Text: “And He spake many things unto them in parables (earthly stories, with Heavenly meanings), saying, Behold, a Sower went forth to sow…” Matthew 13:3.
Good morning, attentive Christian! Because your very heart (entire essence of being) has been quickened by God the Spirit - to receive Spiritual life and know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord – you have learned the value of attentive listening and reading of Christ’s teachings, as revealed in the Spirit-inspired Word of the Living Lord God Jehovah.
The King James Version Bible (1611) has become oh so precious to you and to me, that we just cannot get enough of what is contained within each Eternally priceless page of this great book of books. Not a day passes, when you and I can’t be found humbled before God’s throne of grace, praying His revealed Word into our all too feeble human hearts. Such a privilege we have in owning an open Bible!
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path…Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” (Psalm 119:105-112)
J.C. Ryle Comments:
“The chapter in which these verses begin is remarkable for the number of parables which it contains. Seven striking illustrations of spiritual truth are here drawn by the great Head of the Church from the book of nature. By so doing He shows us that religious teaching may draw helps from everything in creation. Those that would “find out acceptable words,” should not forget this. (Ecclesiastes 12:10)” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)
“The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from ONE SHEPHERD.” (Ecclesiastes 12:10-11)
The Parable of the Sower: Christ’s Heavenly teaching in this parable is unique, in that the reality of the lessons taught, can be clearly seen by every preacher/Bible Teacher or Christian Evangelist today, in this increasingly apostate 21st Century. Check out Christ’s wisdom:
Seeds ‘by the wayside’: The first seeds sown in Christ’s parable are seeds that “…fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.” (V.4)
Using
our sanctified imagination, we can deduce the reason that these seeds did not
flourish, grow, and become fruitful to the greater glory of the great Sower,
Christ Jesus. Jesus teaches us that He
is “…the WAY, the truth and the life…” (John 14:6); these seeds had a fatal
fall, they heard the same Gospel message as the all the other seeds, yet,
“…fell by the wayside…”, instead of becoming firmly planted in “…the Way…’,
Jesus Christ.
They prospered not, because the Lord God never gave them His gracious gift of FAITH to not only receive the Seed of the Word, but to fully believe (trust) in Christ Jesus’s Atonement Sacrifice at the Cross, and be forever saved. This seed was doomed to failure, reprobate of God’s free grace and Divine election to Salvation. Hell opens its mouth to “…devour them up…”
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that (faith) not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Seeds on ‘Stony’ Ground: The second type of seeds Christ speaks of, are those which, “…fell on stony ground.” (V.5)
There is nothing as pathetic today as a professing Christian, like the seed falling upon stony places; without any real depth or grounding in the Bible faith which they outwardly profess to believe.
In this 21st Century ‘church’ worldwide and international today – there is a much too high percentage of professing members, that have no real grounding in Bible knowledge, Spiritual regeneration; and militant service to the Lord Jesus Christ. Their hearts remain hard as stone, and the seed of God’s Word and the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ never penetrates their hardened hearts. When the heat of daily pressures come to such ‘professors’, it clearly reveals the absence of deep-rooted faith in Christ, and they are, “…scorched…” and quickly “…wither away…” (V.6)
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come…Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-7)
Seeds Among Thorns: The ‘thorns’ that this seed encountered are a type of the cares of the world; the ‘politically-correct’ standards of this world; the pleasures, privileges, and riches of this world. If the seed of God’s Word falls down into this selfish worldly environment and standards – it has no chance of taking root, for there is no place left in the heart for God’s Word to grow! Such may indeed seek to “…spring up…” mingled with the world’s ‘thorns’ – but are very soon exposed to be what they are, bad seed, counterfeit wheat, that is quickly ‘choked’ by the evil desires of their own reprobate hearts. (V.7)
Good Ground Seeds: Good ground seeds are seeds from God’s Word that are sown by God the Spirit, in the hearts of those souls that the Lord God has preordained will both receive it and believe it – to the saving of their never-dying souls, and Eternal life with Christ Jesus. (V.8) (Romans 10:17)
“All
that the Father giveth Me (in Eternity) shall come to Me; and him/her that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”
(John 6:37)
Thought: All such
good seeds are Eternally cleansed by “…the washing of water by the Word…”; grow
in grace and in knowledge of Christ Jesus; and are forever secured in service
to the risen Lamb. (Ephesians 5:25-26) Hallelujah!
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