An Appointment with Christ: the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1), Part 3

In these latest messages, we have been sharing the parable of the sower found in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapter 13, and we have been talking about the different conditions of the human heart, the different ways in which different people receive the word of the Gospel, and how we must be very careful to compare ourselves with these different types of people whom the Lord Jesus Christ presents in this parable and make sure that we do not fall into the category of those types of infertile, arid, barren soil which, when they receive the word of the Gospel, do not receive it in the proper way but instead waste it, and the seed, rather than bearing fruit, remains barren.

The Lord wants us to be good soil, fertile soil, fruitful soil, receptive soil that embraces the seed and allows that seed to penetrate deeply and bear fruit. Unfortunately, every day thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people hear the word of the Gospel, hear the precious message of salvation, and for one reason or another reject it; for one reason or another, they neglect it and underestimate it, and so their lives lose the opportunity to be blessed and made fruitful by the precious seed of the Gospel. How sad! What a shame! For the Lord wants, the Bible says, that no one should perish; He does not want anyone to perish, but all to proceed to salvation. Yet, sadly, so many people are like unsuitable soil: the precious, good, solid, life-filled seed of the Gospel falls upon them but does not find a favorable reception.

And that is why the Lord spoke to this multitude about these different types of people who receive the seed that the sower scatters and yet, unfortunately, the seed does not bear fruit. I believe the Lord left us this parable because He wanted the people who heard it to ask themselves: What kind of soil am I? Am I joyfully receiving the seed of the Gospel, or am I rejecting it and making it unfruitful?

In our last message, we spoke about the first type of soil, which is like the path: the seed falls upon the path, upon hard-packed ground where the soil has not been opened up or worked, and where so many people pass by, leaving the seed exposed. Since the seed is on the surface, the birds come and quickly eat it, and the Lord compares the birds to Satan, who is always ready to snatch the seeds from the heart.

How many people go to church, hear the word of God, hear the preaching of the Gospel, but do not allow that precious seed to fall deep into their hearts, and immediately the devil, who is ready—because the devil wants us to be lost and not to accept Christ—comes and snatches the seed from their minds. And many people sometimes leave church, or leave a conversation with someone who has preached the Gospel to them, and it is as though they immediately forgot what they heard because they did not consider it important, did not treasure that seed, and did not listen carefully. They were so wrapped up in other thoughts and other priorities that it was as though the seed had fallen beside the path and a bird or an animal had come and snatched it away before it could do its work of entering the soil. I hope you are not like that soil beside the path, where the seed falls and remains unfruitful.

The Lord speaks of a second type of soil. It says here that some of the seed also fell on rocky ground, where there was not much soil, and that seed quickly sprang up because the soil was not deep; but when the sun came up, that seed was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And later the Lord gives His own explanation of this type of soil upon which the seed falls, and says that the one sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy, but has no root within himself and lasts only a short time, for when affliction or persecution comes because of the Word, he immediately stumbles.

How fitting these words of the Lord Jesus Christ are. I believe that, in a very brief yet tremendously precise and dramatic way, they describe a type of person whom, as a pastor, I have come to know so well and whom it often grieves me and pains my soul to see. I believe that every pastor and every evangelist knows this type of person very well. These people are individuals who hear the word and receive it with tremendous enthusiasm; they are people who show great promise.

I have known people like that who come to church one Sunday; I preach the word, and at the end of the sermon I give an invitation, and these people come forward with joy in their hearts, sometimes weeping; they bow their heads, kneel down, and give their lives to the Lord with tremendous enthusiasm. You can already picture them becoming spiritual giants, and as a pastor you rejoice that an enthusiastic soul has entered the ways of the Lord.

And sometimes these people go home and we may never see them again. They went home and began, as it were, to reflect on what they had done, and they think to themselves, “That was a burst of excessive enthusiasm, and after all, why should I get so excited about religious matters? After all, there is no need to be so fanatical; there is no need to be so intense about religious matters.” And little by little, they begin to convince themselves that what they did there before the altar was excessive, an unnecessary burst of enthusiasm, and that, after all, it is better to be sober and prudent in matters of religion, as they call them. And little by little, the enthusiasm they felt there fades away, and we never see them in church again, because all there was amounted to a sudden moment, a burst of enthusiasm, but that was all. And unfortunately, these people are impulsive individuals who have no depth and no endurance. They are like those records from years ago, the short-playing ones that spun at 45 revolutions per minute: they had room for only one song, and then they quickly ended, and that was the end of everything.

There are so many people who desire the things of God and are enthusiastic about the things of God, but they have no root, no depth, and no perseverance, and their enthusiasm soon grows cold. Any situation, any temptation, any obstacle comes into their lives, and immediately they begin to doubt the reality of what they experienced at a given moment. How sad! For in order to triumph in the Gospel, one must stand firm; one must make a lifelong commitment to Christ.

There are many people who begin walking the path of the Gospel, but they do not understand that they must stand firm and persevere to the end. The Bible says very clearly that the one who believes to the end will be saved. Simply beginning is not enough; one must finish the race.

And there are people who will often continue coming to church after coming forward and receiving the Lord, but what happens when trials and difficulties come? Because difficulties do come, because when the devil sees that a person is growing in the ways of God, he will attack that person to make him leave the Gospel. And if you allow trials, betrayals, the ugly things sometimes seen in the church, preachers who fall because of scandals that occur in the church, or the things you do not like to drive you away from the path of the Gospel, you will have lost the battle. The devil will have gotten his way.

Christ wants us to endure for a long time, to persevere, to face trials, hardships, and unpleasant experiences, and to stand firm to the end. Otherwise, you will be like that seed that fell among the rocks and, because it has no root, easily loses its life. Do not be like that; rather, give your life to the Lord for the rest of your life. Persevere in the ways of the Lord, and do not let anything or anyone, or any circumstance in this world, turn you away from that profession of faith you originally made.

May the Lord bless you, and we will continue our study in our next session.