Parable of the Sower (Dr. Daniel Biddle Genesis Conference 2021)

I want to look here at a scripture passage called the Parable of the Sower, where Jesus is giving this analogy and he's talking about the seed, which is

God's word or the kingdom of God. And he talks about these four different conditions in which the seed goes out.

So the DNA of the seed has a potential to grow when it's going to grow, but it falls in these different types of soil conditions that are going to result in growth or not.

There's birds by the wayside that can come and eat up the seed. There's a stony soil, thorns, and then there's fertile soil.

So we'll watch a short video here that will explain and overview this parable. The Parable of the

Sower. Behold, the sower went out to sow.

As he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

Other seed fell on the rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

And after the sun had risen, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away.

Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

So to summarize, we have four different types of soil situations for this seed.

The first is where it says that Jesus says the devil is going to come and take away the word that would have otherwise been planted in their hearts and their minds that would have grown up into productive action.

So that's one thing that can happen is the devil can come and take away the word. The next situation is the seeds have no root.

They take place in believers that believe for a while, but then they fall away. The next one is when the seed is choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life.

And then of course is what we want, which is the good soil, where they're going to return thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold what's planted in them.

So if you break these down, the first one where the devil comes and takes away the word can be parallel to someone that just has disbelief.

They come out of tribulation or persecution because of the word, and they said, you know what, it just must not be true anyhow.

The next one can be doubt. If they have no root and it's not taking place, they start believing God's word, then it hits a rock and they can't believe it anymore.

That would be like doubt. Choked with cares, riches, and pleasures are analogous to when people are distracted by the world.

So the seed of God's word will not grow. Then of course, there's a good ground. We want to focus on these top two, the disbelief and the doubt.

This is where creation apologetics can really shine because they can help people understand that God's word is true from the start.

They don't have to doubt it, and then their roots can grow deeply. Those seeds will be secured and then fruitful trees.

So Jesus is talking here and he says, because the seed had no root, it withered away.

And he's talking, it says that some fell along stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up.

We have a lot of quick believers here, so sometimes it happened because they had no depth of earth.

But when the sun was up and they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. He goes on and says, but he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself.

He endures for a while. But when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

And we've been doing this ministry for a while. I can't tell you the number of parents that have come up to us and said,

I raised my kid in church. They went to one youth group and they went away to their first semester of college at a secular school and they're come back now for Christmas as a self -reported atheist.

It happens quite a lot and it's because of this tribulation that happens and the doubt and the disbelief that can foster into a faith that just does not stick.

So tribulation means a pressing, a pressing together or pressure or oppression, affliction, persecution, tribulation, distress, and straits.

So in order to get a college degree nowadays, you're required to go through at least seven different specific courses that they regard as core coursework, things like geology and philosophy and other classes like this, where this student is going to get inundated and bombarded with evolutionary thought.

They need to be prepared for that. And persecution is to put the fighter to drive away.

So a lot of these seeds that are planted in the minds and hearts of students today are going to come under this type of pressure.

Here's an example of what type of persecution we can get all the way from when they're kids listening to programs like that shown on the screen or the crudes of these movies.

I was on a plane once and the person to my left was watching the war of the planet of the apes.

The person to my right was watching the movie about Lucy that's all about, it's based on how we only supposedly use 10 % of our brain, which is another myth.

And so here are just two people right on a plane watching these movies being steeped in movies that were overtone with evolutionary thought.

So and of course, there's a 250 pages of evolution teaching that they're going to get in school.

So these students nowadays are under a lot of pressure, a lot of tribulation. And here the word says, but the ones on the rock are like those who when they hear, receive their word with joy, but they have no root who believe for a while.

And in time of temptation or testing, they fall away. We want God's word to grow deeply in people.

We think that it has to go down all the way down to Genesis. If they're not believing Genesis one to 11, it's real history.

The roots are going to start going down and then they're going to hit rocks of all. What about the science and Bible? What about Charles Darwin?

What about deep time? What about ape to human evolution? A lot of Christians today, their faith tentacles are starting to go down in the root system in the soil, but they're bumping into rocks and they're stopping.

And if the roots don't go down, the tree will not fruit or it will only have a little bit of fruit. We believe that a strong root system requires a thorough, deep belief and understanding of Genesis one to 11 as real history.

What happened to me when I was a teenager and going through my young twenties, I did believe in the

Bible. I would say it was a spirit filled Christian. I love Christ, love this word. I was just undeclared on the origins idea.

I didn't know any better. And then later in life, when I came to understand that the

Genesis account was real history, I had to go back and build these kinds of things.

These root structures called stilt roots. This is a particular species of palm tree that grows up and when it's in this different type of area, it's got to have stronger roots.

So these roots come down after the fact and make the tree strong. That's exactly what

I had to do in my life. I had to go back and regrow some deeper roots that I would have stronger faith.

We don't want to be like this tree that did not have a taproot that hits the nearest storm, didn't have deep soil, is able to just fall right over.

We want to have wide roots and we also want to have a taproot. A taproot is one that goes down deep so that when you hit the winds and the tides of life, you're still going to stand strong.

Psalms 1 says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the

Lord and in his law, or the word could be Torah there, which is the first five chapters of the Bible, including

Genesis. He meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.

That is a promise from God's word that if we study and meditate and believe in revering

God's word, our root tentacles would go down deep and we will not fail to bear our fruit in season.

Before we know it, our time on this earth will come to an end and all we're left with is a series of choices that lead to the outcome of our lives.

Is that true, dad? What, Parker? There used to be fish. Yeah, I guess that's true.

I don't know, son. Um, no, son. You are a godly man.

It's not possible for you to make me feel comfortable. Genesis might just be a fairy tale.

We can trust what the Bible says. Just giving you what you want. Now you're asking me what I want?

Life, it's a series of choices built on a foundation. The only question is, what is your life founded upon?