The Messiah spoke a parable of a sower, sowing seeds and how these seeds fell in various areas.
1The seed is the Word of Elohim (verse 11) and each area where the seed fell represents a group of people’s hearings of the word, their belief and walk.
2Messiah gave an elastration of an area in which the seed fell and explained the type of believer this represents.
Messiah said those who do not see or hear will not understand this parable.
3So that ‘seeing they see but do not perceive, and hearing they hear but do not understand, lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them.’ ” – Mark 4:12. And He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the reign of Elohim, but to the rest in parables, that ‘Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not understand’ – Luke 8:10.
4For the heart of this people has become thickened, and their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart, and turn back, and I heal them’ – Matthew 13:15.
And He said, go and say to this people, hearing you hear, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know – Isaiah 6:9.
5People did not hear and see in Moses time, same was the case in Isaiah time, neither was it in Messiah time and so is this happening in our generation.
Only a small remnant will hear, see and obey.
The ultimate purpose of hearing the Word is to turn and then be healed of the greatest sickness: sin! Sin is the great sickness.
The seed fell in the following areas (Luke 8:5-15);
1) Seed 1 – fell by the wayside.
2) Seed 2 – fell on the rocks.
3) Seed 3 – fell among the thorns
4) Seed 4 – fell in good soil.
Let us go through each area where the seed fell and see what people did with the word (seed)!
And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:9).
Sower and seed 1: Fell by the wayside (verse 5)
And as he sowed, some indeed fell by the wayside. And it was trodden down, and the birds of the heaven devoured it.
(And as he sowed, some indeed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them – Matthew 13:4).
Sower and seed 1 the parable (verse 12)
“And those by the wayside are the ones who hear, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, lest having believed, they should be saved.
(“When anyone hears the word of the reign, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart – Matthew 13:19).(“These, then, are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. And when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts – Mark 4:15).
These are those who hear the Word from someone speaking or from reading it but they do not understand the word and quickly reject it. Many may have heard the word growing up in a house where the parents were believers but as adults they turned away and become atheist. They are led away in darkness by the wicked one that came to lie and destroy. Their whole life is given over to the world, striving to gain material riches and status. Entertainment is priority, family is less important and achieving the highest academic is of high importance. They are blinded and the ears are closed to the word. They follow the wide-open path to destruction.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Sower and seed 2: Fell on the rocks (verse 6)
“And other fell on rock, and when it grew up, it withered because it had no moisture.
(“And others fell on rocky places, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. “But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered - Matthew 13:5-6).
Sower and seed 2 the parable (verse 13)
“And those on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no root, who believe for awhile and in time of trial fall away.
(“And that sown on rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived, and when pressure or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles – Matthew 13:20-21). (“And likewise, these are the ones sown on rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, and they have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. Then when pressure or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble – Mark 4:16-17).
They are the ones that hear the word and this makes them feel good but the feeling only lasts for a while. No growth in His word has taken place, only a moment of excitement that is short-lived once they experience a little hardship. They may at a later stage hear another particular word and the excitement will return but as before will be short-lived. They mix the material world with certain scripture verses that brings joy but no root in the truth. The people in this group forward messages that are not biblical due to lack of knowledge. They are the ones that tell you to be positive, as positive thinking will lead to happiness and brings blessing (New age). Everything goes, as long as hardship is avoided. They are misled by false teachers who preach love, once saved always saved, live by grace only and you don’t have to do anything but to love. The commands are done away with and replaced with love as His son removed the burdens of the Old Testament and replaced it with love and grace. They are deceived by falsehood. They follow a man-made religion.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Sower and seed 3: Fell among the thorns (verse 7)
“And other fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
(“And others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them – Matthew 13:7).
Sower and seed 3 the parable (verse 14)
“And that which fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with worries, and riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
(“And that sown among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the worry of this age and the deceit of riches choke the word, and it becomes fruitless – Matthew 13:22.“And take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down by gluttony, and drunkenness, and worries of this life, and that day come on you suddenly – Luke 21:34). (“And others are those sown among thorns, these are they who hear the word, and the worries of this age, and the deceit of riches, and the desires for other matters, entering in, choke the word, and it becomes fruitless – Mark 4:18-19).
The lukewarm group of people! They hear the truth and accept it as truth but the walk in this truth does not mature, instead becomes lip talk. They are the ones that go to church for an hour, then rest of the time worry on the worldly issues. Some keep the Sabbath for a while then find this to be a burden and change it to fit in with their life style. They don’t read the scriptures as the worldly issues are keeping them busy therefore are easily deceived by wrong teachings as they rely on man only. They confess the existence of the Creator but worry about work, been sick, having money, status and many other worldly things. They say they trust the Almighty but in real life they need to be in control and worry over the simplest things. Their time is spent on worrying or fearing the worldly issues because they rely on the solutions man can offer. Many say they don’t need to have plenty things to make them happy but their actions and attitudes say something else. They fall easy to the temptations the world offers. Pursuing the truth of Father is slowly choked by the cares and riches of life. They are entangled by the riches and the pleasures the world offers and are drawn in deeper and deeper until they are weighed down by greed and drunkenness. The word is mixed with the matters of the world that enters in and chokes the true word from them which then becomes fruitless.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Sower and seed 4: Fell on the good soil (verse 8)
“And other fell on the good soil, and grew up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.”
(“And others fell on good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty – Matthew 13:8).
Sower and seed 4 the parable (verse 15)
“And that on the good soil are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, retain it, and bear fruit with endurance.
(“And that sown on the good soil is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields – some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” – Matthew 13:23) (“And those sown on good soil, are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirtyfold, and some sixty, and some a hundred” – Mark 4:20)
The remnant group of people! They are the ones that hear the word and immediately accept it – Hear and obey. Not only do they accept the word but the desire is to know more of the word and to walk in it. Their desire is to have a personal relationship with Him, to walk as Messiah walked. The walk is not a religion with various man-made traditions but a relationship with the One who is the true Creator of all. Some bear fruit thirtyfold, and some sixty, and some a hundred – they are seen by their fruits. They keep His commands because they love them, for they know this is the light to the path of everlasting life. They know the love from the world (fairytale / hollywood love) is different to the love that Father gives. They can discern between right and wrong because they know the will of the Almighty One. The Almighty Father is their first love. They remove all idols, all false teaching and walk in righteousness with the help of the Spirit of Almighty. They test every word that man speaks; if someone preaches on the word from scripture, they know how and when to discern man’s words. They are in the world but try not to be of this world and are deeply sadden when they make mistakes. The Spirit teaches them the word and they listen with a hearing and humble heart. When they are in trouble, they look to Him. When they are sick, they look to Him. When they are happy, they praise Him. They see Him in His creation. He is the Aleph and the Tav (the beginning and the end).
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
No comments:
Post a Comment