“WATCHING THE SEED FALL”
MATTHEW 13
Matthew 13:1-9
“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
Jesus starts off in chapter 13 with a parable, what is a parable? A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Now Jesus gives several parables in this chapter, but He only interprets two and we are going to take a closer look at these two this morning. So let’s take a look at verses 18-23. Now I want you to notice that the seed fell on 4 types of soil, I want you to see that there was nothing wrong with the seed, the seed was not the problem, it was the soil, ¾ of the seed did not grow – they died.
1. THE PATHWAY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:18-19
“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.”
Now remember Jesus said in verse 4 that some seed fell on the path and the birds came and ate it. Now when Jesus told a parable He used things that were common around Him, so here He is talking about a farmer sowing his crop, and in this day and time farmers used a very crude method to sew his crop. First off every field had a pathway through it so that people did not have to walk around it, so this is the path Jesus spoke of. Next, when the farmer plowed his field his plows were not as we know them, they would just scratch the top at best, and the ground Jesus described here was not rocky as in a lot of rocks, but it was a thin layer of soil on bedrock. So the farmer would scratch the top of the ground and then he would go out and scatter the seed by hand. He did not have a grain drill like we do; he did it all by hand.
So the farmer would scatter his seed by hand and the birds would come along and pick up the seed on the path. Jesus tells us that the birds represent the devil. Now let me tell you something, this should cause everyone of us to examine our own heart. Don’t look around at anyone else, look at yourself.
It’s like this poem;
When you get to heaven
You will likely view,
Many folks there
Who’ll be a shock to you.
But don’t act surprised,
Or even show a care,
For they might be a little shocked
To see you there.
The path represents church members, professing Christians. They heard the Word of God, but it wasn’t a hearing of faith. The Word was not mixed with faith, or if it was, it was a formal, intellectual faith; it was a head salvation and not a heart salvation. To people like this belonging to a church is like belonging to a lodge or a club. It’s something you do because you are supposed to; after all we are in the Bible Belt. These people are in a spiritual deep freeze. Not only do we find them sitting in our churches, we find them sitting home on Sunday morning, or we find them falling out of church and getting into some other activity, or a cult, or an “ism.” You know, Mormonism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or into something like Islam or New Age or Wicca or whatever. Why? Because they “tried” Christianity and it just didn’t work for them. They didn’t try Christ; they tried the man made version of Christ.
2. THE ROCKY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:20-21
“As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Now these people are just the opposite of the first group, the people in the first group had the seed stolen by Satan, the people in the second group have only themselves to blame, it is the flesh that keeps the seed from producing. These people are not in the deep freeze, they are in the oven – they are warm, emotional, crying, and just really moved. They are like Alka-Seltzer, just a lot of fizz. Like a rocket on a launching pad, making noise but never quite getting into orbit. They have great zeal and energy during special meeting and like a burned out roman candle after the meeting are over.
They are like paper on the road, lying there, and when you run over it, it flies up in the air and then settles back on the road again, waiting for the next car. This is the way it is with a lot of these so-called Christians, when there is a sensational meeting going on, they get really excited, but they have no relationship with Christ, it’s just an emotional high. They are the rocky Christians.
3. THE THORNY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:22
“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
With the thorny Christians, the world crowds out the Word of God. The Devil got the Pathway Christians, the flesh got the Rocky Christians, but the world chokes out the Word of God for this group. The cares of the world move in. Sometimes it’s poverty; usually it’s the deceitfulness of riches. It’s interesting that the people at each end of the social spectrum – extreme poverty and extreme prosperity – are the people that are the hardest to reach for Christ. I find that a lot of people have let the cares of this world crowd out the Word of God. Now I have used the word Christian to describe these three types, but I have used it tongue in cheek because I don’t believe that they are Christians at all. They have heard the Word and have only professed to receive it.
4. THE BUMPER CROP
Matthew 13:23
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (ESV)
These are the ones who hear the Word and receive it, understand it, believe it and live it. Some don’t produce as much fruit as others, some only 30 fold but some produce 100 fold. There must be an understanding of the Word.
Do you remember in Acts 8:26 when the Ethiopian eunuch was riding along in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah and God put Philip in his path so that he could tell the eunuch about Jesus? The eunuch was reading the Word but he didn’t understand that it was about Jesus.
Philip was sowing the seed of the Word of God. This is a kingdom-of-heaven situation as it revels that the Sower, the Lord Jesus Christ, is sowing the Word of God in the world and that the Holy Spirit applies it to the hearts of those who want to believe.
Now Jesus tells another parable, He has already told us that only ¼ of the seed got into good ground, I think that His average is far better than mine, I think for me it’s about 1 in 10 at best, which is about average, some of the big evangelist will say about 3% of theirs can be considered true converts. Jesus had ¼ averages, but now He picks up where He left off.
Matthew 13:24-30
“He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”
Notice who is asleep? While his men were sleeping, the enemy came. Remember the sower is the Lord, and He neither slumber nor does He sleep. Satan is the enemy, and he sows weeds among the wheat. The weeds are false doctrine, false teachings. There is a lot of that type of sowing going on today.
26 “So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'” (ESV)
When wheat and weeds first begin to grow it’s hard to tell which is which, but when they head out you can always tell, when they get some growth on them you know. A lot of these other religions sound good at first but when they begin to grow you realize that it isn’t Jesus they teach, it isn’t Grace.
You will also notice that the sower, Jesus, knew who was responsible for the weeds, Satan! You will also notice what happens to those who are not of Jesus.
Now let’s hear it in Jesus’ own words.
Matthew 13:36-43
“Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
The time in which Jesus is talking about is now!
1/24/2010
MATTHEW 13
Matthew 13:1-9
“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
Jesus starts off in chapter 13 with a parable, what is a parable? A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Now Jesus gives several parables in this chapter, but He only interprets two and we are going to take a closer look at these two this morning. So let’s take a look at verses 18-23. Now I want you to notice that the seed fell on 4 types of soil, I want you to see that there was nothing wrong with the seed, the seed was not the problem, it was the soil, ¾ of the seed did not grow – they died.
1. THE PATHWAY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:18-19
“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.”
Now remember Jesus said in verse 4 that some seed fell on the path and the birds came and ate it. Now when Jesus told a parable He used things that were common around Him, so here He is talking about a farmer sowing his crop, and in this day and time farmers used a very crude method to sew his crop. First off every field had a pathway through it so that people did not have to walk around it, so this is the path Jesus spoke of. Next, when the farmer plowed his field his plows were not as we know them, they would just scratch the top at best, and the ground Jesus described here was not rocky as in a lot of rocks, but it was a thin layer of soil on bedrock. So the farmer would scratch the top of the ground and then he would go out and scatter the seed by hand. He did not have a grain drill like we do; he did it all by hand.
So the farmer would scatter his seed by hand and the birds would come along and pick up the seed on the path. Jesus tells us that the birds represent the devil. Now let me tell you something, this should cause everyone of us to examine our own heart. Don’t look around at anyone else, look at yourself.
It’s like this poem;
When you get to heaven
You will likely view,
Many folks there
Who’ll be a shock to you.
But don’t act surprised,
Or even show a care,
For they might be a little shocked
To see you there.
The path represents church members, professing Christians. They heard the Word of God, but it wasn’t a hearing of faith. The Word was not mixed with faith, or if it was, it was a formal, intellectual faith; it was a head salvation and not a heart salvation. To people like this belonging to a church is like belonging to a lodge or a club. It’s something you do because you are supposed to; after all we are in the Bible Belt. These people are in a spiritual deep freeze. Not only do we find them sitting in our churches, we find them sitting home on Sunday morning, or we find them falling out of church and getting into some other activity, or a cult, or an “ism.” You know, Mormonism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or into something like Islam or New Age or Wicca or whatever. Why? Because they “tried” Christianity and it just didn’t work for them. They didn’t try Christ; they tried the man made version of Christ.
2. THE ROCKY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:20-21
“As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Now these people are just the opposite of the first group, the people in the first group had the seed stolen by Satan, the people in the second group have only themselves to blame, it is the flesh that keeps the seed from producing. These people are not in the deep freeze, they are in the oven – they are warm, emotional, crying, and just really moved. They are like Alka-Seltzer, just a lot of fizz. Like a rocket on a launching pad, making noise but never quite getting into orbit. They have great zeal and energy during special meeting and like a burned out roman candle after the meeting are over.
They are like paper on the road, lying there, and when you run over it, it flies up in the air and then settles back on the road again, waiting for the next car. This is the way it is with a lot of these so-called Christians, when there is a sensational meeting going on, they get really excited, but they have no relationship with Christ, it’s just an emotional high. They are the rocky Christians.
3. THE THORNY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:22
“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
With the thorny Christians, the world crowds out the Word of God. The Devil got the Pathway Christians, the flesh got the Rocky Christians, but the world chokes out the Word of God for this group. The cares of the world move in. Sometimes it’s poverty; usually it’s the deceitfulness of riches. It’s interesting that the people at each end of the social spectrum – extreme poverty and extreme prosperity – are the people that are the hardest to reach for Christ. I find that a lot of people have let the cares of this world crowd out the Word of God. Now I have used the word Christian to describe these three types, but I have used it tongue in cheek because I don’t believe that they are Christians at all. They have heard the Word and have only professed to receive it.
4. THE BUMPER CROP
Matthew 13:23
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (ESV)
These are the ones who hear the Word and receive it, understand it, believe it and live it. Some don’t produce as much fruit as others, some only 30 fold but some produce 100 fold. There must be an understanding of the Word.
Do you remember in Acts 8:26 when the Ethiopian eunuch was riding along in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah and God put Philip in his path so that he could tell the eunuch about Jesus? The eunuch was reading the Word but he didn’t understand that it was about Jesus.
Philip was sowing the seed of the Word of God. This is a kingdom-of-heaven situation as it revels that the Sower, the Lord Jesus Christ, is sowing the Word of God in the world and that the Holy Spirit applies it to the hearts of those who want to believe.
Now Jesus tells another parable, He has already told us that only ¼ of the seed got into good ground, I think that His average is far better than mine, I think for me it’s about 1 in 10 at best, which is about average, some of the big evangelist will say about 3% of theirs can be considered true converts. Jesus had ¼ averages, but now He picks up where He left off.
Matthew 13:24-30
“He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”
Notice who is asleep? While his men were sleeping, the enemy came. Remember the sower is the Lord, and He neither slumber nor does He sleep. Satan is the enemy, and he sows weeds among the wheat. The weeds are false doctrine, false teachings. There is a lot of that type of sowing going on today.
26 “So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'” (ESV)
When wheat and weeds first begin to grow it’s hard to tell which is which, but when they head out you can always tell, when they get some growth on them you know. A lot of these other religions sound good at first but when they begin to grow you realize that it isn’t Jesus they teach, it isn’t Grace.
You will also notice that the sower, Jesus, knew who was responsible for the weeds, Satan! You will also notice what happens to those who are not of Jesus.
Now let’s hear it in Jesus’ own words.
Matthew 13:36-43
“Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
The time in which Jesus is talking about is now!
1/24/2010
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