Right, so Matthew chapter 13, there's a lot of parables there, aren't there?
And I won't be doing this in one sitting, so this is Matthew 13, part one tonight.
Last week we were in Matthew 12 and part two, we did that in two sermons.
And if you remember, just a quick recap, we saw those wicked Pharisees calling Jesus possessed,
didn't we, which is blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
We talked about what that is and what that isn't.
It's something which, you know, is something that you could say causes reprobation, doesn't it?
That is reprobate behaviour.
We looked at that last week.
We looked at how the tree is known by its fruit and ultimately that's what comes out
of your mouth, isn't it?
And that was what the context was there.
Then Jesus talked of the sign of the prophet Jonah, which was three days of three nights
in the world's belly.
And we looked at how that was obviously hell and just, you know, what an amazing thing
that was that Jesus Christ went to hell, yeah.
We saw how the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba will be condemning all the Christ
rejecters of his day because these people, they're standing in front of Jesus Christ.
He's preaching to them.
He's there in the flesh and they're still rejecting.
We also saw how those devils that are being cast out, because remember, he's going around
his disciples and they're just casting out all these devils.
They'll be returning more, it said, with seven more wicked spirits.
This was kind of the idea he was giving here with this wicked generation, if that house
is empty and doesn't have the Holy Spirit basically indwelling there, yeah.
So these people, if they're not getting saved, it's going to be a pretty bad result for them.
And finally, we saw Jesus' mother and brothers standing outside wanting to speak to him and
he said, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is
my brother and sister and mother.
And that's a great thing to know, isn't it?
We looked at that briefly as well.
We're going to continue now with Matthew 13 and part one and verse one, which reads, the
same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside.
Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer before we continue.
Father, thank you for this great chapter of the Bible.
Help me to just preach it accurately now and help me to preach it clearly and distinctly,
Lord, help everyone here to just really, really manage to tune in and focus in on what you've
got to say to them through your word, Lord, and help me to just be full of your spirit,
Lord, and in Jesus' name, and for all of this, Amen.
Right, so he sat by the seaside, this is Sea of Galilee, verse two says, in great multitudes
were gathered together unto him.
So he went into a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Now, I wonder at first, I always wondered if verses like this are used by the millionaire
false prophets when they buy their yachts or something, you know, well, Jesus is sitting
on a boat, maybe they do, I don't know, but Jesus wasn't living it up, was he?
Matthew 8.20, he said, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the
Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.
So it's not that he's like living the life and trying to, you know, get into the yacht
game. Here he was getting thronged by the people, wasn't he?
So there's a lot of multitudes here.
They're all surrounding him.
And it said in verse two, and great multitudes were gathered together unto him.
So that's the word, so that he went into a ship.
That's the reason he went into a ship.
And that must have been a pretty amazing sight to see, right, preaching from a ship to
these multitudes on the shore.
Yeah, verse three says, and he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, behold,
a sower went forth to sow.
What's a parable?
What's a parable? Well, think of the word comparable, the word comparable.
It's a story that is used to compare to something real.
Yeah, it's an illustration of some sort of truth.
Verse four says, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the waist, and the fowls came in
to round them up, fowls being birds.
OK, we're just going to read through it quickly.
Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up
because they had no deepness of earth.
When the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them.
But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some
sixtyfold, some thirtyfold, who have ears to hear, let him hear.
And we're going to look at Jesus explanation of this in a minute.
But let's just continue with the few verses in between.
Verse 10 says, and the disciples came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them
in parables?
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.
Now, there are some interesting observations to make here at this point.
Who are these multitudes?
I remember we saw earlier on, there was a popular time of his ministry, early on in the
Gospel of Matthew and Jesus Christ.
It seemed to me that it's the multitudes following up for that Sermon on the Mount,
from what I could tell from that.
Maybe it wasn't, but he's talking about them as his disciples, clearly preaching to the
saved on the Sermon on the Mount.
There's all these people just around getting healed, seem to be getting saved, all these
great things going on.
But we're seeing a bit of a change now where you've now got these Pharisees.
It's starting to, I think now you're starting to see a lot more negativity around him.
And here he's preached these multitudes.
They're the unsaved masses, because he does say it's not given to them to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
So now these multitudes as a kind of generalization, I believe, are just like the
unsaved masses here.
And you're thinking, well, what are the unsaved masses there?
A lot of unsaved people will listen to preaching.
You know, a lot of them will.
We saw with John the Baptist, you know, they were willing to, I think, rejoice in
his light for a season.
It says, I think in John 5.
And look, but these people weren't saved.
OK, and people do that, don't they?
I mean, I'm sure there were many when, for example, a more recent one, Pastor Anderson
was, you know, there were some great documentaries.
He's preached against a lot of what was mainstream false doctrine.
He's preached that stuff.
A lot of people were flocking and listening, but didn't mean that they were
necessarily saved, did it?
OK, just because they were listening to that preaching, they were enjoying that
sort of someone who has actually preached the truth of a lot of subjects still
doesn't mean they're going to put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, here the multitudes are thronging him.
They're there. He says it's not.
It says, he said, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it is not given.
OK, why is that? Well, 1 Corinthians 2.14 says,
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
but they are foolishness unto him, sorry, for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
So have you noticed here who's able to come to him and ask him, his disciples?
So these disciples come unto him.
Bearing in mind, he's on a ship, they come to him, right?
What's separating Jesus from the multitudes?
It's the water, yeah, the water.
What does water represent in the Bible? The word of God, yeah.
So there's this kind of picture here of Jesus Christ.
He's got this water separating him from these people.
The disciples are able to come to him.
The people are. What stops people coming from or what stops people
from coming to Christ? The word of God, isn't it?
It's the word of God that stops people.
It's also what allows people to come to Christ.
But basically it comes from the word of God, doesn't it?
And I think that's the kind of representation there,
because it is a great divider, is it?
That's what's dividing him from the unsaved at this point.
It's what people need to come to God.
It's the water and representing, I believe here, the word of God
that's separating the unsaved multitudes from Jesus Christ.
So much of, you know, there's so many things in the word
of God which do prevent people coming from Christ.
So many truths in there which put people off.
But ultimately it's the word of God that you need to come to Christ, don't you?
Verse 12 says, 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.
So if you have faith and here it's that saving faith,
you can learn more and more about things of God, can't you?
But to those that don't, to those that don't have faith,
even that baseline innate understanding can be taken away, can't it?
Think about preaching the gospel to an average child.
We just preached the gospel to some children today.
It's just so easy for them, isn't it?
If you can fend off the fowls and everything else,
which we're going to look at in a minute, it's just so easy, isn't it?
They're just there. You're just preaching to them.
It's not, they're not going, well, wait a second.
I need an explanation exactly how the world began.
And well, they just, it's just so easy because it's so simple,
because it's really, it's innate, really, isn't it?
We have a knowledge of God there.
For them, you're just showing them what
the gospel is and the rest of it is pretty simple to them.
And that's something we're born with having.
But here, especially in light of the following verses,
I believe he's talking about this sort of large scale reprobation of these Jews.
That's really what these passages are talking about here.
I mean, if you look at it, he says, verse 13,
therefore, and it's something we've been talking about obviously over the last
couple of chapters, therefore speak I to them in parables,
because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith,
by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand,
and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.
Turn to Isaiah 6, because if you looked at this in the following
verse, it looks like they still have the ability to believe.
He said, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand,
and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.
Then he says in verse 15, I'm just going to read it.
We'll go back there in a second.
For this people's heart is waxed gross
in their ears, a dull of hearing in 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.
But he's talking about the prophecy of Isaiah.
What does the prophecy of Isaiah say in chapter six and verse eight?
It says, also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, this is Isaiah six, eight.
Whom shall I send and whom will go for us?
And said, I hear my send me.
And he said, go and tell this people hear ye indeed, but understand not.
And see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes.
Let's say, see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand
with the heart and convert and be healed.
How did Isaiah do that?
How did he make the heart of these people fat, make their ears heavy,
shut their eyes with the word of God, I preached to them.
That's how he did it. So which one is it?
Did God make their ears heavy and shut their eyes or did they close their eyes?
Like Matthew 13, 15 said, it's both.
It's both, isn't it? They rejected God, so he rejected them.
That's what it is. They close their eyes.
He rejects them. They cannot hear and cannot see.
OK, but they chose to reject him.
He then rejects them. That's what we're seeing here.
That's why John, you don't have to turn there, 1240 says it this way.
He, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.
They should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them.
And that's why the persecution of the early churches was so extreme.
That's why we're not just talking about some people that just, well,
if only they would just get saved. No, they were vile reprobates.
These were horrible, disgusting, vile reprobates that had rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ. They were there in front of him.
These are the people we're seeing here.
And it wasn't, it wasn't those evil Romans, like many would like to have you believe.
Oh, that Roman persecution, Roman this, Roman that, and then all these kind of,
whether they're true or not, that's all people talk about.
Nero and this and that. It was the Jews.
It was the Jews. That's what the Book of Acts says.
It's the Jews every time. God hating Jews.
And it wasn't just the Pharisees.
Oh, it's just, just those Jewish leaders.
The rest of them, no, no, it's like they've all got, no, no, it was the Jews.
Yeah, it was sadly the vast majority of these people.
The Book of Acts constantly tells us of those few chief priests.
No, those wicked Pharisees.
Those scribes, is that what the Book of Acts constantly talks about?
No, the Jews getting others to do their dirty work.
I'm just going to read them off.
Acts 1350 says, but the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women
and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas
and expelled them out of their coast.
Acts 14, 2 says, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles,
made their minds evil effect against the brethren.
Acts 17, 13 says, but when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge
that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea,
they came there also and stirred up the people.
Acts 21, 27 says, and when the seven days almost ended,
the Jews, which were of Asia when they saw him in the temple,
stirred up all the people and laid hands on him.
Pretty clear, isn't it? Pretty clear.
Like we saw in chapter 12,
whilst seeking the lost sheep, Jesus was also separating the goats, wasn't he?
He was separating these people.
He's seeking the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
But the vast majority of these people are basically getting reprobated, it seems.
And that's why you just have this wicked bunch of just seeking,
you know, they're hunting down Paul and anyone else.
I mean, Saul was leading them before he became Paul, wasn't he?
Just hunting people, persecution, hailing men and women.
It just, just horrendous what was going on.
And the thing is, it's unimaginable at first.
You're thinking, well, they must be really offended by Jesus.
No, it's because they're reprobates,
because these people had their conscience seared, because they were vile,
wicked people and nothing really changed much of that religion.
Religion, not race, religion.
OK, you can't preach this stuff and not see this, can you?
I don't, I don't understand how you, how what seems to be saved men of God can go
through and preach chapters, verses, go through Bible studies and come away
going, yeah, God's people, what are you talking about?
They're reprobate.
They're being, he's preaching to them and he's basically saying to them,
here he's saying, you're hardened, you're done, you're reprobates.
Back in Matthew 13, there was a righteous remnant.
There was a righteous remnant now, and there will always be a righteous remnant
just to make a point of this, because people will love to take things like this,
some sort of antisemitism, there was a righteous remnant.
Praise God, you know, and we don't know who, you know, sometimes we know,
we don't necessarily know who's a reprobate or not.
We try and preach the gospel to people
and we can get people that claim to be Jews saved, great.
Amen. I tell you what, we're going to be going on mission trips to some of the most
unreceptive place around like Israel, are we?
OK, when you could go somewhere where people actually want to hear the gospel
and when it's not illegal, it seems to preach the gospel.
Anyway, back in Matthew 13, there was a righteous remnant.
We see in verse 16, it says,
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired
to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those
things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
So think of all of those prophets of the Old Testament that didn't get to have
things explained as clearly as we do today.
I think, you know, what we get today is
is something that these guys weren't getting, you know, and they were seeing
through a dark glass, a glass darkly, weren't they?
And we've got the New Testament shiny light and the Old Testament.
And doesn't it make Old Testament reading amazing when you're seeing those pictures
of Christ and you're just seeing all these things, you're able to understand
when you get a little nugget here and a little truth there.
It's an amazing thing, isn't it, studying the word of God.
And here, you know, he's saying, look, you're blessed, you're getting to see
these things and hear those things which others didn't.
He then says this, Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not,
then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.
This is he which received seed by the wayside.
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth
the word, and anon with joy receiveth it.
Yet hath he no root in himself, but deareth for a while, for when tribulation
or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
He also that received seed amongst the thorns, among the thorns,
is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness
of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
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
and hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Now, this famous parable is also recorded in Mark 4 and Luke 8.
And I'd like you to get a finger, a bulletin in each of those,
because it's by comparing them all that we can get a real understanding.
This parable needs, excuse me,
all three versions to be looked at, I believe, side by side to really
understand it. And please put fingers of bulletins in there.
The parable is all about soul winning.
And I say that, you know, you take, you assume that's a given.
But a brother was telling me earlier that at some false church he was at,
they were trying to teach that this was about tithing,
which is an interesting one.
And, you know, and just getting the blessings of God when you're giving
and doing things, it's just amazing, isn't it?
But no, this is obviously all about soul winning.
And if you're sitting there and I don't think anyone is sitting here
thinking this, but, you know, what do we mean by soul winning?
We're talking about going out and winning souls,
getting people saved, preaching the gospel.
So Luke chapter 8 and verse 11 says,
Now the parable is this, the seed is a word of God.
And obviously the parable, he's talking about this guy going out and sowing seeds.
OK, sowing seeds.
And this is, you know, some this is some guy that's kind of got,
you know, gone into his little back garden and sowed a handful of seeds.
He's going all over the place.
There would be, you can imagine, maybe someone has a job of that.
Maybe he's asked to go out into someone's land and sow a load of seeds out.
So this guy is sowing seeds.
And it said, now the parable is this, the seed is a word of God.
Because there's no soul winning without the word of God, is there?
OK, there's no soul winning without it.
You can debate how the world began when you're out soul winning.
You could debate the existence of God,
you could invite people to church en masse.
But that's not really soul winning, is it?
And yeah, we might use a church invite to get a conversation started.
But you're not soul winning if you're not planting the seed, are you?
And how do we plant the seed?
Well, it's the word of God.
Turn to First Peter, chapter one,
because you don't want to plant any old seed, do you?
That sow is going to make sure that he's planting the right seed.
The parable, that what we're comparing it to is someone going out and sowing seeds.
And he's not just going to sow some nasty old manky old seeds,
some genetically modified seeds, because what are they going to produce?
Some genetically modified plant.
He's not going to, he's not going to go and plant out seeds of some lame,
you know, good for nothing sort of fruit, vegetable grain or whatever it is that he's planting there.
Well, First Peter 123 says, talking about us being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.
Now, how are we going to find that incorruptible seed then?
Well, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever,
because it was always here to stay, wasn't it?
No matter how many Bible correcting devils want to claim otherwise.
No matter how many of them out there want to claim that there was no such thing,
that we just didn't have it until we dug up some stupid old, ridiculously, you know,
what, well, these Dead Sea Scrolls, these other so-called, you know,
Aleph, Aleph A and B and all these, you know, it sounds so, so, you know,
theological and everything else, and they don't even agree with each other.
And they're a load of nonsense and they've got so many errors.
And God promised to preserve it.
He said it liveth and abideth forever.
And it did live and abide, funnily enough,
in a Catholic monastery vault or whatever it is somewhere.
No, it didn't. It lived and abideth, or it lives and abides forever,
written down on paper and being copied and copied and copied and copied.
And praise God, in English, we have that in our King James Bible.
For all flesh is as grass and the glory of man is a flower of grass,
the grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is a word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
So if you want to get someone saved,
you need to preach them the inspired, preserved words of God.
You don't want to try and get someone born again of corruptible seed, do you?
And, you know, I've talked about this many times.
I don't know why you get these stupid arguments.
People go, what if someone used and used a verse which isn't corrupted,
used a verse which, why would you want to use that rubbish?
Why would you want to use a Bible which says people are being saved?
Why would you want to use a Bible which starts to confuse between basically
making Jesus Lord of your life and just confessing with thy mouth the Lord Jesus?
Why would you want to do that?
And the many other just perversions and weird changes in it.
Why would you do that?
And none of us, hopefully, would ever think about doing that.
But we need to we need to preach them the inspired, preserved word of God.
Mark 4-14 says, the sower soweth the word.
Didn't say the sower soweth a word.
Not the sower soweth something similar to the word.
The word, the word, it has to be the word of God.
That's what we sow. That's what we go out and preach.
Matthew 13-5 says, behold, a sower went forth to sow.
So we have to preach the word of God.
But do we preach them the gospel by just standing in a church waiting for them
to come in? Does the sower just sow seeds kind of and just wait
for the soil to be delivered to his back garden and just build up mounds and mounds
of soil and so on? No, he went forth to sow.
He went out to sow. And that's what we do.
We go out to sow. And again, sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?
Sounds pretty obvious.
But how many churches don't go out to sow?
They don't go forth to sow.
They wait for them to come here to sow.
But the Bible says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel unto heaven.
The Bible says here that the sower went forth to sow.
And we obviously need to make sure that we're going out to sow.
We're going out to sow, not just wait for them to turn up in church.
And obviously our church doesn't do that.
We want to make sure we don't slip into that, where the soul winning quietens down
and people go out less and less and start praying that they'll bring them in,
praying God just bring the unsaved in and we start having like, you know,
rallies and things and get the adverts out there.
We might get the unsaved in.
How many churches do that? How many churches do that, sadly?
No, the sower went forth to sow.
Now look at verse 18 in Matthew 13.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
When anyone heareth the word, the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not,
then cometh the wicked one and catch the way that which was sown in his heart.
This is he which received seed by the wayside.
Now, if you've been soul winning for any length of time,
you will have seen this happen before your very eyes, won't you?
This exact scenario here where someone hears the word of the kingdom,
you don't get to the end of the gospel where they really understand it.
Then cometh the wicked one and captureth the way that which was sown in his heart.
This is he which received seed by the wayside.
And it's before they understand it, isn't it?
So people that we had it today, didn't we?
We had it. I mean, we had it.
Can't believe we had sort of eleven kids.
One of my kids counted that we started preaching the gospel to.
But those fowls were coming in, you know,
coming in from all angles and pulling them away.
And we end up with four at the end. Now some wandered off.
We end up with four at the end.
But it was sad, really, because there were others that were getting it
and understanding it and then the parents were the fowls.
How sad is that? How sad is that?
Why not come over and see what we're saying?
Yeah, if you really cared, come over and see what we're saying.
Come over and ask, what is it that you're actually preaching?
Not pull your kids away when they were that close.
It's so gutting, isn't it, when that happens.
They haven't quite got it.
They don't quite understand it. You pull them away.
And here, you know, and I don't, you know, sometimes we try and we try
and encourage ourselves, well, they've got at least enough.
They got this and hopefully they're going to go away.
He's talking about, well, they understand it.
No, the wicked one comes and catches the way that which was sown in his heart.
Does it fill you with as much confidence that they're going away
and going to go away and get the last bit
and call the name of the Lord or something, does it?
Sadly, and it's a battle.
It's a battle when we're out there, isn't it?
And I'll say this tonight, you know, because we've got to remember this.
Yeah, and I don't like to do this often, but and I won't name,
but my silent partner tonight did one hell of a job, an amazing job.
I mean, I'm preaching to these kids and there's parents coming
and he's going up to one and trying to distract that one,
going up to the next one, trying to keep that one away.
Some guy comes out looking a bit leery.
So he's kind of trying to approach him.
So it's kind of and it was amazing because I wouldn't
I wouldn't have got I wouldn't have got these kids saved.
And at the end, I couldn't believe that I was still standing there
with four kids by the end because I'm looking at thinking they're all going to
there's parents coming out, there's people coming, there's fouls circling.
Trying to dive bomb down from the sky.
And but and look, it's a big job.
Silent partnering, I've said it many times, is a big job.
That's your job. You're there to defend against those fouls.
You're there to keep them away.
You're there to try and distract.
You're there to do something.
Yeah. And and obviously to pray as well.
And, you know, I know that my kids would have been praying.
I know that my silent partner, I'm sure, was praying, just praying and praying.
And and look, we still got people saved.
And but those fouls, that's that's a real issue, isn't it?
That's a real issue that all of us deal with every time.
And sadly, it's not always like that.
Sadly, you can get to the point where you get right at the end of a gospel presentation.
You're getting to that point where they're just kind of getting to understand it.
And then someone comes and just pulls them away,
just slams the door, just shouts at you, just starts and just, no.
So, so upsetting, isn't it?
Now, Mark 4-15, Mark 4-15 says,
and these are they by the wayside where the word is sown.
But when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately
and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
So it's immediate, isn't it?
Immediate, he said here.
And that's important to remember when we're looking at the next two types of ground.
Don't forget that, OK?
It was immediately that they were taken away.
Now, it's not just a distraction, is it?
Because you know what happens when that door is shut, don't you?
It's not just that they pulled them away.
When that door is shut, we'll look at Luke now in chapter eight, verse five.
Luke and eight, five says, 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.
It's trodden down.
It's not just that they've distracted and that person is there now
just kind of looking up to heaven and trying to work out the last bit thing.
I'll go and try and look at this video.
No, they distract it, then they tread it down.
They tread it down and then they devour it.
They destroy it.
And to think about think about the false doctrine
that's probably getting preached right away after.
What a load of nonsense that is.
You don't believe that, do you, or blah, blah, blah, or the insults.
I remember being with brother Jamie
over in Tilbury, one of the recent Sony marathons,
and so close again with a group of kids.
And it was a bit of a, you know, we're out on a limb a little bit
because we're in this kind of enclosed state.
And then suddenly, you know, the dad's coming out, the uncle.
It was started getting a little bit fruity, didn't it, out there.
But basically, these kids are so close that it's going,
you're telling my kids about hell, a load of nonsense and all this sort of stuff.
And you can just see it just being trodden down, trodden down.
Those kids were so close as well, so close to getting saved.
Really sad when that happens.
But they tread it down and they devour it.
But I believe people can also tread it down themselves.
So they can, you know, afterwards,
after maybe there are those that hear it, don't quite get it.
And then they just trample it themselves by choosing maybe the false doctrine,
by maybe, maybe it will be, maybe it's not even themselves,
maybe it's the next TV show.
Maybe the distractions come, they get in the house,
and then suddenly it's some TV show or something else,
just either ridiculing Christianity or promoting some form of billions
or some form of scientists or something else.
Then again, that's going to tread it down.
That's going to devour the word, isn't it, as well.
There's many ways I think the devil does it.
But a lot of the time, I believe once someone comes in, those distractors,
those fowls, they're the ones a lot of the time that are devouring it as well, aren't they?
OK, so don't forget the God of this world has blinded the minds of them,
which believe not. So there are many ways he does that.
Luke 8 12 said, those by the wayside of they that hear,
then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts,
lest they should believe and be saved.
Not start getting saved.
Be saved. And what does it take to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Yeah, just put their faith in Christ.
OK, so just believe, just put their faith in Christ, lest they should believe and be saved.
So the devil comes immediately in case they believe and get saved.
See that? OK.
Verse 20, for that, you know, just bear that in mind, because look at verse 20.
But he that received the seed into stony places is the same as he that heareth the word
and anon with joy receiveth it.
Right. Now, this is something you've got to understand here when you look at these these passages,
there's two types of receiving in Jesus explanation.
There's the received the seed on different grounds.
Verse 19 said, this is he which received seed by the wayside.
Verse 20 said, but he that received the seed into stony places.
Verse 22, he also that received seed among the thorns.
Verse 23, but he that received seed into the good ground.
OK, this is this is referring to the parable.
This is a past tense talking about the parable, the ones that received seed in the parable.
OK, this one received it wayside.
This one received it stony ground.
This one received it thorny ground.
This one received it. He's talking about the parable here.
They were given it by the sower.
And this is synonymous with hearing the word in the explanation.
Look at verse 19.
It says, when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not.
Verse 20, but he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word.
Verse 22, he also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word.
Yeah. Verse 23, but he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word.
Get it? OK.
Then there's a second type that we just saw here in verse 20, which is obviously an explanation now of the parable.
But he that received the seed in stony places is the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it.
OK, so this isn't referring to the parable now.
This is him explaining he's received the word.
Now, turn over to Mark 4, which makes this point a bit clearer, because it doesn't use the first received for being sown on the different grounds.
Hearing the word. Mark 4 and verse 15 says, and these are they by...
I hope you're keeping up with me here.
And these are they by the wayside where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Verse 16, and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness.
Verse 17, have no root in themselves as sown doer, but for a time afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Verse 20, and these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some 34, some 60, some 100.
So you've got the stony ground, receive it. The good ground, receive it.
The thorns isn't clear, and the wayside man doesn't receive it, because it was taken.
Okay, now, on that, turn to Acts, Acts 2, Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, and while you're turning there, I'm going to read Matthew 13, 20, which said,
But he that received the seed into stony places, remember that was hearing the word, the same as he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it.
Okay, they've received the word.
This person got saved. In fact, he's joyful too, and they're not always joyful.
Well, of course they're joyful, they've got saved. You get some stoic people sometimes, don't you?
You seem to get it, you preach the word to them, and you're like, come on, man, at least give me a smile.
You just got saved, didn't you? But it's funny sometimes, isn't it?
Okay, so Acts 2 and verse 40, look at Acts 2 and verse 40, it says,
And with many other words did he testify and exhort, this is Peter preaching, obviously saying,
Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptised, and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls.
What did they do? They received his word. They received his word and got baptised. They believed, they put their faith in Christ.
John 1.12 says, But as many as received him to them gave him power to become the Son of God, even to them that believe in his name.
So this stony ground person has clearly got saved. They've received the word.
Okay, I hope everyone's keeping up with that. Yeah, so you see the difference. You've got to receive the seed.
That's just talking about referring to the parable in Matthew's account, but not in Mark's there, but that's hearing the word.
And then you've got receiving the word. Okay, and that is basically getting saved.
Okay, so go back to Matthew 13, where it says in verse 21,
Yet hath he no root in himself, but doeth for a while, this is Matthew 13.21,
for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
And that's many saved people out there. Here's a question though, is a persecution or tribulation necessarily suffered by them?
It said, Yet have he no root in himself, but doeth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
It could be, but it's not necessarily. It's not that they're necessarily just getting it from all angles.
They've just got saved and now it's just persecution, tribulation, or five minutes later, or five weeks later, or whatever it is, even five years.
Not necessarily. See, maybe someone gets saved. They have good intentions.
We get many people saved that seem to have good intentions. They want to come to church.
They're almost booking in their journey here. They're telling you what day they're coming, what time they're coming.
And suddenly it doesn't happen. Maybe they've Googled NIFB type churches.
Ever wondered that? Maybe they've looked into that and maybe they're seeing the persecution, but it's not necessarily their persecution or tribulation.
Ever wondered that? It's not necessarily. And we don't know what happens. Once that door shuts, you don't know what happens.
Once they walk away, if you're in the street, you don't know what's happened and what's going to go on in that time between them promising 100%,
I want to come to church, I want to get involved, and never coming again. Or at least never coming up until this point with many.
And we do get some that do come and it does happen. But you don't know, do you? But by and by he is offended.
Maybe it is. Maybe it's their own tribulation. Maybe it's something else that they're seeing.
Maybe they see the regular media attacks on Christian beliefs. Maybe they just see that.
Maybe the mockery is enough. Just a mockery of someone who believes in God.
Just believing in a God. The mockery of that that seems to be out there at least in the mainstream media.
Maybe it's the mockery of Christianity. Maybe because it's so much maligned. Maybe it's that.
Why can they not handle it? Why can they not handle the tribulation or persecution?
And this can be further down the line. So this isn't just people that are newly saved, by the way.
This could be people at this church could end up falling away when they go through some tribulation or persecution.
And we don't want to be stony grand Christians. Why can they not handle it? Because they have no root.
What does a root need to grow? Water. It's water, isn't it? It needs water.
If you don't water a new seedling, does it survive? Does it become strong? No.
It's not going to grow to be a strong plant or anything else.
Luke chapter 8 and verse 6 says,
And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
Where does the moisture come from? The word of God.
The Lord is a fountain of living waters, isn't he? Matthew 13, 5 to 6 says, Matthew 13 from verse 5 says,
Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth.
And when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.
Why does some reach for the spiritual milk and some don't? You ever wondered that?
Why does some reach for the word of God? Why does some hear the word of God? Why does some read the word of God and some don't?
There's some sort of difference, I think, in the landscape, some sort of block, some sort of problem.
Maybe those with joy receive it. It's just a thought.
Maybe we're talking about particularly receptive people, receptive places, but maybe a lot of the time, not always,
I know it's a generalization, but a lot of the time in areas of stuff where we're getting the most people saved,
they don't always maybe have that discipline and other things in their life to then start regularly reading the word of God, coming to a church, things like that.
And if our goal was just get them in, get them in, then maybe we wouldn't go preaching in those sorts of places.
But we're not really fussed. We want to get people saved, don't we? Want to get people saved.
And of course, we don't want them to never do anything for God and we want to encourage, but we want to get people saved, don't we?
So maybe it's sad. I don't know. But with all of that in mind, look at Luke 8 13, which says, Luke 8 13,
They on the rock are they, which when they hear, receive the word with joy.
And these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Now, some would try to use this to claim that you can lose your salvation.
Yeah, look, they are. They only believed for a while. Then they fell away.
But what did Luke 8 12, what did the verse before say?
Luke 8 12 said, Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
So what does verse 13 then mean for Wobbly? Because here, lest they should believe and be saved, it's pretty clear what it takes to be saved, believe.
Well, verse 13, I believe they received the word, they believe. They even start living by faith for some amount of time.
And maybe it's good intentions. Maybe they even get into Bible reading, church, soul winning.
Maybe they maybe they're people that do fall away a bit further down the line. Then they fall away from the things of God.
And that happens, doesn't it? That can happen to many. There's anyone here, one, oh, that backslidden Christian must not have been saved.
They're still saved because they received the word, they believed in Christ.
But look, there are those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ's salvation, but it doesn't mean they believe every word of the Bible, does it?
Now, for a while, they start believing. They're believing the other bits and pieces. They're believing this doctrine and that.
And then they get offended. They get persecution, tribulation. Maybe they just see that.
They have it come in their life and then they just push it. They start pushing it all away.
Have a family member like that. At the beginning, they were on it. They got saved. They were reading.
And now they're questioning. Now, they're not questioning the salvation, but they're questioning other parts.
They're questioning, well, really that or really the things which at the beginning, they were just lapping it up.
And then the tribulation, the persecution, other issues came in and suddenly.
They don't believe a lot of the Bible anymore. But they're still saved. Put their faith in Christ.
Verse 22, in Matthew 13. I hope you guys have got fingers and bulletins. Otherwise, there's a lot of flicking going on.
It sounds pretty good right now. Or you're just pretending. Verse 22 says,
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word.
And the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful.
So we've looked at the stony ground, Christian. OK.
And they received the word like we said. OK. This one says, and we've got a note here.
He becometh unfruitful. Look at Mark 4, because you could look at Mark 4 and think something else here.
Mark 4, verse 19. Mark 4, 19 says, And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful.
So you could say, well, nowhere do we see that this guy gets saved. You could, couldn't you?
Well, he didn't receive like the rest of them. We don't see. And he believed or anything else.
He doesn't receive it. And here in Mark, we read that it. And you could say, well, the word.
The word is unfruitful. He hasn't got saved. Oh, he just wasn't willing to put away his past life.
Right. He wasn't willing to turn away from his love of money.
He wasn't willing to put away the lust. So that's what you've got to do to get saved, don't you?
He didn't repent of his old life or, you know, whatever the other nonsense that the work salvationists want to preach.
Well, is that the case? It said the lusts of other things entering in. That's afterwards, isn't it?
The lusts of other things entering in. That's afterwards because he's already he's already at least heard the word.
It become unfruitful. So the word becomes unfruitful. That's afterwards.
And Matthew 13, 22 said he become unfruitful. Luke 8, 14. Flicky again.
Luke 8, 14 says they bring no fruit to perfection.
It says and that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth in a choke with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.
So which one is it? Mark 4, 7 says and some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no fruit.
The thorns didn't choke a seed. Thorns don't choke a seed, do they? The thorns grew up. The thorns grew up.
So what do they choke? It's a plant. The seeds germinate it. They choke your plant. They don't choke seeds, OK?
It germinated unlike the trodden down, devoured seeds by the wayside.
And by the way, in case you're sitting here going, right, so this is sort of just going out and preach the gospel.
Just a quick kind of quick break here for a second. This is people that hear the word.
This is the people that actually you preached the gospel to. This isn't the door slammed.
This isn't the people say not interested. This isn't the one verses.
These are people that are hearing the word, that are hearing you preach the gospel.
You've got those where the fowls come in, OK? And that's why we go out in pairs.
That's why we need silent partners to do their job and everything else, because that's an ever real issue, isn't it?
And on that as well, I know, just again, just while I'm thinking it, I know that it can be tempting.
You're preaching the gospel to someone. You're a silent partner and you see someone else and you go,
I'm going to try and preach to that person at the same time. And I get it.
OK, I've done it myself before. I don't think it's a good idea, though, because, look, sometimes that's a distraction.
And then someone else comes in and hijacks the person that you're preaching to.
OK, when we're a silent partner, we're a silent partner. We're there to protect them.
We're there to pray for them. We're there to be a witness to what's said as well.
If there is ever any allegations, we're there to deal with the distractions. We're there to deal with the fowls.
We're not there to then go, OK, I'm going off this way.
Look, if you've got extra people with you, great. If you've got another silent partner, OK.
But if you're not, not a good idea. Yeah, I don't think so.
When you look at this and think about it, that's why they were sent out in pairs.
OK, so back to where we are. Where were we?
OK, so it said something among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
So obviously the thorns, they've grown up. It's a plant. It germinated, unlike the trodden down to rad seeds, like we said.
Right, why did Mark then say it in verse 19? Why did Mark say it?
Well, he's either talking about the plant, the plant there, or the fact that it's still the word that brings forth fruit in a believer.
Because even though it's a person that needs to bring forth fruit, what is it that brings forth fruit?
It's the word. And he has to have had the word, and he has to go forth and preach the word to bring forth.
Why is it not clear, though? Why is it not clear?
If you're sitting there going, yeah, but why didn't it just say this one's saved and this one's saved?
Well, don't forget where we were earlier. Verse 11 in Matthew 13 said,
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.
And we know that with the Holy Ghost, and just a little bit of study, we can understand these mysteries, can't we?
But we are told to study to show thyself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
When we study it, look, we can open up all sorts of mysteries, understand it,
but the average unsaved person, give them enough...
The Bible, I've always said this, I've said this for a long time now, it gives people enough rope to hang themselves with.
You want to choose work, salvation, you can open up, go to the bar and go, look, the only belief for a while.
Look, that one, the thought, it didn't say that he got saved, you know, somebody thinks, oh, look, I've studied this one, this one,
it doesn't actually say he received it, yeah, but when we study it out, we can see, no, that person got saved.
And we have the Holy Ghost, we know what salvation is, all we have to do is a little bit of study with it,
and we can get to the mysteries that Jesus promised that we could get to.
And it's funny, isn't it, because he said, well, he explains it to them, but it's for us, after it's been written down in the Bible,
we need all three to then put together, because, and again, that's the unsaved person then can pick up the Bible and go,
oh, I've got the explanation here, but they still won't get it, will they? They still won't get it.
So, right, where are we? What's the fruit here?
Now, we've been looking, obviously, recently at fruits being what comes out of the mouth,
and I don't think you could argue that from earlier on in Matthew, I think, chapter 7 maybe, but also where we were in Matthew 12 as well.
But here the context of the parable is seeds growing into plants.
So obviously you want to know what's the context of the passage we're looking at.
He's referring to a parable he's just spoken about, about sowing the seeds, sowing seeds growing into plants.
Multiplying fruit, which means really more seeds, it's being productive, it's soul winning, okay? It's soul winning.
What prevents this thorny ground one? What prevents it?
He also that receives seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word,
and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Not the word. He's saved the thorns, he's a plant, okay? The seed's germinated, the thorns choke him and strangle him.
He becometh unfruitful.
It's worldly worries and being tricked into thinking that money will make him happy and all that stuff around that,
and lusts of other things entering in, all those different things in the world that choke the word,
choke that person, choke him from going out preaching the gospel, and he's not getting people saved.
And what a sad state of affairs that is really, isn't it? Isn't that sad when that happens?
And how often does that happen? That you go out and you preach the gospel to someone and they get saved,
and sadly the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of the world and everything else,
and that can be a lot of things, it doesn't, because you can look at that and think,
it's just the person, the guy, money, money, money.
There are many lusts in the world, aren't there? Many lusts that people will go towards instead of doing the things of God,
instead of coming to a church to learn how to soul win and get other people saved.
It doesn't mean they're not saved, does it? It doesn't mean they're not saved.
It's a sad state of affairs, it's a shame and what a waste of a life, they're still saved.
That was the difference here, well look at verse 23, it says,
because then we have the good ground.
But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it,
which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Now that was the difference with the one that the devil snatched the word away from, wasn't it?
Mark 4.20 words it this way, Mark 4.20 says,
and these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it.
Like we saw earlier, bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty and some an hundred.
Luke 8.15 says that they keep it, but that on the good ground, this is Luke 8.15,
are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
Now I believe that the honest and good heart results in bringing forth fruit with patience.
But how do we get that honest and good heart?
So is it that everyone who's a soul winner, you're just blessed, you all just had this honest and good heart?
You know, we don't believe in Calvinism, we're not the 11, we're just like the honest and good heart ones, right?
Well, where does it come from really? From the word of God.
That's where the honest and good heart comes from.
We need that water for the root to grow, don't we?
We need that water to be strong enough to withstand the thorns, don't we?
Doesn't a plant need that? Water to be strong enough?
You have some just dried out old plant that's barely getting any watering or anything else,
those thorns are going to make mincemeat of it.
Strangle it, choke it, it's not going to grow.
And we need that water to bring forth fruit, don't we?
It all comes from the word of God.
And if you're sitting here thinking, but I have no heart for soul winning, brother Ian,
maybe you're watching online thinking that, maybe you'll be thinking that in the future,
maybe you have thought that in the past, but I just, I don't want to do it.
I don't have that honest and good heart, I don't really want to, I feel forced into it.
I come to church and I just kind of do it because I have to, to fit in, I try and do minimal,
you know, I might make 30 minutes and then find an excuse to come back and everything else.
If that's you, be like David, after he sinned horrendously with Bathsheba,
he prayed in Psalm 51, 10, you don't have to turn there,
create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
I preached on this about 18 months ago, this passage,
and something that I really thought about and made a point of when I preached it,
is that ground can change, can't it? Ground can change,
because we look at this passage often and just think, right, so which one am I?
Well, I'm soul winning, I must be the good ground. Praise God, yeah.
Well, that was tough, I could have been that thorny ground one, you know,
but ground does change, doesn't it?
Yeah, those, in England, those brambles, they get around, don't they?
They can spread from whether it's seed blowing around,
whether it's part of bramble, just the stem or whatever you call it,
when they're cut down, when they're mashed up,
when whatever happens to them, the wind blows around,
they get around and you can have a lovely patch of good ground
and you're that little bit too close to that thorny ground
and next thing you know, you're good ground that you thought,
well, I'm a good ground Christian, I'm on the 30 fold already,
I might even be on the 100 fold, you can quickly turn in the thorny ground
and I think you could probably turn in the stony ground as well.
Look, ground does change, doesn't it?
And as you grow, your roots have to spread out
and suddenly you're hitting the stones.
That can happen as well, can't it?
But you could be, you could be a thorny ground Christian here.
You could be sitting here going, I'm just choked with it,
oh, right now, brother Ian, I'm just pretending I'm actually listening
and in my mind, I'm just plotting and planning what I'm going to be spending
my next bit of cash on.
I'm actually in my mind working out how I can earn more
and how can I, you might be sitting there thinking that
and if you're sitting there thinking that, you can change as well.
It's not, right, just done deal, you're a thorny ground, that's it.
Oh well, let's hope that you still get a good bit of slice of action
when you're in heaven.
You never know, you might get a couple of things right.
Look, you can change that, you can change that.
And how do we change it?
Well, it's all by the word of God.
It all comes through the word of God, get in the word of God.
And the same, you might be someone that you're offended,
you've come away from tribulation, persecution
and you just don't really want to be in the things of God again,
you can change that again, it comes from water,
it comes from the word of God.
Plough that ground, get the water in there, get the word of God.
And we can be that good ground, but we need to stay that good ground.
We have to stay that good ground.
How do we stay the good ground?
Not just by watering with the word of God,
we keep away from the thorns.
We keep away from those temptates because it only takes one little thorn.
Anyone ever dug out thorns before?
They're a nightmare to get out, aren't they?
And you might think, I've got rid of them, I've dug them out,
I've cut them low, because a lot of the time most people don't dig them out
because they go deep some of those weeks.
I've cut them real low.
I've managed to dig away a bit and I've got some nice strong secateurs,
I've cut out those thorns.
I'm all right, aren't I?
No way, those thorns grow back, don't they?
You've got to keep cutting them away, keep getting rid of those temptations,
keep getting them out of your life, putting boundaries in,
putting in limits that will stop you being tempted.
Get those things out of your life.
It's an ongoing process to keep good ground.
Ground doesn't stay good.
I remember talking about this a long time ago when I preached this before.
How many of you have tried to turn over some ground ready to plant vegetables
or a flower bed or something like that?
A couple of keen gardeners here, everyone else is looking, going...
Some muck's going...
Have you ever done it...
I'm just going to talk to the gardeners.
Have you ever done it and left it for a little while
and not got around to planting?
What happens?
It goes rock hard.
It goes rock hard and then what starts growing?
Weeds, they come back.
Look, you can plough it, it looks lovely.
You've dug it all over and it just looks like that fine topsoil.
You could just kind of fall through your fingers and everything else.
This is just prime, this is the good ground.
And then it really doesn't take long.
It doesn't take long at all.
And suddenly it starts to compact, then the weeds start to grow
and next thing you know it's worse than when you started.
And look, to keep good ground you've got to maintain it,
you've got to keep doing that and again it all just comes back to the word of God.
Always comes back to the word of God, doesn't it?
And a bit of effort on our part as well.
Okay, so that's the parable of the sower there in Matthew 13
and that's a great passage isn't it?
Really, you have to go to all three there.
It's great when God gives us those different angles on things.
We need to go there, make sure you're studying, you're looking at things as well.
It really helps you to understand and get to the bottom of that
and to then fend away the false doctrine.
We'll be continuing with this chapter next week.
I don't know if I can hit those other parables in one or not.
I see it might be two parts.
There's a lot of parables there, aren't there?
But a great message in there.
That was the parable of the sower
and we'll go to the Lord and the Word of Prayer to finish off now.
Heavenly Father, thank you for explaining to us that parable
and explaining it to us from three different perspectives,
three different groups of information there
that just help us to understand it as you'd want us to.
Lord, I hope I preached it accurately
and I hope that everyone here has understood that
and I preached it in a way that people would be able to take that on board as well, Lord.
I pray that you just help us to be those good ground Christians,
help us to be soul winners, help us to stay as those with the good ground,
help us to keep away those thorns,
help us to keep those rocks and stones out of there
and help us to just be productive Christians, Lord.
Help us when we're out soul winning to not only find those
but also to encourage those who have those thorns already
and that stony ground to want to improve their ground
and help us as well to protect our partners from those fowls
and those that want to tread down the word of God, Lord,
when we do get those that want to hear.
Lord, we thank you for everything.
Help us to get home safely.
Help us to get back on Sunday for another day in your house.
In Jesus' name we pray all of this. Amen.