okay so we have uh... covers for as uh... the parables now last uh... you know last time we were together uh... talked about what differentiated uh... jesus and talk with the parable the forgive forgiveness that he talks about the chapter seven and uh... i know that uh... chronologically we've got a situation where word uh... jesus uh... then they were after he does that uh... situation in Luke chapter 7 with the parable of forgiveness and explains and touches the woman and so forth, that he does some stuff in Capernaum. We're going to look at that, but we're going to look at that after we look at these parables, because I do think it just chronologically works to do these parables all together and then get into some of the things about healing on the Sabbath and some of the other things that happened in Capernaum. But what we see here, we're going to pick this up in Matthew chapter 13 because it gives us the most complete picture of these eight parables that Jesus spoke to the people from the Sea of Galilee. And what happened was that Jesus came to the Sea of Galilee to teach. And again, there was such a throng of people that they stayed on the beach and he went into a boat and actually sat down on this boat and spoke from the boat. I do think it's interesting because almost every time you see Jesus give a sermon, he's sitting and everybody else is standing, which is kind of the opposite of the way we do things, where the guy that's teaching stands and the people sit. And Shirley, good to see you. Good to have you here. That's great. I'm glad to see you. So we're going to pick this up in Matthew chapter 13. Let's read through it. It says on that day, actually, literally in the Greek, it says on that same day. So it was the same day that Jesus was kind of rebuking the Pharisees and doing the unpardonable sin and so forth, which is what we're going to cover after we do the parables. But it says, on that same day, Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. And great multitudes gathered to Him so that He got into a boat He sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow. And then we're going to get into the parable, but I want to just make a couple of comments before we do that. If you go over to, just turn the page and go to verse 34, it says, All of these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, And he did not speak to them without a parable. Parable is an interesting word because it's made up of two Greek words, para. Para means to go alongside, like the paraclete, for example. But anytime you see para in a Greek word, that means to come alongside. And then abal is to teach. So parable means to come alongside and teach. So we see this word being used in Greek quite a bit. And it says that, so Jesus spoke to them all through the parables. He did not speak to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, who said, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world. That is taken from Psalm 78. So what we have is a period now where Jesus is teaching and he's using parables. Now, what are parables? Parables are really stories. The actual Hebrew word for parables is proverb. So a proverb and a parable are pretty much the same thing. And what I find interesting about Psalm 78 is it tells us that... Go to Psalm 78, because I think it's worth doing. For a variety of reasons, actually. But in Psalm 78, we're going to read the first four verses. It says, Listen, O my people, to my instruction. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter proverbs of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. And we will not conceal them from their children, but tell them to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done. Now, I could spend an entire hour just on this particular section, but I'm not. The fact is that what we see here is a picture where he starts it off with the word Shema. Shema in Hebrew is a very important word to Jewish people because it is an alert word. The Shema, which is Deuteronomy 6.4, Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, is one of the primary verses that almost every Jewish person learns. Certainly you can't get Bar Mitzvahed unless you know the Shema. And actually, that whole section of Deuteronomy chapter 6 is what is in the mezuzah that is hung on Jewish people's doors. So it's a very important thing. So he's using that word. Whenever he uses that word, or any of the writers use the word shema, they are saying, pay attention. This is important. Pay attention. So what he's saying here is, pay attention, oh my people, to my instruction. And that to me is a very important expression because he's saying his instruction, the things that he teaches, now this is not the psalmist, this is God speaking. Because he says, I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter Proverbs of old. I'm going to give you teachings that have always been there, and these teachings are not unusual. If you look at the book of Proverbs, 31 chapters of parables, if you really think about it. It's 31 chapters where he takes things that are, or each one of the writers takes, especially Solomon, takes things which are common in the world and applies them to spiritual truth. And that's really what Jesus is doing when he comes alongside and teaches, when he does the parable. And the other thing that's neat about this particular verse is verse four, where it actually reveals the trying nature of God again, where it says, but to the generation come the praises of the Lord, that's Jehovah, the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, that's the Messiah, and His wondrous works, that's the Spirit of God. So we see this, again, this picture of where he teaches. So Jesus is only gonna speak through parable when he speaks to the crowds, and then he's going to explain those parables to his confidants or to his disciples, the people that are close to him, but he does not give that instruction and then the interpretation to anyone but the people that are actually believers. And I find that kind of interesting as well. So, but he used parables to teach so that people could think about what it is that he was basically trying to say. Now, when Jesus spoke pretty much through this entire second year of his ministry in Capernaum, in the Sermon on the Mount, and of course here on what I call the Sermon on the Sea, he's always talking about the kingdom of God. The parables are always teaching about where we're going, not where we are. Always about where we're going, not where we are. And the Sermon on the Mount, of course, was that exact same thing. It's all about where we're going, not where we are. And that was why he said to the people that were there, I want you to be better than the scribes and the Pharisees, because all they care about is where we are. They're not paying attention to the kingdom of God. Kingdom of God is where we're going. That's more important. I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a fellow in the golf course about this very subject. And we were talking about how so many people go to funerals and he couldn't figure it out. He says, you know, why do all these people go to funerals and have no hope? And I said, simple, they don't believe. And he goes, Why would you not believe? It was just, it was so interesting. It was just, it was just one of those really interesting conversations that just sort of happened organically. And he said, why would you not believe? It's like the simplest thing to do. But yet it's true. Most people just really are almost recalcitrant about the things of God. And that's what we're going to talk about today when we look at these parables. But in Matthew, he lays out eight parables. And I'm just going to give you kind of a quick overview of those eight parables. And then we're going to get into the parable of the sower or the parable of soils, depending on how you look at it. So that first parable that he talks about is he's talking about the parable of the sower. The sower is, he is the sower. It is the, it's a definite article, the, the sower, not a sower, not a, but the sower, the sower. And he's talking about himself there. And he says, and it tells us that the seed is the word. You can read about that in Luke chapter 8. And in verse 11, I believe it is, where he tells very specifically that the seed is the word. So he's out sowing the word. And so that seed is going to fall, it says, upon certain types of soil. And we'll look at that as we get going. But the seed is about spreading the gospel. And that's how you get into the kingdom. You get to get into the kingdom by accepting the Word of God into your life and allowing it to grow and take root in your life. And so we'll look at that. And then he then gives a second parable about the wheat and the tares. And he says that there is an enemy that goes out after I planted all these great seed and we're going to grow wheat. It says that the enemy goes out and plants tares. Now, what is a tare? A tare is an imitation of wheat. It's really what it is. It looks very much like wheat, except when it comes to fruit. Tares have no grain. So what happens is that the way you know something is a tare and something is actually wheat, something is a weed, is that tares go straight up and don't bow, they don't bend over. Whereas wheat, of course, because of the weight of the grain, starts to bow. And I think there's a real interesting analogy there, of course, is that the wheat bows itself to God. The tares stand upright and think that they can do it on their own. But he says, I want them to grow together. I don't want you to tear out the wheat, excuse me, the tares, because you may tear out the wheat. in the process of tearing out the tears. The seventh parable, when he talks about the parable of the fish, or the parable of the net, depending on how you want to look at it, but he says the same thing. You know, no, just go fishing, get them all up there, and then I'll sort it out. It says that the angels of God will sort out which are good fish and which are not. And so, If you've done any fishing at all, you know that there's always going to be the occasional catfish that you get on your line that is not what you want on your line. But you still have to reel that baby in and then you dispose of it and so forth because you don't know it's a catfish until you get it up there. But it's not our job to figure out who are the tares and who are the wheat. It's not our job to figure any of that out. The third parable is about the mustard seed, and the mustard seed is really an interesting thing because it is what he's talking about here. Now, remember, this is all about the kingdom of God. He says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Now, what is a mustard seed? Mustard seed is the smallest seed out there, pretty much. I guess there might be others that are similar, but it's this itty-bitty, almost microscopic seed. It's incredible how small it is. And yet, When a mustard tree grows and takes root, it becomes the most dominant tree in the entire yard. And so he's saying that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It starts out as being something that's insignificant, but then ultimately it becomes the most important thing that exists. And then the fourth thing he says is he says that, and then he uses the same thing in the fourth parable where he says that Levin, the kingdom of God is also like Levin. Now that's an interesting example because for the most part when the Bible talks about Levin, Levin is a bad thing. It's about sin, it's about infiltration, so forth. But here he's using that example of where he says the kingdom of God is like leaven. You just take a little bit of leaven, mix it into the dough, and it will permeate the entire dough. So the kingdom of God is powerful enough to be considered this small item, but yet at the end of the day, it is the item. It is what it's all about. When it's all said and done, you do not leave this world with anything that you possessed here. In fact, if you remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that if you are counting on your riches of this world, that is going to be your fulfillment. The riches on this world is all you're gonna get. So if that's what you're enticed by, remember that once you are gone, you don't have any of that anymore. You better have laid up treasures in heaven, he says, because that's what's really important. In the fifth parable, he talks about the kingdom is like a treasure. And he says it's like a treasure that you bury on a piece of property. And then knowing that that treasure's there, you then do all you can to own that piece of property. And so you sell everything that you have so that you can own that piece of property because that is the only thing that really matters when it's all said and done. Again, it's the eternal treasure. Bible tells us again, seek not those things which are seen, but those things which are what? not seen, unseen, because the things which are seen are temporary, or temporal, and the things which are, excuse me, the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal. And so we see this great picture here where the kingdom is like a treasure. In the sixth parable he says that the kingdom is also like a pearl. Now I love this one, because the Bible tells us that the amount of people that have lived on the earth are like counting grains of sand. And if you think about what a pearl is, a pearl begins as a grain of sand. It's just a piece of dirt. And absent it getting into, and this is the key, it has to get into the oyster. So once the sand gets into the oyster and conducts itself and becomes part and parcel with the oyster, the oyster, this is important, the oyster will turn the sand into a pearl, not the other way around. Think about that. The oyster affects the sand, not the sand affects the oyster. And so, the Bible talks about being in Christ. So when we are in Christ, all things become new, it tells us. So we become this pearl. And now, sand in and of itself is pretty much worthless. I mean, if you want sand, go down to the beach, you can dig as much of it up as you want, take it with you, no one will care. No one will care. But if I have an oyster farm and you steal all my oysters and those pearls, you're going to be in big trouble. Why? Because the pearl has value. The pearl has been transformed, and it's been transformed because it is in the oyster. It is the oyster that transforms the sand, not the sand which transforms the oyster. And so that is a great picture of the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is a place where we all can become pearls. that we're no longer just grains of sand, but we are important to God, which is really an important, really a cool picture, I think. The seventh parable is the parable of the nets, or the parable of the fish, and he talks in that parable about how we have A drag net, we'll call it. That's where they take this net and they just sort of drag it upon the ocean. A lot of times what they'll do is they'll lay it out around a perimeter and then they'll drag it in, drag it in, drag it in, and they'll just basically suck up all the fish that are in there. But they don't differentiate because at the end of the day, we don't know. We can't spend our time differentiating when it's in the water. So we're just gonna pull that dragnet all the way up into the beach, and then it says that the fisherman then takes and he differentiates and separates what's good and what's bad. And so the same thing is true of the gospel. Our job as fishermen is to just lay the net, and it is God that does the selecting and does everything with that. And then the final parable, the eighth parable, is just one little sentence, but it's a really interesting one, where it says that every scribe Every scholar, every person that knows the things of God, knows about the things of God, that's really what a scribe is. A scribe is someone who writes the things down that are there. But what's interesting about a scribe is they're like a journalist. They're not necessarily in the throng of this. They're just writing this. And so he says that every scholar who actually becomes a disciple, this is important, So he says, in the kingdom of God, we want scribes that become disciples. We don't want them just writing down like a journalist, but we want them to become part and parcel of the action. And when they do that, then they'll invest back all that they have gained by being a scribe to the benefit of the kingdom. So those are the eight parables that he lays out in Matthew chapter 13. We see a few of them laid out in Luke chapter 8. We see some of them laid out in Mark chapter 4 as well. But the one that is common to all three Gospels and one that Jesus clearly gave as a as a key part of his message is this parable of the sower. So let's let's get into the parable of the sower, because we see Jesus sitting on in the boat, the crowd standing around. And the verse that we read there in chapter chapter 13, verse three, and it says, Behold, the sower went out to sow and as he sowed. So this is important. As he sowed, in other words, his function was to put the word out there. And so when he did that, it all basically just, how do you sow seed? You just, you basically put it into trenches or you lay it out. There's a variety of ways that you can do it. But as he sowed, it says first, some seed fell beside the road and the birds came. and ate it up. Now, I want to just give you a little piece of info. There's kind of, you know, take this and do whatever you want with it. But whenever the Bible talks about birds, almost inevitably, they're not good. I don't know what it is about birds in the Bible, but we read about the raven, of course, helping Elijah and so forth. But for the most part, birds basically are pests when it comes to the things of God, and that's definitely the case here. So the first thing he says is, some of the seed falls upon the road, and then others, verse 5, and others fell upon the rocky soil. where they did not have much soil. I'm sorry, the rocky ground where they did not have much soil. And immediately they sprang up, but they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had arisen, they were scourged. And because they had no roots, they withered away. And the others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. and others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty. And then he says this beautiful thing, he who has ears, let him hear. Now, one of the things that's received in this chapter, probably, I think it's certainly 15 or more times, he talks about hearing, hearing, listen, that whole Shema thing again. Hear, O Israel. So, he who has ears, let him hear. You know, it's a great expression. We talked about this when we did the book of the Revelation because Jesus uses that expression when talking to the churches and the seven churches in the Revelation. And at the end of each one of them, he says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Why is that important? Because most people don't listen. Most people really don't listen. They don't pay attention. They really don't know what's really important. They pay attention to all the wrong things. And Jesus is saying, pay attention to the right things. So he gives this parable, and then it's interesting because in all three of the gospels, It says that Jesus had an outside conversation. Now, my guess is, is that this conversation actually happened after he gave the rest of the parables, because if you read there in verse 24, it says, and he presented another parable to them. So this explanation that he gives of the sower is something that he's done privately with his disciples. And so in verse 10, it says this, and the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them meaning the crowds and parables. And he answered and said to them, to you, it has been And some Bibles will say granted, but the word there in Greek is to be given freely. It's not grace, it's not charis, but it's this idea of giving freely. Dididimos or something like that, I can't remember what the exact word was. But to you, it has been given to know by experience, that's ginosko, to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Now, that expression is so, to me, it's just, Just crazy, because he's saying that you have a gift, and your gift is that if you want to have a relationship with God, you can have a relationship with God. And one of the things that comes along with that relationship with God is that you're going to discover the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which, by the way, most people aren't going to get. We're going to look here, because most people, the seed does not fall upon the correct heart, because the soil is your heart, is what he's going to tell us. And how is your heart in accepting this seed that comes upon? Some people have hard hearts. Some people have empty hearts. Some people have fallow hearts. And some people have good hearts. And so, it's a question of which one do you have? So, This idea that the seed comes and sets its place in the right soil is why so many people actually call this the parable of the soils, not just the parable of the sower. Because it's really about the place where that seed takes root. And so he says, now you're gonna be granted or given the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. They were not given that gift. And I think, again, coming back to this, the one consistent thing that we see throughout all the parables of Jesus is that the kingdom of God is not earned. It is not earned. Pearls are not earned. Think about that. They start out as a grain of sand. They just get inside. They allow themselves to get inside that oyster. And then once that organic matter works on them, they become something valuable. They become a pearl, which is, of course, beautiful and valuable and so forth. And some are ostentatious, they're so beautiful. So he says, for whoever has to him shall be given more. and he shall be given an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Which is exactly what Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount when he says that if you have riches and you count completely on your riches, just remember that's all you get. And when you're gone, they're gone. So this idea of identifying with the gospel as a kingdom event is much more important than what it does for you here on earth. Now, the one thing that you're gonna see here is that Jesus is very clear about one thing, and that is riches are not the problem, it's how you treat the riches that's the problem. And of course, that's consistent throughout the entire Bible. But look at what he says here. He says, therefore, and whenever you read the word therefore, you wanna know what it's there for, right? So here he says, therefore, I speak to them in parables. I want them to think. That's what he's saying, I want them to think. I want them to come alongside and listen and pay attention. And so, therefore, I speak to them in perils, because while seeing, they do not see, and while hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. Remember that word, nor do they understand. Because the differentiator, when we get right down to these three soils, as Jesus continues here, is that the ones that are in the good soil, their differentiator is that they understand. So not only do they hear, but they understand. And so then Jesus uses this expression from Isaiah chapter six. And if you remember Isaiah chapter six, when we were teaching Isaiah, Isaiah chapter six is where Isaiah comes into the glory of God, comes into the sanctuary of God. and is just undone. He says, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And he basically falls himself, and God says, who will go for me? And he says, here am I, Hineni, I will go. And then this, is spoken in chapter 6 and verse 9. It says, And you will keep on hearing, but you will not understand. Remember, the understand thing is a big deal. You will keep on hearing, but you will not understand. And you will keep on seeing, but you will not perceive. For the heart of the people has become dull. With their ears, they scarcely hear. So the problem here is the heart. See that? The problem is the heart. And we've said this before, that the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. So this idea here that there is a deeper issue, well, the deeper issue is we have the wrong kind of heart, and we're gonna look at that in a second. But he says, it says, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, I love that, they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return. And the word there, return, is actually the root word for repent. So again, so we see understand and with their heart and repent. So we have this threefold thing that's going on here. He's saying, I want you to open your eyes. I want you to open your ears. And I want you to open your heart. Because when those three things happen, then you can begin to have an understanding of what it is that we're talking about. And that all begins with a change, a flipping, a coming back, whatever word you wanna use to express that. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. And this is great, look at verse 17. It says, for truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, but never saw it. And they desire to hear what you hear, but never heard it. And of course, we read that in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, where it talks about the great men of faith, how they always wanted to see the Messiah, but they never got to see the Messiah. They always wanted to have the revelation of God, but they never got the revelation of God. And, but you have, he tells us, the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us, but you have. And so in chapter 12 of Hebrews, he starts off that great revelation with this word, it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. So this idea that we're looking, that we're seeing, that we have ears, but we actually use them. We actually hear them. We have a heart. We have a heart which is softened unto God. So now look at what he says. He says, Hear then the parable of the sower. Verse 19. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, hear that? does not understand it. So when anyone does not understand it, the evil one comes, and this is interesting, he uses the word harpizo, which means to rapture. It's the word that in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 talks about the rapture of the church. That's the word they use, is harpizo in Greek. And so he says here that the evil one comes and raptures or takes or snatches away what has been sown in their hearts. there is this connection. Now remember in Ephesians chapter two, it tells us that in times past, we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. That is our natural tendency is to listen to him. So the vast amount of people are the people that the seed falls on the side of the road because they are listening to Satan. They're listening to the evil one. They're listening to everything that has to do with not being in concert with God. And so the seed falls on the side of the road, and it gets eaten up by the birds, which are basically the enemies of the faith, and of course the cohorts of Satan himself. And so we see this expression. So this is the one on whom the seed was sown beside the road. They have no soil. That's the point. They have no soil. They have a hardened heart. Just like concrete, the seed falls and it just bounces off of their heart. It doesn't get any penetration whatsoever. It's just the hardness of that. They have no soil. Jesus goes on, he says, and the one on whom the seed was sown on rocky places, or rocky ground, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Now that's an interesting expression because he doesn't say that about the people that are in the thorny ground. The people that are in this rocky ground, They receive it. In other words, they hear the word of God, and they're like, whoa, I want this. This is good. This is great. Man, yeah, okay, that's good. But they don't understand it truly, because here's what he says. He says, this is the man who hears the word, immediately receives it with joy, yet there is no root in his heart. There is no root in himself, but it is only temporary. And the word there literally is temporal. It's the same word that Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 4, where he says, the things which are seen are temporal, temporary. He says they're caught up in the things which are temporary. And when affliction and persecution arises because of the word, immediately he becomes offended and falls away. Becomes offended. Offended by what? This is an interesting expression. Why does he say he becomes offended? He could have picked a lot of other words that he could have used there, but he picked the word to become offended. Why are they offended? They're offended because they expected this to be the easy road, and that's not what it is. It so infuriates me when I hear preachers get up and they talk about, oh, if you come to Jesus, everything's going to be grand and beautiful and wonderful. And man, you just, you know, this is going to be the great. No, that's not true. You come to Jesus, expect to get punched in the mouth. Expect to have problems and irritations and so forth. So yeah, they get offended because they expect, here's the key, it's inappropriate expectations. That's what we're talking about. So they have inappropriate expectation and so as a result, they get offended and they fall away. Because it never took root. There was no root, it tells us. And there was no root where? In the heart. No root in the heart. So we see this one who hears, receives it with joy immediately, but there's no root. There's an empty heart. So in the first one, we see a hard heart. In the second one, we see an empty heart. There's nothing there. And so when affliction arises because of the word, that's what's really interesting, because of the word. they fall away, they become offended. And, verse 22, and the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the cares I love that word, cares, there, because that's the miramina. The miramina in Greek is one of those words that is used quite a bit by Greek people. It's kind of like an expression that they use to talk about how everything is just falling apart. You know, like, woe is me, nobody loves me. You know, I've got the miramita. I've got this thing. And what is it? Well, Jesus said it's the cares of this world, the worries of this world. that cares this world. Paul said it this way, he says, casting your miramina upon him. So to a Greek person, when they read that, they were like, casting my miramina. Yeah, I get it. You know, I mean, it's like everything that's going wrong in my life, you know. And so he's saying they allow, though, their miramina And by the way, it's not of the world. Literally here, it's of the age or of the season. So we see the worries or the cares of this age. And listen to what he says, and the deceitfulness of riches. The noun there is deceitfulness. The of riches is the preposition. That's what modifies the deceitfulness. So the fact is that he's talking about the deceitfulness is the problem here, not the riches. The riches are what they are. There were very many very wealthy people in Scripture that served God faithfully, Abraham being probably the exhibit A. And so we have all of these people of God, but they allow the cares of this world. And we're studying on Friday this picture of Lot and Abraham. Lot is actually a beautiful picture of someone who allowed the cares of the world to basically possess him. And it basically took him and ruined all that he had, wasted actually everything that he had. But he says here, he says, those that, it says, and the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. and it becomes unfruitful. Chokes the word. It snuffs it out is basically what that means. To choke is to actually take the air out of something. And so that's why strangulation is considered choking. It's the idea is that you're taking the life or the air right out of something. And so this is what happens. So we have these three souls. And I think it's fascinating because if you look at it, he says the first one is a function of what happens because you continue to listen to the devil. The second one is really a picture of listening to your flesh. And then the third one is a picture of listening to the world. And all three of those are a problem. Because when you listen to someone other than God, you don't get the understanding. You don't get what he's saying here. And then he says to verse 23, he says, in the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and what? Understands it. Understands it. Remember what the Bible says? It says, you know, get wisdom and all you're getting, get understanding. So this idea here is that the seed falls on this good heart and it is the prepared heart. It is the soft heart. And so we have this third one, this thorny one, which I call the fallow heart. It's really the wrong soil. some of the soils are good it's just that's the wrong soil and if you've ever planted anything in the wrong soil you know what happens to it it just basically just sucks it right up and the other thing that fascinates me is grace and i have had this little sort of garden out in our back uh... that that sometimes is very very uh... fun to to do in other times is just frustrating as all get out uh... and i wonder Where do the bugs and the seed for the weeds come from? I didn't put it there. I had nothing to do with it. But it's there and I don't get it. It's like, wait, you know, we're in a screened in period, you know, thing here. Shouldn't be any bugs getting in here. No, there are bugs that are getting in here. There shouldn't be any weeds getting in here. Ah, there's just weeds everywhere. And you have to, it's like, oh, it's so frustrating. Until finally, Grace said this morning, she says, we should just throw these tomato plants away. But he says, and on the one, well, you did say that. And it says, and the one on whom the seed was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understand it and who indeed bears fruit, indeed bears fruit. and brings forth some 100-fold, some 60-fold, some 30-fold. Have you ever thought about how incredible produce really is? I was thinking about this last night. I just did some math. I was goofing around. And I said, imagine that someone gives you one kernel of corn, one kernel of corn. And you plant that one kernel and that one kernel does take sprout and becomes a stalk. Well, in about four months is what they tell me it takes to get a full grown corn stalk from a kernel. That stock will most likely, that single stock will most likely bear somewhere in the neighborhood of five, maybe eight years of corn. But normally around four to five, especially the first year, four to five years of corn is about average for one stock, one new stock of corn. So let's assume that it's five. And we'll assume that I take one of those stocks and I decide that I'm going to to eat it and then I take the other four corn and I cut out the kernels and I dry out those kernels and make them into seed. Well, according to the Iowa corn ledger, because I looked it up, The average ear of corn has somewhere between 500 and 1,200 kernels, and the average is 800. So if you eat one ear and you dry out the rest, at the end of that first year after just planting one little piece of corn, you will have approximately 3,000 kernels of corn that you can then plant. You plant the 3,000 kernels. And just for the sake of argument, just because it's fun with the arithmetic, you get 3,000 plants. Those 3,000 plants bear five ears of corn. And in the second year, you decide to do the same thing. You eat only one ear, because now you've got 3,000 ears to eat. So you're going to just eat one ear off, or you sell or whatever. And you take the other ears of corn, which would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 times 3,000. So that's like 12,000 ears of corn. And you grow them up. In the third year, you end up with 9 million kernels that you can plant. Now, we'll assume that you plant those 9 million kernels. And they grow up and they all give us five years of corn again. We eat one of them and that's four. And at the end of the fourth year, we have 27 billion kernels of corn. You do it again. You only keep four years and you only sell off one. And at the end of the fifth year, you have 81 trillion. 81 trillion, which is incredible. And if you do it again, at the end of the sixth year, you have 243 to the 15th power, which is 243 quadrillion. Which, by the way, if you were to try to plant 243 quadrillion, you would need the entire square footage of the Earth and the Moon. Five years. I'm sorry, six years. That's what I call Multiplication. And that's basically the incredible picture of this seed. In other words, it starts out like a mustard seed, but ultimately it becomes the most important thing. It starts out as just nothing more than just one kernel and becomes 243 to the 15th power. By the way, this is why we can grow as much corn as we want, according to the people in Iowa. Because I read the website. They basically, really, I'm serious, they basically claim that they could grow as much corn as you want. Just tell them how much you want, they'll grow as much as you want. Because if the average, I still can't get over the fact that an ear of corn has 800 kernels on it. I'm going to count them. I got to do it. OK? It's too much. But the mere fact that the kingdom is the same multiplication, because when you really think about it, It takes God to do what you just asked Him to do. Oh, it does. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So here's the key. It all begins. Everything about the kingdom of God begins with the seed. It begins with the Word. It begins with accepting that Word, and then once you accept that Word into your good heart, into your soft heart, you understand it. And I want to tell you, there is nothing cooler than getting it. Do you know what I mean? It's like that moment when you get it. You get this realization. I don't care what it is. There comes a point in time when you get it. Randy has a cool job. Randy buries pipes in the most expensive soil in the world. 20 feet under the ground in Florida, most expensive soil you can buy. Because it's virtually impossible to work in, right? But once you got it, once you figured out how to do it, wasn't that the coolest thing? I mean, it was just like, I know how to do this. Now, when you first looked at it, you went, what? Right? I mean, you had to. But once you figured it out, it was like, wow. I had a guy that came and asked me to look at some stuff for him with his finances the other day. Now, of course, I'm retired. I don't do that anymore. But he said, Don, would you just look at this? Because I don't get it. I don't get it. What did he do? And actually, the real question was, what did you do? Which was nothing. But anyhow, that was a whole other thing. But as soon as I looked at his situation, I got it. It was like, it's not that complicated. Now it stunk, but it wasn't that complicated. It really was pretty simple to understand. And there were very specific things that he could do to fix his situation and so forth. And once he saw that, once I shared that with him and his wife, both of them, when I shared that with him, it was like this light, I loved it, it was so cool. It was like this light bulb went off in their head and they got it. It's like, wow, that is so cool. And that's what we're talking about here. When Jesus sows the seed and it hits good soil, it's like, wow, yes, I get it. So when the bad stuff happens, when the trials and tribulation happens, you go, yeah, it's all right, but I got him. I got him right there. I got the spirit of God right here. I got it. Okay, I'm good with this. It's not like, you know, it's overwhelming anymore. Now, is persecution, tribulation, affliction, whatever word you wanna use, fun? No, no. But I'm gonna give you a golf analogy here. Please forgive me for this, but it's really the only thing I can think of right now. And that is, when you hit, You're hitting all these shots and every single shots going sideways and this way and that way and so forth and so on but then Suddenly you do what the instructor told you to do or whatever and you connect and you hit the shot like like It's so cool It really is it's just this Yeah, that's what, oh yeah, I get it, this is good. It's the same idea, it's just this idea that, I know it's a dumb example, okay, but it's the only one I can think of at the moment. But at the end of the day, we need to understand that Jesus is here spreading the seed, that seed is the word, it's available to everybody, the problem is you, not the seed. But then a complete Holy Spirit, right? Well, I would argue that getting math is kind of a spiritual thing as well. I come back to this, I come back to this verse, he says, to you it has been given to know by experience the mysteries the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. I love that verse. I really do. And unfortunately, but to them it has not been given. So, yeah, it's a gift of God. It has nothing to do with you. You know, we come back to that all the time. We're constantly talking, we talked about that on Friday, remember? I mean, it's all about, this is a gift of God. Do you accept the gift or do you reject the gift? You have the option. You're invited to the party. You don't have to go to the party. Party's open. Just go. Just gotta go. But a lot of people say, no, I don't want to be part of that party. And so they miss the whole entire thing. They miss the event. They miss the opportunity. They miss meeting the master. They miss everything that goes along with being part of the party. And it's the same thing that we're dealing with dealing with here. But remember, it's about opening your eyes, opening your ears, and opening your heart, and letting the word take its place. That's where it all begins. So we're gonna finish this thing on the parables next week. We get into the wheat and the tares, which really we could have gotten into today, but I decided I wanted to spend more time on it. And so we'll do that. We'll start that next week, and we'll finish this idea of these others. But all the parables that he gives here, all eight of these parables, all spin back to the parable of the sower and the seed. They all come back to that. Because at the end of the day, it all begins with, are you willing to allow that seed to become part and parcel of you? Are you allowed, and that's why I love the parable of the pearl. It's all about, are you gonna allow that pearl to suck you in and take you in? Or are you just gonna say no to the pearl? You say, no, I don't want to, but I want to be in, I want to be in the pearl. So I want to be in the oyster because that's, that's where the pearl is made. So yeah, we're done. And next time we get together, we'll be, Orlando's going to cover for me again because Grace and I are going to be out of town and we're going to be out of town a couple of times this month. So Orlando and I are going to be playing, what's that expression? Tag team that yeah, so we'll be playing tag team here So so he's got you next week and then I'll be back for a couple weeks and then he's got to the next week So so there we go. So father we thank you for the blessings of this word We thank you for all that you do for us Give us a day that we can just give you the glory For this is the day that the Lord has made and we just delight and we rejoice in it We thank you for all that you do for us in Christ's name. Amen