How’s your heart condition? Some of you may say, "Well, I’m getting along a little better." Others of you may say, "Heart condition? What heart condition? I didn’t know I had a heart condition."
All of us have a heart condition, in the spiritual sense, if not the physical sense. It is similar to our ear condition. In verse 24 of Mark 4 we are told, "Take care what you listen to." In Luke it says, "Be careful how you listen." And Jesus Himself says, in verse 23, "If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."
Now, all of this tells us that there are those with physical ears who do not hear and receive the word. And it warns us to take care to hear the word of God aright. In other words, we have control of how we hear, because hearing is a function of the heart kept open to the Lord. So when we talk about our ears and our hearts, we are referring to our spiritual ears and our spiritual hearts. Yes, we have an ear condition and a heart condition. How are your ears doing? How is your heart doing? Today’s parable is a parable about how we hear the word, based on the condition of our hearts.
As you see, the parable is in two sections: the parable, as presented to the multitude in verses 3-9, and the explanation, as given to the disciples in verses 14-20. It is such an example of divine logic and order that we will simply take it as the Lord presented it and expound its meaning.
But before we examine the four elements of this parable, let’s quickly define our terms. The sower is not identified and could be anyone who sows the seed. The seed is the word. And there are four kinds of soil upon which the word is sown. The soil seems to manifest the condition of the heart at the time of sowing. Based on that condition of heart, much depends, as we shall see. As we examine this parable, let us examine the condition of our hearts. We may see our hearts described accurately here.
The first heart described here in this parable is the hard heart. Look at verses 3, 4, 14 and 15:
"Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; and it came about that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up." (vv. 3-4)
"The sower sows the word. And 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." (vv. 14-15)
We see here the seed being sown on this first type of soil. This is the ground by the wayside. The picture here is of a sower sowing seed in a field which has different types of soil. This first type of soil is a trodden path. By these trodden paths, the farmer walked around and through his field. These paths were well-used by both man and beast, trodden down and hard. And upon this path some of the seed falls as it is being sown. This is the picture Jesus is describing to us.
And it was a common picture to those looking on. To us today, it is not as familiar because we have different and more efficient farming methods. But think with me, for a moment, of a picture of this early farmer. This farmer did not have a tractor to pull the plow. Nor did he have an automatic planter to plant the seed in the earth. What he did, he did by hand or by beast. The method he used for planting his seed was to either cast it abroad by hand, or to cut a hole in a bag and carry it around himself. Sometimes he would place this bag on his beast and lead the beast around the field as the seed scattered.
Now, while this method dropped this seed into the prepared ground, it dropped it on all the ground it passed over. And this trodden path by the wayside was one such place where the seed landed.
Notice the characteristics of this ground. This ground was unbroken and hard. It was packed tight, and the seed had no opportunity to imbed in it. It never really received the seed at all. The seed just bounced off the hard surface of this ground and lay on top of it, ready to be plucked up by the birds of the air.
Also notice the kind of heart to which this applies. Here is an example of a heart which is closed to the word. It is hardened and will not receive the word to even consider it. Perhaps it has been hardened by a life of sin. Or perhaps it has been hardened by the deception of Satan, where he has convinced that person that he or she has no need for this foolishness of repentance. But in any case, the heart is hard.
This kind of person is described when the Scripture says, "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." Sin builds a wall between the potential hearer and the Lord. And some hearts are so callused that they are completely closed to the Gospel message.
The word is stolen from the heart. Satan comes along and steals the word away from such a person when they will not receive it. He does not want the word to remain long, lest it may find a break in that hardened heart and be received. So he comes and takes it away.
Now, how does Satan do this? Simply put, he does it by the reasoning of the world. By humanistic and secularistic reasoning, he convinces the person that to be a truly modern person, they must rely on the "certainties of science" rather than the superstitions of men. So the hard-hearted one feels a certain deceptively prideful justification as he or she smugly dismisses the truth. What a tragedy it is! Such is the picture of a hard heart.
Now the picture changes and we move in this parable from the hard heart to the shallow heart.
"And 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. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away." (vv. 5-6)
"And 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; and 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." (vv. 16-17)
Here we have the stony ground. These are the rocky places. This doesn’t really describe ground with rocks in it; but ground with only a few inches of topsoil and bedrock underneath. So when the seed is sown, it germinates quickly, but is unable to put down any roots. When the sun is up, it scorches the plant which has quickly come up, though without root, and therefore, without water.
What are the characteristics of this heart? The first characteristic is that this heart does receive the word. Perhaps, like the ground, the fallow soil is broken up, but not very much, because it is not deep. But in any case, the word is received. We also see that this heart receives the word immediately because it does not think about what it is receiving. Many people are not like the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures to see whether the things they heard were true.
Often times, when we are quick to accept, we are quick to reject, because we were never really convinced in the first place. Francis Schaeffer said that a man should not become a Christian until he was convinced Christianity was true. He said that we should have good and sufficient reasons for accepting the validity of Christianity and the Bible. The fact is that God has provided those good and sufficient reasons. The evidence is there for any thinking man or woman to examine. I am convinced that if the evidence is examined with an open mind, it is sufficient to convince that Christianity is true.
But many do not really become convinced. They just jump on the bandwagon of whatever the new fad is. Whatever seems to offer the greatest reward at the moment, that is what they go with.
Perhaps that explains why we see that what they received immediately, they received with gladness. Could it be that what they received made them very happy because it was happiness they were after? There are many who think that this is what Christianity is all about. Some believe that happiness is a sure sign of being converted, and that if happiness is absent, there is something wrong. They wrongly conclude that the Lord is no longer blessing a person because they are suddenly unhappy.
But this, too, reveals their shallowness of heart and understanding. Indeed, the Christian life does bring joy, but not the kind of joy the world speaks of. There is a price to be paid: tribulation for the sake of the Gospel to be endured; flesh to crucify; right arms to be cut off; right eyes to be plucked out; a cross to bear; a fight to fight.
Listen carefully. This is why many turn back. Because of the theology which some hold today that says, "one should never have to struggle if he is walking in the will of God," many cannot endure under the trial. They begin to doubt everything from the word of God to God Himself. And many people are devastated.
The truth of the matter is that God is with you on the mountaintop and in the valley. He is with you in good times and in bad. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. He has never promised us an easy time, but He has promised us He would always be with us.
Notice the result of the shallow heart. We see, firstly, that the persecution and affliction does come. It is like the sun — it rises in due time. And even though the shallow heart has received the word immediately with gladness, and has even endured for awhile, this is not enough. Salvation is not counted to those who merely endure for a while. Those who endure to the end will be saved.
When this affliction or persecution comes, we are told that those with shallow hearts are immediately offended. They immediately fall away. Again, no thought as to why they are going through what they are going through. They just assume that it isn’t right, and they’re offended. In other words, they quit. They fall away. And it is because they had no depth of root to draw the life-sustaining and strengthening moisture from deep within the earth, in order to stand up to the heat of trial.
Many are those who come and go this way today. They have had an experience, but have put down no root. Perhaps they were in a meeting where the chords of their heart were touched by the Spirit. They had their emotions stirred and they truly desired to come to Jesus. So, they responded to the altar call. For a while they continued, but had they made no real commitment of their lives to Jesus. They still held on to their own agenda, their own desires for their own lives. Jesus was only there to make things better for them, to make things happier, more prosperous. There was no thought of sacrifice or commitment or accountability. But then things began to get too hot. The sun of God’s purging began to bear in on them, and they were going to have to really lay their life down for Jesus, so they left as quickly as they came. Such is the fate of the shallow heart with the rock underneath.
You see, the work was starved in their heart. Because of the lack of depth and the lack of brokenness. The word starved, receiving absolutely no nourishment.
We move now from the hard heart and the shallow heart to the cluttered heart.
"And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop." (v. 7)
"And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, and 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." (vv. 18-19)
Here we have the soil full of thorns. It has been cleared away on the surface, but underneath it is teeming with all manner of weeds, waiting to spring up when the weather is right. And the seed gets sown there to sprout as well. Notice what happens.
This word is choked to death. It happens because of the nature of this heart. It is a heart caught up in the affairs of this world. It may be characterized as a materialistic heart; one which is busy with many things; one which adds Jesus as just another activity to be engaged in when there is enough time left over from all the other activities which a full life must have.
This kind of heart is not like the other two we have described. It does receive the word. It is not shallow and unable to put down roots. Its trouble lies not in the fact that it does not want the life with the Lord. It does. Its problem is that it wants it all.
Notice the three things involved in this: Firstly, there are the worries of the world. These are those things in which we are all engaged but which are elevated to occupy our lives completely. Jesus warned us not to take thought of what we should wear or eat. He was telling us not to let the things of this world become over-important to us, that God would provide such things as we need. But unfortunately, most of us are not satisfied with what we need. We want much more. And so we give ourselves to the attaining of all of our desires. What we find is that it takes time, and the time we give to these other things is time we do not give to the Lord.
Secondly, we have the deceitfulness of riches. Notice that it does not say that money is the problem. Money is not our problem. It is, rather, the love of money and the lust of desiring to be rich that is the problem. In fact, it is a deception. The devil has sold us a bill of goods about what money will do for us. He says that all our problems will be solved if we can just get that extra thousand, or ten thousand, or fifty thousand. It’s a lie. But it takes time. And so we give ourselves to it. It is simply another thing that chokes out the word. It chokes out the things of God in our lives. It is a trap. We find that even when we get what we thought would make us happy, it doesn’t. And so, we revise our estimate of how much we really need to be happy; and on we go again. It never ends. You find that you’ve been deceived.
The third thing that chokes out the word is desires for other things. These are all those things we desire to possess which end up possessing us These are the things we owe ourselves. We have here the entertainment, which pushes God out; the civic clubs, which come before the services of the church. We have here all of those activities which the world schedules, in which we must involve ourselves for a meaningful life. So goes the line of the devil. Busy-ness, busy-ness, busy-ness — It chokes out the word.
At last, we come to the final category of heart. This is the fruitful heart.
"And other seeds fell into the good soil and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a crop and were producing thirty, sixty, and hundredfold.’ And He was saying, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (v. 8)
"And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good ground; and they hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." (v. 20)
This is the good ground. Here is the ground which was broken up and cultivated. It was weeded and prepared to receive the seed. When the seen came, it was received and could put down deep roots. And it produced.
What are its characteristics? There are several, and they are those which we should have if we are to live fruitful lives which the word can produce in us.
Firstly, the ground was prepared. Jeremiah 4:3 says, "For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.’" Hosea 10:12 says, "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness upon you."
It is only as our hearts are plowed and cultivated that they are ready to receive the word of God. They must be prepared and we have a part to play in that preparation.
In 2 Chronicles 12:14 it says of Rehoboam that "he did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." Later, in 19:3, one of the good things it says of Jehoshephat was that he had "prepared thine heart to seek God." It is also said, concerning the people of Jehosphephat’s reign that "for as yet the people had not prepared their heart unto the God of their fathers." (2 Chronicles 20:33) It was said of Ezra that, "Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements." (Ezra 7:10)
What all of this speaks to is preparation of the heart. We are talking about hearts being broken up and cultivated. It requires a daily dying to self, a daily commitment to serve Jesus Christ, a daily acknowledgement of his lordship and our utter dependency upon Him. It means that we desire to do His will and keep our hearts open before Him. Just as ground can grow hard, so can hearts. As ground needs to be broken up, so again do hearts. Vance Havner said that if ground could think or feel, it would resent the plow. The same is true for us. Sometimes, we resent the hand of God at work to break us. But it is precisely what we need.
As we set ourselves to seek the Lord and to avoid those things which cause the word to be unfruitful, we will be productive for the Kingdom. We will bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. We will bear fruit in our own lives, resulting in a character transformed into the likeness of Christ. And we will bear fruit in the lives of others, as we see them surrender their lives to serve the living God.
We might say a word in closing to those who scatter seed. This parable is a word of encouragement to you. Know that all of your seed will not produce. And do not be discouraged. Some will land on hard ground and be plucked up by Satan. Some will land on shallow ground and not endure the times of testing. Some will land on thorny ground and be choked out by the cares of this life. But some will produce, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.
Those who were standing around listening to Jesus speak did not have the benefit of His explanation to His disciples. What they saw in what Jesus said was that a lot of seed was scattered. Some seed did not come up, but some did. Rather than grieve for the seed which is lost, we should be thankful for the seed which does produce. We should be encouraged to sow the seed, sow lots of it, and never quit sowing.
The condition of our heart determines whether we receive the word. How is your heart condition today?
Copyright © 1997 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
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