Actually, in the parable of the sower and the ground, the four types of ground is a picture of our heart. Four types of heart. And there’s one particular heart attitude that actually receives the bountiful harvest. A hundred-fold, sixty-fold, and thirty-fold. And that is the one I’m coming to right now. So let’s look at what Jesus said about His parable to His disciples, because He told them that: “Unto them is given to know.
” Verse 18. “Therefore hear the parable of the sower:” “When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom” “and does not understand it.” There you have it! They hear it, but they don’t understand it. “then the wicked one comes and snatches away” “what was sown in his heart.” “This is he who received seed by the wayside.
” So people that hear God’s Word and they have no heart to want to understand, or even ask God for wisdom or seek the Lord to have that Word revealed to them, God says: “These are the ones that they become prey to the enemy’s theft, right? The Bible says: “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” John 10:10.
“But I am come that you might have life” “and have it more abundantly.” That’s what Jesus said. Now, if the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, notice the sequence there? He comes to steal first. What does he steal? Then he kills. And then he destroys. He steals the Word of God! Based on this parable, He steals the Word. Why do you think the thief comes to steal, of all the things he wants to steal, He steals the Word of God? You thought he might want to steal your health, steal your relationships with your wife or your husband or your children. No, no, no.
He knows when he steals God’s Word from you, he steals all these things because these things are a consequence, a harvest of receiving God’s Word in your life. So he knows when he takes God’s Word out of your heart, you have nothing to reproduce in your life because the power is in the seed. And the seed here is the Word of God. Hallelujah.
So the devil comes to steal the Word. He’s so afraid that you will receive God’s Word. He is so afraid. That’s why it is his priority, number one is to come and take the Word away from your heart. But thanks be to God! We read in this verse that for those who understand, the devil cannot do that. It’s only those who do not understand, then comes the wicked one and snatches away the Word that’s in his heart.
So let’s seek to understand God’s Word. Amen. The next verse goes on. “But he who received the seed on stony places,” “that is he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy;” They hear the Word of God or the preaching of the Word. And they say: “Oh, that’s good preaching. I enjoy that.” Amen.
They will shout “Amen!” and things like that. “But yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.” “For when tribulation.” (That’s trouble) “or persecution arises because of the Word,” “immediately he stumbles.” In other words, the devil will try to take God’s Word out of your heart. If he can’t steal from you because you understand it, the next thing he wants to do is he would try his best to cause some trouble or persecution to arise.
Notice, it is because of the Word. It says: “Because of the Word.” He is after the Word. He is trying to remove the Word. He’s trying to say: “This Word is a lie.” “You cannot believe this Word. See, look at your circumstances.” “There’s trouble. There’s persecution.” Stand steady. Amen. The Bible says this man, he received the Word and he received it with joy.
His immediate reaction is joy, but he has no root in himself. So he endures for awhile but when trouble comes, persecution comes because of God’s Word, he lets it go. He gives up because he has no root. And thus, the Word becomes unfruitful in his life. And the third category. “Now he who received seed among the thorns” “is he who hears the Word, and the cares of this world” “and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word,” “and he becomes unfruitful.
” “But he who received seed on the good ground” “is he who hears the Word and understands it.” Notice that? The one who receives seed on the good ground, the good heart. The ground is always the heart here. He receives it, he hears it and he understands it. “He is the one who indeed bears fruit and produces:” “some a hundred-fold, some sixty and some thirty.
” So in other words, it behooves us to understand God’s Word. We are hungry for the Word of God. We want God’s Word expounded to us. Hallelujah. We don’t want to hear psychology being preached. We don’t want to hear scientific facts being preached. We don’t want to hear the opinions of experts being preached.
We want to hear the Word of the living God! Hallelujah. And we spend time in the Word of God. And you seek understanding. Like in the book of Proverbs. “Lift your voice, cry out for knowledge,” “cry out for wisdom, seek for her as for hid treasures,” “you shall understand the wisdom of God and” “find the knowledge of the Lord.” Hallelujah.
So what we want to see here is what causes one to have this hundred-fold harvest in his life. It is the same Word of God that goes into all the four types of heart or ground. It is the same seed. The seed is the Word of God. They heard the Word of God. It’s like speaking of the audience in Jesus’ time. They were there. They heard his preaching.
