Go

Contact Us

  • Phone: (509) 747-3007
  • Email:
  • Mosaic Address:
    606 West 3rd Ave., Spokane, WA 99201

Service Times

  • Sunday:  8:30 am, 10 am, 11:30 am
  • Infant through 5th grade Sunday School classes available
  • FREE Parking!

Sermons

FILTER BY:

Back To List

Oct 30, 2016

The Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Sower

Passage: Luke 4:1-15:32

Series: The Parable of the Sower

Keywords: fruitfulness, hearing, judgment, parable, soils, sower, word of god

Summary:

This message examines the importance of hearing well and having the kind of heart that responds well to the word of God.

Detail:

Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15)

Growing up I had a hearing issue. I could hear, but poorly. It affected the way I spoke. I would not pronounce words properly till I was about 7 years old or so. So my mother took me to a speech therapist hoping they could help improve my speech. Unfortunately that did not help me. Eventually my mother decided to take me to the ear doctor to get my ears checked. The doctor looked into my ears and said that my ears are completely clogged with wax. Once the earwax was flushed out, my hearing improved and so did my speech.

Majority of us have physical ears on our head, but do we have ears to hear the word of God? We hear the word of God at least once a week, but for some reason it is not changing us. As a result, we do not love our wives or husbands, lie, and are impatient. Why is that? Why are we not responding to the word of God as we believe we should?

(Transition): Let us pray and ask God to help us unclog our ears from anything that keeps us from hearing the living Word today. 

  1. Jesus welcomes the unlikely to the kingdom of God
    1. Fisherman (Luke 5:1-10)
    2. Tax collectors (27-28).
  • Woman (8:2-3)

Jesus is sharing the message with everyone, but why is it that only some respond? 

  1. Jesus answers this question after telling the parable sower.
    1. Jesus cried to the crowd that surrounded him and said “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (8b).
      1. The disciples had the ears to hear, but they too did not get what Jesus was talking about.
    2. Everyone heard this parable, but only the disciples took the initiative to ask what he meant.
      1. Jesus responds to them by saying, “to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but the rest it is the parable”
        1. The disciples of Jesus are blessed with a gift of knowing truths that not all can understand.
          1. Principle: If you don’t understand what God says in His word, then ask God to explain it to you. The mysteries of the kingdom of God to be known by his followers (10a).
        2. However, after the blessing Jesus pronounces a Judgment to those who do not hear.
          1. Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10.
            1. They cannot respond, because they do not have the ears to hear.
              1. Personal example: I “heard” the word of God preached growing up, but did not respond until I was 17. The Lord gave me the ears to hear and I responded in repentance.

 In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains why our hearing of the Word doesn’t produce fruit.

  • The seed is the word of God.
  1. The word that was heard by those along the path.
  2. The word had potential to change the soil.
  3. To save them if they believed.
    1. Luke 5:32: Jesus calls the sick to repentance. Those that are in need of His Word.
  4. The devil snatched it the word, keep that person deaf to the saving word of God.
  5. The word that fell on the rocky soil are those that heard, but only believe the words of God when life is easy.
  6. They hear and believe but when temptation, and hardship comes they walk away.
  7. The word that fell among the thorns are the people who heard, but place the concerns of this life above the kingdom of God.
  8. There might be some growth, but it is choked out, because they didn’t value the word of God more than life.
    1. All the energy is invested into the pursued of the wealth and no energy left to seek the kingdom of God.
    2. Instead, we must seek the kingdom first and all things will be added. Luke12:31
  9. The word that fell in the good soil are the people who heard it in an honest and good heart.
  10. They are the ones that holdfast to the word.
  11. They treasured the word above anything else.
  12. They produce fruit with perseverance.
  13. The devil could not steal, the temptations and hardships where not enough to make them walk away, and the affairs of this life could not hinder them from growth, because when they heard they held fast to the word of God!
  • They have an honest heart that was fitting for the word. A heart that is created for good works.
  1. Prophet Ezekiel says, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (36:26).
  2. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” Eph. 2:10.
  3. Conclusion:
    1. As followers and disciples of Jesus. Can we stop here for a couple of minutes and thank God for giving us ears to hear and the ability to respond to the mysteries of the word of God?
      1. Thank God for giving us the Spirit that illuminates the truth of God to us? It says in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words”.
      2. Also, let us pray for those who hear and ask God to give them ears to hear so that they can experience the goodness of God’s word.

The seed is the word of God, and it will accomplish everything it sets out to do. Let us be careful to listen and to obey the Word. If we don’t we will miss out on spiritual growth. Prophet Isaiah says that just like rain that is sent forth from heaven is meant to help seed germinate and sprout, so it the word; it will not return void without accomplishing everything that God desires vv. Isaiah 55:10-11.