Inspect Your Soil

Parable of the Sower Sermon

sermon transcripts Mark 4:14-20

Mark 4:14-20

14 The sower sows the word.

15 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.

16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.

17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,

19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

“Inspect Your Soil”

Intro

- Explain the elements of the parable
  - They all “heard”
- Talk about how 3 out of the 4 believed
  - Wait!? Isn’t believing enough?

Lord, lord

Matthew 7:21-23

21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

- - No, rocky ground fell away
  - Thorny ground, chocked the word, became unfruitful
  - Most of us here are one of the believing grounds, but we don’t want to just be believing, we want to be believing and fruitful
    - What we will see is that the word + good soil = fruitfullness, thats what all of want to be today.
- Sermon path
  - Look at the seed, examine our soils, pray to the Lord of the harvest

14 The sower sows the word.

Lets be in awe of the seed (the word) being planted in our hearts

How does scripture describe the word?

The word is powerful

Hebrews 4:2, 12-13

2For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened….

12For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The seed goes deep, deeper than the sharpest knife, deeper than the flesh, all the way down to the soul and spirit, all the way down to thoughts and intentions of the heart

All are naked and exposed to God

Jeremiah 23:29 29Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

The word cleans us and prepares us for eternity w/ God

Ephesians 5:25-27 25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.a

John 15:3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

The word does not fail, there are no duds

Isaiah 55:11 11so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty,

but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

God is involved in the process

The effect of the word will glorify Him and please Him
- Either fruitful good soil or soil that will incur His wrath

We are saved by the message of the word

Romans 10:8-16

1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God

*This is the seed that gets planted into the soil of our heart, a powerful word, a cleansing word, a God ordained word, and a word that is able to save our souls*

**How does the 4 types of soils take this word?**

Parable of the four soils sermon

Soil 1- stolen seeds

15 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.

When they hear

- - They heard the word
    - Maybe they heard it from the parents
    - Maybe they heard it at church
    - Maybe they heard it at vbs
    - Maybe they heard it from a friend
    - Maybe they heard it at work (begs the question, do you share the gospel, do you so the word?)
      - Several people should come to mind that are this type of soil
      - People you’ve shared with and this powerful seed seems to not make any impact

Satan immediately comes and takes away the word

- Talk about the enemy of the gospel
- John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
  - When the Word comes, He immediately lies
    - There’s no God
    - If there is, surely, this can’t be the only way
    - The gospel is for weak minded people
    - You have plenty of time to get this word, for now, go do you boo boo
  - The word never gets planted in the soil of the heart
  - Think of the illustration
    - Story of high school s curl
    - First kit didn’t stay in long enough
This person doesn’t never waves the christian banner, the seed is gone before it can take root
Is this anyone’s heart today? You don’t believe and never did believe, even though you heard the Gospel?

Soil 2- rocky soil

16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.

Heard the word, received it

- Became a Christian
- Immediately received the Gospel with Joy
- but…

17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

No root in themselves

- They didn’t get rooted in the word
- They didn’t go deeper in Him
- They didn’t set at the feet of Jesus and seek the Lord
- They didn’t get rooted in a family of God, the church
- Talk about how something rooted is hard to pull up, ie grass
- “root in themselves’“ Faith never becomes their own”
Resistance comes
- That resistance can come in many forms
- Luke 22:31 says Satan wants to sift us as wheat
- This sifting may come in the form of friendships that oppose God
- Life troubles that overwhelm our faith
- Anything that pushes up against the word that was planted
- Doesn’t take much to topple their faith because they were not rooted

Fall away

- They leave the faith
- They “back slide”
Is that anyone here? Maybe you believed, but never were rooted in your faith, then one day you just stopped believing, stopped following Jesus, stopped seeking God

Soil 3- Thorny soil

18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,

19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Sown among thorns-sin, worldly desires

Cares of the world- Job, family, the picket fence,

Deceitfulness of riches- Money is our god

Other desires- sinful desires that are contrary to the word

- - - Talk about our flesh desires to be pre-eminent, it is the thorn that fights against the seed of the word
    - It does not want to bow down and yeild to God

Galatians 5:17-21

17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy,d drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who doe such things will not inherit the kingdom of God

- These thorns are not unique to this type of soil, however, what makes this soil unique is that these thorns don’t get removed so that the seed of the gospel could flourish

Matthew 6:24-34

God must be number one in our lives.

Deuteronomy 5:7- You shall have no other gods before Me.

Choke the word and it proves unfruitful

- The ground doesn’t produce fruit, the seed is choked
Is that anyone here? You started off loving God, but at some point He stopped being Lord of your life? He wasn’t at the top and gradually you moved away from Him until you found yourself not walking with Him anymore?

Soil 4-Good soil

20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Hear the word-

Accept the word-it takes root

Bear fruit-it bears fruit

- This soil is characterized by the fruit

30, 60, 100 fold– not only does this soil bear fruit, but it continues to bear fruit year after year, season after season, until the Lord of the harvest returns

John 15:1-8- (abiding to produce fruit, fruit proving you are good soil)

This fruit is a changed life- Colossians 1:3-13
I pray that this soil is everyone hear, I pray that for myself, I pray that for all of us here at TC. Final point…

***God has called every believer to examine the soil of their heart*** praise team

2 Corinthians 13:5 5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith

- Examine yourselves to see which soil you are
- Are you soil 1- no seed
- Soil 2 rocky- not rooted, liable to fall at any moment or have already fallen
- Soil 3 thorny- trying to love God, but He has fallen or is falling down to the bottom of your life, not in the drivers seat of number 1 affection in your heart, instead other desires are in the drivers seat of affection
- Soil 4- are you good soil? Is your life showing fruit? Are you seeking to please God, aware of your frailty, depending on God for everything? Is your number one goal in life to please Him?
Here is the good news of the Gospel! God loves you and forgives you and offers you the free gift of salvation. His mercy is new every morning! If you are either of the soils that isnt good, He is waiting with open arms and a forgiving heart.
If you believe you are the good soil, continue to seek God humbly, dependent on Him to produce fruit in your life