The Parable Of A Farmer

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.