The Parable of the Soils- The Beginning of the Kingdom

So if you would please turn to Matthew chapter 13. I know we were at Matthew chapter 13 last week. Now last week I did give us a two-fold introduction. I tried to introduce the parables as a whole. There are quite a few parables. I know that. Parables in Matthew, parables in Mark, parables in Luke. We do not have any in the Gospel of John. But I also sought to introduce the parables in Matthew 13. And I'm gonna look back and grab some of that information, although I'm gonna speed through some of that information. So if you didn't get last week's message, you might need to go back and get that. This all goes together.

Now do not forget we must understand what a parable is. A parable is an earthly story that can't happen in real life. It's not a myth, it's not a fable. And that story is meant to illustrate or to teach truth or truths. Now in Jesus' case, the parables that he was teaching to all of those that were listening, they would have been very, very familiar with these illustrations that he used. Jesus used or told these stories and then he cast alongside those earthly stories, spiritual truths, that he was teaching and illustrating and revealing. As Jesus taught in many, many parables, he was teaching much-needed truth.

So that helps us really make sure we know what a parable is. Now the purpose of the parables is extremely important and it is twofold. I know I dealt with this some last week. Jesus taught in parables to conceal truth from the Jews, the rejecting Jews and the Jewish establishment. He was also revealing truth. Remember he was revealing truth to his disciples. Now as we get into the parables, as we get into the parables, we need to remember that Jesus was drawing his disciples and other believers to himself. There's this work of the Spirit of God in there. And then their curiosity, their interest was purposely stirred by Jesus.

He was drawing them in so as to teach them and to prepare them, but not with the Jewish leaders, not with the religious establishment. They were frustrated, they were angered, and they were being driven away in judgment. Some of you might have been surprised by that. Jesus was shutting them up in their unbelief. And so he was concealing these truths from them. He was shutting them up in their sin and their judgment and unbelief. I said this last week, I believe, basically Jesus was saying, "If that's what you want, I'm gonna give it to you." And he did. Now I like how Warren Wiersby says this, describes this work here.

The parables, and I'm quoting, "would give light to those who were trusting." The parables would give light to those who were trusting in those searching hearts, but they would bring darkness to the unconcerned and unrepentant. So the parables actually gave them more darkness. They were groping in darkness and unbelief, and it gave them more darkness. Now I question, why is it important for us to see how this worked out with the disciples and the religious establishment? There are several reasons, too, I'm gonna give you. First of all, we've got to be like the disciples. We have to be like the disciples.

We must allow the Holy Spirit to draw us in so that we can be corrected because we might have some erroneous views here so that we can be taught. Some of us are more of a blank slate and we need to be taught here, and then so we can be formed into greater usefulness. And you're gonna see how you can be formed into greater usefulness. So we need these parables to give us light. I'm using that term from Warren Wiersby. So that we can see and understand what Jesus wants to teach us. And then second, we have to see that there are some today that reject this teaching. People have been rejecting Jesus' teaching ever since he came to earth.

They will reject the true meaning of the parables. They will interpret the parables to fit their own view of Christianity, their own view of church and kingdom work. And for them, they will embrace darkness and more darkness. That goes on today more than you know. Now I will get into what I alluded to earlier. I will get into what I mentioned earlier in our kind of opening assembly. I remember when I first came to Christ, when my home church pastor taught through these parables. These are kingdom parables in Matthew 13. But specifically, the parable of the sower. And let me tell you, as he unfolded that teaching, I struggled. I questioned.

I wondered if Brother Dennis was off the rails, off the tracks. I counseled with others about the meaning. Now I didn't go behind my pastor's back. I went to Brother Dennis. I went to other staff members. I went to those who were older. Then I dug into the scriptures because scripture interprets scripture, interprets scripture, folks. If you have an interpretation of a scripture and it contradicts another scripture, you're an error, not the scripture. And I dug into the scriptures and I prayed and I allowed the Spirit of God. There was curiosity and the Spirit was drawing me. And listen, God did a work.

I persevered and I came to understand some of these kingdom principles that many people, even I have known in ministry, do not understand. Now I'm going to come back to that, that modern application, how it works out in our day. But I just want you to know that I have struggled with this teaching all through the years, but especially when I first came to Christ. So tonight we will examine the parable of the sower, which is the first of the kingdom principles in the parable of the sower is found in Matthew 13 in two places. Verses 1-9 is when Jesus gives the parable.

Then in verses 18-12, or excuse me, 18-22 is when Jesus explains the parables. Now remember, Matthew 13 contains eight parables, some say seven, seven to eight parables that are all for the purpose of revealing the mysteries of the kingdom. Go back and look at verse 11. I'll read verse 10 first. He had already taught the parables to the crowds. Then the disciples came to him and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered to them, this is this private audience, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. So these are mysteries. We dealt with this last week.

Secrets, the English Standard Version calls them. And this is all mysteries. These are mystery secrets concerning the church and the church age, and these secrets were hidden to the Old Testament saints, but now they're being revealed. They were being revealed then, and they're being revealed to us now. Those of us in the church age, in this revelation, these secrets, it started right there when Jesus was teaching his disciples. So let me show you the title of what we're gonna look at tonight. The beginning of the kingdom. This is all about the beginning of the kingdom, and these are all kingdom parables.

So everything we'll deal with in Matthew 13, they're kingdom parables. So this is the parable of the sower, the beginning of the kingdom, the beginning of the kingdom. Now I want to read verses 1 to 9, and then we'll just dive right into this parable that was given. Let's look at the verses. "Now that same day Jesus went out of the house and he set by the sea, and there were great crowds that gathered about him, so that he got into the boat and he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying many things, referring to all of these parables. He taught them all in a row.

Some scholars think that he could have taught some of the other parables at this time too. We really don't know. Verse 3, "And he told them many things in parables, saying of sower went out to sow, and as he sowed some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and devoured them, or ate them up. Other seeds, they fell on the rocky ground, and they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out, or choked them.

And then other seeds fell on the good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. And notice verse 9, "He who has an ear, let him hear." So with these verses, verses 1 to 9, I'm just calling this the parable that was given. That's kind of obvious. This is the parable that was given by Jesus to really the crowd, specifically his believers. Now last week I said that this was a transition in Jesus' earthly ministry. Yes, the Jewish leaders were growing more and more hostile towards Jesus. I don't think we can understand how hostile they were.

And then Jesus was starting to change how he interacted with the religious leaders, the religious establishment. Yes, Jesus was about to withdraw from the Jews, and he is about to go into the more gentile regions. But right here, there's this big crowd, this very large crowd, that's gathered to see Jesus. Now I thought about why. We know Jesus performed many great miracles. Lots of people followed for that. He fed people. He healed people. Many people followed for the great miracles. But I thought about it this, I thought about it like this. Maybe Jesus' popularity had even grown because of the hostility he had with the Jews.

So for whatever the reason, I think there were many, many reasons we have this crowd. So at this time Jesus went out of the house and he sat by the seashore in a boat. And sitting down in a seated position, he is taking the traditional position of a teacher. So he comes out of the house, he sits there on the seashore in the boat. The crowds are there, good vantage point, and he begins to teach them many parables. Now in the first parable, Jesus paints a picture that everybody in the crowd could identify with.

I don't remember where I read it, but sometime this week in some of my reading, some scholars speculated that there could have even been a man in the field doing this kind of work where he could point to that illustration. We don't know. But what do we have? Farming, the tilling or the plowing of ground. We have a farmer with seeds and he is sowing those seeds in the ground. And everything Jesus talked about was very, very common. They were an agricultural society. They saw this every day. This was real life. This was real life.

But before we get into the parable, I'm trying to get there, I want us to see where we should focus on, focus our attention on as we try to understand what Jesus is talking about. There are so many times people will focus on the minor things and they miss the majors. So I want us to see where we should focus, where we should zero zero in. We should zero in on the soil and the types of soil first, the soil and the types of soil first. Then we should zero in on the seed and then we should zero in on the sower. And then we're also going to zero in on these birds of the air. So we need to focus on the soil. We need to focus on the seed.

We need to focus on the sower and then the birds and then some of these other details as well. So let's examine the picture Jesus paints here. First, verse 4, notice the seed in the hard-packed soil. I'm calling this the seed and the hard-packed soil. Verse 4, "As he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came up and devoured them." Now the English Standard Version that I'm reading from tonight uses the word path. The New American Standard uses the word road. Now whatever translation you have, it's going to be something like that, path or road.

Now in their land, the land of Galilee, it was covered with these little fields in these little open areas for farming. If you look at an aerial photograph of the region even today, it's like a patchwork plan of little fields and little open areas where they would farm. And in between those fields and connecting those fields were roads and paths that the farmers would walk. They wouldn't walk in the fields. And then we had travelers. Travelers would also walk on these paths and roads as they traveled across the region or the country.

And these paths, these roads were hard-packed by foot traffic and animal traffic and anything that would come along that road. And the roads were not farmed and the roads were not tilled in any way. And in the parable, the story here, Jesus said that there was some seed that the farmer sowed and when he sowed that seed, it fell on the hard path and the birds of the air came up and the birds ate it and it was taken away. Now I gave you a chart last week that showed you where these parables are in other places.

If we go to Luke's account in Luke chapter 8 verse 5, it says that the seeds that were not eaten by the birds were trampled underfoot, under the foot of the travelers and the farmers. Now I pause here. I think we get this picture. You might not understand agriculture. You might not be a farmer. It's simple, but I think we can understand the picture. I don't think that's confusing. So let's move on. Second, notice the seed. Notice the seed and the rocky soil. This is verse 5 and 6. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up the seeds since they had no depth of soil.

But when the Sun rose they were scorched and since they had no root they withered away. Here Jesus calls this soil rocky places. The English Standard Version says rocky ground. Now this does not refer to soil that has rocks in the soil. We need to get that out of our mind. Loose rocks or any other kind of debris would have been removed and it would be constantly removed from the soil from the fields. This refers to a type of soil that was very common in their region. There were places that had a layer of good soil but just below the surface there was a layer of rock.

Sometimes it was limestone and this rock was really just below the reach of the plow. So it produced a shallow soil. And in the parable, the story here, Jesus said that there's some seed it was sown and it fell in this rocky shallow soil. Now notice what happened. The seed sprang up quickly. It sprang up quickly but since it had no depth to the soil there had there was no depth for root. The Sun came, the Sun scorched the plant and it died and the plant had no root so it could not take the heat of the Sun. I think we understand that picture.

Even if you've not done any farming or even work with plants in any way I think you can get that picture. So let's move on. Notice third the seed and the thorny soil. We see this in verse 7. The seed and the thorny soil. Other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Here Jesus says that this soil contains thorns. Now in their land they had a type of rugged very tough thorn or thorn bush and a farmer could prepare the ground. He could plow the ground. He could get the ground ready for planting and he could look like very very good ground.

But if there were thorns in that ground when he planted that well then the thorns would grow up and the thorns would would choke out whatever seeds he planted. So the thorns or the thorn bushes they would take the moisture and the nutrients from the soil and they would rob the seed that had been planted. And the thorn bushes would crowd out the seed making no space for the seed to grow in the field even robbing the sunlight from the seed. Now this parable this story Jesus said that there were some that fell into this thorny soil and the thorns grew up and choked it out. I think we could understand that story of that picture as well.

And then fourth notice the seed in the good soil. Verse 8 "Other seed fell on the good soil and produced grain some 100 fold some 60 some 30." Now here Jesus calls this good soil. That's a key term. Good soil. This would have been good soil. It would not have contained thorns or any type of an invasive plant invasive plant to that field. This soil would have had adequate depth for the seeds the root base of the seeds. This soil would have been plowed and it would have been furrowed and it would have been prepared in every way for planting. And in the parable Jesus said that the seed was sown it took root and it produced a crop.

It was fruitful. It was fruitful because the conditions were favorable for the seed. And notice the result. A yield. It produced a crop some 100 some 60 and some 30 fold. I ran across an interesting note here. This came from some John MacArthur material in their land in their time. An average ratio of harvested grain seeds to those that were planted was said to have been less than eight to one. Even a tenfold crop would have been well above the average. Now what's the point? Here Jesus in this parable the fruitfulness that Jesus speaks of was a phenomenal wonderful abundant yield. You see that? So the point is this.

Here Jesus is telling this parable and there is fruitfulness. Jesus was speaking of a wonderful wonderful fruitfulness in this good soil. And I think we can understand this fairly well. So what do we have here? We have a farmer. He sown seed and he sown seeds in four types of soils. Four types of soils. Now before we move on we need to see how Jesus finishes this section up. Verse 9 he says, "He who has ears let him hear." Basically this is what Jesus was saying. If you can understand this parable then understand it. If you can grasp it, grasp it.

Get the understanding of this if you can and truly grasp the meaning the implications of the meaning and the application of the meaning in your day. He was saying if you understand it then fully understand it and apply it apply it to the life. He wasn't looking for a bookshelf understanding. No. He was looking for them to understand it and calling them to apply it in all of its implications in life. So this is the parable that was given. Now what's next? What happened with those that weren't listening? How did they respond? Well that leads us to number two, the parable and its purpose. We dealt with that a lot last week in verses 10 to 16.

Now I'm not going to read all those verses. We dealt with them a lot last week but verse 11 tells us that Jesus was revealing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven to his disciples. But verses 12 to 15 tell us that Jesus was concealing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven from the Jewish leaders, really the nation of Israel. And if you missed that last week you need to go back because I did go into great detail about what that looked like. Now I'll say this before we continue. Let me give you kind of this summary. We must understand that Jesus was revealing to his disciples the once hidden secrets about the church in the church age.

Here in this parable he was revealing the origin of the kingdom, the beginning of the kingdom, and how it all starts. And throughout the parables he is revealing the opposition of the kingdom, then the attitude and the approach of those who are seeking the kingdom, and ultimately he reveals the final outcome of the kingdom. So just remember that Jesus is revealing secrets of the kingdom of heaven. And I ran across a little summary here. I think again this was from John MacArthur, his material. I kind of paraphrased it so it's a loose quote. He says this, "These are the secrets of the church in the church age.

These are vital foundational truths for understanding the nature of the church, the mission of the church, and the spiritual characteristics of the church age. So the purpose of this specific parable was to reveal the beginning of the kingdom, the church, and the church age for his disciples." So let's move on. Number three, I want us to see the parable was explained. The parable was explained. Now we didn't deal with any of these verses last week I know. So let's look at verses 18 to 23. Let's read them and then we really have a lot of ground to cover. Jesus says verse 18, "Here then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and he does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path of the root. As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures for a little while and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

As for what was sown among the 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 unfaithful or unfruitful." Excuse me. "As for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and he understands it. He indeed bears fruit in yields in one case a hundredfold and another case 60 and then in another 30." Now you're probably thinking we finally got to the explanation. You probably thought, "Pastor, just tell me what it means.

We need to wade through it all folks, okay?" So in private, Jesus explains the meaning of this parable to his 12 disciples but notice Mark in his account tells us that there were other believers there as well. That's why that chart I gave you is good so you can read these different accounts together. Now I do think that we see two things here. First, Jesus is drawing his disciples, those other believers to himself to teach them these once hidden secrets, mysteries. But second, we see the spiritual curiosity of those true believers and it is work. It's at work here, this curiosity.

They went and they said, "Why are you teaching in parables?" So they were seeking to understand the meaning of these things and Jesus was drawing them in. But for us, before we get into the explanation, we need to see what certain things are in the parable. We need to see what these things represent. We need to look at the sower, what that means, the soil, what that means, and the seed, even the birds of the air. So we need to see what these things represent. First, the sower. Now here Jesus does not say who the sower is in the parable. He does not. Now later, later in the parable of the wheat and the tare are the wheat and the weeds.

He says the one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. But here we will see that the sower is any person who sows the seed. So the sower is any person who sows the seed. Second, the seed. In Matthew's account, we see that an explanation of the seed is not given. But in Luke's account, the seed is identified as the Word of God. But we will see that this seed is more specific. This seed is the message of the gospel, the message of the gospel that has the power to save the sinner. So the sower is anyone who sows the seed. The seed is the message of the gospel that has the power to save the sinner. And third, the soil.

The different soils represent the different hearts of those who receive the seed or have the seed sown in their heart. So the soils represent the different hearts that hear the gospel message, that message that has the power to save. So with that in your mind, let's look at Jesus explanation. First, in verse 19, we have the unresponsive hearer or the hard heart. First, we have the hard heart, the unresponsive hearer in verse 19. I'm gonna go back and read that. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and he does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

Now this is the person who hears the gospel and they do not understand it. Now the reason they do not understand it is not a problem with the gospel seed. It's not a problem with the seed. The problem is with their heart. Their heart is hardened and it is completely indifferent to spiritual things. Sin, pride, rebellion against God and the things of God. Sin and their sinfulness as well as evil and their evil ways have made their heart hard. Now notice what happens. Two things here. First, the gospel seed does not penetrate the heart at all. And then second, the seed is taken away by the birds of the air. Now question.

We had children in here they'd probably raise their hands. They'd say, "Pastor, what are the birds? What are the birds? What is this evil one that snatches the seed?" The birds, the evil one here, this represents any person, any teaching, any idea, any excuse, any reason for rejecting the truth of the gospel. You see? The birds, the evil one that snatches the seed away. This represents anything, any person, any teaching, any idea, any excuse, any reason for rejecting the truth of the gospel. You could flesh that out a little more in detail. But listen close here. Can a person pervert the message of the gospel? We need to ponder over that.

Can a false teacher or a false teaching pervert the message of the gospel? Can a person give excuses and reasons for rejecting the gospel and hold on to their sin and their sinfulness? The answer is yes to all of that. You see? A person can prevent and twist the message of the gospel. A false teacher or a false teaching can pervert or twist and distort the message of the gospel. And listen, a person can give all sorts of reasons and excuses for rejecting the gospel and for holding on to their sin and their sinfulness. Now listen here. There are two enemies of the gospel here. One of them you know. You'll see it right away.

But one of them will sneak up on you. There are two enemies of the gospel here. First, the birds of the air. We've already dealt with that, the evil one. But second is the evil, hard, hard of the one hearing the gospel. You see? That is two things. Those are two things that are the enemy to the gospel. Don't take the man off the hook here. His evil, wicked heart is an enemy to the gospel and the birds of the air. So we have the hard-hearted hearer. We have the unresponsive hearer. Because of their lostness and their sin and their sinfulness, they do not respond. The seed doesn't penetrate that heart.

So that seed is taken away from their heart. And there are a whole host of ways that this takes place. Now I thought about an example here. I'm gonna give you biblical examples through here. I'm not gonna give you a specific example. I think back to the time we went verse by verse through the gospel of John. At every corner we saw Jesus present truth and the Jews stiffen their neck, harden their heart, and reject it. They held on to their religion. They held on to their sin.

Remember when we went through the Sermon on the Mount, we saw Jesus confronting the religious leaders and the Jews with how they had distorted the truth of what the original teaching of the Old Testament meant. And all along what they are doing is this. They are stiffening their neck and they're bowing their neck and they're hardening their heart. They're holding on to their sin and their pride and their religion and what happens? The seed that Jesus sowed? Two enemies. They're hard hearts in anything that would contradict the truth.

Second, second in verse 20 and 21, still with this explanation, we have the superficial here or the shallow heart. The shallow heart, the superficial here. Verse 20 and 21, as for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but in doers for a little while and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. Now this is the person who hears the gospel and oh they respond immediately with joy or in their emotions.

This person gives a very quick response to the gospel and they do so with great emotion, with great joy, which is the complete opposite of the hard-hearted here, isn't it? Now notice what happens. They immediately fall away because of one thing and this will shock you. The affliction or the persecution not from the world but from the Word of God. You see that? The cost of true biblical discipleship is too high. The road of the Christian life is too hard so they fall away. This phrase fall away is a key phrase.

It means to fall, it means to stumble, it could be understood as causing an offense and the picture here is of the shallow-hearted quote-unquote Christian who is offended by the Word of God so they stumble, they are offended and they fall away. Now question, we don't have to ask this question with the previous hard-hearted here. Is this superficial, shallow-hearted here? Is this person a true Christian? The answer is no. Although this person seems to embrace Christ and Christianity, they have no root.

They are shallow, they're superficial, they're false, they produce no fruit and when the standard of true Christianity is presented to them, they are offended. When the cost of discipleship is presented to them, they stumble, they are offended and they fall away. Can't think of any better example than John 6, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Jesus has this great two-day event, performed great miracles, everybody's following him thousands and what happens?

He starts whittling that crowd away because see he knew all men who knew their hearts and he identified why they were following him and when he would identify a group and while they were following they would fall away, they would fall away, they would fall away. He gets to the end of the chapter in verse 68-69 right there and he looked at the disciples and said, "Well, are y'all gonna fall away too?" Peter steps forward and represents the whole group and he says, "We don't have anywhere to go.

We left everything." In the construction of the language, this is what Peter said, "We believed yesterday, we believe today and we're gonna continue to believe tomorrow." They had true saving faith but what was going on here? Jesus was raising the standard for the true Christian life and the cost of discipleship and all of those excited quote-unquote believers, they fell away, they fell away, they fell away. Third, the worldly here are the strangled heart. This worldly here are this strangled heart.

Verse 22, "As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches or wealth choke the Word and it proves unfruitful." It proves unfruitful. Now this is the person who hears the gospel and they respond to the gospel invitation as well. This person hears, they respond, but there is a different result here than before. These do not seem to quickly fall away. These become unfruitful. I ran across an old book, it's a good little book on the parables.

It's by a man named Richard Trent and he says this and I'm quoting, "In this case, the profession of the spiritual life is retained." In other words, they don't just fall away like the other ones. "In this case, the profession of the spiritual life is retained, but the power of religion, which would be true Christianity, is by degrees eaten out." You see, he's saying by degrees it is eaten out. Now notice why that is the case. There are two obstacles to the gospel truly taking root in the life and therefore becoming fruitful. First, the cares and the worries of the world. Second, the deceitfulness or the riches of wealth.

This is speaking of a heart that loves the world and love the riches of the world and love what the world can give them so therefore they do not repent. There's no repentance. So a question here, is this person a Christian? No. Although they do seem to trust Christ and they do not fall away quickly like the other ones, the gospel seed is choked out. It's choked out by sin. Their love for the world and worldly living and the desires for what the world has to offer them chokes it out and I don't mind saying like Richard Trent said, "By degrees it is eaten out." It's strangled. It's the strangled heart. It's revealing what? A worldly heart.

Can't think of a better example than Demas. Any of you know the story of Demas? Demas was a partner in the ministry with Paul. If you look up Demas in the book of Philemon and Colossians and other places, he's named as a fellow worker. I mean a strong good worker for Paul and his ministry. But oh if you look over in the 2nd Timothy 4.10, Paul says that he has deserted them. That word deserted is key. That word deserted speaks to an utter total abandonment. You know what happened? He goes on to say he loved the world. He loved the world and he fleshed out his life as a worldly hearer, a strangled heart hearer.

Then fourth, fourth, the receptive hearer or the open heart. Verse 23, "As for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word." He understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred fold and sixty fold and then another case thirty fold. Now this is the person who hears the gospel and they understand it. This is the only one that understood it. They receive it, this seed, and it bears fruit. This is the only one that bears fruit. And there is this tremendous yield in their life. Notice, that's why I brought that agricultural information to you. This was an unheard of yield, but a question here.

What is the difference in this soil and the others? Think about that. We need to see that there is nothing different except for preparation. This heart has been prepared. This heart has been prepared by the Spirit of God and the work of God and the work of the Word of God in the heart and in the life. Now there is something very important we must see here and a very important question or two. How can this heart be made good? How could a human heart be made good? I've taught you this well. Romans 3 tells us that the human heart is exceedingly wicked. Romans 3 and other scriptures tell us that man's heart is utterly sinful.

Man cannot come to God on his own. Romans 3 tells us that man cannot understand God or the ways of God. And Romans 3 tells us that no man can seek God. So how can this man have a good heart? Ultimately, this takes place by the power of the gospel, Romans 1 17, and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit of God, John chapter 3. Simply God. God through the work of the Spirit and the power of the gospel to save grants a good heart. No one gets a good heart on their own, folks. So here I'm not asking if this person is saved. I'm asking you which of the four were truly saved? Only one. There's only one.

Now I'm not going to refer you to an example here. I'm not going to refer you to an example. I'm going to refer you to a verse. This is a verse that I have taught from and used often in my years here with you. You might not have to turn there. You know it. Write it down. Maybe to read later. John chapter 1 verses 12 to 13. But notice what he says here. Jesus. But to all who did receive him. Isn't that what we've been talking about? Receiving the gospel, receiving Jesus, receiving seeds, falling in hearts. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he, that's God, gave the right to become children of God. These are Christians.

He goes on to say verse 13, "Who were born not of blood," that would have been heredity, "nor of the will of the flesh," that would be what they could do, "nor of the will of man," that would be what someone else could do. So he strikes out three things here. You can't become a child of God by your heredity, by what you can do, or what somebody can do for you. But what does he say? "Who were born of God?" So what do we see? This person gets a good heart because of God. So we have the explanation of this parable. Jesus is teaching these early believers.

Remember, this is the 12, the disciples, of course, Judas is a sellout, we know that, and those other believers, and he's teaching them what the human heart is like. He is teaching them how the sowing of the gospel seed, how that works out in humanity, and then he is showing them how mankind responds to the gospel here. And I've taught you this, well, we have on one side here the sovereign work of God, what only God can do, and then we have over here what man is responsible to do, and we sometimes, many times, cannot blend the two or understand how they come together.

Now as I move away from the explanation, I ran across a good summary of what's happening in the parable. As a matter of fact, I ran across it early in the beginning of some John MacArthur material, and I just kind of held it. I knew I was going to use it, I just didn't know where. But notice what he says here. This is a great summary of summation. Notice, and I'm quoting, "The parable of the sower revolves around proclaiming the saving gospel, heralding the word about the kingdom and his kingdom." Notice that? It's true. The parable of the sower revolves around proclaiming the saving gospel, heralding the word about the king and his kingdom.

And I'm continuing, "But the main teaching has to do with the heart soils on which the truth of that word falls as it is preached." Jesus mentions four different soils onto which the seed falls as it is sown, representing four kinds of hearts that hear the gospel. And listen folks, this is the beginning because this is how people come into the kingdom. Not of heredity, you're not born into the church. You might be born and they might put your name on the road, but you're not born a member of the church, you're not born in the kingdom. You might make a decision and make all kind of promises, but it's not of our will.

And it's not of the will of someone else. You could go through a confirmation class or check all the right boxes. You see? This is the beginning of the kingdom or how people come into the kingdom. Now I want to conclude here with some big lessons. You need to get these lessons that come out of this. This will help us in our application of all of this. First of all, there are people that can hear the gospel and the gospel can be taken away. The gospel can be sown into their hearts and sown into their lives and it just disappears. Where did it go? They will act like they've never heard it.

Oh, they might give you a little religious jargon, but the seed can be sown. Someone can tell them about Jesus. And so they can hear the gospel and they can hear the good news of Christ, but that seed can be taken away. Second, people can hear the gospel and they can seem to receive it, but never truly be saved. They can have the right emotions. They can say the right words. They can do all the right things. They can just look really well, but they can still not be truly saved. And then third, people can hear the gospel and seem to come to Christ, but still be lost because they just not will not repent of sin. They love the world.

They love what the world can offer. See that just describes all that the world can offer. That is a lack of repentance. People can hear the gospel. They can seem to come to Christ and cry, crocodile tears, and oh they can still be lost because they just won't repent of sin. Fourth, the Word of God can persecute people. That's what shocks some people. The Word of God will persecute. The Word of God will persecute. I'm gonna get into some stuff I should share next week. I know I'm gonna sound arrogant.

That's why we have many people that sit in pews and they're lost and they're unconverted and they're worldly and their lives are full of sin and they just come in and sit and leave, come in and sit and leave. They're not persecuted. The Word's not taught. The Word persecutes people. Fifth, true Christians are fruitful. True Christians are fruitful. How fruitful? Some a lot, some kind of in the middle, some not quite as much, but they're all fruitful. They're all fruitful. Christians are fruitful. So that tells us there's no such thing as someone becoming a Christian and just living like everybody else the rest of their life.

That doesn't exist. So remember these five lessons because we're coming back to these next week. Now what's the title of the message? It's the beginning of the kingdom. It's how folks come in. How it all starts. Remember we're talking about the church age now, okay? We're not talking about Old Covenant, New Covenant, the church age. The beginning of the kingdom. These are the kingdom parables. And next week we're gonna deal with the beginning of the kingdom part two and I'm gonna take what we've looked at and I'm gonna bring it more into our world, apply it more, and show you how all of this fleshes out. Now I'll be honest with you here.

I have wrestled. Sometimes I want to work through the verses, work through the verses, keep the messages all together, but sometimes you just need to pause and maybe spend a little more extra time here. I'm not trying to belabor this but I'm gonna do more of the application next week because listen, I'm going back to my example at the beginning. When my pastor taught this parable when I first came to Christ and I worked hard and I worked hard to understand it and when I understood it, it equipped me for ministry in ways in which you never would imagine. So let me do this.

Let me pray over what we've looked at and then we do have some prayer needs that I do want us to examine.