Back to Matthew 13, we'll see the same thing.
It says in verse 23,
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth
it,
which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
There's your numeric value of the person who brings forth fruit.
Now again, a lot of people will mix this up, and I've heard this parable interpreted as,
Well the only people in this parable that are saved are the last group.
Have you heard that teaching?
Hey, the only one is the last group that brings forth fruit.
They're the only ones who are really saved, is what they'll say.
Now here's why they're mixed up on this parable.
I'm going to give you a few different reasons why they're mixed up.
Number one, they're mixed up because they have the wrong view that every single type
of person is included in this parable.
And that's simply not the case.
For example, it talks about the person.
The only person who rejects the word of God is the first person.
The other three receive it.
One receives it into stony places, meaning they're excited, they believe it, but they
don't get rooted.
The other group that receives it, receives it among thorns.
They grow up, the plant grows up, but they get choked out of nutrients.
Don't bring forth any fruit.
And then the third one is the good ground.
The only person that rejects it in this parable is the one in the first instance.
And it doesn't even say that they reject it, it just says they didn't understand it.
Do you get that?
It says they hear the word of God and they don't understand it.
So basically, all four people in this parable are sincere in the beginning, in a sense.
One of them, you know, is listening at least, but they just don't understand it.
Then the devil comes and takes it away.
Another person doesn't get rooted, whatever.
But here's the thing.
Think about all the people who do understand the gospel and reject it.
Are they included in this parable?
Where's the parable about the guy who hears the gospel, says, yeah, I understand it, but
I don't believe it.
He's not here.
So to sit there and say, oh, this is just everybody on the planet falls into this parable.
No.
How about people who don't even hear the gospel?
Are they included?
No, because this is all the seeds coming at them.
Okay.
And these are people hearing the gospel.
And there's nobody here who heard it and understand it and said, well, I don't believe that.
But yet there are a lot of, you go out there, you'll find people.
I've given the gospel to people that understood every word of it.
They repeated it back to me.
It all made perfect sense to them.
And I said, do you believe it?
Nope.
I mean, get real people.
There are people who are like that.
So number one, they make the mistake of thinking that everybody's included in this parable.
So because most people are unsaved, they think most of the parable is unsaved.
No.
The person in this parable is not saved as the first person because everybody else received
the word and believed it.
And that's all you have to do to be saved.
Okay.
The other mistake that they're making is that if that were the case, then the Bible would
be teaching that if you don't bring forth fruit, 30, 60, or 100, then you're not saved.
Okay.
That's a work salvation.
If you have to keep the word of God with patience, that would be salvation by works.