Has anyone been farming? Even if you haven’t, you can imagine what goes into it. Like digging. Planting. Plowing. Even if you haven’t been real farming, you’ve done Farmville? Raise your hand if you’ve done Farmville. You can plant lots of crops, like peppers, bell peppers, watermelon, pineapples, and cotton. You sow seeds and all that stuff. So, Imagine if james was a farmer. With a shovel. Overalls. Sweet beard. Down to his belly button. Tan. And he has own little plants. He has a tree. An apple tree. He loves it so much. But now, he wants to expand his variety of crops. He wants to plant some peppers. So he goes to B&B in his sweet new Element car, that he bought with Brent’s tax money. And he gets 4 packs of pepper seeds and he goes to his little plowed area. And starts throwing them and tossing them throughout the soil. And so he waits and waits and waits.
This is farming. Essentially. You are growing up crops and expecting to see fruit. James wants to see lots and lots and lots of peppers to be grown and to sell them at a high price. Or maybe he has a burrito that needs to be spiced up. Nevertheless, he wants to see fruit. And lots of it. And here we are going to dive into Mark 4:1-20
1He began to teach again by the sea And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.
2And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,
3"Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;
4as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.
5"Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.
6"And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7"Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8"Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
9And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.
11And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
12so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."
Explanation
13And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?
14"The sower sows the woiord.
15"These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
16"In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
17and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.
18"And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
19but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20"And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
I. The Hardened Heart
Jesus describes the seed fallen on the ground and on the rock as taking no root. The rocky ground refers to solid rock that is below the surface of soil. They are too shallow to allow a plant to reach water and to develop a root system. They cannot receive any nourishment and cannot begin to grow as a result. This is the unbeliever. Jesus later explains that these seeds are the ones who have heard the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel of Matthew records Jesus as saying they do not “understand it”. They are so in love with their sin and deceive themselves that this life is so much better. They cannot imagine why they need the Gospel or Jesus. And so, because they are in love with the world, full of many distractions that Satan has set up they reject the truth.
Paul states in 1 Corinthians 1:18, that “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…” It is foolishness. For those who are living in their sin and in defiance toward God, they think the Gospel is stupid! Makes sense though, doesn’t it? Their lives have not yet been changed by God and they don’t want to be changed by God. Their hearts are hard and they themselves do not understand why they need the Gospel and so when the seed of the Word of God is sowed, it is unable to take root in the lives of the unbeliever and it is shrugged off like it was never there.
II. The Shallow Heart
The second Heart I want to address consists of two seeds that the sower sows. “Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprange up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.” This is the seed that immediately sprung up. It received the nourishment of the soil, despite there being hardly any. They grew quickly and it looked to be a true plant, one to be fruitful. However, it says that they are scorched. They have been burned. This is the person who proclaims to be a Christian. They have heard the truth and became emotional and made an outward change. They were filled with a happiness and a resolve to change their life…Yet once the trials of God came, they fell away. There was not root in their life. They were not really a Christian. There was no faith. Spurgeon says this regarding this seed,
“These hearers had no hard struggles to get at the Savior, no sense of sin to hold them back, no horrors of conscience to make them afraid, no alarms lest they should not be the Lord’s own people. They had no tests and sifting to see whether they possessed real repentance and acceptable faith. They sprang into religion as a man may leap into a bath, head over heels!”
Are you this seed? Is this your heart? If you confess to be a Christian, remember back to the day, afternoon, or night of your conversion. Now think carefully and hard. Was your repentance genuine? Was it heartfelt and rooted in Biblical doctrine and truth? Or were you just caught up in the emotions of a passionate sermon, convicted that you needed to change your life outwardly, but not inwardly?
I remember when I was in Catalina about two years ago. It was a trip for our biology class so lots of people went. One night we gathered at this outside auditorium. And in the front was this fire pit. And so this was a dark, cold night and we had lit this massive fire. And the person was leading a sort of campfire teaching session. Was talking about how we were all strong Christians. We were all a good group of kids and we were going to change the world. So they had us come down and say what was on our hearts and what we had learned. We heard stories about how they were going to change for the better, and how much of a stronger Christian they were or how much they needed to change. All 50+ campers. So by the end of it, the counselers said that if anyone needed someone to talk to or pray with, they would be right there. And suddenly a swarm just bolted toward the front, crying their eyes out. Why were they crying? I really couldn’t tell you. Were they broken over any sin? Did they see how far off they were from God? Did they desire to repent and turn toward the Father? No. Because as far as I know, that night that was full of emotion and story telling and resolution meant nothing to the students. Looking back two years, nothing has changed.
My friends were moved along by emotion, not rooted in truth. They had felt a rushing of blood in them and they wanted to express it. Yet, since it was not legitmate and resolved and a genuine heartfelt conviction that took root in their hearts, it was quickly brushed off and is useless. Is this your life? Is this the story of your conversion? Emotions and feelings? When you became saved, was it legit? Did you understand and did you repent and did you confess your sins to God? Or were you like the girls at the campfire, saying that you’ll change your life and saying that you will do it and it will fade away, and everything you had resolved is meaningless. When trials and persecution come, like Jesus said it would, do you have a faith rooted in truth that will last and be perfected later?
III. The Worldly Heart
Or perhaps you are like the second seed described. “Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it and it yielded no crop.” This is a plant that took root. It has grown up, yet thorns have caused it from bearing any fruit. Jesus explains that the thorns is the worries of the world. The riches of the world has captivated the man. He has become distracted. Is this you? This heart still clings to the old life of wickedness. There is something that he continues to hold onto. He would have it both ways; to be blessed by the Father and yet to not change his life. A commentator says about the thorns,
“…worldly cares, with the delusive hopes and promises of riches, cause the man to abandon the great concerns of his soul, and seek, in their place, what he shall eat, drink, and wherewithal he shall be clothed. Dreadful stupidity of man, thus to barter spiritual for temporal good-a heavenly inheritance for an earthly portion! The seed of the kingdom can never produce much fruit in any heart, till the thorns and thistles of vicious affections and impure desires be plucked up by the roots and burned.”
He is in love with the world. He has not given Christ all of his heart. He has not given everything to Him. He has found God to be second. He has desired the material, the now, the instant gratification. He’s taken the infinite treasure of knowing Christ and being in a relationship with Him and traded it with the treasures and the not so eternal stuff of today. This is someone who claims to be a believer. He is someone that perhaps has grown up in the church. He has heard the amazing Gospel truths. And yet he is still in love with his old self. These old sins and desires. JC Ryle states this,
“To go so far and yet go no further – to see so much and yet not see all – to approve so much and yet not give Christ the heart, this is indeed most deploarable! And there is but one verdict that can be given about such people. Without a decided change they will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
James 4:4 says, “Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” An enemy of God. Students, listen to this point carefully. If you have called yourself a Christian, and yet you still hold on to the World and you still fervently want to partake in the lusts and sins of the world and over numerous times you have been convicted to repent and turn away from that sin, and you still will not turn your life to Christ, you have made yourself an enemy of God. And I hope and I pray that this is not your heart. I hope that you guys aren’t faking the Christian walk. To call yourself a Christian, to pretend you have a relationship with the Father, and yet to still be living in sin to be living in the world. You have divided yourself and your heart. And you cannot choose two.
IV. The Believing Heart
This is the last group. After hearing of the various unfruitful, useless, and dead plants, we come to a true plant. We come to a plant that is fruitful, that is fruitful. This is a successful sowing, this is the reason why the sower passed out seeds.
“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He has heard the truth of the Gospel. His heart has responded to the seed of the Word, and it has taken residence deep into his heart. This is the person who has seen their sin, whatever extent of it, and is broken for it. He has realized that this sin, this past life that he has so enjoyed cannot satisfy him any longer. He has seen that he cannot earn his way to heaven or favor with God. And so he has repented for his sin.
Perhaps, and hopefully this is you. You, student, have understood the truth of the Gospel. You have seen your sin. This disgusting evil which we always sweep under the carpet is in full display before you. And you understand, to an extent, how much it separates you from the Father. So He has breathed His Holy Spirit into you. Before you lived for yourself and were dead. You now have a heart of flesh, beating and alive. This is a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26, “moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give a you heart of flesh.”
You could do no righteous act. But now you live for Christ, you live because He died for the sins which kept you from the Father. You live not out of obligation, but out of greatfulness. You live now out of love. You live for Him because you want to, because you are able to now. You are just so in love with your God and are just so grateful at the grace and the gift that He has given you, how could you not live a life that glorifies Him? How could you not bear thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold fruit? As a Christian, your life should be filled with much fruit with much good work. I’m not saying that works turn to salvation, but salvation creates work.
James 2:17-20, “even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, ‘you have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ You believe that God is one you do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”
You show others that you have a faith, a genuine saving faith by the fruit of your good deeds and work. They cannot be separated. Fruit will be produced.
Conclusion:
Remember James being a farmer? Well he had a couple of crops grow up to fruition but those crops grew lots and lots of peppers. Those crops grew lots and lots of fruit and he was excited and joyful and had a grand harvest.
Are you hardened toward the truth of the Gospel and would reject it at the very word of it? Are you the emotional and rootless, where you have a made resolution that was quickly forgotten and you have returned to your old life? Or are you the worldly man, who is in love with himself and his possessions and would never dare to be parted with it? Or have you been convicted and the seed has taken root within your heart and God has done a miraculous work within you? Has the Gospel seriously changed your life and has God given you a heart of flesh, so that you now may have faith?
What soil are you?
