's a bit bold

statement, but it's not my words. That's what

Jesus said in Mark 4. Do you not understand this

parable? How then will you understand all the

parables? So in some way, this parable today

that we just read, it's foundational. It explains

why some enter the kingdom and some are left

out. Now thankfully, this parable comes with

an answer key. We are not left to our own imagination

to guess about the meaning it's given to us.

So we start to read in verses 1 through 3, and

I'm not going to take the time to reread that

text, but I want to set the scene for you. At

the end of chapter 12, Jesus was in a house teaching.

The house was so full there's people inside and

outside when he decided to leave the house and

go over to the Sea of Galilee. But the people

who were there listening to him, Hanging on his

every word, they continued to follow him. So

he arrives at the shore. The crowd is so large

that he had to get into the boat. One, so that

everyone could see him. And two, because the

natural acoustics of the area would allow everyone

to hear him. And they began to teach. And Matthew

says he only taught to the crowds in parables.

That's it. That's all they got. And as we looked

last week, remember a parable is really, it's

a juxtaposition of an earthly story with a divine

truth. So it's an earthly story designed to teach

a heavenly lesson. And if you want to look at

these parables, you could think of them as expanded

similes. Because Jesus will often start this

way. The kingdom of heaven is like. And then

in verse 24, he says, the kingdom of heaven is

like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

in verse 31. It's like leaven, verse 33. The

kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in

a field. It is like a merchant seeking beautiful

pearls. The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet,

verse 47. So what Jesus is doing in each of these

parables, he's using familiar things from everyday

life to teach about his kingdom. And that's no

different in the parable before us today. First

century Israel, it's an agrarian society. So

the picture of a man sowing seed in a field would

have been familiar to everyone. It's familiar

to us today. Now look at verses 3 through 9.

Again, I'm not going to take the time. to reread

the passage. We just did it. But we know this

parable. It's often called the parable of the

sower or the parable of the seed and the sower.

But really, I think a more appropriate name is

the parable of the soils. Because in all four

cases, there are four cases, the seed is the

same, the sower is the same, but what is different

is the seed on which, or the soil on which the

seed falls. So each of the parables, you have

three elements. You have a sower. In this case,

it is the Lord Jesus, but it really could be

anyone who preaches the word. There's an immediate

application, and then there's an extended application.

Secondly, you have the seed. Well, that's the

gospel. It's the good news of the kingdom. And

third, you have the soil. And the soil represents

the condition of the heart of those who are hearing

the gospel message. Now the gospel, Jesus said,

is the seed. Now if you sow seed, you know this,

that not every seed that is sown is going to

germinate and produce a fruit. And as the gospel

goes out, not all people are going to believe

the good news. Now this is important because

at this time, those listening to Jesus, they

were all Jews. And the expectation of those listening

to him... Would be that they do enter the kingdom

of God. Because they're Jewish. They're the chosen

people. We're going to enter the kingdom. And

Jesus comes. And he clearly upends that expectation.

Now look down at verse 18. He says therefore

hear the parable of the sower. So the crowds

had dispersed. Jesus is alone with his disciples.

He may have been in the boat. And he gives them.

the inside scoop on what this parable really

meant. But why did he give it to them and not

to the crowds? Well, I'm not going to re -preach

last week's message, but look at verse 11, and

he clearly tells us. He says, it has been given,

dido me, it's a gift in Greek, it has been given

to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of

heaven. That's God's gracious gift to you. But

to them it has not been given. God did not grant

that to them. So there's two groups here in verse

11. We'll look at this quickly. There's to you

and there's to them. The disciples were the inside

group. They were granted the privilege of the

interpretation. But the religious leaders who

were gathered because they were always following

Jesus around to trap him and the crowds who were

gathered to listen to him, they were the outside

group. Now what made the difference between the

two groups? The condition of their hearts. The

Pharisees from the very beginning all along had

shut their eyes to the truth. Now let me just

say this. The Pharisees as a whole, there were

some Pharisees like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea

who later became disciples. But the vast majority

of them from the beginning they'd shut their

eyes to the truth. Now here's the important point.

God then, in judgment, judiciously closed their

eyes so they could not see. You don't want to

see? You choose blindness? You're now blind.

These parables were given, they were spoken by

Jesus in a climate of unbelief. Despite the overwhelming

evidence, the Pharisees, most of the religious

leaders, They had already decided Jesus is not

the Messiah. They had already corroborated with

the Herodians, a political group, to conspire

to put Jesus to death. That's before this parable

was even spoken. But you're like, but pastor,

what about those large crowds who are hanging

on his every word? They're following him everywhere

he went. Didn't they believe? And we're going

to see today. Most of them were following him

out of self -interest. They were looking for

how they might profit from Jesus. They did not

have a living faith, as we shall see today. Now

the Pharisees, if you're talking about insiders

and outsiders, they naturally would have assumed,

of course, they're the insiders. They fastidiously

keep the law. And they would have considered

men like Matthew, remember, also known as Levi.

He's one of Jesus' twelve disciples. He had been

a hated... tax collector for Rome and they would

have naturally considered him to be an outsider.

He's a traitor. But once again we see Jesus reversing

the order. The kingdom. In God's kingdom the

first will be last. The last will be first. Over

in chapter 21 when Jesus is speaking to the chief

priests and to the elders he said this. Assuredly

I say to you that tax collectors men like Matthew,

and harlots, that is prostitutes, they will enter

the kingdom of God before you will. Now that's

a scandalous statement. Think of the scandal,

the outrage of that statement. Jesus is talking

to the Jewish elite, chief priests and elders

of the nation. And he's saying women that sell

their bodies and traders to Israel who work for

the Roman government, will enter the kingdom

of God before they will. So that means the kingdom

of God is somehow different from the Jewish expectation

of the day. And that's why so many of them failed

to understand Jesus and his mission. So Jesus

now in verse 11, he's talking to his disciples

and he said, listen, you're blessed. To you it

has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom.

That means their understanding itself is a gift.

It's not attained by human achievement, nor is

it by natural means. These guys did not come

up with it on their own. The great American theologian,

Jonathan Edwards, he said this, It is the secret

that the kingdom of God has come in the person

of Jesus. That's the mystery right there. That

is the secret because God has chosen to reveal

himself indirectly and in a veiled way. The incarnate

word is not obvious. Only faith could recognize

the Son of God in the lowly figure of Jesus of

Nazareth. The secret of the kingdom of God is

the secret of the person of Jesus. Amen. Now

the Lord is publicly speaking. He's given this

parable. He left intentionally the crowds in

the dark and privately grants the disciples the

meaning. So let's just understand something at

the beginning. There are four soils. Four soils

represent four hearts. You got a hard heart.

You have a shallow heart. There is a crowded

heart. And lastly, there are fertile hearts.

And we'll look at those quickly this morning.

Look, first of all, verse 19. There's hard hearts.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and

does not understand it, then the wicked one,

that is Satan, comes and snatches away what was

sown his heart. And he said, and that's what

I mean by the one who receives seed by the wayside.

Now again, the imagery is familiar to everybody.

It's a common sight. There were large fields

that would have been used for crops at that time,

and in these fields there would have been well

-worn paths where the people would have walked.

And they walked on these same paths so they wouldn't

damage the entire field. Now, this path became

a walking path, so the ground underneath was

very compacted, very hard ground. So you have

a sower, and he would have been carrying a large

bag of seed, and he would stick his arm in, and

then he would pull it out and just fling it out

into the field. And as he did that, inevitably,

some of the seed would have fallen onto the hard

ground. And it wouldn't penetrate. That seed

would simply sit on the surface of the ground.

And birds would come and eat it. And Jesus said,

the seed, that's the gospel of the kingdom. The

hard heart is the person who hears the gospel,

but he has no insight. He does not understand

the meaning. The gospel does not penetrate his

heart. And the reason this was the case is because

in Jesus' day, many people had a preconceived

idea of what the kingdom of God would be like,

and they were unwilling to put aside their prejudice

to hear what Jesus had to say. It's like the

person who already has their mind made up, and

I will not be moved. That's what was going on.

So this hard heart has an immediate context.

This represented the religious leaders, and in

particular the Pharisees. He's speaking the parable

against them. Now, it has a far -reaching implication

today as well. But because of their bias, the

Pharisees were unable and unwilling to see the

word Jesus as the Christ. And he said, the birds

who ate the seed, well, that's a picture of Satan.

He comes and he removes the word. And as a result,

the hearer remains indifferent and calloused

to Christ. Think of the Pharisees. They heard

the word. They followed Jesus around. They knew

what he had to say. But their cold, dark hearts

would not receive it. But it's the same today.

Many people hear the gospel preached. But as

soon as the sermon ends, the devil plucks that

seed away from them and they go home on their

merry way as if they never heard anything. But

what makes the heart hard in the first place?

It's sin. Sin darkens the heart. Sin makes it

hard. Sin makes our hearts unresponsive. And

sin is really a failure. At its primary level,

sin is a failure to love God. It's a failure

to love God as we should love him. So sin, the

essence of it, loves things, whatever it is,

more than God. Well, what did the religious leaders

love? We don't have to guess. Here is their God

in Matthew 23. He's speaking of them, the Pharisees.

But all their works they do to be seen by men.

They make their phylacteries broad. Those are

what they would wear on the forehead. They enlarge

the borders of the garments. They make the hem

longer. They love the best places at feasts.

They love the best seats in the synagogues. They

love greetings in the marketplace. And they love

to be called by men, Rabbi. In other words, they...

loved the praise and esteem of men more than

the praise from God, and that idolatry had hardened

their hearts. But we have to beware, friends.

It's still the same today. It's no different.

Our idols will make our hearts hard toward God.

And if you're here today and you have never confessed

Christ and repented of your sin, and you continue

to hear the gospel without responding, you're

making your heart harder each and every time

you hear the gospel. And eventually the day comes

when you can't respond because God will leave

you in your hard -hearted condition. Today, this

age, is a day of salvation. Call upon him while

he may be found. So this is the hard heart. Particularly

the Pharisees. But it's no different today. But

then you have the shallow heart in verse 20 and

21. This is the seed that is received on the

stony places. They hear the word, immediately

receive it with joy. But there's no root. And

they fall away. So the seed is sown. It's sown

in soil, but the soil is not deep. Now there's

a shallow layer of soil. But underneath that,

it's just all rocky ground. So what happens?

The plant or the seed can't go down, so it sprouts

up quickly. But it also fades quickly in the

sun's scorching heat. Why does it fade? Because

there's no root sustaining it. And this represents

the person, and this is where I think we live

a lot today. This is the person who makes a shallow

decision. They appear to be delighted. They receive

the joy to be one of Jesus' disciples. They commit

themselves to Jesus, but Jesus did not commit

himself to them because it's a shallow profession.

And this soil represented the vast majority of

those in the crowd who heard Jesus speaking.

Of course they wanted to be around Jesus, and

they did call him rabbi. But they were following

him for what they could get from him. It was

a superficial attachment. And as soon as following

Jesus proved costly, They quit following him.

When affliction or persecution or difficulty

arose on account of the gospel, it says they

stumbled, which is the Greek word skandalizo.

They fell away. We get our English word scandal

from here. Skandalizo, it means to fall. It's

to apostatize. It's to fall into apostasy. That

means you abandon Jesus. And there is a prime

example of this. The one who betrayed our Lord,

Judas Iscariot. He loved being a disciple of

Jesus when the situation was favorable. If you

would have asked him, he said, of course I believe.

He would have claimed to be a disciple. He was

in the inner 12. He loved being with Jesus as

long as the crowds were cheering him on, as long

as the miracles were being done and there was

money in the treasury bag. But when our Lord

began to talk about the cross, and his suffering

in Jerusalem and his impending death for sinners,

Judas was offended. Scandalizo. And he agreed

at that point to betray Jesus. He went over to

him. As soon as he understood, when he realized

Jesus is not going to get rid of Rome, he's not

going to set up his earthly kingdom as I thought

he was going to, Judas then betrayed Jesus for

30 pieces of silver. even at the very end, Judas

was thinking, how can I profit from this man?

He decided to sell him for 30 pieces. I might

as well get what I can, right? That's no different

today. Many still follow him for the wrong reasons.

Jesus is often presented as a good luck charm

who's going to make your life easier, your marriage

better, your children successful, and your bank

account healthy. And not one of those things

is promised. And when trials come, These superficial

disciples, they don't stick around. Unlike true

disciples, they're not willing to suffer, and

they're not willing to embrace the shame and

offense of the cross. True disciples persevere,

even when it gets hard, even when they're being

persecuted. Why? How do you do that? Because

true disciples know something in their heart.

They know this life is not all there is. They

know that there's an everlasting inheritance

reserved in heaven, unfading in heaven for them.

Now, I think, I love this example in the book

of Hebrews. It's one of the things I think of

often. In Hebrews chapter 10, the writer is talking

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

to a group of suffering believers. He says, recall

the former days in which after you were illuminated,

you endured a great struggle with sufferings.

partly while you were made a spectacle, both

by reproaches, they're being reproached, and

tribulations, and partly while you became companions

of those who were so treated. Not only were you

treated bad, everyone you knew was being treated

bad, and you were their companion. But look at

verse 34. For you had compassion on me and my

chains, whoever the author is, whether it's Paul

or someone else, they're in prison. And this

next word, and joyfully. I get accepting, but

I don't understand joyfully. You joyfully accepted

the plundering of your goods. How do you do that?

Knowing that you have a better and an enduring

possession for yourselves in heaven. True disciples

will persevere because the Holy Spirit of God

lives inside them and is preserving them, keeping

them from abandoning Christ. I think of what

Peter said in John 6. In John 6, Jesus had multiplied

the fish and the loaves. But then he started

talking about that long extended discourse about

giving his flesh as meat and his blood as drink.

And people got really upset and they didn't understand

him. And they were offended by his words. And

Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink

my blood, you have no life within you. You have

no part within me. And so as a result, then he

also said, you can't come to me unless my Father

gives it to you. John 6, 37 and verse 44. And

as a result, in verse 66, many turned away. Look

at this. From that time, many of his disciples

went back and walked no more with him. They're

not disciples. They were, but they're no longer.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, Do you also want

to go away? Here's your trance. But Simon Peter

answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You

have the words of eternal life. Also, we have

come to believe and know that you are the Christ.

Christ, the son of the living God. Peter knew

something. Oh, life's going to get really bad

for Peter, by the way, and for all of them. Regardless

of how difficult it became, Jesus was the Christ,

and salvation was found only in him. Where else

are they going to go? But today, many have been

duped into thinking they're disciples of Jesus

when they're not, partly because of evangelistic

styles and partly because of slick salesmanship.

Preachers assure people that they are disciples

and Christians. They give them salvation without

repentance, and they offer them a Savior who

is not their Lord. None of those is the true

biblical Jesus. So these folks here, they're

willing to follow Jesus for a time. But as soon

as their lives are not being enriched, they move

on to the next thing. They don't love Jesus.

They love what Jesus can do for them. And there's

a big difference. For them, Jesus is a means

to an end. But for the true Christian, Jesus

is the end. He's the goal. Let me just say this,

friends. When we think of heaven, heaven is not

heaven because you're going to see your loved

ones, because you're going to walk on streets

of gold, and you're never going to have another

headache. Heaven is heaven because the Lord Jesus

Christ is there. That's what makes heaven. Jesus

is what makes it worthwhile. Christians want

to go to heaven because we want to be with Jesus.

The Jesus who promises a charmed life without

trials does not exist. That Jesus is a figment

of the prosperous West's imagination. He's not

the biblical Jesus. There's a hard heart, there's

shallow hearts, but there's also crowded hearts.

And all of these are still true today. Look at

verse 22. The one who received the seed among

thorns, he hears the word that cares of this

world and the deceitfulness of riches. Choke

the word and he becomes unfruitful. The seed

is sown again, the gospel, but it's overcrowded.

It's strangled out. There's not enough room.

There's some thorns that are growing beside it.

So the crowded heart, it hears the gospel, but

other things become the priority. Jesus said

the cares of this world. Now literally, friends,

that literally means the distractions of this

age. I think that's a great descriptor. We live

in a distracted age. Many things vying for our

time and for our attention and affection. So

temporal concerns, and they are concerns. We

need to be concerned. But temporal concerns can

blind us to the gospel. And these people, I want

to remind you, friends, they're not hostile.

They're not enemies of the gospel. They even

may make a profession of faith, but their heart,

their loyalty, and their allegiance lie elsewhere.

Warren Wiersbe said it this way. This here has

too many different kinds of seeds growing in

the soil. Worldly cares, a desire for riches,

a lust for things, and the good seed of the word

has no room in which to grow. He said, let's

change the image. This person wants to walk the

broad way and the narrow way at the same time.

It can't be done. The problem here is that the

word of God is choked out, and there's no real

fruit because there was never truly life with

Christ. They seek to find life in what is not

life. They want to be a friend of the world and

a friend of God at the same time, and you can't

do it. In 1 John, we're told this, do not love

the world or the things in the world. If anyone

loves the world, the love of the Father is not

in him. For all that is in the world, the lust

of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride

of life, It's not of God, it's not of the Father,

but of the world. And get this, friends, the

world's passing away. This age is passing away,

and the lust of it, but he who does the will

of God abides forever. You believe that? Instead

of using material possessions to serve Christ,

they serve material possessions. There's no time

for Christ, because they're busily pursuing other

interests. and his kingdom are relegated to a

lesser position. But what you serve is your master.

That's the truth. To serve anything or anyone

other than Christ is idolatry. He's Lord of all,

or he's not Lord at all. So the distractions

of this age choke the word, but so do the deceitfulness

of riches. Ah, young people, hear this. It's

not wrong to be wealthy, but Jesus said, take

warning of it. In Luke 18, a certain ruler asked

him, saying, good teacher, what shall I do to

inherit eternal life? Jesus, first of all, said,

okay, well, why do you call me good? No one's

good but one. That is God. Are you prepared to

call me God? He said, you know the commandments.

He's basically shown him he's broken the law.

The guy doesn't get it yet. Don't commit adultery.

Don't murder. Don't steal. Don't lie. Don't honor

your father or mother. And he said, oh, yeah,

okay, good. I'm in. All these things I kept from

my youth. And when Jesus heard these things,

he said to him, there's one thing. Go sell all

you have. Give it to the poor. Then you'll have

treasure in heaven. And come back and follow

me. But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful.

Why? For he was very rich. And when Jesus saw

that he became very sorrowful, he said, how hard

it is. For those who have riches to enter into

the kingdom of God. What a sober warning. What

a sober warning for the day in which we live.

We live in a land of plenty. All of us do here

this morning. We're a blessed church. You're

a blessed people. We have cars. We have boats.

We have houses. Many people have full bank accounts.

God's given us some measure of leisure. But how

often? Does God bless a man or a woman's material

possessions and soon those things begin to take

over and dull their heart to the things of God?

I've seen that. You see that God starts to bless

someone and before long that person who has a

little bit of time, a little bit of money, they're

no longer congregating, they're no longer coming

to church, they're golfing on Sundays. I work

hard. I can worship God on the ninth hole. Or

they're out boating when the weather's nice.

or they're on a sports field every single weekend

keeping them from the church. So I take seriously,

and I take literally the words of our Lord. It's

not my words, friends. Seek first the kingdom

of God and his righteousness. Be careful. That's

what Jesus said. Be warned. There's a danger

of having things. Is it okay to have things?

Absolutely, as long as they don't have you. And

parents, I beg of you, if your child is going

to stand and enter the kingdom of God, Disciple

them. Warn them of the danger of the crowded

heart that loves things more than loves God.

Oh, Christian parents in America, as long as

our kids are getting good jobs and having nice

lives, listen, that can all go to hell. No. Pursue

life, and this life is foolish. It's a fool's

errand. It's looking for water in a broken cistern,

and that's what Israel did, and that's why we're

always told, look back and look at what Israel

did. Don't do it. Jeremiah 2. My people have

committed two evils. What are they? They have

forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. What

a foolish, stupid thing to do. And they've hewn

themselves broken cisterns that can't hold water.

They want water. There's a fountain flowing with

water and they go over here to a broken cistern.

Dumb, isn't it? It is. As we close, Jesus is

the fountain of living waters. We have to seek

him. Jim Boyce said, riches don't choke a person

all at once. No, of course they don't. It's a

gradual process. Like the weeds in Christ's parable,

riches grow up gradually. Slowly, slowly, they

strangle the budding of spiritual life within.

Beware of that if you either have great positions

or you're on your way to acquire them. Listen,

God may give you what you want. Remember when

children of Israel wanted meat and God said,

you want meat? I'll give you meat. And it rotted

them. And then lastly, there's a fertile heart.

Verse 23. He receives seed on the good ground.

He hears the word. He understands it. And he

bears fruit. This is the gospel that produces

fruit. They hear the gospel and they understand

it. It resonates with them. There's something

compelling about the gospel. Why? Because God

in his grace. has opened your heart and your

mind to receive the truth. Just as fertile soil

receives the seed and produces fruit, those who

truly believe and receive the gospel produce

fruit for the glory of God. Some 30, some 60,

some 100. That's an impressive harvest, by the

way. That's life in the kingdom of God. Notice,

not all believers are equally fruitful, but all

produce fruit. That's the evidence of sonship.

It's the evidence of discipleship. Those with

fertile hearts, they hear the gospel and they

understand the gospel. And they begin to realize

we were the objects of God's wrath. But we also

understand in love that God sent his son who

took our punishment in his own body on that cruel

cross. Removing the wrath that was once against

us from us. God has given to us a spirit. Now

we're motivated and empowered by the spirit of

God and we seek to love and be obedient to him.

Imperfectly, yes. But honestly, yes. See, the

fruit of the good soil is simply our faith that

is living and working itself out in love. Chris

Miller. He said, how could the gospel, how could

the kingdom come and be rejected? You ever think

about that? Was there some weakness in the kingdom

that caused it to fail? The answer lies not in

any deficiency in the kingdom, but in the people's

lack of response. The ineffectiveness is with

the soil, not the seed. The seed was the same.

The opportunity was the same. But the offer itself

must be voluntarily received. God will not force

his kingdom upon those who don't want it. Nor

do they want his Messiah. It's true. Now what?

As we close. The million dollar question is what

type of soil are you? Some hear, but they don't

really ever understand. Some receive the word

with joy, but when life gets hard, it's not what

I've signed up for. Some are choked by cares,

riches, and distractions of this world. But there

are some who hear the word, understand the word,

Hold fast to the gospel. In their lives, the

gospel takes root downward and produces fruit

upward. I would say to each of us here, an appropriate

prayer would say, Lord Jesus, change my heart.

Do whatever you have to do so that your word

will take root in my life and bear fruit for

your glory. He who has ears to hear, let him

hear. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your

God -given word. What a rich, beautiful, glorious

thing the word of God is. It's sustaining, Lord.

It's nutritive, Lord. It gives us what we need.

Lord, it feeds us with Christ. Lord, I don't

know. The condition of the hearts of the people

who have heard my voice today. Lord, I know that

my voice has absolutely zero power to affect

change in the heart of anyone. Lord, it can't

be done. Lord, I could be preaching to cold,

dark hearts that hear the word and it just bounces

off of them and Satan steals it away. Some, Lord,

who may hear the word receive it, but it doesn't

produce a fruit because there's, Lord God, it's

just shallow. Others, it's being choked out.

Lord, there's other things that are priority.

We live in a very dangerous time because, Lord,

the deceitfulness of riches and the distractions

of this age easily come in and choke the word.

But, Father, Lord, I also know your spirit is

sovereign. And, Lord God, you will do a good

work in the lives of your people. And you will

produce a fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100.

Father, help us to have ears to hear. Open our

minds, open our eyes, open our ears, all for

the glory of God, we pray in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.