In The Word
Read Mark 4:1-20
Parable of the Sower and Soils
4 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, 12 so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”
Explanation
13 And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Yahshua declares to His disciples that if they cannot understand this parable then they will not be able to understand much more. So we must make sure we understand it, or we will have a hard time with all the other things God wants to reveal to us. When we share the gospel with others, we must understand one of four things will take place.
One, Satan could steal from them what we sowed into their lives; therefore, that person will not respond to the gospel. Two, the person may readily respond and seemingly give their lives to Christ, but as soon as they begin to give up things of the world or sacrifice for the Word, just as readily as they came in, they go out. Three, the person may respond to the gospel and even begin to change, give up things for the Word, begin to live out God’s truth, and because of this, begin to prosper. However, the prosperous life draws them away from God instead of closer to Him. And finally, four, the person may respond from the heart, and not only pay the price of discipleship, but also begin to prosper as well. Over time, God uses their faithful lives to produce much for the kingdom of God.
So in understanding this, many times we do not know where the sown seed will end up in someone’s life; time will reveal it. What has time revealed about your own life?