#60 Lu. 8:4-15 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER Introduction: In the previous text Jesus and His disciples make a tour throughout Galilee. Those disciples set a good example for us to follow in serving Jesus. In today's text Jesus presents The Parable of The Sower. I. The presentation of the parable to the multitude, V. 4-8 V. 4, "And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable." Mark tells us that this event took place by the seashore. This means that they had probably returned to Capernaum. A great crowd of people gathered on the seashore to hear and to see Jesus. The crowd was so large and so crowded in around Jesus that Jesus got into a boat and shoved away from the shore just slightly. Then He spoke to the people on the shore from the boat. By the way, the acoustics were better this way than they would have been if He had stood on the shore and talked to them. Luke tells us that the people came to Him out of every city. Apparently they were attracted to Him when He passed through their cities on His tour through Galilee. They were so attracted to Him that they now flock to Capernaum in great numbers to see Him. Luke says that Jesus spoke to the people in a parable. A parable is a story that illustrates one or more truths without actually stating the truth which it illustrates. I say that it illustrates a truth. At least it is presented as truth. Not all parables illustrate absolute truth because some premises presented by men are not true. However, all parables of Jesus illustrate genuine truth. The story in a parable may be taken from real life and, therefore, may itself be a true story. It may, however, be a fiction story. Either way, the parable is intended to represent truth. It would take things with which the people were familiar and illustrate a truth to them with which they were not familiar. V. 5, "A sower went out to sow his seed..." In this parable a sower went for to sow seed. This means, of course, that he had already plowed the field. He already had the ground broken up ready to receive the seed. The hard dirt was broken up by the blade of the plow so that the seed could settle down into the soft soil. The sower would then hang a bag of seed over his shoulder much like a woman would carry a large purse by a strap. He would reach into the bag with one hand and get a handful of seed which he would scatter out before him in a semi-circular motion. (V. 5) "...and as he sowed, some fell by the way side..." The way side is the pathway or roadway that would run beside the plowed ground or perhaps through it. This ground was packed hard by the feet of men as they walked along the path or roadway and it had not been plowed by the sower. It was inevitable that some of the seed would fall on this unplowed roadway. Did you ever notice that you cannot water every spot of your lawn without getting some of the water on the driveway where grass does not grow? That is the way it was with the seed. In trying to seed all of the plowed ground that was right up next to the roadway, some of the seed would fall in the roadway. (V. 5), "...and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it." The seed out in the roadway was right in the path of workers and travelers who would come along. They trampled this seed under foot. Eventually the birds would come along and eat it all up. Needless to say, this seed never became productive. It never produced a harvest. The sower knew to start with that some would fall by the way side. He knew that it would not be productive. But this did not prevent him from sowing the seed just because he knew that some of them would not be productive. V. 6, "And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture." The kind of rock spoken of here is not the small rock that you can pick up with your hands. Rather it is a huge rock, a great strata rock that lies beneath the surface of the soil. This rock is not seen by the eye of the sower. There is enough soil on top of it that he is able to plow this part of the field. After he has finished plowing the field, this part of the field looks just like the rest of it. It looks like good soil. Once the seed has been planted, it germinates quickly in this soil. In fact it not only germinates quicker than the seed in the other soil, but it shoots up quickly and looks very promising. To the eye, it appears that this part of the field is going to make the best crop. But there is a problem. The soil is actually shallow so that the moisture of this soil is not replaced when it is gone and it goes quickly. Very quickly, this soil is dry and the plants that looked so promising quickly wither away. By past experience the sower knows that some of his seed will fall on a rock and be unproductive. Never-the-less he does not let this stop him from sowing the seed. V. 7, "And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it." Now keep in mind that the sower has plowed the field. He does not sow the seed out in the briar patch. But he sows seed in soil that has roots from the old briar patch in the ground. Therefore when he sows seed in this spot, the briars and brambles come up right along with the plants of the seed he has planted. In fact the briars and brambles will come up faster and grow faster than the plants that you are trying to grow. They will grow up and choke out the plants that you are trying to grow. They shade your plants and get the sunshine that produces the growth. They use up the moisture and the nutrients of the soil and stunt the growth of your plants. This reminds me of an uncle of Sis. Davis. We went out to visit with him in West Texas a few years ago and he told us that he had put up a sign in his cotton patch. The sign read, "Keep off the grass. My cotton is under it." So the seed which fall into the thorny-ground areas are unproductive. They do not produce a harvest. At least, it is very little that this area produces. The sower knows this before he plows the field and before he sows the seed. Yet never-the-less he does not let this stop him from sowing the seed. V. 8, "And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold..." Some of the seed fell on good loamy ground that became very productive. This is what made it worthwhile for the farmer to go to all that trouble and work plowing the field and sowing the seed. It was from these seed that he would get his harvest. It was from these seed that he would fill up his barn. Jesus then cried aloud and called on all who had ears to hear to get the lesson from this parable. (V. 8), "...And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." They all had physical ears. They had all heard the words He said as He spoke this parable. But Jesus wanted them to also hear with an understanding of the truths that He had presented to them in the parable. He wanted them to get the spiritual lessons that He had presented. II. The reason that Jesus spoke in parables, V. 9-10 V. 9, "And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?" After the multitude was gone the disciples were still puzzling over the meaning of the parable and so they came to Jesus and asked. Matthew says that they also asked Him why He was speaking to them in parables. Or to put it another way they said, "Why are you speaking in riddles? Why do you not just come right out and say what you mean?" In our text Jesus first answers that question. He explains to the disciples why He has begun to speak to the multitude in parables. V. 10, "And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. By using parables those who are His disciples and all who really want to know the truth can understand, but to others it was not intended that they should understand. The saved might not at first understand. The disciples of the Lord did not at first understand this parable. But they can understand and if they do not at first understand they should turn to the Lord and ask Him to help them to understand. That is what these disciples did and that is what we should all do. If anyone is not saved, he, too, can come to understand the truth of God if he really wants to. He can, even from the beginning, understand enough to know that he is lost and he can understand enough to know how to be saved. Then after learning that much, if he will trust the Lord and get saved, he can begin to learn the greater truths of God. But God does not intend for those who are unsaved and who do not really want the truth of God so that they can get saved to understand the great spiritual truths of God. The great truths of God are for God's people---not the lost. III. The explanation of the parable of the sower, V. 11-15 V. 11, " Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." The Bible is the inspired word of God. The word of God contains the gospel message. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. The gospel is spiritual seed. All men can hear the gospel message and all who believe will be saved. But one's salvation does not depend solely on their hearing of the word of God. It also depends on their reception to the word of God. They must receive the word of God---they must believe the word of God. They must believe the gospel message in order to be saved. V. 12, "Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved." Those by the way side are those who allow the Devil to take the word of God away so that they do not believe it. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but if men do not believe it then the preaching of the word of God is unproductive in their lives and they are still lost and in their sin. The Devil always tries to keep the unsaved from believing and being saved. He always tries to distract their minds away from the gospel or prejudice their minds toward it. He always tries to steal the gospel message away. If men will allow him to do so the Devil will hinder them from getting saved. He wants all men to go to hell. V. 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." Those on the rock are those who, upon hearing the gospel, very quickly make a profession of faith in Jesus, but their profession is not genuine. They believe to the point of professing Christ, but they do not believe to the point of trusting Christ. Because their profession is not genuine they are quickly discouraged and led astray. V. 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." Those which fell among thorns are they which get too involved in the things of the world. They get so involved in seeking the riches and pleasure of the world that they have no time to serve the Lord. If they are saved, they never become very fruitful for Christ. V. 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." Those which fall on good ground are those who are not only genuinely saved, but they are dedicated workers for the Lord. They are the ones who pay the bills at church. They are the ones who do the work. They are the ones who support missions. They are the ones who keep the cause of Christ going in this world. IV. Three great responsibilities set forth by the parable This parable sets forth three great responsibilities of men. First of all, it is the responsibility of the Lord's people to sow the word of God. It is their responsibility to carry the gospel message to those who are lost. It is to be presented to those who will believe it and it is to be presented to those who will not believe it. It is to be presented to all. It is to be preached from the pulpit and it is to be carried by personal witness of individual Christians. It is the responsibility of those who hear the word of God to believe, to repent of sin and to trust in Jesus for salvation. Each one who hears is responsible to see to it that the Devil does not steal the word of God from him. He is responsible for seeing to it that the Devil does not cause him to go into the fires of hell. It is the responsibility of those who do get saved to serve the Lord faithfully. It is their responsibility to bring forth fruit for the Master.