Matthew 13:3-9
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

Then the disciples come to ask Jesus:

• Matthew 13:10
  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
• This is a good introduction to the series that we are starting.
• This is the foundation for which we must remember why Jesus speaks in parables.
• What is the reason?

• Matthew 13:11-15
  11 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. 12 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. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and 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.

• Quite a lengthy answer. But there are a few reasons.

• First:
  • To reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven – Jesus used natural things and objects to illustrate the kingdom of heaven to us.
  • It can help us to understand better the lessons that Jesus is trying to teach us.
• Secondly:
  • Those that see cannot see, and those that hear will not hear not will they understand.
  • To keep the truth from the enemy so only those that had spiritual discernment could understand.
• Why would Jesus want to keep the truth hidden from some people? Wouldn’t it be good that everyone would understand?
  • There are many insincere people that are not seeking for truth and so God allows only those that are sincere to understand so that it would become apparent who are the true followers of Christ.

So there are four grounds. Let’s have a overview quickly of what those grounds are.

• The wayside
  • Matthew 13:19
    When any one 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 way side.
• The stony ground
  • Matthew 13:20-21
    20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
• The thorny ground
  • Matthew 13:22
    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.
• The good ground
  • Matthew 13:23
    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 an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
• So these are the four grounds.

What do all four grounds have in common?

• They all receive seed. Everything else is different.
• And what does the seed represent?
  • Luke 8:11
    Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
  • The seed is the word of God.
  • That’s pretty straight forward.
• So the four grounds all represent people that have heard the word of God.
• Now then that cannot represent the whole world.
• Where do people hear the word of God? It is in the movie theatres, at the shopping centers, at the bar or nightclub? No – these people are all Christians! You hear the word in the church!
• And what we’re going to see is 4 different reactions that people have to the word of God, or 4 types of Christian’s in the church today.

Now, when people hear the Word of God, what happens?

• Romans 10:17
  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
• We can assume that all four grounds are growing in faith. That’s what happens when you hear the Bible right?
• Now the Bible is important and hearing the word of God is important.
• But that is not all there is to it.
• This parable shows the differences between Christian’s who attend church, who are apparently listening to the word of God right? And even though they all are listening to the Bible, there are different results.
• Romans 10:17 is the starting point but we can’t just remain there.
• So now let’s look at each of these grounds and see why only one of the four grounds is a good ground.

What do we understand about the first ground, the wayside?

• Matthew 13:19
  When any one 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 way side.
  • The problem with the first ground is they don’t understand.
• As a result the devil is able to reach into the heart and rip the word of God out!
• Now look, there are a few reasons why people don’t understand the Bible.
• FIRSTLY
  • It’s the preachers fault.
  • They can’t preach well, they don’t know how to share the Bible properly.
• SECONDLY
  • The person goes to church and falls asleep.
  • The person is talking throughout the whole of the church service.
  • And they wake up at the end when it’s time to sing the closing song.
• BUT THIRDLY
• Why don’t some people understand? There is an actual reason that the Bible points out.
• Matthew 13:13-15
  13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and 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.
• What is the reason why these people do not understand? This text gives us the reason why the devil is seemingly able to reach into our heart and rip the word of God out!
• In verse 15, it gives the reason simply because people are not converted.
• There are many people that go to church, they are not converted, and so the Bible does not have its desired effect on their lives.
• What does it mean to be converted or UNconverted?
• When the Bible outlines what is sin and asks us to change our sinful ways, like lying, and we continue to lie and not follow and refuse to change, that is what it means to be unconverted. And so when we reject truth, then God does not see fit to reveal more truth to us as we are not accepting what is already revealed.
• That is the reason why some don’t understand.
• They are like those on the wayside.

How about those on the stony ground?

• Matthew 13:20-21
  20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
  • What happens?
  • When tribulation or persecution, when bad things happen, this person is offended and falls away.
• This person understands! They go out from church praising God and receives the word with JOY!
• But they can’t withstand persecution and trials.
• Why? What does the text say? Because they don’t have roots!
• What do we know about roots?
  • System to suck up nutrients, essential for the growth of the plant.
  • Provide stability for the plant – if roots do not grow early on, the plant will die.
  • It is hidden understand the soil, can’t be seen.
• What does it mean to have this root experience?
  • Colossians 2:6-7
    6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
  • It means to be rooted and built up in Christ. To walk with Jesus. Walk by faith.
• How do we walk by faith?
  • Romans 10:17
    So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
    • Faith comes through the Word of God. No other way. So to be rooted in Christ, means to walk by faith, which means to study God’s Word. We must be deep Bible students to have deep roots.
  • Ephesians 3:17
    That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love.
    • Rooted and grounded in love. Meaning we must learn to love Christ through studying His word. There is no other way to fall in love with a God that you cannot see except to spend time in His word!
• So in order to survive, a young Christian must learn to develop deep roots early on. Otherwise when the trials come (and everyone will get trials sooner or later) they won’t be able to stand and survive. We must learn to dig deep for ourselves, every day in the Bible so that we can develop these roots.
• One other thing – roots develop unseen, below ground, in darkness. So it is with our own spiritual development. A very important aspect must developed away from the public eye. In our own closet, our own personal time. This is called personal devotion. This is when our biggest growth happens.
• Could it be that many Christian’s go to church but yet they don’t have an actual personal relationship with Jesus?
• This is that second ground!

Now let’s have a look at the third ground, the thorny ground. Let’s go to a different passage from Matthew.

• Luke 8:14
  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.
• What happens to this group? They are choked!
• What is the result? They bring no fruit to perfection.
• But what are they choked by?
  • Cares.
  • Riches.
  • Pleasures.
• Can you see a pattern? What is the progression?
  • When you are a student, you are poor – you have plenty of cares. What career to choose, finding the right girl.
  • Once you find a job, then you start to worry about riches. You need money to buy your house, buy a car, get married.
  • And once you achieve all this, then you can relax a little, enjoy the pleasures of life. Maybe you get married. And it starts all over again. You need to buy a bigger house, extra car, more things for kids.
  • Are all of these things wrong? Not in and of themselves. But if they start to take you away from God, from spending time with him, from digging deeper roots, then this is a problem.
• The third ground shows us how the devil attacks us after we have overcome the failures of the first and second grounds – that is we did not harden our hearts and began to develop deep roots. At this point, Satan tries to lure us with cares, riches and pleasures. Once we are addicted, our roots begin to die, and sooner or later we will reject the truth. In order to overcome this ground, we must die to our selfish desires and learn to live according to God’s will. We may not be doing anything evil or sinful – we just get too busy and start neglecting Jesus.
• This group is focused on the world. They love the world and slowly the world is weaning their affections away from Christ and fixating it on earthly things.
• Step by step it can be so imperceptible.
• That’s why this weekly Sabbath that we have is such a blessing. It affords us time to refocus and to recommit and come back to Jesus.

Finally, let us have a look at the last ground – the good ground

• Luke 8:15
  But that 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.
• Can we agree that this ground is the opposite of all the other grounds? Yes.
• If you read between Matthew and Luke, the problems of the first three grounds are all fixed in this last ground.
• But what is the main characteristic of this ground that makes it good? There is just one thing that is pointed out.
• He hears just like all the other grounds. But this ground keeps it! And the result is that they bring forth fruit with patience.
• So the key ingredient there would be – “keep it!”
• This word KEEP IT does not mean that they hear and then they keep it – for example like the keeping of the 10 commandments. It can mean that.
  • BUT I want you to consider a different view. By keeping it I mean to imply that they hold on to the word – they don’t forget it. They are constantly putting it in their minds and their hearts. They don’t let go!
• Psalms 119:11
  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
  • They hide the word of God in their hearts and keep it there, and the result is they don’t sin against God.
• 1 John 3:9
  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
  • The seed REMAINS! It is kept there. It’s not just a one time reading, but they remember it!
• Psalms 1:2
  But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
  • The blessed man meditates on the law of God constantly – day and night! They keep it there! They don’t forget!

How can be the good ground today?

• Let’s make sure we spend time in the Bible everyday.
• Let’s make an appointment with Jesus everyday and do our very best to keep it!
• Let’s make priority for Jesus in our lives .
  • How? By attending CARE Group, church, prayer meeting, meetings where we know we can grow in Jesus.
• When we can do that, the fruit of a righteous person will be the result.
• Maybe some of us are trying to be a different person and lead a different and better life. Don’t force yourself to be different. You can change as you spend more time in the Bible. And when we do that, the change will come as a result of a changed heart – different thoughts and priorities – EVERYTHING will be different because Jesus is now living in us.