Once again, I need to warn you of the pitfalls of the parables. They are illustrations, not doctrinal dissertations. They were never meant to become the foundation of any doctrines. Christ’s parables were meant to decorate truths which are taught elsewhere in the scriptures. They are glorious in that they reveal truth in down to earth, practical ways. Although they may say the same things as Paul in Romans, or James in his epistle, they are presented to children and previously untaught adults.
The disciples will later ask the Lord why He delighted in parables – verse 11. “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 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. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.” The Biblical parable is a part of the Christian dialect or jargon. It is designed to speak only to those people for whom the Lord intended that particular lesson. When Christ Jesus spoke in parables, He was speaking primarily to His friends, or to those whom He intended to make His friends. But that doesn’t mean that the disciples necessarily understood that parable. They must still submit themselves to the Lord and yield themselves to the instruction of the Holy Spirit. As in this case, from time to time Christ had to explain His parables even to His disciples.
The parable of the Sower and his Seed, or the parable of the Soils, is explained for us later in this chapter.
There is no question as to THE MEANING OF THE SEED.
The seed is the Word of God, or as verse 19 puts it, “the word of the kingdom.” There is no meaning to this story if the seeds refers to petunias, tomatoes or maples. They might possibly make for a nice story, but it wouldn’t be worthy of inclusion in the Word of God. This seed is not so common a germ as grain or a flower. Mark 4:14 – “The sower soweth the word.” Luke 8:11 – “The seed is the word of God.” The Lord explained the seed so that no one might misunderstand His meaning.
And you know, the Word of God is in many ways like a seed. For example, it is not of human origin – like any seed it is a miracle of God. Science can take a seed apart, dividing it into all of its component parts. But no scientist can put it back together again in such a way that it can germinate. That rebuilt seed or human-built seed lacks one essential ingredient – life. Like a million others, the Bible is a book – it is filled with words – ink on a page, hundreds of pages. But it is not just another book like so many others. It is empowered with life by the command of God Himself. It isn’t confined to ideas, no matter how thrilling they might be. The Bible contains life and through it, the Lord creates eternal life.
One day the Lord Jesus was dealing with some of the more unconvinced of His disciples. They were like thousands of church members, who had some attraction to Christ, but they were not fully committed, and they were not true believers. To those people the Lord point ou thatt they had not been born again – “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” “But there are some of you that believe not.” Those particular people had not permitted the seed of God’s word to germinate. That raises the question – from what – or from Whom – does faith come? Romans says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And then it adds shortly thereafter – “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” I Peter 1:23 – “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” I do not believe that people will be saved apart from a Holy Spirit directed ministry of the Word of God. Cornelius is an example of that – truly seeking, but not saved until Peter gave Him the proper seed. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” There is no power for spiritual life apart from the Word of God.
The Word is not only the seed of salvation, but of the Christian life as well. In II Corinthians 9 Paul addressed the work of the ministry. “For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:” Nine verses later he said, “Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness.” The Lord planted His word in the heart of Saul of Tarsus for one purpose, and He planted it in the heart of the Christian Paul for quite another. The Word of God in the hearts of the Galilean disciples made them grow into courageous disciples. Teach the Word of God to your children and you may produce new Spurgeons, Burgons and Broaduses.
The whole point of seed germination is seed production. The seed gives itself, and dies, in order to give. Paul told the Galatians that the gospel came upon them in order to produce fruit in them. Some people thrive with the feel of 450 horse power at the finger tips – but you and I possess more. In the Word of God we hold eternal power – spiritual power. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of God shall never pass away.”
What should be done with seed? There could be a thousand things done with it, but only two really matter. Do you remember years ago making your childish collage – pictures with various kinds of beans and rice and dried corn? But pictures were not the reason that God gave us beans. We can either eat the seed and be strengthened by it, or we can plant it in order to produce more seed. “Behold a sower went forth to sow.” My two favorite kinds of food are proteins and snacks, but I have learned that my health would be nothing if I didn’t eat a few seeds now and then – in fruits, grains and vegetables. Christ is the sower in our parable – He is not only interested in sowing in the garden of the world, but also in our own hearts.
In this parable, the seed of the word of God was scattered indiscriminately.
The way side speaks of a way or road – a well traveled path hardened by a thousand trudging feet. It is interpreted for us in verse 19 – “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.” The Word of God is seldom preached when this very thing doesn’t take place – soil as well as solid. The gospel which falls on the beaten path, the unresponsive ear, the hardened heart will not sprout. And that is also true of Matthew 13:1-9 itself when it reaches the bored and hardened hearts of disciples.
What hardens people towards the Word? There are general answers to that question – like – the world and the wicked one. Satan came to Eve and snatched away the seed – “Yea, hath God said…..” The Lord Jesus visited Jerusalem preaching the word, and Satan gobbled of the words with the birds asking “Can any good thing come out of Galilee?” “The god of this world hath blinded the minds…..” Is it possible for the god of this world to work on the minds and hearts of Jesus’ own disciples? Following the general snatchers there are the specific attacks which are unique to each of our own lives. Is your preoccupation with your job, your hobby, your health, your family relations catching away the message of God? This morning’s message was snatched away from several through inattention and lack of hunger.
When it comes to evangelism, there is very little that we can do about the hard packed soil of the human heart. It takes the Holy Spirit to till the ground, opening it up for the seed. But in our own cases, we certainly bear some responsibility.
Some of the seed fell in places filled with stones and where there wasn’t much earth.
The Lord Jesus explained this in verses 20 and 21. “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”
Human beings were designed by God to be emotional creatures – although everyone is a bit different in this. Some of us are moved by tears and joys more than others are. We are like various kinds of carpet quality – soft, hard, durable, temporary, soil resistant, indoor, outdoor. This church has not been blessed with an emotional preacher – who often bears his heart or who can draw out your emotions. There is certainly a place for that kind of ministry. But if that is someone’s entire ministry, then the results will often be emotion-based and nothing more. I know for a fact, and have seen it many times, that the reception of God’s word on emotion alone, produces shallow rooted plants. A tear alone has never yet saved a sin-sick soul.
But that doesn’t mean that the a few tears can’t moisten the ground enough to get a few seeds to germinate – “forthwith they sprung up.” But tears, like emotions, don’t last long enough to be productive. What the seed of the word of God needs is a long steady rain from Heaven. “Because they had no deepness of earth, when the sun was up, they were scorched and withered away.” That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and there is far too much fleshly evangelism – little Biblical substance. We have studied at more than a third of the Book of Matthew now. How many sob stories has the Lord Jesus shared with the crowds? I suppose that there were tears surrounding many of the sick, dying and dead whom the Lord healed. Life is cruel, and many lives are filled with tears and grief, but Lord didn’t use that to water His seed. The Lord wants the lost…. and the Lord wants the saint…. to accept the truth for truth’s sake. Yes, there are personal benefits when we respond properly to the seed of the Word of God. And yes, the seed may produce wonderful fruit – filling our hearts, minds and bellies. But the Word of God should be ingested for its own sake – because of what it is – the revelation of God.
Sometimes the seed falls among thorns and is choked out.
“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” This is another effect of the things of the world. But this time, It is not that the world has hardened the heart and left it exposed to Satan. This time the things of the world themselves grow like weeds and choke out the gospel, or in our case – other messages from the Lord. This aspect of the Lord’s parable speaks to the Christian more than it does to the lost.
Tuesday night, our stamp club had its monthly meeting. Perhaps I could use that in itself as an illustration of my point, but I’ll reduce it to something in that meeting. Our entertainment for the other night was to invite the members to stand and describe how they became stamp collectors. As they told their stories, more than one said that they started collecting when they were children, but then they discovered girls or they discovered boys and their collections were laid aside for the next thirty years.
The same could be said of our collecting of Biblical seed. We had our Bibles, our daily devotional time, our collection of memory verses and our church attendance. But then we noticed girls, or football, or money, or a kind of car that really impressed us. It wasn’t that we were not Christians, but something less important came along and drew away our attentions. The flourishing seedling began to be choked out by other things – or perhaps two dozen other things – and it no longer could flourish. Yes, there was still life in the root, but it couldn’t reach the sun, and it couldn’t branch out and bear fruit. If some spiritual botanist came along and dug up that root, he’d be able to identify it immediately, but to the untrained eye, walking along the heard-beaten path, he might not even know that a plant was there. That is precisely what the world sees when it looks at most professing Christians – nothing of interest.
The Lord Jesus said, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Christ was warning the professed believer to check to see if he really was a child of God.
But there is also the lesson for the true saint – don’t let the seed within you go to waste. Keep scattering the seed of the gospel. Yes, only a small percentage will listen. But 1% of a thousand is a larger number than 1% of only ten. And also, fruit comes in various quantities and qualities. You and I have a responsibility to be personally fruitful unto the Lord. We must be willing to grow. That means doing all that we can to with the seed of God within us.