An Appointment with Christ: the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1), Part 2

I want this word to fall into your heart and enter the deepest part of your being. The word of God is living and powerful. The word of God reaches our hearts to fill our lives with blessing, prosperity, health, hope, and joy, and it is my desire, my brother, my sister who is listening to me, my friend who is interested in the things of God, that this word may bless your life in a very powerful way. Those who listened to us in the previous session will remember that we spoke about the parable of the sower. We had only just begun to expound this wonderful word, and we saw that the Lord Jesus Christ related, through a kind of symbolism, the story of a sower who goes out and scatters his seed, as sowers do.

We were saying that a sower is every believer, every Christian who has a testimony of having come to know Jesus Christ in his heart and who wants to share that word of life with others who do not know Jesus. We are all called to be sowers, and the Word says here that the sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, he scattered his seed.

We spoke of the seed as the message of salvation, the message of good news that Christ Jesus came into the world and died for us on a cross to pay the price for our sins, and that when we open our hearts to Jesus Christ, believe in Him as the Son of God, believe in Him as the bridge between us and God, believe in Him as the reconciler par excellence, believe in Him as the One who makes it possible for us to have peace with God, and believe that He is, as He Himself said, the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him—when we believe this and receive it into our hearts, we have peace with God.

This is the seed, the precious seed of the Gospel, and this is the seed that pastors, preachers, and men and women who love Jesus Christ and share the Gospel daily in the different areas of their lives continually scatter upon different human soils.

It says here that, as the sower scattered his seed, some of it fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it. This is the first type of person whom the Lord identifies as receiving the Gospel. Let us understand that each of these soils upon which the seeds fall represents a type of person, a type of heart, we might say, or a type of attitude toward the Gospel, or a type of behavior that follows the reception of the preaching of the Gospel. And here the Lord says that some of the seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it.

Later, the Lord explains that this type of soil is equivalent to someone hearing the word of the Kingdom and not understanding it; then the evil one, that is, Satan, comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This, the Lord says, is the one sown beside the road. What type of person does the person who, when the Gospel is preached to him, is like seed scattered beside the road represent? Personally, I believe this person is equivalent to the individual who, upon receiving the word of the Gospel, receives it in a superficial and shallow way and does not give it the attention or importance that this wonderful word of the Gospel deserves.

Many times, when I preach the Gospel, I have encountered people who never seem to grasp in their minds the importance of what they are hearing. To them, the Gospel is a completely secondary or third-rate matter. They are so immersed in the things of life and so uninterested in spiritual things, simply because they have no spiritual depth, that the word of the Gospel bounces off their hearts and minds. To them, religion is simply something purely incidental. It is simply a social matter. Many of these people sometimes even appear to be religious, but in reality, deep within their hearts, they do not give the Christian life the importance it deserves.

The Lord says that this seed fell beside the road, and this comparison made by the Lord is interesting: it is a seed that falls beside the road, and the birds come and immediately eat it. That is, to me, the road represents the place where people come and go; it is the place where the world is, where there is commerce, where people are constantly coming and going. The road was not made for seed to be planted in it. Generally, seed must be planted where people do not pass back and forth, where there are no footsteps that will trample the seeds, but where the seeds will have time to go deep into the soil and have all the freedom they need for the natural process of growth to take place.

I believe that this image of the road is very important, because there are people whose minds are racing so fast and who have so many things going through their heads that, when the Gospel comes, they do not stop to consider its importance. They simply view it as foolishness, as something for fanatical people, for religious and pious people, but they do not give the Gospel the importance it deserves.

I want to tell you, my brother who is listening to me, my friend who is listening to me, that there is nothing more important than the word of God. There is nothing in this world that deserves your attention as much as the word of God. When you hear the word of God, as you are doing right now, the proper response, the proper attitude, is to take that word, receive it enthusiastically, receive it with zeal and attentiveness, understanding the great importance of what you are receiving.

The Gospel is a matter of life or death. The Gospel is the most important message you could ever hear. In fact, it concerns matters of eternity. It is not even something merely of this world; it is far more important than: Whom are you going to marry? Or what house are you going to buy? Or what profession have you chosen? Or what city are you going to live in? What friends are you going to have? The matter of Christ Jesus concerns your eternal destiny. It is the most important thing you could ever consider, and therefore you must stop and listen to the word of the Gospel. You must ask the Lord to give you wisdom to consider spiritual things in the depths of your heart.

Do not be like that shallow soil upon which the seed of the Gospel falls and simply remains adrift, completely exposed so that other things, other worries, and other matters may come and beat it away, and so that the Gospel becomes merely one more voice, one more thing, one more commodity along the road of life. If you have the proper attitude when you receive God’s call, you will fix your eyes upon it, open your ears, put yourself on alert, and make sure that this seed from God falls deep within your heart. You will make sure that no other voice, no other concern of the world, and above all Satan, can come and tear that seed away from you. For the devil will want you to do that—to leave the seed there on the surface of your mind so that he can come and tear it away easily. When you receive the word of the Gospel, bring it deep into your heart.

Say to the Lord: Lord, I understand that this word is important; I understand that this is a matter of life or death. I am going to pay attention to spiritual things; I am going to fix my eyes on Jesus Christ. You have said that if the Son of Man is lifted up, all those who look toward Him attentively will be saved.

I encourage you in the name of Jesus not to be a road where the seed falls and is easy for the devil to snatch away, because he wants you to be lost and to go to hell for all eternity. Be a careful hearer; be an attentive hearer, bring that word deep into your heart, and give your life to Christ Jesus. Only in this way will you ensure that you have eternal life in peace with God, enjoying the presence of your heavenly Father in the Kingdom of Heaven. May the Lord bless you, and I hope that today you will be a careful recipient of the precious seed of the Gospel.