Good?
Good morning.
How's everyone?
Good deal.
Is it about that time to begin our Bible class portion?
Our prayers are with Aaron as he's over in the Philippines and we hope he has a good successful trip over there and a good lectureship and has a safe trip back home.
We'll be in the book of Luke today, Luke chapter 8, discussing the parable of the sower.
So you will go ahead and turn to Luke chapter 8.
Before we begin, we will have a word of prayer.
Almighty God, most holy, most righteous heavenly Father, Lord, you are so far above us, so far above our understanding, and yet, Lord, you love us so dearly.
And Lord, we love you so much.
We pray that we will always live our lives showing that love and showing our love for each other.
And we pray that in all things, we will seek to do your will and your will alone.
And we pray that as we are striving to be more evangelistic that we will do so to your glory and not to our own.
And we pray that we will always be mindful of the reason why we evangelize.
that other souls might be saved and come to that same knowledge of you that we have, that same safety that we have in your family, that same love that we are able to enjoy.
Lord, we pray that we will always live our lives remembering the home in heaven waiting for us and remembering all that you have done for us, Lord.
And it's your son's name we pray, amen.
oh
As we begin, Luke chapter 8 picks up where Jesus is talking.
uh just healed the woman and resurrected the woman of Nain's son and the widow of Nain's son in chapter 7.
And he is in the region of Capernaum as we pick up.
Starting in verse 1,
And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuzzah, Herod's steward, and
Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
And when much people were gathered together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable." Now here we find that Jesus,
is doing what he always does.
In verse 1 it says that he was preaching and showing the glad tidings.
Everywhere that we see Jesus, every place that he goes, he is always teaching.
He is always showing the good news to others, always being an example to those around him.
and this is no different.
But what's interesting is that in the process of teaching, in the process of doing all these miracles, people hear about him.
You know, his fame is spread abroad and as such, when they hear that Jesus is in town, when they hear that Jesus is nearby, everyone's like, okay, pack your bags, we're going to
go hear him.
Or we're going to go see, maybe see a spectacle.
Because we know that some people that, well, many people sadly that went to go see Jesus, went to go listen to him, were really just hoping for a miracle.
They were hoping to see some fantastical event, but not really appreciating who he truly is, who he truly was at this time.
But Jesus takes this opportunity to teach people.
And it's interesting to notice how Jesus teaches.
Yes, we often think about his parables, and that is a major way that Jesus teaches, but he also, teaches in just direct statements and answering questions and asking questions.
As Rob noted, that most of the questions that Jesus has asked, he returns with another question, getting the listeners to think, getting those who are hearing his words to
really get their minds engaged and realize what's going on.
and understand what he's trying to get across to them.
But here we have him speaking in a parable.
And as far as I can, uh as far as I could find in Luke chapter five and verse 36, it records the first parable of Christ.
So at this point, he has been teaching give or take about four or five parables up to this point that we have recorded.
Now,
What's interesting is that in Matthew, this is the first recorded parable.
Matthew doesn't record any of the other parables that Jesus taught before this point.
He starts with the parable of the sower.
And as we consider this parable, we understand why Matthew saw that this was, or well, really the Holy Spirit saw that this was an important one, that not only Matthew, but also
Mark and Luke need to record.
This parable, it carries very great weight to it.
And notice that as we consider it together.
Starting in verse five, a sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed some fell by the wayside and it was trodden down and the fowls of the air devoured it and some fell upon a
rock and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away because it lacked moisture and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.
and other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit and a hundredfold.
And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." In the first century, we didn't have the...
technology that we have today when it comes to farming.
We didn't have all these heavy duty equipment that gives us precision and speed with planting seed.
No, they would have to prepare the soil of course and then they would have to go out with these satchels filled with the seed and just start casting it.
Just throwing it everywhere they could hoping that enough seed landed where they would have a bountiful crop.
but you get this picture of an individual who is just throwing this seed out.
He is not particularly placing it, but rather it's just going everywhere.
Wherever the wind takes it, wherever gravity lets it fall, he's just throwing it.
And as he's sowing, of course, you have the situation where he falls on different types of soil.
The first soil that falls on is the wayside soil.
Now,
When we think about wayside soil, what we could think about is some of those back road dirt roads.
That's probably the closest equivalent we have today.
It's this idea of really packed down dirt that has seen many feet trot upon it, many animals trot upon it.
So it's really almost like concrete.
It's really hard.
It's not easy to penetrate.
And then we also have the rocky soil, which
It can be likened to gravel, our modern day gravel.
So it has rocks here and there.
It's mostly kind of rocky, but there are still places where the seed can get to the soil.
And then we have the thorny soil, which that really, if you look at what this thorny soil is, it is good soil.
because it was able to produce a plant and it was able also to produce the thorns.
But as we'll see when Jesus explains the parable and as we go through the explanation of the parable, we'll notice that those thorns weren't a good thing.
Of course we understand that from the standpoint of planting, of farming, that we don't want weeds in our garden.
We don't want things that are taking life away, the nutrients away from the plant that we want to grow, from the crop that we want to grow.
But then of course there's also this good soil, the soil that has oh no competition, it has nothing hindering the growth, rather it is prepared soil, it's tilled, it's
well-moistured, it has everything that the seed needs to take hold and to grow, and to grow abundantly as we see.
But notice that as he concludes the parable, he says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Whenever a lesson is presented, whenever one studies the scriptures, whose job is it to understand what's going on?
the person reading, the person listening.
What Jesus is saying here is that if you want to listen, then you will hear.
In other words, he's saying the responsibility is on you, the listener.
The responsibility is on you who are hearing my message to understand and to apply it.
We have to be the furthest away, right?
Right, absolutely.
We can't force people to take the seat.
Just like with what Jesus is saying, He couldn't force people to process what was happening to understand the parable.
I mean, He could have as He is the Son of God and He had that power, but that would take away free will.
And so because of free will, because that blessing is not infringed upon, the responsibility is there.
You know, we think about with the U.S.
Constitution.
We have all these rights, we have all these liberties, but with that liberty comes responsibility.
Innately, freedom equals responsibility.
The more freedom you have, the more responsibility you have to not only take care of yourself, but also take care of the things that maybe others aren't taking care of, that
need to be taken care of.
And so when we look at this,
Yes, there is immense freedom, there is an immense blessing that we have as humans where we are free.
We have free will, but with that blessing comes the responsibility to listen.
Comes the responsibility to heed the words of Christ.
in verse 9, and his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable be?
For starters, who is it that's asking this?
Who is asking Jesus what's going on here?
his followers.
I now, is this just the apostles?
Is it just the 12th?
It's not.
If you look with me at Mark chapter four and verse 10, the sister account, one of the sister accounts to this.
Mark 4 10 says, and when he was alone, they that were about him with the 12 asked him of that parable.
It wasn't just the apostles asking Jesus.
We often think about these quiet conversations that Jesus had with his apostles and with his disciples and we think about it just being his apostles.
Just these 13 people.
sitting around a campfire, if you will, and asking, what does that mean?
Why was this said?
Jesus, what's your point with this?
But here we find that it's not just the 12.
No, there were other disciples there, and what that shows is that there are more people who are hungry.
for what that meant, for what the parable meant.
They didn't want to just take it at face value.
They didn't want to say, okay, well, that's a good story about planting seed, but where's the significance?
No, they wanted to know.
They had a hunger for the word.
They had a hunger to understand, and that's why they asked this question to Jesus, because they wanted to understand.
They wanted to know what was going on.
Keep in mind, the apostles did not have divine uh knowledge at this point.
The Holy Spirit had not fallen upon them to grant them this uh ability to understand certain things.
They had to ask the question.
They had to ask Jesus to understand what was going on.
uh
But what is the question that they ask?
They ask what might this parable be?
But I guess if you were to modernize it, what would that question be?
What were they asking?
What does it mean?
They're asking what does it mean?
But also, as we find in uh Matthew's account, uh they also were asking why?
Why are you teaching in parables?
Let's look at Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew 13 and verse 10 starting.
Actually, just verse 10 for right now.
And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
So the question wasn't just, Jesus, what does this parable mean?
No, the question was, Jesus, why are you teaching in parables?
Shouldn't you just outright tell them what's going on?
in a way we can understand their confusion.
We think about maybe a preacher or a friend who goes through this long illustration or gives this story and you're saying, oh but what does this have to do with anything?
Why are you talking with the story?
But if you actually take a step back and you realize the point behind the story, the moral of the story, if you will, you say, there's the point.
That's why.
And we look at with Jesus why he taught in parables.
As Brother Goodwin said in our parables classes this past week, past two weeks, the point of Jesus teaching in parables was to format truth.
Now some people will say it was to conceal truth, but that's not really a good way of looking at it.
In the sense that Jesus is not withholding truth from people.
but rather he is putting it in a package that we can understand.
He's putting in a package that those who are the intended audience can understand.
I mean, we look at who is here at this point.
Well, your common people, your farmers, your local villagers, people who would understand the point, would understand the story that Jesus is telling.
eh And as we'll see,
the point behind this story.
Ultimately, the purpose of a parable is to teach the truth.
It is to reveal truth to those who are willing to understand.
Why the change?
oh As humans, don't like change.
When things get a little different, we're like, hold on a second, we've been doing it this way for years, what's the deal?
And so with these disciples who have been with Jesus for all this time, who had seen the Sermon on the Mount, who had heard all these teachings of Jesus where he is forthright, he
is saying, you guys say this, but I say unto you, and he's very direct, very clear, and all of sudden he's teaching in parables.
And so the reason behind the question, it makes sense.
We understand from a human perspective why they would be asking this question or technically these questions to Jesus.
But notice what Jesus says in response.
Verse 10, and he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
but to others in parables, that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.
If you were to be asked what does it take to know truth, to know God's will, what are some answers that you would give?
Study.
Diligence, if you will.
Right?
You know, putting forth the work into studying.
Because it's not just going to go through osmosis.
You can't lay the Bible under your pillow at night and it's just going to, you're going to wake up the next morning, I know everything about the Bible.
That's not how that works.
You have to study.
You have to put forth work and diligence.
But what are some other things?
putting your heart into it.
That is a great, great concept there because it's not just about, okay, well, got to read all this.
Okay, let me start reading, you know, 961 pages right here.
No, it's, this is the word of God.
And when we put our heart into it and we have this desire, if you will, for the word of God, then it's not a...
I have to read the Bible, but it's I get to read from God's word.
I get to understand.
I get to hear from my Lord, my God, my Father.
I get to read His love letter, if you will, His wisdom imparted to me.
So yes, putting your heart into it, absolutely.
Are any other ideas that y'all have about why
well, what it takes rather to understand God's will.
right on the money.
Open and honest.
You cannot look at the scriptures and properly understand it if you're saying, I already know what it means, I'm just looking to confirm what I already believe.
We can't do that.
When we look at the Bible with prejudice, we are doomed to misread it.
to misunderstand it.
have to look at it with an open and honest heart that not only looks at the Scripture with open and with honesty, but also looks at ourselves with honesty.
Looking inward and as we're studying the Scriptures, comparing it to our lives and saying, are they the same?
Are they matching up?
Is my life pleasing to God?
only the scripture can tell you that.
That's why we have the Word of God.
To know what we need to do.
To have that standard by which we can compare our lives to see if we are who we are to be.
If we are who God wants us to be.
Notice also that Jesus is not ah pulling this phrase out of his hat, if you will.
When he says that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand, he's quoting from scripture.
Look with me at Isaiah chapter six.
It's interesting to notice how many times Jesus quotes from Isaiah.
Makes you almost wonder if that wasn't one of his favorite books, but it was definitely one of the most, uh well, what's the word?
Reference, yes sir, but the one of the most, it's referred to as the Messianic book.
That's what I was trying to get, I lost the word there.
Well, in chapter six, starting in verse nine,
And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, See ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, And make their ears heavy, And shut their eyes, Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And
convert and be healed.
Then said I, Lord, how long?
And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there
be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
but yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten as a teal tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves.
So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." In Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah is brought before the throne of God.
This is a vision that he gets to receive, a glimpse into heaven.
And as he is in heaven after already going through the cleansing process, if you will, because he says, I'm a man of unclean lips.
I don't belong here.
And that angel takes the coal from off the altar and purges him, cleanses him, makes him acceptable, if you will.
And as he's standing there, he hears, who shall go for us?
Who shall we send?
Israel needs to be taught.
Israel needs to be warned, but who's going to go?
You have to stop and just love Isaiah's enthusiasm, his mindset.
He's standing before God.
He's standing among the angelic host and he raises his hand.
He says, Lord, here I am.
Send me unashamed.
to own his God, unashamed to do his Lord's will.
You know, I wonder if I were in the same situation as Isaiah if I would raise my hand.
Or if I would look around and okay, Gabriel, you going to go?
Michael, you going to go?
But.
Hey now.
But when you think about it though, this desire that Isaiah had.
no doubt he didn't fully appreciate the message he was about to have to give.
Because the message that Christ, or that God rather gives, is not one of much hope.
Israel at this point had been so wicked that God is saying there's judgment coming on you.
The time to repent has passed.
Judgment is coming.
Your sins are being called into account.
And as he says it, he gives the reason why.
They shut their ears from the Lord.
They closed their eyes from seeing his word.
They didn't want to understand and so they didn't.
And in essence, God is saying, you don't want to understand?
Well, fine.
You don't get to understand.
That's what's going on here.
That's what Isaiah, the message Isaiah was preaching.
But there again, you have to stop and just appreciate God because he doesn't leave them there.
He says a tenth will remain.
He says there is coming a remnant.
There is coming a return.
You're not all going to be destroyed, but there is judgment because you have rejected me.
because you have not listened.
And so as we look at what Jesus is saying here, he's teaching in parables because he knows that there are people who won't understand.
He knows that there are people like the scribes and Pharisees who are just looking for ways to trap him, for ways to find fault with him and not listen to the word he's
bringing.
And so.
as he encases this truth in the format of a parable, those who are hungry for the word, those who want to understand, they're asking Jesus, what does this mean?
Those who want to understand are taking the time to understand it.
Do you think that the scribes and Pharisees would give this parable a second thought?
No.
They'd say, here goes this babbler talking about
some sower or something, I don't know, crazy.
That's the attitude that they had because they had shut their ears.
They had closed their eyes to understanding the truth because they saw Jesus as a threat.
They saw Jesus as nothing more than a threat to their power, than a threat to their seat, their position, and even a threat to their nation.
But really Jesus was the greatest gift.
Jesus is the greatest giver.
It's sad though to see how they reacted and how people react to him today.
But let's continue.
In verse 11, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.
Plain and simple, cut and dry, no complications here.
The seed is the word of God.
Look with me at 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 23.
1 Peter 1, 23.
Back up to verse 22 starting.
Seeing ye have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfamed love of the brethren, seeing that ye love one another, see rather, that ye love one
another with a pure heart fervently, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.
As Christians, we are born again.
We are raised to walk in a newness of life because of the gospel, because of the seed, the Word of God that was planted in our hearts.
in Mark's account, Mark chapter 4.
In verse.
in verse 13, it's interesting to note what he says here because while Luke has it immediately going from, they're asking this question to Jesus providing the reason,
providing the reason, the meaning behind this parable, in Mark chapter four in verse 13, Jesus says, know ye not this parable?
And how then will ye know all parables?
In essence, he's asking them,
Why don't you know?
It's one of those situations where the answer is obvious, but sometimes we just need a little help to get there.
And so Jesus is saying to them, you know enough to know what I mean by this.
You have the ability to know what I mean by this, but I'm going to explain it to you anyway, because I know at this point, you need this.
You need this explanation.
In verse 12, he continues explaining the parable.
uh
And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
But that on the good ground are they which in honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
Plain and simple, the seed is the Word of God.
And so the Sower is casting the seed out.
But notice that he's not picking.
He is not saying, well, this ground looks good, so I'll plant there, but this ground over here doesn't look good, so I'm just gonna skip over that.
If you were here for the school of evangelism seminar, Rob mentioned that we can't be prejudging whether or not the seed will work.
We cannot be picking and choosing who gets to hear the gospel.
The gospel is not ours to control like that.
Our responsibility is to cast the seed.
Our responsibility is to share the word of God.
And sadly, it will fall on hard hearts.
at times, but what we're looking for are those good hearts, those hearts that are honest and good.
But notice here that this first heart is so hardened that it doesn't even take the seed in.
This would be like one who today, you try to talk them about the gospel and say, I don't care about God.
I don't want any of that Bible stuff.
You do you, I don't care, but don't bring it on me.
I don't want it.
That's the kind of heart that is expressed here.
A heart that refuses
to even listen to the Word of God.
but don't miss something that's very powerful here.
Don't miss the power of the word of God.
What is Satan afraid of?
Satan is deathly afraid of the word of God.
Think about it.
And when you realize how the word is described, it makes sense.
In Ephesians chapter 6, starting at verse 10 and following, we are shown by Paul, by the inspired apostle Paul, how to resist the devil.
And resisting the wiles of the devil and resisting the darts, the temptations that he's throwing at us, he says to take on the armor of God.
And what just so happens to be the sword in that armor?
The Word of God.
in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12, the word is referred to as a sword, a double-edged sword that's alive, that's powerful, that's able to cut even to our very soul.
Satan knows the power of God that is in the Word.
So much so that he won't even let the Word be near a person.
This person has flat out rejected the seed.
This heart has flat out said, don't want it.
But Satan's like, I don't even want that near him.
Because if the Word is near, it just might take root.
You know, we think about ice.
We think about looking at in Alaska, the glaciers that are there, that's so strong, you're not going to just tap that and the ice is going to fall over.
No, it's strong.
But you get enough heat on that ice.
You get enough sunlight.
You get warm enough temperatures.
And what happens to that ice?
It melts.
Even that hard ice can melt.
Even ice that sank the Titanic, even that ice can melt.
And so a heart that is this hard, just because it's hard right now doesn't mean it always will be.
Satan, he is a devious foe.
He's very...
Well, the Bible describes him as a roaring lion.
And when you think about a lion stalking its prey, it almost makes no sound until it's ready to make a sound.
Satan knows what he's doing.
But we also have the means to defend ourselves.
We have the means to defeat Satan.
And it's amazing to see someone
who Satan is working so hard to stop him, like our dear brother, and yet he works through it.
He is determined, he's going to do what's right.
it's amazing, it's encouraging to see that, but that shows you the power of the gospel.
It shows the power of God's word, and it shows to us the power's not in us.
The sower didn't break up.
He didn't find the right ground rather.
No, he just cast out the seed.
The power is in the word.
There are times when we think of ourselves as not being adequate.
Maybe I don't know enough.
Maybe I can't speak well enough.
But it's not about you.
It's about God's Word.
It's about sharing God's Word because that's where the power lies.
And when we look at Satan, we look at his devices.
Sadly, he is very effective.
as we see here where the birds are coming and take away the seed prevent even the afterthought of, well, maybe this is right.
Satan hates the thought of a lost soul saying, you know, maybe there is something to this God stuff.
You know, maybe there is something to this Bible.
Maybe I am a sinner.
and maybe Jesus does have the key.
Absolutely.
And therein too, with the context of that, where Paul is saying, don't be following after these men because they're not anything.
It's not about, well, I'm Paul or I'm Peter.
No, that's not important.
We're all working together to grow Christian.
We're all working together to serve our God, our King, our Lord.
And so when we think about Satan, as powerful as he is, as good as he is at his job, he cannot compare to an army of God's people fighting together.
to serve God and to save souls.
He has no power that can touch God's.
Very quickly.
Continuing on, we notice.
that these are on the rocky soil, they hear, but while it takes root for a time, while the word takes root for a time, they do not remain in the truth.
When the going gets tough, instead of them getting tougher and them staying with God, they fall away.
They're washed away because they have no root.
We think about those who are
baptize those who become Christians on a spiritual high.
Maybe those such as at a youth camp where there's this atmosphere of serving God, there's this great and strong atmosphere that...
is unlike any other time.
But when the times get tough, when Satan comes on strong, when you feel all alone, and you say, well, that was a good run, but I'm done.
That's the heart that's here.
This heart that did not take root.
This heart that did not put God first enough to say, I'm going to be faithful to God no matter what.
Sadly, it's a heart that many Christians have, that many in the church today have that, well, while the times are good, while things are fine, yeah, I'll be a Christian, but the
second things get a little dicey.
I'm good.
That's not the attitude we're to have, and that's not the attitude that will produce fruit.
But notice also verse 14, talking about the thorns of the plants, or of, well,
Back it up.
Of the seeds that took root, this one's unique.
We look at the stony soil, but what's the difference between the plant planted in the stony soil and the plant with the thorny soil?
What was the difference in the out?
Well, they both grew, but one died.
The stony was scorched to death.
The thorny, it doesn't say that it died.
Rather, it says that it did not produce fruit.
as Christians.
We can be just as in danger as someone who abandons God if we do nothing to bear fruit, to save souls.
Brothers and sisters, evangelism isn't just a good thing.
It's not just something, well, we'll do it from time to time.
No, it is a requirement.
It is a must.
Absolutely.
Right.
And that's the thing we got to remember is that we don't have to do everything.
We only are required to do what we can do, but that thing that we can do, we better be doing.
And that's what God tells us.
That's what we are seeing here with this thorny soil.
This soil that was choked out by the world that said, I'm going to keep my Christianity on the down low.
I'm not going to try to share the gospel with others.
The plant doesn't die.
but it is not pleasing in God's sight.
And if we look at John chapter 15, where Jesus compares the Christians to being vines and branches on the vine, what happens to those vines that are unfruitful?
And verse two, the father comes through and cuts off those that are unfruitful.
We can lose our souls sitting in a pew, being at every single service, if we are not doing our part.
to evangelize.
I believe that is all the time we have for today.
Thank you for your kind attention.