WWUTT 2016 The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-17)

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It is often said that because Jesus spoke in parables, then we should use illustrations to help other people understand what

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Jesus said. But some of the things that Jesus said were meant so that people would not understand them when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Matthew this week, we are in Chapter 13, where Jesus shares a series of parables, beginning with the parable of the sower.

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I'm going to start out by reading that whole parable and its explanation, so going through verse 21 out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea, and large crowds gathered to him.

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So he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying,

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Behold, the sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

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And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

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But when the sun had risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

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And others fell on the good soil, and were yielding a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

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He who has ears, let him hear. And the disciples came and said to him,

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Why do you speak to them in parables? And Jesus answered and said to them, To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

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For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

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Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

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And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, You will keep on hearing, but will not understand.

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You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, lest they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and I would heal them.

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But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

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For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

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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.

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This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. And the one on whom seed was sown on rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

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Yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

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And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

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And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.

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This is the parable of the sower, or as some have also referred to it as parable of the soils.

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The names that we have given to the parables, those are our titles, they're not the titles as Jesus gave them.

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For example, the parable of the prodigal son, as I've heard Votie Bauckham say, it's more accurately titled the parable of the older brother, since that's really who the parable is about.

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We can talk about that another time. That is in Luke chapter 15, by the way. So here is the first place, and Jesus has spoken metaphorically before over the course of Matthew's gospel, but this is where we actually have the discourse where he shares a series of parables, and he explains the reason for the parables.

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When the disciples ask him, why do you speak to them in parables, Jesus says, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

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And you can see the three sections of this plainly. You have the parable as it's given in verses one through nine.

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The reason for the parables in verses 10 through 17, and then the parable of the sower explained in verses 18 to 23.

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So that's how this is divided up. And again, this is the next discourse. This is the third of the five discourses of Jesus recorded in Matthew.

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This one specifically dealing with parables of the kingdom. We have other parables that are coming up, but all of these parables are revealing the mysteries of the kingdom.

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Just as Jesus said in Matthew 13, 11. So Jesus is teaching the crowds.

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Those who will come to understand the meaning of the parables are the ones to whom

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Jesus has revealed this meaning. It has been given to them to understand those things, but there are others to whom it has not been given, just as Jesus explained.

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And as we had seen previously in Matthew 11, Jesus praying on behalf of his disciples.

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And he says in Matthew 11, 25, at that time, Jesus says, I praise you, father,

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Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

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Yes, father, for this way was well -pleasing in your sight. So Jesus had said that earlier, that there are some things

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God is going to reveal to that he will not reveal to others. And this is the purpose of the parables.

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You've probably heard it said before that Jesus spoke in parables, he spoke in illustrations so that people can understand what it is that Jesus is talking about.

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And so likewise, we should be in church using parables or illustrations, metaphors, things like that to help people better understand.

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But that wasn't really the purpose of the parables. It was actually had a double meaning.

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Yes, there was on the one hand, Jesus putting these things in terms that we could understand so that we might know the mysteries of the kingdom.

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And that was given to his disciples to be able to see those things in that way. But he also put these things in parables to hide them from those who were not meant to understand this to those.

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It had not been revealed. It had not been revealed to them the mysteries of the kingdom. It was not going to be revealed to them.

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So it's not just that Jesus used this metaphorical language or these illustrations for the purpose of helping people understand.

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In some cases, he uses these illustrations so that they won't understand. That's explicitly what he says to his disciples.

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So it goes either way. With the disciples, with those who are meant to understand it, this is why those illustrations are given for them to be able to know the mysteries of the kingdom.

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But it is also given in a way to hide the secrets of the kingdom for those who are not meant to understand.

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And so Jesus begins here. We look at verses one through nine, which is the giving of the parable itself.

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On that day, Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea and large crowds gathered to him so that he got in a boat and sat down and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

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So this is, at least as far as Matthew's narrative goes, this is immediately after Jesus had been teaching, where there was a man who came and said, hey, your mother and your brothers and sisters are all standing outside waiting to see you.

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And Jesus said, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And then stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, behold, my mother and my brothers.

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For whoever does the will of my father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.

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And you almost kind of see that same sort of explanation play into the parables here. The one who does the will of the father is going to be the one that understands or will be shown to him the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

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So then Jesus gets in a boat. He's out on the water because there's so many people.

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So the crowd is there on the shore. Jesus is standing in a boat a little bit off of the shore and he spoke many things to them in parables.

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So verse three, speaking many things in parables. And then we have this series of parables that goes through the rest of chapter 13.

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The first parable he gives, of course, we commonly refer to as the parable of the sower. Behold the sower went out to sow.

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Now the word here for sow, very interestingly enough, is the same word that we use for broadcast.

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This was actually the first parable that I went through on this podcast when

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I was teaching very early on. The very first book I went through was Philippians. I don't know if it was right when

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I got done with Philippians that I went into a series, like a week -long series, just on the parable of the sower.

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And in that series, I explained that this word for sow is the same word we use for broadcast.

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So when the sower, in the old time way of sowing, where a sower went out with a seed bag and he had it around his shoulder and he would put his hand down into the seed bag, take a handful of seed, and then he would throw his arm across his body, casting the seed into the freshly tilled soil.

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And this was broadcasting. That's what that was called. And so that same word ended up getting used for television and radio.

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When we send out a message, we are broadcasting. And then there's a pun on that word that has now been, you know, it was first used by Apple.

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They came up with the iPod. And so doing a broadcast that would be downloaded on your iPod became called podcasting.

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But it's the same thing. It was just a pun on that word that it started being called by that name.

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But we're still broadcasting. It's just not over airwaves, at least in a certain sense. You are getting your podcast via airwaves,

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I suppose, if you're listening to it on your phone and you've got it connected to Wi -Fi or your cell signal or whatever, and that's how you're listening to this.

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There's still a broadcasting that's going on, but it's on a more personal listening device. And so it's been re -termed podcasting.

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I don't really think that's relevant. I think it should still be called broadcasting, but that's just me. Everybody's got a podcast.

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Everybody's got a broadcast. But yeah, this is where that term comes from. The sewing, which was broadcasting, which we would use even for sending out a message over radio or television waves.

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So the sower is sowing seed, and we know by the explanation that comes later that this seed represents the message of the kingdom.

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So he is broadcasting. He is sowing seed or sending out a message, as the parable would have you understand.

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So as the sower sows, some of the seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

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Now, this wasn't like he's walking on a dirt road, as you might picture it, and then throwing seeds into the ditch or out into the field or something like that.

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Whenever they would till up their fields, they would till up the soil, turn it up so that it's good for receiving seed, and then crops would grow and rose.

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They've been doing this for thousands of years. It's the way you plant crops. But they would have these areas of packed dirt, and it wouldn't be very wide, like a foot or a foot and a half wide or something like that.

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Just wide enough for one person to walk down. And so they'd have that packed dirt where he would walk down those rows and cast the seed.

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And then that packed dirt area would also serve as a place where the farmer could walk to check on his crops later as they were growing up.

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So he would walk down those rows again and be looking at the buds on the plants and things like that. And so this was the path, or the road, as it would be called, although it's just not a road as you might think of a dirt road that a car would drive down.

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This is just a little narrow strip of packed dirt that he's walking on so that he could cast his seed into the freshly tilled soil.

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But as he's casting that seed, this is the picture his disciples would have in their mind. He's throwing his arm across his body like this, and the seed is scattering out.

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But some of that seed just falls right there in front of him. It just kind of pitter -patters onto the path that he is walking on.

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It doesn't fall into freshly tilled soil. And so falling on this packed path, it can't get into the dirt and then, you know, blossom, take root, or anything like that.

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So the seeds, they just fall right there on the road, and birds come and eat them up. As birds do, they'll eat the seed that the farmer sow if it doesn't fall into the soil and get packed into the soil.

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So then he says that there's other seed that falls into rocky places. That's verse 5.

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And there wasn't much soil where the seed fell into the rocky places, so immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil.

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So just like the seed is there, it kind of gets into the ground a little bit, but it's in rocks.

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It can't get under the soil to really take root. And because it's right there among the rocks, for the seed, you know, it kind of feels like, hey,

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I'm in the ground, I'm going to start blossoming. So it does. There's a plant that starts to appear there for a little bit of time, but because it has no root, it doesn't last.

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It's going to wither away. When the sun had risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away is what

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Jesus says about those seeds in verse 6. So then in verse 7, and others fell among the thorns.

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And the thorns came up and choked them out. And then others fell on good soil and were yielding a crop, some 100 -fold, some 60, and some 30.

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So with the case of the rocks and the case of the thorns, there is some kind of plant that comes up for a little bit of a time.

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But because there's no root with the seed that falls into the rocks, it doesn't last.

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The sun scorches the plant, and it withers away and dies. With the plant that comes up among the thorns, there's something there for a bit of a time, but it's choked out by the thorns, and the plant eventually dies.

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But then Jesus says there's some that falls in good soil, and it yields a crop, some 100 -fold, some 60, and some 30.

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And he says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. So there's only certain people who are going to understand what

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Jesus is talking about. And it doesn't appear that Jesus explains the parable to the people who are there, who he's been teaching, standing in the boat, teaching the crowds that are sitting on the shore.

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He teaches it to his disciples. So we go on into verse 10. The disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables?

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And Jesus answered and said to them, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

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So the disciples are with Jesus as he's teaching the crowds, but the crowds don't get to hear the explanation.

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He gives the explanation to his disciples. Jesus says, for whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance.

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But whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

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So to them that Jesus has entrusted the message of the kingdom, he's going to give more to them and they're going to have more responsibility.

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But whoever does not have, those that do not have an explanation or an understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom, even what they have shall be taken away from them.

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As Jesus had said previously, when he healed the centurion servant, he said, there are many that are going to come from the east and the west and recline at table with Abraham while the sons of the promise will be bound and be thrown out in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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And so Jesus goes on to say to his disciples, therefore, I speak to them in parables because while seeing they do not see and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

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And in them, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, you will keep on hearing, but will not understand.

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You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive for the heart of this people has become dull and with their ears, they scarcely hear and they have closed their eyes, lest they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return.

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And I would heal them. Now if you've been with me in my study in the book of Isaiah, which I'm doing on Thursday, then you might recognize this is coming from Isaiah chapter six.

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This is the very place where Isaiah has the vision of God in his heaven and seeing

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God in his holiness and the angels that are there that are around the throne and proclaiming holy, holy, holy is

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Yahweh of hosts. Isaiah sees this and he believes that he is undone. He is about to die because he's witnessed the holy of holies in his holy place.

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And the seraphim, one of the angels comes and takes a burning coal off of the altar and he touches

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Isaiah's mouth with it. Isaiah had said, I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips.

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But then he's purified by one of these angels taking a hot coal from the altar, putting it on Isaiah's mouth.

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And then he is purified that he may stand and speak with the

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Lord. And the voice of the Lord says, whom shall I send and who shall go for us? And Isaiah says, here

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I am, send me. And then God says, go and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

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Keep on seeing, but do not know. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and return and be healed.

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So that's Isaiah 6, 9, and 10, which Jesus is repeating here. The intention of God is that these people who've become unable to see and dull of hearing, they are coming into judgment.

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So they are not meant to understand. And the words that are being said to them is heaping upon them the judgment that is going to come to them.

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But to the disciples, these things are revealed that they may understand because they are going to be those who are going to go out and speak further the message of the kingdom.

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Those who do not understand that message, Jesus explains why they do not understand in the parable.

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But those who do understand that message, Jesus again explains in the parable why they are given to understand.

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And we're going to look at the meaning, the explanation of the parable when we come back to this tomorrow in verses 18 to 23.

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We'll spend the next lesson just talking about what each of these soils represents.

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So then in verse 16, Jesus says, but blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.

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Your eyes are blessed, your ears are blessed because it has been God's will to reveal these things to you, to open your eyes that you may see them, to open your ears that you may hear them.

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This is regeneration. This is the work of the spirit on the heart of a person that when they hear the gospel, or in this case, the message of the kingdom, that they understand it and they believe it because the

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Holy Spirit has opened their hearts to receive it and to believe it. Verse 17,

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Jesus says, for truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

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Now, this is specifically in reference to Christ himself. They longed to see this

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Messiah who would come and how he was going to fulfill some of the things that were prophesied about in the Old Testament.

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They didn't all understand that when it is said God would reconcile the nations to himself, not just Israel or the

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Jews, but even all the nations, the people did not understand how God was going to do this. It was believed by many that it was going to be through the

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Jewish people. Just as the covenant was given to Abraham, if you bless the children of Abraham, then you will be blessed.

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But if you curse them, then you will be cursed. So they thought that was how this was going to come about. But they did not understand it was through the

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Messiah that Jews and Gentiles would be reconciled together and would be reconciled unto God.

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And now the church is made up of Jews and Gentiles, all those who believe in Christ. This is the

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Messiah who was prophesied to come, who has come. Many prophets desired to see, but the disciples are privileged to be the ones that would be with Christ and learn from him and see and understand and hear and know, and then be commissioned by Christ to go out with this message to the world that many others may see and know and be saved.

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For they have come to the knowledge of the truth that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. He who fulfilled prophecy, dying on the cross for our sins, rising again from the dead, ascending into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of God.

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He is coming back again to judge the living and the dead. All who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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We'll come back to the parable of the sower again tomorrow. Heavenly Father, I thank you for what we've read.

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And I thank you that you have given us eyes to see and ears to hear, that the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes that we may understand the things that we read and those things that we hear, so that we may turn to the

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Lord Jesus Christ, put our faith and trust in him for the forgiveness of our sins, be reconciled to God and have the promise of eternal life.

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Give us the courage that we may explain these things to others. And knowing from this parable, there are some who are not going to believe because they're not meant to believe, but there are some who will believe because the

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Holy Spirit has opened their hearts to believe. Spirit, do your work in our lives.

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And may we see many others come to a knowledge of the truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Pastor Gabe is the author of several books and Bible studies, available in paperback or for your e -reader.

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For titles and more information, visit our website at www .wutt .com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's Word, when we understand the text.