Broad Overview of the Parable of the Sower

Introduction to the Parable of the Sower and its Context

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 28th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I encourage you to turn with me once again to the fourth chapter of Mark's Gospel, and follow as I read in your hearing this morning the first nine verses. As we continue our consecutive expositions of the Gospel according to Mark, we are presently concentrating our attention upon this section in Mark's Gospel, in which we have several parables given by our Lord.

0:47 We read this morning the parable of the sower. Mark 4 and verse 1. And again he began to teach by the seaside. And there is gathered unto me...

1:00 He gave unto him a very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat and sat in the sea, and all the multitude were by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things in parables, and said unto them in his teaching, Hearken, behold, the sower went forth to sow. And it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. And other fell on the rocky ground, where it had not much earth, and straightway it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth.

1:41 And when the sun was risen, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And other fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded no fruit.

2:02 And he yielded fruit, growing up and increasing, and brought forth thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. And he said, Who has ears to hear, let him hear. And let us now pray that God would give us ears to hear, and that having been given such ears, we may hear what the Spirit says to us in this portion of the Word. The Word of God.

The Lord's Use of Nature to Teach Grace

2:37 Once again, our Father, we do come conscious that You and You alone are the true, the divine Instructor. And in the hymn we have just sung, we have acknowledged You to be such. And though we know You have ordained to use human instruments, that Christ, the Ascended Lord, has given to His Church pastors and teachers, we know that, ultimately, You alone can teach us that the clearest statements of truth made with the most earnestness will still be as an unknown tongue to us unless You open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of Your law. Come then, O God, and teach us this morning as we reverently and expectantly come to Your written Word, and we ask that You would do this for the good of our souls and for the glory of Your own name. Amen. Now, one of the most striking features in the recorded ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ

3:57 is that He was constantly translating the statements found in the Book of Nature and bringing them over and inscribing them into the Book of Grace. Our Lord continually saw in the common, earthly, external, and temporal world of men and things the heavenly, the internal, the spiritual, and the eternal issues of the Kingdom of God.

4:31 Now, although this aspect of our Lord's ministry is seen in all of His recorded utterances, nowhere is it more pronounced than we come, than I say, than when we come to those sections in the Scriptures in which we have a concentrated deposit of what are called the parables of Jesus. And we have come to just such a portion in this fourth chapter of Mark's Gospel. And as we began our study of this passage last week, we examined verses 1 and 2, which constitute an introduction to the parable, and we noted, but two basic categories of thought in our study of these verses. We noticed, first of all, the circumstances in which the parable of the sower or the soils was spoken. According to verses 1 and 2, this parable, along with the others recorded here in Mark's Gospel, were spoken by the sea to a mixed multitude from a boat in the sea, and amidst many other parables. That's the essential teaching of verses 1 and 2a. And then we considered last week the crucial importance of this particular parable.

5:58 For according to verse 13 of Mark 4, Jesus said, How, if ye know not this parable, how shall you know all the parables? Indicating, indicating that there is a peculiar importance attached to this parable of the sower. In it, our Lord gives us, as he interprets the parable, some of the broad principles by which we must interpret the other parables for which we have no inspired interpretation. But perhaps even more importantly, it is the very subject of this parable.

Major Elements of the Parable: Seed, Sower, and Soil

6:39 If people do not understand, and perceive the significance of what is contained in this parable that touches the most elementary issues of the kingdom of God, then they will be utterly blind to the significance of the other parables which touch more advanced elements of the principles of God's kingdom. Now, as we come to our study this morning, we're going to consider what I am calling a broad or general overview, an overview of the parable of the sower. And as we do so, we're going to look at the major elements within the parable, and secondly, the major issues underscored by the parable. So, in seeking to gain a broad overview of the parable itself, two categories of concern this morning. First of all, the major elements within the parable. Now, even a cursory reading, reveals that the three major elements are the sower, the seed, and the various kinds of soil.

7:50 Now, let's begin first of all by identifying the seed. Now, in each case, seed was cast by the sower, and the soil reacted to the seed. A description of the placement of the seed and its subsequent history is central. The little phrase occurs again and again, and some fell, and some fell, and some fell, and some fell.

8:20 So, our attention is being directed again and again to this activity of the seed falling upon the various kinds of soil. Furthermore, when our Lord interprets the significance of this parable, we find this terminology again and again. These are they who are sown. These are they who are sown.

8:47 These are they who are sown. Directing our attention again to this element of the seed and its subsequent history. Now, what is the precise identity of the seed? Well, in Mark 4 and verse 14, our Lord tells us in very straightforward language, the sower is sown.

9:11 He is sowing the Word. He is sowing the Word, the message. So, the seed is called by our Lord, the Word. And you will find in verse 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20, that same terminology.

9:32 The Word, verse 15. These are they by the wayside where the Word is sown. 16b. They have heard the Word.

9:41 Verse 18b. They have heard the Word. 19b. Choke the Word.

9:48 20b. Such is here the Word. So, there is no room for discussion, debate, or ambiguity with respect to the identity of the seed. The seed is the Word.

10:03 But now in Matthew 13, 19, we are given a little more precision as to what word or what message constitutes the seed. In Matthew 13, 19, the parallel passage to this, we read this. Our Lord speaking, when anyone heareth the word or the message of the kingdom. So, here it is not the word, which is the identity of the seed, that is the word in general, but it is a very specific word.

10:41 It is the word or the message of the kingdom. Then add to that the helpful perspective of the account in Luke chapter 8 and verse 11. Luke chapter 8 and verse 11. Here Luke recording the same parable in the same setting.

11:03 Now the parable is this. Our Lord is going to interpret it. And the first line of interpretation focuses upon the seed. The seed is the Word of God.

11:19 Now bring them all together. The witness of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And we can identify with some degree of precision the precise identity of the seed. The seed is the Word.

11:34 It is that Word of which God is God. It is that Word of which God is the author. And it is that Word which has as its particular focus of content and concern the message of the kingdom. Put in its immediate context, it was nothing more or less than the very substance of the preaching that Jesus was doing in Galilee at that very time.

12:00 For you will remember in chapter 1 we are told that he went about all Galilee, preaching the message of the kingdom, the Word of the kingdom, and saying, repent ye and believe in the gospel. So as the Lord Jesus is there in the boat in the sea, with all of the multitudes spread out before him upon the shore, teaching and preaching the message of the kingdom, that is the good news about the reign of God in grace, through the coming of the King of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ, that Word is likened unto seed. Now let me underscore for some who may have been taught in their past that the message of the kingdom refers to some future dimension of God's dealing with ethnic national Israel and has nothing to do with things as they now are. Now that is the most irresponsible approach to the Word of God and I have utterly no sympathy for it. It cannot be established from the Scriptures. This was nothing other than the gospel, for remember that is Mark's theme, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

13:16 And we have seen as we have worked through these first three chapters how rich they are in fundamental gospel truth. The very closing paragraph of chapter 3 in which the Lord Jesus gives us the whole doctrine, as it were, of adoption in seed form, in which He identifies His true spiritual family as those who hear the Word of God and who keep it. So as we begin our broad overview, we begin with the question, what is the precise identity of the seed? And the answer of Scripture is clear, it is the Word, the Word of God, it is the Word of the kingdom.

Identifying the Sower and the Nature of Sowing

14:01 Now then, what about the sower? He really receives very little attention in this passage and in a sense the sower stands in a sub-dominant position between the seed, which is central, and the soils, which are even more fundamental and central. Now obviously the sower is simply someone who goes forth to scatter his seed. Jesus began the parable with that very language.

14:32 Hearken! Pay attention! Behold, the sower went forth to sow. That is, he went forth to scatter his seed.

14:44 Now verse 14, the sower soweth. He engages in an activity of casting abroad this divine seed. And everything that happened subsequently was the result of his going forth and scattering seed. Some fell, some fell, some fell.

15:07 And it fell because the sower had cast it out of his seed bag. In the immediate context, the sower, of course, was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He had come forth out of the house where there was limited opportunity to speak the message of the kingdom within the confines of that house, and he was going to do that. Now, remember the picture at the end of chapter 3, so crowded, so pressed in upon him, that even his mother and brothers could not get to him but had to send a message to the crowd.

15:40 But now, by the more expansive area of the seashore, he is speaking to the indiscriminate multitudes. He is doing what a sower does when he goes forth to his well-plowed fields. He is putting his hand into his bag of seed, the message of the kingdom, and he is broadcasting it. That is, he is casting it forth.

16:04 He is proclaiming to men indiscriminately God's gracious provision for sinners in the coming of the King of Grace. So in the immediate context, as I've said, the sower is the Lord Jesus himself. But in a very real sense, a sower is anyone who engages in the faithful dissemination of divine seed. Anyone who, by any legitimate means, sends forth the message of the kingdom, the good news of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, that person becomes, in a lesser sense, a sower.

16:47 Now, just by way of a little aside, one of the commentators or preachers who preached a sermon on this and whose sermon is recorded drew out some of the images that is found in other parts of Scripture with reference to the work of the sower. And he spun this out to some degree, and I'll not take time to do it, but very suggestive thoughts that sowing is a cheerless work. You go out in the springtime when even the trees are not full of their leaves and there is still the hangover of the barrenness of winter, and you go forth into a situation that has nothing of the encouragement of harvest time. So it's a cheerless work.

17:27 It's also a painful work. You're parting with present good in hope of future reward. Perhaps that's the thought of the psalmist when he said, He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed. As one has said, Seed sown is as seed lost until the harvest.

17:49 So it's a cheerless work, and a painful work, and oft times a disappointing work. So as the Lord Jesus was there in the boat, by the seashore, He was very realistically sowing the seed of the Word of God. As Jesus saw the vast multitudes, He had no silly notion that all of them were receiving the seed into the soil of a good and an honest heart that would bring forth fruit with permanence. He knew that in a very short time these vast multitudes would dissipate, and there would be but a relative handful left.

18:33 And so the sower went forth to his work in the person of the Lord Jesus. That sower went to his work with very realistic expectations. And as He did, so must we. While we are under a divine mandate to preach the Gospel to the whole creation, and there is everything in Scripture to encourage the most widespread, indiscriminate proclamation and dissemination of the message of the Kingdom, we must be realistic in terms of what we hope will be the return from all of the sowing of that Gospel seed.

The Dominance of the Soil in the Parable

19:11 But then you have in the third place the various kinds of soil. Now remember what we are attempting to do, to grasp the major elements of the parable. First of all, the seed and its identity, the Word of God. The sower, the Lord Jesus, and anyone who faithfully disseminates the message of His salvation.

19:32 Then you have the various kinds of soil. Now it is this element that dominates in the parable. I tried some years ago when preaching on this in another setting to change the terminology to the parable of the soils, because that is where the emphasis really falls. And I am told, though I cannot read German and validate it, but I am told by people who can, that most of the German commentators, when they give a heading to this parable, do not call it the parable of the sower, but they call it the parable of the soils.

20:06 Because that is where the emphasis falls. You see, nothing is said about the skill of the sower, or the manner in which he sowed. Very little is said about the seed. It is simply identified.

20:21 It is not called hybrid seed, or especially good seed, or anything else. But when we come to the soils, there we have the fullest description in the entire parable. So the emphasis falls upon the various kinds of soil. Now, in the parable, what is the soil?

20:43 Well, in Mark's account, the whole person is likened to the soil. Look at verse 15. And these are they, by the wayside, where the word is sown, and when they have heard. So he likens the whole person to the soil.

21:01 And when the message comes, he describes the response of the whole person to whom the message has come. But in Matthew 13 and verse 19, and then again in one of the parallel passages in Luke, it is not the whole man in general that constitutes the soil. But it is the heart of man in particular. Mark, I'm sorry, Matthew 13 and verse 19.

21:33 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, then comes the evil one, now notice, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the wayside. So here the heart is called the soil upon which the seed fell. And then in Luke and chapter 8 and verse 12, we have the same interpreted clue with reference to what we call the good soil.

22:17 We read in Luke 11 and verse 12. And these, I'm sorry, this is with regard to the wayside, and then we'll come to the other. And those by the wayside are they that have heard, then cometh the devil and takes away the word from their heart. And then verse 15, and that in good ground these are such as in an honest and good heart.

22:50 So in answer to the question, what is the soil? We can say according to Mark, the soil is the whole person in general. But more particularly, it is the heart of man. The seed is sown in the heart even where it produces no fruit.

23:10 And that's vital. The seed comes to the heart, that is, to the citadel of what we are. And the Bible describes the heart not in clinical or what we would call technical psychology, but it describes the heart as the seat of our being, the fountain of what we are. Keep your heart above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life.

23:38 For from within, out of the heart, Jesus said, proceed all kinds of sin. We are to love God with all the heart, with all the mind, soul, and strength. That is the very seat of our being. So then, as our Lord is sitting on a boat, speaking the word of God to the multitudes upon the shore, He is doing at that very moment what some suggest He and His listeners may have seen transpiring before their very eyes in a not too distant field.

24:14 When He said, behold, the sower went forth to sow, He may have actually pointed to a farmer who at that very time was in a nearby field, taking his seed and casting it upon the ground. And so as that word went forth and impinged upon the hearts of men, this parable was being enacted in its spiritual reality in that immediate context there by the Sea of Galilee. But now whenever, in whatever circumstances, in whatever age of the history of the church, these three things come together, this parable is reenacted. Whenever divine seed, the word of God, is sent forth by any means and comes in touch with men's hearts, this parable is being fulfilled again and again and again and again. Every time we gather in this place, this parable is being enacted again. Every time we sit at family worship and the word of God is read, every time a parent sits a child upon the knee and brings the word of God to bear upon some peculiar need in the life of that child,

25:42 every time you witness to a loved one pass out a tract, every time the word of God by means of the airwaves or other means of modern communication impinges upon men's ears, and comes attacking their hearts, this parable is reenacted again and again and again. Do not study the parable in a kind of sterile, detached objectivity. We study it in the realization that what our Lord is describing in this crucial parable is happening in our own hearts every time the word of God is preached. So much for the nature so much for the major elements within the parable.

The Major Issue: The State of the Soil Determines the Fate of the Seed

26:25 Now consider with me in the second place the major issue underscored by the parable. The major issue underscored by the parable. Now we hope, God willing, to open up all the various strands of diversity of response to the message and therefore examine the precise and distinguishing aspects of each soil, what precisely is the wayside path, what precisely is the stony soil or the rocky soil, what precisely is the soil in which there are thorns, and what precisely is the soil called that of a good and honest heart. And that will come in its own time.

27:06 However, we must not fail to see the forest for the trees. And though there are many strands of emphasis in this parable, in a very real sense the parable has but one fundamental message. And it's that message that I want to articulate and underscore this morning. In all four instances seed was sown, the word was heard.

27:32 In all four instances there was a response to the seed from rejection and non-reception to full reception unto fruit bearing. However, in all four cases, and here's the heart of the message of the parable, it was the state of the soil that determined the fate of the seed. Now that's it. That's it.

27:57 If I were catechizing the children and I asked you from your children's catechism, Who made you? I hope many of you could answer, God made me. And if I said, What else did God make? I hope you would answer, God made all things.

28:13 And then if I ask the next question, Why did God make you and all things? I hope you would answer, What? For His own glory. Now I want to catechize the congregation this morning.

28:26 What is the essential message of the parable of the sower? And the answer should be the essential message of the parable of the sower is that the state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. Have you got it? The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed.

28:54 That is the burden of this parable. Now I'm fully aware, as our Lord was, that that is not the entire teaching of the Word of God with respect to how the Word of God operates in the hearts of men. There are other strands of Biblical teaching which would lead us to the conclusion that it is the Word of God which does the very conditioning of the soil. That's a wonderful truth.

29:24 It is God Himself who prepares a heart. That's a wonderful truth. But follow closely this morning. It is none of our business to try to import the whole doctrine on a given subject when our Lord is highlighting one dimension of it.

29:43 When we were looking at the end of chapter 3 where Jesus identifies His spiritual family and says, Here are My brothers and sisters and mothers, those who hear the Word of God and keep it, I didn't preach a message on the cross because the emphasis there does not fall upon the cross but upon one of the fruits of the cross which our Lord would soon undergo in substitutionary death. And as we come to this passage, it is not my responsibility to import other vital aspects of Biblical truth but to let this aspect which our Lord was concerned with, to highlight, stand in awe of its jagged bluntness before us. And the major issue underscored by this parable is that the state of the soil is that which determines the fate of the seed. It was one and the same seed in all four cases. And the ultimate determination of the fate of that seed, whether it ended up in a bird's belly or ended up multiplying itself a hundredfold, it was the state of the soil that determined the fate of the seed.

31:07 As one preacher has observed and stated it, here then is the main thought of the parable in its literal sense. The growth of the seed depends always on the quality of the soil. The stress of the story is not on the character of the sower or even on the quality of the seed. Though these things must not be overlooked, but it falls on the nature of the soil.

Application: Scrutinize Your Own Heart, Not the Sower

31:36 The crop depends on the character of the ground. And I want to say by way of application several things this morning. We who preach the Word, who take a public, prominent sower's posture, are constantly being scrutinized by our hearers. And there's a sense in which that's right.

32:03 As I often tell people, particularly young men in the ministry, we don't have tenure in this place. I've been preaching to this basic congregation for over 22 years and I don't have tenure. I have no promised permanence in this posture and position. And if by God's grace I do not perform to the edification of the people, my, quote, job is in jeopardy.

32:28 And it's right there. Not that it should be so. It's right that my fellow elders should guard this pulpit. And if I cease to be an instrument to general edification, bar this pulpit to me.

32:40 That's right and proper. And I would have it no other way. And in that sense, you, the people of God, must scrutinize those who stand in the place of official sowers. That's a very legitimate dimension of truth.

32:55 But here we have a parable by the only perfect preacher who ever sowed the seed of the word. And he calls upon his hearers not to scrutinize the sower, but the soil of their own hearts. That's what he's calling them to do. The only perfect preacher who ever lived said, look, my listeners, don't sit to evaluate my activity as a sower.

33:21 You sit and evaluate the state of your own heart. He's saying, in essence, take heed to the state of your hearts, the very hearts to which I now bring the word. For the best seed put forth by the best sower will come to a tragic end if it falls upon a bad heart. The best of seed put forth by the best of sowers will come to a tragic end if it is sown upon a bad heart.

33:54 A man might go out and pay top dollar for the best hybrid seed to produce the best kind of corn or grain imaginable, and he might be the most skilled sower of that exotic and expensive seed in the entire countryside. But if it falls upon a footpath which is not prepared to receive it, all it means is that the birds have a gourmet meal. The worth of the seed has no power to change the state of the soil. That's the emphasis.

34:35 That's the thrust. That's the burden. May I say that is the focal point of the entire parable. Fruit, real, lasting, abundant fruit will only be realized when the seed is received by a good and an honest heart.

Pastoral Dilemma: Balancing Scrutiny with Fragile Assurance

34:56 So, this parable of necessity in virtue of this dominant thrust is going to lead us as a congregation into a season of the most intense scrutiny of our hearts. I cannot preach this parable and be true to the mind of the spirit in it without calling you as a congregation into a season of the most intense scrutiny of your hearts. Now, and when we've been in the previous chapters, where has the focus been? Upon the glory of the mighty worker.

35:32 Has it not? And we've seen our Lord Jesus as the stronger than the strong man. And even as I mention these themes, my own mind and spirit relive some of those moments in this building when God has pulled back the veil a bit and we've gained a sight of our Lord Jesus that has ravished our hearts and strengthened our faith and has caused us to feel that we could brook a thousand seas and go through a hundred fires if necessary to serve him. And I trust I've been faithful to the inherent emphases of those parts in Mark's gospel in which he's set before us the mighty worker in all of his glory, the one who has authority to forgive sin, the one who is Lord of the Sabbath, the one who is able to bind the strong man in spoilish goods, the one who owns the likes of us as mother, brother, and sister. And I've sought to be faithful and to let all of the glory and wonder of that that I've been able to proclaim shine before your eyes. But dear people, I'm not going to draw in now because a passage turns from focus upon the objective glory of Christ to the state of our hearts. I must be as vigorous, as thorough,

36:59 and by the help of God attack with as much strength and spiritual energy the focus of this passage as I've sought to paint before your eyes by the help of God and being true to the test the glory of our mighty worker in his conquering grace. And that immediately poses a problem for some of you. It poses a problem first of all for some of you who by temperament and background and training and perhaps a host of other influences are unusually, and unnecessarily susceptible to false guilt and to a crippling introspection. We have in this congregation some whom I have every reason to regard as dear true saints of Christ. But as Bunyan observed them in his congregation they are the Mr. Fearings and the Mr. Ready to Halt.

38:01 And their assurance is such a fragile thing that one message on self-examination buries them for about three months. And it's not the fault of imbalanced preaching. It is the fault of their own fragile state. And when I think of some of you and if I wanted to I could even now if I pause for a moment bring the very names of some that I know of with whom I have spent hours over the years seeking to encourage and seeking to buttress and strengthen what little bit of assurance was there.

38:35 And knowing that you're here and knowing that some of you have not moved from the condition of Mr. Fearing and Mr. Ready to Halt and Mr. Feeblemind into the condition of a Mr. Great Heart something in me would say, look, skip over this real quick like or you're just going to have a bunch of basket cases when you're done. No, really. Something in my pastoral instinct says some of them won't be able to take it. You're going to make for yourself hours of work.

39:03 Those will be the very ones who'll go down in a heap. When you start zeroing in on what is it to have a heart that is like a path through a field that is hard and unreceptive to the reception of the Word. What is it to have a heart that is like a narrow band of earth over a shelf of rock that cannot send down any real roots whose religious experience is fleeting and unsubstantial. And as I try to expound what it is to have a heart that in one sense seems to enfold the Word but because there's been no clearing of the field the thorn bushes and the weeds of worldliness and lust grow up with the Word and choke it.

39:48 There's something in me that says, don't do it. Because if you go into any real detail and start burrowing into the consciences some of those Mr. Fearings and Mr. and Mrs. Ready to Halt and Mr. and Mrs. Feeble Mind they're going to be buried. You're going to see it written all over their face.

40:08 You're going to go to shake their hand when they leave in the morning and you're going to know by that look you've seen a dozen times there they go again. And dear people, I'd love to spare you that and spare myself the work. But there's another group of you. That's not your problem.

40:27 Oh, you've sat and rejoiced when we've pointed to Christ the mighty worker. Now you say it's about time Pastor Martin got around to preaching Christ. Oh boy, this is good. I've been waiting for this for a long time.

40:41 I'm so glad to see him bending all of his energies in whatever gifts God has given to exalt Christ as the mighty worker. The stronger than the strong man. Hallelujah! Do you know what your hallelujahs have been?

40:55 There's some of you sitting in this place. It's a sham. You have a built-in aversion to close applicatory preaching to the heart. And you know why?

41:07 It's because your heart! is overgrown with weeds! Your heart! has got a shelf of rock that precludes any deep root into the wire!

41:23 And I wonder, Lord, if we come to a cycle and to a season of intense zeroing in upon the heart as a time when you'll break through some of these upon whom good seed has been sown for years! Instead of a rich fruit all we have to show for is that the birds have a perpetual gourmet meal at the table of your heart. Are there the fruits of increased prayerfulness? Increased zeal for Christ's kingdom? Increased tenderness to sin? Increased hatred for the world?

42:18 Increased zeal for His kingdom? No! Producing that crop of love for His kingdom and tenderness to sin so that it times some of us who are able by God by God's grace of an assessment of that fruit we stand back in amazement! But I tell others of you that cause us to weep in secret and to cry out for our sins with a holy vengeance not to kill you but to kill your sin! We haven't built in vague general abstractions we've labored to bring home the word closely and specifically to your conscience and unless you're physically dead to the prickings and the pro-hardness barrenness language we of the prophet we cry out Oh Lord how long

43:40 how long the seed is the word of God when it falls upon good soil it brings forth fruit and Jesus said by their fruits you shall know them we cannot judge infallibly but we can in the general order of things make an accurate judgment by the fruit. Some of you sit here this morning if there's any fruit at all only God can find it. Now you see the dilemma I'm in? What's the essential burden of the passage? The essential burden of the passage is it is the state of the soil that determines the fate of the seed. And I've got to be true to that emphasis and all I can say to you who are the Mr. Fearings

Call to Spiritual Honesty and Prayer for Good Hearts

44:46 and the Mrs. Fearings will you cry to God that you want to take one thing to yourself that doesn't belong to you? Will you? Will you cry to God that you won't go dig up foundations that have long since been laid and the concrete is set on them and you ought not to go messing around with them?

45:07 Will you pray that you'll show the maturity to which you've attained in Christ that you can come through a season where there's going to be intense concentration on the subjective side of vital religion because that's where the passage takes us and I've got to go where it goes. I have no right to take it anywhere else. And will you not pray as a congregation that God would bring us through this season with a minimum of unnecessary basket cases? But will you pray, some of you, O God if I've been able to get through every other season where the ministry has naturally led to the searching of the heart and come through and still a barren, fruitless listener O God, do something this season that I'll never be the same again. Will you not cry to God that this message contained in this parable will be owned of Almighty God so that our hearts will become by grace good and honest hearts? In my preparation I came across a statement that struck me and with this I want to conclude this morning. One writer said that in a real sense the true history of any man or woman

46:37 for time and eternity is but a transcript of his heart's response to the word of God. The true history of any man or woman is but a transcript of his heart's response to the word of God. In other words what you really are and what you really do and what you are becoming now and for eternity is but a transcript of what's going on when divine seed touches your heart. If that seed never takes root and produces a deep, thorough, evangelical repentance and faith if that seed never becomes the divine instrument for the renovation of your entire inner life what the Bible calls a new birth what the Bible calls the taking out of a heart of stone the giving of a heart of flesh my friend, listen if that word does not effect that then there's nothing but outer darkness and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever. Hell will be the eternal commentary on the fact that your heart never received

47:59 the seed of the word of God. That's serious. That's sobering. It's enough to make any man who stands in the pulpit and has his wits about him want to run that he's trafficking in the very thing that is the arbiter of men's eternal destinies from the human side.

48:21 It's their response not to him whether they love him or hate him whether they think he's a nice guy or don't if he's giving this word it is their reception unto fruitfulness or their rejection unto barrenness of that word that determines where they will spend eternity. Another has said the grand test of a man is the preaching of the word. Nothing shows more quickly what a man really is than what he does in the presence of the preaching of the word. Does he receive it with humility with faith with obedience and does it work itself out not in a perfect life but a life of purposeful adherence to Christ and to his ways. These are my mother my brothers my sisters who hear the word of God and keep it. Or does it create a temporary stir but no real alteration of the character. That's the message you see of this parable.

49:27 And before we descend into the particulars and God willing in our next message we shall we'll take up the wayside hearer we must not miss the woods for the trees. This is the great lesson that is underscored the fate of that seed is determined by the state of the soil. Oh may we cry to God that our hearts will be made good and honest hearts to bring forth fruit unto his praise. Let us pray.

50:10 Our Father we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for your dear son. We thank you for all that you made him as a teacher and preacher to men. And as we meditate upon this portion of his teaching and as he directs us to contemplate the state of our hearts with which we come in contact with your word we pray that you would grant us the honesty that we will be forced to manifest in the day of judgment. Take away from us all self justification all rationalization grant us the grace of spiritual honesty. Oh give to us we pray the grace of spiritual honesty. And Father as we've laid out as it were something of our own pastoral concern before your people so now we would be bold to pray keep any of your true people from unnecessary troubling of spirit as we enter this season of exposition in which your word will shine intensely upon the state of our hearts. For those our Father who desperately need this season may they not find convenient excuses to stay away

51:31 but may they come not with their defenses up but with the cry of the Psalmist search me oh God and know my heart. Hear then our prayer and seal this word to every heart we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.