Who is Going to Till the Soils?

The Parable of the Sower Is Not About Self-Tilling Soil

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 13th chapter. 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. The birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on the 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 up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear. Hear then 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.

This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself. He 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 the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, they choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on the 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. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Now, if you've been in the church for any length of time, you've heard sermons on the parable of the sower and the soils.

Yeah, let me tell you usually how that sermon goes. Are you ready? Well, there's four soils, you know. There's the path, there's the rocky, there's the weedy, and then there's the good soil.

So which soil are you?

And what steps are you going to be taking today and this week in order to remove the rocks and the weeds and the hardness of your heart so that you can be a good soil? You see, it turns into a law text, and there is no gospel in it when you do that.

And here's the issue, all right? Here's the issue. This is not the parable of the self-tilling soil, okay? That's not what this is about at all. And we'll take a little bit of an excursion here and talk about why Jesus is preaching in parables.

So, remember last week, we talked about Jesus' gospel manifesto. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest, right? Yeah, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. And what does Jesus do after throwing down the freeness of the forgiveness of sins, the freeness of salvation, what does Jesus do?

He heads out and he, well, he sets the captives free, man. He totally upsets the Pharisees and their false commandments regarding the Sabbath. He declares his disciples to be completely guiltless regarding breaking their man-made commands.

He heals a fellow who has a shriveled arm, whom the Pharisees, according to their theology, would condemn as a man who is being punished by God because of either the sin of his parents or his own sin.

And Jesus is just going out and doing it, man. He's taking people who are demonized, casting out the demons, restoring them to their right mind. And what is it that the Pharisees need to do at this point?

Rather than praising God that they are witness to such amazing signs and wonders, they create this brand new slander narrative. And the slander narrative goes like this. Well, the reason why, how he's able to do all this stuff is because Jesus is doing these things by the power of Beelzebul.

So Jesus is in league with the devil himself. And so that's how the narrative goes. And so what does Jesus do in response to this? Well, he begins preaching in parables, not so they will understand, but so that they won't.

It's a form of judgment against them. Now, if you've ever heard any of the seeker-driven vision casting leaders, what are their justifications during the summer on preaching on movies? Well, because Jesus preached in parables, man.

So we can preach on this year's summer blockbusters.

We can preach on.

And it always just goes horribly wrong. But their justification is that Jesus spoke in parables. And then we'll say something like this. Man, Jesus was the greatest communicator ever. And Jesus, man, he would take things that people could totally understand in their day-to-day life and use them as illustrations so that the word of God would come alive.

That's not why Jesus preached in parables. And you'll see that as we work our way through the text. A little bit of a side note there. So let's take a look at this parable and what's going on. I always like to think of it this way.

Jesus in Matthew 5 preached the Sermon on the Mount. This is the Sermon on the Beach, okay, which would be really cool, you know, because there's, like, no beaches here in North Dakota and Minnesota. I miss that, man.

Anyway, I grew up in Southern California, being able to go to Huntington Beach, to Newport Beach, to Seal Beach, to go bodyboarding and surfing. Alas, and have In-N-Out, but that's a different story altogether.

I digress. So our gospel text goes this way. So that same day, after Jesus was accused of casting out a demon by the power of Beelzebub, Jesus went out of the house, sat beside the sea, 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 the many things in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell along the path. Birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on the rocky ground where they did not have much soil.

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 up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear. And now watch the panic in the disciples, because that's what happens next.

You'll note that Jesus didn't have a leadership meeting, you know, prior to preaching this sermon, and the disciples are caught, like, totally flat-footed, off guard here. What's going on, Jesus? So, the disciples came to him.

Why do you speak to them in parables?

So, and here's his answer. To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. To them it's not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And this is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled.

That says, you will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they've closed, lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.

Well, there we go. We have it from Jesus' own mouth that the reason he's preaching in parables is so that they would not understand. This is an act of judgment on his part. But you're going to note that earlier Jesus said, to you has been given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom.

To you.

And so, I would like to remind you, this is one of the unique features of the Gospel of Matthew, at least one of the things I think is quite unique, is that you, I mean, yeah, you, wherever you are right now, whether you're in Australia, or Poughkeepsie, or in Canada, it doesn't matter, wherever you are right now, you are part of the inner circle of the people who get to know what Jesus meant by this parable.

And so, you'll note that Matthew is writing this in a way where you are being discipled along with him, kind of in real time, if you would. Matthew was in on this inner circle meeting, and he was given the information as to what the parable meant, and he's writing this as if you're one of Jesus' disciples, and you are being discipled along with him, because you are.

I'm assuming that's the reason why you're here today. If not, then maybe we should have a conversation after this service, but you get the idea here. So, note then that Jesus says, Blessed are your eyes for they see, your ears for they hear, and truly the disciples who witnessed this and heard these things, their eyes were blessed, and their ears were blessed.

For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, did not see it. Hear what you hear, and did not hear it. But you're going to note here, although our physical eyes were not there at this point, we can kind of look with the eyes of faith, but we are hearing the exact words that were spoken by Jesus to his disciples.

And so, our ears are blessed today in hearing this. And so, you'll note then that this first parable, Jesus breaks it down. He breaks the parable down, and in doing so, gives us the pattern by which we can then interpret and understand other parables.

And so, this is a model parable, if you would. And the disciples, you can see in chapter 13, they have to be instructed again as to how these parables work. So, here's what he says. So, hear then 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. This is what was sown along the path. Now, here's the thing.

It's really tempting to preach this parable in this way. Well, that's talking about a particular person at a particular time in their life. This is only referring to the unbeliever. You know, okay, that's not what's going on here, because note what Jesus says, that whenever, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, now, all of a sudden, this begins to prick at our hearts.

And here's the reason why. How many of us can say, well, every time we read the word of God, our mind is fully engaged and we are completely enthralled by it and reading it and understanding it. But if you're like me, there are plenty of mornings when you have woken up and you've opened up your Bible to read it and have your devotional time.

And what has happened? You have a page open in front of you, and although you're physically reading it, your mind is working on your grocery list, your list of tasks to do that day. And you'll note that your mind and heart are far from what your eyes are looking at and reading.

Or am I the only one that's happened to?

Right?

And so, you'll note here, these soils are not describing static states. These soils are describing real temptations and real sins that we all fall into, even as Christians. And so, you'll note then, I can think of many times, and if you're honest with yourself, you can also think of many times when the preaching of the kingdom, the word of God is before you or preached to you or being read by you.

And well, it's just hitting a brick wall. It's hitting a hard path. And so, you'll note, this is describing something that each and every one of us still wrestles with today.

Why?

Because we still have a sinful nature. Now, what about the next soil? And so, as for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word, immediately receives it with joy, and has no root in himself, but endures for a while.

And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away. Oh, and by the way, this is a temptation for all of us, because who of y 'all really enjoy being raked over the coals for your confession of the truth of Scripture and of Christ?

You know, if you speak the truth about Jesus on Facebook, you're likely to be put in Facebook jail. That's just what happens nowadays. And you speak the truth about Jesus and the exclusivity of the claims regarding Christ, and you agree with the Bible, and you say the truth about what is sin, and what is good, and what is evil.

Oh, man, that's hate speech, man. So, you know, I would let you all know that one of the things we discovered last week is that the Pirate Christian website has, by a major corporation that puts out, you know, like firewall information, you know, firewall servers for Fortune 500 companies, that the Pirate Christian website has been labeled a religious hate speech site.

Hate speech.

And so, if you're at work, you can't even access PirateChristian .com. Apparently, I'm a purveyor of religious hate speech. Okay, but you'll note then, the temptation is to not speak the truth because we all recognize that speaking the truth, well, that could cause us to not be invited to the right parties.

That could cause us to be blocked on social media. That could cause us to be labeled as a hater and things like that. And so, always again, the temptation is in the face of persecution, in the face of tribulation, in the face of slander, that you just fall away.

And that's something that we all struggle with, even myself. I struggle with that even to this day. And so, you'll note that this is not a static situation. This is a temptation that is being spoken of here.

And the result of this is that when falling away,.

Well, you know,.

The word of God is fruitless.

In your life.

Now, as for the, what falls among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word and cares of the world. The deceitfulness of riches. Choke the word and it proves unfruitful. This is the temptation to idolatry.

Trusting in riches and mammon to fulfill your needs. And also, of course, of worldliness, which then, you know, kind of goes to the fact of, well, I don't want to not be able to have the best things that the world offers.

And of course, you know, and so the focus then gets off of the word of God and the weeds and the thorns. They choke the word and the word proves to be unfruitful. But this is a temptation that each and every one of us still faces.

Every one of us. And so you'll note, as we read through the parable of the soils and the sower here, who of you can say, wait a second, I don't have none of that pathy soil. I don't have no rocks. I ain't got no weeds.

Well, the thing is, is that if you're honest with yourself according to God's law and what Jesus is saying here, you'd recognize that your heart's got pathy hardness to it. It's got plenty of rocks and it's chock full of weeds because you still have a sinful nature.

Now listen to what he says. As for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word, understands it. He indeed, listen to the phrase, bears fruit, yields in one case, a hundredfold, another 60, another 30.

By the way, the hundredfold 60 and 30 is not talking about tithing. So if you've ever heard somebody preach and twist this text to be about tithing, that person is teaching for shameful gain things he ought not to teach.

So you'll note then,.

We all want to be good soil. So how does one go from having path, hardness, rockiness, and weeds to being good soil? Well, again, I don't know of any soil that tills itself. Not one. The farmers out here, I see how they work.

The soil actually has to be tilled up. And the seeds have to be planted. The soil has to be worked on. And so you note it says, he indeed bears fruit. Now, wait a second. Biblical Christianity teaches that sanctification is bearing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

The fruit of the Spirit. So how does one go about doing that? Do I need to give you a list of things that you need to do in order to... No, no, no, no, no. That's not how this works. So think of it this way.

This is where our epistle text from last week as well as this week working together are quite helpful. So let me go back into Romans chapter 7 and part of what we heard last week regarding the fact that as Christians, we seem to be at war with ourselves.

And in fact, we are. Because you and I, we still have a sinful nature and it's corrupted by sin. But we also, because of the Word of God, we have been regenerated and made alive in Christ and we are a new creation in Christ.

And here's what the normal Christian life looks like. Two forces butting up against each other. And so consider the words that Paul says in Romans chapter 7. So he says in verse 18, I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.

I have the desire to do what's right, but I do not have the ability to carry it out. Listen to what he said. I have the desire to do what's right, but I don't have the ability to carry it out. That's him talking in the present tense as a Christian.

Now look at your own life. I have the desire to do what's right, Pastor, but I don't have the ability to carry it out.

Exactly.

So who's going to break the bottleneck? And that's the question here. Because remember, bearing the fruit of the Spirit is different than you, by your own power and self-righteousness, pulling yourself up by your moral bootstraps.

That's not what's being talked about here. So Paul, listen to what he says. I have the desire to do what's right, I don't have the ability to carry it out. I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Can I get a witness?

Does anyone sit there and go, yeah, that sounds a lot like me. Exactly. Now if I do not do what I want, it's no longer I who do it, it's sin that dwells within me. And this is not an excuse that Paul's giving.

He's speaking the truth, inspired by the Holy Spirit. So I find it to be a law, that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law that dwells in my members.

Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Who of us cannot say the same thing about ourselves right now, presently? Oh, wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me from this body of death?

Because it seems like, when it comes to the new man that I am in Christ, and my old Adam, always and again it seems they fight themselves into a stalemate. So that I do not do what I want, who's going to break the tie?

Well, watch where Paul goes next. He says, Well, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that I myself serve the law of God with myself and my mind, with my flesh, I serve the law of sin, and then in chapter 8, here comes the gospel.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, are you in Christ Jesus? Of course you are. I'm assuming that you are, because you wouldn't be here.

Today if you weren't.

You wouldn't want to be hearing the word if you weren't. But if you're not, well, then we'll talk.

We'll talk.

But so note then, everybody who is in Christ Jesus, who have been baptized into his death, into his resurrection, filled with the Holy Spirit, there is no condemnation.

Why?

Because Jesus took all your hard-heartedness, your pathy soil, your rocky soil, he took all the gunk of your weedy soil, and I hate weeds, they're just terrible to deal with. Rocks seem to be easier than weeds, because they don't grow back.

He took all of that and he carried it on himself, and he went to the cross and he bled and died for every one of your sins. So note, the solution to the stalemate between the new man you are in Christ and the old man is what?

The gospel. Let's come back to the basics. You are bled for. You are died for. Your sins are forgiven in Christ. You are set free from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. There is no condemnation for you.

You will not hear from God, depart from me, for I never knew you, because he has bestowed you with the gift of mercy, grace, forgiveness, all out of his abundant.

Love.

For you. So there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the spirit of life, it sets you free in Christ from the law of sin and death. You see, God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do.

Jesus did it all for you. He did this by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not, and listen to these words, who walk not according to the flesh, but walk according to the spirit.

Now, the word walk is a Hebraism, which basically means how you conduct your life. Do you conduct your life according to the flesh, or do you conduct your life according to the spirit? Which spirit? The Holy Spirit.

To conduct your life according to the Holy Spirit? Well, you'll note the Holy Spirit now is the tie-breaker between the two. For those who live according to the flesh, they set their minds on the things of the flesh.

Those who live according to the spirit, they set their minds on the things of the spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death. To set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh, it is hostile to God.

It doesn't submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, and they don't. But you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you.

Listen to those words. You are not in the flesh if, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. Does God's Holy Spirit dwell in you? Well, of course He does. Have you been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

What does Peter say on the day of Pentecost? Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. You will receive, right?

So, have you been baptized? You have the Holy Spirit. Indeed. Do you trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins? Have you been brought to penitent faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel? You have the spirit.

So, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ doesn't belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, and He is, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. So, if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, and He does, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in you.

So, then, brothers, we are debtors. Now, let's talk about this real quick. I've seen this happen before. So, you know, always and again, college students get themselves in trouble, right? So, no sooner does an 18-year-old head off into the world, okay, and they head to college, and the first thing that happens is the banks give them a credit card, right?

And so, they get the credit card. First thing they do is they run up thousands of dollars in debt, and they don't have the money to pay it off. And so, what ends up happening is they start getting phone calls from the debt collectors.

You know, we're here to, uh, we need to get you to pay up on the credit card debt that you owe. And so, you'll know that everybody who we are indebted to, they have a stake in any money that we bring in, alright?

But note, then, watch how this works. We are debtors, but we're not debtors to the flesh. So, when the flesh comes and shows up and says, I'm here to collect my debt, you sit there and go, dude, the debt's been paid, man.

Get out of here. I owe you nothing, okay? But who are we indebted to? We're not indebted to the flesh. We're indebted to Christ, right? So, if you live according to the flesh, you'll die. And then, watch the phrase, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

And there's the tiebreaker. Our new man in Christ is in this stalemate struggle with our sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And the Holy Spirit is there to do what?

To produce holiness.

In us, right? Produce in us the fruit of the Spirit. So, how then do we conquer that sinful flesh that is.

In us? You can't.

The Holy Spirit does it. So, if by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Think of the prayer of Augustine in one of his writings against Pelagius. He says, you know, that when it comes to our sanctification, we can't.

Do it because.

Of our sinful flesh. So, we have to say something to this effect. Augustine says, we cry out to God and we say, God, your holy commandment commands me to do these things. Your holy commandments command me not to do these things, but I do not have the power in and of myself to obey your commands.

So, please, through your Holy Spirit, give me the strength to mortify my sinful flesh so that I may obey the commands that you command me to do. So, by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body.

And you cry out to God and you say, God, I can't do it.

I know I'm.

Wrong when I sin against you. It is wrong for me to be inattentive to your word. It is wrong for me.

To look.

Around me and be afraid of suffering for the name of Christ. It is absolutely terribly wrong of me for me to look at the cares of the world and let that choke out your word. Lord, I am not capable of tilling up the soil of my heart.

Please, by your Spirit, remove the rocks. Remove the weeds. By your Holy Spirit, break up the paths so that your word, so that your word may produce in me through the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit. And so you see the difference here.

So, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you'll live. And that's what the Holy Spirit is there to do. So, you cry out to God, the Holy Spirit, God, I know I'm guilty and I just don't have the ability to obey you.

Everything's grinded down to a halt. Don't worry. The Holy Spirit within you, He will give you the strength.

By faith.

Because you are a child of God to put to death the deeds of the body. All who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. And you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. You'll note the Holy Spirit says, don't worry. You're a child of God. You're forgiven, you're pardoned, you're loved. You're bled for, you're died for.

So, and if children, then we're heirs, heirs of God, and we are fellow heirs with Christ. And notice, all of this is by grace, through faith, because of what Christ Jesus did, and because those who are in Him, there is no condemnation.

So, put the condemnation aside. It's right to say that you're guilty, and it's right to call out to God and say, God, help. I can't do this. And by the Spirit, by the power of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit produces in us the fruit of the Spirit, and mortifies our sinful flesh.

So, you are heirs of God. You are fellow heirs with Christ. And then note, then he says, provided we suffer with Him, in order that we may also be glorified with Him. And that's the calling of all Christians.

You're not called to have your best life now. Right now, you're called to suffer with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit Tills the Soil of the Heart

So,.

Now you know that the parable of the soils is not talking about some static state, and I'm giving you no list of things to do. You know, you've got to apply yourself, lean in, be intentional, and all this kind of stuff.

No, repent.

Repent of your hard-heartedness. Repent of your weeds. Repent of your rocks. And do not worry. Your great Savior, Jesus Christ, has bled and died for you and given you the Holy Spirit. And He will till up the soil of your heart, so that God's Word bears fruit in your heart.

Some hundredfold, some sixty, another thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Grace, Faith, and the Fruit of the Spirit in Romans 7–8

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