Let me ask three questions before we start this message:
1. If the gospel is the power of God—why doesn't everybody that hears the gospel become a Christian?
2. If the Bible is the Word of God—why doesn't the Bible have the same effect on everyone who reads it?
3. If Jesus is the Son of God—why doesn't everyone believe in Jesus?
We can even narrow those questions. Why don't most people who hear the gospel become a Christian? Why don't most people read the Bible, believe it, and have it change their lives? Why don't most people believe in Jesus?
Now thankfully Jesus told a parable to answer all three of those questions. As you listen to this parable you will find three main components. As you read verses 3 through 9 circle the word sower in verse 3; the word seed in verse 4; and the word ground in verse 8. Because these are the three components of the parable—there is the sower, the seed, and the soil. The sower refers to the saint (preacher, pastor etc.), the seed is the scripture, and the soil is the soul. Now how do we know this? Because Jesus tells us. In Luke 8:11 Jesus said, "The seed is the word of God." Now I understand why Jesus would compare the word of God to seed, because a seed is productive. The very purpose of a seed is to produce fruit. The word of God produces the fruit of children of God. 1 Pet. 1:23, "...having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."
Now a seed cannot plant itself, it needs a sower. In the parable the sower is the saint—it's you and me. That's what God has called every Christian to be—a seed sower. Ps. 126:6 says, "He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
But the real focus of this parable is not on the sower or the seed, it's on the soil. Even the best sower, with the best seed, will never have a harvest unless he has good soil. Now the soil is the soul, or what you and I would call the heart. Jesus said in Matthew 13:19, "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..."
Jesus is going to teach us that though you read the Bible with your eyes, and hear the Bible with your ears, you receive the Bible with your heart. The Bible is a closed book to anyone whose heart is not right with God. Jesus talks about four kinds of hearts; I want you to identify which heart is yours as you listen to this message.
I. Stubborn Hearts Reject The Word
"And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them." (Matthew 13:4) When Jesus talked about the wayside He was talking about something similar to our sidewalks today. In Palestine people would walk through fields, and they would basically take the same path, again and again, to wherever they were going. So as many different people walked along the same path, the ground would become rock hard as people would trample down all of the grass. So that kind of soil where the seed could not get in. It could get on the ground, but it could not get in the soil. Jesus said there are some hearts just like that.
He explains it this way: There are people who come to church every Sunday, and when they hear a sermon it goes in one ear and out the other. In the modern era, I believe the heart is harder against the word of God than it has ever been. It's very possible to harden your heart against God's word. Heb. 4:7 says, "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."
You see, you can harden your heart to sin. When you harden your heart to sin you will harden your heart to the Savior, and when you harden your heart to the Savior you will harden your heart to the Scripture. They're not going to listen to anything that the Bible has to say about salvation, about stewardship, about service, about spirituality. They may put some change in the plate, but they're not going to make a change in their heart. Jesus said stubborn hearts reject the Word.
II. Shallow Heart's Remove The Word
"Some fell on 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." (Matthew 13:5-6) Now the type of soil that Jesus was talking about here was very deceptive. If you've ever been to Israel, as I have once, you know that much of Israel is limestone and bedrock that is covered over with a thin layer of soil. Whenever you plant seed on this soil it cannot take root because though it appears to begin to grow, it runs into hard rock. You see, the first soil was soil where seed could not get in; this is soil where seed cannot get down.
Now who was Jesus describing here? "But he who received the seed on stony 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." (vv. 20-21) Jesus here is describing a person who comes to Jesus and supposedly makes a decision for Jesus, but is nothing more than superficial shallow emotionalism that does not become true salvation. Now we all know people like this. They go up like a rocket, but very shortly come down like a rock.
The reason they fall away is because trials, troubles, and tribulations come into their life. As long as everything is going well in their life; they bring their Bible to church, they sing the same songs that we sing, attend the same Bible Fellowship classes, but when the first trouble hits they're gone; they turn away.)| They say, "Jesus is not what I thought he was. Christianity is not what I thought it was." They give evidence that what they really had was a shallow heart. There was really no life. "
George Whitefield is one of the greatest preachers in the history of America. He had uncounted thousands and thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of people come to Christ under his ministry. Toward the end of his ministry when somebody asked him how many converts he felt that he had, here's what he said: "There are so many stony-ground hearers which receive the word with joy that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by its fruits." He understood the phenomenon of shallow hearts that remove the word.
III. Strangled Hearts Restrict The Word
"And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them." (v.7) Now the first soil was where seed could not get in. The second soil was where seed could not get down. But this is soil where the seed cannot get out. The reason is it is sown among thorns, weeds, briars, and brambles, and the life of it is literally choked out.
Now what did Jesus mean by this? "Now he who received 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 he becomes unfruitful." (v.22) There are three things, according to the Lord, that can literally choke the spiritual life out of a person, and can prevent them from having a true relationship with God. There are the problems of life that we all have, and unfortunately people don't realize that Christians have problems just like non-Christians. There are the prosperities of life; the tendency to make this world your home, and care about everything about the world that is here and nothing about the world to come. Then there are the pleasures of life; the desire to make sure that you live in comfort and ease and not count the cost of following Jesus Christ.
Jesus here is describing people that probably make up most of the church today who are trying to hold Jesus with one hand and the world with the other. These are people who make a decision for God because they are broken – over their sins, but they're never broken– from their sins. These are people who are so earthly minded that they are no heavenly minded.
IV. Surrendered Hearts Reproduce The Word
"But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (v.8) Now Jesus here talks about a soil that is fertile and a soil that is fruitful. Now what kind of heart is this? Jesus explains this in Matthew 13:23. "But he who received 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." Now Jesus says three things about this soil. First of all, it is receptive to the word of God. This is a person who "hears the word." That means instead of "going in one ear and out the other" this is a person who has the word go into his ear, get into his mind, and down into his heart.
But this is also a soil that is responsive to the word of God because it not only hears it, it understands it. The word "understands" means to understand with comprehension and to be willing to do what you understand you're being told to do.
That's why Jesus said this soil is reproductive of the word of God because it bears fruit. That is the real key—fruit. Everything else is just talk. Let me tell you what all of this means. If the word of God is not bearing fruit in your life, you're not studying the word of God; you're not hearing the word of God; you're not receiving the word of God.
We can call this sermon "Minority Report" because it is shocking to realize that three-fourths of the seed did not bear fruit. This is so important to understand. The problem in the parable is not with the sower, and the problem is not with the seed, the problem was with the soil. Whenever someone says to me, "You know I read my Bible but I never get anything out of it," I immediately know the problem is not with the Bible, the problem is with the person. You know the number one reason why the average person will go through life and never solve their greatest problem? Because they never know what it is. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. But if you fail to identify the problem you'll never find the solution.
I heard about a woman who came into the house one day and said, "Honey, we've got trouble with the car; it's got water in the carburetor." The husband said, "Water in the carburetor, that's ridiculous." She said, "I'm telling you, the car has water in the carburetor." The husband said, "You don't even know what a carburetor looks like. Where is the car?" She said, "In the swimming pool."
Now what is the point of the parable for you and me? Simply this: the Gospel is the power of God, the Bible is the word of God and Jesus is the Son of God, but you will only believe this and receive this with a surrendered heart. Which heart is yours? What kind of heart you are? God took a stubborn heart, moved it to a shallow heart, moved it to a strangled heart, and changed it to a surrendered heart. Amen.
