It comes from the gospel of Luke chapter eight. And I'll be reading from verses one through 21. Give careful attention to how you hear God's word this evening. Soon afterwards, he, Jesus, began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The 12 were with him and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means. When a large crowd was coming together and those from the various cities were journeying to him, he spoke by way of a parable. The sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, Some fell beside the road, and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil and grew up and produced a crop a hundred times as great. As he said these things, he would call out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. His disciples began questioning him as to what this parable meant. And he said, to you, it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to the rest, it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now, the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those beside the road are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no firm root. They believe for a while, and in time of temptation, fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way, they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance. Now, no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. So take care how you listen. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and whoever does not have, Even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him. And his mother and brothers came to him, and they were unable to get to him because of the crowd. And it was reported to him, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wishing to see you. But he answered and said to them, my mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it." Our Father, we ask that you would make the declaration of your word effectual in our hearts, that we would attend unto it with diligence, preparation, and prayer, that we would receive it with faith and love, and that we would practice it in our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus has gone out from his previous location in Capernaum, and he's now expanding his ministry, no longer restricting himself to one geographic region, but now going from city to city, from village to village. The kingdom of God is advancing, not only geographically, but in terms of specific individuals. And we see a few examples of those individuals right at the opening of chapter eight. Luke mentions several women by name. And during the sermon, I'm not going to really come back to this, but this detail is too rich to simply pass over, is the fact that women are included in the kingdom of God. Throughout Luke's gospel, He gives special attention to women. In chapter 7, we've already seen the widow. We've seen the woman who was a sinner. We see these women mentioned by name here in chapter 8. Very shortly, we're going to see the woman with a hemorrhage and Jairus's daughter. And this is consistent throughout Luke's gospel. There's a special attention given to women. And this is not just a certain interest that Luke has, but I think this reflects the tenderness of Jesus himself. that he has compassion for the women in his kingdom. As you turn on the news, you look around you, you can ask the question, does the world have any regard, does the world show any deference for women? I don't think there's much in the way of deference. We could ask the question, well, what about the kingdom of darkness? Do the demons of Satan show any deference towards women? I think Mary Magdalene could answer that question for us. No, from whom seven demons were cast out. And yet there is one kingdom where the king is good, who takes a special interest in, who takes a special care for the women. And that king is Jesus. And so women of this congregation in particular, whatever you might face in the world, whatever you might even face in your own home, Know that there is a good king who takes care of you and who delivers you. Jesus goes on his way, and the kingdom of God is expanding. And it's expanding through the preaching of the word. And he chooses to tell his hearers something about the kingdom of God, and he chooses to tell them that something in the form of a parable. And so I want to look at the text this evening under two headings. First, the purpose of the parable, and then the parable itself. Why does Jesus use parables in his teachings? Well, the good news is we don't have to guess at that. Jesus himself tells us why he uses parables. In verse 10 we read, to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables so that seeing they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand." This is a quotation from Isaiah, in which Isaiah, in a very similar situation, is commissioned by God to prosecute a lawsuit against God's people because they are blind in their sin. But as we read this statement, it seems a little bit challenging. It seems a little bit inconsistent with the character of Jesus. It almost sounds like Jesus is intentionally hiding the way of salvation so that people will not come to saving faith. And we can ask the question, is that what is going on here? Is Jesus telling riddles? Is he somehow intentionally obscuring the gospel message? Is he somehow hiding the kingdom of God so that his hearers will hear, but not really hear? So that they will see, but they won't really see. I don't think that's what Jesus is doing. And we need to understand the difference between a parable and a riddle in order to understand Jesus' purpose. A riddle takes something which is plain and obvious and then tries to hide it, cover it up using various images. So what goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? Perhaps some of you have heard this riddle. The answer is a human. In the morning of life, as an infant, they crawl on all fours. At the noontime of life, they walk on two legs. And in the evening, they walk on three legs, their own two and a cane. But once you discover the meaning behind a riddle, it loses its charm. It's no longer of any value. You figure it out and you move on. That's because riddles take what is obvious and they try to hide it. A parable is the opposite. A parable takes that which is hidden and then brings it to light. And so a parable, instead of losing its charm once you understand it, instead grows the more and more you dig into it. Imagine that, and this is probably an experience you don't need to imagine. You've all done this, I'm sure, at some point in your life. You drink a large glass of water before going to bed. and you wake up in the middle of the night and you need to go to the restroom. And so you stumble through the dark, you trip over things, you stub your toe, you eventually find the light switch and you turn it on, and three 60 watt light bulbs blind your eyes and you step back, you cover your eyes, you step out of the bathroom, maybe you turn off the light switch again. This is the way that parables work. They obscure the truth, but not in the sense of hiding it or putting it out of reach, but by making it plain. It hides the truth by illuminating the truth. And so for some, they see the light, and they see the truth. But for others, that light is too bright. They cannot gaze into it, and so they close their eyes. They willfully reject it. They close their eyes, and they shut it out. In fact, this is the exact image that Jesus himself uses. He says in verse 16, Now, no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see the light. Jesus is here saying that his purpose is not to somehow hide the good news of the kingdom of God. He's here to make it known. He's not putting it under a container. He's not putting it under a bed. He's putting it on a lampstand so that anybody who comes in might see. The problem is that some people don't want to see. They shield their eyes to the light. And so this is the purpose of the parable, to make plain the way of salvation, to make plain the kingdom of God as it is declared in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, because that is the purpose, it comes with a command as well. Because the gospel is being made plain in Jesus Christ, pay attention. Listen This this is an important warning that Jesus gives us if he says that I am the fulfillment of that passage in Isaiah and then you turn to Isaiah and you you realize how serious God is in his lawsuit against Israel in Isaiah and Jesus is the fulfillment of that if Isaiah is just types in shadows compared to what Jesus is talking about here We had better pay attention to his words And so Jesus gives two reasons for paying attention. The first is a promise. To those who have, more will be given. But the second is a warning to those who don't have. Even what they seem to have will be taken away from them. And so this is how I want to examine the parable, is through these two lenses. First, the lens of a warning. There is a danger. There are threatenings in this parable. But then after we look at that, I want to look at the promises and the hope that the parable also presents to us. So first, the warnings of the parable. There are several types of soils that are mentioned. The first is the pathway that is beaten down hard. One commentator, It says, you might as well be sowing seed onto the wooden surface of a table. You've got better chance of planting a seed there than you do on this soil. I might as well take a seed here and try to plant it into the pulpit. It's going to be pulverized into flower long before it pierces the surface of the ground. What kind of hearer is that? It's somebody who hears the word, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Imagine that you're hosting a gathering, and the driveway's full, so the people who are coming have to park some way down the street. And it's pouring rain outside. And one guest arrives, and it's pouring down rain. He gets out of his car, and he makes a mad dash from your neighbor's house to your front porch. But he doesn't have an umbrella. And so even though he makes the dash in record time, five seconds, He's soaking wet. He comes in. It's clear. He's come into contact with the rain. But then another guest arrives, and he's got an umbrella. And so he takes his time. He takes a minute to get to your house. But once he gets to the front porch, he closes his umbrella. He comes in, and you would never guess that he had been out in the rain. You would never be able to tell that he had been exposed to the water. Well, this is sometimes how we hear the word of God. We come to church on the Lord's day and we hear it, but then on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, there is no evidence that we were caught out in the rain. It's easy to point the finger and say, well, this parable only applies to unbelievers who reject God's word. And that seems to be the primary focus. But I think there's also a sense in which it still applies to believers. The principles of hearing don't change once you become a believer. It's not like once you believe you can stop being a careful listener. And so this applies to believers as well. We must continue to be careful listeners. Are we able to say on Thursday what the main points of the sermon was on Sunday? How often do we recall to mind the word that we have heard? Or does it just pass right through us? This morning we heard an ex-sermon about do not fear, listening to the word of God in hearing him tell us, do not fear. And yet how many of us this very week are going to go out and be anxious and fretful, and the thought of this morning's sermon may not even come into our minds. We need to be careful how we hear the word of God. Secondly, the rocky soil. It springs up, it sprouts, but then it dies. It has no moisture. And the reason that it dies away, the comparison that Jesus makes is because temptation comes. And this isn't temptation simply in the sense of internal sins that we might be dealing with. It's trial, it's persecution, it's suffering. And again, it's easy to point this finger and say, well, this only applies to people who would abandon the faith because of difficulties. And that is true, but does it not also apply to the way that we hear the word? Do the trials of this life make us ineffectual hearers? When temptations come, do they push us towards the Word of God, or do they push us towards other solutions to the problem? When things go wrong, what is, generally speaking, our first response? You know, we get sick. First response is, let's go to the doctor. Now, doctors are good gifts, means given to us by God. Let's receive that with thanksgiving. And yet, The word of God is displaced when we do that, and we put all of our hope in the means rather than in the one who instituted those means. Jesus never said, take up your crown and follow me. He did not call us to a life of ease and a life free of suffering in this life. He said something similar to that, but instead of a crown, he had something else in mind. something much heavier, of a different material, and of a very different use. Is that how we view our lives? As being one long, drawn-out crucifixion, in which we participate in the sufferings of Christ, and in which our comfort is the Word of God. The next kind of soil is very interesting. It's the thorny soil. Now, this soil in itself isn't actually all that bad, is it? It's capable of supporting plant life. There are lots of plants growing in this kind of soil. It has all the nutrients necessary. Well-drained, well-watered. But the problem is, it's not given exclusively to the cultivation of one kind of seed. It is a soil which is committed to multiple plants. It's a soil that is committed to the Word of God, but also the cares of this world, also committed to riches. And this, I think, is a particular danger for the church today. We live in a time of unprecedented wealth. The middle class of today lives better than kings of previous centuries. And so it is so easy for us to be drawn away by the cares of this world. And again, this is not just unbelievers who struggle with this temptation. How do the riches of this life, prevent us from hearing the Word of God. I think the Lord's Day is a good example of this. How do we understand the Lord's Day? Is it just like any other day, except we have one added activity that we have to fit in? Or is it the day that we set aside for hearing God's Word? Now, I want to be careful about a Pharisaical interpretation of the Lord's Day. So much of Luke's gospel is Jesus dealing with the Pharisees' misunderstanding of the Lord's day, yet nevertheless, I think the fourth commandment still applies in some regard. We need to hear the word of the Lord on the Lord's day. So these are the warnings. These are the things that would prevent us from being fruitful. And yet that's not the entire message. There's also that promise that comes along with it, that expectation of hope that comes with this parable. And so let's turn our attention there. The first thing that I would point out is not the soils, but the sower. The parable does not begin with the rejection of the word, but it begins with the sower who went out to sow his seed. It begins with the sower who is intent, who is bent on a fruitful harvest. And so as he goes out, he does not sow sparingly, he does not just throw seed where he thinks it's going to be fruitful, in this one little spot over here. But wherever he goes, beaten pathway, rocky ground, thorny ground, good ground, wherever he goes, he goes giving seed, proclaiming the Word of God. And isn't this a description of Jesus that we see in verse 1 of chapter 8? Soon afterwards, Jesus began going around from one city and village to another. Just as the sower goes from one soil to another soil, generously sowing, So Jesus goes from one city to one village indiscriminately declaring the kingdom of God. He doesn't just stop at this city and say, oh, this looks like a nice upper middle class, quiet suburban neighborhood. I'll bring the gospel here. But that neighborhood, I'll skip that one. He goes indiscriminately everywhere declaring the word of God. And this is good news, that the success of the kingdom of God is rooted in Jesus himself, in the sower who goes out to sow his own word. Secondly, there is the promise of fruitfulness. If we look at the good soil, we read that it bears fruit 100-fold. This is the promise that that if we hear God's Word, it's not just a burdensome responsibility that we must attend to, but that there is a benefit for us, there is a privilege, there will be fruit that comes as a result of hearing God's Word. Now, Jesus does qualify this with one statement. He uses that dreadful, un-American prepositional phrase, with patience, or with perseverance. When we hear the Word of God, we must do so patiently, week in and week out. It's not something that's going to happen overnight. And yet there is that promise that one day there will be a harvest. And what exactly is that fruit? Jesus doesn't give us that explanation in his parable. Is it the fruit of good deeds? The fruit of the kingdom advancing? Whatever that fruit might be, it's the blessing of God that is brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit. Lastly, there's one more element of hope in here, and this one is not quite so straightforward, but I think it's there. And it comes from the form of the parable itself. Notice the progression which Jesus goes through as he describes the types of soil. It begins with the pathway that is beaten down. No chance of growth. Satan comes, he takes the seed away, and the seed doesn't even sprout. The next soil is the rocky soil, and the seed sprouts. It doesn't last very long, but it does sprout. And next comes the thorny soil. And in the thorny soil, not only does the seed sprout, it actually becomes a plant. It grows. It even puts forth blooms. But it doesn't set fruit. It does not have fruit that comes to full maturity. But then the good soil, not only does it sprout, not only does it become a mature plant, not only does it bloom, but it brings forth fruit. And in the form of the parable itself, notice there's a progression from death into life. Do you see that pattern? It's not a pattern of decay. Jesus does not run through the parable in reverse order. The kingdom of God is not characterized by decay. It is characterized by growth and by life. And I think that's hinted at in the form of the parable itself. Isaiah is in the background of Luke. So many times Luke has already referenced Isaiah. Jesus references Isaiah here in this passage. Earlier in the gospel, Jesus gets up in the synagogue and reads from Isaiah and says, today this is fulfilled in your hearing. So Isaiah is in so much in the background in Luke's text. And there are some differences with the vineyard in Isaiah. Here it seems to be some sort of grain that is being sown. It's being sown broadcast. But there are also many similarities with the vineyard of Isaiah. Listen to what Isaiah says in chapter 5. Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones? So now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed. I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste. It will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." God is comparing his people to a fruitless vineyard. A vineyard which is trampled, filled with thorns, and has no moisture. It sounds a little bit like the parable, doesn't it? It sounds like the pathway that has been trodden down. It sounds like the rocky soil, the seeds which lack moisture, and it sounds like the thorny And yet this isn't the end of Isaiah's message. If Jesus came to fulfill Isaiah 5 and came to fulfill Isaiah 6, where the other quotation is taken from, could it be that he also came to fulfill Isaiah 27? In Isaiah 27, we return to the vineyard, but it's a different vineyard now. In that day, a vineyard of wine, sing of it. I, the Lord, am its keeper. I water it every moment so that no one will damage it. I guard it night and day. I have no wrath. Should someone give me briars and thorns in battle, then I would step on them. I would burn them completely. Or let him rely on my protection. Let him make peace with me. Let him make peace with me." In Isaiah, there is this idea that the unfruitful vineyard is not always going to be unfruitful. that the thorny vineyard will not always be filled with thorns, but that someday the Lord will restore that vineyard and make it fruitful, somehow, someway. And I think what we find in the Gospel of Luke is we find how that becomes possible. We find how it becomes possible for rocky ground, for thorny ground, for well-beaten ground to become fruitful soil. And I think we see an example of this with Jesus' mother and brothers. Jesus' mother and brothers come to Jesus, presumably to reel him back in, to bring him back home. We know from the other Gospels that Jesus' brothers did not believe during his lifetime. They rejected the message. They thought he was crazy. They thought he was out of his mind. And they tried to quiet him, to bring him back. They did not come to hear the word of Jesus. They came to make Jesus hear them. If anything characterizes Jesus' brothers, it is the well-beaten path. We hear the words, Jesus, but we're not paying attention to them. In one ear, out the other. And yet, what do we know from the second part of Luke's work, the Book of Acts? What becomes of Jesus' half-brother, James? He becomes one of the pillars in the early church. And what brings about that change in him is but seeing the resurrected Jesus. James, who was so close to the word of God, becomes fruitful. And if we read the epistle of James, I think it's God's sense of humor, that it's James who tells us, don't just be hearers of the word, but doers also. The one who would not hear, the one who would not do, becomes the one who tells other people, don't just hear, but also do. And so this is the good news of Jesus Christ, that he came to save sinners. And that however deep in sin you may be, that he comes with the power to deliver you from that sin. He comes to lay bare the love of God in the cross. This message is now clear, and Jesus has lit the candle. It's not hidden under a basket. It's not hidden under a bed. We are left without excuse, and so that is a great warning. And yet we are also left with a wonderful promise, that we will bear fruit 100-fold, and that to him who is given, more will be given. And so for this reason, let us pay careful attention how we hear. Let us pray. Our Father, we give you thanks that you have sent your Son into the world, that we live in a time where we do not behold the gospel through sacrifices or other means which were not as clear as the revelation which is given in your Son, Jesus Christ. We ask that we would give special attention to your Word, that we would not lay it aside tomorrow, forgetting about it, but that we would lay it up in our hearts, that we would cherish it, that we would love it, and that it would bear much fruit in our lives. We pray these things in the name of your son. Amen.