In this thought-provoking episode, Sharon Knotts delves deeply into the significant parables told by Jesus, shedding light on their crucial messages for modern-day believers. Learn about the essential symbolism of the seed and its profound implications for understanding faith and spirituality. Discover how the parable of the sower can guide us in cultivating our spiritual lives, and the strong warning presented by the parable of the tares.
Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us on today’s program because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message, the parable of the seed, holds a little known truth that is a game changer for gospel evangelism. In the seminal parable of the sower, Jesus clearly stated that the seed is the Word of God. But in the subsequent parable of the tares, he said the seed is something else. Find out what in the parable of the seed. Hallelujah. It’s nothing like the presence of God. There’s nothing like the spirit of God. Amen. And there’s nothing like the word of the Lord. Hallelujah. Turn with me in Luke, the eighth chapter. Amen. Amen. and the different parables that Jesus gave and the laws of the kingdom and of course we began with the parable of the sower because Jesus said if you don’t understand this parable then you can’t understand anything else I tell you now we’re not going to minister on the parable of the sower in depth which I did three years ago but we’re going to have to pick up on it in order to go where I really want to take us so what I’m going to do is I’m going to skip to the summary You know, Jesus gave the parable in depth and in detail. Then later on, he was preaching from a boat on the seashore. And multitudes were up there. It’s like he had nature’s amplification system. Because, of course, they didn’t have microphones like we have. But because he was out on this boat on the water, and because the people were on the shore, and it wasn’t just flat. It went up to mountainous areas. It was like his voice was amplified so all those people could hear him. And he preached it to multitudes. But later on when he was by himself with just his disciples, they asked him to explain it to them. And he said, you know, if you don’t get this one, you can’t get anything else I tell you. So we’ll go to the summary in Luke the 8th chapter and let’s look at verse 9. And his disciples asked him saying, what might this parable be? And he said, unto you is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand. Now, a lot of people will tell you only half of this. They say Jesus preached in parables to explain hard truths or revelations. But that’s only half of the story. Because we just read that he also did it to hide truth from other people. Those whose hearts were hardened. i.e. those Pharisees for one group, amen? Those who were not really interested in the truth. Have you ever met people like that? They have all these questions and objections about why they don’t believe in God or Jesus or the Bible. But when you really start to answer some of those things, they don’t really want to know the answer. They’re not interested in the answer because, first of all, if you ask them if they ever read the Bible… They haven’t read it. How can you say you don’t believe in something you’ve never read? I mean, if you are honest, the first thing you’ll do is at least read it for yourself. And then, if you still don’t believe, that’s another story. Because we have found out, I’ve told you stories of people that were like that. That were agnostics and even atheists. But when they went to the scripture to try to disprove the scriptures, they end up getting convicted and convinced. Because if you’re an honest person… The Holy Spirit will bring revelation to you. But if you’re dishonest, he’s not going to cast his pearls before the swine. He’s not going to give that which is holy to the dogs. So what Jesus is saying, yes, I preach in parables to make deep truths very simple for people that are not educated, which the multitudes were not, for that matter, the disciples weren’t. They were fishermen. So he said, I do it to make it easy for you to understand, but at the very same time, it’s going to be those Pharisees who were educated, and sometimes they’re the hardest group to reach, amen, and so that they’re going to stumble over it. So he goes on, and this is the summary of what he had preached to the multitudes earlier. Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Somebody say the seed is the word of God. What is the seed? Okay, I want you to remember that. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. In some of the other writers, they say they add persecutions there as well. Because this happens to be in three gospels. And that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. They bring fruit but not to perfection. But that on the good ground are they which with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience or with endurance. Turn to Matthew the 13th chapter, which is another place where the parable is given. We’re going to just read two verses together. that correspond to what we just read, Matthew 13 and verse 22, talking about ground three and ground four. 22, he also that receives seed among the thorns is he that hears the word and care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful. I wanted you to see this because I want you to understand the third ground brought forth fruit. You see that? And then reading verse 23, but he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also bears fruit. Also, oh, in addition to the third ground. So we’re clear here, aren’t we? Grounds three and four brought forth fruit. Also brought forth fruit and bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. So Jesus expounded the meaning of the parable. So we found out the symbols are, the seed is what? The word of God. The birds was the devil. It was Satan who immediately stole the word. It didn’t even get a chance to pierce the ground. The birds swooped down and took it. And these are people, they don’t even get out the door, and they’ve forgotten everything that was said. They didn’t get anything out of it. Amen? Or you testify to them, or you go in a street meeting, and it’s like it didn’t even faze them. The second ground, it fell on the ground… But because the ground had a lot of rocks and stones in it, it could not get very much root in it. And because it didn’t get much root, it could only believe for a while. You know, I had this plant at home, and it was really getting huge, so I split it up into two plants. But I noticed that the one… Half of the, after splitting it, the other, the one was half of it was doing well and the other half wasn’t doing well. And I kept trying to put up with it and put up with it. So yesterday I decided to just dig around it a little bit and think, well, maybe it needs some stimulation. And boom, next thing I knew, that part that was drooping and not doing good. It fell out and the root was about that big. And that’s why it wasn’t going to do well. Amen? And that’s the second ground. They had dirt, but they were too shallow. Their understanding of the scriptures was too shallow. And so when persecution came, they couldn’t face it. In Matthew it says they became offended. And when you become offended, you stumble. You stumble and you fall away. But then there are some people, they actually thrive when persecution comes. They rise to the occasion. They get bold for Jesus. It stimulates something in their nature. And instead of them getting offended and quitting, they get bold for the Lord. Amen. So the third ground, they were able to endure persecution. They didn’t give up or quit. While they were able to endure persecution, they were not able to endure prosperity. They got a preoccupation with prosperity. Does that sound like anything you hear today? You know, this is the third ground, people. This is the third ground that almost makes it. Almost is not good enough. Amen. They almost make it. They even bring forth fruit. But a preoccupation with the cares of life and a deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of life. If you read all three synoptic gospels, you’ll get all these different descriptions of the third ground. Choke out the word. Choke out the seed. And they become unfruitful. My neighbors next door abandoned their house two years ago, and it’s been sitting there empty. And they had a couple bushes out front, a rhododendron and azalea. And I love those kind of bushes. And I kept thinking, nobody lives there. They’ve abandoned it. I kept saying to Benny, you should go over there and dig that up, and we’ll plant it in our yard. But he never did it. And guess what? The one is absolutely dead. You know why? It is beautiful as hell. You know why? All kinds of weeds have grown all in it and choked it, and now it’s dead. So this is what happens to the third ground. They had fruit, but through a process of time, they neglected their fruit. fruit, their plant, their ground, their soil. They neglected it because they were preoccupied with the blessings and the prosperity, and they didn’t take care of the necessary thing. And so they became unfruitful. But the good ground received the seed, the word of God, in an honest heart. And that allowed the word to go down there and allowed them to receive understanding of the word. And they bore fruit, but not only did they bear fruit, they did it with patience or we could say with endurance. Their fruit lasted. Amen? And some of them bore a hundredfold and some sixtyfold and some thirtyfold. So here’s my question for you today. What was the fruit they produced? 100-fold or 60-fold or 30-fold. What was the fruit that they produced? Okay, it’s very quiet in here. You’re thinking, and that’s good. I’m glad to see you’re thinking and not just saying something off the top of your head. You’re thinking about it. All right, I’m going to go back and ask you what I had you say over and over. What is the seed? Word. The Word of God. And what does the Word of God produce? Okay, I hear salvation over here. Let’s go to 1 Peter 1.23. Hold your place in Matthew. We’ll be back. You know this verse, but I want you to read it anyway. 1 Peter 1.23. As soon as I start reading it, you’ll know it because I’ll go ahead. Of course, I have mine marked, so I’m going to go on. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So what does the word, the seed, produce? It produces born-again people or Christians or children of God. Amen? We’ll go with children of God right here because we know that Jesus said, marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. And when Nicodemus said with the natural mind, even though he was… a Pharisee, and he was very educated. He was thinking with a natural mind. It goes to show you right there, someone who was educated and schooled in the Torah but couldn’t understand what Jesus meant. And he says, how am I going to get back in my mother’s womb and be born again? And Jesus said, look, there’s a natural birth and there’s a spiritual birth. There’s an earthly birth and there’s a heavenly birth. Amen? And that which is of the flesh brings forth flesh. It brings forth human babies. Human seed brings forth human babies. Amen. But that which is born of the spirit, the seed is the word of God. Amen. And it’s going to bring forth spiritual children. Amen. And so they produce in their lifetime 30, 60, 100 fold. What are they going to produce? Children of God. Somebody said, do you think they’re right? Well, we’re going to find out in a moment. Amen? Now, we have the incorruptible seed of God’s Word in us. How many are born again? So in order for you to be born again, you had to get what Peter said. You had to get the incorruptible seed of the word of God. But then we’re told in 1 John 3, 9, I’ll quote it to you. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. And there in the tenses, without going off on a rabbit trail, it means does not practice sin. Okay? He does not practice sin for his seed remains in him. So the seed that saved you, the incorruptible seed is the word of God that saved you. If it remains in you, you won’t go around practicing sin. Amen? You won’t be practicing sin because you have that seed in you. And that seed is incorruptible. The human seed that produced us is corruptible. We have the human nature. We sin. Amen? But the incorruptible seed produces in us the nature of God. So if it remains in us, we’re not going to be practicing sin. We’re going to be practicing godliness. We’re going to be practicing his attributes. Amen? So what did the seed of God’s word produce in them? Obviously his nature. Obviously his attributes. But there is more. Go back to Matthew the 13th chapter. Most of the time when we preach, and I said we because I include myself, on the parable of the sower, we stop right where we stopped. at verse 23. And we close the book and we go on and preach as I did three years ago and expound the parable of the sower. But we should continue on, and that’s what we’re going to do now in verse 24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which soweth good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares, which are weeds. And I’m not going to preach it today, but that’s not only just a weed that’s innocuous, it is a poisonous weed. Sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. Oh, Lord, that’s another message. Amen. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Now drop down to verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and when he went into the house, the disciples said unto him, Declare unto this this parable of the tares of the field. So now they’re saying, Jesus, we want to know what does this parable mean? He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the son of man. Who is the son of man? Jesus. Jesus the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom and the tares are the children of the wicked one let’s stop here for a moment in the first parable of the sower what was the seed in this parable what is the seed The children of the kingdom. Do you see the difference? Amen. In the other parable, it was the word of God that is the seed. But in this parable… I’m the seed. You are the seed. We are the seed. Amen? It is a huge difference. I’ll just finish the explanation up and we’ll go on. The enemy that sowed them is the devil and the harvest is at the end of the world and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels. They’ll gather out of the kingdom all things that offend. And them which do iniquity, it shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father who has ears to hear. Let him hear. We need to hear this. Now, most of the time when I preach this parable, I focus on the tares. And that is a powerful message and I will yet preach that. But today, I’m asking you to let’s stick to what the questions were. What was the seed in the first one? The Word of God. And the seed in this one is? The children of God. Because you see, once we receive the incorruptible seed of God’s Word, we’re born again, we’re children of God, we still have that seed in us. Don’t turn there, but I’m going to read to you Genesis 1 and 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself. So the law is everything that God created, he created with the seed in it. Amen? He just created full-grown trees. He created full-grown trees with fruit on them. Amen? He created everything. The grass was already there. Everything was there, but he created it with the seed within itself. And if we would go on and read all of the Genesis creation, we would know that everything has… the ability to reproduce because it has a seed in itself. Amen? And we know that God had to create Adam a counterpart. Because he told them, I want you to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with human beings. And there was no way that Adam could do that by himself. He could not possibly do that. Amen? The trees were going to reproduce and the flowers and the grass, etc. And all the animals because God had made them with their counterparts. But when Adam looked at all of the parade of animals, because the Bible says he named them, and when they had all gone by, it says that there was not found for him a helpmeet. And so God had to create Eve, and then they could be fruitful and multiply. And, of course, we know that’s one reason why same-sex marriage is not of God. They cannot obey the very first command, be fruitful and multiply. Amen. They cannot obey the command, and they too shall be one flesh. They’ve got to bring in a third party of the opposite sex in order to obey that. Amen? So here’s the thing about it I want you to see. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. Now, if you plant corn, you’re going to get… If you plant tomatoes, you’re going to get… If you’re a breeder and you breed horses, you’re going to get… If you’re a dog breeder, you’re going to get… If you like sheep, you’re going to get… And so on. And if you’re human, you’re going to produce humans. And if you are a Christian, I said if you are a child of God, if you are a Christian, you should be producing humans. Christians, because you’ve got the seed in you. The children of the kingdom have the seed in them. You see, the Greek word is sperma. And sperma not only means the original seed, but it also refers to the fruit that it produces. And that fruit has seed in it. And that fruit has seed in it. Amen? And it will continue to produce if you continue to plant that seed. So the original seed was the Word of God that came from God. It fell into our hearts. I’m talking about the fourth ground now. It fell into our good and honest hearts. That incorruptible seed. We were born again. We became a child of the kingdom. And not only are we a Christian and a child of God… But now we have the ability to reproduce Christians. Amen? That original seed was the message of the kingdom. And it produced messengers of the kingdom. Because now they had the word of God in them. Turn with me to John 17. Now this records when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane. And this is when he was agonizing right before going to the cross. And we know that he was battling with his own self-will. But he was winning the victory. Amen? Drop down to verse 14. He prayed for his disciples that God would keep them. But look at verse 14. I have given them, that would be his disciples, thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. But that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Why didn’t he want God to take them out of the world? Verse 18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them in the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they might also be sanctified through the truth. Now look at verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through… Whose word? Their word. The messengers, the disciples, the children of God, the Christians that were born again of the incorruptible seed. Jesus said, I am praying for them, but I am praying for the generations and generations of Christians that will come to the faith because of their word. He didn’t say because of your word, Father, or my word, but because of their word. Because their word Is his word. And their word is God’s word. Amen. And you and I have the same seed of that word in us. And people should come to faith in Jesus Christ. Because of my word. And your word. Amen. Isn’t that powerful? That is powerful. amen what a revelatory teaching on the parable of the seed most christians are more familiar with the parable of the sower which describes the four grounds that receive the seed of the word of god and how each responded to it the determiner of whether it bore good fruit was the condition of the soil or men’s hearts But in his subsequent parable of the tares, Jesus did not say the seed is the word of God, but rather the seed is the children of the kingdom. That is Christians who are born again of the incorruptible seed of God’s word. We become the seed. If you plant corn, you’ll harvest corn. If you plant tomatoes, you’ll harvest tomatoes. If you breed cows, you’ll produce cows. If you breed dogs, you’ll produce dogs. And human beings produce human beings because God said in the Genesis creation account, every seed after its own kind and every living thing has the seed to reproduce within itself. So Christians should produce Christians. And if they don’t, they are spiritually sterile. You need this message, the parable of the seed, in your spiritual library. Order today on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK-186. That’s SK-186. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or go online at soundoffaith.org, where you can order on MP3. But to order by mail, send your minimum love gift for the radio ministry of $10 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Request SK-186. Till next time, this is Sharon Knott singing Maranatha.
