The Parable of the Sower
1. How each of our journeys TO Jesus are as different as we are from one another.
2. How each of our journeys IN Jesus have been equally as different as our salvation stories.
Parable — “a short, simple story that illustrates a spiritual truth.”
Matthew 13:1-9 (AMP) That same day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting beside the sea [of Galilee]. 2 But such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat there [positioning Himself as a teacher], while the whole crowd stood on the shore. 3 He told them many things in parables, saying, “Listen carefully: a sower went out to sow [seed in his field]; 4 and as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road [between the fields], and the birds came and ate it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil; and at once they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and thorns came up and choked them out. 8 Other seed fell on good soil and yielded grain, some a hundred times as much [as was sown], some sixty [times as much], and some thirty. 9 He who has ears [to hear], let him hear and heed My words.”
Luke 8:9 (NKJV) “What does this parable mean?”
Mark 4:13-14 (ESV) And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word.
Who is the sower?
What is the word?
Luke 8:12 (NKJV) “Those by the wayside [path] are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their heart, lest they should believe and be saved.
1. The Path
Psalm 53:1 (NIV) The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
2. The Rocky Ground
Luke 8:13 (NKJV) “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no [firm] root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation [and persecution for the word’s sake] fall away.”
John 6:66 (NKJV) From that time many of His disciples went back [away] and walked with Him no more.
Romans 10:9 (NIV) If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Believe (Pisteuo) — “to have faith in, to commit to, and to put trust in.”
Matthew 13:21 (AMP) “Yet he has no [substantial] root in himself, but is only temporary, and when pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles and falls away [abandoning the One who is the source of salvation].“
3. Among the Thorns
Mark 4:18-19 (NKJV) “Now these are the ones sown [fell] among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world [the distractions of this age with its worldly pleasures], the deceitfulness of riches [fame], and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
John 15:8 (NET) My Father is honored [glorified] by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are My disciples.
4. The Good Soil
Mark 4:20 (NKJV) “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
Jeremiah 4:3 (NKJV) “Break up your fallow [untilled] ground, and do not sow among the thorns.”
Psalm 107:37-38 (NKJV) And sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. 38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly.