Seeds
Part 5
“The Good Ground”
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.”
Jesus explains the fourth seed on good ground privately to His disciples:
13:23 “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Luke’s account adds some important things: “But the seeds that fell on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”–8:15
Now, the outcome of this last and fourth seed is what we’re all after–to be a fruitful, growing, God honoring, Christ-like believer.
So it’s very important we look at why it was fruitful–what Jesus highlighted as being the reasons for the fourth seeds success!
First, Matthew says that when this person heard the word they:
UNDERSTOOD
They understood the gospel and its requirements, which are to REPENT of your sin, and BELIEVE on Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
Then Luke adds–The fourth person has a:
GOOD and HONEST heart
This means he is sincere about his commitment,
about his repentance,
about his resolve to follow the Lord Jesus and sincerely walk out his new-found faith.
He’s not playing games with God.
He’s not double minded, or wishy washy, or ‘all-in’ one day and ‘out’ the next.
He means business, his heart is sincere, he’s in it for the long haul!
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And his SINCERITY shows in his commitment to:
KEEP the word–to hold tight to the promise of eternal life,
the call to a new life,
a new direction,
a new path,
To guard the precious word of God sown into his heart.
Now once again, as with the first three seeds sown, we see that the word sown into his heart comes under attack or there would be no need to keep and protect it!
The person with the good heart PROTECTS the word from being stolen sesy by the devil, as was the seed by the wayside.
In all spiritual warfare and Satanic temptations, you can count on one thing–the word of God in your life is going to be attacked.
This was Satan’s first tactic with Eve when he tried getting Eve to doubt God’s word, or to be confused about what it meant.
“Has God said?”
Are you sure Eve?
Are you sure you understand what He meant?
He hasn’t changed!
In order to take you down into some level of defeat he must knock the props of God’s word out from under your feet.
So he’ll sow doubt about God’s word, or
Confusion about its meaning
Or some kind of reinterpretation of it as he did with Jesus in the wilderness.
Or he’ll add to it something God never intended.
Either way, the devil wants to somehow disable the effectiveness of God’s word and the security of God’s promises.
Remember, the FIRST seed was useless, the SECOND seed was rootless, and the THIRD seed was fruitless.
In all 3 cases it was the word that was successfully attacked!
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ILLUS: In professional football, the running backs are taught exactly how to hold the ball when it’s in their possession.
They’re taught that there are five points of pressure when carrying the ball–fingertips, palms, forearms, biceps, and chest.
These 5 points ensure the ball is protected from defenders and fumbles.
They’re also taken through security drills called ‘BALL TUCK AND HOLD,’ where running backs learn to tuck the ball into their body and maintain possession under intense pressure.
And there’s also what’s called a Gauntlet Drill where the running back is taught to maintain possession when several defenders are trying to strip the ball away from them.
Bottom line: His job is to NEVER LOSE THE BALL.
His coach will tell him, “Ball security is job security!”
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Likewise, in spiritual battles–Word security is Victory security!
–In the same way a running back comes under immediate attack when he gets the ball, we Christians are immediately targeted by the enemy when Jesus sows the gospel seed into our heart and we begin to grow!
Every believer must learn to maintain possession of the Word sown into their hearts!
Satan will try to get you to fumble it,
lose it,
forget it,
or he will try to strip it away from you in the hour of trial!
No wonder David wrote in the psalms, “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You,” Psalm 119:11.
James warns about being a “forgetful hearer,” in James 1:25.
Forgetful hearers don’t guard and protect the word as one would guard a great treasure, but they LISTEN casually and FORGET it easily!
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So those on the good ground UNDERSTAND the gospel, receive it with an HONEST, SINCERE heart, and KEEP IT close and protect it from all attacks.
And finally, they do all this with:
–PATIENCE
Jesus said they “bring forth fruit with patience.”
I can’t tell you how important this last word is!
Jesus taught that spiritual growth is a process over time.
“Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed…The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: FIRST a green stem of grass, THEN a bud, THEN the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—it’s harvest time!”
So, like the farmer’s harvest, spiritual growth takes time and patience.
We must exercise Patience through:
–trials,
–setbacks,
–failures,
–persecutions,
–the day in and day out plodding along of just keeping your hand to the plow and not looking back.
Patience in those times when it doesn’t seem like much is happening!
Jesus said, “In your patience you possess your souls.”–Lk. 21:19
James wrote, “Look at the farmers. They have to be patient. They have to wait for their valuable crop to grow and produce a harvest…8 You must be patient too.”–5:7-8
Without this resolve to patiently persevere you could end up like the seed on stony ground.
When problems and persecutions arose because of their faith, they had zero patience or resolve to weather it and fell away.
Hebrews says, “Let us run with patience the race set before us…”–Heb 12:2
ILLUS: I read recently of a man that had a key chain for nine years with the letters P.U.S.H. written on the side–It’s an acronym for Pray Until Something Happens!
He’s looked at the message on that keychain hundreds of times throughout his walk with the Lord.
We all have P.U.S.H. experiences in our walk with the Lord when patience and perseverance are required to see something through to the end.
The Bible says we are “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”–Heb 6:12
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So the good ground WAS good ground because that person:
UNDERSTOOD the gospel
RECEIVED IT with an honest, sincere, and devoted heart
KEPT and GUARDED it from the devil’s attacks, and
PATIENTLY persevered till the harvest came!
LET’S PRAY