Mark 4:10  And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11  And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12  That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13  And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
14  The sower soweth the word.
15  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
18  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19  And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

The Bible often speaks of the large crowds that gathered wherever Jesus was. Jesus noted that they came because of the miracles. The people were not coming because of the teaching, although this was the priority for Jesus.
This fame of Jesus came during a time in history where the government was not a God-fearing government. Joseph and Mary were forced to travel to their hometown, while Mary was pregnant. They had to go back there for a census. It was a decree from the king. They obeyed and it was part of God’s prophecy. They needed to be in Bethlehem for the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is still a hunger for change in our world today. At this point the hope of too many people is in politics. We have noted before that there are large rallies being held now in Canada for a particular political party. That party is promising a massive shift in how this country is run. People are hungry for change, but as we have noted, they do not understand the need for a right foundation to be able to implement change. The streets of Montreal and Toronto and the attitude on university campuses shows us that the change that is coming is not good for anyone. There is no resolution to that problem outside of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The ruling party has shown us that they are willing to call out the army to silence opposition it does not like. They will do that again if they win.
In our text we see that the people were not all interested in learning the meaning of this parable. Some people just like a good story. They do not care to know what it is really about. However, we see that there were some who stayed with Jesus and asked Him to explain the parable to them.
Jesus was willing to help them. He explained His purpose for parables. The parables were an outward story with a deeper meaning. That meaning could not be discovered through debate. There was no secret code to figure out to unlock the parable. It was necessary for the Lord to reveal the meaning of the parable. To this day, too many people draw the wrong conclusion on this parable.
Jesus is not giving us any new parables today. There may be people who are trying to invent some type of parable, but none of them will have a hidden spiritual lesson such as these did. Jesus told those who were waiting that the parables were there to teach the mystery of the kingdom of God.
The Jews were looking for the kingdom of God. Their problem was that they only saw a secular kingdom. They looked back to the time of king David. They wanted something like that. However, Jesus was referring to a spiritual kingdom. The key ingredient of that kingdom is the King — the Lord Jesus Christ. The key response from the people needed to be repentance and faith in the King.
Israel is still looking for the kingdom of God. They will not find it until they see Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming at the end of the Tribulation. The repentant Jews of that time will bow before Him and acknowledge Him as their Messiah, Saviour, and King. The Jews of Jesus’ day were not willing to receive the King. He could not reign in Israel at His first coming because they didn’t want it. He came to provide the way for them to be able to accept that kingdom. He came to shed His blood so that Jews and Gentiles could be forgiven and saved.
Those who do not receive the King cannot enter the kingdom. They can see what is being said, but they cannot perceive the depth of the meaning of what is said. Israel wanted peace. They wanted a king. They wanted autonomy, but they did not understand how to get that. It is not that they could not understand, but they refused to humble themselves in order to understand.
We read in verse 12 that those who rejected Him at that time, were restricted from seeing the facts of Who Jesus was. They lacked perception because they rejected Him. I spoke with a man yesterday who wondered why he could not understand the Scriptures. I told him it was because he was not saved. The Scriptures are spiritually discerned. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, a person cannot understand the Scriptures properly. All people can understand the need to be saved and how to be saved and Who saves them. However, until they accept that basic issue, they will never move beyond that point.
In verse 13 Jesus pointed out that this parable was key to understanding all parables. That is because they all had a spiritual meaning. In order to receive that meaning, the person must be saved first of all.
In this parable, Jesus now explained the meaning. Jesus began by stating that the seed is the Word of God. The sower sows the Word of God. He makes God’s Word available to all people.
Those by the wayside are those who hear the Word, but the devil comes along and immediately takes the word away. The heart of this individual is so hard that the word cannot get in and it cannot get any root there. These are unsaved people. They have developed so many distractions in their life that there is no way that God can get in. God could force His way in, but that is not how God works. He has given man a conscience, but man has the ability to sear that conscience so that he rejects any truth. That is where many people are at today.
The next soil group is those whose heart receives the word in a very shallow manner. They listen to it, but they do not allow the word to penetrate their hardened heart. They were happy to hear the truth. They did not allow the truth to penetrate into the heart. When testing comes, they fail because the Word is not anchored in their soul. There are many people that fit this description as well. They too were never saved. The Word of God will take root in the heart of the saved person. It cannot die out. It is important to pay attention to what the Bible says and not let people claim a higher authority than the Bible.
The third soil type represents the seed sown among thorns. They hear the word, but they cannot produce fruit because the cares of this world choke out the word. Galatians 5 tells us that there is the fruit of the Spirit. The saved person must produce fruit to the glory of God. Thus this type of soil also represents people who tried to follow God in the flesh but just could not do it. Salvation is a gift of God. Those who are saved are given the power to be called sons of God. That power is from God. Self-effort will not do the job. That power enables the saved person to say no to sin and yes to God. God’s salvation will change the repentant sinner from the heart outward.
The fourth type of soil is that soil that has been cultivated by God the Holy Spirit and prepared to receive the seed and it is also nourished by the word of God and it will produce fruit. The fruit will be different for each person, but there will be fruit in accordance with what the word of God says.
This parable fits with Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:

Matthew 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

New Evangelicalism wants most saved and few lost. It is a lie that too many have bought into. Men like Jack Hyles, a professing Fundamental Baptist, also bought that lie. He was a numbers man and many are still being deceived by his philosophies. Men like to boast of how successful they are. The glory belongs to God and when God saves a person they are changed. They will produce fruit.

Hebrews 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

God intends for His child to produce fruit. He is not content with a carnal Christian. He will work in that person’s life to get them to produce the fruit He designed for them. There is no point in arguing with what God says. Man is not the judge. God is the Judge. He gives us the facts so that we can know for sure if we are saved or not. We cannot come back after death to try again. We need to be sure we have our faith in the right place now. That place is in the God of Heaven and in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
Be sure you have your faith in the true God. If it is there, you will produce fruit according to God’s will. You will not be moping and complaining about it. You will rejoice in the privilege of serving the true and living God.
Pastor Bartel