#18 The Parable of the Soils
Series: Mark
Chuck Sligh
A sermon on the Parable of the Soils
NOTE: PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 4, beginning with verse 1.
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – An elderly man had serious hearing problems for a number of years. His family tried again and again to convince him to get a hearing aid. Finally, he relented and went to the doctor and was fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed him to hear at 100 percent.
A month later he went back to the doctor. The doctor said with a smile, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.”
The old man replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around listening to their conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”
It’s amazing what we hear when we really listen. In today’s text, we’re going to see how Jesus couched his teachings in stories designed for those who would listen. Then Jesus told one of His most famous parables, the Parable of the Soils or sometimes referred to as the Parable of the Sower.
Let’s start reading the first part of verse 1 of Mark 4: “And he began again to teach by the seaside…”
Though Mark has mentioned some of Jesus’ teaching so far, most of his emphasis has been on His miraculous works, revealing His deity. Now Mark turns from Jesus’ WORKS to His WORDS, His teachings.
Jesus’ teachings are unparalleled. Once even some of the religious leaders charged to capture Jesus came back empty-handed, for they said “No one ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46)—so mesmerized were they by His teachings. Even the worst skeptics to this day recognize Jesus as a teacher par excellence.
The second part of verse 1 gives us the setting for this passage of scripture. – “…and a very large multitude gathered, so that he entered into a boat, and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.” One reason Jesus taught from a boat may have been because of the press of the crowds. But there is another practical reason.
Illus. – Commentator John Phillips tells of being in Palestine when he served in the British Army. He and some others were at the Sea of Galilee with a chaplain where Jesus taught and he noticed how the hill sloped gently down to the sea. The chaplain told him to go down into the water, turn around and begin speaking in a normal voice.
Following his instructions, he was amazed: The still waters of the lake behind him served as a sounding board and the hills before him were a natural amphitheater. He spoke in a normal conversational volume, yet every syllable was caught up and amplified and heard clearly by all the men sitting on the hillside.
Verse 2 says, “And he taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching he said to them…” and then Jesus told his famous parable. This was the first of several parables and pithy sayings by Jesus in chapter 4. A parable is literally “something thrown beside something else;” that is to say, it’s A COMPARISON of something earthly with something spiritual. Someone has said a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Something on earth is compared with something spiritual so that the spiritual truth may be better grasped in light of the earthly illustration.
Jesus’ parables were riveting because He opened up spiritual truth in a way people could understand. He used these homespun illustrations, drawing from the lives of everyday people. They are simple stories in presentation, yet they convey profound truths. Let’s examine Mark 4:1-20 and see what it opens up to us:
I. FIRST, JESUS TELLS THE PARABLE IN VERSES 3-9.
Verse 3 says, “Behold, a sower went out to sow.” This introduction would have immediately captured the audience’s attention. In that agricultural society, seeing a farmer going up the furrows of newly plowed field with a bag of seeds to sow would have been a common sight at planting season. The sower went out to sow and as he did, he threw out the seed liberally. Not all seed would germinate, so he needed to sow seeds in every bit of land he had to get the best harvest.
In verses 4-8, Jesus talks about the seed falling on four types of soil and the results on each kind of soil.
The first was WAYSIDE soil in verse 4 – “As he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it up.”
Farmer’s fields in ancient Palastine were in the form of long, narrow strips, divided by little paths which became beaten as hard as pavement by the feet, hooves and wheels of those who used them. As the farmer travelled with his donkey to the fields, some of the seeds would fall on the hard pack, or sometimes a farmer might sow a little too close to the pathway. The seeds would bounce off the hard soil instead of embedding in the soil. Immediately hundreds of birds would flock around the seeds and devour them before they ever even had a chance to sprout.
The second soil was SHALLOW soil in verses 5-6 – “And some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil: 6 But when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.”
Don’t think of stony ground here; such ground usually could not even be cultivated. The problem was that parts of Palestine have merely a shallow layer of 2-3 inches of soil over limestone bedrock. When the seed falls on such shallow soil, the sun quickly warms the seeds and they sprout in feverish growth. But the hot Middle East sun beats down and the plants’ roots meet the bedrock, and it quickly withers and dies.
The next soil Jesus mentions is THORNY, WEEDY soil in verse 7 – “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no crop.” These thorns He was talking about were a thorny weed that was a constant nuisance to farmers.
Illus. – We have some rose bushes at home and four flower beds. The bane or our lives are weeds, some thorny like the ones Jesus described. They grow so rapidly that if you don’t stay on top of it, they’ll overtake our garden plots and literally choke out everything else.
The last soil Jesus talked about was GOOD soil in verse 8 – “And some fell on good soil, and yielded a crop that sprang up and increased, and produced, some thirtyfold, and some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.”
If you’ve ever fed a garden bed with good mulch and compost over a number of years, you can visualize what good soil is like. It’s soft and crumbly and dark-colored, neither too sandy, nor too clayish, and it goes down several inches deep and is perfect for growing healthy, vibrant plants. When you smell the sweet aroma of manure, and see farmers plow under certain crops, what they’re doing is making good soil for growing their crops. That’s the kind of soil Jesus is talking about here. When there is good soil, seeds root deeply and produce large crops. And they are very fruitful and productive.
Jesus ended his parable with a warning in verse 9 – “And he said to them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Like the old man with new hearing aids, Jesus wants us to listen to His words. By listen, He means to pay close attention to them. Now notice that Jesus left the interpretation of the parable up to His audience. They had enjoyed the story; then he left them hanging without any explanation. He let them figure out the meaning and significance of the parable.
II. AFTER TELLING THE PARABLE, JESUS GIVES A WORD OF EXHORTATION IN VERSES 10-13.
Verse 10 says, “But when he was alone, those about him with the twelve asked him about the parable.”
Even the disciples who followed Jesus were as puzzled by the parable as the rest of the crowd who heard it. Everybody there knew about sowers, the properties of seeds and different qualities of soil. It was an interesting story, even a good explanation of agricultural procedures, but why would a religious teacher talk about agriculture unless there were a point behind it? Having been with Jesus awhile now, the disciples figured there had to be more to it than that, so they asked for an explanation.
Jesus answered in verse 11 – “And he said to them, ‘To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to those who are outside, everything is in parables.’”
The word mystery is musterion in the Greek which does not mean something that is remote or complicated or too hard to understand as we use the word, but rather something quite unintelligible to a person who has not been initiated into its meaning, but is perfectly plain to the person who has been initiated. One reason Jesus spoke in parables was to bring heavenly truths down to earth where people lived, but also there was an element of concealment about some of them (often referred to as the “Mystery Parables,” where the full meaning was only available to those willing to truly listen).
Then Jesus says this in verse 12 – “So that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.’”
This is a quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10. Jesus was not deliberately concealing truth so that people would not repent and be saved. Mathew’s version is a little clearer.
Mathew 11:11-13 says, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.”
In essence, Jesus was saying that the condition of a person’s heart determines one’ receptivity to truth. The scribes had originally been given straightforward teaching which they rejected and thus they could ultimately lose the truth—it would be taken away from them. Those who receive truth and act upon it receive more truth. Those who reject truth will ultimately lose the bit they have. The parables were full of truth, but for truth-rejecting people, they were unfathomable.
Illus. – We can see this principle in various areas of life. Physically, if we fail to exercise a muscle, we will one day lose its use. It’s the same way with our intellectual powers: if we fail to use them, we lose our edge intellectually.
This was a warning from Jesus. God confronts us with His truth, but if we do not positively respond to it, we will lose it. What a solemn warning for those who sit under the teaching of God’s Word week after week and do not respond to it.
In verse 13, Jesus gently rebukes His disciples – “And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” The disciples had been with Jesus day and night for a little while now. This parable was the first of the “mystery parables.” Jesus was scolding them for not being able to understand the simplest of these mystery parables. If they couldn’t understand this one, how would they understand the others?
III. IN VERSES 14-20, JESUS EXPLAINS THE MEANING OF THE PARABLE.
First, in verse 14 Jesus explained the meaning of the seed – “The sower sows the word.”
Jesus made one short, simple statement, making the rest plain to understand. The seed represented the Word of God, Jesus said. We can surmise that the sower refers to anyone who sows the Word of God in our world. The process of germination and growth of the seed is God’s business; our business is to sow the seed.
Next Jesus turned to the meaning of the different kinds of soil in verses 15-20:
First Jesus talks about HARD hearts in the seed cast on the wayside soil in verse 15 ¬– “And these are the ones by the wayside, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
Wayside soil people are those who are hardened to God’s Word and therefore Bible truth can find no entrance into their hearts. The key word here is “immediately.” When people hear God’s Word, Satan—or one of his agents, for Satan is not omnipresent—go to work immediately.
This is true every time the Gospel is proclaimed. Satan’s agents are there, like the birds in the parable, to snatch away the seed as soon as it is sown.
This is why when God is speaking to your heart, you need to respond immediately and not let Gospel truth be snatched away from your heart. What we do is we put it off, and immediately after the service the music starts and people start talking and by the time we get to the car, the pressure is off. Satan has snatched the seed away!
Next Jesus talks about SHALLOW hearts in verses 16-17, explaining the rocky soil – “In a similar way, these are the ones sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they fall away.”
What Jesus is talking about here is mere profession of faith rather than true possession of Christ. These are people who have had an emotional experience or given mental assent to the Gospel but never grappled with repentance or truly put their trust in Jesus alone for their salvation.
Jesus describes people with rocky, shallow hearts as people who do well at first, but as soon as they face problems or persecution comes, they do not persevere. They seem to be believers, but they fall away and do not continue on. They give up, proving their profession of faith as basically worthless.
Illus. – A biblical illustration is the story of Orpah in the book of Ruth. Orpah, like Ruth, initially responded to Naomi’s desire to return with her to her homeland in Bethlehem-Judah by saying she would come and accompany her. But as soon as she was confronted with the hard realities that it would entail, she returned to Moab. Ruth on the other hand, went all the way to Bethlehem-Judah with Naomi.
Third, Jesus talked about the CROWDED heart when talking about weedy soil in verses 18-19. – “And these are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, 19 But the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
This time a variety of hindrances are mentioned. Each hindrance causes a person to focus on the things of this world instead of the world to come. Satan and our own sinful nature produce a perennial crop of thorny weeds to choke out God’s voice in our lives.
Jesus pointed out three of them:
The first one He mentions are THE CARES OF THIS WORLD. There is a certain amount of cares in this world that cannot be avoided. We have to pay our bills, buy things, support our families, provide daily meals, keep the house from falling into utter chaos, and so on. Jesus is not saying we should not take care of the things we have to deal with in life. He’s saying that we should not let them crowd out Christ or spiritual things. In fact, they should drive us to Christ.
The second thing he mentions is THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES. Wealth causes a person to focus on the here and now, not life eternal if we’re not careful. Wealthy people tend to be independent and self-sufficient. This is what is meant that by the term the DECEITFULNESS of riches. Riches insulates people from the harsh realities other people face, so they frequently deceived about their need for the Gospel. And the call for sacrifice and generosity does not appeal to the rich.
The third hindrance Jesus mentioned is “THE DESIRES FOR OTHER THINGS.” Most people have a long wish list, which is really a “desires for other things list.” As soon as they acquire one thing, they want another. Materialism is another word for this hindrance. It can so focus people’s attention on earthly things that it chokes out heavenly things, and most of all, the Gospel. People pack their lives with things, and spend so much of life’s precious time pursuing things, but have no time for Christ. “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose His own soul?” Jesus asked in Mark 8:36.
Finally, the good soil represents the fruitful heart in verse 20 – “But these are the ones sown on good soil, those hear the word, and accept it, and bears fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.”
The seed of God’s Word does not bounce off this heart. It does not momentarily flourish, only to shrivel under adversity or persecution. And it is not crowded out by competing desires and strangled. It is a heart that allows God’s Word to take deep root in it and it produces fruit. One kind of fruit it produces is the fruit of the spirit, which Galatians 5:22 says is “love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
CONCLUSION
My closing question for you is will you hear and listen and heed God’s Word.
• There is an application in this text to the person who has never believed. Believe me, Satan has a plan for your life, and it isn’t good… He wants to snatch away the Word in your heart… He wants you to forget repentance and faith and focus on improving your life and having a religious EXPERIENCE which can seem to be from God, but is only a function of your emotions… And he wants the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth and materialism to keep you so focused on the things of this world that you just never see your need for God or faith in Him.
I beg of you to turn from this world and repent of your sin and turn to Christ in faith this morning. Let no earthly thing or devilish thought or fleshly desire keep you from Christ! He who has an ear, let him hear.
• There is also an application here for the believer.
Everything that I said to our unsaved friends can be said to you if you have wandered away from a close walk of fellowship with Christ. Satan wants to snatch away truth from you every time you hear truth preached or taught or read or reminded by the Holy Spirit in your life. He doesn’t mind you getting hyped up all emotionally about spiritual truth as long as you don’t apply it in real life. He wants you distracted by the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the things of this world so you don’t focus on the things that really matter in life.
The answer for you is the command Jesus gave the Ephesian church in Revelation 2 whom Jesus accused of having lost their first love of Christ. He says in verse 5, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the works you did at first.”
You know where you went astray… Remember that and repent of it. Then start doing the works for Christ you did when you were first in love with Christ.
