Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

we see Lord teaching the first of what is known as the Parables of the Kingdom.

· The first of which is the Parable of the Sower or as it is sometimes called, the Parable of the Soils

A Parable means literally “to cast alongside”, or “to place side by side”.

· It’s a story/an illustration that gives us a comparison

· It uses something familiar to teach us about something unfamiliar.

James Montgomery Boice

“The parables break through mere words and make us ask whether there has indeed been any real difference in our lives.”

· And I think that certainly is the case for us here in .

Jesus often use parables to illustrate his words.

To explain difficult to grasp truths to us.

· And through them He gives us a real and tangible sense of the unknown and unseen Kingdom of God

o by pointing out the similarities to things we do know

§ Things we can see,

§ things we can touch, things we can relate to.

Read

At this point in the life and ministry of Jesus, great crowds of people, a “vast multitude” were following him from place to place.

· They are flocking to Jesus…as they hear of His works,

o The people are amazed at Him

o Jesus is teaching with great authority unlike any they had ever heard

§ And the authority of His words are backed up/proven by undeniable miracles

· the healings, the cleansings, the driving out of demons –

· The deaf hear, the dumb speak, and the sight is restored to the blind

· the very power of God is on display in the wonderful and magnificent life and work of the Son

· As you can imagine:

· The crowds are pressing in on him to hear, to be healed, to be cured

· They are so determined that they would crush him in their desire just to be near him

· And Jesus simply steps into the disciple’s boat and pushes back from the shore and begins to teach.

In this first Kingdom Parable we see The Sower, The Field, The Seed, and The Soils, and The Harvest.

1st in the Parable we see The Sower,

[3] “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

· A sower is one who sows/spreads the seed for the harvest

· In those days, long before machinery and farming equipment

o The sower would have a bag of seed and would walk up and down the rows of the field

§ As he went along, following the foot paths

§ he would take a handful of seed

· And cast it into the field – sowing the field from corner to corner

Who is the sower?

· Jesus explains The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

· In that sense, the primary sower/the chief of sowers/the original sower is our Lord Jesus himself

o But is Christ the one and only sower?

No he has passed on the job of sowing the seed.

· Usually we consider this as the job of the minister/the preacher/or some other trained leader

· But in Jesus said Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;

o and in this sense, the work of sowing the field is a calling to, “Whoever believes” in Christ

§ That is the task of all professing Christians/all born again believers

o To join with him in the work/the task/or the labor of sowing the field

o We must remember Jesus said to the disciples “follow me and I will make you fishers of men”

What is the seed?

you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Clearly the seed is the Word, the word of God, it is the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom.

· It is the promises of God, the message of forgiveness of sins, a right relationship with God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as the seed contains life/and has in itself the power to bring life, so does the Word:

· As John writes in his Gospel

· (ESV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

o You see, Christ himself in this way is the living word of God

o Not only the sower in this parable but the one who is sown to the hearers

speaks of the Blessed Man – the Blessed is one who meditates daily on this living word of God – this seed of salvation – and is himself planted by streams of water

· Growing strong, yielding fruit, and prospering in the care of the Lord.

· For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

What then is the field?

The field of course is the world – it is the people all around us (near to us and far away) who do not know Christ.

· Have not heard or have not believed on Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We are to go to them Jesus said in in his final words before his ascension: you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

· The field then is our friends, the field is our family, our neighbors, these are those who are near

· The field is also those who are far off

o Throughout our state/country, and even to those in foreign lands.

(ESV) [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

· We as believers are all commanded by the Lord himself to sow the field

· From corner to corner, from edge to edge, with the good seed, the word of God

o And we will not be alone in this, but will be accompanied by the Lord himself.

That brings us now to the soils

The soil in the parable represent the heart – the difference between each of these 4 types is only in their preparation.

Jesus encourages us here in our Gospel witness and gives us great insight into the unseen hearts of the hearers to the Gospel.

· At the same time He gives us a mirror to see the state of our own hearts and our standing before God.

1st is the soil along the path

V4: And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Explanation in V15: And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

· As the sower sows, inevitably the seed is going to fall on the foot paths throughout the field

· These paths represent the hardened heart of the 1st type of gospel hearer

· They are so established in their sin, wicked ways, self-reliance and/or self-righteousness that they are

· Hardened and resistant to the message

· These are the scoffers

· They will outright/and immediate reject the Word

· Or completely ignore it - in-one-ear-out-the-other inattention

· Perhaps even reacting with anger, mocking, and immediate dismissal, or arrogance

· Jesus says to expect this, it isn’t you they are rejecting, it is Him.

· These hearers are the ones Jesus speaks of

· (ESV) They will indeed hear but never understand, and... will indeed see but never perceive.

For their hearts have grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

· When these hard hearted hearers hear…v15 says

· Satan comes, like the birds in the field, and snatches away the Word leaving nothing… no change, no impression, no understanding is left behind…

· They make for easy work for satan and his henchmen

· But the hardened hearer is not guiltless- they become conspirators/collaborators with the devil in this willful rejection of the Gospel

· These hardened hearers are so in love with their sin that they cling to it, and refuse to give it up.

· And sin hardens the heart to God