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Every year, fall comes and we celebrate the harvest season. We are celebrating the area that we live in. And when we celebrate the area that we live in, we're really celebrating the one who created the area where we live.
Throughout the world, there are numerous different cultures, numerous different places where people put down their roots and embrace the place where they live. Acts 17 verses 25 and 26 says that He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.
Having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. One of the many ways that we can honor God is by celebrating the place we call home.
We live in the North Country, 60 miles northeast of the Twin Cities, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the Midwest. We live in Wisconsin, an area that became a state in 1848 and became the 30th state of the Union.
We live in northwestern Wisconsin, right next to the St. Croix River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which is the most well-known river in America. Finally, we live in an area known as Eureka.
The English word means, I found it. The Danish immigrants who came here first, 150 years ago, were looking for a good place to live and what they said is, we found it. And we would agree with that. I love describing to people this area because it is a beautiful place.
It's a special place. And when I tell people outside of our areas that we have a little bit of everything. We have hills, forests, lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, and farmland. We have lots of wildlife, deer, coyotes, bears, and a large population of wood and deer ticks.
Not everything is so heavenly, right? That's what reminds us of the fall, right? Every time we see ticks. We have geese, swans, and eagles. Yes, geese. And we live in an area that's both a big hunting and fishing hotbed.
I know we have a couple guys, Sean and Maya and John. Different hunting trips, right? But they were on a hunting trip. But you don't have to go far, right? They can just go on their property and hunt because this is such a hotbed for hunting.
While we live our lives here in this area that we love and enjoy God's beautiful creation. We notice the big fields around us where the farmers do their work. Now I don't know much about farming. Very little about farming, so I'm not going to pretend to.
But what I do know is that once the ground softens after the cold leaves. This is when farmers plant their seeds in the field. And what farmers are doing is using what God has made, seeds, to produce food.
When seeds get enough water and sun, they grow. And once the fall comes, this is when the harvest comes. The time when healthy crops reach their full growth and are ready to be plucked. The only way there will be a harvest of healthy crops is if the seeds are planted properly.
It's a combination of a farmer doing his part and God doing his. Now it's hard to find a farmer who is an atheist. Very hard. Farmers rely on God to make things grow. But the farmer must do his part in planting the seeds at the right time and in the right place for the seeds to have any chance.
Now this morning as we find ourselves in the harvest season and we take notice of it. We are given the opportunity to apply what we see every year in this area that we live in to important spiritual truths.
Jesus lived in an agricultural world, much more than our world that we live in. And he often used agricultural images to convey spiritual truths. During his ministry, he described each person as one who has the potential to grow and reach the harvest, the final harvest as a healthy crop.
But the Bible also warns of the potential not to arrive at the harvest in a good place. So on this harvest service morning, we are going to revisit the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13 verses 1 through 9.
So at this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me there. And if you're using one of those red Bibles, it's on page 972. And the sermon is titled, The Final Harvest. I'm going to begin by reading these verses.
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea and great crowds gathered about him. So that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he 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 roots, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Here's our big idea. And this is the sad reality of life. Few make it safely to the final harvest. Few make it safely to the final harvest. And we'll see four reasons why in this text.
And the first reason why is this. Satan prevents penetration on the hard hearts. Let's begin by looking at the first response when the seed, the seed is the Word of God, when the seed hits this first soil.
In verse four, he says here that some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. So this field that Jesus is describing has a path next to the field. The soil next to the path would have been hard since this is where the people walked over it.
And when you walk over dirt a lot or mud a lot, it turns into a firm, hard soil. This hardness prevents the seed from taking root, so the seed stays visible on the ground near the path. And as the seed remains visible, the birds see it as easy food.
The seed that was planted to produce a crop is instead snatched away by those pesky birds. This seed that landed on hard soil was unsuccessful. It did not accomplish what the farmer had planned for this seed to do, which was to take root and to grow.
Now, what is helpful about this parable is that Jesus tells us exactly what each seed and each soil represents. This is what he says in verses 18 and 19 about this seed and this soil. 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. What we learn in these verses is that the seed represents the word of God and the soil represents the human heart. What is the human heart? Let me explain that real quickly here.
The heart is our desires. The heart determines what one's life will look like, because that's the deepest part of who we are. What do you want? You do what you do because you want what you want. That's the quote that I use a lot.
Jesus explains that the rocky, hard soil next to the path represents the rocky, hard heart of the one who hears the word of God. The word of God that Jesus mentions in verse 19 is the word of the kingdom.
Now, the word of the kingdom, we've already seen this in Matthew. In Matthew 3 .2, John the Baptist preached the word of the kingdom when he said to the Jewish people, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The word of the kingdom is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, that he's the Messiah, that he's the God-man, that he's going to die on the cross, that he was raised from the dead. John is a precursor to Jesus, and he's telling everybody, Repent.
The only way you're going to enter this kingdom in the future is if you repent. As this message hits the hard heart, Satan has no problem snatching it away. Satan represents the birds in this parable.
As the word hits the heart, it stops, and before the word can make any penetration, Satan snatches it away. When some people hear the message of the cross, they want nothing to do with it. They do not see themselves as sinners in need of a savior.
They do not see Jesus as the most glorious being in the universe. They do not see how glorious it will be to dwell with God in the age to come. Their minds are focused on the things of this life. They are selfish, they are prideful, and the gospel is of no interest.
When they hear the gospel, their eyes glaze over, their hearts harden because they don't want it. Now, who might this first seed and first soil describe? It can be a lot of different people. It can be the rabid atheist, yes.
It can be the one who wears sin on his or her sleeves, like the drunkard. Or even the professing Christian who is outwardly righteous, who thinks they are a good person, feels no sorrow for their sin, and is a Christian in name only.
Their trust is not in Christ, but in their own self-righteousness. So it can be lots of different people, but all these people have one thing in common. Their heart is incredibly hard. And when the word of God hits that heart, it does not penetrate.
You do not want to be the first seed and the first soil. Few make it safely to the final harvest, and the first reason why is that Satan prevents penetration on the hard heart. The second reason why few make it to the final harvest safely is that the word is only received superficially.
We see this in verses 5 and 6 with the second seed and the second soil. 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.
And what we just saw is that the first seed fell on hard soil, and Satan had no problem snatching that seed away. Now, in these verses, what Jesus says is that the second seed lands on soil that appears to be soft.
This appears to be good soil. But there's a problem. Right under the soft soil, there is hard ground, which makes it hard for this seed to take root deep into the ground. And the crop even appears to grow faster than the others as it springs up immediately.
But with this seed and soil, there is once again the problem here. It doesn't take root. So who does Jesus describe here? Who does He describe in these verses? Verse 20 and 21, 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. Now, this describes a person where many may be fooled by him or her.
You know what? We can fool people, right? Because we don't know people's hearts. We know a little bit. But we don't know the depths of someone's heart like God does. It's interesting. When Jesus preached in John 2, it says that some people followed Him.
But then the text says, but Jesus did not give Himself to them because He knew that they had not given themselves to Him. He knew that they did not truly believe in Him. So this is superficiality. The person maybe prayed the sinner's prayer, maybe walked an aisle, maybe signed a card, was baptized on the spot.
Now, some people who do that are truly saved, right? But others, not so much. What we must understand, as my old pastor used to say, not everyone who professes faith in Christ possesses faith in Christ.
The test of time proves the authenticity of one's faith. The Apostle John writes this in 1 John 2 .19, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. Some people start off good and then veer off into complete mediocrity where there's no life in Christ, no power of the Spirit working, showing no fruit that a true conversion took place, but they still hold to the Christian name.
People ask them, are you a Christian? Yes. What about your life? There's others who reach a point where they don't even do that. They don't even call themselves Christians anymore. But why do these people leave the faith?
Jesus tells us why. I love the Bible. People give all kinds of reasons why they leave the faith. The Bible tells us the real reason why people leave the faith. In verse 22, this is what Jesus says, Sorry, verse 21.
This does not mean that the difficulties of life got to the person. Because we all have difficulties in life. It's specifically referring to the difficulties related to the life of faith. The difficulties related to being a Christian.
Difficulties that are unique to Christians that other unbelievers do not experience because they're not Christians. In many places, it's not fashionable to be a Christian. The person who once appeared to be a Christian will not continue in places where it's not fashionable.
You see this with students who grew up in the church and go off to a secular college. They go to a secular school where it's not popular to be a Christian and the Christian faith they once identified with, they no longer do.
People want to fit in. But if you truly love Christ, following Him is much more important than fitting in with the in-crowd. In America right now, it's becoming less and less popular to be a Christian.
If you are a Bible-believing Christian, and they'll call you a fundamentalist Christian, if you are that, oh boy, look out. People are abandoning the faith left and right. There's been a high volume of deconversion stories.
You can find them on YouTube. You hear testimonies of people who come to faith in Christ. You also hear testimonies of people leaving Christ. When a country turns hard against biblical Christianity, this is a great revealer of people.
A hundred years ago, everybody was a Christian. It was fashionable to be a Christian. Not so in 2021. When Christianity is popular, people will ride the bandwagon. It's like a sports team that's doing well.
Where did all these fans come from? But true Christians walk with Christ, even when it's hard. But those who are flaky will not. And people show their true allegiance when there is hostility towards Christianity.
They abandon because they live in a country that lies about Christians. No one wants to be called names. These lies are that biblical Christianity is anti-love. They are the mean ones in the world. The bad guy is always the conservative Christian.
But everything is the opposite. Truly, Christians are the ones that love, but they are not painted that way by society. Sadly, many people fall for these lies. They begin to think that Christians are the problem.
And you can see how persecution comes. Satan puts these lies in people's minds. People believe them. And people actually think the most valuable people in society, Christians are the most valuable people in society because they are following God.
But they start thinking that the most valuable people in society, the most moral people in society, the best neighbors that you could ever have are actually the problem. That's how persecution comes. And then people are put to death.
Why? Because they're Christians. That's the crime. And you won't hear that in the public paper, right? It'll be something else. But that is the real reason. And when superficial Christians see these insults hurled at biblical Christians, they don't want to be identified with these bigots, right?
These mean people. So what do they do? Because of their desire to be approved by secular society, they no longer follow Christ. Instead of being fools with Christ, they desire to be applauded and loved by the world.
But how fleeting that is. The early joy that appeared to be a conversion to Christ was an illusion. And the test of time shows it. Over time, the cost was just too great. And the love of the world is too strong.
And it is the latter that wins out in this person's heart. You don't want to be the second seed in the second soil. Few make it safely to the final harvest. And the second reason why is that the word, for some, is only received superficially.
The third reason why few make it safely to the final harvest is that the word is lost through the distractions of life. Everybody on planet Earth is being described here. Now we're seeing the third group.
Verse 7. Jesus says, Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. What we read is that the farmer places the seeds down and they gather among thorns. You see these in your garden, for those who garden.
These unwelcome guests. And you want them gone so that your plants and your crops will grow. This, like the first two seeds and the first two soils, describes someone, a group here. And Jesus tells us who is described in verse 22.
As for the one who is 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. Now this one, this person here, is similar to the one we just saw.
The soil with hard ground under it describes the one who appears to be a believer, but over time is shown to not be. The third soil also appears to be a believer, but there are too many distractions in life to be fully committed to Christ, and the person shows where his or her true allegiance is.
Now this plant or crop that is choked by the distractions of life may be best described as American Christianity over the last 50 years. Since World War II, America has been the wealthiest country in the history of the world.
We live like kings and queens and we don't even realize it. If you're a middle class American, think of the luxuries that you live with. That King Solomon would be jealous of. Think about that. We read about King Solomon, that must have been a great experience having all this power and all this wealth and all these treasures.
We have more than him, and we're middle class Americans, a lot of us. Think about that. Now, let me be very careful here. Having money and possessions is not a bad thing. It's not sinful to have money and possessions.
It's God's blessing, in fact. It's His gifts, and we should enjoy those gifts, and we should be good stewards of those gifts. But there's also a danger. There's a temptation to be distracted away from God.
And this should hit home for us, because we see this in America. People buy nice cars, nice boats, nice homes, lots of property, lots of entertainment. You have a nice boat that still works, but you know what?
I'm going to get a nicer one, just because I can. Most of the world doesn't live that way. Again, money is not evil. Possessions are not evil. It is the love of these things that is evil. It is loving these things more than God that is evil.
The Apostle Paul warns us of the dangers of wealth in 1 Timothy 6, verses 9 and 10. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. We are not to hold our money and our stuff in too high a place.
It is interesting that Jesus talks to the rich young ruler. And the rich young ruler asks him, how might I inherit eternal life? And we think, well, he is going to give him the Romans road, right? He is going to share the gospel with him.
You know what he tells him? Sell all that you have, and then you will have eternal life. Why did he say that? Because that was his idol. He needed to give that up and follow him to truly belong to him.
Because that was his God. He needed to leave his God to follow Jesus. And what the text says is that he was sad. He went away sad because he was in love with his money and his possessions. The highest place for our desires belongs to God alone.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Matthew 22, verse 37. To love money or possessions more than him is dangerous. To have money and possessions is a huge problem among unbelievers, of course, who are enslaved by those things.
But this is also a trap that people in the Christian community can fall into. The one who laid us for this world is not truly following Christ. Now, Christians can struggle with worldliness, right? We struggle with all kinds of sins.
But the person who bears the name of Christ and yet is in love with the world, in love with the things of this life, the distractions of this life, the treasures of life, is not a true Christian. Because their money and their stuff and their distractions, it could be hobbies, this is where their true allegiance is.
You talk to people sometimes, like, why don't you come to Sunday worship? There's always something, right? There's always something. Why don't you read your Bible? There's always something. Why don't you pray?
There's always something. Why don't you go help that person who you know you should be helping? There's always something. The Christian life is doing those things, right? Living those things. Why don't you give up this idol?
Because there's an excuse. Well, I need to buy this. I need to do this. I need to do that. It's a life full of excuses. And God is left out. Think of the one who spends their time focused on the affairs of life and enjoying entertainment, right?
Or enjoying their stuff, enjoying their hobbies. But only does the Christian thing when it's convenient. Their so-called faith is on the back burner while their focus is on the things of this world. The professing Christian who is seduced by the cares and riches of this world does not bear any fruit.
As Jesus says at the end of verse 22, he doesn't bear fruit for this reason. The Spirit of God is not in him or her. The only way you can bear fruit is if the Spirit is working in your life. This person's eyes are fixed on the world and not on Christ.
And the lack of fruit shows this. And this proves this person is not a believer. But one who appeared to be, but was overtaken by the thorns and thistles of life. Jesus gives us this preview, right, in the final judgment.
Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not do all these things in your name? Did I not identify as a Christian? Did I not think highly of churches even though I never went? Did I not have a Bible on my shelf?
Did I not give to the church every once in a while? Did I not do this or that? And Jesus will say to that person, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. Because God was never their treasure.
Something else was their treasure. Few make it safely to the final harvest. The third reason why is that the Word is lost through the distractions of life. Here's the fourth and final reason. And this one is much more positive.
This is who we want to be. The fourth reason why few make it safely to the final harvest is that a minority receives the Word, producing godly fruit. Okay, let's see Jesus say this again in verses 8 and 9.
Other seeds fell on the good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. In Palestine, the region where Jesus ministered, seven out of eight seeds planted would produce. What Jesus says in the second half of verse 8 is that these seeds that land on really good soil are going to produce much more than that.
Not seven out of eight times the normal amount, but some will produce a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. You can see where this is going as Jesus explains who this fourth seed and fourth soil is.
This is the genuine believer. Let's read this. Verse 23. 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, another sixty, and another thirty.
So genuine believers are described here. One thing that all genuine believers have in common is that they will bear fruit. To bear fruit is to think, talk, and act like Jesus. No Christian bears fruit perfectly.
All of us have a long ways to go. Perfection will not be achieved until Christ returns or you die as the Christian. But, there is growth. Here's some helpful quotes that I've learned over the years from people.
It's not the perfection of your life, but the direction of your life. It's not that you are sinless, but you do sin less. Once you become a Christian, you have the ability, through the Holy Spirit, to bear good fruit to the glory of God and for your joy.
Jesus tells us in John 15 -2 that every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Interesting. And by the way, that verse, what that tells us is that God uses the trials in our life to prune us.
The Lord disciplines the one He loves. So if you're facing hardships in your life and you're following Christ, exactly, that's what the Bible says your life will be like. And be encouraged by that as God grows you through that.
All true believers will bear fruit. Just as the seed that lands in good soil and receives the proper sun and rain will grow, so does a genuine Christian who has the Holy Spirit. And He tells us how we grow.
It's this book that makes us grow. The Word of God. As it hits our soft heart as believers and changes us. That's how growth happens. We receive the Word when it's taught or read. The fourth seed and first soil is different from the first three seeds and first three soils who don't really receive it.
Remember, the first seed and the first soil doesn't even come close to receiving it. And then the other two look like they do, but they really don't. The people who are described as the fourth seed and the fourth soil don't object to the things that the Bible says.
We don't make excuses for what the Bible says. It says what it says and we stand on it. They don't select the things they like and leave out what they don't. They don't see the Bible as a book that has little to no relevance for their life.
I think about all these churches that are really more milk and not solid food. And what they say is that we are a relevant church. But what could be more relevant than the Word of God? The more Bible you get in a sermon, the more relevant the sermon is.
The less Bible, the less relevant. We need to understand that. The fourth seed and the fourth soil don't see the Bible as a book that is best kept on a shelf that collects dust. They don't see the preaching of the Word on Sundays having little importance for their life.
I'm not just coming up here just to do a religious service to satisfy our religious needs for the day and the week. This is war. We need the Word of God. And we don't just need to read it, it needs to be heralded.
It needs to be preached. This is really humbling. I'm standing here on behalf of Jesus Christ telling you what he said. This is important. And it's a humbling, right? Because I know how flawed I am. But someone's got to do it, right?
He calls certain people to do it. Preachers stand in the place of Christ telling us what the Word of God says. And we need the Word of God. True believers hunger for the Word of God. True believers love the Word of God.
And once again, believers do sin. And when we sin, we're not living out the Word. But the Spirit is working in a true believer's life. And that will show over time. The Spirit through the Word is what transforms a person.
As the Word hits the soft soil of the believing heart, the believer will bear fruit over time. Do you look like one of these crops that grows throughout the summer and reaches full growth in the fall?
There should be this growth that's there. Now you might wonder why some Christians are more mature than others. And what's helpful is that Jesus tells us that there's going to be different degrees of growth.
He says one will grow a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty. Not every believer grows as much as the other. We will be rewarded differently in heaven for how we grow. But any growth that a believer experiences shows the genuineness of one's faith.
Believers are not like the first seed and first soil that are disinterested in the Word of God. They're not like the second seed and second soil that appears to grow for a little while but withers. They're not like the third seed and third soil that gets choked out by the distractions of life.
No, the fourth seed and the fourth soil are those who grow steadily over time. I grew up in the Christian community. I tell you what, more than half those people are not walking with the Lord today. And this is twenty years later.
And my prayer is that everyone in this room twenty years from now, if Christ returned to Aries, which He might be back before then, but if twenty years passes, may we still be walking with Christ. That will show that you are the fourth seed and the fourth soil.
And God promises to do this in believers. Who keeps you as a Christian? Let me tell you the answer to that. It's not you. God does. He keeps you in the faith. And you respond to His work in your life.
But He is the primary one that causes you to persevere. Jesus said that, right? John 10, 27 and 28. My sheep hear my voice. 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.
Jesus keeps the believer. Isn't that amazing? The way that we have assurance of salvation is seeing fruit in our lives. And it is encouraging when other believers point out that fruit as well. As the fruit is shown, be very encouraged that this shows the Spirit's work in your life.
As you receive the Word and are changed by it, this shows that you are the fourth seed and the fourth soil. And we should point out that in each other's lives. You know what, I'm seeing this in your life.
Be encouraged. God is working in your life. I see that you are the fourth seed and the fourth soil. We should be encouraging one another in that way. But if you don't see fruit in your life and you have only been a Christian in name only, here's a word for you.
A number of years ago in seminary, I remember having a conversation with a student who recently became a Christian. And he wanted to learn about his new Christian faith, so he took classes there. And what he told me is that for many years he thought he was a Christian until he read the Bible.
What the Bible showed him is that he was not really a Christian. But as he read and listened to the Word, the Spirit changed this man to become the fourth seed and the fourth soil. And he was now truly following Christ.
Now if that is you today, listen to the Word in a way you never have before. And become a true follower of Christ. Understand that you are a sinner and Jesus went to the cross and He rose from the dead for you.
In order that you might be brought into a right relationship with God. And the Bible promises that the one who trusts in Jesus for salvation will have eternal life. This is the hope that we have. Christ and Christ alone.
Few make it safely to the final harvest as we've seen. We've seen four reasons why, right? The first one is that Satan prevents penetration on the hard heart. The second is that the Word is only received superficially.
And the third is that the Word is lost through the distractions of life. And the fourth and last one, a minority receives the Word producing godly fruit. Everyone on planet Earth is described in one of these four categories.
Whether it's the most powerful people in the world, or people in the middle, or people at the bottom. The poorest of the poor, the richest of the rich, the nobodies, the famous. Everybody is in one of these four categories.
And it is our goal, right? That we ourselves walk in that fourth seed and that fourth soil. And that we get as many people as we can to join that group. Because the one who does will be a healthy crop at the final harvest.
And that person will hear, you know, they won't hear, I never knew you. They will say, they will hear, oh I know you, I know about you. Well done, good and faithful servant. And you will dwell joyfully in his glorious presence forever.
Now next Sunday, we'll continue with Matthew, but we'll jump back to where we are right now, which is in chapter 16. Jesus will have a confrontation with the Jewish leaders once again. And this conversation is very interesting because it's with people who are smart.
But Jesus always says the right thing, right, at the right time to the audience he's speaking to. So we're going to hear what he says next week, Lord willing. But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father in heaven, thank you for saving people. Lord, you love to save people. Every day, you are saving people. Angels rejoice in heaven over one sinner who repents. So Lord, thank you for the promises of scripture.
Thank you for the hope that we have in Christ. And my prayer, Lord, is that this church would be full of people who are the foreseed in the foresoil. And that we would be with each other, Lord, encouraging one another over the long haul.
And that you would use us in great ways to make a difference in this world and in this community. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.