The following transcript has been electronically transcribed. Any errors in spelling, syntax, or grammar should be attributed to the electronic method of transcription and its inherent limitations.  Again, he began to teach beside the sea and a very large crowd. Again, in, in, in Mark's words here, the superlative, the largest crowd. Each crowd is getting bigger each time. The, the largest crowd, the very large crowd gathered about him. So that he got into a boat, he, he makes this sort of a floating pulpit. He gets into this boat, the boat pushes off from land a a little bit, and he sits in the boat in the sea, and the whole crowd was beside him on the, beside the sea, on the land. Now the word that Mark uses, there's translated land. It's the same word that's going to appear a number of times throughout the parable in the word that's translated soil. So the same word translated land, translated soil. And what that I think is doing is that's inviting us to see this picture of the crowd sitting on the soil as Jesus gives this parable about the soils of the heart. So once again, this is inviting us not to read this as though Jesus is talking about their soil, but he's talking about your soil. They're sitting on the soil. Jesus is talking about the soil of their heart, and he's inviting them to assess the soil of their heart. So the whole crowd was gathered by beside the sea, on the soil or on the land. Now, verse two, and he was teaching them many things in parables and in his teaching, he said to them, verse three, listen, behold. So there's that double commandment again. Listen, watch, listen and see this. Listen and behold. So the parable is all about hearing and understanding and perceiving and seeing. And so Jesus begins with this double command, listen. C or behold, a sower went out to sow in verse four, and as he sewed, some seed fell along the path and the birds came and devoured it. So there's the first of the soils, and that's the one that we'll start with today. The hard-packed soil, the, the tragically hard packed soil. So now down to verse 14, at Jesus, Jesus's interpretation of that soil. Verse 14, the so or so is the word, which is the seed. And these are the ones along the path where the word is sown. When they hear Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. So there's Jesus's interpretation of it. The interpretation is that the soil, this hard-packed soil are these for whom the word lands on this hard packed soil, much like this hard floor right in front. And there, the, there's no chance for the sea to grow and to sprout roots into that soil because it's too hard packed. And then in Jesus's interpretation, the birds come and they devour it, and the birds are representative of Satan in the passage. So this is the parable that we turn to. First, this parable of the unfortunate, hard-packed soil. We're reminded, as we've seen before, that the pa, the fields in Jesus' day, we would've expected these fields to have pathways leading perhaps through them, along the sides of them, for the people to travel around. Back in chapter two, Jesus and his disciples were traveling along one of these paths. And they reach out and they pluck some heads of grain because it's the Sabbath and they're hungry. And so these paths would've been well-traveled, often traveled. People walked a lot in Jesus' day. And so these paths would've been used a great deal. Hard packed like concrete, like bricks, like a sidewalk, hard packed soul. And so the solar comes and he sows, and he uses, as we said, this broadcasting method as fact, that's the word. The word comes from broadcast, comes from this meth method of sowing seed, which is common in Jesus day, and which the seed is just scattered all about that, that you wouldn't have seen someone with some sort of planter device or some sort of cultivator device, much like today in which they're planting perhaps rows of seeds. It would've just been broadcasted or, or spread all around with little to no care taken. As far as some of the seed landing on a hard pack pathway or some of the seed landing, as we're going to see rocky ground or thorny ground or whatnot, little care would've been taken. Jesus's heroes would not have been surprised that the sower sewed the seed, and some landed on the pathway that would've been considered com a common way of sowing seed in Jesus' day. And so he's Jesus' first, drawing attention to this hard packed path in which the, the word, the seed lands, finding no ability to begin to sprout and to grow. It lays there for some time, and then the birds come along and snatch it up. The birds, again, representative of Satan. So, such a tragic thing that Jesus begins with such a, such a, a tragedy for the seed to be eaten up and lost in such a way as this. You know, we, I don't know how much seed costs, when you think about planting seeds for crops. I, I really don't have a concept of what a farmer might spend and seed to, to sew a field such as this. I know the cost of everything is just skyrocketing, right? But I, I recall, um, when we lived in Maggie Valley about almost 20 years ago, we built a house there. And of course, when you built a house, you have no yard, you've got dirt, and so then you have to start from nothing. So we did that and raked all the rocks and everything and went and bought grass seeded. And I just remember, this is almost 20 years ago, I remember just being blown away at how expensive grass seed is. I have no idea what it is today, a lot more than it was then. But even then, it was hundreds of dollars for grass seed. And I remember, you know, of course you buy the straw and everything to go with it, and you scattered the seed out and everything. You put the straw on top and what happens the next morning, you look out the window and there's birds infuriating. These birds are eating this hundreds of dollars of seed that I just bought. And not only that, but all the time that it took to sow these seed, it was just infuriating to me. I can imagine what a farmer would feel like to spend perhaps thousands of dollars and seed a field and then look out to see birds eating what he just done. So, as infuriating as that is, Jesus is making comparison here to the seed of the word, the most precious possession known to mankind. What Paul reckons to that treasure, that's in jars of clay, the most precious possession of mankind, the scriptures. And here Jesus is speaking this story of the scriptures, which never fade, never die everlasting. And yet they're snatched away to make a meal. And not just a meal for any old bird, but a bird that represents Jesus's mortal eternal enemy. So the tragedy of these seeds, so, so to speak, being lost here, now the, the, the birds that come and snatch this away, of course Jesus again says that they represent Satan, the enemy. Who seeks to come and snatch the word away? We've mentioned this before about―this is Satan's agenda. This is Satan's goal. Satan desires to snatch away the word he desires to snatch away. In fact, right now, that battle is taking place as we speak. We've said this before, that every time the word is proclaimed, there's that battle between good and evil, between light and dark. And so what Satan seeks to do right now, which is why you often hear me pray as I do before the services begin, what he's seeking to do now is to snatch that word from you. He wants to snatch that word before it's grasped, before it begins to take root, before it begins to grow into your heart. He wants to snatch it away. And so what a tragedy this is when that happens. But of course, Satan wants to do this because he understands the converting power of the word. He understands the life-giving power of the word. He fully understands. Romans 10, verse 17, which tells us the faith comes by hearing and hearing. By the word of Christ. So he fully understands the power of God's word, which is why he seeks to snatch it away. He's not trying to snatch it away because he's hungry, like the bird is hungry. But instead, this is a symbolic of Satan trying to snatch away the most powerful tool that's yielded against him or wielded against him, I should say. But another thing that we should see here is if we look at Luke's gospel, Luke chapter eight, where Luke references the same parable. Luke says this, the ones along the path are those by who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, and here it is, so that they may not believe and be saved. Now, that's an important reminder for us. Satan hates you and he hates you with the sinister, wicked, evil hatred. That's from the pit of hell. You know, we really like to be encouraged as God's people to be reminded of God's love for us, and just the, the, as Paul says to the Ephesians, the width and the breadth and height and the depth of this immeasurable love that God has for his people, and what an encouragement it is to be taught and reminded of the depth and the magnitude of God's love for his people. In fact, I'm reading a book right now that that is all about helping, helping us to grasp more fully the love of God for his people, and what an encouraging thing it is. But you know, we also need to be reminded on a regular basis, not just of God's love for us. You need to beri reminded not only that you're love, but that you're hated. You're hated with a vile, wicked, destructive hatred. The enemy of God hates the image of God so deeply that he hates everyone who bears that image. Even his servants, he hates even those who profess loyalty to him because they bear the image of his enemy. And he seeks to destroy you. He seeks to cast you into the pit of hell, along with he and the rest of his demons. He would like nothing more than to destroy you if you are safe in the hands of Jesus than he also seeks to snatch that word away, to help prevent you to become more Christ-like, or to be, make you more godly, or to prevent you in your journey of Christ-likeness. He hates you that much. So to be reminded of that should encourage the Christian to run to the Father, run to the one who is greater than your enemy, run to the one whose love, even though the hatred of Satan for you is so vast and so beyond the description of words, his love for his people, far outweighs Satan's hatred for you. So we run to the Father. We were, are reminded of the, the hatred of the enemy for us, and that that encourages us to run to the love of the one who doesn't just love us. He gave himself for us. So he hates us. So this, the seed comes that they may not be, they may not believe, they may not be saved. Satan of course, knows ex exactly. This is how it happens. But let's just look again at the parable again from verse three. Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow and as he sewed, some seed fell along the path and the birds came and devoured it. Now this hardened path that it falls on, we can imagine, again, just to use the illustration of this hard floor right here, scattering some. So let's just say some grass seed right here on this hard floor. And just imagine the uselessness of putting some seed here and how it will never penetrate and no growth will ever happen. The same thing Jesus is comparing to this hardened path that just the, the lack of success of any type of growth. But, you know, Matthew gives us another little piece of information from this parable that I think is very helpful to help us to really grasp the full meaning that Jesus is giving to us here. Look in your notes in Matthew chapter 13 verse 19. One key piece of information Matthew gives us. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the evil one comes and snatches it away. Um, Matthew uses an even sharper, stronger word for snatch it away. Grab it away forcefully, take it away. But he says that happens when the word is sown on the hard path and it is not understood. It is not comprehended. So there's a key. There is an element, there's, there is a, a certain thing that takes place there that makes the difference between the sea taking root and or at least remaining and the seed being taken away. It's taken away as the seed or the word is not understood. And this points us to a very important aspect of the parable forest. This parable is reminding us once again, of just the proper, we're going to call it methodology or philosophy or approach to teaching and preaching the word of God to God's people. There are, I think, two fundamentally opposed methodologies for bringing the seed of God's word to his people. And I just like to think of them like this, that one of them basically is just a try harder approach. Just the do better approach. And that is really the philosophy or, or that's the, the method behind what I think is a huge amount of the preaching of God's word is just the do better approach. Meaning that every time the word is preached, there's a goal. I have a goal. Every, everyone who stands to proclaim God's word has a goal. Something that you want to see happen in the hearers of God's word. And so the do better approach or the try harder approach goes like this. The goal is to encourage, to motivate, to move you as God's child, to try harder to hear his word, speaking to the sin of your life, speaking to the sinful patterns, the sinful attitude patterns, the sinful thought patterns. And to just, just to try harder to just do better. That's the do better approach. Oftentimes that can take the form of a condemnation to, to condemn those when we are not doing hardly hard enough or working hard enough or to encourage us to hard work harder. The uplifting, encouraging, condemn, but the whole philosophy is do better. Now, the polar opposite of that is what I would just call the comprehend, understand, believe, and trust more approach. Now, the trust, more they believe and trust more approach doesn't say, well, God's word has nothing to say to us about our will. Certainly, that's a part of it. The will of the Christian, how the will of the Christian must be directed towards obedience. That is a fact of our Christian faith. However, that is not the central part of God's preaching. That is not the central part of, of God's word. God's word calls us not to work harder, but to understand and believe. And trust, and so that is the fundamental focus. We talk about goals. What do I want to have achieved? When I stand and open God's word, the primary thing I want to happen is you as God's people to comprehend, to understand and by understanding, believe more, and trust more. That's not to say that there's not a part of this that says, you know, you have to do battle with your will, and you've got to be victorious over your will. That's part of it, but the central core philosophy, the central core method is to say, when you get up after, after listening to God's word this morning, if I've been successful, then you understand more. You understand more, and believe more and trust more. That is the trust more kind of approach, and this is what Matthew's getting at, that when the word is received and not understood. Then it snatched away. So my primary goal is to open God's word and to help you to understand it, to comprehend it. Now, we all understand that there's a difference between a mental comprehension, an intellectual comprehension, and a spiritual comprehension. We understand the difference. That's what chapter three was all about. The Pharisees and those who watched Jesus' miracles, they were enlightened in their minds to understand mentally, intellectually, some things about Jesus, but spiritually they refused to submit. So we understand there's a difference there, and I don't think I really need to under to explain the difference. We understand there is that difference, but I cannot speak directly to your soul. I cannot make your soul comprehend in a spiritual manner. I cannot make you spiritually grasp and receive and submit to a, a truth of God's word for only the God. Only God can do that. However, What I can do is open God's word in such a way to explain to, in such a way to facilitate comprehension and understanding, because that is what Jesus says is the key in Matthews gospel. That is the key, those who receive it and there's understanding, then there's not that immediate snatching away. But the first step, the key to that, the doorway is always the doorway of the mind. To hear God's word, understand what it means, and then from that point, the spirit has to take that comprehension and he has to do his work. But it almost begin with an understanding of what the words are saying. And so that is what we do. We preach intentionally for the goal of comprehension. We preach for the goal of understanding of ex exposing God's word. That just means to expose the meaning and to show the meaning with the goal of understanding. So that sort of thing, I mean, we all know how it goes here. You don't come to Disciples Fellowship expecting a 25 minute sermonette or a 20 minute devotional homily. That's not what you come here expecting to preach for comprehension takes time because it doesn't just happen in 15 or 20 minutes. But that is the goal that we work for, is the comprehension of God's word and God's word shows us so very plainly that that is where spiritual transformation begins. Take a look with me, Romans chapter 12 and verse two. You might not even have to look because this is such a well-known passage of scripture. Do not be conformed to this wor world, but be transformed. By the renewing of your mind, the transformation of the soul begins in the mind. And there is no soul transformation that takes place without the mind beginning with comprehension of what God said. God never bypasses that step. God never says, you know, even though you don't understand what I'm saying to you, I'm still going to use it to change your soul. God doesn't do that. It begins with the comprehension, and that's where we begin. The transformation of the soul begins with the renewal of the mind and the renewal of the mind of the mind requires a comprehension of the mind. Take a look at Ephesians chapter four, verse 17 through verse 24 in this passage. Now I know we'll soon be returning back to Ephesians, and when we do, we will begin in chapter four. And when we get to chapter four, verse 17, we're going to see that this has a whole lot more for us. Then what I'm, what I'm about to say, but at the very least what I want us to see this morning is Paul's focus on the, on the fact he's going to contrast the new man, the new man in Christ, and he's going to say, put off the old man. Put on the new man. But he's going to contrast that against the unbelieving Gentiles in the passage. Those who are not. Converted those who are notate. And just notice all the language that Paul's going to use. Language that is speaking to the mind that does not comprehend the teachings of God's word from verse 17. Now, I say this and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do, no longer walk as the unconverted, the unbelievers do. And here it is in the futility of their mind. Futility speaks of, of uselessness something that is supposed to fulfill a purpose, a function, but it doesn't fulfill that pump function. So it's futile the futility of their minds. Their minds are futile because their minds do not grasp the truth of God. They are darkened here. This, again, darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance. Ignorance just means that there is a, a lack of comprehension, of lack of understanding. They are ignorance and there's ignorance in them due to the hardness of heart. Do you, do you hear their echoes there of the hard path? Due to the hardness of heart, there is an ignorance in them. They have become callous once again. You hear echoes there of the hardened path, the callous, the hardened path, and they have given up themselves to sensuality, greed, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. And then he goes on there to list some more behavioral sins. But take a look at verse 22. So he says to to the believers in Ephesus, he says, don't be this way. I'm contrasting this against you. So what you are to do, he says, is to put off the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and corrupt your deceitful desires and put on the new self. But between putting off the old self and putting on the new self, there's one more step. Be renewed in the spirit of your minds. So do you see how plainly there Paul is just connecting together this lack of perception, lack of comprehension, lack of understanding, darkened in their minds, futile, ignorant, not comprehending, callous. And he con contrast that against the new man who is renewed in the spirit of their mind. So this begins with the comprehension, the simple understanding of God's word, the simple opening of God's word, and understanding the concepts that are taught to us, understanding the words, the sentences, the phrases, understanding what this meant to those, to whom it was originally written. Now this is the, the understanding, the intellectual, the mental, the cognitive understanding of God's word is not what transforms anyone. There is no conversion that takes place in that. There is no growth and godliness. There is no sanctification that takes place in just the pure, simple mental understanding of God's word. However, that's where it begins. That is always where it begins. And as the beginning point, that is what we as humans are able to do. To facilitate the spirit's work of regeneration in the lost person and sanctification in the regenerative person, which is to say, by the facilitation of the comprehension of God's words, we are giving opportunity to the spirit to do his work of transformation in the souls of those who comprehend. But that step of comprehension won't be skipped, but the first step is always that step of comprehension of understanding the scriptures. Say this to us so plainly in very many places, one of the places that I thought of was, we all are familiar with the, with the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch Acts chapter eight. Remember the Ethiopian Munich, he's there in Jerusalem for some reason, and he's in the chariot and he's riding along in the chariot and he's reading the Isaiah Scroll. And then we're told in the story that Philip comes along beside him, sees him reading the Isaiah scroll, and Philip ask him, do you understand what you're reading? And you remember what the, the Ethiopian eunuch answered. He said, how can I, unless somebody guides me, unless somebody explains to me, unless somebody shows me what he's saying. He understood the words. The man read and spoke Hebrew. He understood the words on the scroll. He didn't grasp their spiritual meaning. And he says, how can I, unless somebody helps me, unless somebody shows me. And then he asks him the, the specific question. He says, who's Isaiah talking about? Is he talking about himself or is he talking about somebody else? And then we're told that Philip gets in the chair with him, and Philip opens the scriptures for him and tells him the gospel message of Christ, and then comprehending that. Comprehending that up here. The spirit then makes a change here, and they come to some water and the Ethiopian says, here's some water. What's to stop me from being baptized? You see how conversion took place, but conversion started with comprehension. Another place that we see this perhaps even more clearly, if that's possible, than the story of the eth, the Ethiopian Munich, is the story in Acts chapter 26 of Paul here in Acts chapter 26, Paul is before King of Agrippa, and he's being questioned and he's sort of defending himself before Agrippa. And he's explained to Agrippa what God has raised him up to do, which is to be the apostle to the Gentiles. And in his explanation, here's what he says to Agrippa, he says, verse 18, here's what God's done. God has sent me to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. So Paul says, here's my mission. I'm sent by God to do all these things that result in, and what is the result that the Gentiles would have a place among the sanctified of God. But notice the steps there. In fact, an easy way to see this is, would be to just work backwards from what Paul said. So the final step, the goal, the ultimate goal is that these people would be, have a place among those who are sanctified by faith. So that the Gentiles, the unbelieving Gentiles, those who Ephesians, chapter three, were far off from God, have now been brought near. Those who were far from God have been not just brought near, but they have a place among God's people. They are co-heirs of God's kingdom. But then before that, before they're, they're given a place. They are, , they receive forgiveness of sins. So to be among God's people, they must receive forgiveness of God's sins. Prior to that, they've got to turn from two things. They turn from darkness, and you see it in the passage, turn from darkness and from Satan, and turn to light and turn to God. But then before all of that, Paul says, open their eyes. See how that's step one? You see how all those things began with step one, which was opening their eyes. That's always the beginning. The beginning is always comprehension. God never bypasses the mind to conform, to convert the soul. It begins there with comprehension. And so this perception that comes it, it of course results in their turning away from sin and it results from receiving and for receiving a forgiveness. And it results in being made a part of God's people. I'm reminded of Psalm one 19 verse 18. Open my eyes, Lord, that I may behold wondrous things in your law. That's where it always begins. Look at the testimony of Timothy second Timothy chapte three. In verse 15, Paul writes to Timothy, and he says, this, Timothy, he says, from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings. Lord, that's another word for the scriptures from childhood, from an early childhood. Timothy, you have been acquainted with the scriptures. You have been introduced to the scriptures. He says, later by your mother and your grandmother, you've been introduced to the scriptures. You have an understanding of the scriptures, and look at what Paul says that has resulted in which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. So Timothy's grasp of the scriptures, his comprehension of the scriptures that have has been given to him by way of his mother and grandmother, Paul says that knowledge of the scriptures has been used of the spirit to make you wise unto salvation. You see how it begins with a knowledge, with a, a comprehension, with an understanding of the scriptures Now, There's a wonderful parallel here, and the parallel is, of course, the parallel between Paul and Jesus Christ. So think about Paul in your notes here. We've got from Acts chapter 17, the context of Acts. Chapter 17 is the context of Thessalonica. Paul is here in Thessalonica, you'll recall the church there in Thessalonica was a vibrant church. It was a church that was healthy from the start, but Thessalonica being a Gentile area, it had of course a synagogue. But the synagogue was a synagogue that had, of course, Jews in the synagogue, but they were Helen as Jews. So they were Jews that were from a Greek background as opposed to a Hebrew background. They were probably Greek speaking Jews, Hellenistic Jews. And so in the context of Paul in Thessalonica, here's what we read. And Paul went in as was his custom. And on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. And saying, this Jesus, who I'm who I proclaimed to you as the Christ. So notice there Paul uses these three words proclaiming, oh, I'm sorry. He reasoned, explained and proved. He reasoned from the scriptures, explained from the scriptures, and proved from the scriptures. So we just said a moment ago that these were Hellenistic Jews. Paul goes to the synagogue and he said to be reasoning with them, explaining and proving to them. Remember last week when we talked about parables and we talked about how Jesus was a Hebrew speaking man in a Hebrew culture, which was a storytelling culture and storytelling. Cultures learned by stories they don't learn as western cultures do. Western cultures who trace their lineage to the Greeks or to theists. We learn by critical thinking, by taking a concept and boiling it down to its core idea, to the core concept, to the essence of a thing we said last week. That's how we teach and learn and exchange ideas. However, those who are native to a storytelling culture, they learn by stories, by telling stories and within the story, this is how Jesus is teaching with parables. His parables aren't illustrating his points, his parables are the point. And so Jesus is speaking in parables to storytelling people. Paul is speaking to Hellenistic people, to Greek people. And what's he doing? Telling stories. No, he's reasoning with them because that's how they learn and that's how they think. And so he's reasoning and explaining, and proving from the scriptures he is seeking to open their mind to comprehend, to understand, because that's the beginning of conversion. He is paralleling what Jesus did when Jesus went around speaking parables. They're both doing the same thing to two groups of people. Jesus, to storytelling, people telling parables to open their minds, to comprehend the scriptures. Meanwhile, Paul, or not meanwhile, but later, Paul is reasoning and explaining and proving from the scriptures to Western thinking people, both of them seeking to instill a comprehension of God's word, which would give opportunity to the spirit to then do his work of conversion or his work of sanctification in the heart of the bleaker. All right, so they're both doing the same thing here, which is, which is marvelous. Now remember last week we talked in a little bit about parables, when we wanted to really get our mind around, What the parables, how Jesus was using them and how Jesus was not using them. And we said to be careful. We, we tend to think of the parables as an illustration because that's how we as Western people, we think of stories. Stories and parables to us illustrate a point. But that's not how Jesus was using the parables. Jesus wasn't illustrating a point with a parable. The parable was the point. And so last week we said that this will really come in handy as we progress through the rest of the parable. And here's where it begins to pay off for us. Because what we begin to see now is how Jesus's focus. Remember as, as in the parable that we just read, verse 10, the disciples, they come to him and they say, Jesus can, can you help us with this parable? And remember what Jesus says, he says, well, first of all, if you don't understand this one, how are you going to understand any of them? And then he says to you, has been given the secret, the mystery. To those on the outside, I speak in parables, but to you, on the inside, the secret has been given. And then he quotes to prophet Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, whose entire mission was to take the message of God to a people that he was told in advance would reject it. And so he quote to prophet Isaiah, when Isaiah says hearing, they don't understand. Seeing, they don't perceive so that they would hear and not really hear, see and not really see. Because if they did, they would turn and be forgiven. And so then Jesus says to those on the outside, as you're speaking parables, then he quotes the prophet Isaiah. Now here's how we tend to take that. And I think a lot of people really get sideways on this. Specific moment in Jesus' ministry on this occasion where he quotes the prophet Isaiah and then his, he takes that and uses it to say those on the outside, they just get the parables. But to you, the secret's been given. The way that seems to read to us is that it seems to be saying to us that Jesus, somehow he's got these, these ones in verse 10 here we we're told that the 12 and those who are with the 12, so the, the group that comes to Jesus is, that's the same group that he called up the mountain in chapter three. Those whom he desired, he called him up the mountain. That's the birth of the church. That same group of people, the 12 plus the other disciples that Jesus has called to himself, they come to him and they say, Jesus, can you help us with these parables? And Jesus's answer is to you has been given the mystery, the secret to those on the outside. They just get the parables because seeing, they don't perceive hearing. They don't hear the way that seems to. Sound to us is that Jesus is intentionally speaking. And if I could just substitute the word parables with the word riddles, doesn't it sound like that to you? On the inside? You've got the secret. Those on the outside, I just give them riddles because hearing they're never un, never going to understand seeing, they're never going to see. Doesn't it sound like that? And I know of many respected ex exposes of the Bible, many whom I listen to and watch who get sideways on this because it does seem as though Jesus is saying, I don't want them to understand. So I'm going to give them some riddles. I'm going to give them some enigmas. I'm going to play some spiritual hide and seek with them, but they're never going to get it. But to you is given the secret. Here's where it's important to see that not only is that not what Jesus is saying, that's the polar opposite of what Jesus is saying. Because once we understand. How Jesus used the parables. That was how the people that he spoke to best learned. Jesus is not saying I'm speaking to them in riddles. Jesus is saying, I am doing everything I can to speak to them in ways that they can comprehend so as not to place any barrier between them and spiritual understanding except for one. The only barrier after Jesus's parables and careful explanations, as well as Paul's reasoning and Paul's explanation, the only barrier between those who hear and their understanding that leads to conversion. The only barrier is, is not a, a, a shortage of intellect. I, it's not a faulty explanation. Jesus was not a poor communicator. Jesus was the perfect communicator. There's nothing wrong with how he teaches. There's nothing wrong with their brain. Some of these Pharisees were the smartest people of the day. The barrier to the teaching and their reception of this teaching is not intellectual, nor is it a communication error. The barrier is a moral one. That's why they don't understand, because the problem is not intellectual. The problem is moral. Their understanding is inhibited only by their love of their own sin. That's why Jesus says, I'm going to explain it to them in the simplest, clearest possible means, so that seeing if they don't perceive or hearing and they don't understand, there's only one thing that's holding them back and that's their sin, and that's what the scriptures teach us. That was the issue between their spiritual comprehension. And their hearts. That was the issue. That was what was standing between them. Look at how we read this in John chapter three, verse 19. Jesus says, this is the judgment. The light is coming to the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. Jesus did not say the light is coming to the world, and people couldn't understand it. Jesus doesn't say, the light comes in, has come into the world, and some people just couldn't grasp it. Jesus doesn't say the light is coming to the world, and it was just too complicated. But for people to understand, Jesus said, the light is coming into the world, and people didn't understand it because of their sin. People didn't grasp it because they love their sin and their wickedness, and they clung to that instead of fleeing to the light. John eight, verse 45, but because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Notice how Jesus said that. Jesus didn't say, I tell you the truth, and you don't believe me. Jesus said, because I tell you the truth, you don't believe me. In other words, the reason for their unbelief was the substance of what Jesus was saying. The reason for their unbelief was not Jesus' method of communication. The reason for their unbelief was not that they couldn't grasp what Jesus was saying. The reason for their unbelief was the content of what Jesus said. Mark six, verse 52. For they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts, hearts were hardened. Notice how Mark just puts the two of those things right together. Failure to understand hardheartedness in the scriptures. Hardheartedness always speaks of moral non-complicity of moral disobedience to God's law. That's what hardheartedness always means in the scriptures because of their hardheartedness. Mark puts that right together with their failure to understand about the the, the lobes. Ephesians two and verse one, you are dead in your trespasses incense. Look how the deadness. Coincides directly with the sins and trespasses. The deadness, which produces spiritual deadness to God, coincides directly with the ongoing sins and trespasses. So the problem is not intellectual. The problem is not a communication problem. The problem is a moral problem. And Jesus is saying in verses 10 through 13, the parable there, when the disciples come to him, they say, help us with this. Jesus is saying, listen, you, you've got the mystery. You've got the secret. Those on the outside, I'm giving them everything I possibly can. So as to rightly say, if they don't comprehend, if they do not believe in turn, it's not because it wasn't explained to them. It's not because it was given to them in riddles. It's not because I, I gave them a whole bunch of puzzles that they couldn't solve. I gave it to them as plain and simple and as straightforward as they could, they comprehended it. Remember fact from chapter three. Enlightened blasphemy. They comprehended it, but they didn't yield to it. And so Jesus is saying the same thing here. No one will ever be cast into the lake of fire because the message of salvation was just too complicated. No one will ever be cast into the lake of fire because they just didn't have the capacity to understand the message. No one will ever be cast into the fire, the eternal fire, because God gave us the message of salvation and riddles and puzzles. All who will be cast into the lake of fire will do so because of their moral resistance, not their intellectual resistance. Jesus is making it as plain as he can possibly make it. God is not a God who conceals himself. God didn't send Jesus forth to conceal the Father. God sent Jesus to reveal the Father, and Jesus is here on this mission to show the Father. Now, how much sense would it make that Jesus' mission of showing the Father? He goes around doing so in these hard to solve enigmas that only certain people can grasp that makes little to no sense whatsoever. Jesus is here on a mission to reveal the Father. The Father does not wish to conceal himself. Furthermore, the Father is not concealed by the devil. That's not what Jesus means when he speaks of the birds snatching away the seeds. He's not saying that the devil has the power to conceal the Father. Take a look with me at two Corinthians four, verses three and four. Paul says, even if our gospel is veiled at his veil, to those who are perishing, now wait a minute. That sounds like just the opposite of what you just said. If our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing. Verse four, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Now, doesn't that just say the opposite of what I just said? God is not here to, God, is not wishing to conceal himself. Neither can Satan conceal God from us. But Paul just says here that in their case, meaning those who are perishing, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they can't see, they can't perceive. So is that what Paul is saying? Is Paul saying the opposite of what it what I just said, that there's these people who are separated from Christ and they're blinded to the truth of Christ. The God of this age has blinded them so that they cannot see Christ. Is that what Paul just said? Well, to answer that, all we need to do is ask one simple, straightforward question of the text. Let's just ask the, the text one sim simple question that, and the question is this, which came first? The blindness or the unbelief? Ask the text. Wh which came first? Is, is plain and simple. Did the blindness come before the unbelief or did did unbelief come before the blindness plainly? The unbelief came before the blindness. The unbelief gave occasion for the God of this world to blind. Without the occasion or the opportunity of unbelief, the God of this world had no opportunity to blind. It's even more plain in Jesus' parable. Let's, let's take that the same, the same thing back to Jesus' parable. Okay? Which came first? The birds snatching away the seed or the hard ground. Did the birds snatching away the seed, make the ground hard. Clearly it's the other way around. The birds could only snatch the seed because the ground was already hard. So Paul is not saying that the God of this age is able to blind people against the truth of God so that you can't perceive it. What he's saying is your unbelief gives reason, gives occasion for him to come along and further blind you. Which is the same thing that Jesus saying in the parable, the snatching away the seeds, which is a reminder for us. This is a moment of truth. Every time you hear the word of God taught and preached, it's a moment of truth. You either believe it or you don't. And if you believe it, it takes root. If you don't believe it, that's opportunity for the enemy to come along. Snatch it away. Now we are. If you are in Christ, you're safe in his arms. And, and the no birds, or no Satan, or no God of this age can snatch you out of his arms. But again, he seeks to snatch away all that would make you more like Jesus because he hates you and he hates Jesus. So this is, this is Jesus's mission here. His mission here is to explain and teach and show and reveal so that his hearers have no lack of comprehension. But this first soil that we see here, the hard pack soil, the seed lands on it, it goes nowhere. There's no root taken, and eventually the birds come and snatch it away. So that's the first soil. So the question that we ask in wrapping this up is just, just the, the question, we'll ask the same question for each of the soils. The question is this, what do we do about this? Now, again, this is, this is not directed towards, to us to, to say, Or there's these, these people, there's these people out there with hard packed hearts and woe to them, but instead to turn inward toward ourself and to recognize there are parts of my heart that receive God's word, like a hard packed sidewalk. And when that's what the message on Sunday morning is about, and it seems to hit on that one particular topic, and, and I walk out the door, it's gone. By the time I get out on the road, it's gone because it had nothing to stick. So what do I do about that? Ultimately, we recognize it's the spirit's work, but that doesn't mean that the spirit works apart from us. So what do we do? How do we, when we recognize that hardness of heart within, within all of us, how do we do battle against that? Well, what do you do for heart pack soil when we're just talking about dirt? What do you do for heart pack soil? If you want it to grow something, you plow it up. You plow it up. Jose at chapter 10, verse 12 tells us this. So for yourselves, righteousness, reap steadfast love. Break up your fallow ground. Now that word break up is the same word for plow. Plow up your fallow ground. So that's what we do. The heart packed soil of our heart has to be plowed up, and we plow it up with what? With the plow of God's law that identifies sin. That is one of the specific purposes that we're told in the scriptures, the one of the specific purposes of God's law, which is to say, to plow up the hard packed heart, thereby making it a suitable place for the seed of God's word to sprout and to grow. Take a look with me in Romans chapter three in verse 20. By no works of human hands, will anyone ever be justified in his sight for by the law. The law is how we gain the knowledge of sin. That is what the law does for the Unregenerate person. The law is what teaches us what sin is, as well as for the regenerate person. They serve similar functions. The law is what teaches us. It confronts our sinfulness with the plow share of God's law to break up the hard pack ground of our soil, of our, of our heart, the hard pack soil of our heart to break that up. That's what God's law does. Romans chapter seven and verse seven, here's what Paul says there. I wouldn't have known what it, what it was to sin. If it wasn't for God's law, I wouldn't have known what it was to covet. If God's law didn't teach me that this is what coveting is, that's what the law is doing. Paul says, the law of God came along and said to me, this is coveting. This is sinful. And that broke up the hard ground of my heart. This is why Jesus' Ministry was preceded by John the baptize. Remember what John the Baptizer message was? Repent. Repent. And he goes around addressing people's sinfulness. You remember how he's a, the soldiers come, the tax collectors come. All these people. He says, this is your sin. Plow up the hard ground of your heart. So John the Baptizer, who is the forerunner of Christ, he's here to prepare for Christ and his whole mission is repent. And then Jesus comes. And you remember how Jesus used the law? Think with me of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is in the Sermon on the Mount, chapter five. He says, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees, forget it. For you have heard it said that you shall not murder. But I say to you, If you have hated another one in your heart, you have committed murder in your heart, or you have heard it said that you shall not commit adultery. But I'm here to say to you, if you have looked at another with intention of lusting, you have committed adultery in your heart. You see how is using the law to break up the hard ground of their heart? Every, every fallen human starts out with all hard-packed soil that must be broken up by the law of God. And you know what does not break up that hard soil? Jesus loves you. That's what doesn't break up hard pack soil. The message that you are loved by God. Jesus loves you and has a great plan for your life. That lands on the hard pack soil and stays right there. And so there is no message that is exclusive to the direct word of God against the sinfulness of man. There is no message that excludes God's word about sin, that is capable of breaking up the hard ground of our heart to prepare our heart to receive the word. Jesus died for you. Jesus loves you. God's got a great plan for your life that might, that may be encouraging things to hear. It doesn't break up hard ground. Hard ground is broken up by God's word says this, and here's how we all have fallen short of that. Here's what it means to offend a holy God. And all of us have done that. That's how the hard ground is broken up. So that's the first thing. Plow up the hard ground of our heart with God's clear words, addressing our sinfulness. Number two, plead with the Lord of the harvest. Plead with the Lord of the harvest. Now this is one, I think one of the most helpful takeaways from this section of the parable. So notice with me something that I think is kind of counterintuitive at first. So notice we're, we're thinking about the middle part of the parable here. Jesus goes through the parable, and then verse 10, those who were with the 12, the 12, and those who are with them, meaning those whom Jesus has called unto himself in chapter three, they come to Jesus and they say, Jesus, we we're not quite getting this. We we're not understanding. Can you help us with these parables? I mean, we understood the agricultural stories. We understood about sowers and seed. We understand that, but we, we don't see the spiritual meaning that's parallel to them. Remember last week, the parables are alongside a spiritual truth. They parallel a spiritual truth. We, we see the agricultural truth, but we don't see the spiritual truth. Help us, Jesus. Jesus' answer. If you don't understand this one, how are you going to understand any of them? Till you has been given the secret, the mystery. But to those on the outside, they just received parables. Then Jesus goes on to do what? Now, explain it now. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Jesus, you just said that they had received the secret, and those on the outside were, were they were just only getting the parables. But then after telling them, you have received the secret, Jesus then goes on to explain it. If they received the secret, why did they need Jesus to explain it? Well, maybe this was just the first time around. Maybe they just, just really weren't catching Jesus' drift the first time around. Once they see how Jesus is laying these agricultural truths beside of spiritual truths, now that now they're going to get it, because Jesus says to them, you've received the secret. Only Mark's gospel is the p plainest, clearest, and most forceful gospel at showing us that the disciples never got it. Just a quick little journey through the, , just a quick little journey to show us here just how it is that Mark shows us. So very, very plainly that the disciples never really understood this. Mark, chapter six, and they were utterly astounded for, they did not understand about the lows, but their hearts were hardened. Mark seven, his disciples asked him about the parable and he said to them, are you also, without understanding, mark chapter eight. Jesus said to them, why are you discussing the fact, the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened having eyes? Do you not see having ears? Do you not hear and do you not remember? That sounds like a pretty stern rebuke. And then later verse 11, he said to them, do you not yet understand chapter nine? But they did not understand the sayings and they were afraid to ask him, do you blame him by the, by this point in chapter nine, don't I think they kind of get the fact that we should probably be understanding these things by now, but they still don't. And then of course, chapter eight, who can forget Chapter eight, when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ and then immediately to goes to illustrate that he doesn't really understand what that means. Mark shows us more plainly than any gospel that these who are on the inside who were given the secret of the kingdom, never ended up just being sort of independent parable interpreters. The disciples never, never. Seem to be the ones to, to take Jesus' parables and explain them to other people. They're the ones who didn't get them to themselves. So what is Jesus saying when he says to you, has been given the secret, when they still themselves are still dull of understanding? What he's saying is the secret of the kingdom, as we said last week, is that the kingdom of God has come and it's Jesus Christ to you has been given this mystery, but this mystery, as well as every other mystery of God, every other comprehension of the things of God, all of them only come in relationship to Jesus. That's the key to see. That's the point to see. They received the explanation when they came to Jesus for it. That's the point. The point is not that these disciples somehow now had this spiritual gift of parable interpretation. The point is they came to Jesus and said, Jesus, teach us. Explain to us. We want to know. You are the one to tell us. Now, tell us, and he always did. This isn't some sort of independent. Now you got it guys. Way to go. This is the secret of the kingdom of God is in me, and as you come to me, you will have this. There is no revelation, there's no understanding. There's no comprehension of the things of God apart from relationship with Jesus and apart from coming to him. There is a wonderful, I think, illustration of this that comes a little later in Mark's gospel. I think this is an illustration, but it comes in Mark Ch Mark, chapter 10, in the form of this fella by the name of Blind Bartimaeus. Now follow me here. Blind Bartimaeus asks―we know the story of Blind Bartimaeus Chapter 10. Here's this blind beggar we're told sitting on the path. Now wait a minute. We just were told a parable about a pathway and a hard-packed pathway and how on that part hard packed pathway is the lack of comprehension. Now in chapter 10, there is a man who cannot see who's sitting on the heart pack path. I see a connection. Here comes Jesus. And we know the, the memorable parts of that story. Bartimaeus―here's Jesus is coming and he starts crying out. Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me. And then the whole thing about the story was that all the people around him told him to, shut up. Shut up. You're making too much of a ruckus. Shut up. But he won't. Jesus, son of, son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus stops, comes over to him. Remember what Jesus said to him. What do you want? What a question. What do you think a blind man wants? When the son of God is here on earth, by chapter 10 of Mark's gospel, Jesus has healed thousands of people. What do you think he wants? He wants his sight. Jesus wants him to say it. Jesus wants him to express it. I want to see. I want to see Jesus. I think that's an illustration. The hard packed soil of our heart is saying to us, go to the master of the harvest. Tell him you want to see. It's only in him that you see anything and don't expect to have. Perception and understanding and spiritual matters apart from coming to him, apart from constant dependence upon him, apart from the constant recognition, apart from him, I do nothing. It is only in attachment to the vine that I have any perception. And so I think Bar Maas is, is showing this, forces illustrating for this. If not the point still remains. Jesus explains to the disciples when they come to him, and at no point in any of the gospels do the disciples ever become independent in their understanding of the things of God. So that's an encouragement for us. Plead to the Lord of the harvest as we approach God's word. Do that with a heart that pleads with him apart from you. I understand nothing of this apart from you. This is words on a page and stories from thousands of years ago. Apart from you, I know nothing plead with the Lord of the harvest. Now, lastly, number three. I think the final takeaway is understand that the germination of seeds requires time. Seeds don't germinate overnight. You don't spread some seeds, and then a few hours later they're popping up. And I mean, it takes time and understand that that germination process takes time. But wait a minute, isn't the parable also teaching us that if the seed is scattered and it's not understood, birds are right behind it to take it away? I think at this point, Luke helps us out a little bit. In Luke's telling of the parable, Luke chapter eight, he adds one detail for us. As so went out to sow his seed and as he sewed, some seed fell along the path. And was trampled underfoot. Now, what does trampled underfoot say? Doesn't that speak of disdain of discarding? If something's trampled underfoot, that means you didn't care about it. It was thrown out. So Luke says it was trampled underfoot, then the birds came naked. I think that the takeaway here is that the seed is never snatched away from the one who's seeking to understand it. The seed is never taken out of your hand as you're saying. Wait, wait, wait. I, I was just trying to get that God, I mean, birds don't eat out of your hand, do they? I mean, I know there's trained birds, and I just mean the, the general character, the general nature of a bird. When does a bird come and eat something? When the people go away, and so the parable's not teaching us. That unless you understand it right away, God's going to snatch it out. Takes time. Do you know understanding of God's word? I can't tell you how many times I, I come to a passage and over and over, I mean, and maybe days later it starts to make sense or starts to coalesce. For me, I think in my mind, I may be wrong about this, but I think that the biggest hangup that most Christians have, because don't we all just don't you? It's not something that you just hear a lot of. You may say it yourself. There's so much of God's word. I just don't understand. I think perhaps the biggest hangup is that most Christians approach God's word thinking that if they read it once and don't understand it, they'll read it a second time. If it hasn't come by then, well, I just. God's word is just so hard to understand. And let me move on to something I do understand. I think that's the biggest hangup is that somehow we just have this expectation that seed's going to germinate in one reading. And so often a passage really just starts to make sense on the 50th reading. This is why I've said so often, I'll continue to say this. The single most effective activity that you can do for the benefit of your soul is the memorization of scripture. Committing to memory scripture, particularly longer passages. Why the points, not to say how much you've memorized. The point is that memorization is hard, and Christians say that all the time. I can't memorize. It's too hard. That's the point, because to memorize, you've got to turn it over and over and over and look at it and read it, and read it and read it, and over and over and over, and in the time spent on it. Scripture just has a way of opening itself to us. It's like there's a treasure there, and that treasure is usually resistant to being discovered. The first glossing over it, it's sort like the story of Jacob, Genesis 32. Remember that strange story in Genesis 32 of Jacob wrestling with the angel, and he's not going to give up until the angel blesses him. Kind of like that. Kind of like approaching scripture to say, I believe, I believe that you, Lord, you want me to understand your word. You want me to comprehend it? You do not speak to me in riddles. You do not speak to me in puzzles. You want me to understand this now? I trust that you'll give this understanding and I'm willing to linger until you do. And I think most Christians will be amazed at how the scriptures will open themself when we give them time to germinate.