Receiving The Word Of God

Title: Jesus and the Word

Theme: To understand that Jesus puts emphasis in receiving the Word.

Text: Mark 4

Mark 4:1. And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, 3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Just before these verses Christ had been in a house. Around this area we see from Matthew 12 three things happened. 1) a man was brought before him who was demon possessed and he cast them out, then Christ was accused by the Pharisees to be of the devil(a false prophet) 2) probably from this debate the Pharisees begin to ask Christ for a sign (what was the evidence that he was sent from God) 3) his family tried to get in with him thinking that because they were family they could be a part even though as we know from scripture it was not until after the resurrection of Christ did they truly believe who he was.

I believe all of these had to been discouraging moments for Jesus. He was rejected by the very leaders who were suppose to be from God. He was mocked because he would not perform a magic act before them and then his very own family did not understand his vision and his purpose from God.

This could probably prove disappointing to the disciple of why so many rejected him. I mean in Christianity if we were to decide how true it is by how many people accepted Christ then we could be in trouble. It is not the most popular or sought after “religion”. But Jesus said in Matthew 22:14,” For many are called, but few are chosen.”

10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all [these] things are done in parables: 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them.

Jesus speaks in parables not to harden their hearts but because their hearts are already hardened. Some people don’t listen to what you say except to try to find an argument against you. Sometimes its just not worth the effort to talk about.

Some people say, “I want to know, I want to know Christ”. They say it but it is not true. They don’t want to make the sacrifices. They don’t want to give into the ways of Christ. They like the idea of salvation but giving up something is to hard. This even happens to Christians.

In each of these situations you discover that there is only one variable in each situation or one thing that changes. The sower is the same it is God. As we know God does not change “he is the same yesterday, today and forever”. The Word does not change. It has been the same for close to two thousand years and it will not change. It is a closed revelation. There is nothing being added to it.

The only variable is the soil. In each section the soil or the individuals response to the Word that changes.

13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? 14 The sower soweth the word.

So the sower is Jesus himself and the what the sower soweth is the word which is a seed.

There are many references to the word seed in the Bible. One is the seed of the line of Adam to Abraham to David to Jesus , the Old Testaments coming Messiah. But it is also used as showing growth. A seed that is planted in the lives of individuals. This is done through preaching, teaching, witnessing, or just living.