Matthew 13:1-23: “Jesus Teaches The Parable Of The Sower”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section of the gospel of Matthew, we will
observe Jesus beginning to teach the multitudes in parables
1.2.
In Jesus’ beginning to teach in parables we will see that
most of the people no longer had the capacity spiritually to learn anything
from Him, for they were dull in heart and uninterested, so Jesus began to teach
them in parables so that in a sense He might test and sift them in order to see
who truly desired to know Him and who came to Him only out of curiosity
1.2.1.
Some people have said that Jesus began to teach the
people in parables because He knew they wouldn’t understand His teaching and
this is what He desired, however I think that we must see that the parables are
in fact a good vehicle for illustrating truth, but this is only so for those
who are tenacious enough to seek Him until they understand the truth of His
teaching
1.2.1.1.In this
sense Jesus’ parables have also been called by some His judgments for they sift
people, determining who by nature is a goat and who is a sheep
1.2.1.2.Jesus’
parables then form a tremendous visual framework for illustrating truth that He
wanted to teach His disciples, and this imagery would then stick in their minds
and help them to remember tremendous truths He sought to teach them
1.3.
We will first of all look at the parable of the sower
1.3.1.
This parable teaches the four responses that people
will give in response to receiving the Word of God in their life
1.3.2.
In this parable of the sower I would point out the
fact that at different points in our lives each of us could be any of the
various types of soils, and so even though we may now be one type does not mean
that we will stay that type of soil
1.3.3.
In the parable I would also point out that we in the
church need to pray that the Lord will lead us to those who have the good soil
in their lives, and reach out to them with the gospel, for people with
receptivity to the Lord will respond to our message
1.4.
We will next look at the six Kingdom Parables which
Jesus taught
1.4.1.
I do not consider the Parable of the Sower a ‘Kingdom
Parable’ because it doesn’t actually describe the kingdom itself but rather
just some principles that exist in God’s Kingdom
1.5.
It has been observed by the great conservative
theologians and Bible teachers that the most difficult passages in scripture to
teach from are the parables of Jesus, and when you have read several
commentaries you will discover that many good teachers disagree with each
other, and many are majorly confused regarding the interpretations of parables
1.5.1.
Chuck Smith has told the story that before he
graduated from
1.5.2.
I obviously haven’t been teaching nearly for 30 years,
so perhaps I shouldn’t be teaching the parables, however I have had the
privilege to read and study the notes and sermons of men who have taught that
many years and thus I can draw upon their wisdom in attempting to accurately
interpret these parables
1.5.3.
I have to also say that there are some things about
the parables that I do not understand, however I will try to relay the points
that I do believe I have a fair grasp of
2.
VS 13:1-2 - “13:1 On that day Jesus
went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea. 2 And great multitudes
gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole
multitude was standing on the beach.” -
Jesus teaches the multitudes sitting in a boat off of the shore of the
sea of Galilee
2.1.
It has been pointed out to me that this particular place in Galilee where
Jesus was teaching is a site known today as having the characteristics of being
a natural amphitheatre, and thus here seated in this boat Jesus could have
talked in a normal talking voice and a multitude of thousands could have heard
Him, for the water would have carried and amplified His voice to this crowd
3.
VS 13:3-9 - “3 And He spoke many
things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and
as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them
up. 5 “And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much
soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 “But
when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they
withered away. 7 “And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and
choked them out. 8 “And others fell on the good soil, and *yielded a crop, some
a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”” - Jesus teaches the parable of the Sower to the
multitudes
3.1.
Here we see first of all that Jesus taught the multitudes ‘many’ things
in parables that day, and that there is now a shift being taken by Jesus in His
teaching style for the multitudes
3.2.
As Jesus taught this parable to the multitudes He could look about Him
and see those who were planting and working in their fields which lined the
lake, and thus He could use this visual imagery directly before Him to His
benefit in order in making His points
3.3.
I’m sure all of us are aware that there are different types of soils on
the earth and that in order to grow a good crop of any plant or tree that a
person must make sure to first of all have good topsoil to work with, and also
that he must be sure to fertilize the soil, and even in some cases rotate crops
in order to ensure a good soil to plant in, because quality of soil is an
essential element for any crop to grow
3.4.
As Jesus looked around Him at the field being tended He could see four
different types of soil in which the sowers of the fields sowed their seed
3.4.1.
That which fell beside the road
3.4.1.1.This type of soil was beaten
hard because of travel and therefore it was not conducive to being able to
produce a good plant, plus this seed was right out in the open and when the
seed fell in that soil birds would swoop down and eat it about as fast as it
would fall
3.4.2.
That which is found upon rocks
3.4.2.1.This type of soil may be of
good quality itself, however it is very shallow because of the bedrock underneath
and therefore it doesn’t have the necessary conditions available in order to
provide all of the nutrients for fully developed plants.
3.4.2.2.Plants will initially grow
up very quickly in this type of soil, however they will fail not too long
afterward because of the insufficiency of proper nutrients
3.4.2.3.This kind of reminds me of
the sweet potatoes that I used to grow in college. I discovered through a friend that if I
simply got a jar and put some water in it along with a sweet potato, that the sweet
potato would soon begin to grow nice healthy looking shoots with many leaves on
them. However, after several weeks the
leaves began to fall off the shoots everywhere but on the very end of the
shoot, and then the plant would begin to look hideous and barren. This type of thing is what happens to plants
and trees planted in shallow rocky soil, they die off quickly
3.4.3.
That which is found upon ground that also has been
sown with the seeds of weeds (with ‘thorns’)
3.4.3.1.This type of soil would
often have been good soil were it not for the fact that weeds have also dropped
their seeds in the soil, and then when the weeds grow up they rob the planted
crop of its nutrients and water, and since weeds tend to thrive more heartily
than any crop they tend to kill most of the seed planted in this type of soil
3.4.3.2.Weed
Illustration: My dad had an interesting thing
happen to him several years ago. He has
always loved gardening his yard and planting various flowers, hedges, etc., and
one year he discovered that just a little ways from his house this beautiful
plant had suddenly come up. It grew very
quickly and then very soon even began to show some very promising buds
beginning to form and then it flowered.
He was taken by the beautiful flower produced by this plant which had
mysteriously transported itself to his house, and then because of its strong
nature began to grow in a very healty manner.
So, one Saturday morning he decided to spend most of the day and build a
planter of bricks cemented together around this plant. He worked very hard, and the next several
days this plant began to produce more and more of these buds which began to
produce beautiful flowers. Then, just a
suddenly as it had started up, this plant began to die, and it was gone almost
over night. Curious as to what type of
flower it was and as to why it had died he looked up the flower in a book on
plants he purchased, and to his astonishment he discovered that this plant was
really nothing but a weed that is fairly common in some parts of the United States. My dad learned the lesson that weeds tend to
thrive and grow up much qucker than good plants and flowers.
3.4.4.
That which fell upon good soil
3.4.4.1.What characterizes the good
soil is that it produces a crop, for it has the nutrients necessary for the
crop to grow, and there is nothing inherent to the soil such as weeds, etc.
that will cause the crop to be ruined
3.4.4.2.Good soil itself varies in
the degree to which it is able to produce a good crop, for not all good soil is
equal in quality, so Jesus relates the percentages of good plants produced in
this soil as being: 100%, 60% and 30%
3.5.
We see the sense in which the parables actually judge the hearers as to
their receptivity for receiving the things of the Spirit of God when Jesus
challenges His hearers, ‘he who has ears to hear, let him hear’
4.
VS 13:10-17 - “10 And the disciples
came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 And He
answered and said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 “For whoever
has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever
does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 “Therefore I
speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while
hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “And in their case the
prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing,
but will not understand; And you will
keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull, And with their ears
they scarcely hear, And they have closed
their eyes Lest they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And
understand with their heart and return, And I should heal them.’ 16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they
see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 “For truly I say to you, that many
prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and
to hear what you hear, and did not hear it”
- Jesus tells His disciples why
it is that He teaches the multitudes in parables
4.1.
It is important to be reminded at this juncture that the natural man
cannot in and of his own reasoning process and perception understand anything
of true spiritual knowledge or wisdom, and thus Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 2:14, “14 But
a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised”
4.1.1.
Therefore, if we truly understand anything that is of a spiritual nature
it is only because the Holy Spirit has revealed that truth to us, not because
we are so cleaver as to figure it out
4.1.2.
Now, we can understand how it is that Jesus could say that to the
multitudes it has not been granted to you to understand the mysteries of the
4.2.
We might also take a minute and discuss what the ‘mysteries’ of the
Kingdom refers to
4.2.1.
This does not refer to something that is bizarre or weird, but rather to
the things that God has written in His Word, things that are readily available
to us today who are Christians and thus spiritually enlightened by the Holy
Spirit to understand spiritual truth
4.3.
The disciples were puzzled as to why Jesus taught the multitudes in
parables which they could not understand, and Jesus told them that His
disciples alone have been granted to understand the mysteries of God’s Kingdom
4.4.
The reason why the disciples were granted to be able to understand the
mysteries of God’s Kingdom is because to the person ‘who has shall more be
given, and he shall have an abundance’, so this teaches us the following:
4.4.1.
Understanding leads to more understanding
4.4.1.1.This is a statement that is
true in a lot of arenas in people’s lives
4.4.1.2.It kind of reminds me of a
quote I heard from a non-Christian man from the world of business, “I’ve
noticed that the harder I work the luckier I get”
4.4.1.3.This also reminds me of the
promise of Jesus that being faithful in little things leads to responsibility
over more (Matt. 25:23)
4.4.1.4.This is a principle that
applies to many areas of business and work as well as our relationship with the
Lord
4.5.
The stern warning to those who do not perceive the things of the Spirit
of God is that ‘even what they do have will be taken away from them’
4.5.1.
Spiritual dullness leads to even further dullness and eventually to
becoming turned over by the Lord to a reprobate mind, which describes what
happens to a person who has committed the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
4.6.
Jesus quotes here from Isaiah 6:9ff the prophetic word which speaks of
the Jewish people being blinded from the truth and proceeding down the path of
becoming blinder and blinder as time goes on
4.7.
Note here in verse 15 that the people ‘have closed their eyes’ and thus it
is really an act of their own volition that has caused their hardening and
dullness to the truth, and God has merely confirmed for them their own choice
of refusing to hear the truth
4.7.1.
God doesn’t desire that anyone harden their heart and turn away from the
truth, He gets no pleasure out of their doom and punishment for doing it, for
He desires that all be saved and come to repentence, as Peter writes about in 2
Peter 3:9, “9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all
to come to repentance”
4.7.1.1.Jesus would desire to ‘heal’
ones who were in darkness now as verse 15 says
4.8.
Jesus says that His disciples are blessed because their eyes see these
truths and that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things that
they saw but were not able to do so
4.8.1.
The patriarchs of the Old Testament knew that the Messiah would come one
day, and knew that He would accomplish the salvation of God’s people, and thus
they desired greatly to be able to see His day, but they were not able to do it
5.
VS 13:18-19 - “18 “Hear then the
parable of the sower. 19 “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does
not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in
his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road”” - Jesus explains the parable of the sower, Soil
#1: the seed sown beside the road
5.1.
Jesus’ desire was to explain each of the parables to His disciples for He
gave them the parables for this purpose
5.2.
the soil beside the road
5.2.1.
Jesus said that this type of person is ‘anyone’ who hears the Word of
God, but ‘does not understand it’
5.2.1.1.This is the only soil of the
four where the person does not understand the Word of God which he has received
5.2.1.2.As we saw in the previous
section, the lack of understanding of spiritual truth comes from a person
closing their mind to the truth, and then eventually if they continue in this
state the Lord confirms them in their decision to try to dodge knowing what
truth is
5.2.1.3.Per the previous section,
the person who does not understand spiritual things is a ‘natural man’, or one
who has not been regenerated (born again) by the Spirit of God
5.2.2.
In verse 4 we saw that the birds came and ate up the seed that had fallen
on this soil, but here Jesus teaches us that the ‘evil one’, satan and his
demons, are the ones who come and rob out of the person’s mind the very Word of
God that he had heard, and thus the person just quits thinking about what he
heard from God’s Word
5.2.2.1.Let’s remember that the birds
here symbolize demons, and because there must be consistency in interpretion in
order for God’s Word to be understood, we will later discuss ‘Expositional
Constancy’ when we look at the interpretation of the seven Kingdom parables in
this chapter, relative to birds
5.2.2.2.These verses reveal the fact
that the devil and demons do in fact influence our thought patterns at times,
even though satan is not omnipotent and omniscient and therefore does not know
all things that happen on earth nor is he present in more than one place at one
time, being only a fallen angel
5.3.
I remember before coming to know Christ of having been in places where
the gospel was preached, and for just a second a thought about what I had heard
may have been triggered, however very soon that thought was snatched away from
my consciousness never to return again
5.3.1.
I even read the book, “The Cross And The Switchblade”, before being
saved, however I didn’t really understand anything that was in the book from a
spiritual perspective, and then after reading it I never even thought about it
again until after I got saved (when I went back and read it right away)
6.
VS 13:20-21 - “20 “And the one on whom
seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and
immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is
only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word,
immediately he falls away”” - Soil #2: The soil on rocky places
6.1.
Sadly, this man understands God’s Word, and not only does he understand
it, he receives it ‘with joy’, rejoicing over the promises of God’s Word
related to salvation
6.1.1.
It is interesting that it seems that every time that someone comes into the
church and begins to hear God’s Word and the gospel taught and preached and
they “immediately” get overjoyed about it, it seems that just as with this soil
before us they soon after fall away
6.1.1.1.The person who has the Word
of God bring great conviction of sin so that it cuts his heart like a knife,
his initial reaction is usually not great joy, but rather godly sorrow that
leads to repentence
6.2.
Just as the physical seed that falls on soil that covers bedrock, so the
person who is this type of soil ‘has no firm root in himself’, which is to say
that he is not really prepared in heart to receive these great truths at this
point in time when he comes upon them, and thus he falls away when he realizes
that there is a price to pay for becoming a Christian for satan attacks and
soon he learns that the gospel message he has received separates men (a price
he’s not willing to pay)
6.2.1.
In Matt. 10:34, Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for the persecutions
that they would experience for being His followers by saying, “34 “Do not
think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword””
6.2.2.
It is but the shallowest persecution that discourages this spurious
believer from the following of Christ for he never really counted the cost in
following Jesus before receiving Him, and he never really saw his great need
for having a Savior
7.
VS 13:22 - “22 “And the one on whom
seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the
worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it
becomes unfruitful”” - Soil #3: that sown among the thorns
7.1.
This person also understands that Word of God that he has received, and
he immediately begins to believe it
7.2.
This person believes the Word however he has not really counted the cost
of following Christ as he should and thus he allows temptations to take root in
his life, and these worldly temptations end up leading the person away from
following Christ and being an effective disciple of Jesus
7.3.
Jesus calls the downfall of this person ‘the deceitfulness of riches’,
for worldly desires and ambitions gradually zap the life and strength out of
the person with this type of soil
7.3.1.
Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:9, 10, 17 a warning for people desiring
to be rich and live for worldly things, “9 But those who want to get rich
fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which
plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all
sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith,
and pierced themselves with many a pang…17 Instruct those who are rich in this
present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of
riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”
8.
VS 13:23 - “23 “And the one on whom
seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and
understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold,
some sixty, and some thirty.”” - Soil #4: The good soil
8.1.
This person hears the Word of God and understands and believes it, and
since there is nothing in his life which would draw him away from Christ, and
because he first properly counted the cost of following Christ before coming to
faith, he begins to bear fruit and show that he truly has been regenerated by
Christ
8.2.
As I mentioned earlier, people who are good soil for the Lord will begin
to bear fruit but not all good soil is equal in its suitability for bearing
fruit, so each person will vary in their fruitfulness for Christ, some 100,
some 60 and some 30