We're in Matthew 13 this morning, as we've already read from the Gospel. So you can take your Bibles and turn there. This chapter starts the third great discourse that Jesus gives in the book of Matthew. You'll remember that the first great one was the Sermon on the Mount, back in chapters 5-7. And the second one was his sending of the twelve disciples back in chapter 10. And this third discourse introduces us to his parables. Parables are going to become a primary way that Jesus is going to teach the crowds about the Kingdom of God. And I'll tell you more about that in a moment. Since parables are so important to Jesus, it's important to ask, I think, what in the world is a parable? Some of you may not know the answer to that. The Greek word is parabola. It has a Hebrew counterpart that helps us understand the meaning of it better. The word in Hebrew is mashal. In the Old Testament, mashal occurs many times and it refers to all these different things. Proverbs, maxims, similes, allegories, fables, comparisons, riddles, taunts. And other stories that embody some truth. Now that's a lot broader definition than what I think most of you probably have in mind when you thought about a parable. Most of the parables in the New Testament are extended metaphors or similes. And one of the things you need to understand about reading the Bible is that it's a book of literature. And it has all sorts of different kinds of literature. And we're to read the Bible according to the type of literature that's in front of us. So that a good literal reading of the Bible, hear this carefully, is a reading that reads the literature the way it's supposed to be read. What is a simile and what is a metaphor? Do you remember this? Some of you, it's been a while since you took this in school. A simile is a figure of speech where two things are compared in a non-literal manner. Similes use the two words in English, like and as. So for example, scroll down to verse 24 in chapter 13, and you'll see Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. So that's a simile. That's kind of a parable that the next parable is going to be. A metaphor is similar to a simile, except that it doesn't use the words like or as. We sing the song, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. That's a metaphor. God is not literally a castle, but he resembles a castle because he is strong and unmoving. He's a place of refuge and of safety. The parable today that Jesus gives is a metaphor. Verse 3, A farmer went out to sow his seed. Now, the purpose of this is meant to teach the truth about the Kingdom of Heaven through a story. Now, stories are great. If you've ever known a natural storyteller, which I have always wished that I was, but I'm just not, they keep you enraptured for hours and hours. And in my opinion, the best way to teach and preach the Scripture is by telling its story, by showing people the drama of redemption. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to tell stories, because stories don't really need other stories to make them more understandable. Something I think people forget. But people should learn that the scripture, the Bible, is a story. It's the story of Jesus Christ. And when you understand this, the Bible takes on a whole new meaning than what you've ever thought it had before. Stories are often used by preachers and teachers to help make a passage more easily understood. I'm going to do that in a minute here. At first you might think this is why Jesus talks in parables. He wants people to understand. But upon closer inspection, this is not the case at all with many of his parables. The first parable that he tells in Matthew 13 actually confuses the disciples. So that when he is finished, they ask him, why do you speak to the people in parables in verse 10? Now, this is a strange question to ask if his parable was only given to help people understand the kingdom in an easier way. So why did Jesus speak to the people in parables? Before answering that, let me tell you a story to illustrate what Jesus was doing. When I was a youth pastor, I had the opportunity to teach on the passage that's before us today. A couple of you who are in this room were there the night that I did this lesson. I've never done anything like it before or since. Although some of you may wish that I would, once you hear the story. After the usual opening with music and games, it was time for the lesson. After the prayer, I began by reading Matthew 13, verses 1 through 9. Now that's the parable itself, isn't it? It took me about 40 seconds. Then I told the kids that we were done. I said, that's it. Go home. The leader thought I was kidding. But I wasn't. I said, send them home. That's the lesson for the night. Forty seconds. Now a majority of the kids were thrilled because my lessons were always so long. But a select few were seriously puzzled. Had I not prepared? What was I doing all week long? Was I mad at everybody? What was the deal? And at that point, those kids who wanted the answer remained behind And frankly, we had one of the best informal discussions I have ever been a part of. Some stayed for two, three, four hours afterwards. You have to understand this is on a Wednesday night. Some of these kids didn't get home till late. My whole point of having such a brief lesson was actually that I wanted to show those who cared the purpose of Jesus's parables. Fortunately, my plan worked like a charm. The purpose of the parables is terribly important to understand, you see. Actually, Jesus uses a parable here to teach people the purpose about parables. Like the disciples, you might not see this because it's an obscure thing. He's using a parable to teach people about parables? I mean, think about that for a minute. But the fact that it's obscure, that's exactly the point. On one level, the parables are intentionally obscure. And since this is the case, Jesus obliges his disciples whom he had given the secrets of the kingdom to, and he explains it in a clear manner why he is talking in parables. So let's look at the passage now. You can divide it into three sections. Your Bibles probably all have these three sections. Verses one through nine is the parable itself. 10 through 17 is Jesus' explanation for why he was teaching the crowds in parables, and then verses 18 through 23 is the explanation of the parable. Now, it is curious to me that Jesus would tell the disciples why he taught in parables before he actually explained the parable. Isn't that weird? He doesn't do that any other time. Obviously, this was important for both Jesus and the gospel writers to explain. They want you to know what the purpose of a parable is. But the question is, you see, do you really want to know? Because the answer contains a difficult word to accept. Verses 10 through 17 is a hard word. What are you to do in light of this hard word, friends? You are to take the time and muster up the humility to accept Jesus' teaching here. That is your greatest task today, sitting out there listening to this sermon. Let me show you how Jesus answers the disciples' question. They say, why do you speak to the people in parables? First, Jesus answers in verse 11. Well, the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Now, here's an interesting question to think about. How have the disciples been given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven? How did they get that knowledge? Well, it has two parts to that answer. They're given knowledge and then they're given secrets. How are they given knowledge? How does knowledge come to a person? Well, Jesus says it's granted to them. It is a gift. It is not earned. Proverbs says that knowledge comes through the fear of the Lord. And Isaiah adds that this comes through the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11.2 is a very famous verse, passage. It says the spirit is called the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. It's that sevenfold title. That's only three. It's the sevenfold title of the of the calling of the spirit, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. But here's the thing. It isn't just coming by the spirit because by himself, the spirit doesn't do anything. The context of the Isaiah passage is that the spirit comes to rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus tells us again and again that he gives the spirit to whomever he pleases him and the father to give him. And so in a word, the disciples have been granted knowledge by the decree of God through election. It has come to them through the gospel call, which they believed and accepted. And Matthew's talked about that already, like back in chapter four, when he called the disciples to himself and they left everything immediately and followed him. So in light of this, Matthew 13, verse 12 says, whoever has will be given more. And he will have an abundance, whoever does not have even what he has will be taken from him. Now, this riddle, I think most of you can figure out, conveys the truth about the doctrine of election. John Calvin says, I could have quoted him forever and ever on this, he's so good, but he says, The multiplied favors which are continually flowing from him to us, and the joyful progress which we make, spring from God's contemplation of his own liberality, which prompts him to an uninterrupted course of bounty. And as his riches are inexhaustible, so he is never wearied with enriching his children. Whenever he advances us to a higher degree, let us remember that every increase of the favors which we daily receive from him flows from this source. That it is his purpose to complete his work of our salvation already commenced. He says, but on the other hand, Christ declares that the reprobate are continually proceeding from bad to worse. till at length exhausted they waste away in their own poverty. They are often given eminent gifts and appear to resemble the children of God, but there is nothing of real value about them. For their mind is destitute of piety, and he has only the glitter of an empty show. The gifts which they have been endued are corrupted by them, so that they shine only on the eyes of men, but have nothing more than the splendor of empty dismay. So the disciples have been granted knowledge by God's gracious and loving decree. But that's not the only thing here. It also talks about secrets. How did they arrive at the secrets? Well, the answer to this, you have to know what the secret is. The Greek word is mysterion. Guess what English word we get from that? Mystery. It is the mystery. Look at the verse. It is the mystery of the kingdom. Now, these mysteries are revealed. They were things that were in the Old Testament that were hidden, but now have been revealed in the coming of Christ. It's quite interesting, considering the fact that it was no secret to the Jews that God would bring in a kingdom, that Jesus would say that the kingdom is a mystery. They were all looking forward to it. How could that be a mystery? Well, mystery is that they missed it. Why did they miss it? Because they were looking forward to the wrong kind of a kingdom, frankly. And so the kingdom was hidden from them. The parables concealed this truth. They thought Messiah would be a political leader that was going to free them from Roman tyranny. But that's not at all what Jesus did. It is what he will do in the future on the day of the Lord. That is what his kingdom will look like, but not yet. Jesus' first coming was not going to be a glorious defeat of his enemies. And yet, it is the same kingdom as the one he's going to defeat his enemies in the future, where every enemy will be defeated, even death. How do you reconcile the fact that it's the same kingdom that looks so different? Well, the answer is the gospel. The answer is the mystery. The answer is the secret. Because you see, the kingdom that Jesus brought with him 2,000 years ago is a hidden work, known only to those who have the eyes of faith. It is not observable through scientific instruments. News reporters cannot video it on their cameras and shine it up on the nightly news. Yet it is the same kingdom that will one day be manifest in the plain sight of every eye, where it says every eye will see and every knee will bow and every tongue confess. I said that Jesus is not coming the first time to gain a glorious victory over his enemies, but that does not mean he did not gain the victory when he came. It was not a glorious victory in the sense that everyone could see what was happening and cheer him and put on him a crown of gold, because this victory came through suffering, humiliation and death at the hands of the very people who are being hardened by these parables. The crown that he received was the crown of thorns. The victory is regarded by the world as a foolish thing, an impossible thing, a ludicrous thing. You're telling me God conquered Satan on a cross outside of Jerusalem? Jesus rose from the grave with no fanfare? Whatever. That's kind of what people would say, right? The world cannot see the truth of this, because it's been blinded by the prince of this world. So the question is, if people are blind, how is the mystery revealed? How is it revealed? The world would have you think it comes through secret knowledge, gnosis, getting in touch with the spiritual world through drugs, having some mystical encounter with God face to face, reaching up into heavenly places to gain the secret. But this mystery is not gained through pagan gnosis, friends. That is a seductive lie from the pit of hell. It comes only through revelation through the Word of God by faith alone. It comes through human language, through the preached Word. That's how it comes to you. For the disciples, it also came through the Word incarnate, through God-made flesh. So how do you receive the secret? The answer is very important. It is through the revelation of God in Christ. To see Christ as He truly is, that is to know the secret Kingdom of Heaven. See His miracles. His teaching. His fulfillments of the Scripture. Look at verses 13-17 very carefully. Listen and perceive. What Jesus says is that He teaches people in parables in order to fulfill the Scripture. There's that wonderful word of Matthew again. Fulfillment. It seems like everything is about that in this book. Even Jesus' teaching in parables is done in order to fulfill the Scripture. Now, let me show you this. Jesus says, fulfillment is why I speak to them in parables in verse 13. But which fulfillment? What comes next is a hard thing to accept. Amazingly, Jesus wants this wicked generation not to understand Him. How many people do you hear in the world telling you that? Though seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, they do not hear or understand. He says this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah. You need to recall the commission given to Isaiah in chapter 6. That's why we read it for the law today. Isaiah had just glimpsed the Lord Jesus, exalted on His throne in His heavenly temple. Why did God give Isaiah this vision? It was because this was going to be the occasion for Isaiah's calling into the ministry. The heavenly voice asked, Who will I send and who will go for us? And Isaiah boldly says, Here am I! Send me!" The poor man didn't have any idea what he was getting himself into. The Lord declared, go and tell the people, be ever hearing, but never understanding. Be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused. Make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. What a commission! You say, what a horrible God to do something like that. But I reply to you, this comes in the context of great rebellion and wickedness on the part of Israel. This is chapter six of that book. Remember, chapters one through five have been talking all about how evil these people were. They had spent centuries forsaking the Lord, committing adultery with idols, robbing the poor, oppressing aliens, forsaking the law, dishonoring the Sabbath. These people were not guiltless. They were guilty of great, great, great sin against God. Greater, in fact, than any nation in history, because they had been given more life, more grace, and yet they still despised everything God had given to them. They did not deserve grace. Nobody does. So all God is doing here is the just thing. You say, how could God do something like that? That's called justice, friend. Even though it would have been a terribly difficult burden for Isaiah to have to live with. God is going to punish them for their wickedness by pressing their already hardened hearts into stone, sort of like Excalibur before Arthur pulled it out of the rock. These people are not going to be moved. And that was the intention of the word. And how long would this last? God said, until all the cities lie ruined, and without inhabitants, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord sent everyone far away from the land and utterly forsaken, and only a tenth remains in the land. You see, Isaiah was going to have this ministry for a lifelong calling. Fifty years. Few, if any, converts. A hard life. Eventually, he would even be martyred by a saw blade that cut him in half. That's how Isaiah died. But Matthew is telling us a word of fulfillment here. And this is strange, given the context of the first part of Isaiah that says that this was a word to Isaiah. Now, think about this. God gives this word to Isaiah, but Matthew says it's a fulfillment. Here now comes the old hermeneutic of seeing the story of Christ in the Old Testament. Beloved, Isaiah's commission was not ultimately meant for Isaiah. It was meant for the Lord Jesus. He fulfills the commission, not Isaiah. Isaiah is only the type in the shadow. And the exile of Israel is only just a glimpse of the future exile and cutting off from the land and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The last verse of Isaiah 6 actually predicts the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, as the terebinth and oak leaf stumps, when they are cut down, the holy seed will be the stump in the land. Why is it cut down? So that all that's going to be left is the stump where the seed who is Christ will be come out of it. Everything is going to be cut off except for that stump. Now, in the history of Israel, at first, the stump is the remnant, the tenth. that will return to the land, but ultimately they come back to the land and they start sending again and they show that they're not the ones who can fulfill this. So the stump is the seed of Jesse in chapter 11, the son of David. He's the Lord Jesus. He's the only one who will not bow the knee to the devil. All of the elect find their obedience in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is what I have said before, what knowledge you have comes through Him. If you know any secrets at all, it is because of His Word. It is because of Him. In Christ, Paul says, are hidden all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom. You know, interesting that word is gnosis. All these gnostics that are running around today. Paul says all the treasures of gnosis are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus speaks in parables so as to harden and dull the ears of outsiders, he's saying that his ministry is the fulfillment of Isaiah's calling. He is the greater Isaiah. What else could it possibly mean? Again and again, Jesus points his disciples back to himself. In this chapter, verse 17, I tell you the truth. Many prophets and righteous men long to see what you see, but they did not see it and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. I believe those prophets included even Isaiah. He saw Christ exalted in the temple in Isaiah 61, but he did not see Christ humiliated. He was permitted against a glimpse of the glory, but not the suffering and humiliation. And this was the greater thing, believe it or not, because it is on the cross. In the rejection of Messiah, that God reconciles the world to himself. Friends, do not underestimate the importance of that word. Because angels long to look into these mysteries. But they cannot. Do you understand the purpose of parables now? They both reveal the secrets of the Kingdom to those who know Christ, and they intentionally harden other people. Jesus hardens these people with parables because they are a wicked generation. That's the context this comes in, isn't it? They have already rejected Jesus and He's begun to curse them. He says in verse 15, this people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. And so, He keeps the secrets of the kingdom hidden from those through stories that captivate their attention. His words would become the occasion for hardening them like clay in the heat and light of the sun. You see, his time had not yet come. Eventually they would all put him to death, but not yet. The parables were a significant way that he stalled his own execution. Not because he was afraid, but because he had not completed all of his tasks on the earth. Well, if the secrets of the kingdom come through revelation, Then it makes us conclude something very important about the parables. The secrets of the kingdom are wrapped up in the parables. You want to know about the kingdom of God? You have to understand the parables of Jesus Christ. You can't just hear them. You can't just read them. You have to know what in the world he's talking about. Like a good riddle, they demand something on the part of the hearer. Riddles don't just open themselves up to you. They demand that you take the time to figure out what is meant by them. There's a story of a riddle that a man was once told and he just didn't understand the answer. He asked the riddler to give him the answer. He said, I don't understand. So what did the riddler do? He told him the riddle again. And a man didn't understand. So he told them the riddle again, and this just kept happening over and over and over. And he walked away, sad, because he didn't understand that the point of the riddle was that you can't understand the riddle. Only by thinking about it long enough could the point really sink in. To have it told to you just doesn't have the same impact. And in some ways, that's what Jesus is doing in this parable. This parable is about parables. Mark records in Mark chapter 4, verse 13, one important fact that Matthew leaves out. Jesus says to them, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? And Matthew doesn't record that, but Mark tells you that. See, the point is understanding this parable will open the door to understanding the rest of Jesus' stories. So it's very important to understand what this means. Think about Jesus' explanation for why he speaks in parables, and then you will intuitively understand the meaning of this parable. Go to 13 verse 1. The occasion for the parable is the same day that Jesus had the discussion with the Pharisees about Beelzebul and the sign of Jonah. Now, that's important because that gives you the context for the hardening that is taking place here. It says that he went from the house where he had been and he sat by the lake and large crowds came. And so they were so large that he got into a boat. Luke tells us that it was Peter's boat. It says that he sat. My guess is that he sat in order to paddle away from the shore some distance. And then he began to teach them many things in parables. This parable tells the story of a farmer who goes out to sow his seed. Who is the farmer? Well, Jesus doesn't tell you who the farmer is. It appears that it's Jesus himself. I think that when Jesus ascends into heaven in a couple of years, the farmer is anyone who sows seed. And that's why Paul, who is writing to the Corinthians, which is a church that he had planted, there's your farming word, said, I planted Apollo's water, but God gave the growth. Well, what's the seed? The seed is the Word of God. The Bible tells you this specifically. You can see that in verse 19. And so, this is really very important to understand. It is peculiar that the seed and the Word are the same thing. I want you to follow what I'm going to say here. What is interesting to me about this, the seed and the Word are the same thing. is called in John the word. But Christ is also called the seed in the Old Testament. And so while Jesus is the farmer, he's also the seed that the farmer is sowing through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is sowing his kingdom in the hearts of men and women and children, so that where he is, there the kingdom of God has come in power. The power of the Kingdom through the Word is something that you must believe in. What is it about the Word that makes it so powerful, friends? Well, the Word has life in itself. Read about the Word in Scripture and you find that it is a mighty hammer, a fire. It's a light. It melts ice. It created the heavens and the earth. It gives life. And of course, Jesus' description as the Word should come as no surprise that He says that He is the life. In Him is life. There is life found nowhere else. And in the Word, there is life. And even in seed, there is life. Think about seeds for a minute. And it doesn't matter if you're talking about the seed of an acorn or a sunflower or sperm. In fact, you know that the Greek word for seed is sperma. The seed is alive. When it fertilizes an egg or the ground, new life germinates. It's the nature of a seed. This is what so many people fail to understand about the Word of God. To substitute something else, like images or false words, is to bring death. Because those things are incapable of creating life because they are not alive. But the Word of God is powerful. It is sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts. It hardens. It softens. It does whatever God sends it out to do. And that is why we preach God's Word in this church. Why we pray God's Word. Why we take the sacraments. Why we bother to spend the time to read the Word in this church. And not our opinions and our ideas and our stories. God's Word is alive. I believe that. I have seen it work in my own life. And in the life of countless other people. Including many of you here. Maybe you just don't see it yet. Well, it's a great mystery in this parable, a secret that you must come to understand. Will you sell all you have to find it? Will you do anything, anything to obtain this secret? Will you even sell your soul to Jesus and become his slave and do whatever he wishes just so you can learn about this secret? If you will, church, And wherever the word of God is taught will no longer seem boring and of little importance to you. Frankly, the reason why the word seems boring to people is because they don't understand the secret of the kingdom of heaven. But if you will take the time to think about this and to understand it, you will see with heaven's eyes and the power of God will come down upon you. In invisible places, you will see the powers of the age to come. Through the audible realm of the Word, you will touch heaven itself. That's what the Bible says. You will be satisfied in the common and ordinary. Do you hear that? Satisfied in the common and ordinary. Being set apart for holy purposes. You won't have to keep doing things on your own to earn God's favor anymore. You will not clamor for empty excitements of human religion. You will not hunger for the face-to-face power encounter with God. You will not fancy having your ears tickled when you go to church. You will not want to hear yourself talk about God all the time. You will not continually need a musical fix that makes you feel as if through the experience that you're close to God. Because you will know that Christ is as near as the preached word. The word of life, the word of peace, the only word that brings contentment. This is frankly what so many people are seeking in our age of hyper-spirituality, but it comes through faith in what God has said, by believing what you cannot see, and what does not make sense to you in the natural realm. It is the exact opposite of gnosis, of New Age spirituality, of Buddhist emptiness, of mysticism, of mystery cults, great power and the secrets of the kingdom will be yours, and your faith will be strengthened, and you will be enlightened by the light who is the Lord Jesus Christ by the Word. If you understand, well, then it's because the seed has fallen on good soil. Do you know it is the soil that is the main focus of this parable? It's often called the parable of the sower. But that's misleading. It would be better called the parable of the soils. It's supposed to make you read it and wonder what kind of soil you are. That's the point. How many soils are there here? Well, there's actually basically only two. There's good soil and there's bad soil. The bad soil is bad because of three things, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And so there's three different situations in where you find the bad soil. The good soil is good because of the kindness and mercy of God. So two kinds of soil naturally means two functions for teaching the parables, doesn't it? So Jesus speaks in parables to harden some and to teach the mysteries to others. And I've already told you about this. So the sower, he goes along and he walks on the ground, scattering seed this way and that. And I'm going to teach you about these out of order for the sake of teaching purposes. Some of the seed falls on thorny ground. Jesus says this seed is choked. Verse seven. The thorns grew up and choked the plants. Do you see? Well, where do weeds grow? Thorns. Thorns are often in dry, arid places where the water is sparse. Kind of like where the devils go and roam when they're looking for someone after they've been cast out. While a fruit seed needs water to grow, the curse of Adam allows weeds to grow when there's hardly any water at all. What is meant by thorns? I think of it this way. Thorns are what the Bible means by the world. So we're going to do the world, flesh and the devil here. Going to catch that. Jesus explains that the weeds are the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth. Two things. They are the things of the world that take precedent in your own life. They are the good things that you turn into idols. Now, look at the two, the love of money and the Worries of life. The Bible says, 1 Timothy 6.10, a verse that most of you know, but it's often misquoted. It says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Actually, the verse doesn't say the love of money is the root of all evil. It doesn't say that. It says it is a root of all kinds of evil. And notice the farming word root. Goes down deep into the soil and it becomes hard to pull out. Jesus calls wealth deceitful, because it deceives you by causing you to slowly and subtly and subconsciously turn your hope from God to money. Money allows you the opportunity to have anything you want without having to wait. So patience, the fruit of the Spirit, is choked. You want more and more of it. So self-control, a fruit of the Spirit, is choked. You can never have enough of it. You become restless and so peace, a fruit of the Spirit, is choked. You become miserable and so joy, a fruit of the Spirit, is choked. You will do anything to have more of it and so the love of brother, gentleness, Kindness are all choked. And suddenly, you no longer bear any fruit at all. And do you wonder why Jesus taught so specifically on not worrying about life? It is because worry also chokes the fruit of the Spirit, beloved. How can you have joy when you worry? How can you learn patience when you worry? How can you be gentle towards others when you worry? How are you trusting God and therefore remaining faithful, a fruit of the Spirit, when you worry? How does goodness come about through worrying? You see, worry chokes out the fruit. Do you see the fruit I'm going to? What is the fruit? It's the fruit of the Spirit. That's what the Bible says. So though the word may remain in you, And this is important. The crop becomes unfruitful. This is the power of the world system, of its values, its beliefs, its passions, and its lusts. This is not just good advice. It is something you must fight with all of your strength to watch out for. Because these things can keep you out of heaven. The Word of God remains in you, but you don't bear any fruit. Suddenly, the previous chapter comes into my view when I thought about this. Remember, yielding no fruit is no help to you. Jesus says you will know a tree by its fruit. All the farmer is concerned with is good fruit. You must have good fruit. John the Baptist said, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Jesus repeated that word for word in chapter 7. And in chapter 21, Jesus curses the fig tree because it produced only leaves. It was not dead, but it gave no fruit. And so it was worthless to him. As I said last week, it is not enough to be neutral towards Christ. You are either for him or you're against him. And if you're for him, then you are living in the vine and you therefore must bear good fruit. But not every soil is of course filled with weeds. Some soil falls upon rocky places. Here the seed takes no root. The sun scorches it and it withers away. This is the one who hears the word and then receives it in joy. with joy. But since there is no root, it lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, it quickly falls away. Now, think about this one in context of so many people who say if you walk in the aisle and say a prayer, you're a Christian. That's all that matters. That's not what Jesus says here. There are two kinds of soil in this passage. There is good soil, and there is bad soil. And if you fall, or know anybody who falls into this, where it falls in rocky places, they have no reason to believe they're a Christian. I don't care if they walk down an aisle a thousand times. It says, this is the one who hears the word and receives it with joy, but it lasts only a short time, and when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. Now, I think this is one of the things that the Bible means by the flesh. The person himself receives the word with joy. He's a quick convert. But it's a shallow person. Cannot accept what he hears. The ground is just too hard and the plant has nowhere to go down. But it nevertheless springs up. Maybe you have weeds that grow in your driveways. You ever see the, I mean, you just pick those little things right out. It's exactly like that. Everything seems great until the light produces a certain amount of heat. The scripture contains hard, hot, lit words. Watch out for your reaction to those words or you will be burned. But there is more. Even when the word is accepted, it says persecution comes and scorches the earth and the plant dies. Perhaps we Western Christians are especially prone to this because we do not know what persecution and trouble is really like. Sure, we face all kinds of difficulties in our lives, but Jesus is talking about a kind of persecution that comes about because of the word, he says. My question to you is, and I think it's a very valid question in light of what's taking place in our culture in the present day. Beloved, what are you doing to prepare yourself for a time when you might be persecuted because of the word? Are you turning your back to the storm that is lingering on the horizon? Because it's there, you know, and it is gathering strength. And though we've not yet experienced great persecution, you'd better believe that it is coming. We are called to suffer for Christ. That is how we know that we are sons and daughters of the Father. But you see, not every seed falls even on rocky places. Some falls upon a path. Here the seed is stolen, it says. The soil is pressed so tightly so that nothing grows on it. The seed isn't planted down deep, it just lays on the top and it never can get down there. It's kind of like a dirt road. There's dirt, but no life. When the word goes out and it's not understood, that's like the dirt road. It stays on top of the dirt. The seed still falls, but it becomes food for the birds. Drive down a country road and you'll see plenty of birds picking food off the ground. Jesus says that the birds are the devil. He actually says that. So it really is the world, the flesh, and the devil here. In Matthew, he's called the evil one, which we've actually run into this morning. We've said it, didn't we, together? The evil one is in the Lord's Prayer. Deliver us from the evil one. It's because he's a roaring lion seeking its prey. He not only wants to devour the seeds, he wants to devour you. He hates the Word of God. The powers of darkness are busy. They are planning many ways in the coming years to torment believers in the Western world. There are great cracks in Christendom which has protected us from persecution. The beast of revelation, the world's government powers, is roaring. His false prophet, which is false religion, is disguising itself in Christian clothing. He speaks cunning lies. And if you don't know the Word of God, He will deceive you. You must not close your eyes to these things. And so be like the German Christians in the days of Hitler. Absolute truth is under attack. The claims of Christ are under attack. The authority of the scripture is under attack. The worship of God is under attack. Righteousness is under attack. And all from people who claim to be Christians. The devil is a powerful enemy. You must resist him. And you know what? The Bible says he will flee from you. All of these soils are bad for one reason or another. And this fits the facts of scripture. We're all born into this world spiritually stillborn. We're all by nature objects of wrath. But it pleases God to spread his seed upon good soil. This soil is good because of God's grace and because of his pleasure. He who has ears, let him hear, Jesus says, you see, verse 9. It is God who gives the ears to hear. In verse 16, blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. It is a blessing because it is God who has made it happen for them. Jesus says that when the seed falls upon good soil, it will produce a crop 100 fold, 60 or 30 times what was sown. The good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. This is the most serious call of all to make sure that you leave this place today understanding what you have heard. I can only do so much from up here. There is a great responsibility that God places upon every person who hears the Word of God to appropriate it themselves. To hear and understand what they have been told. Because you will be held responsible and accountable for the words that you hear. I need to mention one thing about the fruit here. You may have this idea that the crop of a hundredfold means that you convert a hundred people to Christ in your life. In other words, you may think that Jesus is talking about evangelism, but that's not the context. And I already tried to point this out to you when I talked about the flesh. What is the crop? The Greek word is karpos, and it means fruit. I have no earthly idea why the ESV and the New Revised Standards say grain. There's no reason for it. It means fruit. It is talking about fruit here. Say it's an apple tree that's in mind. The idea is that one apple tree will produce a hundred apples, not that it will produce a hundred other apple trees. The focus is on the fruit of the Spirit, not on evangelism. Now, that doesn't mean you don't need to confess Christ to others. It just means that this is not the concern of this parable. You aren't to look to see how many people you've led to Christ, but to see if you have love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control, and a submissive spirit in your heart. That's the fruit. And in saying that there are different amounts of fruit, Jesus is actually recognizing that some Christians will take his word more seriously than others. Some will produce a lot of fruit. Some will produce only a little. But you know what? If there is only even a little fruit at all, it is not a worthless tree, and it is pleasing to the Lord Jesus. It will not be thrown into the fire. That is the good news, and that's what I think Jesus is trying to say here. So do you see the meaning of the parable? The mystery is how God will make a crop grow through the word, how he will preserve it, and how he will make it produce fruit. It is a parable about election. But you see, people can't see it, because they do not have eyes nor the knowledge to comprehend, and so it's a parable about hardening. The ironic thing about this parable is that it's actually very easy to understand it. Election is not hard to understand, contrary to what so many people have told me to my face. It's hard to accept. That's what's hard. There's a difference. Finally, these things take place in spiritual places through the kingdom of God, which has come upon you. And so this is a parable about the mystery of the kingdom. And as such, it is the quintessential parable about all parables. All other parables will focus in one way or another on the kingdom. So you have to understand this one if you're going to understand anything else that's said. The last chapter of the Bible gives insights into this that force your eyes to look ahead where they ought to be looking once you understand the nature of the kingdom of God. It is the story of the Bible come full circle. It's the story of a fruit-bearing tree, yielding its produce all the year round. It is the story of coming to Christ to worship Him for His life-giving water and precious word of truth. It is the story of this parable. Last chapter of the Bible, then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of nations. No longer will there be any curse, but the throne of God and the lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. These words are trustworthy and true. That would mean a word of prayer. Lord, I thank you for this parable. It's one that I've felt all week. I haven't even come close to doing justice to. I pray that you would use my measly working with this to teach your people something about the kingdom. I pray that you would open up any hearts that might be hardened, from the littlest heart here to the oldest person who might not know you. Pray, Lord, that you will show them and reveal your mercy to them. That you would cause your goodness to be seen by them. Pray for this congregation that we would understand the need to see if there is fruit in our lives. And that we would encourage one another to display the fruit of the Spirit with each other. And that you would use us for that purpose. So that We might know that the soil has fallen upon good ground. The seed has fallen upon good ground. I pray, Lord, also that you would help us to understand the nature of the seed. To have trust in the seed that it is a powerful and a mighty word to accomplish all that you sent it out for. Help us, Lord, to trust in this, for we desperately need the eyes of faith to see it sometimes. Pray that it would bring comfort to us knowing that it is the sower who has the good intention of spreading the word all around. Thank you for giving us the word of truth by which we have come to know the knowledge and the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Lord, I pray that you might feed us with another mystery here today, which we take through the Lord's Supper. which shows us spiritual things and actually brings the kingdom upon us in a powerful and a strong and mighty way. And though it seems like that might not be happening, let us trust in your word to know that we have come into heavenly places in this hour with each other together. And please, Lord, let us leave changed for the better. Those as people who are more willing to repent of our sins and to confess Christ as our Lord and to Display the fruit of the Spirit towards those we come in contact with and with one another. It's in Jesus' name, Lord, and for His sake that I pray. Amen.