WWUTT 039 Seeds In the Rocks and Thorns (Matthew 13)

The Parable of the Sower and the Three Soils

Jesus gave his disciples the parable of the sower to tell them who would receive the message of the kingdom and who would not. We've talked about what is being represented by the seed, the soil, and the path.

And today we'll talk about what's being represented in the rocky soil, the thorns, and the good soil when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. And thank you for listening to this study of the parable of the sower. So far, we have talked about what is being represented by the seed, which is the message of the kingdom of God.

When the message is proclaimed, sometimes it falls on a path, sometimes in rocky ground, sometimes in thorns, and sometimes it falls into good soil. And it's those latter three we're going to be talking about today.

The rocky ground, the thorns, and the good soil. We've also talked about what it means to till up the ground, to prepare the heart, to receive the message of the kingdom. And we've talked about what's being exemplified by the path.

Sometimes when that message is shared, it's like seeds that fall on a path. It doesn't fall into dirt. It doesn't grow and take root in any way. In fact, just as soon as it falls on the path, the birds come and consume the seed.

Just as that message might fall on a person's ears, but the devil takes it away from them before it has an opportunity to take root in their hearts. And that's going to be most people that we preach the gospel to.

Most of them are going to be like the path. They'll hear it, but they won't seem to make any response to it whatsoever. So it's like seed that did not find any good ground to start growing and taking root.

And it just gets snatched away by the devil. Today, we're going to be talking about what's represented in the rocks, the thorns and the good soil. So let's recap, first of all, by reading the parable of the sower and its explanation, and then we'll come to the Lord in prayer.

Matthew 13: The Parable of the Sower Explained

So Matthew chapter 13, beginning in verse three, Jesus told them many things in parables 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 and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. Now here is the explanation of the parable beginning in verse 19.

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 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. Our gracious Lord, as we come to this text again today, I pray that you continue to teach us the meaning of these things.

And we understand the charge that is in this as well to go out and preach the gospel. It is not for us to know what kind of ground this seed would fall upon. Our faithfulness needs to be to the word, understanding it accurately and being able to communicate it to others, being faithful to communicate the gospel to others that we know that we meet, uh, and even complete strangers, uh, that they would receive this life-changing message that the seed may fall in good soil and take root and produce a harvest.

We pray for your sovereign will to be upon this gospel as it goes out. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Now, perhaps you have known somebody who has said, well, I used to be a Christian or I used to be religious or I used to attend church.

And maybe you've even witnessed people get up and walk out of the church who used to be faithful, committed believers. And when they leave the church, they never go back. It's not that they stop attending that church.

They stop attending church altogether. Now, some people get seriously burned by some awful things in the church. And if that happens, that church needs to repent. But whatever happens in the church is not a reason to walk away from the faith.

And it is also not a reason to not ever attend church. There might be people who don't attend church and will say things like, well, I am the church, right? You know, a person doesn't go to church to be the church.

They can be the church just because they're a believer. But you don't see in that person's life a commitment or a desire to fellowship with the body of Christ. There's reason to question their salvation.

A person may have any kind of story in the world to explain why they don't attend church or why they used to be a Christian, but they're not now. Ultimately, all of the answers that we need to explain why this person was once this or now they've fallen away from the faith, all the explanation we need is given to us in scripture.

And a lot of the help that we get is here in 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.

And this is what was sown along the path. Look at how the rocky ground is explained in verse 20. 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. So here we have a person who has received the message of the kingdom and they display that to they seem to believe it.

All right. And even display all of the marks of being a Christian. This might go on for months, even years, maybe 20 or 40 years. But when tribulation and persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Now look at what is said about him before that. As for what is sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. We see an enthusiasm in this person for godly things.

That's the way it starts off. Yet he has no root in himself. What an interesting way to phrase that. Instead of taking root in Christ, they've attempted to root their faith in themselves, which they can't do.

They have no root in themselves. So he endures for a while. But when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. Jesus said to his disciples in this world, you will face tribulation.

And we know from what is said in second Timothy chapter three, that everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So though this person seems to show and display the marks of Christianity, when tribulation, when trouble arises, or when they're persecuted for this gospel, they abandon it.

And persecution may not necessarily be being beaten for the word or having their lives threatened or the lives of their family. It could be being teased. They're made fun of because they believe in Christ.

If they cannot endure even being teased for believing the gospel, then I think we can understand what would have happened to them if their life had been on the line for the sake of the gospel. So when persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Here's another way that we can understand this. And this is common, especially in the American church. When a person starts getting teased for the gospel, maybe a person comes to Christ and their family is upset at them for that.

They're upset at them because they became a Christian. So they might ridicule them or they'll have friends that will do that or coworkers, so on and so forth. What will probably happen in that person's life is not necessarily that they'll entirely abandon it.

They won't just outright say, well, I'm just not going to be a Christian anymore because this is too hard. Instead, what they do is they reshape their Christianity into something that doesn't even resemble Christianity.

They'll redefine it. They'll redefine Jesus as being a Jesus that we don't see in the gospels. It's not the biblical form of Jesus. It's a Jesus that for them is more palatable and at the same time, more palatable for the people around them so that they won't be so quick to judge and criticize them for their faith.

So that's another way they might fall away. It might not be just an outright rejection of all things faith. It might be that they redefine their faith into something that this is a little easier to deal with.

And that's the same as falling away from the faith. Verse 22. As for what was sown among 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.

And this is the same as on rocky ground. OK. What was sown among thorns is the one who hears the word. So we see something of a plant even even coming up because they received the word. But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves to be unfruitful.

So nothing really happens with the plant. Something starts to grow, but it's the thorns that end up choking it out. And when we read the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, it's very easy for us to look at the thorns as being one who got too in love with stuff.

All right. They just wanted more stuff or they wanted the riches of this world or maybe they pursued money and it was that pursuit that pulled them away from the faith. But when it comes down to it, it's not just the deceitfulness of riches.

We also have the cares of the world. This could be a person who is who watches the news like every waking moment of the day. And they're just so consumed with the stuff that they see happening in the news.

Like and everything's a conspiracy theory. Oh, it's crazy. Did you see what the government's doing? How can we tolerate this president? On and on and on it goes. And a lot of what they say may sound like the pundits that you see on the news.

And so this is a person that can be consumed by the cares of the world or they're just overly stressed. They just feel anxiety about their job or any anything. And it might not even be a job through which they get huge acclaim or a large paycheck.

It's just something that consumes their life. And because the cares of this world just consume them, it chokes out the word. What becomes less important, the gospel becomes less important in that person's life.

What's more important is the stuff that they need to do to maintain or sustain their happiness or state of life or well-being. But and then, of course, we have, you know, the deceitfulness of riches that's stated pretty plainly.

And the apostle Paul very carefully instructs Timothy on how he can shepherd the people in his flock when it comes to those who could very easily be dragged away by the cares of riches. In first Timothy six, beginning of verse 17, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works and be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Nowhere do we see in the Bible it say that it is inherently wrong to be rich, but people who are rich will will struggle with more temptation. There will be that feeling of I always have to be rich. I have to maintain this lifestyle or this isn't enough and I need more.

And we see that happen in the lives of rich people all the time. Even what they have is not enough and they'll think that they need more and more. So Paul is cautioning Timothy as he is teaching those in his congregation who may be more may be more blessed with what they have in the world.

Be careful not to be haughty and not to not to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches. C .S. Lewis once said, don't let your happiness depend on something you may lose. And that's very much the same charge that Paul is giving here to Timothy.

Now we also see the Apostle Paul talk to Timothy about a person who probably very much exemplified the word falling into thorns. And that would be a man by the name of Demas. We see Demas mentioned in Scripture a few times in Colossians and in Philemon.

And there he's spoken about with favor. He's somebody who is a fellow missionary of Paul's. But then we see Demas spoken about a little bit differently in 2nd Timothy chapter four. This is Paul's last letter before he was martyred.

And Paul says 2nd Timothy four verse nine, do your best to come to me soon for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. So we have Demas very little we know about this man, but we know at one point he was a fellow missionary of Paul's.

And then when Paul was under pressure, when he was placed in prison, Demas could have been the thorns. He could have been the rocks. It could have been that that persecution and tribulation had arisen and it was too much for Demas.

He didn't want to deal with that anymore. So he abandoned Paul and went back to Thessalonica. But I think because of how Paul describes him as being too in love with this world, I think he's more exemplified by the thorns as for what was sown among thorns.

This is one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. So Demas was definitely worldly and it was his worldliness that dragged him away from the mission.

And so we understand Demas is somebody who at one point displayed evidence of the fruit of the gospel, maybe displayed something that looked like a Christian, obviously, because he was a fellow missionary of Paul's, even had Paul fooled.

But then when stuff got tough and when he was presented with the with the temptations of this world, he abandoned Paul and went away to another city. And our understanding of that, the way Paul talks about it is he abandoned the faith altogether, was no longer walking in the way of a missionary of the gospel.

So in both the rocks and in the thorns, we have evidence of a person who may appear to have faith, but then as things transpire, eventually it's shown that that faith was not genuine. They tried to take root in themselves or the cares of this world choked out the word and it proved to be unfruitful.

Perseverance, Salvation, and the Good Soil

Now, this is a person who claims that they used to be a Christian, but then they fell away. I do not agree with the Nazarene church's doctrine that a person can lose their faith. We do not see that in scripture in any way.

In fact, Jesus said very plainly in John chapter 10, this is verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. And we also see the apostle Paul say to Timothy that if we have died with him, we will all also live with him.

If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. But if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. It is not possible for a person to lose their salvation.

If they lose their salvation that they weren't really saved and they could not have been saved from anything. If it's something that you lose, you weren't actually saved. If a person claims to have had eternal life, but then they leave it, then it could not have been eternal.

So it is very clear by what we see in scripture, a person is not given faith and then have it taken away. If it is genuine faith, if it is rooted in Christ, they will not be uprooted for that. A person does not become a Christian and then not a Christian.

They're either a Christian or they're not. And so a person who we might look at as being seeds in rocks or seeds among thorns, we need to consider that they have truly not received the gospel yet and they still need to repent and come to Christ once and for all.

We read in Hebrews 6, 7, for land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned unless that person repents and truly receives the word of the kingdom and it falls and takes root in good soil.

And that's the final representation that we have in this parable. 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 hundred fold in another 60 and in another 30.

This is a person who is not rooted in themselves. It is a person who is rooted firmly in Christ. He indeed bears fruit and you will know him by his fruit. Previously in Matthew chapter seven, Jesus said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. And folks, that's not always going to be immediate. Sometimes you have to wait until the season to see if that tree is going to bear good fruit or bad fruit.

I remember hearing a story about George Whitfield, the great awakening preacher. Okay. He had droves of thousands that would come and listen to him preach. I remember hearing a story about him preaching to a large gathering, and then after the gathering was dispersed, somebody came up to him and said, I understand that we had a lot of decisions for Christ.

How many do you think that we had in new Christians that came out of this gathering? And George Whitfield said, I don't know, we'll find out six months to a year from now. Whitfield very practically recognizing that, uh, that a genuine conversion is not fully going to be understood until after a period of time.

A person may have received the word with joy, but had no root in themselves. And then later on is persecution and trials and troubles came about. They decided, you know what? This really isn't worth it.

And they abandoned the faith. They would be rocky soil or a person would have heard the message, but the deceitfulness of riches or the cares of this world eventually choked it out and it did not sustain.

And they would have been like the word that was sown among the thorns. But those who are given time show that in the season they produce a harvest, some a larger harvest than others, 60 fold, 30, some a hundred fold, as Jesus said to his disciples, to whom much is given, much will be expected.

So that is the parable of the sower. And tomorrow we're going to do review. Since we split up this parable over the course of four days, we're going to go back through everything and summarize it in one quick lesson so that we can, we can kind of see, you know, one complete thought in there.

Because like I said, I know that I ramble and I know that I talk fast. And so it's good to have a day where we can summarize all of these things into five clear, concise points. So that'll be coming up in tomorrow's review.

Let's conclude this with prayer. Our gracious heavenly father, we thank you again for these lessons, for this word, so that these things would not be concealed from us, but that we would know the word of God, the message of the kingdom and take it to others, seeing those who have received it and have produced a fruitful harvest and others who still need to receive the word and repent.

The Golden Rule and the Law and the Prophets

So I pray that we'd be faithful to teach these things and to reach out with the gospel. And we thank you for commissioning us as your disciples in the name of Jesus. Amen. You know the golden rule, right?

Whoever has the gold makes the rules. I'm sorry, that's not right. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There we go. That's from the Bible. Only it's not quite worded like that. Matthew 7, 12.

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Now, some skeptics have tried to claim that the golden rule is not exclusive to the teachings of Jesus.

It's actually so common and so basic a principle that many moralistic teachers have said something similar even way before Christianity. For example, Confucius, 500 years before Christ, said what you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.

But when you look at those two versions of the golden rule, they're actually very different. Jesus had this way of taking common principles, stuff that people had been repeating for hundreds of years, and probably didn't follow it, they just liked saying it, and Jesus took it to a whole new level.

Confucius and others like him were merely saying, don't do to anyone what you wouldn't want done to you. How is Jesus' statement different? It's a call to action. He said, do to others what you would have them do to you.

In other words, just as you want others to treat you better than you deserve, so you should treat others better than they deserve. How is this the law in the prophets? Because it's exactly the way God treats us.

We don't deserve his mercy and grace. What we deserve is death for our sin. But because he loves us, we become fellow heirs with Christ, everyone who follows him. All of the scriptures point to that very thing when we understand the text.

A Listener Testimony and Permission to Share the Ministry

Our message today comes from David in Nortonville, Kentucky, and he says, Dear Pastor Gabe and the rest of the What Crew, greetings and blessings. I am writing to simply say thank you for the ministry that you do with when we understand the text, the videos and the podcast.

I accepted Christ when I was seven and I am 31 now, grew up belonging to a local church family and many of the things that you have talked about, I have learned, however, many I haven't. Regardless, I fell into a slump within the last few years.

And while I have been very passionate about the word, I waned from it. But I started watching the YouTube videos and recently listening to the podcast. And by the Holy Spirit moving through your obedience, I have a fresh passion and a desire to dig into the word again and seek God's truth.

I also have been able to share your videos and podcasts with many at the body that I am a part of. Thank you. Of course, I thank God and Christ above all else because they give the increase. But you have been obedient.

I know this may be a little unorthodox, but I would like to pray for you. And I would like to type that here just so you may be encouraged and hopefully be in agreement with it in your heart. And that prayer that David types, he prays for me in particular in that prayer also.

And so I'm just going to keep that personal between him and I. But appreciate the message so much, David. And it has been shared with the other volunteers who have helped out with the when we understand the text ministry.

This is a free ministry and we make it available for you to use it as David has used it in his church and with his friends. We want you to be able to use it as well. And don't think that you have to contact us and ask if if you can have our permission to distribute it.

You already do. As long as you can promise us that you're not trying to profit off of it in any way because we're not trying to do that. This ministry has not been put together to advance anyone's name, not even our church and not myself.

This has been put together for the sound teaching of God's word. We want to make it free and available for anybody to use. So take those videos, share them at youth groups, share them at church, share them with your friends in whatever capacity as they facilitate good instruction and a sound understanding of God's word.

I got an email from somebody recently who said, hey, do you mind if I take your videos and put them on DVDs because I would like to take them to our local nursing home and show them to the folks there?

And I said, yeah, man, that is fine. Do that as long as you're not selling them. I mean, I don't care that you put them on other media and they be distributed in some other way. We do not have commercials on our YouTube videos and we know that we can with the amount of viewership that we get, we could put ads on those YouTube videos and maybe generate some revenue, but that's not what we're after and we want them to be free so that no one has this fear of using a YouTube video and seeing a commercial pop up that may contain questionable content because commercials can do that sometimes even and especially on YouTube.

So for that reason, we even keep the videos ad free. So there's no risk of something popping up that would affect a person's use of that video in church or in youth group or any of those other ministry locations.

So please use those videos as long as you are not using them to profit or benefit yourself, you can use them in whatever capacity. And we appreciate Todd Friel's ministry also, Wretched, that has used our videos and they've used them in their Life is Best series that is currently being distributed.

I highly recommend that you watch that program, by the way, go to lifeisbest .tv. Now even though I say that you don't have to contact us and ask permission to use the videos, we'd still like to hear from you.

Maybe a story that you have to share like David's. So send us an email to whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com. Lord we thank you so much for the ability to be able to do this ministry for mediums like us.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of the church family committed to gospel teaching, and we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.

If you would consider a gift to this ministry, please visit www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Give online or send a check in the mail. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's Word when we understand the text.