Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

A Diagnosis of the Soils, Part 1

Mark 4:1-20

 

Tonight we will continue our study of the parable of the soils in Mark 4.  Last week we looked at the setting, the parable and the hearers.  Tonight I want us to get into the meaning of it.

 

Now everybody listening would have understood the story. In a nutshell, it boils down to seed falling on six different types of soil.  Some of that soil is unproductive; some is productive.  Relatively simple to understand and everyone got it.

 

However, the last statement Jesus made about the size of the harvest was the zinger.  No one would have seen that coming because that size harvest, even at its lowest yield, was unheard of. No planting every had that kind of return. So that was not ordinary and it was that part of the story that made them question Jesus about what the story meant.

 

On the one hand, with the first three soils, the sower looks very unsuccessful.  But in the last three, the success is beyond comprehension and expectation.

So what’s the point of the story?

 

This parable is designed to help us understand gospel evangelism. That’s what it’s designed to do. As we noted last week, it’s included in Matthew, here in Mark, and also in Luke.  So it’s an important enough parable that it needs to be repeated three times.  Plus, it is the most lengthy teaching of the Lord in the book of Mark

 

Now we all know that the church exists in the world for the purpose of evangelism. We’re here to fulfill the great commission to go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, make disciples of all nations, that’s what we do and that’s why we’re here.

 

And evangelism, doing visitation, sharing our faith and all that is some of the most rewarding work we do and at the same time it is some of the most frustrating work we do.  We even get to the point where we want to give up and many do give up.

 

And usually that is because of the response we receive or don’t receive.  So why does that happen?  Why do some respond positively and others negatively?  We very often blame ourselves.

 

We’re out of touch with the culture. We’re out of touch with the psychology of how people think what they’re looking for.  And everybody knows we don’t know what we’re doing or what to say.  We’re not connecting with people.

 

And beside the fact we’re really inept sowers, the seed is offensive, the message of the gospel is offensive. If you want to fill your church, you’ve got to offer folks more than just an old-worn out Bible and irrelevant preacher.  You’ve got to upgrade your buildings and have the latest gadgets or you won’t connect.  And you sure can’t preach about hell and damnation and judgment and repentance.

 

In other words, in the language of the parable, the problem is either with the sower or the seed.

 

In the case of the sower, he needs a new wardrobe and hair style.  And a facelift and liposuction probably wouldn’t hurt either. In fact, it would probably be best to just replace him with a newer model.  And get some new musicians while you’re at it.  That’s what will get people to church

 

And we may chuckle, but I will tell you there are massive amounts of research and study going to to trying to fix the sower and the seed today.  We’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with us and the seed we’re sowing that causes people to respond negatively to the gospel.

 

And it’s a waste of time.  I will tell you this, as far as the seed is concerned, it’s perfect.  If you do anything to alter it, you’ve just corrupted it. A mutated gospel is no gospel. We cannot, must not  tamper with the gospel.

 

And as far as the sowers are concerned, anyone willing and available will do as long as he or she is sowing the gospel.

 

Why? Because what Jesus is telling us in this parable is that the issue is not the sower and it’s not the seed.  It’s the soil.

 

We whine about baptisms being low and evangelism declining.  But think about how much time and energy is spent on trying to redefine and dress up Christianity rather than just preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Biblical, historical Christianity is not, by and large, the junk being peddled on TV

It is, instead, faithful men and women of God preaching and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity and its clarity.

 

And that’s what this parable is all about. On the one hand, the proclamation of the gospel can be a little bit discouraging.  You’re going to find some hard ground. You’re going to encounter those who are superficial. You’re going to run into the person who makes a temporary commitment then disappear. It’s very discouraging. We’ve all been there. We’ve done that. We’ve seen that.

 

But on the other hand, don’t miss the supernatural half of the story.  When the soil is prepared by God, the results are staggering and there’s enough motivation in the thirty, sixty, one-hundredfold increase to keep us going.

 

And that is the intent of this parable.  Jesus meant it to be an encouragement.  It’s meant to explain the resistance and the rejection, but also to encourage.

 

So let’s look at

 

 

verse 14

 

First, notice what it says about the sower.  Nothing.

That tells me the success of the gospel is not dependent on me. Anybody who is faithful to proclaim the Word is a sower.

 

Then just a word about the seed.

 

The seed is the Word of God.  Luke makes that clear in Luke 8:11.  It’s the biblical message. Faith comes by hearing the Word according to Romans 10. We’re begotten again, 1 Peter 1:23, by the Word. In 2 Peter 1 it says that everything pertaining to life and godliness has been granted to us through the true knowledge of Him. And that true knowledge of Him is revealed in Scripture.

 

So, the sower is anybody who sows the seed. The seed is the Word of God.  So the focus in the story is not the sower. Nor is it the seed.  The issue is the soil.

 

So what is the soil?  In his parallel, Matthew 13:19 tells us that the soil is the heart of the hearer.

 

That means the basic truth of the parable is this: the result of all gospel proclamation by anybody and everybody is dependent on the condition of the heart or the hearer.

 

I can throw seed, but only God can plow soil. Only God by the Holy Spirit can plow the heart. Now that’s a foundational truth to understand. What did Jesus say?  “No man comes unto Me except the Father draws him.”

 

So the only way that there’s going to be good soil is that it’s divinely prepared by God.  God has been there long before the sower showed up to bring conviction and prepare the soil to receive the seed.

And when the heart is made ready, there is a positive response.

 

And the proof that it was God’s harvest and not man’s is found in the massiveness of the harvest.

Doesn’t that help us as we try to understand why some respond one way and others another?

 

So let’s take a look at these individual soils and try to discover what the Lord is telling us about evangelism.   We’ll look at the bad soils tonight and the good soils in a couple of weeks. 

 

The first soil we’ll call

 

 

verse 1 5

 

These hearts are just hard. The seed hits it and bounces or it just lays there.  The birds depict Satan.  He comes along and sees the seed laying there so he does all it can to make sure it has no opportunity to penetrate.

 

Now where do you suppose you find these hard hearts?  Well, it could be those who laugh at the gospel and live it up in the world, but in the case of the parable, Jesus is talking about the leaders of Israel. They’re the hard-hearts.  And remember, the pathway is very near the field.  How does the path get hard?  It’s packed down from being walked on so much.  It gets a lot of traffic. 

 

I would suggest the hardest hearts are very often in church the most often.  They’ve heard the gospel so much it just bounces off.  Satan convinces them they’re okay and don’t need the gospel. And over the course of time and in spite of the exposure, the heart has grown hard.  

 

 

The second is

 

 

verses 16 and 17

 

From the explanation last week, we know these are people who have superficial dirt at the top but there’s rock bed underneath.  When the seed enters, it takes root and starts to grow.  They are so happy and bubbly.  But because the roots can’t get down to the water and nutrients, when the sun comes out, it burns the plant before it ever produces anything.

 

This is the person who gives an emotional response to the gospel, comes to church, gets baptized and before long, you don’t see them any longer and you can’t get them to return.  They don’t come to church, they don’t confess the Lord, they don’t live like they are saved, and this in spite of the fact they were so happy when it happened.  Sound like anyone you know?

 

That’s why I shy away from glitzy invitations with heart-wrenching stories.  I make my appeal to you mind based on the truth of the gospel and stay away from the emotional responses.  That’ doesn’t mean emotions aren’t involved.  But our emotional response should come from our response to the truth of God’s Word.  

 

Unfortunately the church roll is filled with the names of people who responded to an emotional appeal in the heat of the invitation but didn’t follow through because there was not root grounded in the Word of God and they are living examples of verse 17.

 

And when the troubles and problems and opposition hits, they bail out.  In fact, many of the people Jesus was talking to didn’t go all the way to the finish.

 

Quickly, let’s think about

 

- thorny soil

 

verses 18 and 19

 

What Jesus pictures here is the person who wants salvation, wants Christ, wants the Kingdom but wants the world and wants riches and wants things. He wants to serve God and money.

 

Perhaps a clearer way to interpret verse 19 is to talk about the “the distractions of the age”. Whatever they are, whatever occupies the age...this is the preoccupied heart. This is the heart that unfortunately loves the world and all the things that are in the world, according to 1 John 2, and therefore the love of God is not in him.

 

Perhaps this soil, more than any other, speaks to American response to the gospel.  There are so many people consumed with the stuff of the world and they will choose it before they choose God or try to fit God in with all the rest of it.

 

The gospel calls for a break or a separation from the cares and distractions of the world because it chokes out the true seed. Is it not amazing to you that the prosperity gospel promises all these things and Christ? Doesn’t the prosperity gospel say, “You can have all the world has to offer, you can have riches and you can have all the other things you want, and Jesus?” That is a lie right out of hell.

The gospel does not promise to you what your unconverted, corrupted, fallen, wretched, sinful heart already wants. That’s not what the gospel offers you. The gospel doesn’t say it will give you the world, it will give you riches, it will give you every other thing you desire, it will give you a new house and a new car. That’s a lie. In fact, it may give you just the opposite.

 

But whatever it gives you it will never be the weeds of the world. Christ and weeds can never coexist.

 

When you come to Christ, you have to let go of the world and the love of riches and all the other things this world has to offer. You deny yourself. You deny all that you are, all that you possess. You hate your life, your family, your father, your sister, your mother, perhaps. And you come and follow Me, take up your cross, it may mean your death.

 

And a lot of people will never be saved because they want Christ but they don’t want to let go of anything.

It isn’t that you won’t have anything, the Lord will give you whatever He chooses to give you in blessing you. The Lord will give you food to eat and a place to stay. You don’t see God’s people begging bread. He’ll be your provision.

 

But the distinguishing mark of a true believer is not the love for those things and the desire for those things but a consuming love for God that’s borne out in the testimony of Scripture in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be...what?...shall be added. It’s a matter of what your heart desires.

 

So what is the chief evidence of conversion? It’s not quick response or interest.  It isn’t joy or emotion.

Jonathan Edwards said it, “Humble, broken-hearted love for God. It’s all those words we’ve been studying on Sunday mornings like justification and regeneration.  It is a person turning from loving self to loving God, from pride to humility, from the reigning sin to righteousness.

 

Old things are passed away, all things are become new. They have new hearts, new eyes, new ears, new tongues, new hands, new feet. They walk in newness of life and continue to do so to the end of life.  It doesn’t just spring up and die off.  It doesn’t get choked out by the world.  It grows and multiplies.

 

And that can only take place when the seed falls into good soil and takes root.  Next time we’ll take a look at that part of the parable.

 

Let’s pray.