Parable of the Sower

Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed, and as he was scattering his seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell along the rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, but because the soil was shallow.

When the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell on the thorns, which grew up and choked the plant, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seeds fell on the good soil, and it came up and grew, and produced a crop, multiplying sixty, or even a hundred times.

Then Jesus said, He who has ears, let him hear. Jesus said, Don't you understand this parable? He said, If you can understand this parable, you can understand every parable. See, I'm going to try to explain it to you this morning, so you can understand it.

The first part, it says that a farmer went and sowed seed, and his disciples asked him, What do you mean by that? By the farmer sowing seed? And he said, Well, the Word of God is seed. He said, The farmer is one who goes out and sows the Word of God. And so that's what I'm doing this morning.

I've got the Word, and I'm sowing the seed. I'm scattering the seed. I'm spreading the news.

I'm spreading the gospel. I've been preaching here since July. I've been spreading the gospel to you, and many of you have heard it.

So the seed has been scattered. Many of you have been receiving the seed. But that's all I do.

That's all my job. All my job is to scatter. I don't have any control of what happens to the seed after it's been scattered, because what happens to it depends on you.

It depends on God. It depends on what you and Him and your relationship and how willing you are to listen to the Word. Well, let's look at what the kind of soil there is.

It says the first soil it landed on was the path. And the path, it was rocky. And you know, the seed, it falls on the path, the Word, on your ears.

But it says that the birds, the birds come and eat it. Look at this pigeon here. He's just going around looking for food.

Well, I cast the seed, and many of you are like that. You hear it. You're hearing it.

You hear about Christ. You hear about salvation. But you know, it doesn't affect you, because Satan just comes and takes it away.

That's what Jesus said. Satan just comes and takes it away, and you don't even listen. You hear it, and you don't even take, you don't even take any note of it.

And you say, I don't need it. I got my own way. I'm doing everything my own way, and I don't want to listen to God, and I don't want to listen to His Word.

And that describes your heart. Your heart is like the rocky path, and you won't listen to the Word of God. Well, the second condition, it says, it falls on shallow ground.

And what happens is the seed, it gets sown, and you hear it, and you say, oh, I believe that. That makes sense to me. Yes, Jesus died for my sin.

And you know, you say, oh, I believe that, and you leave. But the moment you get tested, and the moment anything comes up against you, you suddenly say, oh, this is too much for me. Oh, I know it's true, but I can't handle it.

You know, it's just too much pressure. Oh, I don't want to make myself look like an idiot. Oh, I just got to keep my reputation.

I don't want to sacrifice anything, because I'm very selfish, very self-indulgent, and I don't want to give up anything for God. He says, give up for me, and I don't want to. So, you know, that's your heart condition.

It's so shallow. You believe it, but you don't have the guts to stick with it. And the third one is this.

It says, it gets cast amongst thorns. And you know, you hear the Word of the Lord, and you believe it, and your faith, your faith grows, but it grows with the thorns. And Jesus said, this is what the thorns are.

The thorns are the worries of life. The thorns are the pleasures of life. The thorns are, you worry about things, the desires of life.

The Bible says that it chokes your faith, and it chokes the Word. It chokes what's been scattered. So, you may have heard something along this summer, or this fall, and it's really touched you, but then you say, oh, I get choked by my family.

I get choked by my job. I get choked by my worries. I'm worried about this and I'm that, and I got no time for the Gospel.

You know, that's the heart condition of you. If that's your case, that's your heart condition. But, you know, there's one more, and it says it landed on good soil.

And I want to ask you this morning, are you good soil? Because the Word of God is being cast out. Are you good soil? Because what that means is you hear it, and you receive it, and you live it, and you take it, and you have faith, and you stick with it, and you give up your life for Christ, and you say, oh, Jesus, I want to live for you. I want to be a Christian.

I want to live, and I want to be in the kingdom of heaven, and I want to bear fruit. And Jesus says, you bear fruit. Jesus says, it produces a crop 30, 40, a hundred times what was sown.

Let me ask you this morning, what is your heart condition this morning? What is your heart condition? This is it. There's only, there's three steps to the kingdom. It's so simple.

The first step to the kingdom of heaven is this. You got to hear the Word. And if you've heard it this morning, that you're a sinner, and Jesus Christ died for your sins, if you've heard that, and you believe it, if you heard it, you're one step closer to the kingdom, because you heard the gospel.

And Jesus said, go tell people. And that's what I'm doing. So you've heard it.

The second step is to believe it, and put your faith in the gospel, and say, oh God, I believe it. I want you to take away my sins. I know I'm a sinner.

I can't get to heaven on my own. I can't get to heaven by philosophy. I can't get to heaven by religion.

Only you, Jesus, can take away my sin. And the third thing it says, you'll produce fruit. You have to produce fruit.

And that happens naturally if you really believe. You say, oh God, my faith is solid, and I'm good, so I'll do your work in my heart. So one, you got to hear it.

Two, you got to believe it. And three, bear fruit for the kingdom. He who has ears, let him hear what the word of God says.