So it s a serious study we are looking into, - the parable of the sower and the seed.

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1 MATTHEW 13:1,2 You will have noticed nowadays that the term Christian covers an ever-widening spectrum. It seems to be a title so loosely applied, but it is important to examine a person s genuine spirituality in the light of Biblical truth and the Biblical benchmark. Of course it is not popular to test the veracity or otherwise of a person s claim to be a Christian, - if they say they are Christians, then we are told we ought to accept it and no more arguing and no more questioning. Well that s not the way the Bible instructs us; Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to tell them, II Cor. 2:9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. John said, I Jn. 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Peter told his readers, II Peter 1:10 brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. When the Lord Jesus was addressing the crowds some of his disciples (not the Twelve) couldn t grasp hold of what He was saying; they reckoned their salvation depended upon them initialising the whole process and Jesus added further fuel to the fire that was already burning, He told them point-blank, Jn. 6:65 no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. In other words, many who were putting up to be His disciples were not His followers at all! So it s a serious study we are looking into, - the parable of the sower and the seed. This is a chapter of parables, - it also includes a parable about another sower in a different setting (vv.24-30), the parable of the mustard seed (vv.31,32), the parable of the leaven (v.33), the parable of the treasure hidden in the field (v.44), the parable of the pearl of greatest price (vv.45,46), the parable of the net (vv.47-50). Notice how each of those parables begin, - The Kingdom of Heaven is like, vv.24,31,33,44,45,47 and then notice how the parable of the sower does not begin v.3! In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven is not as wide as many

2 D.G. 2 suppose it to be and that is why Jesus did not commence this parable with these words. The background to this chapter you can see in ch.12, - opposition to His ministry was on the increase. The good old days of His opening year of popularity were no more. To say that Jesus was hated is a gross understatement of how the Jewish leaders felt towards Him. As in our day, the people were fickle and the Pharisees could have manoeuvred their feelings in support of their own desire to rid the planet of Jesus. So Jesus begins to speak using the analogy of the sower and the seed walking up and down through the furrows of soil in the field. We have just three simple easy-to-remember observations, - the Sower, the Seed, and the Soil. THE SOWER Back in the days of which Jesus spoke there were no hedges in between a man s field and his neighbour s and very few walls, - it was usually one vast expanse. Through these open fields a path would run and that path was open to anyone who wanted to use it. With the sun s heat and constant use the path would have become so hardened that it would almost have been as tough as many of our footpaths. As the sower would have been sowing his seeds close to this border path some of his seeds would have blown over on to it. No sooner had the seed fallen from his hand but the birds would have swooped down to feed on it. Between the hardness of the soil and the hunger of the birds these seeds stood no chance of growing. The sowers of the seed were the disciples whom Jesus had called. Today the sowers of the seed are the preachers and the evangelists and those who have a sincere heart to make God known through His Word THE SEED It is equally obvious that the seed is God s Word and the sower does not make the seed, - he is given the seed to sow. This is not my Word that I always set before you, - this is God s Word. I didn t make it up; I m not its author or its originator; I simply sow the seed that I have been given.

3 D.G. 3 It falls on all sorts of ground, - by the wayside, on the stony ground, among the weeds, and also upon good wholesome earth! Spurgeon said, The minister goes to his Master in secret, and asks him to teach him His truth, and thus he fills his basket with the good seed of the kingdom. My job is to take the basket and to walk up and down and carefully spread the Truth of God s Word. Yes, I do have a tremendous responsibility to take the greatest of care but, at the end of the day, the responsibility for whether or not the seed grows or doesn t grow is God s! Some people mistakenly think, Bring some big name in that s what we need! That will see souls saved! No, it won t. The ability is not in the preacher, or in the publicity for the event, or in any hype that can be aroused! Jesus had just arrived in Jerusalem, riding upon a donkey. The Pharisees had relentlessly pursued Him all over the country; Jn. 12: 37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him and John quotes from Isaiah 6, 39 Therefore they could not believe, - and why could they not believe? Isaiah explains, because that Esaias said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Wherever the seed lands the rain may fall on it and cause it to grow or, - on the other hand, - the sun might completely burn it up. Paul explained it to the Romans, 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 7 Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. The sower is not responsible for the harvest, - that s the Master s work. The sower sows the seed as best he can, - he is simply responsible for the care, the faithfulness and the integrity with which he scatters the seed right and left with both hands. What if every seed sprouts up into a massive field of corn or what if, - as on the wayside, - not a single seed did sprout? The sower would still be rewarded for doing the job His Master gave Him to do. The results of the sowing are dependant upon the Spirit of God. I can no more manufacture a simple seed than I can manufacture a sinner being saved. That s God s job! Were I to try and save a

4 D.G. 4 soul then that sinner s salvation would not be real. Just like God grows the seed God saves the sinner. And His Word is the seed, - it is living and powerful. It takes root in the heart, it is cultivated and, - when He so chooses and ordains, - it bears fruit to the glory of the Name of God. But here, as the sower swings his hand from side to side, - casting the seed, - consider this first portion of ground upon which it falls THE SOIL Before we go too far, notice that three-quarters of the seed bore no fruit at all, - Jesus was not describing some great bountiful harvest. Three out of every four would reject the seed, - that is a shocking statistic and one that would make many a sower think about changing his job! What is the point?! The point is that some of the seed bears fruit! Jesus was not impressed with the great multitudes that flocked to Him out of their own selfish reasons. He knew they wanted Him for what they could get out of Him. He knew they weren t interested in following Him and accepting Him as Lord and Saviour Some wanted to follow Him but first they had to go home to spend time fixing up matters at home, and when all that was done, - when they could afford the time, - then they would come and follow Jesus. In another passage Jesus again used the analogy of the farmer, Lk. 9:62 No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Jesus was under no illusions as to why these multitudes had sought Him out! The words He was speaking to them were like the seeds falling upon the wayside. No sooner had they landed but the birds came and swooped them away. There are people who come into our church, - or into any church, - and they don t come to worship God; whatever other reason they come for, it s not to worship Him. They don t intend to be affected by anything the Word says or how the preacher seeks to sow it. Such people, - and I don t care whether they are Baptists, whether they say they are saved, or what they say, - such people are like the pathway that is so hard that nothing will ever grow.

5 D.G. 5 And along comes the birds, and the birds don t allow the seed to lie long enough to germinate and there s no growth! Martin Luther said, It is a dreadful utterance that Christ here gives that the devil taketh away the Word from their hearts, by which He clearly proves that the devil rules mightily in their hearts, notwithstanding they are called Christians and hear the Word. There are so many wayside hearers in churches it is frightening! And even if the seed does lie for a while the ground is far too hard that it never will grow. We have all seen people who made a profession of faith, but a few weeks later they have passed on to the next fad or form of entertainment. It was a false profession, - all of man, and nothing of God. There has been no germination of the seed, there has been no root and the Gospel is the problem! The Gospel demands too much! There is no come and go with the Gospel. God, You ve got to allow me a say! And also, there is such a thing as being gospel-hardened. Sadly, this often applies to those of us who have sought to bring our children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The gospel makes the hearts of many men and women, boys and girls hardened, and callous, and careless. It s like the crows eating the meat of the dead rabbit lying on the roadside, - they have become so used to the speeding of the cars and lorries they no longer are frightened and fly away. The souls of those who Jesus describes in Mt. 13:4 are as hard as hard can be. Let me quote to you from how Spurgeon preached, O my hearers, if you have heard the gospel from your youth, what wagon-loads of sermons have been wasted on you! In your younger days, you heard old Dr. So-and-so, and the dear old man was wont to pray for his hearers till his eyes were red with tears! Do you recollect those many Sundays when you said to yourself, "Let me go to my chamber and fall on my knees and pray"? But you did not: the fowls of the air ate up the seed, and you went on to sin as you had sinned before. Since then, by some strange impulse, you are very rarely absent from God's house; but now the seed of the gospel falls into your soul as if it dropped upon an iron floor, and nothing comes of it. The law

6 D.G. 6 may be thundered at you; you do not sneer at it, but it never affects you. Jesus Christ may be lifted up; his dear wounds may be exhibited; his streaming blood may flow before your very eyes, and you may be bidden with all earnestness to look to him and live; but it is as if one should sow the sea-shore. What shall I do for you? Shall I stand here and rain tears upon this hard highway? Alas! My tears will not break it up; it is trodden too hard for that. Shall I bring the gospel plough? Alas! The ploughshare will not enter ground so solid. What shall we do? O God, thou knowest how to melt the hardest heart with the precious blood of Jesus. Do it now, we beseech thee, and thus magnify thy grace, by causing the good seed to live, and to produce a heavenly harvest. CONCLUSION What else can we do other than come before God and pray for our loved ones who are so hard and it seems Mt.13:4 is so clearly speaking about! The preaching of the Gospel seems to have no impact. To use the picture here in Mt. 13 the seed has no sooner fallen to the ground but the birds so quickly carry it away. It doesn t seem as if they ever will be saved! What can we do? The sower, - no matter how faithful he is, - cannot make the seed to grow. The seed, - in and of itself, - will never grow. There is only one thing that will make the seed which the sower sowed to grow and that is when God in mercy and in grace works out what is necessary in the soil to work out and in love and in mercy He will gloriously send the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow that seed from the hardened pathway over on to the ground/soil where it will gain a root and grow. That is the only way! And that is how each of us with loved ones whose hearts are so hard must pray. You don t give up! If God could save a murdering thief during his last few moments as he hung dying on a cross He can save anyone. May God in His grace bring His Name glory and our hearts joy as we would trust Him for the salvation of our loved ones.