The Soils of the Heart

Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23

October 19, 2003

 

None of us has witnessed the sweeping effects of revival like those evident in the First and Second Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, many of us walked through the turbulent times of the 60s and 70s in our nation, and right in the middle of it witnessed what has been called "the Jesus Movement." The winds of spiritual awakening passed across our land, not with the intensity of the earlier centuries, but certainly with great effects. Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, KY caught a flame of spiritual fire that burned for days and had dramatic effect upon the student body. Other areas of the nation experienced similar movements of God.

 

The Jesus Movement, though a spiritual awakening of sorts that swept many into the kingdom, lacked the doctrinal foundation in typical churches to clarify and sustain its effects. I remember pastors being clueless on how to handle large numbers of professing new believers. My home area offered a typical example. In 1969 a number of my friends and I came to faith in Christ. We had no leaders or pulpit ministry to direct us or teach us, so we floundered for a while until the late spring of 1970. A new work of God blew through our area with many professing Christ. It was quite common to find hundreds of young people meeting several nights each week for youth rallies, testimony meetings, and the so-called "revivals." Many more professed Christ at these meetings that were characterized by lots of testimonies and scarcely any exposition of Scripture.

 

So after the dust of summer settled and the routine of fall began, little by little some slipped away from involvement with other believers. Many have remained faithful to Christ these past 30 years but quite a few that seemed to be the most enthusiastic faded away.

 

I must admit that this left me puzzled as a young Christian. I had been taught that once a person was a believer he could never lose his salvation. And certainly that is true. Yet something about quite a few that I observed bothered me deeply. How could they be truly saved and yet act completely like unbelievers showing no interesting in Christ, the gospel, or His church? Were they hanging on to a misapplied doctrine to continue their lives of sin? How could some be so excited and give such joyful testimonies at our meetings, yet after a few months totally fade away?

 

A few years down the road I encountered this parable. It shook me from limb to limb! This is what came home to me, explaining the perplexities of those falling away. Some that make the most noticeable professions of Christ have never understood the gospel, and ultimately fade away. The parable of the sower, identifying the soils of the heart, helps us to understand why some fade away from Christ that appeared to make such a fine start. In considering this parable we are also reminded of what is necessary for genuine conversion.

 

What are the responses to the gospel that are most common among us? Consider with me the parable of the sower that helps us understand the soils of the heart.

 

I. Common elements in the work of the gospel

 

We have a sower, seed, and soil in each of the four pictures that Christ gives. It is helpful to consider these for a moment before we analyze the soils of the heart.

 

1. Sower

 

Some think that the "sower" is Christ; and in this setting it certainly is. Jesus Christ was constantly sowing the message of the kingdom. But Christ does not limit the identity in this parable to Himself. The sower can be any Christian proclaiming the gospel of Christ. As a matter of fact, each of us that know Christ must grab our seed bags and regularly sow!

 

The sower broadcasts the seeds, realizing that every seed will not produce a harvest. Yet he is very satisfied to keep sowing, knowing that some of the seeds will lodge on good soil and produce fruit. He sows generously and liberally, understanding that without such liberal sowing there will be no harvest. So, too, we learn from the sower to scatter the seeds of the gospel generously. The sower can therefore be any Christian in any age sowing the gospel seeds.

 

2. Seed

 

Christ calls the seed "the word of the kingdom. We simply call it the gospel, for that is what our Lord labels the word of the kingdom. The sower does not sow just any kind of seed. He sows gospel seeds. "The word of the kingdom" points to relationship with the King and His kingdom rule over our lives.

 

This has been the Gospel of Matthew's subject throughout our study. We saw the coming of the kingdom in Christ (1-4), the character of the kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount (5-7), and we've considered the call to the kingdom in the preaching and miraculous works of Christ (8-12). Now Jesus explains the kingdom through parables, identifying that message that we proclaim as the seed sown through our preaching, teaching, gospel conversations, and witnessing opportunities. As we have noticed, the use of "kingdom" throughout this Gospel does not refer to a place but to a relationship with the King. That is what we are seeking to do - to explain to the unbelieving the need for relationship to the King. Scattering the gospel seeds means that we are not giving vague talks on peripheral issues related to the Christian faith. "The word of the kingdom" deliberately explains who the King is, what He has accomplished, what He demands, and what He has provided for those that will turn from slavish loyalty to the kingdom of this world and trust in the King. We are speaking of an eternal King who rules an eternal kingdom, and that to know Him is to have life now centered in relationship to the King. That kind of relationship means that we will follow the King since He is Lord over our lives.

 

The word of the kingdom identifies the King as to His Person - that He is God who came in the flesh. It also points to the King's work as Prophet who has revealed God to us, as Priest who has mediated the way to God for us through His death and resurrection, and as King who rules and governs our lives as members of His kingdom.

 

3. Soil

 

With that culture subsisting as an agrarian society, the talk about soils made sense to them. The different soils represent the different conditions of the heart in response to the gospel. The word is sown in the heart. Christ uses "heart" to refer to the seat of our understanding that leads to personal response and action. It is the mind and affections that receive the seed of the gospel and responds. Most importantly in this parable, Christ considers the heart as the organ of understanding. The first soil did not understand the word of the kingdom while in contrast, the last did.

 

If the understanding is going to be affected it must be addressed in clear, rational terms. Some have opted to work people into such an emotional state that they can create an atmosphere of decision. Unfortunately, that kind of decision is temporary because the understanding has been neglected. Without understanding there is no true conversion.

 

Several years ago I talked with a man that had served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher in a local church. He told me, quite excitedly, about a dying man that he claimed to have led to Christ. As he told the story, he explained that he regularly crossed paths with this man while working. He soon discovered that the fellow had a terminal illness, and very little time left. So quite hurriedly one day, he asked the man if he was a Christian. The fellow responded in honesty that he was not and that he really did not understand much about Christianity or about Jesus Christ. But so eager was this deacon to see the fellow make a profession of Christ, that he told him, "Don't worry about understanding anything. Just repeat this prayer with me and you'll be saved and go to heaven." The fellow objected, saying that he really did not understand. Yet the deacon persisted to the point that the dying fellow repeated a prayer with him though not understanding the gospel at all. I fear that this man's boast of leading a dying man to Christ was empty since he failed to understand the gospel. Unless a person understands he will not respond with true heart affection so that there is lasting fruit.

 

Critical to true conversion is understanding the gospel. Minds darkened by sin will only understand if the light of the Holy Spirit's revealing work breaks into the darkness with gospel truth. We do not control what the Holy Spirit does for sure or when He breaks in, but it seems that God is pleased to use our gospel explanations as the instruments the Spirit applies to the understanding.

 

So as sowers of the word of the kingdom, let us faithfully, regularly, and indiscriminately sow the clear gospel seeds upon hearts, praying that the Spirit might give understanding unto repentance and faith in Christ.

 

II. Varying responses to the work of the gospel

 

It is a curious thing to see how people respond to the gospel. We understand no one's heart. Some people that we think are prepared to receive the gospel are not. Others that we think are not prepared are ready and able to understand and embrace the gospel. Our responsibility is to sow the seed, taking care to sow a good, clear seed of the gospel truth. God alone prepares the hearts just as soil had to be prepared to receive seeds. As we think of the religious leaders and members of the crowd that had heard Christ without truly understanding the gospel, we see why He described the soils of the heart. The disciples wondered how anyone could reject their Lord! We wonder the same thing from time to time as well. But this parable helps us to recognize that while we sow good seed, all will not respond in faith to Christ.

 

1. Hearing the gospel without understanding

 

As the sower sowed, "some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up." Jesus explained, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road." Quite often in that region of Palestine, pathways would cross directly through an area being farmed. Over time the paths would grow hardened by the continual trampling by feet. So as the seeds were broadcast some would fall onto this hardened ground. The seeds never penetrated the soil because before there was even a chance, swarms of birds swooped in to gather up their next meal.

 

As our Lord explains, this person hears the gospel, just as clearly and accurately as any other. But he does not understand. Is there a problem with his level of intelligence? Does he have a mental denseness that precludes grasping the simplicity of the gospel? There is none of that at all. This person may have just as much intelligence as anyone else but his mind is darkened by sin. He may be able to grapple with weighty matters of physics and economics but when it comes to understanding the darkness of his heart and his condemnation before God, and the sufficiency of Christ to bring him into right relationship with God, he just cannot see it. Or perhaps we might say, his heart is so dull and hard to the things of God that he has no interest in understanding the gospel. Even though the sower of the gospel does so with great seriousness, this one may laugh at the gospel or make fun of it. He senses no personal alarm in his soul. There's no personal urgency when it comes to spiritual matters.

 

Perhaps he takes the gospel for granted, that it will always be available for him. So he refuses to concern himself with matters of holiness and sin and the bloody death of Christ. He wants nothing of it, at least for the present time. He has far too many other things to do. But what he does not see is that his own neglect of trying to understand the gospel only dulls him more. He becomes more and more insensitive to spiritual matters. The footsteps of dullness trample the soil of his heart to harden it.

 

Or maybe he has heard the urgent pleas of the gospel. His parents have urged upon him the need for Christ. His wife and children have begged him to listen, to read the Bible, to seek to understand, and to turn from his sin. But he shrugs it off. He ignores the pleas.

 

He may be quite a hedonist, living for personal pleasure, indulging his senses in what ever pleases him. Or he may just be a very busy person that has no time for spiritual matters and issues of the soul. He's out to make a buck and he'll have no one side-tracking him from his pursuit with all this talk of the gospel of Christ.

 

But here is the danger that this person does not see. Even what little bit of gospel he has heard and understood is taken away from him. "The evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart." I would offer this warning to anyone of us today that tries to brush off your need for Christ. The evil one may very well snatch away what has been sown in your heart so that your intentions of later following Christ will go unheeded.

 

Do we give thought to the power and darkness of sin in our hearts? Do we realize how deceitful sin really is, and how the devil will exercise his wicked power over unregenerate lives? When the gospel is veiled to you it is because "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (II Cor 4:4). Dare anyone of us trust Satan to show us mercy and not snatch away the gospel seeds that have been sown even this day?

 

2. Prematurely responding to the gospel

 

The next heart or soil described shows quick growth that does not last. "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." That part of the world has a massive limestone shelf that runs through the country. Many places have a thin layer of soil covering the limestone but not deep enough to sustain any kind of growth. When the sun comes up it heats up the limestone. So any plant that manages to spring up gets the double blow of the beating sun above and the heat from the limestone below. Because roots cannot develop in that kind of soil, the plant withers away.

 

Hear the interpretation of our Lord. "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself but is only temporary, and when afflictions or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away."

 

This person hears the gospel and gets excited about it; so excited that he immediately responds. He thinks that it is a good thing to be forgiven and a good thing to go to heaven. He likes the benefits that accompany salvation. Perhaps he is in the midst of others that have genuinely come to faith in Christ, and seeing their joy in Christ, he essentially joins the train. He enthusiastically professes Christ! I can still see the scene of the endless youth rallies held in the summer of 1970 and 1971. In emotionally charged settings, countless young people professed Christ. Some were very excited about Jesus! They could not wait to grab a microphone and tell their story. They heard the word and immediately received it with joy.

 

Yet unless there are roots that plunge into the soil of the heart, uniting the affections with the truth of the gospel message, that kind of excitement is only temporary. The demands that accompany any follower of Christ suddenly lack their appeal to this kind of person. He wanted the benefits of Christianity but he did not bargain for persecution and opposition in living as a Christian. He was in this for the good times not for the trials that often follow in the trail of believers.

 

In essence, this person has a "me-centered" view of salvation, not a Christ-centered view. He is not really interested in the glory of Christ. Instead, he thinks about how he feels and what is good for him and what makes him look good with others. Jesus Christ seems good to him for the moment but not the duration of living as a kingdom citizen under Christ's kingship. His affections are on other things. It is not that he necessarily goes after worldly ambitions or the lusts of the flesh. Really, he is out for himself. For the moment when he heard the gospel or when he saw others following Christ, he thought that this would make him feel better, so he responded. But what he lacked was a heart that was plowed deeply by the law of God, revealing his sin and hopelessness, and desperate condition of heart and life. He did not count the cost of being a Christian. And so our Lord declares, "immediately he falls away" when the intensity of living like a Christian confronts him. Literally, he scandalizes the faith. Leon Morris comments, "he comes to regard adherence to Christ as something of a trap; if it means persecution he wants nothing to do with it. He is repelled" [The Gospel of Matthew, 346]. He is more interested in his comfort than in following Jesus Christ and living under His Lordship. So he does not persevere. And it is clear that he was never a believer since "He that began a good work in you continues it to the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6).

 

3. Response to the gospel with strings attached

 

We learn something of the nature of the kingdom in this particular picture. God's kingdom vies with no other loyalties and loves as we see unfolding in the third soil. "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out." Sowing seeds is not an exacting art! Some seeds fall where they have no chance to mature, yet the sower must keep sowing. "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." This is the soil that bothered me more than any other. For a number of years I did my best to try and make it fit into a scheme of Christianity. But the key to understanding Christ's explanation of the third soil is that the word is choked "and it becomes unfruitful." In other words, the seed of the gospel never produces gospel fruit. The Word does not do what it was sown in the heart to accomplish - produce new creatures in Christ that bear resemblance to the King through faithful obedience and godly character.

 

The problem is that this person has strings attached to his version of the gospel. He wants the benefits of the gospel but not enough to repent of his attachment to the world. "The worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth" describe the person that is more concerned about what everyone else thinks about him than God's assessment. He wants the approval of the world. He wants to get along with that spirit of the age that is in opposition to God and His law. He takes up the gospel without laying aside his love of the world. But these two affections are diametrically opposed and cannot coexist.

 

This may be the picture that describes Demas who had labored with Paul in missionary work. And yet Paul had to give this tragic description, "For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica" (II Tim 4:10). The strings of the world were still attached to Demas. As long as he could be a Christian and indulge himself in the world, then he would keep up the appearance of being a Christian. But when the heat was turned up because of the gospel standing opposed to the world, Demas showed his true colors. The idols of his heart began to compete with the gospel message, and the strings that he had never cut away in repentance entangled him back into the world. His heart preparation was superficial. Though he outwardly followed along with Paul and other Christians, his heart was intertwined with the strings of the world.

 

The word is choked "and it becomes unfruitful." Where Jesus Christ reigns there will be evidence of His Lordship over our lives by the fruit of godly character, attitudes, and ambitions. Consider your own heart. Is there the fruit of a Christian evident in your life? Or do you share your affections with the world?

 

4. Right response to the gospel

 

The contrast to the other soils stands clearly in the fourth picture. "And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Christ interprets, "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." The first thing that grabs our attention is that Jesus calls this "good soil." How did it become good? He does not offer explanation but just shows the bare power of the gospel sown and the capacity to understand when rightly prepared. It is not that this person is good and therefore savable due to a level of personal merit. The Spirit through the Word prepared the soil of the heart. To use a farming term, the Holy Spirit had plowed his heart until he was ready to receive the gospel with understanding.

 

"This is the man who hears the word and understands it." There is the necessity of hearing the word in order to understand it. That means that sowers of the word must be conscious of proclaiming the word clearly. C. H. Spurgeon expresses this well in Lectures to My Students:

We ought to preach the gospel, not as our views at all, but as the mind of God - the testimony of Jehovah concerning his own Son, and in reference to salvation for lost men. If we had been entrusted with the making of the gospel, we might have altered it to suit the taste of this modest century, but never having been employed to originate the good news, but merely to repeat it, we dare not stir beyond the record. What we have been taught of God we teach. If we do not do this, we are not fit for our position [II, 43].


And the word must be understood. This certainly calls upon each of us to grapple with the truths of the gospel, to wrestle with them until we know that God has blessed us with understanding. Be urgent and diligent in seeking to understand the gospel. But do know this, ultimately the gospel is understood in a spiritual manner. That means that while you are diligently seeking to grapple with the gospel so that you might understand, the Holy Spirit is quietly at work revealing Christ to you. When the lights come on, and you see Christ crucified for you and believe, it is because all the while the Spirit of God gave you eyes to see.

 

Once you hear and understand the gospel of Christ, our Lord declares that there will be fruitfulness, "who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Your level of fruitfulness may differ from that of another believer but the quality is still the same. It has the clear ring of Christ as Lord all over it!

 

Conclusion

 

We are motivated by this parable to be faithful sowers of the gospel of Christ. Let us carry the seed baskets wherever we go, liberally broadcasting the gospel in word and deed. God will be faithful to bring forth true conversions through our sowing of the gospel.

 

Some of you struggle over the gospel and your relationship to Christ. Seek to understand, my friend. Call upon the Lord. Diligently read and study the gospel. Ask questions. Ponder the gospel and your own soul's condition. And see that the gospel points you to one refuge - Jesus Christ the Lord.

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