 And I want to talk to you a little bit about the sower and the soil. And this parable is one that you must understand in order to understand the rest of the six parables found in Matthew 13. This first prophetic parable, the sower and the soil, describes the conditions of the end times, the times in which we're living right now. The sower is either the Lord Jesus Christ or the servant of the Lord found in Matthew 13. He describes it in verse number 37, Jesus does. And the seed, the scripture says in verse 19, is the word of God or the word of the kingdom of God coming to us. Now it's called the seed, the incorruptible seed, which is a description of Jesus Christ and the gospel that he brings, the good news that he brings. The good news, the gospel that he brings forth is also you can find a reference in Colossians 1 verses five and six concerning the fruit that will come from the gospel or this incorruptible seed. And the ground as described in this passage of scripture is the seed that is sown into the hearts of the hearers. Now Jesus says two important things about the ground in this passage of scripture in Matthew 13 and I encourage you to read it for yourself as Jesus outlines what is taking place concerning the conditions and this parable that we need to understand. He says that there are different ways for the ground to hear and to receive the seed or to receive the gospel. Now the growth of the word actually depends upon the ground that is the hearer, the one who is hearing the gospel. And the scripture says that the sower went forth to sow. So we understand that the sower, Jesus Christ and those that are his labors are actually sowing that seed. It's not that it's been withheld. Secondly, you find in that scripture in verse 19 that the sower did sow the seed, the word of God or the word of the kingdom. So it's telling us very clearly what that seed is. Now in verse number four, he goes into the detailed description and this is important for you to get a hold of. He says in verse four, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls or the birds came and devoured them. Now the wayside where the gospel came, according to this scripture, these people hear the word but they do not understand it. Verse 19 says, they are in the church regularly. The word falls upon them from the preacher or the teacher and they're still off to the side by the wayside. They're paying little attention to what's going on. Even those who have made decisions for Jesus Christ in this condition where their heart is a wayside heart, they're hardened, they're closed-minded. Their mind seems to be drifting to something else. This is important because they have no interest, the Bible says here, and they're kind of indifferent towards the gospel. They could take it or leave it, failing to realize how important the word of God is to their very life. They just feel that they can get along without the word of God and that it's not actually needed for their life and lifestyle. And so Christ says then that the wicked one comes and snatches away the word that has been sown there. Now people's hearts are not open and soft and that makes them easy prey for the devil, the enemy. The word always remains on the surface of the heart and exposing it to whatever the devil might want to grab out of their heart. Now follow this, there's at least four reasons why people become hardened to the gospel. One, they rebel. They react because of some tragedy or some circumstance and then they blame God. Or they do not stay awake or alert in their spirit. They don't pay attention. They don't consider the gospel to be important enough to get their attention and in their mind, things need more attention than the gospel does. Thirdly, they're careless toward the handling of the gospel. In other words, they treat the gospel as some item or some additive. They add Jesus to their life and lifestyle and if it doesn't fit, then they just cast it away. They take it when they need it, when maybe time is available for them. They'll try to work Jesus in to their life and to their attitude and they don't realize that the gospel must take preeminence and permanence in their life. The fourth thing that we realize out of this scripture is that many are deceived. What matters to them is the ritual and the religion that they're doing. In fact, they're very attentive and maybe they're in attendance every week at church. They come to worship service and they associate themselves with other Christians. But there is no change of heart. Their life has no purpose and they're not affecting this world for the gospel. They're just going through the forms and the ceremonies but they have no life. This is important for us to understand in light of Hebrews two and verse one where the Bible says we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. Jesus goes on to speak about the stony ground, the backslidden or false profession. The Bible says in verse five, some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up because they had no depth in the earth. When the sun came up it scorched it, it had no root and it withered away. This person is what appears to be a dramatic conversion. They make a decision for Jesus Christ. They stand out maybe even as an example of a changed life with this very quick growth like rice seed but it's only for a season. So why does this person fail according to the scripture? Well, they have no root in themselves. They've not been rooted and grounded in the Word of God and in prayer. They haven't learned the doctrines and the principles of Christianity and it begins in an emotional state and maybe they're very joyful about what's taken place in their life but they continue to live by their emotions and live by experiences and maybe even their association with Christian friends instead of the Word of God. Secondly, this person fails because of the little spiritual strength to withstand the trials and the persecutions of life. Jesus describes the pressures from the circumstances in the world and maybe even former friends that come to mock their salvation, abuse them, whatever it may be and it causes this person to cave in. I want you to know that hearing the Word preached and taught will not get a person to heaven. A person has to receive the Word of the Lord like seed going into the ground and it's a sobering fact to know that he that endureth to the end, the Bible says, the same shall be said. Jesus describes a third category of the thorns, the whirliness and the wealth, the cares of life. He said, some of the seed fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them. The thorny ground is the deceptive ground. It's the thorns that represent those who receive the Word of God as an addition to their life and the Word is just added on, allowed to replace the world of some things but they didn't truly repent. This is the conditions that we're living in right now where people try to add God to their life but when it comes to making him first and seeking first the kingdom, it's just a part. They make him only a small part of the affairs of their life and consequently the Word is always choked out to death according to 1 John 2, 15 and 16. Now the thorns that choke out the Word is what we want to zero in. Jesus said these thorns are the cares of life in verse 22. They entangle a person in the world and the things of the world and they irritate like thorns do. They aggravate, they trouble, they hinder a person from pursuing God as first in their life. Secondly that he describes in verse number 22 is that the thorns are the deceitfulness of riches. Now follow this my friend because this is huge in the time that we're living in where people are following after wealth and get rich quick schemes. If I can throw a little money down and get a lottery ticket and be wealthy overnight but listen, wealth deceives in several ways according to the scripture here. Wealth tends to make a person self-confident and self-dependent, makes them feel comfortable and secure in this world and it seems to keep them from trusting and calling upon the Lord. Secondly, wealth tends to make a person overly comfortable and extravagant, indulgent. They live high but the fact is they're in great need of God. Thirdly, wealth tends to consume a person's mind. In other words, it's all thereafter. When you find someone whose everyday pursuit is just making more money and hoarding it for themselves, then my friend they use that as a protective measure and their entire world is centered around wealth and the more they acquire, the less of the things of God that they want. Fourth category is that wealth tends to misinterpret the blessings of God. In other words, in our time we're living, some people look at people who may have things in this world and consider them to be blessed of God but Jesus made it clear that this life does not consist in the abundance of things. A large number of people in the last days, the Bible said, will allow wealth to take over and the word of God will be pushed aside. This group in this category of people that allow wealth to become their God, ladies and gentlemen, they may attend church regularly. They may even put money into the offering basket but the word of God fails in their life because they will not allow that word to penetrate their heart. It's the cares of life and the wealth, the deceitfulness the Bible says of riches that consumes their heart. A person is held accountable for the kind of heart that they have in these categories, emotional, sacrificial, thorny or soft ground. And I wanna talk to you about that soft and good ground right here because Jesus says in verse number eight and verse 23 that there's a small number of people that will allow the word of God to penetrate their heart with the seed. A person who allows the word to take a permanent root represents that person who is a believer who is honest and has a good heart and Jesus says about this person, they're the ones who hear the word of God and they understand it. Furthermore, it becomes fruitful to them. They bear fruit from God's word and God's spirit inside of their life. John 15 goes on to tell us about how that fruit would progress from no fruit to some fruit, more fruit and then much fruit. Listen carefully to me. Fruit is what distinguishes the true believer from a hypocrite. This is a shocking truth. Not all believers are going to be equal in the fruit that they bring. Some will bear 30, some 60 and the Bible says some, a small number will bear 100% fruit. Most are just not willing to give that 100% of their energy, effort, strength, time and possessions but in the last days, there's not this willingness as the scripture says here to pay that kind of high price. This is the reason why Jesus says it's time for us to make a decision. In these last days, in this parable, Jesus says, he that has an ear, let him hear, let them hear this parable, understand it. The ear has no greater purpose than to hear the message of the gospel. So consider the times that we're living in. In this parable of the sower and the seed, we find the conditions of end time. This will be a time, the scripture says and Jesus says, of sowing the seed where the Word of God is preached and taught. This will be a time when the hearts of people will determine whether or not they will receive the Word of God and to what level. This will be a time when the opposition will come from the world, the flesh and the devil against the Word of God like we have never known. And surprisingly, my friends, this will be a time when the decreasing response to the Word of God, those that will go up 30, 60, 100 fold because of their understanding and those that will not respond to the Word of God that will decrease in their response 30, 60 and 100%. I wanna thank you for joining us this week for Prophecy Files. I pray that God's Word has found root inside of your life. Stay ready, stay prayed up because I believe that Jesus Christ is coming soon.