The Truth Is In The Dirt

Series of Sermons – Dirt Parables

Scripture: Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15

Theme: Your Life – Your Soil

Title: The Truth is in the Dirt

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

I want to talk to you today about your spiritual walk with Jesus. I want to talk to you about how we help ourselves enjoy our best life in Christ Jesus.

The greatest thing that can happen to us is when we give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest thing that can happen in our lives is when we repent of our sins and turn to the LORD. The greatest thing that can happen in our lives is when we are baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and are filled with His Holy Spirit.

Now, why do I say that?

Because without Jesus everything we do or enjoy or desire in this life will be in vain. Jesus put it this way:

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” – Matthew 16:26

I know those words are heavy. They are supposed to be. They are words Jesus wants us to hear. They are words that He wants us to listen to, receive and allow them to weigh heavily on our hearts, minds and souls.

There is nothing more valuable than our everlasting being. There is nothing more valuable than our relationship with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. There is nothing more fundamental in this life than our spiritual condition.

It is imperative that we get this right. It is imperative that we understand that our spiritual condition is the foundation upon which we build our lives here on this earth and in preparation for our lives on the New Heaven and New Earth.

There would be nothing more tragic than to spend 80 – 90+ years on this earth enjoying our lives, our families and creation and let that it be it. There is nothing more tragic than having to stand around a person’s casket knowing that you are seeing them for the very last time.

I have been around such caskets. I have been around people that have lived what we would call a pretty good life. They loved their families. They loved others. They worked hard. They accumulated some land, built a home and enjoy a rather pleasant life.

But in the end that is all they did. They never took care of the most important thing in life. They never connected with the LORD JESUS CHRIST. They never asked Him to be their Savior and LORD. They never experienced what it means to be rescued and redeemed by the LORD. They never experienced what it means to be infilled with God’s Holy Spirit.

The Lord does not want that for any of us. The Lord created all of us to live forever. He created us to live an Abundant Life here on this earth and on the New Heaven and New Earth. He gave His life on the Cross so that we could experience both the Abundant Life here and everlasting life forevermore.

Wow. All of that was heavy and we haven’t even gotten into our passage this morning. But all of that needs to be said. We need to know how important salvation is this morning. It is everything. When we are born again the sky is limit. Without salvation then nothing really matters because it all will vanish like a fog on a sunny morning.

Our parable this morning is rather interesting one. It is one that like most of Jesus’ parables has so many different layers and can teach us so many different truths. That is part of the geniuses of Jesus’ teaching.

What one person receives from the Holy Spirit as they read this parable may be a little different than what another person receives. It is like looking at a diamond in the bright sunshine. It sparkles but depending on the angle you are looking at it will determine just how bright and how clear it is at the time.

This parable of the Sower or of the Four Soils is that type of parable. It has many layers and many different lessons for us to examine and to understand.

It is at first glance a rather strange story. For it is the story of a man who sows some seeds and yet has not prepared the soil or at least it looks that way.

Growing up we had a garden every year. We would grow beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and other things.

At no time would we just throw out the seed. At no time would we fail to work the soil that we are going to use. My parents would have seen that as a complete waste of time.