Wednesday, March 17, 2021 PM

we are going to read the parable of the sower verses 4 through 15 before we do that let's pray father

I thank you for gathering us together on this cold and blustery night we thank you for the food we thank you for your provision in our lives thank you for your son

Jesus Christ with whom you are well pleased and how you have given him to us and given us to him we thank you that he is now at your right hand and that he is reigning and that we can trust him and that you have sent forth your

Holy Spirit to indwell us as your temple and I pray today that as we look at your word she would make it clear to us and that we would rejoice in it we pray these things for Christ's sake

Amen Luke chapter 8 beginning in verse 4 and when a great multitude had gathered and they had come to him from every city he spoke by a parable a sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed some fell by the wayside and it was trampled down and the birds of the air devoured it some fell on a rock and as soon as it sprang up it withered away because it lacked moisture and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it but others fell on good ground sprang up and yielded a crop a hundredfold when he had said these things he cried he who has ears to hear let him hear then his disciples asked him saying what does this parable mean and he said to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but to the rest it is given in parables that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand now the parable is this the those by the wayside are the ones who hear then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their heart out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved but the ones on the rock are those who when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away and the ones that fell among among thorns are those who when they have heard go out and are choked with cares riches and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity but the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having heard the word with a noble and good heart keep it and bear fruit with patience now the parable of the sower stands as one of the lengthier parables that Jesus has told in fact in the other

Gospels Mark and Matthew Jesus even makes the statement if you don't understand this parable how will you understand all the rest which means that this parable in some ways is a model for interpreting all the rest usually in the parables

Jesus might give some explanation about what the parable means but sometimes he doesn't and in this case we have a most thorough explanation about his parable and this gives us an idea of the way in which we should read the others now notice the context that we have here in the beginning of chapter 8 we looked at that for a couple of weeks but clearly he's going through every city we read and he is preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom the good news of the kingdom so he has been going through every city and doing this and now we read that people from every city have come out in a great multitude to hear him say more of these glad tidings about the kingdom he even says so in the middle portion it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God because they come and ask him and then he's going to spell it out for them so that's the theme that's what he is going that's what he's talking about here in this parable sometimes this is called the parable of the sower but to others have said well it's really a parable about the seed and then others have said no it's a parable about the soils

I don't know who's right but if we are going to stick with our way of reading the

Bible then I would say it's the parable of the sower because Jesus is talking about himself as he talks about the sower now let's look at this the story in and of itself and see if we can understand what it means we don't as immediately understand the picture

Jesus paints here as his original audience did let's read it again a sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed some fell by the wayside some fell on a rock some fell among thorns and others fell on good ground now what is the man doing

I don't know how you sow seed but if you're planting in a garden sometimes you get down on both knees and you bend over and you take this tiny little thing and you drop it in your little divot or in your little trench and then if you have

OCD you get out your ruler and the packet says every three inches so you're so then you measure and you drop the next one and then other times you say we'll forget that half my seeds don't come up anyway and you grab them and you try to sprinkle them like this and then the wind catches it and blows it all the way over to the neighbor's yard that's not what this man is doing this man a satchel of seed he's carrying around his neck and he's reaching in and he's walking along and he's broadcasting the seed like this and it's just just a move like this and you just see this this stream of seed being thrown over a field curious but no mention as to the ground has not been plowed what there's no furrows there's each what about the plowing well it was a common day to plow after you had thrown your seed you know where your field is and for however long it's laying there a little bit and the kids have been running through it on the old footpath and people have been walking around it and you've got some hard paths around it and probably one right through the middle of it but you're planning to plow it all up anyway and you're just walking around and you're just throwing your seed out there wherever you walk you're not stopping to consider as whether or not there's a rock just below the surface some limestone with just maybe an inch of soil on top you're not you're not thinking about that you're not trying to figure out you know where the you know which which area is going to have the worst thorns and weeds and you're just throwing your seed

I'm the entirety of the field throwing the seed everywhere and your plan is then to plow it in the thorns will get uprooted and so on and so forth some of the thorns will survive as you're as you're plowing things through you might you might uproot a rock and toss it out or you may miss the rock and it may stay there while you're throwing the seeds out

I don't know if you ever had this experience in gardening but if there is a if there's seed the ground birds are going to show up pretty fast so this sower is walking around his field he's throwing the seed out there's a footpath in the middle of it probably there's a footpath around it definitely and he's throwing his seed and some of that seed falls on that path as he's walking around get stepped on so on and before he's done and before he's ready to plow it all under the birds come and eat the seed now there goes that seed and then some of the seed of course is thrown on top of where the limestone is just below the surface it'll get plowed under and then the stones going to heat up faster than the surrounding soil and that's going to make that seed germinate faster than the other seeds they spring up first little patch of wheat seed right where that limestone is but they have no depth and there's no moisture that can stay there with that extra heat so all that gets scorched and burned away by the

Sun some of the other seeds of course land in where there's some thorns and some and these thorns grow up along with this with the seed and you always know the stuff you don't want grows faster than the stuff you do and it gets choked out and it's no good but then we also read that he was he was but some of it fell on good ground it's a good ground and when it's all plowed under it's going to yield a crop now

Jesus says you have a crop a hundredfold what does that mean that means one seed is planted creates a stock of grain upon which is a hundred seeds a hundredfold now that's pretty impressive you ever heard of that before a hundredfold harvest that's pretty impressive have we ever heard of such a thing anybody here ever hundred have a hundredfold crop

I usually I usually put like a hundred seeds out and I'm lucky if I get you know ten of it to grow yeah

I'm usually taking a loss hundredfold who in the

Bible here's trivia time I'll award 15 points for the answer who in the

Bible sowed himself a crop and got a hundredfold no it was not

Job he had the opposite effect it was the seed of Abraham Isaac that's your question yeah

Genesis 26 12 Isaac so to sow the crop and got a hundredfold harvest

I wonder if that's in the mind of Christ when he tells this story a hundredfold now he says these things and again they came out from all the cities he's been preaching about the glad tidings the good out to hear more and he tells him this pair and he says he who has ears to hear let him hear now it's not be confused about this this is glad tidings some people read this and get all depressed

I mean we can manage to get depressed about the Bible and but this is really a reading to say you see there's four types of soil and only one fourth of the types of soil gave gave a crop and this means that we're doomed to 75 % failure well that's that's that's not the story

Jesus told the man is not going around and picking out a seed and is like I'm gonna drop this on the hard path and now

I gotta go find a rock and drop that on the rock and I gotta find a briar patch and throw a seed in there and then

I'll put one over here on the good soil that's not the story he told this is just a normal story everybody this is probably pretty boring for the people listening they're like yeah so what we saw that on the way down here we saw that on the way here we saw guys doing that everywhere he just tells that story who's interested he wants to know what it means well he who has ears to hear let him hear so some of them come around him his disciples ask him saying what does this parable mean they want to know and because they come to Christ to ask what you know what does this mean he says to you it has been granted has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God a mystery is something that God has to show someone and it's been given to them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but that the rest is given in parables that saying they may not see and hearing they may not understand he says now at this point he's he's there chapter 6 so we've got to go back there and try to understand his point as he's talking to them now he's been bringing glad tidings of the kingdom and he's told this story in which we're to understand that yes some of the seed goes to waste some of the seed is doesn't work out but the seed that does land in the good ground gives a hundredfold which anybody listening to that would have said wow what a harvest that's the most interesting thing it's how much harvest there is so who wants to know more well they come disciples come around them they ask and then

Jesus quotes from Isaiah chapter 6 and well verses let's see verses 8 9 and following also

I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send he will go for us then I said here I am or here am

I send me and he said go and tell this people keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and be healed and then

I said Lord how long and they answered until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant land is utterly desolate the

Lord second places are many in the midst of the land yet a tenth will be in it and will return and be for consuming as a terebinth tree or as an oak whose stump remains when it is cut down so the

Holy Seed shall be its stump well the stump has showed up Christ has arrived and out of the remnant of Israel that had been judged having been destroyed by Babylon and of course after the exile they came back to the land back to the city and what remained and for some it heals from them the truth but then it is mysteries and he's going to all the cities as we talked about previously all of these cities are in grave danger within 40 years and we're going to be destroyed instructed by him how to survive then so he's preaching this he's give this parable and some of them hear it they don't actually hear it they see the picture he gave them in there what it is that he said who came to him is granted for them to understand and then he begins to explain the issue really is why isn't everyone agreeing with Jesus about these this good news the glad tidings of the kingdom why as some of the other ones are why can't they all be like Simeon and Anna rejoice rejoicing in the glad tidings why are they not like the disciples why are some like the

Pharisees and the scribes who want to kill him or his hometown has hometown crowd in the synagogue who wanted to push him off a cliff why are they not all responding the same way and then later on there's going to be a variety of responses as well so so what makes the difference well

Jesus explains how it is that the kingdom advances now the parable is this the seed is the

Word of God and all the cities he's sowing the glad tidings of the of the kingdom he's preaching the

Word of God so he's broadcasting the seed those by the wayside are the ones who hear then out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved now who are these folks who have been who have who have been given the word and given the word and given the word but then the devil comes and takes it up takes it away who are those who have been receiving the word hmm yeah religious people right all these all of these

Pharisees and Sadducees the scribes to cheat the priests and so on who have who have had from their youth the

Holy Scriptures which are are able to make you wise unto salvation but Jesus says you don't have the word abiding in you because they reject

Christ and so there are many who are like that in Jesus's audience those when they who when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root

I believe for a while in time of temptation fall away now there's a there was a who are the really excited bunch who were yeah yeah the feeding of the 4 ,000 and the 5 ,000 and the and the the massive multitudes who you know he's healing and delivering them from demons and like more more more until he starts you know talking you know eat my flesh and drink my blood and and they're like see ya you know so they have no root they're really excited and you know oh yeah glad tidings and then they all just kind of disappear under certain circumstances now the ones who fell among thorns are those who out and are choked with cares riches and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity we think of any examples of that kind of person the rich ruler yeah the rich ruler is a great example yeah

Judas Iscariot comes to mind somebody who chose riches cares of this life over the gospel the glad tidings of the kingdom so those are examples but the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having now when we when we read that we're not to then say well obviously

I had a good and noble heart which is why it works so well with me if we read the rest of the story that's not that's not

Jesus's point at all clearly having a noble and good heart

Jesus has already said in other places and we'll say say it again that this is the grace of God this is the grace of God that anybody would have a noble and a good heart there is there is none good no not one so it has to be you must be born again and so on so that's how we understand

I understand this and now when they hear the word they what what's what's the what's what's the response having been gifted with faith in the new birth well the life that they have manifests and that they keep the word so it turned it turns out to be obvious yeah over time there's a changed heart and so on and so Jesus is explaining okay how does the kingdom he says here's a glad tidings of the kingdom how does it how does it spread well it spreads by the

Word of God by the Word of God so in the Word of God why do some reject it why do some receive it he explains that usually it is the it is seen to be proper that then go through each one of the different soils and say you know here's how you fix yourself that's not

Jesus's story right that's not what he's talking about he's talking about the kingdom spreads by the word and the word sifts he's telling these parables and the parables sift and there are some who by the grace of God are are full of life and they receive the word and produce fruit and and and they bear forth a hundredfold well what's that mean well then that's more seed for more more spreading okay so that's that's the whole idea that's the whole agricultural cycle that these farmers would have if you had a hundredfold crop that means you would have enough to eat but then you also have enough to resew but then others would hear the word but it's the word that sifts but it's also the word that sows and it's the word that spreads and the kingdom prospers by the sowing of the words so everything is on the

Word of God on the Word of God the preaching of the Word of God the teaching of the Word of God spreading of the

Word of God that is at the heart of that's what matters of the sower now he is us he is in the process remember of making disciples and showing them what they're supposed to do so he puts the primacy of the preaching and spreading of the

Word of God to them and then we see that commitment pan out over the next questions that observations or thoughts about the vent yeah well you have you have professors who profess under certain circumstances what's the thing if you if you can convince somebody by evidences and they say well

I believe because of the evidence and if that really is truly the only reason why they believe then they can be unconvinced by other evidence if they become if they only believe because of an experience they had well then another experience can totally undo that that's why it has to be the grace of God that's be the