The Parable of the Sower
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1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown. 9 Let anyone who has ears listen.” 10 Then the disciples came up and asked him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. 12 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand. 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them. 16 “Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them. 18 “So listen to the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. 20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 21 But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
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if you plant wheat and it doesn’t produce any fruit what good is it? can you eat it? can you save its seeds and replant it? — Not if it doesn’t produce any fruit, it’s no different than a weed
24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ 28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him. 29 “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’ ”
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Four types of people —
Those who reject the gospel
those who are not willing to suffer. — They accept and believe the gospel but apostatize when persecution comes because of the gospel — Perseverance of the Saints
those who are not willing to repent — You can not serve both God and money —
true disciples
We know what it looks like when someone rejects the gospel.
Let’s look at this idea of persevering to the end.
Jesus said:
33 But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven.
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This group focuses on the idea of the perseverance of the saints. What that means is, If you have been born again, you will never hold on to the faith until you die. If you walk away from Jesus before you die, it means you were never born again.
27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
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Jesus is able to keep us safe from now until all eternity. He does this through the Holy Spirit:
13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
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5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
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But salvation is only for those who endure to the end, so if one does not endure in their faith, it wasn’t because God failed to uphold his end of the salvation process, it was because we were never born again, because we were not willing to suffer or repent for Him.
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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Jesus said here that you must continue, he warned them because he knew that persecution was going to come quickly to those who believed in Him, and the book of Acts tells us exactly that.
Jesus said:
22 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
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22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
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you have been reconciled to God if you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith, you can not abandon the faith
14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.
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Paul said you can believe in vain, or believe for no purpose.
1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
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You must hold to the gospel, you can’t give up or walk away from it.
So why do I believe that if you walked away from the faith, you didn’t actually lose your salvation, you just weren’t ever saved to begin with? Because of the verses i read earlier that said that God will hold you once you are reborn, you receive the Holy Spirit, and he makes that clear in 1 John
19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
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There are many in the church all across the world who come every Sunday, profess Jesus as their Lord, and have everyone convinced, and most likely themselves convinced that they are saved, when in fact they are not, and I believe the main reason is because they are not willing to turn from sin.
Judas — the other disciples did not know it would be him to betray Jesus, he had them fooled. But he was consumed with greed, and was not willing to submit to Jesus as his Lord.
4 This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us.
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26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers;
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21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
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So let’s look again at the parable from Luke’s perspective:
4 As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. 6 Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.” 9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” 10 So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. 11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. 14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. 15 But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.
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The author of Hebrews warns us:
4 For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. 7 For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.
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Jesus warned his followers to never give up. The New Testament is full of instructions for believers to encourage and strengthen one another. When Jesus was talking to Peter before his betrayal, He said this
32 But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
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8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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2 And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith,
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12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,
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10 The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.
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So I will do the same. I will do my best to encourage you and strengthen you, and give you hope from this pulpit. That God is worth the suffering, that God is worth forsaking anything that this world has to offer as a temptation to sin against our God. That He is worth more that all this world has to offer, and He is worth all the suffering we can experience in a hundred years on this planet. Do not give up! Do not quit! Do not walk away from the only one who can save you.
12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
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