So Matthew chapter 13, children, here are your questions. First of all, what is a parable? What is a parable? Two, what is the seed in the parable supposed to be in real life? Three, what does the soil stand for? Four, can you describe what the different soils are like? And five, what happens when the truth about Jesus as Savior really touches someone's heart. Matthew chapter 13, beginning of verse 1, this is the word of God. That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parable, saying, A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path. And the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil. And immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." There ends the reading of God's Word. Let us pray together. Lord our God, we thank you for your word and we thank you that your word is being scattered and has been scattered through the ages. Lord, now we're about to turn our attention to this very seed this morning. Lord, we pray that you would prepare our hearts, the soil of our hearts, to receive from you today. And where ground needs to be broken up and where it needs to be weeded and where it needs to be readied for the seed Lord we pray that through the ministry of your Holy Spirit that would be this morning so help us all of us who will hear to receive and respond accordingly to your word so please send your Holy Spirit please help the preacher and please help all of us will hear as we come to you in Jesus name Amen By the time we come to Matthew 13, Jesus' public ministry is in full swing. He's been preaching and teaching for some time now. He's modeled to the disciples what it looks like to preach and teach. Very recently in Matthew's organization of the gospel, Jesus has set out disciples into the world and has prepared them for what they will find. He himself, after doing that, goes back out and preaches and teaches again. And even with Jesus' teaching, we see that there is both reception and rejection of the gospel. Imagine that. The preacher Jesus, the prime preacher of all time, even when he preaches, there are hearts hard enough to reject the gospel. And yet at the same time, many do receive and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. More recently, in Matthew, Jesus predicts his death. He's approached by his family, his own mother and brothers, and he tells the people that those who are truly his mother and brothers are those who do his will. So you get the sense that throughout Matthew already that there are some very surprising conversions. People that other people would have never thought could ever be saved are getting saved by the gospel. But there are also some who aren't converted, and that's surprising as well. Very often, individuals are scratching their heads saying, well, if they can't be saved, how can terrible sinners be saved? The gospel's going out. Jesus now has to remove himself from the shoreline because he's crowded with people. So you picture him as he is, using a boat as a podium with great crowds on the beach. And he's beginning to tell parables, as was part of his routine. This parable is probably fairly familiar to most of us. It's a fairly simple agricultural parable. It's not a complicated one. The question is, are the people understanding and receiving what Jesus says? That's why he says, let him who has ears hear. When we hear that in scripture, it doesn't just mean let us hear with our ears. It means let what we're hearing penetrate into our hearts. Now, first of all, there's the parable proper. You know the story. We read it. Sower goes along, casting a seed one side to the other, walking down a path. The seed falls on different soils, one on the path, and gets snatched up by birds right away. Another on rocky soil, it grows up and dies. because it has no root. Next, soil. It must be decent soil, but within the soil are weeds, and that seed starts to grow into a plant, and in time, that plant gets choked by the weeds. And then there's the good soil, and that's where the surprise comes, by the way. The surprise is that there's good soil, and in that good soil, the seed is planted and grows and bears fruit, not just the normal amount of fruit. but multiplications of fruit, much fruit, more than any normal crop would ever produce. That's the parable explained. And so, the important thing is, though, that the meaning and the impact takes a grip on the heart of the hearers. You see, there's a big difference between just having knowledge and having the knowledge that we have change our hearts. That's what the gospel's all about. The gospel has to change our hearts. Well, Jesus is going to explain the parable. But in between the time he gives the parable and the time he explains the parable, he also explains that there are some who will never understand, never receive his teaching. There are others certainly who will receive his teaching. Sad fact is that numbers will not believe, will reject the word of salvation. And so this morning for those who are in Christ, who are spreaders of the seed, those who are maybe just observing, but all who are listeners need this morning to ask if you have ears to hear and hearts to receive the word of Christ this morning. First of all, let's look at the faithful sower, the one who's scattering the seed. He simply is bringing the seed to the soils. And we'll turn now to where Jesus explains the parable itself. Jump down to verse 18. Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on 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 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 unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another 60, and in another 30. First of all, the sower, the primary sower is Jesus himself. What's being sown is the Word. We'll come back to that. But the primary sower is Jesus. Jesus came to sow the seeds of salvation by preaching the Word. And it's very simply this way. Jesus' preaching very simply is this. There is really bad news for all mankind. All are condemned. Jesus says He didn't come to condemn because we're already condemned. That's the bad news. But the good news, the reason Jesus came, was not to condemn, but to save. That's the good news. And so, the Gospel preaches sin and salvation. That simply. And Jesus Himself, as the sower, was indiscriminate in the way that He preached. He preached to everybody in the public square. Well, the prophets did the same thing in the Old Testament, but Jesus makes it very clear that the central focus of salvation, the gospel proper, focuses on him, on Jesus himself. And so Jesus rightly preaches himself, I did not come to condemn, I came to save. But then his people from that point on, whether they're apostles or disciples or preachers or evangelists or Sunday school teachers or regular folks who just have a passion for damned souls to tell them the good news of Christ, that word, that seed continues to be spread throughout the world and throughout the ages. whoever handles the word, whoever has the word. Now it's the special call, certainly, of the preacher. And so I stand here as a seed sower. I want to quote to you one who was often called the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon. He says, preaching is the idolist of occupations if the word be not adapted to enter the heart and produce good results. You see, we're not here to hear philosophy. We're not here to just gain more knowledge. We're here to have our hearts moved and stirred by the Word of God. And so, for the preacher in a church like this, there are basically two duties. One is to look for the fruit of everlasting life, to call sinners to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. but then in a church like this, where many are converted, and hopefully most, if not most of us, profess the Lord Jesus Christ, then to work at helping us to produce good fruit, to cultivate holy living for good fruit. Now, for those of us who are in the practice of sharing the word, and I trust that we all are to some degree, that this idea of sowing seed is meaningful to us. Very often we say, well, at least I got to sow a seed when we're talking to somebody. Sometimes we say it very enthusiastically when we realize that we just shared the gospel with somebody, and they may not have believed on the spot, and they go their way, but we know that they have heard the wonderful truth of salvation. Sometimes we kind of say that dismissively. Well, at least I got to sow a seed. But nonetheless, the seeds of the gospel are sown when God's people are bold to speak about Christ. But I want to emphasize that it's not selective. Jesus, the apostles, and Paul were not selective. They preached to whomever would hear. Paul would stand in a public square, I often envision this, Paul would stand in a public square and see some God-fearing Jews and some God-fearing Gentiles, but he would see hard-hearted Pharisees, he would see temple prostitutes, he would see people immersed in paganism, and yet he would preach the gospel of salvation. without selection, knowing that it wasn't even ultimately up to Him who would and who wouldn't be saved. It wasn't up to Him to know who would and wouldn't be saved. It was going to be the work of the living Word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's the free offer of the Gospel. Now, I know some Reformed people get kind of nervous about that. Little nervous. How does that tie into election and predestination and God's sovereign choice? Well, those things are not for us to know. What we do know is that people need to hear the gospel in order to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our business, is to tell people the gospel. That's indiscriminate. Salvation is God's sovereign work. It's for us to broadcast the good news. I've never heard any true gospel preacher, reformed as they may be, I've never heard a true evangelist ever say in the midst of preaching, you may not be elect. No, the gospel preaching is repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. The Philippian jailer was struck by his terrible condition because of an earthquake that rattled the very prison that he was in charge of. He was distraught. That was an act of God. That stirred up his attention. That stirring was in him. But when he runs out and he sees the apostles, he says, what must I do to be saved? And their immediate response is this. He brings them out and he says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. Simple gospel message of salvation, not precision seeding. Not even a drop spreader if you're into your lawn this season, but broadcast spreaders. What about this seed? The living seed is the living word of God. The seed never changes. It's the whole counsel of God in Scripture. Sometimes surprising portions of Scripture are used to draw people to Christ. Some people are drawn to Christ by deciding to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I heard of one man who was converted. I read a story of a man who was converted who was reading through the genealogies of all things. But what struck him was that all the people died. And he realized that he, too, one day would die. And he would stand before God. and he knew that he needed to be converted. Sometimes it's one simple verse, but the word of God is mighty. And again, the Word of God always points to Jesus. And so you take this whole counsel of God in the Old Testament, and you take the New Testament, and it always points to the Savior, Jesus Christ. The gospel proper has everything to do with Jesus. And it challenges the sinner. And it makes the sinner consider their condition. And it makes the sinner feel desperately the need for a Savior. And the Gospel points that sinner to the Savior Jesus Christ. That's the seed that's sown. And that seed when it goes out never returns void. Isaiah says, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty. But it shall accomplish that which I purpose, shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Now that's talking about God's overall truth. It will always come true. Whatever God says, whatever God speaks will happen. That applies to the gospel too. It will never return void. And the fact of the matter is either it will impact our hearts for good and change, or it will be hardening to our hearts if we choose to reject the gospel that has a hardening effect. But again, the gospel, the Word of God, always has to do with a person of Jesus. There's a verse in Hebrews that can be a little bit confusing, because when we read it, we're thinking, well, is this talking about Jesus, or is it talking about the Word and the Gospel? I think that's an okay confusion, because they're actually inseparable, and the verse is this. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." When the gospel is preached, we're confronted with the living word, Jesus. And the question is, what will you do with him? For the sower of the seeds, there's expectation. Why would anyone sow seed if we weren't expecting something to happen? Every Lord's Day when I'm up here preaching, morning and evening, I'm expecting something to happen because I know God's Word is true. I know God's Word is alive, and I know that the Holy Spirit is right here moving all the time. But we're never presumptuous, assuming that just because the Word goes out, that everyone we preach the Word to will be saved. It didn't even happen in Jesus' own preaching. Now let's turn our attention to the soils. Now again, we have God's sovereign work in the background, but this parable takes us down to ground level, pun intended, to the ground level of the soil of our hearts. And so we're called here to search our hearts, to do, you might say, a soil analysis. Now, I've been working in my yard a lot, and so you're going to need to endure some illustrations from my own yard. But I had a very pitiful garden that I planted under some walnut trees. And if you know anything about walnut trees, not much grows healthily under walnut trees. If I had done soil testing, I would have known that, but I planted two crops that just shriveled up and died. The soil is no good. So there are different kinds of soil. That's our concern right now. And the parable calls us to do that soil analysis. Some of you might say, surely, pastor, you're not saying that in a congregation like ours, there's any hard soil, there's any shallow soil. You're surely not saying that in a congregation like this, that anyone's response to the gospel will be choked out by the concerns of the world. I am saying that. I am saying that. I don't know. I only know our souls so well here in our church. I only know hearts so well. But a part of regular preaching, even though a good bulk of it in a true believing church like ours is going to be to instill the good things of the Lord to produce fruit, there's also going to be a gospel challenge. I was once criticized, not in this church, when I was preaching to youth in particular and I challenged them to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to examine their hearts, to surrender to Jesus, to be sure that they were in Christ. Right in church I did that. And a guy came up to me afterwards and he said that was a really good sermon up until the end. And then you sounded like a Baptist. And I thought, he doesn't mean John the Baptist. And I thought about what he said, and I thought, if he means by a Baptist that I believe that sinners need to be called to repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if he meant that I don't assume that all the congregation wherever I preach is saved, then so be it. I'll take it as a compliment. Perhaps I was just short of an altar call, but I'm not afraid to declare the urgency of the cry for salvation. It's what the company of preachers do. Spread the word of the gospel. So the hard soil. The hard soil. Trodden path. Many, many hear, but few believe. very sobering, real-life illustration. There was a man who was very faithful, who was in both morning and evening services, again, not here, I can't tell stories about my own church now, who listened very intently. And after almost every sermon, he would come up with some obscure point of some illustration, and never the heart of what the message was. He wasn't hearing. the way that the Bible tells us to hear. He was listening, but he wasn't hearing, and he's passed on since then, and I can only hope that sometime before he stepped into eternity, that he did have ears to hear. That he did have ears to hear. But here's what happens. Whenever the seed falls on this path, the devil is ready and vigilant to snatch that seed away. In his many clever, deceitful ways. In imagery, he comes in with his veiny wings, with his cold talons and snatches that seed away. Now we have to keep in mind that there is the willingness on the part of the hardened heart to have that seed snatched away. But the devil, as Jesus says, the evil one, comes and snatches it away. And is it just people out there? Certainly people out there have hardened hearts. One describes that as a man who exposed his heart as a common road to every evil influence of the world until he has become as hard as pavement. But the sad fact of the matter is it can happen right in the church. And somebody can sit in evening and morning services and hear the gospel and still harden their hearts to the gospel. Don't harden your hearts. I was once told by someone when they first came to Covenant Presbyterian Church that one reason they really liked the church, this was long before I came, was that after the service, people weren't necessarily talking about things like the weather or sports, but they talked about the sermon. They talked about spiritual things. And may that always be what happens, is that we don't leave here and let the devil snatch whatever seeds have been sown or cast. The shallow soil. Shallow soil can look very promising at first. In this case, there's rocky soil or rocky rocks right underneath. I liken it to my pitiful attempt to grow sweet potatoes. Had good soil. The plants looked great. I could not wait till harvest time. Beautiful, lush, vibrant plants on the top of the surface. When I went to harvest, nothing. Every one of them, every sweet potato eaten out by a family of mice who had housed themselves in my garden. See, the plant can look really good, but it will fade and it will be worthless in time. That's shallow soil. And it's striking to me that Jesus says they at first receive the word with joy. They receive the word with joy, but soon it's gone. I was saved in the Jesus movement. I think it was a revival in the 1970s when the gospel went out to a bunch of long-haired, barefooted people all over our country. No one seems to want to call it a revival. I don't know what else to call it. Multitudes came to know the Lord. But just like every historic revival, many received immediately with joy. Many went forward for the altar call. Many got baptized in the lake. Many raised their hands, many cut their hair and put on shoes and went to church. But it was short-lived. They had no root in themselves. I myself, when I first really came to grips with what the gospel was, received it with joy. But then fairly quickly began to fade and die. So thankful that the seed of truth remained and God broke up this hard soil and made it good. The fruit that will be produced is yet to be seen. The weed-ridden soil. I'd love to spend a lot of time here, but I won't spend a lot of time in the next two. weed-ridden soil. These weeds come up. I love planting. I love watching things grow. I don't mind watering and I love harvest, but I hate weeding. But if you don't weed, the life of your plants will be sapped out of them. These receive the word, but then these things come into their lives that choke that choke their passion for Christ. Spurgeon says, the seed is choked in souls whenever Christ is not our all in all. What things? There are certainly bad things and there are indifferent things and there are even good things that can choke and the choking can be fast or it can be slow. But when the seeds of concern of this world or lusts of this world or even persecutions come, then that which looks like faith can actually be sapped and strangled. Even the comfort and ease of the American dream, the evangelical American dream, can choke the life. out of a vibrant faith. Everything from comfort and ease to salacious secret sins, to life-dominating sins, to relationships that will drag us away from the Lord, all those things can strangle that which looks like faith in the end. And for those of you who have not completely surrendered but you're professing this faith and you think you're strong, take heed because these weeds can be very strong themselves. There is a weed in the south called kudzu, and it doesn't stop growing. It can grow a foot a day, and in one season it can grow 60 feet, and it loves to strangle trees and bushes. And the vines become so strong on this kudzu that it can actually break the tree and uproot a tree from its soil when the weed is allowed to grow. And it's very hard to stop, so take heed. Well, honestly, so far it seems kind of depressing, doesn't it? It doesn't seem that there is much success in the gospel. Not so. Multitudes are saved. Multitudes have been saved. But if you've heard the gospel, there's no excuse. There's an argument, well, there are people who have never heard the gospel. That's for a different message. But there's no excuse for those who have heard the gospel, and those who are here regularly hear the gospel regularly. And if not here, we're in an area in Holland and surrounding areas where the gospel is constantly at our fingertips. And if we are believers, there's plenty of reinforcement and food for growth here. So if you are hard-hearted, shallow soil, weed-ridden, you have no excuse. That's one of the points of the whole parable. Finally, the fertile soil. It's the most amazing thing of all. That hearts of stone are turned into hearts of good soil. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time here because We'll get into education and we'll get into spiritual growth. But if you have good soil in your heart, you can be thankful that God has broken up your heart and readied the soil of your heart for the gospel. And it's taken root. And it's growing and producing fruit. But you still have to be vigilant. Many places Christians are called to resist the devil, to flee temptation, clear the rocks out, destroy the thorns that crop up. You need regular care. Be in worship. Be in teaching. Be in fellowship. Be accountable. All those things that will help you grow. Be in prayer. Be in devotion so that you might produce fruit. And the way the Lord puts it, it will be beyond normal production. Cultivate for works of grace, growth in grace, and good works. We'll leave it here for today, finally. You've heard the parable. You've heard Jesus' explanation of the parable. You've heard the preacher's attempt to apply the parable. Let him who has ears hear from God this morning. Let's pray. Merciful and mighty God, we do thank you for your mighty word. And Lord, while it's hard for us to imagine that such a mighty word would fall on hard soil or be choked when it springs up in shallow soil or would be choked out by things that are passing in vain. But Lord, we know that it's true. But we know that you're gracious and kind in spreading that seed, not only right here in this place, but in our surrounding area and throughout our country and throughout the world. How thankful we are that there is much good soil that you have prepared. And in your sovereign grace, Lord, that you call people to repent and believe in you through the Lord Jesus Christ with the help of your Holy Spirit. Lord, may we each examine our own hearts this morning. May we truly hear and receive your word. And for those of us who have the privilege of spreading that seed, may we do so boldly. watching you work through the power of your word and your Holy Spirit. We come to you in Jesus name. Amen.