Download Matt 13:1-23 - FBC Chataignier

SERMON TEXT: MATTHEW 13:1-23
AUTHOR: DR. JERRY VINES
OUTLINE
Introduction
I. The
A.
B.
C.
II. The
A.
B.
C.
III. The
A.
B.
C.
D.
Seed
It's Wonderful
It's Powerful
It's Fruitful
Sower
We Ought To Sow Plentifully
We Ought To Sow Passionately
We Ought To Sow Patiently
Soil
The Unresponsive Heart
The Impulsive Heart
The Destructive Heart
The Productive Heart
SERMON TEXT
This morning I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 13 and I'll
begin reading with verse 1. I'm going to spend several weeks now in
Matthew chapter 13. Sometimes I move in a hurry, at other times I slow
down, but I'm going to spend a lot of time in Matthew 13 because these
are the mystery parables and these parables give us an understanding
and an insight into some of the mysteries which we observe in the world
today. They have a special application to our age and to our time so
they'll answer a lot of questions for us along the way. The parable
we're going to study this morning for instance is going to answer the
question why the world is not going to be converted. When you think
about the gospel and how wonderful it is and how simple it is you'd
think everybody in the world would be anxious to receive it wouldn't
you? Well this parable is going to explain why everybody is not going
to be saved. That's an interesting question and we want to talk about
it today. Let's begin now with verse 1 of Matthew chapter 13...
1. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea
side.
2. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that
he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on
the shore.
3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the
fowls came and devoured them up:
5. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth:
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of
earth:
6. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they
had no root, they withered away.
7. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and
choked them:
8. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some
a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
9. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou
unto them in parables?
11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it
is not given.
12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be
taken away even that he hath.
13. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says,
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing
ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15. For this people's heart is waxed gross (or callous), and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed;
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them.
16. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for
they hear.
17. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see those things which you see, and have
not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear and
have not heard them.
Then Jesus gives the explanation and the meaning of the parable of the
sower.
Now you really have to understand what has gone on in Matthew
chapter 12 to plug in to what's being said in Matthew 13. You will
notice back in verse 1 of the chapter it says, The same day. That is,
the day that the family of Jesus came to see Him and to get Him because
they thought that Jesus had gone out of His mind. Also at that same
particular time the religious leaders of Judaism had rejected the Lord
Jesus Christ. Matthew 12 is a chapter of controversy and conflict.
The religious leaders are basically questioning everything Jesus does,
they're looking for some means to attack Him and to find fault with Him
and they find it. So in Matthew chapter 12 they are plotting now to
destroy Jesus, they've decided that He's not going to be allowed to
live, they're going to put Him to death, so Matthew 12 is a chapter of
rejection.
So that's why in chapter 13 there is a change in the teaching
method of Jesus and the Bible says that at that particular time on that
particular day Jesus began to speak unto them in parables. That's what
verse 3 says, He spake unto them many things in parables. Now of
course you and I are familiar with parables because we've studied the
life of Jesus and we've studied our New Testament through the years and
we understand that the parable is a physical illustration which is used
to illustrate and explain a spiritual truth. The word "parable" really
means to lay alongside or to place alongside, so when you have a
spiritual truth that you want to illustrate you take something that is
familiar from the world of nature or from the physical realm and you
use that as an illustration to explain your spiritual truth. I guess
the best definition I ever heard of a parable is that a parable is an
earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And of course Jesus used this
method a lot and He taught many people in parables and He taught
wonderful lessons in parables. But of course the question arises, Why
did Jesus at this particular time turn to illustrations like parables
to explain spiritual truth? Well you and I are not the first ones to
wonder that. Down in verse 10 the disciples came to Jesus and they
asked Him that question, Why are you speaking unto them in parables?
So in verse 11 Jesus begins to give His explanation and He says,
Because it's given unto you, talking to His disciples, talking to
believers, to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them,
that is those who have rejected Him and refused His teaching, it is not
given.
Now I want you to zero in for a moment on the little statement
there, The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Now when you see that
word "mystery" in the New Testament you're to take out of your mind
what you normally think about when you think about mysteries. When I
was a boy I used to enjoy reading mysteries; I'd read the Hardy Boys
and Sherlock Holmes and all of those kinds of things. Now a mystery as
you and I normally use it is a whodunnit and it's something that we
cannot understand or that we cannot clearly see. But in the New
Testament a mystery is a truth which could not be understood unless God
reveals it you see. For instance there were some things that the Old
Testament people, the Old Testament believers, could not understand
because they hadn't been revealed at that particular time. For
instance, look down at verse 17. Jesus said...
17. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see those things you see, and haven't seen
them; and to hear those things you hear and have not heard
them.
Well that's exactly true. There are a lot of things that are
commonplace to those of us who're believers in this day that were
mysteries in the Old Testament and were not revealed to the Old
Testament saints. So that's what the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven are, things that the Lord reveals in this age and to believers
of this time that were not previously made known. So Jesus says, I'm
going to use parables for two basic reasons: I'm going to use parables,
first of all, to conceal the truth from some people and then, secondly,
to reveal the truth to other people.
Well who's He going to conceal it from? Well He's going to
conceal it from those who have rejected His message and there's a long
discussion here about it. In verse 13 He says, I speak to them in
parables. He said they see but they really don't see; they hear but
they really don't hear. Back in verse 12 He said whoever has, to him
will be given, whoever has not, it'll be taken away. Now if I could
just paraphrase simply what that statement is it's simply this: Jesus
is saying, Use it or lose it. That's what He's saying. He's saying if
you hear the truth and you don't put that truth into practice and
receive that truth then you'll lose that truth. Now of course we know
that's true in a lot of different realms. For instance, if you do not
exercise a muscle then that muscle will begin to weaken and, if allowed
to continue in inactivity, eventually it will atrophy and you won't be
able to use it. I remember when I was a boy there was a family that
lived next to us that had a girl who had a number of physical problems
so the people they were taking her to had some kind of theory that if
they would take her arm and bind it to her body for some reason that
would help the problems that she had. Well they bound that arm to her
body for a long, long time and when they un-bound the arm she wasn't
able to use it at all. Use it or lose it. When I was in school I used
to play the trumpet and I was quite a trumpet player in my day. I
remind these guys of that every now and then and I catch it when they
miss the notes and when they split a few I catch that. But I laid my
trumpet aside several years ago and I couldn't play a trumpet now and I
know all of the fingerings and all of that but, you see, my lip is gone
now, I can't do it, I didn't use and so I lost it. And the same thing
is true in spiritual matters. If you do not receive the truth that God
gives to you then ultimately you will lose that truth. But it is also
true that if you will receive truth God will give you more truth. To
him who has he will have more, he will have in abundance. So the
parables were used to conceal truth from those who had rejected the
Lord. But then on the other hand the parables were used to reveal
truth to those who would receive it. And what a wonderful thing it is
that the Lord Jesus opens up His wonderful truth to us as we, with open
hearts, receive that truth.
Now, these parables then are going to explain to us what's going
on behind the scenes in our world, they are going to give us some
behind-the-scenes understanding of what appear to be some of the
mysteries of this particular age. For instance we're going to deal
today with the mystery of why is it that everybody is not going to be
saved. I mean you would think that the whole world would want to be
saved wouldn't you? And yet the fact of the matter is that when Jesus
came a lot of people didn't want to hear what Jesus had to say and it
is truth that today there are many people who do not want to hear the
gospel, they don't want to hear the Word of God. Well what is the
explanation for this? The explanation is found in the simple little
story Jesus told of the sower and the seed and the soil. Now we've got
to ask our self the question, What's the problem here? Now the story
itself is simple enough: a sower has seed, he goes out to sow it and he
begins to scatter it. Some of the seed falls on the path, on the hard
ground, the birds of the air, Jesus said, come along, gather up the
seed and there's no fruit. And then some of the seed, He says, falls
on stony ground and it doesn't have any depth, there's no root there,
and it's not productive. Other of the seed falls among the weeds and
the thorns and so it doesn't bear any fruit. And then some of the
seed, He said, falls on good ground and it brings forth fruit. Well
what's the problem here? Well let's analyze the different aspects of
the parable and let's see if we can find where the problem lies in the
unproductivity of the seed.
Let's talk about the seed first of all. What does Jesus means
when He talks about the seed? Maybe there's something wrong with the
seed. Maybe there's a defective seed here, maybe that's the problem.
Well, actually, if you will examine what is being said about the seed
in this parable you will find that the seed is a reference to the Word
of God. For instance, look down at verse 19, He says, When anyone
hears the Word; and then look on down in verse 20, the same that hears
the Word; and you will notice verse 21, because of the Word; verse 22,
he that heareth the Word; verse 23, he that heareth the Word. Now of
course that tells you what the seed is. And then in Luke chapter 8,
verse 11, Jesus makes it very plain, He says the seed is the Word of
God. So He's talking here about the Bible, the truth of God, the Word
of God. Well, let's think about the seed of the Word for a moment.
God's Word is indeed wonderful seed. You think about what a marvelous
privilege we have today to sow the seed of the Word of God into the
hearts of individuals. God's inspired, God's inerrant, God's
infallible, God's inimitable Word, what a wonderful, wonderful Word
that is.
Now, you know, seed has life in it. You take just a little old
bitty seed and in that seed is imprinted a genetic code of life. You
can take that seed and you can sow it in a field and some of that seed
has the code of corn and you can bring forth a crop of corn with it.
Other seed has imprinted upon its code a code of tomatos and you can
bring forth a crop of tomatos, rows of tomatos with it. There is life
imprinted in the genetic code of a seed. I read some time ago about a
seed that was found in one of the pyramids in Egypt and they estimated
that that seed was over 3,000 years old. And yet when they took it out
of the pyramid and they planted the seed, in just a few days the seed
came forth after 3,000 years. There's life down inside a seed.
Well, you see, the Word of God has the genetic code of eternal
life and when the seed of the Word is implanted in a heart it produces
eternal life, people come to life when the seed is planted. 1 Peter
chapter 1, verse 23, says...
23. Being born again, not of corruptible see, but of
incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for
ever.
What wonderful, wonderful seed this is. That's why Jesus said, The
word that I speak unto you, it is spirit and it is life. What a
wonderful, wonderful seed we have. And then of course this seed of the
Word of God is not only wonderful, it's powerful, there's power in a
seed. You can take just a little seed and let it drop between two
places of cement on a sidewalk and that seed will sprout and begin to
grow and did you know it'll absolutely buck up those huge pieces of
concrete? And did you know the Word of God is powerful? The Word of
God can change a nation, the Word of God can transform a primitive
tribe, the Word of God can revolutionize a life. Oh, I could just give
you example after example after example of people right here in our
congregation whose lives have been powerfully transformed by the
wonderful seed of the Word of God.
So the seed's wonderful, the seed's powerful, the seed is
fruitful, it brings forth a crop. You think about it; you take an
apple seed or take an apple orchard, you can get an apple out of an
orchard, there's an apple in an orchard. But you know what? There's
an orchard in an apple. Have you ever thought about that? Just one
apple has the potential to produce a whole apple orchard. And that's
the wonderful fruitfulness of the Word of God. Well then that's not
the problem is it? I mean if the seed is the Word of God, that's not
why everybody is not going to be converted then, that's not where the
problem lies.
Well, maybe the problem then is in the sower.
the problem lies. Now look down at verse 18...
Maybe that's where
18. Here ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Let's talk about the sower for just a moment, maybe that's the problem.
Well who is the sower? Well look on over at verse 37 in the same
chapter, He'll tell you who the sower is. Verse 37...
37. He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is
the Son of man;
Who's that talking about? Jesus. Jesus in the parable is the sower.
Well that's not where the problem is. Did you know though, when Jesus
came and was the sower and, of course, everywhere Jesus went He was
sowing seed wasn't He? I mean He was just scattering the good seed of
the Word of God everywhere He went and yet did you know for the most
part the response Jesus Christ received was a disappointing response?
I mean people say, If I could have just seen Jesus in the flesh I would
have believed. Well those who did see Him in the flesh, a lot of them
didn't. Well now, of course you and I know that there is a sense in
which all of us are sowers aren't we? You and I, any Christian, who
witnesses for the Lord, who passes out gospel tracts and shares God's
Word with other people, or a preacher or a Sunday School teacher or a
neighbor or a school friend, is a sower in that sense of the word. And
of course the Bible tells us how we ought to sow. The Bible says for
instance that we ought to sow plentifully. Over in 2 Corinthians the
Bible says he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly but he who
sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. That's why we ought to
put out a lot of scripture and sow a lot of seed. You don't ever know
what's going to come up, you can't ever tell what's going to come up.
I never know from Sunday to Sunday what's going to happen in these
services. I know something is going to happen, I always thank the
Lord, but I look out here and you all look great to me, but I don't
know what the sowing of the seed is going to do in this service. I
look out there and you sit there and you're nodding approval and you
may be thinking about what you're going to have for lunch, I don't
know. You look fine to me. And some of you sitting out there, you
look to me like you're having prayer for the service: Now I lay me down
to
sleep...
I have no idea what's going to happen and yet the wonderful
thing is that if we sow a lot of seed and we give a lot of
opportunities for people to come to Christ then we reap a lot of seed
and we reap a bountiful harvest.
We ought to sow the seed plentifully, we ought to sow it
passionately. My life verse is, He that goeth forth and weepeth
bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing
bringing sheaves with him. And we ought to pray that God will help us
to have a tear in our eye and a choke in our heart and a love in our
bosom for those who do not know Christ. And they tell me that if
you'll soak seed in water that the seed will become more productive. I
don't know if that's true but I know this, if you have a broken heart
for those you try to win to Christ you'll win a lot more people to
Jesus that way. We ought to pray that God would give us warm,
passionate heart for those who're lost, sow the seed passionately.
And then of course we ought to sow the seed patiently. Listen to
what it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 11: In the morning sow thy seed
and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not
whether shall prosper, either this or that or whether they both shall
alike good. What he's saying is just be patient. You remember what
the apostle Paul said? The apostle Paul said, And be not weary in well
doing for in due season you'll reap if you faint not. You just keep at
it, just keep on sowing seed. Some of you today say, Well, Preacher, I
want to be a soul winner and I've witnessed a few times and I haven't
been successful. That's all right, just keep at it. Just keep at it,
you'll lead somebody to the Lord and when you do, my, my, my, it's
going to make it worth all the days and all the weeks that you tried
unsuccessfully. Just win one person to Christ, it will ruin you
forever. It'll put you in the witnessing business the rest of your
life trying to get that next one. I've been having a good time here
lately. You know, you have dry spells and then you have more
productive spells. Boy, I've been having a productive spell, I mean
just about everything I've been witnessing to gets saved. I've got a
new visiting partner, Brother Lewis our Singles director. He started
off making about a C-minus, now he's into the B category, I think I'm
going to keep him, he's doing real good. And I've had the opportunity
to sow some seed and win some people to Christ. Now of course you and
I know that we're not always the witnesses we ought to be and we don't
sow as effectively as we ought to sow but I'm going to tell you,
friends, if the original sower in the parable is the Lord Jesus Christ
the problem is not the sower.
Well now wait a minute, if the problem is not the seed, the Word
of God, and if the problem is not the sower, the Son of man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, there can only be one other place where the problem lies.
The problem then is to be found in the soil. Now what's the soil?
What does it mean when it says a sower sows the seed in the soil? All
right, look at verse 19 and you'll find out what the soil represents.
Jesus said in verse 19...
19. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it
not, then comes the wicked one, and catches away that which
was sown in his heart...
Do you see that? That which was sown in his heart. You know what the
soil represents? The soil represents the different conditions of the
human heart. The human heart is like soil where seed can be sown, see.
Of course the human heart is like soil. There's great potential in the
human heart; the human heart can either be a jungle or a garden, either
one. A human heart, left to itself, can run riot and turn into a
vacant lot of weeds. That's why it is so foolish for an individual to
say, I'm going to just let my kid come up believing what he wants to
believe. How absurd can you get. You don't leave the human heart
alone, you plant seed in the human heart. When I was in Mobile,
Alabama, we used to visit the beautiful Bellingrath Gardens and out
there in those Bellingrath Gardens, right in the swamps, they
cultivated and they nurtured and they nourished that land and they
planted that beautiful seed until that beautiful garden, just flowers
everywhere. Why? Because someone took the time to cultivate the soil
and turn it into a garden instead of into a swamp.
But, oh, the human heart without Christ, the human heart without
the implanted Word of God can become a vacant lot of shame, and become
a jungle of guilt, and become a swamp of pollution. Oh, you need to
plant the seed into the hearts of individuals. But when you plant the
seed Jesus said there are about four kinds of responses you're going to
get. Now He talked about the wayside soil, now that represents the
unresponsive heart. The wayside hearer is like the path that they
walked through the fields where human feet pounded down the soil until
it became so hard that the seed never could get in, it just was on the
surface. And there's some people who hearts are unresponsive hearts,
they have allowed their hearts to become the path for every vile human
foot, they have allowed their heart to become a pathway for every
godless thought and philosophy. They've been pounded down until their
heart is just as hard as an asphalt highway, it looks good but there's
no productivity there. And that man with that unresponsive heart may
be sitting in a big office somewhere and he may look very, very
impressive and he's open to all kinds of ideas and philosophies and
he's got his own philosophy, he's got his own religion. His religion
is every man's idea is just as good as anybody else's. He thinks he's
an expert. I've been reading a book this week by one of the leading
businessmen in America and he was very successful in turning a company
around and making it a very productive company. And it's amazing to
me, when people are successful in one realm they think they're an
authority in every realm. Now he's a religious expert now and his
basic philosophy is, any man's belief is just as good as anybody
else's, and he is unresponsive to the gospel.
That's the way the hard-hearted are, that's the way the
unresponsive are; they'll walk into a service like this and they'll sit
here and the Word of God won't make any impression on them whatsoever.
They'll say, Oh, well, that's just one man's opinion; my opinion is
just as good as that church crowd over there; that's just what they
think; I question that; I don't believe that; I don't accept that. And
they do not understand, Jesus says. The word "understand" means to put
together. In other words they do not put faith in their heart together
with the truth of the Word of God. So when they walk out of here Jesus
said the birds pluck the seed away, and Jesus said the birds represents
the devil. And when hearts are not responsive to the Word of God, when
they're hard-hearted and unresponsive the old devil whistles some birds
off the line and they come pluck it out. I wonder what's for lunch? I
wonder what time the ball game starts? A joke here, a ball score
there, and the seed's gone. Jesus said break up your fallow ground.
Jesus said, If you hear my voice harden not your heart. But some
hearts are unresponsive.
Other hearts are impulsive. Now Jesus talked about the seed that
was sown on stony places. That doesn't mean ground with some rocks in
it, that means ground with a thin layer of soil and then a whole level
of rock under that. Now what happens to seed that's sown where there's
not much soil, where there's no depth and where there is no root? Well
what happens is it immediately springs up. Now that represents the
impulsive hearer, that represents the person who is emotional about it,
they respond only with their emotions. These are the ones, they cry,
these are the ones who become so vocal and so effervescent and outward
and, man, you think they're going to burn the woods up. I call them
Roman candle saints. You ever seen a Roman candle? It just goes up
with a bang and then just...
I call them Alka Seltzer Christians.
They just fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz, and then after a while
they fizzle out. Jesus said it's just like the soil that where the
seed is sown and it springs up but He says in a little while
tribulation and persecution arise. They go on back to the job; boy,
the pressure is put on at the job to compromise and the heat is on.
And, oh, they didn't know it was going to cost anything to live for the
Lord, they didn't know you were going to have to pay a price to live
for the Lord, and when the heat gets turned on they wilt away. Well
where's old so-and-so? Well he doesn't come any more. Well is a
person like that saved? I don't think so. You see, pressure and
tribulation and persecution for a true believer will strengthen that
believer and will refine his faith and draw him closer to the Lord.
But the person who's never truly had a heart-experience of Christ that
reaches down below his emotions down into his will and changes him and
puts the roots of repentance and regeneration in his life, that kind of
individual who's never had that experience, he'll waste away when the
troubles come. So Jesus said there's some soil that's kind of
impulsive, it's an emotional response but the will is not changed, the
life is not changed.
Then Jesus said, number three, that there is soil that is
destructive soil because there's an enemy in that soil, there's a rival
crop in that soil, there are thorns in that soil. The weeds are
allowed to grow, those weeds have never been plucked up and thrown
away, so when the seed is sown it begins to come up and then the Lord
said the weeds come and start choking it. He called the weeds the care
of the world, that is, the difficulties of life. Now see, every
believer is going to have difficulties, Christians are not immune to
difficulties. Christians have accidents and Christians have fires and
Christians' cars break down and Christians get sick and grow old and
die, the cares of life. And you see, the person who just has never
really dealt with the weeds of sin in his life, when the difficulties
come, he says, The Lord is letting me down. And then He says, the
deceitfulness of riches; that's the prosperities of life. They get so
interested in material things that material things are their god and
they have no room for the things of God in their life, they're busy
keeping up with the Joneses. Do you know what keeping up with the
Joneses is? Keeping up with the Joneses is buying things you don't
need with money you don't have to impress people you don't like. So
you see, that kind of heart is a destructive heart, it chokes the seed
away.
But, oh, I've got an encouraging word for you now. Jesus talked
about the good soil, that's what I call the productive heart, and
that's the person who hears the Word of God, he understands it, that
is, he takes the Word and faith and he mixes them together and then he
begins to bear fruit. And you see, that's the person who truly
receives the Word of God in his heart, receives Christ as his personal
Savior. And you know what, friends, there's some of you this morning,
that's exactly what you could do. You have heard the Word, the Word
has gotten into your heart, but now it's time for you to make a
response and the evidence of a good soil is that the soil brings forth
fruit. Fruitfulness is the evidence of a genuine salvation experience.
The fruit of a change of attitude for instance. Jesus said the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and on and on and on and on. And
the fruit of a change of action; Philippians 1:11 says, bearing the
fruits of righteousness. When a man's or a woman's life has truly been
changed there will be fruit in that life to indicate that a change has
taken place.
Well I wonder this morning what kind of heart are you? You may go
through all of the stages, the woman at the well did. You ever think
about? The woman at the well was all those kinds of hearts in
successive stages. Jesus said, Give me a drink of water, and she
insulted Him, she had an old unresponsive, hard heart. And then Jesus
went a little further and she got so excited she said, Give me this
water; she had an emotional, impulsive heart. And then Jesus said, Go
get your husband; she said, I don't have one; and Jesus said, You've
had five, you're living with somebody that's not your husband now; she
had that old, crowded, destructive heart. And then Jesus sent her back
to the village and she said, Come, see a man, and as she came bringing
out those other people to meet the Lord
productive heart. And I'm going to ask
heart you ought to do, I'm going to ask
going to ask you to respond to the Word
Christ as your personal Savior.
Jesus,
you to
you to
of God
she had a fruitful,
do what you know in your
come to Christ; I'm
this morning and receive