2 And there were gathered unto him great multitudes, so that he entered into a boat, and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach. This is an interesting picture, Jesus is sitting on the water and the people are standing on the beach.
We have done everything to stand and we are doing everything to hear His word.
3 And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured them: 5 and others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth: and straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 and when the sun was risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And others fell upon the thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked them: 8 and others fell upon the good ground, and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He that hath ears, let him hear.
This is the very first lesson we need to learn. Anyone who has preached the gospel knows this. I have seen the birds snatch the word, censor the word, do everything in their power to intimidate people in to not hearing the word. I have seen people who one day were so joyful and the next had withered and dried up. We have seen saints who grew up with us, fellowshipping with us, but eventually got choked with all their concerns about the world. That has been a wonderful preparation for today. We can now discern the evil birds that try to censor and steal the word, they do everything in their power to make sure that word does not sink into the heart and take root. We are not surprised to see those with a stony heart or those who are choked by thorns. We are used to being in the minority. A big mistake is to think that after the rapture it will be different, then people will repent. Those who have already received the word should repent, but for those who have rejected it preaching the gospel is not going to be easier. After all, if you know so much why weren’t you raptured?
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them.
It is a great honor to be healed by the Lord. It is a great mercy of God that you would turn and repent. It is a great gift of God that you would understand. The reality is that people don’t see because they have closed their eyes and they don’t hear because they just got tired of listening. As a result you see such fiascos as NBA players thinking that just anyone can take a stand for righteousness. To be a preacher of righteousness, to take a stand against the wiles of the evil one, this requires strict obedience to the Lord’s word and letting him train you. The idea that some NBA player can just decide one day they will do this as a side hustle is as laughable as me deciding I will play in the NBA as a side hustle.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not. 18 Hear then ye the parable of the sower. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the way side. 20 And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it; 21 yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth. 22 And he that was sown among the thorns, this is he that heareth the word; and the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 And he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; who verily beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Don’t think of this as four kinds of people (or even five if you want to include the birds). I know it has been taught this way, but I look at this like a white belt, yellow belt, orange, green, brown and black belt in karate. Every single one of us has had these four experiences. In my own experience I wanted to speak the word of God, I wanted the “sword of the Spirit”. But I had to first learn to understand the word, to make sure it can germinate in my heart. Then, I needed to learn how to endure tribulation and persecution. This is all about learning to stand and not being ignorant of your enemy. The Bible says the enemy is like a snake or a scorpion that will strike. I used to hike in areas with poisonous snakes and scorpions but was never worried because I had good boots. If you have boots that go up your shin and are too thick for a snake to bite through there is nothing to worry about. You need to shod your feet with the “gospel of peace”. All these protestors who are marching through the streets need to learn this, they aren’t shod with the “gospel of peace” as a result they are getting stung and snake bit at every turn. After that I took a tour through the deceitfulness of the world and all the ways they choke the word. You can see all these people in the world learning this right now about Youtube choking the word. They are using algorithms to basically choke these Youtube stations. Facebook and Twitter are like evil birds censoring the word, not even allowing it a chance. PBS is like the rocky soil, a little persecution and they buckle, they won’t even touch a controversial topic. But if you can get through all that then you start to bear fruit. Maybe the first year it is thirty but you can keep working at it and get that up to sixty and keep on pressing on till you get to a hundred.