The Parable of the Sower
Growing and Sowing Seeds
Mark chapter 4:1-4:9
Introduction-
Please turn to Mark 4:1-9.
It is the Parable of the Sower. This will be a two part sermon. We will start it today and look at the Word of God and finish with how the Word of God reacts to the different soils of our lives next week.
It is the personal teaching of Jesus concerning the growing of the church and the growing of ourselves spiritually and mentally.
It is Jesus going from the synagogue to hands on teaching of the people where they are at.
It is the applicable way of spreading the gospel.
It is the proof that Jesus is not afraid of trying new ways to minister to the people the principals that God the father laid down in His Word.
John Wesley was a man that believed that the Word of God should come from the pulpit of the church and George Whitefield his collogue believed that going to the people was to make a difference.
One came from the pulpit (synagogue) and one from hands on (open air).
Wesley struggled with that until he saw the results.
He witnessed that both ways ministered to people and that people lives were being changed.
Wesley admitted ”That I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.”
But Wesley saw that field preaching won souls and said. “I cannot argue against a matter of fact.”
Parable
Is a way for Jesus to express a thought in a manner that the listener would be familiar with. A parable is a story that relates to an expression of comparison. Jesus used something that they could relate too to bring his point across to them.
Mark 4:1-4:9 Read clearly and slowly
Parable is a story and not to be confused with an allegory like Pilgrims Progress where every name and every circumstance meant something. Jesus is telling a story that expresses his thought on sowing seeds.
Parable is best understood by reading it in its entirety, then looking for observations that you have found. So after reading, here are some observations.
There is a farmer
This farmer is throwing seed on his field.
By observation, we know that the farmer expected a harvest.
The farmer has three different soils that he finds his seed falling into.
He distinguishes the different soils and different results.
Later in the chapter we see Jesus himself gave his interpretation of the parable.
Jesus told them to listen to the parable, and then if they were listening, they had to respond appropriately.
The farmer’s goal was to get his good seed into good soil so it would grow because the seed has life in it. The seed is small but powerful and will produce fruit if the conditions are right. But it must be planted in good soil in order to achieve its intended purpose.
Do you ever wonder how someone you love can hear a clear gospel presentation and yet not respond by receiving Christ? Are you bothered when you see someone seemingly make a decision for Christ and get all excited about it only to end up drifting away when disappointment comes? Does it trouble you when others get all wrapped up in the worries or wealth of the world and bottom out spiritually? What’s up with all that? The bottom line in these situations is that conversion never occurred, though it seemed like it did. The problem was with the soil, or the soul…not with the seed or the sower.
Understand this as we look at this passage.
The seed is the Word of God
The soils are the different hearts that the Word of God is sown into.
The idea is to get the Word of God (perfect) into the right soil so that it will grow and see a harvest.
As far as a believer is concerned. Once the seed (Word) is sown in our heart, we become the farmers planted the Word of God in people lives and desire to see it planted in good soil and see lives changed by God’s Word.
The farmer plants the seed and we water and nurture but God gives the increase. We cannot do more than plant and nurture . God is the one responsible to germinate and increase the harvest. He is the one that prepares the soil where the seed will be planted. It is why you think some are ready and it does not germinate and then others where you think there is no chance and we see a great harvest in their lives.
Hebrews 4:12 slowly
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Bible.org quote-
Preaching has fallen on hard times.
Many say that people who are used to television and other modern media cannot handle a 40-minute sermon. Sadly, many pastors are heeding that advice. “Seeker” churches advocate 15-minute talks built around some felt need, accompanied by short dramas to hold people’s attention.
They say that we should never mention sin or anything else that will make anyone feel uncomfortable!
The aim is to make everyone feel good in church.
That is a denial of the power of God’s Word to convert sinners and build up God’s people by exposing our sin and pointing to God’s grace at the cross.
Hebrews 4:12-13 is one of the great biblical texts on the power of God’s Word. The author has been warning the Hebrew church of the danger of casual Christianity.
Since God sees and knows everything, including our very thoughts, we would be fools to disobey His life-giving Word. To do so would only bring certain judgment.
Because God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin and God Himself sees everything, we must be diligent to have our hearts right before Him.
They had the good news preached to them, but they did not unite it with faith and obedience (4:2, 6).
The author is extolling the power of God’s Word to bring us into a personal experience of His rest, or salvation.
GOD’S WORD IS LIVING.
Since God is the living God (3:12), and His Word cannot be separated from Him, that Word is a living Word. It can never be exterminated.
Isaiah 40:8 proclaims, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
GOD’S WORD IMPARTS NEW LIFE TO DEAD SINNERS.
Because of sin, we all enter this world dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from God (Eph. 2:1, 12).
A dead sinner can no more will himself into spiritual life than a dead corpse can will himself into physical life.
But God is pleased to use His Word to impart new life to dead sinners.
James 1:18 states, “In the exercise of His will [not our will] He brought us forth by the word of truth …”
1 Peter 1:23 says, “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”
If you want to be converted, read and listen to God’s Word. If you want others to come to Christ through your ministry, get them to read and hear God’s Word.
John (20:31) stated very plainly his purpose in writing his gospel: “these [signs] have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life.
GOD’S WORD IMPARTS RENEWED LIFE TO HIS SAINTS.
All of us that have known God’s salvation for a while have gone through dry times when God seemed distant.
God’s Word restores us.
Bible.org-
It only makes sense that if the living God, has spoken to us in His written Word, then we should seek it like a treasure and devour it as a hungry man devours a meal
Being the word of God, it is both a word from God and a word about God. It is our only source of knowing specific truth about God.
Creation reveals His attributes in a general way, but the written Word is God’s disclosure of Himself in a way that we could never know through creation alone. And invariably, when we see God as He is, we also see ourselves as we are.
GOD’S WORD IS ACTIVE.
We get our word “energy” from the Greek word translated “active.”
It means that the Word accomplishes what God intends for it to do.
Isaiah 55:10-11
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth out of My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
GOD’S WORD IS SHARP AND PIERCING.
God’s Word is sharp and it cuts deeply, to the very core of our being. Unless your conscience is hardened beyond remedy, you cannot read God’s Word or hear it preached faithfully without getting convicted to change.
God’s purpose in cutting us is to bring healing, not to leave us wounded.
Sin is like a cancer growing inside of us. Untreated, it will be fatal.
The sharp sword of God’s Word, as J. B. Lightfoot put it, “heals most completely, where it wounds most deeply; and gives life there only, where first it has killed.”
God’s Word will cut you! Let God cut out the cancer of sin that the Word has revealed.
God Himself sees everything, including our deepest thoughts and motives (4:13).
The author moves from God’s penetrating Word to God Himself, who sees everything.
It is impossible to hide from God! Adam and Eve tried to hide from God after they sinned, but they could not do it, and neither can we. The word “open” means “naked.”
Have you ever dreamed that you were naked in public? What a relief after a dream like that, to wake up and realize that it was only a dream!
But we stand naked on the inside before God!
“Laid bare” is used only here in the New Testament, and rarely anywhere else. It means to expose the neck, perhaps as a sacrificial victim’s neck is exposed just before the knife slices the jugular vein. The idea of the two words together is that we are naked and helpless before God.
There is no escape from His omniscient gaze. Sin is always stupid, because even if we fool everyone on earth, and think that we got away with it, we didn’t fool God!
Since we all will give account to God, we must be diligent to have our hearts right before Him.
The final phrase of 4:13 means either “Him with whom we have to do,” or, “Him to whom we must give an account.”
We know that one day we all will stand before God to give an account of the deeds we have done in this body. Therefore, we should have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9-10), not just outwardly, but on the heart level.
If that thought terrifies you, keep reading! The author will go on to show how Jesus is our sympathetic High Priest who invites us to draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help in our time of need (4:14-16). But you must make sure that He truly is your High Priest, in the most personal sense.
There is no group plan of salvation. It’s not enough to be a part of the company of God’s people.
We must be diligent personally to enter God’s rest through faith in Christ and obedience to His Word.
Every true believer will develop the habit of judging sin on the thought or heart level, out of a desire to please the Savior who gave Himself for us on the cross.
Recap-
(1) Treasure God’s Word I am amazed at how Christians will pay psychologists hundreds of dollars for advice that is devoid of God’s Word, but they won’t consult the Bible for wisdom on how to live! You say, “
(2) Read, study, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word. It will not do you any good if you don’t know what it says. You need to memorize key verses because you will not obey it if it’s not in your heart (Ps. 119:11). You won’t stop at work or at home to say, “Just a minute, I know there’s a verse that applies here but I have to call my pastor to find out where it is.
(3) Apply, trust, and obey God’s Word. The point of Bible study is not to fill your head with knowledge about the end times or theological arguments to support your favorite views. It is to change your heart and life! Always study it with a view to obedience.
(4) Live God’s Word. If the Word convicts you, stop and confess the matter to God. If need be, resolve to go to anyone you have wronged and ask forgiveness. Remember, God knows every sinful thought you’ll ever have, and He still sent His Son to bear the penalty of your sin.
