The sermon, delivered by Robert Bosley, focuses on the Parable of the Soils from Matthew 13, exploring its significance as the first in a series on the parables of the kingdom. Bosley emphasizes that the parables, taught by Jesus, are centered on the gospel and the spread of God's kingdom. The purpose of parables, he explains, was to reveal truths to Jesus' disciples while concealing them from those who rejected God, as a means of righteous judgment against them. In the Parable of the Soils, the sower represents anyone spreading the gospel, the seed symbolizes the Word of God, and the four types of soil depict different responses to the gospel, from hard-hearted rejection to fruitful acceptance. Bosley highlights the necessity of the Holy Spirit in preparing hearts to receive the gospel and urges both non-believers and believers to reflect on their receptivity to God's Word. The sermon concludes with a call for prayer and reflection to ensure fruitful spiritual growth.

Good afternoon, everyone. If you would, please take out your copies of the Word of God and open up to Matthew chapter 13. This afternoon, we are going to be starting a new series through the parables of the kingdom, the parables taught by our Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. This is something I've been looking forward to. I've wanted to do this for a little while, and I'm very much looking forward to going through these parables and examining these stories that Christ taught to the multitudes and to his followers about his kingdom.

Now the parables are a fascinating study and they touch on such a diverse range of topics. So as we go through this, we'll hit on things from ethics to eschatology, there even economics and I promise I didn't intend to alliterate that, it just happened, but the core of all these parables is the gospel. That is that the essence of all the parables is the gospel and the spread of the kingdom of God in this world through the power and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The parables present to us a kingdom that is spreading throughout the world through history and guided by Christ as the great Savior of His people. So ultimately that's what the parables are about though we'll touch on many things The central focus is on the gospel and what the gospel does in God's people and in history.

So we're going to start with Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower or perhaps you've heard it referred to as the parable of the soils, depending on where you want to put the emphasis. Both are titles that are commonly used. But let's turn there and we will read verses 1 through 23. Matthew 13, beginning in verse 1. On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea, and great multitudes were gathered together to him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

Then he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has to him more will be given, and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull, Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

Therefore hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who receives seed by the wayside. But he who receives the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while.

For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. Let's pray. Father we come before you in the name of your Son and we ask Lord that you would give us help.

Give me help Lord as I speak and give all of us help to hear and to understand your word this afternoon in Christ's name. Amen. I want us to look at this this first parable basically under two headings or two points. First and most briefly I want to consider the purpose of this parable and the purpose of the parables generally. So the purpose of the parable.

And then secondly, the meaning of this parable. That's where we will spend the bulk of the time. Now the word parable is not really a word that we have much exposure to outside of Scripture generally today. Now this word comes directly from the Greek word that is being translated here, parabolae. It's not even really translated.

It's more of we've just taken the Greek word and made it a little bit more English, and we just say parable instead of the Greek parabolae. And at its core, this word means a comparison or an illustration. And it was even used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, to translate the Hebrew word that we translate into English as proverb. But by the time you get to the New Testament, the word has taken on more of a specific meaning, that it's not just a comparison, it's not just an illustration, it's not just a metaphor or a proverb, but it's taken on this meaning of an extended metaphor, a story used to instruct and teach that has its basis in reality. All these stories are centered around real events, real things that we see in the world around us.

That's what separates the parable from the myth or the fable, where you have elements of magic or unreal creatures. The metaphor, sorry, the parable is an extended metaphor based in the real world And often these were used to teach ethics, morality, and theology. And that's what Jesus does with his parables. Now by their nature as an extended metaphor, parables are difficult to understand. Unless the one speaking them gives you an authoritative interpretation of what he intends you to learn from them.

The imagery though it is often pulled from these common themes based in reality is often very vague in its application. And so it is difficult to grasp oftentimes what is meant in the parable, particularly as you're trying to nail down certain details. And so that brings us to our first point. What was the purpose of the parables and of this parable in particular? If we consider that parables by their very nature are vague and often difficult to understand, we have to understand that Jesus was not intending the parables to be just illustrations.

These were not just teaching helps that the Lord used in his ministry. Now if I give an illustration in a sermon or one of our elders give you an illustration in the sermon, the purpose is here's an example so you can understand more of what our point is. We're using it to help clarify, to add clarity to the message being brought. The parables are not like that. The parables often are not used in conjunction with a more clear message.

In this case in particular, it seems that Jesus spoke to the crowds only in parables. Look over at verse 34, and all these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables and without a parable he did not speak to them. There was no interpretation and there was no context that he was using them as if they were intended to be an illustration. The interpretations that are given of these first two parables are given to the disciples alone. And the disciples are confused when Jesus takes this route of his teaching and in turning to just teaching the multitude in parables.

They come and they ask him, why do you speak in parables? And Jesus says, Because it's been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but not to them. And it goes on to quote Isaiah 6 regarding those who hear and see the words and the works of God, but never truly hear or see. They never truly understand or grasp it. Why is this the case?

Because their hearts are dull and hard. They are resistant to God's message and God actually intended it to be that way. God sent the prophet Isaiah to those people. If you read all of Isaiah 6, God sent the prophet Isaiah not primarily to cause the people to turn back. He sent them, he sent Isaiah and many of the prophets to heighten their judgment so that the prophets would preach and the people would not hear.

The prophets would preach and it would harden their hearts further so that there would be no question about the righteousness of God when he brought judgment against these rebels. And that's what we have going on in the ministry of Jesus. The parables are not intended to be illustrations. They are intended to be vague, so that the people did not fully understand Christ. This is a generation that has rejected their God.

This is a generation of people that ultimately will hate and refuse their Messiah. And Christ is bringing these parables not so that they would hear and understand and turn, but so that they would not. And God would be just and unquestionably just when he brings his judgment against them. That is the purpose of the parables. He does not intend them to be understood because these people, this generation, was not destined for salvation.

This was a generation, as we read throughout Matthew and we'll look at and we'll see in other parables, this was a generation that had rejected their shepherd, had rejected their king, and now we're open to his judgment. But the eyes and the ears of the disciples, they were blessed. They were allowed to hear and to understand. But the eyes and the ears of the multitude, they are under judgment and they are to be condemned. And so Jesus makes it even harder for them to understand who he is and what his mission is in this world.

Because it is God's intention at this point that this generation would be destroyed, as we'll see in future parables. So what is the purpose of the parables? It was the purpose of the parables was that Jesus was intending to communicate truth about his kingdom to his disciples but to hide the truth from those who had rejected their God and would go on to reject the Messiah. Now secondly the the meaning of this parable Now this is one of the few parables that we are given a clear, authoritative interpretation. Jesus Himself lays out what this parable means, at least what the parts of it mean.

And so let's understand why he does this. He does it because the disciples at first didn't get it. The parables are vague. They're difficult to understand. Blessed as the disciples were to know the mysteries of the kingdom, they didn't understand the parable.

And even in Mark's account of this in Mark chapter 4, Jesus actually offers a slight rebuke to his disciples. He says, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? And I think this indicates that there is a primacy, a place of importance put on this parable. He says, if you don't understand this one, how can you understand any of the rest of the parables?

And I think the reason for this is because this is kind of a foundational parable. This is the starting point. This is the first parable in all three of the synoptic gospels, and Jesus seems to put an emphasis on this one, that without this one you can't understand the others this is kind of the key to the rest why why is that I think it's because the themes that we see here are what will be repeated throughout the parables Once we get this one and we understand the themes and what it is teaching, that will be a key to unlocking the rest of the parables. The themes that we see of the centrality of the Word of God, the rejection and the acceptance of that word by men, the work of Satan in his opposition to the kingdom of God and the spread of that kingdom over the world. So let's get into the interpretation of the elements.

You have, really you have six elements in this parable. You have the sower, you have the seed, you have the four soils. You have six basic elements in this. Now interestingly, the sower is not actually identified by Jesus. Now some commentators identify the sower as Christ himself largely because the interpretation of the next parable, the parable of the wheat and tares, the sower is identified as Jesus.

Look in verse 37, Jesus is interpreting the second parable. He says, he answered and said to them, he who sows the good seed is the son of man. And we know that's a reference to Christ himself. But he does not give that identification for this first parable. Because these are two separate parables, they're teaching two different things, though they overlap tremendously, I do think we ought to be careful that we not ignore the differences and that we should not immediately assume that because there's a similarity, there's identification between the two.

Just because there's a sower in both doesn't mean it's the same sower. I think because the sower is never clearly identified, it is better to take it in the more generic sense in this first parable that the sower is anyone of God's people going out and proclaiming the message of the kingdom. It is not specifically Christ though ultimately of course Christ speaks through his people. We are ambassadors of Christ whenever we go out and we proclaim the gospel and tell men to repent. We are Christ's ambassadors.

We are standing there saying, King Jesus commands you, repent and believe. So in that sense Christ is the sower. But I think here the idea is the sower is anyone going out and preaching the gospel, making the message known. The seed is clearly identified as Jesus calls it the Word of the Kingdom, or in Luke's account the Word of God. And this primarily I believe is a reference to the Gospel, of course.

This is a message about a kingdom because it is primarily a message about the Kingdom's great King and what he has done for his people. This is a message centered on this King and is a message that needs to be sown among all the peoples of the world because this is the King over all kings and the Lord over all lords and all people owe this king their obedience. This is the only message that can go and make rebels into disciples. That is the message of the kingdom, the word of the kingdom. So it is primarily the gospel that is in view here.

But I do believe we could extend it to all of Scripture. Now God did not simply give us the gospel message. There is much more to our Bibles than just the gospel. Now all of it centers and revolves around Scripture, but we can say truly that all of this, all of our Bible, is the Word of the Kingdom. It is all the Word of God.

And so there's an extended application to any proclamation of God's truth here, I believe. And you'll note as we come to the different soils and the different results, The reason that there are different results and the reason that only one of the four bears fruit, it is not the fault of the seed. The seed is never at fault because that seed is the inerrant word of God. It is that gospel message. It is the promised message of truth to God's people that is infallible and inerrant and trustworthy and pure.

The reason that certain soils do not bear fruit is not the fault of the seed. It is good seed. The question is where does the seed fall? Where is it planted? That matters.

That is what makes the difference. And so there are four soils presented here, each yielding a different result. First, the soil by the pathway. This would be hard, packed down dirt that's been walked on where the seed falls and it just sits on top and is food for the birds. Jesus tells us that this is the heart that is dull and hard and unable to receive his word.

So soon after hearing the devil comes and causes the hearer to forget, neglect, and ultimately reject that word that's been sown. Second, we have the stony ground. The seed falls here and it slips between the rocks. And so it is planted in a fashion in some soil, but as it says, there's no depth of earth. There's no room for the roots to expand and to grow.

And so instead of growing down and out, it shoots up. This plant, it shoots up quickly in what seems to be a great show of life and vitality. It sprouts up quickly but there's no root and so it cannot last and when just the normal heat of the Sun comes it withers and dies. And Christ tells us that this is the person who hears and initially receives the word with joy, but yet has no root in himself because that soil is filled with the rocks and stones of the cares of this world and the distractions and so there's no room for that seed of the word to be rooted and to grow as it ought to. Benjamin Keach in his exposition of the parables says this very helpful, has this very helpful thing to say about the rocky soil.

He says that what is meant is the want or the lack of thorough conviction. In other words, there's no true belief. Their rocky or stony hearts were never broken up by the hammer of the Word, and by lack of root no doubt has meant a principle of true grace in their hearts. In other words, There was no true saving grace, which elsewhere, in Job 19.28, is called the root of the matter. They never were savingly united to Jesus Christ.

They had not the true faith of God's elect, nor ever sincerely loved the Lord Jesus. They were never born of God because the seed does not remain in them." It goes on to say they may have had a show of zeal, an appearance of love for Christ and a love for the Word, but it was superficial and short lived. And so despite that sudden growth and what seemed to be vigorous spiritual life in this one, the trials and persecutions of the world caused that, what faith they had to wither, and they apostatize. They leave the faith. The next you have the the ground with thorns.

The seed is sown but the thorns grow up with the seed and choke it out so that it never grows or bears fruit. This Christ says is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and all its allure choke out the word so that it is not fruitful, it cannot grow. These are those that the love for this world is simply too great. They're too attached to the things of this life. They hear all about the forgiveness of sins, the eternal rest and joy of Christ's people in the kingdom of God forever.

They hear these great things, and instead they turn to the temporary pleasures and power of this world. They are like the man with the muckrake in the second part of Pilgrim's Progress where interpreter shows Christiana, a man with a muck rake, raking to himself the dust and the straws and the hay while a glorious celestial crown is held out to him over his head and he refuses to look up. He's content with the dust and the sticks when glory is offered to him and so he never looks up. Lastly is the good soil. In this soil the seed takes root and grows and bears a fruitful crop and the Lord explains that this is the one who hears and understands and believes the word.

He receives it and he bears fruit. Now we read this and we have to ask ourselves how is this soil good? What made this soil ready to receive the seed? Aren't we all sinful, fallen, hard-hearted, by nature's hating God? That's what the scriptures say.

So what makes this fourth soil different? Well, first we have to remember one of the principle rules of interpretation when we come to the parables. Don't strain the analogy. There's only so much that can be contained in the parable. There's only so much that can be taught.

The parables aren't meant to exhaust every detail and lay out every point of doctrine. That's not their purpose. Generally, the parables have one main point. Secondly, we have to understand that even though all of us are born with hard hearts, hearts of stone, that hard stony heart can be changed. It can be softened.

It can be taken out and replaced with a heart of flesh. Not by our own works, but by the work of God. I believe here what is implied is that we must understand the Holy Spirit works miracles alongside the preaching of God's Word. The Word is proclaimed and we have no power to change anyone's heart, none of us do, But as we preach and we scatter that seed of the word, the spirit comes along and it can, or he rather, should not say it, he prepares the heart. He plows that fallow ground and breaks up the stony earth and he replaces that heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh that is made ready and willing to receive God's Word.

And this is the means that the Spirit uses, the preaching of the Word. The preaching of the Word itself is the means the Spirit uses to secure obedience and repentance to that Word, particularly the preaching of the law of God. Hearing the law and seeing our failure in that perfect mirror, that is what, along with the threat of judgment against those who have failed to live up to it, that is what the Spirit usually uses to break up the hard heart and make it receptive to the gospel. So when you preach, do not forget the law with your gospel preaching. And so these are those who have been prepared by grace.

They are not better people by virtue of themselves. They have not done good works to prepare their hearts. They have done nothing in and of themselves to make their heart ready to hear the gospel and to bear fruit. They are those who have received God's grace as a gift to hear and believe the gospel. Even their very faith has been given to them as a gift.

They hear and they bear fruit. And notice Christ says some will bear different amounts of fruit, some hundred, some sixty, some thirty. Not everyone bears the same fruit. And by fruit here I think he is everything. All of the Christian life.

We're talking about fruit as in a changed life, fruit as in obedience to the law of God, fruit as in going and making disciples, anything that could be considered fruit of the Christian life I believe is the fruit meant here. It's everything, it's all the Christian life put together. Not everyone has the same fruitfulness. That's just a fact. None of us will live up to the Apostle Paul.

And that's okay. God did not intend for us to. But he does expect us to grow fruit, to bear fruit. And if you have truly received that seed, there will be fruit. Because there's not a plant here that comes out of the fourth soil that bears no fruit.

There's some fruit. Now the immediate application of this parable, as I've been going through, is obviously to salvation. We read this and we can't help but think of the gospel going out to those who do not know and that one hears and truly believes. And that is, I believe, the primary meaning. And so, if you're here today and you do not know if you are a Christian, if you do not know if you are a fallen in Christ, examine yourself, see what kind of heart do you have?

If you have not yet come to Christ, or you're not sure, what is preventing you? Is it the thorns of the cares of this world? Or is your heart just still hard and closed off to Him? What is it? And whatever it is, ask God to break up that ground.

Ask God, beg him to buy his spirit, make your, make the soil of your heart ready to receive that message. Beg him for the grace to believe. Pray for the Spirit to bring His plow and prepare your heart for the good seed and meditate on God's law. See how far you fall short. Even your best works are filthy rags.

See the seriousness of the condemnation that you're under. And let that prepare your heart for true saving faith in our great King. But I also want us to consider how this applies to those of us who are Christians. Yes, the primary application is to salvation, those who need to hear the gospel. But this also, I believe, applies to us who are Christians already.

When we come here, for instance, on Sundays, we come here to worship and hear the word, have we allowed the difficulties and even our own remaining sin to harden our heart against the Word of God that we hear preached so that it's so easily forgotten and removed by Satan? Do we allow the busyness of our life, and I understand being busy, but do we allow that busyness to act like the rocks in our hearts so that the Word seems to pop up in quick obedience for a season but then is quickly forgotten and we fall back into disobedience? Or do we let the things of this world, even the good things that God has given us, be a distraction and a temptation so that our obedience is choked out as we pursue the pleasures of this life. Or have we been at work preparing our hearts to hear God's Word through reading, meditation, and prayer, communion, and closeness with God? Have we been doing these things to make Sunday and Wednesday nights most profitable to us?

So that when we hear the word, It's planted deep and bears fruit. So whoever you are this morning, consider what kind of heart you have and ask God by His Spirit to make it receptive to the seed of His Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and we do pray God that by your grace you would prepare our hearts. Call us Lord to receive your word And by your spirit may you cause it to bear fruit so that we would be fruitful plants in your garden Help us Lord to be faithful help us as we leave this place to go forth and bear fruit Even though we do not all bear the same fruit, help us Lord to be fruitful and faithful where you have placed us.

May we do it all for the glory of Christ and in His name we pray, Amen.