SOWERS, SEEDS, and SOILS
“The Seed by the Wayside”
Matt 13: 1-9 “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
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This parable of the sower is found in 3 of the 4 gospels–Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
The subjects are:
The SOWER is the Lord Jesus.
The SEED is the gospel.
The SOIL is the heart of man.
The WAYSIDE is the trampled, hard path the sower walks on.
The BIRDS are the devil.
–In the parable, the gospel seed is sown onto 4 different soils or hearts with 4 different results.
One heart, as already mentioned, is compared to the WAYSIDE,
the second to STONY places,
the third is infested with THORNS, and
the fourth heart is GOOD, rich soil.
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Today I want to look at the first one, the seed sown by the WAYSIDE.
As the sower travels along sowing kingdom seed to the right and to the left, some of it falls on this hard, unreceptive road illustrating the heart.
Because the ground is hard, the seed sits on top of it in clear view of the birds that follow along behind the farmer and snatch up the seed.
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Now, in the spiritual sense that Jesus intended, He’s talking about a hard hearted person that hears the gospel.
The Bible warns us to watch closely the condition of our heart:
Prov 4:23, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.”
Jesus later explained this parable to his disciples:
Matt 13:19 “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.”
Mark’s account adds that “Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
Luke’s account of the same parable reveals Satan’s motive–“lest they should believe and be saved.”
Luke also adds that before the devil steals it from their heart, the word they heard is “trampled down.”
Trampled down by what? Jesus doesn’t say but we can guess:
Trampled down by competing ideas,
Or philosophies,
Or the claims of other religions,
Or doubts,
Or distractions,
Or criticism from others.
Bottom line: The word sown onto the soil of their heart is immediately attacked!
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Now, the problem is not with the SEED,
and the problem is not with the SOWER,
the problem is the SOIL—-the condition of the person’s heart.
The WAYSIDE heart is hard,
it is resistant to God,
it has built strongholds of arguments and reasonings against the Lord.
I’ve noticed through the years that this kind of hard heart toward the gospel doesn’t happen overnight.
A hard heart is the result of a thousand minor decisions made in the quiet of the soul.
–Decisions to ignore or deaden a troubled conscience.
–The decision to drown out or rationalize away what you know is true.
And over time the heart grows hard!
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Jesus’s words reveal that the wayside heart, like a dirt road, becomes trampled and hardened by various kinds of traffic.
ONE, There is the FOOT TRAFFIC of people treading it down.
The foot traffic can be the wrong kinds of friends.
Friends that minimize sin and maximize pleasure.
Friends that aren’t concerned about what God thinks and over time teach you the same attitude.
You are who you run with; you are who you hang with.
If you want to know who a person really is, just check out their friends!
This is why the Bible warns, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”–1 Cor. 15:33
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”–Pr 13:20
“The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.”–Pr 12:26
Each and every day that you hang with the wrong kinds of friends your heart is further trampled down and becomes harder against God.
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Also, when Jesus’s gave this parable, heavier and more sophisticated things also trampled a dirt path down–like horse drawn wagons and Roman chariots.
For us today that would translate into the weightier stuff like:
false teachings about God,
and about where life comes from,
and the reality of heaven and hell,
the truth of your eternal soul,
the one and only way to salvation.
This kind of false messaging is found everywhere on social media, in high school and college classrooms, and just about everywhere else!
Messaging that directly attacks the teachings of Christ,
the need to come only to Him for salvation,
the reality of sin that needs to be forgiven by God,
All of these Bible truths are under constant assault by deceptive messaging that tramples down and hardens your heart against the Lord!
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This is how a Christian young person goes off to college and soon renounces their faith!
They come home for a visit and you hardly recognize them.
The birds of the air, Satan and his minions, using teachers and college professors, have snatched away the gospel seed that wasn’t well-planted!
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And also there are the chariot wheels of false religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, New Age, and others roll over and crush the gospel seed on the wayside road.
The Apostle Paul predicted that one of the prominent features of the Last Days would be, “Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”–2 Tim 3:13
And we are there, on steroids!
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Now Jesus gives one more reason the person on the wayside does not get saved is because:
TWO: He didn’t understand what he heard.
Jesus said he “hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it.”–Matt. 13:19
He is ALMOST converted, like King Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”–Acts 26:28
–In Jesus’s parable the seed falls on the surface of his heart because Jesus says Satan steals it ‘from his heart.’
But the lack of understanding of what he heard makes him an easy target for Satan’s attack.
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Here I have to say that we live in a day when many churches are very unclear about the gospel.
Some of the largest churches in the country refuse to say the word “sin.” Or “hell.” Or “repentance,” all KEY words of the true gospel.
They’re afraid of losing people in seats, or of the giving dropping off.
So they trade the gospel message for a feel good, motivational pep talk that waters down and weakens the true gospel.
Though multitudes hear them, they don’t understand the full implications of what they’ve heard.
The devil’s just patiently waiting in the parking lot to snatch away what was sown in their heart before they even get home!
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So what is the real gospel Satan is so afraid of and so viciously attacks?
The gospel is the good news that, though we are all sinners headed to hell, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross for our sins.
After 3 days He arose from the dead, and calls us to repent of our sins and place our faith in Him as our Savior. When we repent our names are written into the Lamb’s book of life!
Notice how it’s impossible to share the true gospel without using the words sin, hell, and repent!
I close today with this verse: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…”–Heb 3:15
LET’S PRAY